Birthday party eve

Haley finally got to ride that merry-go-round that's she's been asking about since her trip to the hospital last week. This is actually her second time in the past 3 days, it's her favorite thing to do and we can't deny the girl anything since she got out of the hospital. We're lucky she hasn't realized how much she can get away with yet.

My husband's parents are in town visiting for her birthday party tomorrow, so she's being even more spoiled by them. She deserves it, she's been such a brave girl this past week, even after going back to the doctor's office for a checkup to make sure all is well. And I'm happy to report that she is healthy! Music to my ears :)

So now, we're all geared up and ready to go for this little 3-year-old's birthday party tomorrow! And if you guessed that we're doing an "Up!" themed party, you're right! Our house is currently filled with bags of balloons and lots of rainbow colored everything. I have quite a few projects to share with you after the party is over, I went a little overboard with the DIY's for the party. Up! was just a fun theme to plan around, I couldn't help myself.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

It's party central over here

So, there's this little girl who is turning 3. THREE. I know that I've had a whole year to see this coming, but it still hit me out of nowhere. And she has been talking about her birthday for weeks now.  Haley gets really excited when other people have birthdays because she gets cake out of the deal (I get excited for the same reason), so when we told her that her third birthday is coming up, she hasn't stopped talking about cake. Specifically, strawberry cake. She still speaks in sentences with gibberish thrown in, so I mostly hear something like this:

"Haley's happy birthday, and dsjdagjkl strawberry cake and fjlkh dfkjakdjg present skj open and butterfly inside! Yay!"

I don't know when she decided that she absolutely HAD to have strawberry cake, but that's the one thing I knew had to be included in her party. The present with a butterfly inside? Not sure if I can swing that. I have no luck with pets in general, so putting one in a box as a present to my 3-year-old is probably out of the question.

I'm pretty excited about the theme actually. When I plan birthdays for the kids, I usually have to sit there and think really hard about what to make to go along with the theme. Haley started out wanting a Rapunzel party, but suddenly a couple months ago she had a change of heart.

And Instead of telling you exactly what theme I'm planning, I'm going to be mean and make you guess the theme based on what I have pinned on Pinterest :)

Cake Pom Toppers via Jen on Pinterest

Birthday Wreath via Jen on Pinterest

Sky Jello via Jen on Pinterest

Luggage Display via Jen on Pinterest

 So, any guesses? (that last one pretty much gave it away :) Her party is this Saturday, and we're so excited to celebrate!

Home!

Haley was released today! This morning, things weren't looking promising, but by noon her oxygen levels stabilized and they sent her home. Haley is still healing up, but our happy, energetic girl is back, and boy was she missed. We have to continue to give her some medicines and do breathing treatments with a mask for the next three days, but at least she's home and away from all the machines and doctors.

I am on cloud nine right now. My husband and I took off work all day today so we could spend some quality time with our girl. We cuddled, we colored, and then we cuddled some more. There was absolutely nothing else I would have rather done with my day.

Thank you to all of you who sent their thoughts and prayers our way, they are cherished. Now, I have to make up for all the lost time and finish planning Haley's birthday party this weekend! My only saving grace is that I started planning things out early, whew!

Quck update

Just a quick update on Haley. She's unfortunately still in the hospital, but we're hoping today is the day she will get to come home. The poor girl has so much fluid in her lungs that her oxygen levels aren't where they need to be, so the doctors and nurses are doing what they can to try to clear her lungs and help her to breathe better so she can come home. She has not been a fan of all of the X-rays and blood work, and neither are we. It's heartbreaking to see your little one so scared because she doesn't understand.

Haley is exhausted. If you've ever spent any time in the hospital, you know that it's not a very restful place. The nurses come in often to take blood, perform breathing treatments, and check her oxygen. I will be glad to get her home in her own bed soon.

Despite all the poking and prodding, we did manage to get a few smiles out of her yesterday. We got to unhook her from the machines and go for a walk in the halls and play with some toys and that cheered her up. And since it was her birthday yesterday, my husband went out and brought her back a cupcake and some Disney Princess nail polish and she got to have her nails painted, which is a treat we usually save for special occasions. It was nice to get a glimpse of the happy girl that we've missed over the past few days

I hope you'll excuse me while I am in and out over the next week or so while I tend to Haley and (hopefully today!) bring her home from the hospital. We have been planning her birthday party for this next weekend and with all of the events lately, I'm so glad we decided to plan it then rather than this past weekend. I'll be sharing some details from her party eventually once things calm down. I can't wait to bring her home and celebrate Haley turning 3 and being healthy again.

The worst birthday present

Tomorrow is Haley's 3rd birthday, and she will be spending it in the hospital.

Earlier in the week, Haley came down with a bug that was a combination fever and cough. Her fever finally broke after 2 days of being miserable, but the cough just hung on and became worse. My normally energetic, happy girl turned lethargic, weepy and somber, and it was so saddening to watch. After keeping her hydrated and giving her what meds we could, we decided last night to make a doctor's appointment for her this morning and promised her if she was brave through her checkup, we would take her to ride the merry-go-round (her favorite thing.)

