Our new home....

     Well as I mentioned in the last post we have moved, from Florida to New York. This has been 12 years in the making. I moved to Florida 12 years ago to be with my then boyfriend, who has now become my husband. I never intended to be in Floridia so long. I have always been a country girl at heart and missed living in upstate New York.
     After my son was born I yearned to move back even more. I missed my family, life in the country, the smell of cows in my backyard, the quiet, the seasons. I feel in my heart that it is better for my son living here, close to the family, being able to run and play in the backyard, getting dirty playing in the mud, and enjoying all the things I did as a kid too.  I am so happy to be back.
     Some days I feel like I am living in a dream, a dream I have had for sooooo long. I hope that in the next year or two we will find our dream house and I can continue towards my dreams of a more self sustained living. I hope to keep chickens and bees eventually and grow my own vegetables and we live in a great place to do all those things.
   We are living in Ithaca, one of the most green, eco-friendly  cities in the country. I absolutely love living here. There is so much to do and so many unique people. I love calling this place HOME!

                                     

 

 

18 months.

     A certain little guy turned 18 months over the weekend. It is almost hard to believe. You definately have a little toddler on our hands. Everyday he shocks and impressives me with everything he is learning. I dont know if it's just me, but he is one bright young man. He doesn't talk much yet, but he sure can understand everything I ask him to do.

     We spent the last week at my parents house. I haven't been writing for awhile and a lot has changed in the past few months. We have moved to Upstate New York, in the country, finally! My dream, well part of my dream has come true. My husband got a job transfer with the company he works for, in the town where we have been wanting to live for the past 4 years.  We are now only living 2.5 hrs from my family, which was one of my main reasons for moving. I really want Darwin to know his family. He enjoyed so much spending time with his Aunt and Grandparents last week and we didn't have to cry when we left because we are only a car ride away.

    We celebrated a special Grandmother's Birthday last week and it was the first time I had been with my mom on her Birthday for 12 years. Crazy! We also went to a very nice family picnic. It was great getting to see Aunts and Uncles and Cousins that I hadn't seen for a long time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Darwin spent most of last week playing in the dirt and mud, collecting rocks and riding his little truck. He also went to see the farm animals and play at the park. He had a very busy, fun week with his family.

    Now we are back home at our barn apartment on the hill. It is so beautfiul here. I will share pictures on another day.


Darwin, You are 18 months old now. You are growing up so fast. You are becoming so skilled at many new things. I love you so much more and more everyday. I love that you are an independent, free spirit and I hope that never changes. Here is a list of what you do now. Love you, Mommy.

18 Months..................
you can climb up and down the stairs/ you can walk up the slide/ you can go down the slide by yourself/ you have 16 teeth/ you have the most amazing smile and you light up a room with it/your very silly/ you like when mommy chases you around the room/you collect rocks/ you like playing in the dirt/ you love your aunt and uncle very much/ you love spending time with grandma and grandpa/ you like to climb on your Aunt and ride on her back/ you know how to turn the lights on and off/ you love your daddy soooo much/ you are still a terrible sleeper/ and not such a good eater (oh well)/ you love the park/you are so skinny none of your clothes will stay on/ your hair is still light/ you like to throw balls/ you laugh when you pet the horses nose/ you say bubbly, more , mama / you still love the water/ you take showers/ you like to sing twinkle, twinkle little star/ you run fast/ you laugh all the time/ you are very ticklish/ you still love cats/ you are very friendly/ you are very determined and can very strong-willed/ you are not easily redirected/ you make mommy laugh everyday/ you like to dump and pour/ you like helping me cook/ you still love your baby and blankie/ you are so sweet.

 

We love you so much Darwin Storm. Keep shining bright my star. Remember to follow your dreams and never let anyone change your mind.

Rainy afternoon activity.

My it has been a long time since I last posted. The time flies by and we have been super busy the last few months.  Well we are getting into rainy season here in Florida, as well as very hot and humid weather. So the little one and I will be finding lots of activities that we can do inside. Here is one of them. Mixing, stirring and sorting beans. This is a very calming sensorial activity for little ones. Toddlers that put things in their mouths have to be thouroughly supervised, ie my little man. I sat with him as he did this activity. It kept him calm for about 20 mins this is a record for my normally rambunctious 14 month old. All that you need are different types of beans, our them into a big bowl and get some mixing and pouring utensils and let the fun begin. Older children my like to actually sort beans into muffin tins. This is a great Montessori activity.

1 year old yesterday.

