Daily Baby - Happy Birthday Owen

Hard to believe that my little boy is one.  He's an actual PERSON, not just a helpless, tiny, scrunched-up thing.  We had his party this weekend and he was surrounded by family and friends, all of whom are very much appreciated for attending!  I was having a bit of a decorations meltdown at the park as there was just enough of a breeze that nothing wanted to stay put.  I had to take a deep breath, remind myself that it doesn't need to go on Pinterest, and be secure in the knowledge that the people there to celebrate were far more important than the balloons staying upright.  Armed with a roll of duct tape, my brother went for the uncle of the year award and fixed it all while I ran home to pick up the birthday boy, who was being dressed by his auntie, who should also get an award for leaving home at 4:30am and driving 5 hours to be there. Little man celebrated his first year with his first slice of pizza, stealing and chowing down on a cake pop from his auntie's hand, and sharing his first cupcake with mommy. 

So, after my first year of parenthood, I look back and wonder if I'd do anything differently.  To be honest, I don't think I would.  We've had our ups and downs.  There have been moments of sleeplessness and frustration, far outweighed by joy and laughter.  We have a happy, friendly, funny little boy who delights us and those around him on a daily basis.  He makes us proud, which makes me think we must have done something right.  It's been an adventure, but a grand one.  I can't wait to see what the next chapter brings.

Happy Birthday my little love.

Daily Craft - A birthday swap!

In the October birth group on Ravelry, we elected to do a swap in honor of the pending birthdays of our little ones.  It was a secret swap and, as my partner has no clue who their package is coming from, I'm going to share the contents here.  A little pampering for both mom and baby for making it this far!

Here it is in it's entirety.  (Not a fancy background, but this is what happens when you forget to take pics at home and end up doing so at work in the commissary on top of the pool table with your cell phone...)

Top row (left to right)
- some British themed loose leaf tea.  I love the little tins too and would definitely need to repurpose
- vintage photo notecards
- our favorite Sandra Boynton book "Moo, Baa, La La La!"

Middle row
- a tea pouch that I sewed with some of my favorite teas in it, along with dried chamomile flowers to add
- crochet stitch markers that I made
- Sesame Street toddler socks (they were too cute!)

Bottom row
- Josh Groban's last studio album, and the "Whip It" soundtrack
- a couple of soft acrylic yarns from my stash
- puffy bath books (which are also a favorite for Owen)

I certainly didn't get to craft as much for this swap as I have for swap packages in the past, but I still had a blast putting it all together and was happy to add a couple of handmade touches at least.  I have a package coming my way from somebody and can't wait to see what's in it! 

Daily Ramblings - Birthdays and un-birthdays

Our household was recently hit by the dreaded lurgy (which is one of those British phrases I'd very much like to get people using here in the US).  A couple of weeks ago, Owen brought home a daycare cold, which resulted in getting me sick.  He recovered pretty quickly but, having given the munchkin all my antibodies, I didn't fare so well.  After the cold symptoms dissipated, the following week of sinus headaches led me to the ENT doctor.  He congratulated me on the general disturbing state of my sinuses and tonsils, then sent me home with a 10 day dose of antibiotics.  The drugs had just taken hold on my infection when Owen started coughing and wheezing, leading to a weekend trip to urgent care where he was diagnosed with bronchitis.  Now we have to give him breathing treatments with albuterol twice a day, which essentially means we wave a wand that is spewing vapor into his mouth and try to get him to stay still for 10 minutes while it works it's magic and opens up his airways.  There is nothing fun about this.  Trying to get a six month old to stay in one spot for 10 minutes is hard enough as is, let alone with something that he doesn't understand shoved in his face.  If he doesn't start crying straight away, I will potentially spend those 10 minutes trying to wrestle the wand out of his hands because he's trying to eat it.  This morning he thought it was a gigantic straw and was trying to suck liquid out of it, then got frustrated because it wasn't working.  The kid is too smart for his own good.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, we did have cause for celebration.  Owen turned 6 months on Monday. That's half a year since he burst into our lives and changed us forever.  I can hardly believe it.  In that he was sick, I didn't get to do the photoshoot that I was hoping to, but snapped some pics on my cell phone to commemorate.  I'll do a proper photoshoot with him in the next couple of weeks.  I'd say his "blue steel" is pretty good already though.

