Our Ninja Turtle Turned THREE!

Three years ago I became a mom for the first time. Nate has turned me into a Mom, taught me to find patience I never thought I had, touched depths of my heart I never knew existed and still makes my eyes light up and tear up all at the same time, just by thinking of our journey and where we still have left to travel.

What better way to celebrate this milestone than with a ninja turtle birthday party? Nate is all BOY, rough and tumble, fighting bad guys and using ninja moves to conquer the world.

The highlights of the party were the turtle shells & masks and using silly string to slay ninjas. The kids had a blast and it was easy to create.

Here's how I made the turtle shells:
At Publix I bought the three pack sets of baking pans.
I used spray paint to color the shells. I used a deep green instead of brown because I thought it was a more pleasing color
Cut slits into the sides of the pan and slide ribbon through the slits to create a "belt" that can tie the shell on. I used wide brown ribbon which worked great and held up well.

Each kiddo wore a turtle shell and a face mask to fit in with the theme -- they loved dressing up!

The favorite game of the day was slaying the ninjas with silly string. This was another easy project! I Google searched ninjas and choose my favorite four silhouettes. I uploaded these to Office Max and had them printed poster size and then traced them on black cardboard paper. I used cardboard project paper because I thought this would be sturdier than regular cardstock and I would be able to make them larger, which would work better. I glued the cut outs to sticks and scattered them throughout the yard. Each child had their own bottle of silly string and their own ninja to battle. Everyone had a great time! 

These two activities were the highlight of the party! Even over the bounce house, delicious cupcakes and snow cones. If you're looking to make your ninja turtle party a success, I would recommend both of these projects!

Happy birthday to our spunky boy!

The Perfect Paint Color

Every time I share a photo of our formal living room/dining room I have a ton of requests to share what paint color we used because it is the PERFECT color. I love it. It's the second color I've put in that room and it will be the last one because it looks so great.

I was looking for a nice neutral color that had a touch of elegance for our formal room. It pops great against our wainscotting and when we add the crown molding the front room will look SO much better. Putting up crown molding was my next project but then we decided to list our house so that's on hold for now. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed we will be selling our house soon so I've put all house projects on the backburner. My husband is grateful as he's not so excited about my never ending list of "fun updates"  :)

This was my first experience with Clark + Kensington paint from our local Ace Hardware store. Typically, I get my paint from Lowe's but after searching their paint samples for months and exhausting all the colors at Home Depot too, I tried something new and I'm glad I did!

I painted the room about a year ago but I kept the paint can (always do for touch ups, etc.) so I could find the name for everyone. I called Ace Hardware and verified so you should all be able to find it yourselves, especially if you are local.

Clark + Kensington Interior Paint & Primer In One, satin enamel finish in Fortrace (D1-6). 

Happy painting!

Depending on how the light hits, the color looks gray or has a violet hue 

The crown molding will make it POP so much more 

How to Get Easter Egg Dye off Your Kid's Hands

Easter - a fun time of year when Mom thinks of great activities and memory making fun to have with her little ones.

Until we get to the dying of the Easter eggs.
"Dye eggs", they said!
"It will be fun", they said!
"You can teach your kiddos all about colors and feel like a superb mom", they said!
Ok, maybe "they" didn't say that but it sounded like a great idea

Except I have a one and three year old and even though I dressed them down to their skivvies AND covered every square inch surface, they managed to dye their hands, arms and stomachs a vibrant array of Easter colors 😂

So how can I solve this? I mean, we have a community egg hunt tomorrow and a full day of festivities Easter Sunday. The little old ladies at church already think Nate's a maniac because he wears his Superman cape every Sunday - bringing him with his tye-dye hands would really get their canes pumping.

I tried a few different methods via the old trusty Google search and nothing worked except for this: baking soda and vinegar.

I put a small pile of baking soda on their hands and then sprayed vinegar from a water bottle. It fizzled and worked its magic like it usually does - I rubbed their hands until the fizzing stopped and then rinsed in the sink -- Ta Da! Clean hands 🙌🙌 The ladies at church can thank me 😉

Nate thought the fizzing was the best part of this science experiment 

Bunny Tail Favor Tags

It was the day before the kid's Easter party at school. I really hadn't planned anything because it snuck up on me (wasn't I just making St. Patrick's Day goodie bags?) so I browsed Pinterest for some cute ideas while I was picking up some essentials at Target. I mean, I was at the store to get toilet paper so I might as well get supplies to make some DIY party favors too, right?

Since our other Easter favors were more time consuming, I wanted to keep these ones more simple. I found a pin from Frog Prince Paperie and thought they were perfect

I bought the mini powdered donuts from Target (my favorite store) and used the favor bags I already had at home. I didn't make my own tags this time around, especially since I found these super cute ones from Frog Prince Paperie. Here's the link if you'd like to use them too, http://frogprincepaperie.com/.

