Happy Birthday Carter!

This week Lisa, one of the moms from our playgroup ordered a cake and cupcakes for her son Carter's first birthday party! She decided on the adorable theme of Winter ONEderland! She showed me a few photos for inspiration (gotta love Pinterest!) We went with red and blue and snowflakes for the major ideas to coordinate.  I think everything turned out pretty cute. The snowflake design was MUCH harder than I anticipated for the cake.  I tried a few different methods and ended up royal icing stenciling the big snowflake on top and doing the sides freehand. I did add pearl beads to the snowflake on the top. I think it def added to it. I forgot to take an updated photo afterwards.  The toppers turned out cute considering my photoshop was not working and i had to improvise. I would of loved to done more detail work on them.

Happy 1st Birthday Carter! 

{25 days of Elf-mas} Fun with Elf on a Shelf

As I posted before I decided it would be fun to do the" 25 days of Elf-mas" with Brayden's Elf on a Shelf.  I'm taking pictures each day of the fun things that our Elf is doing when he gets back from the North Pole every night. Plus i thought it would be cute for Brayden to look at when he's older and see what he does from year to year. Next year when he is older we will have him pick a name for him!  Enjoy! 

One the 1st day of Elf-mas.... 

Our Elf Set up and changed our Advent Calendar for us!! 

One the 2nd day of Elf-mas....

our Elf was Making chocolate cupcakes! 

One the 3rd day of Elf-mas....

our Elf was getting a piggy back ride from dancing Santa!!

One the 4th day of Elf-mas....

our Elf was hanging from the mistletoe waiting for a kiss! 

Lunch with Santa!

Since Brayden was actually feeling a little bit better today we stuck with the plan and attended lunch with Santa at Grandma and Grandpa Keyser's development. It was a really cute event for the kiddies but the place was packed and it was so loud. Everyone got a hot dog and drinks for lunch and then they called up each of the children/families to sit with Santa and receive a present. They had it set up where the grandparents bought each child a present up to $15 and dropped it off in advance.

Ohh Present! 

 What is this?!! 

Thank you Santa! 

After Brayden's last encounter with Santa I knew this time wasn't going to be much different.  But he did really well considering, when it was his turn we held his hand and walked up to Santa. He was so cautious and was "studying" Santa, it was so cute!  I think the only reason he walked near him was because he was offering him his present. LOL.  We tried to get him to sit on Santa's lap and he freaked, so Jason sat next to him with him in his lap and even then he was trying to get away.  lol Overall we had a great time, hopefully next year he's more receptive and likes Santa. 

Yup not happening... lol 

Sesame Street Bus!! 

Bye Bye Santa! 

The never ending fever scare

I'm sure if you're reading you've probably been following what's been going on with Brayden on Facebook. Needless to say the last week has been ROUGH!  On Monday Brayden started with a fever. On a side note, I jokingly (although it's not actually funny) call Bray my "fever kid"  he runs a fever every time he's sick and even a low grade when teething.  Jason and I both were notorious for running high fevers as kids, so i shouldn't be surprised.

my poor baby 

Anyway, the fever started Monday and was around 102 degrees. So i started the usual regiment of all the "tricks' to help break it, alternating tylenol/advil, luke warm baths, cool rags, light clothing ,you name it. The odd thing was, was that he wasn't presenting with any other symptoms, so i figured it was probably the beginning of a stomach virus or strep throat again.  By just Tuesday the fever was the same. The meds were keeping his temp around 101-102 so it was somewhat manageable.  Then things got worse. No matter what I did the fever kept creeping up. He was waking up multiple times at night screaming and crying BURNING so hot. Even with the meds his temp was rising about a degree a day. And still, no other symptoms.  I had called the pedes on wed when is fever was lingering around 103.6 only after 2 hours of meds.  At this point i was alternating doses of meds as per  the dr every 3 hrs.  So it seemed really ridiculous that his fever would be so high.  The pedes told me to keep doing all the things i was doing and if we hit the 72 hr window on Thurs and it was still raging to bring him in.  His eating and drinking were definitely starting to suffer. He was still taking in some food and drinking an "ok" amount that this point but I was REALLY worried b/c it didn't make sense why he was so sick. He was still peeing in their recommended every 6-8 hours but it was definitely a stretch in between.

