Dilly is ONE!

We just celebrated Dylan’s first birthday on March 31^st. I can not believe it! I decided to take Thursday (his actual birthday) and Friday off to be at home with the family. It was so nice to be with them. On Saturday we had our family and friends over for the party. It was a great time. I forgot how much goes into planning a first birthday party. And of course I had to do the same things for Dylan as I did for Jack’s first which included baking 2 cakes and 2 dozen cupcakes. Jamie helped me thankfully. Here are a few pictures of our creations!







Homemade #1 Cake and Cupcakes for Dilly

Dylan enjoyed digging into his cupcakes. He made a huge mess which of course is the intent of giving a one year old anything with frosting on it. We opened up all his wonderful gifts and enjoyed the company. The day was beautiful weather wise so the older kids got to get out of the house and play outside which was great. The adults even got in on the fun! Thank you to my sister in law Kelly for taking all the wonderful pictures. I always joke she is my personal photographer because she is always the one to offer to take pictures and she gets great shots! Here are a few more from the day.

The past year had been the fastest of my life. I think about where we were a year ago in the NICU with a preemie, and now here we are with a little guy who gets bigger everyday. He is crawling around, eating big boy food, saying momma, dadda and waving goodbye among other things. It is amazing to see the progress a little one makes in the first year. I am so proud and happy to me his mommy. We love him so much and we are looking forward to watching him grow more and more every day.



Dylan First Birthday Invite

 



Here is the invite I threw together for Dylan's first birthday party. I wish I would have been more on top of things and had created one myself, but Shutterfly is always a good fall back.

Kindergarten....and so it begins!

On Thursday Jack and I attended his Kindergarten orientation. Jamie and Dylan were sick so they stayed home. We all met in the media center (or as we used to call it, the library) It started with the principal showing us a video called A Day in the Life of Your Kindergartener. Jack sat intently watching the video as I held back tears. After the video they introduced us to the Kindergarten teachers. All of them sweet as you would want a teacher to be. Then they took the kids to the classroom and the parents stayed back. Jack jumped out of his seat and happily went on his way. I held back tears again. Jack has been at KinderCare since he was 8 weeks old so it is not like this was the first time I was letting him go on his own, but for some reason watching him walk away knowing that he did not need me was very emotional. Even as I type I am tearing up…. What is my problem!

After the kids left they talked to the parents about details of enrollment, PTO, and things of that nature. I also found out that Jamie and I get to attend Jack’s first day of school in September. I am sure this is more for the parents than it is for the students!

When the presentations ended we went to pick up our soon to be Kindergartners in the classroom. I walked into the room and heard “MOMMY!” Music to my ears. I walked over to the table where Jack sat coloring and he told me all about the fun he had the past 45 minutes. I asked him if he enjoyed it and if he thought the room was cool and we walked around looking at all the different things in the room.

We were then approached by one of the teachers who just happened to be my niece’s teacher and she asked if we were related. My niece had told her to look for Jack that night. So cute! I talked to her for about 10 minutes. She asked me if this was my first Kindergartner and I responded “yes” and again here come the tears. She told me this is such a special and often emotional time in our lives. I agreed.

The first five years of Jack’s life have gone by so fast and I always hear that once they start school it goes by even faster. But we are excited to move on to the next chapter with him. It will be fun to see him grow and become even more independent. I will just make sure that I hold him a little tighter this summer and soak up all the time with him knowing that once September comes things are likely to change.

Guess Whooooos having a baby boy?

I had to share a few pictures from my sisters shower. I had such a good time put everything together for her Owl Themed Shower. It was a great day and she got a bunch of wonderful gifts!



Cookies ordered from Etsy.com



Cake made by Queen of Cakes

Bird Cage for Advice Cards From Guests

Advice Cards

Homemade Chocolate Owl Pretzels



Gift Bags and Advice Card Table



Homemade Baby Shower Sign

Homemade Diaper Cake :)



Me and my little sis Denise



It's March Madness

I have to be honest I have completely forgot about this blog. So much has been going on since August I have had no time to actually blog about it. So I have decided to start up again here in March since the title is March Madness it is only appropriate, right?

