First Birthday Party!

Well, we finally were able to host Justin's first birthday party today, and it went great.  Those of you who know me well enough know how stressed I was leading up to it.  I know it's "just a birthday", for many but for me, it was a very important birthday, and it seemed like we kept hitting issue after issue.  It started with his birthday shirt.  Normally I make the kids outfits for their special day, but this year I was trying to reduce the amount of workload I normally put on myself and decided to just order one.  I told the lady prior to ordering it the day I needed it by and she still failed to make it happen.  Then, since she lived close by, we agreed to meet in person so I could still get it, but of course with the snow, she wasn't willing to meet me (or return half my emails) so he didn't have a shirt that matched my blue polka dot theme.  :(  Then of course there was the issue of the snow causing the facility we rented to be closed.  I rescheduled for our house, but I was still concerned that our guests wouldn't show.  Luckily, we only had two that were unable to show that were orginally coming.  And the last straw was the day of the party when my in-laws went to pick up the food I had ordered, and they hadn't made it, claiming it had been cancelled when I had called to confirm the day before AND the morning of the party.  Somehow the ending, "See you at 2 pm." was transformed into, "Okay, cancel the order."

But, even after all that, our party was a success.  We all had a good time, and Justin enjoyed his cake.  It ended up being worth all the stress after all (which it normally always does!).  Here's pictures of his birthday bash!  We had four 3-year olds and five 1-year old and under babies along with 13 adults in attendance.

The Big Cake (and my first experience with fondant icing for a cake)

Smash Cake!

Make a wish, baby boy!

I had made hats (well, except for Justin's, which I found premade and decided just to buy), and then we forgot to put them on for the cake.  Katelynn reminded us after the fact, and she made sure to pass them all out and make everyone wear them (adults included).

Justin and his friend Parker sporting their hats.

Katelynn opened most of Justin's gifts for him before he could even blink twice, but he took a try at a few.  He was more interested in ripping off some paper to eat rather than see what he was unwrapping!

Grandma and Grandpa Carney with the birthday boy and Katelynn after the party.  They helped us out so much getting ready for the party.  The kids and Jonathan and I were at the circus until an hour before the party so they got everything ready to go for us!  Thanks again, Mom and Dad!

The birthday boy with Grandma and Grandpa Miller

North Carolina SNOW Day!

Every year since Katelynn has been born, we have had one day where it has snowed here.  Having lived in Michigan growing up, to Jonathan and I it's not really much.  Each year I have taken her picture with the snow, and you can still see the grass.  They always call for bad weather and before it even hits, everyone runs to the grocery store clearing out the food and schools are typically cancelled, and more than half that time we never even get anything.  So, when I had people calling me to tell me they wouldn't be able to come to Justin's party because of the weather the day before his party and before there was even a hint of snow coming down, I laughed.  I didn't think we would even see much of anything.  I should have known since I had something big planned, I would be wrong.

So instead of having a blast at Justin's first birthday party, we had to reschedule it for tomorrow and instead we loaded up in the winter gear we had and went outside to play!  This is the most snow Katelynn has ever seen!

All geared up and ready to go.  I had snowpants for Justin but no boots and boots for Katelynn but no snowpants.  We just made the best of it and layered and headed outdoors!

This is the first year Jonathan hasn't been traveling during the NC snow!

Snow Angel!

Jonathan went out looking for a sled, but we had no luck.  One store told Jonathan they had 200 the day before it snowed and everyone cleared them out in preparation for the snow.  Friends of ours were using rubbermaid containers and laundry baskets, and we decided to use pool innertubes.

Katelynn and Daddy sledding down!

Justin was only weeks old last year when the snow hit so this was his first year to play!

.. but he was more interested in eating the snow!

I attempted to sled with him, but he wasn't very interested. 

Katelynn sledding with Grandma

There goes Grandpa giving it a shot after getting a push to start from Katelynn!

Our Baby is ONE!

As much as I tried to tell him he couldn't, Justin went and turned a year old on me anyway!  His party isn't until the weekend, but we went out to Red Robin with both grandparents on his special day to celebrate!  I can't believe it was one year ago when I first held him in my arms!

