Haiku: S.W.A.K and Written By Mommy

Whew- hew! To all who
hung through birthday installments
one , two, even, three.

Then, there were the posts
all about the planning, too!
So many details!

Boy! I'm glad that's through.
Even though you still came back,
no doubt, you are too!

With that behind us
there's just one more thing to do...
Say "Thank You", of course.

I love stationary --thank you cards, invitations, note cards, lined envelopes, etc. If it's personalized, customized, and paper, I LOVE it!!!

I also (secretly) enjoy writing thank you cards as if they were penned by my son. (My two-year-old son...) I write them as I imagine he would talk to another toddler, print and use big letters, and even sign them with "Your Pal, A----".

If I had received something like this before I had a child, I would have rolled my eyes and pretended to gag. I would have passed it around the table at happy hour and made all my childless, single friends read it and they would have gagged, too.

I realize it's dorky. It's silly. It's clearly very obnoxious (even though all of my mommy friends do it, too), but nothing amuses me more. Fortunately, I get to write plenty of thank you cards following the windfall that was my son's birthday!

Ha-Ha, and you thought I really wouldn't bring up my kid's birthday ever again... Okay, last time. I promise.

So 'fess up. Are you obnoxious, too?

For more Haiku Friday, check out A Mommy Story and Playgroups are No Place for Children.

Birthday v2.0: Part-ies

If you missed the first installment, you can find it here. The second installment is here. For those of you rolling your eyes, I promise to find something other than my son's birthday to blog about soon...

So yesterday when I said that our ride on Thomas the Tank Engine with his six friends from playgroup was supposed to be my son's only big birthday celebration, I wasn't lying... exactly. In an effort to keep things simple, it was supposed to be the only thing...

Before I heard about "Day Out With Thomas", Hubby and I considered taking a family trip to SeaWorld in San Antonio over his birthday weekend. While it probably would have been just as expensive as throwing a party (or two parties in this case), it would have been LESS insane to plan for...

You see, I actually abhor the "bigger is better for birthdays" philosophy. We have just as much fun at parties held in a backyard or at the park as we do at Chuck E Cheese or the Wiggly Play Center. With so many parents turning their noses at big-budget kid's parties, it’s more of a statement if you don't have one too.

I feel absolutely no need to compete with any of the other parents we know. If anything, they would have to compete with us, because no matter how much we say that we want keep things low-key and small, we can't help ourselves. The word "simple" just isn't in our vocabulary.

We look at it this way... We have been blessed with so many wonderful friends and an awesome family, we LOVE throwing parties, and we adore our son. So what better excuse to invite all of our friends to a party for our son than his BIRTHDAY?! And that's where things start to unravel...

Next thing you know I'm stressing over the societal implications of our party favors, staying up late to mix party CDs, and antagonizing my local bakery...

Amidst the frenzy of planning and preparing, I kept asking myself, "who am I really do this for?" I mean, here I am dragging my son along to pick out birthday hats and balloon, instead of taking him to the park... "Is this really worth it?"

All it takes is this happy little face to know that it was!

"Thank you, Mommy. You throw a great party and have such shiny hair!"

But still... Next time when I promise to keep things smallish, simple, and low-key, do me a BIG favor and please hold me too it.

By the way, Gymboree did a FANTASIC job with the 12 two-year-olds, 3 baby sisters, 2 big brothers, and 1 five-year-old cousin that ended up making it to the party, as you can probably tell from the photos.

They were so imaginative, warm, and engaging. The best part? They took care of everything once we got there, which means no messy colored frosting on my walls and kitchen floor.

Birthday V2.0: Part II

If you missed the first installment, you can find it here.

As you smarty pants out there have probably figured out, there was just so much birthday stuff to blog about that I decided to do a series of posts versus one very long one. This is probably fitting since my son's birthday has pretty much consumed my entire existence for the past two weeks... at least.

If that sounds like the equivalent to other people's vacation photos to you, then please feel free to tune out this week. I will totally understand. Totally.

Now where was I? Ah, yes... So, guess what rolled into town but only for a very limited engagement?

