Switching Gears

I recently thought through the flow of our communication over the years  of our marriage. Not the communication between Thomas and I, but the communication to keep the whole world up to date on our lives. Because apparently I think our lives are that interesting. Welp, here is a run through our last 11 years.

For years I sent emails to keep everyone posted about Thomas military stuff and his deployments. 5 actually. I was nuts.

I finally got smart and moved it to a blog format.
Long Sleeves in a Short Person World (right here!)
This blog was more about every day life such as good food, freezer cooking, gardening, books, adventures and travel.

We then Moved to a different blog.
The Invention of Tiny Toes
This was the years of our lives when we were in the thick of infertility and you all lovingly walked the road of treatments and appointments with us. 

I came back here to Long Sleeves in a Short Person World for a season to track Adlers first 11 months. I never did get that 12th month written. 😂 Maybe some day? Probably not.

Honestly, most of our daily life is lived on Instagram or Facebook. Seriously the easiest platform for a young mom! So you can join us there to see all the Kucera adventures!

It has been so fun looking back at the seasons of communication I have had with you all. And I wanted to tell you about the next season I am moving in to that aligns naturally with the way we have been leaning.

The 5 years it took for us to grow our family, we intentionally cleaned up the way we ate to more whole non processed foods. We aren’t perfect and strive for an 80-20 balance. In our homes we are intentional about what we eat. (Guys I have been meal planning for the first time ever and love it!) The 20% consists of eat some out, eating some organic sugar (I made a chocolate cake with coconut sugar and flaxseed today!!), and eating things we don’t normally eat in our home, at other people’s houses. Because of our intentionality we feel awesome and can definitely feel a difference when we eat crappy food too often!

The other thing we intentionally researched and cleaned up, were the toxins in our homes. Yes these are cleaning products. And so much more! Not just the shampoos and toothpastes, but the toys Adler plays with, plastic ware, microwaves, chlorine in our shower water, and even the pillows we sleep on! There are so many toxins in our homes you all! 

We started using Young Living almost 5 years ago. It has made a world of difference for us! Honestly is has saved us so much money because I never go to Target any more! 😂 How do these 2 things tie together? Young Living is a company that started with just the purest of pure essential oils and moved to adding in all the pruducts that we used to use that were full of toxins that are now toxin free and boosting our immune systems! 

That being said, I am switching platforms again. With intentionality of living, another part of simplifying our lives was realizing that I only have so many hours in my day! And this is something that I want to share about. Yes, you will still get some pictures of my kiddo mixed through out it too! You probably won't see me over here on this blog much any more. If ever. Ok maybe if we have another kid I can do a full 12 months for them. Or maybe I will only make it to 6 months. Stretch goals!!!

I am so close to getting my website SimplifyLifeandOil.com up and running! And a part of it will be where I can blog again! Yes I will be sharing about how to incorporate young living oils into your daily routine to give your body the extra boost it needs to live your very best life. I will also be sharing why to switch out the current soaps and cleaners you use now, with YL. If those two things haven’t already reeled you in, I will also be sharing how to switch out the toxic things in your home with non toxic things like cookwear, tampons (yep ladies, even those!), paper towels, and air fresheners. And I will be sharing about how I use oils on Adler, which products Thomas reaches for daily, and of course little bits of our lives as well. All the things I have researched over the years and wish someone shared with me!!

So head on over and sign up for my free guide to which oils I use daily. SimplifyLifeandOil.com It will keep you connected to me to hear all the random thoughts you have been listening to for the past 11 years. 

Just another way to stay connected and share what is on my heart these days to my favorite people. 

And here are a few pictures of our day, because most of you are probably reading all the way to the bottom in hopes that you will see Adler's face. Hehe.

Adler's Eleventh Month

~ Monthly Letter ~

Dear Adler,

Buddy, you are just my favorite. I adore it when you crawl out of your bed, open the door, and come find me after nap time. I can hear you when you wake up and every step from you to me. Which is so fun anticipating your little face popping around the corner!

We went camping with Grandpa Ger, Aunt Stevi, Uncle Clay, Aunt Clara, and Uncle Drew the weekend before Labor day and I am so glad we got a bigger tent! We needed it because it was so dusty dirty, that it wasn't much fun to play in. You love riding on the scooter with dada though. Your sleep is iffy while camping, but you sleep on the car rides to and from, really well!

You learned how to look at me from under your eye brows during the camping trip and it totally cracks me up. You also learned how to open the desk drawers.

Your walker has been awesome. You have mastered it all except turning it. You now walk down the living room and toss a book here and a book there.

Your sleep this month was interesting. You ate a ton for a while there at night and didn't eat as much during the day. Which means you were up to nurse often at night. You were even waking up at 2am for a while, but then you let me sleep until 8.

You say. "Oooohhh." with an awed face often. Everything is amazing all over again with your Oohhh face. You also woke up one morning and shook your head no. Then you figured out how to fake laugh to elicit real laughter out of adults. You are milking that for all it's worth. All in the same day, you also are mastering walking while only holding one of dada's hands.

You got your first fat lip today when trying to go down the first step of the deck face first.

One of the things you do after we nurse when you aren't quite ready for a nap, is you grab one hand, than you search for the other. Once you have both of them, you hop off my lap and walk me over to the mirror. You look up at me until I lean down and put my face next to yours in the mirror and then you smile really big.

We went back down to San Diego to visit everyone. The night I taught a class, you literally fell asleep in my arms and slept for the night, you were so tired. We also visited the Ocean and you threw up in it from choking on a piece of dried fruit (lesson learned). You had a blast playing with your cousins. And you TOOK YOUR FIRST STEPS! It was toward Jeff and then 3 days later you walked back and forth between your Auntie Lys and me again and again.

You have been getting more and more adventurous and as you walk along something you will just let go and keep walking. You balance really well and will walk and then stop, balance, and then walk again.

You also have pooped on the potty twice this month! I saw the signs and hustled to the bathroom. You had seemed constipated and you actually seemed more comfortable going on the toilet then you did crouched in the living room. Go figure.

Eating has been fun. You still love all things fruit. You will eat different meats, tortillas, some veggies, but you are not a fan of pastas or breads really. Although at the nursery last week, you did take a handful of puffs out of another girls cup and went back for more.

I took out all of your 18 and 24 month clothing and phased out all of your 12 month stuff. Clearly the 24 month stuff is still a little big, but you wear it well.

Your communication is pretty fun. You say mama, da da, yeah, dewy dewy, and then of course you whine when you want something and we haven't helped you get it yet. We are working on that of course.

You mastered crawling backward down the stairs. I don't trust it 100% yet, but I let you do it to get more confident. You also LOVE your tractors and any car that moves. You play with it forever. And the balls under the couch. Your new favorite game. You sit at the edge and push every ball under the couch and then lay on your stomach to make sure they are all there.

You are so funny. Every time I look at you ever since you decided that you can make people laugh at you by fake laughing, you have the cutest grin with your jaw kinda crooked. When I smile or make faces back at you, you just giggle.

You truly are such a joy. I adore spending more and more time with you, both learning and doing fun things like rolling the ball back and forth and putting the ring on the pin. Your dada is counting down the days until he gets to stay home with you every day too!

Love,
Mama

~ Monthly Photos ~

 As I look through these pictures, my observations are that you have SO MANY faces!
And you are exploring everything in our house to the max.
And you play really well on your own.