Confessional Friday

Hi everyone! Linking up with Leslie over at A Blonde Ambition for today's Confessional Friday...and today it's all about introducing ourselves with a bio. 

I'm Elizabeth...30 year old hailing from Virginia (Northern VA, to be specific...which if you know anything about VA, this area is very different from the rest of this beautiful state!). I've lived within 25 miles of our Nation's Capital (DC, the District, Washington...etc) my entire life. I was born and raised here, went to college here, and have lived here always. And both my parents were born and raised in DC and Northern Virginia...trust me, it's rare to find a native Northern Virginian! As you can probably tell, I'm proud of where I come from. My Mama always said "Always remember who you are and where you came from" and I always do! My husband was born and raised here as well...we met in college in 2005.

And were married on May 15, 2010

Sean's an amazing partner and father. He won me over with his humor, candidness, sense of hard work, and confidence. We are total opposites - where I'm more introverted and shy, he's the life of the party. Where he's all over the place, I like things orderly and planned out. But it works and we wouldn't have it any other way. He's a physical therapist and is the Director of a physical therapy clinic here in Northern VA.

On October 7, 2012 we welcomed our son, Conrad Cayce, whom we love so much more than we ever thought we could. Spending my days chasing after him and watching him grow are priceless.

I work for a large retirement community in sales and I love it. I've worked with seniors for about 16 years (my first job was as a server in a dining room at a home when I was 14!) and couldn't ask for a better career (except for maybe being a stay at home mom!).

My little sister, Cayce, is my best friend

And my parents are awesome...they've been married for 37 years!

My Mom is the most generous, loving, and best party-hosting woman I know! She's constantly looking out for others and I don't know what I'd do without her. My Dad is so hard working and takes such good care of my family. They are amazing parents!

I love having this blog as a place to write about what I love best: my family, my son, and being a mom! Looking forward to getting to know everyone :)

Thankful Thursdays

This week I'm thankful for my mother-in-law, Jessica. 




Yep, that's right, ladies! I love my MIL. She's probably the most selfless, caring, thoughtful person that I know and I strive to be like her! She's also an awesome cook and so creative! She's been an enormous help this past year with Conrad; despite having children 30 years ago, she is so knowledgable about current baby/child raising! She takes the time to research about foods, illnesses, allergies, toys, products, you name it! After Conrad was born, my mother spent about a month with us and then when she left, Jessica came.




I don't know of that many girls who could stand (or want) their MIL around for a month or more, but I definitely appreciated the help and support. Thanks, Jessica for being the best MIL!

 

Happy 1st Birthday, Conrad!

So this is a little late, but for Conrad's 1st birthday we had A Very Hungry Caterpillar theme!

I had been pinning, saving pictures, trolling etsy,  plotting, and planning Conrad's first birthday party since he was born! When he was about 8 months old I settled on the theme "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" as that was a book we always read to him and...well, let's face it, he was a little roly-poly just like a caterpillar! 

I loved the idea of basing the menu around the food items in the book - how fun (and easy!) is that?! Menu already planned! 

I made a caterpillar banner with the help of my mom and dad with paper strung together with burlap string and printed out the month by month pictures of Conrad.

 

Apples, oranges, plums, pears, and strawberries (complete with dipping sauces!) just like the book!

For the one slice of salami and once slice of cheese, we of course, did a meet platter, and incorporated the pickle.

I did a salad for the "one nice green leaf' and of course cupcakes, cake, and ice cream! There was also watermelon, lollipops, and pie...just like the book! It was all very easy and perfect for a party.

With simple print out tent cards and cupcake toppers, we carried the theme throughout.

The piece de la resistance was the cupcake caterpillar! My mother-in-law (so creative!) made the head with the eyes and antenna out of fondant and licorice and I made the cupcake body. She also made gluten-free cupcakes on the side (Sean can't have gluten).

And what birthday party is complete without the stats poster! I created this on my own rather than order from etsy to save money. My parents helped cut out the fruit shapes on the sides.

My one etsy splurge was Conrad's custom shirt and bib (I am NOT a seamstress) and I'm glad I did. He was so cute!

Happy Birthday My Little Caterpillar! 

Feels Like Fall

When we bought our house one of the biggest things that attracted us to it was the huge yard and the abundance of trees. They provide great shade in the summer, privacy from our neighbors, beauty to look at...and lots of leaves to rake. I'm talking TONS of leaves. My husband and brother in law spent an entire Saturday blowing and raking leaves and it looks like they only did about a quarter of what needed to be done.

