Sleep. Or you know, lack there of.

We miss sleep. We really, really, really miss it.

Emmett has never been a good sleeper. He goes to bed every night, like clockwork, between 6:30 and 7, and "sleeps" until 6 or 6:30. Or at least he did until this week. This week he's tired right on cue at 6:30, we do our normal bedtime routine- bath, lotion (we live in a desert, after all), prayers while I rock him and nurse him a little, and then lay him down with his pacifier while he's awake but sleepy. But then just when I think he's fallen asleep, he pops up again and plays in his crib for a few minutes before crying and crying until I go to check on him. I pick him up, give him a hug, he wants to nurse, so I sit down to rock him some more. Then he doesn't want to nurse, but wants to stand up and laugh and play. What is happening?!

He's never slept through the night. Never once. We've had a handful of nights where he only woke up once in the 12 hour night, but the usual is 2-4 wake ups. Okay the usual is 3-4 wake ups, but really usually 4 lately.

When he wakes up he won't go back to sleep until I pick him up, rock him and nurse him. Then he's out again in less than 5 minutes, easy peasy. If I don't go in and nurse him, or if Ray tries to go in and give him his pacifier and shush him back to sleep, Emmett will cry for an hour or (last night) two before I finally cave and go get him. Pick him up, give him the boob and then he's out within 2 minutes.

We've tried sleep training, we've tried letting him cry it out, we've tried it all. And it worked once, for about two weeks when he was 6 months old. He would still wake up 3 times a night, but he would let Ray go in and give him his pacifier and go right back to sleep. Then he started teething and became inconsolable unless I went in to nurse him back to sleep.

I'm not writing this because I want advice. I've come to realize that so many families have figured out ways to get their babies to sleep, but for us, I feel like it's too late. We missed the sleep training boat months ago, and now we're stuck with a terrible sleeper. My only hope is that one day (soon) our boy will just figure it out on his own, become less dependent on me to help him back to sleep, and he'll learn to go back to sleep on his own when he wakes during the night. Or not, and we'll continue to live on too little broken sleep. We've done it for almost a year now, so I guess we're pretty used to it, and it can't get much worse..... right?

The other part of all of this, and maybe the root cause of all of our sleep troubles, is separation anxiety. Emmett's and mine. We miss each other all day long, so when I'm home, baby boy just needs his mama. He takes really good naps every day, and puts himself to sleep for naps and for the night every day, so I know he can do it. But when he wakes up in the night, he just wants his mama. He wants me to hold him and comfort him. He just wants to know I'm there. I'm home. I haven't left him again.

It's heartbreaking. It's painful. It's hard. I'm so tired, so exhausted, so worn out, all the time. But I miss him just as much as he misses me, and I love the time we spend together in the night. Just the two of us, rocking and holding him tight.

We're getting even less sleep than normal this week, and I'm feeling like Emmett's separation anxiety is at it's peak. He seems desperate for attention from me when I'm home, so I'm doing my best to shower him with love and kisses and cuddles. I know he'll sleep better soon. We'll go from 4 wake ups to 3, then to 2, and one day he'll sleep through the night on his own. And then he won't be my little baby boy anymore, the one who needs his mama so much. He'll be big and strong and independent, and I'll miss these nights, hard as they are, so badly.

Taking a walk at 6 this morning, after a LONG night and a 5:30 wake up call. But the hat! Oh the hat.

Keepin' It Real Mondays! {3}

I'm linking up with Corinna over at Track 8 this morning for the third installment of Keepin' It Real Mondays!

We had a rough weekend y'all. We are working around the house trying to get ready for Emmett's 1st birthday party next weekend, so Ray and his parents spent Saturday and Sunday tearing up the nasty ripped carpet from the landing in front of the front door, and then replaced it with hardwoods. You can imagine the dust and destruction, and as always, the project took a lot longer than we'd hoped. I had to keep Emmett out of the house all day, and it was impossible for him to nap at home because of the sawing and hammering. All of that plus the mess that was inevitably created was a tad bit stressful, especially since I have to work all week so I was hoping to clean, organize and decorate for the party over the weekend.

But to be honest, all of that stuff was fine, and even sort of fun. The end result is a huge improvement, and it was really fun being able to spend two afternoons, just Emmett and I, running around and just being together. Such a rare treat!

