First of Many I Presume

Well hello! Did you forget about me?

The girl that only posts every great once in awhile and it's always about her kid or a baby shower she recently hosted. Hah.

I'm not in a hole or hiding, or even boycotting the ol' blog. I'm just busy.

Busy chasing a crazy toddler.
Busy at the place I spend more time than home.
Busy hosting yet another shower (I'm a pro at these I tell ya)
Busy watching the entire Friday Night Lights series and drooling over Tim Riggins.
And busy getting our very first ER trip outta the way.

Yep, my rambunctious all-boy of a child experienced his first trip to the emergency room.

I felt exactly like you would expect a first-time mother to feel when her child gets seriously hurt. Fear. Heartache. Sadness. Guilt.

My Friday afternoon quickly changed when I received a message from Carson's school telling me that he had taken a bad spill, cut his head, and that the paramedics were there. 

I won't ever forgot that day. Or the messages of them trying to reach me. The fear that went through my mind. The long drive from downtown to get to my hurt baby.

It was absolutely horrible.

We arrived at his school where they had stopped the bleeding. The paramedics were still there. He had stumbled while walking in from the playground and fell into a fence, where a bolt on the fence cut his head.

I'm so thankful they changed his shirt before we got there. Apparently, the head bleeds a lot. His shirt was scary. So thankful I didn't have to see him wearing that. I was already a mess.

We took him to the ER ourselves where he got three staples in his head. Staples!

His teachers were shocked how small the cut was considering how much his head was bleeding. Although this was several days after cleaning and healing.

He did great given that he had to be held down for the doctor to clean it and staple it. Our little trooper. We were proud.

He showed no signs of a concussion, but we had to wake him up every two hours that night just to make sure. Boy, were we excited about that.

By the time we were discharged, he was trying to climb the medical equipment and wanted to push anything with wheels. Chairs, medical carts, fluid bag rollers. You can take a guess how the waking up every two hours went.

But after a few days, our boy was back to normal.

Making my house a mess. Cutting new teeth. Taking more spills. The bookcase jumped right into his forehead and caused a line bruise.

AND, that couch ran after him at Landon's birthday party last Saturday and broke open the scab. He just so happened to fall right on his wound, creating a goose egg under the staples.

Raising a boy is an adventure I tell ya. 

What staples ma?

The staples were removed this week (10 days after). Only a minute of crying.

I'm absolutely positive this trip won't be the last. I wish it was, but I'm realistic. I'm raising a rough-housing, adventurous boy who likes to push the limits.

Of course he is fine, but I can say with confidence that the feeling you get when you know your baby is hurt, well...it's unforgettable. Gut wrenching, scary and awful.

Now Carson, please stop falling and hitting your head. I've had enough adventures with you to give me at least a couple months grace period.

Mama needs a break.

Little Man Mustache Baby Shower

I recently helped host a baby shower for a great friend and her special little man that will make his debut in June. I revealed the invite here.

We utilized her nursery colors of navy and green and aimed for bright and fun with a touch of manly.

When designing the invite, I liked the idea of using the ever-so-trendy chevron pattern, but I feared its girlish nature might overpower the boyish feel I was going for.

So I incorporated the stache to get the combo of yin and yang I desired.

A Little Man Mustache themed baby shower 

We wanted to keep things simple, yet cohesive, so we served sweet treats only and incorporated the invite design throughout.

The spread included:

Mini Fruit pizzas (sugar cookies + cream cheese frosting + fruit = easy peasy)

Blondies (box mix from Trader Joe's topped with their Cookie Butter. To. Die. For)

Rice Krispie Treats topped with blue sprinkles

Cake Balls

Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

The blue punch was a hit. Guests were raving about the Blue Raspberry Punch.

So they asked, and we embarrassingly told them what it was.

1 2-Liter of Sprite

1 pkg. of Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid (Or flavor of your choice)

Ice, as desired

I'm not kidding...it's that easy. Everyone can drink the Kool-Aid.

Mason Jars, Wal-Mart

Green Paper Straws, Amazon

Cut-Out Mustaches were printed on cardstock, cut out and hot glued to each straw

We used the family last name, "Baby Casey" for the banner and cupcake toppers, and also included the invite tagline of "a little man is on the way" for some additional cupcake toppers.

Cupcake Toppers were printed on cardstock, cut out and hot glued to toothpicks. 

Onesies that matched the theme colors hung on the fireplace and added a few mementos for the mom-to-be to take home. A skull and cross bones onesie was a must.

Baby Casey won't be a Chi Omega, but he might date one:). We like to start the brainwashing early!

Just like these little handsome men. They've already heard all about it.

Gifts were light as this out-of-town mama had to fly back to San Antonio! Hope you enjoyed gift cards, books and knick knacks Megan:).

A great shower surrounded by great friends!

Sometimes, Being a Parent Bites

Parenting is hard work.

Definitely the hardest thing I have ever experienced in my 29-year lifetime.

Parenting scares you, surprises you, humbles you, challenges you, makes you a better person, and sometimes forces you to do things you don't want to do.

I had to be a parent last week. 

By putting my foot down and doing something about the biting that was happening at school.

I wasn't keeping track of the incidents at first because I assumed it would get better. And sometimes, it seemed Carson may be provoking the behavior. 

I kept telling myself, biting is a normal occurrence amongst kids. All kids do it. Carson could be the biter some day. That poor kid, he doesn't understand. Those poor parents. I bet they feel awful.

Before I knew it, Carson was getting bit a lot. I'm talking excessive. For a couple weeks, it was almost every day.

So, I started to be more assertive with my questions. I expressed my concerns to the teachers and the school. I heard, The child does bite other children, but Carson gets bit the most. We are aware of the situation and are working with the child. 

I bit my tongue as my child continued to get bit. Carson's the main target...his teacher would say. I hoped and hoped it would get better. It's just a phase, this will pass is what I told myself.

Honestly, maybe it would have passed. I still don't know the answer. Maybe this much biting is completely normal for kids. Is it?

If I had to guess, he probably got bit 15-20 times. The most recent bites were the worst and non-provoked by C. Some of them occurred when they weren't even playing together and the child came up and simply bit him. One on his back stayed around for a week and another on his knee made mama cringe.

Imagine chomp marks on your child's body as if they were a snack. I hated it.

My biggest fear was that Carson was going to turn into a biter. One of these times, he'd retaliate and bite back.

I asked his pediatrician. He confirmed that the children needed to be separated. I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear him say that. No Krista, you're not crazy. This isn't ok.

So that next day, I grew a pair and asked for the children to be separated.

The school was accommodating and moved the child to another room, although, I do feel they should have approached me first with how much it happened.

While I'm extremely happy that Carson won't get bit anymore, I feel for the biter. I feel for the other kids he might bite. I feel for everyone involved, honestly.

I know this is all just part of parenting, but it's hard not to question your judgement, your opinions, your parenting.

Did I do the right thing? Should I have waited longer? How would you have handled it?

TOP | cookie butter from TJs = dangerously worth it | uncle bri and maddie | makeshift shape sorter

MIDDLE | cousins | potbelly | special visitor at the office on a sunday

BOTTOM | my boys and their bed head | forward facing...dad breaking the rules | date night + im 29