Stella's 1st Birthday Party

Today Jude & I attended Stella's 1st Birthday party at The Little Gym in Rocklin. We had a blast and I wanted to share a video I made of the party.  It seems like only a second ago Kelly was calling me to tell me she, too, was pregnant. We became fast friends working together in cosmetics about 6 years ago, our friendship quickly grew, so much that I asked Kelly to be a Bridesmaid in our wedding. Kelly & Sean got married 3 days after Jude was born, Michael & I knew we HAD to be their regardless to celebrate with them, so Michael helped me waddle my way to their reception. Now we share the bond of motherhood. Thanks for being in our lives :) Love you guys!

Jude's Birthday Party!

I'm excited to share the pictures from Jude's Birthday party! It was such a fun day and I was so happy with how everything turned out. Most importantly, we got to share the day with lots of close friends and family which made it even more special. 

View photos HERE!

Apple Hill

Well, of course I will have to blog about Jude's party and how incredibly awesome it was, but I am waiting to do so until I get our photos back :). I will say breifly that it was such an honor to us to have so many people that we love join us to help celebrate Jude's first year of life. 

For our friends near and far away who couldn't make it to the party,

here is the slideshow of Jude's 1st year if you are interested.

Jude's 1st Year! from Tiffany Reese on Vimeo.

SO. Yesterday we were all recovering from the day of chaos, fun & excitement so we decided to take a  relaxing drive up to Apple Hill. It didn't really hit me until we were in the car on the way there, but now that Jude is a year old, we are coming back around to all the things we did for the first time with him last year. Apple Hill for example, it was one of the first things we did with Jude last year, he was about 4-5 weeks old. He slept the entire time. This year he slept in the car on the way but was definitely wide awake the moment the car stopped and ready for good times. It made me very sentimental taking him there again and reflecting on all that has happened since we brought him there the first time. Michael and I decided it is a new permanent tradition in our household and I couldn't agree with more happiness. 

Buggy got to do something he certainly couldn't have done on his first trip, eat junk food (guess whose idea that was) and take his first pony ride! Oh my word, it was the most precious thing. Afterward I said to Michael, "I don't think I've smiled that hard since.... yesterday." I guess that's how you know you are blessed.

Here is Jude's 1st pony ride:

Jude's First Pony Ride!! from Tiffany Reese on Vimeo.

 Also, if you would like to see pictures from our day, you can check those out here:

Jude's Birthday Recap

 Jude had an awesome birthday! Thank you to everyone who helped make it special for him!! He started his day being woken up by Michael & myself and then got to open a toy we got him from Ikea. For breakfast he had a blueberry pancake, followed by an hour of playing with his new truck he received from his pal Stella. Nap time then commenced and after he woke I took him on a lunch date to Daddy's work. I guess that must have been a pretty good time because he was ready for nap #2 right after lunch. Perhaps it was the chicken fingers Michael insisted he have, you know, since it was his "birthday lunch". After his nap, Jude was surprised by a BIG box brought by the UPS man. Inside it was a giant slide/climb and play thingy from Auntie Ann & Uncle Dave. 

Boy was he excited! Michael came home early from work and put it together right away. Jury is still out about who was more excited between the two. Lots of sliding and laughing took place and soon it was time to go to the Splashpark (or so we thought). Unfortunately, the Splashpark hours had changed so we took him over to the play place at Whole Foods where we met up with Nana, Grandpa, Papa, Lita, Aunt Nicole & Ari. We had a blast watching Budge play and eat his enormous cup cake (which he seemed to have no trouble nearly finishing). Lastly, Jude got a surprise when we found out Papa & Lita had brought him this:

He was lucky his cousin Ari was there to push him all over. They had a wonderful time zooming around everywhere. All and all is was an fun-filled special day. Since we missed out on the Splashpark yesterday we took him this afternoon. I love taking him there and watching him scream and cheer with excitement.
We can't wait for his party this Sunday!!

Here is a recap of Jude's 1st Birthday :)

Jude's 1st Birthday from Tiffany Reese on Vimeo.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDE!

Dearest Jude,

Happy first birthday to the sunshine of my life!!! I can’t believe it has already been a year and yet, in the same thought I can’t remember what life was like without you. You are our world. I am so lucky everyday to get to be your Mom. Daddy & I can’t help but beam and brag about you everywhere we go. Each morning as I walk into your room and see you standing in your crib (usually bouncing up and down) my heart skips, because it really does seem that you actually DO get cuter every day! When you are around I feel complete happiness and euphoria.

You are such a darling boy, always giving your Mama kisses and waving to Daddy (to welcome him home at the end of his long days from work). Usually, you wait at the window in the living room in the late afternoon anticipating his arrival.

You have such a giving spirit and always offer to share an animal cracker or a bite of your grape with us.

You are quite sneaky and like to “investigate” and “destroy” many things around the house. Daddy and I often burn many calories chasing you down trying to retrieve paper, dead flies, screws, etc from your mouth.

Oh, your dance moves!! If music is on, you are dancing. You get so excited and clap your hands and everyone wants to laugh and dance right along with you.

