Happy Birthday, Joaquin!

This weekend we celebrated Joaquin's 1st birthday! I cannot believe a year has passed but boy am I glad! It's not that I didn't enjoy his first year of life, but from this point on it just gets more fun. No more bottles, no more formula, no more crawling. I get excited about this because I see how much fun NJ and JZ have together now, and I know it will be so much better when he's walking, talking and interacting more! Fun times ahead. I also envision some knock down drag out, hair pulling fights. Joaquin will now scream at her when she takes something away and I just know as much as he loves "touching" her hair, it will become a weapon later. Natalie has met her match folks. She's going to have her hands full with this little brother. Ha!

On to the party.......
My friend, Kayla, came up with our Mustache themed party and we ran with it. I had way too much fun with this one, and since it is all the rage right now there were a million ideas on Pinterest for it too. So my disclaimer is that there are no original ideas in this party! I did, however, create an original wreathe! I was quite pleased.

My friend, Shelley let me borrow the chalkboards and those were a ton of fun. I will definitely be investing in one or two of those babies.

I love having his stats on the board for a quick overview of what he likes and other tidbits about Joaquin.It made for perfect decor!

Once I found the invitations that I liked (etsy.com), I went with the red, blue and gray chevron theme and colors (hence his outfit). From there it just got more and more fun planning for the party.

Our centerpiece included a monthly picture frame along with the book I created to tell Joaquin his adoption story.

Party table

Wipe your whiskers after you eat a sandwich

Wet your whiskers at the drink table

Don't forget your party 'stache!

I also added his scrapbook that I frantically completed to show his first year of life through monthly happenings!

Then we had a little fun at the photo booth...

We could NOT get Natalie to participate in this activity, but my niece and nephew sure had fun with me!

JZ only half-heartedly participated=)

And then there were some serious photos with family. At least NJ participated correctly in some of these=/ sheesh, that girl. Hate not having my sister and brother-in-law in these, but I guess that's life. I can't make it to Evan and Audreys either.

Now that all the proper pictures had been taken, it was time to devour the cake. The rest of us devoured the cookies to which I JUST realized I never got a picture of.....Darn!  I made neck tie and mustache cookies and they were too cute. Joaquin got his own cake to eat....

It took him a second to realize it was ok for him to make a mess and eat it (normally he jumps right in). Once he got a taste, he was all in. Here's what was left! We cut him off.

He also thoroughly enjoyed his ice cream, but that's no surprise.

After yummies, we took it to the living room to open gifts.

The family were all asking what to get Joaquin and I was no help to them. Being so close to Christmas I just couldn't think of anything he needed or that I wanted him to have so I left it to their own ideas and he got the best stuff!

A talking rocking giraffe (not a horse), a scooter, new pjs, hooded bath towel, books, a new Bible, bilingual toys (loving that), and even NJ got a couple things from Grandma and Mimi.

The Lord gave us another beautiful day to celebrate a birthday so the kids had a blast outside running around and playing.  It could not have been more perfect!

Therefore, I took advantage of the moment and snapped some of these shots and voila! A perfect photo.

But there was also an 'accidental glad I caught this' moment:

It's over the top cute!

Happy 1st Birthday to my sweet Momma's Boy!

We love you, Joaquin Zavien.

Advice from a Mom

So I've posted a little on this topic recently, but it has just really been on my mind a lot so I felt the need to elaborate......
This is for all my friends both single and married who do not have children YET.

 Three ideas on how to prepare yourself and help others.

1. Serve in your church nursery.

Whether this be a weekly thing or filling in as a sub, just do it.  This is important for a couple of reasons.

a. It gives you an opportunity to get to know the workers that will most likely be loving on your children one day. You want as many people in your church to know and love your children as possible. It will benefit them as they grow and will work as your allies.  

b. You have an opportunity to learn more about the stages of growth in children so you will know what to expect for your own. What is normal and what is not.

c. The church needs you to serve.  What's a better place than where your children will be growing and learning the love of Jesus.

d. You will learn to appreciate the workers and what they do week after week.

e. It helps ease your husband into caring for children=)

Ok enough on that one. How about the next idea.

2. Keep your friends kids!

a. This is what I posted on before but it's so very important. Especially to those like me with family too far away to help as often as you would like.  Your friends will LOVE you for this and let's face it....they will owe you one when your kids come around!

b. Date nights can be expensive without paying a babysitter. Have you seen movie prices lately?! Good Grief!  Imagine how much more you are spending this evening when you pay a sitter for a few hours for multiple children. Sheesh. 

c. The last reason this is a good idea is because it gives you practice (similar to the first idea). You get a chance to mess up on someone else's kids! ha!   Seriously. The more you are around them and caring for them, the more prepared you will feel when yours come around.  It drives me crazy to see a woman awkwardly holding a baby because she has never babysat or been around kids. This is not natural!

d. It helps ease your husband into caring for children and what it will really be like=)

3. Hang out with your friends who have kids.

I know some folks who completely avoid hanging out with their friends with kids because it's too painful or they can never get away. Don't do this!

a. Offer to take dinner (order a pizza) to your friends' house and spend the evening there with the children; hanging out, playing and observing.  Spending time around others in different environments gives you a chance to learn how you do or do not want to discipline your children; how you do or do not want to speak to your children; how you do or do not want to handle this situation or that. Do you get my point?

b. This time also allows you to be a part of conversations regarding general childcare, what to do when they are sick, how to handle situations like bedtime routines, potty training dos and donts, etc. You will wish you had all this when you have yours. It's like reading a book but getting to see it first hand. Ask questions on how they handle certain situations. When you are in the trenches, you will have a repertoire to pull from!

c. Your husband will see what an evening will look like=)

I'm sure once I post this I will think of a million more tidbits but for now this is enough!