Here's to party favors that only take ten minutes to make!

Balloon Favors with a Springtime Theme

Nate has had an obsession with balloons for what seems like forever. His second birthday was balloon themed and we always have a stash of them somewhere in the house.

This obsession is why I chose the Balloon Favors for Nate's Easter party at school. I was excited to try them out and recommend them IF you have the time to assemble them. I usually pick quick goodie bags and this project took me about an hour to make ten (not bad, but more time than I'm used to investing in these projects).

So how did I make them?

1. I browsed Target and Party City to find the goodies to put into the balloons. I looked for items that were small and/or could easily be folded to fit into the funnel that I would use. I also picked balloon colors that went with the Springtime theme.

I ended up with princess necklaces for the girls and superhero masks for the boys, with shared stickers, Skittle packets and Easter grass. 

2. Use a water bottle to cut a funnel out of and use that to stuff the balloons with your goodies. I put the larger items in first so there would be more room inside the balloon to fit them. 

 

3. Once the balloon was stuffed, I carefully peeled it off of the funnel and blew it up the same way I would a regular balloon. I attached a favor tag that went with the Easter / Springtime theme 

Nate loved them and had a great time popping his balloon and finding all the goodies! 

St. Patrick's Day Favors

For holidays that the kids celebrate at school, I usually attempt to send them with a favor that's not food or candy oriented. That can sometimes be difficult and involves thinking outside the box, so when I found this idea I jumped on it!

What you will need:
- Watercolor kit, $1.79 at my local Target
- Gold coin, bag of ten for $1.00 in Target's Dollar Section (yes, these are chocolate)
- A favor tag, which I included in a PDF in this post or you can make your own

Putting these favors together probably took me all of fifteen minutes (and I made twelve of them) so they are super easy! The part that took the longest was making the favor tags and cutting them out, the rest of the assembly was a breeze.

Here is the link for the PDF favor tag, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8iEF3K85aomeTJYY2pxa0k4S2s/view

Payton's Birth Story

If I could describe my delivery with Payton in one word, that word would be DENIAL.

I was in denial when my doctor gave me only twelve hour's notice about my induction.

I was in denial that I was having another child and Nate wouldn't be my "baby" anymore.

I was in denial that my wax appointment was the following day and I was not prepared to be seen in public my strangers.

I was in denial about a lot of things.

Joe came home early off of shift and we went to the hospital together. Nate stayed the night with me in our bed so I could get extra snuggles with him and my mom came over early in the morning to stay with him while we were admitted.

If I had to pick a second word to describe Payton's delivery it would be DIFFERENT.

I loved my nurse - she was attentive and great. Much different than the nurses I had for Nate's delivery, even though I was in the same hospital.

I was admitted at 8:00am and by 9:00 the Pitocin was on. I didn't need the cervadil this time around because my cervix was already softened and I was dilated one centimeter.

With Nate I walked and used the birthing ball and was able to move around to help my body labor. With Payton, since I was a high risk delivery I had to be hooked up to the monitors at all times and mine was extra sensitive and didn't like any movement. I was told I had to stay in bed. I couldn't even take a bath to shave my legs - which was my plan since I was not prepared for this delivery and had so much tub time during Nate's labor.

When the nurse told me I was basically bed-ridden I requested to be put on the anesthesiologist's list for the epidural. Joe laughed. I gave him the stink eye. My pain level was at a one from the Pitocin but if I was forced to stay in bed and didn't have the option to help my labor progress then I wanted the epidural now and my goal was to be at a pain level of zero. With Nate I had a 36 hour induction so I knew what was coming and would rather take the next day napping than being uncomfortable.

At 11:00 I hadn't progressed and the nurse broke my water. Since this was a medically scheduled induction we needed to move things along and I couldn't really wait for my body to catch up. The hopes were that breaking my water would tell my body to start dilating.

At about 1:00 my nurse checked me and I was still only one centimeter dilated. While she was checking me my water broke (although this is debated because I swear I peed on her. She insists it was more of my water. I choose her story).

2:00, My epidural was placed in. With my first delivery, my anesthesiologist was great and the needle was placed on the first try. This time, it took three times for the doctor to get it right. Ouch!

Throughout the day I had a few visitors stop by to keep us company. My life long friend, Jane, came in right after I got my epidural and had lunch with us.

