Logan's 1st Birthday Party

Logan celebrated his first birthday a while back... make that WAAAAY back... and I am just now getting around to posting stuff about it. Considering my husband lost his job and we moved to another state within a few shorts weeks after Logan's birthday, I am past feeling bad about it. I just hope I can remember some of the details I wanted to remember.

Since a 12 month old can't exactly specify what kind of a birthday party he wants, I picked for him. Logan really loves our dogs a lot and just about any other dog he sees around town, so I thought a dog party theme would be fun. I probably spent too much time and money but it was a blast for me and made for some great pictures.

Most of the things I bought were from the dollar store or on clearance and a few things I found around the house

             THE PARTY INVITATION

The front of his birthday party invitation

The back of his birthday invitation. Some details have been hidden for privacy.

And just for fun- some blooper pictures

                                         Hahaha! I love this photo!

 

 

 

Party Supplies

  I found cute fabric at Hobby Lobby and made a banner for the party table. Pretty much most of the party was centered around these colors and patterns.

I also put paw prints on the table cloth with brown paint. Wish I had gotten better pictures! I found some cute dog food bowls at the dollar store and put condiments in them for the hot dogs. Since Logan's birthday is close to Easter, I also found fake grass at Hobby Lobby and put the bowls on them. 

The outside of the chip bowls were wrapped in a dog food bag so that it looked like we were serving dog food.

Our menu: 

Hot Dogs

"Puptato" Salad

Fruit Kabobs  

Chips and Dip

Strawberry Limeade 

The Cake

 I think the cake was probably the coolest thing at the party. A large part has to do with the fact that a friend with AMAZING cake decorating talent made it instead of me. 

Barb is such a talented woman. She even made the black and white dog to look like one of our real dogs. Not only was the cake cute, but the cupcakes were soooo tasty. Yummm! Props to my mother and father-in-law who traveled all the way from South Carolina with the cake and got it here in ONE piece. Amazing.

"Happy Birthday dear Logan..."

He got a little shy with all the attention, but it made for one of my all time favorite photos of the two of us.

He didn't know what to do with the cake. It took a while and a lot of prompting from mom and dad to get him to try it.

But once he did, he loved it!!

He even wanted dad to try it

 Party Fun!

Logan got a red wagon for his birthday from his Granna and the kids got to go for rides in it. The weather was gorgeous (although surprising was a little chilly). 

  

Photo Booth

My talented husband cut out a cardboard dog house and we spray painted it to make a prop for our photo booth. We made clouds from poster board and hung up a sheet for a backdrop. I made puppy ears with headbands and felt.

Our family in 2012

 

Granna, Uncle Andrew, Me, Logan, Derek, Grampy and Grammy

All worn out from so much partying

Cuddling with my sleeping 1 year old

Little L's First Hair Cut

Getting ready for my first trim

Hey Mom, make me look cool!

 Dude...

You sure you know what you're doing there?

 Just take a little off the top

 Mom, you messed it up!

I guess it looks okay

 Wait, I thought you were done!!!

 Worst. Day. Ever

 Get me out of here.

I hope Mom takes me to a real barber next time

Things I Learned In The Last 12 Months From Being a Mommy

I saw this idea on another girl's blog so here is my own attempt at it.

v  You don’t need as much sleep as you think you do. But try to have one day a week you can sleep in or nap. It makes a world of a difference.

v  Going to bed early is nearly impossible. Those short hours of hubby or alone time after baby is in bed is crucial for your sanity. 

v  Being a stay at home mom doesn’t mean you’re lazy and get to sit and write at a blog and on Facebook all day. It means you’re a teacher, a doctor, a cook, a laundry mat, a maid, a handyman, an accountant, a pet sitter, a gardener, a chauffeur, and tired.

v  Being a stay at home mom doesn’t make me better than a working mom. It just makes us different- but both equally tired and both equally full of love for our children.

v  Working out is nearly impossible with a baby. If you try and work out at home while baby is napping, he WILL wake up. If you try and work out while baby is awake, she will need your attention the whole time…or at least crawl on you while you are trying to do downward facing dog or sit-ups. 

