Recent Sprite Stitch Favorites

I know I've mentioned the Sprite Stitch blog in the past - it's a blog that compiles various submitted video game related art, most of it being old school gaming-related stuff like Mario, original Nintendo, Megaman, etc. This past month or so they've had some really neat stuff and Etsy shops displayed!


First, there's these Pop Art Console posters, created by Biscotto:

 

Biscotto also makes ones with other consoles, including the more recent Xbox, PS3 and Wii consoles, as well as 8-bit version of various characters too! Prices range from $15-30 for single images or $35-65 for multiple sets.

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Next are these mini-cartridge rings by Lauren Swingle and her Etsy shop The Clay Collection:

 

 

These rings are made from clay and unlike some actual cartridge clocks that were recently shown on Sprite Stitch (which actually destroyed old school cartridges to make!!), they babies are made custom - you tell her what game you want on your cartridge ring, she'll replicate it! She also does other game systems too, such as Playstation game case replicas.

She also makes various cufflinks and other jewelry - these Call of Duty ones are perfect for most of our spouses! And there's also some Star Wars ones in her collection, among Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Doctor Who, MST3K and many others! I think the DVD cufflinks are pretty neat too!

Prices range from $25-85.

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This next shop, LicketyCut, has a bunch of items I'm planning on buying, however the one that was featured on Sprite Stitch that got my attention was this set:

 

Super Mario red mushroom pendent and earrings!

LicketyCut items are laser cut acrylics. Prices range from $5-45 and while there's lots of video game pieces, they also make other items as well!

In addition to the mushroom earrings seen above (which they can paint in any color you'd like!), I'm also planning on getting these:

 

Portal earrings

 

Fishbone earrings

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Basement Invaders makes some really neat glassware pieces, including these featured Piranha Plant wine glasses:

 

Most of their items are Nintendo themed and they do have some earrings in addition to their glassware. I particularly would like to get a pair of these Yoshi egg earrings in green:

 

 

 And check out these Zelda inspired 8-bit heart glasses:

Prices start at $3 for single items and are as high as $30 for sets.

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And last, but not least for this edition of geeky art found on Sprite Stitch is this Aperture Science Office:

There's too many photos to show on here, but feel free to view the rest yourself - this is actually a pretty awesome Portal/Portal 2-inspired office! Someone did A LOT of work here!

Miracles do happen!

Yesterday we had Jay's 1st urology appointment up in Milwaukee.

As you may remember, we had previously been going up to Madison, however in November his doctor took a pediatric urology chairman position at the children's hospital in Milwaukee and since our insurance actually covers us in Milwaukee we decided to follow him over there since it's essentially the same distance for us.

They had called me Wednesday to confirm a time for a renal ultrasound prior to our meeting with the doctor (even though I had mentioned this when I made the appointment!) and said that even though our appointment with the doctor was at 1:15, to report to radiology first and then just head up afterwards.

Well we left home around 11am and got there just after 12:30pm - it was about a 15 minute longer drive than what it was taking us to get to Madison, so not too bad. Since we got to radiology 40 minutes early they were able to squeeze us in sooner so we didn't have to worry about the overlap in appointments.

Just like last time, Jay was squirmy during the ultrasound, but the tech was able to go quickly before he got too fussy. I think he's just tired of doctor offices this week, since we just had his routine check-up the other day.

We headed over to the urology clinic and got there just in time for our regular scheduled appointment.

Jay's shoes weigh almost a pound, as I was too busy trying to finish up the paperwork and daddy forgot to remove his shoes when they weighed him. So it's either that or he gained almost an entire pound in 3 days, lol...

And yep, hubby came with us! He was able to get a weekday off this week since he's taken the past few Saturday's off. He's never been to one of the urology check-ups before so it was nice for him to get to see what all we do and it helped having a 2nd pair of hands and eyes to keep track of Jay now that he's more active (especially since I had to fill out more paperwork and scheduling his next appointment took forever).

So we met with the doctor...

...and he was quite surprised to see that Jay's enlarged kidney had improved significantly!

Last time we saw him, back in September he said there was just a slight increase in the fluid in his kidney but not enough to be concerned at that point. But today he said it looked perfectly fine!

He said he would like to wait a little awhile before ordering a kidney test again - which is the testing they do where they put the catheter in him as well as an IV of fluid and then do some imaging to see how the kidneys drain. He had it done when he was about 3 or 4 months old and yeah... wasn't fun! So he said he'd like to monitor it again in 6 months and then again in another 6 months after that just to make sure things are continuing to look fine and that this time wasn't just a fluke - if the next few ultrasounds look the same as today (or better) he'll order the test to confirm that the blockage is indeed unblocked!

