we got him!

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As of 24 hours ago, we finally have Elliott again! We never anticipated it would take us so long to find an apartment, and while we are so grateful to my parents for watching him for so long while we found the perfect place, being away from him for 3 weeks was almost more than I could bare. Of course, since he's been here we've been spoiling him like crazy. More on that later :)

Welcome home baby boy, welcome home!

have a fun weekend

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Happy Father's Day weekend! We have so much planned this weekend, it's kind of ridiculous. Whatever you have planned are this weekend, I hope you have a blast spoiling the fathers in your life!

Here are my links for the week. Enjoy!

{one awesome map}
{I'll be here on Saturday}
{Such an awesome idea/site}
{I need this couch}
{Adorable nautical themed baby shower}
{What I'm giving my dad for Father's day}
{A fun/sweet way to let them know you're pregnant}
{Another excuse to use cute paper straws}

Photo by me, of Elliott belting out "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

my little man took a spill...

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Tuesday morning Elliott had a pretty bad fall and while I don't want to go into too many details, his nose may or may not be broken. He went from Monday afternoon looking like this:
To now looking like this...
Heart breaking, right? I have to admit, I did freak out more than I should have. Freaking out is probably the worst thing you can do when your child is in crisis. They need you to be strong for them and sooth them. You're their anchor! I keep telling myself that next time I'll be a little more prepared...maybe. We go back to the doctor tomorrow to see if it is actually broken or not. They couldn't tell because of all of the swelling, but hopefully they'll give us some good news!

Have you been through something like this with your child? I swear it's by far the most painful thing I have ever experienced. Do you have any tips of how to stay calm in crisis? Please, share!

a day at the pool

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Ok, so it was more like an hour + 15 minutes at the pool. We might have stayed longer but it was windy, the sun decided to take a nap behind the clouds, and well...some kid went #2 in the water. But we had a blast anyway! The absolute best part for me was the 20 minute "my kid is so cold he's shivering" cuddle session. The best part for Elliott was realizing he was in a huge "bath!" Have you gone swimming yet this year? It's one of my great loves in life!

p.s. Elliott's swim suit is from here.

A SEUSSTASTICAL BIRTHDAY

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I am finally sharing a few pictures from Elliott's 2nd birthday party which was a month ago. I had an absolute blast making everything for the party. Preston of course did the truly amazing decorations (the portraits of some characters + the fish on the jars) So here are some of the details:
The food table was probably my favorite part. I loved making the seuss trees which were pretty easy. Some dollar store foam board, a couple of crayons, an exacto knife and some half-fluffed pom poms. Really, they were that easy!  All of the food was very simple but delicious. Can you see the little Lorax up on top of the middle tree?
I stole this idea from Caroline. Very simple diy water-bottle labels. Design, print, cut and tape! Double-sided tape worked perfectly!
These were incredible! Didn't Preston do an amazing job? I could never free hand paint imitation Dr. Seuss. Not if my life depended on it. We filled them with water and fresh raspberries and they were reserved for only special guests. (kids)
Some Sneetch star sandwiches? Yes, I'll take one! They were chicken pesto on squaw bread. (mmm)
It's an awful picture, I know. But the puppet theater was a huge hit! We didn't have time to really make puppets, so we printed out pictures on card-stock and used double-sided tape to attach them to some dowel rods. The kids loved it! And I actually used Seuss fabric to make it.
The "party favor" table with the stupendous portraits. We kept these guys and they are currently hanging in Elliott's room. I really wanted big, round balloons but just couldn't bring myself to buy the big weather balloons at $15+ a pop. So, I improvised with blow up punch balls from the dollar store and a small helium tank. And the party favors consisted of most things Seuss. Stickers, pencils, badges, a small book and a punch ball.
I also made some Thing 1 + Thing 2 shirts for father and son using iron on transfers. The Seuss cake I spent hours making didn't work out exactly as planned. While it achieved the lopsided, Dr. Seuss effect I was going for, it ended up too lopsided and was practically fallen over completely by the time guests arrived. Sorry I didn't get any pictures, but imagine the cake that the cat in the hat is balancing in the book. It looked very similar to that. We still ate it along with the cupcakes I had Preston run to the store last minute for. It was all surprisingly good!

I really enjoyed planning and executing the party. And as you can imagine, my mind is already working on a few fun ideas for next year. Yes, I am crazy.