Have I mentioned that I love Fall?

It's by far my favorite season. I love the cool days and cold nights. I love the sound of the leaves crunching under my feet. I love fires and s'mores and Thanksgiving and gorgeous fire-hued trees. And I love that my family loves it too.

This post is kind of a recap of the past week or so. I am both too lazy and too busy to separate these into individual posts. So, here you go.
We had more raking fun. This time, since Ry helped out, it was actually productive and we got the backyard cleared. Of course, we had lots of leaf fun first.

Look who's so proud of himself! Of course, he couldn't go anywhere, but he was still very satisfied.

Thank goodness for big brothers. They actually help a brother out, instead of just laughing and taking pictures.

And then tonight, after an impulse stop at the grocery store to buy s'more makings, we broke out the hats and jackets and enjoyed a gorgeous fall evening.

T showed off, and broke, his newly acquired helicopter.

And there was much s'more-age.

Ok, there was wine in juice glasses first, but there was definitely s'more-age.

And the whole family got in on the fun. Mmmmm. S'more-age.

Bouncing Big Boy

F had his 1 year check up Monday. As predicted, he's a bit on the large side. He weighed in at 24 pounds, 10 ounces and 31 inches long. That puts him in the 75th percentile for both. For reference, T was about the same height and two pounds lighter at a year.

He's right on track developmentally. He's still *this* close to walking, signs like a superstar (mostly that he's hungry) and want to do whatever his brother is doing. He's the sweetest boy I've ever met and I can't wait to see what kind of little person he is going to become. Boyhood, here we come!

He works hard for the money

We were walking into Target the other day. As we crossed the parking lot, T started spelling. "T -- A -- R -- G --." A woman standing in the door, stopped to watch him finish. "E -- T! That spells Target!" She gave him a big grin, reached into her pocket and handed him a dollar. "You earned that!" she said. It made my day.

Birthdays and other milestones

My baby turned 1 Wednesday. *Sniffle.* How would I describe F at this this moment? Joyful. He is ready to laugh, ready to smile, ready to play and ready to love at any moment. My little F is just beginning to hero-worship his big brother. T is also learning to love to play with him. I am beginning to see how two kids may be less work than one in the next year or so. They entertain each other! Who knew?F is my snuggler. He'll stop what he's doing, crawl over with a big smile on his face, and bury his chubby little face in my shoulder many times during the day. Yesterday morning, after his morning nurse, he snuggled in bed with me for a good 45 minutes. He laid on his back, side, belly, other side, and finally on my chest before dozing. Ahhhh, baby snuggles.

F has taken a step and a half, from the couch into my arms. He doesn't seem in a huge hurry to walk, but has gotten really good at standing on his own. He also doesn't say much, but is a baby sign-language champ. We always know when he's hungry and when he's done.

This may surprise you, but F is a champion eater. He chowed a slice of quiche that his brother gagged down yesterday. He hasn't met much that he won't eat, and even tried the pumpkin guts during our annual pumpkin lobotomy day. Tomorrow we'll find out what percentile he falls into, but since he's just shy of 25 lbs, I'm guessing "big."

He shares his brother's love of all things electronic. One of his favorite toys is the TV remote, which he grabs, points at the screen, and then looks at us, as if to say, "What's the deal?"

I'm in love. I look upon the end of his infancy with melancholy. I look forward to seeing what kind of child my chubby cherub is going to become, but I know my arms will feel empty when he's off running after his brother. Happy Birthday my little love.

And, now, some gratuitous cake pictures:

Want. Want.

Um. Yum.

Heh. Cake.

Get. In. My. Belly!

It's how we roll

Mommy, I want to rake!

The other day after I picked up the boys from school, T had a request. He wanted to rake. Why? Well, to put the leaves in a pile to play in of course! So, rake we did. And he had a blast. He kept insisting the pile wasn't big enough, so I had to bury him, just to prove that it was (and to keep my hands from blistering).

He lost interest in the pile pretty quickly, but we played outside some more. Doesn't he look sweet and vulnerable and beautiful in this picture? It's the un-posed pictures that best capture our boys. He was explaining a game they had played that day at school. It's pictures like these that remind me that he really is just a little boy.

Then, he had to play in the leaves some more. It's a good thing it was bath night, because I found leaves in places they ought not be.

F woke up, and wanted to join in the fun. Yes, he's barefoot. The school took his shoes off for a craft involving bare feet and green paint and it was 78 degrees out. So sue me.

He chased T's soccer ball all over the yard. He's this close to walking, but I don't think we're going to get there before his first birthday Thursday. That's OK by me though. He's slower on the ground.
Much fun was had by all. If we didn't exactly help Ry rake, we did make a few areas in the yard that will need a bit less raking. Maybe not. But we definitely had fun.

