I think there is a wide misconception that being a mom of 3 children makes me (or any parent) an expert at parenting. Let me just shut that down right now. What being a mom of 3 actually means is that I know as much or as little as every other parent but that I am reminded of that 3 times more than a parent of 1 child. Being a mom of 3 means I learn things 3 times, I try 3 different ways of doing things (and, actually, this should be 3 x infinity), I fail 3 times (on average), and I have 3 very different little humans that stare up at me for answers – with most questions that need to be answered in 3 different ways in order to satisfy their different personalities.
Expert, I am not. Experienced, sure.
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You know that moment when your baby turns 1 and you instantly have anxiety and think she’s going to be headed to college like tomorrow? Yeah. It’s a parent-thing. I swear that her first birthday sent me into complete hysterics. Not because I am super emotional or sentimental but because it hit me that this was the last time I’d be celebrating a FIRST birthday. My last baby was turning 1. I’d never experience this momentous occasion again. Sure, I have 3 kids who will all celebrate many special birthdays ahead, but this special moment also marked my last baby no longer being a baby… Excuse me while I go grab a tissue, I think there’s something in my eye…
At Hudson’s 2-year check up (though, if I am being honest, it was technically his 2 year and 4 month check up…oops) I expressed concern to his pediatrician about 2 issues; 1) his low weight/slow weight gain and 2) his frequent – if not constantly bad poops. In turn, the doctor also expressed concern regarding Hudson’s low weight gain and slow growth. He reviewed his records and discovered that he had basically fallen off the charts and he hadn’t gained more than 3 or so pounds since he was 9 months old. His height was also a very low growth compared to where he was forecast to be based on his growth chart and numbers since birth.
Hudson Maverick – the Birthday Boy!
Did you really think that I’d be able to go too long without posting a birthday party? I mean, clearly, it’s all that I do in my downtime – as if planning events for a living isn’t enough, I do it when I’m not working, also. I realize this might not be normal. But what can I say? I love parties. I love themed parties. I love planning for parties. And decorating for parties. And I especially love people enjoying those parties. So as long as everyone around me keeps wanting parties, parties I will have! I try to keep my posts light and non-controversial in order to maintain a wide range of readers. I think I usually do a good job with it, too. So let me (not) apologize in advance for this post perhaps being a little controversial, but definitely very personal and real. Mommy-Guilt. It’s real. And it sucks. As a parent all we want to do is provide the best for our children. We want them to get the best start in life. We want them to be the healthiest they can be. We want them to grow and thrive and surpass all growth expectations and be at the top of the charts. And for a lot of us, we want to be the ones that provide that for them. We want to be the reason they’re gaining weight and growing on-track. We want to provide them with all of their food & nutrients that their tiny little bodies need. And when we cannot do that? Yeah, that’s when the mommy-guilt kicks in. And man does it. Like a million kicks right to the stomach. For any mom who has even remotely felt that guilt, you get it. For the mommies who have been so fortunate to not feel it, count your blessings. It’s a good thing that birthday celebrations are just once a year because I am always left completely exhausted by them! Given, that’s likely because I do way too much for them… but oh well! I love throwing their parties. I have had so much picking the themes and making decorations, favors, food, etc for all of them so far and since I know I only have a couple of years left before they start telling me what they want for their parties I am totally going all out when I can. Plus, I am an Event Planner by day. I mean, what do you expect?
