Does anyone else feel as though September was about 20 minutes long? I swear it was August a moment ago, and now this Sunday is October.
We are all in full Autumn mode in the Sutton household though. The turn in the weather has obviously helped accelerate this, but other than the rain, I do love this time of year. As soon as summer draws to a close, it’s all about Pumpkin Spiced Lattes, jumpers and leggings, extra long scarves and of course, starting to think about Christmas. I don’t need much of an excuse and I think this year I feel more excited than any other. Aurora is at such a good age to understand it a bit more, and although Luna probably still won’t entirely know what’s going on, she is still old enough to be involved, whereas last Christmas she was 8 months so didn’t have a clue.
Last weekend I had a burst of motivation so sorted and organised mine and the girls’ wardrobes, removing all summer items from mine and Aurora’s to pack away, and taking photos of Luna’s to send to my sister-in-law to see if she wanted any of it for her daughter. I then got out all my jumpers and winterwear to fill the gaps that the dresses and shorts had left behind. It sounds depressing, but I’m ok with how long summer lasted. I love the heat and would happily have a lot more sunshine, but I think this year in particular, because we went to Turkey in May, and had some scorching weather here before that, then away again in August to Center Parcs, I feel as though we have made good use of the nice weather and spending time outside.
This summer we have spent even more time in the garden than last year, most likely because last year Luna was a baby, so needed to be shaded a lot more, but also it has been a conscious effort to swing open the backdoors as often as possible. For 8 of the 10 years that Luke and I have lived together, we have not had a garden, so the fact that we now do is something to be celebrated. The girls love getting outside as well, especially Luna.
We’ve done quite a bit of work to it, although haven’t gone too crazy as we thought it wasn’t worth it if we’re not staying here. But Luke has done amazingly with our raised beds and veg patches, we have had a pretty good bounty this year. Almost too many courgettes, but we just about made it. A few house guests left with some as gifts a couple of times, but the rest we did manage to consume ourselves.
We bought an incredible ‘Bar-zebo’ for Luke’s birthday which may be my favourite thing we have ever purchased. It’s completely changed the look of our garden, it looks so luxurious, and we just wish we could have made more use out of it but buying that seemed to sync up with the girls being harder to put to bed, and therefore once they were asleep it was too cold to be sat outside enjoying it. But it will last and there will be a thousand more opportunities.
On Tuesday I had another burst of motivation (is there an opposite to Spring cleaning? Autumn cleaning? It makes sense to have it at each end of the year… It’s real, I feel it) After attempting to sort our airing cupboard on Friday - it has 3 shelves made up of slats, yet none of the slats are actually attached, so every time you get anything in or out, the whole thing moves. So, I emptied it out, got out the drill and screws, and managed to attach about half the slats before the drill battery ran out. Now although I am the one who enjoys DIY the most, Luke has taken full ownership of the shed, and everything in it. He went on a bit of a tool craze when we first moved in and purchased everything that Screwfix had to offer. So, it dawned on me that I didn’t know where the charger or spare battery to the drill was, so I therefore couldn’t finish the job I had started. This frustrated me so much that on Tuesday I decided that we needed to empty the entire contents of the shed out on to the garden, sort it all, getting rid of anything we didn’t need and then reorganise it back in, in an easy-to-understand manner. Preferably with labels.
We were hoping that Luna would have a super long nap like she has been having recently, and Aurora could be entertained or help. This of course didn’t happen, and Luna decided that she only needed 45 minutes, all of which were in the car while we dropped something off at the tip. Aurora actually then fell asleep so we moved her to the sofa but as the minutes ticked by, I felt that I should wake her up to save there being any difficulty at bedtime.
It was carnage and at a few different points we both regretted starting such a mammoth job. BUT we got it done, and it looks fabulous now. Because we have done it together, we both know where everything is (and I will definitely be getting out there with my label maker at some stage).
It feels like the season of change. Changing the summer wardrobes to winter. Leaves changing colour. Attitudes changing.
I realised as I was bathing the girls this evening that situations are usually only stressful because a deciding factor. I realised this because Luke had called to speak to us, while I was trying to get the girls undressed and in the bath (not great timing, but his original call had been the second we had sat down for dinner, so equally badly timed.) Luna was in the bath and Aurora was dancing around loudly while I tried to have a 2-minute conversation with him. I got frustrated at Aurora for being so loud when I was trying to talk. Long story short, Luke told me not to let it stress me out too much, and that they would soon be in bed, and I could relax. But as soon as I hung up, I realised that it was completely unreasonable of me to be annoyed at Aurora being loud. It had only been annoying because I was trying to talk to Luke, which I would never usually be doing at bath time.
It got me thinking about all other situations that trigger me.
When Aurora takes 1,000 years to get ready. On any normal day, it’s fine as we usually don’t have anywhere to be. On days that we do need to get out of the house quickly, it can be the most frustrating thing in the world.
Climbing the stairs at 0.000012 mph when we’re going up for a bath. I’m usually carrying 2 cups of milk, 2 water bottles, a flask, and my phone – as well as anything else that might need taking upstairs, stuck behind the slowest moving mammals on the planet. To be fair, this issue has got a little better recently, especially with Luna’s confidence in stair climbing increasing, but before… I felt like I aged every night during this process. But climbing the stairs at any other time of day is fine, it’s because I know that it is bath time and want to get up and sorted to speed the bedtime routine along as much as possible. And just to be clear, Luna does not want to be carried up the stairs, so I have to walk behind her because she is still too young to do it alone. Aurora has an obsession with being ‘The Master’ and always has to be first. So, there is no other way that this transaction can take place, other than the three of us all going up together, slowly climbing on step at a time.
The girls being outrageously loud for no reason, if I’m trying to talk to someone – I can completely see that this is for attention and that all children can do this when they feel as though they want you to concentrate on them. But it can be really frustrating in the moment, especially because those moments don’t happen very often as I am usually at home on my own with them, so they DO have my full attention 99% of the time. So obviously if there is no one for me to talk to, or there is but we are not talking in that moment, then the girls aren’t fighting for the attention so the situation doesn’t happen in the same way, but if they are still being outrageously loud in those moments, they’re easier to deal with because you’re not trying to concentrate or talk over the top of it.
I’m going to try and look at situations like this from now on. Thinking, is it the specific action that is frustrating, or is this particular situation making this action worse. Can I change the situation at all?
I’d had an idea for what I was going to write about this evening, and this is absolutely not it. Sometimes it is apparent that my mind decides I have other things to get off my chest and I’m ok with that.
After 2 weeks of changing my writing night to a Thursday, I think next week I will be going back to my original Wednesday. Firstly, I don’t think I do need that first night to decompress as much as I thought I did. Secondly, it’s nice to get it done and know that I have the rest of the week to relax. Thirdly, if I put it off until Thursday, and then for whatever reason am unable to write that night, then it’s eating into the weekend, and again, I want this to stay enjoyable, and not be a burden. But lastly, and most importantly, there’s a new series of Kardashians starting tonight and so my Thursdays have a new priority.
I’m going to make a cup of tea, get my knitting out because I have started making Luna’s stocking so that she can match the rest of us, and watch my favourite reality TV show. Here’s to another positive week, filled with love, laughter and catching up with my friends and family.
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