I was always more a fan of Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out for Summer” than Grease 2’s “Back to School.”

Not because I’m a huge Alice Cooper fan and not a Grease 2 fan, but because I don’t like school. My husband always liked school. In fact, I think if he could be a student forever he would.

Some kids got really excited about the first day of school. Not this girl. I loved shopping for school supplies and looking at all of my school supplies and fitting them neatly into my backpack. But the thought of stepping into the classroom sent a million butterflies fluttering around in my tummy. As you can imagine, I was always nervous and full of anxiety. I know that a few times I got so nervous that I made myself sick before I even left the house. Why was I so nervous?

I’m not sure. Maybe I was worried I wouldn’t like my teacher or that it would be the year that I’d be the chosen girl to be outcast. (Girls are mean, by the way.) Maybe I was worried that I wouldn’t understand any of the math in the 5th grade… or 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th grades. Who knows!

And still, to this day, I have feelings of pity and my nerves are aflutter when I hear a kid talking about going back to school.

But the time is here! School speed zones are in effect and kids are everywhere. The college kids are everywhere, too. Their parents are helping them move back into the dorms on a 110 degree day. The roads are all jammed up. No more zipping down the street like we enjoyed in the summer. Life is back to normal.

Even though the thought of going back to school still makes me nervous, I love fall. I love the colors on the trees, the sound of the leaves falling, drinking spiced hot drinks, eating Frito chili pie, and going to football games. I like going to football games even more in late October and November because they actually feel like football games.

I’ve already mentioned that I’m not a fan of the summer months simply because of the heat. I don’t love the constant sweating, and honestly? I feel like I don’t see people that often in the summer time. We’re all hanging out inside waiting on the 70 degree temperatures.When the fall rolls around it’s not even cold, so the fall is just so nice. I’m looking forward to the fun things that we can do outside together as a family and the things that our community has to offer in the fall.

I’m excited about the road trip to Gainesville and a girls trip at the lake in Virginia. Fun, cozy times with my family. And my birthday is in the fall– we love birthdays.

So while I was never a fan of back to school time, I do love the season that immediately follows it. And I will be welcoming that season with open arms!

How did you feel about going back to school as a kid?

What are you most looking forward to in the fall?

Last night I was haunted. I couldn’t sleep and my mind was racing.

I kept thinking, “how could this happen?”

What was keeping me awake?

Every night before Hudson goes to bed, we pick up his toys. We put everything back in its place and then get all of the toys out of the living room. The only problem is that Hudson has so many toys with so many little pieces. It’s important to me and my obsessive compulsive ways to put each piece back with its toy.

But last night when I went to put away Hudson’s grocery cart, I saw this.

Where was the can of green peas?

I crawled around all over the house looking under every piece of furniture and bed skirt for the can of green peas. I found it about twenty minutes later under the ottoman in the playroom. And when I went to return the can of green peas to the shopping cart, this is what I saw.

Holy frustration, Batman! You mean in the twenty minutes that I’ve been searching for the green peas Hudson has come in and grabbed the yellow cookie, the orange carrot, and the red strawberries? And where has he put them?

So while Todd got Hudson ready for bed I continued to search around the house for the missing pieces. I could not stop until each piece was found! And I was unsuccessful. I went to bed last night and tossed and turned and couldn’t even imagine where the pieces could be.

They had to be in this house. Nothing left the house yesterday. No toy groceries made their way through our front door.

And this morning I found them. In the pack ‘n play. Safe and sound.

Losing things is not an option for me. I can only think of one thing I’ve ever lost in my whole life and it was a t-shirt from high school. It happened to be a t-shirt I loved. But, to this day, I have no idea where it is or what happened to it. And I’m so crazy that I still think about it and wonder where it could be. I’ve probably lived in 6 or 7 places since I lost it.

The missing toys aren’t the only things that have been haunting me in my sleep.

Do you see this mama? I get the shivers every time I look at this. This picture was taken this morning, but this beast of a spider has been hanging out on the outside of the window over my sink for a week. I’m thinking she needs to find a new place to be hanging out.

