Football season… already!?

So, it’s September. Along with Brandon’s last school year starting, Michael turning one, and fall TV and weather returning, it’s time to dust off our football gear and get ready for the NFL and NCAA football seasons.

We’re Seattleites who support the Seahawks, but the Broncos are our main NFL team. (And here.)

Of course, we have to dress the part!

We've got Bronco spirit!

We’ve got Bronco spirit!

Michael outgrew last year’s outfit (he was so little!)…

Our little fan watching the pre-game

Our little fan watching the pre-game

And this year’s arrived last week.

Michael's 2016-17 Bronco outfit is here!

Michael’s 2016-17 Bronco outfit is here!

While we were ordering Bronco gear, I went ahead and updated my look too: new orange sweatpants! Brandon has been an avid Bronco fan since he was in utero and he has a plethora of game day attire. My sister gave Brandon this Bronco sweater for his birthday this year, so I imagine we’ll see it a lot this fall!

Since the Broncos are the reigning football world champions, we’ll of course be celebrating the season kick off and SuperBowl 50 rematch on Thursday.

I’m thinking something easy and delicious, probably pulled pork. Maybe pulled pork tacos? Or nachos? If you have any great ideas, I haven’t made the menu yet, so I’m all ears! Please share your great plans for the 2016-17 NFL (and college! Our fan photos will come soon!) season and enjoy! Go Broncos and go Seahawks! (That’s for you, Peter and Molly!)

 

 

My new favorite thing: Chatbooks

Have you seen the app Chatbooks yet? It’s one of my new favorite things and I can’t stop singing their praises.

I discovered Chatbooks on Instagram through a sponsored post, while I was on maternity leave. I had nothing but time on my hands (at least when the kid was nursing, he wasn’t very good at sleeping reliably…) so I clicked on the ad and discovered a very reasonably-priced, creative, and super easy stocking stuffer idea. This would also make a great Father’s Day gift, which is coming up in a few short weeks!

Simply put, Chatbooks is an app that allows you to upload photos and create 8″ x 8″ softcover books.

My favorite option from Chatbooks: auto books. I’m rather prolific with posting of Michael photos on Instagram and I’ve set up my Chatbooks book by simply using a hashtag on the Instagram photos I want to include in my book.

IT’S THAT EASY!

Every 60 photos, Chatbooks emails me to review my book and three days later, it prints and ships! …And I’m working on volume nine. NINE. (That’s more than one per month!)

I’ll bet you’re glad I finally filled you in on my overuse of the #babymichael hashtag on Instagram, right? Now you know!

My Chatbooks. Book #8 should arrive soon!

My Chatbooks. Book #8 should arrive soon!

Accidental blog hiatus

Whoops! It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged. Being a working mom is a lot of work and sadly my blog-writing time has dwindled. I’m very sorry for this hiatus and I figured I’d show you what I’ve been up to.

I hope to get back to it soon, so please keep checking back! Thank you for reading!

Baby Michael: Month 1

Baby Michael: Month 1

Baby Michael: Month 2

Baby Michael: Month 2

Baby Michael: Month 3

Baby Michael: Month 3

Baby Michael: Month 4

Baby Michael: Month 4

Baby Michael: Month 5

Baby Michael: Month 5

Baby Michael: Month 6

Baby Michael: Month 6

Baby Michael: Month 7

Baby Michael: Month 7

Birth announcements

Baby announcement

Our very special delivery!

Michael recently celebrated his five-month birthday and we celebrated by finally getting his birth announcements in the mail! A few months later than I had hoped, but, that’s how things are these days. As I was preparing to send out Baby Michael’s birth announcements, I did some research and stumbled across something great: you can get a welcome note for your new child from the President and First Lady! Send them an announcement or submit the information online.

It’s super quick and easy to do and look what came in the mail the other day:

A welcome note for Michael from President and Mrs. Obama

A welcome note for Michael from President and Mrs. Obama

We also sent an announcement to Mickey and Minnie Mouse. (We haven’t received anything back yet!) If you’re Catholic, you can send an announcement to the Pope for a blessing. Find all of the details on Parents.com.

And since I’m people who knows people, Mayor Ed Murray, the mayor of Seattle, proclaimed Michael’s birthday as a “day” in the city of Seattle. This proclamation is amazing:

Michael Carl Szerwo Day in the City of Seattle

Michael Carl Szerwo Day in the City of Seattle

I worked for the Seattle City Council when Brandon and I got married. The Council members proclaimed our wedding day a “day” in the city of Seattle too! Mark your calendar to celebrate Michael Szerwo Day this year: only 6.5 months to go and at the speed time is flying by these days, it’ll be here before we know it!

