Thursday, March 31, 2011

More Birthday Stuff!

These are super easy and super cute to make! Google pretzel hugs and you can find many many directions and variations :)

I found them on a blog called Kelly's blog or something like that and thought they were sooo cute!


Baby boy enjoying some of his birthday party goodies! Tomorrow chocolate mice and get the cakes baked!

Opening a card from our friends the harpers!
o

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

1st Birthday Officially

Today is officially Nathan's first birthday! He is such a big boy now :(

We had yummy Soft Chocolate Cookies (the recipe can be found on my other blog) for his birthday and they were so yummy! We had pot roast, taters and carrots for dinner which he LOVES and then he got a present or two from family that was sent in the mail :).

A tunnel from Auntie Meghan which him and the doggies LOVE.

A recordable book that his Godfather/Uncle Stevan recorded for him. Bright & Beautiful A Child's Blessing and he loves listening to it!

A VTech Winnie the Pooh Book from our good friends the Baxters


A Mickey Mouse Card with some Cash from his Great Grandma (on my mom's side)
Plus he has more gifts from his Grandma and Auntie from my side that he doesn't get til his birthday party! So of course more pics to come! He did get a lot of phone calls with singing and happy birthday messages that he truly enjoyed and also lots of FB messages from everyone!!! Thank you all!!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

One Whole Year

I honestly cannot believe its been almost one whole year since my baby boy was born! This first  year has seriously flown by and I'm not entirely sure where it all went! I can say that it has been an amazing year and I couldn't be happier that our little man is in our lives! He truly brings out the best in everyone (well not Peanut but if you know my chihuahua you get it! LOL).

It has been amazing watching him learn and grow in this year. Its amazing how big babies get so quickly and all the amazing things they learn along the way. It has also made all the difference having a husband involved that really truly wanted to be a dad. Its amazing to watch him with his son and get excited over every little thing he does. It truly makes my heart happy having a partner in life who wants to do all these things with me and our little man!

Now if you know my husband at all he truly gets worked up when baby does anything! Like seriously excited yelling jumping and I swear at times it looks like he tears up but he totally won't admit to that! He was so worried that when he was TDY to the states that little man would start walking and thankfully he waited for dada to come home!

Baby boy has had a lot of first this year including all the normal ones like rolling, crawling, walking, first food, bath, and what not. He's also had first that some children will never get at his age like a passport, his first stamp from Ireland, his first trip to Venice, Italy, his first Gelato in Venice, Italy, he's been on more plane rides than your average adult, his first trip to Carnivale, his first signs (I love that he can communicate with us!), and so many more firsts that most babies this age would never get to experience because he's an Air Force Angel :) and some sad first like Dada having to go TDY.

I just can't believe that my little 20 inch 6 lbs 4 oz little tiny baby boy is now half my height and about 25 lbs already! As you can see he's more than likely going to be as tall as his dada! This little man fits so perfectly in our lives and we thank God daily that he is here! We love being with him, holding him, loving on him, and everything about him. We love that he's a good eater, that he can entertain himself, that he thinks spinning is hiliarious, that he learns things entirely too quickly, that he smiles when we walk into a room, that he loves to give us kisses, and so many other things that he does that make our hearts just melt.

I have learned many things as a first time parent as well and I've learned that no two children like the same thing, behave the same way, and that a lot of advice given to me will not benefit me in anyway. If you ask me for advice I'll tell you what worked for my child but there is no guarantee it will work for yours :) so don't expect miracles when asking for advice from others. I have also learned many first time parents think they know all which I find hiliarious but I'm going to ask the mama of at least two kids for tips and guidelines but thats just me lol.

Things that didn't work for us:

1. He hated the baby swing. We got one because we thought all babies loved them but wrong! Couldn't get him to stay in it for longer than like two minutes.

2. Vibrating bouncy chair. He would sit in it for short periods as long as you didn't turn the vibrating part on. If you did he would scream his little head off!

