Hank's Very Hungry Caterpillar 1st Birthday

I can't believe we've all survived the first year!  It's definitely something to celebrate.  There were times (early on) that I thought we'd never make it.  But mostly this first year has really flown by, especially after I returned to work (when he was 3.5 months old).  It's been a blur.  Hank's not sleeping through the night yet, that's the biggest thing we're looking forward to some day.  But he's a very competent crawler (and nearly walker), and is a very smart little guy.  He's picking up on the sign language we've been teaching him, but I can't wait until he's talking!

So, back to his birthday party....I decided on A Very Hungry Caterpillar theme mainly because it's just a really cute book.  Eric Carle's artwork is so amazing.  I couldn't resist buying Hank the Very Hungry Caterpillar bedding from Pottery Barn Kids a few months ago - it's just too dang cute.

Here's a picture of the invitation:

One of the most time consuming parts of the party-planning was making his cake.  I made a chocolate cake with vanilla bean buttercream.  I made the frosting a few days ahead of time, and was so glad I did, because it took me 2 hours!  But boy, was it worth it - yum!  Not too sweet.  Very rich. 

My sister, Emily, helped me decorate the cake.  I had taken the day before his party off work, but Julian ended up working a 15-hour day.  So I was lucky my sister could help me, because I wouldn't have been able to get it all done without her.  Julian had planned on making some cool fondant decorations, but since he wasn't able to Em just rolled it out and I put a bunch of polka dots around the cake (a nod to the book).

Hank after he ate some pink fondant that my sister gave him.

All decorated!

I bought this fondant decoration off Etsy.

I wanted to make a banner, because I'd made one for my sister, Anne's, baby shower and had fun with it.  I made this one below, and hung it across our front stoop.

I also wanted to do something with felt, because I never have.  So I made this tablecloth below with the felt Very Hungry Caterpillar.  I never did get a shot of the table with all the food, darn it. 

The party was a picnic theme.  The menu was: 4 different kinds of sandwiches from East Side Deli, homemade pesto pasta salad, a fresh fruit salad, chips, and pickles.  Plus my sister brought some brie, crackers, and olives. 

Julian's Mom, Edith, with Hank.

My good friend, Hayley, holding her daughter, Elsa, and me, holding my new nephew, Lucas.

Our little friend, Oliver.

Me and Hank blowing out the one candle.

My niece, Scarlett, who has to get (nearly) naked at every opportunity.

Cake-cutting time!

My brother, JK, "helping" Hank eat some birthday cake.  My niece, Skylar (JK's daughter), is on the right.

Hank got the idea, and does not need a fork.

Hank opening up some presents.

Our little friend, Adeline.

JK giving Hank a ride.

Hank got to try his first sucker.

Right before bed, playing with his balloons.

A Very Circus Birthday

A few weeks ago our good friends (Monique and Chris) threw their daughter, Adeline, her second birthday party. The party had a circus theme, and the kids looked super cute in their costumes.  I tried to take a good range of pictures, but unfortunately I don't have one of the birthday girl (doh!).  And she looked really beautiful, too, trust me. 

I've had kid birthday parties on the brain lately - Hank's first birthday is coming up in just a few weeks.....we almost survived the first year!

Here's the circus birthday cake.

Our friend, Amanda, provided her face painting services.  Julian's getting a "Hank" tattoo in preparation for the real one he was getting (since gotten).

Hank (right) with his friend, Elsa.  Hank wore his costume, aka clown jammies.  We thought his polka-dot camouflage was pretty darn awesome.

Our friend, Manijeh, with her little strong man (Oren), getting another tattoo.

Check out this amazing strong man.

Hank thought Oren was pretty cool.

And boy, was he strong!

Now Hank's getting a tattoo, a mustache!

Here I am with Hank, and the mirrored shades befitting his awesome mustache.

Elsa with her dad, Jamey.

One more picture of us.  I can't get enough of those clown polka dot jammies.

Baby shower madness!!

A couple of weeks ago my sister (Emily) and I threw a baby shower for my youngest sister, Anne.  Anne is expecting her second baby, Lucas, in a few short weeks.  The shower was a good excuse to try something new....which I shall show you.  I also got to make a fun cake - there are never enough opportunities to do that - good thing we have a little one now, which will give me more excuses to do so.  We also made a ton of really yummy food, had some great wine, fun games and, most importantly, Anne got a lot of very awesome presents.  Until you've had a baby you really underestimate how awesome the gifts are.  Having a baby (even if it's your second, I'm sure) is so expensive!!

