I bet you thought I got lost at that Wool Festival.  It was great. The rest of Thanksgiving weekend was good too. We got a ton of packing and organizing done on Sunday. Then on Monday, J went to the lab while the kids and I ran off to Santa Fe.

We spent the day with another mom and her kids, shopping in the downtown Plaza. I so wanted a New Mexican made bracelet and the Plaza is the place to find such a treasure.  I found the perfect piece for me, as well as some cute presents for others.

For the first time since starting blogging three years ago, I find myself struggling to blog. I am struggling with creativity and with time. I am tapped out by the end of the day and rather than this be a rejuvenating feat, at the moment it feels like yet another thing to do. I hate that it feels that way. I have been dealing with a full range of emotions on so many different things. Some of you will pick up on it in some comments that I am leaving. Sorry for the rants. The last 6 months have been … wow … great, exhausting, sad, terrifying, lonesome, stressful, full of joy … wow.

I am ready to just enjoy life again. I have not truly enjoyed life since leaving California. I am trying. I have lost over 20 pounds, injured my foot, healed my foot, started swimming again, knitted, dyed, read, cried …yet happiness is this thing I cannot seem to achieve. I want to be happy. I should be happy. I am getting there. Fake till you make it. Halifax. Halifax. Halifax. My mantra.

I will be emailing the winners of the silks tonight. No longer the masterbator … errr procrastinator … hehe. Later this week, keep your rss feeders tuned for I will be announcing the market bag contest

As you read this, I have run off with my family to a Wool Festival! Becca cannot understand why we are going to a whole festival of wool. I bribed her with the notion there may be sheep there. Let’s hope there are sheep! Oooo heavenly yarn here I come …

Ethan is officially 6 months old. I cannot believe that itty bitty baby that entered the world so magically, did so 6 months ago. He has grown and changed so much and the time has flown by.

I am constantly in awe of my son. He is so different from his sister. He is much more adventurous motor skill wise, enjoying tummy time while already sitting independently (almost). His first tooth has emerged and he has begun to take to solids a bit.

Ethan worships his big sister. They are going to be a challenge together. He is constantly egging her one when she is acting silly, giggling and smiling at her. Today while grocery shopping she was twirling about the aisles, all the while Ethan giggling madly from his position in the sling.

Becca and I took Ethan swimming for the first time Friday. As soon as he saw Becca pop out of the water, he began to giggle. Instantly enjoying swimming, just like his sister. I am able to handle them both in the water with the help of a water sling, and the fact that Becca is so good in the water. I was all about getting pictures then got lost in the moment with both of them and completely forgot.

I love this little guy to pieces. I hope that once we settle into Halifax the last few months of his first year are a tad quieter, more calm and wistful. I try so hard to have those little moments with him, not wanting to miss out on anything. I do take a part of every afternoon to be beside him, whisper to him and nurse him. He is his own little person already.

I was not sure how close I would be to Ethan. I could not fathom loving and feeling so connected to another being. Becca was my world. Now my world is just BIGGER. This amazes me everyday.

Make sure to enter for a chance to win Play Silks You have until Saturday Midnight.

I was introduced to Play Silks while living in California. Marina has some for her kids and there were many others that swore by their qualities.

What is a play silk?

It can be anything. A cape, a blanket, a fort, a skirt, the possibilities are only inhibited by one’s imagination. The play silk flows in a way that no other fabric in the lives of our children does. There is a tactile sensation that is difficult to describe. Ethan, being a baby is very quiet about his imagination play, yet if he is having a tough time, a silk will almost always comfort him. At this point he mostly chews on them, but he will wave them up and down, as it caresses his face.

Becca adores the play silks we have in our tickle trunk. She uses them endlessly, providing an open ended play that I love to watch. I recently dyed a play silk for a three year old boy’s birthday. It was a huge hit!

I use kool aid as a dye, so the silks are non-toxic. I have washed this set to ensure that all the dye has set (I learned the hard way that the first set I made for the kids was not set! Although the kool aid did not dye the cotton as it is not an animal fibre!)

Want to win a play silk? They make wonderful one of a kind gifts and your kids will enjoy them.

Answer me this:

How do you keep your kids aged 8 months to three entertained in the car? (no kids? share some idea on car trips in general … gas station bathrooms or rest stops?)

I need to be armed and ready for our trek back up to Canada. We have a dvd player but that only helps a little. Any other ideas would be wonderful.

I have all the books wrapped and ready to ship, I am just waiting for two more addresses.

You have until Saturday midnight to share with me your car trip ideas!

I have Two large silks (perfect for the super hero in your family) and Ten sets of two smaller sized silks (Ethan likes this size, however Becca has a set of six that she uses with her play). In your comment please state if you are totally not into pink

… I have learned about Halifax since discovering we will be moving there. Whitterer tagged me last week, and I have been frightfully busy and unable to follow through.

- We will once again be able to head to the beach and swim in the ocean. Opposite ocean than what we experienced in California, but ocean no less. There are provincial parks that boast sandy beaches and ocean swimming.

