The Best Babysitter Ever

Even though Autumn didn’t go to bed until late, she was still up at 7:30 am. I, on the other hand had stayed up until midnight watching Who’s Line Is It Anyway (hilarious, by the way) and was not as eager to wake up at 7:30 am. I put some cartoons on for Autumn and she watched them for a while and then came in w/ another pair of knee high socks asking me to help her put them on. When I finally woke up all the way, this is the outfit she was wearing…a blue dress, green flowered pants that are way too short, knee high polka dot socks, pink cowgirl books, and a red headband. It’s a good thing I don’t let her dress herself for school!

I didn’t think her awesome outfit could get any better but when she switched out the pink cowgirl boots for her Dora crocs, it was the most complete this outfit could get. I always wake up on Saturday mornings to dolls and random articles of clothes and baby blankets all over the floor in my room. That’s how she entertains herself while I’m waking myself up.

This is how my morning started…listening to some music on my laptop while eating Everything bagels w/ some cream cheese (so good), a fruit drink in my new glass cups (16 of them for $11 at Walmart), a creamy pumpkin candle and a big old scary stack of papers to sort through and organize and put away.

I spent the morning working on getting all of that organized and then cleaned up the house a little bit. Dad came over after he finished a bike ride and meeting with a doctor. We had pigs in a blanket for lunch and then he took Autumn home to his house so I could go to the temple. I made it a goal at the beginning of the year to go at least once a month and so far I’m 8 for 8. I was tired and kept dozing off during the session, but then I thought about the person I was going through the session for and how much this might mean to them and that made me stay awake and pay attention, b/c I’m pretty sure they would have been hanging on every word being said if they could have been doing that work for themselves. It also made the session more meaningful for me.

I came home to change my clothes and checked the mail and there were three AWESOME pieces of mail in there. First of all was this CD I had bought online of Gabe Bondoc’s. I first fell in love with his music on youtube.com and now I can enjoy his music in my car, which thrills me to no end. I have to say that after listening to a few songs, that I prefer the songs where it’s just him singing and playing the guitar w/ out any other background music. He is so incredibly talented.

The second piece of good mail was a friend's wedding invitation. She designed all of it herself and it is ELEGANT! There were about 5 different cards in here for an RSVP, directions, hotels to stay at, etc. It was so fancy and I’m so ecstatic for her. She should design wedding invitations for a living b/c hers was so amazing.

The third piece of good mail was this sweet drawing/letter from Andrew. He sent it to Autumn thanking her for going to his birthday party. Autumn was so excited to have something come in the mail that was for her. She carried around her letter from Andrew all night.

After I changed my clothes, I went over to Mom & Dad’s house to see what Autumn bottom was up to. She was asleep when I got there, so I let her sleep. I made some taco meat for dinner and Dad & I had taco salad and then I went to the adult session of stake conference while he stayed home and worked on the schedule and watched Autumn. Stake conference was good and was all about seniors couples that should go on missions and then also about being powerful and persuasive parents. I got home at 9:15 and Dad said Autumn had just gotten up a from her nap. The first thing she said when she woke up was that she missed her Mimi, so they called and talked to her on the phone. Earlier in the day Dad & Autumn had gone and put gas in the Durango and gotten a drink and Autumn wanted to sit on the counter and finish her drink.

This picture cracks me up b/c she’s just sitting there all Zen like w/ her legs crossed and fingers interlocked. She surprises me sometimes and I love her even more for all of her funny quirks and Autumn-isms.

We finally left at 10:00 so Dad could go to bed. Autumn wasn’t tired at all b/c she had taken such a long and late nap. So, we put on Princess and the Frog and made some popcorn.

While I was sitting next to her on the couch, I kept noticing how long her eyelashes are and wanted to try taking some pictures w/ my 50 mm lens. This isn’t a super good one, but I liked it anyways b/c of her eyelashes and the way her lips are pursed. After the movie, she was finally ready to go to sleep which is good since we have to be up early for stake conference tomorrow.

Thanks to Dad for being the best babysitter today and watching Autumn half the day while I recharged my spiritual battery at the temple and stake conference.