Here's the banner that I made for Lucas, which was something that I'd never done before.  I was really proud of how it turned out.  I was inspired by a banner that my friend Lori made for me for my shower.

Here are the cake pics - I made a Chocolate Cake" with Espresso Buttercream.  Any cake that calls for both Crisco and butter has to be good!  And is was seriously good. 

Here's the cake with a Cupie doll that I already had, with chocolate espresso beans lining the cake and chocolate sprinkles around the bottom.

I was a guest blogger on "And Then She Saved"!

I'm a personal finance geek, I love to read about ways people save money, not necessarily just articles on investing.

Last year was especially hard on us financially.  We had a baby, enough said, right?  Lots of money to spend there, furnishing his room (what was the least of it), out of pocket medical expenses, and daycare expenses (ouch) since we both work full-time.

We finally bought a new car, a 2011 Subaru Forester.  The last new car I bought was my 1994 Toyota Tercel.  It's been a great car, but it's getting old.  We had to have the engine rebuilt the year before, and it's only a 2-door car.  Not easy for getting a baby seat in the back. 

Our biggest expense though was buying a house to rent to my Mom.  The housing market was at an extreme low, my Mom's rental (which she'd been in for about 15 years) was beyond gross and worn down, and the landlord did nothing to make repairs or improvements.  Plus my Mom has had breaks between jobs (she's a self-employed transcriber for marketing focus groups) that made it hard to make her rent on time.  We figured we could be better landlords, and give her cheaper rent.  So far it's working out really well, but coming up with the 25% down payment hurt. 

So we absolutely have to buckle down and really stick to a budget.  No more buying taxidermy, art, vintage jewelry (me), or bikes (Julian).  At least not for a while. 

I LOVE personal finance blogs...which leads up to my guest blogger post on "And Then She Saved", a fantastic personal finance blog.  I even saw Anne Newell Jones on the Nate Berkus show last Friday when I was home sick, talking about her "spending fast" and how she got out debt.  Please check out my post!
http://www.andthenshesaved.com/and-then-she-saved/6-ways-to-save-money-with-a-baby-on-board.html

NoseFrida (aka "The Swedish Snotsucker")....It sucks!

Hank turned 6 months old almost 2 weeks ago!  He was starting to come down with a cold, but I took him in for his 6-month check-up anyway, which includes a lot of shots (including a flu shot).  He got so sick that same night.  He was feverish, really groggy and was breathing really rapidly and shallow.  It was kind of scary.  The next few days sucked - he got such a horrible cold, which I can only imagine the shots made worse.  He was miserable - tired, cranky, horribly stuffy/runny nose and a bad congested cough.  And of course you can't give a baby much to help them out. 

We did discover the Swedish Snotsucker though, which is worth the $17 it cost (we got ours at Posh Baby in the Pearl).  Of course he hates it, but it gets out so much snot!  So much better than the old bulb snot sucker, which he also hates.

Here's the proof - lots o'snot!  And yes, from just one sucking.

Here's what they look like - a medical contraption.

All better!

Day care reviews: Joyful Noise, YMCA, Kindercare, Belmont Academy, CCLC and Grandma's Place

We've been looking for a day care to get Hank into as of June because my sister, Anne, who's currently watching him, is going to have another baby in August.  Touring day cares takes a lot of time, so now that I've done the work I thought I'd share my thoughts with you.....in case you're looking for day care some day too, or are just curious.

All of the day cares have a 1 employee to 4 kids ratio, and all tuition rates are for full-time (5 days/week) infants.  Tuition decreases as the child ages, beginning with a lower toddler rate (about 2 years old).

Joyful Noise/Citykids 1120 SW 5th Ave.

This was the first day care I toured.  I was very impressed, and they were the only NAEYC accredited center (a very difficult accreditation to get).  The downside is it's hard to get into, partly due to their accreditation, but also because it's available to City of Portland employees first, general public second.  As such it's 75% City employee kids that go here.  The menu looked the best of all the centers, and they have a small outside play area.  I really liked this place, if you can wait, or think ahead and get your kid on the waiting list way before they're born!  The wait is currently 1 year-18 months.  Tuition is $1,136/mo.

