Markface's First Birthday

I've been wanting to post these photos for weeks and I am so happy that I finally have a quiet night at home to do it! Jay is working and I put Markface to bed early. Huzzah!

So, we did it. We kept him alive for an entire year.

We've been so busy for the past few months that I was tempted to say screw it and not throw a first birthday party at all. After all, he's not going to remember it. The first birthday party is always about the parents and the pat on the back we give ourselves for surviving.

Not gonna lie, that first year was brutal. I'm sure that each year will bring its own challenges, but this one was rough. 

There were many reasons not to throw the party on the date we decided to - it was Labor Day Weekend, we'd given everyone less than a week's notice, it was the day after we were attending a wedding, and Jay had to work the next day... among other things. The following weekend, we had TWO weddings to attend. We didn't have the "perfect" weekend to throw his party until nearly a month after his actual birthday.

So we said screw it, let's do it on his birthday - September 6th. 

On Monday, I sent my new friend Steve a message... was there any way he could do Markface's birthday cake for that weekend?

As luck would have it, he could. He asked me what I wanted to do... I said it could be simple and just have his name in the STAR WARS style font, or that he was welcome to be "creative" if he wanted. 

He's amazing, so obviously he went the creative route. 

"I was thinking Death Star," he said. 

The detail was just incredible.

"Oh, and you should do a smash cake, too."

These cakes were absolute masterpieces. And even better, they tasted awesome! I couldn't believe we had to actually eat them. 

The other really cool thing that we found out a few weeks ago is that Chef Steve is going to be on the Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship. It airs November 1st at 9 p.m. - make sure you tune in!

And my kid had to destroy his smash cake? Little did I know at the time that it was prepared by our own local celebrity.

He was actually pretty meticulous about the way he destroyed his cake. It was anticlimactic to be totally honest. First he ate the piping piece by tiny piece.

Then Dada ripped open the fondant so that he could get to the delicious inside... chocolate and vanilla.

He didn't have enough on his face, so Makayla (Aunt Brenda's granddaughter) smeared some icing on his nose. I was actually kind of happy at the lack of mess. I think it's pretty gross that parents purposely cover their kid's face in icing. It's sticky and just gross. Yuck. Not to mention that it's wasteful! Especially with a cake as great as that.

A day or two before the party, I realized that we were going to have a lot more people than our "low-key" planned event. I was expecting no more than 25 people. Maybe 30 people at most. We had over 50 show up! When I realized that the guest list was getting out of hand, I asked Steve to make some vanilla cupcakes. "Really, Lauren? You have a Death Star birthday cake, and you're asking for plain old vanilla cupcakes? "Okay! If that's what you want..."

He of course had to decorate our plain old vanilla cupcakes too. Which were amazing. I'm glad I got one before they were all eaten.

Here are more pictures from the party...

Twinsies!

We do what we can to get him to look up. He's always looking down - except of course when he's running or walking. Then he faceplants. A lot.

He looks thrilled.

With his Godfather Sean

Silly boy

Markface is all sugared up and on the loose... oh hey look, his tux has tails!

One last thing to mention about the party - due to the last-minute nature of it and pretty much not giving a shit, the food was terrible. We bought crappy pre-made burgers and hot dogs at the store, and I attempted to make baked beans for the first time. I used dry beans. They were awful. Thank God for the desserts (apart from Steve's cakes & cupcakes, we also had his Cannolios, which are amaaaaazing). Sara also brought cole slaw, and Jay's macaroni salad is always delicious... but the main food was pretty bad. We've fallen a long way from our grilled tenderloin with fresh horseradish sauce, raw oysters, mini quiches, fresh bruschetta on homemade baguettes and local cheese! And definitely no ice cream on fresh-baked cookies. I didn't even make pulled pork. Ugh. It was pretty embarrassing. Next time we'll do better... although maybe our poor performance will dissuade some guests from attending our next party. Ha!

I'm going to do my best to get back into blogging. Now that I'm getting more sleep, I hope to be back into it. I have so much to catch up on and we're also heading back to Key West for our five year anniversary in December. It's gone so fast! 

More to come soon, I hope!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

An almost wordless Wednesday

It's been a while! Hoping to post at least once a month or so. Here is what I've been up to.

Life is good.

A sappy post to baby Markface

I wrote most of this post last week, but am just getting a chance to post it now. I'm happy to report that Markface is sleeping slightly better than he was. Hopefully this trend continues!

Hipster baby

I know that I said:

Don't worry, I'm not planning to post copious amounts of crap about my pregnancy or kid. Obviously my life will change, but I am hoping to still be awesome and not have my child totally consume my life.

But at the moment, my life revolves totally around the little guy. It's all about him right now. Babies are incredibly demanding. Once he gets into a better sleep schedule and we find a few reliable sitters, it will get easier. Right now it's just a lot of love and sleep deprivation.

I came to motherhood reluctantly. Perhaps even kicking and screaming. There were too many adventures to be had - too many places to travel, so many things to do. Last year I posted this rambling monstrosity about the things going on in my head and how I wanted to move to Australia. I would still love to live in OZ, but then...