Well, it looked like fun

Today we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. It all started out nicely. T came down with a rotten cold yesterday, but he was crazy-excited to carve pumpkins and "light them up!" And so, he and Daddy scooped out their brains and commenced the carving.

F woke up from his nap and joined the fun. At this point, everyone was still in pretty good spirits.

We had a bit of a meltdown between pumpkins. When he doesn't feel good, T gets extremely whiny. We almost threw in the towel, but had already scooped out the guts ... so we charged on. Also, we bought a battery-powered carver this year, which made things much faster and much more awesome. Of course, everyone wanted to help.

Finally, the pumpkins were carved and we lit them up. T was tickled pink. Or. Orange.

We had to get the requisite family-with-pumpkin pictures.

Exhibit B.

And our final, carved, lit pumpkins.

Looking at the pictures, it looks like we had a great time. In reality, we had a miserable time, where T cried over everything (seriously, he cried because I carried the pumpkin instead of him). Oh well, at least the pictures are cute.

Is that what you think?

T: Mommy's a sock, Mommy's a sock, Mommy's a sock.

Me: T is a shoe, T is a shoe, T is a shoe.

T: Daddy's a tool, Daddy's a tool, Daddy's a tool.

My poor little guy

F has had a runny nose and cough for a couple weeks now. Last night, we noticed that he had started to wheeze. As an aside, it was a bit surreal to put my stethoscope on my baby and hear the telltale squeaky wheezing I learned about not so long ago. Anyway. I had an exam this morning, so Ry took him to the pediatrician.

Diagnosis? Acute bronchitis and lots of "junk" in his lungs. She prescribed an antibiotic, a steroid and a bronchodilator (via nebulizer). F is not so much a fan of the nebulizer. The weird part is that other than being a bit more snuggly than usual and waking himself up coughing, he's been his normal, happy, baby self. And it certainly hasn't affected his appetite. Today, he was 24 pounds, 15 ounces. Our boy likes to eat. And lately, he's started telling us so.

Excited? Hungry? Happy? Beats me

Usually whenever we point a camera at F, this is the face we get. One might assume then, that this means happy.

This is the face we get when he actually seems to be happy. It's accompanied by quick, little snorts and continues until you, also, make the face and accompanying snorts. He's a funny little guy.

A tale of two children

Tonight, as I put F to bed, he couldn't quite get comfortable. He squirmed around on my shoulder a bit before settling. Then, about one a minute, he'd lift his head and give me a big, open-mouthed baby kiss. Best. Bedtime. Ever.

Riding that high, I came downstairs to give T his bedtime hugs and kisses. Ry left the room and let me do the bedtime back scratches. After about 2 minutes, T's little voice piped up in the darkness. "Mommy, next time I go to bed, could you please not come in here? I want Daddy to do my back scratches." At least he asked me politely.

Something's gonna give

I continue to wish I had figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up a long time ago. I'm finding that I need 2 or 3 more hours in every day. Life lately has been especially chaotic, since F recently decided that he's afraid of anyone he hasn't known for at least a month. When I took him to the grocery store the other day, he cried at anyone who dared to look at him. By the time we get to the end of the week, he also wants me so badly that he tries to crawl back in. We tried to go out to dinner last Friday and it was an epic failure. He spent the entire meal plastered to my body, while he ran his tomato-sauced hands over everything he could reach.

To that end, I've been taking him into daycare later and pick him up earlier in the afternoons. It seems to be working, but at the expense of studying for the exam I have Friday. By the time the kids are in bed, the lunches are packed and the laundry has been moved I'm pretty much toast in the concentration department.

I'm not complaining. OK, I am complaining, but only a little. I knew what I was taking on when I decided to start over. I just second-guess myself a lot. Maybe I should put it off for a few years, until the kids are older. Maybe. But maybe I'm here, and I'm enrolled and I only have 19 more months until I'll have a degree and a job (hopefully) and some extra money to spend on fabulous vacations and a maid (or, you know, Little-League and piano lessons).

And now it's time to sleep. And dream of drug-receptor binding.

Sesame Street = Awesome

I don't know why, but Sesame Street has been particularly awesome lately. Three of my favorite things: Shoes, Sesame Street and Neil Patrick Harris.

Punkin Pickin'!

Fall is my favorite season. I love when the weather gets cool, the fall festivals start, and it gets to be time for pumpkin picking. Every year we look for the perfect substitute for Curtis Orchard to no avail. We still have a good time though.How tall this fall?

It was a beautiful, very windy day, and the pumpkins were ripe and ready.

T, of course, had to ride along to make sure our pumpkins didn't fall off the wagon. Aren't they nice?

And then, we took a trip to Sesame Place for the Halloween Spooktacular.

