We Survived the First...Birthday Party

When Brandon proposed, I immediately felt overwhelmed with planning a wedding. Florist, cake, caterer, venue, band, and the list goes on and on. Y'all know I'm all about the to do list, but that was just too many things to add to my list. That's one of the many reasons that we chose to have a destination wedding. Luckily, I got to live vicariously through my sister who did put all of those things on her to do list and pulled off a fantastic wedding. Enjoying her local wedding didn't make me regret having a destination wedding and I'm glad I got to experience both, but the thing I really missed because of the destination wedding was the pride of pulling off such a big event. I mean technically I did pull off a great destination wedding that still had all traditional things flowers, music, cake, band, etc., but all of my planning took place via email, so it did not have a high level of difficulty.

Here's a picture of John Mark and the beautiful bride:

Also, I have to share this one too:

Anyway, back to the point...when I started to think about John Mark's first birthday, I almost felt like bailing and just doing a family dinner at a restaurant or something easy. I just get overwhelmed with multi-step projects. There's nothing wrong with going with an easy option (and you can't do something big for every event), but sometimes I get mad at myself for choosing the easier route just to avoid getting overwhelmed. So I decided that I would really put some effort in throwing a good birthday party to celebrate John Mark's first year (and our surviving it!).

Here are some pictures of the venue and decorations:

 

The green punch was delicious! It matched better than I could've ever planned :)

A mom of one of the students in my class made the smash cake. Isn't it adorable?

The party really went well, but the one thing I regret is not having more time to get everything decorated. We rented the Hoover Lake House and they have a strict time schedule. I felt like I was on an episode of Chopped and the clock was counting down. We only had one hour to get everything decorated, arranged, and prepared. I couldn't have done it without my mom, her husband, and this sweet girl. Seriously...

When everyone arrived, we socialized and chatted. We had thirty guests and 5 babies. It was so fun seeing the babies interact with each other (well, kinda). As you can see, John Mark likes to mess with other kid's faces.

John Mark & Parker (17 months)

John Mark & Nathan (7 months)

 I love this one. It looks like John Mark is telling Nathan something really juicy.

 John Mark & Charlie (15 months)

 Taking pictures of one baby is pretty hard, but getting two to look at the camera at the same time is a lost cause...

Of course, we can't forget Barrett & Katelynn Rose. I wish we'd gotten a picture of John Mark with them, but at least I got their beautiful families:

Since the cake smash we did with our photographer didn't go super great (he was really fussy and so not into it), I decided to do another one at the birthday party. I think he enjoyed this one much more (it was room temperature as opposed to the cold buttercream in the one I made). I was very happy with how his cake turned out, but I'm wondering if it would've gone better if the buttercream hadn't been cold (take note, new moms!). 

We got some great shots...so many it's hard to choose!

After the cake smash we decided to open presents. This was an aspect of the party that had a lot of thought put into it. I'd read online that you shouldn't open presents at kid parties because they quickly lose interest and the adults don't really want to watch that. I was very worried about how he would act (he is way more temperamental these days than he has been in the past) and I didn't know if he could handle all that stimulation. At the same time, though, I wanted to honor all the guests and their thoughtful gifts. After much thought, we did decide to open presents (Brandon and I with a little help from John Mark). We are blessed with generous friends who really made us feel special. John Mark is a very loved little boy!

Here's some of the aftermath at our house. We are still trying to figure out what to do with everything!

He's pretty much played with everything (and loved it all), but here is Daddy's gift to him. He figured out how to work it today:

The party really was a lot of fun even though it felt like a complete whirlwind. I learned two lessons 1) If you have it somewhere other than your house, allow yourself plenty of time to set up (an hour is not enough) and 2) Assign someone to take pictures. With all the chaos, it's hard to make sure that all the pictures get taken that you want. Next time, I'm gonna take a photo list (like you do at a wedding) to make sure I don't forget anything or anyone! Here are some photos of most of our other guests. If you're not pictured here, I am SO sorry!

We are so grateful for all the great company yesterday. I know it's a day we will look back on fondly for many years to come. I almost can't wait until next year because I know he'll be old enough to enjoy it...and maybe open his own presents!

Thanks to everyone who helped make the day so memorable! Next year we just might have a destination birthday, so start saving up for Mexico!

Baby Jones a.k.a. John Mark

Back in July 2012 when I discovered that we were expecting, there was about a week lapse before the doctor could see me. It's a very strange to see that you're pregnant on a test, but have no other real way to prove it. In fact, before the belly starts showing it's kind of a surreal, is-this-really-true feeling. For the week that I was waiting to see him on the ultrasound and have it confirmed by the doctor, I was very nervous. I usually am in pretty good control of my mind and can keep the negative thoughts away, but that week was rough. The nervousness and anxiety about keeping this little 7 week old soul thriving in my tummy nearly killed me. I was frustrated with myself for being so worried since worry is a negative emotion. To keep my positivity in check, I put this post it on my bathroom mirror. It says, "Baby Jones is healthy! I am so grateful!"

That was one year and 7 months ago. I just noticed this post-it in my bathroom cabinet today (where I'd moved it once I started to show and was feeling more confident about the pregnancy). I can't believe that not only did little "Baby Jones" survive his stint in my womb, but has been out in the world and thriving for almost a year now.  It has been the most amazing year of my life. One of my Facebook friends (who had a baby around the same time as me) posted this to her new and upcoming mommy friends, "Get ready for some of the best (and worst) moments life has to offer." Truer words were never spoken.