I know now, after some reflection and a well-deserved stern talking-to from my long-suffering and normally very gentle husband, that the weekend was rough because I made it rough. I had a bad attitude, and let my bad mood affect my family.

Friday evening I read this article about the early weeks with a brand new baby, and it stirred up so many emotions and so many painful things that I have been holding on to all these months. I immediately felt like I was right back in that time, so bogged down with frustration and sadness and all the things I never expected to feel after Emmett was born. That time was hard. I was so in love with my baby boy, but I had to go back to work (from home) 9 days after he was born, so I was recovering and trying to learn how to be a mama and all I wanted to was to hold my brand new baby. Instead I had to work full time and pass little tiny Emmett off to Ray (who had 6 weeks of PAID paternity leave), only getting to cuddle him when it was time to feed him.

I cried every day during those weeks. I felt so robbed of that long awaited, incredibly precious time with my brand new family. It took me a few months to let go of the anger and frustration I was holding on to, and reading that article made me realize that I haven't totally let go at all. So that's how I began our weekend, and it didn't get better until my husband snapped me out of it last night.

So now I know I have to deal with those feelings, process them, and then let them go, for real this time. There's nothing I can do to take back those few weeks, so it's time I move on and stop punishing myself (and my family in turn) with the guilt and anger and frustration that still lingers.

It's time for me to stop worrying about the things in my life that I can't change, and to start appreciating- really appreciating- the things that I do have. My husband, who loves me at my worst. My sweet baby boy, who's growing up so fast. I am so blessed to have them, and I don't want to waste another minute letting stress or discontentment or worry get in the way of peace in my home.

Here's a little video of Emmett walking around the house with a stool, just to lighten the mood:

I know these Keepin' It Real posts are supposed to be light and funny, but this week I just had a lot on my mind. I promise to bring back the short & sweet bad slash real mom post next Monday!

And again, I hope it isn't cheating to link one post to two link-ups, but as this post is about my weekend, I don't feel bad about linking with Annapolis & Company's Our Weekend too. I love that blog so much recently- beautiful photos, honest writing, and a nautical theme. What more could you want in a blog??

DIY Painted Twine Garland

I'm not crafty y'all. Not at all.

But Emmett's first birthday party is coming up (my baby boy will be ONE in 11 days!), and I'm trying to plan a Pin-worthy party for like no money, so I decided to craft.

I've been eyeing Confetti System's gorgeous tassel garlands for years now, so when I found these babies on Pinterest the other day, I decided it was time to make my own.

Inspiration garland taken from theminimalist.com.au

I invited my friend (and super-crafter) Rachel over on Saturday to help me, and I love how they turned out! Here's how we did it:

We made the tassels out of regular (and cheap!) garden twine from Ace Hardware by cutting tons of twine into similar lengths, bunching them together, and wrapping the top bits in more twine. We left one piece of twine in a loop over the top to hang them.

I had some leftover sea blue/turqoise paint from our kitchen remodel, so we used that rather than trying to dye the twine. We painted each strand, leaving a few inches at the top just like the yellow inspiration garland. I left the tassels outside over night to dry, and then pulled them apart and reshaped them in the morning.

To hang them, I strung them on a long piece of twine, tying a knot around each tassel so they don't slide around, and hung them in the playroom/dining room/hallway/living room under our Happy Birthday banner!

Before re-shaping the twine. Ignore the mess on the floor. This room is multipurpose.

And a couple of close-ups of the finished garland:

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with them (and myself for being so creative!). I might even hang them somewhere in the house permanently after the birthday party is over. 

I still can't believe my baby boy is about to be a year old. I remember the day we brought him home from the hospital like it was just yesterday. I sure do love that little guy!

Is This Really Happening??

Today, we packed up and put away all of Emmett's bottles.

He won't take a bottle while I'm at work anymore, but he loves anything with a straw, so we've moved to little sippy cups with straws for his milk and water.

He really doesn't drink any milk while I'm at work any more, so I've stopped pumping altogether. I'd love to say that the transition has been freeing for me after 11+ months of pumping a couple of times a day, but my job is so busy right now that I don't even notice really.

When I'm home, Emmett wants to nurse non-stop. He's definitely having some major separation anxiety (so am I, but what else is new), so I think that wanting to nurse all the time is his way of holding on to me when I am around. Poor little guy. I'm not sure when we'll start trying to wean him, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be difficult.