- Halifax is not a city … it is a Regional Municipality … Think the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), but much smaller scale.

- From what I can tell there are two bridges and two ferries that get one back and forth from Halifax. Halifax is on an island you know! I am a rock. I am an Island. (people that know my maiden name will understand that reference a little more hehe)

- Halifax has the world’s second largest natural harbour. Try and top THAT! err wait I guess if you live at the largest harbour … Still very cool. I look forward to taking the kids down to look at the ships and enjoy the harbour atmosphere.

- Halifax enjoys the second warmest climate in Canada. It rarely suffers from extreme winter conditions and has pleasant summers that average temperatures in the mid to high 20s (80-90F). Nothing like the 110 F summers in California

- The strange and intimate connections with the Titanic. Yes, the boat. It seems Halifax sent out ships to rescue and recover passengers. There’s a museum.

- There are five universities located in Halifax and is Canada’s second largest scientific center after Ottawa (sounds like the perfect spot for my smart hubby eh?)

- Nova Scotia is the world’s largest exporter of, lobsters, Christmas trees, gypsum and wild berries. So I can hook you up

Breaking News!

Ethan’s First Tooth broke through yesterday It is the bottom left tooth. No more toothless grins! Gosh he is growing up so fast! Becca, Ethan and I celebrated with a Tooth Tea Party! Yummy juice and homemade cookies, all served up on Becca’s mini tea set. Even Skippy, the cat joined us. Good times.

The garage sale was great. We sold all the big items that we had hoped to sell! I still have a ton of baby clothes that I have to decide upon … ebay … charity … time … sanity … Thank you all for the great tips.

I have the first set of winners for the books and sent them emails. On Wednesday I will be posting the Silks! I am struggling to keep this all organized so I apologize for being tardy. The silks are dyed and ready to be won though (I finished the second market bag too for the week after!)

We are heading out to Albuquerque for an eye appointment for Becca. She is way over due for a new pair of glasses and a check up. Thankfully J was able to take the day off so he could come with us (it is a two hour drive there, with the two kids, one teething … well you get it).

I never thought of myself as having a type when it comes to men. The boys (and I do call them boys for a reason) I dated as a teenager were very different in many ways. They looked different and most had very different personalities.

There was the shy hippie boy, the jock, the bad boy, the older man, the outgoing hippie boy, and the philosopher. They were of varying shapes and sizes as well-short, tall, average, blonde, brunette, scruffy, long-haired, and well-groomed.

When I was 20 years old I met a guy that was unlike anyone else I’d ever dated. He was funny, nine years older and a red head. He had curly hair longer than mine, a tattoo and a scruffy goatee. He was so cool, so witty, so clever. He was also my boss at the crappy video store that I worked at.

All my dating life I was a serial monogamist and I often wondered if I could survive on my own, without a boyfriend. Then I met this guy, this man and it was all over. I fell hard and fast but he didn’t take me seriously. He thought it wasn’t going anywhere and that we should just be friends. I was persistent.

Eight short months after our first date (and I use the word date loosely, it was more like a hookup) I moved into his crappy little apartment and we lived there for three years. Eventually we purchased a home of our own together. Marriage was discussed and in the early days we agreed that neither of us needed it.

As most women seem to do, I changed my mind on that decision. I so wanted to get married for many years before it actually happened. Before we bought the house I struggled with the decision of whether or not to leave. I tried and I tried to decide if the “piece of paper” was that important to me. We are not religious people so the marriage with just that, a civil union. Did we really need the government’s sanction of our relationship?

I decided that it was the man that I wanted and I didn’t need the marriage to be with the man so we bought a house. Six months later he proposed. We were married five months after that. When we got married we had been together for five and a half years. The rest of the story is pretty typical. After a year of marriage we started trying to get pregnant and had minor difficulties. After a year we succeeded and now we have a 9-month old red headed little boy.

I look around and I am surrounded by these orange haired men. One big and one small. They both have all the typical traits of red heads-pale skin, freckles and a serious temper. And I love them both immensely.

My husband is a funny guy. He jokes a lot and I am less charmed by his sense of humor the longer we are together. He can push my buttons and make me madder, faster than anyone else on this planet. But the times when I relax and don’t let the worries and burdens of family life overcome me, he is a source of great joy in my life. He’s silly and goofy and a wonderful father. He loves me despite my generally grumpy demeanor.

I see my husband in my son, both in how he looks and his own silly little personality and I can’t imagine my life surrounded by any other color.

ImpostorMom is a 29 year old new mother, wife and professional. A long time lurker on many popular blogs, she recently plucked up the courage to start her own blog. She writes about the trials of new motherhood and life in a college town. You can read her blog at ImpostorMom.

This has been brought to you by the October Blog Exchange! This month, our theme was “ORANGE or BLACK.”

Make sure you come see Chelle over at ImpostorMom, you never know what you might learn over there