I love Christmas! (and cute babies)

I'm in a bit of a Christmas-y mood now that Q's birthday has passed.  I think the mass quantities of Christmas cookies I've been consuming since my recent cookie exchange might also help;-) And this week alone I have four Christmas parties to attend... four!  So due to my recent mood, I want to share the holiday cheer by sharing a few snap shots of some of my favorite babies all decked out for the season.

Let's start with my VERY favorite baby, my lil Q man!

I found this adorable elf hat on Etsy.  Sadly, Q hates having anything on his head so in most shots he is pulling the hat off his head with a pained expression (see right photo above...).

Don't you just love his little candy cane legs in these leg warmers? My hubby rolls his eyes at baby leg warmers, but they make changing a squirmy 1 year old soooo much easier and they are just so darn cute!

The "backdrop" was an idea from pinterest. Buy 2 yards of fabric and tape 1 yard on a wall with painters tape and let the other yard lay on the ground. I was pretty pleased with the results.

Now, for my future daughter-in-law... yes, it's already been arranged and Q&D have no choice, they've been buddies since birth and we frequently trade babysitting services between our families. They've had multiple "sleep overs" and several shared baths. As a proud MIL-to-be (he he) I just think she is the cutest thing ever and I swear this girl never takes a bad picture!

Clearly D was much better with the hat than my little monster!!!

I also had the chance to snap a couple shots of sweet little newborn K! 

I had so much fun hanging out with my friends and their sweet girls. Christmas is just so much more fun with babies around! Last year Q was too young to know what was going on, but this year I am looking forward to lots of fun with him. I hope if you took the time to look at these, it's puts you in a festive mood too:-)

Holiday Cookie Exchange

Yesterday I hosted a little cookie exchange brunch for a few friends.  I thought it would be a fun way for the ladies to get together before we all head our separate ways for the holidays.  I thought it would be a nice low-key, low-stress opportunity to get together... but considering my friends are perfectionists, it turned out not to be so low-stress!  I came to find out someone stayed up until 2am the night before perfecting their cookie recipe and another sent their husbands out at 11pm to pick up more butter because they didn't think their batch was large enough... But, all the cookies were delicious and we had a fantastic time enjoying each other's company.

I had fun making onesies for all the little ones.  I appliqued "HO" on the butt so that when we lined them up we'd get "ho ho ho..." Only later did I think about the little girls running around with "HO" on their hiney's might be taken the wrong way... opps! I appliqued a Christmas tree with their first initial on the front.  The mamas were all such good sports to dress their babies up in my little creations:)

 These 3 mamas were all prego together and now they all have their little peanuts in their arms! 

And aren't they all looking faaabulous?! 

We have such a fun group!  There may have been toys and babies and dogs alllll over the place, but I so much enjoyed having these lovely girls over for a little holiday fun!  And I am still enjoying the yummy treats they worked so hard on:)

And since I didn't follow my own cookie exchange rule (make copies of the recipe to share) I'm including it here for anyone who wants it!

Harlequin Ice-Box Cookies

1 cup butter

2.5 cups flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1.5 cups sugar

.5 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1.5 oz baker's unsweetened chocolate, melted

.25 cup candied cherries, diced

.25 cup pecans, diced

red and green food coloring

Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Cream butter and sugar. Add beaten egg and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and flour mixture and mix thoroughly. Divide dough into three parts. Add cherries that have been diced, and a little red food coloring to one part; melted chocolate to another; and nuts and a little green coloring to the third. I divide each color dough in half to make too long bars. Shape half of each dough into a strip about 18-20 inches long. Place chocolate strip on bottom; cherry next, and green on top. Chill the well-wrapped bars in the refrigerator over night. Slice and bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Q's Birthday Party!

Birthday sign inspired by pintrest

Our little guy turned 1 on Friday and we threw him a party on Saturday. One year old birthday parties are kinda silly considering they don't really "get it" yet.  But we couldn't let this special moment in time for our family pass without celebration! We are blessed to have wonderful friends in Cali that have been a huge part of Q's first year and we wanted to share the joy with them too.