Daddy and Justin

Mommy and Justin

The wait staff sang "Happy Birthday" to him, but he was way more interested in the balloons they brought.

Exploring ice cream- something mommy has never let him try!

So sweet- he shared with his big sister without anyone even asking him to!

Digging in some more!  He loves using utensils to eat!

Our Dress-up Pictures

So today I realized after bedtime that I never once picked up my camera.  I raced into Katelynn's room and snapped a picture of her sleeping away.  Jonathan came in her room thinking I had lost my mind taking pictures and risking waking up our finally sleeping children.  I told him that I was determined to post a picture every day on our blog and that I had to have one.  So, yes, I did take one today, but it really didn't turn out that great so I'm going to skip posting it.  Instead I am sharing pictures of the kids I had taken back in November.  I never shared them on our blog because they were a surprise gift for the grandparents for Christmas (they went in a frame the kids painted and put their handprints on).  I love these pictures though so I thought I would share them now!  :)

A Day at Home

Yesterday we discovered that Justin has/had a double ear infection.  It started Friday when he spiked a fever and by late afternoon, he was miserable and didn't want out of my arms.  I literally held him in my arms for about 18 hours straight (all through the night included).  We couldn't seem to get his fever to go any lower than 102.8 even with Motrin or Tylenol.  We called the on-call ped's a few times to make sure we shouldn't rush him to the ER, but they just had us wait it out until Saturday morning when a doctor could see him.  Around 1 am, he started vomiting because of his fever.  My poor baby was just so miserable.  The pediatrician decided to give him a shot of rocephin in the office in fear he would not get any antibotic down that day any other way.  We are so glad she did because he felt so much better and the fever finally broke only an hour after going in.  Sunday he was feeling soo much better and by Sunday night, he was pretty much back to his usual self.  I'm so glad that is behind us.  I hate my babies being sick!  :( 

Here's proof he was feeling better by the evening.  Justin will seriously climb ANYTHING he can(and you can tell by his face he gets a thrill from danger!).  Earlier today I caught him standing on top of his push toy that he pushes around the house.  We still can't figure out how that didn't fall over when he climbed aboard, and tonight he discovered that if his daddy forgets to put the leg rest down, he can use it to get himself onto the coffee table.  I swear I won't be able to turn my back for even a second for the next few years!

Mr. Clean

I have quite the little helper around the house.  I don't know what it is about brooms and mops and dusting, but Justin gets excited and wants to help everytime I pull any of those things out and start using them.  I finally gave him Katelynn's today so I could actually sweep without him trying to steal it.  Now, the vacuum... that's a whole different story- he runs in the other direction when that gets pulled out!

Getting Crazy in the Tub!

I always heard people talk about how different their children were personality wise even at a young age, but it's sometimes hard to see in my kids.  They have some very like personality traits (Justin just shows his traits a bit stronger than Katelynn did at the same age- in stubborness at least... and we thought she was stubborn- ha!).  There is one significant difference I have seen from early on though and that is their difference in water.  My kids are destined to love the water.  They have been boating since they were both under a year old.  Jonathan and I love being on the water, and I'm sure they will too, but Katelynn has always been the more cautious one with water.  She doesn't want it in her eyes or her ears.  She loves to play in it and swim, but forget dunking her and pouring water over her face.  Justin on the other hand could careless.  He goes crazy in the water (which is precisely why I have so little bath pictures of him because he's way too dangerous in the tub to actually pick up a camera).  The one challenge is he splashes and makes water fly everywhere, and Katelynn gets upset everytime she gets hit in the face with a drop of water.  It makes bathtime interesting sometimes.  Ever since he learned to pull up on things, I have been unable to take my hands off him in the tub as he has refused to sit down since that day.  Finally tonight he actually sat down to play and splash (as opposed to bending down while standing to splash) so I took advantage of it and grabbed the camera.

He gets his entire head soaked for me before I even attempt to shampoo his head!