There is a huge web and I don’t know much about spiders, but it seems like she’s big and puffy getting ready to have some spider babies. Todd is convinced she’s going to start spinning adjectives on her web to describe the stupendous Boudreaux, a la E.B. White’s Charlotte.

I think Charlotte was beautiful and this mama is not beautiful. Yikes! I’m pretty sure that she could silently kill us all if we got close enough. But I’m just going to let her be and hope she goes on her way soon.

When Hudson was first born, it was hard to imagine him doing anything other than sleeping and eating. Sure, I knew that someday he’d say his first word and take his first steps, but those days seemed such a long way away when we were in the middle of 2 a.m. feedings and diaper changes.

I did know that I wanted to make sure that when those first moments happened, I was there to see them, marvel over them, record them, and put them in his baby book.

Over the past 14 months, we have been so fortunate to witness all of his firsts. He took his first steps toward his teacher at The Little Gym. His first word was “daddy” and many more words have followed since then. His first trip to the beach was a week after his birthday and he couldn’t get enough of the ocean.

More recently, over the weekend in fact, we took him to get his first haircut. I had been dragging my feet on getting his hair cut because little boys don’t look like babies anymore after they get their hair cut. They look clean cut and like little men.

I had become so attached to the little curls at the top of his neck. And I was starting to get attached to the little mullet that was starting to grow down his neck. That was when TC put his foot down and told me that it was time to get his haircut.

I decided to take him to my salon because I felt like I could have a little more say in the cut because I know and trust my stylist. I’m positive that I overpaid for the haircut, but that’s okay.

He sat in the adult chair on a little booster and he wore an adult-sized smock. His little blond head looked so tiny in the big black smock and I almost cried when he just sat there calmly looking around. He looked so small, but so grown up.

I fed him snacks to keep his attention and to help keep him still while my mom snapped photos. TC couldn’t get away from work and I was thrilled that my mom came along to take pictures for us.

As soon as the hair on his forehead was trimmed, I saw this image of a growing boy, not a baby. His little face transformed in an instant and I wanted to cry. But I didn’t. Mostly because I was worried my stylist would think I had lost my mind.

Then his little curls on his neck were snipped off and he had a clean little boy haircut. We got the pictures and we even saved some of the hair from his curls to put in a little envelope in his baby book.

Each little “first” moment is a little bittersweet. I’m so proud of him and everything he can do. He can run, he can talk, he can throw the ball. He knows what we’re saying a lot of the time and responds to us. But each time something happens for the first time, I realize that it will never happen for the first time again.

I’m just grateful that I’ve been fortunate enough to witness most of those sweet “first” moments that are most certainly more special to me than they are to him.

1. The book club questions for chapters 1-10 for The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes are posted on Book Beginnings and Bookends. I can’t wait to read your posts!

2. The winner of the Monogram Chick cutting board is #61 Lindsey Doby. Email me at eeakin11@gmail.com to claim your prize!

3. I know I complain about the heat a lot, but I just cannot wait for summer to be gone and for the fall to arrive. I told Todd today that I wanted to put on sweaters, cook some chili, and watch recorded football games on TV just to will the fall season into South Carolina. I can’t wait for Halloween and football games. And cute fall clothes that cover my chubby arms and legs! And I’m looking forward to spending time outside again!

Although when I was looking through fall pictures for photos of Todd and me at South Carolina football games, a lot of the pictures look like this. Here’s hoping this season is a winning season for the Gamecocks!

4. I’m the new hall director for the baby hall at our church nursery on Sunday mornings. So I go to Sunday school and then to the worship service. Then Todd and Hudson go home and I work the third hour in the nursery. It makes for a long, productive morning, and I was exhausted when I got home yesterday. Also– baby fever? I have it. Especially after seeing the wee ones being rocked in the little baby room. Ouch.

5. I’m blogging for the new Baby Einstein blog. I always say that I only endorse products that I absolutely love and Baby Einstein is one of them. Head on over to their new site to check it out.

6. My television addiction is coming back! Now that Rachel Zoe and Jeff Lewis of Flipping Out have come back into my life, I have set dates with Bravo even more now than I used to. Oh, and Mad Men? What’s going on? Why is this season a complete waste of my time? I’m just not feeling it, but hopefully things will turn around because I love that show.