Chugga Chugga Two Two - Train Birthday Party Details

The whole train party idea came from these letter trains we bought back in March spelling out Ez's name. Ez loves anything with an engine, so he would've been just as happy with cars, airplanes, or construction vehicles, but I was set on using his name train as decoration, so trains it was!

From there I went straight to Pinterest (naturally) and that's where I found the idea for the chugga chugga two two posters, which I decided would be a simple DIY project. Turns out cutting out little letters is fairly time consuming, but Joe took Ez out for the day so I didn't have to contend with little fingers reaching for my scissors. Plus cutting up poster board is strangely therapeutic. I'll just store those away and baby #2 can have a train-themed party too ;)

For Ez's 1st birthday I made two picture collages using 12 slot frames - 1 month for each slot, and then I gifted those to the grandmas as a Mother's Day present. This time I went more low key with some clothespins, string and 70 cent wooden trains I found at Michael's. I made two garlands with six photos each and hung those above the cake. I also framed two 8x10 photos of Ez with a giant 2 balloon and a train in his hand, and the grandmas each got to keep one of those. 

I'd seen a lot of elaborate train cakes on Pinterest, many of them involving marzipan and fondant, which I'm not a fan of, so I went the more simple route (notice a theme here?) and got a round cake with brightly colored dots from the bakery and put one of Ez's larger Thomas trains on top. I also bought a dozen red and white cupcakes and added some Thomas the train cupcake toppers that I got at Party City. 

When it came to party favors I stuck with tradition and made some sugar cookies shaped like trains. Again, I saw some adorable train cookies on Etsy, but at $30+ per dozen, I opted to make my own less professional but still cute cookies. Good thing too, because the kids scarfed down at least 20 cookies while we were waiting for food. In case you were wondering, I made hot air balloons for Ez's baby shower, and one-shaped cookies for his birthday last year:

I put the cookies in a suitcase that a friend gave me at Ez's baby shower. We used it for a time capsule, where each guest brought something symbolic from that year, and I also use it to store mementos for him, but I figured the travel theme went along with trains, so it became a cookie-holder for the day.

The kids also got little treat bags with Thomas stamps and bubbles, plus a sheet of stickers and another train cookie. I found the train invitation on Etsy, and sticking with my no-fuss theme I didn't even print or mail it. Digital copies make life so much easier.

Ez's party was in a private enclosed patio at a restaurant, so it wasn't really necessary or possible to go all out with decorations. Instead of worrying about food or cleanup, I just remember being surrounded by family, eating lots of good food, and watching Ez enjoy his day. All in all, a perfect 2nd birthday. More party pics are on the way, but with hundreds to choose from this will be a two (or three) parter!

You can also check out my original toddler train birthday inspiration here.

My Baby is 2

a lil behind the scenes action

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ez! I've been spending a lot of time looking back at old photos and videos of you lately, and I just can't believe how much you've changed in two years. I have to admit, seeing how much you've grown makes me a little teary eyed. And then looking back on this post from your 1st birthday makes me more than a little teary eyed. Watching you go from a stiff, barely smiling newborn to giggling and crawling to chattering and wobbling around to talking and running - it's just crazy what a little person you're becoming and I couldn't be prouder. Right from the get go, you've had such a silly and sweet personality. You've always loved to laugh and rough house and get everyone around you to smile. You've always loved snuggles and being held, and I'm happy to say that's still the case. You're also headstrong, stubborn, creative, and a little athlete. You're enthusiasm is contagious. Never in my life have I gotten so excited about passing buses or dump trucks on the road. Seeing any kind of ball absolutely lights up your world. Even little things like watermelon and apples will get you bouncing up and down with excitement. Seeing the world through your eyes is one of the best gifts your dad and I have ever been given. It feels like we have packed in an entire lifetime of laughter, love, and adventures in the past two years, and your daddy and I are so excited to see what the future brings for you. We hope you'll follow whatever ignites your passion and continue to grow and explore with as much enthusiasm as you do now. We love you more than you'll ever know.

A lil look back through the years:

Mother's Day at Disneyland

I hope all the moms had a great weekend! I've seen so many cute pictures of homemade Mother's Day gifts. I can't wait till Ez is old enough to make me cards and crafts :)

Our weekend was jam-packed with Ez's party, and then Disneyland with my family on Mother's Day. Joe and I even managed to squeeze in a much-needed parent's-only date to see Avengers on Friday night. 

Considering Sunday was a holiday and also the Tinkerbell half marathon, the lines were a lot shorter than expected. I was happy because I finally got to meet Genie, one of my faves! I see him almost every time we go to Disneyland, but the timing has never worked out to actually get a picture with him. 

We discovered Ez is now tall enough to ride Autopia, which he's had his eye on for the last 7 months or so. Joe took him and as soon as it was over Ez threw a fit because he didn't want to leave so Grampa took him again. It's safe to say that's his new favorite ride by a long shot. He also got to meet Mater, and since he watches Mater's Tall Tales (on Netflix) daily, we thought he'd be super excited, but he actually got all shy and ran away when Mater asked for a high five. I guess it's pretty intimidating to meet your idols in the flesh. 

 Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Hope you felt spoiled and special this weekend. I know I did. And just for fun, here are a few flashbacks:

Ez, born 3 hours after Mother's Day 2013:

And my mom and I, when I was about Ez's age now:

Our 5 Favorite Big Brother Books for Toddlers

With less than two months to go, I thought it was time to get serious about prepping for baby #2, and part of that prep includes making Ez understand as much as he possibly can before we shock his little world with a new brother. To be honest, I don't think anything besides experience can really prep him for what's it's like to live with a baby, day in and day out. I know reading about newborns didn't fully prepare me for the reality of having one. But I still want him to have as much understanding as possible, so off to the library and Barnes & Noble we went. While all of these are specifically geared toward big brothers, they each have a big sister counterpart by the same author.

1. I Have a Brother

This is a super simple to understand book that compares what it's like to be little with what big brothers can do (ie - "My brother wears diapers. When I was little I wore diapers too.") Technically Ez will still be in diapers when the new baby gets here, but it does make the big bro feel special because he's able to do so much more than baby. There's only one sentence per page with very simple illustrations, which makes it perfect for short attention spans.

2. I Am a Big Brother

This is one of my favorites for young kids for a few reasons. For one, it's a board book, which is great for Ez's destructive little hands. It keeps things simple with only 1-2 sentences per page. It rhymes. It talks a lot about the big brother's role (ie - "If baby wakes with cranky cries, I softly sing sweet lullabies") and I'm a fan of playing up the sibling relationship and their interaction, even while baby is still too young to actually play. 

3. I'm a Big Brother

This book is slightly more advanced than the other two, and talks a little more about the practicalities of having a new baby in the house, but at the same time it's not too complicated or wordy. It talks about how babies cry to tell us something, or how you have to ask mommy before holding or touching the baby. Like the others, there's also an emphasis on all the things big bro can do that baby can't, like walking, talking, and eating pizza. I also like that it emphasizes that big bro is always going to be special because "I'm the only me in the whole wide world."

4. Big Brothers Are the Best

While the wording and structure are very simple in this book, I think it would work best for kids a little older than Ez's age, maybe 3 and up, because it talks about helping by putting on the baby's socks or burping the baby. Unfortunately Ez doesn't even put his own socks yet, so I don't see that happening, but if he were at that age this would be a great book for him. I also like that while it has the "I'm a big bro so I can do all kinds of cool stuff" theme, it also points out that big bros aren't too big to snuggle with mommy or ride on daddy's back. So true! I definitely don't want the snuggles to stop anytime soon.

5. I'm a New Big Brother

Like all of these books, the real emphasis is on how big brother can help once baby arrives. "I hold you gently. I push you in the stroller. I read to you." etc. It really plays up the sibling relationship, and all the ways baby will depend on big bro once he/she gets here. Since Ez is really at a "helpful" stage, where he wants to copy whatever we're doing and help out with chores, this is a great angle to play up with him.

The reason I like these 5 books in particular for kids in the 2-4 range is that they are simple to understand, and mainly focus on including big brother and helping him take on this new role, instead of focusing on all the negative aspects that having a newborn around might entail. While there is some mention of baby crying, or needing to be quiet when baby is sleeping, there's also emphasis on still being loved and special, and that now there's a new person in the family who will love big brother too. 

Other books I looked at, including Baby on the Way by Martha and William Sears, deal a little more with the pregnancy aspect of bring home a new baby, such as talking about how mommy will need to rest more, or her tummy might hurt as if she'd "eaten too much soda and cake" (which she may have!), and I really wish I could make Ez understand all that. Unfortunately I think the comprehension level is a little higher than 2 years. According to Amazon, the age range for the Sears book is 3-6 years.

Did you introduce the idea of a new baby through books with your first child? Do you think it had any impact? And which books were their favorites? Always looking for tips and recommendations on how to make the new sibling transition easier on a two year old!

Happy almost Mother's Day to all the moms! Hope you get lots of extra love, snuggles, and treats this weekend :)

Mother's Day Blogger Exchange

I seriously love this blogging community. While I'm sitting over here with pregnancy brain/mom-of-a-toddler brain, they come up with all kinds of fun exchanges and crafty ideas, and I get to just jump on the bandwagon and join in on the fun without actually organizing and planning stuff. So a huge thanks to three of my fave bloggers: Courtney, Jenny, and Liz for putting together a Mother's Day Exchange where I got to know two sweet new-to-me bloggers, and got a totally spoiled in the process.

I was paired with Emily, mom to adorable Avery Mae, and blogger over at Raising Avery Mae. I found out she lives about thirty minutes from where I grew up (and in the same town where about half my family still lives), and is a fellow vegetarian and margarita lover. Such a small world, and I never would've met her if it weren't for this exchange! Be sure to hop on over, check out her fun family adventures, and see what I got her for Mother's Day.

