Christmas 2011 Recap

Yay for Christmas! We FINALLY had a chance to relax and enjoy a little of the holiday festivities last night, and it was wonderful! Today has been even better -- NOTHING on the "To Do" list, nowhere to be, nothing to do... ahhhhhhh, pure bliss!!! We spent the night with hubs' family last night and came back home (to a WRECK of a home... so not like me to leave it such a mess when going out of town but there literally were not enough hours (minutes or seconds!) in the day yesterday!) with only ONE of our TWO littles. LO stayed behind with Gramma & PaPa for a little sleepover while hubs, Chase and I have been enjoying a leisurely (and QUIET!) afternoon/evening. We'll get our girl back tomorrow and all will be right with the world once more! ;)

So our Christmas day was quite honestly the most hectic, stressful and unmerry of any holiday I've ever experienced in my 30-something years. I hope we NEVER repeat the stresses and unjoy of the schedule we had to keep for this holiday season ever again! I'll tell you this much about working retail around the holidays: being forced to spend time AWAY from your family ON Christmas Eve truly truly truly SUCKS!!!!! I missed seeing my kids for over 24 hours due to my work schedule on Friday ('til 12AM!) and Saturday (6:45AM-4PM!) and I hope it NEVER happens again. Literally, I baked ZERO holiday treats and those of you who know me well are GASPING at the very thought, right?! Seriously. LO and I whipped up some "cake mix cookies" for Santa at 9:30pm on Christmas Eve. It's been that kind of holiday season around here. Gaw!

But once we were finally able to be together as a family and push our way through our overcommitted holiday schedule, it was truly wonderful! I am so very blessed to have the amazing husband and kids that I do! Thank you, Jesus!

So how about some pics of my kids? Don't mind if I do! Enjoy!

The Christmas stash.

TWO plates for Santa this year, one from LO and one from Chase. I think there were 9 cookies total plus a cup of chocolate milk (Santa's favorite). Would you believe Santa ate Every. Single. Cookie? Whoa! Hubs and I need to have a little chat before Santa's visit next year!

The stockings hung nowhere near the chimney because we don't have one! Haha! But we will next Christmas! ((WOOT!!)) Notice the ginormous bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms hubs left for me. Sweet!

My favorite Christmas morning pic ever! Both kids were in a slight sleepy stupor when they arrived in the family room to see all of the goodies. Please note LO's huge bouffant.

Time to open the stockings! Chase was very much enamored with a Cars 2 light-up spinning thing.

Seriously. He LOVED it. Great last-minute addition to his stocking! We got one for LO, too, but somehow he had confiscated hers...

Just a cute smiley pic of my precious boy! Love him!!

A new ball? Yes, please! :)

Um, I think LO was excited about this particular gift. Just a tad...

She was excited about The Ladybug Game, too!

Don't ask me why, but both of my kids love to watch Caillou. Seriously. He's a bald-yet-not-sickly-4-year-old boy with by far The. Most. Annoying. voice known to mankind. He's obnoxious. But the kids love him.

Can't wait for the four of us to try this one out! LO seems pretty stoked, too!

Chase got a computer for Christmas. Not that I have any notion that he'll leave my MacBook alone and just play with his new Leap Frog laptop. Especially since it doesn't get pbskids.org. But it seemed to hold his attention for at least a couple of minutes!

Such a big, handsome, grown-up little man!

Opening more presents with hubs' family. Both of the kids majorly scored with that clan (as did hubs and I, too).

Case in point about mommy's score? I'm so crazy excited about my new All-Clad measuring cups and spoons from Williams-Sanoma! You just can't imagine!!!

Yay for girlie toys! LO is stocked up on some serious Barbie gear. And yet, after all the gifts were unwrapped, it was Chase who was playing with the Barbie horse and LO playing with Chuck the Tonka truck! Haha!

A Little (okay, B-I-G!) Announcement...

