Caroline's 2nd Birthday Party aka Elmo-Palooza

Caroline turned two back in March and we of course had a ridiculous birthday party for her.  I am a little ashamed to admit how long I had been planning certain details for this party.  I tend to obsess a little.... Just a little.  I finally just gave up and crossed over to the dark side and went with a "character" theme.  I was hoping to hold off a couple years before I had to succumb to the character madness for birthday parties.   I'm not the biggest fan of character birthday parties, or character anything for that matter, but I eventually just decided it would all be worth it just to see Caroline smile.  After all, the party was for her.    And thus, Elmo-Palooza was born.  The funny thing is, I had decided on the theme months in advance (that's about the only way that I can pull ridiculous shenanigans like this off) but by the time the party rolled around, she wasn't nearly as enthralled with the little red furry guy.  But, she still loved it so we sent Elmo out with a bang.

My mom got me a Silhouette for Christmas.  I was really intimidated to break it out of the box, but Caroline's birthday party was my motivation to learn how to use it.  I may have gone a little crazy with it.  At one point Steven swore that he saw smoke coming from it...

The food table

I made the cupcake stands out of a couple dowels and one big board from Lowes.  I painted the dowels, but just covered the boards with scrapbook paper and ribbon.  I eventually have intentions of painting everything white, but that just hasn't happened yet.  One day...

I made the cupcakes because let's face it, I'm too cheap stupid to order them.  But I think they were everyone's favorite thing.  I just use box cake mix (hey, I have to cut corners somewhere), but absolutely do not compromise on the frosting.  Real buttercream is the only way to go.  I used enough butter to make my idol Paula Deen swoon.  But it was worth it because it makes all the difference in the world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't take credit for the goldfish marshmallow pops.  I found the idea on Pinterest of course. 

 

 

For all of you who aren't Elmo followers, the goldfish is an homage to Elmo's BFF Dorothy.

 

 

 

Fruit Kabobs

 

The drink table

What party is complete without Elmo water???

I set up tables for the little people with coloring sheets and Elmo hats that my mom found at a party store. 

The favor bags

And of course, nothing can ever be simple.  A couple months before the party, I thought it would be awesome to give the kids an actual living goldfish as a party favor.  As the party neared, I decided that my fellow mom friends might hate me for giving their children live animals, so I decided to just go with a standard favor bag with bubbles, etc.  About a week before the party, Steven asked me if we were still doing the goldfish.  I told him I was putting a bag of goldfish crackers in the favor bags, but had decided against the real deal.  Well, that didn't go over so well.  Steven insisted on doing the real goldfish, claiming it was "the only thing he was really excited about".  So, I went back to Plan A and did the goldfish. 

But of course, when live animals are involved, things don't always go according to plan.  I went to Walmart on Thursday (the party was Saturday afternoon) and picked up the goldfish with Caroline in tow.  Mistake #1.  Do you know how hard it is to push a cart with a 2 year old jumping up and down screaming and trying to beat the bag of fish with the fish net?  I do.  I had a few other things to pick up before I could escape, so I had to push the cart around the store with one hand while holding the massive bag of goldfish at shoulder level with Caroline screaming "Pish!!!!!!!!!!!".  It was during that moment that I realized that I was completely mad.  Why was I doing this to myself all in the name of a 2 year old's birthday party???  Because I'm a mom and we often do things for our children that don't always make sense to other sane-minded individuals or even to ourselves.  I lost all common sense the day I had Caroline.

One would think that the excitement would be over after that, but oh no.  I took them home, prepared their water, and let everything sit and adjust to room temperature overnight.  The next day (Friday), I had Steven transfer the fish to their new homes around lunch time.  By 2:00, every single fish was floating.  EVERY.  SINGLE.  FISH.  DEAD.  FLOATING.  Yeah.  So, back to Walmart I went to collect 8 more goldfish.  It's a good thing the little boogers were only $0.28 each.  This time, I bought some stuff to put in the water, but we waited until about an hour before the party to put them in their bowls.  I was so nervous to look at them during the party, but they survived.  None of them made it too long after the party though.  I told the parents that it was a competition and whomever could keep their fish alive the longest would win a case of beer.  Sadly, I think we won our own contest.  I bought one for Caroline and we ended up with an extra one and they managed to make it almost 3 weeks after the party.  Oh well.  They were fun while they lasted... Kind of....

Now I'm sure you're all thinking 'Well, it looks like a great party, but did anyone show up?'.  Yes, we actually did have people attend, but I'll save the actual party for another post.  Stay tuned.  I know you will all be dying of anticipation.

Pregnancy, Round 2

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, the biggest news from the last several months is that we are expecting Baby #2 in mid July.  While this is the most significant news we have, I hate to say that not much has changed as a result. 

Steven was ready for another baby LONG before I was.  Truth be told, I'm still not ready, but I'm at peace with the idea.  I knew that if I didn't just take the plunge, I would never do it, especially as things continued to get easier with Caroline.  One of the biggest factors was also the fact that we only have a limited time left in Wichita Falls, and while it may not be the most glamorous place to live, it is certainly a great place to have babies, especially as far as the military is concerned.  I'm not really into wondering if my husband will be present for the birth of our children.  That being said, I still had my limits.  The absolute closest age range I could fathom was 2 years.  Caroline and her little sister will be 2 years and 4 months apart.  One humorous aspect was how our families reacted to the news.  Their reactions pretty much sum up the difference between my side of the family and Steven's.  My parents pretty much said "Wow.  Really?  So soon?  Oh my."  I think they thought we had made an "oopsie", but it was actually intentional, which I think they found even harder to believe.  Steven's family's reaction was pretty much "Well it's about time!  We were beginning to wonder!".  At the end of the day, everyone was excited for us, even if they thought we were crazy. 

This pregnancy started out basically the exact same way my first did:  MORNING SICKNESS.  I had horrible morning sickness with Caroline and it was no different with this one.  The only difference was that this time I had an almost 2 year old to try to keep up with every day.  I know this sounds crazy, but toddlers don't really understand the concept of "Mommy feels like she is going to die while hugging the toilet, so no, we can not go outside".  I threw up EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.  It was pretty miserable.  Of course I remembered that I was horribly sick with Caroline, but I didn't really remember.  I lost weight during the first trimester with Caroline and this time around was no different.  Poor Steven had to come home and pretty much take over every single night.  The poor man didn't have a meal cooked for him for about 3 months.  Thankfully, he can do a lot more than make toast, so he didn't suffer too badly.  We got through it, but I honestly don't know how Christmas happened.  I didn't even decorate.  Yeah, it was that bad.

Once I got through the first 15 weeks, things got much easier.  Ever since then, I haven't had any problems and really can't complain about too much.  I have noticed that things start to get uncomfortable a little sooner the second time around, but nothing too terrible.  My back has bothered me more this time around, but I think that is to be expected. 

And of course, since this is the second baby, I haven't been as good about keeping track of things.  I didn't take pics of my belly every week with Caroline, but I did a little better than I have with this one.  I decided that I would at least try to take pictures around the same time that I took pics with Caroline.  I thought it would be kind of fun to see how my pregnancies compared, physically.  But to be totally honest, once you've seen your body stretched to its limits once, it isn't nearly as exciting to see it go there again.  But I am trying because I don't want this little lady to be jealous of everything I did for Caroline.

One huge difference in my pics: last time I always got Steven to take them. This time, well, I'm doing good to remember them, so I have been taking "selfies" in the mirror. For the record, I have to give those annoying people on Facebook more credit for all of the obnoxious pictures they take of themselves in the mirror etc. Here's to you annoying duck face girls.  I never realized how difficult of a task that actually was, but I digress.  I also tried to make sure that I looked cute and had make-up on, etc. the first time around.  This time I have taken most of my pics in the morning before I run out the door to Stroller Strides.

    One thing that hasn't changed much:  the world's best photobomber.  The picture on the left was in 2010 when we were still living in Charleston.  I'm pretty sure Fred invented photobombing before it was even cool.  As you can see from the pic on the right, he is still at it. 

I think this was the only week that I actually managed to get a pic during the same week.  Go me.

Notice anyone else in this pic???  Yup, that's the world's best photobomber.

As far as cravings go, I have craved a little bit of everything.  In the beginning, it was pineapple.  I was eating 1-2 pineapples a week all by myself.  I couldn't get enough.  Then I went through a pancake phase.  I pretty much ate pancakes for every meal.  But the one craving that has been pretty steady through this entire pregnancy so far has been avocados.  I can not get enough of them.  One of my favorite things has been an avocado mozzarella sandwich.  Pop that thing in my panini press and YUM.  I pretty much eat that for lunch every day.   But I haven't been limited to sandwiches.  If I want an avocado badly enough, I just take a spoon to that bad boy.  I have been eating at least one avocado a day, so this baby will probably cure cancer with all of that brain food. 

