I can't believe 2010 is almost over!

And what a year it was! It wasn't half bad, considering that my husband was deployed for more than half of the year. We made it through pretty well, I'm so glad to have that behind us.

Adelaide is almost 4 months old, one quarter of a year! I can't believe how quickly she's growing! And McKaleigh is growing into quite the little girl, and boy does she have a mind of her own.

Over the last year, I have made a lot of changes in my life. I really dedicated myself to living a more back to basics lifestyle. I haven't always done well with it, but I do feel that I've made a lot of great changes throughout this last year. I cloth diaper, even if it's just part time, I still feel good about decreasing the number of diapers I'm sending to landfills. I use way fewer one use items, I try to only buy things that are reusable. These last few months, we've really started to eat less processed foods. We still go out to eat on occasion, sometimes more often than I'd like, but we do eat a lot more whole foods than we did a year ago. I really hope to see these things continue into 2011, and would love to go even further with it.

One way I'm taking things a step further is that I'm going to grow dreadlocks. I started a couple on my own, but I'd really like a majority of them to be freeform dreads. Here are pictures of my hair with three twist and rip dreads, and hair that hasn't been combed in two days:).

So excited for Christmas!!!

Christmas is less than two weeks away! I love Christmas so much!

I have all but one of McKaleigh's Christmas presents purchased. This is seriously the most excited I've been for Christmas, since I was a kid! The things I'm getting her are on the pricey side, so we're doing quality over quantity:). We bought her a tableware set and tea set from Green Toys. This company uses 100% recycled plastic, made right here in the USA. I'm going to wrap those up with some playsilks from an Etsy shop (DreamSpunKids.) Also got her a huge stuffed dog from Target, and the last think we have left to get is the wooden fridge from Palumba that matches her play kitchen:). Those two things will be from Santa... because I don't want to figure out how to wrap them! Then for both of the girls we got a bunch of little books and puzzles as stocking stuffers.

I just can't wait to play Santa Claus this year! What are you getting your kid(s) for Christmas?

When you stop trying so hard...

...everything just starts to make sense!

About two weeks ago, I started a blog post about how I didn't know how I was going to manage everything, without my mom here. I never finished the post, but my mom left a week ago, and things have been going better than I ever could have imagined they would!

My mom was doing so much of the housework, when she was here! She did a lion's share of the cooking and cleaning. I really don't know what I would have done without her these past three months, especially since my husband was gone. I think part of the reason things have gone well since she left is that I've gotten really used to the house being tidy and I love having meals prepared from whole foods.

It's like I don't even have to try! Everything just happens. I've started waking up at around 7 everyday (way earlier than normal.) McKaleigh sleeps until at least 8, sometimes until 10! So you can imagine how much I get done in the mornings. I love the quiet:). It's a good time for me to tidy up the house, so we can start the day with a clean slate. I've even vacuumed the living room twice this week, lol.

I've done a pretty good job of making sure I sign into Biggest Loser on our Kinect (which is awesome, by the way! I highly recommend it!) Hopefully that will help get rid of the baby belly I have left. Still a little softer than I'm comfortable with.

Cooking has gone way better than it's ever gone before. I'm really starting to love cooking and I'm excited to start trying out some new things! We've eaten out more than I'd like, but honestly, I knew it would be a difficult transition for me. I really don't know how to cook much, so every so often it's nice to just pick something up. I always feel SO much better when I cook fresh veggies, though. Part of me tends toward perfectionism, so I don't really like trying new things, because I'm afraid of doing things wrong, or having things not turn out. It's getting easier, though, the more I try to make new things!

This is starting to get long, so I'll cut it off here. I'm so excited about life right now!