Its time to move it, move it

Hi. Its been a minute since I have visited here, but I wanted to report some news. We are moving. Yep, out of our current home and into another home. Neither of which are our home (we're renting, not buying) and although we love the idea of buying, we find ourselves in a better position to rent, for right now. In addition we are downsizing.....dramatically. Mainly so that at a later time we can eventually buy, and save even more money between now and then.

Moving is fun, an adventure. But its also somewhat sad. Only in the sense that we are closing a chapter and beginning a new one. When I was young, my family moved 7 times in 7 years before I turned 7. (wow, lots of 7's - never considered that before). And I don't remember much about those homes. I think about my daughter now (she's turning 2 in a week) and I wonder how she's going to react being in a new place, never having known any other place as home. But then I remember that to her, we are her home. It's her father and I that constitute 'home' for her. And if nothing else, as she lives through this process, that message will be reinforced. Change is inevitable. Transition is a great part of life. So I am focused on the adventurous part of this journey. 

And my husband and I are dusting off our design hats and going to work on new furniture layouts as well as refurbishing older pieces of furniture that we will finally get to showcase. Stay tuned. This is going to be fun! 

PS...our new home is on the lake...seriously, does it get any better? #weareblessed

Happy Pins

Confession: I love Pinterest.

That's me. Not really. But I feel that way. :)
I love the idea and the fun of browsing. I love finding ingenious solutions to everyday life and I love finding the crafts and beauty tips that keep me in touch with the world. Its really because I'm a stay at home Mom (SAHM), and I have to admit that since I ceased working a full time job the one thing I miss is being in touch with the outside world. And while I mostly love the isolation that comes with being a SAHM, the extrovert in me loves idea sharing. Enter Pinterest.

If you haven't been on the site, then you are probably a bit intimidated, or you don't understand it. Both of which I remember also feeling. I was talking with a friend the other day and he was saying that he didn't think it was very interesting to look at someone else's pictures of whatever they're interested in. I chuckled....oh my dear misunderstanding friend. Here's the magic of Pinterest. In one place you have a collection of boards that are organized based on your personal interests, and you are able to share by following and searching for specific ideas and collecting them on your boards. Example: my daughter's first birthday. I had a specific idea of what I wanted for her - a bright sunshiney bubble themed party that was full of homemade activities and homemade food for kids of various ages. Pinterest became my go to place because if I sought out each idea on Google, I would have had to store a bunch of links in a file (possibly) without a picture (I am very visual) and it would take time to figure out what was what and which idea I wanted to use. The fantastic thing about Pinterest is that you can browse the ideas and click on each picture, which will take you to the original source on the web. It's like magic.

If you haven't tried it, I encourage you to do so, especially if you are visual like me. Don't be dissuaded by the need for an invitation - they just want to connect with you via an email address. No biggie as you can adjust your settings to not receive emails. A nice touch from those fine folks at Pinterest.....

Happy PINNING people!

Work it out

Not sure if I have mentioned this as of late, but its bathing suit time of year. Which incidentally is all (most) year round in my state. But the mind is a powerful thing that has tricked me into thinking summer = bathing suits. This past Christmas was a frigid 84 degrees, but who's counting?

Anyway, I will probably be getting into a bathing suit, which means I would like to shed some pounds. I was a lucky first time mom that returned to my post baby weight less than 6 weeks after I gave birth. In fact, I weighed 5 pounds less and have maintained it. BUT, I was pleasantly plump prior to getting pregnant. So, this weight cannot be attributed to my gorgeous baby girl. Nope, it's all me. So I have taken it upon myself to shed it. I thought you might be interested in the online resource that I have found which will support me in my goal.

http://www.getfitandyummy.com/

This is an AWESOME website that is devoted to helping moms recover their bodies after they give birth. And although I did not gain pregnancy weight that I haven't shed, I am a busy mom that battles time management. This is something that Holly at FitYummyMummy talks about a lot. You guys should check out the site.

I love the motto "work smarter not harder" and Holly really knows her stuff. Plus she breaks it all down for you several different ways. Working with her programs actually convinces me that this goal I have is achievable. And I can maintain it. I have had to make changes, but I like the changes and I already physically feel better. My muscles are more engaged and I am happier.

SO, stay tuned for results! Talk about accountability.....right?? :)  

Get Out

Okay, so not literally....wait, yes, literally.

