Autumn's Simple Pleasures

There are a lot of frogs here ... and they're loud too especially during the summer months. A couple of weeks ago while Jacob mowed the front lawn he spotted a small frog near one of the pine trees. He called Riley over and placed the frog on Riley's arm. This frog was very tame, it hardly moved. Riley wasn't sure what to do. I could see he was a little anxious because he had that nervous laugh but he also wasn't scared.

If Riley would have stood still I'm sure the frog would have stayed on his arm longer than three minutes. Once it jumped off Riley wanted to get it again. I told him to leave the poor little frog alone, they're not meant to be handled for long.

The month of October was Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month. I ordered three pink & blue ribbons for us and we wore the pin the entire month. I think most people are oblivious about it's meaning. I think that because they see some pink on it they assume it's for breast cancer awareness {which by the way October is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and so is Domestic Violence and several others} which in this case is not accurate. One of Jacob's supervisors did ask him what the ribbon meant and Jacob told him.

Sometimes, after school I take Riley to the library. Now that he's in school we don't visit the library as often so it had been a while. The library's parking lot is full of deciduous trees, I love it!

And after the library I just had to go shopping for some Autumn pretties. You know I have a thing for pretty dish towels, hand towels, placemats, table cloths, and home decor. Every year and for each season I tend to buy dish towels. Sometimes I avoid using my pretties dish towels because I don't want them to get stained. Some still look good but others do get soiled and not even after a wash does the stain come off. That's a bummer but it doesn't damper my mood for long because I know that I can always buy new pretty ones. Aren't you glad for simple pleasures? I am!

Got Riley this dinosaur clay fossil. It came with this knife looking tool. I'm so glad I placed it on top of a cookie sheet because that pinkish stuff was very messy. It was taking him a while to get to the fossil so he asked for help. I gotta admit, that darn thing took some elbow grease to finally see the darn dinosaur fossil, lol. But I finally broke apart enough of that pinkish clay which made it a little easier for Riley to finish the job.

Now that I'm home alone about six and a half hours three days a week I get to enjoy a lot of quiet therapeutic time. It's bittersweet ... I would have rather wanted to be anticipating my baby's arrival but that wasn't part of His plan for my life so now I'm home using this quiet time for self-nurture and to seek contentment instead. When I'm not spending time reading or blogging I tend to do a bit of coloring. I'm almost halfway done with this inspirational coloring book. I need to look for more.

I bet not a lot of people tend to notice the beauty of nature around them on a daily basis. How sad is that? Sad for those people that are too busy with what they have to do next that they forget to live in the moment. I see it in some mother's that walk their kids to school. The flustered look on their faces which makes them look crass. I feel sorry for them because life doesn't have to be that way no matter what we're dealing with. Most days contentment comes naturally to me but on those days when I feel a heaviness or I'm feeling overwhelmed, that's when I make an effort to "SEEK", to go after, contentment. I remind myself to look at my surroundings and try to find something beautiful among the mundane. If you want good things to happen it takes work just like anything else in life ... like marriage, friendships, responsibilities, etc., same goes with how we feel or want to feel.
As much as I don't ever want to forget the rawness feeling of losing our son I know I can't stay in that mindset for too long because I know it's not healthy for me emotionally. I know what it's like to be in the pits of depression and anxiety and I don't ever want to feel like that again. Although I allow myself to grieve I really try not to linger there for too long.

And even in my sadness I tend to notice what's around me, the weather. Some people may think that weather talk makes for dull conversation, I don't think that's true especially if you're someone who appreciates the weather and nature. Those two go hand in hand.
I love to notice how the day presents itself, like this particular morning. Once me and Riley began walking to school we noticed how pretty the field looked covered in fog, how pretty the trees looked like if they were behind frosty glass. Even Riley said, "wow, look at the fog!" with great excitement. I must say though that I am able to only stand foggy weather for no more than three days straight because then it begins to mess with my vision, it's the most weird thing.

I believe I made three trips to the library during this time. The book that I was looking for was checked out so I had to reserve a copy which I happened to get notified a couple of days after my initial visit.

My child definitely has the coolest backpack. My sister got it for him over a year ago just because he's always been a Ninja Turtle fan and it definitely came in handy once it was time to start school. I actually wanted to buy him a new one because I didn't want this backpack to get worn out since its super cool but he insisted on taking it.

And this was my 3rd trip to the library, lol. Silly me. Well, what can I say, now that I'm home alone I can go out and about without hindrance. I sometimes also treat myself to lunch. Eating out alone feels so good especially with a book in hand. Swear, I could be at the restaurant for over an hour when I read and eat.

Ok so there are no haircut places for kids near our home so we usually take Riley to those hair salons where new stylists are constantly being replaced which usually means that they lack talent, they just don't know how to give a good fade so Jacob decided to take the boys to the barber shop where he gets his haircut. The only drawback is that this place tends to get packed so one needs to be there before they open and wait.
Glad to say that this guy knows how to fade but unfortunately he had to cut Riley's hair very short to fix what the other hairstylist had done. At least it'll grow back in a few weeks. Riley loved his short hair though. He wants to look just like daddy. Next time it wont be cut very short.

Sometimes, when I feel the need to be near water I take a short drive to Redondo beach to take in this pretty view. I was out here for an hour ... just me by myself and it felt so good too. I had my talk with Him and called it a day. Thank goodness for sunglasses.

The secret to being happy is accepting where you

are in life and making the most out of every day.

-unknown