It's been thrilling for me to now have two kids that enjoy books, though in different ways. Birdie is very excited about numbers and letters and her version of "reading" (reading and re-reading a certain book with us until she has it memorized). Teddy enjoys books that have recognizable symbols that he can name. So we're big on alphabet, number and word books. I thought I would share the four that are on heavy rotation and get a lot of love around here

Dino Block by Christopher Franceschelli - This is our "bedtime" book and we all have it memorized. It's such a fun, quick (thank goodness) and colorful read. Teddy and Birdie both love it.

My first book of Nature by Alain Gree - Birdie absolutely adores this book especially since we've been talking a lot about the changing seasons. She can name every single symbol and she's very proud of that fact. 

Alphabet by Alain Gree - Another book by Mr. Gree and it's chock full of gorgeous illustrations. Both the kids love this one and it's great in the car too as a "busy book."

One Thousand Things by Anna Kovecses - this is a great "preschool" book. It's starts out on a basic level and gets progressively more challenging as you go on. Another book we rotate in the car. 

I'm finding that getting books for kids in this age group (two and four) is not as easy as it may seem. It's a bit of trail and error until you figure out what length, comprehension level and subject matter your kids prefer. For Birdie and Teddy they're both past board books but any book with more than one sentence per page doesn't hold their concentration. These four are just perfect and ones that we've been enjoying all summer.

making: all the pumpkin things - bread, waffles, coffee, pancakes and muffins. I cannot get enough!
cooking: soups, lots of soups. As soon as the temperatures dip below 70 I'm all about slow cooker meals and anything that has the word "simmer" in the recipe.
drinking: coffee. Way too much coffee, with a dash of pumpkin spice creamer.
wanting: to go apple picking but only if it's chilly. We went a few years ago when it was still in the mid 80's and I did not appreciate all the sweating.
looking: at my "autumn" pinterest board that gives me all the warm and fuzzies.
wasting: flour on baking. Though I suppose it's not really wasted because we all enjoy eating it so much.
wishing: for snow this Christmas. I wish!! I wish!!
enjoying: this new stage in our family's life. It's a busy one but a full and exciting one too.
waiting: for it to get cold enough for us to make a fire in the fireplace.
liking: the gaucho trend. I've been on the fence for so long and then I got a pair from Madewell and never looked back!
wondering: if I can keep all these plates spinning without breaking any of them. Sometimes the anxiety is really overwhelming.
loving: being 30 so far!! I feel like it's just as good as everyone told me it would be!
hoping: for a rainy, cold and snowy autumn and winter. One can dream right?
marveling: at Teddy's vocabulary. He went from a handful of words at the beginning of this summer to being able to communicate just about everything he needs to at this point! Including saying "bwess uuu" if you sneeze. It's the cutest thing!
needing: a new hat. Not sure what kind but it's kind of become tradition that when the weather turns cold I add another topper to my collection.
smelling: all the fall scented candles. I literally cannot resist them. So far I've picked up some great ones at Target and Anthropologie.
wearing: tights! Finally!!
listening: to the country coffeehouse station on spotify, so good.
noticing: just how much all of our pets have grown in the last few months! Franny especially!
knowing: that I did my best.
thinking: about decorating for fall and eventually Christmas and I mean is there anything better to daydream about??
feeling: like growing up might not be that bad.
bookmarking: airbnb's to visit this fall. There are some fantastic ones in Nashville!
opening: a new jar of Nutella. I swore it off this summer but I couldn't resist it's siren call at the grocery store the other day!
giggling: with my husband. After a tough summer and start of fall it feels really good to just laugh.

