Paw Patrol 3rd Birthday

This party happened just over 6 months ago, in late July,  but I still wanted to document it here since this is a bit of a virtual scrapbook for myself and our family (albeit a very, very, out of date one!)

Makayla has been obsessed with Paw Patrol (a Nickelodeon cartoon for those of you who may not know it) since it first started airing in the late summer of 2013. All she wanted for Christmas in 2013 was 'Paw Patrol toys', which, of course, were no where to be found because the show was too new. 

Mama to the rescue with a collection of stuffed animals 

similar to the pups in the show.

 It was a huge hit!

Grandma and Grandpa jumped in on the action and improvised their own Paw Patrol gift that Christmas- a hand drawn Zuma shirt! She was smitten.

So when we started talking birthday party themes in the late spring she had no trouble deciding

 it was going to be Paw Patrol all the way! 

I had big plans to get everything done before Savannah arrived...but that didn't happen at all. 

Let's face it, I barely got her nursery cleaned up and put together and her newborn clothes washed before she was born. 

So with a one week old baby I created her invitations-

 I 'girlied' them up a bit with the rainbow chevron.

Available customized invitations here in my Etsy Shop, Mod Ink Design.

We kept the party simple, 

because simple is the name of the game with a newborn and 2 other kiddos!

I made a quick 'Skye' t-shirt for Makayla

 with a little photoshop work and an iron on transfer + white t-shirt.

The treat table included 'scooby snacks'

 aka. dog bone shaped graham crackers and cheese ball treats

 in dollar store dog bowls.

The cupcake toppers were a mix of free printables from Nick Jr's website and my own rainbow chevron 'M' and '3' designs.

A super easy and budget friendly way to decorate cupcakes!

The rest of the house got very simple decorations, 

including a banner and some fun paper pinwheels on the mantel

 and a quick happy Birthday sign on our kitchen chalkboard!

Aunt Felisa helping hold newborn Savannah- she was 4 weeks old here!

Some of the party guests enjoying a coloring table with Paw Patrol coloring pages printed from various free online sources (just google!)

'Doggy Bag' treats for all the kiddos to take home- 

which included a simple mix of candy, rainbow bracelets and silly putty eggs.

You can purchase the treat bag toppers here, in my Etsy shop as an instant download!

My sweet girl being shy while we sang 'Happy Birthday'- love her!

Cupcakes and ice cream....yum!

Cousin Ellie, who celebrated her 3rd birthday the very next weekend!

Of course, there were plenty of awesome presents! 

Thanks (6 months late) to everyone who came to help us celebrate our curly haired sweetheart turning 3!

Twenty Questions for a Three Year Old

It's our second year asking Makayla these questions on her birthday. So Back on July 28 we broke out the pen and paper and fired at her with these challenging life questions....#rivetingjournalism

It's fun to see what has changed and what has stayed the same in the past year.

You can find last year's post here to compare.

My Take:

She isn't the best eater these days, except fruit and junk food. 

Girl LOVES her fruit.

Doesn't surprise me that she said "I don't know" for her dinner favorite,

 mostly because she hardly ever eats dinner well. 

If I had to answer for her I would say give the girl some cut up meat and fruit and she's usually happy. 

Her favorite shows/movies are currently Paw Patrol and Frozen,

 so she had a Paw Patrol birthday party and got a few of the toys which they finally started releasing

What little girl doesn't love "let it go"...heck, I'm still singing it 10 months later!

Apparently mommy gives chores (fun chores?) and daddy gets all the hugs.

Daddy's girl, I tell ya!

In the past year she has grown so much! Her vocabulary is awesome. This morning she had a tummy ache and when I asked her what was wrong she sighed and told me "I'm just so hopeless...my tummy hurts!" lol

She still has those darling curls. I don't ever want to cut her hair if it means we will loose them.

She's tall for her age. 

Combine that with her good speaking skills 

and most people have mistaken her for an almost 4 year old lately.

She's doing pretty good adjusting to having a new baby sister.

 We've been working on normal 3 year old stuff,

 tantrums...potty training regression...listening skills.

