December's in Full Swing..

Christmas cookie cutter toast for breakfast!

L loves the hustle & bustle of the season as much as mommy...

a door L & I spotted...

Best finger painting experience to date.
Merry Christmas to me!

L knew right away where Santa was & the Christmas tree

treats in Liam's shoes from St. Nick

"writing" out his wish list

Annnnnd... It's December! Liam is actually a functioning, potentially destructible being this year, as opposed to the wee one in a sling 24/7 he was last year. Thus, modifications. 

A way smaller tree, with way less ornaments, even though SO FAR, he's very "gentle" and "nice" with the ornaments. I told him they were like a necklace. As he's good with my necklaces when I say "nice", "soft", "gentle" and "careful". So far... so good. Could change. Stay tuned.

He tasted his first candy cane the other day after swim school and declared "MMMMMMM!", smacking his lips. Digs eggnog too. 

We had a wonderful time at Society of the Four Arts with some of our toddler BFFs this morning too! We learned all about Santa, got treats in our shoes & wrote "letters" to Santa to hang on our tree. The holidays are in full swing. Lights everywhere. Liam is marveling. And I'm so in love with seeing and doing it all through his eyes. 

Fancy, fragile decor will make an appearance another day, I wouldn't trade "now" for ANYTHING. Well, with the exception of wishing L's grandma (my mom) could be here experiencing this too! <3 All the best to you & yours...

L's letter to Santa

2012's tree is much smaller than usual & free of glass/breakables

Soft, touchable decorations in place of delicate, breakable ones of years past

L loves candy canes already!

Life's a Blur. Pause. Reflect... on L.

Two facts: I'm not videoing enough and I'm not writing enough. Liams doing the coolest new things every single day.

He's saying new words all the time. Tonight he keeps saying "where it is?" In his own little way. 

He's "driving" his boat on wheels with pride. 

He's crawling up on the couch, sitting quietly and paying close attention to sesame street. 

He brings both me and my dad books over and over, and adores being read to. He will "read" to you too, turning each page, pointing at the words and talking. 

And he tickles us! Saying "teeegy teeegy teeegy". 

Liam finally takes a decent nap without me holding him! And night time sleep has improved by leaps and bounds. Attachment parent mommies and non-cry-it-out mommies, be super patient. This will be you one day too. <3


Liam "runs" and breathes hard while he's doing it, pumping his arms, not sure where he saw this, but it's cute. 

He puts his lips to mine when I say give me a kiss. And he comes up behind me and hugs me all the time when I'm sitting on the floor. 

Liam simply rules. Oh & he exhausts. 
Love this (baby?) boy so much. 

butterflies & airplanes... L and I explore Mounts Botanical Garden

I hear airplanes! I see butterflies!

Gotta TOUCH this one. 

Mommy, check it. Airplanes! 

Let's go mommy! Lots of paths to wander...

A bench nestled amidst a babbling brook.

Perhaps we all should garden...

Always thankful for my Ergo. 

I felt like I was sharing a slice of my childhood with Liam.

We meandered...

And explored...

and crossed over...

On butterfly watch!

There they are!

Butterflies loved these!

Look!

Monet would've approved.

Is it a bug? Is it a leaf?  Cool. 

Hello! No Surprise Here...

BUT OF COURSE i was blessed with the child that sleeps kinda poopy (doing better at this moment though, grateful) And is PICKY PICKY PICKY. I was no easy child... L is his loud, serious, stubborn, determined self. Hmm... sounds like.... me. 
(thank you for the photo, marili!)

we did it! FORWARD on. (i hope.)

joining the line
today was another first for this 1st time mommy. i voted with toddler in tow. 

it began with a 40 minute wait, much of which took place in the sun (p.s. i KNOW 40 minutes is NOTHING compared to many of you that waited as many as seven hours!). i had a piece of banana bread in my ergo pocket in case i needed to bribe L with a snack. 
he was generally awesome while we waited thanks to all the people watching + an airplane and a helicopter in the sky as distractions. 
he got a little restless once inside. flung himself upside in protest for a second there. but then he had a lot sweet elderly ladies to flirt with as i collected my ballot. 
boy did he want my ballot and my pen!!!
a small fit was thrown, sorry voting neighbors. 
in the end we did it though.
and we watched carefully as my ballot was fed through the machine. 
it said something to the effect of "accepted".
and off we went with our super cool "I Voted" stickers!
Hooray! 

right when we stepped into line, i woke him up to vote, thus groggy. 

line moving, L scoping out everyone around us. 

we're inside!

getting restless.

L flings himself upside down out of boredom. whatever works. 

L was by no means the only toddler in tow! 

he looks worried. he should be. we voted in Florida.
i look weird, i know. he's teething and my eyes hurt from allergies.
no matter, we're about to ROCK THE VOTE!

my good boy. 

connect the front of the arrow to the back of the arrow for president!
= weird.

our vote for  FORWARD. 

more snacks in the car for being mostly good.
so cool of the poll worker to give him his own sticker. 

so happy this is behind me. and proud L got to experience with me. 

addendum: we did it.

HOPE. FORWARD. LOVE.

and little L, you were part of that. 

<3

halloweeny crafts with a feisty toddler

I've found so far, when it comes to creating and crafting with L, that wrapped canvas on a wood frame makes for a sturdy surface for us to work with. We paint with nontoxic  tempera. 

The painting on the left entailed me letting him play with yellow, orange and red paint for a bit, then I converted his creation into an autumn tree with black paint. 

The second painting was created by stamping L's feet in orange paint, then quickly stamping his gooey orange foot on the canvas, repeat on the otherside, voila! I painted the words and jack 'o lantern a bit later. 

I like to finish these precious canvas projects with an imperfect painted border to kind of frame them. I found cool halloweeny plaid ribbon to create hangers on each. The german staple gunned the ribbon to the back of each canvas. 

I jokingly asked if Liam might want to hang them in his college dorm someday... A girl can dream. Ha!

Happy Halloweeny Crafting!

I. AM. EXHAUSTED. (Liam is Happy.)

I. AM. EXHAUSTED. And it's fair to say, getting over the worst cough/cold I ever had. I am often sad, because life is not easy and I miss my mom terribly. I continue to struggle with getting L to nap. I also feel like I can't win when it comes to finding foods he'll eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner that will give him a truly balanced and healthy diet (= no end in sight for breastfeeding). 

All this said, the below photos reflect how life looks through Liam's beautiful blue eyes and that is absolutely all that matters. Providing, a happy, safe and nurturing life for him.  Liam is a happy child. He gets everything he needs. He knows not of my struggles and he needn't. 

I am his mommy and my job is to create for him the very best life that I can. 

I feel like we all need to remember this from time to time, try not to be too hard on ourselves and not let ANYone undermine how hard we work to create this fulfilling life for our children.

After all, do you recall your parents' hardships? Most likely no. You probably look back upon your childhood with a warm, nostalgic "life was so simple then" smile. 

Remind yourself of this whenever you feel the slightest bit like you suck. 

Hope this finds you well...

Stay strong, mommies.

Your babies love you!

That little blip on the slide with arms spread is L.

We played in a pumpkin patch.

We color together.

We met pooh and tigger

We sang Wheels on the Bus & played it too!

Sharing his shaker eggs with me at the library.