One.

Happy Birthday Charlotte Ellenor!

From my bitty 6lb 9 oz baby...

...to my beautiful 19lb girl.

Dear Charlie,

Your Daddy and I are so blessed to have you. This year has sped by in a blur of firsts (smile, laugh, roll, sleep through the night, solid food, tooth, the list goes on). Our love for you has grown with each day, and we can't believe what a sweet girl you are turning into.

You love to give hugs and kisses, wave at everyone, grin and giggle, and most of all, move. You are everywhere, getting into anything you can reach. I just found you with wasabi crisps in your hand...making me grateful that you don't put much in your mouth. You are adventurous - as long as I'm by your side - curious, and fearless, which often results in bumps and bruises.

You are always watching, always learning, and always wanting to know more. You love your family, love to shop (naturally), and love to read.

You don't like to crawl, instead you kind of swim across the floor, pushing with your toes and grabbing the floor ahead with your fingers.

You are starting to stand unsupported, for about 20 seconds at a time. You'll be walking within a month, I'm sure of it.

You're a bundle of energy, and keep me on my toes, but you always come back to my arms to snuggle. I love you, my Charlie. Happy first birthday!

There are gentle winds blowing

and stars all above you.

Night-night, little Pookie.

I love you and love you.

And love you and love you.

And love you and love you.*

*Taken from Night-Night, Little Pookie by Sandra Boynton

Charlie's Birdie Birthday

We had a relatively small celebration of Charlie's first year last Sunday. The guest list was limited to immediate family and closest friends, and everyone (but my brothers - one sick and one hours away) was able to make it.

To keep Charlie chipper through the whole thing, I pushed all the "activities" to the start of the party, so if she crashed we wouldn't miss out on cake or presents or anything she is essential to.

After some time for eating we jumped into presents.

She loved the tissue...presents were less interesting.

Until she opened shoes, that is.

Then Pooh Bear...

And a book - she shook it to make sure it held up.

Matching aprons! Score!

More tissue. (PS - I made that headband, I forgot to put it in the decor post. Feathers, heavy paper and glue. Add in a touch of patience, and you have yourself a headband).

Following present time was cake time...Charlie was not so sure about this business. I opted for vegan cupcakes to protect us from discovering a food allergy during the party.

It's not often you see this face after presenting someone with a delicious treat.

She responded better when I fed it to her.

Kinda.

Enough already!

Ryan, Meghan and Laura hanging out in the post present mayhem.

After cake and presents we had no agenda, so football, games and food ruled the rest of the afternoon. Here, Papa and Mitsuki are wrestling a bit while Auntie Chie and Tim show Charlie how to hammer.

Snuggle time with Meghan - always one of Charlie's favorite activities.

And here is the girl herself, 4 hours after the party started, happily showing off her newest tooth.

Charlie did absolutely amazing, and seemed to love every minute. I love my big, happy girl.

(For those who care, her dress is Cherokee, $15, I got it on sale for $10.)

Made By Me Monday - a DIY Birthday Party

Charlie's first birthday is coming up, and we had a small party for her on Sunday with family and closest friends.  We were trying to keep the entire thing under $100, so that meant endless DIY projects for me.  (And some commissioning...thanks Meg for cupcaking, Dad for pizza and super glue provisions, Chie for Jordan Almonding).

I'll share party pictures later, but here are the decor shots (mostly taken after the fact, cause I was too busy leading up to the party to care about documentation.)

The theme was either "Birdie Birthday" or "Put a Bird on it", depending on whether or not you're a Portlandia fan :)

Here goes.  The front room.

I made endless amounts of paper pennants, using scrapbook paper I already had, relating to either birthdays or birds; yarn; and a paper cutter.  Simple, yes.  Time consuming, yes.  With the excess paper from the solid colored pennants I cut out little abstract bird shapes and perched them on every ledge I could find.  These items were through out every room , tying it all together. 

I put up a folding table and wrestled a giant disposable tablecloth onto it, strategically taping to keep the size under control.  This table held had table scatter (reusing the holes I punched out of the pennant garland paper); a rubber ducky; and a Jellybeans free download of two birds in a tree.  So far, I spent $3 for the table cloth.  Everything else I already had.
Streamers were placed here and there, since nothing says party like a little crepe paper, and bird toys that Charlie had were placed on every surface.

The entry way door and front window with pennants and bird. There was also streamers, a photo from Charlie's birth and 6 month photos, stuffed birds, and polka dot rubber duckys.

 

I hung paper lanterns leftover from a bridal shower from our chandelier, and to make it over the top, hung birdie stroller toys between them.

Chie had given me a book of beautiful postcards before Charlie was born, and I was able to find a bunch of bird ones to hang from our (overcrowded) bookcase.  I also added various pictures of Charlie, blocks spelling her name, and stacking blocks with bird images.  All stuff I already had, so our running total is still $3.

The table:

Here you can see the banner (held up by two birds, Disney style), artwork and duck.

I made some sugar cookies from a mix ($3, plus $2.50 for sprinkles - $5.50 total), but I forgot to take pictures before they started disappearing.  Most were birds, but I made "One" for a change of pace.

Chie brought me meringue cookies the week before and those were added to the mix, and Meghan made vegan cupcakes with strawberry jam frosting (yum).  I didn't want to introduce Charlie to new foods at her party, just in case, so vegan was a good route to go.  I made the cupcake toppers with a free download, though I did buy the circles, for about $5, bringing us up to $10.50.

Not pictured - we also served pizza and nachos, care of Papa, Mike's Hard Lemonade ($20), pretzel sticks ($2) with Jordan almonds (from Chie) on top (to look like eggs in a nest), pasta salad ($6), Caesar salad, ($10), lemonade and cucumber water ($4), plates and napkins ($7) bringing us to $59.50.
The family room:

 This room was done simply, with pennants and birdies on the fireplace and a banned I made for Tim's birthday over the window.  Little bird books and toys were here and there.

The kitchen and dining room:
I took these pictures the next day, so picture heaps of food, and pink polka dot table cloth and Settlers of Catan laid out of the table.

So, there were streamers that I already had, pink and green lanterns left over from a baby shower, the table cloth from the same baby shower, bunting and birds.

The high chair was in the living room for the party, but regardless:

It already had a bird on it, so I added tiny bunting to make it festive.

When everything was said and done, the entire party, including gifts, was at $100.  If you have questions on anything you see, let me know.  Also, sorry for the weird lay out, I haven't gotten used to the new blogger format yet.

Sleeping and teething don't mix

Sometimes I think that the people who write parenting books have never met a child.  And they certainly cannot be parents.  To the one who wrote that teething should not alter a baby's sleeping schedule, I submit that you are wrong crazy.

Charlie has been doing great on a 2-3-4 schedule.  (Nap 2 hours after wake up, 2nd nap 3 hours after end of 1st nap, bedtime 4 hours after end of 2nd nap, give or take a half hour.)  She rarely fussed when put down for her naps, and almost never at night. 

Enter teething (thunder crashes, scary music plays).

Somewhere in my sweet baby's mouth, hundreds of teeth are trying to get through.  At least, that's what it seems like.  We can't see any yet, but the shape of her gums are constantly in flux as, at the very least, the middle top two try to force their way out.  Two nights ago she woke an hour after going down for the night, screaming.  She fell asleep as soon as we took her out, but woke every time we laid her back down, resulting in a terrible nights co-sleep session.  That girl takes up at least 3/4 of the bed.  I was literally half on/half off the bed for a good portion of the night.  I attempted twice to put her back in her crib in the middle of the night, to no avail. 

Yesterday naps were hard to come by.  The first one was a fight, and when she did fall asleep, she was out longer than normal, I think because no one slept well the night before, including the bed hog herself.  The second one was a full on battle, and the stubborn girl simply sat up in her crib for an entire hour, waiting until my resolve broke. 

Again, I put her down for bedtime, and an hour later she was screaming like she was on fire.  We've heard that cry a few times: when she gets her shots, and when she has painful bowel movements.  It took a long time to calm her down and coax her in to taking baby acetaminophen.  We got her down again, but she soon woke screaming, and we brought her into our room while we read before bed.  She promptly fell asleep and was successfully moved to her crib before Tim went to sleep.  At about 5 am she scared Tim awake with a scream - one short scream - and he ran in there to find her sound asleep, but hitting her head repeatedly on the crib slats.  He moved her a safe distance from the slats, and she woke up wailing.  Back in to our bed, where I was able to calm her and snuggle her to sleep again.  She slept, with a few interruptions to cry a bit, until 9 am. 

Now, here we are, two hours later, and I'm listening to my fed, changed, sleepy child scream herself silly from her crib.  Please Teeth, I am begging you...stop dragging your feet (roots?) and just come out already.  It's been long enough. 

10 on 10

Making decor for Charlie's birthday

 Walking practice

 Picking an outfit

 Reading time

 Remembering

 Unsure about a car ride

 Giant dahlia at a friends house

 Admiring jewelry

 Spinning

Wiped out

Link up here

Whats Charlie Wearing Wednesday(s)

Buckle up...here comes three weeks worth of cuteness. 

Pajama day...sometimes we here at the Fulton home are a bit...lazy.  And sometimes jammies are too hilarious not to document.  Resulting in the first ever (I think) pajama WCWW.  We have a box of hand me downs from my nephew Mitsuki, and some of these gems are direct from Japan.  Some of these Japanese items have non sensical Engrish English on them...like these bell bottoms.

The pants say (in cursive, no less)  "Nice to meet you.  Love, Kids Zoo".  Awesome.  And, as usual, the top is a simple white onesie from Carters.  Moving on...

Our friends Andrew and Sara were here last week from Santa Rosa to meet Charlie.  Charlie was immediately showered with gifts, and she got some awesome boots that were sent with them from our other friends, Alison, Jason, and little Cora.  Here's Charlie rocking her Hatley rain boots, which are covered in little birds and flowers (and totally match the coat that Sara and Andrew gave her.)

She's also wearing a Carter's top bought with a little pink and white polka dot romper at Costco for $5ish way back when.  And, the H&M jeans she's sporting are also from Alison and Jason, sent before either she or Cora were born.  We had an awesome time with Andrew and Sara (and their little boy on the way) and can't wait to see them and meet the Superbaby.  We're hoping we'll get to see Alison and Jason and finally meet Cora sometime this year too. 

Lastly, yesterday Charlie played the part of a ballerina (until she pulled her bib off and covered her shirt in peach puree.)

She is wearing a white onesie ruffle tee from H&M ($3, I think), a Circo tutu with polka dots under the tulle ($6), and a interchangeable flower headband from an Etsy shop that no longer exists.

The stubborn girl no longer wants to sit and pose, hence the book and standing shots.  But, she's still stinking adorable, so I'll let it slide.