Book Worm

We have been working on some sleeping schedules with Soren lately - and since he is a healthy, energetic little guy sleeping isn't high on his agenda.  Nope! Playing trucks, pulling wagons, collecting sticks and climbing - those things are on his agenda.  Which means... when our wee one is attempting to snooze, the apartment has to be quiet.  No doing dishes, sweeping floors or even starting laundry.  Which, as it turns out - is a great thing for momma.  I am back to the books and I have recently put away four great titles in no time flat.​

First, Kerry Reichs What You Wish For.  Kerry Reichs is the daughter of Kathy Reichs, the creator of the Bones sitcom series (originally a forensic fictional book series...).  Kerry isn't a far stretch from her intelligent and snarky mother.  The book circles around people leading very seperate lives and in very different circumstances trying to start a family.  A beautiful read.  Another beautiful read, which I thought for certain would bore me in the first 50 pages - The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Murphy.  This is Patricia's first work of fiction and is wonderfully researched and artfully written.  Since our pregnancy and birth, I have been a gluten for birth stories.  This book is full of them!  But takes place in the 1920s after the depression and Patricia did a wonderful job describing the political and social situation at the time.  I won't give anymore away - it's an amazing read.​

Then come Aldous and Hermann.  These two lie back to back beautifully - literally.  The dark, humanitarian and scientific Brave New World paves the way for the artfully written Siddhartha.  I totally recommend these two together and with a toddler and all the life changing events my family has had in the past 3 years - these thoughtful reads were welcomed.  ​

Crack a spine and take an adventure.  Enjoy!​

Smell of Fall

I love Fall!  What about you?!  ​

I have always loved fall, BUT more now than ever.  The smell reminds me of fresh starts (since my annual schedule has always begun in late August, early September), cozy sweaters, scarves, bonfires, and apple cider.  And now - the smell reminds me of carrying our little boy.  The pregnancy was a remarkable time in my life, little did I know that motherhood wound be that much better.  The smell reminds me of my first consistent contractions on a Sunday, pre-labor symptoms on Monday and a Tuesday mic hang and May Festival choir set up followed by my water breaking.  Labor for about three days and then we were ready.  I worked through it all (with a LOT of Rick's help!) - walked around and kept moving which was a good thing since Soren was ALL back labor that landed me on all fours in the hospital bed.  Rick coached an amazing natural birth and my Mom got there just in time to snap shots and give me an extra push to get through transition.​

The smell of Fall reminds me of well,  smelling Soren for the first time and looking into his brand new eyes, finally understanding what living is really about.  It's precious and quick, warm and complicated​, and perfect. 

LIke this brand new babe, November 17, 2010 - ​

and this perfect team - ​

his perfect scoots outside - ​

perfect steps before his first birthday - 

To riding tractors - ​

But more than anything, these guys - these guys, are perfect...​

Patching for the Weekend

Even though - this is still technically my weekend, I was just far too excited to share our Pumpkin/Raspberry picking experience to wait!​

Rick found a great patch to hit up, Irons Fruit Farm - we picked raspberries, pumpkins, fed the goats, ate some apple fritters, doughnuts and cider, hayride out to the patches and even oinked at the pigs!  We had a blast - thanks guys for the great day!  Looking forward to visiting some more this fall!

after raspberries - comes pumpkins…and some goats!​