Made it! NaBloPoMo Success!

This is it -- 30 posts in 30 days and I made it. For the first time ever, I managed to post every day for a month. I'm not really sure that all of my posts were worth reading, but there has been something new in my little corner of the world each day this month and that is a pretty big accomplishment considering how busy life has been. :)

My gift to you this month, is not to post as much. And when I do post, to actually have something worthwhile (or at least semi-worthwhile!) to say!

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Giveaway: Ambajam Mini-Cuddle

Bo sleeps soundly while cuddling with his orange Ambajam mini-cuddle.

If you haven't heard of Ambajam, then you're missing out on some of the cutest and highest quality baby products available. When I found Ambajam, I immediately fell in love. Their designs are totally adorable.

For Bo's birthday, I splurged and bought him this adorable frog tee and the orange mini-cuddle with green piping. Everyone at Bo's family party immediately fell in love with both items. The tee is really cute and very high quality and the mini-cuddle is ultra soft. Owen said that he would love to have a blanket this soft. Maybe for his birthday next year I'll buy him a Jumbo Cuddle! And if anyone out there is still Christmas shopping for me, I'd love an orange Jumbo Cuddle myself! ;)

There are several items from Ambajam that are on Bo's wish list. Including these adorable brown corduroy pants with the frog embroidery. Too cute!!

Ambajam has graciously agreed to giveaway a mini-cuddle (winners choice of color) to one lucky Sticky Feet reader! All you need to do is go visit Ambajam and leave a comment on this post.

For additional entries:
1) Email 5 of your friends and tell them to enter the giveaway. Be sure to send a carbon copy of the email to me at stickyfeet2 at gmail dot com. Then comment stating you did so.
2) Subscribe to Sticky Feet and then leave a comment stating that you are a subscriber. (Yes, if you already subscribe that qualifies you for 2 entries -- simply leave two comments, one of which states that you are a subscriber.)
3) Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment stating you did so along with your twitter name. (Yes, if you already follow me, just leave another comment stating you do so!)

4) Tweet about this giveaway and then leave a comment stating you did so.
5) Write a post on your own blog about this giveaway and comment back with the permalink to this post.

Winner will be selected via Random.org on December 10!

Good Luck!

And, as an additional bonus, even if you don't win -- a special, exclusively for Sticky Feet readers!!

And it's an extra special day today and Sunday -- you can receive 25% off in Ambajam's Black Friday sale!! Just enter code BF25 at checkout!!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie was a special recipe, just for Thanksgiving. You can find the full recipe at La Casserole Carree or on pg. 321 of Dorie Greenspan's famous cookbook, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Unfortunately, I was so busy with other Thanksgiving prep that I did not take pictures of the pie as I was making it. It was easy to make with basic Thanksgiving pie ingredients.

Sorry for the crappy pictures. Unfortunately, this is as good as it gets this week!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at my mom's house with my cousins. The food was good and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

My pie received mixed reviews. My cousin, Kelly, thought it was "strangely good". And my mom ate it and thought it was fine. My piece was good, but I think I would have preferred to have plain pumpkin, like everyone else, who was afraid of my "special" pie.

This one probably won't become a Thanksgiving staple at our house. But it was good and a different twist on classic Thanksgiving flavors.

Thankful for the Holidays

On Thanksgiving Day, one year ago, I woke up in the hospital. Bo was two days old and we would spend the entire day waiting very impatiently to be allowed to come home. We finally arrived home a little after 11 pm on Thanksgiving Day. To say that Thanksgiving will never be the same would be the understatement of the year.

Holidays seem to be even more significant during IVF. During the last cycle, in which Bo was conceived, I started medication on Valentine's Day (also our anniversary), I had my transfer on Pulaski Day, and received the first positive pregnancy test on St. Patrick's Day. We saw the heartbeat for the first time on Good Friday. And brought home a baby on Thanksgiving Day.

As you can see, holidays are important in the scheme of IVF for us. Sure, it's probably all coincidence. But that doesn't stop me from feeling pretty hopeful as I start my birth control pills for our next cycle today.

A holiday.

Thanksgiving Day.

Wordless Wednesday: The Many Stages of a Birthday Cupcake

More Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes For Mom.

*Updated - This post made Bo famous! Bo was cute enough to be featured on the uber popular cupcake blog - Cupcakes Take the Cake! Check it out here.