YMCA 601 SW 2nd

I did not like this place.  At all.  I didn't bother getting much info from them.  The center director forgot our appointment and seemed put out to give me a tour.  She was also really short with an employee that asked her a question while I was with her.  The employees were all older women, and my impression was they didn't really seem to enjoy their jobs.  Tuition is about $1,100 per month and there is a wait, although not as long as Citykids. 

Kindercare 1400 SW 5th

I liked this place.  I got a good feeling from it, and the employees (all of who were younger women) seemed to have a good bond with the kids.  Enrollment was small, which is a big plus, but I found out why - it's expensive!  They're the only ones to give a tuition schedule on a weekly basis.  I think that's because it doesn't sound quite so spendy that way.  $332/week - not too bad.  Right?  Wrong.  For 52 weeks of day care you'll pay $1,440 per month!  Yikes!  They do offer US Bank employees a 10% discount, and you only pay 1/2 tuition if your kid is out all week (vacation credit).  But this still puts Kindercare as the most expensive center I looked at.  Otherwise it seemed like a nice program and good facility.  They had a nice outside play area, but no inside gym.  The center was compartmentalized because it was an office building before it became a day care.

Belmont Academy 3841 SE Belmont

Belmont Academy brings to mind one word: "gross".  Ew.  I do not recommend it, and they couldn't pay me to put my kid here.  It was set up very strange - spread out in lots of old buildings.  It's also very open to the public, and right on 39th & Belmont, so surrounded by lots of walking traffic.  That scares me.  This place was dirty, and it really turned us off.  I'd decided I'd never consider this place within the first 5 minutes.  You do not take your shoes off in the infant area (I asked if I should, and was told, "oh, don't worry about it").  Everything was old and run down.  The toddler area was set up in a weird basement area that didn't even seem legal (I'm short and I could barely stand up straight down there).  Tuition is $955/month.

CCLC (Children's Creative Learning Center)  2215 SE Gladstone

This center was rather impressive.  They're owned by the same corporation that owns Kindercare, so it is a big corporate day care, but it doesn't feel like it.  This center is in a remote industrial area near the train tracks, behind the Fred Meyer corporate offices.  Each CCLC is tied to a big corporation, Freddy's in this case.  A big percentage of the Freddy employee's kids go here.  The center is set up like a school, with each age group in their own classroom.  The employees seem to like their jobs, and we were impressed that during nap time all of the kids were asleep at the same time.  The curriculum seem solid.  They did not provide field trips for the older kids.  There were a few nice outside play areas (no inside one).  We got a good feeling about this place.  Tuition is approx $1,100 per month.  They only provide full time day care, there are no part-time rates.

Grandma's Place @ Clark Family Center  2740 SE Powell 

I saved the best for last...the winner is: Grandma's Place!  We liked CCLC and Grandma's place the best overall.  But Grandma's Place won out.  The building is very new, so everything is clean and in good shape.  The day care is in the Catholic Charities building, but not affiliated with the Catholic church.  The employees really seemed to like their jobs, and to genuinely like the children.  The layout is very open, this is not a classroom setting.  That was probably the only semi-downside to me - it was a little noisy for this reason.  But I saw infants napping, so they seem to get used to it.  The menu looked tasty, and formula is included in the tuition.  They use sign language with the infants (with charts on the walls), this was a big plus.  They take the kids on field trips once they get older.  They have a Spanish language program for the older kids.  They also have a really nice indoor gym, which is pretty rare.  They are building an annex next door, which will be done this Spring, and it will provide an outside play area as well.  Tuition is $973/month.  Although it turned out to be one of the less expensive places, we made up our mind without any tuition consideration.  Also - this was the only place that the center director called me to see how the tour had gone.

Tattood Baby back pieces

My husband, Julian, had a great idea - tattood baby back pieces!  Not sure if getting your baby tattood is legal or not, maybe in Portland since we're so "weird!".  The advantage is that you do save a lot of money - the baby's back is small, so it would be a lot cheaper to have a full back piece done.  And then it could just grow with them as they got bigger.  You are making a big decision for them when you decide what will be on their back for the rest of their lives, but, heh, you're their parents - you have to make the tough decisions.