Christmas 2015 recap

Somehow the holiday season is already wrapping up and I’ve been getting ready to go back to work (!!!). Baby vacation is officially over on Monday. What a crazy wonderful past four months I’ve had! I digress. Let’s focus on the past week or so. Here is our Christmas 2015 recap:

Michael visited his first (and second) Santa and did a stellar job! He’s such an adorable kid. (‘Course I’m biased, since I’m his mom…)

Michael's first Santa photo

Michael’s first Santa photo

Michael was skeptical with his visit to the Santa at Theo Chocolate

Michael was skeptical with his visit to the Santa at Theo Chocolate

New Christmas Eve tradition

Michael, Brandon and I started a new tradition: reading the Polar Express before heading to bed on Christmas Eve! Michael didn’t quite understand the story yet, but he will in a few years.

Christmas morning brunch

My parents came over bright and early on Christmas morning and we made the fontina and spinach baked eggs with garlic brown butter breadcrumbs from the latest cookbook we’re cooking from, Seriously Delish, along with hashbrowns; a fruit salad of pineapple, blueberries and raspberries; and chicken sausage. We paired it with mango mimosas. Truly seriously delish.

Christmas morning brunch

Christmas morning brunch

Christmas tamales 

As I mentioned last week, we have a tradition of making tamales for Christmas. This year we made them on Christmas day.

Christmas evening tamales

Christmas evening tamales

We followed our recipe, but this year paired the tamales with some black beans, queso fresco, toasted pumpkin seeds, a kale salad with a spicy lime vinaigrette, and red and green tortilla chips with homemade guacamole. I think this will be our new usual. The whole meal was delicious!

Our Christmas night feast

Our Christmas night feast

Christmas treats

I also made a recipe that I’ve been lusting over for a few weeks: the clementine-cocoa nib meringues from Eating Well. (We picked up the nibs while Michael visited with the Santa at Theo!) These were super easy to make and delicious.

Clementine-Cocoa nib meringues: SO GOOD.

Clementine-Cocoa nib meringues: SO GOOD.

I did run into one snag however. It’s very important that you break up the chocolate nib/powdered sugar combination before you fold it in to the meringue. I wasn’t as diligent about it and chunks of chocolate got stuck in the tip of the piping bag and made things trickier.

Our family feast

We concluded the Christmas weekend with a prime rib feast at my parent’s house, with asparagus, potatoes, and a delicious salad, paired with a pinot noir. The place card snowmen I made last week completed the table scape!

Our Christmas 2015 feast

Our Christmas 2015 feast

Our place settings

Our place settings

Here are a few more of my favorites from this year’s Christmas celebrations:

Santa's little helper

Santa’s little helper

Three generations on Christmas!

Three generations on Christmas!

Santa Baby!

Santa Baby!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and 2015! Cheers to an even better 2016!!

Thanksgiving {2015}

With the excitement of the holidays and a newborn who isn’t fond of napping, my posts are a little delayed these days. But, without further ado, some photos from this year’s Thanksgiving extravaganza.

First, we’ll start with our little turkey. Michael sported a Babies ‘R Us onesie and was a champ. He met my extended family, in town from California, and even decided to nap a wee fit, obviously exhausted from the festivities.

Our little Thanksgiving turkey

Our little Thanksgiving turkey

Not knowing how much time we’d have to prep a dish for the celebrations, we brought appetizers. I was able to find the time (no more than an hour required!) to prep not one but two platters.

I took inspiration from my platters from 2013 and 2014 and created an antipasti tray and vegetable platter.

Thanksgiving antipasti tray

Thanksgiving antipasti tray

Thanksgiving vegetable tray

Thanksgiving vegetable tray

The “turkey heads” are easy to make. Start with a smallish lemon with a bit of a stem nub. Then, whittle a carrot beak and glue it, a “hat” and some candy eyes onto the turkey with super glue. Hats can be anything from a radish top, broccoli, cauliflower, or something inedible too! Once you have your hat, make sure both of the surfaces are dried off, to the best of your ability. This will help the glue stick.

Thanksgiving platter turkey "heads"

Thanksgiving platter turkey “heads”

The trays are easy to create as well. A quick trip to the store a couple of days before the holiday will suffice, with about an hour of “construction” time the morning of the holiday:

The antipasti platter: 

  • Cured meat three-pack from Costco
  • ~1 lb Beecher’s Flagship cheddar cheese (Costco)
  • A wheel of brie (Costco)
  • Trader Joe’s new four-olive medley
  • Marinated mushrooms (Trader Joe’s)
  • ~1 lb of reduced fat smoked gouda (Trader Joe’s)

The vegetable tray: 

  • 1 head of broccoli
  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 1 bag of baby carrots
  • 1 orange pepper
  • 2 cans of whole baby corn
  • 1 can of asparagus
  • 1 heart of celery
  • A couple of tomatoes
  • Not pictured: Fat-free sour cream with the Hidden Valley Ranch powder packet mixed in. (My favorite veggie dip!)