So at this point, we're no longer looking at Jay needing to having surgery this time next year!

Yay!!!

Such a huge relief!

We recently had to switch Jay to an overnight diaper for the 10-12 hours a night he sleeps as he kept waking up with his jammies soaked. I mentioned it to my mom and she had suggested that maybe it came unblocked as the only leakage problems we've had in the past were either due to faulty diapers, changing him too early before bedtime or just not fastening them tight enough! I think it might be a possible explanation, although at the time I didn't put much faith in it, as she's suggested it at various other instances we've had to him peeing a lot. 

The rare chance of the blockage opening up and unblocking on its own as Jay grew was very slim to none and while his doctor said it was a possibility, he didn't want us to get our hopes up. I had kind of accepted the fact that he would need it eventually and put it in the back of my mind not wanting to think about it. Until recently it seemed so far off, then it hit me not too long ago that it was only a year away. And as active and on the move Jay likes to be now that he's walking... him having to take it easy post-surgery... that didn't sound fun at all!

So it's great to know that as long as his next few ultrasounds are fine, we're surgery free!

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers though as we've endured all the testing and whatnot this past year! Miracles do happen!

So that's our news for today! Our next check-up on it is in August.

Star Wars Valentines

My sister linked to this on Facebook the other day and they're just too cute not to share!

If you're still looking for Valentine's cards that are cheap and easy to put together for your kids to pass out to their friends next week, check out these super cute (and funny!) Star Wars Valentine's Day cards!!!

You can download the PDF (as well as a cute envelope template) from the StarWars.com activity page. There's 4 different Valentine's you can print and cut out (as seen above). They are pretty darn cute though! Too bad Jay doesn't have little friend's to pass Valentine's out to yet though - these would be great! I did download the page though and saved the PDF so maybe sometime in the future!

Jay's 1 year check-up!

OMG, 3 posts in 1 day!

Oh well, whatever, lol...

On Monday we had Jay's 1 year check-up and oh my gosh that was THE LONGEST hour and a half EVER!

His appointment was at 130, but ever since he started walking I have to chase him around the house when it's time to go, so we were about 5 minutes late, but there were only 2 other sets of people in the waiting room, both in wheelchairs I might add, which piqued Jay's curiosity (especially the one guy with the helmet who was somewhat mentally handicapped - Jay kept starring as he played with the toys in the corner, doh!).

So after about 5-10 minutes in the waiting room they take us back, checking Jay's weight along the way.

Apparently he only weighs 22lbs, 12oz  (just under a 2lb gain from his 10 month weigh-in), which is in the 50th percentile although everyone swears he feels like he's at least 25lbs!

Height-wise, he is 30 1/2 inches long, which puts him in the 70th percentile, so they said he's a little on the tall side, which isn't a surprise to anyone, considering his daddy is 6'3" with siblings all around 6ft or taller. Remember the big deal they made before his birth about his femurs measuring small? Yeah, he's just torso-tall like we all figured he would be!

His head measures 46cm, so he's 50th percentile there too!

After they took all his measurements and checked his vitals they had us weight for what felt like a good 15-20 minutes before the doctor came in. And you would think for being a family practice that they would have better baby/child-proofed the exam rooms! I was literally chasing Jay all over the room as he wanted to play in the drawers and cabinets, then the non-biohazard trashcan, and the spinny stool, and then climbing on the exam table and licking the base of the floor lamp and then the chairs... it was tiring! I was about to ask if we could just go sit back in the waiting room until he was ready for us, that way Jay could play with the toys out there and not be getting into everything - I think I might do that next time!

Finally the doctor came in and said everything looks good - he was glad to hear Jay was switched over to table foods and whole milk and drinking from a sippy some. He was impressed to see him walking around too.

This visit also included some shots, including the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Ruebella), Hepatitis-A and the Varicella (Chickenpox) vaccine.