Coffee Drinks

While I was in Champaign with Mike a few weeks, I stopped by one of the many Dunkin' Donuts to purchase a latte. I'd never had a coffee from Dunkin' Donuts before, but everyone seems to rave about it so I thought I would try it since I rarely have the opportunity to splurge on such indulgences.

After the first few sips, I thought to myself, "that's $2.48 that I'll never get back." One benefit to living in a small, coffee chain free town, is that I've learned to make my own fancy coffee drinks. My favorites are Skinny Vanilla Lattes and Skinny German Chocolate Mochas. The best part, my coffee drinks not only taste better, but are significantly cheaper for more coffee.

I thought I would spread the wealth and tell you about my concoctions today since my Tuesdays with Dorie pie won't be ready until Friday. Save a buck and make your coffee at home today. Honestly, I really do think it tastes better too.

Skinny Vanilla Latte
1 cup strongly brewed fresh coffee
1 cup skim milk
1 shot sugar free vanilla Torani syrup

You can warm the milk in a pan on the stove and froth as desired. Then mix all ingredients in your favorite mug. I usually just pour the coffee in and then add the milk cold and the syrup. The hot coffee and cold milk combine to make the drink immediately drinkable.

Skinny German Chocolate Mocha
1 cup strongly brewed fresh coffee
1 cup skim milk
1 shot sugar free coconut Torani syrup
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder

Same directions as above.


Both of these can be served over ice for a wonderful iced coffee treat. I also like to mix up the syrups. This time of year I swap out the coconut syrup for peppermint to make a minty mocha treat! :)

I bought a reusable travel cup at Starbucks 2 years ago and I love it. It holds my large coffee drink and is portable. It even makes me feel a little green. :) Yet another way to save a few pennies this time of year. :)

Party Weekend

Weighing in at 22 lbs 8 oz and 31 inches long (before the cupcake) our little heavy weight had quite the birthday weekend.

On Friday, we went for Bo's one year doctor's appointment and the doctor said that everything looks on track but thinks that he should be saying actual words. Bo points and it is obvious that he understands a lot of what we are saying but he has yet to utter an intelligible word. Needless to say the doctor freaked me out a bit and now I'm walking around the house like a crazy woman trying to get Bo to say about a million things. Then I remember how my mom always talks about how I didn't talk until I was nearly 3 and try to calm down a bit...

After his appointment, we stopped by Mike's office in Effingham. Mike was happy to visit with his colleagues that he hasn't seen in three weeks and we enjoyed the visit. Bo impressed everyone with his clinginess to Daddy and his shyness!

Saturday morning we were up early and I made cupcakes. Which took me forever. I was baking for over three hours. Sometimes I wonder if I really have a domestic gene... Luckily, Mike was able to entertain Bo for most of that time!

Mike's parents arrived around lunchtime and my mom came over for Bo's birthday lunch. We ate and then started to open presents. We weren't very far through Bo's substantial pile before Owen (Mike's best friend) and his family arrived. We were thrilled to see them and Owen's little ones made quick work of helping Bo open the rest of his presents. It probably would have taken us the rest of the afternoon if they hadn't shown up to help!

While Bo napped we were able to visit with Owen and his family. I've talked about them before, but I just love them. :) Just as Bo was waking up I took off with Ashley to decorate for the party. We had the party at Joe's Pizza and I am so glad that we did. I originally considered having the party at our house but we truly have outgrown our home and I was so glad for the spacious backroom at the local pizzeria! (And the lack of cooking and clean-up involved with hosting the party elsewhere!)

Everyone arrived around 4:30 and we had quite the gathering -- 23 people, 8 of them kids! Mike made the comment, "I didn't know we knew that many kids!" Oh yes, we do. And I even tried to keep the guest list as small as possible!!

Everyone enjoyed soda, breadsticks, and pizza. And then it was cupcake time. The cupcake pictures are adorable and I'll share a series of the them Wednesday for Wordless Wednesday. But the funniest part of the evening was the expression on Bo's face when everyone broke into a chorus of "Happy Birthday". He was stunned. The expression below stayed on his face the entire time everyone was singing...

After we managed to make Bo a little less sticky, we opened gifts. Our house is overflowing with new toys. Next year I think I'll steal from Raspberry Chip and add the line "Your presence is the only present we desire!"

For once in my life, I can honestly say that I'm disappointed that I didn't take and that I don't have more pictures. I was so busy trying to make sure that Bo was okay and everyone was happy that I didn't have nearly enough time to take pictures. I wish I had more pictures of everyone who was there and more pictures of Bo with people. There are no pictures of Bo with his grandparents or with anyone but Daddy. But he is quite the daddy's boy! There is only one picture of the three of us -- and we all look like posers!

