Sidewalk Paint

We had a fun time on Sunday playing with some sidewalk paint.

To make, just mix equals amounts of cornstarch and water and then food coloring.

I used 1/2 cup of each and it turned into 4 bowls that were perfect for Mack.

He was pretty darn good at it too! And no mess for inside!

I got this idea from one of my crafty MOPS friends!

Macklin's 1st Birthday

I was very excited to plan Macklin's 1st Birthday!

It was a ton of fun to plan....the only downside....I couldn't invite EVERYONE I knew :(

I had to be reasonable with my first kid birthday as I didn't quite know what to expect.

It was so nice to have my parents in town to help with the final preparations.

Here are some of the details. If anyone would like to know more, please let me know!

Here is the original idea.

Here is the first blog posting from our photographer again.

While I am posting links, this is my favorite party blog.

Also, I have some leftovers from this party, so if any of my readers want them (or you know someone that does), just send me a quick comment and I can let you know what I have that would make another great party without all the work :)

The Invitation

I put together the invite in Photoshop, but learned that I should have done it in Illustrator (thank you Abbie!). I became quite the Adobe pro through this party and I learned easier ways to do things after I had done it the slow way first! I just printed them from my computer onto cardstock. I made the filmstrip by snagging a templet off of the internet and then pulling it all together in Photoshop. I then put two strips on one 4x6 print and had them printed off at Walmart (ended up at like 6 cents per strip)

Dessert Table

I just tried to find anything Orange and Teal! We had cupcakes, Jello Jigglers, Goldfish, cheese cubes, rice krispies, cookies and creme Hersey Kisses, blue Gatorade, orange juice, and Jelly Belly jelly beans. It was probably a bit too much, but super fun to plan out. The biggest hit....the Jello Jigglers!

Time Capsule

I had everyone just bring a little note for Macklin instead of a gift. I am going to put all of these in a little time capsule for him to open on his 18th birthday. I was so excited to sneak a peak at the messages and hope we still have all of these sweet friends in 17 years.

Favors

With the photo/memory theme, I snagged these little glasses from Hobby Lobby and wrapped them up in little bags with a note that said, "Thanks for a picture perfect first birthday!"

Photo Props

We had mouths and mustaches that we just printed and cut out from card stock. They acted as photo props for the photo booth. They were a lot of fun to play with and served as center pieces on the little kid tables in the bucket of crayons!

Using the photo props to the extreme! The black bubbles are just cut wood (thank you Ryan) painted with chalk board paint (thank you Mel).

My sweet bible study friends (thanks for celebrating with us)!

Month Pictures

I printed off a 5x7 picture from each month of Macklin's life and strung them up for guests to see. Come on, I can't do this for his 18th birthday so I might as well take advantage when I can!

Highchair Decor

We just used our everyday highchair (which is Justin's from when he was a child). I made a little sign out of scrapbook paper and foam alpha stickers. I think I would make it a little smaller in the future.

Other Decor

We used homemade pennants to decorate behind the dessert table (background of pic below) and strings of hand-sewn circle garland for the kid tables and other gift/favor tables. Sewing together paper is a great cheap decoration idea. I got the circle garland idea from here.

Super Helpers...Thank you Mimi and Papa!

Getting all of the kiddos in one pic was a bit harder than I thought!

(We had the party at our church, hence the racks of toys in the nursery.)

One last huge THANK YOU to Melissa for taking all of our sweet pictures! You are awesome!

We even got to use the sign boards for a little thank you card!

This one was not the final winner but is still very cute!

A Handmade Christmas

Last post for the day....

This year I decided to try to make the majority of our Christmas gifts for our family and friends! I think I started a bit late, but I was really happy with how they turned out and will probably try to do the same thing again in the future. It was a lot of hard work though.

In case anyone else wanted to do the same, I thought I would share my creations, none of which were my own ideas. If anyone has any creations of their own or ideas, I would love to see them.

Non-Photographed Ideas

Picture Ornaments (hope to make one for the grandparents each year)

Calendars (like the ones on shutterfly, just handmade)

Handprint Coasters

(kinda like link, but different. I traced Mack's hand and then made coasters out of it. Grandpa and Papa can say, "Can my grandson hold your drink for you?" at their offices!)

MyPublisher Scrapbook

(ok, not handmade, but it took me lots of hours! We give these to our moms)

Boxes for the men in the family. Could be used to put on a dresser or hold cards. Pretty easy to make, just need a box from a craft store, paint, and I used some scrapbook paper too!

Bath Bombs

These turned out surprisingly well! I used lavendar and even found cute little jars to put them in! I actually used this recipe.

Young Girls Leg Warmers with Matching Headbands

These are sweater arms chopped off. Thank goodness my mom was here when I started making those. But, they are easy to make and I want to try to make some for myself some day! The headband link is above, but I also really liked this one. I am not sure if my nieces or Justin's cousins kids will wear them, but I would!

