Getting The Hang of It

About a month and a half ago I was talking to my mom about how Jay and I were saving up to buy ourselves a sewing machine.. She tells me that she has one that she never uses (more like she never had the patience to figure it out without referring to the manual) and that I could have it! My lucky day!!!
So I took it home, Jay got it all set up, Johnese helped teach me how to use it and the rest is sewing history!

Since then I've tried to make baby booties - pattern sucked so they didn't turn out so well... Not even picture worthy.

I've made a name pillow (featured in my "one busy day" post)

And most recently I made some stuff for my office/craft room/guest bedroom...
Here is the story of my latest project...

This drives me crazy.

Yes it's a book case and it's function is to store all of our books, but because our spare bedroom serves so many purposes, this book case just looks way too busy.

So, I decided I would make a curtain for it to hide the clutter.

I bought fabric, I measured the book case and I cut the fabric to size. My biggest problem is that I do not have a good spot to cut large pieces of fabric. Nor do I have a large straight edge that I can use to make the sides perfect. I improvised...
Then i just sewed the edges and tacked it up on the inside of the book case. Not professional but it did the trick.

Remember how I said I didn't have a good space to cut large pieces of fabric though?? Well that turned out to be detrimental. Once I tacked up the curtain I looked down and it wasn't long enough!!! I thought I measured??

Back to improvising..

I found an old black shirt that was in my donate pile and decided to cut it up.

I took the long strips I cut out of the shirt and pleated them along the bottom of the curtain.
Note: I have never pleated before, don't know if you would even call what I did pleating, but needless to say I made it work!

It hides the mess and it matches everything else in the room.
What more can I ask for??

I had some more of the fabric i used for the curtain so i decided I would make some matching pillow cases for the bed that's in that room too!

I just bought some white fabric, watched THE best YouTube video and TADAAAA!!!!

Matching pillow cases!
It has all come together.
I am proud =0)

Nap Time

As much as I could be running around my house, doing as many things as I can while Vincent takes a nap, for who knows how long. I am taking for granted this moment

Where my son only wants to sleep while I hold him. Where he cries if I try to set him down. Because I know these types of moments are limited and will not happen forever. And, because I know I will miss them when they no longer happen.

So here I sit. As long as I need to, in order to allow my son to dream dream dream away.
It is so precious to me.

Glad too, that I can reach my phone so I can blog about it =0)

Movin' on up

Just in the last two days Vincent has done two new things, both involving him hangin out like a big boy!

That my friends, is a high chair. With my son in it. Sitting all by himself. Just enjoying dinner with the rest of us!

Next..

This is my son. Sitting in a shopping cart, buckled in of course, but sitting in a shopping cart and not in his car seat in the shopping cart. Just along for the ride. He helped me pick out a new rug for our bathroom at Bed Bath & Beyond. Quite the shopping buddy!! =)

A Happy Father's Day

Father's Day.. A day of honoring the relationship we have with those special guys in our lives. Unfortunately for Jay and I, both of our Dads were in other cities but, lucky for me, I had a new Daddy in the house who was celebrating his very FIRST Father's Day! I knew I had to make it extra special because Jay is one of the most amazing Daddies around.

Even before Vincent arrived I knew Jay was going to be the best dad because words could not explain how excited he was to be having a child

And the moment he held him in his arms they were instantly bonded. Dad and son. A relationship I will never be able to fully comprehend but one that I am so thankful they have.

Since then Jay has proven himself to be the most loving, caring, supportive, silly, fun dad who needed to be spoiled on his day, for everything he does for his family.

In the morning Jay was delivered presents, cards, and an one excited son

He got to start projects that HE wanted to do, rather than "honey-do's" that he usually gets tasked with ;0)

He got to golf with his buddies
and then we ended the day by spending quality time with people we don't see enough.. My Grandad and his wife Diantha.

As with lots of other things lately, it was so sweet for me to celebrate Father's Day in a whole new way, honoring a brand new dad.

We missed having our own Dad's around to celebrate with, but we hope they know just how much we appreciate everything they have done to mold and shape us into the people we have become.

Hope everyone else had as great of a day as we did and hope all you daddies out there, who sacrifice every day to provide for your family and who love them unconditionally, were spoiled rotten.. But don't get too used to it!! :0)

Little Swimmer

Oh you know, it was just another day at the pool =) only this time it wasn't a pool party. It was just a relaxing kind of day. Jay's cousin, and one of my best friends, Kristin, invited us out for a day at the pool. We decided to do something a little different so we went to Sandia Casino. After a minor set back of $90 for all of us to get in (YIKES!!!) we really got to enjoy ourselves. We did a little eating, drank a few cocktails (not too many, we still had to be responsible Mommy & Daddy), soaked up the sun and swam and swam.  



Ready to go!



Such a fun couple of hours! And, a great reminder that although our life is different now that we have a little one to take care of, it is still important to remember who you were as a person before your life changed and to make it a priority to stay close with those who are important to you. You may not get to do things the way you used but the key is to do things and enjoy experiencing them in a whole new way, through the eyes of your child. I know we have been, and as Vincent grows we will continue to do so.

Much love to those in our life who are SO special to us.. hopefully you know who you are.

:0)

Happy Half Birthday!

Today marks the six month anniversary of Mr. Vincent's birth and a perfect reason to post more pictures to showcase his cuteness.. Don't you think?!?! I do!

This one is going in his "picture by the month" frame

Happy half-year birthday sweet boy! My life has been more full since you entered it. So proud to be your mama!