All of that said, on to my sappy post to Markface -

I never knew how much I wanted and loved you until you were placed on my chest; wriggling, screaming, slimy, and grey.

Even though my alarm was going off this morning and I had to get in the shower, I couldn't get up.

Your body was snuggled against mine. You're a little furnace, just like your dad. You woke up three times during the night to eat, and I was exhausted - but all I could do was lay in bed and look at you. After the second time you woke me up, you ended up in bed between me and Jay. This week the sleeping is not going well -but if you're hungry, I have to feed you.

I was fully in the moment this morning before I had to get up for work. I know this time is fleeting. Too soon you will be too old to snuggle. You won't give me smiles in the morning and make me late to work. Too soon you will have your own opinions and be your own person, and those things will make me late to work. But for now, you are all mine. You can't protest if I snuggle you too much or give you too many kisses. 

I hope that I never take this time for granted. I hope that I can be patient. I hope that I can be fully in the moment more often.

I didn't expect any of this... it is new and awesome and so much better than I was expecting, if I'm being honest.

I still want to travel and have adventures, but now I get to share that with this little person.

Life is good.

25 Things in 2014 - how I'm doing

Earlier this year, I posted this list.

Of course I was secretly pregnant, so "survive childbirth" did not make the list. But it should have!

Here's how I did:

1. Pass the Series 7 exam.
   I passed on the first try, even though I was freaking out the morning of the exam and already planning on strategies for the next time.
2. Housebreak our dog.
   I won't say that he's fully trained as far as obedience goes, BUT he is fully housebroken.
3. Finish the fence.
   It's finished, otherwise the dog would be even more obnoxious.
4. Plant a garden.
   Our yard guy has planted some more perennials in our front garden. So yeah, the garden is planted. ;)
5. Finish at least one closet of the two unfinished ones.
   Both closets have drywall and places to hang clothes. I'm calling it a win.
6. Rearrange upstairs bedrooms.
   Totally necessary when you have a baby. We rearranged ALL of the upstairs bedrooms. And did I mention that we bought a king size bed? It was needed. I have no idea how we slept in a queen before.
7. Find pet-friendly accommodations.
   No desire to do this anymore. Maybe one day our dog will be nice to take on vacation, but we often need a vacation from the dog.
8. Take a road trip with our dog.
   See #7.
9. Go on vacation somewhere new.
   We went to Maine in June... it was lovely!
10. Do something that I'm afraid of.
    Considering that childbirth has always terrified me and so has having a kid, then yes, that was a huge fear that I am ending up loving.
11. Blog at least twice a week (or 104 posts for the year).
    Failing hard at this.
12. Spend more time around the water (sunning, diving, swimming, boating, or sailing)
    Failed at this too. Went to the beach a handful of times and no diving while pregnant either. Looking forward to getting back in the wetsuit soon!
13. Try paddleboarding.
    Hopefully next year!
14. Actually send out Christmas cards in 2014.
    I think this is going to happen. We had our photos taken and have ordered the cards from Shutterfly. 
15. Get my wedding ring re-sized.
    Done! 
16. Come up with new savings goals & reallocate funds.
    Done! And now we have more new goals. We are trying to figure out which plan we are doing for Markface with the Maryland Prepaid College Trust. It's a pretty great deal.
17. Spend a weekend in NYC.
    Didn't do this. We are heading to NY in a few weeks, maybe we'll get to the city.
18. Swim 1000 yards (I might finally accomplish this)
    After I got pregnant I wasn't feeling too great and slacked off on my exercise routines. My girlfriend wants to start swimming at the Y, so I am planning to join her and get back in the swing of things. Maybe I can get this done by year-end.
19. Frame and hang at least one of my photos.
    Maybe by year end? 
20. Start foyer photo wall.
    We bought frames and everything. I just need Jay to hang them!
21. Spread some of Dad at Martinak. Maybe on his birthday.
    I meant to do this. Maybe next year on his birthday... he would have been 68 in February. I wish he were still around to meet his grandson. :(
22. Stay in better touch with relatives.
    I'm trying, but I still suck at it. It's much worse now that I have a kid.
23. Log at least 365 miles, walking or running. One mile each day (totally doable!)
    I think I may have done this, but since I haven't kept up with wearing my fitbit or logging on my exercise app, I have no idea.
24. Complete an obedience class with our pup.
    We did this! Unfortunately we need about a hundred more.
25. Throw an awesome dinner party.
    I really can't recall. We probably haven't had many people over but the last year has been such a blur I'm not sure. 

So all of that isn't too bad considering the major life changes that have taken place this year.

I've been back to work for three weeks now. The lack of sleep is pretty brutal, but I'm surviving. The first day of leaving the baby at daycare was awful too. But we are slowly getting into a rhythm, hopefully Markface will start to get with the program and begin sleeping longer. We had been getting anywhere from 4-6 hours each night, even almost 7. Then there are the days that he is up every 2-3 hours, or he'll sleep for 3 hours and then be up every hour, or some combination thereof.

Overall, life is still pretty damn good, even though I am now tired all the time.