Well... The Holidays are Here

This month has crept up and gone flying by. I have done a lot and not a damn thing I've said I'd do. I promised a Citrus Lane review that never came and I'm sorry. As it turns out, I've just decided not to make any promises because the reality is that my life can't be planned right now. Let's call it a 2014 goal. Being more realistic, less structured. Less planned, plotted and with fewer lists. Except that list. Looks like I'm gonna need to work on that last one. Lists are a strong passion of mine. The baby is going to be 6 months old on January 1st, 2014 and she has us on our toes on the daily. She is brightening our days with her smiles and laughter, she is leaving us astonished at hoe well she learns and catches on to things. We're teaching some basic baby sign language to ease her into a frustration-free way to communicate before actual words happen. So far, we've introduced "eat" and "more" in the past week. She seems to really be starting to understand the sign for "eat" (we also use the words, "eat" and "hungry" in association while signing as well as doing the sign to her face for extra umph). OH, and we've also very casually introduced "mommy" and "daddy" signs but don't have much of a reason to use them as she never has to ask for one of us. We're pretty much always here... that will likely be useful closer to 1 year and I'm aiming to have her asking verbally by name around that time, if not sooner. We found a new rental and are moving on January 1st. After much discussion, weighing the pros and cons and then going with our guts, we decided that since our lease is ending we would rather move than stay. The search began and quickly ended as we found a new place in an old neighborhood of ours. The new digs is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home in a little village (that's what they call the area... a village) we love so much. We are currently living in a small desert town just under 5 miles from the new house but it's a bit more busy, farther from the farmer's market and small restaurant we love. The new place has a larger yard that our sweet pup is sure to love. It has totally re-done, new bathrooms, new kitchen counters and back splash and no sliding glass door. Although some sliders are nice, we're glad to be rid of that for now. Joe and I (and let's be honest... Nyla) will have a bedroom, Nyla will have her bedroom (that we'll use for naps and day-use things like diaper changes, etc for now), Maya will have HER own room (all of this is the same as now) PLUS we'll have a spare room which we plan to use as an office/gym. Strange combo, right? Oh I think I'll blog... then hit the treadmill. But seriously, it'll be nice to have a designated room for those purposes. ALSO, the dog crate (aka bed) will be in that room so yeah, the dog gets HIS own room too. Although moving right after the holidays SUCKS, we are happy to leave here and move on to bigger and better things. Our current house is nice and has potential but some things can't be overlooked. Bad/no insulation, old windows that let the hot air out/cold air in, in the Winter and the cold air out/hot air in, in the Summer, HORRIBLE, old, sorta broken sliding glass door, light carpet that I love to look at and hate to clean/vacuum. The new place is ALL TILE (yes, even the bedrooms... this is GOOD for Summer, and we have rugs and slippers for Winter). The floor plan is more open as the dining area is in the kitchen and there are no walls dividing the kitchen and living room areas. Also, there are two doors going to the back yard, one in the hallway and one off the kitchen. In other news, everyone here is excited for Christmas Eve and even with the hectic nature of our current situation, we've decided it would be awesome to host dinner at our house because a) I love to, b) it's Nyla's first Christmas and we'd like to have it at home and c) it makes more sense to NOT leave the house ALL DAY and be inconvenienced trying to have a place to feed and nap the baby for so many hours. I'd much rather clean, cook and clean again while packing for a move than have the baby be out of her element for a whole day. Life is better with some sense of calm and ease. I have decided that it's time to start trying to work again but it won't work to do so outside the home. In case things don't work out and it becomes too much "work" to have a job and be a full-time mom, I've decided to try a work-at-home-mom type job and I've joined forces with Kitsy Lane. I've opened a boutique featuring jewelry and accessories, call Miss Bear Boutique. You can check it out if you want... you don't have to but the stuff is adorable. Women's, some men's and even kid's selections! I've already found a tiny bracelet for Nyla--the boutique's namesake, kind of. We call her Miss Bear, Baby Bear, Nyla Bear. She's always been our teeny tiny bear. Isn't this so cute!? It even has a double safety lock clasp so it's not able to be removed by baby.

I've also added a new Kitsy Lane board on Pinterest. You can check that out right here!