Moonshine Junkyard

Ahhhh FALL. We appear to be having a real fall this year, just in case anyone wondered how I was doing with my dry-September-ennui. Well, I'm doing pretty darn wonderfully. Our weather has cooled and we've had a couple rains, which also helped put out the massive raging King Fire that burned almost 100,000 acres of our gorgeous wild forest land just northeast of here. Right in time for the equinox I took my first trip to Apple Hill of the season. Both girls fell asleep in the car, and my dad waited with them while I bought a caramel apple and a bag of various types of apples. Then he took a turn and came back with kettle corn and apple doughnuts. By then Polly had awoken so we hung out in the orchard letting her enjoy the afternoon and the one-on-one attention. She points and waves all the time now. She gets so excited to see new things and point at them. Papa just gets a huge kick out of everything my babes do! It was still in the 80s th

Nighttime is sweet. Darin gets Lucy to bed; I take Polly. They usually have a bath together first, around 8 pm, then Lucy wants about a million books but Polly just wants to nurse and have peace and quiet, so we go into separate rooms. I bring Polly back into our bedroom a little later and she sleeps in our bed. Both wake up for snuggles several times a night. Lucy sleeps in her own bed, next to ours. Darin ends up spending much of his sleeptime there.  I like to have them close at night; I like the smell of them and the feel of their breath. My mom asked me if I miss sleeping and cuddling next to just Darin. I said not really because we both know this won't be a very long period of time in our lives. We have a lot of years to snuggle just each other, and we'll be missing these babes. Nighttime is good for me. I like to get things cleaned up and organized. I come up with ideas; I write in my journal, list things I want to do this week. I might make a

Sometimes I am grumpy and impatient. Sometimes I eat ice cream every single night. Sometimes the house is a total disaster. Sometimes my babies have colds, luckily not very often. Sometimes I am wayyyy sleep deprived. Sometimes Darin doesn't get a day off. And yet sometimes we run completely out of money. Sometimes I hate my hair and get a very serious urge to shave my head. Sometimes wildfires burn thousands of acres because it's so hot and dry. Sometimes naptime doesn't work and everyone is cranky. But.... Sometimes I know I am a good mom. Sometimes I feel pretty. Sometimes I get everything done I need to do. Sometimes we have a fun, adventurous day together and the babies get to go to a splash pad for their first time, and also ride a merry-go-round (merry go wheel). And always, always, even in the hard moments, I am so grateful for this little family of mine.

I already have a bit of nostalgia for this summer passing. The summer I had two little babies.  The night before the kids went back to school:  I considered taking down my pool this week. Then I saw that it's going to be in the nineties for the remainder of the ten day forecast. So up it stays.   A little river wander. We took some photos for my dear friend Becky's new endeavor, beautiful handmade changing pads. Her company is called Fawn and Cub . If you have IG you should follow her there: thefawnandcub, for sweet pictures of baby and child and nature and adventure. And then up to the lake to join friends for the summer's last camping/swimming trip. Things change so fast. Too fast! I love the passing seasons, but everything is more poignant with a baby.