Or as my 8-year-old announced one morning last weekend, “It smells like winter is coming, Mom!”
Just like seemingly everything in life, October takes on a whole new meaning once kids are in the picture. Back in the day for us, it was all about High on the Hog (one of the only beer-and-BBQ festivals in Richmond back then, not one of many) and trying to decide between Old Rag and Humpback Rock for our annual fall hike. These days, October is all about pumpkin picking, soccer games, the school fall festival, and Halloween costume planning. What a difference a few years and two kids make!
“Life-changing, isn’t it?” That’s the message I recently sent to a high school friend who became a father for the first time a few weeks ago. Life-changing in the best possible way, of course (except now, maybe, when I’m in the middle of yet another homework battle…but I digress), but wow, there really isn’t a part of life that stays the same once that baby is born. And it evolves too, until things that you would never have imagined back in the day seem completely normal in our lives as parents.
When my oldest son was brand new, my friend Lisa babysat him for an afternoon, and when we returned, she reported a bit of diaper rash. “I searched all through the diaper bag,” she said. “I found seven tubes of lipstick, but no diaper rash cream.” Fast-forward to yesterday when I searched my purse high and low for any sort of lip product for my dry lips. I found two crayons (one that I had just used to take notes during a conference call), one bouncy ball, a couple of Dum-Dum wrappers, and I swear, an entire football team of Happy Meal figurines. (I should cook more.)
I knew the wheels of normalcy had flown off when I found a flash card in the fridge. And the worst part? It didn’t even strike me as weird. The other day, I turned the house upside-down looking for a paper clip, and during the search I found seventeen…seventeen!! Pez dispensers. And zero paperclips…or Pez. Does any of this sound familiar to you (heavens, I hope it’s not just my crazy life!)? elcome to the world of life with kids! It’s a bumpy ride, with twists and turns all along the way. There is nary a dull moment, that’s for sure, and if you’re like me, you wonder what in the world you used to do with all of that free time, pre-kids. I thought I was so busy then – ha!
Funny how helping families figure out what to do with their time is one of the things I like best about what we do at RFM every month! I hope you have a fabulous fall with your family – a time for pumpkins, apple picking, and savoring this jam-packed October issue of Richmond Family Magazine. Enjoy!
