Wow! Where have the last few months gone? We have had a hectic few months with sicknesses. This winter has been a killer for all of us. Especially for Owen. Poor little guy. The worst happened two months ago when we thought Owen had croup, but it turned out to be RSV. A terrible upper respiratory issue. He woke up in the middle of the night lethargic, almost a 104 fever, and breathing really fast so we knew we had to take him to the hospital. They gave him a steroid and later a nebulizer treatment along with amoxicillin because he also had an ear infection. It was AWFUL. I have never seen him like this before. He is the happiest kid, even when he is sick, but this time was different. The doctor said we did the right thing. As a mother, I have learned to trust my mom gut these past few years! With this rough winter, I am looking forward to enjoying summer with the kiddos so badly! We have a fun spring/summer planned ahead with a trip to Europe as a family, visiting our families in Chicago twice, and a reunion at the Wisconsin dells, and lots of pool time! We also want to make a bucket list for places to explore in our beautiful home state of Colorado now that the kids are a little older and at better ages. We can’t wait. It should be an amazing summer.
Love these baby soy hats, so soft and comfy for chilly weather Baby lumberjack vest
Belle nightgown Fur vest, lace top
Red converse– love these fun, stylish shoes for kiddos!
Baby boy cargo pants– my fav! Easy to crawl/move in, can button up for warmer weather!
Stride rite baby boy shoes– the best new walker shoes
Mini Melissa dog shoes– great for a toddler to put on by herself, super cute, and so easy to clean! These are my daughter’s fav shoes.
Posh Play bib– easy to clean and wipe off, folds into diaper bag easily
Disposable place mats– the BEST for restaurants or travel to avoid table germs, so practical
We had the best time celebrating the kids’ birthdays recently. For Ella Rose’s third birthday, my mom came to celebrate. We took her to the American girl doll store, and she picked out a new doll, Julie. She is one of the newer originals and she absolutely adores playing with her. Julie is very special to Ella Rose now. After we picked out the doll she wanted, we went to lunch at a “doll friendly” restaurant (since Denver and KC are the only two cities without the actual American girl restaurant) and Ella Rose got to eat lunch with her doll. She LOVED this. We then had tacos at home and did cake and presents. It was a great time. Ella Rose was so happy to have Grancy, my mom, there to celebrate with us. A few weeks later we celebrated with a birthday party for Ella Rose and Owen with our closest friends and my parents came back to visit for this as well. It was a complete blast. We had a mermaid and pirate from the company Wands and Wishes come, Ariel and Jack Sparrow, and they were so wonderful. It was AMAZING. They did face painting, Ariel read a book and sang “part of your world,” they played hot potato with Flounder, and they had noodle sword fights with Jack. Ella Rose and Owen were so incredibly engaged the entire time. Owen kept standing and clapping during the stories and games. Ella Rose kept answering the questions during the story and loved teasing the pirate saying, “you’re so silly!” They both ADORED the pirate and mermaid and had such a great birthday together. It was so much fun to see such joy and adoration on their faces. They felt so special and the party was completely magical. I will remember how happy they both were on this day forever. So neat. Below you will see my fun decor for the party.
Zutano booties– one of my favorite pairs of booties, stay on feet, and can wear up until walking
First, I found a perfect mermaid dress and pirate shirt for Ella Rose and Owen. I found this adorable pirate mermaid clip art online and used that as one of the main themes for the goodie boxes, cake, and food labels. I also found fun food names with the pirate and mermaid theme as well: cannon balls (olives), peg legs (corn dogs), sea snails (mini croissant hot dogs), sea shell pasta salad, sea water (water bottles), pirate brew (pop, juice boxes), sea weed wraps (stuffed tortillas rolls with cream cheese, cheese and salsa), fish and chips (chips and gold fish), pirate jewels (fruit salad), and starfish sandwiches (PBJ star shapes). I used these picture clips for the food labels, and highly recommend them for parties!
For the goodie boxes, I found Chinese take out boxes at the dollar store, glued a pirate mermaid picture on them, and put gold coins, ring pops, Dory stickers and tatoos, and bubbles in them.
I also had a treasure chest filled with crowns for the little girls and pirate hats for the little boys.
I also made a banner of Owen’s monthly pictures, put Ella Rose’ past three birthdays and birth pictures in frames, and in the center, had a picture of them together in their mermaid and pirate costumes from Halloween on the mantel in our living room.
I also recently took their third and first birthday pictures and put those in frames for all to see as well. Additionally, I made a burlap banner with their names and a burlap board sign that read “Ahoy Mateys! Owen is 1 and Ella Rose is 3” and hung those above the food table. Lastly, my mom and I made Octopus to hang from the ceiling. For this we cut plastic table cloths into two inch strips pinched the strings to make them a little jagged, stuffed a clear shower cap with tissue paper, and using a safety pin hung the legs from the shower cap and used thread to hang them from the ceiling. This was a big hit! So easy and so cheap (got all of this from the dollar store as well). I got this idea from another fellow blogger, “a PG Life,” that I found on youtube. She had some great ideas!