The second blogger I met through this exchange was Katie, the super generous and talented owner of: Creative House Shop and blogger over at Creative House Blog. Katie really pampered and spoiled the heck out of me for Mother's Day. Not only did I get the most adorable Mama Bear mug and decal from her shop (so cute, and so fitting!), I also got some pretty notepads which are perfect since I love making lists and journaling. But, she didn't stop there - I also got a gift card to Barnes & Noble (my happy place) and Starbucks (which I like to enjoy while at my happy place). See? Completely spoiled! I love it all so much. Thanks Katie! 

See what all the other mamas got here. And again, a big thanks to Courtney, Jenny, and Liz!

Giant Bubbles!

I really, really love our town. It's got such an old, small-town feel. Everything is centrally located on Main Street, there's a Friday night farmers market, everyone comes out for fireworks on the 4th, and apparently there's a family that likes to hang out in front of the library making giant bubbles. Joe and Ez had seen them before, but this past weekend was my first time. They use these homemade bubble wands that are basically two sticks with string looped between them, which they dip in a bucket of bubbles and then let the breeze take over. Every now and then a giant tunnel bubble will form, like the one above.

The crowd that forms around them is pretty crazy. There's nothing like giant bubbles to entertain everyone between the ages of 2 to 80. Kids were running around popping the bubbles, adults were running around photographing their kids popping the bubbles (that would be me), and you could even blow on the bubbles to make a smaller bubble inside, which was really cool. Bubbles are such a simple thing, but it would have been hours of entertainment if the sun wasn't setting and the temps dropping by the time we got there. 

Ez absolutely loved it. Some of the action shots below crack me up, because you can see him tensing up and screaming as the bubbles come closer, and then giggling as they splash all over him. 

It's funny how that wasn't even planned, but it definitely wound up being a highlight of the weekend. 

Linking up with Jess for

32 Week Bump Update - aka: Pregnant in Toddlerville

I can officially say baby #2 is due next month! Yay and yikes! I'm ready to meet and hold this guy, but still not completely sure how ready I am to be a mom of a toddler and a newborn. 

A lot of people have asked me how this pregnancy compares to my last one, and symptom for symptom they've been nearly identical. Very short-lived nausea, mild and sporadic heartburn, and both my little guys made sure to reorganize my insides by kicking a rib out of place. Pregnancy isn't a very romantic or idealized time for me. I know some people love it, but I'll admit I like having my internal organs all to myself. It's not dramatic or awful either. For me pregnancy is a means to an end, and through all the endless bathroom trips, the huffing and puffing just to get off the couch, and the back pain, I feel incredibly blessed to be able to make healthy babies.

The one big difference this time around is that I'm already a mom. So now, while I'm in my third trimester and just want to lay around eating cereal and vegging out, I have to put down the spoon and get on the hardwood floor to play trains, or actually venture out of the house to Gymboree class or the park before the toddler monster rears it's ugly head. 

During my first pregnancy I had an idea that my life would change forever, but it was more of a far away notion that I didn't fully comprehend. I still got to do pretty much exactly what I wanted when I wanted. I went to the gym regularly, I slept all the time, we watched shows besides Doc McStuffins and went on plenty of dates. Now there is no such thing as planning. "I'll wake up early and do a few miles on the treadmill before Joe goes to work," I'll think. Ha! A certain toddler will get up even earlier (like 5 am) so I can kiss those plans goodbye. Then I may think, well, he's definitely gotta nap since he was up at 5, so I can get some stuff done at naptime. Joke's on me! He will nap, but only in my arms, or in 20 minute increments. If there's one thing I've learned, it's that once you're in Toddlerville it's best to just give up any notions of planning and go with the flow. Plans are like a direct challenge to the Toddler Gods, and they always get the last laugh.

My view as I write this:

A nice thing about pregnancy #2 is that I'm much more relaxed about the actual pregnancy. Google and I were bffs during my first pregnancy. I'd look up every symptom and bit of advice I could find, which in hindsight was probably a little obsessive and stressful. This time around I've been there before and I know what to expect. But that's also the scariest part about pregnancy #2. I've actually felt contractions and had an epidural and an episiotomy. And I know that breast feeding is time consuming and painful. Ignorance is bliss. 

One aspect where I have no idea what's in store for us is how parenting a newborn and a toddler simultaneously works. One wants to sleep and eat all day, the other has energy to burn. With Ez we pretty much just stayed home and hibernated the first few months. Unfortunately I don't think that will cut it this time around. I have faith that we'll adapt, but I figure that much like labor and delivery it's best not to think about it too much and just dive in when the time comes. 

We are currently in the middle of the dreaded sick + teething + no sleeping trifecta (aka a shitstorm). I know all you parents can relate. This is probably not the time to contemplate my ability to parent two little ones when just handling one is using up my energy and patience faster than I can replenish it. A sick toddler is pretty much a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation. On the one hand, I've never had better snuggles than this week. On the other, we've never had so many timeouts for hitting and throwing. There have been plenty of nights this week where I escape to the treadmill just to have some alone time once Joe gets home. (Which honestly isn't the worst thing in the world.)

Any other 2nd time mamas feel similar anxiety about parenting two vs. one?