Monday, September 25, 2017

Preston's First Fiesta

If you have been keeping up you know my precious little man is one.  I threw him a little fiesta to celebrate his first birthday and we had the best time.  It is no secret we love our local Mexican restaurant so it felt perfect to host a fiesta theme for our favorite little birthday boy.


I'm not a huge kid party fan, and after my first born's first birthday he has had family parties only.  I  decided this needed to be as mom friendly as it was kid friendly because after all we do all the work, am I right mamas?  I know I am! 


I made a huge batch of "I made it a whole year mothering two children and we all survived"  AKA skinny margaritas, for my favorite moms to take the edge off while our kids bounced themselves silly in the pirate ship bounce house.  The dad crew sipped on their favorite local beers as bribery to spend a Saturday afternoon with sugar drunk children.


The cake was so cute!  Noelle at Sew Sweet always gets it right.  I ran the fiesta theme by her, showed her a couple pictures and she hit it out of the park per usual!  Preston devoured his entire smash cake and really went to town on it.  The rest of us had lemon cake with blueberry filling, which we enjoy on every special occasion around here.  The cake toppers came from Inspired by Alma and they were so stinking cute! We had discussed the theme and she instantly had something personal and fun for us.  She made one with Preston's name on it and then another one with the cactus and his age. She also sent matching cactus party picks that I scattered on the food table in different dishes and on the smash cake.  I love personalized everything so having his name was so special and fun, I will be keeping it as a keepsake for sure!  


The kids snacked on Chick-fil-A nuggets and waffle fries, my kids favorite treat.  Let's be honest there were plenty of adults perusing the kids food table snacking on waffle fries!  I figured I had better have some good bribery food if we were ever going to get the bigger kids off the bounce house!  I totally underestimated the level of destruction my older son and his posse are capable of and   am for sure renting a space if he has a party in December!  While my house was trashed I have to say it was worth every pit of shredded tissue paper just watching them all play together.  Leavitt has a really sweet group of friends and to see them all loving on his brother makes my heart so happy to watch them celebrating him.


On that note, someone bring me a margarita, how on earth is my baby one already?



I was provided with some of the items in this post.  All opinions are and always will be my own.  Post may contain affiliate links.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Dear Preston: Year One



Preston,

You are one.  I never thought I could love someone as much as I did your brother, and then you came and rocked my world with your light.  You have a gentle loving smile that reminds me so much of my dad.  I am blessed beyond measure with your perfect temperament.  I have yet to feel frustrated by you.  There is something extraordinary about your calmness and I cannot wait to see how this natural gift serves you in life.   Your easygoing nature has been the perfect compliment to your brother, and your dad and I could not love you more.  I adore your smile and your zest for life.  You cannot wait to keep up with your brother, and despite my reservations you already love to rough house with him.  I'm always so scared you will get hurt and then you emerge from under his pig pile with a smile ready for more.  Your fun loving side is only matched by your serene demeanor.  

In your first week of life you had attended church, been to my mommy group, dropped your brother off at school, and been my sidekick anywhere I went.  You hit the ground running with me and we haven't stopped since.  Now that you are ready to start running I can only imagine you will take off and not look back.  I hope you know I will always be standing there behind you cheering you on and shooting you a wink if you decide to look back.


Around three months we started going to the library while your brother was in school for the morning.  You loved looking at the other kids, singing the songs, and listening to stories.  You have a magnetic personality, people are drawn to you, and you always make their day by being happy to see them.  It is a gift not many have and I pray it stays with you, but something tells me it will.  Lately you have been showing signs of a temper, which has me feeling oddly proud.  You are a force to be reckoned with, and will not be pushed around.  A couple weeks ago while I made breakfast you found a stray fishing lure and hooked yourself with it.  While that is a story for another time, you shocked me with how high your pain tolerance is and I have more gray hair than ever. 


Your first word was "mumma" and I did a major celebratory dance inside that I could claim that!  You say "dada" a lot now too which has him pretty smitten.  I watch your dad look at you with so much pride in his eyes it makes me love him even more.  The way you look at him and crawl to the door to greet him is the sweetest thing, and I'm sure after a long day at work away from you that it is exactly what he needs.  That's the thing about you, while you need us, we are getting so much more from you.

I hope you can feel my love and prayers being poured into you every day.  The lord has trusted me with you and I can think of no greater calling than to raise you.  I know you are going to continue to bless our little family, and show us all the ways you will make us better.  You'll forever be this baby to me.  A husky little baby, ready to run, crazy for a hug, explorer of your world, and a sucker for a good nap.  

So incase you don't already know - you are so loved, treasured, and adored.  We could never repay you for the happiness you have brought our whole family, so I'm sure you will work on figuring out how to even the score as you inch towards two!  We love your Preston Frederick and can't wait to see how far you go in your next year!

