Friday, May 25, 2012

Miles: Year One




**DISCLAIMER**
You may need tissues.  
Especially if your name is Faye.  
Or Verla.  Or Kim. Or Donna.  

So get them now.  
You've been warned.  

Monday, May 21, 2012

Seussy Birthday Party

Last Saturday we celebrated Miles' birthday in Seussy fashion!  I have always been a fan of Dr Seuss, and Miles seems to like the sing-songy feel of his books so it was a no brainer when I was trying to decide on a theme for his party.  I created invitations, food tags, planned a menu and made lots and lots of to do lists.  It all went off without a hitch!  We held it at the Rec Center in the crater of an extinct volcano - seriously...how cool is Italy?!

Here is the invite.  I used an old graphic I found YEARS ago (and saved...thank you hoarding gene) and added some clip-art.  I read a bunch of Seuss invitations online, borrowed bit and pieces, used a few lines from some of Dr Seuss' books, made up a bunch of my own and tada...Miles' invitation:


Here is his cake...we had Cakes by Mel make it for us.  Her husband works with Nathan...and we knew them from back in Chicago.  She made the cake and I ordered the finger puppets from Amazon to put on the cake for decoration.  The cake turned out amazing and was WICKED yummy to boot!  I was glad to have a little leftover!
 

I scoured Pinterest for months trying to find all the cute Seussy food I could...and I used some of it and came up with some on my own.  I made all the tags for the food...I think they turned out pretty good!  We had two food tables.  

Table 1: 
Truffula trees (cotton candy...which I have no pics of because it kept disappearing...*ahem* Nathan...)
Hop on Pop-corn
Pink Ink Yink Drink
Bottles of water
Snow from Mt Crumpit (snow cones)


I found these popcorn boxes on Amazon and the free printables HERE
I happened to have a paper punch the EXACT size to cut these out for the boxes...how lucky was that?!

Pink Ink Yink Drink.  This was DELICIOUS!! 
Pink lemonade, gingerale, white cranberry strawberry juice and ice.  Yum, yummy!!

Water & Snow from Mt Crumpit. 

Food table 2:
Green Eggs & Ham Sliders
Lorax Mustaches (white chocolate)
Yertle the Turtles
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Goldfish
Poodle Noodles


Green Eggs & Ham Sliders
The sliders were just deli rolls with a slice of ham and a slice of swiss.  Super easy.

I found this graphic HERE...I thought it was perfect to stick in the green eggs.
The eggs were delish!!  Yolks, garlic, Miracle Whip, mustard, celery salt and a pinch of rooster sauce.  And green food coloring of course.   

Lorax Mustaches.
These were orange flavored white chocolate piped into mustache molds I found on Amazon

Yertle the Turtles...also known as CRACK.  Seriously.  And super easy too.  Pretzels topped with mini rolos, melt in oven for a few minutes, gently smash a pecan half ontop...how easy is that?!?

Goldfish...simple.  They were supposed to be accompanied by some gummy fish...but they didn't get here in time.  :( The ONE time Amazon fails me...

Poodle Noodles.
Normal pasta salad...I just cooked the pasta in two batches and dyed them orange and pink by adding a few drops of food coloring to the water as it boiled. 

This is the banner I made to hang up:


Miles didn't really want anything to do with opening presents...even the crinkly paper.  Well...until he 'opened' the present we gave him (a mini piano) and saw the keyboard printed on the box and started banging his hands on it.  I think he misses our piano...so do I. :(


After presents came cake...I was really hoping he'd like it better than he did at his photo shoot earlier in the week.  No such luck.  He REALLY does NOT like stuff on his hands.  

Blowing out the candle!

The Cat in the Hat's hat from the top of his cake was the smash cake.

Daddy had to help him smash it...and Miles wasn't so excited about that. 



It was a fantastic day spent with wonderful friends...and Miles was spoiled with hugs, kisses and gifts.  Yay for Miles and yay for birthday parties!!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Photoshoot!

Miles had his pictures taken yesterday.  Cute little stud muffin...I could just eat him.






Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Happy Birthday Miles!




Dear Miles,

I know it's cliche to say...but honestly when have I ever shied away from cliches, so I'm just going to say it...I can't believe it's been a year since you joined our family!  You are my little sunshine smiley bug.  I look forward to every morning because I know you'll greet me with a big cheesy grin as soon as I open your bedroom door.  That is a pretty major accomplishment...I hate mornings...just ask daddy.  You are such a joy to be around, and you have such a bright, cheerful disposition that everyone notices as soon as they meet you.  I hope you always keep this friendly attitude.  You are very curious and you like to watch mommy and daddy do everything, I hope I can do everything  possible to feed your hunger for knowledge.  You are such a kind little brother to Winston, he really likes you much better now that you don't try and poke him in the eyes.  :) 

Life is so much sweeter with you in it, I feel so very blessed to call you my son. 

Love you lots,

Mommy

Sunday, May 13, 2012

I am a mother

I went to church today.  On Mother's Day.  For the first time in SEVEN years.  I sat in my seat and hugged my wiggly little man, whispering prayers of gratitude and fighting back happy tears.  I got to thinking about last year on Mother's Day, how we thought we'd once again been passed-over for another family.  The pain of Georgia still fresh on our hearts, I sat on my couch in my pajamas, snuggled to Winston and ate my weight in chocolate...furnished by my wonderful parents and my sweet hubby.  There were many tears shed.  There was also THIS post.  

Eight days later I became a mother.

This past year has been nothing short of everything I'd hoped for in being a mother.  Of course there are rough days...where I get spit-up on and peed on and pooped on and food thrown at me...and the cranky days and sleepless nights and sticky everything and toys everywhere.  But I can honestly say that I have LOVED every minute of it.  Even today, as I held my sweet little guy who is teething, who went through FOUR diapers during church, who peed all over his pants (and the wall and me and the changing station) on change number three...even today I was grateful.  As I held him and stared at those little naked chubby legs with the upside down heart birthmark just near his knee...I was overcome with gratitude for the blessing of being a mother.  I hope I NEVER take it for granted. 




To you, my dear friends who ache for this blessing.  I love you.  My heart aches for you.  I know today is not the easiest day.  I sincerely HOPE with all the hope I can muster that soon you'll be able to hold the child for which your arms ache.  Keep your chin up and remember it is always darkest before the dawn. 

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Birthmother's Day

The Saturday before Mother's Day in the adoption community is celebrated as Birthmother's Day.  This isn't the first year we've thought about it, but it will be the first year we've had reason to celebrate it in our lives.  

Last year I asked you to say prayers for our birthmother, wherever she was and whomever she was...I no idea that we'd meet her so soon after that post and that she'd need those prayers so quickly.  Less than two weeks later we were placed with our sweet little Miles. 

We love Miles' birthmom.  We have a picture of Nathan, me, her and Miles that we took in the hospital after placement.  It is framed in Miles' room and we point it out to him frequently.  This wonderful woman is the reason why this year I'm able to call myself mother.  She is the reason why this year I won't be hiding in my room, crying my way through the day.  She is the reason my arms are no longer empty.  

I always thought about our future birthmother.  I wondered what she'd look like and how old she would be and where she would be from and what she'd be like.  I knew that the greatest day for us would be the worst for her.  I always knew that there had to be a tremendous amount of love that went into placing a child for adoption, but seeing that love first hand was something I will never forget.  

We KNOW that she loves Miles.  Miles knows that we love her, and that she loves him.  That is something I would hope no one will ever doubt...the love a birthmother has for their child.  

This past week I saw a video posted on FB by one of my adoption friends.  I LOVED it...it made me cry.  It was so wonderful to hear in their own words why birthmother's chose adoption, their child, and how they feel about adoptive couples. It is about five and a half minutes and I promise it is worth it  




If you have a few extra prayers today, will you spare some on behalf of all the birthmothers out there?  Especially our dear, sweet T?  They are strong women who made tough choices, all out of love.   That's what adoption is all about...love