My Bestie's Baby Girl Shower

In October my girlfriends and I threw a shower to honor our best friend, Victoria.
After a few Pinterest-comparing sessions we came up with the pink and brown theme to match her nursery.  She had also picked out her baby's name and wanted to reveal it at the shower, so we had the awesome task of figuring out fun ways to reveal the name.

Shower must-have #1: Tissue poms in light and bright pink colors. Here's a link to a super-easy tutorial.  You can tell from my pic that I opted for the rounded petal-y ends on these poms. Um, and how presh is that blog? Read it, then come back to me. Because I love you.

One of my co-hosts, Jessica, has an uber-talented mom who made this beautiful diaper bouquet.  She stuffed the vase with rolled baby wash cloths and the pink tulle amongst the little diaper tulips makes it so soft and pretty.  At the bottom is the handmade photo album with adorable, melt your heart quotes and detailing. All the mom-to-be has to do is stick in her baby's pics and add birth details. So beautiful!  One day she'll open an Etsy shop and I'll spread the word. Until then, I don't know how she does it. It's a true talent and such beautiful gift to share!

Okay, so I've left you hanging on how we did the name reveal. We got pink deco mesh and used ribbon to shape it into a bubbly garland. That hung over the name banner that a friend made for us using her Cricut machine.  On the pink deco mesh we had each guest write a quote, advice, or memory and clip it or tie it to the mesh.  It made for a really sweet backdrop behind the chairs as Victoria opened her shower gifts.

For dessert we ordered mini cupcakes and cake balls in a variety of flavors.
We couldn't pick just one flavor, and figured for a baby girl shower the more sugary treats the better! They turned out beautifully!

 

 

And for the final detail, the name banner made from the Cricut.....
The name for the sweet baby girl, Tori Elizabeth! 

 

Christmas Card Photo FAIL

In efforts to always keep it real, I thought I'd share our top Christmas Card Photo FAILS from our mini shoot last weekend.  My mom and dad were the ever-patient photogs.  Both have a love for photography, so I handed over my Canon Rebel to Mom and Dad used his own, and between 3 memory cards and over 300 snaps we were able to get some great choices for our annual Christmas card.  Howevs, there were MANY bombs.  Instead of just deleting those, I thought they deserved their own special spot on the blogiverse.

Photo Fail #1: 
Parents smiling at cameras, kids most definitely NOT.

Photo FAIL #2: 
Kids running away. Dad being patient. Mom with psycho smile at camera.

Photo Fail #3:  
Great backlighting.  Amazing effort from children to totally disregard commands to look at the camera.

Photo Fail #4: 
Both kids screaming like banshees. Devyn looks like a lunatic. I kind of love it!
It was SO HARD to find a pic of this child with her beautiful smile and looking at the camera. She is so very 16 months old. Focus = not an option! 

And so, so many more. Those were my faves. There were so many of Cade's gorgeous smile, but I settled for the card pic I chose because Devyn looks calm and sweet.... um, and my hair being the close second requirement to what pic makes the cut for the card. 

Anyways, for all you parents out there who struggled through your own family photo shoot, this post is dedicated to you!  Kudos.  I really truly love the photo cards I get in the mail, it's what makes every day of this holiday season so special. I love the pics of newlywed couples, sweet dog pics, pics of whole families, pics of just the kids. I. LOVE. PHOTO CARDS.  They all go into a special holiday album that I started last year and will be organized by year so we can see the families of our friends grow up. They are so special to me. I love my mom's photo album that she had growing up and looking back on the pics of our family's friends from the 80s and 90s.

Happy holiday! 9 more days of shopping, gotta run and get to it!
love ya,
Hil

A Perfect Park Playdate

Last weekend we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and headed downtown to meet our best girls, Amy and Audrey.  We had heard awesome things about Klyde Warren Park (aka the Park-They-Built-Above-Woodall-Rodgers-Fwy).   Um, total blast. Ultimate playdate mecca. I'll the pictures speak for themselves.

Immaculate grass on the kid zone. Super fun slide zone for kids, perfect perch for parents to watch the littles have fun.

Girl talk on the rock.

Devyn was in seventh heaven. Places to run, slide, hide.  Food to eat. Dogs to watch and pet. Baby girl had a v. happy day!