Ummm, only an opportunity to ride on Thomas the Tank Engine ON my son's birthday.

We just HAD to go. I booked our tickets four months ago when I first heard about it and convinced my playgroup to do the same. It was supposed to be my son's ONE big birthday celebration with his friends. HA! (But more on that later....)

Planning that far ahead of time with a group a two-year-olds is always very dicey. I've been known to cancel outings the morning of, simply because my son woke up with a 'tude. Usually it's not a problem when the activity in question is playing in the park or dropping by a friend's house, but these tickets cost $60!

In my book, that's a lot of money to just say, "Pfff... I guess we'll just stay home if you really don't want to wear pants today..."

The ride itself was pretty uneventful. I believe the highlight for my son was being in a moving vehicle and NOT confined to a car seat. Frankly, he and his friends looked a little stunned to be there the whole time...

We were one of the last groups to get off the train, so by the time we got to the front there was a huge line to get your picture taken with Thomas. We braved it anyway, but just as we were about to take our turn Thomas had to leave for another "adventure".

This is Thomas pulling out of the station... and although, you don't see it, my son and I yelling and shaking our fists. "25 minutes until the next photo op. Peep! Peep!"

Bu-bye-bye, Thomas. You jerk!

In the meantime, there were other photo ops available. This Sir Topham Hatt with not-my-kid...

My son and his friends wanted nothing to do with Sir Topham Hatt. I mean, just look at the size of him in comparison to an "average" kid! I wouldn't want anything to do with him either. Furthermore, we wanted nothing to do with the line to take photos with him (especially not after our experience with Thomas.)

...and this is Sir Topham Hatt telling me to get back in line and stop...

ahem! ahem! "...causing confusion and delay...."

hehe! Yeah, I couldn't resist.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit this (to the whole Internet), but I think I was actually MORE excited about our adventure with Thomas than my son or any of his friends...

We eventually got our "official" photo with Thomas.

See, that's our family on that day our son turned 2!

Tunes for Two

Sick of the hundredth kids' CD featuring school children signing an ear-splitting "Old MacDonald", I put together a compilation of "kid-friendly" tunes from my personal music collection for my son and gave it out as party favors for his first birthday party. This year, I decided to make it a birthday tradition.

Since I exhausted my collection last year, I've been compiling music for the last two months. There is a whole lot of music out there, just not a whole lot that really "works" for a two-year-old's birthday party...

So, it's no big surprise that I ended up with Laurie Berkner, Justin Roberts, and of course, They Might Be Giants and The Beatles.

I downloaded all of the music from iTunes, and I had hoped I could share it with you using playlist.com. Unfortunately, they didn't have most of the songs; not even just my very favorites.

If you know of another site or service I could use to post my playlist, please let me know. In the mean time, here is my son's second birthday playlist:

1. Stroller Town - Jonathan Coulton

2. I'm Gonna Catch You - Laurie Berkner

3. Snack Time - The RTTs

4. Good Day Sunshine - The Beatles

5. Where Do They Make Balloons? - They Might Be Giants

6. Dance Around - Ralph's World

7. Top Of The World - The Juliana Theory

8. Island In The Sun - Weezer

9. Jungle Boogie - Kool & The Gang

10. Hooked On A Feeling - Rusted Root

11. Boogie Shoes - KC & The Sunshine Band

12. Me and Julio Down By The School Yard - Paul Simon

13. My Brother Did It - Justin Roberts

14. No! - They Might Be Giants

15. It's Your Birthday - Justin Roberts

Happy Birthday V2.0

Okay, I'm back from the weekend o' birthday extravaganza and I am officially POOPED!

My son's birthday started with a BANG and a KA-BOOM... quite literally and at 3:30 in the morning... That's when we awoke to find our house being pelted with hail and a terrified birthday boy stunned and terrified in his crib. While Hubby went to comfort him, I flipped on the TV to find a local news broadcast.

I hate the local news, by the way, and here is why...

The only channel NOT broadcasting infomercials at 3AM had up a weather map indicating that a TORNADO was coming towards our neighborhood. Not our general non-specified area. Not our county. Our neighborhood and OUR HOUSE!

Next thing I know the nearest tornado siren starts to wail. It's less than a mile away, so we're talking LOUD here. We grab pillows off the bed and head to the only "secure" location in the home, our closet. (The same closet where I hid all of the birthday gifts still unwrapped, by the way...)

Turns out there wasn't a tornado spotted AT ALL and they freaked us out for nothing. After it hailed for about 5 minutes, it rained. Just RAIN and only about an inch or so at that.. but, you know, anything for a sensational sound bite for the demo reel/promos...

I hate the local news.

We allowed our son, who was entirely too shaken to go back to his own bed, to "sleep" the rest of the morning in ours. Not that anyone really got anymore sleep. It took a long time to calm him down only to wake up ONE HOUR later with him perched ON my head, trying in vain to turn off the alarm clock we've been ignoring.

My husband, long since kicked out of the bed by a pushy toddler, was sprawled on the floor and we were ALL running very late the first of the birthday events, "Day Out with THOMAS" (the Tank Engine). Peep! Peep!

To be continued...

In the meantime, read up on Anglophile Football Fanatic's post about their experience at "Day Out with Thomas" a week before.

Oh, how life has changed: Birthday Edition

My husband was out of town for a conference, so my friends invited me over for a casual family dinner of gumbo. It was a great idea, except that may have quite possibly been THE most disgusting sounding thing in the world to me.

The gumbo, not the friends and family time...

There were supposed to be a bunch of other people from college there too, including my best friend. It was mostly folks who we hadn't seen a whole lot since they got married and had babies... lots and lots of babies.

It would have been so much fun to see everyone again, but I just wasn't up for it. I gave my regrets and spent my evening channel surfing on the sofa.

Turns out I didn't miss much. My best friend (A.K.A. the only single adult there) called to check on me as she was leaving their house. There was fear and panic in her voice. The kids outnumbered the adults, which, at the time, definitely would have scared me too...

"It was SO crazy. The KIDS! They were all over the place and so insanely LOUD! And, oh my goodness! Their house! Their house! It... was... covered... in... TOYS!" she said. "Man, you and I should be glad we're not pregnant, right?"

"Actually.... I am." and after a brief pause, we both started screaming, "Ahhhhhhh!"

That was 2 years and 9 months ago, and I haven't looked back since.

Today is my son's 2nd birthday. In the calm before the celebrations, I can't help but ponder how those days when I first blurted out the words, "I'm PREGNANT" to our family and friends seem like a distant past but yet, not so much....

You know that saying: "the days are long, but the years are short"? No truer words have EVER been spoken. I can hardly account for all of the late, late nights and way-too-early mornings, photo ops, diaper changes, bedtime stories, frantic phone calls to docs, sweet kisses, tantrums, adorable belly giggles... and the much, much more to come.

To say having a child changes everything would be a severe understatement. While I haven't been a mom for very long, it's still strange to think back to a time when every dinner went smoothly, cleanly, and uninterrupted. Happy hours weren't just for my monthly "girls' night out" and weekends revolved around "hmmm, now which jello shot workout class to take"...

I wish I could say that I miss life before becoming a mom, but to be perfectly honest... I don't. My simple, suburban life may be less than glamorous to most some people, but somehow life just doesn't seem quite right without my son (and all the craziness he brings) in it.

These days, I'm the one with the messy, chaotic house full of toys and barely making it to see my old friends. (Sorry, but sadly it's true) As for my best friend...

She and her fiance are my son's godparents, and they're getting married this summer. Oh, how life has changed!

Then and...

Now and Loving every minute of it.

Party Planning: Part II

My son's big birthday weekend is coming up. The BIG 0-2 and there's so much to do!

But, what am I doing? Nesting, apparently...

This past weekend, I busted out the ladder, ammonia and vinegar, and the hose and insisted that we clean all of the windows- inside and out, front and back, top to bottom. So, of course, it's been raining on and off all week...

I also cleaned the oven, polished the hardwood floors, and bleached the washing machine.