Jane left at 3:00 and I was ready for a nap. I was so tired from the stress of the past two days and finally felt calm enough to sleep. My nurse came to check on me because of the prenatal monitor and I told her that I was having a burning sensation in my belly. It felt almost like I ate some really acidic pasta sauce and it was burning a hole through my stomach lining. She checked me again on a hunch and I was fully dilated and ready to deliver. It was 3:14PM

I told her she was crazy and that I was taking a nap - come back in an hour and we could deliver. With Nate, I didn't start the delivery process until an hour after I was confirmed nine centimeters. I thought things would be the same and I could grab a quick snooze.

The nurse wheeled in the delivery cart. Again, I told her she was crazy and I insisted on taking a nap. She informed me that I was not having a nap, I was having a BABY.

I told her to relax, my doctor wasn't even there yet. We can't have a baby without her!
With Nate, I think part of why I had to wait to push was because my OB wasn't there yet.

In runs my doctor with her bootie covers in hand and says it's "time to push!" What?!?! I told them there was no way I was going to be able to deliver right now - I just had an epidural an hour ago, I couldn't feel my legs at all, let alone feel how to push correctly. They just needed to come back later. After my nap. Denial.

At 3:31 Payton Leigh was born! I wanted to deliver her myself like I experienced with Nate but she had a triple nuchal cord and my doctor had to deliver her.

I swear Payton popped out! Even my OB looked up at me with a shocked expression about how she came flying out of me.

After they placed my baby girl on my chest there was meconium present but she was fine. I was nervous about her being really small or needing extra help because she was early but she was perfect and healthy. A full head of dark hair.

I remember not really registering the moment, I think because it had happened so quickly and I was in a state of shock. I also remember thinking "This is easy! Let's do it again, Joe!".  Joe says no to Baby #3.

My post delivery was very different the second time around. The hospital now had the Golden Hour where there were no visitors allowed while Mom and Baby bond and try to develop a strong nursing relationship with skin to skin. Payton was a champ at nursing and latching on - also way different than my first.

We didn't weigh Payton until 7:00pm and that was only because my delivery nurse wanted to know her size before she went home for the day. Payton weighed 5 pounds 14 ounces

Payton didn't have a bath until the following day because the hospital now waits at least twelve hours before bathing (that's why her hair is still crunchy in all the photos). With my first delivery, I held Nate for a few minutes and they weighed and bathed him right away before giving him back to me. Totally different the second time around.

I asked my cousin and professional photographer, Maria, to come and take hospital photos of Payton as a newborn and these are some of my most prized possessions. I love every single photo <3

Our families came to meet our beautiful girl and Big Brother came and was excited to see us (but more so to play with Kailyn). It was a beautiful day and I remember feeling great. No post delivery pain -- but I was still tired because I never got my nap.

Payton's birth was such a positive experience I think that may be one of the main reasons I want a third child; I want to deliver again. And even though Nate's labor was awful, his delivery was great too - which hopefully means I can get lucky again.

To Share or Not to Share?

The lesson of sharing has been around for what seems like FOREVER and it appeared to be high on the list of things I would obviously have to teach my children when the time came.

But then I had children and realized that the premise of sharing isn't so black and white.

Here I am, mother to a three year old (who I have dubbed "Threenager") and my expectation is that he learn to willingly share all of his toys when his friends, neighbors or cousins come over. I expect the same from other children when we visit their house; that Nate will be able to share their toys and us Moms will have to serve as referee to the favorites of the bunch.

But is this really indicative to the adult world? I know, this sounds crazy, but follow me for a minute .... When MY friends come over, they don't just get to use my favorite mascara because it's what they want to play with. I don't rush to finish the latest Jodi Picoult novel in "five minutes" so they can read it next. I don't always want to willingly give up the last Girl Scout cookie because it's the nice thing to do. There are countless "adult" examples that I could give, but you get the picture.

I found myself getting frustrated that Nate was having such a hard time sharing and that he was so territorial over some of his toys. But then I realized that my expectations (and really what I thought was the normal expectation) didn't align with the mind of a three year old (or of many people for that matter).

When playing with the neighborhood kids and Nate is using his favorite sword to fight crime, I think it's his right to play with "that" sword. After all, it's his and the boy down the street has his own sword to play with. I guess this falls along the Montessori method of thinking; when a child "claims" a toy or play station, it essentially belongs to them until they are done exploring it. When I'm at the nail salon {which is rare} and am digging the latest issue of People magazine, the woman who walks in after me can't insist that  it's "her turn" and I must trade her for the ten month old edition of Good Housekeeping.

I'm not saying I don't expect my kids to share, or not to have a heart kind enough to WANT to make others happy. But that has become my motivation to teaching the foundation of sharing; making others happy by treating them with respect and kindness and making choices that will have a positive result.

