Life Within the Cuckoo's Nest: LaFeber Life Lately: Beautiful Fall Days

Their new babysitter, Ms. Amy, took them on a field trip to the pumpkin patch! How cute is it that he has his arm around her on the train?!

As I was taking the kids for our usual afternoon walk, it felt official. FALL IS HERE! Out are all the scary Halloween decorations that we love to see and talk about as we stroll. Austin runs ahead and points out every pumpkin, every scary spider, and every skeleton. Evie happily munches on pretzels and cheerios as she sits in the stroller, taking it all in in her own way. FALL IS HERE!!!

I love the way he walks! Fists clenched, long strides, so determined...

Stopping to say hello to the scary garden gnome.

Counting all the pumpkins.

I haven't written in a while, mostly because I have to choose between writing and sleep, and sleep always wins. As usual, we have been busy and life seems to be ever changing as the beautiful fall leaves. If there's one thing you can count on, it's change! Sometimes I welcome it, and other times I dread the day when life won't be exactly as it is now. One of those times was the night when we had gotten the kids bathed and dressed in fresh pajamas, and then in sheer exhaustion Josh and I laid on the floor of Evie's room and just watched the kids play. Eve had a fun pink castle tent in her room at the time (which is now destroyed thanks to Austin...surprise surprise...) and both kids were having a ball playing in it together! Austin called it his temple and he held Evie's hand and helped her inside so the two of them could "get married and wear garments." hehe! They did this over, and over, and over, yet somehow the excitement of their wedding day never dimmed! That was a moment I could live in forever. There was also the fun moment when I took Austin to a Barre class in the park! Seriously, he was so adorable! He tried so hard to keep up with the exercises and was feeling like such a big boy! It made me smile every time I looked over at him :). Another moment I could have lived in forever.

Laying out our yoga mats.

Is this cute or what?! He tried so hard to do everything I did!

Other moments, not so much....

Like the day I was playing with the kids in the front yard and a neighbor walked by with her dog. I was helping Austin with his car and before I knew it, Eve had disappeared! She had followed the dog and was clear down the sidewalk just a foot away from the busy street! I screamed and ran, yelling for her to stop. That of course sounded more like "run Evie, go faster!" in her little brain so run she did! Luckily, nobody runs faster than a Mother who is about to watch her baby get squished by a car. I saved Eve just in time, only to turn around and find Austin completely naked and pooping on the sidewalk.... yep, that happened. Or how about the night when Josh went out to dinner with a friend, leaving me outnumbered with the offspring. I was doing pretty good and was feeling proud of myself until bath time. I had just gotten Evie out of the tub, dried off, lotioned up, and dressed. Next it was Austin's turn but I made the rookie mistake of getting the toothbrushes out first. In just the second that it took to pull them out of the cabinet, Evie had crawled back into the bath tub, jammies and all. And let's not forget the day Austin decided to shove a cotton ball up his nose! The kid was supposed to be taking a nap (ha) but instead came downstairs sneezing like crazy! I gave him a tissue and ordered him back to bed, but then had the thought to ask him why he suddenly can't stop sneezing (always ask!). He informed me all nonchalantly that he tore apart his teddy bear and thought it would be fun to take out the stuffing and shove it up his nose!! Yep, that happened. We blew and blew, and he sneezed and sneezed, until it finally all came out. THANK GOODNESS!!

Austin is also in the fun stage of talking back. Yay. When did it become okay for kids to grow up and think for themselves? If I say, "Austin! go upstairs to time out!" he yells back, "YOU go upstairs to time out!" Or how about the time we were on a walk and I said, "Austin, you have to look out for cars!" and he responded with, "No Mom, you have to run away from them..." in a totally annoyed tone that I could possibly be that stupid. Lots of fun....

Basically we are constantly caught up in a state of sheer joy, sheer exhaustion, sheer love, and sheer pain. Sometimes you can feel all four at once! Other times they rotate every 15 minutes, sometimes an hour. I'm not sure how that's possible, but it is. Whenever I find myself about to lose my mind, I try to remind myself that fall is here and someday I will find myself sight seeing alone. Someday I won't have a cute little boy to chatter with or a sweet baby girl to chauffeur around. Someday those special moments will be just a memory. We are going to have some really beautiful memories....