reminiscing thought: Santa & the Tooth Fairy

(warning: if young, believing eyes are around you, tell them to avert their eyes!)

A while back, I had started  a series of posts...err, a  post to be more exact; the whole series of posts concept is still under construction. 

Anyway.

The "column" as Kyle had so elegantly deemed it was titled: Reminiscing Thought; a way for me to document past memories before I  became senile and lose all the little treasures.

Tonight's post is titled: Santa & the Tooth Fairy and oh how I desire that it was one of sugar plum fairies and $20 early morn surprises! But alas, I was born to loving immigrant parents who grew up with the Chupacabra and a Papa Noel who didn't show up until January.

the haters; (image via pinterest)

It was Christmas Eve and the night was coming to an end. I set out chocolate chip cookies and milk for Jolly ol' Saint Nick. For Rudolf and his buddies, I had set out a separate plate full of veggie goodness; lettuce and carrots if I remember correctly. I could hardly sleep that night as I anticipated seeing if Santa and the reindeers had enjoyed the snacks I had left out for them. The morning came and as I raced to the living room, my joyful anticipation suddenly turned to bitter disappointment. There they were, both plates without a single bite taken out of the veggies or cookies; the milk without a single sip drunk from it.

I remember thinking a myriad of things: "Santa must have a preference for home-made cookies". Mine were store-bought. "Rudolf sure is a picky eater". I remember feeling a little disappointed. And I remember never setting out cookies for those picky-eaters again.

the crook (image via google)

As if that tragedy wasn't enough, the freaken Tooth Fairy ended up being a cheating criminal! On several  occasions, I put various little teeth underneath my pillow with the (once again) delightful anticipation of cashing in with my pearly whites. I placed the tooth perfectly in the middle of the pillow so she wouldn't have to go looking too hard for it. But wouldn't you believe it? Not only was there NO MONEY the next morning, but my tooth would be gone too!

Talk about a freaken rip-off. The T-Fairy and I weren't exactly cool after that, so there's a good possibility I have a small bag of baby teeth somewhere in my parents house.

Now, I love my parents; good people. But talk about messed up. In hindsight, all they had to do was take one bite, or one sip, or slip one dollar, quarter, nickel! By the end of it, I would have been completely content with a nickel. But just to prove that I did in fact have a good childhood-and to keep anyone from calling social services-here is photographic proof

A picture of a picture on the tv; me (left) and my lil' sis back in the good ol days

separation anxiety

This past Monday I spent my first night away from the munchkin.

 Kyle was so graciously given tickets to...

THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH

I originally had work off, but ended up signing up for hours since Kyle would be working a half day. The  second I walked out the door, I  thought, "What am I doing? I should have spent the morning with Calvin; I'm going to be gone all day."

Work came and went. I raced home to enjoy the last few hours I'd have with my baby before I had to leave. I literally ran from work to car, and car to house. I walked in and...

He.was.asleep.

No big deal, we weren't leaving for at least 1 hour; he'd definitely wake up before I left. Almost 2 hours later, I was stepping out the door with a baby who was out. He hadn't even budged. Kyle was pumped and ready to be reunited with Mickey after 5 long years. I took 10 steps from the house and...

I.lost it.

Tears just came as I contemplated how horrible of a mother I was. My sweet Kyle attempted to console me and once we were on our way, I was distracted well enough to keep my composure. Disneyland was memorably fantastic; mainly because of the company, but of course I was swarmed with beautiful babies in adorable costumes all over the park. I admitted to myself that I had been selfish in not bringing Cal; I wanted to be able to go on all the rides and knew I wouldn't have been able to had I brought him along. 

I got my fix; Mattehorn, Space/Splash Mountain, the new & improved Star Tours, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, etc. So I swore I'd never return to Disneyland without my little Calvin. I came to a point in the evening when I was ready to return home to my baby & hold him close again. We finally got home and I came in to find...

an.empty.freaken.crib.

My family, who babysat Cal while we were out, decided it better to have him sleep at their house rather than drive him back home late at night and interrupt his precious sleep. Grandparents...ayayay. As expected, the floodgates opened and I was, once again, a hot mess. I spent the   night holding his baby blanket as Kyle reminded me that the sooner I went to sleep the sooner I'd get to see him. Tomorrow came and an early work-shift delayed my joyful reunion. My break arrived and I raced to my parents house to finally be able to hold my baby in my arms, but of course, he was asleep when I got there.

I couldn't catch a break.

The mother in me just couldn't wake him up; so instead I let my little chubbs dream and waited for any noise to come from the bedroom. An eternity later, he arose! I could barely contain my excitement as I opened the door and experienced the moment that made my world whole again. I walked in and the second he saw my face, he got the biggest smile on his face and crawled to me so fast.

He had forgiven me. Just like that.

This time my tears were ones of happiness. We were long-lost besties finally reunited.











On a less sentimental note, here is the only picture I took the entire night; AND it's a picture of a picture-hah! A little blurry but I think our faces are apparent enough. Poor Kyle got soaked, I was terrified, and our guests of honor just soaked in all the fun.

uh-oh...

Ladies and gentlemen,

We.are.in.trouble.

You'll note from the video that it was taken a about a month ago; so this kid has had plenty of practice time between then and now.

And man. is. he. fast. I've had only a handful of heart attacks since he's learned how to walk and disappears on me in that milli-second where I turn around for something. The bumps and bruises haven't been too bad either; it's more because of coordination (or lack thereof) than from face-planting into the ground.

Overall though, I have to admit that I Love it, seriously. As much as I adore holding my baby boy, walking really does make things so much easier; at least for me.

I feel like clothes always looks so much cuter on babies once they can walk; they can do the whole runway thing and really show it off. So I'm excited for that. And the shoes! Oh my goodness, the shoes! Especially the church ones. He's already got some pretty sweet kicks, but I love the fact that I actually have to think about what shoes will match his outfit that day. I'll have to get pictures of all that, so for now, just enjoy the video.

THE showdown: A Lego Birthday Party

We survived. I survived.

My son's rite of passage for completing his first year of life is finally over; and it all went down pretty well.

I tried to listen to my dear husband's and friends words about not getting too caught up in the details, and how Martha Stewart is overrated. But it wasn't until 15 minutes before the party was to start, when it was 115 degrees outside, and I was STILL frosting this cake that was melting before my eyes that I finally internalized it.

After all is said and done, the pictures do most of the talking...

His party was one week after his actual birthday, so on his birthday we had the cake-eating photo op, so as to keep him looking snazzy for the party

the aftermath...

Mommy and the (little) man of the hour at his party. I free-handed the lego mini-figure man with a pencil and then just painted it in. By the end of the night, the shirt was completely smeared and saturated in strawberry juices; so it was definitely a one-time use; but so cute while it lasted.

a close-up of the shirt (and that precious face)

the family portrait. Poor Kyle; his shirt was more red than white by the end of the night

Now onto the details! First off, the home-made pinata; a diaper box, foam cups, lots of streamers, lots of watered down Elmers glue, and LOTS of time and whalah! I was especially proud of this one.

The goodie bags; we had red, green, and blue. They were filled with a mini Play-dough tub, 3 crayons, Lego look-a-like candy that I got at the mall, and a 6 pg. mini coloring book that was simply Lego coloring pages printed off, shrunken, and stapled together.

The cake; the color didn't come out as I had hoped; not a true Lego color, but eh. We used marshmallows for the pegs and some good ol' Betty Crocker cake mix. My satisfaction was fulfilled when I walked into the house and the kids were like, "ooohhhh, that's cool" and "It looks like a Lego!". That's all I needed.

My sweet friend Amber drew this for me; and learned a little espanol in the process. We ended up playing "pin the 1 on the Lego man", so it got good use. If Cal was old enough to voice how much he dis/likes Legos, I would've kept it, but we ended up chucking it at the end of the night.

Calvin was a total cutie the entire night; especially for not having his nap. He knocked out even before we were off the street. Kyle asked me later, "On a scale of 1-10" I responded, "9; a 10 would have been having it at our own place" ;) Maybe next year.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without THE HELP from our families; they practically planned and executed the whole thing. But don't worry, we'll definitely be paying for it; we owe them a fancy Peruvian dinner.

p.s. Most ideas for the inspiration of the party was found through Pinterest. LOVE it.

Nope

Nope, there's no stopping it.

However much I tried, it just couldn't be done.

On Sunday, the little guy will be ONE whole year old. And then tomorrow, I will blink, and he will be graduating from high school. Sigh.

I think I'm coping with it a lot better than I thought I would. No emotional breakdowns of any sort; at least not yet. I have sincerely enjoyed watching Cal grow little by little and be fascinated by every new thing. I think as adults, that's something we all need a little more of in our lives; fascination in the simple things.

Alas, if I cannot keep my baby boy from growing up, I might as well celebrate right?

Therefore...

(the beautiful work of: http://www.blissblvddesigns.com/)

However completely unaware Calvin will be of his first cumpleanos, we are having a Lego-themed birthday party for him.

And to think, just yesterday, I was holding this little chunk of Heaven in my arms

I am PRAYING my Martha Stewart instincts finally decide to manifest themselves next Sunday. We'll see how it goes...

How I wish certain special besties from a little "Hole" in Wyoming, or some really "GOOD(in)" neighbors from Provo could make it to the fiesta. We'll have to save you a goodie bag.

Pinterest

Hello loyal readers.

It really is feast or famine with me, apparently.

Keeping it short tonight; a direct quote from the hubs:

"There are 2 things that are slowly destroying my marriage. Spanish soap operas (read: Teresa) and Pinterest."

The funniest part? He secretly LOVES both of them. Even knows the theme song to my soap.

On a separate note, I was organizing pictures on the computer tonight. Came across this little gem:

Would you believe my little ray of Sunshine is going to be 1 in less than a month? Geezo...

John Hendricks - Good At Being Bad

I am so proud to say that I know these ROCKSTARS! (nbd)

LET'S.GO.VIRAL.PEOPLE