At 8:45am, we sat in the doctor's office waiting our turn, expecting to hear that it was just a bug that was going around. They went through the normal barrage of tests, and Haley was uncharacteristically good through all of it, even with the finger prick and the nose and throat swabs. Strep, negative. Flu, negative. Oxygen level, low. Too low. Due to her cough and low oxygen, the doctor decided that she probably had pneumonia, but they wouldn't be able to tell without a chest x-ray. They tried several breathing treatments to help her levels, but they each failed to bring her level up to where it needed to be. After 2 1/2 exhausting hours at the pediatrician, they made the decision to call an ambulance to take her to the hospital because she needed to be put on oxygen immediately.

After doing a chest X-ray, she came back negative for pneumonia, but since all of her symptoms point to pneumonia, that's what she's being treated for. While pneumonia is certainly treatable, the feeling of helplessness that you feel when you know that your child is sick and there's nothing you can do to heal her is horrible. As a parent you always want to make it better but this time, mommy's kiss can't heal the boo boo. Poor Haley kept crying and asking to be "all done" but instead of  taking her on a trip to ride the merry-go-round and get a cookie, she was taken to a hospital and hooked her up to some machines to stay overnight in a bed that isn't hers. She will most likely have to stay there all day tomorrow as well, but we're praying otherwise.

My husband is staying with Haley at the hospital tonight since she's a Daddy's girl and also because Connor needs to sleep in his own bed. I've done what I can to distract myself but all I see are the boxes of unopened birthday presents and the pile of birthday cards on the table without a happy, healthy girl to open them tomorrow. We're praying and believing that she'll heal up quickly so she can be home for her birthday tomorrow and if you're the praying kind, we would appreciate your prayers as well.

Spring Flowers Shirt

Spring has come early this year it seems! I'm not complaining. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons. There's something so refreshing about walking outside with the smell of rain in the air and budding flowers everywhere. In fact, we haven't gotten ANY snow yet in my part of Tennessee. My husband, who comes from PA, is not happy about this fact - but I'm pretty darn thrilled with the mild weather. It means more play time outside for the kids, and more outdoor running for me :)

I made this shirt for my daughter as a way to welcome in the pretty spring flowers. The flowers are made using organza and seed beads then hand-sewed to the shirt, so no sewing machine needed - yay! You can find lots of pretty colors of organza at your local fabric store too, so the color combinations are endless.

Supplies:

• Shirt
• 1/4 yard organza
• Fray Check (to keep the edges of your organza from fraying)
• Seed beads
• Needle and thread

Step 1: Make your organza flowers.

First, start by folding a square of organza in half and cutting a little petal shape out (don't cut the fold!)

When you open your petal, it should look like this. Repeat this process to get 6-8 petals per flower. Apply your Fray Check to the edges of your petals and let them dry according to the bottle's instructions.

After all of your petals are cut out, stack them on top of each other (keeping them folded) and fan them out into a flower shape.

Pinch your flower in half and, with your threaded needle, sew through the bottom of your flower. Unfold your flower and pinch it in a different direction and repeat the same process 2 more times. Knot your thread and clip.

You should now have a flower that looks like this! Repeat this process for however many flowers you want. I suggest making at least 3.

Step 2: Stitch your flowers to your shirt.

Now to attach your flower to your shirt. Hand sew your flowers to your shirt with your needle and thread by sewing through the middle of your flower with coordinating thread. On your third stitch, before threading your needle back down through your shirt, add 3 seed beads for the center.

And there you have it, a pretty new spring top!

When laundering your shirt, lay it flat to dry so your flowers aren't crushed and deformed by the dryer. While they're wet, press the flowers open with your fingers some to help keep their shape.

Check out my sidebar to see where I link up each week!

Make it rain....marshmallows

Hi, my name is Connor McCaffrey and I'm addicted to marshmallows.

I blame my husband. Not for the mess, but for what caused the mess: the marshmallow addiction. I can't remember the first day that Patrick gave Connor a mini marshmallow, but from that day forward the boy has had a blood lust for them. He can be in a horrible mood and all he has to see is that bag of Jet-Puffed marshmallows, his drug of choice, and his little face lights up. It's cute really, but not when your floor is covered in marshmallows.

We have a pantry door that had the baby lock broken on it from 3 years of Haley's little fingers attempting to pry it open. Eventually the little plastic lock gave up on life, and we've never bothered to replace it. Enter Connor and his addiction.

Patrick and I recently had a particularly eventful evening with whiny children last week, and we had just sat down to our dinner while the kids played. We heard rustling by the pantry door and knew immediately that Connor had found the bag of marshmallows. Knowing that the bag had a clip on it, we decided to give ourselves another minute to chew until one of us would have to pry the bag out of his little fingers. One minute was all he needed.

As Patrick walked over to Connor, what he saw was a very pleased little boy in the midst of a mini marshmallow feast. Rather than waiting for us to give him a couple marshmallows, Connor had taken matters into his own hands and shaken the contents around the kitchen. If he could talk in full sentences, I imagine him yelling, "Make it rain!" while scattering the contents of the bag around the kitchen.

And unfortunately for Connor, the 5 second rule did not apply to these marshmallows. He had to go several days without his fix until we could buy a new bag. And that new bag now resides in the pantry on lock down.