No matter how many years go by the moment I hear the first five keys of "Easy Living" by Billie Holiday I'm instantly transported back... Back to that first September at the cabin. Before cable. Before wifi even. We had one car that Kevin took to work every day and there I was in a half empty house, covered in boxes and nothing but a record player to keep me company. So every day I would wake up, make myself a cup of coffee, pick out a handful of records and get to work unpacking. It was September in Virginia and the rain came down daily on that old roof of ours, making its own kind of music. There was one afternoon in particular where I just kept flipping the Billie Holiday record over and over as I stacked plates, mugs and bowls into cabinets. A candle flickered, raindrops lazily slid down the windows and I felt like life just couldn't get any better. And yet... something was stirring. Not exactly unrest, but an anxious sort of excitement over a little something that was bobbing up and down on the horizon.
Turns out that "little something" was a bald, dark eyed and absolutely perfect little girl. Gone were the days of puttering around the house as I pleased. Gone was the slow pace of life I had come to enjoy. Instead the very oxygen in the cabin was replaced by the spirit of a girl that I'm sure will light up every room she enters her whole life. She was everywhere - from the piles of laundry that sat on the sofa way too long, to the boxes of take-out in the trash to the pacifiers, bottles, diapers, blankets, hats, wipes and tiny onesies that seemed to turn up just about everywhere. At times I felt overwhelmed by it all, the newness, the way it felt like being thrown out of orbit. Everything was new, my whole life felt like being stuck at the peak of the learning curve. I'll never forget the bitterly cold morning I braved taking her to the park by myself only to be reduced to tears while trying, unsuccessfully, to collapse the stroller to the tune of my baby's hungry cries.
And I learned and messed up and learned some more and slowly but surely found my feet. We found our sweet spot, a routine that worked so well. And life began to slow down, to hum along to a new tune - a sweeter one. There were two of us now, it felt good. Felt right. And then as life would have it... a surprise. There would be another. We would do it all over again. The nine months of growing bigger and bigger. The sleepless nights. The tiny onesies. The bottles and pacifiers. One unseasonably warm October morning he arrives, my perfect little bird. We adjust again. Make room. Our hearts grow ten sizes.
The last two years have almost felt a blur - so many firsts. He rolls! He sits! He walks! He talks!! He climbs and breaks things! The crib is gone now, replaced by a second toddler bed. I no longer say "my baby and toddler." I have two now, two toddlers that is. They sleep together, eat together, bathe together and lord knows they fight together too. And make the most hideous messes. And make their mama quite literally pull her hair out. Often in the last twelve months I would wonder if this is one of those "it gets worse before it gets better" moments of child rearing. The bedtime routine was killing us, the weaning off the pacifier and bottle was killing us, the fighting was killing us. Some days I felt like all I did was discipline and clean.
Then whispers of autumn danced across the tree tops and with the drop in temperatures came a change. Almost imperceptibly Teddy acquired quite a hefty vocabulary. He was no longer grunting as a way of making his requests known. He could now request a "don-dut" and "sack" (also known as donut and snack). He could say no and yes and "kawwy meeee" for when he didn't feel like going down the stairs. This discovery was like a magical salve that their brother-sister relationship desperately needed. Instead of starting the morning screaming at each other Birdie will now walk up to Teddy and say "Come on Teddy let's go play in our room," he'll bellow "OKAYYY!!" and they'll walk off hand in hand. And I will be undone. Again and again. I will come undone again as I walk up to the door of the nursery at night and hear them talking to each other, mostly Birdie talking and Teddy just saying "I do!!! Okay!!! Yeah! I do!!" And I am undone every Tuesday and Thursday when they greet each other after Birdie comes home from school with the most heartbreaking embrace and race upstairs to play in their room.
Every day now I feel like I'm needed less and less. I still have it in my mind that "perhaps I can squeeze in some laundry while they nap" but it turns out I can do laundry while they're awake. And I can meal prep too, do work, clean and occasionally even read or write. And the funny this is it's bittersweet. I desperately look forward to morsel of "me time" and yet every time I find myself with a free hour or two I feel out of place in my own skin. I haven't "rocked a baby" in months, in fact it's rare I carry either one of them. I no longer spend 45 minutes of my day mixing homemade goat milk formula. The swaddle blankets lie in plastic bins in our garage and I'm getting six to seven hours of sleep every night. And I love it, but I miss it too. Can you feel homesick for a time instead of a place? Because every so often I miss the weight of a baby in my arms. I miss the way their neck smells and those gummy smiles. I wouldn't trade what we have for anything but I'll always love what we had too. Even if I took it for granted when I had it.
So when the sky was gray the other day and that familiar tune trickled out of my iphone while my two kids fought over the red crayon in jar that had about a dozen I had to smile. How far we have come. How much has changed. And I still feel like life couldn't get any better... Though I suppose I could use a few more whole crayons.