RING IT IN.

Okay, so I've been here before... it seems right around this time every year I show up and say I really want to write more... so this year I'm not even going to go there... besides I have many more goals on the horizon... see:

1. disconnect- I really want to disconnect from technology a bit, not completely but maybe have more of a schedule for myself to spend time on the phone and computer.  I want to be more present in all of the little moments of everyday life and do not want my child to grow up feeling like he is competing with my iPhone.

2. reevaluate- I need to reevaluate my future plans for my business.  There are a lot of decisions to be made about the shop and now since the hurricane there are so many unknowns that it has been very hard to plan for where I want it to go.

3. cooking-  I really enjoy cooking and learning how to make new things.  Providing healthy and easy meals for my family is something really important to me.  I am usually good with this throughout the winter when I am home but once summer comes and I am working it is so much harder.

4. house- I am looking forward to completing lots of unfinished little projects around our house and putting on all the finishing touches.  First and foremost we are planning on changing our guest bedroom into a playroom (I can't take the toys everywhere too much longer). 

5. balance- This is something I always seem to struggle a bit with finding a way to balance all the different aspects of my life.  I am always a little hard on myself and set really high expectations.  This year I am hoping to take it a little easy on myself.

In an effort to actually accomplish the goals I set for myself every year, I am thinking of sitting down at the beginning of each month and setting myself some attainable goals... hopefully I will see a bit more progress that way.

SO LONG SANTA.

I love Christmas... like really, really, really, LOVE Christmas.  Putting up all the decorations which I have been collecting for some time now, seeing all the twinkling lights, the smells, the warm fuzzy feeling that resides over your heart for the season... I love it all.  At my house decorations go up the day after Thanksgiving and I usually like to keep them up way into the new year.  However, this year I for some strange reason I can't wait to take everything down and start fresh.  I feel like my house has been so cluttered with toys, gifts and food for the past month and it's driving me a little nutty.  The New Year is really getting me excited, motivated, and hopeful which is not usually the case (I normally get sad).  Looking forward to having a cozy, clean, and fresh house in the next few days... I'll let you know how that goes.

THE GOOD STUFF.

Im feeling quite nostalgic over here... maybe it's because New Year's is approaching or maybe it's because I spent the month before Christmas working on a photo book of Kurt's first year.  It is still so unbelievable to me how much change occurs in one year.  He quickly transformed from this tiny sleepy infant to the active independent toddler he is today.  Over the next couple of days I am thinking of sharing some of the highlights of our year since once again I didn't share nearly as much I wanted to over here throughout the year.  So what better way to make up for it then to jam a year's worth of posts into a few days... works for me!

Above are a few shots from our Christmas card photo shoot this year.  Kurt had blast, he is pretty obsessed with that little blue truck (he will just sit and pay in it for the longest time) and was surrounded by leaves... so the boy was is heaven!

OUR CHRISTMAS.

This was Kurt's second Christmas which is pretty hard for me to beleive that he has already experience 2 Halloween's, 2 Thanksgiving's, and now 2 Christmas'.  I mean how can we already be in his second year of life?  That aside it was fun to see him start to get excited for all the happiness the holiday's bring.  Right after Thanksgiving we were visited by an elf which this little man loved coming downstairs each morning and finding.  Sometimes he would forget then he'd be eating his breakfast and all of a sudden spot it and point saying "efffff!" "efffff!".  He also learned to say "ho ho ho" at anything  or one looking remotely like santa.  He yells "hey!" at the right point when we sing jingle bells and has gained a certain affinity for any kind of "cooookeee".  I was pretty amazed to see how good he was with the tree, I was pretty certain that the bottom half of our tree would be ornament free this year.  I think the key was slowly decorating it, first we put up the tree bare and there was a lot of novelty in "blowing" the lights out.  Then a few days later I took out the ornaments and he watched me gently unwrap each one from the tissue while he stood over my shoulder and said "oooooooo" (I think he understood this was something special).  There were three ornaments that he was allowed to touch they were interactive and played music so we put them on the bottom of the tree where he could reach and he left the rest alone.  He would go up to "his" three ornaments push that little button and do a little dance.  Speaking of dancing...  this child has developed some sweet moves this holiday season between all the Christmas music and musical decorations.  We had quite a bit of foot stompin, hip swayin, and head bobbin around here... it was pretty great to watch his little body feel the music. (I have to upload a video)  We didn't really put a lot of emphasis on the presents.  He did get a few things from Santa (there were maybe a few things he already had were under the tree too) and he had a lot of fun emptying his stocking but pretty much just wanted us to read him his books on Christmas morning.  That being said he was spoiled silly from all our friends and family.  Overall it was such a wonderful Holiday and I look forward to do it all again next year!!!

BLOGSHOP.

I spent the weekend in NYC and learned lots of pretty amazing tricks at BlogShop.  I got the chance to meet some really amazing creatives/bloggers that inspired me to start so many new projects.  I am so excited to put it all to use here and on the website which will be launching at the end of this month!!!

MAMA.

This morning at 6am I sleepily stumbled to my little boys nursery while listening to him babble away with all the little sounds he has been making lately (we get a lot of dada and yaya around here).  As I open the door to see him standing in his crib smiling he laid it on me... mama.  Clear as day he said it and it was music to my ears.  He hasn't said it again and i'm sure he didn't even realize what had spilled out of his mouth, but it was the sweetest word i have ever heard and i can't wait to hear it again.  This little boy brings so much joy to my heart everyday.  He can make most stressed out, sleepy, and over my head moments better with just a glance of his gummy grin.  

Kurt, I love you more than you will ever know but promise to try and show you everyday.  Thank you for all the happiness you have brought to my life.  I am so lucky to be your mama.

IF AT FIRST.

I've tried this whole blog thing a few times now, for some reason I can never seem to get it together but yet I keep coming back for more.  It's been over a year since my last attempt and things have changed greatly around these parts... we were married on October 1, 2010 and welcomed our beautiful baby boy into our lives on October 10, 2011.  I hope this becomes a place where gather my thoughts, share my stories, and look back and reflect on all of life's little moments.

Here are some things you may find me rambling about in the future:

- Mama Life
- Style Posts
- Travel Guides
- Recipes
- DIY Projects
- Business Tips