First of all, I want to wish all of my reader(s) a MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I will have plenty of fun pics and videos to share after our big day of fun today, but I did promise you guys my little announcement, so let's get to that...

Let's start with an easy little version of the game "Spot the Difference" to aid in the deciphering of this announcement of ours...

Can you spot the BIG difference between the two images below?

Image #1:

Image #2:

So, um, not too hard, right? If you happened to notice the big, fat SOLD sticker on the lot sign, then CONGRATULATIONS! You didn't really win anything per se, but you DO get a gold star for being observant! :)

And for those of you who may have missed it,

Hubs and I are building our dream home!!!

As you can imagine, this little project is something that has been taking up a TON of what little free time I have available these days, and unfortunately my little blog here has had to suffer the brunt of said lack of time. So sorry! I plan to do better over the upcoming weeks/months, but I'll warn you now: a LOT of it will be focused on the process of building our home. I thought about starting a separate blog just for the house, but honestly it made the idea of blogging more complicated and time-consuming to me, so just consider this your heads-up that I'll be posting a lot about the house, using using fun and new words like "soffit" and "gable" and including tons of pictures along the way. Because, let's face it: this blog has a dual purpose: 1) it entertains the crap out of you guys (haha!) and 2) it's essentially become my online journal/scrapbook. So I'm using it for the latter purpose and if it happens to entertain along the way, YIPPEE!! If not, my apologies in advance. ;)

So there you have it. We're going to build our new home! And I'm super-excited about it!!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

You know it's an awesome, wonderful, super-merry Christmas when you see this:

Your daughter, wild fly-away hair and all, sporting a ride on her bike...




Meanwhile your son is rocking the yet-to-be-invented sport of golf ball hacking...

This is shaping up to be a beautiful holiday. I can't wait to get home and share it with my family!!!

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!!!

Posted from my iPhone

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

This is what 9:40 PM on Christmas Eve Eve looks like for me:




Workin' 'til midnight, then back in tomorrow morning at 6:45 AM on Christmas Eve. Realized earlier when I left for work that it'd be 24 hours before I'd see my kids again. But I'm looking forward to squeezing every ounce of Christmas cheer for the weekend starting tomorrow at 4pm! Woot!

Merry early Christmas! Hug those loved ones of yours extra tight!!!


Posted from my iPhone

Shots n' Stuff

Today is Chase's 2nd round of Synagis for the season. Poor fella gets a shot in each leg once a month through March to help protect him from a nasty virus called RSV. Typically kids with a special heart like Chase get these injections until they're 2. However, as those of you who know us well may agree, we've never been ones to follow protocol and do things "just because they tell us to." So we inquired about it and got approval from our insurance company to complete another round. So this will be Round 3 for our little guy. His cardiologist basically said IF you can get it, go for it! Haha! I'm not sure there's anything we CAN'T do when it comes to caring for our son. We are his only advocates and we take our job very seriously. Especially since he ended up with RSV back in March of this year and it seriously was just a temp and a yucky cough. It didn't require hospitalization, breathing treatments, or anything more serious than some Tylenol, lots of rest and a very patient mommy to get through it!

My poor boy... he has no idea what he's in for today! ;)

Other than some shots for my boy, I'm hoping to finish up some homemade Christmas gifts and wrap my last few gifts today. All this before working 5p-12a tonight! Sheesh! Same shift tomorrow night, too. I wanna know who's great idea it was to keep the mall open so late the week before Christmas? Are you guys seriously waiting until the very last minute to do your shopping? Are you seriously planning to head to the mall at 11pm to finish buying those last few gifts? Procrastinators always make me smile. :)

Anywho, enough randomness for one morning. I hope all of you are getting things done and are all kinds of prepared for your Christmas festivities with your family and friends!

Howdy!

Hey, y'all! I got bored and updated my blog layout. It's nothing exciting or fancy, but I was tired of looking at the old design and gave it a tiny little facelift. Maybe one day I'll bring it up into the 21st century but for now, the current look will have to do.

