Currently

Reading: Im actually not reading anything myself right now, I finished the Frida Kahlo book and started 123 Magic.  Sadly I put 123 Magic down and have yet to pick it up again, I think I still had a book hangover from Frida.  Does that happen to anybody else?? I have to completely process a book before I pick up another or else I can't concentrate on what Im reading.  This may have been passed on to Little, because as soon as we say bedtime he pulls out the same 5 books to read! Maybe he needs to have them each read 100 times to fully process the book.  Newest to the bedtime book line up is Winnie the Pooh (Classic) Grand Adventures.

Watching:  Still watching my fav- Project Runway, although I usually record it and end up watching it on Saturdays during Little's nap.  Its a pretty good season, many great designers and tidbits of drama! Im pretty much rooting for either Dmitry Sholokhov or Sonjia Williams, I feel like they could produce some amazing things if they were to show at fashion week!  Ive also been recording Four Weddings to help me with wedding ideas and to see what exactly goes into a wedding...turns out its A LOT!  We made the mistake of bringing Toy Story 3 home from Grammas and now everyday Little asks to see this!! Aye yi yi!

Anticipating:  So excited for our trip to visit Dada's Family that will be happening very very soon!  Ive been looking up tips and tricks to keep a toddler happy during a first time flight, if you have any please send them my way.  Ive been making lists upon lists of things I don't want to forget, I just need to remind myself to jot it down and not keep it in my head.  Dada and I are sooooo excited!

Laughing:  The other day Dada, Little and I went to the Disney Store to have a look around and they had Halloween costumes out already!  This year for Halloween I was going to try and let Little choose his own costume thinking that maybe since he was little older he might be able to grasp the concept that you can dress up as something you really like.  This is a little harder to explain to a 2 year old, as i learned! I picked up the cutest Buzz Lightyear costume and headed straight for Little to try and explain, this is how that conversation went:

Mama- Look! You can be like Buzz!! Cool right?
Little- *looks at costume then goes back to what he is doing.
Mama- If you put his on then you will be dressed just like Buzz!! Do you wanna try? See here is the helmet!!
Little- *lets me put on the helmet for exactly 5 seconds then gets frustrated and pulls at it like its on fire!
Mama- Are you sure you don't want to try this on? You can be like buzz!!! *shows Little the similarities in the suit and in the picture.
Little- No mama

There you have it, I tried 3 times and nothing! I left him alone after that and Ill probably try one more time closer to the Halloween.  If he still isn't getting into the idea of costumes, Ill most likely end up making something at home for him to wear.  I already have lots of Mama & Son costumes popping up in my head!!

Working: Mostly working on wedding things as of now; budget, list of guests, ideas for centerpieces and invitations.  We want to do a lot of handmade things to make this wedding more US.

Wishing:  Yesterday was a very restless night for us, Little had a terrible stomach virus and couldn't keep anything down.  Although we were very tired,  we were mostly concerned about what to do to help Little.  It is the most unsettling feeling to know that for something like this you simply have to let it pass, we did everything we could to make him comfortable.  This morning he seemed much much better, we let him eat a cup of cereal and drink a little water to see if he could keep it down and he did!! He was in a very good mood and that made us very happy.  How does this fall into wishing? Im sure every Mama you will ever meet will tell you that when her child is in pain the first thing that comes to mind is wishing they could feel that pain for their baby.

Loving: A sleeping Little, yes Ive mentioned this before but its really the only chance I can kiss him or get a good look at him up close without him jumping on me.  He is a very active kid and I can watch him sleep all day. We have been hit with some cool-ER weather this week, not bundle up or even "sweater cool" but anything thats not over 95 degrees is amazing for us!! Finally, I am FULLY LOVING this song and video!! It sums up exactly how I feel about Dada; Home is wherever Im with you.

<3 Mama Chuca

Im Back!!

Little playing basketball at Gymboree!! 

I promise I did not abandon this place!!! I had to take a couple of days for myself to gather my thoughts because I feel like the last 2 weeks have been crazy.  But I do want to catch everybody up on my Little, here are some tidbits of us as of late:

Little is talking so much more now!! He is saying so many new words everyday and is starting to put his sentences together better as well.  There are times when he is trying to tell us something and we can't quite understand what word he is trying to say, for the most part he can pretty much repeat any word pretty well.  At school he has been working on colors, so Dada and I have been helping him by using flashcards (not in a drill sergeant way).  His favorite color, in my opinion, is Yellow because when we show him the color he screams "LELLOW"!!  We're still working on numbers and touch on the Alphabet at bath time, because he has a foam book full of letters for bath time games.

Tia Linda and Squishy have a new beagle puppy named Peanut! He is adorable, sweet and very gentle with the babies.  Squishy who is brave by nature loves to baby and run around  with the puppy.  Little, who calls the puppy Peaput, is still very skittish with him and I think it'll take a while for him to warm up to the pup.

