No... I'm not Mexican, but close

I've been secretly getting excited about Cinco De Mayo.  And no, I'm not Mexican.  (I am however Spanish) Apparently, to most people in this country it's pretty much the same.  We all speak Spanish, eat rice and beans... you know the same thing.  During my college years, I was very defensive that Mexicans and Spaniards were two different sets of people with very different ways of life.  I mean, if anything the countries are on two separate continents! ... but as time went on, I've learned to embrace the similarities and most of all Cinco De Mayo.  Another excuse to enjoy some delicious Mexican food and drinks! Who doesn't love a good themed dinner?

So in honor of Mexico and their culture we will be celebrating too.
For dinner, we'll be having some yummy quesadillas since apparently I make too many enchilladas as it is. (For you Andrew) Also some Mexican street corn.
For dessert, how about my personal favorite; churros - which by the way I had as a child living in Spain.  I have so many memories of the crunchy and gooey dessert dipped and super thick hot chocolate.  Personally, I claim them as being a Spanish dessert, but who really knows.

I like to use the Betty Crocker recipe you can find here. It's easy to make, doesn't have too many ingredients and you can dip them in whatever you want to make the super fancy.
Noah and I will also rock our festive wear too.  My "fiesta like there's no manana" sweatshirt and Noah's 'wanna taco 'bout it" shirt.  Similar here. Pictures to follow I'm sure.

What will you be doing for Cinco De Mayo?

Week 45

I feel like every week that passes is my favorite week.  I wonder if there will be a week where I enjoyed him less than the week before.  His night time snuggles are the best.  He's really starting to figure out this walking thing and it's getting me so excited from playing outside in the summer.  He never sits still and has to be doing something at all times. Is this just a boy thing or a baby thing? I know it can't be just a Noah thing.
I've given up on taking these weekly pictures without a toy; some kind of distraction.  He just rolls over and goes away!  Here we have his favorite toy in the whole wide world.  Rufus the dog.  He sleeps with it every night and sucks on the tag on his butt.  lol. He will hate me for this one day.  At least he doesn't take a pacifier, right?

• Noah is how big?: 24 lbs, 31.5in
• Stats: Size 3-4 diapers | 12mo or 18mo clothing | Tries to do sit ups || Stands holding on to objects | Can sit to stand | Still only army crawls | Starting to put things together, stacking cups, stacking rings...etc | Walk holding onto objects | Takes 4-6 steps on his own | Sleeps with his butt in the air |
• Sleep: Sleeping consistently from 7:30pm to 7:30am. Naps three times during the day. A morning, an afternoon (both 1.5-2hrs) and a cat nap (45min)  We're slowly starting to drop that third nap. Some days if he naps longer the first two we cut the third one out.  He should be at two by his birthday.
• Milestones: He took like eight steps this weekend unassisted.  Both Jeff and I looked at each other very impressed. 

• Mom Check-in: I feel like I've been working every weekend lately and it's starting to get a little old.  This weekend will be my last until the fall! About time.  Not looking forward to work in the summer, it's just so slow. This however means I'll be taking tons of time off to spend with the boys.
• Best Moment of the Week: He was great all Easter day and was really fun to hang out with.  He loves his parents so very much.  It's good to finally feel loved by your child. Now we have to get him to say I love you.
• What I’m excited about/looking forward to: I really should be packing for Mexico.  It seems so far away, and it's not!  I got to get it together.  I did order some cute summer skirts from Old Navy last week.  Excited to get them in the mail.  I also bought two post pregnancy bathing suits I'll be rocking for the first time so that should be something to get used to.

Easter Sunday

How was your Easter weekend?  I'd like to say we had the whole weekend to enjoy this nice weather but both Jeff and I had to work on Saturday, boooo!, so we made the best of Sunday and spent most of the day with the family.   We had a great Easter brunch and Noah even had his own highchair.  Thank goodness too because I was coming in thinking how big of a mess it would have been otherwise. 

We had Noah all dressed up in his Sundays best but it only lasted about an hour when it was time to play.  He did make a great entrance though.

After brunch we came back home to open up Easter baskets, do our egg cracking contest... (did not win unfortunately), and just hang out for a while.  We tried to have Noah take a nap in his pack and play but he pretty much refused.  He must have just wanted to hang out with the fam too.

We put Noah in some comfier clothes and went outside to take some family pictures.  Note to first time parents: if you want to take nice pictures, probably not a great idea to wait 'till the end of the day.  That should be the first thing you do!

We're lucky to have so much family together for holidays. Happy first Easter Noah!

Party Planning

It's getting close guys! We're about seven weeks away from Noah's first birthday.  As I've said before, it's such a big deal for me. I've been waiting for this since he was born.  I was just never meant to be a mom to a baby. Toddler I can handle, but I just do not have the kind of patience it takes to take care of a newborn. So, in a way, this is a celebration for me too. (Not to mention my birthday is the day before anyway.)

So thoughts of this party started to swirl around about a month ago.  Should I do a theme, a color? What should I serve, how many people should we invite?  I think the first birthday is a little different than the rest.  There are milestone birthdays and this is one of them.  So we're planning on inviting all the family in the area, and some close friends.  It's a lot of people. We've decided to do it graduation style, that way anyone can come and go as they please.  We'll put the time of the cake smash on the invitation if anyone wants to watch. Otherwise, it'll be a come and go party. 

So about a month ago, I drew this:
With all my thoughts and ideas. On the tiniest piece of paper I could find.  lol. No idea why.  And I came up with a color scheme I liked and threw out the theme idea because I kind of thought that was a little cheesy.  Especially since Noah doesn't really know what's going on and the adults are the ones to enjoy this party anyway. 

We're going for black and white and silver with pops of blue. So this weekends I've gotten super crafty with my time and got to work!

So far, we've got the NOAH black letters for the food table (I also found the cutest cake stand at PIER1), the cake topper, the "one" banner for the high chair and some little cupcake toppers.  I found the best glitter paper at hobby lobby for most of the projects.  It's much thicker than regular paper and holds up much better.  I also purchased a great black and white runner to put on the food table, some stripped straws in blue and silver for the guests, and a great silver garland.  I think all that's left is the food and the balloons and we should be ready to roll! Who's getting pumped. 

I will be enjoying a cold beverage for sure on this birthday. Yay Noah for turning one. Thank goodness I've almost made it!