Eighteen Days Till My Baby Girl's 1st Birthday!

So I had decided before Alexis was even born that I wanted her first birthday to be zoo themed, but a couple of weeks ago I had decided to change it to a beach theme party. But after Chrissie, my wonderful buddy from my-brief-moment-in-law-school, reminded me that yes I had wanted this before Alexis was even born, helped me realize that I would be making a huge mistake changing her birthday theme. So after thinking some more I have decided to go ahead with the zoo theme.

We had originally planned to go to the San Diego Zoo, as well as have her birthday dinner at a restaurant. Due to circumstances with work though we won't be able to fit in both in the same weekend and taking time off for me is a little difficult because I have to find other therapist to cover my sessions or fit in the session some other time in the week, which isn't very easy now that I am getting more cases.

So the plan is to have her birthday dinner at Shakey's, those of you who have never been to one, it is like Chuckie Cheese but not cheesy, no pun intended. We use to go there all the times as kids so we're going to have dinner there and have cake and open presents.

I posted before about invitation ideas and things like that so here is some more of that as well as some new ideas. I don't know how much of this I will be able to get away with because Derek doesn't believe in going all out on her first birthday, but I do ;)

Invitations:

Birthday Dress:

High Chair Banner:

Candle: (But a 1 not a 2 ;))

There are several different cakes that I've looked at but I'm exactly sure which type we're going with. Derek has tried to talk me out of getting the dress because he doesn't think it's necessary. I know some parents don't care about the first birthday, but I do, and for that reason yes I do want her to have this cute dress for her first. Also ummm I'm a planner I love planning things, loved planning my wedding so of course I'm going to want every little detail to match and even the little things matter to me. So this is it for now.

Alexis' birthday is in 18 days, but we are actually celebrating it that weekend on the 19th because her birthday falls on a Monday. I will be ordering the invitations next week and sending them out :) I'm excited!

Enjoy!

P.S. I do need to post about Miss Alexis but I will have to do that later :)))

"I Gave Her My Heart, She Gave Me A Pen."

I was so busy yesterday that I didn't realize that yesterday was April 18th.

April 18th is a very special day for Derek and I. April 18th 2008 Derek and I became official :)

So this is what I should have wrote yesterday:

Derek, It's been 4 years since we've been together. It feels so much longer than 4 years, being married and having our little girl turning one next month makes it feel like we've been together for so much longer. I remember that weekend of April 18th, 2008 so clearly, I don't think I could ever forget it. We had so many first that weekend :) We watched our first movie together which turned out to be "our" movie, Say Anything :))) We watched our first play together, and we listening to "our" song over and over that weekend, MFEO. That weekend was amazing and I know that we both knew that someday we'd end up like this. I love being able to look back at all the memories we made together that first year. I love that we have that first year documented in our scrapbook for Alexis and our other future children to look at someday so they can see how much we both love each other. I love you so much and I'm excited to keep making memories with you.

Lexi and I are watching Say Anything together; Derek is asleep. Derek and I always watch Say Anything on our being-official anniversary :) But he is so exhausted that he's been asleep all day, so we can watch it again later :)

"One question: Do you need someone, or do you need me?...Forget it, I don't really care."

1st Birthday Party Theme Change?

I hit 10,000 post readings! (I'm sure there is a better way to form that sentence.) I actually went 60 over that :) I'm psyched that people enjoy reading my blog because I love writing. On that same point I just realized I've been posting a lot lately. But I'm not complaining :)

So today we went to the beach with Alexis and OMG she loved it!!!! She looked amazing in her little bathing suit and she loved being at the beach. On the way back home I was thinking that maybe we should change our party theme from zoo to beach party. Which is conflicting for me because I pretty much wanted the zoo theme for her birthday before she was even born. Plus the birthday dress i wanted to get is sooooo cute and the cake and the invitations, gah!!! But I feel like the beach would be more fun for her and for everyone else coming to. So I think I have decided to change the theme. I was doing some research and it looks like beach invitations aren't very popular I didn't find any that I thought were amazingly cute, but I have found one that is ok so I think we may go with that. Here is a pic:

Also I'm thinking since we will be at the beach, instead of having a tutu birthday dress thing we could buy her a new bathing suit, because I'm sure the one she has now won't fit her and I'll take any excuse to buy a new one ;) Also the more I think about the more I love the idea of getting her some cute little sunglasses and beach sandals. I found this cute bathing suit on Gymboree's website and I love it. It's super pink, which is ok I just like having Alexis in other colors too, too much pink is not my friend. Here is a picture of it:

