The next 24 hours........

July 2010--look how little and adorable he is!! Oh my gosh, I just can't stand it.



Could be very interesting!!! Gavin is 16 months old this weekend :) He is super hyper and active at this point in his life. Tomorrow he and I will be getting on a plane and this will be his first flight that is not a direct flight...which means 3.5 hours of actual flight time and a couple hours of layover time. I foresee lots of baby wrangling and wine for me tomorrow! HA!
I have a DVD player with the only two movies he will watch: Backyardigans and Veggie Tales. Lots of snacks, benadryl, stickers, crayons....He isn't feeling that great tonight with a little cold, plus he is getting 6 teeth in at once. Today has been pretty dramatic with fits and screams and general unhappiness.
I am hoping that he will do exactly what he did on our last flights which is entertain the entire plane and be a very good traveler.


September 2010--a little more difficult to entertain, even with daddy along for the ride. The flight attendant was laughing at me, probably because I looked so frazzled, and Gavin had just torn my hair out of the hair tie. She laughed and said in her Asian accent, "Oooooh just you wait honey, this is just the beginning!"

What is grief?

Sunrise at Rainbow Bay

It seems that it's like an ocean: ebbing and flowing, deep, clear, murky, full of the unknown. You can drown in it or float on the surface. Sometimes it roars when the waves come in or can be as placid as the Caribbean. You can sit on the shore for hours in wonder or go inside away from the heat and bugs. You can be all alone as if you were at Lighthouse Beach on the tip of Eleuthera; and feel like the only person in the world. Or, you can be smothered by all the people with no room to move during the summer in the Outer Banks.

There can be that amazing moment as the sun sets over the horizon into the forever water where you feel immense peace and gratitude for seeing something so beautiful. Or when you wake up early to see the quiet sunrise break dawn over the earth and sphere: the colors, the light, the warmth, the promise of a new and glorious beginning.

Sunset at Rainbow Bay

Recent Pictures

He's so stinkin' cute.

Obsessed with shoes.

Playdate with his cousin

Messy, messy fingerpainting that ended up all over the floor and kitchen cabinets and clothes...ha! But it was SO much fun and super easy cleanup.

He LOVED it!!

It's a GO!

Lean Green Cuisine will be selling my granola in their store! yay! I am super excited. I knew they would like it :) Not that I was over confident, but I have never had one person say anything other than, "WOW this is really good" when they taste my granola. I was confident in my product and I gave a nice little sales pitch :)

They have over 600 people that receive their newsletter each week so word will spread. On average they have anywhere from 30-70 people pick up meals from their store on Monday's. If you aren't familiar with Lean Green Cuisine, they prepare a menu each week and you can pre-order meals for the week. We just ordered a week's worth of food and I am excited to try it since it is not the usual type of food we eat. It's all vegan. It looks good, but I did pass on the tofu :)

They want to sell exclusively before I go to any other stores like Harp's or Ozark Natural foods, which is fine with me because I want to see how well it does with their market. They have packaging that I really like too. Compostable containers that you can put out in the compost and it will bio-degrade! How cool is that! I don't think I like that type of packaging for shipping, but for in stores it's very convenient.

We don't have a date set yet on getting in the store but it will be soon.

I will be switching to all organic ingredients when I sell from their store. Possibly making the switch all together depending on the wholesale costs. But for now, when selling from my home I will be using fresh, but not organic, ingredients.

Grannie Frannie's Granola is now open for business :)

http://www.franniesgranola.webs.com

Mr. Gavin Phares!!!

That is what he gets called when he gets in trouble and guess what?? He's been in trouble a lot lately! HA! It's hard to imagine a 15 month child that is usually an angel, lol, being in trouble. I know it's because he hasn't been feeling well, and he is asserting his independence, but does is have to be so blatantly insubordinate?
What he does:
He will look me in the eye and then hit me.
He will look me in the eye and then hit the TV.
He will look me in the eye and pull a cord out of the outlet.
He will look me in the eye (are you seeing a pattern yet?!) and scream no no no no. And I will say, yes yes yes yes. He says, no no no no. I say, yes yes yes yes.

Yesterday, he had timeout 4 times. He has only had timeout 4 times his entire life!

He is a strong willed child. We have known this for a very long time.

Ok, so some things that he is doing that are positive are: he is talking up a storm even though we can't understand what he says. He talks and talks and uses his hands and he will "read" his books by pretending to read. He can say about 20 words now. They aren't super clear, but we know what he is saying.

His favorite toy is his dump trucks and his ball.

He is on his first round of anti-biotics. We both have sinus infections but this is his first. He doesn't even act sick except in acting out.

It's funny when he wakes up in his crib he says, maamaa maaamaa maamaa...and when he wants something he says, mamamamamama...but when daddy is around it's only dada dadadadaaa!

He's a sweet baby. He loves to give kisses and hugs. He always has a smile on his face unless he is in trouble or doesn't like that we say no to him. He gives his big cheesy grin to strangers and it cracks them up. It is the funniest smile. He squeezes his eyes shut and bares his teeth so that he looks like a scary jack-o-lantern! HA! But, it's SO cute.

We love him so much. He brings us so much joy and it's hard to think what our life would be like the past few months without him. There is something about a baby that eases pain and makes the difficulties of life easier to cope with.
Every day is a gift with him. Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Psalms 127:3-5

Proverbs 22:6
Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Meeting delayed due to weather!

Well since we are covered in snow and a little ice I decided to postpone my meeting with Lean Green Cuisine until next Wednesday.
This morning, while I was watching the Today show, one of the segments was on mom's starting their own businesses. The greatest deterrent for women is: FEAR! Fear of rejection! I thought, wow, I am definitely having some of those emotions too. The guy giving advice said that fear, being stretched time-wise, and having a passion turn into a chore is what hold women back from starting their own businesses. His advice was to be unique, find a niche, and have fun with it. Not everyone is going to like your product, but there will be some people that LOVE it and will spread the word about the product.
I was really glad I saw this because when I let my mind drift about what I want this business to look like, it's very easy for me to have fears about it. But then I think, you know, all I can do is try! If I don't try, I'll never know. And any obstacles that come along can be worked through at that time.