I had a blast planning the party and can’t wait to plan their next one. But, Brendan has limited me to planning one every other year since I tend to go all out for them. I guess I miss my teaching days and this is a fun outlet! Here are some pics from the party!
Processed with VSCO with f2 preset
Processed with VSCO with f2 preset
I can’t believe Owen is already one! I just LOVE one. It is such a fun age. He just started walking right on his birthday. It is so much fun to see. It is the cutest thing watching him waddle around the house. He has six words: llama (after his favorite book- Llama LLamma yum yum yum), mama, bubba (paci), more, book, and wa wa (water). He absolutely loves reading and it is probably his favorite thing to do besides eating ;-). He still loves taking baths and is a HUGE mama’s boy. He has two bottom teeth, and is getting four top ones (ouch!). He also loves to make Ella Rose laugh, loves being outside, and loves playing mama lion with me and Ella Rosie. He is the happiest little guy I know and is a big jokester. He makes us all laugh every day. His new thing he just started is “roaring” and it is so funny. He seems like he may be trouble when he’s older- ugh oh;-) I just love how happy he makes me.
Our baby Ella Rose is three. WOW. Threenager stage was definitely in full swing, but luckily it was a phase and just seemed to have passed. Thank goodness. She has also dropped her nap on a daily basis. I didn’t really think this stage would come yet because she was always a great, long napper, but the pediatrician said some children drop it around 3. She is such a big girl and is so independent now. She is sleeping in a toddler bed and did so great with the transition. I was really impressed at how well it went and she was definitely ready for it. We have this clock that is amazing which really led to a peaceful transition. I highly recommend using my tot clock while they are still in a crib so they learn the rules of when to call/get out of bed. That way when they are in a big girl bed, they already know the rules and do not keep getting out. It has been a wonderful tool for her and I highly recommend it. Both of our kids crave routine and structure with sleep, so this was necessary for us. Ella Rose is obsessed with night gowns and that is all she wants to wear when she’s at home. It’s really cute. Luckily, she got some for her birthday so I don’t have to do the laundry every two days now :-). She is also participating in all of her activities on her own now. For ballet, gymnastics, and swim she does them without me because she’s three. I’m a little sad and miss our mommy and me classes, but it is definitely neat to see her learning and growing on her own and seeing what she likes. I can tell she definitely misses our classes together too, because sometimes she says she doesn’t want to go because I’m not in them with her, which absolutely breaks my heart. Other times, she marches right in and says, “I don’t need you with me, I’m a big girl,” haha tear 🙁 . It will be fun to watch and see what she chooses in life as she grows.
Red striped dress -such a sweet dress, can be worn casually (Above) or dressed up
Harper Canyon girls flower dress– just bought three of these, another is below, so perfect for spring/summer
We just had my parents visiting for the week for the birthday party, and now Brendan’s parents visited for Owen’s birthday and Easter. We got him some birthday balloons, since he’s obsessed with balloons and a ride along car that we can push. We also had cupcakes from my favorite bakery “Maggie and Molly’s” with Grandma and Grandpa. We love when the grandparents all visit because we miss them so incredibly much. I have to say, even though living far away is hard and sometimes not the easiest, we REALLY do appreciate our families so much more and cherish all of the precious time we spend with them when they visit. We really have such a great relationship with our parents and are SO grateful for that. We enjoy their company and love seeing them when we get the chance. We can’t wait to see our families this summer!
Lil Cactus Smock Easter dress and overalls – one of my favorite Smocked brands & super reasonable for Smocked
Mommy moment for this post… a month or so ago I was cooking in the kitchen. I had just turned on the flame of our gas stove and boom, the flame went over the pot ( the top of the stove was accidentally off center), and my long hair was in a side pony hanging down, and caught fire! YES, I am not joking…my hair caught on fire! I looked down and there was a softball size flame- I screeched, ran to the sink and hosed off my hair. It was burnt to a crisp and stinky, UGHHHH! Poor Owen saw the entire thing and started crying because he was so freaked out. About 20 minutes later, Brendan walked in the door and I burst into tears because I literally almost caught fire and could’ve had severe 3rd degree burns all over my body if it had caught my shirt. It was SO crazy. Also, a reminder to be careful cooking in the kitchen with the kids around 🙁 . Sooooo because of this incident, I cut off about five inches of my hair and went for the LOB look. I do miss my long locks, but I have to say I’m loving this new look and it’s been fun to style. I never take selfies but here ya go 😉 . Keep a watch on my insta too @totesamom XOXO
Harper Canyon girls flower dress
Sailboat dress– Ella Rosie’s favorite, insisted on wearing it three days in a row and to bed once 😉