Luke's 1st Birthday!

I just wanted to share some photos from Luke's 1st Birthday!! We had a little dinner for him on his actual birthday, but celebrated with all our family and friends the following weekend. We did a "classic pick up truck" theme, which turned out to be pretty cute!

One of my favorite parts of the day, is waking up to this smiling face every morning. 

And on his birthday, it was even more exciting!

Then we did our last monthly sticker photo shoot, which was bittersweet, 

and probably the hardest one yet...the kid just won't sit still! 

We had a nice quiet dinner at home on his actual birthday, complete with chicken tacos and cake and ice cream. I wish I had it on video, but watching Luke while we sang "Happy Birthday" to him was the sweetest moment ever. He just loved it! 

It was a fun night..but now onto the big party! 

I found an adorable invitation fitting our theme on Etsy by Three Little Monkeys Studio. 

I printed them myself which was so easy, and they turned out great! 

I saw these high chair banners, so of course I had to try to make one on my own. I think it looked great, but it was definitely not easy to attach to that high chair! 

I made some cute pendant banners out of card stock and scrapbooking paper too, but the cutest thing of all, was the smash cake that my sister Gina and I made for Luke! 

For not being professionals (at all), I thought we did a pretty good job :)

I found a ridiculously overpriced but adorable t-shirt for Luke on Etsy, that I just couldn't resist. It had a tiny little pick up truck on it, and it said 'one'. How could I not? 

It was just a t-shirt though, so we classed it up with a bow tie for the occasion :)

I got a little carried away with making some last minute photo collages (you don't want to know how many pictures I half-assedly (is that a word?) threw together the night before the party). 

They were cute though! 

And finally, here are some shots of the cake smash. Of course Luke wouldn't take his usual morning nap, so come time for cake, he was pretty sleepy and grumpy, 

but he loved the sink bath that followed :). I did have to rely on photos others took since I was holding Luke's hand away from the candle..I'm pretty sure he would eat fire if I let him!

 

 

Thanks to all of our family and friends who celebrated with us and helped us make it a great day! As soon as I get the photos from Luke's One Year Photoshoot, I'll post them too, because our photographer just does such an amazing job and they turned out too cute to not share :). Also, though most of the food is not pictured, I'll be posting the menu to my Party page, so check it out for some great recipes! 

With Soooo Much Love and Appreciation,

Claudia

Luke's First Haircut!

This was such a bittersweet moment for me as a mother. I had a very difficult time coming to terms with the fact that he really did need a haircut. I've known for a while actually, but there was no way in hell I was going to let anyone come anywhere near him with a pair of scissors. I never understood this aversion to cutting their hair until I became a mother. I know that he lost a lot of his baby hair, but cutting off this hair was possibly cutting off hair he's had since birth, and parting with that meant that he wasn't my little baby anymore :(.

My mother-in-law and husband were on the same page as me, but my sisters and Mom kept pushing for the haircut. I eventually caved one day when I looked at his hair and was able to wrap a hair tie around the bottom!!! Then I also realized that he had his one year photos coming up, and I really want him to look nice and clean, and not like a little hobo baby. 

So we scheduled the appointment and went for it a few days ago! I'm pretty sure this broke my mother-in-law's heart though (sorry!), but it was definitely not bad at all, we kept it as long as possible, just trimmed it up a bit. I didn't even cry! He wasn't sure what to think at first, but he made it through without crying too, though sitting still was difficult and only mildly managed with cheerios. I should have been more prepared and brought the big guns (mini marshmallows). 

The curls are definitely gone, and may never come back :( but he looks like an adorable little boy now :) And now when I throw some baby mousse in there, he doesn't look like he has "There's Something About Mary" hair, he just has a cute little faux hawk. 

So I just felt like it was necessary to chronicle this event, and wondered if any of you out there felt the same way when you had to cut your babe's hair? Or maybe I'm just crazy? 

With Love,

Claudia

A Registry Must-Have and a GIVEAWAY!!!

Dressing a baby can be hard. Getting them to keep their socks on, whether they just fall off or the kid just keeps pulling them off, those suckers just don't stay on. There are a million and one booties out there, but a fellow mama recommended a brand with which have absolutely fallen in love. 

