life with baby

Party Like You’re One

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Jameson’s friend Jonathan turned one a few weeks ago and had his party just last weekend! Jonathan’s party was in red and blues, a sophisticated polka dot theme.

JP made pork and macaroni and cheese (with goldfish on top!). And as for the cake: The birthday boy definitely knew what cake was since he had had it a couple times by the time his party rolled around, so he dug into his personal cake with a vengeance.

Jameson had some of Brian’s cake, and asked for more after he finished that so he got an extra piece just for him.

While I took photos, Jameson meanwhile kept stealing Jonathan’s walking toy and power walking through the church. Brian and his friend Kyle followed him around, to the indoor slide and through the dark hallways which Jameson had no fear of.

Of course, Jameson-Trouble-Maker also wanted to attack the balloons (which we only let him near a couple times since he was scratching and squeezing them and trying to eat them), and he wanted to climb on chairs.

Friends Jason and Lisa and their daughter Vivienne were there as well. Vivienne is 6 months old now!

Then it was time to open gifts! Jonathan was a champion gift opener. He helped pull out cards from the bags, and was cheerful the whole time.

Jameson got Jonathan a stool with his name on it. Like puzzle pieces, the letters can come out of the stool. It was very sturdy and well made, I’m really happy with how it came out. I purchased it from Personal Creations.

Jonathan had a fan club while he was opening gifts, too cute!

Then it was time to say goodbye, both Jameson and Jonathan were exhausted.


Since then, Lisa and I got together on Monday night without the babies to go Kohl’s shopping (30% off!). I bought a new purse and jeans (since crawling around on the floor is wearing mine out, and I need some for work). I’m excited to announce that I am ten pounds down and fitting into both my goal pants! I will be trying on my bridesmaid dress this weekend and hopefully I will be able to zip it all the way up. Phew!

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life with baby

Toddler Toy Taker

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Mr. Jameson is introducing us to toddlerhood by throwing small (short, for now, thank goodness) tantrums and taking toys.

Here he is giving Nicholas the stink eye… then he makes his move.

On Sunday, Nicholas and his parents Matt and Carrie came to visit us. Nicholas is turning the big O-N-E and we can’t make it to his party (due to another party for another special O-N-E year old), so we invited them over to hang out and play.

They were pretty cute together. Nicholas enjoyed sitting and playing with all Jameson’s new toys, while Jameson crawled around like a zoo monkey set free in the wild.

This was interspersed with more toy stealing.

They both enjoyed playing with blocks, and Nicholas showed off his skills stacking them (Jameson is pretty fixated on just knocking them down for the most part still)

They’re also both at the stage where they like to sort things. Jameson just learned how to put the “coins” in the bank this past week, and Nicholas wanted to too. So Jameson stole it back. And spat in it.

I’m sure it was completely accidental drool. Hopefully. (We are still working on those bottom molars, you know)

We might need to do something about that mullet growing there. Look how nice and neat Nicholas is in comparison! And here is my son again:

Occasionally Jameson was cute. He tried playing peek-a-boo. Sometimes he’ll do it without anything to cover his face, and his hands will go up and clap his ears or cheeks like the home alone kid. Too cute!

Finally it was time to open gifts! Jameson wanted to help, really bad. He got upset when we took the toys away. What a difference just two months makes. He knew exactly what we were doing (and thought it was for him).

Nicholas enjoyed the little drum we got him, and hopefully he’s enjoying the bead maze as well since he seemed fascinated with Jameson’s while he was over!

It was nice to see them again; we live a very short distance away but don’t get together often. It’s always fun watching the children interact, and in this case… learning more about my son as he is growing. We’re going to have to start teaching sharing a little more, I can see.

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life with baby

Happy Birthday Grandpa

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On Friday last week, we celebrated Brian’s dad’s birthday with pizza, chicken and wings! It was one of the first real tests of my new-found resolve to limit my calorie intake each day, and I did pretty well. I refrained from dessert since I had two slices of pizza. (Cue a collective gasp. I know, I turned down dessert!)

