Merry Christmas to all...

Happy Holidays, from my family to you and yours!

'tis the season!

I don't know about anyone else, but our holiday season starts pretty much right after Thanksgiving, and it doesn't stop until New Year's Day. And with Samma around, it's just makes it all the more enjoyable! And I don't know why, but I've been in the spirit for much longer -- hell, this is the first year I actually started my holiday shopping prior to Thanksgiving, and my sister and I were at Kohls at 1am Black Friday! Yup. Crazy.

So what have we been up to this Holiday season?

First, we have our annual Holiday Brunch with our friends out in Worcester. It's Yankee Swap-style, and for the first year, since there were so many kids, we organized a Secret Santa for the little ones. Samma received fingerpaints from Lexi-- yay!

The following weekend we had our nearby friends and families visit our home for our annual Baby Holiday Festivities. There are only three babies in this group, all within months of each other age-wise, so it's fun watching them interact with each other and open their gifts and whatnot because really, this is what the holiday season is all about! :) This time around we received a Little People amusement park from Auntie Bob, Weebles from Gabe and a Leapfrog magnetic Farmhouse for the fridge from Cole... or maybe it was Weebles from Cole and the Farmhouse from Gabe... it was pretty chaotic! Regardless, everything was much appreciated and all the babies had fun!

Then we had my uncle's annual holiday party. That was fun. And by "fun" I mean absolutely exhausting. Sam definitely seemed to enjoy herself, though. Of course, she's really easy to please so long as she can run around and get to places she shouldn't be with her partner-in-crime, Papa.

This past Thursday was my dad's office party for the kids, and Sam's first time visiting with Santa. As you can see, she was not amused, and for that I am grateful because I didn't have to spend money on Santa picture this year just to have her freaked out. She did enjoy the blow-up Fisher Price wobble penguin Santa "gave" her though (read: I wrapped it up, gave it to my dad, he put her name on it and Santa gave it to her when we visited). It was fun though!

And now, here we are. Tonight was our annual Christmas Eve gathering with Chris' extended family, tomorrow morning brings presents from Santa as well as our immediate families coming to our house for more presents, heading up to my aunt's house tomorrow afternoon for my family gathering, heading back down to southern MA for our annual Yankee and Regifting swaps with our group of friends, and then Monday is our annual gathering with my dad's side of the family.

Sadly, Samma fell asleep in the car on our way home tonight, so we weren't able to leave out cookies and milk for Santa. =( But something tells me Santa won't be missing us this year.... gonna have to make it up to him next year!

15 months!

I feel like it's been forever since I actually did a well-baby check-in, but with everything else that's been going on in the last few months, I can see how that can happen. Anyway, as I mentioned before I had almost forgot about this appointment, but luckily they were able to fit us in before the new year, and even though it wasn't with either of my top two choices for doctors, it turned out to be a good yet long well-baby appointment.

So let's start with Samma's stats:

Weight: 23lbs 9oz (72nd percentile)
Length: 30.5 inches (43rd percentile)
Head Circumference: 17.75 inches (23rd percentile)

Growing girl! We had a little bit of a freakout because of her length, because when we first took it she registered in the 15th percentile, but that just wasn't right because I know in the last couple of week she's been growing out of her 12mos pants, but I think when the nurse initially took her height her head was tilted to the side or something, because when I was able to hold her head straight the second time, she shot right up the charts, which is where she should have been. Also, looking at her weight chart, it was kinda scary to see the dip in weight when she was in for 2 weeks straight because of her bronchiolitis... poor sick girl.

But anyway, those times are behind us because she did very well, and the doctor checked her chest and there was no sign of wheezing or anything connected to the bronchiolitis, so we were given the green light to just finish up with the Albuterol we have and then she is off the nebulizer! At this point we're down to just morning treatment and I think we have a week's worth of medicine left, so we are almost there!

Everything else looked perfect - the doctor was really impressed with her ability to run across the exam room, and was happy to hear we had an easy transition to adult food, no bottles, sleeping through the night in her crib. We were "easy" she said -- thanks, I think? One thing she did say that made me go "Hmm..." was no peanuts until 3 - I was always under the impression it was 2, but I guess we'll see. I really can't wait to give her peanut butter and jelly sammiches, not gonna lie....