 Normal stuff.

 She's still my super sweet, thoughtful girl that is always willing to share her snack or give a kiss and hug.

The other day Roy's boss was at our house to meet the girls and I while in town and Makayla quietly put some of her day old popcorn next to his hand on the counter. 

So thoughtful of her!

As much as I don't want to label her- she's mostly my tomboy (loves cars, getting dirty and making messes) and is shaping up to resemble the 'middle child' by being the kid that quietly plays by herself usually. 

She goes with the flow, but she sure can stand out with that cute curly hair and that smile that just radiates joy. She's ALWAYS so joyful. I hope she never, ever loses that sparkle.

Love you, Makayla Ann!

Our Newest Family Member

Well, looks as though it's been 5 months...time for another regular blog post!

I like to keep things frequent and timely.

I won't make excuses, I'll just share with you the cuteness that is my #1 excuse.

Exhibit A: 

Savannah Rose

Born July 1 @ 9:45pm

6lbs13oz

She arrived at 39 weeks 2 days gestation, my longest pregnancy! (by one day...but still!) She was also my smallest baby, and quite possibly my longest labor. 

Kinsey's was roughly 24 hours, Makayla's was 8, and Savannah started giving me the pains about 36 hours before she was born.

We actually headed to triage the evening before she was born, I had been contracting all day and since I was Strep B positive again I wanted to arrive early enough to get both rounds of antibiotics. Makayla's labor had been so quick that I didn't receive both rounds, and she ended up with a high WBC count and a 3 day NICU stay for treatment. I wanted to avoid that at all costs this time around!

So we jumped the gun, I was barely dilated and not progressing so they sent me home to rest. 

Fun fact- the triage nurses and midwives all said that they see the most 'false labor' trips to triage with third babies. Who would have thought, right? 

I won't bore you with all the details of the next 24 hours, but they involved lots of walking, plenty of questioning whether my water had broken or not, a couple google searches on how to speed labor up and then an eventual mad dash to get the second round of antibiotics in so I could push!

About an hour before delivery, in between contractions I was still smiling!

Thank goodness for my midwife...who realized I was going to be ready to push soon and didn't leave my side. She looked the nurse in the eye and said "lets start those antibiotics early....it's okay to fudge the numbers a bit in this case" ha. I was screaming at them to push those meds full blast into me, I didn't care how much it might have burned...I was soooooo ready to push! 

Did I mention I had my third natural delivery?

Also good to note...my husband is an awesome labor coach. The best. I couldn't have had any of my babies naturally if it wasn't for his mad skills at keeping me focused and calm. 

Anyhow, about 2 minutes after the antibiotics were finished I made one big push and Savannah was born! 

About 10 minutes old

My first words were "She's SO TINY!" 

I was honestly worried about how small she was, I thought something was wrong until I realized that I just forgot how small newborns are! 

Proud daddy...again :)

So even though we got the antibiotics in, we still ended up staying in the hospital for 3 days post delivery. Savannah and I have a different blood type, making her more prone to jaundice, and she required 36 hours under the bili lights for good measure. It was hard to see her under there and only be allowed to only hold my sweet newborn once every 3 hours for 30 minutes. But it was much, much, much preferable to the NICU stay we had with Makayla. 

Big sisters meeting Savannah for the first time!

Our family finally came together again on July 4th, when we brought Savannah home to a house full of family and friends, a BBQ, and some awesome fireworks viewing from our backyard. 

First family of 5 picture!

Over the last 7 weeks we have been adjusting to our new normal. Having a newborn, a toddler and now a kindergartner (!!!) has left my head spinning most days, but I'm starting to feel a little more in control with each new day.

I'm just a sleep deprived mom zombie just trying to enjoy every moment of this chaotic and beautiful life with three awesomely crazy littles. 

Life is good. 

I'll try and post again soon...no promises, though.

Updating the Laundry Room

Since moving into our house in late September, we have been knee deep in need-to do's, want-to-do's, dream-to do's, and everything in between! 