Playing in the car on my lunch break today. These little rolled jeans are killing me! So cute!

Baby boy is doing so many new things lately! He started clapping like crazy this weekend- anytime he hears clapping on the tv, or someone around him claps, or he hears the word "clap", he starts clapping with the biggest smile on his face. I also taught him how to give me a high-five!

A few weeks ago my mother-in-law got Emmett to start saying "up" when he wanted to be picked up. He did it for a week or so, then never would say it again. Instead he would grunt and yell and make hilarious faces until we picked him up. But this weekend he started saying "up" again! It's so funny to hear him say little words, especially when he says them at the appropriate times.

He's soooo close to walking too! It's so nuts. He's been walking around our coffee table and pushing his toys around on his feet for weeks, but he hates it when we hold his hands and try to make him walk. He's finally coming around though! He's standing up on his own and starting to take a couple of steps at a time to get to the nearest piece of furniture, and today he even let me hold one hand while he walked to his daddy! It's so fun!! I can't wait till he's walking all over the place.

The last couple of weeks I've started to notice that the baby in him is starting to disappear, and he's starting to do so many little boy things. It's so much fun! He's growing up y'all, and I'm ready for it. I loved him as a tiny baby, but he's so much fun as a (tiny) little boy too!

Keepin' It Real {2}

I am linking up with Corinna over at Track 8 this morning for the second installment of Keepin' It Real Mondays! I'm so excited about this new link up!

Yesterday Emmett woke up at 5:15. A!M! After an especially grueling night-of-many-wake-ups, I was really hoping to at least make it to the 6 a.m. mark before he started hollerin' at me. I let out a big annoyed sigh just to make sure my husband noticed the depth of my sacrifice, threw on some shorts, and began my day.

Just so you don't feel too sorry for me, let me explain that normally on the weekends Ray gets up with Emmett to let me sleep in, since I'm always up at least twice with Emmett in the night.  But yesterday was Father's Day, so I let him sleep.

We planned to go to the 9 a.m Mass, which is always fun since Emmett usually naps at 9:30ish, but I knew we were especially in for it because of that early wake up. The poor little guy is cutting yet another tooth, and was obviously exhausted, so he pretty much yelled at me non-stop until I put him down for a nap. At 7:30 a.m.

Tired boy, but happy in his chair, as always!

So sleeeeepy!

 Mornings like that are tough. Really tough. And I can't say I handle them well. I get frustrated and exhausted and although I do my best not to show it or take it out on my sweet baby boy, inside I'm a wreck. My husband, on the other hand, is patient and gentle and never loses his cool. He's such a good dad to Emmett, and he helps me to stay calm and makes me a better mama, every day. We are lucky to have him.

Giving me attitude at Father's Day brunch. Cheeky boy.

Did I mention I managed to let my daredevil son fall head-first off our bed the other morning?

P.S: This may be cheating, but I'm also linking up with Mary Beth at Annapolis & Company!

Freshly Picked WINNER!!

Our Freshly Picked Giveaway is now closed! Thanks so much to everyone who entered here and on Instagram! I had so much fun looking through all of the IG pics that you posted, and loved reading all of your comments! Freshly Picked has the sweetest fans!

A BIG thank you also to Susan and Jodi at Freshly Picked!

So let's get down to business, shall we??

In order to chose a winner, I assigned each entry a number based on the time of your entry. I started with the very first comment here on the blog (#1), then the first re-post on Instagram (#2), and kept going in as-close-to-chronological order as possible!

I used the True Random Number Generator to choose a number randomly:

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:12Powered by RANDOM.ORG
So who is lucky number 12?? Are you dying to know?

The winner is.......

Here is the winning entry, from Instagram:

Congrats Corinna! Based on the sheer volume (and obvious enthusiasm) of your entries, I know you were dying to win!

Keepin' It Real

My friend Corinna did a really awesome thing on her blog yesterday. She wrote a post to show a side of motherhood that you don't often see from bloggers- the REAL side! You can find her "Keepin' It Real Mondays" post here.

Corinna wrote about the fact that as mama's, we tend to be hard on ourselves, and to compare ourselves to other mamas who we think have it all together. This is a trap I fall into all the time! It's so hard to remember that the writers of all of the beautiful blogs I read have hard days too. They struggle with things, just like I do. I look up to and admire so many mamas, and it's easy to build them up in my mind as so much better than me- more patient, more tender, more organized.. If I give in to these thoughts and compare myself to the idea I have in my head of what their day to day lives are like, it really brings me down.