And then we had to get not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR shots, two in each leg. Shots + tired baby because she missed her nap at daycare for her appt = miserable baby girl after shots. :( But we got a flu booster, another HepB, and FINALLY her chicken pox and MMR vaccines. Chicken pox is crazy though because not I guess it's requirement for schools, so she has to get it every 10 years.... back in MY day we were just told to go play with our friends! Crazy how times change...

So that's about it. Next up - 18month appt, where we will discuss getting off the binkie and our first visit to the dentist. Of course, they didn't have the schedule for March yet, so I wasn't able to make the appt, so PLEASE don't let me forget this one like I almost did the 15mos appt...

sick babies are sad babies, part 2

Remember that time I said we would need to go back to the pediatrician's office if Sam came down with a fever and a cough because of all the bronchiolitis going around?

Guess what!

She got bronchiolitis! Hooray!!!

.... ¬_¬

So needless to say it's been a long couple of weeks. In fact, I have tried writing this post 3 times and I keep having to update the timestamp because it's become a week old. *sigh*

Anyway, yeah, a few weeks ago - December 4th, Facebook Timeline tells me - we had decided to bring Sam back to the doctor's. She had been coughing for almost a week before, and the night before she came down with a fever. Heeding the pediatrician's words about the signs of cough and fever, I called first thing that morning (I love that they're open 7 days a week) and sure enough, it was all in her chest. We were sent home with a nebulizer and a prescription for Albuterol and the instructions to have a treatment every 4-6 hours, and a follow-up appointment scheduled for Wednesday 12/7.

I guess it needs to go unsaid that Sam was not a fan of sitting still for 10-15 minutes while we alternates between a mask on her face and just holding the mist under her chin. Initially, it was a two person process because when she wants to move, she is superhuman in her strength, I swear. Eventually we learned that our iPhones, and even the iPad, were semi-distractions, so it got easier as we went along.

We went back for our recheck on Wednesday 12/7, and after her afternoon nebulizer treatment in the office, the doctor wasn't happy with what she was hearing, and to make sure things weren't getting worse, she sent us to get X-Rays to rule out pneumonia. I was freaking out.

I must say I love where I live -- not only are we next door to the best hospital on the South Shore, but my own doctor's office is now home to an extension site of Children's in Boston. We were given the choice as to where we wanted to go for the X-rays, either my office associated with South Shore Hospital, or to Children's, and as much as I adore South Shore, for Sam she deserved Children's. Plus, we were already in their system for her heart murmur, so that was where we decided to go. And after a little delayed registration because the receptionist at the desk was new, we were brought right in to get the x-rays done, and for that I was thankful.

The X-rays weren't fun for anyone I think... poor Sam had to strip down to just her pants, and we had to hold her arms up over her head so they could get a clear shot of her chest, and stay that way so they could take the picture... not fun. We had to do two different ones, one where I would be able to stand in front of her and distract her while they shot from behind, but the other one where they had to shoot from the side was not so easy. At first they wanted me to hold her from behind, but she was too busy freaking out about where I was that she just wasn't going to sit still. The tech then had to call another down, and while she took the pic, the first tech and I double-teamed Samma. It seemed like forever, but luckily it worked because we didn't have to retake either of them. Way to go Sam!

The wait to get the results back from the pediatrician's office sucked, so I finally called a few hours later when I hadn't heard anything... NO PNEUMONIA!! W00000t!!! Such a relief, I must say. We were then instructed to keep up with the treatments as we were, and then go back Monday 12/12 for one more follow-up.

I will plug again right here how awesome my daycare provider can be. She knew all about this, and I had given her the heads up about the neb treatments, and told her I would be coming over around noontime to give Sam hers -- she told me not to worry about it, just bring the machine and she'll do it for us! I guess she was familiar with them because her son needed it when he was younger, plus (and this was a good point) if I came Sam would think it's time to go and just cause more stress. So for that whole week she was helping us out with the treatments, and it was just awesome. I love her.

So come Monday, everything is sounding great, and the pediatrician told us we can start weaning her off the Albuterol, going to every 6-8 hours, then every 8-12... currently we're down to once a day, so we're almost done! Yay!

We were also given the green-light to schedule her 15-month appointment... did I mention I almost dropped the ball on this? Yeah... I thought we were just going from 1-year to 18-months, but nope... oops. Luckily we were able to get one in before the end of the year, so we're going this Friday before the holiday weekend, which kinda works because then I have an excuse to leave early!

