Ambitious? Maybe.

First of all, before another word is spoken...
♥HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE BOY, CALE! ♥

You are SO loved by so many people. Thank you for blessing my life for 365 days! You will always be my favorite.

Mmmkay, so I may be somewhat ambitious here, but I'm about to embark on a project and I'm not sure if I can do it alone! I've been looking for a unique way to store Cale's books in his room, since at the moment they are in a bucket on my living room floor taking up wayyyy too much space. I found some really cute ideas online, but this is by far my favorite!

It's a book sling that is held up by dowel rods and secured with curtain brackets. I think this is such a cute idea and I am looking forward to making them for Cale's room. I plan on making two of them, one on top of the other like in the first picture so that there are plenty of room for all of his books. I love that he will be able to see the fronts of the books instead of just being able to see the spine of the book from a bookshelf.

I know it seems like an easy sewing project, but I'm not exactly sewing savvy, so we will see how it goes. I think I will enlist my mom or Nate's grandma for help so it doesn't turn out as a major mommy fail.

As soon as Cale wakes up from his nap I am going to head over to JoAnns Fabrics to pick up the materials. I'm not exactly sure what kind of fabric we will use, but I plan on using a versatile fabric that can easily transition in to his "big boy" room in a few years.

Wish me luck! I'll post pictures when it's done and instructions for those that are interested in making one!

Mommy didn't know...

Tonight I put Cale down to bed for the last time as my little baby. Tomorrow he awakes as a toddler and I'm definitely emotional about it. I cannot believe that it's already been a year, and this week my memories of those first days with him have been flooding back into my mind.


It has been the hardest year of my life, and yet exponentially the most rewarding. I couldn't have imagined how little sleep I would still be getting a year later, or how tough of a newborn Cale would be with reflux, colic, and ear infections. I didn't realize how much money it would take to raise him and how difficult it would be to be a working mother. I didn't realize how my priorities would instantly change from wanting to be a professional to having an intense desire to stay home and raise him as a stay-at-home mother. I didn't realize the guilt I would feel for not being there for him every minute of the day. I didn't realize the difficulties that Nate and I would have in our relationship during this first year due to the stresses of parenthood.

I also didn't realize how intense I could love someone. I never knew that a giggle or a smile from someone so tiny could melt my heart. I didn't know that every little milestone he reached would make me so proud. I didn't realize that being called 'mama' could bring tears to my eyes so quickly. I didn't know that a hug could feel so good. I didn't know that things like poop could ever be funny. I didn't realize that I could feel complete if I only had one child. I didn't realize that my love for Nate could ever be stronger than it was....but it's all true -- I now know all of these things. My life is so rich. I really am the luckiest person on Earth.
♥ Happy 1st Birthday tomorrow, Cale.
Mommy and Daddy love you to pieces. ♥

Tubes.

Starting in December 2010 when Cale was around 8 months old he started getting recurring ear infections. He was so miserable and would just scream and scream. We would get him on antibiotics and they would quickly disappear, only to return every 2-3 weeks after that. Finally after ear infection number 4 we decided that enough was enough and we asked our doctor for a referral to an Ear, Nose, & Throat specialist to discuss getting tubes in his ears. The specialist agreed that it was probably time to move forward and have the surgery.


I was a nervous wreck thinking about putting my 11 month old under general anesthesia. What mother wouldn't? I think I finally understand how my own mother felt when my sister and I had surgeries when we were young. (Kristina had one when she was 5, and I had one at age 7, one at age 8, and another at 17.) I was so glad my mom could calm my nerves.


March 9th was surgery day. I was worried that he would be miserable since he wasn't able to have any food or milk for around 8 hours prior to the surgery, but he wasn't too upset. (He did pull my shirt down and ask for milk while we were in the waiting room though. Poor kid.) The surgery was very quick. 10 minutes tops and the doctor was already telling us how well he did. He walked us back to the recovery room and I could hear Cale screaming before we even opened the door. He wasn't in pain, but he was very disoriented from the anesthesia. They had me hold him in a rocking chair and I nursed him. It was seriously the saddest thing ever. He would try to eat but would just scream uncontrollably. He finally stopped crying when the nurse brought him some chocolate pudding! :) We were able to take him home about an hour later.


It has been almost 3 weeks since his surgery and things are going great. He hasn't had any infections and I haven't noticed him tugging at his ears at all. We went for his follow up appointment yesterday where they tested his hearing. The doctor said he wasn't concerned, although the hearing test wasn't quite as good as it was before the surgery. The doctor said he is still within the normal range and we will follow up on it every 6 months until the tubes fall out sometime in the next 6-18 months. Here are some pictures of Cale in his hospital gown before surgery. He was such a champ.

8,736 hours

It was 8,736 hours ago (that's 364 days) that I was sitting in my Labor and Delivery Room at the hospital, so discouraged that my son would never come. I had been in labor for 16 hours and still wasn't dilated more than a fingertip. So many emotions were going through my head: could he stand the contractions for another 12 hours? Could I stand them for another 12 hours? I was sure the answer to both questions was no.