v  Going to the gym isn’t an option for everyone. Sometimes it’s hard financially and sometimes your baby will just plain hate the childcare there and cry till you return. Talk about breaking mommy’s heart. 

v  Don’t let being a mommy be an excuse to not take care of yourself. Find a way to be active. 

v  Don’t fret too much over your post-baby bod. That body just did something that is a miracle. It grew, protected and nourished life inside it for 9 months. And then it stretched and pushed a watermelon out of it. Impressed? You should be.

v  Getting back to your pre-baby weight doesn’t mean that clothes will fit the same. You probably will need to buy a whole new wardrobe with new jewelry and shoes to match. And maybe get a cut and dye to match your new purse. 

v  If you expect your kids to eat healthy, have the same expectation for yourself. I have noticed lately that I will give baby a bowl of fruit and sit down to a bowl of ice cream for myself. Not cool, mommy, not cool.

v  Don’t feel guilty about that brownie you ate after dealing with tears and tempers from a teething baby. 

v  Sometimes your legs will get prickly from not having time to shave. A little lotion helps.

v  You may get multiple in-grown toenails from swollen pregnancy feet. Yes they hurt really bad. No they are not always a result of poor grooming. Yes after a few short surgeries they should be better, just hold off on the pedicures for a few months.

v  All that thick pretty hair during pregnancy…yeah, it falls out. And keeps falling out a year later. You might feel like a Golden Retriever on a hot summer day. 

v  Buy something pretty for yourself. 

v  Germs are inevitable. Try to avoid them in the first few months. After that, deal with it and try to enjoy life. I lived in fear for too long and probably missed out on some fun things. One exception: if it’s the stomach flu. RUN! Also, take lots of vitamins and use hand sanitizer.

v  Be respectful of other people and do unto others as you would have them do to you. If your kid is sick, do your absolute best to not share.

v  Slow-cooker meals are inexpensive, easy and make clean up after dinner a breeze. Plus it gives you time to spend with baby and hubby when he first gets home from work. 

v  It’s okay to pass the baby off to husband when he gets home. Sure, let him change, but you worked hard all day too and need a break. Plus, daddy’s miss their kids too! 

v  Sneak in a hug and kiss from hubby first thing when he gets home. It makes you both feel loved and remember it’s not just about baby. It’s about your marriage too!

v  Cloth diapers are cute to look at….

v  Go on a date with yourself. 

v  Now go on a date with your husband. Don’t wait till the kids are all grown up to spend time with him. Baby’s have a really sneaky way of making you not realize how little time you have spent together.  Your relationship IS IMPORTANT!!

v  Find little ways to show husband that you love and appreciate him. Being a daddy and husband is hard work too!

v  Take time to pray and be with God. He wants a relationship with you too!

v  Money always stretches farther than you can imagine. Trust God and keep on giving to others and you will be amazed at how it returns to you.

v  When you feel lonely, remember that there is another mommy out there lonely too. Then go find her.

v  Mommy’s moms are super important. They don’t mind if you cry or speak irrationally in the middle of the night. Even if they live 12 hours away, their voice on a phone makes everything better.

v  Baby hugs and kisses are the best thing in the world. Take every moment possible to love on him before he grows up a little and is too embarrassed to give kisses.

v  Stop comparing your baby to others. You probably always will to some degree but remember that just because Johnny was walking at 6 months and talking in complete sentences at 8 months, doesn’t mean your child is behind. It just means they’re lying. 

v  Taking a million pictures of your baby and posting them on Facebook doesn’t mean you think everyone has looked at or wants to look at all of them. It just means your proud of your baby and want everyone to know. And it’s a good way to store photos. 

v  It’s okay to start a blog and only write in it 4-5 times a year.

Turning One

I think it’s only been a few weeks since Logan was born.  I don’t know how he is almost walking already and has neeearly 8 teeth. The first year of my little baby boy’s life has come and gone but I don’t think I will ever forget how amazing (ly hard) and fantastic it has been. He is napping right now and I am finally getting a chance to sit and reminisce. 