Other than my little design update, not much is going on here. We're really looking forward to Christmas this weekend! The kids are excited and I'm happy to say I'm 99.9% done with my shopping and wrapping. Woot! This year we'll be spending Christmas Eve with my family after the Christmas Eve communion service at our church. I'm playing one or two piano pieces during the service and MAY even attempt to get LO to sing one of them with me! We'll see if/how that works out... ;) Then Christmas morning it'll be an early day as we'll have to get up and get the kids fed and dressed and ready for our 9:30am church service! It'll be weird not letting them open presents on Christmas morning, but I figure it's all good. After our service we'll head home and let the kiddos rip into their Christmas goodies, eat a yummy late brunch, then head out to spend the rest of the day with hubs' family! It'll be so great getting to see everyone for the holidays! This year will be especially fun because both LO and Chase will be into the presents and excitement of Christmas. I just love those kiddos so much and am so blessed to have the family I do. God has been so very good to us over the past two years especially and we continue to be grateful for His mercies.

I hope and pray all of you have a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones! Be sure to check back here on the blog on Christmas Day... I'll be sharing a special announcement with all of you lovely readers! ((NO! We're NOT expecting!!!)) LOL!

Teacher Gift Ideas

I have a bad habit of coming up with these grand ideas for gifts, etc. literally months in advance, then letting my poor time management get the best of me, leaving me with only hours to put gifts together for special recipients.

That's where I find myself today.

Tomorrow is LO's last day of school until after the holidays, and I need teacher gifts! I don't have time to troll Pinterest all day, but there are a few ideas I'm considering from there. I just don't know if I'll have adequate time to execute any of these, or if I'll just end up with a Yankee Candle sampler from Kohl's to give to them instead.

Anywho, what do you think of these gift ideas for LO's teachers? I need something quick and easy to make... I like these ideas but I'm sure there are lots of other cutesie homemade gifts that don't look cheap. HALP!!

Quick and easy... just pick up some Bath & Body Works hand soap. 

This is cute but maybe a little too time-consuming to put together before tomorrow...

I absolutely LOVE this idea! Cutest. Thing. Ever!

Homemade pillow spray! Cute, but maybe a bit too personal?

Flashback

I was just sitting here, enjoying the peace & quiet of nap time, eating waaaay too many peanut butter M&Ms and thinking about where we were two years ago. The year was 2009 and it was the year our precious son was born. It's so hard to imagine sometimes that we actually lived through that nightmare of handing our son over for life-saving surgery at a mere 7 days old, of spending 5 weeks in the hospital and countless hours praying over his bedside for God's hand of healing and mercy on him.

Wow. God has brought us through so much and not a day goes by that I'm not overwhelmed with gratitude for all He's done.

So I was thinking I'd look back at what I blogged about 2 years ago. Thankfully by this time we were already home from MUSC and settled into life with our sweet boy. And it was just a fun post with a silly picture. I love it!

On a completely unrelated note... someone please get these peanut butter M&Ms away from me!!!

---

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2009

Birth Announcement

I've been trying to get a good picture of Chase to use for his birth announcement...

I don't think this is "the one."

Would you agree??

I think he was all smiled out and ready for me to put the durn camera away already!!

Punishment

Okay, parents of preschoolers, I need some help here. Last week, while I was putting LO to bed, she mentioned something totally off-the-wall and random to me about having to run at school and getting tired and her teacher forcing her to keep running... It sounded crazy-weird but I thought I'd follow up with her teacher to hear the "real" story.

Turns out the "real" story was the same one as LO told me! So she and a few other friends had to do 2 laps at the beginning of recess.

Is that normal??

I mean, she's 4. She actually loves to run, which is one of my biggest concerns about using running as a form of discipline. I don't want her to grow up thinking running = punishment (like I do). ;)

Ugh. Apparently she had been asked many times to not talk during circle time and to quit playing with her neighbors. Then she had to sit in "time out" at her desk after several verbal warnings, but since the behavior continued, she was given 2 laps outside at the beginning of recess.