Can we discuss food trucks?  A few years ago you would have "food truck" and maybe a shady vehicle that parks by construction sites with pork rinds and peanuts comes to mind. Nowadays you say "food truck" and you see a line around the block of ten or so gourmet-on-the-go brightly painted, enticing trucks. Our first stop was the beer and margi truck. Nothing hits the spot on a playdate quite like an ice cold Miller Lite. We hit up a great food truck for burgers, Jack's ChowHound. This here is the Chow Chow Burger. Spicy corn relish mixed into fresh ground beef, buttery bun, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, special sauce. It was so juicy and fresh, way to go!

They served Sprite and Cheetos. So, that's all Cade needed, but he chowed down on the Chow Chow.

Cheesy finger high fives.

Devyn loved the dogs, I laid back on my blanket chatting with Amy and Devyn walked around the park saying hi (um, kissing and hugging) all the dogs.  Klyde Warren is such a friendly, laid back spot all the dog owners were so sweet and patient with the kid visitors. It was nice to be able to let the kids run without being A. overcrowded or B. afraid of creeps. Oh-kay, so there was one creep. This man was clearly some type of profesh photog with his vest and camera bag and mega-lens but when he walked by and snapped pics of the kids and us without smiling or asking first, that irked me. It's creepy. Trust me, here I am with my kids snapping away. I love photography. Love kids. But don't be doing that... Sorry, you're a dude. You're by yourself. You're taking pics of my kids without asking. It's weird.

I am SO happy that Devy girl is big enough to play with the big kids. They were amazing with her, it was so much fun to watch.

Okay, so back to the business of reviewing the park. The Dallas Morning News sponsored a mini-library of periodicals and children's books and games that people check out on the honor system. There was a volunteer/paid friendly guy checking out checkers and Candyland to some kids from a kiosk. That was cool, so much fun to encourage kids to play outside and have some good ol' fashioned fun free of charge.  There was also a guy playing some James Taylor songs on guitar. Amy and I kept saying, "This is the best park ever!!" 

 

Back in the kid area there were some awesome climbing structures, a splash zone, sand area, and more. So beautiful!

 The kids used their powers of persuasion to beg for frozen bananas on a stick. I desperately wanted to try the ice cream sandwich truck (um, hello red velvet cookies with chocolate chocolate chip ice cream in between!), but..... the kids. They wanted these bananas. On a stick.  For $5 we were the proud owners of the most perverse looking dessert.  Cade enjoyed 3 bites before giving up. I was either hungry or cheap or whatev, but I ended up eating the rest, much to the amusement of the beautiful group of gay men on the blanket next to us. Glad to be of service ;)   It was yummy, but I'm certain it wasn't as good as that ice cream sandwich looked.

 

Overall Momma Review of Kylde Warren Park:

Cost: Free

Parking: 50 cents an hour, some free spots aroudn if you're clever

Kids: Fun for all ages

Dogs: There is allegedly a dog park, we didn't see it.

Bathrooms: They are in the process of finishing up the bathrooms, in the meantime they have super luxe bathroom trailers with sinks, paper towels, etc. The Rolls Royce of portolets people! Hint: you flush with the pedal on the floor. The kids loved that part.

Alcohol: Beer and Margaritas

Mommy Tip: Bring some snacks, the food trucks are foodie friendly, not toddler friendly. Prices range from $5-$10 an entree and drink and bag of chips for one person.  They do take debit/credit cards in addition to cash. Bonus!

Mommy Tip 2: You can park at the Nasher or DMA and walk over after a museum visit.

Mommy Tip 3: Next time we are going to park in Uptown and ride the trolley down to the park. Not ideal if you're bringing a stroller and one mom/2+ kids, but doable with a friend or spouse.

He's baaaack!

Our elf, Jingle Jangle, has arrived! He came Dec. 1 and brought a breakfast of fruit and snow donuts from the North Pole. The kids were so happy! I read the book to them while they ate.... (and if you've done the math and are realizing this was all on a school day, you are correct! Momma woke them up at 5:50am so they could see the magic in the kitchen. And, we weren't late! Booyah!)

 

The elf let us open two of the holiday crackers. Cade got a purple crown and a silver dolphin keychain. Devyn got an orange paper crown and a flashlight keychain. Coolness. They were uber happy with surprise prezzies.

 

She wouldn't sport her crown, but she would rock the bedhead. Go girl!

And that face is all worth it.

Very seriously contemplating the snow donut.
Once she had a taste she was giggling and so happy. I was loving reading the book to her because she waved whenever Santa came on the page. Totes adorbs.

A perfect fall day

Flashback: October 2012
Yes, I'm really that late uploading pics from my camera.
You could say I've been having fun.
Or been crazy busy. Whatevs.