3. Infant carseat for us was a waste of money because our mini giant grew out of it way too fast!

4. Nuby sippy cups were a waste of money.

5. Stuffed animals aren't really necessary.

6. Pacifiers never worked in our home. He spit them out from the beginning (which really isn't a bad thing no fighting later on to take it away!)

7. Mobile- He would never sleep if that thing was on and eventually dada broke it anyhow.

Things that we love:

1. Cart Cover- I was told many times over that it was a waste of money and that we'd never use it but we use it all the time and love the thing! When baby is teething he always tries to chew on the cart which is gross and this stops him from that and also gives a place to connect toys.

2. Boppy Pillow- We LOVE this thing for not only feeding him, but tummy time, to set behind him when he was learning to set up, he uses it as a pillow when he wants to feed himself a pillow, we lay him in it when we change his diaper, and even the dogs love it! We still use it to this day.

3. Convertible Carseat- what an amazing thing! Plus we can keep him facing backwards up to 35lbs! I may even look for one with a higher rear facing weight (haven't decided yet).

4. Tilty Sippy Cups- We decided to go with something that was more designed for baby and no they're not spill proof. We decided against those sippy cups as well since they wouldn't be good for his teeth. But he hates those cups anyhow and LOVES his Tilty!

5. Exersaucer- He actually loved this toy and would sit in it and play and play. One of the only toys you could set him in that he would freak out over!

6. Baby Signing Time are the most amazing dvds ever and he LOVES them! He can tell us when he's hungry, wants milk, and a few other things. He started signing at 7 months :)

Things I learned as a Mommy:

1. Teething sucks!

2. Bath time is freaking hiliarious

3. If a baby is crying its for a reason

4. I'm not as grossed out by baby poo now that he's mine

5. Baby vomit smells bad and I can't deal with it no matter who it comes out of

6. Hair care isn't that bad once you figure out what works for you :) (oh and to write a T.O. for dada so he doesn't use the whole bottle of $12 leave in conditioner in one sitting!)

7. Babies learn things very quickly and when they're ready not when you're ready

8. Babies can crawl really fast

9. they grow out of their clothes quickly so hand me downs are always welcomed!

10. They just grow up entirely too fast and I wish I had a pause button sometimes!!

I'm sure there are many other things that didn't work for us or did and I'm sure I've learned many many more things but I could sit here writing all day for that but instead I'll end here and leave you with a birthday pic preview! We had his birthday pics done this month by Tammy Leach in the local area and she sent me a couple preview pics that are just adorable! Can't wait to see the rest!

OH yeah we're Dallas fans! Go Cowboys! LOL

Eating some of that yummy birthday cake from the previous post!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Baby's Birthday Month so far....

As most of you already know Nathan is turning one this month!! I just can't believe my little giant is going to be one and that a full year has passed since he's been alive! It really does amaze me how quickly time flies!!

So far this month he has gotten all sorts of neat gifts from family and friends!!

He got his first gift from Auntie Meghan!! A Thomas the Train tunnel which he loves to play in with the dogs! I've been slacking an having taken a pic of him in it yet!! I'll do that soon!!

He got his first birthday card in the mail from one of the hubby's good friends Jamie with a gift card inside! How freaking awesome right?!?!

He's also gotten a few gifts from my mom but they're wrapped waiting for his birthday!! So no pics yet!

My mom did send this LeapFrog Birthday Cake to him which is so stinking cool!! The candles light up and it sings and you actually low out the candles!! How stinkin' cool is that?!?!



The hubby's parents have sent him a card and gift as well that he's already opened hehehe...yeah I can't wait for the most part so I let him open stuff lol.

Reading his card from Grandma and Grandpa


Opening his present from Grandma and Grandpa :)
 Then he got a card in the mail from his Grandma Teddi (my mom) and of course she filled it with glittery stuff and of course being Nathan he thought it was pretty gosh darn tasty!

Eating Birthday glitter
He just got another gift in the mail today from our good friends Brandy, Herman, and Joy!! Dada said he couldn't have til his birthday though :(

It's stinking cute and yes I did play with shhh....don't tell baby!
We also had baby boys pictures done and we're still waiting to see how they turned out :) but I ordered him a cake and this was his first birthday cake of the month :)


made by Cakesby Colleen
And I've been working on stuff for his party. We are doing goody boxes instead of goody bags and I made centerpieces with his pictures (the ones I ordered they couldn't fill so I had to come up with something!)




