We partied UP!

Where to begin?  Dezmen is almost 14 months!!  We had 2 birthday parties for him, one with family and one with a friend.  I know everyone says "They won't remember it", but I did! I had fun making it kind of a big deal and celebrating what an awesome little boy he truly is! That and I'm not in classes...so maybe I'm also celebrating not being in school?!?

Dezmen fell asleep from party exhaustion before he could have  birthday cake or  pizza...so we celebrated the following day :) (Family Birthday)

On his birthday day: 
We went to get him some more fitting attire.  He was starting to sport capris instead of pants and we thought that had to change.  Dayv saw this great plastic tonka bike and we surprised Dez with it later. We also FINALLY blew up his fairly large plastic pool and it took some getting used to.  He's pretty cautious in what seemed like an open body of water.  Dayvisson made Brazilian pizza and I made his chocolate cake.  Turns out a one year old can have exhaustion of too much excitement, so we put him to bed and decided to surprise him with his cake the following day.


He got so excited about his candle that while Mom and Dad were making sure the camera was working, he'd check it out.
Dayvisson & I both were freaked and in turn Dezmen let out a big cry of either fear we were yelling or because the candle was hot. Either way, he's okay and he just looked at us while we sang to him.

7/7/12 and super excited about it.

I'd been seeing a lot of fun Disney's "UP" kid themed things and decided that would be a new and adventurous idea I wanted to try. I made some 3D "UP" characters for the party tables, cupcakes, "carl's bowtie salad", and a few other fun things.  

Here was the spread...

...complete with sippy cup

Don't be deceived..3 dimensional paper objects are extremely difficult...but were free from Disney's family website. I decided it was worth a try.

I'd only seen these done before, but Dayv was awesome and hacked open the watermellon like McGyver

More fun food

More fun attempts at creativity..funny enough the paper balloons to the house were too architecturally heavy to fit in the chimney. SO, we put them on a stick nearby.

Dezmen and Daddy making fun faces.

The Blomdals came to party! Molly is 8 months! It was a lot of fun!

Uncle David at the last minute had an awesome idea to dress up as Russel. It was awesome! 

Tasting his birthday cake with attitude.

Complete with goofy glasses that stayed on for 2 seconds, but was fun to put together.

"Point!"...I couldn't help myself.

All in all, I think I finally gave into some really fun pinterest ideas I saw and went for it.  I loved that movie! Dezmen hasn't seen it of course, but someday he will and maybe he'll say "Mom you remember that time when you dressed me up like that?" I'm glad we got to be together and do something fun.  Whew! And then there's planning for when they turn 2??????? :o  Here's looking forward to another one.  Cheers!

5 meses (5 Months!)

I'm a terrible MOTHER!!!

Pictures WILL be posted/uploaded. The countdown for finals to be over and dust to settle comes soon.

In the meantime...I'm incredibly selfish and hug and kiss these to men all to myself in between studying for finals, figuring out how to travel with Dezminho, breathing, walking, talking, yep I'm a selfish person, but the big finale of school is in sight folks.

Until the updated pics, I was TOTALLY rude and ungrateful by not properly crediting the absolutely GORGEOUS photography skills of my friend Rachel!

She's EXTREMELY talented and we loved catching up while catching some fun shots. She's hilarious, beautiful, and one of the most upbeat down-to-earth people I know. Again I've been caught being selfish taking up all the goodness and not crediting sources.

Check her out!

More updated pics are promised before Christmas.

The CUTE Christmas ones here are just a preview...hold your breath for the next few (just not too long). My absolute favorite one that makes me all crazy happy is the father/son one with Dezminho on Dayvisson's shoulders! Ah! What a heartbreaker!!

Okay, really off to to study and done with the study break.

Here's to a quick work week and to some well-deserved family time in the hopefully not so distant future!

Cheers!

How do Moms do it all?!?

Just as a heads up, this is a "cleansing" post...not many pics can accompany that.

I find myself asking the question "How does it all get done?" more often than not. Thank goodness we're not expected to be perfect or I'd be in big trouble.

I remember pre-natal Kelsi saying things like "I can find time to exercise. It's important, a no-brainer, I got this" and post-natal Kelsi says "If I can find the time to make dinner, I'm a good person." hahahaha

I feel like I need to verbally say: these are my obstacles. And then climb them as I identify them. I remember working at Y-Be-Fit the #1 complaint was "I don't have time", but i know that it's so much more than that. There's obstacles that are not as important that are getting time slots. Period.

