realizing something about this fall

It's the middle of summer, one that I've really looked forward to for several reasons.
1. I'm not pregnant this time, sweating around in my giant maternity clothes.
2. I'm not recovering from a c-section, again, sweating as I make the effort to get my body moving again.
3. I'm not unpacking after having just moved into a house.

All these things I've done in summers past are lovely, wonderful, life-altering things, but they are things I prefer to do as few times as possible.

But back to my main point... In the middle of this unremarkable, and therefor very enjoyable, summer, I find myself thinking about the next autumn season. It's never been my favorite because as a child I didn't like the back to school anxiety. As an adult I don't like to day goodbye to long, hot days full of sunshine. The approach of the busy winter season sometimes makes me antsy too. I do like fall, for its own good things. Pumpkin muffins, wearing boots, Halloween, blankets, a return to my activities with MOPS and church bible studies. I'm now realizing how very different and wonderful this upcoming fall season will be. It's a sit back and enjoy season, not one that is full of anticipation, questioning or adjusting. Fall 2009 we dove into the process of starting the expansion of our family. Exciting, yes. Relaxing? No.

Fall 2010 we had a new baby in our family. I was beginning to hit my stride, but it was just so much newness all at once. Memorable and wonderful, yes. Peaceful and confident? No.

Fall 2011 we suddenly found ourselves thinking about baby #2 and the bigger house that we would require. We went into hyper overdrive, getting our house ready for sale, looking for a home. Made me want to giggle with anticipation and expectation for what the next year would behold? Yes. Carefree? No.

Fall 2012, we had the new baby and the new house. Life was good, we were on a new track. Each day was another lesson in finding out how to make our new normal work. I overcommitted to a few too many activities in response to my desire to have a new normal. I backed off a little. Go forth, assess, adjust. Go forth, assess, adjust. Watch toddler grow into a preschooler. Watch infant grow into a baby. Hold breath a little bit every time I tried something new, wondering if I'd have the kind of easy going baby that would just go along with being dragged around to other big kid activities. Let that breath out every time it worked or didn't work. Hard work and big rewards, yes. Total rest and trust in our new life? Not completely yet.

And now here we are, approaching fall 2013 and it feels really good. Yes, there are new things to give me that little skip of anticipation. Starting two days of preschool a week for Levi. Being on the leadership team with MOPS. Teaching Wendy how to talk. But I'm so excited for these things. I love how different each fall has been over the past four years and how they seem more and more special as I reflect on them.

And this ends my mid-summer's day contemplation on a season still one month and many swimming suit days away.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone. Not reviewed or edited for typos. Sorry about that.

pretty

Levi was watching me look through my recent issue of Parents magazine. He points to the beautiful blond woman in the beauty products section.

"Look, there's a mommy!" he tells me.
"You think that's a mommy?" I ask

"Yes."

"She's a very pretty mommy," I point out.
"Yes."

"Do you think mommies are pretty?" I ask him.
"Yes. You're pretty, Mommy."

little monkey see, little monkey do

Every evening, after dinner, we have dance party. That's us being silly in the family room with Pandora playing over the TV. Our current station is built on the song I'm a Gummy Bear. So, yeeeeah....

Anyway, whenever the screen goes into screen saver mode after a few minutes and starts spinning, Levi always wants us to stop the spinning so he can better see the cover art pictures.

Well, last night our little monkey see monkey do noticed the spinning screen before any of us did. She found the correct remote, pushed on the buttons until the spinning stopped, then returned the remote to its proper place. Uhh really?! She just turned one! My little baby is turning into a big girl fast.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone