Monday, October 24, 2011

Sneak Peek

We had Case and Ty's pictures taken by Sarah with Bliss Photography.  LOVE her, LOVE her pictures!!!  I am always amazed that I can actually enjoy having pictures taken because if you are a mom and you have small children, then you know how stressful it can be.  Sarah makes if fun though!  I didn't leave feeling like I needed a nap... ok that isn't entirely true... Case is still two and while Sarah is amazing she couldn't temporarily take that out of him but we still had fun!  Here's a peek at a few of the pictures...
FAVORITE. PICTURE. EVER!  
Joshua and Caleb's bears are even in it :)

Case with his Case tractor and a huge smile

My favorite picture of Ty... I love this wall!

Case (and his snack)

us.

Love my little man's blue eyes!

Thank you Sarah for the amazing memories!!!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Court's Baby Shower

My mom and I threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law.  Her and my brother are expecting their baby girl this weekend.  Needless to say we are SUPER excited!  I am also thrilled to have some team pink to buy for!  The name is down to two so I've combined them and I call her Slolly (Molly or Sloane).

We had it at Trader's Point Christian Church (for all you local people it is a great deal and the facility is awesome).  
 A look at the room... it was plenty big!

I always think "oh it will be cheaper if we just make that... (just fill in the blank with anything vaguely crafty)."  Not so... but it is more fun!  I had a blast working on all the decorations with my mom.  
onsie banner

This was my first attempt at a diaper cake.  I found a great tutorial here.  I love how she does this because the diapers aren't rolled and rubber banded.  They are just laid in the cake.  I think they look nicer and the recipient doesn't have to unwrap each diaper along the way.  No matter how you do it I don't think there is a mom out there that isn't happy to receive free diapers!  So the longer I look at this picture the more I think I shouldn't include it.  It looks like it might fall over or something.  Well I did say this was my first attempt and perhaps a nearly life size Minnie Mouse wasn't the best idea for a topper.  Again... let's just focus on the free diapers! :-)

These are burp cloth bouquets, which was an idea I found here.  She has a tutorial posted now... before it was just a picture so I was on my own... needless to say she had some tricks that made it easier than the way I did them.  


No shower is complete without good food!  I used a lot of Tastefully Simple stuff.  Everything, especially the beer bread, turned out pretty good.



My cousin made the cake and cupcakes.  She's awesome!  You can see her other creations here.

Nothing brings people together quite like food and babies:)



My attempt at Mickey Mouse shaped rice krispy treats

playing the "guess which tv/movie mom is on your back" game

It was totally silent while they did the Disney word jumble!
Court
Yep, that sure does say "Trophy Playdate"

Court getting the Minnie Mouse outfit I had my friend's 
sister make for the baby.  Can't wait to see pictures 
of Slolly in this one!  Here's her Etsy shop... she's amazing!

It was such a fun time!  I am so happy for Court and Ben.  This has been a long road for them and I pray that sweet Slolly will be safely in their arms by the end of the weekend.  I can't wait to meet her!!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Ty - 7 Months



Now's probably a good time to discuss your hair issues!  I have NO idea what to do with it!

Ty and Case at 30 weeks... if ever there was a day
when I thought you looked alike that day is gone!
Dear Ty,
You are 214 days old (make that 217 days old... Mommy is slow to post... again)!  I can't believe we've reached the 7 month mark already.  It feels like I just finished your 6 month post... probably because I did since I was so late with it (too).

You continue to be so much fun.  You are still my laid back little man.  You seem to just roll with the punches still.  I guess that's because you've always had this "demanding" older brother (no Case this doesn't mean I love you any less it just means you are almost two and living up to everything they say about the "terrible two's").

Sleep:
Mommy's been wanting to talk to you about this.  I need more of it!  Your sleep is maybe a little better now.  I don't always have to go in or send Daddy in to get you readjusted anymore so that's good but you are still waking up really early to eat.  Usually between 5 and 6.  This just ain't ok!  The good news is that you usually are happy to go back to your crib after eating and you usually fall back to sleep but I'd really love it if you would maybe consider just sleeping until 7 or 8 or maybe you and your brother could team up and sleep until say 10!  That would be amazing :-)  I still enjoy our snuggle time early in the morning even though I am usually nodding off during it.

Eating:
You are starting to eat a little better sometimes.  You still haven't gone past the 6 ounce mark but there are times you'll actually finish it now when you aren't sleeping.  The norm is still that you don't though if you are awake.  We pretty much tried almost all the level one foods.  You are still anti-anything green.  You don't seem to love peaches either... weird.  You will only eat real food once, maybe twice, each day, although I try three times.  We've gone to level 2 foods now and you'll eat carrots, sweet potatoes, pears, squash (sometimes), apples, and bananas.  I guess it's time to start venturing out a little further into the level 2 world.

