Nathan's Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Party

On August 24th we had a BBQ to celebrate Nathan's first year in our family!

It's hard to believe that a year has already passed us by. We had a wonderful day with friends and family and I think everyone had a great time!

I had planned on food and favors for around 30 people and I'm pretty sure that's how many people came so that worked out pretty well. To be honest the week before I was working like crazy making all the decorations and planning the meals etc so when the party day arrived I was pretty relieved to no have to party plan anymore :-)

I made most of the decorations myself and we rented some tables and chairs from the navy base. Our friends were generous enough to loan us some easy-up canopies and lawn games (corn hole and bocci ball). I made the caterpillar photo banner  pictured above with my Cricut machine; I think it turned out really well! It was hung on the fence in our backyard behind the food table.

I had this sign made on Etsy and had it printed at Walgreens. I had a 10% off coupon and was able to get it printed on hard foam board for the same price as a regular 11x14 print. I love how it came out!

To the right of the sign is The Birthday Book; I found this on amazon and fell in love with the concept. It has one or two pages to fill out for each birthday from year 1 to 18. As you child grows there are pages specifically for the child to fill out.  I still need to find the perfect picture from the party to include in the book.

For the desserts I asked one of my very talented friends to make cupcakes for the guests and my very talented mother in law made the smash cake for Nathan.

1) Birthday Invitations - Etsy - Ashlee @ Scriptiva Paper

 2) Birthday Stats Sign - Etsy - Tiffany @ Enchanted Wishes

 3) Cupcake Toppers - Etsy - Chelsi @ ChelsiLeeDesigns

We BBQ'd burgers and dogs for everyone and had a nice picnic lunch. We had samplings of all the different foods that the caterpillar had in the story. (Not familiar with the children's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar? Then you obviously had a very deprived childhood!... Just kidding!)

Kyle's mother who is the Children's Lead at the Local Barnes and Noble got me a really nice hardcover copy of the book to use as a guest book. Everyone that came to the party signed it. It will be a great keepsake to flip through and cry over after Nathan leaves for college!

I made him a special birthday sign for his highchair and the smash cake pictures! It was so amazing watching him while we all gathered around to sing happy birthday to him. I kept it together but it was really hard not to get choked thinking in those moments that my baby really isn't a baby anymore..

Investigating the smash cake (first time every having cake!)

I think he likes it!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday sweetheart. Mommy loves you very much.

All in all it was a wonderful day full of good food and good friends! I can't believe that a year has gone by so fast!

Nathan Batch Update: 10 & 11 month Photos!!!

Here are the first batch of photos taken in our new home in Little Rhody. I can't believe that my baby is almost a year old!

10 Months

11 Months

Mommy and Daddy are so proud to be your parents little man! 

Nathan; Batch Update!! 8 & 9 month photos!!!!!!

Hey guys!

I'm still here!!! I have missed you guys! Sorry I have been MIA over the last two months but we have since PCS'd (permanent change of station; military speak for moved) from the west coast to the east coast back to my old home town. Little Rhody Girl is actually back in Little Rhody!!!!

It feel so nice to be back home and among lots of old friends and family. We are finally settled into our new home and regaining some semblance of normalcy at the LRG household. Although things have been pretty busy, I still have kept up with my monthly pictures of the big guy (which is why you are reading this post I'm sure) All righty; on to the main event!

8 Months

9 Months

A beautiful baby boy, Don't you think?

I can't believe that he is growing up so quickly! It's been such an amazing experience to watch him grow and change each month. I love being a mother!

Feels good to be back in the blogosphere with you guys

Nathan: 7 Months

To my little man,

You are 7 months old today!

I can't believe how big your getting! You have two teeth now! It seems like you are constantly learning and discovering your world; and you are becoming more mobile! You have now mastered the army crawl and despite our efforts to contain you always seem to find yourself where you don't belong.

I know it's only the beginning of your shenanigans!

You are doing so well with your solid food and never refuse any food we give you. We are still nursing throughout the day and you are definitely a growing boy! We no longer worry about whether you are going to gain the weight you need to, you have definitely bulked up and now have the oh so adorable chubby baby wrists which I love to cover with kisses!


Your personality constantly makes me smile; at times you seem so perturbed with us when we are trying to make you laugh. Your face seems to say "Mommy & Daddy are so weird. Why are they making faces at me? I'll just smile because that seems to make them happy...."


Boy does it. When you smile at me it makes me feel like the most important person in the universe.

We love you my sweet baby; we can't wait to see what next month will bring!

With love to the moon & back,

Mommy & Daddy

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Nathan has a bit O' Irish on his daddy's side; 

so we kiss him because he's Irish 

(and cute!)

Nathan: 6 Months

To my little man,

You are 6 months old today!!!!!!!!!

You are half a year old! So much has changed since you first came into our lives back in August and we CAN'T IMAGINE life without you anymore!

