September 2012 – Page 5 of 6 – A Well Crafted Party

Halloween: Favorites of Years Past

September 18, 2012 2 Comments A Well Crafted Party

I love Halloween. It is seriously my all time favorite holiday. I love the fantasy of it all. The make believe. I’m not too big of a fan of the horror or gore side… although, it can be fun for decor options. But, the dressing up, and the creativity that just permeates the holiday makes me incredibly excited as September rolls around and the leaves start changing.

Every year we throw a huge Halloween party. We spend months and months scheming and planning. This year, with our move and other stresses, we have decided to not go crazy. I’m sad about it. Really (probably unreasonably so) sad about it. But, hopefully I’ll get to take this year to spend planning out an even bigger and more awesome event for next Halloween.

I wanted to reminisce a bit on the past Halloweens before swamping the blog with a bunch of awesome inspiration for this year’s holiday. I have thousands of great Halloween memories. But, I wanted to share just a few with you.

My top 5 past Halloween memories:

1. My First Halloween with my Son!

I got his adorable Lion costume via Costumes 4 Less

2. Our Costumes

We had fun “couple” costumes for the past few years.
These two are my all time favorites:

Alice in Wonderland and The Mad Hare

Circus Family: Clown, Ring Leader, and a Lion

3. Mad Tea Party Backdrop

I spent a LONG time working on this backdrop. And, overall it was my favorite part of the Mad Tea Party. It even got a fan who did one for her own party!

4. Spider Wall

Spiders creep me out more than anything else. So, when I have a chance to decorate with spooky items I always go for the spider decor. Last year we created a huge spider nest along one wall.

Man, was it creepy.

5. Haunted Halloween Dinner Party Menu

I really, really love creating a good menu. And, Halloween is no exception. I had a blast creating a menu for the Haunted Halloween Dinner Party.

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Parenting

{Help} Toddler Sleep Issues

September 18, 2012 2 Comments Parenting

My kid is 13 months old. He has slept 8 hours in a row exactly 3 times in his entire life. Right now he sleeps about 2 to 2 1/2 hours at a time before he wakes up screaming. Like, end of the world, actual tears type screaming.

X around 2 weeks old— So cute when sleeping…. right!?

The lack of sleep makes me and my {wonderful, gets up every time with me and takes the brunt of the work} husband more than a little worn out throughout the day. And, after a year of it, we are just useless most days. This isn’t good for us. It isn’t good for our responsibilities. It isn’t good for our friendships. But, most of all… it isn’t good for our child or our relationship. {No worries… we are doing okay, but it sure does take extra work with no sleep.}

Anyways… advice for a sleepless mom? I’ve read the books. I’ve read the blogs. I’ve done everything under the sun that I can think of to help him in this matter.

Doc says it might be the extreme growth spurts he has had throughout his life. He is pretty tall for his age. He also seems to be in a constant state of teething. He has 8 teeth and has 6 currently working their way out at the moment.

He wakes up HUNGRY all the time. He’ll drink 6 oz of milk and go straight back to sleep in most cases. We’ve tried water and he’ll drink it, but won’t sleep.

He screams himself to sleep (not more than 5 minutes) nearly every nap and every bedtime. We have a routine that we keep to in most cases. We’ve tried rocking him to sleep and he just hits and wiggles. We’ve tried waiting until he just collapses due to sheer exhaustion and he wakes up crankier than ever a few hours later.

Is he just fighting sleep? Is he just hungry due to growth spurts? Is he teething? Is it the crib—should I take him out of the bars? Am I doing something wrong? Do these questions ever end?

Maybe a trick your baby loves will be just the thing for my kid. Or, is your baby one of those babies that didn’t sleep for the longest time—even when everyone said it would be at 3, 5, 6, 9 months? Please, let me know that I am not alone. Or tell me what worked for you.

Thanks!

A Well Crafted Lady

Me, Me, Me

September 13, 2012 No Comments A Well Crafted Lady

***If the title didn’t give it away… this post is all about ME. It is ego-centric and reflective. If you don’t want to read the word “I” a bajillion times then I’m glad you stopped by, but stop reading now.

I’ll be back soon with something less me-centric. ***

I’ve been super reflective lately because of a few huge things that have/are happening to me right now:

I’m very soon to be turning 29 years old. I’ve been looking forward to this birthday most of my life (12/12/12) and have always had certain expectations for where I would be and who I would be at my 29th birthday.
I quit my service industry job of 6 years to pursue writing, look for full-time career-style employment, and/or stay at home with my son.
I moved into a house rather than an apartment for the first time in our marriage.
We started weaning and I have my own body to myself for the first time in nearly 2 years. Don’t get me wrong… loved sharing it with my little guy for his enrichment and development. But, I’m happy to have it back.

These changes have cause me to really examine my life and what I’ve been doing for the past 29 years.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with me.

I feel like I’ve become the type of person I want to be and I want to teach my kid(s) to be. I try my hardest to be confident, kind, non-judgmental, giving, and thankful. I’m certainly not perfect. But, I don’t expect myself to be perfect (anymore, that is a whole other story though) and I don’t want my kid(s) to expect perfection out of themselves or out of me.

But, as for where I am at in my life.

I expected more from myself.

I’ve allowed the lack of funds or fear of failure to dictate my achievements for too long. I’ve worked for free to “build my portfolio” or “because I’m not a real pro” for too long. I’ve downplayed my worth for too long.

And, I’m learning to be okay with that.

It has all been a part of building the WHO I am part of me.

But, now it is time for me.

This is going to be MY year.

(I plan on being as supportive as ever to my husband and son…

but, other than that there is going to be a lot of putting ME first this year)

My goals this year:

Finish my novel. I have been working on a novel for three + years now. And, in my freelance gig I had to write a novel in a month. So, now I know I can do it. I am going to focus on my novel and get it done. I’ll be looking for (free/cheap) editors friends who like to read. 🙂
Develop my E-course/E-book idea and have it running before the end of 2013. I’m super excited about developing and collaborating with a few friends on this project.
Spend time putting my physical well-being a priority. I will be posting on this later in much more detail. Overall I am pretty healthy, but I have had some significant pain over the past four years that are semi-directly related to my weight. It is time to make this a priority, but I want it to enrich my life rather than take away some of the joy. Finding the balance and implementing a routine will be a huge goal for this year.
Party like its 12/12/12. Silly goal, I know. But, when ever since I turned 12 and my grandmother made a HUGE deal out of the the fact that I turned 12 on 12/12 I have looked forward to my 29th birthday. And, I throw parties. Financially throwing a party right now is irresponsible and not at all possible for us. But, my hopes are that I can score enough freelance gigs to make a small celebration happen.

Are you where you want to be in your life?

What are your goals for YOU?