The leaves are changing, the weather is cooling, and sweater season is quickly approaching! Just kidding, I live in Las Vegas and none of that is happening here. Not that I haven’t been pretending it is. Turning the thermostat down at night so that I’m freezing in the morning when I wake up… putting pumpkin spice in my coffee every morning…sipping moscow mules by the fire at night…buying a faux fur throw for the bed… Shoot I even baked a casserole last night. Fall is in full swing in our household… as long as you don’t actually leave the house and head out into the 102 degree desert known as Nevada.

Blogging has taken a back seat because as it turns out, being a student//mother//housewife//attentive granddaughter//friend//blog writer//person that occasionally needs some time to herself is really hard to do all at once. This semester has already quickly reminded me as to why I don’t take more than a couple of classes at a time and the idea of finally being a college graduate is the only reason I haven’t dropped my course load yet. But let’s be real, nobody likes talking about school for more than a couple of sentences, so moving on to other news…

I may be the 100th billion mother to say this, but I think that my kid is one of the smartest children that I have ever met. As the terrible twos temporarily subside (kind of), we have been seeing our son grow more and more into a little boy. No longer our little baby (que dramatic mommy tears), this kid is developing at lightening speed–and I’m not just talking about the giant clown feet he’s sporting these days. The other day while painting, I silently spelled out his name on the piece of paper. As I finished and before I had given any indication as to what I was doing, he pointed to it and said “Liam”. And if that doesn’t amaze you, he is able to name/recognize at least a handful of letters in the alphabet. Obnoxious braggy mom moment, I know. But I mean… he’s just so cool! I cannot be the only mom that has those moments where you just stare at your kid for way longer than what would be appropriate with anyone other than the human you created, and you watch every little movement and listen to every weird sound that comes out of their mouth and you just think… “I made that!?”.

As cool as he can be, there have also been plenty of times lately where the “I made that?!” sounds a little bit more like… “why in the world are you crawling around making dog sounds in the middle of the grocery store”. Just yesterday as we were strolling through Lowes, after having to call my son’s name at least 30 times as he tried to touch every single item in every single row of the entire store, I stood there watching him as he began rolling across the aisle. How great it must be to be two years old and decide that the painting supplies aisle at Lowes is the most ideal spot you’ve ever seen to practice your ninja rolling skills. Just as I was about to lose it on him, my husband used his awesome husband mind reading powers, nudged me, and said ‘sometimes you just have to find the amusement in it’. And with that, I decided that I think that will be the motto that carries me through this next phase of twonagerhood. Because no matter how obnoxious my screaming child running like a crazy person down the aisles of the store may seem in the moment, these are the times that I will look back and smile on when my prepubescent teenage boy begs to stay in the car while I do the grocery shopping.

This fall is going to be exciting…not just because pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks (‘basic white girls’ rejoice) or because American Horror Story comes back on TV, but also because our little man is finally at an age where he will have a much better understanding and awareness of the seasonal activities ahead. I have been longing for a family trip to the pumpkin patch, and don’t get me started on trick-or-treating. Liam may be terrified of his lion costume at the moment (which makes no sense because it’s the cutest most softest lion you’ve ever seen), but I’m sure he’ll come around once we bribe him with Halloween candy–I’m never above a good bribe when an adorable little lion cub costume is involved.

As the seasons change (eventually), I will try to keep up on my writing more…if not for you readers, for me. While I never like to turn down a good afternoon nap, it is certainly more fulfilling to ride out my yawns and pump out some words that I know I will one day look back fondly on as I remember this quickly changing time in our lives. With each season our little lion cub gets bigger, my husband and I get a little bit wiser (or so we’d like to think!), and our mental book of family memories gains a few more pages. Looking forward to seeing what this season has in store for us…like hopefully some cooler weather.

Cheers,

The Whine Connoisseur