Now, not to mislead you, but I am not one of those "healthy" pregnant people and that I don't also crave junk.  Oh no.  I have a sweet tooth on a regular day, but once again, while pregnant, it is in overdrive.  I was the same way with Caroline.  I think the old wives' tale about craving sweets with a girl must be somewhat accurate because I love them.  But, the difference between this pregnancy and my last is my feeble will-power.  I definitely think about everything I eat before I eat it this time around, mainly because I remember how hard it was to take off.  That doesn't mean I don't eat it.  I just means that I think about that Dairy Queen cookie dough Blizzard for three days before I actually go get it.  That is about as strong as my will-power gets. 

One thing that I have done differently this time around is I have stayed in much better shape, as far as working out goes.  I still go to Stroller Strides a couple times a week.  The good thing about Stroller Strides is that most of it can be adapted to big ol' fatties like me.  I'm not running any more, but I am proud to say that I can at least still do push-ups.  My compromise with Steven was that I could keep going to Stroller Strides as long as I didn't run past a certain point.  He thinks that a pregnant woman working out is about the craziest thing ever.  His view of pregnancy is feet propped up on the couch with a bucket of chicken.  The bigger, the better.  I was very "active" with Caroline, but I pretty much stopped working out when I was in my first trimester and was so sick.  After I got to feeling better, I was thrown right into student teaching and finishing my Masters and then moving.  I certainly kept busy and moved around a lot, but it wasn't true excercise.  I'm hoping that by staying active now will help make things easier to get back into fighting shape once this little lady comes out.  Fingers crossed.

And this is where I am this week.  I kind of fell off of taking pics there for a few weeks.  I got so busy with Caroline's birthday party and family visiting that taking my "selfies" kind of got put on the back burner. 

I'm 28 weeks this week, and all things considered, I'm still feeling pretty darn well.  I'm officially in my 3rd trimester, but I haven't slowed down much, mostly because I don't have a choice.  There are only so many hours in the day, and I think I feel like I am on even more of a time crunch this time around.  I remember all too well how life all but came to a screeching halt.  I am currently in the middle of finishing the girls' room, so that is keeping me very busy, along with my mom gig.  I've gained about 12 pounds so far, so I'm not totally miserable yet.  I can still get around pretty well and most of the time I have to remind myself that I am pregnant and I probably shouldn't be doing something. 

I can't believe that I only have 11 or 12 weeks left of this pregnancy.  It is flying by WAY too fast.  I had Caroline 8 days early, and I was probably the one woman in the world that didn't want to have my baby early, mostly because I just didn't feel ready.  This time around, I'll probably be two weeks late, just because it will be the middle of July and I will look and feel like a stuffed sausage.  Oh well.  She has to come out eventually.  I'm just hoping she stays in there as long as she needs.  I'm not ready for any surprises.

Well, that's about it.  If you made it this far into this post, I admire your perseverance.  My husband certainly can't manage to listen to me ramble on and on, so you get a gold star.  Until next time... 

It's been awhile... To say the least.

 So, do any of you remember when I said I was going to get back into blogging?  Yeah, so do I.  Here we are about 8 months later and I am finally getting around to it.  One of my New Year's Resolutions was to get back into it, and well, you can see how well that resolution worked out.  Better late than never!  I won't attempt to catch up on the last 8 months, but here are a few highlights:

I suppose the biggest news around here is that we are expecting another baby in mid July!  We're having another little girl, so Caroline will have a little sister.  We don't have a name for her yet, but we're throwing some options around.  We're not in too much of a hurry this time.  I think Steven is still trying to digest the fact that he is going to be out numbered in a few short months.

 Overall, this pregnancy has been just like my first.  I had HORRIBLE morning sickness that started day one and lasted the first three and a half months.  However, this time around, it was a little more challenging because I still had a very active little girl to keep up with when all I wanted to do was die on the couch.  November, December, and the first part of January were just a dark blur.  Needless to say, Caroline watched a lot of Sesame Street during that time!  However, once I got past the morning sickness, it has been smooth sailing.  My appetite returned with avengence and I have been eating like a truck driver ever since.  Other than my intense hankering for raw oysters, sushi, massive amounts of caffiene, and wine, I can't complain about too much.  I just started my 3rd trimester, but I haven't slowed down.... Yet...

I guess another noteable mention from the last several months would be that I started a shop on Etsy called Lucky Sweet Caroline (Caroline was born on St. Patty's day... Get it??).  I have always enjoyed "crafting" and tinkering around, but once I had Caroline, I had so many ideas/projects running through my mind.  Steven has always pushed me to sell my stuff, so I finally decided to open a shop, and just see what would happen.