Marble Magnets

These were super fun. I saw a couple break (sorry if yours did), I don't think I put enough glue on the bottoms of the marble. These are super easy and I fit them to the persons personality or role. I was so excited to hear, "Man, we needed more magnets!" so often! Thanks for making me feel good everyone (I got a lot of cities/countries that my bro has traveled to for the ones below)!

I tried to use paper clips to hold them in place so people could read them when they opened them, but they didn't stay. Looks good now though!

Thanks to Cara Leonard for challenging me with this idea and for giving me great resources!

We ended up doing all of Christmas for under $350 I think, way better than what we have spent in the past and I was happy with my creations! I hope others were too!

Baby Food Update

I am still making all of Macklin's baby food. When we got back from STL, I made this batch...Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Butternut Squash, Peas, and Green Beans. It has been fun to make his stuff and it tastes good too!

I did save some of these veggies to have Macklin eat as finger food. He is good at putting things in his mouth and can chew up soft stuff. It does take a lot longer and I don't feel like he eats as much food when he feeds himself. So, we do a little combo.

As far as what he eats, we are pretty much going for everything (except the normal hold-offs....whole milk, shell fish, and nuts). He has eaten a grilled cheese, french toast, lots of veggies, lots of fruits, steak, chicken, pork, ham, turkey, baby snacks, quesadillas, cheerios, pasta with sauce, rice, eggs...that is all I can remember now.

Still using this website to help me out.

Food Is Complete!

I am pretty proud of myself! I made all of the following baby food for $8!!!!!!!

I looked back at my recipt! I can't believe it! $8 would normaly get you about 16 little cans of baby food. But, instead, I have all of this (each little mound is a tablespoon)!!!! Woohooo! I will definitely be continuing this even though I don't need to for a long time!

Food status:

Rice cereal is going great!

Avocados were a hit at first, but it looked painful when I tried to feed him it yesterday.

Today we moved to sweet potatoes and he cried when I washed the bowl because it was empty!

Yesterday I started making baby food! It was way easier than I thought and it is going to be super cheap too! Macklin has eaten a few things...blueberries, rice cereal, bananas, and avocados. Blueberries were a random first food. Then I went to rice cereal and he gulps that down! Then I tried putting a banana and avocado (different times) in that little mesh bags for him to try too! Avocado is really the one thing he has eaten a good chunk of (for all those 40-60 year old moms, avocado is the new recommended first baby food! crazy, eh?).

Since he is approaching this big eating stage, I thought I would whip up some things to work with. So, yesterday, with the help of this great website and my magic bullet (which is perfect by the way!) I made a ton of baby food!

We made green beans, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, avocados, and then froze some more bananas too. I just baked or steamed the veggie, then put it in the magic bullet with water. So easy! Out of one squash (at 50 cents a pound) I got like 30 tablespoons of baby food. I was planning to put them in ice cube trays and freeze them. But my mom gave me the idea of just putting the tablespoon portions onto a wax paper sheet and freeze them. Then I took them out and put them in baggies. It did take most of the afternoon, but totally worth it and I don't plan on having to do it again for a while! So fun to know that I am making pure veggies for my baby to eat! Keep you posted on what he likes best!

Here are some of the bags I have frozen!

Don't they look like that old dot candy?

My boy with avocado on his face!

Eating!

Macklin Can Sit Up

Look at me...I can sit up now!

Well, most of the time. Thanks for catching me, Mommy!

Don't worry, he laughed!

Mack loves his daddy!

So precious!

This is a new face I haven't seen yet!

Still a sucker for the bath pics...he is so big!

Just wanted to give you all a brief update on our precious little man...

-5 and a half months old now, still a 50% baby. We think he is pretty skinny!

-loves his toes

-loves to grab anything in sight (including plates that I am eating from)

-loves to crow down his rice cereal (haven't added anything new this week)

-can sit up now (unless his diaper is bunching weird)

-is getting on a new feeding schedule with 4 feedings three hours and forty five minutes apart

(trying to loose the late night one this week to go to 4 instead of 5)

-is getting on a new nap schedule where he is awake for just about two hours at a time

(keep you posted on these items as we are just starting!)

-enjoys his jumper way more now, especially when his daddy puts it outside

while he does yard work :)

-moves himself in multiple circles while playing on the ground

-has a strong neck and back now

-still a sucker for the swing

-hears our voices and smiles

That's all I can think of for now!

PS-Anyone that follows BabyWise, I found a sweet blog....

http://www.babywisemom.com/

Products the Brandts CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT

Wanted this to be a picture...and ended up having it on video mode.

So, just posting so you can see this sweet angle of our boy!

