Celebrating Chase's 1st birthday!

Well, we survived Chase's 1st birthday party! Our friends and family that love Chase joined us at a local park to play, eat, and celebrate our precious boy.

I wanted to do a post for all my friends that have parties coming up.

Does everyone know Dollar Tree sells helium balloons? They can be $4-6 at the grocery store or party city.

Another one of my good ideas was putting everything in old diaper boxes. It made transporting things to and from the park a lot easier.

Some mistakes I made: thinking Hubby and my Dad could do the set up and decorate part of the party. I stayed home with Chase which was good but when I got there not much had been done and all the guests had arrived.

I wanted the bbq started at 11:30 but apparently someone else had a better idea. It ended up ok because I was able to take Chase around and try and get a picture of him with everyone. I thought it was a good idea to get pictures before he ate.

We didn't hire a photographer. I had my sil and friend bring their nice cameras and had to kind of beg them to take pictures for me.

Chase loved his cake that Grandma made.

I think he had fun and looked pretty cute. That's all the matters right?

Let me know if you have any other bday party questions!

the winner is!

Monica aka Blessed Mama! I will send your name and email address to printrunner. Congrats!

4/23/2011

This is a picture of me on 4/29/2011. 2 days after my due date. The day I had a hysterical breakdown when Hubs called me on his lunch break saying the baby was never going to come out! 2 days later my world was flipped upside down and the most adorable little man entered my life!

One year ago today I posted this about my get the baby out progress. I can't believe it has been a year already!

I thought I would take a couple minutes to write about what's been going on, for me. Maybe some day I'll want to look back and remember this time. Probably not. Maybe it will help some other pregnant girl to know someone else went through this.

My due date is April 27th. I was born a few days after my due date. My husband was born a week after his due date. I was prepared for this baby to be late. I wasn't prepared for the doctor to tell me I was 2 cm dilated at my 38 week appointment on April 13th. I got all excited that he was going to come early! My mom told my dad he would have a grandson within 7 days. Then I started having contractions that night and the next morning. Everyone got all excited. My dad thought he was going to have his grandson on Thursday the 14th!

Then, I made it to my 39 week appointment on the 20th. I told them I had kind of been having contractions on and off and my dr checked me to see what kind of progress those contractions were causing. The baby's head had moved down a lot and I was dilated to 3-4 cm and 70% effaced. I was glad that I had made progress but knew not to get excited about it this time. Thursday, the 21st I had some contractions but didn't want to wake my husband up. Friday, the 22nd he got up to get ready for work and I got up too since I hadn't been sleeping. I ate breakfast and watched some tv and decided to try and lay down and get some sleep.

When I was laying down I started noticing I was having stronger contractions than I had ever felt. I thought to myself maybe I should start timing them just to see how frequent they were. I was surprised that they were about 5 minutes apart. I called my mom thinking she might not have left for work yet and she could tell me if I needed to call my husband or someone else nearby to take me to the hospital. My doctor has told me if my contractions are 3 to 5 minutes apart and intense enough that I can't walk or talk during them that I should go to the hospital. Well mom and I determined that they probably weren't strong enough yet and I should see how things progressed.

I continued to time them throughout the day. My dad came over for lunch and I was able to hang out with him and he didn't notice me being in too much pain. My parents were thinking I would continue to progress and that maybe my husband should come home a little early. When I talked to him at lunch we kind of decided that I would tell him to come home if the contractions got back to 10 mins or so apart. After my dad left I timed my contractions for about an hour and they were about 10 mins apart and I thought about texting my husband but I tried to take a nap first. I was able to sleep for an hour so I knew it wasn't time to go to the hospital yet.

Saturday, the 23rd, at about 4am I was having contractions that were way more intense than I had ever felt. I would say they were about a 5 or 6 on a scale of 1-10. I decided to wake my husband up and we started timing the contractions. We timed them for an hour or two and they were pretty frequent and intense. I really thought it was about time to go to the hospital. Then after awhile I was able to fall asleep and woke up disappointed.