So, you should know that I am not an outdoorsy-kinda-girl. I want to be. Really badly. I watch those shows where someone is on a physical adventure, climbing mount everest or running their 19th marathon. One weekend many many moons ago I holed up in my apartment watching a marathon of a little show called Eco-Challenge, airing on the Discovery Channel. Groups of 4 (maybe 3, can't remember) would team up and have to complete an extremely difficult mission involving them, a tent, a compass and like 40 protein bars. They had 5 days to complete it and no directions and were dropped in the middle of crazy terrain like northern China, or something less communist, but equally strange to my western mind. It was ah-mazing. It got even better on Sunday afternoon as I watched the finale and ate pizza. I'm not kidding. I think I have proven my point.

So, fast forward. I am a mom to a beautiful little ball of energy who keeps me more than occupied. She is not yet 2, and so we have begun our journey into what I will call the "Teachable Twos". I've decided on this name for 2 reasons 1) you read that and immediately thought I am describing all of the teaching I will be doing. But hells no, my friend. Let's just go ahead and acknowledge that I will be learning and she will be doing most of the teaching AND 2) I believe our words (especially as parents) carry much power and therefore am very cautious about labeling any stage I encounter with little people who have all of the emotions I have and less than a quarter of the ability to adequately communicate those emotions....thus far.

I am now going to describe what I call a typical morning in our family life.

Wake up. Brush teeth. Baby girl tries to put on her shoes while brushing her teeth, so I can take her outside. Make breakfast, eat breakfast. Baby girl tries to put on her shoes so I can take her outside. Husband leaves for work. Baby girl tries to escape through the garage as he is leaving, so she can play outside. Skype my grandparents; 5 minutes in Baby girl tries to take my hand to lead me outside to the back yard to play with her. Get some coffee (for me, not her. She's cutting down on her coffee intake....) Start to make the beds and run a load of laundry. Baby girl walks over to me with her shoes on (backwards, of course. She's got a 50\50 chance and manages to get them right like 2 times out of 10. But, it's adorable) and motions to the front door for me to take her outside to play.

It's only 9:45.

Are you sensing a pattern?? Well, you're smarter than I am. It took me a week or so to figure out that most of our time was going to now be spent outdoors. BUT, one setback. I live in the hottest most humid city in the entire world. Ok, maybe not the world, but definitely the hottest city in the west. I mean the east. oh whatever, it's hot.

So we started walking. At first we both walked. But that provides too much freedom to an almost two year old that wants to do everything on her own, even cross the street. So, it was into the stroller for her with a couple of snacks. And we walked. and walked. and walked. And it was blissful. Completely liberating in that she got to see different kinds of birds and we stopped into our local grocery store so that we could cool off, grab a couple of items and refill our waters. And, voila, on the way home she fell asleep peacefully amidst the lawn mowers and leaf blowers and honking horns and, and, and. Nirvana.

It went quite well, this little experiment of mine. So I decided to try it again. The next day. And it was equally blissful and relaxing for both of us. It was still hot, but the thing is we were going to be outside regardless. And this way, we were getting a nice breeze from the crosswind of the cars zooming past us. Nice.

So this is our new routine. And at first I was concerned that the stroller time wouldn't be stimulating enough for a busy little busybody. But I was happily proven wrong! Seeing all of the new animals, plants, people, cars - it was heaven for her brain. She takes in every detail.

And this brings me to one of the surprising parenting ideas that I have stumbled upon since joining the club. I thought that as her mother, it was my job to provide plenty of stimulation in controlled environments (as to avoid injury) and she would be so smart and precocious because she had the mommy that thought of every detail. Whoa, was I wrong. In fact, I think almost completely opposite, now. (See, I'm learning....) Stimulation happens as she encounters her everyday natural environment, particularly in an uncontrolled environment. Is it gross when she finds caterpillars or worms and brings them to me? Kind of (remember, I'm Indoor girl. I have superpowers that allow me to sit on a couch for hours). But at the end of the day, she is completely wow-ed by finding those squirmy slimy little guys. And her brain is working on overdrive as she discovers them.

Recently I have been invited to some of those indoor jump-around kids places. Don't get me wrong, they have their place (literally, ha). But I have a strong urge at this stage to share the outdoors with Baby girl. She'll spend enough time very soon indoors, what with school and after school activities. Its more important to me that she cultivate a relationship with her natural world than with a plastic, conjured one. Even if it means she is putting on her shoes 17 times a day and bringing me a dead beetle she found in the dirt. I think I am just going to have to put on my best outdoor girl imitation and roll with it. My my, the things we do for our little ones....