I made it through the month’s challenge of getting to bed around 11. There was one night that I went to bed past midnight, but it was a Saturday and I felt the need to live on the wild side. It was actually a lot harder to make it to bed at a reasonable time, which I attribute to a slight addiction to all 5 seasons of Friday Night Lights and Downton Abbey. I’m pretty sure I need a no TV challenge in the near future.

At the beginning of the month Porter evidently took up a sleep challenge too and started sleeping through the night. Woohoo!! He did great too, only waking a few times in the middle of the night for teething pains. Now that my body has had a taste of regular undisturbed sleep, it wants more. There will certainly be earlier bedtimes on a regular basis, maybe even 10pm, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

March has arrived in Boise with snow flurries and tulip leaves breaking through the soil. I’m busy planning my Victory Garden for this summer and getting ready for Spring, which starts in just a few weeks. Thank goodness for that! This month’s challenge will require a different kind of discipline than the last two months (Spend Less and Sleep More) and should prove to be enjoyable.

Everyday for the month of March I plan on taking a photo with my nifty new white Lumix camera (it does video too!) and posting it to the blog. The only requirement that I’ve put on this assignment is that it not be a photo solely of my son Porter. Of course I will continue to take pictures of him, but it wouldn’t be much of a challenge if I didn’t try to actually photograph new and exciting people and places.

Day 1
Outside the Boise Library! It was snowing, and I’ve found that snow photos are much more dramatic in black and white.

Bike Racks

This is usually a large copper sculpture with caveman hieroglyphics on one side. Today in the snow, however, it turned into a snow bunny.

Looking at the giraffes.

So this is what real giraffe animal print looks like.

Big one and little one.

This was his face when he first saw the lions.

Lioness. Just a big kitty, right?

Penguin Flyby

The saddest animals at the zoo, according to Luke.

He liked it!

 We’ve also been going for daily bike rides with the iBert bike seat. Porter loves it and loves getting to sit up front where all the action is and I find there’s plenty of space to ride comfortably. It’s also great having him on the front because it keeps the bike more steady than if he were on the back. He’s also able to turn around and give me kisses, which is tender too. We are having so much fun these days. I love that he’s getting older and we’re able to be more active. Love my life!

Much like a diet gone wrong, I’ve been on a bit of a shopping bender for the last 24 hours. Porter’s made out pretty well, and so has my friend Suzy’s unborn baby girl. I currently have a lot more gratitude for the ability to simply go out and get pretty much whatever we need and much of what we want. I never claimed to be perfect, but I will gladly call myself a work in progress.

Through the month I learned to really think before I purchase anything and I’m going to try to make a regular challenge through the year to not buy anything. There is also less of a burden, somehow, but I’m not sure in what way. Maybe it was the lack of Amazon boxes that needed breaking down and recycling, or the knowledge that we actually saved a boatload of money. Yeah, that’s probably it. Here’s to continuing to make conscious purchases from here on out. For those of you who are into blogs, I found solace through January by reading The Zero Waste Home blog. Check it out.

Now for February’s challenge, sleep more. As you know I have a child who has dramatically altered my sleeping habits. As in, what’s a weekend? Sleeping in? How does 6-7am sound, everyday? I’ve also blogged about my serious lack of sleep, and therefore sleep training, here. My goal then, is to get to bed by 11pm every single night of the month, weekends included. Luke and I are night owls, so 11pm seems like a decent hour for us. Porter is getting better at sleeping through the night, and if we get lights out by 11pm I have the potential of getting 8 hours of sleep. I know mommy friends, it’s almost too good to believe.

In the last 3 days I’ve already met that goal with better organization and routines through our day. I’ll let you know how it ends up in March. I’m also making a list of other 30 day challenges and am a few short to fill up the year, so if you have any good ideas leave them in the comments or drop me a line on Facebook.

I mentioned that I’m working towards getting a routine down during the week with Porter. He’s currently transitioning from 2 naps a day to one nap a day, which frees up more time in the morning for fun. So far we’ve gotten into story time at the Boise Library! called Bloomin’ Babies, we are going this weekend to pick up our zoo passes, afternoon bike rides with our awesome iBert bike seat (pictures to come) and, thanks to the local mall, Porter and I are now mall walkers. He pushes his stroller around and then we go play at the sweet indoor play area that has padded climbing toys and floors and doesn’t allow shoes. I’m hoping all this fun stuff will make him nice and sleepy at night time so when 11pm rolls around I can get a full night sleep too.

Last weekend we took our first winter hike, snowshoeing, up past Idaho city with our friends and family. It was great fun, beautiful, scenic, freezing cold and Porter hated every second of the actual hike. His screaming didn’t bother me because the crunching of the snow beneath my shoes and beauty of the forest was lovely. I don’t think Luke got to enjoy it quite as much though.

I wanted to get a picture of Porter in a tizzy, but turning around to snap photos is pretty difficult on a narrow trail in snowshoes. I will say that we enjoyed our nice comfy car picnic with Lucy, while Chelsea and Shaun tried out their new cross country skis, and Anna and Micah trekked into the deep woods and back.

We finished the day with lunch at Trudy’s Restaurant in Idaho City. Even though it wasn’t the snowshoeing adventure we had planned, it was still a grand time had by all. We plan on trying it again, maybe closer to home and later in the day when it’s a little warmer. We will conquer the winters here in Idaho with some sort of outdoor activity, I just know it!

At the beginning of our short hike. Luckily it’s easy to walk with the baby backpack and snowshoes.

Lucy got pulled in the Kinder Sled. She wasn’t a big fan, but I could definitely be into it.

Trail packed by cross country skiers and snow shoers. I love the forest in winter.

Everything was fine and dandy when we returned to the car and had a picnic.

Getting some QT with auntie Anna and Quila.

Micah, Anna and Porter

Tuckered out.

Speaking of walking around. Today was like spring time here in Boise, so Porter and I spent the afternoon outside in the sun. First we took a stroller walk and then Porter got to walk around the block with the Radio Flier. I loved every moment: the sun, warmth, smiley neighbors, and especially the “big boys” across the street who came and showed Porter their toy airplanes. He was in heaven and it took 25 minutes to walk past that single house.

Sportin’ the sweet red Converse kicks from Lucy. They fit PERFECTLY and match the Radio Flier!

The kitties like to walk with us too.

Taking a break to let mommy get in on some Radio Flier action.

I love his stance in this picture.

You can’t see it, but under his right hand is a pebble that he insisted on carrying home with us. He wouldn’t let me put it in the wagon, he HAD to hold it in his hand. I’m so excited to see what comes home in his pockets when he gets older! My most favorite part of this day (despite Porter’s multiple melt downs from a changing sleep schedule and teething) was when we shared an apple. It was the epitome of tenderness.