Checking In

I'm having a bit of bloggers-block so I am linking up to kjpugs' blog and doing a "check in" to let you all know what's going on in my life here lately.

Obsessing Over: I need this owl fabric. Like ASAP. I have a serious Etsy problem. I'm surprised my husband hasn't figured out a way to block the app on my iPhone by now. This fabric is SO cute and I want to sew a bunch of cute stuff. I usually have a problem with buying/swooning over fabric and not really knowing exactly what to make with it. If I bought this, what should I make with it?

Etsy Fabric

Working On: Currently my goal (around the house anyways) is to get organized and figure out some storage solutions for us. The guest closet is the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen and our garage looks worse than the storage units on Storage Wars. You couldn't even fit a Smart car into it. (Not that a Smart car is a REAL car anyways.)

Thinking About: Fall. I can't wait until fall weather and food comes into season. It's my favorite season! The only down side is that winter is right around the corner usually.

Anticipating: Working out again. I've hired a trainer at work to kick my butt into shape and I've scheduled two-days-a-week for a month to start and I'm definitely wanting to improve my eating habits to lose this baby weight and get back under 200lbs. I've NEVER been this big before and I'm not exactly happy about it. I really just want to feel good about myself and comfortable in my clothes again.

Listening to: The quietness of my home. The A/C is off (luckily, it's freezing in here), kiddo is upstairs dreaming his little heart away, and the hubby is pecking away at his laptop. I did hear a great Regina Spektor song while having dinner tonight at McAlister's and thought that was kinda cool. I don't think I've ever heard her on the radio before. She's one of my absolute favorite singers!

Regina Spektor - Fidelity

Drinking: McAlister's (super duper ridiculous) sweet tea. What else would I be drinking? :)

Wishing: That I didn't have to work, I could see my friends more, and be a stay-at-home momma. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd want to be a mom, much less stay at home and not have an actual corporate-type of career. I've always been career driven.

Anyways, before I open a whole can of worms, that's about it for me here. Working (which I need to also update everyone on) has taken up about 80% of my time so very little is left for the blog. I am going to hopefully be posting some weight-loss progress pictures though because I fully intend to make noticeable progress.

a mix "tape" of sorts

I'm feeling crafty lately, especially with all of the Pins that I've pinned on, well, you know the site. :) I definitely have been getting to some of them and my goal is to get one big one (that requires quite a bit of construction on our part) done in the next year; hoping by Christmas, but that might be pushing it.

Even with all the great ideas out there, I came up with one for a friend of mine's baby shower. Her and I have a "special" relationship and clsoeness that you want in a best friend. You fight, you make up. You have kids, you go 3 years without seeing each other. When you do see each other again, you scream, cry and talk like it's only been a week. (And that's why I love you, my dear!)

I thought I should make a funny CD of some songs that would make her laugh and just help her to feel better in these last few weeks of pregnancy. So, I made her a mix "tape" of some oldies.

I think when she first saw it, she thought it was a serious, relaxing CD of labor music. I laughed and told her she might want to read the enclosed letter before taking it to the hospital. ;)

The letter reads:

Dear Colleen, 

I know that labor can’t be an EASY thing, but I wanted to give you a CD of some songs to keep you from getting too HOT BLOODED at the hospital.

Please be sure to check your car and make sure you have more than just ONE HEADLIGHT working, because you never know when you’ll go into labor. (Although I WISH we could get a schedule or something. Just one of those THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM.)

When you check into the hospital, with JACK AND DIANE, make sure you tell them that you’re here to have a baby. (You know, since you’ll look smokin’ hot so they won’t know.)

Just keep your eye on the prize: e.p.i.d.u.r.al. It’ll feel like you’re on a MAGIC CARPET RIDE. At that point, the nurse will probably tell you that TIME IS ON MY SIDE. Just stay calm and listen to EVERY LITTLE STEP the labor & delivery staff tells you to follow. At that point, there’s no turning back. Just keep telling yourself that this is 2 LEGIT 2 QUIT.

