13 Months Old

My dearest Rowan Eleanor,

you are 13 months old and you are one brilliant baby.

You have brought us so much joy.

We love you so much

and pray that you continue to grow beautifully

and full of health.

 

You did something this past month that we weren't ready for.

My girl,

you took your first steps.

(September 10, 2015 - same day as grandpa's birthday!)

Since then you have taken more steps and are getting better at walking.

You are doing an amazing job my love.

 

Another thing you love to do,

is find body parts that we tell you to point at.

You can do a few like your head and ears,

and we commend you for trying to always point at other parts of your body.

You get the general area correct but have trouble pointing or finding places like your nose and bellybutton.

 

You love being silly.

Always laughing,

always curious,

always touching,

and always smiling.

 

You have learned how to smile for the camera.

I say "Smile!"

and you throw your head back, close your eyes, and give me the biggest smile ever.

You're silly baby girl.

 

We're still watching your baby show and you love it.

We listen to music on the record player and you dance to the tunes.

You love it when we sing to you.

You'll drop whatever your doing and rock to the rhythm.

You have been loving on your big sister so much.

You both are always kissing each other.

When I see you both being like that,

I know that I am doing something right.

 

Since we're on the "sisters" topic,

Rowan you have learned to defend what you have.

You'll have a toy in your hands,

when all of a sudden your sister will get jealous.

She'll come over and try to take it from you.

You swing your arms around away from her,

making sure that she does not take it from you.

It's one silly scene.

For the most part,

you both are good at sharing.

 

Well my love,

we'll see what next month will be in store.

We love you so much

my 13 month old baby.

 

(BTW, I'll be doing these type of posts until Rowan is 24 months)

 

 

 



Saturday Feels

Well today was an eventful day.

It started off with a lot of rain,

and I mean a lot of rain.

I had to actually go outside and cover up my plants for

 fear of them being pummeled by the heavy rain.

Luckily by noon,

though the weather looked a bit gloomy,

it proved to be a beautiful day.

We missed the Farmer's Market again,

but it's okay,

it's not like it was going on with all the morning rain.

So instead,

we opted to go buy plants and homes for

the plants that need to be replanted.

Luckily,

all my plants have been growing beautifully.

Yay! Me.

I can't wait to rehome my basils.

I swear they look like I bought them fresh off the shelf,

when in fact they all came from a tiny little seed.

Most of my plants are from seeds,

minus the ivies and our fiddle leaf fig tree.

Btw, our fiddle leaf is almost as tall as me!

She's a beauty.

Today, I re-shined her leaves and she's looking finer than ever.

As far as my other plants,

our project with Levia will continue tomorrow.

We're rehoming all her little egg planters.

 

 

Anyways, we went off topic.

After plant shopping, we took the girls to the park where we had a marvelous day.

Rowan took a lot more steps for us today

and Levia was having the time of her life playing with Daddy.

We ended the day by going to Kim's,

our favorite sushi place.

Small, local, and hands down the best sushi we have ever had.

 

Now comes the sad part of our day.

Our Dear George is having a difficult day.

We fear he may not make it past tonight.

For those who do not know who George is,

he is our beloved pet Betta fish.

We've had him for a couple of years and love him very much.

Though we do not know what is wrong with him,

we've done a lot to keep him comfortable.

He's actually gotten a bit better since all the TLC we gave him,

but he's still struggling to swim.

We pray that he continues to grace our lives with more years.

It breaks my heart thinking he wont be with us soon.

While he was at his worst I talked to him in a telepathic way,

in hopes that he felt what I was saying.

I cried,

for I know that my girl will not understand the cycle of life.

I cried,

because he a part of our family.

I cried,

because I cannot imagine him leaving us.

I cried,

because though he is a tiny fish,

we love him so much.

 

Yes,

we love our fish.

He may be small,

and to the world,

he may not matter.

To us he matters,

he's one of our babies.

 

So George!

You better pull through.

You've got one little girl who loves you plenty,

and parents who have faith that you'll grow to be healthy again.

You got this!

 

 

 

 

------------

 

To brighten up this post a bit.

Some photos we can all enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 



Coloring For Grown Ups

I've been seeing intricate coloring books on shelves everywhere I go.

From B&N to Target, they all carry them.

I have also been reading reviews on them,

and everyone out there claims that it's a great way to relax.

And I totally have to agree.

Being a Mother of two,

times can be quite stressful around here.

Finding a way to escape without having to leave the house was a struggle.

I usually unwind by reading a book,

whether it's alone at night or reading to my girls.

This has always been my "go-to" method to unwind.

Now, that has changed.

I've been coloring away lately.

When I color,

my focus shifts to other things.

I drift away and I'm at ease.

Taking my time to mix colors,

pick out colors,

coordinate patterns,

is in some weird way an escape.

When I am needed,

I simply put the pencil down and pick up where I left off.

Other than tending my little garden,

or reading,

coloring is actually fun.

 

 

With all the options out there,

I ended up going with Fantastic Cities by Steve McDonald.

(I bought mine at Target - in store)

I am loving all the drawings in this book.

Steve did a fantastic job!

I have always been a big fan of buildings,

the architecture world has always been a form of art to me.

Besides, this book reminds me of how my trip to NYC had left me in "AWE!"

It was only fitting that my first page to color would be a scene of that in NYC.

 

 

 

I'm also going to be a bit honest with you.

I've already spent a few hours coloring and I still have a few more to go before I finish my first page.

I plan to include Levia,

I want her to have fun coloring such beautiful pages too.

 

 

 

 



It's All About the Green

My husband knows how much love I have for plants.

Ever since we moved to Florida I have always had plants in our home.

I have this thing of always buying seeds, planting them, tending to them, and watching them grow.

The hardest part was leaving them behind to die every time we went out of town.

I was never able to have them grow and produce fruit.

 

I've started up again and I am rockin' it.

My basils have been replanted and are growing beautifully.

My cilantro has started to produce some leaves.

My tomato plant is getting bigger.

My Brussels sprouts have just sprouted.

And my cucumber plants are enormous.

 

This time, I also did something I never thought I would do.

I bought some plants to decorate my home.

Shame on me.

I have never done that.

 

I am crazy for Ivies right now.

And don't even get me started on the fiddle leaf fig tree.

They're beautiful!

And I have found both at our local Wal-Mart for a great price too.

 

(Below is a glimpse of how my plants brighten up my home.)

 

 

 

I am going on 3 weeks with my fiddle leaf fig tree and she's growing beautifully.

She has grown 2 new leaves and I hope she continues to grow more.

So far this tree seems like it's so easy to care for.

I water every few days,

and when I clean it,

I use a cotton cloth with a plash of water and coconut oil.

(Organic and Unrefined to be exact)

If you look at the leaves from the photo right above,

you can see how bright,

vivid green,

and shiny the leaves are.

I'm not sure how often I'll be doing this,

but it's been about 2 weeks and they look great.

 

 

 

Growing Green

So I started a little project with Levia and she had a blast with it.

We decided to grow some plant in some egg shells a couple of weeks ago

and we've been watching them grow since.

For this project,

I actually let Levia to most of the work.

I thought she'd make a mess so we did this outside but she surprised me,

she did amazing!

 

(We planted cilantro, Brussels sprouts, and peppers.)

 

 

-I'll be updating this post soon.

 

 

Levia's plants have been sloooowly growing.

Today, all eggshells have had their seeds sprout.

Once they get a little bigger,

I plan to move them into a bigger pot.

 

 



Goodbye August

August,

you were so kind.

So sweet.

So much fun.

But you went by so fast.