I guess this is pretty common, but its pretty frustrating and confusing. I keep saying it would be so much easier if my water broke! I'm trying to look at the bright side and think at least I won't be in labor for a long time at the hospital since my body is slowly dilating. I will let you guys know on twitter most likely when we finally do end up at the hospital! Keep sending "get that baby out" thoughts my way!

Postcard Giveaway!

The amazing people at PrintRunner, an online printing company, contacted me about hosting a giveaway! Of course I said sure! They do online postcard printing, banners, calendars, business cards and a ton more!

What you can win: 100 5x7 Postcards
Colors : 4/0 Front Only Printing
Paper : 14 PT. UV Coating on Front,
Rounded Corners : Yes
Proof : None
Ready to Ship In : 4 Business Days
*Giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above.

I have to tell you that I'm getting a set of postcards for hosting the giveaway :)

All you have to do to win is leave your name and email address! Don't enter if you have won a giveaway from PrintRunner in the last 6 months.

I am going to pick a winner on the 25th of April.

Facebook page

I created a facebook page for my little piece of the internet. I feel like in the last year becoming a mom has helped me to feel more secure about who I am. I think when you have the unconditional love of a child it makes it easier to say this is who I am, if you don't like it, oh well, Chase does :).

Anyways, I now no longer care who knows that I write a blog. The only hesitation I have with having everyone know about my blog is no longer having anything to talk about. I think I've been able to find a balance now and don't post everything on here anymore.

So, if you haven't already, and would like to get facebook updates about the blog, go ahead and head over to facebook and like my page :)

Birthday on a Budget part 2

I thought I would update you on how the birthday on a budget is going. I know it doesn't look like I've bought much from the picture, but I thought I would save the favors as a surprise. Actually, they are in the garage and I'm too lazy to go get them. Anyways, I bought another pack of invites because we have a ginormous family! I also bought a tablecloth, a set of baseball bases, a pack of paper and the favors.

I had a hard time finding a birthday bib I liked. I of course debated custom made again. I also thought a gender neutral bib that our other future children could use for their first birthdays might be cute. I like the one I found at Carter's because it just says Birthday Boy so he could wear it for all his birthdays! The best part? I looked at the tag and figured $10 was ok. As I was walking again I noticed a 50% off sign above where I had just grabbed the bib so I thought I might get lucky. When I looked at the total of $3.75 I was shocked! That price was so good my friend Tiffany had to grab one for her 6 month old!

Part 1
3) 10 packs of invites $3
1 happy bday banner $1
1 popcorn thing $1
1 allstar fabric banner $2.78
1 batter up t shirt $10.99
total $18.77

1) 10 pack of invites $1
1 set of baseball bases $1
1 tablecloth $1
Party favors $10
construction paper (I don't know where the receipt for this is I'll get back to you)
1 birthday boy bib $3.75
total $16.75

GRAND TOTAL $35.52

Maybe some day

I wanted to copy and past this from another post to have to pin for the next trip to the hospital.

Let’s talk about what to pack for the hospital. BUY TRAVEL SIZE TOILETRIES SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO PACK THEM BEFORE YOU LEAVE. BRING PILLOWS WITH BRIGHT PILLOW CASES AND TOWELS FOR YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND IF HE IS STAYING. The hospital bed, pillows, and towels suck. YOU NEED A COUPLE PAIRS OF SOCKS, CLOTHES FOR HUSBAND AND BABY. My husband wished he had slippers. The baby wore one going home outfit and used one blanket. I brought a nursing nightgown but stayed in my hospital gowns the whole stay. CAMERA, VIDEO CAMERA, AND LAPTOP WERE USED. We never turned on the tv or the ipod. YOU CAN A BRING DIAPER BAG JUST IN CASE THE HOSPITAL RUNS OUT OF DIAPERS, I’VE HEARD IT HAPPENS, AND THEN IT’S READY FOR APPOINTMENTS A COUPLE DAYS LATER.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BREAST FEED THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU BRING WITH YOU TO THE HOSPITAL IS MY BREST FRIEND . I was given a boppy and thought that would be fine and never got around to asking if I should bring it to the hospital. I don't know why I didn't think I would need it. The boppy was too soft. My Brest friend is hard and keeps him in the right position which is so important when you are both figuring things out. My little guy is such a squirmer it was so hard to just use hospital pillows the first couple days. I came home and tried the boppy but it was still difficult. My Brest friend is amazing!