Here is a photo of the table, with my Aunt capturing the spread from a different angle. It was fun having such a large group (19 people!) to celebrate the holiday!

Our Thanksgiving set up

Our Thanksgiving set up

I also put my new modern calligraphy skills to use (did I tell you that I recently took a class with some girlfriends and discovered a new talent!?) and made place cards for the dinner. Don’t they look nice? I’m so impressed with myself– and clearly very humble!

Place cards by me!

Place cards by me!

I hope these inspire you to make a meat and cheese or veggie platter next Thanksgiving. Now I’m off to help Christmas explode all over our house! Photos to follow!

Introducing Michael Carl

Without further ado, I’d like to introduce my one-week-old son, Michael Carl.

"Hello, world. I'm Michael."

“Hello, world. I’m Michael.”

Megan's Island's newest resident

Megan’s Island’s newest resident

Michael was born at on Tuesday, September 15, 2015. He’s a prompt fellow and I started the laboring process on his due date, approximately 22 hours before he made his grand entrance into the world. 

He weighed in at 7 lbs, 15.3 ounces and measured a lengthy 21.25 inches.

Michael's favorite position: sleeping soundly during the day

Michael’s favorite position: sleeping soundly during the day

Bath time was a success!

Bath time was a success!

This way to the gun show, ladies!

This way to the gun show, ladies!

Nice to meet you!

Nice to meet you!

For many, many, many more Michael photos, check out my Instagram.

When will Baby Michael join us?

I’ve officially started my four-month “baby vacation,” having wrapped up my last day of work on Friday.

This is the view from my office now. Not too shabby!

My new "office" view (from the deck and living room)

My new “office” view (from the deck and living room)

We hit the 39th week of pregnancy today and now I’m wondering… when will Baby Michael join us?!

Here's last week's photo. He's been dropping!

Here’s last week’s photo. He’s been dropping!

I had friends and family place their best guess as to when he’ll make his debut and so far, five guesses are out of contention. I originally guessed today — I mean, laboring on labor day is so fitting, right? I also have a lot of holiday birthdays in my family, so this would work well — and then I thought for sure it was going to happen last weekend — which it obviously didn’t. Who would have guessed that the predictions of a full moon (yes, I’m having a werewolf), changes in the barometric pressure (from hot and sunny to stormy in a day!), combined with two days of Indian food including eggplant and dancing at a wedding, would be wrong? Apparently little Michael.

Guesses?

Guesses?

According to this article, it’s possible that I’ll be right? Of course, anything is possible. There are too many variables to know for sure. We’ll see where the day and week take us! We’ll welcome Michael whenever he decides to grace us with his presence!

2015-9 Birth bell curve

This could be telling us something…

So, now I ask you. What do you think? I’d love to hear your guesses. Whoever guesses correctly will get something… not naming rights, but maybe something else? Tell me what you’d like to win too!

Three cheers for Michael giving me a bit of a staycation and then making his timely debut!

 

 

100 days until the big day!

Wow. Where did the time go!? It feels like I’ve been both pregnant forever but also pregnant for just a few days, when in reality, the clock is quickly ticking down and there are only 100 days remaining until Baby Michael’s anticipated arrival! (I think he’ll be early, so maybe it’s even fewer than 100 days!)

Brandon is done with spring quarter today, so starting this weekend our attention will be focused on the little man’s new room. It’s always best to start with some sketches, some inspiration and a list. So, here we go!

What do you think of my masterful sketching? We’ll see how true-to-life this ends up being:

Sketching out the room

Sketching out the room

And the master to do list: 

  • Remove the mattress and bed frame. Wrap for transport to the cabin.
  • Apologize to Maddie for stealing her favorite napping spot.
  • Wash sheets, take comforter to dry cleaners.
  • Remove ball lights.
  • Clean out and remove the bookshelf side table.
  • Vacuum and dust thoroughly!
  • Buy paint and paint the room. We’re debating between Behr’s Sparrow and Anonymous. Which one is your favorite?
  • Secure baseboards. Touch up with paint if necessary.
  • Hang curtain rods and curtains.
  • Place the art on the shelves and think about where wall art will be placed
  • Empty Brandon’s clothes from the dresser.
  • Replant and move Brandon’s terrarium.
  • Assemble new rocking chair.
  • Grab crib from home-home and set it up.
  • Finish whale mobile.
  • Finish painting ceramic fish and lampshade.
  • Measure dresser, cut whitewood (or other kind of cheap wood) to create a top. (We’re making something like this, but only the top.)
  • Sand and paint dresser, replace drawer pulls.
  • Sand and stain dresser top, elephant rocker, side table, trophy bases and book boxes.
  • Spray paint the ceramic animal heads, adhere them to the wood trophy bases.
  • Make rope basket “zoo” for stuffed animals.

