crew's county fair: friends + family

Our family and friends who just love our little boy were all guests at his party. We are so lucky that most of Crew's family lives here in Memphis. It means that Crew gets to spend time with both of our families..and free babysitters! I do get bummed that the family and friends who don't live close by do not get to experience the immense joy that Crew shares with everyone. He really is just the happiest and is the answer to any difficult or sad day.

This photo is so special to me. My grandfather passed away just one short week after this party. I'm so glad he was able to come to Crew's birthday and we all got to spend time together and as a family one more time.

This is Crew's best buddy, Will. He's just 8 days younger than Crew and this perfectly describes their relationship!

The ball pit was a hit and we kept it in the house at least a month after the party. We're still finding those balls all over the place!

To check out the decorations and food of the county fair, click here!

crew's county fair: decorations + food

Finally getting around to blogging Crew's amazing first birthday party. It went so great and I'm so thankful I have these images. I have a few friend's who are photographers and I knew I wanted one of them to be there so I could focus on Crew and the party and not have to worry about getting pictures of everything. I strongly recommend doing that! My good friend Madi of Madi Noelle Photography was able to come since it was an a.m. party and she didn't have a wedding until later that afternoon. Thank you, Madi!

Since I started dreaming up Crew's party way back when I knew I wanted to avoid any kind of character theme for as long as possible! Since his birthday is in October, I thought a perfect theme would be a county fair and so we went with that! It was perfect!

Since I have my own calligraphy and design business, I had big expectations for myself in designing his party invitations. No store-bought invite would do. Here's what I came up with:

I tried to pull in a few county fair elements - the pie, popcorn and goldfish (RIP) made the cut. This was my very first homemade pie crust too!

Of course, the envelopes had to have my touch on them as well!

Now to the party!

Birthday boy faces was inspired by Parents Magazine

This garland actually fooled one of my brothers. He thought it was real! Find a tutorial here

I saw this tutorial on A Beautiful Mess about a week before the party and knew it would be perfect. Luckily I have a handy dad who thought so too. Thanks, Dad! I didn't have time to paint them fun colors, but I'm glad we didn't because the washers left marks and knicks in the wood anyway.

This is Crew's cake. It was made to look like a pie!

I asked a few family members to bake some pies too and they were delish!

 I just used fabric scraps I already had for the rag tie garland

 Party favors were cotton candy and candy apples

We asked all the guests to sign this book for Crew just like we had a book in the hospital when he was born.

Because these photo files are so large, it took me all day to upload just these...so I decided to just break up the party into different categories! Stay tuned!

crew is ONE!...and party sneak peek

I can't even believe I'm writing this post right now. There's no way it's possible that my sweet little pumpkin is ONE! He turned one on October 3, 2014. Each new stage becomes my favorite and we just love him to pieces. He's such a joy for our families and I don't even remember life without him.

weight: 27lbs 11oz
clothes: 24 months/2T
diapers: size 4 in disposables and wearing OS cloth
hair color: Dirty blonde
eye color: VERY dark green with some brown
eating: yogurt, any fruits, any pasta, whatever we're eating
nicknames: Crewboo, pumpkin, munchkin
likes: (loves) baths and water, barking at dogs, crawling up and down stairs, showing off, Dinosaur Train
dislikes: getting his clothes changed, diaper changed, or mouth wiped
sleep: 11-12 hours each night and then two naps during the day (morning one is always two hours and afternoon nap is between 1.5-2 hours)

He's really grown this past month. He is now walking and it's so strange seeing him come into a room by walking and not by crawling. He can pick out his red, blue and green ball, pick out his stuffed animals when we ask, growl like a tiger and dinosaur, bark like a dog, and make a truck noise. He's so smart and loves showing off for people.

I'm working part-time now and loving it so much. Being able to spend time with Crew is perfect and I'm hopeful for the day when I can be with him all the time. Crew loves being with his grandmas when they babysit also!

Crew's 1st birthday party was so. much. fun. It was old county fair themed and I cannot wait to show you more photos once I get them back! Here's a sneak peek...

crew | eight to eleven months

Well hello there, blog! Long time no see! I've majorly slacked in posting Crew's updates as well as other life updates, but there has been so much going on lately. I'm trying to write a separate post about that in the next few days.