Logan Asher Adams, born at a hospital in Chattanooga, TN on April 24, 2011. I am so grateful for those mommy love hormones that God gives so that I will want more beautiful babies like him because labor was REALLY hard. Despite all the preparing I did- physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually- for the big day, nothing really prepared me at all. 

I went into labor naturally on Saturday evening, got a failed epidural around 2:30 pm Sunday, and pushed for 1.5 hours. After 22 hours of labor, Logan entered my life at 5:31PM on Easter Sunday. He weighed 6 lb, 5oz and was 19 ¾ inches long. Amazing how such a tiny little thing has come into our world and completely changed it and stolen my heart!

Logan has changed a LOT in his first year. I was thinking if I kept learning every year as much as he does, I would be beyond genius! Here’s some things he has been up to:

v  Weighs 22 lbs (that’s in the 25-50 %- way up from the 10^th % at birth)

v  Is 30 inches tall (that’s in the 50 %)

v  Loves dogs. I mean LOVES them. When he seems them he shrieks and laughs and babbles incessantly. He has 2 stuffed animal dogs, Max and JuJu, that go everywhere with him (like he needs stuffed dogs when we have 3 real ones). Just yesterday as we were driving through the car wash, which terrifies him, he was clinging to JuJu’s neck and seeming quite comforted. Logan loves dogs so much we threw him a dog themed birthday party for his 1^st. Logan also seems to think he is a dog. He tries to eat dog food on a regular basis, would like to drink his water out of the dog bowl and sits on the dog beds.

v  He also likes trains. Since we live near a train track he gets to watch them go by all day long. He has started noticing them before we even do now.

v  Prefers to be naked. Typical boy. He is getting harder and harder to change because as soon as his dirty diaper is removed, he’s off, crawling at high speeds out the door. 

v  Bath time is still his favorite time of the day. He got some cool blinking bath toys for his birthday and that has made it even more fun. Who doesn’t like a blinking red star on the bottom of the tub?

v  He will eat us out of house and home before he is a teenager for sure. I have never seen a child so hungry. He likes a variety of finger foods- green beans, carrots, apples, grapes, crackers, and such. But his absolute favorite is cheese. He shoves cubes in his mouth as if it’s his last meal ever. He also likes yogurt, cream of wheat, oatmeal, any kind of meat, frozen yogurt with fruit from Cool Swirl, and apple cinnamon cheerios for breakfast. Unfortunately, he still loves his jars of baby food and will never fill up on finger foods. He will cry his eyes out unless he gets a jar of Gerber Chicken and Vegetable for dinner. 

v  Milk, yeah that’s a joke. He sips a little here and there but usually finds it more entertaining to fill his mouth and then slowly let it dribble out and down his chin. Then he throws the cup on the floor. His preferred milk is still momma’s. I didn’t really think we would still be nursing at 1 but he LOVES to nurse and I hear it’s a great “diet pill” for mom so we keep it up. Around  10 months we went through a really rough few weeks of weaning Logan from nursing so frequently. 8-10 times a day was not cool. We are down to 2-3 times in the day and 1 at night.

v  Favorite place to be is outdoors and near water.  At the park, by the lake, hiking, playing in the river, or at the swimming pool. It doesn’t matter how cold it is, he wants to be in water. He also enjoys swinging and climbing the stairs at the playground. He got a little red wagon for his birthday and likes it much more than the stroller because it allows him to take in the whole world all at once. 

v  Sleep…what’s that? Logan has to be the worst sleeper on the planet. It’s taught us a lot though about ourselves and how sinful we can become at 2am, 4am and 5:30am. He goes down at 7:30pm and gets up at 6:30 am and wakes anywhere between 2-4 times during the night. We tried every suggestion in the books, from the doctor, and from friends and finally came to accept that this is the child God has given us and it’s okay. He is the happiest boy in the day and we just hold onto the hope that when he is a teenager he will be impossible to wake. 