All my love,

Mommy

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Preston: The Birth Story


I am not a huge fan of birth stories.  Some people love them, I don't happen to be one of those people but I never want to forget that day.  So for the sake of my memory and anyone who loves a birth story here we go!

5:30AM I wake up soaked.  I am not totally sure if I peed my pants (gross but possible), if my toddler peed on me in his sleep (also gross, also possible) or if my water broke but I know I need to get up.  As soon as my feet hit the floor so does some more water.  I jump in the shower knowing we just spent our last night as a family of three.  I let Nick sleep and text my doctor.  As I finish getting ready Leavitt wakes up and I get him breakfast and ready for school.   

8:30AM I drop Leavitt off at school.  He's crying.  I start crying.  Pissed we are sharing our last moment together in this little school kitchen crying in front of what feel like strangers.  The teachers suggest my tears are making it worse, so I tell them I will be having the baby today, which for some reason is really difficult to verbalize.  It was so hard to have to say bye to him as the baby there.  I kept telling him his grandfather would get him from school and he could come see me later.  

9:00AM I get to my doctors office who confirms my water broke.  He seems to think I did a good job breaking it as he shows me on an ultrasound what looks like my baby kissing the placenta.  He sends me over to the hospital.  I start to let my mind calm down knowing all these visits to this office were all in preparation for today and I need to just let everyone do their job when I get to the hospital.  I call my husband who is at work, and I head home to finish packing. 

10:20AM  we check into the hospital.  I start to feel super calm.  I chat with the registration girl about how different the hospital is since I got done working there.  The first of a dozen people who will recognize me, making me nervous I will have to be vulnerable around people I know.  


Our last picture together before we became parents for the second time.

In the afternoon we had visitors bringing Nick food, checking to see how long before we have this little guy.  I relaxed most of the afternoon.  Checking in with my father-in-law who had picked up Leavitt from school for us.  I brought a travel oil diffuser, calming music, and prayed to keep things into perspective.  Sitting around makes my mind wander.  I started thinking about the last time we were all up there together welcoming one little one into the family and saying goodbye to another.  It was so important to keep my mind positive so I refocused myself on little Preston and how lucky I am to be his mom.  

At about 4:30PM I got my first epidural... that had to be taken out and replaced.  Then the second epidural was only working from the knee down.  By the time it started working where I needed it to I could feel literally nothing and was kind of excited to be pain free for the first time.  

6:00PM.  A quick chat with my doctor and he was heading home, he told Nick and my mom that it would be another 6-12 hours.  I knew that couldn't be.  I just knew he would be here sooner than that.  But I trusted my doctor so I tried to get some rest.

Around 8:00PM My mom went for a walk but when they checked on me while she was gone I had progressed enough that they needed to call my doctor back.  I finally put the gun to Nick's head to pick a name for the baby.  We had agreed on Preston months ago but needed a middle name.  Nick suggested we use Frederick, my Dad's first name, who passed when I was 6 months pregnant.  It also happens to be Nick's great grandfather's first name.  I laid there for a few moments as they wrote his name on the board thinking about all the ways I hope Preston is able to be like my Dad even though they will never meet here on earth.  My Dad loved life and having fun, thinking about him gave me a good smile and I really knew everything would be OK.

At 9:10PM my doctor was getting ready to let me push soon, and my sister showed up.  
After two contractions of pushing the doctor asked me who was cutting the cord.  Nick said he was all set to stay up by my head.  So I said I wanted to do it.  Then the doctor tells me ok, he will be here soon.  

9:35PM he was born.  So peaceful.  No crying, just staring at me.  The most perfect coloring, precious pouty lips, and dark hair like his mama.  The nurse begged him cry, shaking him on my chest with a towel to irritate him into a cry.  My mom and sister told me after that made them nervous.  I wasn't nervous at all though.  The way he looked at me, his perfect color, and his rooting around in the first few minutes I knew he was fine.  After a minute of bonding the doctor hands me the cord and a pair of scissors with Preston still on my chest I cut the cord.  My doctor then jokes I'm his new hero, I am pretty sure I laughed at that... he's an old army doc after all.  


Our first picture together just moments after he was born. 

There it is folks, the nitty gritty details of meeting Preston for the first time.  It was a great experience and I would do it all again tomorrow if I could.  The mix of hormones, adrenaline, fear, love, the whole darn circus of emotions somehow always make me feel so at peace.  Never have I felt greater purpose for my life than in the moments leading up to and after giving birth.  I will always feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude to have had this experience, and it having been a good one.  So many people can't say that and I don't take it for granted that I can.