Great Auntie S's Birthday Fiesta!

It's family birthday time again and the special reciprocant this month is my sweet Aunt Shane, who I lovingly and playfully call  Auntie S. Words really can't express how special she is to me and our entire family. She is officially the "good sister" of Nannie and Poppa's three girls. Every year someone trys to take her title, but she is still the reining champ. Mom and Aunt Kiki will just have to keep trying ! She and I have always been close but we developed an even closer bond when I got a little older. She has always shown me such compassion and warmth and there has never been a time that I didnt feel completely loved by her. We share alot of laughs and a "sensual' sense of humor :) It's really special to me that she is a big part of Kal-el's life and she has always been so supportive of Chris and I. I love, respect, and look up to her in so many ways. We celebrated her Birthday at Fiesta this year and had a really fun family food filled lunch.  Happy Birthday Aunt Shane your a blessing in all of our lives!

Another Birthday teaser

Some more of Kal-el's safari friends themed birthday party treats came in today. This gave me something to do while Chris heals/rests on the couch from his surgery. Take note of the cute little center piece. I truely hope everyone likes it b/c I superglued my fingers together making it! My fingers look like am constantly giving an A-ok sign! Hopefully they will come apart before one of us gets hungry :)

Daddy's First Surgery

Chris had gotten away with never having been operated on.... until today. He has been knowing for awhile that his wisdom teeth needed to come out but he really dreaded dealing with the ordeal and pain of it all. Finally after a couple of weeks of increasing tooth pain he took the plunge and decided it was indeed time to have the "smart teeth" taken out of his parking deck. Just a little Kal-el reference there :) Pesky cars! We had to be there this morning at  9:45 unfortunately they didnt take Chris back until nearly 11. Thank goodness Nan and Poppa rode with us to help me entertain Kal-el. He slept on me until Chris went back and decided at that point he would become very active and test his walking skills by having me parade him up and down the room. This would of been just fine if I were allowed the option to stop. But oh no I'm no longer running things I have a little boss by the name of Super lol. I was pleasantly suprised when they announced that we could retrive my very drugged husband by pulling the car around for him. I'm not sure how much longer any audience that we had wanted to witness our baby talk, milk spilling, or my shirt being pulled down by a restless munchkin. Since I'm am still ever the beloved neorotic nutcase that refuses to ride an elevator or let anyone carry my child for me I  proseed onward up the two flights of stairs toteing a 95 percentile sized child on a 5 foot frame in heels and beg my body repeatingly not to pass out or start sweating b/c I dont want to stink and I certainly dont want to drop the cutest sack of potatoes I've ever seen! I got to the top of mount everest and patiently waited to see Chris  inspite of the bewildered looks from patients that were sitting calmly and not panting. Whatever, it was good cardio! Kal-el and I both pipped up when we heard Dada's voice. He looked fine and didnt even seem drugged until he opened his mouth. In slurred speech he announced "See he is the cutest baby in the world and he does look like his Mommy." How sweet! Drunken statement or not I'll take it. I hurriedly rushed him in the car. He layed his head down to pass back out then popped it right back up again to announce that we would be going to eat at the boxcar. Wow really Chris? He then proceeded to order us to "Feed his Poppa now" from Boxcar mind you. We knew he really wasnt up for it so we had to lie to him and tell him we had already been. He then declared that we were "LIARS" and that his Poppa was hungry before completely passing back out. We just got home and I safely got him to the couch. There was drama on the way to the couch however when I had to intercept pain pills from his hand that he tried to eat like skittles b/c he was still out of it. When I took them away and repremended him he mumbled a random statement along the lines of "Lauren, you are the only party pooper in the house". LOL I love the things that people say when they are under. Its ok Chris bear Kal-el and I are going to take good care of you for the next few days until your all better again! Yay for geeting this over with :)

This is the way we brush our teeth....

Kal-el and Daddy shared some special bonding time together this morning by the sink. Since our little alligator now has 8 teeth we knew it was time for some oral hygiene care. He caught on pretty fast and as usual he wanted to be doing just what Daddy is doing. It would be a different story had I tried to introduce him to the tooth brush. Looks like Super and DaDa will have a little morning ritual from now own. Yay for starting good habits early!

This time last year...My baby shower

This time last year my mom and aunts were hosting my baby shower. Everyone worked so hard especially my Mom to make sure everything turned out perfectly. Mimsy is so creative. She had some of the neatest ideas, hand made some of the most precious decor, and made an absolute feast of wonderful foods! . Aunt Shane also made some very yummy items and let me have the shower at her home. Aunt Vicki helped to organize the games we played and we had so much fun! I cound not if been anymore happy with the final results! As you can see by the pictures, I was very far along, very big, and starting to get very tired and weary. I was carrying a very big boy especially for my frame,  but that didn't stop be from having a wonderful time at my baby shower. I got to catch up with alot of old friends and I was so thrilled that we had such a nice turn out. All of the decor was laid out everywhere so beautifully and I loved my pregnant mommy cake! Everyone got Kal-el the most thoughtful gifts It really hit home that I was going to have a little boy in my arms in less than a month after I looked at all the sweet little outfits. We played several games before we indulged in our super yummy feast. One of the games  makes me smile when I look back on it. Its the one where you cut a piece of yarn that you think will be the circumference of the pregnant mommy's tummy. I circled the entire room and went around  to each person as they wrapped the yarn around what used to a waistline lol. There were tons of various lengths of yarn, some too short (wanted to kiss those people), some too long (wanted to hurt those people j/k :) and lastly I made my way over to Chris. I was curious to see what his yarn reveiled. He wrapped the yarn around me and it was literally a perfect fit. The ends touched exactly. Then he said the sweetest thing. " Well that was easy thats the belly I have my arms around every night". Very true. Perhaps he had an unfair advantage but as competitive as my husband is there was no way he was giving up his win! It truely was one of the best days and I'm happy that my entire family as well as many of my close friends were there to share in the joy our our soon to be born baby boy!