I checked the school's handbook and didn't note any mention of using physical activity as a form of punishment. I was very surprised by this, but I guess I'm curious if this is something that a lot of preschools do to aid in discipline?

Thoughts? Comments?

I think what gets me the most frustrated about the situation is that hubs and I received ZERO communication from the teacher about the issue. I had no idea she received several verbal warnings, had to sit in time out and certainly not that she had to run laps. How are we supposed to reinforce her discipline at home if we don't know what's going on at school? Grrrr. I emailed the teacher and mentioned how helpful it would be if we would receive some kind of communication when LO struggles with her listening skills. I guess there's not much more I can do. But I still just don't like the idea of my 4-year-old being forced to run laps. I don't know why, but it gives me horrid junior high flashbacks and I just don't think it's appropriate discipline for her age.

Am I crazy?

Hi!

Can anyone tell me how in the world it can possibly be mid-December already?? Geez! I don't know where the time has gone! I guess now that I'm working part-time, I've lost all sense of time and honestly never have a clue what day of the week it is. Life is based on days LO is in school and days she is not. Happiness these days is actually finding time for ME to take a nap during the day.

There's a lot going on around here -- plenty of stuff to keep us busy! I'm sure that's the case with most people this time of year, but we've got a little extra added onto our plate that I'm not going to share just yet. In due time (NO, we're NOT expecting)...

LO is almost 4 1/2. How?? My goodness. It's like she's 14 already. She's reading like nobody's business these days. I've found some preschool books that were Level 1s, which are waaaay behind her skill level. So now we're on Level 2 books and she's tearing through 'em. I swear she'll be reading on a 2nd grade level before starting K5 next fall. Weird. But this girl's biggest issue these days is listening, or more accurately, NOT listening. It drives me crazy. I don't get it! Why do we have to repeat ourselves 12 times and even then she doesn't do (or stop doing) what we've asked. Man, does she ever love to irritate the crap out of Chase. I'm guessing that's normal? Being the youngest of 4 girls, I at least can recognize the fact that older siblings pick on younger siblings. I think that's just a part of nature. But I feel like there's an added bonus that Chase is a boy that LO gets a bigger kick out of it. I dunno. It's really annoying, though!

But she can sure look so sweet and innocent sometimes, right?

Chase is a handful of lovey goodness! Hubs and I absolutely LOVE this age. He just turned 2 in October and has started talking up a storm! I knew it was only a matter of time before his speech came around. Honestly I think he's been choosing to hold back to annoy us -- haha! He can say just about anything and will repeat everything he hears. He is the cutest! I'm so hoping he doesn't go from the sweet and lovely 2s into an obnoxious 3 year old like his sister did. I remember she was sweet and lovely... once upon a time. Hubs and I are enjoying every second with Chase and are trying to squeeze the sweetness out since I'm sure he'll be a wild and rambunctious boy within the next year or two... ((sigh))

I pretty much melt when I see this face.

So Christmas shopping went fabulously for me this year (I *heart* Amazon) and I'm about 98% done. The presents are already wrapped and under the tree (minus the ones from the Big Guy himself, which are wrapped and stowed away in a secret hiding spot). We're looking forward to spending time with my family on Christmas Eve and hubs' family on Christmas Day. I'm also looking forward to our Christmas morning service at church because it will be the last time I play the piano. Not that I'm excited about that being over (because I'm NOT), but excited about what God has in store for my family in the months and years ahead.

I've been doing quite a bit of baking lately, but I'm really interested in trying out some new recipes. Anyone have anything special they make during the holidays? I'd love some cookie recipes, but also some yummy meal ideas would be swell. Me and my crockpot are **tight** these days so if you have any to-die-for crockpot recipes, send 'em my way!!

