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! 

October Week 1

I started October, my month of focusing on Liam, with a trip to the zoo. We go pretty often, but hadn't been in a while. The weather cooled down just enough that it was tolerable in the early morning. 

so cute in Momma's hat

Liam is starting to get to the age where he has strong opinions. These opinions are not always convenient for me, but I try to let him have his way when it's not a big deal. He insisted on pushing the stroller without any assistance from me. "I do it! Let go!"

A litter of capybaras was born since our last visit to the zoo. They are pretty cute.

Me and Liam's favorite part of the zoo is the kids' discovery area. Liam likes to dig in the sandbox, play with the toys and see all of the little critters in their cages. I like that it is inside in the air conditioning.

It's nice to finish our visits to the zoo with some time at the splash pad. Liam is tall enough that he can wander the whole area, with my close supervision of course. I'm the mom sitting on the rock in the middle of the splash park with my pants rolled up and my feet in the water. There weren't a lot of kids out, so Liam had the boat to himself.

clean, dry & ready to go home

 Our play group has started weekly trips to playgrounds for the "fall." It's is still way too hot to be outside for very long, especially since my kid wants to be pushed in the swing in the full sun instead of playing independently while I sit under the shade. He actually did do very well this week. We hadn't been to this park in a while, so I was surprised at all the new things he could do.

As part of my goal to get Liam's room organized, Dan and I put up bookshelves in an odd corner in Liam's room. I still need to caulk them and touch up the paint, but they are functional for now.

On Friday, I had the opportunity to go to a painting class. My sister came over and stayed with Liam while I was gone. When Dan and I went to this class a few months ago, it took me weeks to finish my first painting. I was shocked that I did my second painting all in one class and I love the way it turned out!

When I got home, me and my sister made a cape for her Halloween costume. She said I could post these pictures as long as I didn't say her name or put them on facebook.

In other news, Liam is doing pretty well transitioning to his big boy bed. There are still nights when it's an hour and a half past his bedtime and he's still getting up that I put him in the crib and call it a night. Last night was kind of rough. He got up several times during the night. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I stayed up late watching football. Eventually, I let him sleep in the bed with me.

I do love that I wake up to him and his frog over the side of my bed and we have a big cuddle-fest every morning. I know these days are limited, so I'm trying to enjoy these precious moments.

I love this so much. 

"Happier at Home"

I just finished Gretchen Rubin's Happier at Home and I loved it. I had heard of her blog and first book The Happiness Project but had never checked them out. I wish I had a long time ago!

I think that we have quite a bit in common and that I could benefit from replicating some of her ideas. I, too, am an "underbuyer" whose life would be happier and a lot easier if I would just buy the things that I want instead of pinching pennies all of the time.

I'm going to get started on my own mini-version of a happiness project. Her project encompassed the months while her young children were in school. I think that the next 4 months would be ideal for me since Baby Girl will be joining us in February.

October would be the perfect month to focus on Liam. He turns 2 years old exactly one month from today. His life is flying before my eyes! I feel like I am lazy with him sometimes, especially the last week or so when neither of us have been feeling very good. We sometimes do the same activities for days without doing anything new or even leaving the house. I think we would both be happier if we did something new or especially fun or went somewhere every day. So here are my resolutions for the month of October to make myself happier with regard to Liam:

• Do something new or especially fun or go somewhere every day
• Get Liam's room in order 
• Sort through his baby clothes
• Do a birthday photo shoot 

Hopefully the shoot will go better than last year: