All about Autumn

I love quiet, relaxing Sunday afternoons.  I'm sitting here in my comfiest sweats, half-watching Sense and Sensibility for the upteenth time and writing up a grocery list which includes tasty fall treats like squash and pears and a menu plan indicating stew and pumpkin pancakes in the near future.  Both boys are napping ... well, one is.  I can still here the littlest boy fighting off his nap, giggling in the monitor.  I can easily picture him laying on his back, feet straight up in the air, chubby little hands trying to grasp fuzzy socks, and aimlessley rolling to and fro in the process.  Hmmm, now the monitor has gone quiet.  Perhaps he's finally succombed to sleep.

And it's chilly.  The boys are sleeping with blankets now, or at least they start out that way, and those adorable footed jammies.  Unfortunately, the cold also means I end up with a few snotty noses in my photos, and it means waking up at night to the sound of sniffing and coughing coming from the boys' rooms.  Poor little Jude-bug has been dealing with a nasty cough for over a week now.  It's just starting to get better, but not until after I've spent two different nights in his room.  Let me tell ya, slumber parties with a baby are not nearly as fun as they were 15 years ago with my girlfriends.  And yet I still love the chilly weather.  I've packed up all the shorts.  The hoodies are out, which, if you remember from Jack's first winter, is our wardrobe of choice around here. 

And I actually use the hoods for more than just looks.  Someone asked why Jude's hood was up the other day.  To keep his downy head warm of course!  Okay, I will admit that when Jack was a wee babe I did keep his hood up because he was a little baldy.  I thought it made a good substitute for both looks and warmth.  But I have to confess, there is another reason I keep my son's hoods up when they're little.  I'm always afraid that during naptime, when they're rolling about in their beds, they may accidentally gag themselves on the hood.  So I put it up for naps ... and then end up forgetting to put them back down again.  And now that I've expended entirely too much energy on the hood, I'll move on to other favorite fall aspects.

Mums and pumpkins.  I feel like fall can't officially start until I get my mums and pumpkins on my porch.  And going out to get them always reminds me of the final days leading up to Jack's birth.  I still remember dragging Jon out to the store, waddling around the garden center when I was "great with child" and finally feeling ready for our new baby to come after we had the flowers and pumpkins set up on the porch.

Candles.  Love them.  So does Jon.  We've both make a bad habit of just "picking up a few" when we're out running errands.  Of course, the ones I buy are always on clearance!  But I'm glad my counterpart is a splurger because, as overpriced as it is, Yankee Candle's "Farmer's Market" might be my most favorite scent in the whole world.  Just light that thing and the entire atmosphere of our house changes.  The temperature drops a few degrees, I'm suddenly in the mood to make something from scratch, and even our over-sized den begins to feel cozy and snug.

But of courses, a candle is just a substitute for the real thing.  The real aroma of autumn.  The most delicious rotten smell ... of leaves! 

Our neighbor was out raking the other day, complaining that as soon as he was done more leaves would fall down and need raked up the next day.  I didn't want to appear smug, otherwise I would have explained to him that after 4 years of living at the beach, I had been counting down the days until enough leaves were on the ground to rake into a huge pile. 

Not only was I intent on teaching Jack the skill of leaf-pile-jumping, but I had this long-formed dream of dressing both my boys in matching sweaters and snapping pictures of them smiling in a pile of colorful leaves. 

That dream remains unfulfilled for several reasons... Jude hasn't yet learned to sit up on his own, he also still needs to grow into the sweater I bought him that matches Jack's (back in the early stages of pregnancy when I thought I might end up with another large baby), and the leaves around here are dull brown, not colorful. To top it all off Jude's not really a fan. 

As soon as he woke up from his nap I ran him out the door and plopped him in the leaves with Jack.  Ensue screamfest.  "Ohhh sweet baby Mommy's sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!"  There are no pictures because I scooped him right back up and tried to calm his shaking self.  He was a little tense from the whole ordeal and it was several hours before he finally released the last bit of crispy leaf clenched in his tiny fist.

And I'm reminded once again of how different these two little boys are... and how much I adore them both and all their little differences!