I hope your holiday plans and activities are going well! I'm grateful for those of you who take the time to check in on us every once in a while. I have to say my favorite thing is not having a reason to HAVE to blog (i.e. doctor visit updates, surgeries, etc.). It's such a blessing to have a healthy 2-year-old, and even though I know that Fontan is looming in 2012 (most likely), I can't help but focus on NOW. It's my favorite time of the year! Time with my family during the holidays... the best gift of all!

I'll be back soon -- I promise! ;)

2-Year Checkup

Chase had his 2-year checkup today and, although he was NOT in the mood to deal with medical personnel this morning, he did a great job and we have great results! No questions or concerns from me, which was a first! Everything seems to be on track and his doctor doesn't have any concerns about anything! Yay!

And oh my word! I cannot believe this kid's placement on the height/weight charts! He weighed in at just over 27.5 lbs., putting him in the 47th percentile for weight! And he was 35 1/4 inches tall, in the whopping 81st percentile for height! How crazy is that? I believe he had quite a growth spurt recently when it comes to height specifically. He's now able to turn the lights on/off using the light switches, which I swear he was waaaaay too short to reach just a month ago!

So we're completely and totally blessed and thankful to have a healthy little 2-year-old boy! His next doctor appointment isn't until May (cardiology) and then again in October (well child checkup)! What an amazing blessing!!!!!

Way to go, Chase! :)

Cardiology Appointment Results

I owe you guys a serious blog post or two (hello, Chase's new bedroom, Halloween, cardiology appointment, etc.!?) but this'll have to be a short n' sweet one tonight. We are VERY blessed to share that Chase's cardiology check-up this morning was fantastic! Praise the Lord! While we did have some "issues" with the office staff (let's just imagine 20 patients, 4 exam rooms and 1.5 nurses... you do the math!) and it took a whopping 3 hours to get in and out of there, Chase was his typical Rock Star self and amazed the crap out of everybody! He's up to 28 lbs. and 34" tall. When the doctor was reviewing the notes before coming in to speak with us (after the BPs, echo, etc.), he saw the weight (which was actually 12.5kg) and thought to himself, "Hmmm... So what do we have here? A 3-year-old hypoplast..." ((reading through notes until he sees Chase's 2nd birthday was just last week)) and was in complete shock & awe that our little 28 lb. hypoplast is just barely 2 years old! This is a GREAT thing to hear! We have definitely been blessed by Chase's weight gain and the fact that he's never been on an ng-tube (other than during his first surgery/hospital stay), never even had a mention of a g-tube, never had any oral aversions, didn't have to fortify his bottles, etc. Weight gain has never really been an issue with him and we are truly blessed by that!

Anywho, we head back in 6 months -- exactly what I wanted to hear! I am continually amazed at God's goodness and faithfulness when it comes to this special miracle child He blessed me with. I will continue to pray each day for His continued blessings in our lives!

Here's a pic of Chase today during his echo. Not a care in the world! Nothing that a Go, Diego! Go! DVD, his monkey and a paci can't take care of anyway!

Thanks for your prayers and continued support!!!

Cardiology Appointment

Well, it's that time again. We head in tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 9:00 AM EST for Chase's cardiology appointment. We haven't seen the cardiologist since May 6th -- 6 months ago. As a heart mom, you're always nervous for these appointments, afraid of what they'll find during the echo and other tests. And you're concerned about how your now 2-year-old son will handle laying still for 20-30 minutes while a technician performs an echo. And you're anxiously waiting for the cardiologist to mention to "F" word: Fontan -- the final scheduled surgery in the 3-stage series Chase is undergoing to replumb his heart to function with only one ventricle.

I'm fearful of what tomorrow holds -- I'd be lying if I said otherwise. Those who know me well know that I live with a constant state of fear over my son's future every second of every day, and while this is something I'd never want to live without (for obvious reasons), it's something I struggle with keeping below the surface and not let it negatively impact my life so I can still function as a wife, mom, friend, employee, etc.

So yes, I'm fearful of tomorrow.

