Holy Ship!!!! JAX IS ONE!!!!!

HOLY SHIP JAX IS ONE!!!!

"How on earth did this happen so quick?”

I am pretty sure that this is  the universal question all moms ask when their baby turns one...

The past year was SO amazing. I GOT TO BE MOMMY!!!! We celebrated our firsts...I witnessed some of God’s biggest miracles in my tiny child and each time he did something new I melted a little bit inside. Being a mom is so great. 

Planning a party is exhausting  FUN:) 

I plan on doing a party planning post with some tips and budget friendly ideas on my next blog post but I wanted to share some of what I did for his first party. 

Jax is a July baby.. which of course in Texas makes everything difficult. It is BLAZING hot and there isn’t much to do except swim :) so swim we did. The theme I chose was “ Holy Ship” Nautical theme. The sky was the limit!!! I Had SO SO SO  much fun planning, organizing, and shopping for his party. Now to be fair I did start planning his party when he was 9 months old. That gave me THREE months for budgeting ( AKA SHOPPING IN CHUNKS SO YOUR HUSBAND DOESNT KILL YOU), planning, and organizing. 

The party went off without a hitch and we all had a blast!!! 

My sweet and happy angel the morning of the party!!

Amazing florals by Stone Oak Florist 

our friend Kathy did an outstanding job and they were exactly what I wanted!

The food table before the food appeared. 

I ordered the fish net from amazon you can shop the fish net here

it is reusable and it was a really great material. I plan on using it again for a shower or what not.

Our cake!!!! San Antonio Friends Triple L Sweets and Treats does a fabulous job!!!!

She does all of our cakes and for a very reasonable price. Cake prices are CRAZY! 

She did my entire cake and smash cake for 80 dollars!! 

I did sunglasses and adult favors in these two bins. The adult favors were an *extra* from what I had left over from my party budget but they made all the difference. You can shop them HERE

One of my favorite parts of the party was the “ Thirst Aid Station” We had juice boxes for the kids, an adult “ Ocean Water” and other beverages all put together. 

Straws and napkins were both a home goods and target find!!!! Great prices on both!!! Best inexpensive places for themed napkins are: Homegoods and Tuesday Morning

Our Ocean Water!!!!

1 Part Coconut Rum

1 Part blue Cacao 

1 Part Diet 7-up

I themed his party around his high chair banner!! I was IN LOVE with it!! One of my best girlfriend’s mom makes the most amazing embroidered items!! The sky is the limit with her. I am trying to find her shop name so I can link it. Check back later!!

Jax’s Grandpa built him a busy board...it is literally the most used gift we received. We use it each and every morning!!

Bold Block letters

Shop HERE

These would be great in initials to reuse for a game room or nursery. I wish I would have done his initials instead but I plan on using this theme again.. somehow :)

We had a pool party and I knew that not everyone would want to get in the “ big pool” so I ordered this kid friendly pool and set it up alongside a water table and baby pool ( all underneath a large canopy!!) for the babies and moms who didn’t feel like getting in the water. It was a GREAT idea and big hit. We also use this pool like it’s going out of style. You can find it

HERE

Shaded area for the babies

I chose to do a party from 2-5 that way I didn’t have to be responsible for a HUGE meal.. instead I did heavy hors’ dourves and that worked out great. We had cheese, fruit, veggies and dip, mini pork sliders, cookies, potato salad, and coleslaw

My big birthday boy with his big BRUISE. I knew it would happen.. it was pretty much inevitable! I was trying so hard to keep him from falling the whole week.. but of course it happened. 

Us with the best gift of all!!!

Time Capsule Station

I think it is neat to incorporate a small touch to a party.. like a time capsule, or a message in a bottle... whatever the theme is its fun to do something special for baby so that when they get older they have these wonderful memories to read and look back on. We chose to do the time capsule.. I found this exact print off of Etsy you can shop all of the different themes

HERE

I found that nautical box for 1.99 at HL and then the cards were left over from a summer party my mom had so they made PERFECT time capsule cards. 

My grandparents came down for the occasion!!

Gift table and Goody table

Water Table FUN!

Jaxie enjoying his smash cake

This wreath was also made by my good friend’s mama. She is SUPER talented and can make just about anything!!! 

These runners I also found on amazon ( worked great for the tables) for 4.00. I plan on reusing them for 4th of July, Summertime table settings and more. 

It was a great party!!! It took a LOT of planning and organizing and to be honest I did it ALL BY MYSELF. So it took even more organization on my part. Next post will be all about organizing and planning for a party!!!!!!

Mommy Thoughts - Year 1

In lieu of Sugar’s first birthday I thought I would write down some of what I felt during my FIRST year as a new mom. 

This first year was exhilarating. 

I wish I could say it was difficult and in ways..maybe it was? What is difficult for me may not be difficult for another mama and so when people often ask me “ Is it hard? Is it something you never expected?” My answer is no. 

Yes, motherhood is exhausting and when you have a newborn who is nursing on demand and your husband doesn’t have an extra pair of boobs lying around you get pissed. Or when your beginning walker is starting to get into EVERYTHING and you cannot find a moment to sit down you can find yourself irritated and tired.

 Yes moments are difficult but motherhood, to me, is not. 

To me motherhood is a gift.

I feel so joyous when I think about his first year...the sweet moments of nursing, first holidays, our first trip to the Ranch and Beach, first smile, first giggle, first TOOTH, and first steps. It brings me so much happiness to know that God gifted me this wonderful baby to care for. I look forward to teaching J about Jesus and all of his wonderful works. He is already learning to clasp his chubby fat hands in prayer..although it turns into a clapping fest most of the time. 

If he only knew how many times his mommy and daddy clasped their hands in prayer for him. Now that we have him, it is our turn to clasp our hands with him and THANK our God for the many blessings he has poured out over our family and for the ones to come. 

I love watching those chubby fat hands..

He can hug my neck and give me a BIG open mouth kiss  ( which I adore every SINGLE TIME)

I remember stumbling through the newborn stage and wondering “ Where the HELL did my boobs go? Shit where did I GO!” I felt like this tiny creature was literally taking over every single part of me ( which he was :)) and it felt foreign. The moment he would fall asleep on my chest, or curl his tiny fingers around mine left me a puddle of mush. 

*I remember one time about two weeks in to the whole parenting gig. I was fast asleep and Jax started wailing.. like REALLY wailing and I jolted awake only to find my ENTIRE shirt wet. Of course that irritated me and I yelled at Brandon for spilling his drink on me. 

Well he didn’t spill his drink on me.. the girls had leaked due to Jax’s newborn crying.*

oops.

Those were the days :) 

Now he bangs his chubby fists against his high chair and puts them together meaning “ more” 

and when he is done he no longer falls asleep on my chest but pushes all of the remaining food that I made him on the floor :) 

Yes.

Thank God for the Dog.

We not only survived the first year together but we loved big and laughed hard. We played at bath time, worked out at stroller strides, snuggled, nursed, learned to clap, wave bye bye, blow a kiss, scream for “MAMA”, weaned from nursing, and pet   wrangle the dog. We have had so much fun this first year and I know even MORE is in store for us in the many years to come.

I cannot wait to celebrate my Jax Holden this week and I thank God daily for providing me with my biggest blessing!!!!!!