You know he's sick when he SITS and cuddles

Thursday was a a nightmare. The fever at it's highest was 104.6 and was consistently staying around 103-104.  The poor kid was crying all the time, lethargic, and just wanted to be held. As soon as the drs office opened I called and they got him in for an appointment.  We saw Jenna the nurse practitioner, she's really great.  She was really concerned that at this point it had been 72 hrs, which is when fevers usually start to break with viral infection, and he was presenting with no other symptoms. His lungs and chest were clear and ears looked okay so they did a strep test and wanted to do a urine collection to rule out a Urinary Tract Infection. Normally UTI's are not a big concern for boys but Jason and I both get them so they wanted to make sure that wasn't the case. Not that I was hoping he had strep but I was hoping it would be something simple enough that a course of antibiotics would fix. But the strep test was negative.  Urine collection was interesting. He was not a fan of the "sticky bag" around his penis but we were able to get a sample. Since he wasn't drinking much it took like 4 hours to get him to pee.  The test came back negative, which i was SO relieved about. If it had been positive they said they would of had to cathederize him to get a sterile sample to send to the lab, and I did NOT want to have him go through that.  His urine did come back positive with the presence of  ketones which just reiterated he was dehydrated and not eating enough.  :(

At the pedes

Friday the fever was still raging, staying high.  At this point I'm really getting scared. The dr sent us for blood work to see if they could figure out what was going on. Doing blood work on a dehydrated 13 month old was a nightmare, he cried, I cried, it was not fun. The techs at the lab were really great and only had to stick him one time but they were digging around in his arm with the needle for well over a minute and had to take 4 vials.  I felt AWFUL for him, it felt like  the longest blood drawl ever.  He did so great considering but it was still hard.

By Saturday morning the results were in and of course they were inconclusive. So they still have NO idea what made him so sick with fever.  Fortunately by Saturday the fever was staying around 101and lower with the meds and looked like it could finally be breaking. HUGE sigh of relief.  Today he's doing even better. The pedes office has been calling every morning to see how he is making out.  If he had a fever this morning they wanted to bring him back in. Not that they would be able to really do anything.  But this morning his temp was normal. Earlier this afternoon he was a little warm but a dose of Tylenol put it back down.

Needless to say it's been a rough week. I hate the feeling of not being able to make things better for Brayden when he doesn't feel good. And it was really scary not knowing, and still not knowing what the hell is causing the fever in the first place. Here's hoping we don't have to go through this again any time soon.  I just keep praying this fever stays away.  I hate the idea of giving him medicine to start with let alone giving him SO much meds with in a 5-6 day span.  That can't be good for him. :(

Elf on a shelf! {25 days of Elf-mas}

Grandma was nice enough to pick up the Elf on a Shelf for mommy! I had been wanting to pick it up since I saw it back on the shelves and she must of read my mind! :)  We opened the Elf the other day and read the story. Before anyone says anything Brayden did touch his elf. I know that's a "no no" but how can you explain to a 1 year old they can look but not touch and it's for him. lol From now on though his elf will be "keeping his eye" on him.  I plan on doing the "25 days of Elf-mas" as I am affectionately calling them. Where every morning his Elf will be doing something fun and we will have to go find him. I found some really great links on Pinterest for ideas, so I'll be doing posts for each day in December on what Brayden's elf is doing each day. I though it would be a cute idea and something to put in a photo book for him.  We didn't pick a name for his elf yet, but I'm sure by the time next Christmas rolls around he can help pick it out himself! I think Bray loved the box and book for the Elf more than the Elf itself. lol

Visiting Santa!

After the parade today we decided to take Brayden to see Santa at the Cherry Hill Mall. My neighbor was nice enough to give us a voucher for a free portrait package, can't beat that!  I really didn't know how Brayden was going to react to Santa. Last year he was just over a month old so he just hung out in Santa's arms.Most of the time he is outgoing but he was the opposite he was PETRIFIED!  Poor kid, first he was tortured at the parade then Santa. lol Fortunately the line was really short for pictures so we didn't have to wait that long.  When it was our turn I walked him up to Santa and let him "take him in", he clung to me with a death grip like no other. The second I tried to put him on Santa's lap the screaming commenced. Santa and his photographers were really great and let us try and calm him down, let mommy sit with him, give him a binky and blaket ext ext,  but all of the shots he was screaming with a crazy face. I guess it's kinda good the photos were free lol  But i'm glad we got them either way, it was definitely a memorable visit to Santa and i'm sure we will be looking back laughing when he is older.  So...here is it!!