But I have hope. Hope in a Father Who already knows the plans He has for my son. And I trust Him. Completely. It's not always easy, but I know His will is all I've ever wanted for me, for my marriage and for my children. I'm so very grateful for each and every day He gives me with my son. And I will continue praying daily for His continued provision in our lives.

Please keep Chase in your prayers tomorrow morning. I'll share an update as soon as I can. And thank you to those of you who are still reading here... even though I've been very lame with my lack of consistent posting over the past few months. Your continued support is appreciated more than you know!


P.S. I'll share pics and a recap of his new toddler bedroom soon... I need to finish the valence before I can take the "after" pictures!

Throw Back

I'm really excited for tomorrow (Saturday)! We're moving Chase into his toddler bed! Woot! I'm extra excited because I did a lot of work on his theme -- including making his comforter (love!) as well as a night light and lamp shade. I think it'll be super cute and I can't wait to see how he reacts to it!

Speaking of... I thought I'd post a throw back to the big day when we moved LO into her toddler bed. She was 2 months shy of 2 years old and was STOKED to have her new "big girl" bed! Enjoy!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Big Day!

Today has been a very big day in our household. For starters, LO slept in her "big girl bed" for the very first time last night! She was absolutely amazing. She played with a little toy piano for about 5 minutes, then quiet. We checked in on her before we went to bed and she was out cold in her crib, snuggled nicely under her blanket. We were SHOCKED! She did wake up around 3AM crying, and hubs went in to check on her. She was standing by the door (closed, of course) like she wasn't sure what to do next. Hubs helped her back into her bed, handed her teddy and a paci, and she was out in no time.

The pic above was taken as she watched daddy carry the front rail of her bed away. She said, "Oh, cooool!"

This is her "fake sleeping" in her new big girl bed! She was SOOOO excited!!!

Here she is striking a pose for mommy!

We celebrated her major milestone accomplishment with breakfast at Cracker Barrel -- usually one of mommy's favorites but very disappointing this morning. I've been feeling nauseous since we ate and haven't been able to eat anything other than a few crackers this afternoon. ((sigh)) I guess I need to remember that I am pregnant, with a BOY, who happens to be my husband's offspring. If you knew what I know about my husband's childhood, you'd know we've got our work cut out for us once TO arrives.

So speaking of TO... I think we've found "the one." You know, the perfect furniture to outfit our son's bedroom (still SO weird to type that!). We had narrowed it down to two options: Munire Majestic or Bonavita Metro.

This is the Munire Majestic convertible lifetime crib (we'd also get the 5-drawer dresser, not pictured here):


And the Bonavita Metro collection:

While I haven't seen the Metro collection in person yet (we're going this afternoon to check out the floor model), I'm leaning heavily towards that option. It's just such a clean and contemporary design and I really am in love with it! Doesn't it look just gorgeous converted into a full-size bed? I think any teenage boy would be grateful to have such a luxury!

There's a pretty good chance we'll be ordering TO's furniture this afternoon, which is a GOOD THING because they say it takes anywhere from 10 to 12 weeks to arrive!

Woot!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Chase!!!

First, a reflection from two years ago today:

Monday, October 26, 2009

Meet our sweet boy, Chase! He was born on Monday, October 26, 2009 at 3:37 PM. He weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20-1/4 inches long!

We are so blessed! More to come soon!

What a miracle and a blessing it is to have this sweet boy in our lives! Not a second goes by that I don't thank the Lord for His hand of health and protection over Chase. Not all parents of children with CHDs are blessed with the opportunity to celebrate their child's 2nd birthday with a party, cake, gifts and hugs & kisses, which is why we cherish even more the fact that God has allowed Chase to be with us for 2 years. What a miracle! And what a blessing he is to us! I can't say it enough!!!

Mommy loves you, sweet Chasey-poo!

Reflections

Two years ago today, I was 203 miles away from home and 39 weeks pregnant with my little miracle baby. I was anticipating an induction at MUSC in Charleston, SC and was fearful of what the future held for my precious baby with a special heart. I thought I'd share the blog post I wrote that day -- 2 years ago today -- as I reflect on all that God has brought us through and blessed us with over the past 2 years.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

OhMyGoodness!

