First Love, True Love

I'm kind of working my way backwards from Elias' birthday to share a bit about what we have been up to the past month or so. I have a cousin visit that I still need to share-  so much Thompson cute all in one room!

Today though, I wanted to share pictures of Elias and his future wife...you know... if I got to arrange his marriage...

Let me just say that hanging out with your best friend since you were about 13 and both of your BABIES is about the sweetest things that you ever could do. I'm so blessed to have my wonderful friend Marja in my life and sharing the experience of motherhood with her is just so cool. She has an adorable little daughter, Lyla, who I seriously wanted to smother with kisses the whole time she was visiting.

I really hope that she and Elias can be friends as they grow older and I pray Elias finds friends in his life that are as wonderful as my friend Marja.

Here is a little look at how the little ones spent their time together...

"Hey there handsome."

"Oh hello beautiful."

"Well this isn't at all what I thought they meant when they said a romantic swing in the park. I can't even hold your hand!"

"He is dreamy!"

"I hope she likes me!" 

"So, about those leafs..."

"Should I just try the fake yawn? Hold her hand? Why are you all staring at me?"

"Hey hold my hand silly!"

"Ok fine, I'll just hold yours!"

"Elias, you are one smooth guy. The yawn works every time."

"Oh my! I think his arm is around me!"

"Story time Lyla!"

"Guys, I can't read..."

"Ahh neither can she, I'll just make something up."

"Uh, excuse me, I can too read! Watch."

"Oh my, these are some seriously big words, let's just look at the pictures and pretend so our crazy mothers stop taking pictures."

*sigh*

 To Be Continued...

Elias William's First Birthday Party

As I mentioned yesterday, our little guy turned one this past Saturday. I was in denial about it for a while so when it came to planning his party I left it to crunch time and wanted things to be simple and sweet. I love how all the little details turned out and most of all I loved being surrounded by friends and family.

Here is a peek into the details of Elias William's First Birthday Party. 

Some pictures of the little man from the past year in no particular order hung on the walls.

To go with the blue, grey and beige theme I made blue raspberry lemonade and bottled it in pretty glass bottles I collected from sparkling lemonade. I am also so excited about the stripey straws I ordered from Greenmunch.ca which were used in the mason jars. I just wrapped burlap around the tops of the mason jars and then tied that with grey and white twine (also from Greenmunch.ca - you can find it here).

I had a lot of fun making the paper accordion pinwheel decorations for the wall. They took the place of the regular pinwheels I had made for his Baptism party.

The food table had a scrap piece of fabric as a table runner (it was in the scrap bin for $.50!). The food was extra simple with rice krispy squares, cream puffs, chocolate dipped marshmallows, Jello mousse, hummus, and per Eli's request, pear sauce and blueberries.

We had a couple of sweet little girls at the party so I made them a colouring table. (The table is actually borrowed from mom and is from my childhood.)

I also made photo booth items for pictures- just a frame and number "1" and a few moustaches. We had some fun with them!

For gift bags I went really simple and used these sweet polka dot bags which were also from Greenmunch.ca and inside was a candy, a lovely smelling tea light candle and a note that said, "Thank you for bringing light and joy to my birthday party.   -Elias" (The larger bags had some treats for the kiddos).

He wasn't sure what he thought about all the singing.

I had so much fun making the party hat for Elias, I sewed the "1" on there and added a pom pom and the felt letters I found at a dollar store. The trim I actually just had on hand. I used the tutorial from here to make the hat shape. To finish it I stapled on a piece of elastic.

nom nom!

The little man had so much fun! Thank you to everyone who came to make the day so special! Even though we missed so many of our friends and family in Ontario, we are so grateful for the new friends we are making here. You are all helping make this place more and more like home.

My Little Baby is One

I don't even know how to write this post. My little Elias is one year old now and I'm just overwhelmed with joy for the year we have spent together and filled up with love for this little boy. When I think back to the day he was born, it feels like it was so recently, but when I think about all that took place in this past year it feels like he has been here for so long.

Have I treasured every moment? Have I been fully present for each second we have spent together? If I'm honest, the answer is no, but at the same time there hasn't been a single second I haven't felt so blessed to be his mom. Sometimes I'm a bit too tired, or I'm taking his picture when I should just be making real memories, but I think that is all part of being a mom. It's about balancing that time between 100% focus on the little man all of the time and just being human- you know?

I absolutely love that as a mom I can completely disagree with every other mom about whose baby is the cutest, sweetest and most wonderful little child in the whole world, and yet that disagreement unites us. We are all just loving our little ones with our whole hearts and doing the very best we can and that's beautiful.

Today I started back to work and I'm approaching this change with such mixed emotions. I'm really excited to get back to doing something I love that gets my brain churning, but I'm apprehensive about spending so much time away from my little boy. I will miss him. Knowing he is in wonderful hands is the reason I head back to work with ease.

I want to share so much with you including his sweet little birthday party from this past weekend but I'm not completely ready with that post yet. Expect it tomorrow. In the meantime here is a sneak peek at our little cutie on his special day...

Elias and the Pickle

I have been very MIA lately because we had company the past two weeks and this week I'm soaking in every last minute with my little guy before I go back to work.

I have lots of pictures and fun to share, but today I just wanted to share something to hopefully make you laugh. It's Elias and his first taste of pickle... let me tell you, his reaction may not be what you would expect...

Just being sweet Elias...

Happy Friday!