My new job

The start of the school year always makes me think of the leaves changing colors into deep reds and oranges, apple cider, trees arching over sidewalks, and children lining up outside of school buses. Now, I know this visual is mostly in my head since we're in Texas and the trees usually turn from green to brown, but I still romanticize autumn anyway.

 Still, when I was a teacher, I could feel the electricity in the air as school began. The buzz of students in the hallways and the feeling that I was starting the year with a blank slate was just about the best part of my job.

I do miss it a little, and it was really strange not going back yesterday when all of my teacher friends were posting about their first days. BUT, I do feel so very fortunate that I can be home full-time with my buddy. We have the best time together, and I don't have to dole out any discipline (hey, she's only 7 months old) or grade anything EVER (hands-down the part of teaching I loathed the most). Now my days look quite a bit different than they did when I was in the classroom...

We go to breakfast at our neighborhood coffee shop a couple of times a week.

We experiment with different foods. (Prunes are a recent fave.)

We go to the Austin Children's Museum.

We work on crawling!

We dabble in Baby-Led Weaning. (Norah thinks shredded chicken is tasty.)

We swing at the park.

We read books.

We come up with silly games like "splash the water in the giant pot." Hey, she's easy.

My "new life" is pretty awesome, I have to say :)