I like to think you save a special smile just for me. It often brings tears to my eyes. Every day I think about how lucky I am just to spend the day with you, just to hang out with you. Jude, you have such a glow about you. It is obvious how much excitement you have for life and how interested you are in everything the world has to offer.

Your father has such deep and profound love for you. He is the kind of Dad who makes you dinner, gives you baths and gets up in the middle of the night to bring you a bottle when you cry. He gets up early to spend time with you before work and I often wake up to the sound of you giggling away at some inside joke between the two of you. His biggest fear is that you would ever doubt his love for a second and that you would think poorly of him in some way, yet he would never give you a reason to think such things.

We have enjoyed many fun adventures in your first year of life. Traveling, playing and exploring. One of my most fond memories was when we recently took you to the ocean for your first time. Your face lit up with joy as you approached the water and you clapped your hands. This is one of the best parts of being your parents; we get to see the beauty in life again for the first time through your eyes.

Know that the love we have for you grows with every second. When you fall and bump your head, I often cry before you do because as your Mother I wish I could stop any sadness or pain from ever crossing your path. Yet, life will happen. But know that we are always here, you will never be alone.

I can’t help but think back to the day you were born. It wasn’t the way we planned, it wasn’t the “perfect” timing but as soon as we saw your face nothing in the world, aside you, mattered. As they laid you on my chest, tears of flooding emotion fell unto your tiny head as I held you as closely as I could. I will never forget that day because it is the most important one we’ve ever shared. I didn’t mind the lack of sleep because reality was better than any dream I’ve ever had.

Your victories became ours. I remember your first bath, the first day you held up your head, your first bite of rice cereal, the first day you crawled and the first time I heard you say “Dada!” One of my favorite memories happened only a few weeks ago, when I asked you if I could please have a kiss and you leaded over and gave me the sweetest kiss on the cheek I could ever imagine.

With all the joy, love, admiration, excitement (and a bit of sadness) we wish you the happiest birthday! To another year filled with adventure and happiness.

Love you to the moon,

Mama

 

Birthday Week!

Jude's "Birthday Week" as Michael & I like to call it begins! We are so excited for Jude's big day and his party on Sunday. Can't wait to see all of our family & friends!!!

 I wanted to share this video I made of Jude's dancing skills, in case anyone missed it on Facebook:

PS! Jude's Aunt Nicole got him a really adorable Garden Gnome costume

which he is going to wear to one of his Halloween parties but Michael & I also wanted to get him another costume (we have already been invited to 3 parties, go Jude!) So, you should help us pick by voting in the poll to the right :)!

Come Jam with Jude!

Jude's First Easter & Trip to Santa Cruz!!

Jude had a very fun & adventurous first Easter. We got up bright and early Sunday morning, packed up the car and headed to my older brother Tony's house in San Jose. Jude slept most of the drive, which  was nice for him as he was having a little pain from cutting his first two teeth.

 Ummm, Mom can we go now?

Once we arrived, Michael & I helped hide eggs for the other little kids (Stacy, my brothers girlfriend, has two sisters and combined they have six children).

Jude hung out with Uncle Tony.

Oh, and Jude kept trying to put anything in his mouth that may help ease his teething pain...

After we watched the Easter egg hunt, we all relaxed for a while. Jude had a very good time watching the other children running around hopped up on sugar! Later in the afternoon we went over to our hotel to check in and take a look. We were very pleasantly surprised, even the Easter Bunny wanted to kick it there.

Dolce Hayes Mansion. San Jose, CA

Easter evening we had a glorious dinner prepaired by Stacy's family. Michael loved not having to cook, he said it tasted twice as good because someone else made it. After dinner we played Wii with the kids and hung out. Eventually we made our way back to the hotel and had fun relaxing. It was a really great first Easter as our new little family. I can't wait to watch Jude run around next year scooping up eggs :)

Enjoying watching the Sharks game with Uncle Tony.

Relaxing with Daddy after a fun filled day

The next day was Michael's 25th birthday! We were very excited because this was one of the first times Michael had two days off in a row since Jude was born. Jude & I let Michael "sleep in" and Jude got to take a bubble bath in a big boy tub. He loved it, he very much enjoyed splashing water everywhere, and since I didn't have to clean it up, I enjoyed watching!

Daddy then got up and we got ready for our day. We were excited to go to Santa Cruz but we had heard on the news that it was going to be rainy. Well, it couldn't have been further from the truth. It was probably 65 and beautiful! We had a fabulous lunch and walked around Downtown for 3 hours or so. We found Jude an awesome cardigan & suspenders at American Apparel. He was such a good boy and greatly enjoyed taking in all the new sights.

Bug was VERY interested in the people next to us' conversation at lunch.

Taking a snack break Downtown.

A few hours and a parking ticket later we were on our way back to San Jose to have dinner with Tony and Stacy at this really yummy taqueria. I am not sure how to spell it in Spanish but it sounded like "Ta-la-kee-pa-kee". We were planning on taking Jude to see the ocean & beach before heading out but it got very windy and he fell asleep in the car so we drove by instead. Michael & I decided we need to move into one of those 10 million dollar houses on the beach someday. All in all we had a wonderful trip & most importantly Michael said he had an amazing birthday!