Feeding a texture sensitive toddler

If you have been a long time reader, you probably know that I am a picky eater. My Uncle wrote a post about it 2 years ago when I was marrying Curtis. Well, my parents are loving that I get a taste of my own medicine in my little boy.

A few weeks ago Chase decided he didn't want to be spoon fed any more. He has always been sensitive to food textures. He gagged on a lot of foods the first time he tried them. If there was ever a chunk in any food I made him he would find it and spit it out. So finding finger foods that my texture sensitive boy will even bring near his mouth has been a challenge. He's doing so much better now and his list of foods that he eats is growing. I have to share what has worked for us for other moms out there and his buddy Cullen's mom, Annie :)

Annie actually suggested one of Chase's faves, grilled cheese!

He loves to share a pear with Daddy.


Like most kids Chase is a Cheerio-a-holic.

He loves bread. He likes to suck on mandarin oranges or Cuties. He likes quesedillas. We have chicken quesedillas about once a week and share with Chase. I think he's tried the chicken a couple times.

He shared a Morning Star veggie burger with his Grandpa. He ate some sauteed zucchini from one of our dinners.

I also like to give him variety at breakfast and just got him some frozen Kashi waffles that he likes.

One of the pages I follow on Facebook is called Fearless Fedding and my friend Alyssa mentione in one of their posts that she needed lunch ideas and I commented that I did as well. They suggested tuna salad, egg salad, and different meats in the sandwiches. We aren't big tuna salad or egg salad people so I'm not sure about trying those. We've tried roast beef and ham and he doesn't even try them.

Do you have any lunch ideas for us to try? I guess I should check out those toddler lunch pins I pinned after I post this huh?

Help us paint our Master Bedroom

I'm so excited we are making plans and researching getting new carpet for our master bedroom! Obviously you want to paint before you get new carpet, so we are going to paint Saturday!

What color should we do? The color of the blue pillow or the bronze pillows. Obviously it won't look exactly like this picture. Just gives an idea. My friend thought we would get tired of blue. I'm thinking bronze/brown might be better for resale.

only 1 month from 1!!!!

We had such a fun month with Chase. I swear he was teething the whole month and we didn't get much sleep, but oh well! We celebrated our first St. Patrick's Day, played with Grandpa, and played at the park with friends!

The most exciting thing for us this month was Chase WALKING! He started off taking a few steps at the beginning of the month and now he can walk across a room! He gets the biggest smile on his face and it is so cute! He also tried opening the doors a few times. He stoops from a standing position. My mother-in-law decided he must get his coordination from me because her boys crawled and walked later.

Wherever he gets it, his strength and motivation never cease to surprise me. This month I realized he is intrinsically motivated, which I love. I can tell you no one is telling him pick up the heaviest toy you have and try and walk. That's all him! We also saw his persistence and determination. Right now he is usually determined to get other kid's sippy cups or something he isn't supposed to do but I say some day that persistence will get him a job!

I say Chase is the strong silent type because where he is advanced in his gross motor skills he seems a little behind in his verbal. He babbles all day long and every once in awhile he makes sounds that sound like words we say but the only word he consistently says is dada. We've heard dog and cat but I think it is just a coincidence. I swear he thinks my name is Ed.

No one can make Chase giggle like his Daddy. No one can rock Chase to sleep but his Mommy. He cried for the first time in a store this month. It was a combination of seperation anxiety, being tired, and I took something away from him. People probably thought it was crazy that I didn't know what to do, but my baby never cries!

Everyone tells me how tall he is. He's in size 4 diapers. We think he's probably 24-25 pounds. The sleeves on his 12 month shirts are too short.

Just in the last few days Chase has decided he doesn't want to be spoon fed. He still isn't eating very many finger foods but we tried the pouch things last night and he loves them! We are still trying to get him to drink from the sippy cups we have been given. I think I might try a straw one soon.

I can't believe how fast time has flown by!