Yesterday, it was my birthday.  I'd say 34 is a relative non-event, and the universe did feel the need to remind me of that as I struggled with car trouble and a wheezing baby, which meant my celebratory dinner ended up being Indian takeout, obtained and hand-delivered by my loving husband.  It certainly wasn't the ideal birthday but, in the end, I was surrounded by my boys (the big one, the small one, and the furry one) and I can't complain about that too much.

Daily Deuce - Happy Birthday Deuce!

It wouldn't be right to forgo wishing Deuce a Happy Birthday today - after all, I named this blog after the little fuzzbutt!

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Dear Deuce Today you turn 2 and I want to wish you a wonderful birthday.  I love how you give me little sniffy kisses every morning when I leave for work, and it makes me smile that your furry face is the first thing I see when I come home.  You constantly amuse me with your antics - even when you have your butt in my face, or you're attacking me with your fists of furry. You're such a sweet little guy, always checking on us to see what we're doing, and wanting to join in with every activity.  You love to play and enjoy nothing more than being chased around the house until your tail puffs up, chasing your ratty old ball around, wrestling with your mouse, or sunbathing under the dining table.  I love it when you're being chatty and telling me about your day.  I have no idea what you're saying, but I'm sure it's all good stuff! We're so happy that you're part of our family and wishing you a wonderful year filled with treats and tuna. Love and ear scratches, She who feeds you

Daily Art - A birthday visit to the Observatory

Yesterday was my birthday and what a beautiful day it was - nothing wrong with clear blue skies and warmth to celebrate!  I hadn't taken my camera out for a ride recently, and decided that I wanted to take a trip up to the Griffith Observatory.  The Observatory is one of those treasures, overlooking the city and free for visitors to explore.  I'm determined to make it up there during the evening sometime when I can check out the telescope and the Los Angeles lit up at night.

One of the first things that you see when hiking up toward the building is the obelisk, an homage to the greatest astronomers of all time - Hipparchus, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Herschel.

From there, it's fun to take a walk around the rooftop, and outside of the building.

It's got a pretty sweet view of the Hollywood sign....

....and, in the other direction, Downtown L.A.

The pendulum swinging inside the lobby of the Observatory, demonstrating the Earth's rotation.

Such a nice relaxing way to spend my birthday!  I hope you all had a chance to enjoy the weekend too.  :)

Daily Travels - A Vegas weekend

Seeing as I was away for a nice 5 day weekend, I've spent all today wondering what day of the week it is anyway.  Surprisingly enough (to me anyway) it's half way through the week and tomorrow is pay-day.  Things could be worse!

Husband and I spent Labor Day weekend in Vegas with his family.  Our nephew had his second birthday party on Saturday, which was quite the success.  We got him some Thomas The Tank Engine mega-bloks, which were a great choice seeing as he spent quite a bit of the day with his new "choo-choo" firmly in hand.  As much as Thomas was a hit, I think Buzz Lightyear might have stolen the show - an interactive and intergalactic space ranger.  Not sure who was more fascinated by it, the toddler or my husband.

Seeing as we've done most of the usual Vegas-y things (i.e. drink too much, gamble a little), we decided to take a trip out to Red Rock Canyon.  Of course, we realized as we were leaving that neither of us had packed anything remotely close to hiking shoes.  Armed with flip flops, we decided to do the 13-mile scenic drive through the canyon, stopping at various vantage points for photos.  There are tons of hiking trails and places to climb around the rocks so we are definitely planning to go back sometime when our feet are better prepared.  For now, here's a handful of shots taken from the various stops we made in the car.

