Dixie Gator Gal: 13

We are having so much fun with all that October has to offer.

Yesterday after church we met one of my besties for brunch, while daddy played golf. Doesn't James look cute afterwards?

We also carved pumpkins last night and had so much fun, it's almost indescribable. I'm finally 'starting' to feel like I'm at home in our home. Having these special family moments sure does help! I love my guys so much my heart can hardly handle it.

We were also lucky enough to be invited to a sweet friends Halloween party on Saturday, and boy did they pull out all the stops. It was so fun! I loved all the activities and Pinterest coming to life. James loved playing with all the pink versions of his own toys, and sneaking a few sweet chocolaty treats.

A little preview of his Halloween costume, which is currently being treated for pre-Halloween chocolate stains. You know it's a good year when that happens.

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Well, October has a brought a pretty full month for our little family. James and I are doing a program at the library on Wednesday mornings where activity stations abound and specialists come and speak to us about child development - obviously I we love it! I'm fairly certain that in addition to learning lots of great new things, we picked up lots of not so great new germs. We had runny noses and congestion around here for the past two weeks, which just kind of throws things off kilter.

In other new developments Josh and I started eating clean, a take on Whole 30/Paleo lifestyle. So I've spent hours upon hours meal planning, and cooking healthy meals for us. Most of what used to be a spare moment have been spent chopping vegetables, like hours upon hours of veggie chopping. Actually my knife skills have come a long way these past two weeks. It's been great for us both and with all the working out I've been doing (lots and lots), I can't tell you how nice it is to see the scale finally move. I'm also happy because this is truly the way we I want to eat. I asked Josh to join me in this adventure for the month of October and I see sticking to this 80/20 through the holidays. Then back at it (and hopefully all organic too) come January.

It's much easier to avoid gluten/soy/processed everything than sugar. I've had to make an exception for cough drops and even with those I bought ricola (the closest thing to crunchy without driving 30 minutes to Whole Foods). I'm also the proud owner of a mason jar of Organic Coconut Oil, which I think may officially make me a hippy (just one of the crazy ways becoming a parent has changed me).

So I made some major priorities for our family this month and even though I wish writing a blog post everyday was one of them (like way more than loading the dishwasher and folding cloths), it hasn't been.

I'm also at a crossroads of wanting to simplify things in my life and do what I do well vs trying to squeeze in too much and not be good at anything. I'm never going to be a "business blogger" or even see my blog demographic growing much larger than the core group of my parents, in-laws and their friends who read this (which I love). Also a lot of my favorite blogs have gone private recently, which made me take a step back to think, why am I doing this? So even though I've probably gone longer periods without writing than the past few weeks. I purposely didn't devote anytime to blogging and recording our life. And I missed it. I think I'm going to try to carve out a few moments here and there to write, because I like it. I like connecting with my friends and family, and just keeping a record of the wonderful life God has blessed us with.

Cherishing each and every moment with James is the main priority of my days, but I do want to spend a little more time over here ~~talking~~ typing about it.