How has it taken me so long to post this? Anyway, we had a great (and lowkey) weekend this past week. I’ll start with Sunday and work my way back…
It was a gorgeous day… although pretty hot (90+ deg)… so we decided to head to the beach. We picked up Mark’s dad and we were off to SUCH a lovely, local beach. The beach was clean and not overly crowded. The breeze felt amazing. The water was icy, but clear. It was awesome.
It was a great first day at the beach for C. She played with all of her new beach toys (THANK YOU to whoever bought these for her for her bday… there was no card, but she LOVES them!), loved the sand, and dipped her toes in the water. It was such a blast.
Other weekend highlights…
I went to see my sweet friend Carrie, her new babes Natalie, and her son Phoenix! Such a super woman… two under two (and both so cute)!
Had dinner with my parents and heard all about their Vegas Vacation…
We had brunch with our friends from Chicago and found out they’re expecting a little babe this coming January. It was fun to get Charlotte out to see them… she was okay… not 100% behaved, but not too bad!
Later in the day on Saturday, our other sweet little friends came over for lunch and some catch up. They brought a birthday gift for little Charlotte that has become her literal OBSESSION. Charlotte received this purse.
I cannot even begin to explain how this girl loves the purse. I’d recommend it to anyone… but beware, the songs are SO catchy…
On Friday we picked up Mark’s momma and took her for happy hour/dinner at a seafood spot near us. It was DELISH and so much fun to get out on a Friday night. Charlotte was perfection. No tears, no whining… just a little table nibbling.
This weekend was Charlie’s birthday party and I’m just dying to post about it… BUT, before I do, it’s time to post about the big day of birth celebration this past Thursday.
It really was such a great day.
We started the morning out by busting into Charlie’s room to sing her happy birthday. She seemed confused and maybe a little… what’s the word for that feeling when you think, “woah… my parents are really big weirdos”… because she seemed like that.
After our morning song session, it was time to show Charlie her balloons and feed her a very special breakfast of berry pancakes (BERRIES AND BREAD… Charlie heaven). She immediately noticed and fell in love with her balloons. The second we walked out of her room, she pointed at her balloons and made a squeaky noise.
We also took her outside with the most giant balloon ever to take some cutie pie first birthday pictures!
Then, it was time to take Charlie to the office where we had set up the kitchen. Mark came in with us so he could see her little mini person reaction. I’m pretty sure she liked it 🙂
Then, nap time of course.
For lunch, we brought in pizza for the office and had a little lunch party. Charlie had a blast staring at all of her office friends and feeding Toby excessive amounts of pizza crust.
Then it was time for more kitchen play and her afternoon nap.
For dinner, we took Charlie for a very fancy dinner at Panera. We bought her two different kinds of soup and a ton of bread. The girl loves her soup.
Then for dessert, we took her to a frozen yogurt place so she could have her first taste of sweet yummy goodness. After about 3 bites, she pushed it away and started eating her apple. I felt a little disappointed, so we ran back into Panera to get her a cupcake.
We took her home and stuck a candle in her cupcake, sang to her again and let her have at it. Again, she wasn’t overly impressed. After a couple of bites of frosting, she was done. So we gave her some presies, which she absolutely adored!
We then attempted to get her to bed, but between the frozen yogurt, the cupcake, and the presies, she was SO hyper. She was literally bouncing all over the crib and laughing at nothing. I decided to take the opportunity to live out my year-long dream of snuggling with my tiny boo in her crib. So I climbed in for a VERY sweet snuggle. The mattress is seeming a bit slouchy these days, but it was WELL worth it. Such sweet moments.
Finally, by around 9 or 9:30, she FINALLY fell asleep.
It was a very special day for a very special girl. And it’s just totally crazy that this little muffin’s first birthday has already came and went. Time flies.
I’m sure you’ve heard me mention how dang stingy my baby is when it comes to giving out smooches.
Well, for a couple weeks now, I’ve been “stealing kisses” in hopes of training her. Whenever I’m breastfeeding her and switch from one side to the other, I say “gimme a kiss” and smooch her tiny lips. She doesn’t shove me away, but the gesture was most definitely not reciprocated.
That is, until yesterday. I figured I happened to catch her in a good mood and it was just a fluke… But I’ve now gotten 4/4 of the last smooch taxes from her!!
She’s learned and I feel like I’ve finally found a way to ensure daily kisses from my little bunny.
Friday was my thirtieth birthday. This monumental birthday has been on my mind for a couple of years now. I know, I know… 30 isn’t THAT old… but it’s the end of a decade that brought a lot of lessons, laughter and love into my life. A decade that brought me my husband and our sweet baby. My twenties were pretty amazing.
