Around Here

Right now I am:

Loving fall break and the extra time to spend with Aiden.

Wanting to get back to blogging and crafting.

Thinking about the future and where my life is headed.

Investigating lots of learning opportunities lately. I seem to be craving knowledge, growth and learning right now.

Eating nothing exciting. I'm bored with food and meals lately and haven't been doing a lot of real cooking.

Watching Aiden grow and change so quickly. Loving the adventure that is motherhood. Wanting desperately to savor and remember every little detail.

Wishing for cooler weather and all that it brings with it. I can't wait to wear boots and tights and sweaters.

Needing to make some major life decisions and struggling with the how's and the whys and the what ifs.

Anticipating the pumpkin wonderland that is October. My favorite month with pumpkins and Halloween and cooler weather and pumpkin treats and fall and did I mention pumpkin?

Anticipating 

Thursday Thankful

Because I need something positive to focus on, Thursday thankfuls return. Today I am thankful for a summer full of this adorable boy:

Summertime Summertime

Once again I have fallen of the blogging wagon. Like many things I used to spend my time doing (scrapbooking, knitting, tv watching...), blogging hasn't been high on my priority list recently; but, I've been thinking about blogging, does that count? It is officially summer for me (has been for about 3 weeks now), so I'm hoping I can start a regular blogging routine again.

Life's a bit unusual right now though and blogging often falls to the bottom of my list, so we'll see.... I've got plenty of things to blog about, since I haven't updated in months. Stay tuned for a recap of Aiden's 9-11 months, pictures and stories from a trip to OR, pictures of a fun baby shower, a kitchen remodel, the return of Tuesday 10 and Thursday thankfuls and hopefully some project life updates. In the mean time, I've been meaning to jump on the summer list/summer manifesto bandwagon. I don't want a to do list that will stress me out (I've already got that one on perpetual update in my head), so I've decided to do a list of things I'm looking forward to this summer. For documentations sake, I've decided to include things I've already enjoyed this summer. I've been on summer break for awhile now and already enjoyed some great things. So, without further ado, the summer list:

spending time with Aiden
travels to OR
beach/ocean/coast
hanging with Jessie, Nicole and families
co-hosting a baby shower
welcoming new babies (one, Miss Vivi, has already arrived)
summer fruit
homemade popsicles
toes and fingers painted in fun colors
gin and tonics
lots of Aiden snuggles
homemade popsicles
swimming
homemade ice cream
Aiden's first birthday
planning a first birthday party
project life catch up
reading a book (or two) for fun
tackling my to read magazine pile
blog surfing
kitchen remodel
new floors
organizing, purging, updating
enjoying time with friends and family

Tuesday ten

Been awhile...10 from today:

1. I suck as a blogger.
2. Getting over a yucky stomach bug so today's menu has consisted of yogurt, toast and crackers.
3. Picked a good day to be sick and missed all the crazy no power/electrical fire fun at school yesterday. Unfortunately, I got the repercussions of yesterdays crazy, off schedule day today. Ugh.
4. Booked my flight to Oregon to visit some of my favorite people this summer. Thanks to a fabulous gift from my parents, I paid a whole $16 for my flight!
5. Feeling creative lately, but feeling like my small amount of free time should be used on more productive things, like dealing with my disaster of a house.
6. Wishing the weather would stay in the 80s (or 70s) for awhile. My weather app says 100 for Saturday. I'm not ready for that.
7. There are 27 teaching days left this school year...not that I'm counting.
8. My poor baby is working on 3 new teeth at the same time. Thank goodness he's such a good natured baby.
9. Today is tax day and once again we've filed an extension. Not my preference, but we are once again waiting on necessary paperwork. This is the first year I won't file as a business owner in a long time. Definitely less stressful.
10. I suck at taking pictures lately, which makes things hard for project life. I'm so behind anyway, I may gloss over the month of April with a monthly spread. I manage 2 photos today.

Happy Tuesday!

Please watch this video and consider donating. Sophia is a former music therapy client of mine and such a sweet little girl.

Sophia's Story from Point in Time Studios on Vimeo.

You can get more information by visiting Second Chance for Sophia and by visiting their facebook page.

My cousin Shannon also has Rett Syndrome. She is wheel chair bound and non verbal. She has very limited motor skills and needs help with most tasks. She is incredibly sweet and has the best sense of humor. I also did music therapy with her for a period of time. Here's a picture of Miss Shannon taken a couple years ago. She is much bigger now and so beautiful.



There is really exciting research happening with Retts Syndrome. Donating to this cause has the potential to make real changes both for girls with Retts and for other disorders. There is a link on the Second Chance website for donations. Please consider. Sophia and Shannon thank you.

Easter

On Easter morning I gave Aiden his first Easter basket. It was filled with books, bath toys and sand toys. Since the Easter bunny left him no candy, he decided to eat the books and the basket.


Much like his love of hair, he was fascinated by the Easter grass. Mommy quickly put this away before a major mess ensued.


After getting dressed in our Easter best, I decided we needed a quick photo shoot. Plus we needed a practice run for keeping the hat on the head.



We headed to Easter brunch with my family at my Uncle Joe's house. I'm not great at taking pictures during an event, but I did manage a few photos of Aiden with Daddy:


and Auntie Kellie:


After brunch, we headed to my parents for the rest of the afternoon/evening. Aiden loves being outside at my parents playing with Addie, putting his feet in the pool, rocking in the glider and picking Granny Dindy's flowers.






These last two photos totally made my Easter. Hope your Easter was happy!

8 Months

At 8 months Aiden:

• is hilarious
• is clapping his hands
• is saying hi, especially to strangers in stores
  
• is signing eat
• says "Aaaa" to all dogs (my parents dog is Addie, hence the "Aaa")
• is waving bye (sometimes)
• is blowing
• likes to babble and screech
  

• weighs 17.5 pounds
• is a good eater and now the only thing he's tried and doesn't like is homemade brown rice cereal
• is drinking milk from a sippy cup instead of a bottle when mom is at work
• would prefer to drink water from a regular glass
• is drinking from a straw
• still gets up to eat at night
  

• is pulling up on things
• wants to walk (holding hands)
• is rocking and scooting
• is not yet crawling because he can't seem to coordinate getting on his knees and gets frustrated and rolls instead
• runs in circles around his activity table (in a little walker chair)
• plays tug of war and rock with Addie
  

• a wild child
• likes to play rough
• loves to be outside
• likes to swing and go on the little motorcycle thing at the park
• thinks the ABC song is funny
• loves to be tickled
• likes cars and blocks
  

• enjoys being out at stores, restaurants, farmers markets, etc.
• is such a good baby and so much fun