I just know that you’re going to be thinking you wish you had a girl to call YOUR WOMAN, but count your blessings because GIRLS AIN’T NOTHIN’ BUT TROUBLE. Here’s a suggestion for Adam in the delivery room: once the baby comes, it’s completely appropriate to run around the room fist-pumping while screaming, “WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.” (Trust me…)

Now even when you see that adorable baby boy’s face, there’s NO DIGITY (NO DOUBT) that you will get HUNGRY EYES. My advice would be to tell Adam, “KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF” and concentrate on what a wonderful, complete family you have. And for goodness sake, pour yourself a glass of RED RED WINE!

Always my love,
Kelly

If you hadn't noticed, some of the words/phrases are bolded and in all capital letters. Yes, those would be the songs (in order) that are on the CD that was enclosed. She loved it! I even made a copy for myself because the songs are too funny. :)

The easiest way I did this, was to start with a couple of songs and try to write the letter. With each new song that I found on my Brad's iTunes play list, I tried to make a sentence with it and then put it in order on the CD where it appeared in the letter. That way, the letter made more sense when reading it.

I'm not the craftiest person in the world, but I hope this inspires you all to do something nice for somebody else or just to be creative on your own.

Cam's First Birthday

This weekend was our son's first birthday. It's so hard to believe we have a one-year-old now! It really was the fastest year of my entire life! Now I know what my parents mean when they tell me that time goes by too quickly with your kids.

I can't wait to see how he develops, who he becomes, and (almost hesitantly) what kinds of questions he asks us. :)

Above you can see a month-by-month picture banner for Cam's first year of life. I will eventually write a DIY post about how I made it, but I'll have to figure out how to do that since the grandparents and aunts and uncles all claimed them to take home after the party so I'm banner-less right now. Hah.

We decided to not go with a strict theme, but to be able to incorporate balloons and lots of red, yellow, and blue colors! We bought pails, books and bubbles for the kids (which were a BIG hit) from the dollar section at Target. Just so you moms out there know, you don't have to buy the biggest and most expensive things for your party.

Nor do you have to buy everything. Those cupcake stands you see? $3.50 each at Kroger on clearance! Yup! I made all of the food at the party (with the exception of some strawberries a family friend made). All of it was from scratch, except some frozen meatballs. C'mon now, I have a toddler. I don't have that kind of time.

I have to admit that most of my food ideas came from Annie's Eats. She has such great ideas and I was so excited to be able to incorporate all of them into the party. All we knew was that we wanted to entertain and tend to Cam 100% of the time so we did all finger-food. I am SO grateful that we chose to go that route and it was SUCH an easy clean-up, too.

Before the party, my mother, mother-in-law and Cam's aunts all helped to get the party food warmed up and ready to go while they let me get ready. The birthday boy slept almost the first hour of his party so I woke him up to come see everyone. Most people hadn't seen him since he was born. Many since he was only a few months old. I think he was a little shocked at first, but he didn't seem to mind the crowd.

The above picture is one of my favorites from the party. Aunt Rachael always brags about her (obviously) gorgeous nephew and she just LOVED on him during the party!

Uncle Shawn came, too and he had a lot of fun with Cam. Shawn, I know you're going to have so much "fun" with him when he's older and you can teach him to shoot nerf balls at mommy. :/

After going to a few birthday parties, showers, and other gatherings in the past few years, I've learned one lesson: open presents FAST. I just know it can be daunting. After watching Camden open a few presents, I decided to put the camera down and help open gifts. He had so many it took quite a while so I'm glad I did that. We absolutely loved everyting he got and we definitely won't be needing toys any time soon.

Grandma Jones was a HUGE help and I was so grateful to have her in the kitchen with me the night before frosting his cake (twice) and dozens upon dozens of cupcakes.