T and his friend Q walked hand-in-hand almost everywhere we went. It was super cute.

And F did his thing.

Today dawned another gorgeous day, so we packed up the kiddos and headed for what might be the last festival of the season.

F spent most of his time eating various leaves and twigs.

I despair of ever getting a really good picture of both the boys at once. This is as close as we got today.

T on a turtle.

Aren't they cute? F is pretty obsessed with noses and sunglasses these days.

T in the pumpkin patch.

And F in the pumpkin patch. Once again, no good pictures of them together. Sigh. But F is "so big!"

Sigh. At least 3 of us are looking at the camera.

My Mom tells a story

When I was just toddling, I had a toy, somewhat like the one above. It was wooden and solid, and I carried it around a lot. One day, my Dad was asleep on the floor when I toddled into the room. My mom said she ran to grab me, but couldn't quite make it as I raised the toy and quite rudely woke my Dad.

Last night, Ry was playing on the floor with the boys. F's favorite new toy is our TV remote, which he was carrying around. I heard Ry say, "Well, hi F," just as I saw F bean him out of the corner of my eye. I couldn't help it. I laughed for a good 5 minutes. I laughed to the point that tears were streaming down my face and my stomach hurts.

I guess some things don't change.

My favorite time of day

It's evening and it is bedtime. I take my little man upstairs and turn off the light. He nurses. It's more for comfort than nutrition these days. I watch his little limbs grow still and his eyelids get heavy. Then, at some unspoken moment, he starts to squirm. I lift him up and he snuggles into my shoulder. Many nights he's still sweet-smelling and damp from his bath. He squirms just a bit higher, so his head is tucked into the hollow of my neck. He's limp, like a sack of flour. He doesn't sleep, though his breathing grows deep and regular. We just sit in the dark and rock. Every once in a while, a sigh escapes his lips. He turns his head. And we rock. After a while, I stand and carry him to his crib. He is all but asleep now. I put him down, and he briefly opens his eyes while I stroke his cheek and whisper "I love you." Then I quietly leave the room and he sleeps.

Most nights, this is not the end. My big guy is still being tucked into bed. I go into his room for my goodnight hug and kiss. Then, I pretend to sleep on his sturdy chest. He starts to giggle and I request that my "bed" quiet down. Then the giggles turn to squirming. I lift my head and mush my "bed", imploring it to stop moving. I can't sleep on a squirming bed of course. More giggles. More squirming. I have to tickle my "bed" to get finally get some sleep. Then, I get to leave. I leave my amped-up boy to his daddy to calm.

It's my favorite time of day.

Guess what we did tonight?

It involved fire and sticks. And a picture that makes T look creepily like my Dad.

Yeppers, it's s'more season! This was T's first s'more experience, and he loved it.

He loved everything about it. He loved the fire. He loved the stick. He loved the roasting marshmellow. Mostly, he loved the sugar sugar sugar.

I also got in on the fun.

And F? Well, F got to have some graham cracker. We decided he should probably wait a year or two before he plays with fire.

Sesame Street Rocks

Mother of the Year

Yesterday, F crawled into the shower with me. He was already fully dressed for the day. I didn't change him. Instead, when we got to daycare, I warned the ladies that he was probably damp. Then, one of them, let's call her Jan, noticed something green in his mouth.

I looked, and sure enough, there was a pea from last night's dinner. I thought I got all the vegetable carnage off the floor, but I obviously missed at least one pea. "Oh well." I said. "He's probably sucked all the dirt off it by now, so I'll just let him finish it." Jan, who is older than me and has several children of her own, laughed.

The other woman, let's call her Annie, is quite young, single and childless. While Jan and I laughed, I heard her mutter, "Ew."

Perspective folks. It's a funny thing.

And now for a little celebration

I have just completed my first-ever nursing course! I haven't gotten my official exam score yet, but I'm pretty sure I completed Nursing 1 having only missed 2 questions on 3 exams. Feeling great!

So tonight (after I clean the house for the sitter) Ry and I going to celebrate by doing something extremely adolescent. We're going to see So You Think You Can Dance live. Have a lovely evening folks. I will. I just hope I can find an alcoholic beverage.

Fall's Must-Have Accessory

We went to a festival Saturday. There were lots of vendors selling crafty stuff and yummy treats. As we walked along, this guy caught our eye. What's that he's wearing?

Why, it's a dog-carrier! We asked the guy if we could take his picture. He told us we couldn't get the carrier anywhere, because his girlfriend made them. We got her website, if you're interested. Her one caveat? "You know this is only for a dog, not a child, right?" Um. Yeah. Got that.

I almost ordered one for my favorite stepmother, but decided that $30 was just too much for a gag.

The irony is not lost on me

R-E-D Spells RED!