And we discovered that our little man LOVES his backyard and "helping" rake. We of course had taken him in the backyard tons of times to swing and carry him around but now that he can walk on his own he loves trampling around in the leaves.

What a good little helper!

 The Land of the Leaves!

Love dressing up in fall layers!

Fall play time at the park!

Love this weather, the leaves, and our fun times!

Happy 11 Months Conrad!

This past Saturday (September 7th) was Conrad's 11 month birthday! I can't believe our little munchkin is almost a year old!! In less than a month, we'll be celebrating his first birthday!

 

Dear Conrad,

You are a little tornado! You love to "talk" (you've learned to say "all done" now and still are "dada"-ing like there's no tomorrow). And boy do you explore everything. We've now had to put safety latches on the drawers and cabinets, and make good use of the baby gates because you are crawling and furniture walking up a storm.

You are pretty much on a no-baby-food diet (unless it's the pouches) and only like to eat if you are feeding yourself. Some new favorites are eggs, peas, yogurt, and waffles. And then there's the good ol' favorites like sweet potatoes, bananas, rice chex, and pasta. You are loving your sippy-cup more and more every day and we are starting to think about slowly weaning you off your beloved bottle. I'm scared.

Believe it or not, you've been sleeping from 7:30 to 7:00am lately! However, you have had a cold for the past two weeks and that could be why you are so sleepy. And you are SUPER CLINGY around me. Grandma says that sometimes babies get separation anxiety when they are about to reach a milestone like walking so I'm praying that's it and that you're not spoiled (because, bad mommy, I pick you up when you cry for me).

You LOVE snuggling and our favorite routine is when you wake up you come into bed with us with your bottle and we cuddle and play before we have to go to work. Those are the best and most precious moments of our days.

While we are excited for what the future holds for you and for your first birthday party, it's all come so fast and makes me sad. Don't grow up too quick, my litte boo-boo!

Love,

Mommy

Weekend Through the Iphone

This past weekend was soooo nice because we were in town with no plans! This is a rare occasion in the Mc household so we took every advantage of it - did a lot of cleaning and organizing and even went to the local Reston Wine Festival with some good friends. And since Sean's friend was going out on Saturday night, he agreed to be DD for us girls and babies during the day; and then my girlfriend and her son had a sleepover with Conrad and me! We had lots of girl talk and the boys had a fun time playing. Sunday was spent doing more cleaning and organizing and...FOOTBALL of course. Even though the Redskins weren't playing, Sean was holed away in his mancave watching all the other games. Fall has definitely arrived!

Happy 10 Months, Conrad!

So, me being a bad busy mom, I have only now gotten around to uploading Conrad's 10 month pictures. We didn't do 9 month pictures as we did the professional ones that same day and then I never got around to it. Woops. 

That being said, I can't believe my baby is 10 MONTHS OLD! When in the what did that happen? I seriously blinked and he was 10 months.

Just for comparison, here's Conrad at 1 month!

Dear Conrad,

These last 2 months have been the most amazing time yet with you. Your personality is really shining through and I love that you're HAPPY now. The first several months were hard what with your GERD, ear infections, teething, hand-foot-mouth disease (yes! it's a real thing and made you miserable) but we just knew there was a happy, energetic baby in there some there despite all of that. And boy was there!

You love to dance to music and now wave your arms around when you hear a beat. You learned to wave and are a hit in public places (attention: single uncle, use this to your advantage!) and can be a big flirt...you get that from Daddy obviously. You can stand on your own without holding on to anything and are SO proud of yourself when you do. And you are mimicking a lot now! When we tickle you, now you reach out to us and wiggle your fingers saying "thinckle, thinckle". 

"Dada" and "Mama" are now in your vocabulary...although it's the latter only when you're crying but I'll take what I can get. You still like to fuss if all the attention's not on you...again, obviously from Daddy :) You love to flip through your books and "read" as well as take everything out of boxes, bags, drawers, baskets, etc.

At your 9 month check up you were 29 inches, 23 lbs, and HC was 46...all 75th %. Big boy here...because of:

FOOD FOOD FOOD! "Num num num" is constantly heard in this household. You are getting better every day about trying new things. Things we never thought you'd like. Broccoli, for instance! What the what? You still like sweet things best though.

We love you so much, are so proud of you, and are so excited for your next 10 months (but don't grow up too fast!). 

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

PS: You also get about 1 billion kisses a day. We are trying to get them all in now while you aren't embarrassed. Although who would be embarrassed by these cool parents?