Some things have been as simple as buying and installing cellular shades for privacy, while others are more time consuming yet boring, like sanding and staining weathered wood on all the surfaces of our home's exterior. Other projects have been more rewarding- like taking out the ugly and falling over mailbox and building a new one to match the style of our house. 

Still, there is loads of work to be done! We've got a large property, measuring just under 1.25 acres, and it's allllllllllll dirt, and tumbleweeds, with a few yuccas for variety. 

tumbleweed pile #5

The tumbleweeds on the majority of our property got the axe about a month ago. That was a very prickly process! But even as I sit here in the breakfast nook typing, a random tumbleweed rolling by will often catch my eye. 

Welcome to the wild west, southern gal. 

You have long sense traded green grass and lightening bugs for tumbleweeds and scorpions.

 I'm not sure I like that trade. 

Anyhow. Back to the subject of today's post. The laundry room. It's a bit of a pass-through room, with a door to the side of the house, and another door to the kitchen. We mostly leave the kitchen door open to let the light in, so it's a place visitors can clearly see when they come to our home. It was looking a bit blah, and with the decline of our old dryer it was also time to purchase a more efficient washer/dryer set. We got these lovely granite colored laundry wizards through my husbands handy work discount program (a perk of working for a company that owns a lot of brands!) 

I was hesitant to jump onto the front loading washer bandwagon. I'd always heard they were finicky, needed to be left open to 'air out' and could have issues with too much soap/suds. Well, this model does all the soap dispensing for me (thank goodness I can't screw it up!) and I figure in our dry as bones climate, the door will only need a little 'open time' after a wash and won't stick out too much. 

Truth be told, I was mostly on board with the idea of a front loader so we could do this.

Add a much desired countertop for spot treating, flat drying, folding, etc. 

My awesomely handy husband took on the task of turning an empty space into a custom fitted laundry haven, and I have to say  he did a fantastic job!

I now have a countertop, new base cabinet, and the washer and dryer switched places to be more comfortable in the load switching process. He also built a false wall that is easily removable to cover the washer hookups that, due to code, were higher than the units and clearly visible. 

The countertop we chose matches the existing vanities in all the bathrooms, leading to an 'original to the house' and cohesive look. 

All it needed after all his handywork was a little 'dressing up'- so I picked up a cute little pot and cermanic owl at Michael's, filled a jar with as many clothepins and I could scrounge up

 (note to self: buy more clothespins for decorative purposes only), 

stuck a plant in the pot and called the countertop decorated! 

I also created this simple print that I'm sharing as a FREE download. 

You can click on the link under the image to download through mediafire, and if you download, make sure you share the love pin the image....pretty please!

download 8 x 10" print here

The other print shown is a free download from A Pop of Pretty  that I found on pinterest!

2014?!?

Some resolutions are better made in late February than Jan 1st, right?

 Please tell me they are more likely to stick ;) 

I'm not a resolution person anyway.

But- I do want to blog more often in the coming months, if nothing else but a way to remember my crazy life, share it with family and friends, and maybe inspire and relate to someone out there whom I have never met. 

I'm also HORRIBLE at scrapbooking, which I have mentioned before, and this blog needs to serve as a written and pictoral memory of raising my family. Because my memory is atrocious, ask my husband. Whatever his name is. 

So, to dive in.....again.

A recap of the past 6 moths or so.

Sept-Moved to a new house and town, same general area of New Mexico.

Oct-Celebrated Kinsey's 5th birthday 2 weeks after moving into said new home.

lalaloopsy themed cake for her 5th birthday party

I celebrated the big 3-0!

                  Kinsey started 4 day a week morning preschool with speech therapy.

One month to the date of moving in, discovered this little surprise.

Nov- Sold our old home 2 weeks later. Whew!

Dec- Cut 14" off Kinsey's hair- her first real haircut!

Bought a new car just before Christmas.

Jan- Told our extended family and friends about our growing brood.

Started a trial of glasses to hopefully further correct Makayla's strabismus, In hope that another surgery won't be necessary over the summer.

Feb- On Valentine's Day, learned we were adding another girl to the group!

So that's it for now...Hopefully I'll be back before the next 6 months are over!