This Sunday afternoon we had the best day ever. It was chilly, so after naptime we made some soft pretzels from an Auntie Ann's kit I had bought at Walmart over the summer. It was a TON of work, but so freaking delish!  Totally worth the $10 and hour and a half it took to make.
Cade and I had a blast working out the dough and making shapes.

I had one of those moments where my desire to be picture-perfect and my desire to be a supportive mommy had a clash. We mixed ingredients, rolled the dough, and then it was time to make the pretzels into pretzel-shape. Maybe I secretely envy the skill of the mall pretzel shop people who just quickly and effortlessly loop their perfect little lines of dough to make uniform pretzels. Maybe I thought, "I can do that!" But I kind of had to restrain myself from reforming Cade's lopsided loops and mounds of dough. One even looked like a curl of toddler poop. So gross but he thought it was awesome. Maybe he missed that it was the white version of what he leaves behind during his evening constitutional? I dunno. It was sick. But I let him have it. I made minor adjustments behind his back.

Of course Cade and Daddy wanted to eat the pretty pretzels  (AKA the ones Mommy made). Again, self restraint in effort of modeling kind behavior for my children, I let them have it. I ate the poo-pretzel. It was damn good. And tasted great with beer. So, take THAT mall pretzel shop! There's my one up on ya!


The teacher in me did win in making initial pretzels for each family member. Here is Dev going after the "D" pretzel.

Daddy and Cade do NOT do pumpkin guts.
Mommy to the rescue!

I have some mad pumpkin carving skills.
Bruce Wayne was pleasanty surprised by  my bat signal-o-lantern.

 

Anddd.... you know you're a momma to kids under 3 if you have a glass door that looks like that.
I SWEAR it did not look that bad before the flash went off.

Rough day

Yesterday was rough.
Rough as in the night before I was in bed at 7:15pm with a killer migraine, nausea, and some majorly sore quads from working out the first time in ages. Rough as in I actually planned to take a sick day to catch up on sleep and fight off whatever stomach bug was creeping on me before it hit full throttle. We did that last year. I will not let stomach bug of 2011 hit us again. That sucked. Big time. So I cuddled in bed, kitchen mess be damned, and reassured myself that I would have the whole house to myself to relax, watch dvr'd shows, and eat saltines. Deep breath. It will be okay.

So I was definitely not expecting Nick to wake me up at 1:00am with "Cade's throwing up. A lot.". Nothing wakes up a momma from her Tylenol pm coma wrapped in feather duvet and chamois blanket quite like an unexpectedly sick baby rushing into your room simultaneously grabbing his stomach and reaching for a hug.

We made it through a few more episodes of vomiting, cleaning, hugging, laundrying, lysoling, and bleaching to wake up next to each other with his arm around my neck. I grabbed the iPad, shot off plans to colleagues and rolled over for more sleep. Five minutes later, baby girl cries.

Nick and I stagger past each other and somehow he heads to a dr appointment that can't be rescheduled, and there I am....one hour to get everyone dressed, one kid to daycare, and one kid to the dr...all while feeling completely sick to my stomach and trying not to lose my lunch (or yesterdays lunch-- yes, I actually skipped meals and snacks..wtf).

Getting those children into the car, both of them crying...one from growing her 4th molar and 5th and 6th something else, one from wanting to be held but mommy can't physically lift you baby, I'm so so sorry, I'm sick too. Me crying and trying not to let them see my cry. My god. I really think this is it. #2 hardest moment of motherhood. Right here, right now. I wanted to give up and go back to bed. I wanted to twitch my nose and make us all feel better. I needed Mary Poppins. No quitting....Push through, Momma, push!! You can do it!

Somehow that sweet girl made it to daycare and her loving teachers gave me knowing looks and hopes that everything would be okay. Somehow God arranged for my mother in law to have the day off work, so she would pick up baby girl later on in the day and I could be nurse the two of us. Turns out he had stomach virus with a side of strep throat. We went to Target for our ritual post-dr prescription run. He saw toys, I bought him new Batman fleece jammies, I bought myself some bagel bites and a thermal top. Target therapy.

We napped it off, and the M-I-L came to the rescue with Popsicles and soup for him, trashy mags and ginger ale for me, and the sweetest little baby sister girl. Somehow we survived the day from hell, and are on the mend now.

And for the record, #1 hardest moment of motherhood was also my first moment of motherhood, pushing out that sweet baby Cade. Killer. But #2 is a close second.