Kal-el's Birthday invitations

I've been planning Kal-el's First Birthday celebration for over a month now and I'm thrilled that all the little details are starting to come together. I am even more estatic about the fact that I didnt wait until the last minute to plan little mans big day.  Today I received a copy of the proof for Super's birthday invitations. They really fit the theme we are going for perfectly. We are sticking to a safari theme for a couple of reasons. The first being that he is still just so in love with his stuffed animal Carter the lion and secondly that is the theme of his nursery so it just seemed like a great concept to continue with. I can't wait for all of the other fun items that I've ordered to arrive. I can tell right now that I'm going to be the type of mother that loves planning parties for her little ones. Here is Kal-el's First Birthday Invitation!

My Valentines

What a wonderful Valentine's Day! This is the first time I've had two Valentines instead of one. Chris and I always do a little something for each other. Its not a huge occasion for us b/c we usually focus more attention on our anniversary and birthdays. Chris calls it "the government holiday" designed to boost retail sales in Feburary and says everyday should be Valentine's Day with the person you love. I tend to agree but that didnt stop him from getting me the most beautiful documentary style photo album and heart melting card. Awww :) I found a really neat Black Mamba tshirt and an equally precious card for him. We kept it simple but very thoughtful. Kal-el is a another story. We are continuing onward in our quest to ruin him. This was effectively done this year wth loads on stuffed Valentine's animals, Valentine themed apperal, lip prints courtsey of Mommy, lots of cards from the family, and a sweet cookie treat. He really had such a great time and I had so much fun taking these pictures of him. Happy First Valentine's Day Kal-el. You have stolen Mommy and Daddy's heart. Muah! XOXO

Cupcakes and Gluesticks

I'm a little odd. Sometimes. Or as I like to think just really preceptive. I have always had a heighted since of smell. I can smell food cooking or a fire burning miles away. People that love me and therefore tolerate me lovingly say its b/c I adore food a bit too much and I'm nerotic enough to think that anything that smells remotely like smoke must mean there is a house burning down somewhere in the distance. I'm not totally crazy experts say that the strongest sense tied to memory is scent and I correlate many childhood memories with smell. My Little Pony's sweet plastic smell will always be a reminder of preschool to me. Not even sure why. When I'm at a coffee shop I always think of my Mother b/c even when I  was a small child she would always drink coffee. When I think of the way waffle cones smell baking it takes me back to the first date that my husband and shared at Brusters Ice Cream shop. I also have a scent that I associate with almost every human being that I'm close to. Naturally when I became a mother the new most precious gift in my life would also have a hallmark scent to me. I'm sure all mothers can relate to this. There are so many smells associated with a baby. I can best describe Super's unique smell as cukcakes and gluesticks. Sounds silly but I find it so endearing.

A day in the life of us....

I never want to miss the small things so I thought I'd dedicate a post to what a typical day looks like for us. Family time is the most important thing in the world to me and when we are all a little older I want to be able to remember small details that trigger special memories not just the big events. They are equally important and deserve special attention of their own. I love when Chris has an off night b/c we are all together. Here's what typical week night look like. I figure pictures are worth 1,000 words!

Chris has been working very hard lately on remodeling our downstairs

bathroom. The job is almost finished I can't wait to post the final results!

I usually grab munchkin up as soon as I walk in from work and give huggs and kisses

to both my boys if Chris is off, if he is not Super gets me all to himself. Everyone has been

 telling us lately that Kal-el is

starting to look like Mommy. I'm fine with this b/c he has spent tons of time

looking just like DADA and I would like a turn thank you!

Woo Hoo supper time for Super. Some of his favorite dinner time snacks are:

banannas, fishsticks, green beans, sweet potatoes, chicken, or a mashed up hamburger

Happy Meal. He is such a food eater but he does make a big mess! This mostly

occurs when he is done eating and protests additional bites by either throwing or pushing

chunks of food off his tray. He most definately perfers to feed himself.

Mimsy loves giving Kal-el his bedtime bath. Baby boy has never been

scared of water. He lets the water run all down his face and splashes and plays the entire time.

He is a wild man in the water!

On nights that he allows it, we put Kal-el in his pack n play to play with his

toys and let him wind down some. He has gotten so much better about independant play time.

My little man is growing up.

There is always cuddle time before we head upstairs to bed.

Sometimes Kal-el puts up a pretty big fight regarding sleep other times

he will just fall asleep on Chris or I holding him while we watch tv.

Are far as co sleeping goes..I'll let you guess but I'm sure this next picture

will solve the mystery really fast. This is the first thing that I'm blessed to see every single morning.

Love them to pieces!

Kal-el fell off the bed for the first time last night. Chris wasnt home from work

and training and ting ting sleeps right in between us. He crawled right out from under

my arms and rolled of the bed but he is prefectly fine. Thank God! Luckily our bed is low to the floor

but it was still scary. We are going to try in the upcoming weeks

to get him back in his big boy room!

I'm am so happy with my life. I feel richly blessed beyond measure and I dont ever want to take even

the so called smallest things for granted.