So that's Samma's saga in a nutshell... it's been a rough, tiring, busy December, but I'm glad she's getting better, and just in time for the holidays to boot!

re: Thank You notes

Did I mention I finally got Sam's birthday thank you notes out the door? It only took me, what, over 2 months to do it?

And did I mention I only had to write out 8 cards for the generous individuals who were unable to make her party? I seriously think I got my wedding thank you notes out father...

Hey, a late note is better than no note at all, right? Right!

sick babies are sad babies

I bet, money down, that Samma has been sick a majority of the last 2 months... between colds and teething and just utter gross the poor thing cannot catch a break.

Finally, a few weeks ago, after the beginning of another runny nose, our daycare provider had to call me at work and let me know that Sam was nothing but out of sorts, and she asked that I come get her because she was inconsolable, feeling warm, and playing with her ears. Ahh the benefits of working and living not only in the same town as your office, but also as your child-care provider. And that our pediatrician is the next town over with later hours just makes it all the better. I called the doctor and was able to get an appointment within 30 minutes of my call, giving me just enough time to grab Sam and get to the appointment.

After a weigh-in of 22lbs 12oz, we met with one of our preferred pediatricians, so I knew we were in good hands. She listened to her chest, looked in her ears, took her temp, and everything was clear and fine. She said it seemed like just the beginning of another cold, and the best thing to do was keep her nasal passage cleared (because sucking snot out of a toddler's nose is SO easy) and keep using the cool-mist humidifier. Of course, we can never leave the pedi's office without a little underlying fear - she said if she started to cough, and if her temp spiked, to bring her right back in, because there's been a lot of bronchiolitis going around. Wonderful.

As the doctor was leaving and I was gathering up Sam to put her clothes back on her, a touch of her back reminded me to talk to the doctor about her skin. See, for the last couple of weeks she's been having these dry red patches on her back and belly... It wasn't so much a rash because it would come and go, so after talking to my mom we believed it was eczema but wanted clarification. Sure enough -- eczema it was. The solution? Unscented Dove body wash and Aveno lotion. No more Johnsons, not because it was causing the problem, but because it just wasn't helping. Sad, because we had to many to use, and it smelled so nice, but alas, I am lucky I have friends both near and far who are willing to take the half-used bottles (and then some) off our hands. Plus, there's nothing showing up on her scalp, so we can still get away with fun-smelling Johnson's shampoo!

So now this brings us to today -- Sam still has a runny nose, and the post-nasal drip in addition to the excess saliva thanks to teething causes her to cough, especially in the morning. She still sleeps with her cool-mist humidifier on, but other than that, babies be babies!

But speaking of teething? We have officially entered the world of molars. With the addition of the bottom two, we are now totaling 10 teeth, with more on the way. This last week has sucked, and I know the top two are making their debut -- I can already feel one of them poking through. What does this mean other than a miserable Samantha? It means I REALLY need to start working on fitting teeth-brushing into her nighttime routine. Have the brush and paste bought and everything.... I suck.

So that's all in the sick baby department. Stay tuned for when I update you on the wonderful world of thank you notes and holiday shopping!

bluumBox: September / October

It has come to my attention that I have blatantly overlooked writing about bluum.com and it's monthly membership boxes of goodies that arrive like a little bit of Christmas for Mom & Baby. In my defense, I could place blame on the newness of the program, and use an excuse of having a child closer to a toddler than an infant, but this is neither here nor there. This was a baby item I decided to use, and in all rights it deserves to be discussed on my blog... so here goes.

For starters, for those unfamiliar with bluum.com, it is a monthly subscription services where a box of 4-5 deluxe samples were sent to members once a month, and those members are free to try them as they please, review said products on the website for rewards points which will gradually add up for credit towards buying full-sized products. Memberships start at a monthly rate of $12, and can go as low as &9 depending on how many months you want under your belt at a time. And apparently every box is themed, as you will soon see.