That’s about it. Totally doable, right? Maybe not in a single weekend, but we’ve got 100 days!

Here are some before photos.

The rocker will likely be on this wall. Ball lights will be gone. Pictures are already gone.

The rocker will likely be on this wall. Ball lights will be gone. Pictures are already gone.


We're thinking dresser, changing pad and toys on this wall

We’re thinking dresser, changing pad and toys on this wall


We're thinking crib on this wall!

We’re thinking crib on this wall!


Closet wall. Not much will change here except many of the clothes will change!

Closet wall. Not much will change here except many of the clothes will change!

Let the magic begin! Happy Friday!!

Our bumble bee-themed gender reveal party

A couple of years ago I received a special order in my small business, Little Britches Bakery, for a bumble bee- themed diaper cake, for a “What will it BEE” gender reveal party. Ever since then I’ve been thinking about starting a bumble bee line for Little Britches and Mo/Michael’s big reveal was the perfect opportunity!

As usual, I started with some inspiration on Pinterest and a board.

Then I set about making the diaper cakes, and shifted the color scheme to yellow and white rather than yellow and black. I also added some burlap into the mix, which was very complimentary.

The full spread: What a party!!

The full spread: What a party!!

I always hang some sort of a banner (here, here) and this party was no exception. I wanted something light and airy, so I opted for tissue paper tassel garland. These are pretty easy to make and the bang you get for the cost and energy is definitely worth it!

My tissue paper and washi tape banner

My tissue paper and washi tape banner

I use 8 pieces of tissue for each garland and followed the instructions here for the most part. I did not bust out my glue gun and instead created a loop and secured the tissue paper with a black glittery washi tape. This was one of the first times I’ve used washi tape and as a result, I didn’t know that it wasn’t very sticky. I added a dot of of super glue to the edge of the tape and now the washi tape is there forever. Once the tassels were created, I alternated white and yellow when stringing them on the burlap yarn.

Because of the afternoon timing of the party, we opted for a light menu focused on desserts , with several of gluten-free options for our gluten-free guests. We enjoyed: a variety of cheeses, crackers, cured meats, a veggie platter, polenta bites, bee sugar cookies with royal frosting, meringue bee hives, spring Oreos (with yellow filling!), chocolate cupcakes with yellow frosting and chocolate bees, and lemonade.

It turned out to be quite the spread:

The food spread

The food spread

Even more food!

Even more food!  Did you spot the bees buzzing the lavender bush?

What will Mo bee? A "he" or a "she"?

What will Mo bee? A “he” or a “she”?

Handmade chocolate bees on cupcakes

Handmade chocolate bees on cupcakes

Beyond the diaper cakes, the beehive cookies were the focal point of the party. They were by far the best tasting items at the party. I normally try to make — or semi home-make — all of the items at my parties but I outsourced these cookies to my friend and former colleague Robin. She only makes cookies as a hobby right now, but she could easily be in business full-time! Her skill and creativity are both exceptional! Just typing about these cookies makes me want one right now… Just delicious.

The best cookies ever! Bzzzzzzzzz....

The best cookies ever! Bzzzzzzzzz….

I scoured the internet for old wives tales related to gender prediction — ok, it wasn’t just for the party. For the first 20 weeks of the pregnancy, every time I experienced a new symptom, it was off to the internet to try and gain some insight as to whether Baby Mo was a he or a she. I created this poster, and underlined the symptoms I’d been experiencing.

Old wives tales: truth or fiction?

Old wives tales: truth or fiction?

We had our guests guess Mo’s gender and they went along with the old wives tales and guessed girl. They were also wrong!

All signs were pointing towards Mo being a GIRL! (And yes, they were wrong!) Our little one will likely look like little Brandon, pictured here: 

Guess the gender!

Guess the gender!

The actual reveal took place in the form of this beehive cake. The results of the baby’s anatomy scan were given to our local bakery and they used blue or pink frosting in the middle. We had a great time cutting the cake and finding BLUE frosting! See the full party here!  We didn’t peek, this was the reveal to us as well!

What will it bee gender reveal cake

What will it bee gender reveal cake

If this Bee Gender Reveal party looks like something you would like to replicate, you can order most of my supplies and decorations on my Etsy shop.

Bumble bee diaper cakes

Bumble bee diaper cakes

As always, please ask any questions you might have! I’m happy to answer everything from suppliers to technique questions and beyond!

We're excited to meet our "HE" joining our family in September!

We’re excited to meet our “HE” joining our family in September!