The eight month update is much more detailed than 9-11 because I was still (somewhat) taking weekly pictures and keeping up with things in my phone. I have almost stopped with the weekly chair pictures (oops), but at least I still have a photo of him every day!

EIGHT MONTHS
weight: 24.5 lbs
clothes: 18-24 months
diapers: size 4 in disposables and wearing OS cloth
hair color: Dirty blonde
eye color: VERY dark blue/green
eating: Breastfeeding, formula, yogurt, bananas, fruit and veggie puree, puffs, yogurt melts, anything he can get his hands on
nicknames: Crewboo, Crewdy, Presh...
likes: (loves) baths and water, his walker and jumperoo, going on walks, any dog, crawling up and down stairs, car keys
dislikes: getting his clothes changed, diaper changed, or mouth wiped, being in the car for too long, getting car keys taken away from him..

This picture perfectly describes our little squirmy wormy right now!

This week was Mother's Day and also the day that Crew learned to blow raspberries. It's hilarious. He started blowing on my shoulder that day because I was wearing a sleeveless dress and hasn't stopped since. He's such a ham!

33 weeks - Crew crawled! It was when I came home for lunch to see him and it really made me day! He was so excited and just got up and crawled right across the living room!

Putting his two first teeth (eight months) to good use!

Crew started pulling up and standing along the furniture at 8-9 months. We officially lowered his crib during that time too!

We cheered for Brasil during the World Cup!

Crew's first sink bath at Lolly and Poppy's. He cracks us up!

Will was in Africa again during this week and we really missed him! It was so different having Crew by myself now that he's on the move!

Crew's first Fourth of July was so fun! Will was still out of the country and we went to our neighborhood parade. It was right in the middle of Crew's nap time so he was falling asleep in the wagon. Crew was the 6th generation of our family to be in the parade!

39 weeks in, 39 weeks out! So hard to believe!

This is worth noting (in my book!): My first night away from Crew was the night before my best friend's wedding! It was in Jackson, MS and since I was a bridesmaid and Will was the officiant, we left Crew with my parents for the night and he came down the next day for the wedding. I missed him like crazy!

Our last night of breastfeeding was when Crew was 9 1/2 months old. He is such a busybody that he had lost all interest in laying still to nurse. After Crew was born I never expected that I would be so emotional about stopping BF. In the beginning I cried because of discomfort...and 9 1/2 months later I was crying because of stopping. Breastfeeding Crew was an amazing journey and unless you've ever been through it, you can never fully understand the bond that you create with your little one. I'm so glad that we exceeded our 6 month goal. I was anxious about quitting because of the emotional side of it, but also because of the physical side of it. I didn't know if I would have to keep pumping or what, but I actually didn't have to do anything. Crew had naturally weaned over the previous 2-3 months so I had no discomfort afterwards and it worked out flawlessly. Crew wasn't interested in savoring the last moment as much as I was!

Swinging is Crew's favorite pastime!

His first haircut was at 10 months - He had a little rattail going on!

First beach trip - Myrtle Beach, SC at 10 1/2 months

ELEVEN MONTHS
weight: 26-27 (at least!)
clothes: 24 months
diapers: size 4 in disposables and wearing OS cloth
shoes: size 5 - the boy has some big feet!
hair color: Blonde
eye color: VERY dark green
eating: formula, green smoothies, pasta/mac-n-cheese, Mexican, Puffs, avocado, scrambled eggs - He will eat most anything (except green beans). He always wants what we're eating so we usually cut it up and give it to him. I'm trying so hard not to make him a picky eater like I am!
nicknames: Crewboo, Pumpkin, Munchkin, Crewdybooty
likes: (loves) baths and water (he would stay in the pool all day if he could! He doesn't want to be in a baby floatie- he wants his face in the water and to be kicking his feet!), strollers, climbing stairs, favorite toys are household objects that aren't toys, swinging, chasing the dogs, Dinosaur Train, music
dislikes: getting his clothes changed, diaper changed (he doesn't want to lay still long enough!), nose or mouth wiped (pure torture!)

Crew has taken a few steps in the last week and it will be a matter of time before he's walking all over the place. His problem is that he wants to RUN- not walk! He won't slow down long enough to steady himself and walk.

I really can't believe that in just a matter of weeks we'll be throwing his first birthday party. There's no way it's been a year already!!