September: l(a)unchbox

September's box was they're debut, so they cleverly played on the term "launch" and used a lunchtime theme. The contents of the box were as follows:

• dress for dinner: The Drooly Bib by Wry Baby
• first course: Apothederm Stretch Mark Cream
• special sauce: Episencial Soothing Cream
• sweet treat: Collectable Kids Magnet by illustrator Mimia Johnson
• freshen up: Bum Boosa Bamboo Baby Wipes
• snack time: Itzy Ritzy Reusable Snack Bag

As I mentioned before, I had half-forgotten about bluum and it's boxes, so pretty much all of these items have remained in the box, intact, for the last few months. Why, you ask? I think because it just didn't call to me at the moment. But as I look through this now, I'm gradually finding items I can use for both Samma and myself. The magnet we can put on the fridge. The baby wipes and the soothing cream can go in her diaper bag. The bib can go in her bib drawer with all the others. The snack bag we can use for daycare. And for myself, I can definitely give the stretch mark cream a try. There. Box #1 solved.

Now, again, I had said I wasn't very impressed with the initial box, and I had gone to the point of canceling my subscription then and there.... for some reason, however, the website either didn't accept my cancellation (even though my account clearly said "inactive") or it was just another bug due to a new concept, but next thing I knew my debit account was charged and a new box was received. Sure, it was only $12, and I do love surprises, but even before October's box arrived I made sure for a week straight that the account was back to inactive. But alas...


October: girl talk

I don't know if it was the surprise visit of this box, or it was just kicked up a notch, but it kinda almost made me feel bad for cancelling my account. Almost. Here's what we had this month:

• Dr. Robbins - Skin Care
• Baby Gourmet - Juicy Pear & Garden Greens
• CJ's Creamy Lotion
• HuggaMind - Baby Symbolizer iPhone / iPad app
• Strivectin - Wrinkle Cream
• Collectible Magnet (special Bonus)

What really won me over was the full-sized Juicy Pear pouch - Samma absolutely loves these, and I didn't hesitate to give it to her once the box arrived. As for everything else? The iPad app for sure -- we can hardly get Sam away from it now, so I'm excited to actually have something specifically for her to play with. CJ's lotion smells awesome, and it's heavier so it'll be great for the cold winter months ahead. Dr. Robbin's Baby Wash & Shampoo and Sunscreen could be something different to try, and it's a little packet so if we're traveling and don't want to bring whole bottles that'll be good to have. As for the wrinkle cream? I don't know if I should be offended or not!

So, remember when I said I was done with bluum.com? Well, (un)fortunately for me, PlumDistrict was offering a 3-month bluumBox deal (reg. $36) for $18... but wait, there's more! Because I had a 20% off coupon code for PlumDistrict, the total deal purchase was only $14.50, which mean I was spending only $4.83 on each box... for three months? I think I can handle that.

I have yet to receive November's box as they don't ship until the 17th of each month, but the website says it's theme is "goodnight moon" so I'm hoping it either a) coincides with the beloved children's book, or b) involves items that assist in bedtime and sleeping. We'll soon find out!

Oh, and if anyone feels like they want to join me on my bluum experience, please, by all means, send me your address and I will be more than happy to refer you!

My Little Flower Girl

This past weekend was Chris' sister, Katelyn's wedding and it was fabulous.

Samantha was slated to be the flower girl only within the last couple of months -- the deciding factor was whether or not she would be able to walk down the aisle, but once she started walking on her own after her birthday, it was a done deal. Which means Mom needed to get going on finding her a dress.

With Katelyn's approval every step of the way, an my frugal budget, we decided on David's Bridal's Shantung Tank Dress with Full Tulle Skirt (Style M103) in Ivory. With a price tag of only $39 and free shipping to boot, it was going to work whether Sam liked it or not! I had decided on getting her an 18mos rather than a 12mos because I had no idea if or when this girl is going to have her next growth spurt, and once has a little more leeway when it comes to dresses than, say, pants suits.

The dress itself came with a matching Ivory ribbon to be tied in the back, but from the beginning Katelyn knew she wanted a purple ribbon to sorta match the bridesmaids' dresses, and we lucked out when the dress had an easily removable ribbon and loops for threading something new. As an added touch, we clipped a satin rose on the bow to give Samma a little more style in the back. Paired with ivory tights and little black patent leather shoes, she was ready to go!

As a final touch to her flower girl-ness, Katelyn had found a perfect purple basket for Sam to carry with her. And inside were little silver leaves for Sam to toss as she's walking down the aisle. Or not. Regardless it all came together so well at the end!

All ready to go!

She needed a little coaxing down the aisle...

... but once she saw Nana and Puppy, she was ready to go!

Eye on the prize!

... and then she ran away. Apparently once Sam had her puppy, she was done with the ceremony and decided to high-tail it outta there, so by the time I looped around to collect her from my mother-in-law, she was no where to be seen! Luckily one of our friends grabbed her and sat with her until I was able to get over to them after Katelyn proceeded down to the altar.

