Izzy's Party - sneak peak!

I am really having fun planning and prepping for Izzy's first birthday on Saturday. Maybe it is all the decorating options that say Spring that has me excited. Maybe it is because I find it easier to plan and decorate for a girl's party than for a boy's. Maybe because her birthday is on St. Patrick's Day and it is a Saturday, and it is the first weekend of March Madness, and it is Spring Break most everywhere except in my lab at work. Maybe because it is 80 degrees outside! I think it is all these things, and rather than finding it stressful and tedious, I am having fun tinkering with paper flowers and photo banners til midnight every night. Daylight savings this week has made it easy to stay up late. But I'm naturally a night owl and if no one is telling me to go to bed, I can tinker til the wee hours.

I am also working on Izzy's baby book this week. I made a promise to myself that I would finish both kids' baby books before their first birthday because I'm crazy I knew it would never get done otherwise. With Charlie, I worked on his book in increments his first year and it was done by his birthday. The poor second child? I started working on it last week. I hadn't even printed out a single picture from Izzy's first year until last week! I find it so hard to identify pictures and have them printed on a regular basis. I love putting them up on the blog, but seem to fall apart when it comes to printing them. And I know it will always be that way for me and that's why my kids will have one album - their baby book, and nothing else. Sorry kids, I hope you won't be scarred for life, but I know my limitations.

I would love to know if anyone else has a good system for keeping up with photos, printing them out on occasion to frame or to file away in albums. Tell me your secret! I think this is why I've become addicted to the mall photo shop - you know the ones with all the cheesy backdrops and props, full of screaming babies and toddlers having tantrums? Yes, those. I frequently torture my kids with trips to the mall photo shop. Why? Because I walk out of there in an hour, completely stressed and exhausted, but with pictures in hand. I promptly put them in frames, hand them out to grandparents, and I feel like a rock star mom. It's so totally worth it.

I'm a little worried that I'm going to experience a major let down after Izzy's birthday. My baby is turning one. This will be the last first birthday party I will plan. I feel the rush coming. I think I'll go cut out some more paper flowers...