I am stuck on level 181 of Candy Crush and don’t think I will ever beat it. Unlike some levels where you can get lucky and the stars align just right to win, this one is a lot trickier; I have been stuck there for over a month now. But in those waning afternoon hours where I am too tired to go out or start a new project, and all that’s on are Bones reruns, I still play the level, over and over and over.

There is a squirrel – juvenile from the looks of his scrawny legs – walking back and forth on my deck with a nut of some type in his mouth. We have a lot of them around but they usually don’t frequent my deck near the door, probably because of the dogs. Not that my dogs ever pay them any mind, though. They’re simply present. My dad’s squirrels will go right up to him and take a peanut from his hand. One will even sit on his hand and eat it. In the absence of a dog, my father has adopted squirrels.

Both mornings and evenings have been slightly cooler this week and I am eagerly awaiting actual Fall. The feel of it makes me able to cope with other stresses like ALL those activities that seem to happen around this time. It’s fairly busy right on through Christmas. I cant lie: I am a little stressed about going back to work. This upcoming week I plan to start pumping and storing milk for Dakota’s entry into daycare. The final week of September we’re going to go into the infant room for a couple hours to get used to it. I haven’t had a kid in the infant room at this daycare (both boys did in-home until they were one) so I want to see how they run things. I trust the place entirely but again, my boys were older. I have to store milk for the night I’ll be at a concert. And maybe even for a morning when I might do one of those color runs. I may not though; it’s the day after the concert and I may be a little worse for wear. I love having a baby again but there are all those provisions we must make in order to care for her. (Running during the time of breastfeeding is definitely one of the more annoying and uncomfortable facets of motherhood.)

I kind of wish we could go to the beach one more time before Summer sails on but I know it would be way too hard to make it with the baby. I used to read this blog where they traveled all over the world with their kid and they made it work, but they were made of tougher stuff. The fact that we even have to drive four hours for Thanksgiving makes me preemptively weep.

Baby Girl has started smiling this week. Though I know it is merely a reflex, I do know it is in response to something she likes, like a sound or image. It doesn’t mean she has some kind of emotional connection to me, but it’s good enough. Watching this little lump that does little more than sleep, eat, and poop, finally see your face and then react to it is rather heartwarming. And you can understand why people have more than one kid.

Some days, time slips away from me and I am disappointed that I haven’t done more. Today,  I took the boys to school then went to Target for a few things. It’s ten now and I have papers to grade, but don’t feel like it. I know I’ll be happy with myself if I do so I had better get on it.