We realized that we didn’t have a lot of photos of Jameson with his grandpa, so we made sure to get a few shots of them together.

Jameson played cars with grandpa and dad, and they practiced waving together.

It was a great evening, and after Jameson went to bed, grandpa opened gifts. He made a sourpuss face when I tried to take a photo of him though. Apparently photos are only allowed with Jameson, haha.

P.S. Does Jameson’s hair seem like it’s getting long? I am not sure what to do with it, to cut it or leave it… it’s still very thin, just some wacky strands that are out of control. I think he might have his daddy’s hair…

P.S.S. Jameson’s other grandpa has a birthday earlier in January, but we are never around to celebrate it since it is just after the holidays. Gets me thinking that maybe he’s got the shortest end of the stick, as compared to birthdays around Christmas. Anyway, Happy Birthday Dad!

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general life, life with baby

91

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Brian’s grandpa turned 91 yesterday, and we all went to visit him for a party!

I was also really excited for the chance to try again at taking photos of the 4 generations together, since last time we went I wasn’t thrilled with the photo.

You may not be able to tell, but the lighting in this room isn’t very friendly! (Not to mention, the wallpaper…) I had my old Nikon D40 and attempted to take photos without flash. That photo is slightly out of focus, but I tried to correct for that too.

But this time was much better. I am still a little grumpy at myself for not bringing proper batteries so my flash didn’t work, but this camera the D5100 did a much better job of focusing and taking crisp photos in low light.

And on the other side of the family, Brian’s Uncle Mike, cousin Gabrielle and her son Griffin posed for this photo (also, they got smart with the props there putting the cake in front)

That’s Finley, Gabrielle and Griffin’s new beagle puppy. She was really cute, and hard to capture without my flash. I got one out of about 15 photos of her in focus.

Great-grandpa sang Silent Night while we were there and was in good spirits.

Jameson was also happy, even though he is teething hard recently. I was excited to get a few photos of him with his grandpa too.

We had fruit, meatballs, pulled pork and pasta salad. Jameson enjoyed the pasta salad a lot, which was funny since he didn’t like my pasta salad last time we made it.

It was nice to all get together and celebrate, we had a great time. Except I did overeat. So worth it.

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life with baby

The Party

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Saturday was The Party. Clutter was cleared out to the upstairs spare room, balloons were blown up, cakes were iced and decorated. It was a little bit of last minute chaos but it all came together.

My parents, sister and brother came up for the day, along with my brother’s girlfriend who I was finally able to meet.

The outfit Jameson has on, he had on for his photo shoot on Friday too. They were a clearance find, along with his first birthday bib, from Babies R Us. The bow tie was $2! Note the upside down polar bears on it though. Both my dad and Brian seem to have trouble putting it on right side up. Oops!

Jameson’s always a little uncertain of his grandpa he doesn’t see as often, but he warms up after just a little while. My family and Brian’s parents & sister kept Jameson occupied while we finished up the details. Like borrowing an ice bucket from the neighbors and getting help from said neighbor, my sister, and cousin Sam to work the balloons.

And then the guests began to arrive!

JP, Lisa and Jonathan in his adorable hat (he’s so good with hats) came with the nachos and taco dip. Jason and our other friend Lisa came with not as little Vivienne!

Carrie, Matt and their son Nicholas arrived too. We hadn’t seen them in a long time (not quite this long, but still long).

Cousin Nicholas who’s birthday was just last week arrived too with parents Jerry and Lisa and brother Nathan. (Lots of Lisa’s)

That’s a lot of babies!

After some play time (Jameson has a thing for water bottles right now), and food for the adults, it was time for cake!

Jameson didn’t blow out any candles this year. He also was quite a bit more delicate with the cake than I expected, though he enjoyed it! He was also fascinated with the balloons attached to his highchair.

We didn’t expect to open many gifts, but Jameson made it through all the gifts for the people who were there with us. First up, neighbors Kelly & Curtis and their daughter Lily. Then came Lisa, JP & Jonathan.

The babies wanted to help open the gifts they got for Jameson, it was so cute!

