Wow, what a day! Mother’s Day is a well deserved day of celebration, but it can really wear you out!
I guess having a 2+ hour photo session with a hyper baby doesn’t help, huh?
Kelley’s parents, Nana and Papa, hosted the family for Mother’s Day, and Papa graciously took Avery’s 6 month photos. Kelley had several ideas picked out from Pinterest, and Steve (Papa) is a great photographer with high quality equipment. So it just made sense for Papa to do the “shoot.”
And he wasn’t messing around; for only having photography as a hobby, he’s well equipped to have his own studio.
He also had white and black backdrops, and both were used for our session with Avery. The black backdrop made for a dramatic effect and think the pictures will turn out great. Actually, I think all of the pics will turn out wonderful! I’ll be sure to share once we have them.
Before making the trek over to Nana and Papa’s, I woke up before the girls to make breakfast and coffee for Kelley and setup her gifts.
In the bowl is one of her favorites, teff porridge cooked with whey protein, peanut flour, mashed banana, and lots of blueberries. And coffee is always a must in our house!
Yesterday I posted about my Casting Keepsakes clay print and photo kit which I reviewed and gave to Kelley as one of her Mother’s Day gifts. She loved it, and I love how simple it was to make such a lasting memory with Avery’s help!
The other items include a “handmade” card, my personal recipe of baked goat cheese crackers, and a poem I wrote from scratch. I’ll post the full poem at the end of this post for those who want to read it.
Inside I wrote “The guy who cut these pieces of paper.” I know, she’s lucky, huh? Well I’d say it certainly beats giving a bouquet of flowers someone else cut and put in a vase that all you do is have to pay for; but that’s just me. 🙂
At Nana and Papa’s we cut right to the chase and started the photo shoot. Avery was already missing out on her regular naptime and Kelley said it best by saying she was a ticking time bomb.
Fortunately, Avery did a lot better than expected and besides her constant squirminess, she was good for most of the session.
One of Kelley’s Pinterest inspirations was to have a photo of Avery sitting with several stuffed animals. I loved the idea and the pictures she showed me, but Avery was difficult to keep still. Nonetheless, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
Another idea was to have Avery naked with just a bow and pearls; these photos are adorable too! I used my camera to snap a few quick shots while Steve did the pro shots, so just want to make that clear.
Towards the end, when we brought her outside and I tried tickling her for the millionth time, she finally started to get impatient.
In all fairness, so did I, I was ready to get out of my jeans and into shorts and a shirt!
After our session was over, several attempts were made to get Avery to take a nap, but to no avail. I guess there was too much going on and she didn’t want to miss anything!
I was happy to have my mom (G-ma), and brother (Uncle Preston) there with us and we all had a nice late lunch together. Uncle P even got a little niece holding action as she tried to eat his hand.
For G-Ma’s gift, I kept with the handprint theme but used a block of Sculpey polymer clay. This required more work than the Casting Keepsakes kit, and you have to bake it instead of letting it air dry.
5 handprints and 1 footprint later, I finally settled on a print I felt G-Ma would love. I first made an impression with my hand, and then put Avery’s hand in the middle. I saw it on Pinterest (that site is so useful, but also addicting!), and knew I wanted to give something like that to my mom.
Yeah, that’s my best painting job and I’m proud of it! I also gave her a picture frame with a picture of her holding me as a baby and another picture of her holding Avery now. Going Mom helped me out a lot and wrote “Great Moms Make Wonderful G-Mas” beside the pictures and it turned out great! What an outstanding wife!
Since we don’t have a printer, I had to wait for my mom to bring a printout before I could give Going Mom her last gift. I purchased a Groupon for the two of us to attend a BYOB painting session at Texas U Can Paint. It’s something we’ve both been wanting to do, and since G-Ma agreed to watching Avery anytime, we’ll be doing this soon!
It’s kind of like a little gift to myself too, but only with my best friend/wife! Can’t wait to go!
Avery only took a couple of short cat naps the whole day and her tiredness was coming up fast once we were home. I made Kelley a quick salmon with steamed rice and broccoli dinner but she had to save half of it until after we bathed and got Avery to sleep.
It was a very long and busy day, but we both agreed it was a great day. We loved being with each other and our family and are so happy with our current lives. Let the warm fuzzies commence!
How was your Mother’s Day?
Anything special to note?
As promised, here is the poem I wrote to Kelley:
It was only last year
when you held something dear.
The excitement we had
and fear that nothing went bad,
stayed with us right to the day
“Hello, Avery” we would say.
At times we felt stuck in a rut,
especially with shots in the butt!
Now we have Avery,
the most beautiful baby
that we love so much,
and can’t get enough of her touch.
I am so happy to have you and our daughter,
and it cheers me each night we watch her splash in the water.
You are the kindest, most caring mother
whose love can be surpassed by no other.
We may have celebrated Mother’s Day last year,
but now our baby is actually here!
You are the best mother and wife
Avery and I have for life.
Let’s celebrate this day as your official first,
and know that you fill me with so love I could burst!
Happy Mother’s day to my best friend, my wife, my lover,
and now and always, a wonderful mother!
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Going Reviews and My Mother’s Day Gift: Casting Keepsakes Clay Print and Photo Kit
Well hello and Happy Mother’s Day to all of you kind, caring, and loving mothers out there!
I hope you’re being treated to kind words and smiles from your children along with everything you really want for your day. I sure hope Going Mom wasn’t expecting diamonds; that would be a disappointment.
Plus, with my annual salary of zero dollars as a stay-at-home dad, I don’t think I could find a really good diamond. Unlesssssss, I found a really good diamond. Hmm….
Anyway, not happening, but I have something I think the both of us prefer over materialistic items; our daughter’s impressions! Lori from Casting Keepsakes was kind enough to send one of their air-dry clay and photo kits for me to review and give to Kelley for Mother’s Day.
This is an exciting day in our house since it’s the first official Mother’s Day we are celebrating. Last year we celebrated since Kelley was pregnant with Avery, but it means so much more now that she’s actually here!
Kelley’s love for Avery radiates through her every day, non-stop, and she is and always will be the best mother she can be. And what’s more, she’s a wonderful wife who always fills me with love and happiness!
Avery is 6 months this month, and to capture imprints of her tiny hands and a feet is a must. Casting Keepsakes provides everything you need to roll the clay out and make impressions of your precious child. A simple task that took a total of 30 minutes for a gift that will last forever!
The hardest part was getting Avery’s handprint without her making a fist in the clay, but once we got passed that part, the rest was fairly easy. I sat Avery in her Mama’s & Papas booster chair for the foot imprint and finished within minutes.
One area where I goofed was choosing a picture for the middle. I spent forever going through my portfolio of Avery pictures (every parent has one, right?) and finally ordered several prints. The problem? They were all landscape when I needed to use a portrait orientation!
I think Homer Simpson says it best; “Doh!”
Thankfully, I did order one portrait orientation, and although it’s not what I originally planned, it’s still an adorable pic.
This is the photo I planned on using; mother and daughter together.
But that’s my issue and I am completely happy with the kit from Casting Keepsakes. Check out their website to see more great items to capture your child’s current size before they grow up! They even offer belly casting kits and baby ink kits if you don’t want to deal with clay. They even have an Amazon store to purchase their items and read more reviews.
I can’t thank Casting Keepsakes enough for sending me what I think is the perfect gift for any loving mother and I know Kelley will enjoy looking at these tiny prints for years to come.
If you’re wondering if I forgot about my mom (G-Ma), I didn’t, but I won’t see her until later today and can’t disclose what I got her before giving it to her. Where’s the fun in that? But I will say, Mom, I love you very much and can’t express how much I appreciate all you’ve done and still do. You deserve the world, but all I could give you is a globe; Happy Mother’s Day!
For all who care, I’ll share pictures of her gift in an upcoming post. There’s also more to Going Mom’s gift that I can’t let her know about yet, but I’ll tell you soon enough.
Kelley did get treated to one of her favorite snacks that I make for her, goat cheez-its! I’ll share the recipe eventually, I promise.
I wrote a separate review that I sent to Casting Keepsakes a few days ago, and you can see it below.
Hi there! I’m a stay-at-home dad to one beautiful girl, Avery, who was born in November 2013. She means the world to my wife and I, and I try my best to capture her in photos every day. It was a very long and hard journey for us to have our darling girl and we will never take having her for granted.
When Casting Keepsakes sent me their No Bake Clay Print and Photo Kit, I was a little hesitant at first for fear that I’d mess it up. I wanted to make this a Mother’s Day gift for my wife since Avery will be right at 6 months in May. Since I know my wife misses her so much when at work, I wanted to give her something more to go along with the countless pictures I take.
The kit arrived well packaged and everything appeared to be of high quality. Thankfully, the clay was not as hard to work with as I had imagined and it easily rolled out into the frame space provided with the included rolling pin. I was unsure how well my baby would co-operate, but she did great! It helps that the clay is soft enough so you don’t have to mash the baby’s hand and foot really hard to make an impression.
The entire process form kneading and rolling out the clay to making the impressions only took a total of 30 minute. Not bad for something that is priceless to any parent; capturing your baby’s tiny prints before they grow up and move out!
