Perfect Party

FINALLY! Yes, I'm finally going to chat about the Hadman's first birthday party. It was almost a month away, so you'd think it was about time, right? You're invited...to the recap! Here we go.

The day was perfect. Seriously. There were no major glitches (and only a couple of minor ones). The rain, all but for a gentle mist, even stayed at bay. Lucky, lucky, lucky. The only thing, after the fact, that saddens me is that I didn't get pictures of the decor (well, a couple)...or food (nada)...or activities (zilch). I know folks took some pictures of other stuff, but I should have taken a bunch of the decorations (y'know, the ones that took me hours of nap times to craft) and all that before folks arrived. Here's what we've got....

 

Bad blogger. Horrible blogger, actually. *slaps wrist* I made three different sizes of poufs totaling about 12 altogether, in various sizes...several strings of pendants...a sign for the front yard. Here were a few "before" shots from home...

But, I digress. It wasn't a day about me. It was totally a day about the Hadman. And it was awesome!

The celebration was at my mother's house (thanks, Mom! Not that I'm sure you're reading...?) since she has the most useable space for such a shindig. My sister was sweet enough to come out the night before to help with decorating and setup, and man was there food. Like, at least twice what we actually needed. Yeah, 'twas nuts...and a blast.

We had some awesome family and friends come to celebrate, which made the day so fun and special. To give us some more space (with some shade), we erected a screen house/tent in the lawn for extra people to sit under, in addition to the carport area that my parents use as a nice, private patio.

So, folks arrived around 1pm and we directed them towards the food. (Not sure how many times I said, "There's food! Please eat, or it's going home with you!!" It didn't. It went home with us. Full disclosure: I just found a half-eaten pizza at the bottom of the piles on my dining room table. There was mold, people.) The funny thing was that they lingered quite a bit before finally digging in. I don't know if it was because of our set-up or what, but we ended up grabbing the snacky stuff and throwing them in bowls, and plating up a variety of the pizza, and putting them at the tables. Somehow, it worked.

That said, a quick shout-out to our buddies. The few pictures we did get make it look like we had, seriously, 8 people there. We didn't. It was upwards of 25, give or take. Just lots of playing and in-and-out of the house and playing in the yard going on.

I can't remember the order, but after awhile of eating and bringing the birthday boy around to see folks, we did cake. I think. Yeah, cake then presents. Here's a little snippet of what it was like. Our often very serious, cautious, (over-thinking) boy was pretty...dainty. Hee hee.

First. Sugar. Ever. I also shared a cupcake or two with him in the days following. Oh, and I did use a variation of this recipe. I tasted it. 'Twas good, but not "birthday cake-like" (spongey) as we might hope. But, it got the job done, and he liked it.

While the root beer floats were being served (somehow, I even had time to taste one), we got the gift-opening underway. Holy crap, we lucked out. It is, however, where I got this post (and subsequent "shopping trips" from our ottoman in months to come). Love it!

As far as the nitty gritty, here was our menu:

 

Except my "H" cookies were as hard as a rock. And seeing "sandwiches" sitting all innocent and tiny like that makes me laugh. For real. I ordered bread. I stocked up, then stocked up again on piles of roast beef, turkey and the makings of an "Italian mixed sub" sort of thing. (Time to vote: What the heck do YOU put on a mixed sub?? The girl behind the counter and I were racking our brains, and a woman nearby who mentioned bologna lost all of our respect. Seriously, bologna??) Yeah. Add on homemade horseradish sauce (in addition to the usual condiments) and a variety of cheeses AND lettuces (arugula, anyone? Spinach?), and I spent hours planning and assembling those puppies. They were epic.

There was a bit of fun to be had, too, like...

We also printed off some facts about July 13th (it's a holiday now, y'know) for the tables, and put party hats around for folks to wear. (And those that didn't get worn did double-duty as decor.)

A few interesting facts: Hadley shares his special day with Julius Caesar, Patrick Stewart, Harrison Ford, and Cameron Crowe. Some pretty strong men, oof! Also, it's the day that JFK was nominated by the Democratic party, the day of the Live Aid rock festival, the day of a big power-outage in NYC (in 1977) that wreaked havoc, and (my favorite) the day the "Hollywoodland" sign was dedicated. So cool!