Clusterflake 2014

I don't really feel super compelled to write about this and I'm not yet sure of my theme as I start writing....however, I feel like it's one of those things we are going to talk about forever, so I might want to remember what happened one day. I always tell my kids that they should write their "small moments" down because one day they'll be glad they did.

It was a pretty regular Tuesday. There had been rumors of snow, but things were supposed to be okay. "Just a dusting," they said. My assistant principal, colleague, and I had headed downtown for a Science Notebooking workshop at UAB. The ladies leading the workshop were very passionate about their topic and serious about us paying close attention. When the more serious of the two presenters interrupted her colleague, I figured she was going to remind us to stay present and off our cell phones, but instead she told us to turn them on because the weather was getting bad. After a few minutes of chaos, Jessica and I decided to leave. I had been excited about the workshop, but there's also something very exciting about a snow day too, but what was about to happen was not exciting at all...

When we opened the door to outside, thick, white, pristine snow covered everything. We crunched to the car and headed into traffic. Immediately we became aware that it was going to take longer than the usual 20 minutes to get home. When we were kids on car trips, my dad would always have us each predict what time we'd be home. It was 10:45 am. I asked Jessica to make a prediction. She said 2:30 pm. If only she'd been right...

We were able to maneuver between a few roads and eventually reached 6th avenue south (parallel to University). We needed to make it to I65, but so did everyone else. Here's a map of where we were going. 

At 2:30 (her original prediction), I asked her what her new prediction was: 6:30 p.m. Again, if only she were right...We sat on the same 7 blocks of 6th Avenue S for nearly 9 hours. Downtown was in a complete and total standstill because everyone was trying to go south to get home. Around 7, it became apparent we weren't going home, but we didn't know where to go and somehow a shelter, church, or warming station just didn't appeal to us. Finally, we got an email from the workshop presenters checking on everyone, their email said they were still at UAB. I immediately knew that we should head back there for the night. It was the first decent option we'd been presented with other than sleeping in the car on the interstate (which many people did do).

We were worried from our vantage point, that we would sit in traffic just as long when we tried to go back downtown, but once we got over the hill we realized that downtown was pretty much a ghost town and what had taken us 9 hours to go in one direction only took us 5 minutes going the other direction. We decided not to leave our car on the street...there were abandoned cars everywhere. We parked in a parking deck and walked up the hill a few blocks back to our original location for the day. Driving up the hill was not an option, but walking up it wasn't a piece of cake either.

We had told the presenters we were on our way, and when they came to the door to let us in, we were overjoyed to see the first person we'd seen in 9 hours other than each other. She sent us to the restaurant behind the building to have dinner where we ate the most delicious chicken fingers and fries we had ever tasted. When we were finished, we headed back to the room where we'd started our morning and made palates on the floor using table clothes and coats. I was worried that I'd never sleep, but actually I did manage to get in 6 hours. Here we are Wednesday morning after our night on the floor.



Kara sent me these photos of our neighborhood and surrounding streets the next morning. I knew she was just trying to inform me, but it was difficult knowing that this is what Brandon would face when he came to rescue Jessica and me. Luckily, after a 2 hour trip to UAB and a 3 hour trip back, we were finally HOME! We left UAB Tuesday, Janurary 28th at 10:45 that morning and finally arrived home 3:30 Wednesday. The next three days we recuperated as life around us struggled to go back to normal (cars towed, roads sanded, etc.).




Lots of people took pity on us and continued to check on us. We also got a lot of, "I-don't-know-how-you-did-its." Somehow we managed to stay positive during the whole ordeal. Many things helped us make it through the day:

1) The company of each other. I wasn't sure how it'd be, being trapped with a girl I only barely knew beforehand, but Jessica turned out to be really fun and easy going. I much preferred being stuck with her rather than being alone.

2) Cell phone chargers and Facebook. I would have been going absolutely batty if I hadn't had a connection to the outside world through my phone. Facebook was in over drive so there was plenty of feed to read, plus group texts from girl friends kept me entertained.

3) Provisions like a full tank of gas and food. The night before I had reluctantly filled up my tank all the way. I had thought to maybe only fill it with $10 worth because I wanted desperately to get out of the miserable cold, but I am SO glad I stuck it out. If worry had played a part in my day on Tuesday, the ride would've been much different. Also, we'd happened to pack our lunches for the workshop that day, so we had plenty to snack on.

4) Knowing that Brandon and John Mark were safe in his 4 wheel drive truck. We learned that John Mark is the best baby ever. He did not even have one breakdown on his 6 hour drive home.

5) Places to go to the restroom. I've always had "bathroom anxiety," and that day was no exception. I immediately started to worry about the 16 ounce bottle I'd had that morning. Luckily, Jessica was with me and was able to "drive" in standstill traffic while I popped out to find a restroom. After one failed attempt and an encounter with a fast asleep security guard, I found the most glorious bathroom right inside the Cancer Center. I was overjoyed to find a restroom so close to the road. However, even after I went once, I started to panic about the next time I'd be able to go. Finally, Jessica and I pulled off at Cooper Green Hospital and both were able to go while traffic waited on us outside. Our last stop was not so enjoyable. We'd made it to a gas station past the on ramp to I65. It was definitely not the safest I've ever felt, but we stocked up on Cheezits, Oreos, and granola bars and took our chances on their "ladies" room.

When you have a "everything is happening for a reason" attitude, it can be hard sometimes to reconcile difficult situations. Lots of tragic things happened that day. Facebook connected us to all the sad stories: wrecked cars, babies stuck at daycare without breast milk, missing diabetic father found in a ditch after being there all night, and they go on and on. However, I think a lot of good came out of this day. People learned to slow down and help one another and to be appreciative of the little things in life like being at home in your own bed.