Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Well, the inevitable happened. After such a long and cold winter, we wished so hard for summer that we enjoyed the heck out of it, and you know what they say about time flying when you're having fun. Or is it time flying when you have a baby? Either way, both of those things are happening and we are chasing after an almost-toddler as the summer comes to a close. Womp. Womp. Thank goodness that Fall is my favorite!

So what the heck are we up to? Big things, people. BIG things.

{Noelle loving my most favorite place, York Beach, Maine.}

First off, Noelle is practically a big kid, not an itty bitty baby at 10.5 months old, 19 pounds and 29 inches. What? She crawls at lightning speed, channeling her inner spider monkey as she scales the furniture, the stairs, our legs, the dog and cat, pretty much anything she can get her sweet little hands on. She says Dada, Mama, Rock, Hi, and is attempting some sort of a Hello. She thinks she is talking just fine so we chat all day long. She is the sweetest little thing you ever did see and truly such an easy going baby.

We made a huge decision for our family and decided that it would be best for me to resign from my teaching position so that I can be a Stay at Home Mom! I have been dreaming about this decision for a long time but it wasn't until recently that a few things happened that made it a reality. A huge weight has been lifted knowing that no one is expecting me to show up next week on the first day of school and that I don't need to be apart from my sweet girl, which was a very real anxiety for me. We don't know how long this will last or what the plan is longterm but for now, this is what works best for us, and we could not be more thrilled that we found a way to make it happen. This has always been a dream of mine so while I'm sure I will miss the classroom, I am beyond happy that it worked out this way.

I became an Independent Beachbody Coach. I finished up T25 and are you ready for this? I lost 10.5 inches and 7 lbs, in 10 weeks! I knew the weight would be slow because I am still nursing and I'm pretty sure that my body is clinging to that weight, as it should be, but the inches? Holy moly! I'm no stranger to Beachbody but T25 is the first at home program that I have ever really stuck with and it seriously made my life so much easier to be able to work out at home while Noelle played on the floor and then as she got more mobile, while she napped. I have a post planned all about this new change and what it means for me and for you!

Speaking of that.. it's also pretty clear that while this blog was once a place that I shared the little details of my life, it is no longer that outlet for me. I love the blogging community and made some amazing friends here but we decided that we didn't want Noelle's pictures plastered all over the place and that made blogging hard. Uh, I can't blog about my baby? Now what? Not only that but I found that it was easy to not make it a priority because I had nothing to write about! When I originally created my blog, my intention was to blog about food and cooking, hence the title, but then I fell in love with the blogging community in general and I accidentally veered away from that. I would like to refocus my blog so that it becomes what I intended it to be, mixed in with what I already do. Not a whole lot will be changing (I don't think) but I'll share more about this later.

{Fenway selfie}

Besides that we have seriously been enjoying this summer, big time. It is the first summer that Jeff hasn't been coaching or playing baseball since we've been together, which means that we have a lot more family time. We have also had lots of parties - weddings, showers, birthdays, graduations, cookouts. We have spent lots of time at the beach, lake, and pool, and even took some mini trips, including our first family vacation to Maine. We also welcomed my best friend's precious new baby GIRL into the world! It was the sweetest surprise ever! We are soaking up the last few weeks of summer and then it's my favorite season! Then Noelle's birthday (HOW?!) then my SIL's wedding, so we have lots of fun things coming up to keep us busy and happy and full.