Anyhoo, after the cake and gifting, we shoved everyone into the living room for a viewing of the sweet, tearjerker video that Dave made. I may or may not be able to persuade him to share it on his blog. ;-) There were laughs. There were tears (many, many tears). There was gratuitous thievery of popular songs (ones that we had sung or heard a lot before he was born, except for "Beautiful Boy", but since our wedding song was "Real Love", we had to include it). No harm meant. :-)

After the movie viewing, folks were free to leave (sounds like jail) or to hang out. The birthday boy got a nap followed by a ton of backyard playing with the cousins, while we got to chat with folks more casually (and clean up...and clean up...and clean up). All in all, it was a very "Hadley" day: fun, yummy, silly, a bit scheduled (it kind of had to be to avoid meltdowns) yet casual and laid-back.

Nothin' But a Five Thang, Baby

Side Note A: I was totally going to finally pump out Hadley's birthday post for today. You can stop holding your breath for now; I'm hoping to get it done for Monday.

Side Note B: Gotta say I'm into the white girl gangsta blogger thing lately. It's a 90s kid thing.

Anyhoo, I noticed over on the blog, Nekaro, that there's a meme going around the blogosphere: five questions with five answers. This could, for all I know, be an old wives' tale. (Ha. A meme? Old wives' tale? Right, Meg.) I haven't seen it. But, who am I to look down my nose at a fun, MySpace-style list answering bonanza?

I'm supposed to tag folks to do this, but I hate that kind of pressure. "Will they actually do it? Will they hate me for shanghai-ing them into doing it? Do they know who I am??" So, if you want to do it, go ahead. If not, don't tell me. Oh, the self-loathing.
Five Things I Have a Passion For:

1. My Boys (furry and non)
2. Old Movies (SERIOUSLY...OBSESSED)
3. Louisa May Alcott & the Transcendentalists
4. History & Antiques
5. Interior Design (not necessarily good at it; just have a passion)

Five Things I'd Like to Do Before I Die:

1. Complete our family and see the kids happy to adulthood.
2. Get back on stage.
3. Find a forever home where we feel accepted and safe, and where there's enough room for big holiday get-togethers.
4. Get a dog.
5. Publish a book. Or ten.

Five Things I Say A Lot:

1. "Gonna change your dipey 'cause ya pooped your pants...pooped your pants...." (there's a whole song and since he's in the wriggly phase, it's necessary)
2. "WINSTON!!! G****** it, Wee Wee!"
3. "How was your day?" (Important to check in with the outside world and find out what good and bad made up the hubby's day)
4. Probably any number of weird things that make Dave laugh that I don't realize are "funny."
5. S*it and f*ck. I'm classy.

Five Favorite Movies: (in no particular order...man, seriously, only five?!)

1. The Philadelphia Story
2. Since You Went Away
3. It's a Wonderful Life
4. Holiday Inn
5. A League of Their Own

Five Places I Want to Travel:

1. Ireland
2. England (yes, again; Dave needs to get there)
3. Canada -- specifically, PEI
4. Across the U.S. -- ROAD TRIP!!!
5. Australia

See? Pretty painless! If you've got a blog, link to me so folks can see my boring answers. ;-) And let me know below so that I can read your awesome, way-better-than-mine answers...or if you have any questions, such as the rest of the diaper song. We could totally record it for you.

Summatime Update

Back at the end of June, I shared a list of my summer plans. I'm pleased with a buttload of what we've been able to do; I'm a tad disappointed (or even downright bummed) that a few, I won't be able to do. At. All. Here's the updated list:

1. I had already started this undertaking when I posted the list, and guess what! Still not done. Of course. I had done some clothing purging, but have more to do. I have yet to touch our coat closet. I did, however, tackle the toy situation, which in itself feels like a huge victory. But, y'know how pregnant ladies (sometimes) go through their period of nesting? Once the cooler autumn weather hits, I'll start attacking this. Promise! And I'll share my endeavors. (Oh, you lucky, lucky people, you.)

