My baby is almost One.

April 26, 2012 By 8 Comments

One year ago today I looked like this

 

No wonder people asked if I was having twins. That is one big belly :)

Two days later, I looked like this

 

My sweet baby boy is going to be 1 in two days. ONE people. My baby. My last baby.

This is hard for this Mama. I love when my babies gain independence and we can play together, but I also love being pregnant, giving birth and having new babies. *sigh* I love it all.

I am going to celebrate this boy on Saturday. Birthdays are a huge deal to me. I love birthdays. I love having a day set to celebrate one person. To make it their special day from the moment they wake until they moment they fall into bed exhausted from the fun. We let the kids choose where they want to go to breakfast with Dad, and let them choose every other meal of the day. For my kiddos with summer birthdays, we go swimming or to the splash pad if they want. It truly is their day and they know it :)

First birthdays are a REALLY big deal to me. I am sure it has to do with Emma – not being able to ever do her birthday except at the cemetery. I love to celebrate my babies and this huge milestone they have reached.

This little guy is no different.

Photo Credit: Leilani Rogers

I am so excited for Saturday, my Elliott’s first birthday. The celebration started a month ago when I designed his birthday invitations and started sending them out to his friends (and my friends, and aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents).

It looks so much better in person. This is the result of my crappy scanner!

Oh yes, my baby is one. Look at  how much he has grown and changed in the last year. I always know it goes by fast and I try so hard to slow it down. But I can’t. And honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Him growing up is bittersweet. I want him to grow and experience and gain independence. But I also want him to always be my baby. I want him to always love me and always find comfort with me.

While I know that it won’t last forever, I will take it while I can. On Saturday we will have friends over, eat good food, watch Elliott demolish a cupcake, laugh, smile and celebrate this sweet boy who makes our family complete.

Photo Credit: Leilani Rogers

What do you do for birthdays in your house?

This is a sponsored post from Hallmark as part of the Life is a Special Occasion campaign. I am so thrilled to be working with this fabulous company this year and to have the opportunity to share ways to make everyday occasions  special.
For the latest on Hallmark deals and ideas, be sure to sign up for their newsletter, you just might see me there from time to time. Hallmark provided me with birthday invitations and adorable plates with Elliott’s picture! You can get great items for your children’s birthdays, holidays or other special occasions on their website.

Filed Under: baby #5, Birthday, birthdays, hallmark, kidlets, Life is a Special Occasion, my life, sponsored post, the baby boy Tagged With: , ,

He’s Getting Nothing for Christmas

December 11, 2011 By 6 Comments

What do you mean I don't get anything for Christmas????

It’s not what you think. I love my baby, I really do.  Sure he doesn’t like to sleep unless the boob is in his mouth, but what baby isn’t like that?  Also he loves to scream at me, pull my hair and now bite me with his newly acquired tooth.

None of this means I love him any less or that he doesn’t deserve presents in his stocking.  Oh wait, he doesn’t have a stocking (yet).

When you’re the youngest of 5, what toy could you possibly need? Seriously folks. We have had (or still have) just about every toy out there. He loves his Indestructibles Books, so he is getting 2 more of those, but that is it.

I am spending our Christmas money on the children who will appreciate (fingers crossed) the gifts they get and will remember this Christmas.

So, maybe I am a bit of a Scrooge, but my baby isn’t getting any gifts this year.  And, I feel okay about that.

Do you buy gifts for your little babes? What are your favorite gifts for babies?

Filed Under: baby #5, Christmas, my life, the baby boy

Got The Feeling Again

February 25, 2011 By 7 Comments

I’ve had this song going through my head all week, “I’ve been up, down, trying to get the feeling again, all around, trying to get the feeling again…”  Now, yes, it’s Barry Manilow, and yes he is talking about being in love, but for me, it’s about trying to get excited about this babe.

And guess what?  I’ve found something that has been working.  Ok, 2 somethings.

1. Getting away by myself for an hour a day.  It might be swimming or yoga at the YMCA, or sewing a new carseat cover.  Just something by myself where I don’t have to worry about the other 3 hooligans for a bit.  It’s nice.

2.  Shopping for the baby.  Now since things are tight around here, I’ve been mostly window shopping.  But it’s still fun.  And it turns out that after 5 babies, a lot of things are hashed!  So, I may be actually shopping at some point in the not so distant future.

It started the other day when I went to Kohls to get Amelia some new shirts and all the kids some pajamas.  Turns out our year round fleece jammies from Utah just are too hot for this climate.  Who knew?  Anyway, when I was there, I picked up a few shirts and rompers for the baby. They are so cute and small and fun.

Then, I got out all of Seth’s baby clothes.  These are things that haven’t seen the light of day in almost 7 years.  The kids and I ooh’ed and ahh’ed over how sweet and little they are.

But, the icing on the cake was when I found Baby Earth the other day.  I was looking for some good training undies for Miss Libby and wanted to buy them locally.  So, I was searching online and found this store.  It is minutes from my house, and had exactly what I wanted.

The kids and I went to the store with one purpose and one purpose only, to get training pants.

I did get those, but I also fell in love with SO many baby items, I couldn’t even stand it.

First, I found these swaddle blankets from Aden+Anais.  I have never used them, but know that Loralee swears by them, and drooled over hers a bit when her Butterlump was a baby. And she thought it was all his spitup, HA! Fooled her!

 
I was drawn to these because they are made of muslin, and living in a place where Winter lasts about 2 weeks, I need light weight stuff.  So, when I saw these sleep sacks, I almost started doing cartwheels.
Of course, I will need another Miracle Blanket.  I love mine so much and it was SO helpful when Libby was a baby.  And look at this one, in a giraffe print!!!  Be still my heart!
The kids were happily playing with toys in the other room, so I kept looking and dreaming. 
I’ve said it before, my babies sleep with me a lot, but not all the time.  I have long wanted a baby hammock and when I saw this, I wanted to climb in myself.  What baby wouldn’t want to sleep in here??
I saw Robeez, and Robeez, and more Robeez.  Since I have lost my bag of baby socks and all of the Robeez Seth wore, I was really drooling now.  These are all SO cute!!!  But these, are my favorites.  I mean come on, look at those little loafers!

By now, I was getting ready to leave.  Seth had cut his foot (don’t ask), and the girls were running around yelling, “Baby!! Baby!! I want this for the baby!!” when this caught my eye.

Now, I am not one for gadgets or anything like that.  My babies sleep with me the majority of the time, and when we’re outside, they can be on a blanket in the yard.  At least that was the case in Utah.  Here in Texas it is considerably HOTTER and we have chiggers.  So, having a place where I can put the baby down and he can be protected is really pretty dang cool.

I really am having so much fun dreaming and finding things that I want for the baby.  Even if I don’t buy a single thing, I am just really grateful to have found something that has helped me “get that feeling again”.

Because really, who can look at this and not be happy?


*Disclaimer: I got nothing for writing this post other than the pure satisfaction of finally being excited about this baby being born. Baby Earth had no idea I was going to write about their store, nor do they even know who I am.  I mean really, who is going to search for PrairieMama?  Anyway, I just really liked that I could find all of those things so close to my house and that I could register for them all online. 

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Filed Under: baby #5, excitement, my life