Hi friends! I am feeling quite good today with my next book contract on my desk for book 4 - it's all so nerve wracking and exciting rolled into one heap of emotion! I've decided to work with Leslie Shewring since Decorate With Flowers is such a success and will soon be in 10 languages globally with the Japanese version due out in January. Plus, I love Leslie and working with her is so much fun. This time, we're doing something that will challenge us even more than Decorate With Flowers did so we can keep growing and building our strengths and so we can both learn from one another as we go, too. I love that part about writing, you are always learning as you research and build each page, one by one. Writing books became an even more rewarding career path for me as I had imagined when I was a little girl holding book signings in my bedroom with my dolls and bears. Speaking of dolls, yesterday we enjoyed Aidan's special day because he turned 10 months and like every month on the 9th (until his first birthday), we celebrate with a mini photo shoot and nothing but joy in our hearts. Here is little Aidan below in his room yesterday. Such a sweet little blue-eyed boy!

When I look into his sparkling happy eyes, I know 2014 gave me the missing link in my life. No more chasing rainbows or feeling like something is missing. My son is the greatest thing I've ever done and I'm so proud of that. I never "got it" when I used to hear other mothers wax poetic about their kids, it all sounded so over the top back then. Like maybe some moms were even a little cuckoo or smoking funny things. But now that I have a son, I totally get it. It's hard, it's beautiful, it's emotional, it's tiring some days, but it's way better than I had imagined and I feel like I can work better, harder and with more focus going forward because he is in my life. And next year I can't wait to travel with him - I just know it will be better than before because after awhile every city was looking like the last one and every hotel the same as the one before. He's definitely going to add a new dimension to travel when I start to see everything through new eyes. He'll be so excited when I show him landmarks and all of the things I take for granted. I needed that. I've been on the road for a long time seeing things in my own way so he just might prove to be a fresh dose of inspiration.

As I wrap up this year (I take vacation after December 15th until January 3), I can't help but feel really lucky to be alive, to have a blossoming 10-month-old son, to live in a great place, have wonderful friends both online and off, be doing what I love for a living and to have some very important and challenging projects planned for 2015, including the next book which we begin shooting soon. I'm also so grateful to have this blog and all of you because there is real meaning behind all of it for me. In January, I'll be celebrating my 9th anniversary as a full-time blogger. NINE YEARS. I remember when I started - so unsure, unsteady, but full of zeal and excitement for what blogs could become and wow - blogging has certainly exceeded even my high expectations.

I feel really good right now. There are many things that I need to improve, and I'm working on them slowly, but I'm content - a feeling I've not had in so long that I wonder if I've ever had it. I no longer feel like I'm going in a hundred different directions. Everything changed when I gave birth and the feeling of contentment, inner peace, has stayed with me ever since.

Content is my 2015 word. It's what I hope to maintain throughout the new year and into the future because it's a really great way to be.

What is your word for 2015? Why?

(image: holly becker)