We opted not to do the Chickenpox vaccine, which our doctor was fine with, as he said it is a newer one and we have the final say when it comes to vaccines, however he did give us a paper that talked about the vaccine and why they recommend it. Honestly though, hubby and I both think it's a bit ridiculous that they're vaccinating against the Chickenpox now - growing up, as a kid, getting the Chickenpox was a rite of passage and just a part of childhood; when one kid on my block got it our parents all sent us to go play with them in hopes that we'd get it and get it over with it. Now, from what our doctor told me and what we read on the sheet he sent home, it sounds like it's a matter of convenience - the kids don't have to miss school and suffer all the the symptoms of it, parents don't have to miss work... (which for us isn't a big deal as I'm only part-time and my mom watches him when I can't). Since when do we vaccine just because it's convenient? Vaccinating for Chickenpox is just dumb and unnecessary in my opinion - most people got it as a kid and turned out just fine. Sure, there's the rare case of a kid dying, but you take that risk with everything in life. I'd rather not vaccinate against something as unnecessary as the Chickenpox. A friend of mine doesn't vaccinate for personal reasons (she has a brother with severe autism which developed when he was a child so obviously that plays a role in her decision), so I think when her kids get the Chickenpox I'll see if I can bring Jay over and let him play with them so that he can get it and get it over with.

So that's my take on that.

After the doctor left we had to wait another 5-10 minutes for the nurse to come in to give Jay his shots.

He was NOT happy and refused to way goodbye to her, and then gave her a cautious look when we ran into her on our way out. All the shots and bloodwork he's had this past year, you'd think I'd be used to see him get stuck, but for some reason this time made me feel sad. Probably because he knew it was coming when he saw the nurse come in (she's been the one doing his shots the last few times we've been there) and when we laid him down on the exam table.

He survived though and he seems to be doing fine. I've been keeping an eye on him, just because the MMR vaccine is the one that was linked to the autism controversy awhile back. Granted, the way I see it, if it's God's will for Jay to have autism, he'll have it regardless, vaccine or no vaccine.

We had to wait to schedule his next appointment, as there was only 1 lady working the desk and there was a line. Luckily we were back in the waiting room though so I let Jay go play with the toys in the corner of the room and that kept him occupied.

Thursday is our trip up to Milwaukee to visit his pediatric urology specialist. This is our first time visiting him at his new location, so hopefully we don't get lost! Hubby is taking the day off work and coming with us since he has to go in this Saturday, so I'm excited about that - he never gets to come to doctor appointments with us and given this exam, I could use the extra help keeping Jay out of things!

Phone Photo Fun Mondays - 02.06.12

 

As usual, I was working Monday and I've been sooo tired lately I just haven't had the energy to sit and blog once Jay goes to bed, so this is a few days late, but oh well!

The big event this weekend was Jay's 1st birthday party, but since that's a whole separate beast of a post, I'll save the non-birthday photos for this post!

He got ahold of daddy's UPS ID badge and was carrying it all around the house with him, pretending to be daddy, hehe

Apparently they make white chocolate Kit Kat bars and I bought one while out shopping. It was pretty darn good!

I thought it was neat that Jay's milk expired on his birthday and had to document it!

I often shop the Target $1 Shop every other week or so and currently they have a bunch of Star Wars stuff for $1 in honor of the 3D release of Episode 1. The yoyo I gave away as a party favor at Jay's party, and then for Jay I got him all 3 coloring books (I realized when I got home though they're all the same coloring book, just with different covers - oops!) and then I got the 48 piece puzzle that we can put together when Jay's a bit older and has graduated to non-wooden puzzles. For a buck a piece, can't pass that up!

I needed to get some cat food for Tiger and decided to take Jay with me and take a trip around the "ghetto zoo" as friends on Facebook refer to it (aka, the pet store, or in our case PetCo as we buy the Hill's Science Diet cat food and PetCo and PetSmart seem to be the only stores in town that carry it). Jay likes looking at the fishies though - this trip he was most interested in the swarm of cheap 19cent minnows and goldfish, lol...

Jay's birthday loot from mommy and daddy, minus his ball popper toy and learning activity table (which I bought used from a lady on the local Facebook mom's group for $20!). He got some toys and some art stuffs (fingerpaints and window crayons), as well as his own remote control (sans batteries!), a Thomas and Friends sing-along DVD, and some t-shirt for spring/summer (including ones with Thomas, Mario, Linus and the Cowboy's logo on them). Most the toys I picked up around Christmas during all the Christmas sales (including the BOGO sale at Kmart), so I guess that's one advantage to having a birthday not too far after Christmas!

Showing off the mess he made... and yeah, he just got MORE toys to make a mess with lol...

He completely baffles me at how he manages to get his crib toys undone! I mean, those suckers are a pain to get on and off, at least to us adults, yet he seems to pull them off so easily!