So in an effort to counteract all of the comparing and unrealistic perceptions about motherhood, Corinna has started a Keepin' It Real series. Here's what she has to say about it:

"So, while there's nothing wrong with only writing posts about the fun and cool parts of our life, I thought in an effort to keep it real with you, and to show you a peek at the not-so-cute parts of my life, and to remind us mamas how we're united by the craziness, I'd do a weekly "Keepin' It Real" post."

I love her idea so much, so I want to jump on board! I'm hoping Corinna will do a weekly link-up, where all of us mama's can link our real life posts to share. So fun! If you have a blog and you'd like to participate, leave Corinna a comment on her Keepin' It Real post to let her know!

So, here are my real-life confessions...:

I posted this picture to Instagram the other day with the caption "Letting this happen right now so that I can curl my hair":

Emmett is super clingy in the mornings lately, probably because he knows I'm leaving him all day again and he hates it, so getting ready for work lately has been tough. I usually barely have time for a shower, then it's throw on some clothes, throw my hair up, and spend the rest of the morning with the baby. This day was Friday though, and there's just something about Fridays that makes me want to look nice. So, I gave the baby a few rolls of toilet paper to keep him entertained for a few minutes while I did my hair.

A friend commented that if it takes less time for her to clean the mess than the time the mess bought her, she's fine with it! I love that.

I sent this picture to my sister the other night:

I told her I haven't done laundry at all this week so I'm scrounging around Emmett's closet for PJ's every night. I found this little gem of a baseball onesie in the back of his closet just in time for his pre-bedtime chair sitting (he's obsessed with that chair), and it was pretty cute!

But the point is, I'm really bad at laundry. Like, I barely get it washed on the weekends, and then it sits in piles for days until I can't take it anymore and finally put it all away. Usually by then the clean pile has mixed with the dirty pile and I end up having to wash everything all over again. I won't even get in to how long it takes me to wash and dry a load because our washer and dryer are old and hate me..

Yesterday about halfway through the day I realized I hadn't rinsed the conditioner out of my hair in the shower that morning... Hashtag momlyfe.

Last night after Emmett's bath, I let him crawl around naked for a couple of minutes while I searched for clean pj's (see?). He crawled right out the door and stopped at our hall linen closet, stood up, and peed. All over the clean beach towels and the carpet. So now I REALLY need to do laundry.

So there you go. Life isn't perfect, and I am FAR from it.

PS: Today marks 4 months since Corinna and her husband lost their sweet baby girl Celeste. Head over to Track 8 to read about Celeste, and please keep Corinna's family in your prayers, today and always.

PPS: My parents were married 31 years ago today. Go mom & dad! They are such an awesome example to me, and I love them so much! Check out my dad's blog to read more about our family!

PPPS: Don't forget to enter my Freshly Picked moccasins giveaway! It ends tomorrow evening!

Freshly Picked Moccasins Review

I don't know if you've noticed or not, but we LOVE Freshly Picked moccasins. Like, we really love them. We've featured them on the blog a few times here, here, and here. My mom bought our first pair for Emmett a few weeks ago, and we've never seen his little feet look so cute!

These are the Weathered Brown Genuine Leather moccs. These are sold out at the moment. 

So when Freshly Picked sent us a pair of their insanely cute, super-coveted moccs to review on the blog, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! We chose to review the Cobalt Suede Limited Edition Moccasins in a size 4.

Here they are on Emmett's feet:

Poor teething boy- those pouty lips are so sad!

The team at Freshly Picked hand-makes each pair of moccs to order, so they tell you to allow at least 10 business days for your moccs to be made before they ship. I received a shipping notification in my inbox 9 business days after we ordered, so they shipped right on time. They arrived about 4 days later, packaged in the cutest drawstring bag, complete with a little Freshly Picked logo button!
I forgot to take a picture when our Cobalt Suede pair arrived, but here is a photo of the Weathered Brown pair with the packaging:

So Cute. By the way, we ordered a size 3 in the Weathered Brown pair, but when they arrived, they were just a bit too small. They fit okay, but I knew he would grow out of them in no time so we really needed a size 4. I emailed Jodi at the Freshly Picked shop about an exchange, and she was so sweet about it! Because the moccs are made to order, they do not allow refunds, but they are happy to do exchanges. So, I sent back the 3's and received a size 4 in the mail less than a week later. Thank goodness!