Squishy's birthday is coming up very soon (November), Tia Linda and I have been bouncing around ideas for her very special 2nd birthday party.  Tia Linda has settled on The Lorax theme, which sounds amazing already!! Their are limitless possibilities for an awesome Lorax themed party!! A Lorax Piñata!!  Lorax invitations!! OMGOODNESS YES!!

Dada and I have been getting things ready for our special trip north,  I believe Ive mentioned before that we'll be going to New Hampshire in early October to visit some of Dada's family. I can't wait for Little to jump in leave piles, sip hot chocolate in cool weather, meet family that already adore him and to see him in a cute scarf.  I live in Texas where it is pretty warm 80% of the year, so I imagine Little and I bundled up Christmas Story style while others are wearing light sweaters and staring!

Oh and Dada & I.... are engaged to be married!!!!!! YES thats the big news, 2 weeks ago Dada asked me to marry him and of course I said yes!! Whenever we talked about marriage in the past, we knew it would happen but we never really went into depth about it.  Dada and I have always been on the same page about our family, as long as we all take care of each other and are happy then we feel we're doing a great job.  I honestly didn't think this would happen anytime soon and I definitely didn't think I would have to plan a wedding but here we are!!  I am very excited as is all of our family and friends!!  Details to come in later posts but I just had to let out our big news in my little space here!

Other than this amazingness, we've been pretty much going about our little life like usual! Hanging out with family, wrestling, going to Gymboree and our new favorite- playing with Peaput!  Stay tuned for regular posting again people because IM BACK!!

<3 Mama Chuca

Aye Yi Yi!!

This weekend was super rainy and very lazy.  Except for  Gymboree and running some birthday errands Saturday, Little and I just lounged about with Tia Lorri.  We were house/tia sitting for Gramma and Papaw while they were on their small road trip to New Orleans.  I did get some DIY decorations done while Little was napping on Sunday.  A couple of things...

Little says "Aye yi yi"!! HILARIOUS!!

Little no longer feels the need to follow me into the bathroom!! This is awesome news, usually I have a little boy trailing after me or banging on the door as soon as I head to the restroom.  But now I simply tell him where Im going and he nods. Thats if he is not in a bad mood already, then there is no escaping him!

Little is coming up on the "mine" phase and I think its gonna get ugly! We try not to use the word so we don't encourage it, but he does go to daycare where Im sure he hears it plenty.

Little and I pray at night, its very sweet.  We say, "I love The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.. Amen" while doing the sign of the cross. One day he'll know what it means, for now its something special we do together.

I signed Little up for the Toys R Us birthday club and they sent Little a birthday card already.  The card came with a couple of coupons Little can use for his birthday. Isn't that awesome?? I had no idea they did something like that, I hear when you go in to use the coupons they wish the birthday kid a Happy Birthday over the intercom.  Ill report back here of course!


Which reminds me- Littles birthday is coming up fast...  A WEEK!! Its crazy but somehow I don't think Ill be scrambling around like last year.  Maybe because its at Grammas house or maybe that Ive made it low key, Idk but m not freaking out yet.  Going home to work on party bags, Im actually excited!!

<3 Mama Chuca

A Little Blur

Its getting harder and harder to take a good, un-blurry photo of this kid lately!  I am knee deep in the blur of a To Do list I created for myself!! Although this birthday party is a small affair, for some reason I seem to keep adding to an already Big list!! Sorry for the light post today, but Ill try my best to give you a wonderful Wordless Wednesday tomorrow.  Im about to go over my To Do list again for the 8th time!!

<3 Mama Chuca

10 Photos

First I want to share a couple of pictures that I found while going through my iPhoto!!

June 2011

May 2012

What a difference a year (or so) makes!! Look how little they are in the first picture, what cuties! I just had to share this picture, they've been best friends since they were both little and squishy! 

Now on to business, as you can see I take a lot of photos of Little.  But I always wonder what photos I should be taking of Little now, that I will love later on.  I just read an awesome list that has inspired me even more than ever to take pictures of my little boy! This post from Lil Sugar has an amazing list of the 10 pictures to take of your tot each month. 

The list:
1. A portrait
2. New mannerisms
3. Siblings
4. Playtime
5. Bath time
6. Squeaky clean baby
7. Favorite Toy
8. New trick
9. A picture with Mama
10. A picture with Dada

Some of pictures on this list are a little obvious but sometimes Im so busy clicking away that I forgot that their are some pictures that need to be taken.   #7 is a great example, his favorite toy this month happens to be his Woody the Cowboy doll from Toy Story. Luckily I do have a photo of Little holding Woody on a walk to Tia Linda's house, but I agree this picture should be taken every month because it does happen to change very often.  As for #3, there probably won't be any Little siblings anytime soon, so our Squish will have to fill this spot for now... after all they fight and love each other like brother and sister as it is (see above photos)!  Hopefully this list inspires you as much as it has me and yes there will be "10 Photos"posts around here very soon!!

