Lets train

Well, CC's party has come and gone and I'm sitting here with a major post-party hangover. Not from drinking too much...although our beverages were pretty fantastic at the party---ever hear of a Milwaukee Margarita with beer, tequila, lemon/lime mixer, and Squirt? Amazing. I'm sure there is a more official name for them but Nate was the one who wanted to make these bad boys and we went through four pitchers if that tells you anything. So good. I want another right now.

But I digress.

Her party was Saturday and it was SO awesome. And I'm sad that it's over after all of the planning and over-thinking and anticipating. But it was fab and therefore I must pull it together and blog about it.

I posted a few of my decorations/craft projects for Cecelia's party in this post, but now I have a lot more completed projects to share. And then I will give you a break before I bombard you with more pictures of the party itself in a different post. My poor camera has not seen this much action in the past few months combined compared to the past week! Love it.

Mantel decor:

When I was brainstorming this party, I wasn't sure what I would do for our fireplace and mantel area. Then Pear Tree Greetings contacted me and offered to let me try out some of their kids party decorations. Um, YES! I spent way too much time going through their website going over my options and then finally decided on a set of the 'Crown Me Princess' giant table confetti. I loved the round shape of the cards and knew I could come up with something fun for our wooden box on the mantel. Then I found this 'Colliding Collage' set and was obsessed with the ability to include lots of different pictures, so that was my second pick. I uploaded my pictures, customized my colors and fonts, and got really pumped when they arrived in the mail. So many possibilities, so little time!



I decided to tape the round cards to straws (classy, I know!), then put a bunch of plastic grocery bags in our wooden box, and covered them with strips of leftover nursery fabric. I stuck the straws in the folds of the bags and voila! A little 'garden' of sorts full of pinks, oranges, sweet sayings, and my baby girl.





And then I used the square cards to create banners---just hot glued the cards to some twine. I'm obsessed with all of the pictures on these cards and am considering hanging one in her bedroom for awhile.  Love how it all turned out!



close up:


I pulled a few frames from the nursery and bought a few tiny ones from Michaels (which are still empty in these pictures, but were filled by the party).




I used a few of the square cards for decor on the light fixture above our table, too. I liked how they would spin around and could be visible from lots of spots in the dining room. I made a small pennant banner and hung it all up together on our lights--haven't taken this down yet either.

I had another long banner hung above our buffet, too.


And I attempted to use the panoramic function on my iPhone to get a feel for the whole room though, which was really fun (time waster) and you can kind of see it here, I guess. Who loves banners? This girl!



Monthly Banners:

After sweating my butt off taking these dreaded monthly shots on the quilt and on the chair, I knew I had to make banners to properly appreciate the effort;) I ended up just printing the images at Walgreens, and they were pretty inconsistent and horrible for a few of the shots---so I reprinted a few on our Canon photo printer downstairs, too. Annoying, but whatever. I found this pack of scalloped papers at Michaels on sale and just put one photo on each paper, hot glued the twine to the backs and was done!









Chalkboard print and menu board:

I think I'm most proud of my chalkboard print I designed in Photoshop for CC's party. These are all over Pinterest, of course, and it was fun to play around with different chalkboard fonts. I had it printed in a 16x20 size and mounted on double weight backboard through my photographer friend's printing company. It turned out so nice and I'm absolutely going to put this in her room or hang onto it for the future. And then there is our menu board we use each week---just a regular frame with scrapbooking paper behind the glass, writing on it with dry erase markers. Big menu for a little girl!


Had to show more pictures of just the chalkboard print;)


Nate's artsy Aunt made Cecelia this giant tissue paper flower, and brought it to the party. SO cute, right? Fits in perfectly in her nursery, too.



Outside:

We hung the wreath outside of our front door and then went with pink helium balloons. Super windy day and those poor balloons got beat up more than I expected, but oh well! They were also a lot more expensive than I expected so we had to make them work....and the kids had a fun time playing with them the day after the party, too.


Crown and hair bow:

GoGo saves the day with a few special crafts of her own! She made Cecelia a felt crown with removable numbers, so that she can wear it for years to come. You can kind of see the high chair banner I made from the Pear Tree Greetings round cards, too;)


And her hair bow? Obsessed. More felt and she even made little felt balls somehow. That GoGo!


Bulletin board and monthly heads:

I posted about both of these before, but here they are totally finished!






Desserts:

Yes, I know that food is not really a craft or 'project' but I'm including them here because they were on my list of things to complete (instead of Nate's, or my in-laws') .