With that said, if this past weekend is any indication of how my thirties are going to go, I’m in for a pretty amazing ride.
The big birthday began with our little Charlie sleeping in… aka: the big birthday began with me being able to sleep in. We went to work like any normal day, BUT, after work I had a little dinner party with my fam at this delicious Mexican restaurant. The weather was perfect and we were able to eat outside. It was seriously such a fun night. My parents, sister and her fam and my Gramps were all there… in addition to hubs and Charlie pie, of course.
Saturday was my big celebration with my sweet husband. He’s been diligently planning for awhile now and man did it pay off.
In the morning, I went to get a mani/pedi with my mom and sister while Mark tied up some loose ends. By 12:15, we were on our way to Chicago, where Mark had planned a series of activities off my bucket list. That in itself was just so perfectly thoughtful and wonderful.
Our first stop was SKYDIVING!! Okay, not real skydiving… I mean, come on! I’m not 20-something anymore… and I’m definitely not about to jump from a plane. But, it was indoor skydiving. The gist is that you’re in a wind chamber and you get to fly around and experience the same sensation as skydiving. We both LOVED it.
As a comical side note, I was SO pumped after I finished my first jump. I went back and sat next to Mark and started blabbing about it when he kindly informed me that I had drool all over my face. That’s gotta be a sure sign of having fun, right?
How cute is my hubs???
After skydiving, around 5:30 pm, we picked up some Cuban take out… to say it was fabulous would be an understatement.
We took our delish food and headed to a place called Penguin Pottery for Happy Hour Pottery Class… Bucket List Item #2: Spinning pottery on the wheel. We sipped wine and while I attempted to make really shitty looking pots, my husband created beautiful masterpieces. He was ABSURDLY good… like, way better than anyone in the class.
After we both discovered that I totally sucked at making pots, we started to tag team. Mark would create the pots and then I would add in fun ridges and details. It was great! We made a bunch of really great pots (and cups) that we will glaze and pick up in a couple of weeks.
Our pots!
What it looks like when Mark makes pottery…
What it looks like when I make pottery. See the difference?
After pottery, we headed to the condo we were renting. It was in a totally beautiful building right downtown. The unit was a little silly in terms of decor, but it was all about the location, location, location.
By 11 pm, we were on our way to dinner. Yes, I said 11 pm. A time of night I typically experience through dreams.
Anyway, we headed to Joe’s Stone Crab for the best damn seafood ever. We started with Oysters (my new fave), then had stone crab… which I have to say is just about the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I was in pure heaven. Mmmm. After our tasty stone crab, we moved onto this sample plate with shrimp, crab legs (PHENOM!!), lobster tail and ceviche. Finished off with a brownie sundae.
It was seriously the best meal.
Then, it was time for the scariest of my bucket list items: karaoke. I know this seems stupid, but I am terrified of getting up in front of people and have an absolutely awful voice. Our plan was to consume an excessive amount of alcohol and then sing, but after all that food, we were both pretty tired. We decided that we’d go to the karaoke bar, sing our song and head back.
BUT, when we arrived at the best karaoke bar ever, we decided that a few drinks wouldn’t hurt. So, we took a shot and had a drink. We started discussing our song choice… I had selected Lisa Loeb’s “Stay” the night before, but sitting in the bar, it just didn’t seem right. Literally people were singing anthem after anthem. Total bar hits.
After another drink, Mark signed us up for “Like a Prayer” by Madonna… BUT, there were so many people ahead of us, it wasn’t looking as if it was going to happen.
There was a party of 5 or 6 who had quite a few hilarious songs. I decided to ask them if I could join them for their next song, as I HAD to get up and sing before the night was up and didn’t think my turn was going to happen. They reluctantly agreed and within a few songs, I was up in the limelight – with 3 other women – singing Mando Diao’s “Dance with Somebody.”
I was relieved when the song was over, but didn’t really feel like I was legitimately checking the item off my list. Regardless, I sat back down with the hubs and we enjoyed a few more songs. Then, it happened…
This random dude gets up to sing. The intro music starts and I just about die… it’s LISA LOEB STAY!! I turned to Mark with my jaw dropped and exclaimed, “IT’S. MY. SONG!” and ran to the “stage.” I asked the dude if I could join him and he happily agreed.
I had 3 glorioius minutes in the spotlight and have officially checked karaoke off my list.
It’s not pretty… but here it is…
SUCCESS!