 I opened my shop back in October and business has steadily increased.  I usually have any where from 1-3 orders a week, so it keeps me busy.  Steven is not planning on quitting his job any time soon, but it is at least a nice little something extra here and there.  Honestly, just having something to focus my obsessive energy and thought processes on is payment enough.  My number one job is still Mom and CEO of the Broussard house, but having a little something that is outside of that is nice.  Some weeks it is a challenge to juggle things and get my orders out on time, but between naptime and some late nights, I have been able to make it all happen.  I have no idea what will come of Lucky Sweet Caroline after Baby #2 arrives, but we will just take it one day at a time.

As for my number one job, wrangling Caroline, I have no idea where to begin.  She has grown and changed so much over the last several months.  To say that she is sassy, willful, and spunky is an understatement.  I am enjoying my time with her more and more every day and I just love the little person she is becoming. 

She turned 2 back in March, and we of course had a full-blown birthday party, which will have to be covered in another post.  I am still just in a little disbelief that I have managed to keep a human alive for 2 years, never mind the fact that I have another little person on the way.

 

 

 

Yup, that's Caroline.  She's changed a little since the last time I checked in, no?  Sigh.  Because I see her all day every day, I don't realize how much she has changed until I see an older picture of her.  The main reason I want to get back to blogging is so that I will have some sort of record of all the things she is doing (yes, I know that's what the baby book and scrapbook are for, but don't even ask about the status of those items).  Oh and for my legions of readers who are dying for the next thrilling installment in my stay at home mom saga.  Fortunately, in my long absence, I have noticed that Blogger has finally made some nice changes which makes it a little easier for a totally impatient and technologically challenged person like myself to crank something out with minimal frustration, so hopefully I will be a little more motivated to get on here more often. 

 

Hopefully I will see ya sooner rather than later!  So long for now! 

The Zoo (And no, I am not referring to my house)

A couple weeks ago, my mom and Jim came down to see us. We spent some time in Wichita Falls, but we also drove down to Dallas and spent the night at the Gaylord. The next day, we woke up and took Caroline to the Ft. Worth Zoo. Warning: Picture overload.

My mom and I went shopping and Steven and Jim took Caroline to the water park there at the Gaylord. Needless to say, she LOVED it. She is part fish.

Looking at the Chimps at the zoo. It was fairly warm, so the animals were pretty lazy, but Caroline still had a blast.
This gorilla was sitting by the glass partition, so Caroline could get up close to him. She got so tickled by him and he just kept staring at her. In the bottom right pic, she is "loving" the him (this was before the gorilla started picking his nose and eating it).

Checking out the animals with Daddy

The giraffes were behind this pond, but Caroline could have cared less because there were ducks in the pond. She LOVES ducks.

Having fun!

I think this was probably one of Caroline's favorite things. We ate lunch at one of the places near the reptile house. The dining area had a huge tank with crocodiles, turtles, and other creatures in it. Caroline could not get enough of it. She and Grandma Daisy looked at the turtles for a long time.

Reading up on the animals!

We tried to get pics all together, but these were the best we could manage. I love Jimbo's face-he looks so surprised!

Caroline probably got the most excited for these little mountain goats. They came running down the hill and she got so excited. Probably the biggest reaction of the day.

Checking out some birds with Daddy

Looking at the parrots with Grandma Daisy

Caroline loved the petting zoo. Sure, looking at animals is fun, but touching them is SO much better!

We like to never got Caroline away from the water tower. She loves having water dumped on her head- definitely didn't get that from me.

We had such a great time at the zoo. It was so nice to have my mom and Jim with us too. Caroline was so worn out when we left that she was asleep before we even left the parking lot. All in all, it was a successful day!

Caroline 15 Months

Hello world! I'm back for what seems to be my once a month blog post. I said I was going to be better didn't I? Well, apparently I lied. Life has been a bit on the crazy side. No big momentous events to report, just lots of crazy little here and theres. And keeping up with my crazy Caroline. Which brings me to:

Caroline is 15 months old! Since she turned 1, I have almost stopped keeping track of the "months" and I always have to think about her technical age when people ask me. Obviously, I am not doing the monthly milestone pictures/reports, so I decided to do it every 3 months. So here we go.

Where to begin??? Caroline has changed SO much in the past 3 months. For starters, she is climbing on EVERYTHING. She has figured out how to get on every piece of furniture in the house. I walked into her room the other day to catch her standing on the arm of the rocker, holding onto the crib, with one leg on the rail of the crib ready to make a leap for it. She hasn't climbed out of her crib yet, but I have caught her trying. I'm already shopping for big girl beds.