I'm truly having a hard time believing the time is almost here!

Today is SATURDAY.

I'm going to be admitted to the hospital TOMORROW.

Chase will be here on MONDAY.

It's all so surreal! I am happy to report that I finally got around to packing my hospital bag today. I guess that's part of what makes an induction so convenient -- I can plan accordingly. And it's no surprise to me that Chase hasn't shown any signs of making an early debut. But now that the bag is packed and I'll be heading to the hospital in less than 24 hours, I think it's time for it to finally settle in that I'm getting ready to have a baby!

Although the future is VERY scary to me and I fear for my son's health and survival in the coming days, I know that ultimately we are all in God's hands and that He has a perfect plan for my family. I'm not at all loving that I will have ZERO control over our circumstances. I'm not loving the fact that I most likely will not be able to hold my son for the first time until the night before his surgery, which very well might not be scheduled for 7 or more days after he's born. I'm not loving being 3-1/2 hours from home -- from our friends, our family, the house we call home. It's really weird to prepare to go to the hospital to give birth to a baby that you know you won't be bringing home with you anytime soon. I almost feel like I'm just going in for a "procedure" of some kind, and then a few months later, I'll get to go back and pick up a baby to bring home with me. It's so strange! I've never felt anything like this before. But I'm truly anticipating that God will do wonderful things over the next several weeks and I'm so grateful I get to witness His work first-hand!

On a totally random note... after a bit of a battle with Amazon and FedEx (they showed my package was delivered to Seattle, WA when it actually was delivered across the street by mistake!) we DID get our cellular signal booster thingy today and it DOES seem to have improved our AT&T signal strength inside the house. Praise the Lord! Now I'm just hoping and praying the signal inside the hospital works!

A Birthday Bash!

We had a wonderful morning celebrating Chase's 2nd birthday with family and friends! I think our little birthday boy had a wonderful time and he is definitely digging all the new toys, books, DVDs and games he scored. I can't help but thank God for His continued hand of protection and health on our sweet boy. So many families aren't able to celebrate such a big milestone for their CHD child, so while I am incredibly grateful and blessed to celebrate Chase's 2nd birthday, my heart is still overwhelmed at the grief and pain my fellow heart parents are going through as they grieve their child rather than celebrate another birthday. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with those precious families.

So let's take a look at a few party pics from today!

I'll start with the cake (shocker!)... The bottom square tier is a chocolate-chip pumpkin cake with pumpkin spice buttercream filling. The top round tier is a traditional vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. The cupcakes were just chocolate with vanilla buttercream. I made smaller tiers than I typically do because I didn't want to have any leftover cake. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on whether you're trying to avoid sugary desserts or not), we still had plenty left over. Boo.

Another pic of the cake!

Still the cake!

The cupcakes!

Watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse during the party!

I can't tell what he was eating here, but it's obvious he wasn't a big fan. ;)

Yummy food! Yay for parties!!!

Opening presents! He wasn't too into the process... especially if it was clothes (sorry, Mo!), but he sure was happy to receive lots of fun new toys, books and games!

Dance. Star. Mickey. Enough said!

Mmmmm! Cupcake!

Big sister couldn't be too far from the spotlight or center of attention. Such a silly girl!

And of course, a little party favor to send home with out party guests! Somehow I ended up with two left over... gotta figure out who missed out on the cookie baking fun!

We had a super fun day celebrating our sweet little miracle, Chase!

Birthday Cake

I'm trying to plan the design of Chase's 2nd birthday cake, and I'm getting super excited about the vision in my head! I've found several cake ideas and I plan to pull a little from each one.

Idea 1: First of all, I'd never attempt the Mickey Mouse ears on the top tier of this cake. I think it looks a little wonky here and I'm sure I couldn't do any better. So I like the simplicity of this one without the ears on top. It captures the basic color scheme I've been using for the party (red, black, white and yellow). I think the only modification I have in mind (besides losing the ears) is making the bottom tier square with the top tier still round. This cake has given me lots of useful inspiration!

