Day 3 in pics and stuff

I tried to catch a couple great pics this morning of our little Ninja, but these days he doesn't hold still so well. Seems his teeth are not hurting as much as they did yesterday, thank goodness.

Tonight as we hit bedtime this is what happened....

It is hard work for a ninja to wrangle his own stuffed ninja and the alligators that are within the blanket.  You can see he succeeded with only a couple "scrapes". haha

I personally had a really weird day.  No reason to go into it or try to make any sense out of it.  However, oddly enough this quote was brought to my attention and couldn't have been any more fitting:

"Great minds have purposes; little minds have wishes.  Little minds are subdued by misfortunes; great minds rise above them."  Washington Irving 

Day 2 in pics & stuff...

Today was a cold, snowy day in Denver.  This equals boring for O.  I am glad we were able to get out yesterday and enjoy the 55 degree sun.  

His teeth seem to really be bothering him this evening, so- organic sugar free Popsicle, "Surf's Up" and a eucalyptus steam bath are on the treat menu.  Dinner menu is grilled steak bites, homemade beef & veggie stew and pesto tortellini.

Enjoying the "treat" part of the night!

Surf's Up!  

PS-  At his one year check up with Dr. Bryan, O weighs 26 pounds and is 31 inches long.  Not a small child at all.  haha  

A picture a day & review...

This week I have decided to post a picture each day.  There may be no content, but the pictures are really the best.  I just looked at the calendar and cannot believe how quickly January is sneaking by.  

I also wanted to write a quick review on a planner I just ordered from Erin Condren.  First of all it is really flipping cool.  Secondly, it is also very overwhelming.  haha  I am starting to find a groove with it, but still at a loss on the most effective way for me to organize the days the way MY brain sees it.  If you haven't checked her products out, I highly recommend it.  If you use her planner and have any ideas or helpful hints of what you do, I would LOVE to hear them!  For now, this is what my calendar is looking like:

And last, but not least some before bedtime shenanigans with O!  ;)  

Bah-bye bottle & other stuff

1/18/14:  we said good bye to formula, bottle warmer and the bottle.

Two weeks leading up to this we started to cut back the amount of formula he was getting along with the time we would warm the bottle.  No need to sugar coat, things were not as smooth as I would have anticipated at first.  I did a lot of reading and learned about the differences in texture and taste in formula versus whole milk.  So, we took our time.

We entered this particular morning with caution and a level of fear.  
After all, it changes things....  The simple, real things it changes is that cuddly time spent on the couch or comfy chair just chilling out.  It changes the time you have before it is time to get your ass in gear and make sure his food is ready (in our case just about everything is made fresh).  It changes measuring the milk unless you buy all sippy cups that have the ounces on the side (not doing that).  I could list many more, but this is the just of it....

Much to my surprise Owen transitioned with ease.  Hot damn, I should have done this 3 months ago!  Little shit refused anything cold before now but, cold milk in a sippy-  Yay!  High fives all around.

We also started supplementing Vitamin D drops and Pro-biotic.

I was stressed at first about the amount of milk he was getting per feeding, but after discussing this with Dr. Bryan, he set our minds at ease.  We agree with him and aren't huge milk pushers.  We can make sure he gets the vitamin D through the drops and calcium by integrating some cheese.  Luckily he already gets plenty of the other proteins and nutrients he needs from the food he eats.

In the meantime he is standing, dancing & chatting (babble-yes) like a champ.  No forward walking movement on his own, but he will walk with your help.

Hallelujah!  He almost has 2 teeth on the bottom!  Wish I could get a pic, but he wont let us get too close.  haha

Party planning and outcome for our sweet ONE year old!

I figured I would make this a combo post of the before and after.  This post is more of a review of the great people and places we used to make everything come together!

~This post starts on December 6th and wraps up on January 10th~

 Those of you who know me well know this is NOT my strong suit (the creative side of it anyway).  I am super stoked to have quite a bit of help from my very dear friends.  

Planning the date for O's 1st birthday was a tad tricky.  You see, it is playoffs weekend and you know we are Broncos fans!  We didn't know until just a couple days ago if the playoff game would be Saturday or Sunday of his birthday weekend nor did we know what the time would be.  As long as the Broncos play well and may be in the final games, we will run into this each year.  This year though I think we got off pretty easy since his actual birthday falls on a Friday.  Done and done!  

The invites were step two.  Things went fairly smoothly on this end.  The shipping side ended up taking longer than expected so I didn't get them out at what I thought was the "ideal" time (this was a learning experience though, I know having a babe with a bday around the holidays equals more forward planning next year).  However, no sweat- it all worked out.  I ended up getting the invites through Etsy (check out sangelastro's page).  She was easy to work with and prompt to respond.  They turned out really cute!!  As far as additional stationary goes his thank yous will be purchased through Scribbles.  Check them out, fun store and great owners!

We also booked O's favorite local band- St. Lumen.  The lead singer is so talented (the rest of the band is great as well).  We met Lindsay (the lead singer) at the coffee shop in our building, Drip.  O loves flirting with her big time.  The first time he saw her singing at a benefit, he melted.  ;)

We also booked our friend and photographer,  Jeff to take pictures.  Check out his work.  Once he is done editing I will post the link to O's bday pics! 