When I'm done reading about the on-set dramas, celebrity babies and latest fashion faux pas, I can offer the magazine to anyone else who would like to read it because it is the polite thing to do.

When Nate decides he'd rather be Michelangelo with nunchucks instead of wielding a sword, he can offer it to the group instead of hoarding it under his bed {which has happened before}.

And when there's only one Thin Mint cookie left in the Girl Scout box he can either offer it up or move on to a different snack that everyone can share.

I know I'll get some crazy looks from the moms at the playground who think the swings should be on a "two minute rotation" so everyone can get a turn - but that's ok. Nate can swing until he is done because he was there first. They'll look at us crazy anyway because he'll be running around with a superhero cape, crazy boots on his feet and a sword in hand.

 

 

What People Don't Tell You About Having Two Kids

Going from one baby to two is definitely a transition. Everything that worked so well the first time doesn’t this time around and what you were once an “expert” at becomes unfamiliar territory. Especially going from boy to girl, or vice versa – but that’s a whole other conversation.

I knew things were going to get crazy for a little while but what I didn’t expect was losing Mom friends; Friends that had become important to me and my sanity of being a mother. I’m not sure why, but as women we can be judgy, hypocritical and insensitive. I’m not quite sure why we want to be friends with people like that but nonetheless you still feel the sting when they decide your friendship doesn’t count anymore.

The feeling of rejection is compounded because these were the friends who you turned to about Baby #1 and worked through infancy, baby milestones and toddlerhood with. The friends you thought would be the most supportive and helpful when it came to Baby #2.

 I didn’t think it would be an issue to nurse my infant while my toddler was playing in playgroup, relying on their help if it was needed. Or quickly leaving to change the baby’s diaper while the big kids were enjoying a snack together. And don’t get me started on the tandem meltdowns when the baby wants to nurse and be rocked but the toddler wants you to hold them or go play tag at the same time.

This is when the stares and murmurs start. Clearly these mothers are experts on having one kid (although, is there really such thing as being an expert mother) and their expertise carries over to their imaginary multiple children, too.

So, they judge how you react to the meltdowns, or joke (or not) about needing wine at night, or pawn your toddler off for a few minutes in their trusted hands to work your magic on the baby.

You would think this would all be ok and perfectly acceptable; leaning on one another when it’s needed and then returning the favor when it’s their turn because you know exactly how it feels.

But that’s not what happens. You were the first of your friends to have two children and they don’t understand what all comes with Baby #2. Bless their little naive hearts.

Some of you are reading this and have no idea what I’m talking about because your friends are great – they don’t judge you and are totally supportive of your role as a mother. I have those kinds of friends too and love them more than I knew because of how they’ve pulled through for me and continue to be a pillar in my life.

 

And then some of you know exactly how it feels to be separated from friends and knowing in your gut it’s because of your expanded family – not the busy schedules or hectic holidays. To you, I say screw ‘em. It’s good to learn now which girlfriends can hang with you for the long haul and which ones can’t handle the mud. Plant your garden where the sun shines 

"The Stockings Were Hung by the Chimney With Care"

I have been on the hunt for Christmas stockings for all of us that I LOVE for what seems like FOREVER! I'm talking year after year after year. More specifically, since 2006 when Joe and I got married. I wanted stockings that were festive, personalized, unique and would grow with the kids throughout the years.

After looking in stores, browsing the web and scouring Pinterest I gave up and solicited my Momma to help make our own. I got so many compliments on them I thought I would share the process with you so you could make your own, too :)

First, I found a few sample ideas on Pinterest and used those to help figure out what kind of layout I needed and the amount/type of supplies I need (fabric, ribbon, bells).

I went to local fabric stores and looked online for fabric pieces that I liked. I wanted each of us to have our own stockings but wanted them to match as a whole even though each one was different. The hardest fabric to find was the Yankees logo; I had to use a pair of Joe's pajama pants for that strip because fleece was the only fabric online and that's not really conducive to the project we were working on.

After buying the different pieces I decided that I wanted each stocking to have the same layout. I treated each one like a puzzle and even though the pieces looked different the shape and size were all the same. I think this helps make the stockings look like a whole set instead of too individualized.

I played with the different fabrics and ribbons until I found a layout for each stocking that I liked. The final step was taking a picture and passing this project along to my Mom.

My mom designed a stocking pattern to use as the base so it was easier to sew on the different puzzle pieces. I wanted the stockings to be a bit larger and more wide than typical stockings so we could fit enough goodies in there on Christmas morning. First, she sewed the fabric pieces on and then added the ribbon segments, making sure the seams were tight and followed the shape of the stocking. Mom added the top cuff last and embroidered our names on them. 

Here's the final product! We love them and they are perfect to grow with our family each year.