Your bedtime routine is now wonderfully predictable and putting you to bed at night in your own room is now pretty much effortless. After a bath and a story you nurse for a few minutes and are basically asleep by the time we put you in your crib. You are averaging three naps during the day and are always ready to play when you wake up!





Mommy packed up your newborn and 3-6 month clothes already because you are already way to big for all of them! You have graduated from physical therapy and your neck issues have been completely resolved! You are rolling and rolling all over the place and are so CLOSE to sitting up all by yourself. You have also starting babbling a lot and like to say "MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA." (I don't think it counts as mama but its still really cute when you do it.)





Your eyes are still blue and the doctor is confident that they will stay that way which I am thrilled about! I remember dreaming about a baby with brown hair and blue eyes like your daddy and now here you are!





You continue to astound us with your loving personality and easy going nature; how lucky we are to be your parents!

With love to the moon and back my sweet baby,

Mommy & Dadddy

Nathan: 5 Months

To my little man,

You are 5 months old today!

It seems like each month is racing past even faster than the month before! Every day is an exciting adventure for you and we are really enjoying watching you discovering the world around you.

You are definitely much more interested in your toys and other objects (Mommy's wallet, Mommy's Keys, basically Mommy's anything) and can bring anything to you mouth with perfect precision. Your favorite thing to chew on (as Mommy predicted) is you feet. I have been told that baby feet are particularly delicious and you certainly seem to think so! You are staring to get much more interested in meal times with Mommy and Daddy and you have almost spilled Mommy's dinner on the floor a few times. I'm sure you are looking forward to starting solid food next month!

At the beginning of the month we moved you into your own room. We did it slowly in stages: for a week or so we kept you in our room but moved you to your baby swing to sleep at night, then we moved the swing to the nursery and kept you in there for another week. (The first few days were really hard for Mommy but she made it through; you didn't seem to notice any difference!) Then we spent a few days doing all of your naps in the crib and the swing at night. Now you are sleeping in your crib full time in your own room and it's going pretty well so far. I was actually quite surprised at how smoothly you took to the change; and to be completely honest Mommy and Daddy are happy to have their own room back! You are still waking up once or twice during the night but Mommy is happy to take 10-15min to nurse you at night (at least for now!).






Don't grow up too fast my sweet boy; your Mommy can't handle it!

With Love to the Moon and back,

Mommy & Daddy

Nathan - 4 months old

To my little man,

I can't believe it! You are 4 months old today!!

This months has brought on more joys and challenges, the biggest of which has been your sleep. You are still sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom and are still waking us up throughout the night to nurse (although sometimes I think you just want to play!). We have been very busy with guests and all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season so I think after the new year we will start transitioning you into your nursery full time for naps and for sleeping at night. I know that I will probably have a pretty difficult time with it but I know that's what is best for you. Hopefully that will help you sleep longer at night because Mommy needs her sleep too!

You have finally discovered that your hands are quite useful for holding onto things and grabbing toys! By the end of the month anything that we held in front of you went from your hands to your mouth in about 5 seconds flat. You haven't started chewing on your feet yet but I know thats coming up next.

We had a 4 month check up with the doctor and here are your numbers!

Length: 25 inches

Weight: 13lbs 12oz

Head Circumference 42.5cm

The doctor is happy with how your growing and tells us to keep up the good work! You got some vaccines but you only cried for a minute and was all smiles by the time you left the office

We are so proud to be your parents. We can't wait to see what next month will bring

With love to the moon and back,

Mommy & Daddy

Nathan's First Christmas!

Ever since I started dreaming about having kids of my own I would think of how much more fun Christmas would be with small children in the house. Kyle and I are such huge fans of Christmas anyway and we know that every year with Nathan is going to become more magical and more enjoyable. 

Since he was still so little this Christmas he didn't really realize quite what was going on but I still think he enjoyed the bright lights and the constant Christmas music in the house and the candlelight service in church on Christmas Eve. At least I know that I enjoyed seeing him look around with a sense of wonder (I know I know he's 4 months old he looks at EVERYTHING with a sense of wonder!)

Kyle's brother was able to travel again up from Los Angeles to spend Christmas with us which was really nice. Dealing with the normal stress of Christmas is hard enough but adding a newborn into the mix made it even more chaotic!

At the beginning of the month our good friend Jared came up from San Diego with his girlfriend Megan to spend the weekend with us; what a wonderful way to kick off the christmas season! They brought a lot of great gifts for Nathan (the favorite being his Finding Nemo fleece jammies!) Jared has a really nice eye for photos and was able to get a pic of us in front of the tree for our christmas card!

nice right!?

I made the traditional Christmas spread: Ham, mashed potatoes and carrots. I love Christmas dinner because it is one of the few times during the year that we get to use our wedding china! 

Here are a few more pics from the Christmas season. I hope everyone had a happy and healthy Christmas and Holiday Season!

Christmas Morning

Christmas Hymn Sing at Church

Santa Jammies!!

All worn out after opening gifts

Merry Christmas Everyone!