ALOHA | going away party

I hosted a "LUAU" party with two girlfriends of mine last week in honor of our friends, Bess and Matt who are moving soon! I met Bess through foundation (a christian camp at tech) when we were in the same small group and then grew closer as were in the same christian sorority, had the same group of friends, and went through bridal showers, weddings, etc. alongside each other. Cody and I have loved hanging out with Bess and Matt and will miss them so much! 

So, Myself, Sabina, and Paige hosted a going away party for them at paige's house! It turned out so fun, so chill, and the perfect weather. 

We had food, blankets and baby toys laid out, and games for the guys to play

bess is the chalkboard queen and makes beautiful chalkboard art, so I was little nervous about making one for her ;) but it turned out alright! key: write in chalk after dipping the chalk in water! so much creamier and smoother!

food:

chips and dip

punch: hawaiian fruit punch, orange sherbet, ginger ale?, and pineapple juice

"sand" pudding: layers pudding, cool whip, vanilla wafers in a sand bucket

pork and hawaiian rolls

watermelon "fruit bowl" with watermelon, pineapple, and grapes 

fruit dip in a pineapple

pineapple bbq meatballs: frozen meatballs cooked in skillet with can of crushed pineapples and bbq sauce

traditional hawaiian macaroni salad: macaroni, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt/pepper, sliced carrots

we also had a place to write encouraging notes to bess and matt!

..and lei's of course at the guests arrival!

we all had so much fun!

evynn claire | ten months

How many months old? 10 months

Weight?  20 lbs

Length? Not sure, probably still 28”

Dr apt? We had our first case of ear infections, unfortunately. Ev threw up all over Cody about 6x in a 30 min time span last weekend. After that she was acting completely normal so we weren’t sure what that was about. The next day she got a fever that lasted a few days, but she still has a few teeth right at the edge, so we wondered if it was just teething. Last monday she was starting to be extra fussy, not eating, etc. and that just got worse on Tuesday. I unfortunately worked the three days that she was super fussy, I’m very thankful for Cody, my mother in law, and Kortney for loving on our very sick and fussy girl in these days! Wednesday morning Cody got Ev up and she had her highest temp of 103.5 so he took her to the dr and I met them there. At this point she was in a full blown body rash, roseola. And the diagnosis of ear infection was confirmed. So we’re on antibiotics and she’s back to her normal self. She still wasn’t crazy about eating all weekend so I feel like I’m back to newborn nursing days ;)

Any teeth?  finally can say YES! Starting the first week of may, I could see SIX teeth right at the gum line-two on the bottom and 4 on the top. On May 10^th 1 bottom tooth and 1 top tooth busted through. The others are still very close to coming through!

Sleep? She’s such a good sleeper most days! She wakes up at about 7:00am, takes a nap  9:30-11:00 then another nap at 1:30-3:00 then bedtime at 7:30. Most times we can lay her down without a peep and she goes right to sleep. Other times we have to pat her back or let her cry for a few minutes. But her sleepy signals are very obvious-rubbing eyes, rubbing her face on our chest, etc. so we know she’s ready for bed. She really refuses to sleep anywhere except her crib or moving carseat. My new goals: disassociate nursing to sleeping anddddd getting her to maybe sleep anywhere haha!

Feeding?  She’s a champ when it comes to eating! We introduced meats this month and she’s loved the occasional chicken and beef we’ve introduced. Still loves fruits and veggies. Our go-to is a pan of sliced sweet potatoes I bake, she loves picking up the slices to eat. She still nurses 3-4 times a day probably (or more?) and takes a few bottles when I'm at work. We're working on her drinking her milk in a sip cup rather than a bottle these days. 

Last week I would've said that my breastfeeding journey was coming to an end. I would pump a whooping 1oz during a session. I started my cycle and realized that was probably why. I haven't pumped since work last week but having a sick baby over the weekend I feel like she's been breastfeeding nonstop so hopefully my supply is back? She doesn't seem frustrated or hungry so I'm hoping so! I feel confident that we can make it to my 1 year goal in the comfort nursing department, at least. My worry is if I can keep up with pumpkin 6-7oz bottles for her to drink 3-4x a day! If we have to supplement at some point, it's fine but I do hope we can continue to nurse at least little longer.

Developmental milestones?
·      On may 3^rd she decided to give her sippy cup (of water) a try and LOVED it!

• ·      If shes upset about anything she climbs up to me and holds on while crying… even I am who she is mad at ;)
• ·      Loves to stand on her own, bend down to grab a toy, then stand back up
• ·      Into all cabinets and drawers all the time
• ·      Her crying/screaming volume has increased like 100 octaves so… that’s great…
• ·      She is SASSY. If we say NO about anything she sits down, spreads her legs into splits, and puts her head down between her legs onto the ground and cries… and we let her ;)
• ·      She is clingy as can be and constantly wants to be held, with someone… preferably Mom this week ;)
• ·      She does very good at grabbing her sippy cup and drinking from it! She does better at the munchkin straw cups because she straw Is weighted so she doesn’t have to tilt the cup up to get a drink
• we celebrated my first mothers day
• Evynn was dedicated at our church on May 15th
• still wears size 3 diapers, size 9-12 or 12 mo clothes, and 6-9 mo shoes (lol!)
• she knows that she gets in trouble when she intentionally throws food on the ground so now she immediately shakes her head no after doing it, hahaha
• if i'm spoon-feeding her something, she will grab the spoon from me and feed herself

Favorite toy? 

