Sunshine Bliss

His whines were from boredom and I was happy he reminded me we needed some sunshine.

Cutting the crap

To do lists are never ending and mine is always excessive. We have a high maintenance lifestyle with our business and household (the 3 dogs and 2 cats definitely have something to do with it) and the projects and daily life tasks are never ending. Now that I'm home for the time being, I am able to really start crossing off this big ol' to do list. In looking at it daily, I have begun to realize how much of it is crap. Crap that I really don't need to do, don't need to have or shouldn't have gotten so out of hand in the first place (over stuffed linen closet, I'm talking to you!). Excessiveness. Clutter. Too many appointments and too little time or desire to keep them. Kindness is the reason I have kept them, but does it REALLY matter? I have decided it does not. I would rather spend my time visiting a baby on his first day of life (Welcome, Griffin!) or sending well wishes to friends leaving for Ethiopia to bring home their son (so excited for the Lovins!). I am encouraged by these moments to make life more simplistic where I can.

So, this Friday morning I am cutting the crap out of our lives. One by one, I am canceling this subscription, that service, this appointment, that membership and so on. And it feels GLORIOUS! Just glorious!

Balance

It seems like it's getting harder and harder to keep up the blog. G has me so busy because he's so mobile now. But, here is what we've been up to...Fall is here. The house is cold. The porch is bare. The plants are inside. I'm bundled up in sweaters and scarves already. It's actually colder in our house than outside.

He got his first major boo boo. I cried longer than he did. Probably because I felt so bad and couldn't catch him in time as his head hit the floor. He is pulling himself up on everything and sometimes just looses his balance.

I swear he's grown an inch in 2 weeks. His clothes are getting smaller and he's looking more like a toddler by the minute. We're struggling with some sort of reflux issue he has as he stills throws up a lot after eating and we've been seeing a chiropractor for him, but at this point I think we're going to add in some medication for him as well.

We have found a babysitter! This was a big one for us. It's so hard to like someone enough to leave your child with them. Anyways, we are thrilled with our choice and this makes me feel so secure that he is in good hands for a night out. We started our date nights last week and I couldn't remember the last time we went to a movie.

He's been around more people lately and I can see the small changes in his comfort level adjusting to new people. He likes to go out and about and see the world. I often wonder where that adventurous side will take him in life. He'll be 11 months in a few days. It is just flying by so quickly. Daily I thank the stars for being able to be home with him right now. I get lost in thought a lot about when that will change and if I will be ready for it to change when it does. And, do I WANT it to change? I never thought I would stay at home. I guess I never gave it much thought. I was supposed to go back to work in August and then August came and went and I wasn't ready. I wasn't done getting to know him and catching up on the lost time of not knowing him. What I cared about before doesn't have that priority in my life anymore. Our days at home are smoother and slower with me being here. I get to know Josh again because we don't sit around and talk about work 90% of the time. I don't really get bored. I am always finding something to keep me busy. I think about balance a lot these days. Maintaining myself and my role as a mother is a new challenge that I stumble over each day, not quite knowing where I land. However, the newness perhaps of it all is starting to dissipate as I get better at it each day. Being the organized gal that I am, we have set up mornings where we trade off on who gets him up, dressed and fed that morning. When I have the morning "off", I am able to sit down for a moment and drink my coffee and just BE. I really missed that these last few months. Morning is my favorite time of the day. When my morning moment is over, I anxiously run back downstairs and lay kisses over G's fat little cheeks. I hear his giggle and see his smile and then graciously accept what motherhood has brought to me and remember that balance is always going to be a daily struggle and to just live the moments more.

Story Telling

G expressed a slight interest in books the other day...

So, we experienced our first story time at the public library. Big thanks to Joanna for the suggestion!

Luckily it's only 30 minutes for this age group, which is perfect because at precisely the 22 minute mark the melt downs began spreading around the room. I so enjoyed today with Gadisa. Granted, he only napped for 40 minutes total today when he usually naps for 3 hours. I have no idea how he kept going all day, but we had a great time together today. Being out and about, getting cooed over by college girls, staying out much later than normal then getting slap happy because he was so delirious from exhaustion. And the laundry that I do on Wednesdays each week...sits next to the washer unfinished. I wouldn't have it any other way!

I wrote his name on his name tag at story time and it got me thinking about his name. Having a birth name and a name we have given him is really confusing. He's always been Gadisa to us since he was referred, but I absolutely love the name Oliver. It's such a strong, classic, beautiful name and I want to use it more. Do I introduce him as Gadisa or as Oliver? I have done both and then have to go into the whole "Well, his full name is Oliver Gadisa Lyric...Gadisa is his Ethiopian name"...and that whole deal. I feared this would happen with naming him. I suppose it will just be one of those things we get used to, but will always confuse everyone else. Still, I think I will use Oliver more so he becomes accustomed to both. Sorry, G...that's what happens when you have an indecisive mama. Poor kid!

Lucky

Behind our house lies a field that we've adopted as our own.

A little bit of country nestled in the middle of town.

Evening walks.

Silly, happy dogs.

Sunsets over the trees.

Quietness hidden from most.

Coyotes howl and sometimes their young ones cry into the night.

Late summer sunflowers.

Fall morning dew.

A little bit of serenity in only a few steps.

Photos

I've got new photos to post. G is getting hard to take photos of because he's so squirmy and all over the place. He's crawling and getting very fast. Even more exciting, he's dancing! He busts a move all the time. He has quite the little moves too I must say. He is getting a great sense of humor and we are full of giggles making faces at each other and funny noises. He especially thinks it's hilarious to laugh at mom when she jumps up to get things. I mean a full belly moving laugh. And trust me when you're 5'0 tall there is a LOT of jumping to do. :)

A crisp, cool morning of porch and coffee time. A hoodie and some socks...what more could you ask for?

I think he loves the new floors and so does his mama! And look at that hair! It's growing so fast.

One of my favorite moments with my son is when he falls asleep in the sling. He is so angelic and precious and I savor these moments forever. Sometimes I just let him sleep here for awhile before I lay him down. I wonder if I can fit him in here when he's 10?

We were making faces at each other during breakfast one morning. Look at that face! I love it.

What have we gotten ourselves into?

So, after many years of longing for beautiful wood floors our time has come to have them installed. I am so excited and can't wait to see them! However, I am not excited about this:

This is what our house looks like right now. The installers came on Tuesday and told us that because of the rain that morning that the install wouldn't be able to be done that day. Something about the wood material and the moisture in the air. They asked "The store told you there would be a possiblity of this, right?" Um...NO! So, we have this situation until Sunday. No furniture to sit on and no floor for Gadisa to play and crawl on in our main living areas. So we are spending much of our time on the front porch and adventuring out throughout town. We spent the majority of the time while the installers were pulling up the carpet looking at each other with that look of "What have we gotten ourselves into!" Oh well, I'm sure it will be worth it when the project is done. Thank god the weather has cooled off a little so we can venture out for walks. Come on Sunday...get here soon!