Jameson is learning how to clap, or maybe it’s patty cake (per his grandma). This is the very first time I saw him do it, and it was even captured on camera!

Uncle Ty’s girlfriend Emily took the camera from here and got some great shots. I was really excited to be in some photos for a change (open mouth and all).

Proof that some of the classic, old school toys are the best. Jameson wouldn’t let go of his little man peg (reminiscent of the Game of Life) the entire night from Jason, Lisa and Vivienne.

Here I am, trying on Jameson’s onesie from Aunt Holly. Captured on camera thanks to Emily, haha.

This used to be a card from his grandma and grandpa.

One of the last gifts of the evening, and one of my favorite photos. A frog hat, from my friend Teresa.

Jameson had a good time, but he missed an afternoon nap and was so tired at the end!

We had a great time! We opened more gifts, from us to Jameson and others who missed the party, on Sunday. Jameson really got the hang of opening gifts by the end. Some of his favorite things, of course, are the wrapping paper, bows and tissue paper. It’s the simple things, right?!

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life with baby

Birthday Bash: The Party Details

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This is all about the hard work that went behind the scenes of Jameson’s first birthday party!

THE THEME

Jameson didn’t care much about the theme (haha), so I decided on a “one year in a flash” style party I found inspiration for here. The colors I chose were blues, whites, silvers and a flash of bright green, and I planned on using his photos and the time capsule in the party as well. Here’s my original post on the party theme. And in the end, I even found a way to use his love of his little brown bear stuffed animal in his outfit.

THE INVITATIONS

The invitations were printed with SmartPress on their Felt Weave paper. Here’s a recap and more photos of the final invitations.

THE TIME CAPSULE

Each invitation included a card to fill out for Jameson’s time capsule. Jameson ended up with $15 in ones (hmm…); an Akron neighborhood map; lots of well wishes, and some sealed envelopes which I didn’t open even though I’d love to know what’s in them.

I still need to get a final box or jar to put everything in and seal it up for eternity 18 years.

THE DECOR

You probably didn’t forget these lovely garlands on the chandelier. Here’s a recap on how they were made.

I also did one that I hung Jameson’s 12 months of photos on over the fireplace, so there was a festive garland in just about every room.

We had balloons everywhere. We rented a helium tank from ABC Rentals. You get more helium for the same price it costs for a tank from a party store. I actually think the balloons did the most to shout “birthday party!”, more so than the garlands of dots and snowflakes. Everyone loves balloons!

THE PHOTO WALL

In addition to the garland with 12 months of photos, I had a photo wall in the shape of a 1 for Jameson’s party. This was my favorite part of the whole party and everyone loved to look at the photos. It was hard to select the ones to display.

THE FOOD

We decided to do a couple stations of food to try and break up some of the crowd since we had this in our home. A lot of people attended, and it only felt crowded for a little while when people first were getting food. It was all easy food too:

meatballs in Brian’s special sauce
spiral ham & buns
pasta salad
mini hot dogs in crescent rolls
veggies & dip
nachos & taco dip
chips & pretzels
cheese & crackers
relish tray (pickles & olives)
m&m’s

THE CAKE

Brian and I argued over the cake a few times (to say the least). I was planning on a mini bundt cake for Jameson, and I wanted to do a (or a couple of) regular bundt cakes for the adults. Bundt cakes would mean I could make a homemade cake myself, but they’re practically pre-decorated so I wouldn’t have to do anything sophisticated to decorate.

In the end we compromised with a store-bought cake for the adults that I decorated with frozen pound cake cubes to make blocks. It is clearly homemade decoration, but no one seemed to mind.

As for Jameson and the other baby cakes? They turned out fabulous. I made them on Friday night and I followed this recipe with carrot & peach baby food and applesauce to the T and was very happy with the results.

I baked them in the 6 mini bundt cake pan for 19 minutes. (P.S. I doubled the recipe and got a ridiculous number of little cakes, some 19 or so, I didn’t realize how much it would make). The icing was also great and I would make both again.

Jameson was pretty neat with his eating, but he liked it! In fact, I think he liked it all.

