il bel far niente

I have decided since I am on vacation & Van is not with me I will abstain from writing lenghty posts about my life as a mom. I have to say I do love a vacation and it has been so long since I have been on one that it took me a few days to acclimate to "the art of doing nothing". We went snorkeling yeterday & sipped on the best pina colada that has ever touched my lips. It's weird how the western culture thinks you have to be doing something all of the time in order to live. In fact when we got here I was looking for things to do like fold laundry and make breakfast. I have been thinking a lot about our life and the changes that will be taking place in the new year. We have so many to come in this new year and what a better time to make a change than the present.

Today we traveled up this windy one lane road to a little breakfast nook tucked in the side of a mountain with a breathtaking view of the ocean. Yesterday when we came out of the water from snorkeling, as we were driving away we stopped for some horses to pass. Conner spotted the celebs as he always does. Rick Fox, Vanessa Williams and their family were passing us. Glen Close was also at the lazy parrot when we had dinner there the other night. It is so awsome of S & S to have us here.. Thank you for showing us a great time,we apprecieate you all so much!

Trip to see the man

While we were in Tampa we took Van to see Santa. we waited in line for at least 30-45 minutes. We walked thru a little wonderland of snow, glitter and Christmas movies. As we approcahed santa a little elf helper came up to us and said the cameras were down and that we would have to wait a little bit to see him. Turned out that all their cameras were down and we were not going to get a photo of Van with santa. I was so happy because I wanted to snap my own anyways. So here are a few photos of Van on his way to meet santa, and meeting the real santa...

We are relaxing in Purto Rico, sleeping in is so amazing, and not really having anywhere we need to be all day long! It is truly a respite , away from the schedules that we maintain.

The roads here roam organically along the coast and the vegitation is so lush and abundant. So nice to be in a tropical location in the middle of winter and be in a bikini and flip flops. I miss my little man so much sometimes it hurts.

Sandy feet and fruity cocktails

Well we made it to puerto Rico last night we arrived. It feels so different being away from Van for the first time. last night was the first night I have ever spent away from him, I felt like I had lost an arm or a leg and was wandering around looking for it (him). I know it is healthy to take trips and revive ourselves for him. It is good for him to be with other people too, I keep waiting for him to start being that baby who always wants his mom or dad, but he truly loves other people and loves being held by them too! I am going to upload some photos of van from florida and a few from our trip here so far.

we are having fun.... :)

D

Happy WhooLaDay'Z

Wow. It's been a few days since my last post but a lot has happened. We flew to Florida on the 18th and we suprised my mom. She had no idea we were coming. She came over to my sisters house for dinner and we put Van in a box that we wrapped. Tomorrow Christmas day Conner and I leave for Puerto Rico to visit Summer and Stefan! For A week of relaxing, and getting our selves back on track! Van is staying in Florida with my sister! woohoo.

I will upload some photos of Van as soon as I can find a mac to work on! These PC's are crap!

Have a wnderful holiday and I will update you from Puerto rico!


blessings. Dianne

Santa Came Early This Year!

We got Van a play mat that looked good in the house & he really likes it, so much he pulls it apart and uses it to chew on. One of his front teeth is coming in and it is really hard on him lately!
He always has his tongue out now too! I ordered this play mat for his Christmas gift and Conner and I took him to babies r us and bought him some new toys... He still loves the wooden coasters and the cardboard boxes, oh and my cell phone is the best.

This play mat eye candy, and he likes to crawl around on it too. Every time you buy a Skip Hop product, a percentage of the profits are given to a number of organizations. In particular, a portion of your purchase goes towards supporting the Pediatric Aids Foundation and The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund . Not only are they helping out, but their designers are great. The products, the packaging, their logo. It's something I love to see. A company that does it all right!!!

I have been learning a lot from my little blue eyed boy lately....
We work hard ... and forget to relax. We need to learn to let go. Fortunately, there are small blessings in life that help to bring out the inner child in us. Children help us to let go and enjoy the day rather than endure it. They teach us to relax. They teach us to play.

While we all have goals and responsibilities, we should never forget that children are precious. They see things in a different light. Their curiosity makes them ask questions that may seem very simple to us, but enhance their very lives once they have the answers. We should learn to be like that. We should enrich our lives with questions that are bigger than ourselves. We should seek the answers with a childlike curiosity and spend more time observing the world rather than criticizing it.

Happy Holidays from us to you!!!

9 Months

I can hardly believe it, Van is 9 months old today! What lucky people we are to have him in our lives.
I am completely delirious right now. Running on no sleep at all. I will push on! That is all I have to say about that.. ha Tomorrow is another day!

