Port Discovery Children's Museum

Lily and I made the trek up to Port Discovery Children's Museum yesterday.  Lily had an amazing time.  There are two areas for babies.  One is a matted area they can roll around with a couple of toys.  The other is a story time area.  Lily is not a story time baby yet, so I was worried that there might not be enough for us to do there to have made the trip worth it.  It wound up being a 40 minute drive from where we are located, cost $10 to park (though we could have scored a street spot if we were capable of walking a little ways), and the tickets were $14.85 for each adult after tax.

On some days, they have scheduled activities.  One of our daddy friends (who has a very active one year old) mentioned to us that they make the trip worth it by going on a day there are several activities in the Tots Trails toddler/baby room.  Click her and scroll to Tots Trails for schedule. There is a lot of value there if you have a toddler/preschooler and you also have a baby.  If you think you're going to go more than once or twice a year, I think Port Discovery is really worth it to get the membership, because multiple adults can go in for free multiple times.  I also think that there is a lot of value for toddlers, preschoolers and especially for those 5 to 12.  There is a whole multi-level adventure area where kids over 5 can climb and explore. That looked really cool.

Despite my initial skepticism, this trip was completely worth it.  We were there for well over an hour, which for this baby, is incredible. Lily really liked that it was new.  That is one of our issues, getting her enough new stuff.  She'll be toddling around soon, so we'll be sure to make another trip up there when she can more around more.

She played with this toddler ant game above, though she couldn't do much with it.  She was really interested in banging it to get the ball to move.  She loved playing with the stackable waves below.  The wood was textured.

During Jingle Jangle Music Time, Lily tore it up.  She loved the tambourine:

She was able to hit the sticks together, though she liked beating the turtle with them, too:

OMG, she loves maracas:

Then, we found some toys to play with and she rolled around on the floor for a half hour.  She is rarely this happy on the floor for this long.  I just let her do her thing:

Owl Party First Birthday Preps

Owl party inspiration

Once upon a time, I used to be a super hero / community organizer.  I've put together my fair share of fundraisers, parties, meetings, religious services, and other events.  One of my favorite things to do was to spruce up a gathering with handmade decorations.  My last few little hurrahs were donned with decorations made out of construction paper.  I am sometimes a frugal Virgo, and I am determined to spend $100 or less on Lily's party.  It should be a fun celebration, we should take great pictures, but Lily isn't going to remember it.

Sean and I decided to do owls for Lily's first birthday.  In browsing Pinterest for ideas, I found that lots of people loved owl parties for babies, too!  I used to be able to power through decorations for a small event in a couple of days.  However, I now only have a few minutes to spend on this at a time.  So, I knew I'd have to start months and months in advance if I wanted to even remotely finish by her first birthday.  So far, I've spent just under $28.

Getting ready to make paper chains (while watching TV)!

paper chains

"Happy Birthday" banner

I cut the banners out of construction paper. Here is the template for that.  I used the printable files from How to Nest for Less to get the letters and owls.

leaves for a big tree

I would love to put a tree in the doorway between the dining room and the living room.  I love this droopy tree.   We have some cardboard boxes around the house that we'll use to make a long tree stump.  I cut out 100 of these leaves for good measure.  Here's what it might look like:

Here are more ideas that I'm working on:

I love these square cupcake toppers.  I used Photoshop to cut out the circle on the round cupcake toppers above, and I'm going to cut them in squares.  I want to layer them with scrapbook paper, which is a really quick way to liven them up a bit.  I also think I'm going to take some of these and make them magnets for party favors.  I think that these magnets are really cute, and I'd love to buy some of them from Etsy, but I want to do this on a budget, and I can personalize the ones I print.

 These owl glass decorations are super cute.  I have extra foam from another project, and I picked up some of the squiggly stuff and googly eyes from Joann Fabrics. 

I like the way they used balloons here.

This is a really cute way to showcase Lily from birth to 1 year.  If I get everything else done, I'd love to do this.

I really like this idea of drawing an outline of something on cardboard or paper board and cutting it out.  This looks really cool!  Not sure if I can figure out anything that it would work for.  Maybe the tree trunk?  The idea comes from a night owl party that looks really fun.

What I Will Remember About Breastfeeding

Now, I have done a lot of bitching about breastfeeding. Wah! It is hard. Wah! I don't like being a human pacifier. Wah! I hate pumping. But, as we have gotten into a groove where it doesn't hurt, I don't spend all my time pumping, I don't feel trapped under a baby all day, I'm not stuck in bed all night, and I actually get 10 minutes to myself every now and then, I am really enjoying this.  

I cannot wait to get home and wrap my arms around this beautiful little baby girl and nurse her to sleep.  We curl up in a big blue chair in her room.  Sure, some days the sweat really rolls off her head and down my arm.  But, we keep a fan close to keep us cool.  Trying not to miss anything, she will often stand up and put her face in the fan to look out the window.  It is almost as if she's on the open sea and putting her face out to see what lies ahead on our adventure.  But, on a night like tonight, she won't even pop off for a second.  I love to watch her get comfortable and her eyes slowly close and then open as she can no longer fight the sleep trying to overtake her.  Her little hand reaches up for the sky.  It touches my shirt, reaches for my face.  I pretend-nibble on her finger tips.  She lets me stroke her head and rub her back..  I love squeezing her chunky little thigh, my trophy of a job well done, as moms are often made to feel incapable when it comes to their child thriving.  I am going to remember the way she melts into me. Her breath on my skin. Her eye lashes, which sometimes have wet remnants of how long she waited for this moment, too. 

Eventually, we make our way into the bedroom and I try to slink in the bed.  There is a sweet spot when I can lay Lily down and she doesn't wake at all.  Most of the time, she roots for a boob again.  I used to try to get away as fast as possible, in fear that I would spend all evening in the bed.  Now, I don't mind that she nurses a little bit more.  We curl around each other and cuddle in bed.  I get to touch her head, squeeze her thigh, and caress her back some more.  Sometimes, a little hand shoots out and sweetly grabs my hand, moving it far away from her body.  Mom, I'm trying to sleep!  Eventually, she is so far gone into sleepy land that I can sneak my nipple out of her mouth without her noticing.  I will remember the way her lips continue to suckle the air in her sleep.  I get out of the bed, put the pillows around her, turn the monitor on, and sneak downstairs to do adult stuff.  But, if she doesn't let me get out of the room, I enjoy the few extra minutes I get to snuggle with her.

I am going to remember the resounding sadness I felt for several weeks after K1 stopped pumping and left me alone in the pump room.  Goodness, that was only a month ago.  It feels like six months have passed.  I didn't realize until I walked into the room that first time it was now just me that I would be so affected by that fact.  I didn't realize how much I relied on the knowledge that several of us where going through this together.