Odins birthday!

Yeah so my little baby is one now! A year can go by sooo fast. Definitely faster than before I had kids. Well, I forgot to post photos of his party and all that before, so here they are! His party was a week or so before his birthday, which we celebrated in Michigan (see below). Well, in an effort to blog more often, I decided to do just that today.

My etsy shop is still going slow, but I am working on a birth announcement for someone right now, so it's not too bad. I anticipate lots of sales around Christmas for Christmas photo cards, as I will be sending emails out to just about everyone I know! SO, if you are reading this and don't know what to do for your Christmas cards, keep me in mind!

Yesterday was Odin's 12 month appointment. He got 5 shots (yikes) which he screamed at but then was fine once we got in the car- and without any tylenol! My dad was in town this week and we got to spend some time with him as well. I don't often talk about this, but it has been really hard without my family around. I love spending time with them but then it is over so fast!

Today was Odin's final swim class. We could have kept going but it was getting too expensive for us right now. Everyone is so nice there and I think it is fun and he learns a little about how to swim. It is amazing how much conflicting information I read about swim classes for babies. Some classes claim to pretty much drown proof your baby (which I think is a little scary...I still wouldn't take my eyes off my child in a pool), while others are just for fun...but I did read recently that some researchers or whatever have said it isn't really that safe for babies to take swim lessons of ANY kind! So I, of course, am conflicted (as I am about many parenting issues), but I don't think swim lessons are harmful, as long as you know you should still watch your kids closely around water. After swim we went to babies r us where I loaded up on some much needed baby/toddler items (weird that I am already buying toddler items...but he is almost a toddler!) One thing I bought was the book Toddlerwise. I ready Babywise on a particular night where I had HAD it with feeling out of control (Odin was 2 months old). I finished it that night and knew it was the only thing that made sense to me. Odin is now a happy, sweet boy who sleeps so well, and I owe it in part to that book, part to my and Adam's hard work, and all to God's grace!

And finally, I do plan to add more items to my shop soon. I am hoping to come up with some new, inexpensive marketing strategies so that I can get the word out there. I am also writing a book. I have wanted to be a writer for the longest time but got scared and thought I couldn't do it. But why not? I'm actually good at and am full of ideas, so I am really hoping to finish this book by year's end. Wow, this was a long post!

I am finally back!

After a couple weeks on vacation in the midwest, and a few long drives, we are finally home! Maddy was with us for all of June, then we traveled to Michigan in our mini van. Having a mini van made things so much easier than last year! And Maddy was a great help with Odin- he really enjoys having someone in the back with him. The drive to Pentwater was 31 hours.

We had a great time at the lake house, as usual. It was somewhat cold but definitely a nice change from the Arizona heat. We tried taking Odin into the lake to swim but he hated it; I think it was just too cold! He did go tubing though, and I think he enjoyed that. We celebrated his first birthday there. I cannot believe I have a one year old already! Time goes very, very fast. Other things we enjoyed in Michigan were the House of Flavors, fireworks, and eating in Pentwater. Everyone was there except Chet, and Andre had his friend Taylor along. After Michigan we spent a few days in West Lafayette, where I got the rare chance to enjoy one of my dad's sermons. We also got some professional photos of Odin and the three of us.

After Indiana we went to Iowa and spent time with Adam's side of the family. Most of them didn't arrive until late in the week, so we stayed a few extra days to spend time with them. His sister and her husband and kids also drove out from Arizona. While there we went and saw them break the levee across the bridge in Burlington (not my thing, and will definitely not do something like that again), went to the Farmer's Market, did some antique (junk) shopping, went to a balloon festival (none of the balloons were up though), went go karting...can't remember if there was anything else. It was a 24 hour drive back home, and we are glad to be back!

Just before we left I made some birthday invitations for an etsy customer and hope to put the design up soon, because I thought they turned out really cute! I plan to spend more time on my etsy shop and blog in the future. If anyone has children with birthdays coming up or is expecting a baby, check out the designs in my shop for invitations and announcements, or ask for a custom design!