When I Don't Take Photos

I have a terrible photographic addiction. To the point of returning from a marvelous, perfect, dreamy family/friend holiday campout and feeling sad that I didn't take enough pictures. That I woke up from nap just at the golden hour and that it was time to cook dinner. That Chris waded all the way across the river and I could see beauitful naked Bowie skipping rocks with his Papa, but that I was too far away to get a shot. That my gorgeous little 7 week old nephew bravely took his first camping trip with grace and I didn't get a single, not ONE!, photo of him.

Photos are how I reflect on my life and the people I share it with. When I don't have these images as proof of my love and joy, I feel sad for awhile.

Baby Teeth

Bowie is getting his last baby tooth. His upper right 2-year molar. It poked through the gun a smidge while we were camping. He's having a hard time staying asleep at night the past few days, which is unusal. HOW did it finally get here that he USUALLY sleeps through the night? Amazing how fast the phases pass. Amazing that my babe who was once toothless and soft gummed quite nearly has a mouth full of teeth. Sharp, long teeth according to Bowie.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have just returned from Garner State Park. Chris and I have camped out 7 of the past 8 Thanksgivings. The last 3 with Bowie. Our familes almost always join us and now we are camping with friends as well. It is a dream come true. I may have written here before how much I love camping, how I grew up camping, how I feel it is a precious gift that I give to Bowie that he have these freeing and frequent trips out of our daily city life. And that we can share this with our parents, my sister and her family, and now the families we are raising our son with makes it all the more precious.

Homebodies

Bowie and I have been spending a lot of time at home recently. And taking spontaneous trips to the children's museum. library, skating ramp which means we've been loners. It's totally his wish right now. This seems to be part of a cycle for him. There simply times when he wants to be home and just family if we do go on outtings. Seems to be during times when he is working through social lessons. And he learns so much during these times, socially and academiically since we are one on one and creative with our activities at home, and because we read the smae books over and over again.

Skeleton Family

BOO! We had a great Halloween. Bowie went trick or treating for the first time. The first house gave him one little bag of m&ms and he sat down in their lawn and ate it, piece by piece there! He loved it. We had prepped him for trading his halloween candy with the halloween fairy (had even found a little book about it at Halp Price Books). When we got in the car to come home, he started crying out of the blue saying he didn't want the fairy to take his candy away. We said he'd only trade if he wanted to. He did end up putting two babe ruths (out of about a total of a dozen candies) out on the porch for the fairy without any coaxing.

I am really impressed that he wasn't afraid. Last weekend we went to a Dia de los Luertos festival and he wasn't frightened there either. He watched me put my makeup on from start to finish. But he didn't want any on, which I'm sure was just as well since we literally crashed a church's fall festival when Bowie got into their bouncy house. (I was trying to hide the beer I was drinking during our trick or treating, hee hee!)

Pumpkin "Farm"

We drove out to Swwet Berry Farms on Saturday last weekend (they are a farm but don't grow pumpkins). I had put it off waiting for cooler weather and the weekdays had been wonderfully chilly, but Saturday was less than autumnal. We sought out shade, especially since Destiny's family was with us, inlcuding 8 day old Pablo! Oh, I am amazed by how well they are all doing. As my friend Michele said, "Some people make it look easy." Honey sure was happy to get her ya-yas out with Bowie. They ran and ran, and climbed pumpkin mounds, and slid off the haybale, and painted pumpkins, and ate freshmade, churned ice cream (we adults all went for the pumkin while the kids chose strawberry), pulled wagons. They have so much energy. I have so little.

By the way, I'm feeling lots better. He's such a wonderful, funny, sweet boy. And I am a strong mama that will help him through this...(that's what I keep telling myself)

Sometimes it's Hard Too

I am personally having a bit of a hard time. Bowie is teething his upper 2 year molars. And never napping. I sleep on his bed next to him and wake up to him whispering, playing and reading. It's sweet, I get to nap, but he sure needs to nap as well.

And he hurt his friend Friday. Bleeding and bruised on the head by a stick thrown in very close proximity. I cried and cried all night. I was so mad at him and so disappointed in myself for not raising a totally pacifist child and afraid of the future. And so upset with myself for being so shaken; I mean it is normal and natural.

Happy Birthday Honey

Happy Birthday Honey. Isn't she stunning. She's a great big sister already. And a fiery darling. Des finished sewing Honey's gorgeous birthday dress the day she went into labor with Pablo! I am always awed by my sister. Love her so and wish her great happiness.

Birthday Masks

Des and Paul had a great idea for Honey's birthday party- decorating masks. The kids seemed to really love the activity and we were all impressed by how they turned out. Isn't Honey just a lovely four year old?

Pablo

Pablo was born this morning, Friday the 13th, at about 12:30am at my parent's home in Driftwood. It was a shot labor (4 hours) and everyone is beautifully healthy.

Des Called Between Contractions

My sister is about to birth her first son. We all thought it'd be Saturday (Honey's birthday). But it may just be the day before. Or two days, if he comes really quickly! I'm off to be there...

Storyteller

Storyteller, originally uploaded by autumn fawn.

i had forgotten that he called himself this. he put that stool in the middle of the carpet, chose his books, told me the stories as well as he could remember or interpret through the drawings, and he called himself a stoyrteller. for an hour afterwards, he asked, "aren't i a great storyteller?" or congratulated himself on being a great storyteller.

this is one of the reasons i am so addicted to photographs. i had forgotten, and this photo with his finger pointing, brought that memory back to me. i so want to cherish these moments but they can get lost. and found.