I'll post more at the end of the month cause I'm sure he'll get more things! Plus his birthday party is coming up as well :) 

Thursday, March 17, 2011

My Little Man is Getting so BIG!!!




He is just getting so big! I can't believe he is almost one! He looks closer to the size of a two  year old than a one  year old! Someone make him stay my baby a little longer :(

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Deals Deals and more Deals!

Well if you know me at all you know I have an obsession for deals. You can see these deal sites in my last post Everyone Loves Free Stuff and the different sites that I use to earn stuff well since we've had baby I joined a couple points earning sites and I was kind of skeptical of them at first but hey they really work!!

I joined the diaper ones that are available Pampers Gifts to Grow and Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards .
I'm not really a fan of the Huggies program it takes forever to earn points and then they never have anything to choose from when you do have points, so I've pretty much given up on that one. I do use the Pampers codes all the time! I love that one!! I just redeemed my first prize and already got it in the mail.

Go Diego Go soft potty seat free from Pampers Gifts to Grow program

Now this program I should have joined a long time ago!!! Why I never did I'll never know and because we don't keep cases I wasn't able to use a lot of codes booooooo!!! Now that I know I'm looking everyone for my Disney Movie Rewards points to earn free stuff!!! I am getting my first reward in the mail and I"m super excited!!

Free DVD with Disney Rewards Programs
The cool thing with all three of these rewards programs is that you not only get the codes/points from the products you buy from them but you can also get extra points online! If  you just google which rewards program you are looking for points for you will find tons of places to find the extra codes :)

Another site I signed up for is Viewpoints and you don't really get a lot of free stuff from them because it is a product review site but everyone now and then they'll run a deal to earn free gift cards. The last one I did was in February and it was 10 reviews for $10 amazon gift card which I thought was great! I love amazon so I thought what the heck and did it. I wasn't sure if I'd get the gift card or not but shortly after the promotion was over I got the code in an email. I was excited!! I of course already spent it and on something for baby boy!! Dada has been wanting sunglasses for his little man so I finally broke down and got them and it didn't hurt since they didn't really cost me a thing!
Free Kid Banz with a free amazon gc from viewpoints!

I just thought I would share some ways to earn free stuff with all of you because I know I love free stuff too!!

These next to sites are for parents and people buying for kids. They have some of the best daily deals I've seen.  Totsy and Zulily are the two sites. You have to sign up to these deal sites and they will send you emails when they have new shops offering products for 50% off and more!!! Name brands, eco friendly brands, stuff for mom and dad, stuff for kids of all ages. They're really neat :)

Carnivale!!!! Venice, Italy!!! Freaking Amazing!!

We have been in Italy for a few years now and this year we finally made it to Carnivale in Venice, Italy!! I have been hesitant in the past because of the crazy crowds and if you know me that can totally stress me out! This year we had an amazing group of people going and invited us and we agreed. And boy are we glad we agreed! It was so much fun!! It was also a lot of firsts for our little man as well!!!

Baby boys first train ride!

Wine for the train ride :)

Boys deep in conversation...

Nathan hanging out with the ladies!

Baby boy in his own seat looking so cute!

The train ride has been one of the best I've taken to Venice so far! We were with an amazing group of people. We had fun. They drank. We chatted. We had a blast! Its definitely one for the books! When we got to Venice you could definitely tell that it was Carnivale with all the costumes, people, masks, and colors everywhere it was amazing!




Nathan's first cannoli thanks Tio Raul!


Those are men dressed up as cheerleaders by the way







These are just a few of the many pictures from that night! We had such an amazing time and this group of people seriously rocks! They have been amazing to know and we have been truly blessed to have been stationed with them! They've made our overseas just that much more bearable! They were amazing when my hubby was gone and even when he's here! Seriously glad to know them all and look forward to knowing them for many more years to come! We LOVE you guys!