My 14 month Old's Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

I'm a 14 month old toddler and I am writing to you because my Mommy is giving out my "Christmas list" (and I use that term loosely) to everyone.  But ya' see, what she has on that list, I have absolutely no interest in what. so. ever.  I don't even know where she came up with that stuff!?  Leap Frog magnets for the fridge, more clothes--she didn't even bother asking what my style is!  So let me tell you what I REALLY want for Christmas.

My list is below, and in no particular order.  Whatever is easiest to fit on the sleigh and that the reindeer won't bother with.  Have a very Merry Christmas!

--14 month old toddler

My Christmas Wish List

1. Remote Controls
     These are the highlight of my night!  I play with them usually before I got to bed, and then in the morning when mommy and I come downstairs, I see her searching for them for hours.  I love that game!  I need more to hide and slobber on.

2.One of these things
   No clue what it is or what it does, but they all make a lot of noise, and mommy and daddy are always looking at them. Any of these three models will do.  I'm not picky.

3.  Keys!
  I do like the taste of a good house key, but man those little black squares with the buttons on them are the bomb!!!!  But I would like my own set of keys, and not the plastic ones, the metal ones.  I am not an idiot, I can taste the difference!

4. Items in this bin
  Mommy is always yelling, I mean telling Daddy to "recycle"....so I would like one of everything that is in this bin from; milk jugs, tin cans, cardboard boxes of any kid will do, junk mail, and especially egg crates!

5.  SHOES!
   I would like one in every color, and the bigger the better.  These things are great to hid small toys that can only be felt once mommy or daddy's feet are jammed in there.  I would especially like more of mommy's "nasty hospital shoes".  She puts them on the porch so I can't touch them, but man they are my favorite!

6.  Cords
 I wold like all of these cords, and the power strip with the orange on/off button.  I would like any and all cords in general, but to be quite specific I would like these cords that are located in Daddy's office under the desk.

7. Night Light
 I have one in my room, and they are many through out the house.  I really like the tops that go on them.  It's not shown in the picture because I took it off the other day and Mommy has yet to replace it for me to remove again.  But you know what it looks like right?

8. Dog Food
  Every time I crawl to my dogs Bella & Chloe's bowls someone says "No Sir!" and pulls me away.  If they don't want me to eat it or play in the water, then why is it on the floor where I play?  Geez!

9. Everything in these cabinets
  I would like one of every pot and pan and poisonous chemical that is in the cabinets.  There are these strange contraptions on the cabinets that won't let me in completely, but I will tell you the one by the coffee pot I have broken into a few times, so you can see for yourself all the wonderful electrical glory of toasters and blenders that are in there!

Cloth Diapers In Modern Times

Before Holden was born I decided I wanted to do cloth diapers.  Never had an expercience with them, never used them, so I was kind of scared.  But I knew how $$$ disposable diapers can be, and we just don't a money tree growing in our back yard, so I wanted to contribute and save.  I luckily met a lady on a cloth diaper swap group who was de-stashing from her collection.  So for $50 I got 20 diapers and inserts.  Jackpot!  If you don't know, a cloth diaper ranges from $15-$20 per diaper.  So to get started can be a bit pricey, but buying used and being frugal helps!

I have had Holden in cloth diapers since he was about 6 months.  I waited until he started solids...I honestly didn't want newborn breast milk baby poop cloth diapers.  No thanks!  Having solid food baby poop cloth diapers was enough thank you.  Wait, having a poopy cloth diapers is enough.  Period! Cloth diapers ain't for the faint of heart, that much I can say. 

So I am not an expert or super user of cloth diapers by any means.  I was actually talking to another mommy at story time one about cloth diapers and comparing what diapers we used.  She mentioned a brand I had never heard of and I told her I use pocket diapers, and she giggled.  I laughed and asked her what was so funny and she told me at some super secret cloth diaper get together she goes to that they call those "daddy diapers".  I laughed!  They are super easy to use, and don't require a whole lot of thought to them, so yeah that's why I use them because I have a daddy in my house!  :)  So ha!  The jokes on you lady.   ;)

But to make this whole process a little easier, the hubs installed our own make shift diaper sprayer in our downstairs bathroom, so I can just wash all the poop away in the toilet before putting them in our diaper bin for washing.  It's rather convenient.  It's just like the little sprayer that you might have in your sink in your kitchen.  I have yet to master how not get water all over the floor in the rinsing off process, hey, I'm a work in progress! What can I say!