2. Bam! Done!! Hadley and I went for some time last week (with a break in the middle of the week, just to avoid meltdowns) to a camp my mom and stepdad rented for the whole family to use. It. Was. Awesome. I needed that. And Hadman even had fun! (I mean, what says summer like this picture?!)

3. *sigh* Okay. The Adirondack Museum trip didn't happen. I'll get into the why's at a later date, but the plans that we had made to hit it up as a family fell through. And I wasn't about to do that without my man; he's never been. Eh, ya win some, ya lose some. We are planning to visit the Carle VERY soon. We're ecstatic that the munchkin will be able to see the Mo Willems exhibit. I know he's just over one year old, but he's a F-A-N of all things Mo. He knows his books by illustration and picks them every single story time. We're hoping that the exhibit's a hit with him. I know it will be for us!

4. Yeah, I suck at keeping up with the "work" part of summer. I suck. We bought a relatively eco-friendly spray that I still need to use to clean OFF the front porch (and siding on the house). I still hope to at least clean stuff up, but I'm not sure if the paint job will happen this month or not. I'm not going to beat myself up, though.

5. See camping trip above. Sand. Done. ;-) Two birds, one stone!! (Okay, wait. Horrible metaphor. I hit what we've deemed to be a woodpecker on my way back up to camp and still feel like a murderer over it.)

6. Make that one "grill". We have grilled far more than last year, but not everyday...or even once a week. A handful of times. But s'all good. Here's my infamous grilled pizza recipe if you're feeling like cookin' outside.

7. The asterisk means I'm still workin' on it, but I have at least trimmed and gotten the rest of my tile down (sans the around-the-toilet stuff, since we've gotta move that first) and caulked around the tub. My next step is priming and painting the base moulding that we're reusing. (It's still poop brown.) It's gettin' there!

8. Just like grilling, we've done SOME of this. Not everyday, but it's been nice to get out when we feel like it. We took a few while at camp, and have done a few throughout the summer (even back for my "day in the life" post).

9. It's in the works. I always have two main reasons that I LURVE visiting Massachusetts; the first is to see some awesome friends (yay, we'll be able to do this!!) and the second is to hit up Concord (boo, we won't be able to do this). But, we're lucky we'll be able to go at all. Oh, and we'll be doing some fall shopping (not saying the dreaded "BTS" words out loud) at the outlets, so that's a cool perk, too. Even Dave is in need of stuff, so it'll be a family affair.

10. My garden this year has been a bit of a dud. I just got it planted way too late, I guess. I need to be a better planner. BUT, my tomatoes are going like gangbusters! They're all tiny ones, and many are splitting (I think we've got a blight goin' on), but the good ones I'm hoping to make a nice balsamic salad for the hubs with. So, if I do, I'll share the recipe. ;-) Oh, and we also learned that the Hadman is totally into the 'maters. I'm not pushing my prejudice on the kid (obviously; I hate them!!!), and I think it's awesome that he likes them.

11. Thank you, camp!!! I shared with with Hadley and it. Was. Awesome.

12. Yay!! A few Sundays ago, Daddy, Hadley and I checked out the Utica Zoo. Dave and I went as kids, and it's perfectly sized for a baby; not too big but just big enough to entertain. He was enamored with the zebras (and they were enamored with him), but all the animals were interesting for him. And apparently they all say "oof." Even the snakes. (One totally wanted to eat my baby. Back off, scaley!!!)

13. Dave's done this, I've done this, we're both going to see our Massy friends and I'm working on a catch-up with another buddy this week. We're gettin' 'er done.

14. *deep sigh* I've done this. And done it again. And still again. It's weird; I've had waves of calmness followed by thrusts of anxiety-driven headaches. I guess I always get that way when September starts rolling around. But, yeah, I'm working on maintaining the calm. Also depends on Hadley's level of crazy.

15. I guess I've technically accomplished this. I've read a few magazines (I lean towards "Real Simple" and hand-me-down "This Old House" mags, with the occasional Eating Well or DIY/house ones thrown in), but have re-started Walden and this rad short compilation of essays and papers on Transcendentalism. What? That's my idea of a good time.