After presents, it was getting to that crucial 2-hour point, so we decided to go do cake.

We sang happy birthday and then Cam got to dig in...

"Is this all really for me?"

He did great with his smash cake, even getting some on my brand-new shirt. :)

He had such a great birthday and we couldn't have been happier with the outcome!

Now usually I'm not one to give advice (haha yeah right), but this is one crucial piece I would suggest for any mom: Put your child in their swimmy diaper and swim suit to eat their smash cake. It was so easy to just plop him right down in the kiddie pool. I'm so glad he was born in the summer time so we are able to do that!

We cannot thank everyone enough for coming, helping, celebrating, and visiting Cam on his first birthday! I know there are a few people we missed, but it was such a great time and we can't wait for #2! (Birthday that is...)

Hello? Hello?

Hello? Anyone there?

Sorry I have been MIA lately. I have so much to update everyone on and I'm so excited for Cam's first birthday this weekend! I've been so busy with planning that and starting a new job (told you I have a ton to update about), that I just haven't had the time or energy to get on here to write anything.

I'm motivated. I'm in such a good "writing mood" so to speak, but just wish I had the energy and time to keep up the blog better.

Shame, shame.

Anyways, I will update with pictures from Camden's first birthday soon. It's going to be great and I hope to see lots of family and friends there on Saturday!!

Nursing Mom's Nest - Indianapolis Zoo

This past weekend my hubby and I decided to take a quick trip to the Indianapolis Zoo. We have always wanted to eventually get a membership when we had kids and now seemed like a great time. The weather has been great, Camden loves the animals, and his birthday is quickly approaching. (And I couldn't think of anything really "big" to get him.) A year-long zoo membership was perfect!

I will post more about the zoo later, but I wanted to focus on a new area of the zoo, which I'm pretty sure is unique to Indianapolis' Zoo. There is a new exhibit at the zoo called Flights of Fancy: A Brilliance of Birds. There are all sorts of birds from probably around the world (I'm more of a seer/doer than a read-the-info person). We got to feed the birds, too, which was the highlight of my trip for sure!

The uniqueness of this area is that there is a great private, indoor separate area for nursing mothers to feed or change their little ones. Enter the Nursing Moms Nest, presented by Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health.

A lot of people have misconceptions that a breastfeeding mother is shy or should go to these private places to hide. This is not a place like that. The zoo isn't kicking us out from nursing on a bench out in public. The beauty of this area is that it's indoors, quiet, and comfortable. Any nursing mother will tell you that all of those play a HUGE factor in breastfeeding. If you've ever tried to breast feed a very distractible infant with noises around (especially animals, birds, crowds of people), you know what I'm talking about. Also, it gets pretty hot here in the summer, cold in the winter, and rains whenever it wants to (hey, it's Indiana after all) so the climate-controlled area is definitely a must-have!

I must admit that the area was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. It's like a mini-gymnasium. Okay, well maybe not that big, but it was roomy! Whoever collaborated to make this happen, thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my my-toddler-won't-nurse-just-anywhere heart. :-)

The artwork was so heart warming and tasteful. They definitely incorporated the aspects of the zoo into the room decor, which I thought was a wonderful touch. They did some "finger" painting with the animals and there were pictures of animals with their young all around. Gorgeous, I say.

There were three private rooms with a rocker and footstool in each. (I assume, anyways, since I didn't go snooping into the two other occupied rooms.) The glass doors were tinted so you couldn't see into the area. There was also a place for you to sit and nurse out in the open, which I don't mind NEARLY as much as I did when first starting almost a year ago. 

Overall, my experience at the zoo this time around was fantastic. It usually always is, but this just made it so much easier to bring my son and not have to miss a thing!

No more nursing my son in the car sitting in the parking lot. It's conveniently smack dab in the middle of the zoo so you don't have to miss a single exhibit. Thanks again to everyone that came together to make this Nursing Nest a reality, because let's face it, this is something a lot more public places should adopt.