Despite the panic, I was told she stole the show, so I'm glad that everything worked out, the ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was a blast.

One more thing -- I had pulled the photographer aside to take a family picture of Chris, Samma, and myself because I mean, really, when are we going to have another chance to take a picture with the three of us all dressed up? So I'm really looking forward to that when the professional pics get back!

But until then, this is All I Need:

♥♥♥

 

 

Edit - 9/8/2012:   Here's our family picture I was talking about!

Murmur Update

I was waiting until I received the official write-up from the doctor before I started blogging and thinking I was knowing what I was talking about....

Samma does in fact have am innocent heart murmur, but she is otherwise a textbook healthy one year old and we have nothing to worry about. Everything else sounds fine, and the murmur itself sounds exactly as an innocent vibratory murmur should. Nothing needs to be changed in her diet, routine, or activity. The only thing we need to do is go for a re-evaluation when she's 3 years old.

*phew*

New Shoes.... again!

So I had mentioned that we shelled out $50 the week before Samantha's birthday party for her first pair of sneakers, and we loved them, and they were her first pair so we tried not to mind. Well, three weeks later we're trying to put said sneakers on her feet, and next thing I know, I'm holding the tongue of the right shoe in my hand! I don't know if it was defective, or if my daughter has super-human strength, but I do know that for a pair of $50 sneakers, a tongue should not just be detaching, especially on kids shoes.

Luckily I still had the original box and receipt, all in the same bag, so last Sunday we went back up to StrideRite in an attempt to make a return. Being in retail, I'm always on the offensive when it comes to returning or exchanging merchandise, especially defective merchandise, so I was planning on raising hell should it happen that they refused my claims. Well, I will say I was pleasantly surprised.

Not only were they shocked and extremely apologetic for the broken shoes (as if it was their fault) they first offered an exchange for the same pair of shoes, which would have been fine. Unfortunately they didn't have any in stock, which I kind of expecting because I noticed the pair Sam got was no longer on the shelf or the StrideRite website, so I assumed it had been discontinued... so instead the clerk told me that we could exchange for a new, different pair of shoes, or they would give us a complete refund!

Well, Samma needed shoes, and even though she was sleeping in the car with Chris while I was wheelin' & dealin' we couldn't pass this up. So with a groggy Samma, we began trying on shoes, and this time we were a little more cautious about the price tag. We finally decided on this cute little pair:

The upside? They were only $32, so we got about $16 refunded! Yay for new, cheaper shoes, and money to boot! Plus they're just so damn cute!

So long story short? StrideRite rocks. They stand by their product, and they have a no-hassle return policy. Major props from this mom!

The (belated) One-Year Check-Up, and then some...

The following Monday after her actual birthday was her 1-year pediatric appointment, and I would say everything is looking good, more or less. She weighed in at 21lbs, 28.5 inches long, and had a head circumference of 17.25" -- the pediatrician showed me her growth chart and she's healthily in the 50% percentile across the board! At the time of her appointment, she was at the tail-end of a tummy bug, and we were worried that it was the formula - to - milk conversion we were in the middle of, but the doctor assured us that so long as yogurt and cheese hadn't been bothering her to date, we shouldn't need to worry about lactose intolerance. In fact, she added that there were a lot of virus-like stomach bugs coming into their office recently so we were to just let it run its course.

The one thing that did come to light at the appointment was the doctor believed she had heard a heart murmur while checking Sam's chest. She didn't seem too concerned, and even assured me that it wasn't something that I needed to lose sleep over, but because she was a year old and we had never heard it before, she wanted confirmation from the pediatric cardiologist. Of course, the fact that we had never heard it before led her to believe it's an innocent murmur, and could have been heard for a number of reasons, but she still wanted Sam checked at Children's and would get the referral paperwork submitted for me. And that's where we'll be going this afternoon -- all the way out to Waltham in rush hour traffic for our 2:30pm appointment with the cardiology department with Children's Hospital. Again, I'm not trying to freak out -- heart murmurs happen all the time, even my sister has one! And the fact that it was never heard before, hasn't been heard since in the 2 times we've brought Sam back to the pedi (more on that later), and it clearly doesn't seem like it's affecting her way of life -- so it's really just going to have the confirmation of yes, she has an innocent murmur, or no, there's nothing there and no further need to worry.

