Monthly Baby Photos

Today is Connor's 1st birthday!  Over the course of his life, I have taken thousands of priceless pictures of him.   Perhaps none are more telling and document his life better than the ones I have been taking on the 17th of every month.  It is amazing to see his growth month to month.

Connor was born May 17th, 2012 at Hilton Head Regional Medical Center.  He weighed 8 oz. upon birth but dropped to 6 lbs 8 oz by the time we left.   He made tremendous gurgling sounds all night long. He was a noisy, noisy baby.   

He was so tiny! 

The first month and more he was terribly jaundiced.  His eyes were very yellow for almost 8 weeks. He was scrawny and had little chicken legs. He had wildly spikey hair.  And he never slept longer than 2.5 hours straight.  He was a hungry boy that demanded to be fed round the clock. This seems so long ago.

By his second month, his jaundice cleared and his eyes got whiter.  He perked up, was more alert and started to smile.  He still has this wrye smile - like maybe he's up to no good and knows something that you don't...

By three months he was really quite fun.  Though he wasn't sleeping, he was actively playing with toys, reaching for things and interested in his sister Molly.

And it just kept getting better from there.  His thick black spikey hair became a bit more red, more blonde and he started to sport a Donald Trump hair do.

Full comb over now.   I am not sure why I didn't get it cut.  Seriously, look how long that was. 

By 6-months his hair is really long and we will always look back on pictures now and ask - WHY didn't we get his hair cut?  I guess it was part of his charm.  Here he starts looking like a baby and less like an infant, too. Maybe it's in the double chin and those thighs.  He smiles all the time and I am stopped at the supermarket - "your baby is SO happy."  I know! 

Month 7 is a real transformation - hair cut really helps.  He looks old.   Where has my infant gone? 

From 8-10 months, you can see subtle changes.  There are a few bumps and bruises on his head as he is always getting into something. 

Now that hair is really blonde!

By the time 11 months comes around, I don't even remember to take his monthly picture until the 20th of the month. I instantly feel guilty but have a lot going on with work so I forgive myself.  I take the picture but it's not the best one - he's so busy now, it's hard to get him to sit still.  I am pretty sure it's the lighting here but his hair does look a bit red...

And then there's today.  His birthday. His 12 month shot.  My infant, not an infant anymore, but a baby - a toddler even.  

It's hard to describe how I feel today.  Maybe you know because you have kids and you feel like they've grown up so fast.  It's a mixture of sadness and pride.  Happiness, elation and longing for a different time.   We don't have any plans to have any more children so this is my last baby. The last time I will rock a baby to sleep and hold a small baby that's mine in my arms.  With all the sleep deprivation over the last year, I kept wanting him to sleep through the night.  But the bonding that occurred in those hours in the middle of the night were crucial and have made us stronger.  When he takes his first steps (any day now), or really says his first meaningful words, it's nothing but full steam ahead.  Sometimes I wish I could just press pause.  Today's milestone is a good reminder to slow down and just enjoy every moment you can. 

A new direction

If you're a regular visitor of PSA Stamp Camp, you will notice this blog looks different.  I am no longer with PSA Essentials and will continue to write this blog as Libby O.  Over the last three years and 626 posts, I've built such strong connections and developed such roots here.  I'll still be blogging about stamping, crafts, my family, parenting, art, design and other great things I come across and create. I hope you will join me.

I am so thankful for my job at PSA Essentials.  I gained valuable years of public relations, social media and sales experience.  I got to appear live on The Home Shopping Network! I created and wrote this blog which gets over 15,000 views a month and just reached a quarter of a million page views.   Navigating the world of social media, I learned the back end advertising side in an emerging and murky field.  I made dozens of contacts and connections in the publishing field.   I successfully branded PSA Essentials to consumers by learning and implementing viral marketing tactics.

