Fall is proof that change is beautiful

Fall and the start of a new year always gives me “fresh start” vibes. Honestly, the month of September was such a happy month for our family. There were some highlights, but truly, all of us were just kinda happy together for no reason. Ben was actively involved and seemed less stressed in September. I don’t know how or why, but it was a nice change. ❤

Fall seemed like such a huge growth period for Waylin!

MIL has a growth chart that filled with all her kids and grandkids on a wall in her house. I bought a special llama one and never got around to using it! Doh! On a recent trip to Grandma’s house, we found out that Waylin has grown 3.5 inches in 11 months! We haven’t been to the doctor since qwuarantine, so I have no idea where she’s at in percentiles, but honestly, I’ve never cared about that. Whether your kid is in the 99th percentile or 53 whatever, I just want to know that she’s healthy and happy. ❤

Her vocabulary has been the biggest indicator of growth for me. Sometimes she says things with context that blows my whole head off. I’m constantly dropping my jaw saying “How do you know that?” And she said, “I don’t know. Just ‘cause, mama.” And I melt! She’s REALLY growing…I hope I can keep up!

THIS is such a great moment in parenthood! It’s not even the fact that she learned how to pedal her tricycle on her own. It’s the fact that she feels so proud of her OWN self! I don’t know how we lose ownership of that feeling as we grow older. My greatest flaw of my E N T I R E existence is that I am a highly critical person, mostly to myself. My mama heart is swollen with pride and pure joy for her! Her eyes really tell it all! 😍

Hopscotch was a big childhood favorite of mine. I would sneak chalk into my backpack and take it to school and draw a M I L L I O N hopscotch games on the blacktop. No kidding…like a million! I would make them wind=y, long, impossible, you name it!

I can see the growth in her mind as she’s starting to grasp the concept of games and rules. We’re nowhere near being close to playing a tense game of Old Maid, but I’m sure it will be soon! My mum is actually the one that introduced her to the game! She played hopscotch all the time as a kid too, and it was cute to see them interacting and learning together. Mum was pretty dedicated that day as she had had eye surgery the day before and she was hopping around! :)

Since then, Waylin has been practicing a LOT…she has now hit ⭐ E L I T E ⭐ S T A T U S ⭐:

Can’t you just hear the guitar wailing in the background? 🎸🎵 Rock on, lil mama! 👄

Waylin picked out what makeup we were going to wear this day! I haven’t work makeup in awhile, because ya know…quarantine and yolo. The poor baristas have seen some S I G H T S these past few weeks! 😵 Waylin likes a coffee colored palette I got from #iheartrevolution and I think she has great taste! She’s also a BIG fan of lip gloss too! Growing up as a certified tomboy, I never dreamed about doing makeup with my daughter. But here we are! 😘

Fall is also an indicator of a new school year for most kids. While most parents are usually hustling around getting new backpacks, notebooks, and clothes at this time of year, 2020 made everything confusing. Some school were doing virtual e-learning environments, some were doing in-school, or a hybrid of the two. It ultimately was a hot mess, and it only got worse as COVID cases rose. #somanypolicies

Waylin is now in Pre-K at her daycare/school. And although we aren’t “going” to school or doing any e-learning, I still tried to make time to do little projects and lessons with her while I worked from home. The picture above was the theme of red and counting. We did apple stamps and she really loved it! We’ve also working on letters, colors, and gluing skills. She REALLY likes to glue things!

My SIL has told me that I am such a thoughtful, good mom a couple of times. And I always appreciate her sentiment, but I tell her that I am really just mediocre! I didn’t do school lessons every day, and some days are filled with a full day of screen-time. I wanted to be real about that, because I don’t want anyone to think that I could handle working my full-time job AND be a preschool teacher too, because 🙅‍♀️. No. I cannot.

I tried to go outside as much as possible because I knew with winter coming, that would really make us crazy, cooped up chickens. 🐔 We did laps around the house “shooting” monsters a lot. She knows when she needs to “reload” and has killer finger gun aim because no monster every got us! 👈👉 #pewpew. Another favorite thing to do is pull soybeans off the farmer’s crop across the street. 😆 We did that A LOT this summer and Fall. I was getting a little nervous in the Fall because I was expecting a John Deere tractor to chase us off any minute! The good thing is…we can outrun a tractor, I think! 😎

So much growth has came in this season of life. SO MUCH. Quarantine has its struggles and I would take our old life back in a heartbeat. The one thing that has changed for the better is how close we have grown together. That’s the kind of change that I’ll always welcome. ❤

Let’s see what the rest of the year has in store for us!