With trying to feed a baby, find the nap time (and successfully execute naptime is even a puzzle sometimes), find the study time, find the food prep time of HEALTHY foods, find the calling time, yikes it makes me think the only solution is "I gotta wake up earlier", which also is interesting because studying after baby goes down for the night is the optimal time to study, which makes me think okay I'll exercise WITH baby during the day, which then turns into...well you can't get too sweaty or that's uncomfortable... and then it comes full circle to okay, i got exercise in, am i in anyway neglecting my child?

Welp, working out the kinks is getting easier to figure out scheduling but huge respect for moms that can go to school and take care of more than 1 child. I think that person's name is Ghandi or Mother Theresa..

But the prayer for balance continues and the balance and adjustment seems to be an eternal effort. Here's to the next 24 hours of trying to find it and the respect for those who have gone before...

Cheers!

These have I loved...

So I wanted to make kind of a collage of images of things that have been SUPER helpful and awesome...

Besides awesome family members and friends to give advice, some helpful websites like kellymom.com, and phone numbers of trusted places has been extremely helpful.

SO...

To future pregnant self:

dunstanbaby.com is really amazing from 0-12 weeks of life (there are 5 words indicative of what your baby is trying to comunicate...hard to believe, but don't take my word for it just check it out)

Even if you youtube dunstanbaby you will have the gist of it. Again, Amazing stuff.

Lesson 1 and Lesson 2

Dr. Karp - don't be afraid to use a binky, it's a natural reflex...he's the man..

The phone is your friend and you can call many of them for help...friends I mean, not phones :)

Swaddling is amazing! You can make your own! :)

Thanks Aunt K and Kirsten!!

There's no such thing as a perfect parent or a perfect baby, but there are ways to help your baby feel more comfortable...kind of strange looking methods, but somehow those types of things work...

Have a support group!

Things might not be labeled or designated as "mommy" helpful, but you can be creative, and they're often a lot better quality than stuff that is designated...(sorry if that's tmi)

Diaper changings in UT...sanitizer think about one with lotion :) hahaha

Walgreens diapers. Similar to the quality of pampers...have a diaper changing caddy in different rooms :)

All in all, it's just a picture collage of some really awesome things I ran into. If it helps someone else out there in the future..like my future self...AWESOME!

Cheers!

8 Weeks and Elated

It's been 8 weeks!

8 weeks and we have been gradually getting into the swing of things.

These past few weeks we had a 30 year Aspen Grove Reunion, a few get-t0gethers with the Starr family, a delicious breakfast with the Utah Woods, crock-pot epiphanies, and lots of smiles.

We also had two flat tires, unexpected craziness, the start of school (and homework..yikes!), late nights, and helping with a wedding.

Lots of firsts, craziness, happiness, and more craziness!

But to show a little Da Silva happy, here's one of Dezmen's smiles captured candidly...

What a cutie! Always happy when Daddy comes home :) 8 am and everyone's happy :)

At the changing table. One of Daddinho's favorite past-times apparently. He lights up like a Christmas tree at the sound of when I start pulling the wipes. Hahahaha

Winking to his adoring fans...or yawning ;)

Fun with Daddy right before bedtime

This is probably one of the coolest captured pictures. Dezmen (youngest) looking back and me and Great-grandma Petty (a little older) looking to the future...kind of Dorthea Lange like right? Only in color...

Great Grandma Petty, Gaige, Krieg, Max (Kirsten's children), and little Dezmen.

This was what we won at Aspen Grove...Dayvisson won this cool hat.

This is of me and my friend Lora, and little Daddinho's in the moby. I won a t-shirt! Free t-shirts never cease to put a smile on my face...

Going down for the night after a fun night with friends at Aspen Grove :)

Our family :)

After a long day of naps, going down for the big one..

At the start of the campfireside show...Dez and I in the moby.

This is my all-time favorite outfit that he has. Unfortunately moments later it was laid to rest until it's revived with some Dreft spray and wash.

Smiles that make nights a breeze...

Summer summer summertime...

trying to grab the camera...

After a long night of studying...

Dayvisson's nose is sometimes confused as the next meal...

And finally: the long promised picture of the final product of Dezmen's room.

8 weeks today and loving the time we share together.

Hope your week is a smooth adjustment too! Cheers!

The Da Silvas