There are so many things that I love about the Cobalt Suede moccs. First off, they are the cutest, most stylish baby shoes I've ever seen. I'm slightly obsessed with how cute Emmett's little calves and ankles look sticking out of them. It's almost too much. The color is so deep and striking, and the bright blue goes with so many of Emmett's clothes. They have hidden elastic around the opening of the shoe that makes them super easy to put on and take off, which is really rare with baby shoes! Big plus.

I love that they are soft-soled, so they don't bother Emmett when he's crawling around the house and learning to stand and walk. Ray doesn't like the idea of thick-soled shoes on his feet as he's learning to walk, but I really want him to wear shoes when we're outside. It's so hot here in AZ, so without shoes I wouldn't be able to let his little feet touch the ground. So, the soft, flexible leather is really perfect for us.

They are also surprisingly breathable. The leather is thin enough that it isn't constricting on his little feet, and there are vents on each side (another feature that makes them easy to get on and off) that allow air in to cool his feet. I assumed the leather might be too hot for Summer here, but they really aren't too hot at all.

The leather used to make both the Weathered Brown and the Cobalt Suede seems super durable, which is so important for babies. Emmett is a wild man who loves to destroy just about everything, and these seem Emmett-proof! I can tell they will last a long time, which is good because at $60 a pair I want to be able to pass them on to Emmett's future siblings.

I really only have a couple of criticisms of the Cobalt Suede moccs. First, and this is a really small one, it can be kinda hard to tell which shoe goes on which foot. There is a difference between the right and left shoe, but it's pretty slight. I can figure it out pretty quickly, but it would be nice if it was an instant thing that I don't have to think about when we're running out the door.

The other con that I've noticed is that the suede acts like a feather duster when Emmett's crawling around the floor in them. They pick up lots of dirt and dust, but it's not a big deal because it's really easy to clean them off. It takes a quick wipe with a dry cloth and then they're good as new. This isn't a problem at all with the leather Weathered Brown pair- they stay pretty clean.

We've had our moccs for about 3 weeks now, and they're holding up pretty well. The little tassels around the ankle curl up more and more as he wears them, which makes them even cuter, if that's possible! This is what they look like today:

Gah those shoes are cute!

7 Quick Takes {3}

I'm linking up with Jennifer over at the Conversion Diary today, for 7 Quick Takes Friday!

1. Emmett is dealing with some major separation anxiety lately. He's starting to stand and even attempt a few steps on his own, and we've read that with his new-found freedom often comes increased awareness of his surroundings. Which means he's aware that we're leaving him to go to work each day, and he doesn't like it. Not one bit. He cries and cries when I leave, and I fight back tears of my own. It sucks.

This morning when he noticed I was getting ready to leave, he crawled over to me crying and yelling (yes, baby yelling) for me to pick him up. He squeezed my arms super tight so I couldn't let him go, so I hugged him tight and gave him all the kisses ever. When I tried to hand him over to my sister, he hit my chest and scratched and pinched me and then pulled my hair. Poor guy doesn't know what to do with his frustrated feelings. It's pretty cute, despite the lashing out.

2. After paying our mortgage last week, we were particularly strapped for cash until I received my paycheck yesterday. It was rough. Since yesterday was payday, we grabbed a Groupon and headed to Mellow Mushroom for pizza during happy hour. Emmet loves to be out of the house, and we love to eat out, but we try not to unless we can make it during happy hour. Sometimes it's nice to eat out and feel like we're splurging, especially when we're actually not spending a lot of money. Call me crazy.

Here are a couple of videos from dinner of Emmett's best new tricks and baby-sized pizza:

3. Emmett and I were kinda matchy last night so I made Ray take some pictures of us. I think we look cute but Ray kept saying "Motherboy" the whole time. I didn't let that ruin it. Mom and baby matching fuh lyfe!

Ray made me this gif. Gah I love gifs!

4. After the wedding we went to last weekend, Ray and I walked around the grounds of Val Vista Lakes, where the reception was held. It's really gorgeous. There are pools and a lake and waterfalls and I want to live there now. Anyway it was night time but they have the coolest pool that I can't wait to sneak into with Emmett. It's a beach pool! The floor is sand, and it's really shallow, just like a beach, so Emmett can sit and play in the sand. I'm hoping it won't be TOOOOO hot this weekend so we can go.