The people who work for PSA Essentials are brilliant, really. They have tremendous talent in the creative arena, immense writing expertise and are players in the business world.  I wish PSA Essentials and everyone at the company tremendous success.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to work with them.

Change isn't easy but sometimes it's good and often it is necessary.  If life stayed the same, it would be awfully boring.  You have to have confidence that this is the way your life is supposed to be and the way it's intended.



Though it sounds contradictory  after saying "have confidence that this is the way life is supposed to be," I believe you make your own destiny and have the power to do anything you want.   Following your dreams and doing what you love is something you can control.



The process is scary and success doesn't happen over night.  If you are too focused on the end result, you might miss being happy along the way.

So off I go.  Ready to make "Libby O" happen.   

I hope to see you here still and thank you so much for your support over the last three years! 

Hungry Caterpillar Birthday

My son Connor turns one on Thursday and we gathered today to celebrate a few days early so all the grandparents could be there.   The book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle has been a staple in our household. The colorful illustrations and interactive pages delight Molly and Connor.  But actually the book is a great metaphor for Connor and therefore made a very fitting party theme.   He IS a hungry baby boy who over the last few months has really blossomed into a very special boy.  As he gets older, he becomes more and more of a person with a personality, likes and dislikes, and become an integral part of our family. Today was an emotional day for me - turning one is a milestone.  A baby becomes a toddler and never goes back to a baby again!   Here is a look at all the Hungry Caterpillar party details.

I found Hungry Caterpillar printables on Etsy from Ven's Paperie.  After you purchase, they personalize a host of files for you with the desired name/age and then email you with a link.  They're yours to download, print and use for crafting!   A welcome sign, happy birthday sign, cupcake toppers, cupcake wrappers, food tents, toothpick flags, pennant flag banner, happy birthday banner, party favor sign, thank you notes, and so much more was included.  

I printed the letters and created the banners, hung them using twine from The Twinery.  I purchased paper fans from Oriental Trading Company. 

I also found a Hungry Caterpillar Hat and Bib on Etsy.  I ordered the bib from Monkey Pants and hat from Dainty Couture. 

I set up a kids table for my three-year old daughter Molly and her friends Parker, Griffin and Russ.  Their mother's are good friends of mine and have been very instrumental this past year in Connor's life.  At the kids table, I hung paper pom-poms by Spritz available at Target. 

I cheated on these party hats (I didn't make them from scratch this time, buying them is so much faster!)  I bought them from Target and then added the "Connor's 1st Birthday" stamp by PSA Essentials.  (I used the gabby personalized stamp and had it personalized for my occasion!)  

The coloring pages were great because they kept the kids entertained while they were waiting for their brunch. 

I did simple party favors - crayons, bubbles and loli-pops.  I stamped "Connor's 1st Birthday" onto 2" inch round stickers.

I found these cute bookmarks on Amazon.com and intended them to be party favors for the adults. 

Here's a few more table decorations and this "ONE" sign that we created at home.  I bought "O", "N", and "E" from Michael's in the wood section and Mike nailed them in.  Then Molly and I painted it blue.  It made for a nice centerpiece. 

I tried to add some photo personal touches too.  For the last 11 months, I have been taking pictures of Connor on the 17th of every month (he was born 5/17/12.)  I purchased the stickers on etsy and stuck them on whatever he was wearing and did a photoshoot.  It's so fun to see his transformation month to month.   I am waiting until Thursday (his actual birthday) to do the month "12." 

I also have been working (tirelessly) and Connor's scrapbook.  Scrapbooking is exhausting and I've learned that I don't love it as much as digi-scraping or photo books.  But I did a huge one for Molly so felt compelled to do it for Connor too.  His has 30+ pages of events in his life in here and now that he's 1, I am finished! :)   A blog post to follow soon... 

Now some people party photos! The birthday man himself.  Happy Birthday Connor! 

Perhaps my favorite picture of the day... we are SO lucky to BOTH sets of grandparents in our lives.