Christmas Parade!

 This afternoon we headed to Pennsauken for their annual Christmas Parade. Last year Brayden was only a month old and it was freezing cold so we didn't get to go. This was his first official parade. He had a lot of fun, but he cried ALOT! Honestly I think the biggest problem was he was tired and has been teething relentlessly. In order to go to the parade we had to wake him up from his nap early so I think b/w that and all the loud noises he just wasn't enjoying it as much as he would of.  He was so interested in everyone and everything!

  He normally loves looking at firetrucks but after 30 rescue and trucks driving by with their sirens and horns blaring he was yelling and crying. Poor kid!  Even when the different bands would come by he was getting upset. He is obsessed with music so I know he was def not feeling himself.

My Poor Baby! 

He did love the candy and the reindeer that Grammy got for him! 

 And he got to meet his favorite character Elmo!!! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I know we had a great day spending time with family and having lots of delicious food! We had a nice breakfast in the morning and after Bray's nap we headed to my parents to visit for a little bit.  Later we headed to mom and dad Keyser's for the big Turkey dinner! Everything tasted amazing and we had a lot of fun! 

 This Thanksgiving I am thankful for so much. I am especially grateful for my amazing husband for his love, support and what a wonderful father he is. My son, for bringing happiness and laughter in to our lives and giving me the gift of being his mom.  My family, for being there for us through thick and thin. My friends, for never judging and supporting us through the good and bad times.

 Mmmmm Turkey! Gobble Gobble!

 Suck a long day! 

Homemade salt dough Thanksgiving Turkeys!

For Thanksgiving I wanted to make some cute crafts!  I came across another site that had the recipe to make the dough for Christmas ornaments but I decided to make turkeys out of hand prints!  It's super easy and a lot of fun. I think Brayden is a little young to fully enjoy it but we had a good time!

What you'll also need:
A cute kid with adorable hands :)
A small piece of card stock
toothpicks

* Trace Childs hand on to cardstock and cut it out. (believe me this will make it 10x easier than trying to trace a fidgety childs hand 6 times lol)

* Cut toothpicks in half

Recipe: Yields 6-8 handprints depending on desired thickness and hand size
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup salt
3/4 cup water






Directions:
* Preheat oven to 300 degrees
* Mix all ingredients in a mixer using a dough hook for 3 minutes, or for 10 minutes by hand.
* Roll out dough to desired thickness and lay hand print template on the dough. Using the knife trace/cut out the shape of the hand and repeat to get the number of turkeys you desire
* Place turkeys on a making sheet. Make sure it is a non stick pan and/or use baking spray to prevent sticking
* Take 2 cut toothpicks and push the pointed side in the to the bottom of the turkey hand to make legs. Be careful to go straight in the the middle so the toothpick does not stick out either side.
* Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until dough looks browned.  Thicker dough may take much longer. Just keep checking it every few minutes.
* After removing from the oven they may not feel hard right away but will harden as they cool.
* After they are completely cooled you can paint and decorate them.  Acrylic paint works best if you choose to paint them. 

Favorite Things #10: Munchkin Snack cups

My son being the rambunctious toddler that he is, is always on the go. When it's time for snacks i LOVE LOVE LOVE his little Munchkin snack cups. The design means little mess and he can still play and eat at the same time. Its also great so the dog doesn't eat up his snacks before he gets a chance to.  They are also great on the go. When we go to the store I can keep him entertained with a snack and drink so he doesn't get too antsy!  They are reasonably priced and you can find them sometimes cheaper if you shop around!

My what big feet you have!

I decided when Brayden was born that I would make sure I took hand and footprints at 6 and 12 months to compare and see how big he had gotten. I did forget that at birth they only did a foot print so I don't have a hand  but that's okay.  It is AMAZING to see the difference. He was by no means small at birth!  I couldn't even really get newborn shoes on him without squishing his feet. He started out a size 1!  lol. I could of guessed before he even cam out since his feet were wedged in my lungs for the last few months and they felt huge lol  Being that daddy has size 13 feet now, we shouldn't of been surprised!

Top to bottom: Birth (size 1 shoes), 6 months (size 3-4) and 12 months (size 5 1/2 -6)

Birth to 6 months 

6 months to 12 months

Birth to 12 months