So despite all of this, we've been fighting a nasty little bug that's made its way from Samma, to me, to my sister, to my mom, and finally to Chris... and the poor thing still has something lingering. After a week of Sam having a running nose, congestion, and just being off, and I myself being diagnosed with a sinus infection, we brought her to the pediatrician to have her checked out. Everything was clear -- no problems with her ears, nothing lingering in her chest -- so the pediatrician suggested the coolmist humidifier (which we were already doing) and 3/4 tsp of Benedryl at night to dry her up and help her sleep. Needless to say the Benedryl helped a LOT, but a week last she was still congested, and this time she was forming a cough, and I wasn't all that comfortable with giving her sleeping aids for longer than a week, so after my mothers was diagnosed with a sinus infection this time around, I called into the nurse and explained the situation to her. She was understandable, and we made a plan to have Samma brought in that afternoon -- have I mentioned how much I love having a pediatrician opened 7 days a week? As I was out and about, Chris brought Sam to her appointment, and again everything was clean and clear, and it was just a virus that we needed to let run its course. When Chris mentioned the Benedryl we were giving her, the doctor rolled her eyes.... this was the Sam doctor who was anti-Oragel, so we didn't take much to heart. She confirmed that they no longer give cough medicine to kids, so Benedryl was the only option left, and she even said herself that it's not going to hurt her, she just despises giving any child medicine for any reason.... old school hard ass.

Anyway, last night was the first night in over a week we put Sam to bed without the Benedryl. Other than a wakeup at 1:30am to change a wet diaper, and fussing at 5am to get out of bed at 5:30am, it wasn't that bad of a night -- her runny nose is more or less gone, but we're still fighting the cough, so it's good to see we're on the upswing!

First Year Photos!

As I mentioned a little while ago, I had purchased a LivingSocial deal for Picture People up in Burlington, MA and we finally had our appointment yesterday!

For $25 we received a half-hour sitting, 5 sheets of 1 pose, and a low-res CD of all the images from the shoot. I had 2 outfits planned -- the infamous blue tutu, headband and pearls, and then something commemorating her first birthday, so I chose a pink onesie with a polka-dotted "1" on the front. I had been going back and forth about whether or not I wanted to involve smashing a cake during the session, but after calling to confirm the appointment on Friday and talking to one of the photographers, I decided getting a cotton candy cupcake at ShotCakes before the shoot was going to be the way to go!

Going in, I knew I wanted the Hi-res CD so that we could use the pictures how we wanted, and I knew it was going to be an additional $75 to upgrade with all the copyrights and everything, so I was OK with that. I also knew that I wanted another black & white picture for our Samma wall, so all that, on top of the LivingSocial deal, and we were going to be all set, but then to top it all off, we were eligible to become members of their Portrait Club for free, AND we were able to get a free sheet of pictures on top of that. Samma for everyone!

The downside to all of this was the appointment delay, , and the waiting because the photo machine ran out of ink and then paper, and the having to go back and forth first to make sure my mother was getting the right print, second to make sure the CD they gave me was in fact Hi-res (even though it said Low-res right on it), and third because they had left out the FREE sheet of pictures I was owed. But the photographer was great and the pictures came out awesome - so awesome, in fact, that the photog asked me to sign a Model Release form so that Sam's picture could be hung up in the studio... so if anyone's going to Picture People in Burlington, MA any time soon, please let me know if you see Samantha's picture!

But without further ado.... PICTURES!

And just in time -- Shutterfly.com currently has a promo code for 50 free prints good for the next few days. I've advised the grandparents to get their orders in, because I know I'm going to be stocking up! =)

Happy Birthday, Samantha!

After all the excited of her birthday party, she finally turned 1 -- we had a leftover Nutella cupcake and we spent the night playing with the new toy Chris and I gave her:

She had played with my friend's daughter's cube before on one of their many playdates, so I know it would be an instant hit. Other than having to take away the magnets because they were being eaten, and the mallets because they were hitting everything other than the xylophone they were supposed to play, I'd say it was a success!

Playing with her new activity cube from Mom & Dad~!

Yum.

Yum.... Nutella cupcakes....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA!!! ♥

Samma had a birthday party!

... and it was epic! But they say you only turn 1 once, and we promised we were going to do it right!