![]() Poppy the Birthday Girl! Living in California, the Bay Area to be more specific, the weather tends to be nice however sometimes unpredictable in the early Spring. This year was no exception. We had been having fine weather - overcast maybe a bit chilly, but minimal rain. I planned for Poppy's 3rd birthday party to be outside in our backyard because the entire week before the weather forecast promised a 25% chance of rain. Well. 25% was all we needed, apparently! I had set up the whole party; everything was good to go outside, than the rain started. At first it was drizzling. Than it was a downpour. Clearly this rain put a huge damper on all of the cute activities I had planned for outside. Not to mention, I didn't get a ton of pictures of the decor/activities or even of the birthday girl because she was running around in our super-packed little house! Stupid, Stupid rain! On a more positive note, the kids still had fun running around and playing in the house and thank goodness for the big playroom upstairs so that the 30 kids (and adults) could be some-what dispersed throughout the house. As I have said for every other birthday party I have blogged about, I like to keep the themes gender-neutral while I can. Pretty soon the kids will be (likely) asking for specific birthday party themes so while I get to choose, it will be a theme that works for both their boy and their girl friends. For Poppy's 3rd Birthday party we went with a "Cowboy & Cowgirl" theme because Poppy just loved seeing Jessie the Cowgirl at Disneyland! Here are some of the shots I was able to get of the party & the details about them... One of the outside activities was "Horse Wranglin" where I had a wooden rocking horse and a stack of hula-hoops and the kids could try to get the hula-hoop around the horse. A few kids were able to play when the weather cleared up for a little bit, thankfully!![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Poppy & her favorite Tia Patrice! ![]() Hudson loved the pie pops and used his beautiful blue eyes to get the ladies to share with him! ![]() Poppy enjoying handfuls of popcorn... not gracefully! ![]() My sassy Woody! ![]() Baby Woody & I ![]() Poppy & I! Happy VERY-Belated Birthday, Poppy Ireland!!!!! Enjoy!! xo ER ![]() I hung up a bunch of other signs that I made through out the house/yard and I also used real signs that I was able to borrow from the City of Moraga thanks to some connections! ![]() I used our kitchen table for the desserts. I used things around the house for props/decorations like a canvas tool bag, a saw storage box, and paint trays. My dad loaned me old blue-prints which I used on top of the table over a black plastic table-cloth. I stocked up on paint chip cards from Home Depot and threw them around the table for color & decor, too. Some of the desserts included "paint brushes" by dipping rice krispies in different colored candy-melts and putting a stick in them and displaying them in a paint tray. The "sledgehammers" were marshmallows dipped in chocolate with a pretzel stick, piled into the back of a plastic dump truck. The "wrecking ball" cakepops were poked into Styrofoam and displayed in the back of a dump truck, too. The "construction cones" cupcakes were strewn around the table for effect. I used the canvas tool bag for the construction themed cookies & had real tools in the pockets for effect. I did a candy buffet, also, and hung a sign that said "Fill Your Bucket". I displayed the big clear plastic paint buckets from Michael's & Jo-Anns with the candy in them. I made paint brushes on my Cricut and made each paint bucket a certain color (red, purple, yellow, pink, orange, green, and blue). I filled the buckets with the matching color shred & then filled it with the candy. I stacked them on the Diwalt saw case for height and accessibility. The buckets the kids (and adults!) filled were small clear paint buckets which I stacked up on our big ladder and stuck it in the corner. ![]() ![]() To continue the theme I got Home Depot canvas aprons & Home Depot pins for each child and set them on a table along with a plastic yellow hard-hat for them. To display them I used 2 of my dads saw-horses and put a large piece of plywood on top. I set out the uniforms and then scattered various tools among it - without the batteries in the power-operated tools! *Safety First* Here are some additional shots of the DIY details: As much fun as I had planning for her party and playing along with the theme, I wanted this party to be fun for the kids but also benefit needy children, also. So, for Poppy's 2nd Birthday there was not a thing that she needed and there was nothing that I wanted her to receive, either. So I decided that in-lieu of gifts, we would request that each guest bring a donation for the Project Night Night Foundation. I am a huge advocate of reading and Poppy just loves her books, blankets, and favorite piggy so this organization was the perfect fit. They provide a book, blanket, and lovie per child for children who are homeless. I requested that each guest brought one or all of the 3 items. We have amazing friends because they all brought donations and most brought multiple donations. The following Monday I proudly took all of the donations to the local drop-off location in San Francisco. I loved this idea and I will definitely do it for future parties, also. I want my children to enjoy celebrating their birthdays with friends and do it to have fun and not for the presents that they might receive. My children are very fortunate that they have all they could need/want right now and they don't need any more 'stuff'. As they get older I will include them in the charity-picking for their parties, but, for the next few ones I will continue to donate to Project Night Night! All in all, the party was a great success. Poppy had a blast, her little friends had fun, and even the adults had a good time! & most importantly, over 30 homeless children received blankets, books, and stuffed animals thanks to our very generous and loving friends and family! Thanks for checking out her party! Enjoy!! xo ER |
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