Go Elf Yourself

Van had his 9 month appointment today, he is tall and skinny! He weighs in @ 20 lbs and is almost 30 inches tall! I got him a flu shot too!
I don't know this holiday season I feel the holiday spirit all around but I don't really have it. Am I ever gonna get it? I don't know. I went in the garage to get out my ornaments and Christmas gear and I noticed a new ornament I had never seen before in the box, yep I pulled it out and it was a dead mouse. So that was how things started out on the wrong foot!

I try to sing Christmas songs to Van and I have forgotten all of the words. We are not getting a tree this year so maybe that is part of it too... hmmm
I sound like the Grinch, don't I? What I am looking forward to is seeing Van rip paper on Christmas morning, he is obsessed with tearing paper of any kind. Today I caught him reading my domino magazine, and tearing out all of the pages he liked. He is following in my footsteps... ahh

Well we put a little song and dance together check it out.... Maybe it will help you get in the Christmas spirit if you haven't already. You can just click on the image at the top of us in our elf suits too!


http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1320319963

8 months

It's a little late but here is Van's 8 month photo, it's a little late but here it is!
I am doing this post on the fly because we are going out tonight to a Christmas party! We have a baby sitter coming over who we haven't met yet. But I know her sister Erin, so I am sure everything will be fine! :) I love this picture of my Van. My mom took it while she was in town.

Be Kind

First moments with Santa!

I got an email from a friend today with this quote at the bottom, and it made me think for a minute how true this is.
"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."
I was thinking we all have something we are dealing with, some people put on a happy face and never let you in to the realities of their life, that only inhibits you from creating a stronger relationship with them. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle, so why not be open and share them with others so you can get their feedback, grow a relationship by trusting in someone and vent all at the same time!

Everything is not perfect nor will it ever be, but being open and honest about life and it's little bumps along the way is completely normal. I am going to make sure I tell Van this from now on too! Even though he is a little dude he should feel free to be open and honest with his friends and loved ones. That is what they are there for, right?

On a side note I am getting obsessed with organic food, almost everything in my refrigerator is organic, and I don't feed Van anything that is not organic. Feeding him has been interesting lately, I mean how do you know when he is full, it's not like he has a little flag that goes up or a thermometer that pops out. He just keeps eating and eating. So I guess I should just know this stuff, but it is really all new and something new to learn everyday!

We just bought him a new stacking toy by tiny love and it is really great he loves to play with the little colorful balls and shake the rattle, when you drop the ball inside of the tube the chicken makes all of this noise and Van gets a big smile.
I love all of their toys especially this follow me FRED, An adorable self-rolling puppy that engages baby and encourages him to crawl. Follow-Me Fred features a multi-directional, accordion-shaped body that can be set to move in a straight line as well as in a circular motion. Speed control and colorful buttons trigger music and cheerful doggie sounds.

Moving Around!

Well, I am doing a little Christmas shopping online @ fredflare.com,

and listening to Van sing in his crib. He just figured out how to pull himself up in his crib and push the buttons on his mobile. He is listening to the music and singing along "well sort of" baby singing. He is all over the place now crawling scooting, opening, closing, bouncing, screaming, and the list goes on. Today he fell asleep in my arms for a brief moment and I soaked it all in, this is why I am at home with him for moments like those. The quiet times when I breathe him in and get to stare at him, because usually he is going so fast that I can't even see the huge amounts of apples and peaches leftover on his face from lunch.

OKAY OKAY, I am back. The singing went to screaming, and I had to go put him to sleep for real!
Now he is sleeping and all of the things I want to do are running through my head, it's funny I will probably get one thing accomplished like our Christmas card that I have put off for way too long now. And he will be saying hello world from his crib again! I woke up at 4am this morning to take my mom to the airport, and I haven't had any zzzzz's since. So I must go and save the world.

Wait here is what I got accomplished while he was taking his nap today, my house may not be clean but I designed the cards. Now I must print them! Or maybe I should just send them out as an email attachment. Everyone and their mother has email even Santa, and I would save a whole lot of paper too! hmmmm What to do?

Van goes to the Getty

Lately life has been a little chaotic. I don't really know why a lot of traveling and not a lot of resting. I am trying to find the peace somewhere in the chaos. My mom is in town and we drove up to LA to go to the Getty this Thursday. We had a great time, and it was so nice to be there. It was quiet, calm, peaceful. Van loved looking at the paintings too. Most of all he likes hearing his voice in the rooms when everything was silent. The paintings in the Getty were amazing I couldn't believe how amazing they truly were. I studied them in college but had never really seen their true beauty until now.


Van just started to crawl today, I will take some photos of him crawling on his hands and knees this weekend. He is all over the place and exploring everything. He pulls himself up on furniture and toys now too. Along with not really taking very many naps during the day and now crawling all over the place I really don't know how I am going to get anything done now. Time to baby proof the house for sure.