New Years Resolutuons

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted here. What on earth have I been doing with my life? Well for one thing, my pregnancy is very nearly over. The time has flown (up until this last month)and I'm looking forward to meeting my baby girl.

The Dude is growing up so fast. He talks, sings, plays with his Thomas trains and gets more adorable as the days go by. He gets taller too!

Writing is going well, housekeeping is going only who knows where and the puppy dogs are still as crazy but gorgeous as ever.

So since I'm summing up the last four months, I should probably make my New Years Resolutions official. 1) Make more time for myself and 2) work harder at the writing side of life. After all, I enjoy my job and want to get into a real rhythm with it.

Have you made any resolutions? If so, leave a comment. It's always nice to hear from you!

Watercolor paints

The Dude had his weekly toddler class today. We experimented with watercolor paints. I have to say I admire his ambition for not getting it on his clothing. I wasn't too happy about the fact that he didn't give a tiny rats ass about mine.

Still, he made his first masterpiece and it has pride of place on my fridge next to his Crayola efforts. At the rate he's knocking them out I think I'm going to need two fridges!

Does your child like to draw or paint? If so tell me about it! Just post a comment below.

Our Favourite Hobby

The Dude and I love visiting the library. He enjoys choosing books for Mommy to read to him and I love watching him make his selections. It's so funny to watch him pull books off of the shelf and discard the ones that don't interest him, while he holds on for dear life to the ones that do. He's only 15 months old.

It reminds me of the visits my Mom and I used to make to the library in London. It was a huge old place, full to bursting with every book imaginable. It was always such a treat when we went with Mom, but now I'd like it to become a habit for our family. It's so much fun to browse the shelves and choose a book that you can't wait to get your teeth into. I could get lost for hours in a good book and not notice where the time has gone. I've always been the same, especially when it comes to library books.

We're a bunch of book worms in our house and it looks as though Little one is following in our footsteps. He loves a certain book called 'Dear Zoo' which funnily enough, I owned when I was a kid. We've already taken it out of the library twice and over the course of a day, he'll bring it to me at least 6 times for me to read with him and each sitting requires us to look through it about 8 or 9 times before he's willing to look at a different book.

What I also think is fab about the library is that there are so many free programs available throughout the year like foreign movie nights and Q&A sessions with local authors. Our local library hosts a kids story time once a week which is followed by a free craft, and in some libraries in the area they host a story time for babies and toddlers too.

Do you enjoy visiting your library? Are there any books in particular that your kids tend to gravitate toward? Share your experiences here and post a comment!

Forever Blowing Bubbles

Little Dude has been attending some toddler classes recently at the Children's Museum of South Eastern Connecticut. (Fabulous place if ever you get the chance to visit!) Every week they have an activity to do such as playing with felt shapes. This week, we played with bubbles and I have to say I've never seen a child so transfixed. He was so in awe of the delicate balls of soapy water floating through the air that he couldn't move. So after class, I bought him a bottle of bubbles to take home.

He still doesn't quite know how they work or where they come from, but I've found that it helps to soothe his tantrums, they help him to relax him before bed and generally keeps him out of trouble.

So to all you Mamas out there who are searching for that one thing that will help distract your little one's and keep them calm and quiet, I recommend blowing a few bubbles. And don't forget to let me know how you get on with it! Just post a comment below.

A Day In The Life

I'm all for finding ways to make life a little easier, so long as it's cheap, sustainable and without negative consequences.

So, I managed to pluck up the courage to do my grocery shopping on-line. It was a little daunting at first, but something that I now would thoroughly recommend - especially to all of those busy Mamas out there.

It took me 20 minutes to do my shopping and the beauty of it is that I did it after The Dude had gone to bed! That's right, no more grabbing items off the shelves when my back is turned, no more screaming his little lungs out when I return said item to the shelf, no more playing tug-of-war with him over my shopping list. I no longer have to worry about trying to get out of the door without at least one diaper change and making sure he has toys to amuse himself with on the journey to the store then having to fight to get him to sit in the shopping cart for longer than five minutes without him causing a scene. No longer do I need to spend at least an hour of my day doing a thankless task while spending more money than necessary.

My bill was significantly reduced because I wasn't enticed by the usual crap that ends up in my shopping cart - I was quite content to stick to my list.

I chose my delivery date and time and sure enough it arrived promptly and was all organised so that I could just pop it away ready for use. Lovely. I was so proud of myself.

I also learned a very valuable lesson from my latest adventure. Don't be afraid to try new things. If it doesn't work out, there is sure to be a different method that will. And, don't be ashamed to make a change in your life that helps you out. For too long I have tried to be Super-Mom and it just burned me out. I'm still the same wife and parent, just with one less thing to worry about on my list.

If you have a great time-saving, stress-busting tip, please feel free to post a comment and share it with us. I love to hear from you all!

A change of pace

It's been a while since I've posted on my blog. As you can see, Expat Mama has had a virtual make over - a much needed one! I'm so excited with the final product and I would like to say a huge thank you to Shannon over at eightcrazy design for her help and talent in realizing my vision for this site. It's magic!

There have been many changes since my last post. Little Dude turned one, started walking (although running seems to be the only pace he knows right now) he waves, he says a few words, he eats pretty much anything I put in front of him. It's been an interesting experience and I'm loving every minute of it. He puts so much energy into his learning and I'm really proud of him.

My veggies are growing nicely and the humming birds have been visiting our garden on a regular basis. The weather is a little weird, one minute it's burning hot and the next minute we have tornado warnings. Still, it's been a great start to the summer and I'm looking forward to hearing about the amazing changes that are taking place with you all.

Take care for now!

Green is the new everything

I've been reading a wonderful book called 'Gorgeously Green' by Sophie Uliano. My Mom bought it for me and it arrived in the mail today. (Thank you Muv!) I've nearly finished it.

It really is eye-opening to see how many little changes that you can make to have a 'Green' life-style and still maintain it in keeping with how it's always been.

Sophie - a fellow Brit living in the States, has become a real role model; all in the space of one day! I only hope that in the months and years that follow this sunny, albeit slightly chilly day, my son might feel the same way about me. A real role model. Doing the very best I can to nurture and love him, and to point him in the right direction toward a bright future.