Birthday Extravaganza

MY BABY IS ONE!!!  I have been gone for little over a week because I was planning what felt like a tiny wedding, aka Carters' 1st Birthday Party...which I might add was a HUGE success!  It went wonderful! We had about 35 of our closest family and friends come out to celebrate with us.  What a beautiful day it was.  Carter showed up to the party happy as can be and stayed happy, which I was really nervous about because you never know.  It helps that I have a child that is overly happy most of the time.  I am so thankful to be blessed with such an amazing little boy.  The joy he has brought Matt and I this past year has our hearts over flowing with happiness.  I could never imagine my life without my two boys.  Till this day I still can't believe he's mine.  I get to see his glowing smile everyday.  I get to hear his laugh everyday, and I get to cuddle with him every night.  The Lord has blessed me with the most wonderful child! 
His birthday was on a Thursday and we had is party on Saturday.  Thursday was filled with lots of fun things to do.  (Those pictures are soon to come).  We woke up and Matt fixed Carter some blueberry pancakes (blueberries are Carters' favorite) and then we took him to get his first hair cut because he had a MAJOR rats tail and his hair was in his poor little eyes.  Carter then took a wonderful 3hr. nap and when he woke up we took him to the zoo! Which he LOVED the underwater part with all the fish, snakes, and frogs.  He Is Alllll Boy!  Later that night we met up with both familes and had a wonderful dinner and Carter was acting sooo silly at dinner and had all of us laughing so hard!   
Saturday quickly approached where his birthday party consisted of smiles smiles and more smiles.  I hope he looks back at all the pictures when hes older and sees all happiness that went on that day (and the hard work).  The theme for his party was "Cute As A Button" so everything was button themed.  I have a few pictures to describe the day...

The tables turned out much better than what I could have imagined.  This table was lined with different styles of blue ribbon decorated with his name spelled out with buttons.We also had wooden spools with buttons that served as picture holders. :) Super Fun!

These are so super easy and fun! All you need is a flower pot, styrofoam ball, and the type of suckers you wanna use...yep, it's that easy! And kids LOVED them!

These turned out soooo cute!  All you need is wire, buttons, and a little extra time. Put the wire through one side of the button and then out the other.  I just placed them in a vase of dum-dum pops and it was the center piece for the food table

Frog Cookies! Oreos, Pretzels, Icing, and M&Ms, use the icing as glue and WALLA!

Button Cookies! Couldn't have been easier...We chose sugar cookie cookie dough, bake them and use a straw to make the button holes. I had made some really cute button suckers but I missed a picture of those...o well!

We had some fun things for the kids to do and one was a bounce house, and Carter LOVED it!

OOOO the Cake! Boy did he love that...I think that was his favorite part of the party! Some nice info I would like to share if that's okay...his diaper, when he woke up the next morning (at 10:30, that was so nice) was as BLUE as his cake!!! It gave me a good laugh.

This is his little plate Matt & I got him for his 1st birthday.  He can eat his cake off of it every year. :) I thought it would be a cute little keepsake...

 I won't lie, present time was a little akward but we made it through it.  Carter had a little interest at first but lost it real quick haha! He loved playing with the tissue paper and ribbon. We are beyond thankful for all the wonderful things Carter got. 

 Of course we had to attempt one year old pictures the weekend before his party here are a few pictures from that...Enjoy!

I wanna give a HUGE HUGE HUGE thanks to my FABULOUS seester-in-law Kt-boo for taking all of these wonderful pictures! She really came to my rescue on the day of the party and helped me out with all the photography! Thanks Yo Homeeeee :) Loves you!

Simply Momma

Description: It was 3:19am (yes in the morning) and I hear this big cry coming from the next room.  I lay there praying harder than I have ever prayed, "Lord please just let him fall asleep". Then I realized, He is somewhat answering my prayer from last night, ("Lord please allow me to have more time will my sweet Carter Love...PLEASE"). God does have a sense of humor you know...So I get up and stumble into his room and I see his little hiney stuck up in the air and his face burried into his blanket, and I thought for a second, maybe he will go back to sleep, wrong...again! I picked him up and instantly he stops the tears. We started rocking back and forth and by this point he becomes calm as can be and I can't help but wonder did he have a bad dream, do I need to take his temperature, does he not feel well and then I thought maybe he simply just wanted momma.  My heart begin to get all warm and I think "I could sit here all night", and we did.
At one point he pats my back and strokes my hair and plays with my ratty ol t-shirt and right then and there I begin to truly understand the love of the Lord.  I grew up in a christian home so I was always surrounded my "God is love" and "Jesus loves me" but as I'm rocking back and forth it clicks...The love of the Lord goes much deeper than the love I have for Carter and that is almost unthinkable.  I truly understand unconditional love.  My biggest prayer for Carter is he will truly experience Gods' love and salvation.    
He then begins to lift his head and stares at me for abour five seconds and then he laid his tiny little head back down (that's where he starts to stroke my hair) and he does this about five times.  All I can think about is how he simply just wanted momma.  While he starts to doze off the thoughts starting flowing, I wonder what kind of friend he will be.  He better be a hard worker.  I wonder if he will be a preacher or a tattoo artist.  I wonder if he will be scared on his first day of school or score the winning touchdown at his last game as a senior.  That was our quite time, bonding time, perfect time. The time were I truly understood Gods' Love.    