The House Where Papa Grew Up

Last weekend we went to visit Chris' parents. They still live in the house where they raised their two boys. We sleep in the room that Chris shared with his brother their whole childhoods, until Peter left for college. It is lovely and comforting to be in such a lived in home. Bowie read many books that were read to Chris. Bowie played the family piano. Very sweet.

Have Board, Will Skate

We foudn this today for $3.99 at Saver's (plus I had a $5 off coupon). Couldn't resist it. Especially since Bowie has such grand daring designs.

Last night Bowie revealed his plans for the greatest trip ever. He said that he wanted to parachute (yes, he really said parachute) from a plane, to a diving board, then jump down to a trampoline and skateboard, then jump into a pool. Honestly.

Ahhhh, Autumn

Oh, it's finally autumn and it actually feels like it (well, for Austin anyway.) Bowie and I are spending our whole mornings outside. So fabulous. I am starting to feel rejuvenated after total shutdown from summer.

ACL

ACL, originally uploaded by autumn fawn.

I am exhausted after a full weekend at the Austin City Limits Festival. Saturday we sent Bowie off to spend the night with Nonnie and Gramps then bussed for an hour down to Zilker Park. The first show we caught, Centromatic, was my fave for Saturday. Impecciable musicians and really comfortable stage presence. It helped that we were only behind a few hundred people. The rest of the day we were always at the back of the crowds. The Shins were great too, but the crowd was enormous. Truly enormous. And we've seen them many times in better cirumstances. The Raconteurs were also good. Really good. Time to get their cd. We were tired and filthy so decided that we wanted to get home, shower and go to a movie. But it took us an hour and a half to bus back home. We were too tired to go to a 10 showing, so our night without child at home was quite tame. I went to bed earlier that I have in a long time.

Sunday we picked Bowie up and then headed down after his nap. We brought minimal suppiles and bussed again. Bowie likes riding busses, a lot. An hour later we got there in time for Chris and Bowie to catch some of the New Pornographers set while I staked out a spot for the Flaming Lips. They were the band that I most wanted to see. We got fairly close, as close as felt safe and enjoyed the show from afar. It did not disappoint. I wish I had been up there and could show you the girls in alien outfits, the santas, the balloons, streamers, balls, confetti gun, and huge ball Wanye Coyne gets into and rolls across the top of the crowd. Their music is awesome to me: often joyous, sometimes noisy, usually humorous. Bowie is still talking about the flaming lips and the big balloon and the guitar with two necks. Makes us so proud. Took almost two hours to get home. The travel time was longer than our stay. But just as we got off the bus, the storm started. We ran down our dark street in the rain. A great finish.

He Sings Happy Birthday to Me

The thing I wanted most for my birthday was for us to go out and do a photo shoot with Bowie. We caught beautiful light. And Bowie really seemed to LOVE sitting out there and singing to me.

An Early Birthday Party

Sunday, Chris had a birthday party at our house for me. I will be 34 on the 10th. We rented a bouncy house for the kids. Oh, what fun!!!! Bowie loved having free access to jump. The kids were so joyful. It was also a bit hard for them to all be in there together, I think. But they managed it very well. All sweetness. Labor Day morning we still had the bouncy house so we all took turns in it. I would lose 20 lbs quick if we had one of these!

For me, seeing so many of the people I love together in our yard was a wonderful experience. I am blessed by my friends and family.

I Ride It Myselfs

Thursday is Saver's day. We don't go every Thursday, but many many of them. Saver's is a thrift store in our neighborhood. Chris thinks it's not different from Goodwill, but I like it so much more. They categorize the clothes by size AND color!

Bowie and I have this deal that he rides in the cart while I look through the children's clothes adn then he gets to get down and play with the toys and bicycles. There are always bicycles there in various sizes and deterioration. They have always been too big for Bowie, though I would steady the bikes so that he could practice mounting and dismounting. Well, last week there was a tiny bike with training wheels there. He got on all by himself and took off! He very impressively went up and down the aisles, mastering sharp turns and even managing to stop a few times. After about a half hour of cruising Saver's I decided that although I have had my doubts about training wheels (seems to me that balance is very important and I imagined Bowie riding one of those cool European wooden bikes without pedals first) but the $5.99 price tag and the extreme joy of my son won me over.

My baby rides a bike "all by myselfs" as he says.

Biscuit Brothers

Bowie says, "I AM a Biscuit Brother." Emphatically. He is the drummer. When we go see them (has this just been the 6th time?) he does not sing and dance as he does at home. He sits completely still and studies them. Until he gets a hair to run up the stairs to the balcony or stand suspiciously close to the bass drum propped at the edge fo the stage. This past Saturday we took cousin Honey with us to meet up with some friends at a theatrical Biscuit Brothers show. Honey doesn't know the BB liek we do, but she sure was ready to take the stage with Butermilk Biscuit. With her pigtails, linen shift, and cowboy boots she looked just the part. What a cutie she is! A friend's daughter had a bit of an afternoon meltdown after the show and was cheered only by Miss Buttermilk B literally wiping away her tears. So sweet.

This photo was taken at Central Market earlier this month. I promise to get Bowie decked out in his BB outfit. If you don't know about the Austin local kid's group, go check them out. They are a real band, with real intsruments, makin real music.