The Gifts

Home made gifts are ruling my small kitchen table right now. I couldn't be happier. I am so in love with making him things that are going to last forever.

The couch we made him has been an INCREDIBLE success. With the help of his "Pop-tart" and "Gram-Crackers" power tools we were able to cut out the pieces from a piece of scrap wood in the basement! From there we took advantage of a super sale at Jo Ann Fabric and bought the foam, fabric and batting. 

After the assembly of the pieces I recruited my sister to give me a hand with the upholstery. It was my first time, and I don't know about you guys but I like to have a guiding hand when doing things for the first time.

I was so eager to get this thing done that we put the entire thing together in one day. I mean stayed up until 2 AM to get it finished, and after all that I HATED it. There was bunching in the fabric and it was just gross looking. 

So  I woke up in the morning and took every single last staple out to try it again. This time we made a slipcover for the whole thing that we just stapled to the bottom and its FABULOUS! This birthday is coming together. 

 I've also made him this super cool universe tie. And on the agenda is an apron and chef's hat. Those are still in pieces on my table, begging to be sewn together. In time little pieces of fabric....in time.

For good measure he's also started helping me make dinner and clean up dishes after dinner. He loves it!

And lastly- I can't stop listening to this song. So if you haven't listened to it, you probably should!

I'm Nursing The Next Star of Cirque Du Solei

I’ll spare you the pictures of my “tee-tah’s” for now. But you must know the beating they are taking with my extended nursing plan.  Harvey is just a few days away from being a year old.  *moment to process the fact that an ENTIRE year has come and gone* Along with the one year of life under his belt he has also developed a few other fun things, like 10 teeth and dexterity!  My normal 30 minute bonding sessions have turned into wild acrobatic adventures.

He has learned to maneuver himself into all sorts of fun pretzel like situations. My personal favorite is the alligator death roll, while still nursing the entire time! A new one developed just yesterday is balancing his head on one arm of the chair and his feet on the other making a perfect little Harvey triangle- again, all while still nursing.

Another fun one (we co-sleep) is demanding to have both breasts present while eating. I don’t know about where you live and how well your home is  heated but our is old and drafty and hovering around the 60 degree mark inside. My nipples were not meant to withstand that sort of cold! So while I’m trying to wrap my free milk machine in the t shirt he is wiggling his icy hands under it to get in there.

I am more and more impressed with his crafty ways.

Bring it on year two!

The First Birthday

I've never been one of those people that requires a huge over the top party for much of anything. And when it comes to my little man, that hasn't changed. I want him to have values that are based around the love and excitement of celebrating with friends and family that doesn't involve having to spend 500 dollars or be at some extravagant place. 

I remember being little and always excited about my birthday because my mom would make my cake. She had this great chocolate cake, frosting, and crushed oreos all over it. It was simple and that's the way I like it.  I can't make that same cake for Harvey because of our food restrictions- but I can still make him a cake! 

I have gotten a lot of questions about where this party is going to be, what is the theme, how many people are coming? Enough to make my head spin! He doesn't even have friends yet. Who is this party for?? He's going to want to eat cake and then have nothing to do with us! 

So my plan is to keep it simple and small. Family. My house. A cake I make, and gifts I've made. Since he has become enamored with stirring things and putting things into pots my mom and I are making him a kitchen! I'm sure I'm more excited about this than most moms should be- but come on! Kitchen sets are so cool! A fridge, an oven, a range!!! AND  he can grow into it! My little chef in the making!

The second gift will be from Jason and myself and we are making him a couch! We went and had a few pictures of the family done and there was a little couch there as a prop- you'd think Harvey won the lottery. He could climb on it, bounce on it and not have to share with mom and dad! I've got high hopes for this project as well. As soon as we can get them assembled I'll post some pictures. Until then you'll just have to enjoy our little faces. :)

We've learned to "kiss"

Happy New Year

All right! We have successfully made it through our first year as parents. How did we do it? I really can't say other than I'm so very thankful for gut feelings and mommy instincts. 2012 was a year full of rewards. We gained a beautiful baby boy! We lost an entire income and became more aware of what was important to us. We read almost 30 books between the two of us and lost nearly 100 lbs. All in all I think we rocked out 2012.

Now for 2013. Our goals for this year aren't extravagant.
1- Become a self sustaining household.
2- Find a job for Jason that can satisfy his desires rather than just our bills
3- Add another sweet face to our family
4- Find a place that we can really start to call home.

I think those all satisfy a greater part of our lives. Sure we can all always stand to lose a few pounds, tighten up here and there but I want to start looking at the bigger picture and what impact each decision I make has on it.

We are happy first and foremost. I'm satisfied and then some with how our lives are going at this moment. We continue to make strides towards our dreams and most importantly we continue dreaming.

A farm? Yes.
A big family? Yes.
A home to house us all? Yes.
Convince friends to go with us so we can have a small community of like minded people? It's in the works.

I'm keeping in mind that every day is a new day full of opportunity and choices, I'm trusting myself to make the choices that will bring us closer and closer to our end goal.

You never have to wait for a new year to "start things off right". There is always the next moment that you can decide whether or not things are going how you want them to and make the choice to blow that out of the water.

Here's to all of your resolutions and may you all stick to them and realize whatever goal you have set!

What are you looking for in 2013?