A Moment of Parenting Awesomeness....

So, there was this day.
It was awhile ago, but it's a day I've been meaning to confess about.
My brother was in town. We were heading out for an adventure and Cade was devastated. He desperately wanted to wear his Batman shirt,  but it was dirty. I  didn't have time to do laundry just for this shirt. I didn't want to do laundry just for this shirt. I'm sorry. But I refuse to be that parent who washes a shirt every day just to make their kid happy. That's weird. I can't do it. I won't do it. But this day I paid for it. He was seriously devastated that he couldn't be Batman for his Uncle Alex.

So I convinced him that he could be Batman. He could wear a button up shirt, just like Bruce Wayne.
He stopped crying a little. I mean a little. Like instead of sobs we had trickling tears. Progress. Mommy score! But I could tell I needed to think quick. He needed more.
So I told him to wait right there. I grabbed the black waterproof Crayola marker and showed it to him.
"You can BE Batman... but it has to be our secret. Nobody can know that today you are more than Bruce Wayne. Save that secret for someone special."
He nodded very seriously. Crocodile tears.
Point 2! Keep going, Mama. I told myself.
So I told him to lay down. I unbuttoned his shirt and drew a black bat on his chest. I colored it in, I tried to make it look good. He loved it!
We went to the bathroom and I showed him his secret bat.
He smiled as he held open his shirt.
He was walking around kind of hung down. Uh-oh.
Something else??! Is this kid for REAL?!
Then I remembered.... The black nail polish.
I found it and I painted his nails.

He was so proud.
He was happy.
Ten points for Mommy!It was a great day. We did the Dallas World Aquarium. (Post to come)
We were happy and had fun with Uncle Alex.
We went to dinner at Mattitos.
And then... Devyn drank from Alex's margarita.
Mommy fail.

At least there's always tomorrow.

Sweet October

It's been awhile, friends.
I've been living, doing fine, but struggling to stay afloat some days.  I don't really talk on the blog about being a working mom, and I know I should, because I'm sure there are working moms out there who could maybe relate.  October was a crazy month, so many highs and lows. I think I felt so overwhelmed by life (both good and bad) that I couldn't even begin to think about blogging. But I should have.  This is my journal, my life, and memories. And it's very real to me. If my daughter or my friend can one day relate to what I'm going through and not feel alone, it will be worth it. When I'm an empty nester years from now, I am sure I will look back and read this and long for the busy days of toddlerhood. I love the country song "You're Gonna Miss This".  I recently ran into an old friend from elementary school.  He was in the haze of being a daddy for just four or five days. I was so jealous of him, I'm a sucker for newborns. He asked me, "Does it get easier?" Oh yes, it does... but it doesn't. I tried to stay positive, tried to keep it real though, because there are moments when it's just the hardest thing you've ever done in your life...but I shared probably my favorite piece of parenting wisdom that someone wise once shared with me.

"Enjoy each stage. Each stage has it really great parts, and each stage has its challenges. Enjoy whichever moment you are in."

October... Sweet October. I love the promise of fall, the promise of holidays to come, the promise that seasons will change and you can start over new.  As much as my goal for 2012 was to live with grace and give myself forgiveness and allow myself not to be perfect, but instead to live in perfect moments, I found myself still struggling with these things in the tenth month of the year.

My hectic, crazy, busy moments of fall:  Waking up 1-3 times each night for the teething that will....not...end..., waking up at 5am, getting myself and kids ready for the day, heading into work an hour early to get stuff done, working lunches, meeting lunches, taking home grading, soccer practice 2x/wk at 5:30pm, laundry, cleaning the house, searching for binkies, trying to live a Pinterest perfect life...


And then, the sweet moments. Oh how they make it all worth it!
Reading and rocking each child to sleep, tickles on the changing table, greeting Daddy when he gets home each day with running hugs, playing iPad with Cade, laying in the dark and having bedtime chats about Cade's day, my quiet moments cuddling the dog in bed before I'm fully awake and ready to start my day, coffee with Silk Dark Chocolate almond milk, sitting on the couch with Nick, running with Nick to the bedroom to just lay on the bed together - escaping the kids for just a minute before they find us, dropping everything to play on the floor, naked kids running through the house, soccer games, coloring with the kids at their little table, listening to Pandora and cooking dinner, Cade's belly laugh, Devyn's quiet giggles.

 

My  new promises to myself:

Live with grace
Enjoy the imperfection
Breathe through the chaos