With temps in the mid-60s and mostly sunny, we had the perfect day for hosting about 60 people in our backyard on Saturday. There was music, plenty of food, laughter, cupcakes, presents, and above all I truly believe Sami had a fantastic time!

I won't lie - it was a little chaotic at times, with people coming and going in the middle of cake and presents, so it was hard for me to keep track of everyone and personally greet and/or bid farewell, so again, to all of our family and friends, thank you SO much for making the day so special, and we truly are appreciative for all that you did. And it turns out, things were so busy with Chris cooking and I making sure everything ran as smooth as it could, that we didn't get any pics of the both of us with Sam. Sad =( .... but that's ok! There are PLENTY of pictures that make up for that!

As for me? I was exhausted. That night I happily went to bed by 8pm because I could just feel my body physically wearing down, and it was no one's fault but my own. I was up until midnight the night before, baking cupcakes with my sister and our friend, and then Saturday the only thing I was running on was 2 large coffees after waking up at 6am with the birthday girl. Needless to say, once the clean-up was done this afternoon, I took myself a nice long nap, and it was amazing.

But enough about me -- Time for pictures!

Cupcakes...

... and more cupcakes!

The seat of honor

Presents everywhere!

Our guests

The birthday girl

The grandmothers

The grandfathers

Make a wish...

The first taste of cake....

... it's good!

Obligatory 1st birthday smash cake shot

Presents!

Paper is just as good as presents!

I think this one was her favorite

and... spent!

So what's next? Her actual birthday on Tuesday, where we'll give her the presents from us, and maybe even some more cake, and then come Saturday we'll be going to get her 1-year photos taken, but more on that later. In the meantime, seeing that her 1st birthday is upon us, I really should go back over her baby book and get that up to date, or the next thing I'll know, it'll be her 2nd birthday and I still haven't done it!

New Shoes!

Someone finally got her first pair of shoes last night!~

I don't know if I've mentioned it recently or not (chances are, no) but Sam has been more or less walking... in spurts. She's been cruising around like it's no one's business, and has been flying on her FP walker back and forth across the room. She's also started standing up on her down, and can crouch down and back up again, so she's been working on her balance and leg strength. And within the last week or so she has been taking 5-6 steps out from the couch, stopping, turning around to smile at me, and then proceed on her way! With her birthday coming up this weekend, we decided that it was time -- people were going to want to walk around with her, and if her party is mainly outside I wanted to see her feet protected, so there you have it!

We decided to go to StrideRite for her first pair because personally I think they have the best reputation for children's shoes, my first pair of sneakers were from StrideRite, and I wanted her first pair to be a good pair of sneakers as she's trying to learn to be steady on her feet.

We got Sam measured and she's currently a size 3W -- poor thing has her dad's wide feet! And because she's almost walking, we decided to go with the Step 3 shoe rather than the Step 2 because although the Step 2s were a little more flexible for her, she was going to be growing out of them faster than we would want, and they're only good for the first 5 months of walking, so why not just jump forward to actual walking sneakers and save us the cash? So we went with a size 4 of the Step 3s because that's the smallest they had -- we tried them on her and they fit well, and her toes were where they needed to be, so we went with that.

Speaking of cash, going in, I knew what to expect, and even though I had given Chris the website for his viewing pleasure, he was still stickershocked... but what are you going to do? Sure, there was a 20% off sale going on for select styles, and of course Sam's feet were too small for the cute pairs on sale, and sure, the pair we both fell in love with (see above) was one of the more expensive, not-on-sale sneakers in Step 3s... but the way I look at it, her feet are developing, she needs a decent pair of learning sneakers, and you only get your first pair once!

Granted, I would never spend $50 on a pair of shoes for myself, but this is my daughter -- I'm allowed to spoil her.

But baby feet grow fast -- about half a shoe size every 2-3 month, so she's going to be out of these sooner than she's in them, so I think that's another reason why we bought her the size 4 Step 3s because there IS some growing room still, so we'll be able to get the most for my money.

Next time though? StrideRite Outlet. Or Payless.

But for now? Adorable sneakers. Watching her trying to walk with these news things on her feet is way too cute. She's not a fan yet though, you can tell -- more weight to hold her back, and if the doesn't lift her feet high enough, she does fall... sometimes she'll catch herself, others, like last night, she just loses her balance, and it's sad. =( But she'll get used to them eventually... right now I think her favorite part is undoing the Velcro. CUTE!