Turkey Day Table Fun!

This year, we've got something extra special to be thankful for... it's our little man's very first Thanksgiving!

I wanted to commemorate the occasion with something special that we could keep and use for years to come.

Thankfully, my buddy Vickie Howell has the perfect idea for a Turkey Day keepsake that was not only fun and easy, but Q and I were able to create it together - our first crafty collaboration!

Turkey Day Place Mats!

Since Quinn is an experienced painter, I thought he would like to provide the focal point to our place mats. My original thought was to get him to do hand prints and then I would make them into 'hand turkeys' - kinda like elementary school.

What I didn't know was how completely impossible it is to get a 5-month-old to hold a hand covered in paint still for even two seconds...

So, my hand turkeys quickly became more of an abstract study in orange... which turned out beautifully!

After Q was done with his portion on the place mats, I stamped 'Quinn's First Turkey Day' on them in copper sparkly fabric paint (a little note: fabric paint isn't the best option for stamping - I probably should've used stamp ink... so, they're far from perfect, but that's just how being crafty goes sometimes)...

I attached Quinn's art to some plain brown fabric, embellished with ribbon, sewed into place mats, and that's it! Easy peasy!

Check out Vickie's column, Craft Apparent, over on PBS Parents for inspiration on your own version of Turkey Day place mats!

Happy Thanksgiving!

5 Months Old!

Dear Chuy,

You are 5 months and two days old today and oh my goodness, you're rocking and rolling!

You've got not one, not two, but THREE teeth making their debut in your mouth.

What's up with three teeth already? You really do want a biscuit, don't you?

Well, we haven't gotten all the way to biscuits yet, but we have tried rice cereal and sweet potato.

You don't seem to be a fan of the rice cereal and I can't say I blame you for that - it's kinda yucky.

Sweet potato, on the other hand, seemed to be delicious! Maybe we'll mix the two together sometime just to see what happens.


In celebration of you starting solid foods, I though I should whip up some special 'big boy eats solid food' bibs for you to use when we eat from a spoon...
Pretty cute, huh?

You've also added reaching for objects to your list of 'things that I can do' this past week.

We were hanging out making chicken in a packet for dinner the other night and you helped me by tenderizing not only the onion, but the brussel sprouts and squash as well!


Your Godmother Aubrey blew into town for the weekend and we caught up with her at the Whole Foods - man, she loves her some Baby Quinn, I tell you what!


It's almost Thanksgiving and I'm so looking forward to celebrating your first one - you are what I am thankful for this year... and maybe we'll finally let you have that biscuit you've been craving...

Love,
Mommy

Baby's 1st Halloween!

Dear Chuy,


This past weekend we celebrated our first Halloween with you on the outside.


You were totally in my belly last Halloween, which made me extremely tired and hungry for candy...


This year, you're out, so, it was time for pumpkins, costumes, and pint sized Halloween parties!


First up, they had a little party for you guys at your escuela. It was super cute.


You made your costume, although, you didn't seem very fond of wearing it...




You made a little Trick or Treat canister too - I didn't even know about it - it was an awesome crafty surprise!

Ozzy was very fond of the contents of the canister - sugar cookies wrapped in plastic bag... cat favorite...



They took school pictures that day too - I thought a tuxedo t-shirt and driver's cap were in order...

Such a handsome man!



So, that night, we carved our pumpkins - I actually just drew your design on yours - after Daddy and I carved our giant pumpkins, our hands were tired and we didn't feel like carving another...



You'll just have to get bigger so you can carve your own!



In the meantime, I drew a lion pattern on your pumpkin - cause you love the lions!

The next day was Halloween and we attended a Pint Sized Halloween party thrown by our friends Jen, Chris, and Tallulah...



We were the Family Wolf...

You and Daddy had a good time wolfing it up...

All your baby buddies were there...



We took another pic of you, Clover, and Tallulah on the couch - man, you guys were all so much smaller last time we did this...