I finally gave in and bought some Scentsy bars! A friend of mine sells Partylite and when I had my party last summer I had ordered some tealights with matching scent melts for my warmers, however she forgot to order the scent melts and while I reminded her several times, she just never got around to it and when I was looking last week on the website I noticed they don't carry ANY of the scents I need to go with my tealights, so I talked to blogger and Scentsy consultant Ms. Celia and decided to check out these Scentsy scents: for a yummy scent I tried the Toasted Caramel Sugar from the Bring Back My Bar collection; for my bathroom, which is ocean/beach themed I got Mediterranean Spa and Rio Beach; and for something soothing for Jay's room I got Newborn Nursery. I think I'll definitely be ordering more from Celia in the future!

Can you tell me how to get to Jaydran's 1st Birthday Party

This past Saturday, on his actual 1st birthday (February 4th!) we had Jay's 1st birthday party!

We did an Elmo and Sesame Street friends theme and had the party in our big finished basement. We invited quite a bit of people, but it was mostly just family that came, which is okay - Jay was more concerned about the cake and his new toys anyway to really care who was there, lol...

So anyway, here's the decor:

When you walked up to our house, the 1st thing you saw was the balloon wreath I made:

Which was inspired by the balloon wreath that Lindsay (the Undomestic Chica) had made and posted about a few weeks ago for her kiddo's birthday party and I combined it with this sign idea I saw on Pinterest.

I'd say I did a pretty good job combining the two!

Next, on our kitchen table, I displayed the favor bags, hats, noise makers and Cookie Monster and Elmo (and later Jay's smash cake).

 

 Cookie Monster's sign says "Welcome to Jaydran's 1st Birthday Party!" while Elmo's sign says "Brought to you by the letter "J" and the number 1!"

I got the ideas for the characters with signs as well as the favor bags from these ideas on Pinterest:

I think they turned out pretty well!

The view as you go downstairs to the party:

 

 

And then the basement:

 

 

 

I thought the banner was too cute - I LOVED that the "B" is a cookie pattern with a bite taken out of it too, lol...

 

 

Jay's "Throne"

 

Our bar with the punch bowl and cake displayed.

 

The food table. The party was from 2-4pm so we kept it simple with finger foods including some fruit medleys and a tray of veggies, crackers and cheese with veggie dip.

The cakes:

 

 I had our cake lady make these and considering she makes her own special frosting and her cakes just taste THE BEST, these 2 combined cost less than my ice cream cake I had for my birthday last summer! She also made our wedding cake as well as my baby shower cake. Seriously guys, she makes THE BEST cakes at the best prices in town!

 

Jay's Attire:

 

So he wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a good shot of his clothes, but we had a Level 1 Human onesie with the official level 1 human WoW stats custom made on Cafepress. I paired it with a pair of brown Garanimal athletic-type pants.

Onto the party!

 

Jay playing with my cousin and some one of his new toys from mommy and daddy.

 

Showing him a card before he opens the present.

 

Excited about the Sesame Street wrapping paper.

 

One of my best friends came with her 2 kids, the youngest is about 11 months older than Jay - she helped him open his presents as he couldn't quite figure it out by himself.

 

 

 

Giving Jay his cake

 

Funny story: Jay LOVES to "sing." And he was a little confused when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. And by the time he caught on the song was over. But he still wanted to sing! So... he led/directed everyone in a chorus of "Ahhhhhhhhh" for a bit, lol...

 

He was a little hesitant at first as to what to do with his cake, as we try not to make too much of a mess with our food at meal time and anything real messy we usually feed to him. But once he got the idea he was all over it!

 

 

 He ate/destroyed about half of his smash cake and kept going in and out of a food/sugar coma, lol...

 

After the cake, we got him cleaned up and dressed again and he was ready to go play! My parents got him a Cozy Coupe, as I had one when I was little. We have the floor board in it right now though, as he kinda slid out of the bottom and got stuck under it - oops! He also got a Thomas the Train play tent that my sister and her soon-to-be fiance got him too! 

 

I'd say he made out quite well and has plenty of toys to last him throughout the year, since the next big event to get toys is Christmas! I also think his party turned out pretty well! I was a bit bummed at first that we didn't have more friends with young kids show up and as we could have guessed, only 1 of hubby's 3 brothers that live in town made an effort to come (I swear, my sis's soon-to-be fiance is more of an uncle to Jay than his actual uncles, save for his aunt and uncle that live hours away as that's understandable), but Jay didn't seem to mind and he seemed to enjoy all the Sesame Street decor and his party in general so I think that made it a success! Hubby thought I went a bit overboard with the decorating, but Jay's face lit-up when he saw it, not to mention my father-in-law complimented me on all the work I did as well.

So, that's the last of Jay's 1st holidays... hard to believe my baby's a toddler and a 1-year old!