I wanted to make Cecelia a smash cake like you see on Pinterest---sort of smallish, on a pretty cake plate, with fun topper. Lois had a vintage cake plate, so that part was easy. I wanted the icing to be pink so we bought strawberry frosting in a can, and made a yellow cake from a box (fancy!). Then I got creative with round cookie cutters and SHOULD have paid attention to where I cut the big cake. Because obviously, it was a little wonky and uneven. Also, my canned icing was WAY too thick and I almost threw it all away in a fit of rage. But Memaw saved the cake by adding a tiny bit of milk to the frosting can. Much smoother and easier to spread compared to the original stuff that totally shredded the cake. Funny stuff looking back---not at the moment. This is why I don't love projects in the kitchen!


I used this pink doilie (how in the heck do you spell it?) that Nate's patient made for us randomly, simply because it was round the right colors. I had to put the cake down on something anyway, so it worked! Then I made the little pennant banner out of fabric scraps and we had ourselves a smash cake.



And with the cake on the pretty pink table runner that Lois sewed from nursery fabric scraps? This die hard pink fan is in love.


We did cupcakes for the rest of our guests and I made royal icing cookies---putting all of the desserts on the main table was a fun idea in theory but it only meant that kids went nuts on the cookies from the first minute of the party. Whatever goes at a birthday party!


Re: the royal icing cookies--I've gotten a lot of questions about these on Instagram, so I'll talk about them here, too. This was my fourth time ever making these cookies and it definitely gets easier each time. But it's tedious and putsy---which is something right up my alley when it comes to 'projects', so I don't mind the whole process. I'm a total newbie and really have no clue what I'm doing, so it's laughable that I'm even sharing my 'technique' here. But I just like to play around with bright colors and designs on cookies, so this is a fun one for me.

It takes about three days for me to make these cookies: one day to bake the cut out sugar cookies and let them cool; one day to mix up the icing and do the base layer; and one day to do the top layer of decorating. My friend Hannah is really good at these and she taught me her method, which she got from Annie's Eats. Again, I am NOT an expert and it's a learning process but it just takes practice, it seems.

I went with heart-shaped cut out cookies because of our loose theme of 'heartbreaker' for Cecelia's party. Then I used hot pink, made a golden-yellow shade, I tried to make a turquoise but it was a lot daker than expected, and somehow made a periwinkle color, too. Four colors, about 36 cookies and lots of time;)

First step versus second step:




Oh, it's so much fun and so many photo ops with these pretties.








I bagged about half of these and put them in a new pink and orange storage box that I got. I thought about making all of these cookies into favors that were bagged up, but then I decided that I kind of wanted to show them off during the party, too. Didn't even get one myself!


I think that's it as far as projects and decorations. Now onto writing the post about the party itself....because it wasn't ONLY about decorations and crafts;)

I know I can't update on every single day of Porter's life, but the first week is SO eventful and full of memories I don't want to forget in the blur that it will likely become. This is not going to be full of any deep thoughts or insightful glimpses into the life with three kids, but more of a simple re-telling of events. The emotions and thoughtfulness will come again some day, I hope;)

The second evening and night in the hospital was a good one. Tony and Lois came after my Mom and Dad came, and then Nate brought both kids back with him after they allll napped at home that day. Truman felt better and was very eager to see Porter again, so even though we weren't sure if he was sick or not we just made him stay away from breathing on P-man's face. We ordered pizza and had a ball as a big group. Needless to say, these four grandparents are freaking GOD SENDS to us right now.





(my camera is acting really weird for white balance indoors. Super annoying.)


The guys


Big sis


My THREE kids!



Anyway. The second night (Saturday) was good. Nate went back home that night since he truly slept horribly on Friday night with the little pull out couch in my room. He helped with bedtime and everyone got good sleep at home.

I had one of my favorite nurses from Cecelia's birth, Melissa, that night and I loved chatting with her about life while it was just me and Porter in the room. She happily took him to the nursery for me that night around 11, brought him back at 1:30 to nurse, then took him back until 5 am. GLORIOUS. She said he was doing great and was adorable (duh).

Sunday morning, Nate came with Collectivo coffee and a muffin for me, plus we ordered room service for their amazing breakfast sandwiches. YUM. Yet another reason I am obsessed with this hospital is that the nutrition department also sent up a little cup of cookies saying 'congrats on the new baby boy!'. Yes.





We ate, I showered, Porter got his state newborn screening blood test done (hated it), and we visited with the Pediatrician as he gave Porter a glowing report before he discharge him. I mentioned that P is spitting up a lot, my milk came in right after the 24 hour mark, and so I felt like Porter was kind of adjusting to that.



Side note: holy engorgement. I knew my milk came in soon last time with C, and I'm sure nursing her until 16 months and getting pregnant weeks after weaning just means my tats know what to do. But wow. Insane. By the 48 hour mark I was totally uncomfortable, and today---day 3---it's a little out of control. VERY out of control, painful, gigantic, etc etc. More on that in a 'recovery' post someday.