We aren't totally crunchy granola hippies up in this haus, not that anything is wrong with ya'll who are, I just can't do it!  We do use disposables from time to time.  We use them when we go to church and Holden is in the nursery.  I'm sorry, but I love my church nursery ladies too much to put them through that mess.  They have 100+ kiddos in the nursery at any given time and then some plus all the diapers changes they do, I am not gonna make them use a cloth diaper/wet bag situation.  Plus, I'm always afraid they're gonna put the diaper straight in his church bag and it be full of poop!  Not in retaltion (well maybe haha jk) but they don't just don't have knowledge or tools to clean out the diaper, know what I'm saying?


 So yeah, we do cloth diapers and Daddy has been on board from day one.  That was a big help, just had to show him the ropes a little bit and we are doing good.  So there are pros and cons to cloth diapers.  If you are intersted in starting or not sure, research, research, and ask question to those that do cloth diaper.  There so many webiste and facebook groups that have season mommies who cloth diaper and know so much information.  I still go on those groups and lurk and read comments or ask a question when I need to.  Helps a lot!  So happy cloth diapering, if you dare!  :)

Here are few action shots of Holden in his CD.  And some super cute print CD that I got him.  Beware, the print ones can be addicting!  I want to sell some of my solid ones to get more print ones.  haha!

We cross the street in our cloth diapers. :)

Firetrucks, mustaches and bumble bees!  Too cute!

Holden flexin' with the dogs toy bones.  Crazy kid!

Fire Fighter & Law Enforcment Discounts----They Deserve It Too!

As a LEO (law enforcement officer) wife & Fire wife, I've seen through the years my husband get praise for the job he does for our community; pats on the back for a job well done; a hug from a little old lady who is so appreciative of my husband and his kindness, and thanks your for the job he does.  I could go on and on with the the thanks you and we appreciate you's he gets.  But that's all he gets.  By that I mean, all he gets is the thank yous from the community citizens, the pats on the backs from people he helped on a call, and hugs from lil' old ladies.  He doesn't get a 10% at Home Depot for giving service to his community.  He doesn't get a free meal on a specific holiday for the service and time he served to his community.  He doesn't get a special deal on tires or furniture for the dedication to his community.  Just a pat on the back, a thank you and being a local hero is all.  Now that just ain't fair!  Who's with me?!

Now I don't want you to think I'm mocking the military discounts the enlisted and veterans get, because I'm not!  No way no how!  They work hard and deserve them justly so, but so do the LEO/Fire Fighters of your local community.  I'm a military brat myself, I moved around all my childhood till I was 15 years old.  I used the military discounts when they were available to me, no doubt!  Who doesn't use a discount when it's available right?!  But now that I'm on the other side of the fence, and as a LEO/Fire wife, I see all this hard work my husband does for our community and city, and I think he deserves more! 

My whole reason on this post was to bring awareness to our/your LOCAL community of our own LOCAL heroes!  Right here in our very own back yard.  They might not be fighting for our freedom in a foreign country, but they are protecting our local streets from robbers and murderers, they are putting out a fire in your neighborhood, or saving a child's life who needs medical attention.  They are doing it all barbecue they love the job they do, they love serving our community and helping out.  I think the least our local businesses could do is give them a discount.  

I'm not sure how to get the word out about this to our local businesses, but your gonna be damned if I'm not gonna try and find out how to get something started!  :)  This wifey is gonna make some noise!  It's the least I can do, my husband works hard to provide for our family, and works for out city and he deserves more than a pat on the back!

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Holden's 1st Stache Bash

My lil' nugget is officialy a toddler now.  :(  It's so bittersweet....it's so fun to see him grow up and learn new things everyday...but the days of him being itty bitty and sleeping on my chest are long gone.  He is becoming SO independent it's not even funny.  He is ALL boy!

Man oh man, I can't wait to see what this next year brings us!  So without further ado, here are some photos of Holden's Stahse Bash!

Birthday Morning with Mommy & Daddy

Opening his presents. Daddy made the picnic table. :)

Singing Happy Birthday....

CUPCAKE!!!

His cupcake stand I made. :)

Birthday Banner I made

Welcome sign by the front door

Mustache Pinata I made....not even sure I got a good shot of it.  lol

Our before smash cake!

He was not afraid AT ALL!

Mmmmmmm Cake!!!

Thanks for Nothing Goverment!

I  am not political at all by any stretch of the imagination.  I do know that the government shut down because congress can't come together on an agreement for a budget.  Just stop blaming each other, stop pointing fingers and work it out people!  Damn! 