<3 Mama Chuca

Weekend Goodies

the babies on the bus go waa waa waa..

I assure you he isn't crying, sad or sleepy. He really just gets into the wheels on the bus!! It is one of his favorite songs to sing with Mama & Dada, he actually makes me take off my glasses so I can rub my eyes like the baby too! Oh toddlers...

I have several links, pictures and goodies to share with you:

Oh My Gosh, this  is the most amazing wall art for a baby shower ever!! Could I somehow replicate this for the shower Im throwing???? I think Im going to give it a GO! fingers crossed

I got pregnant at the age of 24 and gave birth to Little a month shy of 25.  I also happened to work part time when I was pregnant in customer service.  Working in customer service while your so obviously pregnant is pretty much an ice breaker for lots of colorful people.  Sometimes its nice and sometimes its akward and you just want to step on somebodies toes with all your pregnancy weight! This post from an awesome blog called Early Mama reminded me of those awkward moments!! Yes I know I wasn't teen mom young but I did hear everything from that list at least once during my pregnancy!! 

This made me laugh out loud, several times! It actually makes me feel better that I am not the only mama that goes through this at Target! Why is it so true??  

I can't understand a word of this post but that photo is darling! I definitely have to incorporate Littles animal friends for his birthday party. 

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!  True Blood season 5 premiere! This mamas excited!

I love this look!! But could I really pull it off? Keiko Lynn can rock anything!! I think Im now in search of the perfect head scarf!

Last night we were at Tia Lindas house,  while I was making the hundredth paper flower, out of nowhere Little started barking and crawling around like a puppy.  I do realize I'm getting excited about my child acting like an animal but it was too cute!! This is the part of toddlerhood that Im the most excited about the spontaneous imagination part.  Yes it takes imagination for kids to pretend to be dogs, doctors, cowboys, princesses or whatever they run around the living room pretending to be. 

Yesterday when I picked him up from daycare he said "school"!! I asked him if he had fun at school and he pointed to the school nodded and said "school"!! On our way to full conversations people!

Cheers to Friday friends!!

<3 Mama Chuca

Im Loving Right Now

What Im Loving right now is...

That it's FRIDAY!! whoohoo weekend!!

That Little says "mama mama mama mama" when he wants something.  I mean he calls me for everything to show me a cat, to tell me when somebody (usually either Tia) is messing with him and even just to tell me to dance with him!  Im loving it now but I have a feeling it will drive me crazy soon!

Play-doh playing with Little! He's so cute with it and he can make balls all by himself, little misshapen almost squished balls.  Im especially loving our Play-doh date we had with Squish yesterday. Photos to come.

This UH-mazing necklace!! I am totally into brightly colored statement necklaces right now and this has to be the ultimate!!

GIRLS! I love this show, how could anyone not?? I always laugh out loud at least once during every episode, like a huge embarrassing donkey sounding laugh. Plus I just got Tia Linda into the show, I love having show buddies!! Shes my True Blood buddy!

Tomorrow Dada will take me on a date to have a huge Mama-size margarita with some friends and then to see the movie Snow White and the Huntsman!  Im soooo excited about this movie!!! Something about Charlize Theron as an evil queen gives me goosebumps.

Speaking of movies I'm excited about... have you seen The Great Gatsby trailer. It looks amazing I freaking love Baz Luhrmann, he did an amazing job on Moulin Rouge (a favorite) and Romeo & Juliet (another favorite).  ...ok  Im stopping with the trailers now, it could get ugly!

Gramma is doing her Fun Run for the Heights this Saturday! We are so very proud of her, she gave herself a goal and worked hard to reach it.  Also, I should mention that, nobody made her do this Fun Run and nobody asked her to do it. She decided to do it for herself, it can be very hard for some to give themselves a goal then reach it at nobodies request but she did it admirably! Yay Gramma!!

Everyone have an awesome happy weekend!

<3 Mama Chuca

TGIF!!

These photos are from a couple of weeks ago at Gymboree bubble/parachute time! I just love to watch him play with the bubbles and sit down like a big boy while waiting for the next activity.  Always makes me smile. 

TGIF Ladies and Gentleman!!
Here are a couple of things Im looking forward to this weekend:

Friday:
Spending some time with Tia Linda and Squishey tonight, hopefully we'll be having a Chic Fil A dinner!! Im such a bad Mama, but we just love those chicken tenders! Maybe Ill talk Tia into a quick trip to Target, we are after all Target LOVAS!
*Not looking forward to watching the new Footloose for the 5th time, Tia Linda loves it but I prefer the original!