Daily Deuce - A birthday kitty

A message to Deuce...

We believe today is (approximately) your 1st birthday.  When we adopted you, as a tiny little fuzz-ball, I could only have hoped that you'd become such a wonderful addition to our lives.  You're such a sweet, charming, handsome boy and you've got us wrapped around your little paws!

You're as playful now as when we got you as a baby and, for as long as you want us to, we'll always be happy to chase you around the house, fetch your balls from under the couch, or keep getting the brown bags you like from the Chinese place up the street.

It's impossible not to laugh at your ridiculous antics and, even when you're not in the room, we find ourselves imitating your silly "bruuppp" noises, or that grunt you make that sounds suspiciously like "yes".

We're so glad that you like your birthday gifts - try not to chew all the feathers off the activity mat too quickly!  

Also, thanks for wearing the silly birthday hat for just one picture!  We'll try not to humiliate you again...at least until your next birthday!

Daily Ramblings - Weekend shenanigans

The last 5 days have been a whirlwind.  I'm going to post this now and add photos later (once I have a chance to go home and actually get them off my camera!)  Here's the cliff notes of my weekend.

Edit on May 6 to add photos y'all!

THURSDAY- We had the farewell party for my boss, who is taking off to a fancy-schmanzy law firm and abandoning me.  Sniff.  Ok, I'm actually very happy for him but I will miss him.  If you'd asked me 9 years ago when I first met him if I ever thought I might actually miss him, I would have told you no.  In fact, I think I said that to him the other day.  :)

FRIDAY - Firstly, my girl Holly had her baby boy Friday morning.  Their little family is doing great and the baby's first outfit involved a Star Wars t-shirt.  Obviously, they're on top of their game!

Hopped in the car and drove off to Vegas for a bachelorette celebration (and my birthday weekend!)  Might I suggest trying the buffet at Mandalay Bay.  Us girls were supposed to be meeting the bachelor party there for dinner and, after the bride had a "bra emergency" requiring a trip to Victoria's Secret in the Caesar's Forum Shops, we arrived an hour late.  By this time, it was only a half hour before the buffet closed.  I definitely recommend giving yourself a little more time to spare because there's far too much good stuff to eat in that short period of time, you'll eat too fast, and you will give yourself a stomach ache.  Ask me how I know.  We then took off to "Vanity" (which is the club at the Hard Rock).  If terrible top-40s music circa 2003 and a bunch of people living up to the name of the club are your thing, then you should go here for sure! 

SATURDAY - It was my birthday!!  Happy 31 to me.  As a wise man once told me "too young to die, never too young to rock".

Spent time with the family and got to see my adorable nephew Ethan.  He's about 20 months now and about as cute as can be.  We don't see him all that frequently so it's always a surprise to see how much he's grown, how much more he's talking and watch him turn into a gorgeous little boy.

Played a little pre-Thunder skee-ball.  Epic skee-ball fail i think.

That evening, we headed out to the Thunder From Down Under show at the Excalibur casino.  It was entertaining enough, and the guys definitely have certain...um...talents.  Personally, I think if the music selection hadn't been as good as it was, I would have been very disappointed though.  I used the opportunity to drink quite a bit of vodka tonic and by the time we left, I certainly had a slightly fuzzy feeling.  After quite randomly spending a little time hanging out with Floyd Mayweather's cousin and his friends at a bar (who were in Vegas for the fight this weekend), we wound up at our final destination - the beautiful and brand spankin' new hotel Aria.

Speaking of epic fails, what the hell is up with this door? 
(Thanks husband for finding this one - it's a winner!)

So, it's now Tuesday and it has to be said I think I might still be recovering a little bit - I'm tired!  I'm not much for staying out all night drinking anymore and you're more likely to find me on the couch in my PJs.  That being said, I did have a blast and it certainly wasn't a bad weekend for celebrations.