What I also know is that the stupid government royally messed up Holden's Grandparents first birthday visit.  BOOOOO government!  BOOOO!  My Mom and Dad got their plane tickets in August to fly (they're in Virginia) down here to Texas on Oct 9th.  Well, my Dad's job is marked as "emergency essential" so he has to stay.  He will not be flying down as regularly scheduled, but my Mom will.  I cried, I was upset, then I got over it.  At least one Grandparent (from my side) will be at Holden's party.  Then Dad called, he WILL be coming down.....on Oct 30th.  I cried tears of joy, I was happy, I got excited!  So it will be nice to have both my parents here with me later this month.  It gives me more time to plan stuff for us to do, and get some photos scheduled for us to get taken when Dad gets here.  

So yeah, there is a silver lining.  And thanks goodness for Skype, so we can Skype Dad and my brother in for Holden's cake while we sing happy birthday to him.  :)  

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Throw Back Thursday!

I've seen people post on their Facebooks, Instagrams and Twitters these past few months a "Throw Back Thursday" photo.  If you've never heard of it, it's essentially you posting and old, as in old I mean a yew years ago, or 20+ years ago; to show the entire world either how cute you looked or how nerdy you looked.  I have yet to post an nerdy ones.....but whos to say I won't in the future.  That's the whole fun of it!  Well, so I'm gonna try and post a few #tbt photos on here, when I can remember.  lol It's kinda fun to reminice and what memeories come up when you post them. 

This photo is of Kenny and I back in 2005 at a friends wedding. We had only been dating for a year and a a half at the time.  He hung the moon then, and he still hangs the moon now.  Ahhh, true love! :)

 

Brightest Blessings,

Valerie

1 Year Photos done by Yours Truly!

Not wanting to pay and arm and a leg for photos, I decided to do them myself.  Yeah, yeah, I know that the professionals know what they're doing and they do a good job, sorry honey I just don't have the extra $300 for a 1hr photo session.  So I did it myself with help of my good friend Jen.  Sooooo here is a few of what we took.  Holden did exceptionally well! Such a good boy.  I wanna do a cake smash photo next week, so that will be coming soon....maybe.  lol  I have a busy week next week.

Oh, and to answer any questions about the props in the photos....here it goes.  My hubby made the mini Adirondack chair--I painted it (nautical blue), got the "ONE" letters form Michaels, I made the mustache name banner as well as the birthday stat board.  I will have some tutorials to follow soon!  :)

You talking to me?

Had to take one of the meltdown!  :)

Such a ham!

Can't expect an almost 1yr old to sit still

Always on the go!

I am in the love with this!  :)

I Mustache You A Question....Crayons Anyone?

So if you've been following me on this blog or know me personally, you know that I am planning Holden's 1st Birthday party as a Stashe Bash!  All things are mustache.  It's a little bit insane at my house, there is a mustache in almost every crack and crevice of my house....I digress.  Ok, so here is how I made my mustache crayons for the gift bags.

Materials:
Razor Blade
Crayons
Mustache Molds
Tin Can
Water
Saucepan
Disposable Spoon

Step One:  
Take the razor blade and lightly make a cut down the length of the crayon.  This is way easier than tearing the paper, I speak from experience.  :)

Step Two:
Take off all the paper, put crayon aside.  Put on the Pandora or an episode on Hulu you wanna catch up on, this is a tiny bit of a time suck.  whomp. whomp.

 

Step Three:  (Optional)
Divide all the crayons into their color family you wish to make colored molds out of.

 

Step Four:
Turn oven on medium heat with saucepan about 1/3 full of water.  Put tin can in water and bring to a rolling boil.  Put crayons you wish to melt in tin can--broken bits of crayons melt faster.


Step Five:
These crayons melt hella fast, so don't walk away.  Get a disposable spoon and stir a few times to get the big chunks melted.  All crayons should be melted within 3-5 minutes depending on how many crayons you put in tin. (this color turned out to be a pretty shimmery grey-tan)
  

Step Six: 
CAREFULLY pour melted crayons into the molds.  Don't overfill, just fill till it's almost to the top!  No one is paying attention to the back of the mold, we only care about the front, right?

 

Step Seven:
 Let crayons get a little bit firm; (I speak from experience, again) then put in freezer for 7-10 minutes.  If you take crayons straight to the freezer, you WILL i repeat WILL spill crayon wax all over the kitchen floor and counter.  So let them get a little bit firm before going to freezer.

 Step Eight:
Take molds out of freezer and flip upside down and crayon molds should pop right out!

Enjoy making these, I did!  Once you do your first batch, the rest is golden.  Have fun!