Clothes:  You're pretty comfy in 12 month sizes right now.  Your pajamas are almost all 18 month sizes though... probably not because you need 18 month sizes yet but because I only have one pair of 12 month pajamas.  I can't really explain this because your brother did in fact wear 12 month sizes at some point but I guess I just skipped straight to 18 months for him because I'm cheap and knew he'd eventually need 18 month jammies... I'm guessing even if you are old enough to read this that doesn't come as a big surprise to you.

Toys:  You love to jump in the jumperoo and play in the exersaucer still... not really sure what people did with their kids before these were an option.  You also like to just sit in the middle of the floor and be surrounded in toys.  When you are on the floor you always look for anything that is too small for you to play with, i.e. lint, crumbs, string... etc.  You are quite the cleaning critic!  Your brother is still your favorite toy though!  You absolutely light up anytime he looks your way.

Case is always eager to feed you... you don't seem to mind.

Case also loves to use you as a pillow and you also don't 
mind that.  You just love when he's close and the fact that
he has something to eat in his hand didn't hurt things either!

I post this picture more so that you can tease your brother... 
check out his boots and pajamas ensemble!  

New Things:
This has been a big month in the "new things" department!  You are starting to babble using lots of new sounds.  Daddy likes to point out the da da da sound you love to make.  If only he spoke baby he would know that da da da in baby talk actually translates to Mommy.  We can't expect him to know everything I guess:)

You are officially mobile... not fast... but mobile nonetheless (update... it is two days later and I haven't gotten this posted yet... you are much faster already!).  You sort of look like a wounded solider but if you see something you want you get there.  You usually scream the whole way but that stops as soon as you get your hands on whatever it is you are after.  I think you are pretty close to pulling yourself up too.  It won't be long but you aren't quite there.  I'm predicting that will be part of next month's post.

You had your first haircut on October 3rd (I'm sure there will be a blog post about this if I ever get my act together).  You'll notice in the pictures above that a haircut didn't really help things.  It was getting really long around your ears and neck though so it needed to be done.  I just don't know what to do with it now that it stands straight up on your head and not in a cute "fohawk" sort of way.  I'm probably going to need to break out the gel I guess.

You also have a tooth coming in!  You are getting your bottom front right tooth and the one to the left isn't far behind it.  I wouldn't say you've been particularly fussy but it probably does explain a few otherwise explainable outbursts.

This has been a big month for you.  I didn't realize how big until I wrote it all down.  I can't believe we are already talking about teeth and crawling!

I love you so much little man!  I hope that there is never a day where you question that.  I will cover you in hugs in kisses everyday that you'll let me just to make sure :-)  Thank you for being such a fun little boy and for being so eager to flash that perfect smile!  You have no idea how much happiness you and your brother bring me every single day!

Love,
Mommy

Friday, October 14, 2011

Indiana State Fair

I'm a little behind (yes, I know this is putting it mildly).  The fair was in August and it is now mid October and I am just getting to this post.  It was just such a big day for Case I decided I couldn't let this one go by without having these memories written down.

Ty on his first cow ride :)

Case on what I'm almost certain was the fastest 
and quite possibly the longest carousel ride ever.

Case with Grandma on his first real fair ride


Case and Grandma... I love this picture!

Case meeting his first "carnie"... that's probably not
the most appropriate or preferred term but I don't know
her name so I wasn't sure what else to call her.  She
was super nice took extra time to make sure he wasn't
scared.   

Ty was a little upset that no one brought him 
anything from the Dairy Bar

Why yes, my son did go down this giant
slide (with Daddy) and he LOVED it!

Look at that face!

coolest dad ever!

Take two on the slide.  Case couldn't stop at one!


I know it's blurry but could he possibly be happier?

Sidenote on the giant slide.  When I think of the state fair back, WAY back, in the day when I was a kid the giant slide is what I think of.  I can totally remember going down this slide (yes, I realize it probably wasn't this exact same slide) sitting in that burlap sack with my dad.  It is one of those great memories that is SO easy to go back to.  I hope Case grows up with this memory too!!

Uncle Ben practicing... his day is coming 
VERY soon!

 
The chicks were almost enough to put Grandma's
iPhone down for... almost.

Aunt Coco, Uncle Ben and Grandpa waiting for 
Case to finish on the slide.

Check out #4... yep that's Case and Daddy on the
BIG ferris wheel...

...and yes that is my husband pulling a Michael Jackson
and practically letting my kid dangle out of the ride (yes
I'm exaggerating... a little).

Case on another ride!   He loved this!


Wayne and me... at least this self-portrait took one of 
my chins out!

Me and My Ty

Self-portrait #563... finally got all 4 of us in the picture

My mom, Case and Me
(Why do I insist on self-portraits like we didn't have 
4 other people with us that could have taken the picture?)