Another reason to celebrate... This awesome bib a friend of mine got Vincent =)

 It couldn't be more perfect, thanks for thinking of him Nathan & Krysta!

One Busy Day

Saturday June 11th was probably the most busy day Vincent and I have had in a long time. Here's how it went:

8:00am - G-Lo (my mom) came to pick up Vincent to baby sit while Jay and I played in the 2011 charity Mudd Volleyball Tournament.

9:00am: time to get dirty!

Uh.. Excuse me Jay, I was right here, I could've got that =)

Actually I probably would've missed it too because I am no professional mud volleyball player buy it's fun to pretend ;)

11:45am: A quick cleanup and then I had to dash out of mud volleyball early and head to a birthday party with my mama and Vincent.

My friend Nicole's son turned 1 and we got to celebrate with him at his swim party!

Vincent loved lounging in all of the pool toys that Nicole provided for the party

And my Mom loved getting to share this experience with him

We even ran into some good friends who were partying at the pool too!

2:00pm: time for cake and presents!

I decided to go with the non-traditional route and make his gift, rather than buy him something. I found this pillow idea on marthastewart.com but did some minor adjustments to make it a little more baby proof.. I mean he is only one after all!

Here is the final product!

Loved his little smile!

3:00pm: Head home for a quick cleanup and nap time for Vincent

6:00pm: last stop, Logan & Adam's birthday party. At this point we were all so exhausted that i didn't even think to take any pictures :( BUT, it was so nice to get together with good friends who we haven't had a chance to catch up with in a while.

9:00pm: Homeward bound!

9:25: Phew! We made it! Vincent was still in good spirits and talked until he fell asleep. He was such a trooper!

It's All In A Name

So Jay and I have gotten comments like "I LOVE that name!!" and "Now that's one big name to live up to" or "it's sounds like he should be a movie star with that name!" but to us, Vincent Valentino is more than two names that sounded good together. Both names bare special meaning to Jay and I and I'm going to share the history of it all with you!

As some of you may know this lovely man right here is my Daddy-O

His name is Vincent Frost, although he goes by Vince, and he is the true reason behind naming my son Vincent. He pushes me to strive for greatness in everything I do and he has taught me never to settle for anything but being happy. I hope to instill these same values in my son as he grows into the man he is destined to be.

The name Valentino on the other hand, came from the long line of Valentino's on Jay' side of the family.

The first of the Valentino's came to the United States from Castlefondo, Italy.
He went by Val.

Jay is so proud to be able to say that his family comes from Italia and it's all thanks to this man.

Next in line came Valentino Turri Jr. He was Val's third child.

The story goes, that after he was born neither of his parents could decide on a name for him. Instead of coming up with a name they just called him "baby"... for weeks! Then one day the state came a knockin' asking for the official name of the "baby" and to get them off their back they just named him Valentino Jr!
He goes by Tino now..

And so it continues

Next in line for the Valentino name was this little guy..

Michael Valentino Turri. The first of Tino's five boys and Jay's cosmic Daddy-O!

If you can't tell this is Jay's dad there is something seriously wrong..
Only real difference is the facial hair. Jay was definitely not blessed in this area :)

Mike is famous for being ultra talented and well known in the local Albuquerque movie biz..
Everyone who knows him just loves him! 

He has been a huge support system to Jay and our whole family and we are thankful for everything he does for us everyday!

You're definitely one of the coolest guys I know, Mike!

Next in line was Jay! 

And lucky for him he was handed down the Valentino name. 

Middle name that is, just like his pops!

And he definitely wins the most proud award for having it. 

I think 10 times out of 10 he even wishes Valentino were his first name.
That's one of the reasons he was so thrilled to be having a boy, 

so he could continue the Valentino legacy and pass the name on to his son.
And so we did!

Vincent Valentino Turri!

 
 At the end of the day Vincent will become his own person. However, knowing that his family is filled with so many great role models, and that he is forever bonded with them through their names, I feel confident that he will become one exceptional human being.

A Nice Relaxing Weekend

Over Memorial Day weekend, Jay, Vincent and I spent our time relaxing in Angel Fire New Mexico with Jay's parents Michael & Johnese at their house in the mountains. It was a much needed vacation that all of us enjoyed so much! Vincent and I got there one day early because Jay had to work so we passed our time waiting for Dad to arrive by taking pictures. Here are a few from our photo shoot :)

I think he enjoyed posing for them as much as we enjoyed taking them. Or maybe it was just all the new things to look at.. Either way we took so many great pictures. I can't wait to print them and frame them for the house!

Still, we had more waiting to do until Jay got there so we (well actually it was mostly Mike) improvised in a whole new way! The mountain way!

                   Who needs hands to hold your umbrella when you've got Velcro and a bungee cord??

                                                                       He loved it!

Mike also rigged his car seat up on their mountain wagon.
We took lots of strolls up and down the road like this

And finally, since the daisies haven't bloomed yet, Johnese showed him a dandelion..

He tried to eat it

Once Jay got there we were quick to do one of our most favorite things, riding the four-wheeler! This time though we all got to experience it in a whole new way.. by riding slowly and taking Vincent for his first ride... Don't worry folks, his daddy had a good hold of him.

Ready to cruise.............

As you can tell, it was fun for everyone

We also did some cool projects. Like making the first, of many, concrete blocks that will fill up the back yard. Vincent got to put his hand print and foot print in it. It's so cool to have something like that for us to show him when he gets older.

Overall we had a great time! Mike & Johnese are always great hosts and Jay & I just love watching them interact with our son. Vincent is so blessed to have them in his life.

Thanks for such a great weekend!