Jamie and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on March 3rd. I had been sick with the flu that entire week, but I was feeling well enough to get out to dinner. I can not believe that five years have gone by. I feel like it was just yesterday we were married.

Jack turned five on March 11th and oh boy was it a deal! On his actual birthday we took him to Grand Slam which happened to also be a childhood favorite for both me and Jamie. He had a blast. And rocked it at the batting cages and loved the blow up houses. The following day we had his friend birthday at Chuck E Cheese. It was a Saturday at 5:00pm and it was crazy but he and all of his friends had a ball! And to wrap up the weekend we had the family over to the house to celebrate. It was very casual and fun. Thank you to everyone who made his birthday special :)

Jack at Chuck E Cheese Birthday Party with Friends

Jack's Family Birthday Party

Last weekend was the last day of hockey for Jack. They had a Mini Mites Jamboree. It was adorable. The kids all had nick names and our little #14 was Jack "The Hammer" Henry. After the game was his first banquet where he got a trophy and certificate. He came a long way in his first hockey season. He could barely walk in his skates in October and now he is skating around like a pro!

Sign We Made For Jack's Hockey Jamboree

Dylan is 11 months now and will be celebrating his first birthday on March 31st. He has 6 teeth, is crawling around and learning sign language (he can sign "more"). He says daddy all the time and tonight he said momma! FINALLY! He also started going to Kindercare two days a week. Jamie and I decided he is at a good age to start getting some interaction with other kids on a regular basis. So far so good and he seems to enjoy it!

Dylan Trying His First Popsicle

Hi Dylan!

And lastly my little sister and her husband had their baby boy John Dean "JD" Gaddo on February 20th. We are so excited to have another addition to the family. I can only imagine all the trouble the 3 boys will get into a couple of years from now.

Jack Holding His Baby Cuzzy JD

More to come. It is spring and we are anxious to get out of the house and have some fun.

R.I.P Mookey - a boy's first pet

Last night we said goodbye to our dear Beta Fish Mookey. Jamie and I debated on whether or not we would turn his passing into a life lesson for Jack. He is after all 4 years old and would notice Mookey was gone as he resided on his dresser.

So in the most simple way we explained to Jack that Mookey was no longer with us and he had gone to Heaven. Now before one person says "but pets don't go to heaven" I will stop you right there. Jack has a concept of what happens when our bodies die and for the purpose of keeping things simple we explained it the same way.

At first he asked a lot of questions, and then as the night went on he was a little more quiet than normal. We explained to him it was OK to be sad and it was even OK to cry. And so he did. He cried out for Mookey, and said he missed him and wanted him back. My heart just broke. You want to protect your children from any pain, even if it is just a loss of a fish. 

Jack has now accepted Mookey's passing and things are back to "normal" He will occasionally go to his bedroom and look up at the dresser and I only hope he looks up with great memories of the little fishy who would wag his tail when we entered the room. R.I.P Mookey

Working mother, missing out.

Ever feel like you are missing out on your child's life? Being a working mother is the hardest thing in the world. Today I got a phone call from my husband informing me that our baby boy rolled over for the first time. As excited as I was I soon felt sad, guilty, mad that I was at work just hearing about it and not witnessing it myself. I am grateful Jamie was there to witness it and not a daycare provider but still my heart sank a little when I heard the good news.

So what is a working mother to do? I have heard stories of mothers up and quitting their jobs when getting news like this. Believe me I was tempted. But in all honesty that is not a possibility for us. I spend every minute I am at home with my children and yet I feel like they are growing up too fast and their first milestone moments are only witnessed by me after the fact.

With all of that being said, I am learning to cherish the moments I do have with them and use everyday to remind my children how much I love them and how proud I am to be their mommy. I am blessed.

Jack and Dylan