Gorgeous!!

 5. Have I mentioned it's hot here in AZ? Like crazy hot. Like so hot I feel my skin burning and expect to see it crackling like pig-skin on an open fire. I basically only go outside to run to my car-turned-oven when I have to go somewhere because good lawd it's hot. I'm a warm weather person, but I have my limits.

I worry about Emmett in this heat for so many reasons. Getting him into the car when we go grocery shopping is scary. We have covered parking at home, but when we're out the temperature inside the car gets outrageously hot, so I really hate putting him in the carseat. Also it's too hot to go outside during the day, but I don't like him being cooped up inside all the time either. So, we are looking for indoor activities at the library and the Y and wherever else we can look. It's going to be a long few months until it cools off in October. Yup, October.

6. It's National Doughnut Day today! Ray says every day is National Some Food Day so he doesn't let me celebrate all of them (we can't have waffles for dinner?? why not??), but I mean come on it's National Doughnut Day! I didn't have time to stop for doughnuts on my way to work, but my sister is wonderful so she surprised me with a visit and a bag of chocolate and regular glazed from Krispy Kreme. Best surprise ever. Definitely made my Friday better. Thanks again, Ci!

7. I've got a really fun giveaway scheduled for Monday! You're gonna want to see this one. Hint: check out this post for a clue!

Have a great weekend!

Growing Up Fast!

Emmett's doing so many new things this week, all at once. It's crazy how quickly he learns new skills, and how quickly he masters them. Too fast Emmett! Slow down buddy! But then again, don't slow down at all.

A few new skills we've noticed this week:

• Standing! He pushes himself to standing like he's been doing it forever. So crazy!
• Taking a couple of steps toward the nearest thing to hold on to
• Learning to feed himself with a spoon. He will take the spoon in his hand, turn it over so he's holding it correctly, and with his other hand, put some veggies on the spoon, and put it in his mouth. It takes some effort, but he's getting it!
• He picks up my phone and holds it up to my ear (note to self, put the phone away more!)
• He picks up the tv remote and points it towards the tv, and then looks expectantly at the tv, waiting for it to turn on.
• He's waving at everyone, all the time. Family, friends, strangers, strangers' dogs.. He loves it.
• He clapped for the first time!
• He's talking LIKE CRAZY, and saying things that sound like full sentences. So funny!

I can't believe how big my baby boy is getting. He's so tall now, and his face has become less baby and more little boy. I love watching him grow and learn!

Birthday Party Pinspiration

Emmett's first birthday is coming up, and I'm really starting to get excited about planning his little birthday party! I've been thinking about his party for some time now, but I haven't done much actual planning yet. I've been dreaming of balloons for days, a Pin-worthy dessert table, and the cutest baby boy with cake on his face and all in his hair. 

Obviously, when I need a little theme-spiration, I go straight to Pinterest. So, here are of few of my ideas!

I love this little elephant cake! I'm kind of obsessed with Elephants, so we have a collection of elephant stuffed animals and little elephant prints in his room. So.. maybe jungle themed? Or vintage circus?

I'm not sure where the party will be yet, but if we have to be outside, these super cute (and easy!) hanging forts will provide a little shade for the littles!

If we stick with the elephant/jungle/circus theme, animal crackers are super cute as snacks for the kiddos. Maybe we'll give them out as favors in bags like these:

These would be pretty easy to make using burlap bags and a cute animal stamp. I'm all about easy crafts! 

I'm not this good, but I do have a certain sister who loves to bake so..... Lucia, how much do you love your nephew..? Or maybe I'll hit up the girl who made me these cookies for my bachelorette party? Rachel..?

Now that's a little "craft" that I can do! This would be so fun as a centerpiece. 

And now, balloons, for days:

So many ways to decorate with ballons. Aaaand I might use all of them..

I love the idea of a little crown for Emmett's party hat, and this one is SO CUTE. I'm trying to throw this party on the cheap, so I might try to make a little crown for him.

I've got a lot of work to do, but oh my gosh it's so much fun! Can't believe my little boy is almost one!

All photos on this post are from Pinterest. Check out my 1st Birthday board for more birthday ideas!