Thanks Lizzie for snapping these of our family!

One thing 1 year olds do understand is fooooood! (well, at least our 1 year old:-P) So of course one of the main activities was cake! Our friend Lizzie is so good at decorating cakes and she made an adorable blue and white dog bone cake with dog paw prints to go along with our puppy themed party. 

Little guy didn't quite get the whole "cake smash" thing right away and started out by daintily picking bits of icing off the cake to taste. Momma had to help him dig in by breaking some off with a fork. 

In case you didn't know, there is absolutely no need to buy presents for a 1 year old. Just fill a gift bag with tissue paper to make one happy baby! But seriously, Q was so spoiled by all the fun gifts his friends and family sent him. Our house runneth over with baby toys now! He is loving all the new fun things to play with and I am loving how occupied they are keeping him so I can post this blog:-P

As party favors I made "doggie bags" full of "puppy chow" (chew mix muddy buddies) for the adult guests and "puppy bags" with little bath toys for the kiddie guests. 

We kept the menu simple; grilled hot dogs, homemade mac n'cheese, veggies with homemade hummus dip, frosted sugar cookies (dog, bone, and paw shaped of course!), and oreo cupcakes. The mac n'cheese was a big hit (also inspired by pinterest) so I highly recommend checking out this link if you're a mac n'cheese lover.  Q couldn't get enough of it!  

We <3 tripods for getting a shot of the whole gang:)

 Thank you sweet friends for coming and making this day special for us and for Q! And mostly thanks for being there over this past year when we needed and ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, or quite often... a babysitter :-)

A year ago today...

A year ago today I became a mommy.














The day after we moved to our current home in California I unexpectedly went into labor three and a half weeks early. It was a crazy night. We were staying in a hotel with the dogs getting ready to move into our new house the next morning.  So when my water broke it was a little hectic trying to figure out what to do with the dogs and what to do about the movers showing up first thing in morning.  I guess it was Q's way of letting us know that from here on out our best laid plans would be subject to his approval.  The first of many reminders over this past year, that we are not really in control of things at all.  Thank goodness we know that God is!


A year ago right now I was sitting in a rocker in the NICU staring at my precious firstborn.

Q had a bit of a rough start. Being a premie, he needed a little help breathing at first and he also had a bit of jaundice. I remember being overjoyed at the sight of his sweet face and precious little fingers and toes.  I also remember not being able to hold back tears because I couldn't hold him and comfort him since he was hooked up to so many monitors and was getting oxygen.

Meeting Q instantly changed me.  My life took on a new purpose, I was a mom.  I could feel the weight of my new responsibility as I was helpless to do anything to help my child those first 12 days he was in the NICU. And I came to know a new kind of overwhelming maternal love the very moment I first laid eyes on him. It is impossible for me to even put into words the ways in which his arrival changed me.

We have both come so far in the past year.  He is a healthy, happy (though still a bit small) one year old. And he has taught me so much about selfless love and patience and joy!  I live for his smiles and his giggles.  He is such a happy boy!  He is very observant and cautious.  He puts everything in his mouth. His best buddies are our two dogs whom he loves to play with. As soon as he was mobile, the first things he was interested in were the dog toys and bones and those are still his favorite toys.  He loves to play tug with Bella and will go get her toy and hand it to her and laugh and laugh as she pulls him around. He loves to dance with mommy and play guitar with daddy. His favorite game is peek-a-boo. He hates the ocean but loves the bath tub. And he loves to read.  If you get out a book and start reading aloud he will crawl right over and snuggle up to you (and offer to help turn the pages). It amazes me how much he has learned this year!

I can't believe it was only a year ago when I met our little guy. It feels like he has always been a part of our lives.  It seems like ages ago when I was sitting in the NICU stroking his sweet little hand praying for the day when I could hold him in my arms.

I have been a mommy for a year and I can't imagine life without my sweet little boy!