My Thoughts Keep Going & Going & Going

My Carter Love went to bed pretty early tonight.  Sad, because again, I only got 2.5 hours with my little love, but it did give me a chance to sit down and prop up my feet, (def needed that after the heels I wore to work today ha!), and let my mind start wondering.  I started thinking, my goodness how much Carter has grown just this weekend, and how we are planning his 1st birthday.  Also, I recently found myself having to defend myself as a working mom and how much that lowered myself confidence and sucked out alot of my energy.
I find myself having to defend myself alot.  The only thing worse than not getting to stay home with my little Carter is explaining myself to a stay at home mom (or anyone) and why I have to work.  I mean it already hurts enough.  Having to explain why I'm a working mom is like shooting myself in the foot! I'm curious on why a dividing line has been created between working moms and stay at home moms.  I think what I despise the most is when one thinks that their "job" is greater or harder than the other.  I feel as if both are equal.  It frustrates me so much!
On a much lighter note...We are planning Carters' 1st birthday! ahh! I hope it's going to be cute.  There really isn't a theme, but we have some good ideas so I can't wait to let you know how it goes.  I'm a little worried about his nap.  I thought I was planning his party at a great time and then he started this 2 naps a day thing again and of course he is making his 2nd nap right at the same time as his party...ahhh! I'm just in awe that he is growing up so fast.
Thinking back on this weekend, I feel like he grew up so much.  He ate off of a big boy plate and didn't try to throw it across the room.  He is drinking out of real sippy cups and he isn't dependent on formula anymore.  He eats big boy meals: breakfest, lunch, and dinner and snacks in between.  Which now that he eats regular meals it has made me want to cook much more healthy.  Remember, I'm going to be one of those health nut moms haha! I have so much fun cooking and I would love to be the next Paula Dean (but of course I wouldn't use as much butter, but that's another post in it's self).  Carter also had a lot of fun this weekend poking a whole in his bag of Cheerios and spilling them all over the floor! haha! I love making messes with him and playing with toys...I just know we will always have fun playing together :)  Looking forward to Friday because that means the weekend with my boys :)

 I know he needs a hair cut, I just don't wanna lol!

 His little mess of Cheerios :) I helped him...

 His Big Boy Lunch...

 Where's Carter...

...There he is!

My True Love

Even though I have a very busy life as a working mommy, above all I am a wife.  I really value you the type of relationship Matt and I share.  I am beyond thankful the Lord has blessed me with THE best hubby in he world.  We just celebrated our 3 year anniversary at the end of July.  July 26, 2008 was the day that changed my life forever.  I walked down the aisle to the man of my dreams.  I call him my boyfriend, my favorite.  When I say man of my dreams I truly mean it.  I can be a little stubborn or hard headed, I have been told I am a little firecracker and a little strong willed :). The most I can say about Matt is how understanding and patient he is.  He loves me for me and that is all I can ask for.  He goes above and beyond for me.  When I was pregnant with Carter love he would rub my feet EVERY single day...I mean, what more could I ask for! :)  He listens to me when I'm sad, happy, upset, and excited.  He was made for me.  We have the most wonderful time together!  Each moment I spend with him is special.  It's not about what we're doing or where we're going for our next date, it's about the quality time we invest in each other.  I find myself never wanting to do anything without him...it's safe to say if you see me more than likely you will see Matt too :)  He is the love of my life...

 We love being silly :)

                                                   Anniversary Night
One thing I find the most amazing is how wonderful of a dad he is.  He is truly superman!  I have to give him so much credit.  When Carter was first born, Matt would get up with me almost every night.  He changes just as many diapers and makes just as many bottles as I do.  I love watching him make Carters' breakfest.  He is such a loving father and it makes me fall in love with him even more. 
Having a husband who is a VERY active dad makes my life as a working mom so much easier.  Being parents is something Matt and I love to do together...it's our new hobby haha!  I couldn't ask for a better hubby!  He shows me and Carter so much love and he takes such awesome care of us.  He is a hard worker and when he comes home he just keeps on going...I TRULY AM BLESSED!

I SHLUV YOU MATT!

Silly Kisses ;)