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Two Surgeries & A Helmet.....All Under One

Holden will be uno año in a few weeks.  First of all, OMG!  I still can't believe it.  In the middle of all his birthday party planning and mailing out invitations, we had yet another surgery.  Now don't let me mislead you, my kiddo isn't super sick or have a super bad ailment, just had a few things we needed to fix.  :)  So let's rewind back to March, Holden was diagnosed with Plagiocephaly.  If you haven't read my previous blog ----> Plagio-What check it out!  It will tell you all about his diagnosis. But to keep you on track for this post, plagiocephaly is where babies have flat spots on their heads.  So to make a long story short, Holden go this helmet in April 2013, and did swimmingly with it and got it off in August 2013.  One month later after our 6 month visit in April, we were referred to a Urologist for Holden's undescended right testicle.  We were told at 3 months that it had descended, so we didn't worry about it any more.  By the time he was 6 months we had changed Dr.'s b/c we had issues with the doctor/staff at the previous office; and the new Dr. told us that no, indeed his right testicle was not descended and referred us to urology.  Grrrrrrrrrreat!  Well found out he needed surgery, but first available wasn't till September, so put that on the back burner to deal with life at is was.  So after that visit, fast forward two months to June 2013.  Holden had a frenectomy done.  Holden, inherited one and ONLY one thing from me, he was born tongue tied.  That little tiny piece of skin under your tongue, well his was super duper short and made it almost near impossible for him to stick his tongue out.  That was one thing I noticed when I was nursing, he never got a good latch, because of his tongue tied.  I wanted to avoid any chance of speech delay or speech impediments, so we got this fixed when he was little and wouldn't remember it. I however got this done as an adult in 2010.  HORRIBLE idea.  Honestly, I did it out of sheer curiosity because my tongue was super short and lets just say Kenny thinks I'm a much better kisser.  Man I feel sorry for all my previous boyfriends......sorry for all the bad kisses dudes!  ;)~  He recovered like a champ, was great!  Now, fast forward again to 3 months later, it's now September.  Holden's surgery was this past Monday he had an Orciopexy--a surgery to move an undescended testicle into the scrotum and permanently fix it there.  Talk about intense!  They do a small incision in the groin area and a small incision in the testicle.  The pull the undescended testicle from the abdomen area and pull it down to the scrotum and suture it in place permanently.  This little dude is my hero!  He was quite cuddly/sore/tender/tired/mad all on Monday, but Tuesday you'd had no idea he had surgery.  He slept through the whole night and took his normal nap time the next day.  He was awesome, such a trooper!

We have had two minor surgeries and a helmet all under the age of one!  You never imagine as a mother to go through anything but happy and fun time with your baby.  I never in a million years imagined my son would have had those two surgeries and a helmet for 4 months.  But it made me a stronger Mom, more educated and we bonded in a different way than any other mother and son could bond.  I know Holden won't remember any of these things that happen to him, other than photos and Kenny and I telling him what happened.  But I'm glad I experienced it, not glad that all that happened to him, but grateful for the positive outcomes we got out of them.  Holden is now a strapping almost toddler who no longer has a flat spot on his head, who is no longer tongue tied and who has two testicles where they are supposed to be!  Doing any kind of surgery on your child is scary, but when you have God in your life and you give your child to Him when they are going in for their procedure, you know everything will be O.K.!

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Sometimes Making Mommy Friends is Hard

So being a first time mom, I had a few handful of friends who were moms before me, or new moms just like me.  I knew it would be healthy and beneficial for Holden to have some other interaction with babies his own age.  So using the site meetup.com (which is a site that has a bagillion different groups from mommy groups, to photography, to book clubs--go check it out!), I searched for mommy groups in my area.  I found a bunch, but two in particular caught my eye.  One was a Christian Mommy group, and one was a Hip Mommy group.  I had such high hopes, and RSVP to lots of meetups they had scheduled and got ready to make some mommy friends!

 Well, without going into too much detail, I was kicked out of both those mommy groups!  I know, can you believe it!  I was dumped!  The first group had WAY too many rules, if you don't un-rsvp in time, you get dinged; if you don't come to enough events you get dinged; if you do a no-show b/c your child is sick you get dinged!  These moms just didn't seem very welcoming to the new girl in my opinion.  I would try and join in conversation, and they would just barley acknowledge me.  :(  I would suggest a meetup, and they would just give me a half smile, and suggest what they thought was better. I have some pretty thick skin, and these momma's got to me.  It's like they were sizing me up, that I wasn't good enough for their group. No bueno!  So I got the email from the founder, telling me that they had dump me because I wasn't committed to their group.  Whatever!  Oh wait, it gets better!  Then the second group I joined, the mommies were awesome!  Very welcoming, pleasant and so sweet!  And the kiddos were just as great, and lots of babies Holden's age!  Well, then a few playdates later, I got the email from this founder dumping me saying I was "changing the dynamics of her group".  I simply just suggested to have some baby play dates since all the playdates seemed toddler oriented, and there were quite a few babies in the group.  This group I had made a few mommy friends, and was so sad to have been dumped, and was gonna lose them!  It wasn't a good day for me when that happened.  I felt like if they didn't like me because of my parenting style, and that made me question myself as a mommy.  That's never a good feeling.  I know I'm a good Mom, but geez man, can I catch a break!??! 