I am copying a friends blog idea on this one, but I thought future moms out there might want to know (thank you to Benton's mommy!).....

Products the Brandts CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT during Our First Four Months of Being Parents

(Not in any order)

1. Summer Video Monitor

This thing is awesome! I love being able to see what Macklin is doing. I think I learn more about his sleeping patterns and movement than without it. I watch him fall asleep, can see if anything is wrong, and just feel comfortable with him in his crib while being farther away. Totally worth the $180 for it. Only thing it is missing (according to his Mimi)....a web link to the monitor to his Mimi can watch him snooze!

2. Fisher-Price Oceans Wonder Cradle Swing

Also another great product. If Macklin is upset, he loves the constant movement that this swing provides! It has different speed settings (which we haven't really noticed a difference between) and it swings front-to-back and side-to-side. Also a good place for Macklin to chill when we are making dinner! He is really watching the fishes that turn on it these days! So fun!

3. Boppy Pillow

I have heard that some women don't use these...Well, I use mine every day, about 6 times a day or every time I feed Macklin. It is so easy to just lay him on it and not have to support him while nursing. I also love the removable cover. Kinda wish I had two, but doing just fine with one. I don't know if they make the ones that just come with the permanent cover...but being able to wash it has come in handy very often!

4. Infantino Vintage Twist and Fold Activity Gym (thanks Sabrina!)

We got this play mat as one of four (three in one shower!) and we love it. We had so many other intense, super huge ones, which were all great...But after all the showers, we just couldn't keep them all. So, we decided on this one and I am so glad that we did. I love having it out, but it folds up easily for my "neat-freak" side when I want to clean up. Mack loves the toys on it and it has just the right amount of things to grab. And...a big surprise was that our friends boy Jack just loved it as well (18-month old). Granted...he did like to tackle it and throw it, but it held up and did awesome!

5. Diapers as Burp Cloths

Heck with those little 4 in x 8 in cloths that are sold as burp rags....I need a whole cloth diaper and I need a lot of them! They work great (except when Baxter eats one!).

6. Chariot Stroller

If you have read our blog, you have seen pics of the Chariot. It is stinkin' awesome and a must for our active lifestyle! Mack has gone on a 50 mile bike ride, hiked through the woods, and ran countless miles with his mommy and daddy. Super easy to use! Only question....will we get the ski attachments for the winter??

7. SwaddleMe Blanket

These were crucial to Macklin sleeping through the night at by 7 weeks! Starting at 3.5 months though, we only swaddle his legs now. He busts his arms out and I think we will not be using them in a few more weeks.

8. Graco SnugRide 32 Car Seat and Mosic Stroller

Safety first! This car seat has been awesome and easy to work with. We also got the stroller to go with it. I like the stroller because it is a lightweight version (not a super duper combo unit like some that weigh 30 pounds!). But, it has two seperate handles, not one bar, which makes it hard to push with one hand. I still like it though.

9. Bibs

For Macklin's first 9 weeks of life, I didn't use a single bib.....Then the floods came! Bibs are a must around here now unless I want to have Macklin in 6 outfits a day!

10. The First Years Sure Comfort Deluxe Bath Tub

I didn't know if we needed a tub or not...but I am glad that we have this one! It made for easy newborn bathing sessions. It came with a sling that we used through 3 months that was awesome and made Macklin love bath time! Now, he is getting a little long and we are at an in-between stage now. Can't quite sit on his own, but is too long to lay down. So it is weird right now. But, I am super glad we had it for those newborn baths!

11. Baby Bjorn

Just borrowed one of these from a friend and we use it daily! We had an off brand one, but it was a little time-consuming to get on. I love the ease of the Baby Bjorn and Macklin just chills out in it! I think we will have to get one of our own..maybe a sweet orange one!

12. Medala Breast Pump

For a girl that debated if I needed one of these...it is a must now! I love the freedom of being able to have Justin give Macklin a bottle and to store up bottles so I don't feel "trapped" by feeding schedules. It works great. I have had no problems with mine so far!

13. Rocking Chair

Makes the nursery...and makes me feel like an official mommy! Enough said.

14. Wipe Warmer with Cloth Wipes

There are debates on these things....but Macklin loves this. The feeling of that warm wipe on his tush brings smiles to the boy's face! I use cloth wipes and throw those with the cloth diapers for washing. I do have to fold and re-fill it, which is a little time consuming, but I like using the cloth wipes over the disposable ones! I rarely use two wipes for a diaper, where with disposable ones, sometimes I go through multiple!

15. BumGenius Cloth Diapers

Cloth diapers are freaking awesome! Everything has been great about them! I will post more on my system on this later.

Whew.....We are one high maintenance family! That is a lot of "gotta haves" and Macklin is only 4 months old! Crazy!