v  Speaking of happy, have I mentioned that Logan is one happy boy! Sure he has his bad days, but no one is happy ALL the time. He loves people and attention so is constantly trying to find ways to make people laugh. He easily entertains himself and loves playing with puzzles, Mega Blocks, balls, and anything in the kitchen that is not a toy. He also finds rolls of toilet paper entertaining and climbing in the shower. Toilets, plungers, toilet scrubbers, trash cans, diaper pails, and anything else gross are the highest forms of entertainment. We are still trying to figure out a better home for our trash cans than on the dressers.

v  Doesn’t really speak English yet but often sounds like he knows some Chinese. He does say a very baby version of a few words that we are learning actually does mean something- daddy and dog. He never says momma to me but sometimes when he is in his crib I will listen at the door and hear him saying, “mom-mom-mom-momma.” His Granna taught him to say uh-oh when he drops something. Now he throws things on the ground just to have the chance to say uh-oh. Thanks mom. 

v  He crawls like a pro and sometimes will let go while standing and hold his hands out wide with fingers spread. Then he gets excited that he is standing and tries to clap and falls down. He walks around the house pushing a chair so I know independent walking is just around the corner. 

v  He loves to clap his hands when we say, “yay,” or when we sing. He learned that waving bye-bye to everyone in the store gets him tons of attention. He likes to mimic us when we make funny sounds with our mouth and tongue.

v  Will not hold his mommy's hand but happily will hold his Aunt Vic's. Hmmm....what's with that.

v  He still kind of likes books but is usually so on the go that he can’t sit still for more than a page or two.

v  Seems to have an interest in sports and music. Loves watching people play soccer or basketball and loves to play the piano and guitar.

v  He got his first hair trim at 12 months, 1 week.

Logan's 1st Year Slideshow

Black Bean and Salsa Soup

Black Bean and Salsa Soup
Ingredients:

3          Cans of Black Beans (divided)
1 1/2    C Salsa
2          C Chicken Broth
1 1/2    tsp Cumin
2          cloves garlic
1/2       onion (chopped)
            hot sauce to taste
1          T lime juice
            sour cream
            butter

Get Cooking:

Saute chopped onion and garlic in pan with butter.

Meanwhile, puree 2 cans of black beans, salsa, cumin, chicken broth, hot sauce in blender.

Add bean mixture to onions and garlic. Add 1 can of whole black beans and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add lime juice and stir. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and cheese on top.

Additional:
Add in corn, rice or chicken for more interest. Serve with cheese quesadillas.

Hubby's Favorite Mac & Cheese

This is to die for...according to my husband. Many of my friends have probably tasted this since it's my fall back on dish any time there is a pot luck or event I need to bring food to. Since this is my most requested recipe and it tastes excellent with the BBQ chicken recipe I thought I would go ahead and share this one today.

Hubby's Favorite Mac & Cheese

8 oz         elbow macaroni
8oz          shredded cheddar cheese
12oz        small curd cottage cheese
8 oz         sour cream
1/4 c        grated parmesan
1/2 c        milk
               salt & pepper to taste
1 c           bread crumbs or crushed crackers
1/4 c        butter melted


Get Cooking

1. Preheat oven to 350. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, add pasta, and cook until done; drain.
2. In 9x13 inch baking dish (I usually use a deep casserole dish instead), stir together macaroni, shredded Cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, milk, salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix together bread crumbs and melted butter. Sprinkle topping over macaroni mixture.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until top is golden.

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken BBQ

 LOVE LOVE THIS RECIPE! Very nice to have when you don't have time to think about dinner and it uses very few ingredients so it's budget friendly.

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken BBQ

6           frozen boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
12 oz    BB-Q sauce
1/2 c     Italian dressing
1/4 c     brown sugar
2 T       Worcestershire sauce

Put chicken in slow cooker. In separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients together. Pour over chicken.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours OR on high for 3-4 hours.

Shred chicken and serve.

*chicken will generally test better if you use fresh or thawed chicken but it's still tasty with frozen.