I love the giraffe print, still kind of zoo themed lol. As you can tell I'm having a hard time letting go of the zoo theme. I mean seriously scroll a couple post down and look at the cuteness of that dress and invitation and you'll understand why it's so hard to let go of the zoo theme :(((

But I have to be strong :) I looked up some cakes. Some of them are too tacky beach themed so I want to make sure I find something beach-y but not over the top. I don't have any specific pictures of potential cakes, yet. We at first thought we could have a grill and have a barbecue on the beach but not all beaches allow you to do that and it would be a pain trying to have cake and open presents on the sand. So Derek and I are going to take a day trip before her birthday and find a local pizza restaurant where we can have her birthday dinner but keep it cheap.

Well that's it for now. Today was an amazing day. Here's a picture of my beauty at the beach :) Enjoy!

So Excited For Tomorrow!

I have Fridays off, but for the past 2 Fridays have had to run errands and haven't gotten to really enjoy my day off. Well tomorrow I actually get to enjoy my day off :) before returning to my busy week.

We are taking Alexis to get some Easter pictures done :) I am so excited for that, we have yet to do any studio pictures of her. We did do her newborn pictures with a photographer but I really wanted to get some studio ones done before she turns 1. We are doing Easter pictures, we kind of decided it last minute so the pictures won't be done before Easter, obviously lol, but It will still be nice to have them.

After her pictures we have to drive to Costa Mesa to pick up my paycheck from the office because the direct deposit doesn't kick into effect till next paycheck so since we will already be in Orange County we are going to drive to the beach and have a little picnic there :) We're excited to take Alexis to the beach. So Alexis gets to put her bathing suit on for some cute pictures ;) Is it obvious I love taking pictures of Alexis? lol.

Well I'm excited for tomorrow and I should be getting to bed soon :)

Ranting and Raving!

Well let's start...

I hate hate hate the pill! I miss being on the Nuvaring. It was so nice to just have to worry about it once a month and I never had any problems with it, no side effects at all. I got on the pill after I had Alexis because I was trying to breastfeed and you can't be on hormonal birth control while breastfeeding. I always forget to take the pill. It's not that I have a bad memory or anything like that, I just don't always have it on me and I'm usually not home at the time that I always have to take it. I have an alarm set on my phone but it will go off and I'll be busy doing something or I won't have the case on me and I'll tell myself to run upstairs and get it but I'll get busy and forget :( I hate hate hate it! I'm just waiting for my insurance to come in through my new job and will be getting back on the Nuvaring. Thank gosh!

Some more ranting. I am so exhausted. I have Fridays off. I work Monday-Thursday and on Saturday and Sunday I have one session each day, but they are in the middle of the day so I feel like my whole weekend is wasted :( The driving is also adding to my exhaustion. I don't mind driving, I actually love it; I just put some music on and put my windows down and it makes for a nice drive, but being stuck in traffic is not enjoyable.

It also is so hard to leave Alexis when I have to go to work :( I seriously spend 10 minutes just kissing her and saying goodbye. But my mom is so amazing with her. Derek watches her a lot, since he works nights he's home during the day but sometimes he's so tired I have to have my mom watch her so he can get sleep.

So now for some raving. Alexis is amazing, as per usual :) She is getting more and more gorgeous everyday. We put together an Easter basket for her and we're so excited to give it to her this weekend. We are also planning on getting some Easter pictures done of her this weekend.

In mid-April we will be ordering Alexis' birthday invitations! I am so excited for that!I cannot wait to take her to the San Diego Zoo!!!!! I'm still having a hard time with the fact that she's turning 1. She's getting bigger and bigger everyday but she's just so small still that I can't imagine her becoming a toddler. It's weird to even say that out loud.

So I've been done with overlap training at my job, for the last 2 weeks and have been doing sessions on my own. I really enjoy being able to hang out with these kids and help them. Their families are so sweet too. These kiddos parents are always trying to feed me when I'm over lol I love the families and love being part of CS4Hope. Derek is looking for a new job, he hates working overnights and wants to find a better paying job closer to what he had before when we were living in Utah. Also I want him to not have to worry about working holidays especially having Alexis, spending holidays as a family is of utmost importance to me.