Saturday:
Of course Im looking forward to our Saturday morning Gymboree and big breakfast, it will be especially awesome because Papaw (Littles Grandpa, Mamas Dad) will be joining us!! Mama is in desperate need of a new car and Papaw is going to help us look around, plus he loves a big breakfast! Keep your fingers crossed for us!!  Ive been doing my research and dusting off my haggling skills, I'm still a bit nervous because I can barely negotiate with my own toddler to wear sandals instead of rain boots! Saturday night is down time, yes we will be staying home to relax eat some popcorn and watch a movie! We had a long week!

Sunday:
Im super stoked to hang out with one of my besties for lunch, baby bump catching up and shopping!  Baby shower shopping that is, we will be heading to the party stores to look for decorations and inspirations.  Did I mention I'm hosting this par-tay?!?  Eeesh cross those fingers again, its my first time hosting a baby shower!!! My mom and aunts always make it look so easy, Im gonna give it my best!

Im also very happy to announce that not only did I finish my preggy besties shower invites, but I also just took on a new freelance client!! Woohoo Mama!!

Have a Happy Weekend everyone!

<3 Mama Chuca

P.S. Im going to be adding weekly features soon, I hope it goes well....yes cross your toes (if you ran out of fingers)!  

Birthday Inspiration

Little will be 2 soon!!  Well July 24 he will be 2, but that still leaves me little time to plan a Little party! (see what I did there)  Last year we gave Little a "Where the Wild Things Are" birthday party and it turned out great.  This year we decided to give him a  Brown Bear Brown Bear birthday party, it has been his favorite book for quite some time. So much so, that we have to hide it sometimes ( I know were horrible!) so we can take a break, we literally know it by heart over here!!  Im so excited about this theme because there are so much possibilities, I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to this special event!!
We decided that we were going to make it a little smaller than the first birthday party, so it will be just family and a couple of close friends.  A small backyard barbecue will do for our Littles big day, its everything he loves; family, being outside, cake, friends and water games! I think its better smaller so I can make the gift bags for the kiddies that much more special and I can try to do as much DIY as I can!!

For eats:

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We LOVE cupcakes, so we will have a lot of them (in all the animal colors) for our guests in place of the cake.  We will still have a small cake for Littles big #2 candle and for him to eat all on his own however he wants, after all it is his birthday.  We will also have an awesome lunch/dinner...(Linner?) of bbq and some sides.  We will provide fruit and veggie trays as well, yes people will be full and happy! 

 Party Decor:

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These are just a few examples I've found that I really want to incorporate into this party! I love the idea of guests, young and old, wearing party hats in celebration.  I especially love the idea of the balloon carrying pictures, for one Little loves balloons and the another is Im really into picture banners from over the year.  This balloon banner will do the trick and be very interesting to look at!  Since there will be less guests, I think I want to make a photo booth to commemorate the occasion.  These seem to be really popular right now and Im jumping on board!!  The last photo is something I think Little would enjoy, he happens to have a couple of little animal figures that he keeps track of daily to play with.  I just think it would be so cute and really nice for Little to have his little friends help him celebrate his birthday as well.  Another thing that will be a major part of decorations, not pictured though, are balloons... a TON of balloons!! He will be in balloon heaven that day!

 For the kids:

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Its amazing how much personality Little has and that he clearly has his own likes and dislikes. So right away I knew I wanted all his favorites to go in the kiddie bags!! Coloring and drawing is a pretty big favorite in our home and I love the idea of making our own colors for each of the kids (along with a notebook of course)!  IF that doesn't work then Ill be providing colors and little notebooks for each kiddo, I have this idea that they could say something like "Little Little what do you see?"...corny?? That third photo is actually a gift ball, each one of those goodies is wrapped in different layers of crape paper formed into a ball. This is an amazing idea because A. I could easily wrap Littles favs in it B. what kid doesn't want to unwrap a ball full of goodies and C. Little has a great fondness for Balls!!
The last photo is awesome because I could make ears of different animals from the book to place in the kiddie bags.  Brown Bear ears, blue horse ears, purple cat ears, white dog ears... and so on, I told you so many possibilities!

Im super excited!! Although our theme is the Brown Bear book, were thinking we are going to focus more on the colors of the animals for the decor of the party.  Since we live in Texas, ugh Texas heat in July, I will also have water games, water guns and a inflatable water slide (Little is going to LOVE it). I just know I will be adding to that little Pinterest board up until the week of the party, Pinterest is a curse sometimes ;). Ive already begun working on the invitations, SO CUTE, and soon I will begin the PINATA!! Hello?! its a party of course were gonna have a piñata... a brown bear piñata! This is one of my favorite parts of motherhood, creating super special days for my Little and relieving the excitement the day of.

<3 Mama Chuca

P.S. Follow me on Pinterest if you like, or you can view the rest of my Little's Brown Bear Birthday board!