THE FAVORS

Finally, everyone got to leave with a photo (of course) and hot chocolate peppermint bag that Brian and I made on Friday. I couldn’t have done it without his help. The cocoa powder made a mess of the bags and made the marshmallows look “dirty” so the bags needed scrunched up close to a funnel to keep it fairly neat. My brother had his last night and said was good, so it was worth it. I followed this recipe.

The best part is the leftovers can be used as gifts for Jameson’s daycare teachers and co-workers.

THANK YOU

Thank you’s are doubling as Christmas cards this year, so I’m knee deep in getting them done by tomorrow. I am so happy with how everything turned out and we had so much fun! We have such great family and friends.

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life with baby

Birthday Boy

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Jameson’s party was a huge success. He enjoyed seeing all the people, opening gifts (so much so that he crawled toward the Christmas gifts under the tree yesterday thinking there was more!), and playing with friends.

I’m honored with how many people came to see Jameson and wish him a happy first birthday, but I can see why sometimes second children get the shaft 😉 Parties are hard work!

The celebration started on Friday with Brian’s parents and sister coming over on his actual birthday to have pizza and open their gifts.

The first gift he opened was a little animal that sang Happy Birthday to him, opening and closing it’s mouth which Jameson tried to put his hands in.

Jameson loved the bows that his grandma put on the gifts!

We had to pause to read a couple of the new books he got.

He’s really starting to get stronger wants and needs and when he got new puffs, he really wanted to keep them. He was so upset when we took them away to open another gift, so we had to give them back.

But he forgot about them once he opened the big gift. His Aunt Melissa got him a new walking toy which he loved!

Jameson was really good about opening gifts and loved playing with his new toys! Little did he know there was more to come on Saturday…

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Happy Birthday

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Happy 1st Birthday to my little handsome man, Jameson.

Today, we’re opening some gifts, taking naps, taking pictures, eating pears, eating pizza, and playing with lots of toys.

Plenty of time for reflection next week. For now, it’s all about joy.

The grand finale (just like fireworks, we piled all the blocks on Jameson). He loved it.

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life with baby

Birthday Boy

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I know, I know. It’s a little early to be celebrating Jameson’s birthday. We have a couple more weeks to go (Gosh, only a couple?! I am way behind on making those garlands)

But, he seemed to enjoy the walk behind/ride on toy at his friend Mark‘s so much that we asked nicely and Jameson’s grandparents were willing to go ahead and give him one of his gifts early last night.

Sasha wanted to help. That right there, that’s “9 years of teaching her to open her own gifts” Brian said. Yep, this puppy gets wrapped gifts too.

What is it!? Why, it’s …. wrapping paper! Yay!

Meanwhile, some assembly is required.

[10 Minutes Later…]

Grandma and grandpa (who took off work early for this special occasion) are thrilled. Jameson took to it right away, both forward and backward as you can see in this cute video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDVy5zfr5Ew]

I can tell that he’s going to be chasing after the puppy even more now…

I am not sure who had more fun, us or Jameson.

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diy, life with baby

Jameson’s First Art Projects

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Last week, Jameson came home with his very first art project (okay, not very first– he’s had his hand prints and foot prints done). So I guess I mean, his very first creative art work, where he was free to mess to his heart’s content. He came home with a lovely blue painting, now on display on his dresser.

This inspired me to help Jameson make a birthday gift for his lovely Aunt Melissa who turned 30 on Friday!

Four tubes of finger paint later, Jameson was sitting in his high chair stripped of his shirt, ready to paint. I put four globs on paint on the paper and let him have at it.

He was kind of delicate at first, but he got into the swing of it pretty quickly.

He only tried to suck on his fingers twice, and eat the paper once. I rescued him all three times, and no paint ended up on his chest, so that is pretty much a win-win-win.

Aunt Melissa loved it! Grandma was a little jealous…

As an aside, I don’t think Jameson will be opening his own gifts on his birthday just one short month away. He was fascinated with eating the box and wrapping. Aunt Melissa has threatened to give him just an empty box on his birthday, which I’m sure he would love.

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