My doctor wasn't able to break my water until 5pm that night because I wasn't even dilated enough for the hook to fit! I was so relieved when she finally broke my water that I cried and told her "thank you!" about 1,000,000 times. The contractions picked up almost immediately and they also started me on Pitocin which made them even worse. It wasn't more than a couple hours before I asked for the epidural. After that things were marvelous... Until the middle of the night when the epidural wore off in one spot and I was in terrible pain. They call it a "window" I guess...where you lose the numbness in one area. It was as if I never got an epidural at all. The entire night I was crying in pain with every contraction, and it was even worse because I couldn't stand up to try and walk it off.

That night I prayed quite a bit! I prayed that I could endure labor without complications, and that my little boy would be healthy. I prayed that if I ended up with a C-Section that he wouldn't end up in the NICU from having fluid in his lungs. I prayed that he wouldn't be too big...or too little. But mostly I prayed that all of this would just end soon so I could hold my son in my arms after 9 long months of carrying him, singing to him, and telling him stories about his family while he was inside me. I just wanted to meet my little Cale.

Tomorrow Cale Alex turns one. It will be such an emotional day for Nate and I. We are sad about it, but also absolutely excited as well. He is turning into such a handsome, smart young man. We couldn't be more lucky.

Cale's 1st Birthday Party!

I am a HORRIBLE blogger. I was doing so well while I was pregnant, but now that Cale is here (and almost a year old!) I haven't been able to find the time. Apparently my last entry was when I was 35 weeks pregnant. Holy cow that seems like a decade ago...and I'm a little sad that I haven't blogged any of Cale's first year. I won't let that happen during his 2nd year! Here's to a new beginning!

Today we had Cale's 1st Birthday Party. It was such a success and he was so happy and excited the whole time. We did the theme of the popular children's book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," by Eric Carle and I literally spent 2 months planning this party. Many of the decorations I made myself and I was so happy that they turned out so well. Here are a few pictures from the big event:

Isn't he so precious!!! This cake took forever to make, but it was all handmade by myself and my mom :) As part of the food that we served, we ate all the fruits that the caterpillar ate in the book: Strawberries, Apples, Pears, Plums, and Oranges...and we dipped them in a chocolate fountain! Yum! The shirt Cale is wearing was made by my mom. It turned out SO cute. He has the best grandma! And......the smash cake!

I think it died....

Cale doesn't turn 1 for 4 more days, but here are some noteworthy things about him at 1 year old:

*He is 20 lbs, and around 30 inches -- tall and lean.

*He has 5 teeth - 2 on bottom, and 3 on top, and they are sooo cute.

*He's got the most adorable toothy smile, but he almost never smiles in pictures.

*He says lots of words: mama, dada, kitty ("key"), fish, please ("peese"), milk ("muh"), more, me, grandpa, grandma ("mah"), tree, ball, and his favorite....cheese.

*He waves "bye-bye" using his entire arm.

*He knows where his belly button is and will point to it and smile when you ask him to.

*He giggles SO hard when tickled.

*He is ticklish EVERYWHERE. (elbows, palms of his hands, hips, and shoulder blades included.)

*When he's hungry, he's starving. And he lets you know.

*He will eat just about anything, although he doesn't like baby food anymore.

*He still loves breastfeeding, and I sometimes think he'll never wean!

*He's not such a great sleeper. Still doesn't sleep all the way through the night.

*He's walking almost full-time and gets into EVERYTHING!

*He loves to empty mommy's purse onto the floor, every chance he gets.

*He blows raspberries with his mouth.

*He loves his kitties, and likes to pull their fur...then cries when he gets scratched.

*In the morning when he wakes up, he will play in his crib for a good half hour making the BEST dinosaur noises to his stuffed animals. This is a riot to watch on the video monitor.

*He's a flirt. Whether she's 8 months or 80 years, he loves him some girls.

*He is not a fan of being in his carseat for too long.

*He loves to play with daddy, but needs his mommy for comfort.

*He loves to brush his own hair and giggles when we brush his teeth.

*He loves balloons.

*He loves foot rubs, and even likes his back massaged with a vibrating massager!

*He hates shoes and socks, and he refuses to leave them on.

*He pinches. Hard.

*He loves to climb the stairs, but doesn't know how to climb down.

*His favorite foods are chicken nuggets, ravioli, chicken nuggets, cheese, cheesy eggs for breakfast, and chicken nuggets!

*I'm pretty sure he thinks he has 10 names. He goes by Cale, chicken, baby man, guero, boo boo, Cale-bear, and many others.

*He got ear infections every few weeks after 9 months and had tubes in his ears at 11 months. So far they have helped tremendously.

*Our favorite Saturday morning activity is to lay in bed, just the three of us, and play together.

*His favorite game is "Where's Cale?" ...our version of Peek-A-Boo.

*He loves to feed the ducks at the park.

*He has beautiful features. He is blonde haired, blue eyed, fair skinned, and he never tires of hearing how cute he is. :)

*We already see his sense of humor at times. He has a great personality.

*He is often methodical. It's neat to watch him as he figures things out while trying new things. He's so smart and learns quickly.

*He loves to go into another room and shut the door. Apparently he likes his "alone" time.

*Cords....if he sees one, he grabs it. It scares mommy but he thinks it's hilarious.

*His giggle is the happiest sound in the entire world.

*He loves to be thrown up in the air over and over.

*He squeaks constantly. It's his signature sound.