When we got home from the party, I thought you'd be stone cold tired and ready for a big nap, but you were wide awake and ready to play!



So we took a stroll around the neighborhood...

Then we lounged and watched the Halloween episode of Yo Gabba Gabba..

Halloween night, your Dad and I handed out candy to the neighborhood kids and watched a scary movie... you were finally ready for your big nap...

All in all, I think it was the best Halloween ever and I'm a little sad because we're never going to celebrate your first Halloween ever again...

The Pumpkin Patch!

Chuy and I met up with some of his baby friends (and some of my mommy friends) at the Pumpkin Patch this past weekend.

I thought it would be a perfect time to show off his skeleton outfit and candy corn shoes and get some awesome pics with my new fancy camera...

Little man still refuses to look at the camera or look happy in any pictures, but the lighting was nice and the background was very... Halloweeny...

Check it out!

Oh well... someday maybe he'll look at the camera - heck, he might even smile for it once in a while... he's still cute as can be and we definitely had fun at the patch - although the photographic evidence of said fun doesn't exist, so, you'll just have to take my word for it...

4 months old!

Dear Chuy,

One year ago today, I wasn't feeling very well - tired, hungry, nauseous, etc... so, I went to Target on my lunch break and bought a pregnancy test... and then it came up positive... and then I texted your Daddy that he might want to come home from work early because I had something to tell him... yes, I told your Dad that we were pregnant through the magic of texting.

I can't begin to explain the journey that began that day, but what I can say is this - I'm so very happy that two pink lines turned up on that test that day and am even happier that you made it to the outside world safe and sound...

So, now you're four months old and have already started to get your first tooth! What? Huh? Tooth? Really? Yes, I said tooth!

You've also moved into sleeping in your crib at night - which is going far better than I expected it would - it's still a little weird putting you down and leaving the room, but you seem to be doing just fine with it.

In other news, your Halloween costume is complete! I won't spoil the entire outfit here and now, but will give a sneak peek at how cute you look in the hat portion...



Speaking of hats, I tried out working with fleece for the first time this past week - whipping up not one but two warm winter hats for you - here's the dinosaur hat...

...and here you are in your skeleton outfit with matching pirate hat that I found in the dollar spot at Target - wow, keep mentioning the Target here on this post today - it's quickly turning into my favorite store...

Are you almost smiling while you look directly at the camera? Weird... are you okay?

Love,

Mommy

My little strong man...

My buddy Vickie Howell has just launched a new bi-monthly column over at PBS Parents! It's called Craft Apparent, and this month, it features four completely awesome baby Halloween costume ideas that go easy on your budget as well as your time and skill level!

Baby Quinn was asked to be a model for one of the costumes... Baby Strong Man...

I love that all the costumes featured in the column start with a plain white onesie. This one was dyed with coffee for the 'skin tone' effect! A little embroidery floss for the fake chest hair, some glitter cheetah fabric, felt, yarn, and fabric paint for the barbell and bing-bang-boom - baby strong man!

Getting a mustache on Mr. Man turned out to be a bit of a challenge, but we worked as a team and figured it out!

Head on over to PBS Parents to check out the rest of the costumes, you'll be glad you did!

No papparazzi, please...

My in-laws always joke that if you even so much as remove your camera from it's case around me, I will automatically pose and smile for it. Maybe it's all the theatre I did as a kid, maybe it's my Leo nature, but I never met a camera I didn't like.

My son, on the other hand, has a mission - to never ever look directly at a camera and to certainly never ever smile for one. It's become his life's work and he's very dedicated to his cause.

Over the weekend, I decided that since it's officially October now, that we could start dressing him in his Halloween pajamas. He looked so cute and was so smiley about it, I grabbed the camera. What followed has been documented below...

















I swear to you, he would be looking, posing, smiling, etc. right up until I would click to take a picture, then he would turn his head away lightening fast... like an anti-picture ninja...

Hopefully this is just a phase? At least his Daddy and I know that he is a smiley happy baby - we just don't have photographic evidence to back up our case...