16. I'm actually following my inspiration on this one. Some days I feel like working on my non-fiction piece, others I feel like working on a *top secret* sumpin' sumpin' I'm passionate about...so the children's books (yes, I said "books") have fallen to the wayside. I'm not one of those "write about something if I'm not in the mood" types of people. Maybe if I assigned it to myself, I'd be better at it. But, yeah, by Christmastime I'm hoping to have finally at least flushed out one of these.

17. Been there, done that! Haven't gotten to our local one as much as I'd like (I'd say once or twice?) but we've been to the Oneida County Public Market a few times.

18. Done and done. Post forthcoming!

19. Depending on the day and my little man's mood, we've achieved this. If he's cranky, the pokey little grass blades will annoy the hell out of him. If he's in "adventure mode", he doesn't think twice about it. The fact that we got him to play in the sand (even while wet and a tad cool) was a miracle.

So, that's where we are! We've done some stuff beyond the list, but seeing how many we have crossed off makes me feel purdy darn good.

What about you guys? Leave a comment! How has Summer 2013 gone for you?? I know it's been rough for many of my local friends, but let's think about the happy stuff. Anything fun to share? Have you basked in some sunshine? Discovered a new part of your town? Do tell!

Oddball

This past week, I schlepped the baby "up north" to the awe-inspiring Adirondacks for some quality time with my family and some ducks...and a deer head named Lois (although "she" was clearly a 7-point buck) which my son was sadly enamored with. I'm telling you, people, it was a good time.

Dave was only able to make it up for one dinner, so we missed our third musketeer horribly, but it was altogether a fun-filled, generally relaxing chance to get away from my daily summer routine of non-funness (boring ol' everyday) and spend time with all three of my siblings (it's rare to have us all together at once) and their respective families. We took walks, played some games, fed some duckies, illegally fished off the dock (oops...karma's a bitch, I only caught seaweed), toasted a few marshmallows, mercilessly made fun of each other, and I even kidnapped my can't-believe-she's-a-teenager niece into canoeing across the entire lake. And, for the most part, I ate "normally."

I had prepped myself mentally (if not physically, ugh) for this last piece. My mother, who is the ultimate planner/worrier, brought all the food (although my sister-in-law's family brought a ton of goodies, too, since they were bringing up five people vs. two; I thought it was nice of them). It's not that my mom eats crap; she buys the good cold cuts, the name brand yummy peanut butter, soda, bread, etc. Considering how much she has done for us over the years with an insanely low budget (HUGE Sunday meals, always healthy in the meat-and-potatoes sort of way; technically lots of "real food"), she still makes it a point to buy less but save for the best, even though we're not under her roof anymore. It kind of brings a tear to the eye, really. Heck, maybe she thinks we're not doing a good enough job of feeding ourselves. Could be.

But, I know that she and the rest of my family are, for all their strangeness, normal. I'm the oddball. Which is why I prepped, mentally, for the food, but more so for the comments.

I wasn't about to drag out a week's worth of my own natural food options. Didn't want to disrespect the cruise director, plus she had brought more than enough food for everyone. I figured that, for a week, I could put my massive amounts of research and reading about the benefits of an organic, "real food" diet (or, at the very least, HFCS-free eating) aside and just be "one of the group." No weekday vegetarianism, no looking at the label for naughty things. The one place that I differed was when it came to the baby. It's relatively easy to keep that under the radar with his jars and pouches of baby food, but the organic cheese sticks, applesauce, apple juice and yogurt I tried to conceal in the fridge gave me away...and the bunch of bananas sitting strangely next to the ones Mom had brought.

The second I put a chip in my mouth, Mom made mention, sarcastically, of her "organic girl." It actually didn't hurt my feelings since I knew what she meant by it and it was one of the first times she had really ever made mention that she knew how I ate. She has eyed my grocery store cart when we bumped into each other at Hannaford, and she may or may not read the blog. She knows. The snide-yet-harmless comments (from a sibling or two, as well) continued in drips and drabs for a few days, but mostly they were about the stuff Hadley was eating. Whew. Bearable. For the most part, folks didn't say anything at all; the chiding I did get was just a continuation of what I've heard since I was a little girl.