Soooo, needless to say after getting dumped twice, I was a little bit in the dumps about being able to find new mommy friends outside of my small group of friends who had babies.  I didn't want to feel like I had to put my best face on and sell myself to them. I didn't wanna get butterflies in my stomach showing up to a playdate wondering if I would fit in.  I just wanted to be ME. 

In light of all that, my sweet friend and close neighbor Candice and I wanted to start a mommy play date group.  We wanted it to be Christian based and very welcoming to new mommies, to be mommies and all mommies!  Candice and I had both been part of those two mommy group I got dumped from, difference is she didn't get dumped!  ;)  Lucky her! So we brainstormed one night, sent some emails back and forth and got the juices flowing.  We know what we didn't want for our group, one with no rules, no demands, no judgment, just a fun group! So we came up with Moms of Faith.  We invited the mommy friends we made in the other groups (take that mommies who dumped me!  ha!) and they joined, and we grew like wildfire.  We made a Facebook group and Facebook page, and spread the word every chance we got.  That was back in June, now three months later we are 56 member strong! 

We have awesome playdates, I have made life long friendships for myself, and for Holden.  It's a great group, great camaraderie and it's most importantly FUN!  We have a different play date scheduled a couple times a week, so moms can pick and chose which one is best for their schedule.  Holden and I love our story time on Monday mornings and open gym time on Friday's.  We are so proud our little group. 

So if are looking for a mommy group, don't be discouraged!  It takes some time to be the new girl and to make those friends.  Just as nervous as you are, those other moms could be ten times more nervous than you.  They just have a really good game face!  So don't let those groups that dumped you or didn't let you in get you sidtracked!  Go join another group, your mommy group is out there somewhere!  Ask a friend, look within your church, or just talk that mommy at the playground or waterpark who is sitting next to you.  We all have something in common, so when all else fails talk about the kiddos or pregnancy!  :)  Happy findings of your mommy group!

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Birthday Planning Full Speed Ahead

So Holden's 1st birthday is right around the corner!  AAAAAHHHHH!!  1.  I am not ready for my son to be one.  2.  I am not ready for my son to be one! 

So since I am such a bad procrastinator and put things off to the last minute, I got a good month head start on planning his party.  We are having a Mustashe Bash!  Oh yes, it's going to be epic!  I will have so many DIY tutorials to make after this for all the stuff I made myself, it's gonna be awesome!

So stay tuned because I made......a mustache pinata, burlap birthday banner, neck tie goodie bags, photo booth setup, cupcake holder, mustache sign....that's all I made as of now.  Who knows what will be made between now and October. 

I had to make a entry for this month to get my butt in gear to get back on here more often....I love my blog, I just forget to jump on.  Till next time!

Brightest Blessings,
Valerie

Homemade Hamburger Helper

I've eaten my fair share of boxed hamburger helper....and it's always WAAAAAY too salty!  So I thought I'd make my own, that way I can control how much salt goes in.  :)  And I can make it spicier, 'cause in the Haus of Hughes we like it a  little caliente!  cha-cha-cha!  So here is what I threw together....and it was pretty dang tasty! 

Step 1:
   Brown 1lb hamburger meat/drain excess grease

 Step 2:
  Add your 2 cups elbow maccoroni

 Step 3:
  Add 2 cups of milk

 Step 4:  
  Add 2 cups of HOT water

Step 5:
  Add spices once combined

          Spices                                                                       Mixed spices in bowl


 Step 6:
  Let noodles come to a boil, the cut to low heat.  Let it simmer with lid on till noodles are done.

                   I forgot to take a photo of this step.  :(  oopsie!


 Step 7:
  Add cheese

 Step 8:
  EAT & ENJOY!!!!

 
 







INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb ground beef
• cooking spray
• 2  cups milk
• 2 cups hot water
• 2 cups elbow macaroni
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

 INSTRUCTIONS:

Brown hamburger meat over medium-high heat, and drain excess grease.  Add pasta, milk, water and spices.  Stir to combine.  Bring to a boil, then turn heat to a simmer.  Cook mixture covered for 10-13 minutes, or until pasta is done to your liking.  Stir in cheese to combine.  Serve to your loved ones!  Enjoy!