Idea 2: Okay, so let's be honest... this one looks like Mickey's Clubhouse exploded all up on a cake. But I like the idea of placing the #2 on top and/or writing Chase's name at the top, although I haven't used stars anywhere in my party prep so I'd probably have to use a different shape. I like the idea of placing the figurines around the cake just to add a bit of "Clubhouse" to the cake since mine will be much more simple than this.

Idea 3: Okay, so this is super cute, too! Again, I'd lose the Mickey ears on top, mostly because I'm not at all confident in my skills to duplicate them to the level of perfection I'm after. I think this cake is the one that gave me the idea of using a square tier on the bottom with the round on top. Again, I probably won't work in the stars just because I haven't used them anywhere else, but I like the random Mickey silhouettes on the cake board.

I'm getting really excited to start working on Chase's cake! I think the smaller, round tier on top will be a chocolate-pumpkin cake with cream cheese filling, and I'll go more traditional with the larger, square tier on bottom by going with chocolate with buttercream filling. YUM.

I just have to take a moment to say how completely overwhelmed (in a good way!) I am to be planning a 2nd birthday party for my miracle son. God has brought him through so much and words cannot express how blessed I feel to have Chase in our lives! My heart breaks when I think of the many sweet ones with CHDs like Chase who earned their wings waaaaaay too soon. I wish we could celebrate with all of those precious little ones and I'll never understand God's plan (obviously) to take them so soon. I'm especially thinking of sweet Travis, whose birthday was just 3 days before Chase (also diagnosed with HLHS), and lost his battle all too soon on February 19, 2011. My heart and prayers go out to Nicole and Roger as they continue to deal with the pain that no parent should ever experience. Please keep them in your prayers.

Happy Birthday, Hubs!!!

Today my darling hubs is celebrating his birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUBS! I have been So. Incredibly. Blessed. with the amazing man God brought into my life and could not be more proud to have him as my husband. He's been a solid foundation for me when the rest of the world was ready to attack, and he is always my voice of reason (whether I like what he has to say or not). He is an amazing father and a wonderful husband and I'm so grateful to share my life with him.

Happy birthday, hubs!!!

I love you bunches!!!

Party Invite

So I realized earlier today that I shared one of my favorite party additions (the custom water bottles), but I hadn't shared the invitation I created for Chase's birthday! So here's what I came up with -- obviously some details have been modified for privacy purposes.

What do you think?

And So it Begins...

Chase's 2nd birthday party is next weekend, and of course the party planning and prep is well under way! Here's a little glimpse of one of my fave additions to any party: customized water bottles!









Check out the super fun details in the barcode and "nutrition" facts! :)

I love parties.


Posted from my iPhone

Blog Overhaul

My blog is in major need of a fresh look for Fall. Anyone interested in busting out a free Fall blog overhaul? Haha! I think I know the answer to that! Grrr... I'll add this to my To Do list and hope it happens... eventually. ;)

Perfect Parfait

Yesterday Chase and I ran to the grocery store to pick up a few things before heading to pick up LO from school. When we were finished shopping, I had a random craving to grab a Fruit n' Yogurt Parfait from McDonald's.

I figured it's somewhat "healthy" (at least considering all the other junk one can get at McDonald's). I've recently started trying to watch my sugar and carbohydrate intake and have been attempting to limit both as much as I possibly can. But I figured I really ought to cut back on my fast food purchases, too, whether healthy or not.

When we got home, I decided to whip up my own version of this parfait, knowing I could control exactly what would go into it. So I busted out the following ingredients, which I happened to have on hand at home, to make my own delicious version:

Oh my word! This tasty little treat was fantastic! I would definitely recommend whipping one of these up as a quick and healthy snack! And maybe, just maybe, I can get one or both of my kids interested in this snack, too! That'd sure be nice...