You finally made it. You are at the one year mark. It's so hard for me to believe that a year can fly by so fast. I am sure for you it seemed like it took forever, but for me I closed my eyes and when I woke up you were one. What an awesome first year we had together. I am so lucky that I get to stay home with you and spend some quality time with you. You had so many adventures this year from going to NY on the airplane, learning to crawl and walk, meeting all of your family, eating food, and many more.
Your mommy is so proud of you and so proud of herself. I breastfeed you for 8.5 months. I would have like to have gone longer, but  you were just kinda over it. You have been wearing cloth diapers since you were 8 weeks old, despite everyone telling me I would give up. We have stuck with minimal toys and have almost avoided all plastic toys. I have worn you close to me until you wanted to go out on your own and you slept in our room until we felt you were ready to go off on your own (eventhough I secretly miss having you close to me). You are loving, energetic, funny, independent, rambuncious, sometimes a little leary of things, but over all you have been an amazing baby. I am now looking foward to seeing you blossom even more in the next year. Cant wait till you can say love you mama.

you are strong-willed/ you are determined/ you learned how to walk/you love to take morning walks with your mommy/you still think daddy is the funniest thing/ you love hanging out with your uncle jo jo/ you like seeing grandm, grandpa and aunt kasey on skype/ your great-grandpa came to visit and you had a lot of fun with him/ you like the riding toy your grandpa made you for your birthday/ you have a lot of energy/ somedays you want to be held a lot/ you like to try to feed yourself with the spoon/ you are still a picky eater/ you can make a monkey and lion sound/you still only say mama/ you dont like to take bath/ you dont like to sit in your high chair/ you dont really like to sit still at all.

First time around the sun

My little one celebrated his first trip around the sun yesterday. We had a very quiet first Birthday with our favorite little man. I made him french toast for breakfast and we took him on a nice long walk .In the afternoon we spent a few hours at the library with my brother and some friends. D had a fun time playing and trying to run around the library. At the end of the day we openned some gifts and had a little bit of cake. D wasn't too interested in the cake. He took maybe 2 bites and that was the end of that. He did enjoy the present my Dad made for him. It was a riding toy that he made from scratch. D pushed it around the house and rode on it a few times. It was a very nice , calm day spent together as a family. We are going to celebrate again later this month with his Grandma and some of our friends. Here are some pictures for the day. I will share the homemades here tomorrow. I have been very busy trying to keep up with orders for my etsy shop. Time is very limited lately.

Its not a first Birthday until the Birthday boy cries. He fell and bumped his head at the library.

All better now!

Uncle Jo Jo and D playing with the train table at library

Climbing on Daddy

Family Pic

Mommy finally making an appearance in the picture. Oh I need to get my hair done.

Giveaway

A photography friend of mine is holding a great giveaway over at her facebook page.http://www.facebook.com/Mamatography

Featured in her giveaway is one of my baby bear hats.

You can also visit her website for more information about mamatography courses, online photo e-courses and much more

http://www.mamatographylessons.blogspot.com/

Prize package includes 

 A 1 hour Camera Basics Webinar

A Handmade Baby Photo Prop by Willows Garden

A Local Group Photo Workshop with Vicky Scesa in S FL

PLUS 2 Photo Basics & Beyond ebooks

 

just like her page on facebook for a chance to be entered into the drawing, which ends March 1st.

Post love day

Here are some photos from the day yesterday. Little man and I spent a nice morning together. For breakfast I made heart shaped pancakes with raspberry jam and strawberries on the side (which someone didnt want to eat, because he is a picky eater), then we did a few errands together and finally met Daddy at the park for lunch. Little man had such a fun time seeing all the ducks and birds.

(not so sure whether he likes strawberries or not)

(our friend snow white at the pond)

(Valentine's gift from mommy. Shape puzzle from manzanita toys on etsy)

(Tattoo mom shirt I made for little man)

(Trying to play Daddy's guitar)

The afternoon was a little rough though. A certain little person would not take a second nap and was easily frustrated. When he gets frustrated he tends to bite a lot. We are working on this problem, but it has not been easy. I am trying to remain calm and use positive guidance, but it does test my patience. I know he is biting because of his lack of communication. He is almost a year old and at this stage in development there are a lot of new things going on, learning to stand, walk, talk. I just need to remember all this and to try to be calm with him. I will just have to keep showing him that it hurts me when he bites and hope that he will outgrow it.

I spent the evening with my hubby. We had a nice dinner together and then watched a movie. Just a nice, quiet lowkey Valentine's Day.