Thanks to my friends we have successfully tasted cake and placed all necessary orders for said cakes (yes cakes), cookies and cake balls (you only turn 1 once, right??  haha).  We have also successfully eaten way too many nachos.  I know....weird, this doesn't exactly go with party planning- but we needed fuel.  And last but not least, almost all of the decorations have been purchased.  

Last step will be to finalize the menu from Attivo (where we are hosting O's party)!

Phew, what a furry of crazy and fun!  Here is the outcome:  I say SUCCESS!  I would highly recommend everyone in this post.  They helped all the fun details become a reality.

Everything came together as planned with one HUGE surprise from one of my friends.  Can you believe this incredible banner??  So freaking awesome!!

The cakes, cake pops and cookies turned out perfect (and tasted great).  If you are in need of anything Michelle at Gateaux was a breeze to work with- so talented too!!

We are so incredibly thankful for this sweet boy who is loved by so many people.  Thank you again EVERYONE!

After waking up to a living room filled with orange and blue balloons, pancakes and eggs for breakfast, followed by a day, night and weekend full of fun, friends and family.  I love this sweet boy more than I could ever explain!

What does a chunky Ninja eat you ask?

This is a picture preview of a weeks worth of food.  

I have to mention - when he is feeling well (he is finally in the serious teething stages- no es bueno), it is typically MORE than this.  I just keep hoping that he will always be a good eater and like all the healthy options we are providing.  So many articles and people mention their kiddos hitting a point where they become picky. Like I said, until then I keep my fingers crossed ;)

 

Clearly we have become Whole Foods' best customer since we started feeding O real food.  Granted, we have always shopped there, but never in this capacity.  I also have to give a shout out to Tony's Market they have the best customer service and fish department (O loves his fresh fish- right now his most fav is the Chilean Sea Bass)!!

We keep the following daily chart of what he eats and does throughout the day.  I believe it is so important to SEE and know how much they are eating- this is the same for the sleep schedule too.

Here is an example of what he ate today:

Breakfast:  1 egg & 1 egg white with whole milk, 4 banana slices & 4 avocado slices (no rhyme or reason in the number of slices - this is the number he chose to eat.  I think I sliced 8 & 8-  perk to what he doesn't eat, we eat).
Lunch:  left over Cod from last nights dinner, Thailand Organic Plum Pouch, 2 slices of avocado, 2 apple slices, mango & sweet potato puffs and quite a few sweet potato snacks (these are organic sweet potatoes that I slice and dice with olive oil, very little sea salt & ground pepper) and throw in the oven- such a fun treat and snack, he loves them).
Mid-day snack:  Apple, Banana, Mango & Cinnamon packet, orange slices (didn't count- it turned into a long day) and one Ella's teething cookies.
Dinner:  Steamed Wild Grouper with sweet potato snacks.

His total formula/whole milk mix was 22 ounces for the day.

Fresh Organic Beef Stew is on the menu for tomorrow.  Phew!  I have never chopped so much in my life (ISABEL, HALP)!  haha  Really though, it is so worth it.

Here is a big cheers to this little almost one year old eating it up even more once he has teeth (yes, he eats all of this and has no teeth).  By the way - this teething thing is no joke.  Awful!  TBC on that one.

YUM!!! 

Merry Christmas Eve!

Last week we took O to meet Santa for the first time.  The 2 mile journey to Cherry Creek Mall started out rather rocky.  On our way there I rear ended a car.  Oops.  We were all fine, I was maybe going 1 mile per hour, but I started to think it was the start to the recipe for disaster.  Luckily, the lady I ran into was super nice (a nurse ;)), we exchanged info and we were back on our way.  

Once we got to the Santa line we were told Santa needed to go on break in a "couple minutes" for a total of 30 minutes.  Oh lawdy.  Joe asked the young lady (probably 16) who was working the Santa line if there was any way they could squeeze us in....  long story short, no dice.  We had to wait to let Santa go on his cookie break.  O was ready to see Santa.  Out of her stroller and roaring to go!  Lucky for us, there is a Land of Nod Christmas store in the mall for the Holidays.  Off we went to do some Christmas shopping and fun.  

As you can see there were no Santa melt downs for this Ninja.  He was a tad confused, but ok.  Now, here is what I am wondering as a parent....  why is Santa's couch purple??  Who decided purple would be the Christmas Santa couch color?  Oh, and as a parent I should have made sure my child's jeans didn't look like high waters.  HA!  Le sigh.  

I spent my Christmas Eve day teaching classes.  I am incredibly grateful for students and friends who leave me sweet notes and bring sweet treats!!  THANK YOU!

Tonight we celebrated Christmas Eve at our favorite restaurant, Sushi Sasa.  As per usual, it was delish! Owen enjoyed himself and ate all the fish we ordered him.  He did decide tonight he isn't much of a chicken guy (following in Mom's footsteps maybe?).  Miso soup, veggies and Salmon were on the menu - oh, and puffs for dessert of course!  ;)

Wave your hands like you just don't care!!  Sushi Sasa time!

Eating from chopsticks for the first time

Whatever you may be doing tonight, celebrating or not celebrating I hope you are able to find time to relax, enjoy and be thankful.    

Happy Happy Holidays!!  

PS- Thank you Sushi Sasa for my amazeballs surprise!!