I’m not one to purchase lavish gifts for my wife and she doesn’t enjoy them anyway. Plus, as a stay-at-home parent, it’s not like I’m raking in the dough! The Casting Keepsake’s clay print and photo kit is the best quality and inexpensive gift I can think of for a loving mother, and I’m happy I have one to give to my wife on Mother’s Day. Thank you, Casting Keepsakes!
What are your thoughts on clay prints as gifts or just to capture little hands and feet before they grow too much?
What’s the best Mother’s Day gift to give/get in your opinion?
Why I’m Not Giving Flowers for Mother’s Day, or Ever
In all honesty, I have been against giving flowers for years now. Going Mom and my mom both know this and therefore never expect to receive the colorful bee food from me.
Plus, I enjoy trying to be creative and making something personal/sentimental to give. Sometimes it’s just a note with my crappy handwriting (okay, a lot of times) and nothing more, or I’ll have a small gift I made or purchased to go along.
My reasoning was simple; they just die. Why pay for something that was living and then cut and put in a vase to look pretty for a few days before it dies? Don’t say it’s the thought that counts or for symbolism, there are better thoughts and symbols out there!
Now, I have given flowers in the past, but they are ones that I picked and put together myself. Did they look good? Not really, but it was the thought that mattered. See what I did there?
Anyway, now I have a bigger and better reason not to give flowers for any occasion; most come to us from Columbia under harsh labor conditions.
Yeah, most flower bouquets are put together by workers being treated poorly in Columbia just so some guy in desperate need of a gift for his demanding wife/mom/grandma/male lover? can quickly pick one up and avoid confrontation! That’s just an example, I know some people actually enjoy getting and giving flowers, but I was going for dramatic effect here.
I just read this article depicting a Colombian woman’s struggle to provide for her family by working under harsh conditions in the cut-flower industry. I never would’ve put the words “harsh” and “flower industry” together unless talking about those darn thorny roses, but sure enough, it’s a serious and sad story.
Here are a few parts of the article that stood out to me:
…..pulling a minimum-wage salary of $333 per month. Years of difficult and dangerous work have wracked Lorena’s body, leaving debilitating injuries in their wake.
The National Retail Federation estimates that this Mother’s Day weekend, Americans will purchase more than $2 billion worth of flowers. Almost 80 percent of those flowers come from Colombia…..
Work in the cut-flower industry is notoriously dangerous. …To protect their investments, companies pump highly toxic pesticides and fungicides into the greenhouses where flowers are grown. Twenty percent of these chemicals are so toxic and carcinogenic that they’re prohibited in North America and Europe. …. workers often suffer from rashes, headaches, impaired vision, and skin discoloration. Women, who make up 70 percent of the cut flower workforce in Colombia, report substantially higher instances of birth defects and miscarriages.
“Women are chosen to work in the flower industry because they have agile hands—they can go through the motions smoother and more efficiently,” Fuentes explained. “Their hands aren’t as heavy, and so they can manage the flowers and arrange the bouquets faster.”
But in exchange, they’re often taken advantage of. “Women are regularly paid less than men for the same jobs,” Fuentes said….. Companies commonly require female employees to take pregnancy tests in order to weed out workers who might be eligible for maternity leave. A 2008 International Labor Rights Forum report suggested that more than half of all women in the industry have suffered from sexual harassment.
“There are so many mothers in this industry who have to work all day and can’t take care of their children,” Alejandra told me, her young daughter cradled on her lap. “Kids go to school and get out at 1 or 2 in the afternoon, and their parents don’t come home until 1 in the morning.
I could keep going, but at this point, it’s best to just read the article.
I understand not every bouquet of flowers in America comes from these poor conditions, but then I go back to my original reason; they just die.
Really, unless you absolutely just love flowers sitting in a vase for a few days before they turn their bright heads down and wilt, I’d be mad someone didn’t put more thought into a gift. It doesn’t take much, just a simple handmade token to show you care will mean more than flowers to most of us.
I’m a sentimental guy, Going Mom knows since I can never let go of anything, and I love even the tiniest of notes she leaves for me. The point being, it’s more personal.
So, for your loved ones, you should know what they really like and work off that. Write a poem about something they like or how much you love them. Use Pinterest as a guide for handmade, inexpensive gift to give.
If you’re a parent, your kid can be the one “giving” the gift and you get off without guilt! Even a picture and a card should mean more to your loved ones than flowers.
Am I getting my point across? What, you got it a few paragraphs ago? Sorry, I just want to really hammer it in. I’m not saying anyone should feel guilty for getting flowers because of how most of them get here, but maybe try something different and see how the mothers in your life like it.
It would be weird if I didn’t post a picture of the love of my life, so I’ll leave you with this to enjoy; both loves of my life!
Do you avoid giving flowers as gifts?
What do you prefer to give/get?
What are your thoughts on the harsh working conditions in the cut-flower industry? Sounds like an oxymoron, huh?