None of which has anything to do with the twenty family and friends coming over for dinner on Saturday. A dinner that is happening after the Gymboree party with the sixteen two-year-olds, by the way.

In fact, I'm trying NOT to think about the twenty family and friends expecting me to feed them something other than "nuggies'n mac cheese" (as my son's best friend calls lunchtime at my house...)

A few nights ago, it occurred to me to order my son's cake. It wasn't really a big deal since the party was still a week away at the time, but I figured I should at least narrow down which licensed character to have on top of it...

My son has been into Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank. Well, not so much Bob since he saw it dubbed in French, but he still gets pretty darn excited about Thomas the Tank.

Even though the last two birthday parties we've gone to were Thomas-themed, I should probably just go with it anyway. However, truth be told, my son's most favoritest show EVAH is actually....

THEEEEEEE... PRICE... IS... RIGHT! This lights. The colors. Drew Carey's charm and enthusiasm. My son is so engaged. He even claps and smiles when the contestants win their showcase. It's VERY cute.

*************************************************************************************

Update: So, even though my son is totally into the "Price is Right", and boy-howdy is he ever. I didn't think anyone else would "get it"; maybe not even him looking back on the photos twenty years from now. Plus, everything that my son seems to like about the show (the lights... the colors... etc.) doesn't exactly translate well into cake form...

I decided to go with Gymbo the Clown, Gymboree's lovable, but not exactly well-known mascot.

Naturally, I set to work drafting a layout of exactly how I want to cake to look, complete with multiple reference photos of Gymbo taken from different angles.

Did I mention that this is for a cake... for a two-year-old's birthday party...

Yeah, why am I so anal?

Party Planning and Other Social Issues...

I am incapable of throwing a small party. There! I said it.

My son's second birthday is fast approaching and I've been planning his party for weeks. By planning I mean trying to make a guest list comprised of his multiple (yes, I said "multiple" as in more than one) circles of friends (and their parents) and the obligatory family members appear low-key.

Problem is... we're anything but.

By necessity, we limited the guest list to just kids my son's age, and even then, just the kids who...

a) ...he actually plays with,
b) ...on a regular basis,
c) ...and actually gets along with...

...and we still ended up with a "B-list".

As soon as someone declines, another invitation drops in the mail. I know that sounds obnoxious, but what can I say, my son is popular.

By the way, can you see how this only makes his own grandmother blowing off the party THAT much more preposterous?

Last year, we had his first birthday party at our house. Actually, we had TWO parties for him at our house. The first was afternoon sandwiches and cake with friends and family. The second was a brunch and cake with his playgroup...

Since that meant cleaning cake off of my sofa, tables, chairs, and kitchen floor not once but TWICE in the same week, I decided to just pay the big bucks and find a venue other than my home this year....

Some place bright, cheerful, and colorful and that my son absolutely LOVES. Some place that just sounds HAPPY and FUN, and more importantly, where they'll clean the cake off the walls for me.

Where else but... GYMBOREE!!!!

Okay, so we are still technically having two parties for him again. The afternoon party for the kids is at Gymboree, then we're having a family cook-out at our house later that same evening. However, the adult-to-toddler ratio with be about seven-to-one, and there will be significantly less cake to be smeared...

I found the cutest invitations at Tiny Prints and am presently on the hunt for fun, creative, non-craptastic, yet inexpensive stuff for the goodie bags. This is where I need your help, Internet...

At Wal-Mart, I found some cute, colorful, plastic water "squirters" Okay, GUNS. They are water guns...

At a dollar for six, I thought it would be SO MUCH summertime fun for the kids. I was about to grab with intent to purchase, when I my husband asked, "Um, do you really think it's appropriate to have toy GUNS in a two-year-old's birthday bags?"

Ummm.... can you tell he's the one of us that didn't grow up in Texas? (hehe)

We're talking plastic and bright orange, blue, purple, and pink, and they look absolutely nothing like the real thing.

So, what do you think?

Will putting water guns in the goodie bags mean that I'm a bad mom promoting violence and social ills among the toddler set?