See, I'm used to the comments, for the most part. Our family is a group of teasers; always has been, always will be. I fall victim to the "Let's gang up on Bill" mentality at times, myself, too. (Always remembering that I'll probably be at the center of the next bout.) There was a time that my too-sensitive (not to mention dramatic) nature took them to heart. But, not seeing much of these close family members helps most of the comments bounce off one's back and remember childhood fondly.

And it's not like I'm not used to being the oddball, anyway. We're each pretty weird in our own ways, but apparently I was a tad more "off" than the rest of them. It was the same way in school, so by the time I had weirded my way through high school, I had grown into my skin. Monkees-lovin', tennis-and-oboe-playin', non-drug-doin' hippie as I was.

And, y'know what? In a weird way, this trip helped to remind me of who I am. I've become such a worrier of what others think of me that I had forgotten how comfortable it was to just be myself. Sure, I'll probably always be a tad self-conscious around others (especially when in volatile situations...well, doesn't THAT sound mysterious?), but the occasional reminder that it's okay to be an oddball is refreshing, isn't it?

At least, it's what I hope to teach Hadley. After all, who's more in touch with who they are than babies? Don't lose that, son! Don't you let it go.

What about you? Are you proud of your weirdness? What makes you especially crazy? Go ahead, let yo' freak flag fly!

Booby Business

I've been a mommy for over a year now, which means that we've officially been a breastfeeding family for as much time, too. Over that time, I've written here and there about our breastfeeding experiences, but now that we've reached the one-year point (which was my mental goal all along) and are still chugging forward slowly but surely, I thought I'd give a little update.

When last we met our heroine, Hadley was tapering off his feeding amounts and she was taking it tough. (Okay, third-person mode off.) Since summer vacation got out, I (obviously) haven't been pumping and have taken to an "on demand" sort of schedule -- in other words, he hasn't needed to eat as much throughout the day.

We're on a schedule, but it revolves around his meals (real food - breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sometimes snack) and nap times. He always breastfeeds in the morning (around 5am) and before bed (around 8:30pm), plus a couple during the day (often before or after the nap), with a bottle or two of 1/4 apple juice (and 3/4 water). So, I'd say that breastfeeding is becoming irregular, but still "a thing."

As I've said before, this makes me happy (to be continuing on as long as he needs it, and for the bonding, loving-my-little-boy time), yet torn (I. Miss. Wine. And a handful of other selfish things, like leaving the party or having to sequester ourselves from folks). Hearing folks (well...just my mom, who's been incredibly supportive considering she didn't breastfeed, herself) encourage me to move on to cow's milk since I've "gone long enough" whips me back to trying to enjoy those 5am feedings again.

In fact, I was reminded by the bitter side of this bittersweet milestone (weaning) today when I finally offered him his first bit of cow's milk. As with absolutely everything else that goes into his mouth, he liked it quite a bit. (He was confused, I could tell - continually taking the bottle from his mouth to look over while smacking his lips - but at least he's been on a bottle while at his grandmother's during the school year, so that part was fine. And, no, we haven't been able to transition to a sippy cup yet. One battle at a time, I suppose.) His stool was a little more, um, shall we say "active", and I'm not going to make it an everyday occurrence quite yet, but knowing that it's on the horizon puts a lump of sadness into my throat.

He's not walking on his own yet. He's still got his fine, golden baby locks. He only has two adorable teeth. He still needs me more than anyone, and doesn't care who knows that he's my biggest fan. He only communicates in guttural sounds and the occasional "oof" (which started off meaning "dog" but now means "cat", "zebra", "my favorite commercial, let's dance" and a hundred other things). He still eats "with me" (as I say it)...but not for much longer.

The milk in a bottle is the first stepping stone towards growing up. When I finally resolve to accept that which I cannot change, I'm pretty certain that I'll handle it better than, say, his father. But, in the meantime, I'm taking it awfully hard. The only way to get through is to cherish the mundane everyday occurrences and the experiences that we can share joyfully.

Now, what to pick for a Halloween costume before he can really say "No! I wanna be Superman!!" (or, God forbid, Spongebob or some other crap)...