After the Ped came through, my OB came in to discharge me. I love her so much and Nate does, too. She talked with us for about an hour about everything and nothing, mostly about her kids and our kids;) We thanked her for being so amazing because I feel like she made this third experience the best it's ever been (more in the birth story later) and honestly, would like to have a fourth child just to have my OB lead the way again. Nate loves when I say things like that.



Another nurse that I love, Vanessa---she saw me through Truman's birth, discharged us after that. I requested the standard 'leaving from the hospital shot' from her and we were off!



Oh, I wanted Porter to wear this adorable bow tie/cardigan onesie my mom made him for his going home outfit. But alas, I'm not used to having an 8+ pound baby and it didn't fit over his head;( Newborn sizes are usually fine for now but this one was especially tight, so we went with another back up outfit and he looked just as adorable.

He loves to hold the paci in his mouth for us!




We got home around noon on Sunday. The kids and my parents were so happy to see us and for how much I love the hospital stay itself, coming home was pretty freaking amazing, too. Porter got to rock in his MamaRoo a bit, I unpacked, we visited and I got a great nap on the couch with mom and Porter. That night Lois and Tony came over with the BEST meal ever. Love having family support us and help out (again: God sends!)

Signs all over the house, made by the kids and Gogo!







Note the BEER!!!!!


The first night with Porter was pretty.....rough. I think the combination of my milk being in and being so much for him to handle, plus me trying to keep him in the co sleeper without holding him a ton (his favorite) made for an extra hard time. We all went to bed around 10 but Porter did not fall asleep until 1:00. He was awake at 2:00. GAH. I fed him, and I'd change him, but he just kept getting antsy and refusing to sleep. I finally had Nate turn off the AC around 3 am because I thought he was cold. He wanted to nurse but didn't want to nurse and eventually I had to take him into the nursery to rock on the glider a bit. He fell back to sleep around 5 am and we both woke up at 8---I basically held him and let him be in bed with me for that entire time. Breaking the rules already, I know.





Today is Monday--his fourth day of life and of course, since he partied all night, he was sleepy all day long. As I type this, he has been snoozing in the MamaRoo for 3 hours without a peep. Why didn't he sleep like this last night? Silly babies. But I got a shower, brushed my teeth, and even napped so I'm calling it a great day. The kids and I have had a ball with Mom and Dad today. It was incredibly sad to see them go tonight, though. Truman cried the most he's ever cried saying, 'I'm going to miss Popo and Gogo, I don't want them to leave. I'm sad.' So I cried, too. Truman wouldn't let go of me, CC wouldn't let go of me, and we were all just a mess. Ugh. My dad and Tony held it together for us, of course, and Tony took them to the airport. But it's just hard to see my parents go. Mom comes back in 10 days so we are trying to focus on that.





I know Nate must have been SO tired at work today but he is off on Tuesday and Thursday for this week AND next week. LOVE this set up so much. So tomorrow Nate and I will take Porter to the Pediatrician while Tony stays with the big kids.

I can't wait to get into a new rhythm with Porter---especially at night. But I know these early days will just be pure chaos and weird, so I'm trying to roll with it. He is the best baby and SO stinking cute. He takes a pacifier like a champ, unlike his sister ever did at this age, and is really quite chill during this super sleepy phase. I sort of forgot what it's like to worry your baby is sleeping TOO much during the day and probably should wake him up now to feed him. Lord help us tonight. And help my boobs not to explode.



A few other things I don't want to forget:

-Both kids have been sprinting over to the swing randomly, kissing Porter on his feet and head. No reason other than, 'We love Porter, mom.'



-CC tells me 'I like him.' She was fascinated that he could move, really likes to watch him nurse, and is carrying around a ziploc bag of pacifiers for him to use at some point. Oh boy.



-Mom made cupcakes with the kids, after I suggested we have a little birthday party for Porter. Obviously, this was a big hit.



-Truman regularly tells me, 'I love Porter so much mommy. I'm glad he came out. I love my family.' Yes, emotions are running high around here. He also asked, 'How do your boobs make milk?' Ha.



-The kids love Porter's belly button cord. They have heard his newborn poops and think it's hilarious that he goes so often. The like to fight over who gives him the pacifier. Such big helpers I have!





-CC has had a few extra clingy moments to me, where she wants to sit right next to me (on top of me?) while nursing, but nothing too bad just yet. We will see how she is now that mom is gone. They are quite the pair.

So far, so good. As Nate said last night, 'There is just something about having the baby here, healthy, happy.....it's the best.' Right on, Nate ;)