While Zutano carriers a wide variety of products, from clothing and accessories to toys and nursery decor, my most favorite product they sell is their booties. The booties take the place of socks (or go on top of), can be snapped over the pants (or under if you'd like), have an adjustable option, are absolutely adorable, and the best part...they STAY ON!! 

I immediately fell in love with them, and have them in multiple sizes. They are especially wonderful in the cold weather. You can purchase them from Zutano's website, but I've also ordered some on Amazon. 

I also purchased their mittens for Luke, have given the booties as gifts to others (who also love them), and have some of their swaddle blankets, which are adorable. Their clothes are fun, colorful and adorable, and all of their products are such good quality.

This is just a brand that I love, highly recommend, and want to share with you!

So I am so excited to announce that I have a $50 Zutano Gift Card to giveaway!!! Just head on over to my Instagram account and enter to win! It will run until Wednesday, Feb 25th at 10pm, and I will post the winner on Thursday.

                        With Love,

                               Claudia

Cloth Diapering...not just for Hippies :)

I had absolutely no intention whatsoever of ever even considering cloth diapering, as the thought of having to scrape poop off the diaper every single diaper change did not interest me at all, but then all of a sudden one day, I thought about it. I did some research, and I talked to a few of my coworkers who've been doing it and quite successfully at that. With their advice and guidance, I started cloth diapering Luke when he was around 8 months old, so we've been doing it now for about 3 months. Now we do use disposables at night because there is probably not a cloth diaper out there that will absorb 12+ hours of urine, and we'll use disposables if we're going to be out for the day, mostly because it's easier. 

I don't think I need to tell you about the environmental impact of disposable diapers, so any amount of cloth diapering helps with this. I talked a little bit about this in my previous post about diaper pails. If you can make it work for you, great! It will save you a lot of money in the long run too, especially if you plan on having a few kids. 

I owe everything I know about cloth diapers to my friends Sarah and Aleana who've been doing it with their babies. But the reason I was convinced and have stuck with it, is the disposable (flushable) liner that I put in each cloth diaper. Basically, it's like putting a tissue in the diaper, and most of the time, it works great. It catches the majority of the poop, and I rarely have to scrape. In three months now, I think I've had to scrape two diapers total. I found the perfect one on my third attempt, and it works perfectly. I either flush or throw the liner into the diaper pail with the wipes. Then I place the diaper directly into the wet bag and wash when it's full. The brand of disposable liners I now love and use, as it fits perfectly into the diaper and is soft, is available on Amazon and called Bummis, and they are around $6 for a roll (100 sheets). 

bum genius

bum genius freetime

The type of cloth diaper doesn't matter so much, as long as you find something that works for you. We use two different ones and love them both. The very familiar cloth diaper brand called Bum Genius that we use works great. They have a few different styles, we use the Freetime one because that's the type that I bought from my friend Sarah when she was done using them with her kids. They were in great shape and she gave me a good price. You can get them on Amazon, other places online and in some stores, but they run approximately $18-20 a piece. She sold the rest of them online, so you can probably find some good deals on used diapers that are in good shape! Now it is a one time purchase, but it does add up when you consider you probably need 20 or so of them (everybody is a little different with how often they want to wash them, and how many they use each day). They are great though because the liners are built in, so you don't have to stuff the shell of the diaper with the liner. 

Alva Baby

The other brand we use was a recommendation from my friend Aleana. The brand is called Alva Baby, and I've only see them available on Amazon or their website. The site seems a bit sketchy, but I had no problem with it, they work great and are super inexpensive. They run about $4-6 a piece, but do have the removable liner that you have to take out and wash. I did find that the liners that came with the diapers were not as absorbable, so I ended up getting some liners separately on Amazon that worked better. 


There is definitely a learning curve to cloth diapering, but I promise, once you figure it out, it's not bad at all! I am not an expert though, so if you don't have a friend who knows everything like I did, check out one of these resources, though there are a ton out there!

The Art of Simple
 The Eco Friendly Family
Thinking About Cloth Diapers
Mama Natural
All About Cloth Diapers

I hope this helped you at least consider cloth diapers! They really are so cute and once you get the hang of it, it's actually kinda fun :)

With Love,

Claudia