We were all beat after the party. But after we had Bo put to bed we had another surprise. Owen and his family were back -- the hotel messed up their reservation so they were stopping by to say they were heading home and wouldn't be at our house for breakfast. We offered to attempt to accommodate them at our house -- but once again, we've outgrown our house. They visited for a little while and then hit the road to head back home.

Sunday morning, we went with all of the grandparents to Hovey's for a late breakfast and then back home to attempt to reign in some of the chaos that our home had become. Around lunch time, my friend Jenny showed up to take birthday pictures of Bo. ** I am really excited to see how the pictures Jenny took turned out. How can they not be great with such an adorable model? ;)

After Jenny left, I finally worked a little (I'm really behind but I've been awake since 2:30 so that means I can justify blogging before working today!), and got the house back in order. I was embarrassed by how trashed my house looked when Jenny was here, but I guess that is what having a weekend of too much birthday can do!

Everything is back to normal today. Laundry is whirling. My house looks like my house again. I have grading to do. And Bo will be awake soon. It was a fun weekend, but I can't say I'm sad that we have a whole year to wait until we celebrate his second birthday.

**We're very lucky that we have lots of friends who love to take pictures and offer their services to us often! I'm never one to turn down photos! We had another photo shoot scheduled this weekend but postponed it until Mike's Birthday weekend (due to MIL's pink-eye -- which almost meant they missed Bo's birthday...but that is a whole other story) -- we will be doing a full family shoot with all of the grandparents, and hopefully some more individual one year shots of Bo.

Too Much Birthday

One of my favorite books as a child was The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Birthday. But I can't say I ever fully understood the concept before this weekend. Here at Chez Sticky Feet we've officially experienced too much birthday!!

Bo has more than enough 18 month clothes to cloth himself and a few siblings, tons of new toys, and we've definitely outgrown our house. Every square inch seems to have been taken over by the onslaught of gifts that were bestowed on our little one this weekend.

These are just a few pictures from his family party on Saturday afternoon. I think he had a lot of fun even though he didn't totally understand what all of the hoopla was about.

I spent Saturday morning making cupcakes. I made Dorie's Perfect Party Cake (pg. 250) and Dorie's Cocoa Buttermilk Birthday Cake (pg. 256) and frosted them with homemade buttercream icing. Decorating them apparently isn't my strong suit -- and I learned fondant tastes like paper and wax. Yum.

More pictures and details about Bo's other party to come tomorrow....

Bo's First Birthday Party is Today!!

This is the front of Bo's First Birthday postcards that I sent out inviting close friends and family to his party this evening. This is actually the second invite they received as Snapfish screwed up the first one. No, I'm not bitter...

Today is Bo's First Birthday Party(ies)!! I have a to-do list a mile long -- two types of cupcakes to make, treat bags to make, not to mention all of the normal stuff that comes with having lots of people in and out of my house and the fact that I don't get weekends off.

Therefore, this post is incredibly lame. But I promise to share plenty of pictures over the next several days from our jam-packed day of fun!

Bo's New Chair

For Bo's birthday yesterday, we only gave him his "big" present (and Grammie gave him his two "big" presents from her too) but the rest of the gifts will be opened tomorrow during his family party at lunch. Luckily, he's still young enough that he hasn't put up a fight.

Mike surprised me by coming home Wednesday night. (He's decided that he wants to start driving back and forth every day -- which is a topic for a whole other post.) I was able to convince him to help me setup Bo's "big" present so I could give it to him the next day.

We bought him this adorable chair from Pottery Barn Kids. We decided on the navy with stone piping because it matches the furniture in our basement (it's a lodge theme... yet another topic that is post worthy...) and is absolutely adorable. I took Bo downstairs after his nap on Thursday afternoon (with the camera of course) and he sat right down in the chair and grabbed the remote. Seriously, my child is a natural. :)

Happy 1st Birthday, Bo!

Make sure your volume is up and enjoy!



Check out Bo's Birth Announcement Montage from a year ago, here.

Wordless Wednesday: Mom+Dad=Bo

Bo swinging!

Who do you think I look like? Leave a comment with your vote!

Dad

Baby Mike on his mom's lap. (I have no idea how she was that skinny!)

Mom
Baby Jamie eating a chocolate bunny.