We had the little shrimp's 15 month well visit on Monday. Good news is, she is in fact growing. At her 12 month appointment, she weighed 18 lbs 15.5 oz and was 30 1/4 in long. At 15 months, she is 20 lbs 9 oz and is 31 3/4 in tall. That means she grew an inch and a half in 3 months. Didn't gain a ton of weight, but hey, at least she finally hit the 20 pound mark. Overall though, she is perfectly healthy, so I couldn't ask for anything more.

Caroline is finally coming around to eating again. We had been in a long, horrible stretch of food strikes. She had become a little picky, but her biggest problem was just sitting still long enough to eat. For awhile it was an absolute battle just to get her in her high chair. The girl does not like to sit still and definitely does NOT like anything which constricts her movement in even the tiniest way (including her pool floatie). But, I am happy to say that in the last 10 days or so, she has actually been eating quite a bit and is eating just about anything I give her. I'm fairly certain that she is in the middle of a growth spurt which probably accounts for her bigger appetite, but I'll take whatever I can get. Dinner no longer ends in tears (mine included), so that's a positive thing.

Like I said, climbing on everything. This is her new favorite spot to sit and watch Elmo. I love how tiny she looks in the middle of the couch.

And climbing again... The water table was fun for about 2.5 seconds.

This girl loves grits. She is definitely a little Southern girl ;)

Hanging out with Daddy in his Father's Day present. There for awhile, Caroline went through this really weird phase of not wanting much to do with Steven. He was devastated to say the least. Fortunately, she has gotten over that and she is Daddy's little buddy. She gets SOOOOO excited when he comes home from work and she loves crawling on our bed in the morning to wake him up (something totally cute and adorable that I have yet to experience myself.... hint hint Darling Husband....) Of course Steven is elated to be in her favor again, but I think I am even more ecstatic because I can get 5 minutes to catch my breath after Steven gets home.

With a big pool and her own personal kiddie pool, she decides the dog bowl is a better place to cool off. Go figure.

Gone are the days of peace and quiet in our house. Instead, it is filled with constant jabber, shrieks, and giggles. Caroline is really trying to talk now, and she is actually saying a few things. Of course she says the standard "Mama", "Dada", but she has also started saying "Ni Ni" which equals "Night Night". Even though half of the time she is not actually making words, I still know exactly what she is saying because I can tell the difference between her sounds. She has gotten very good at saying "Thank you", even if it is just "Thaaaayyy". Manners are uber important, so I'll take it. She can say "cat", but only about every third or fourth time. She has just started trying to say "Elmo", which is surprising that it has taken this long because he is the Justin Beiber of her world. So for now Elmo is "Mo". One weird word that she picked up with no trouble was "hot". It is probably because we use that word so often here in death-hell-heater-box Texas.

Caroline is all about animals. She flips out when she sees any kind of animal and her favorite books are the ones with animals. Whenever she sees a horse, she says "Nay nay", a cow "ma ma", and "ba ba" for a chicken. She was doing "bah" for a sheep, but now we can't get it out of her. Horses are definitely her favorite though. I will hear her saying "Nay nay nay" and find her looking at a picture of a horse in one of her books.

First pony tail. A bit of a mullet tail, but a little business in the front and party in the back never hurt any one.

Caroline looks more and more like a little girl every day. I know that this is just what happens, but it is so crazy to see her go from a baby to this crazy little person right before my eyes.

My Sweet Caroline has become such a ham. She is so happy and friendly. This little girl has never met a stranger and she can get even the grumpiest old man in the grocery store to smile. She loves going places and seeing new things and new people.

Eating like a heavy weight.

While she might not be saying much, I know that Caroline understands A LOT of what I am saying. I can tell her to do certain things, find certain things, or go to a certain place and she actually responds. It is amazing. Yes, I realize that eventually, this is what children do, but as a mother, you begin to feel like you will literally be doing ev-er-y-thing for them for the rest of their lives, so when the little boogers start to show some independence, you feel the need to do a victory dance. Don't get me wrong, the baby phase was sweet, but I think I am just more well-suited for this phase and up. I like that we can actually interact together and it is not so one-sided. I almost wish that I could freeze time because every smile, laugh, hug, shoulder pat, and kiss is so genuine and it absolutely melts my heart. As a mom, that is the best kind of reinforcement there is. Ok, enough with the cheese. You all knew it wouldn't last for long. Toodles.