Somehow it was bar close, so we headed back to the condo. Before calling it a night, we went up to check out the rooftop garden and discovered a golf simulator. We played for a bit and then discovered that alcohol + two really crappy golfers = exceptionally bad golfing.
Upon waking up in the morning, I checked my cellphone to discover a text from my sweet little childhood bestie. Our next bday event was to go to her house for brunch, but she had to cancel because her water had broken early that morning and she was in the hospital in LABOR!!
It was amazingly perfect timing. I was able to pick her up flowers and a bunch of food, drop it off, share some tears and give her the biggest hug before her labor really picked up. Then, we were on our way home.
We got back, reunited with our sweet baby, took a famly nap and ate pizza for din. And, when I woke up this morning, I had news that my sweet little “nephew” was born.
Every day for the past couple weeks, I’ve been checking in with Charlie, asking her if she’s learned to kiss yet. Every day she’s been saying “nope!” Well, “saying”… Ie pushing my face away with her hands.
Thanks, baby.
That is, until today!! Today was the day… The most wonderful, glorious, magical day that I’ve been waiting for since I saw a friend with a similar aged babes say that she got smooches.
We took Charlotte to the children’s museum with my grandpa today – which as a side note was amaaazing! – and when we got home 1.5 hours past naptime, I fed little C and was hanging out with her in her room. We were in a pre-nap routine, but I couldn’t help but be wildly distracted by her uber sweet demeanor.
She was chatting in the sweetest little tiny voice. Being so gentle. Giving me koala hugs (as of today, my second favorite thing ever). Then, as she was loving on my face, it happened. She grabbed onto my cheeks and pulled me in for the sloppiest, tonguiest baby kiss ever.
I literally melted! Like… In that moment, if she could have asked for a pony, it would have been hers. I would have Amazon primed her a pony without a thought. “Of course, honey! Two days, free shipping. Pony=yours!”
She kept her sweet going and literally gave me kiss upon kiss.
After I finally put her in bed for the napski (yes, I delayed naptime and got in as many smooches as I could), I skipped out of her room, full grin on my face.
What a perfect string of moments.
Later that evening, her daddy asked for a bedtime smooch, and she literally leaned in and gave him two.
More melting.
Really, what could be more amazing?
And now, back to the museum, here are a few pictures and advice to anyone traveling to Milwaukee… Stop at the Betty Brinn Children’s museum! It was the coolest place ever.
It was set up as a little community with different stores and businesses… A full grocery store with fake food that scans at the checkout area, a post office and mail to deliver to all of the businesses, a city bus that the kids can “drive”, an auto body shop for the kids to fix cars… Even a news station with a green screen for the kids to deliver the news and weather. It was amazing.
This morning, Charlotte lost her… Marbles. She’s been playing with her voice lately and discovering screaming… But this morning, wow. She took her new skill to new levels.
I had given her a little bite of oatmeal and went to grab her sippy cup so she could wash it down with a little water. When I gave her the cup, I realized that I must not have screwed the cap on correctly, because the dang thing started leaking water all over.
I grabbed the cup to fix it and the little one flipped. I’m talking blood curdling screams and tears. It was absolutely terrifying.
I tried to calm her down, but ultimately, I ended up giving her the paci, which quieted her a bit and then taking her out of her seat to breastfeed her.
It’s been haunting me all day.
I hate to be dramatic because this is the first temper tantrum of her tiny life, but is this my future?
Our little baby is already 28 weeks. This past week has been a rough one, as Mark’s Grandpop passed away. I will write more about sweet pop and our trip to PA for the funeral, but for now, I’ll just say that unfortunately, this week Charlotte attended her second funeral.
She also took her second trip via airplane… And let me just say, she was incredible. She barely slept during our 48-hour whirlwind trip, but you wouldn’t even guess it. She was so well behaved and happy and sweet. A true blessing.
In terms of milestones, she is making amazing progress in he crawling. She can move her knees, reach out with one hand and get forward motion by lunging herself forward. It’s pretty nuts.
She also started trying to sit up from a crawl position. She’s soooo close, but not there quite yet. Oh and she had her first play date with out neighbor!!
We had brunch with our friends from Chicago and found out they’re expecting a little babe this coming January. It was fun to get Charlotte out to see them… she was okay… not 100% behaved, but not too bad!
On Friday we picked up Mark’s momma and took her for happy hour/dinner at a seafood spot near us. It was DELISH and so much fun to get out on a Friday night. Charlotte was perfection. No tears, no whining… just a little table nibbling.
Playing House 