·      She loves her walker, loves to run through our kitchen and around to the washer and dryer and then back, waving the whole time. Future homecoming queen?! ;)

·      Really loves anything she sees, she can have a room full of toys but if a clothes hanger is in her sight, that will keep her entertained for awhile

Speech and language?  Still jabbering up a storm, if only we knew what she was saying! Occasional “mama”, dada, byebye, shakes her head no, I heard “uh oh” once…

Loves?  Running through the kitchen in her walker, looking/trying to grab things gown the kitchen drain while taking a sink bath, trying to get into the medicine cabinet, splashing in the bathtub, throwing all the shoes and bows onto the ground from her cart

Dislikes? Cabinets and drawers that are baby proofed, being told NO, being strapped down in her carseat, waiting on food, being alone, taking antibiotics, sitting still for monthly pictures

Firsts: sippy cup! Ear infection! Tooth!

We love: All of a sudden our baby seems like such a “kid”! She is standing up and one-handing her sippy cup and all that I feel like she’s past the baby baby stage. But we love seeing her grow up, develop a personality, and figure out the world!

photo dump:

first mothers day

Sunday was my first mothers day! Last year, being 7 months pregnant, I debated on if it counted but this year my technical first!

I worked on Saturday then went to see my bestie who became a mother a few days before that. Once I got home later that night Cody asked Evynn if they should give me my gift. He gave me a gift basket of all organic (duh, Cody...) bath salts, soap, scrubs, incense, oils, etc. all in a basket handmade in ghana. Leave it to an organic store to put that all together ;) He also got me a card and drew Ev's hand in it ;)

Needles to say, I've lots of great bubble baths since then! 

Sunday morning we went to church, where they handed out flowers to all the moms, then home where Cody made lunch and we napped and relaxed. I tried to get a picture of myself and the girly who made me a mom and here was the result (pre-nap):

We're very much in the baby stage still, so I know there's a lot of "mothering" that I haven't even been able to see yet, but I do know so far that being a mom means a lot of sacrifice and a lot of love. I wouldn't have it any other way!

9 month favorites

it's no secret that our baby is quickly turning into a big girl! so our "stuff" is evolving just as quickly! Our life now is a constant whirlwind of baby proofing, "no, don't eat that", and "wow! guess what she just did/said?!". I cannot believe how quickly she is growing/developing!!

like I mentioned above, as quickly as she is growing/evolving so is the stuff she uses! so, here are some of our favorites at nine months:

dr. praeger's spinach littles i read about these on another blog when researching baby led weaning and kind of forgot about them. then, at the store recently in the frozen organic area i found them and we're in love! we typically always give evynn organic, healthy food (usually what we're eating!) but in the case that we're eating something she cannot eat, these are our go-to! they're little pre-made shapes of spinach. just a pop in the microwave and she eats a healthy meal. not to mention they're good! a rule of thumb for us: if we won't eat it, we probably don't want her to

munchkin straw cup i'm trying to wean ev off the bottle and onto the sippy cup. so i've bought two different kinds and offered both. she had showed little to no interest until two nights ago when she grabbed this cup (of water) and went to town! now i leave it full of water and nearby for her throughout the day so she can take some sips! now to change her milk over....

halo sleep sack call me a first time mom, or whatever, but i'm still a nervous wreck when it comes to evynn sleeping. I hear/read the horror stories and do not know what I would do if something happened! So, i'm still too scared to put a blanket in evynn's crib. we've used this sleep sack for 3 months now and it's so great! its a blanket for her body but zipped on so it won't be around her face, she can also roll over in it. we have  a light cotton one for the spring/summer. seriously, the best.

target toddler leggings i love those adorable printed leggings you see on pinterest and etsy but i cannot let myself spend $27 on a pair or baby pants that are bound to see the worst of days... i occasionally find great prints at target but get bummed when i see the smallest size is 12months. BUT,  a few months ago i thought i'd give it a try and sure enough, they fit perfect! (she could probably even fit into 18 mo at this point, these pants are snug on her thighs!) and even better, they're $4.50!!!!! these ice cream pants, i melt!! ;))

happy baby creams these little organic coconut milk/fruit/veggie dried bites are perfect to have in our diaper bag for a quick snack when we're out and about. like above, i've tried them and they are  pretty good! anddddd they've been on target cartwheel app for 35% off for quite some time!!

ella's kitchen pouches we vowed to not give evynn pouches constantly to avoid getting her tied to them but they are great when we're out and about. we usually give these in addition to whatever we can order her at a restaurant. they're handy, on sale on target cartwheel, and pure ingredients!

fiesta |like there's no mañana|

I've always wanted to throw a "fiesta" themed party and I was so happy when my friends were on board, particularly Bess who volunteered to host it with me! 

We set up the decor and food inside and then spent time outside (because the weather was perfect) after we all ate. It was so fun to be amongst community, and crazy to see how much has changed since our college days just a few years ago!

I made churro cupcakes (vanilla cupcakes mix with vanilla pudding mix and cinnamon added then topped with cream cheese frosting/coated in cinnamon sugar). I also bought a few real cactus the other day at Home Depot and had decorated some cans we had with tissue paper. 

 I had found the (underneath) banner at hobby lobby and bought "fiesta" balloons off easy. Bess of course made the perfect chalkboard for the party and we threw together dishes and serving ware for the rest!

 for food: bess made bell peppers, chicken, and taco meat! we had tortillas and taco shells then sour cream, cheese, pico de gallo, and lettuce as toppings. Also, there was a "chips and dip" table

I had seen a recipe on pinterest for "margarita" punch and it was delicious! (1 frozen limeade concentrate, 1 frozen lemonade concentrate, 3 cups water, 1 cup powdered sugar-mix together and freeze. when ready to use, add the frozen mix with 2Liter bottle of sprite and sliced limes)

thank you, bess, for being the perfect co-host!