The leaves are FALLing..

I *so* want to start posting here more often and now that Noah has a nap time that I can count on (yes, he's down to one nap now), I have about one hour of free (me) time in the afternoon each day. He naps from 12pm-2 or 1pm-3pm - I always spend the first hour tidying up/doing dishes/putting in laundry, then I sit at the computer with my coffee for the second hour. So far, I usually get sidetracked with Facebook / Pinterest and don't get much done, and before I know it Noah is awake. But recently I've been making a running list of stuff to get done during nap time (I'm obsessed with lists).

This week the list included : order prints from Walmart photo centre, organize/transfer/delete pictures on laptop, update cloth diaper blog, update regular (this) blog. Well, yesterday I scratched off the first two things and today I'm working on the blog posts.

I've been wanting to write about my new status as "stay-at-home Mom". I mean, I've always been a stay-at-home Mom, ever since a month before he was born. But I guess I always knew I'd have to go back to work of some sort after my year of maternity leave. Living off my husband's income only was never a feasible option for us, and I knew that. I was prepared for that.

But then my brother (uncle Aaron) moved here and has been living with us (in the basement) since June. He's giving us "rent" which is helping alot. I also started babysitting a couple of other babies Noah's age, part time, and a little girl every day after school. And suddenly my dream of staying at home, raising my son is coming true. I feel like the luckiest person ever.

It's truly amazing to be able to spend my days with my son - seeing all of his "firsts" and watching him grow and change literally before my eyes. He's becoming such a little person now - running, climbing, starting to talk. He's incredibly smart (too smart, I think sometimes) and knows what he wants. He's generally happy and funny - but of course he has his moments and has begun throwing epic tantrums. I ignore him and he stops, at least for now. He's literally my sidekick and we love being together, though he's becoming independent now and loves playing with other kids and people. He's just... amazing. I love him so much. Now that I'm feeling all sappy I want to go squeeze him (but of course I just spent an hour getting him to sleep in his crib, so I will *not* be doing that).

I'm also making and selling my all natural bum balm (Bubba Baby Bum Balm) so there's some profit from that as well. I have a Facebook page and an Etsy shop. I'm participating in a local mom / homemade fair in a couple weeks as well. I'm super excited - hoping to get my product out there a bit more. I am really passionate about keeping chemicals (things we can't pronounce the names of) away from babies skin, so I'm so looking forward to spreading the word about this.

I'll end this with a recent picture of Noah - and a promise to post around here more often :)