Christmas Prep

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our home. I got the tree put up and decorated this week in the hopes that I could take Liam's picture in front of it for our Christmas cards. It's so nice to have it up and my home smells wonderful.

Unfortunately I have reached my Google picture limit so I can't upload all of the pictures that I would like to share. Here are the important ones though.





(These are tiny and low resolution. I'll send better copies to the you, Mamaw and Nana.)

2nd Birthday Party

We had a lot of fun at Liam's 2nd birthday party. We didn't invite many people because last year was too crazy. It turned out to just be some of our family plus our neighbor who we invited to come over at the last minute.

I did a transportation theme. The signs and airplanes are still hanging in my house. Liam loves them.

Liam attempted to blow out his candle, but couldn't quite do it on his own. He was very excited for cake, though I think he just had a few bites of frosting.

Liam understood presents this year. He knew there were good things wrapped in paper and inside of bags. My mom bought Liam a bunch of musical instruments. They are a big hit at our house.

Nana and Pop Pop bought Liam a big racetrack and cars. Liam is particularly attached to "Liam's little red car" as he calls it. The yellow one isn't quite the same you know.

 
Aunt Lacey was about to join us via Skype. That was really nice. I think we talk about Aunt Lacey and Uncle Dan enough and he has seen them with enough frequency that he will remember them when they come for Christmas. He will probably remember their dog, Dio, too.

Liam and Aunt Mo are buddies. He asked for her all the time!

October Round Up/ November Goals

I'll get to our Halloween pictures soon, but it's the first of the month and I really don't want to neglect my Happiness Project for even a day. October was pretty successful. I took Liam somewhere or did something new or especially fun with him almost everyday. I still have to caulk and paint his bookshelves, but his room is mostly in order. I'll post a picture soon of the awesome reading pillow I made for him. I didn't end up buying a dresser, but I cleaned all of the baby things out of his closet, so  his closet is mostly in order. I didn't get around to the top shelf though. I need to do that still. I sorted through his baby clothes and got a little money for some of them at a consignment shop. Dan thinks one of his coworkers may want the rest. His 2 year old photo shoot took about 15 minutes in our backyard on an overcast day, but I loved the results.

I think the fall weather has helped me to slow down and appreciate my time with Liam a little bit more. He loves to be outside so I tried to spend more time outdoors with him. We spent about half an hour a few days ago watching a caterpillar climb my tangerine tree. Liam loved it and asks to see the caterpillar almost every time we go out the front door now.

One thing that I realized during the last month is all of the little things that I don't know how to document yet am afraid I will forget. How am I going to remember the way that Liam drums his little fingers on my arm when we read books? Or the way he bobs his head and bounces his feet in the car along to the music? His hilarious use of the word "sometimes?" Two nights ago, he was up in the middle of the night and wanted desperately to sleep in the bed with me since Dan was in the other room. Liam usually comes to my side of the bed, talking the whole way up about "want to sleep in Momma's big boy bed." By 5 am, he realized this wasn't working, so he crept into my room very quietly, went over to the other side of the bed and tried to sneak up so that I wouldn't notice him. It was so funny and so cute, even at 5 am. Before I know it, he isn't going to want to give me kisses anymore or "hold you" or sing with me and I will miss these days.

Part of the Happiness Project is to build upon your resolutions, not just keep them for one month and forget about them. As October ends and November begins, I still need to do fun things with Liam everyday and keep his belonging in order, but it's time to start on other things as well. I thought that November would be a good time to focus on our Home. The challenge with that is that I need Dan's muscle and input and we have exactly zero empty weekends on our calendar for November. Mind you, I have no problem operating power tools or painting an entire room by myself, but the biggest thing we need to do around here is get the spare bedroom/craft room/junk room cleaned out for Baby Girl. That means I am going to have to clean out and reorganize Dan's office to make room for my stuff and I can't do that without him.

Here's what I can do:

• Leave no dirty dishes on the counter overnight 
• Leave no clothes on top of the dresser overnight
• Steam clean the carpets in at least the common areas 
• Buy flowers and light candles
• Sew the curtains for Baby Girl's room 
• Take a Christmas card photo 
• Always give big, happy greetings 

I took that last one directly from Gretchen Rubin's book. Her daughter came up with the rule that the family always had to give affectionate, attentive greetings and farewells. Dan usually leaves before I wake up, so we'll just stick with greetings. It should be a simple way to welcome each other and make our house feel more like a home. Wish me luck!