Over the past few weeks leading up to Charlie's second birthday, I've thought a lot about what I saw someone post online a few years ago. To be honest, I can't remember who it was who wrote it, or where it had been posted or when. But what I do remember is that it was a mom, posting pictures of her children, captioned with the C.S. Lewis quote, "There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." 

Her post went into further detail, saying something to the effect that she didn't know how the future could top the first few years of her children's life. When I had read that, though at the time I didn't have any children of my own, it just kind of stuck out to me. To have a period of time in your life be so special, you wonder how anything will ever be that good again? And though I guess I could slightly relate in other ways, or with other chapters of life I had been in, it was hard to fully understand what this mom was trying to say ... until I had a child of my own.

And here we are. The little love of my life turning two. And that's all I can think about. I can't imagine how anything could ever be better than what the first two years with Charlie have been, (though deep down I still have a feeling C.S. Lewis is right). Even then, I'd relive a thousand April 2008s, October 2010s, and January 2013s (HA for real these were some of the worst months of my life), JUST to have these two years with Charlie all over again. They've been everything to me.

So Happy Birthday Charlie Max Bingham! You’ve brought me more happiness than I deserve. I love you forever.

sunday thoughts.

My sister shared this with me, and I liked it so much I thought I'd repost it here:

all things fall

It's hard to believe how fast life goes by these days. Earlier this afternoon I was reading from a journal I kept in college, and I had agonized at 19 how my life was just flying by. Well, if it was true then, it most certainly is true now. I guess maybe that's why I always get sad about getting older. Not because I'm aging (well, partly) but mostly because I really want to soak in all the chapters of life; that's hard to do when in the blink of an eye you're already onto the next one.
Clearly, I'm nostalgic and sentimental to a fault.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the last two months. I've said it before, October is in my top three favorite months of the year. There is ALWAYS something to do, something to make festive, and best of all: it's the prologue to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

First off - Halloween. I was dying. Kids in costumes (mainly Charlie dressing up as Mickey Mouse) might be the death of me. As I'm sure you've heard any new-ish parent declare, holidays with children are a million times better. By the end of the night Charlie had three suckers in his mouth at a time. I'd say Halloween was a hit in his book.

Harry Potter Escape Room. This was so much more fun than I had anticipated. I always say if I could erase my memory of one thing, it would either be the HP books or the Friday Night Lights series, just so I could experience it all over again as if it were the first time.

We had a weekend in Park City with family this year, and I lovvvved going on afternoon walks with Charlie and my dad around town. Another highlight: one night, as everyone watched The Sixth Sense, Ken and I spent two hours watching all those fail videos you can find on Instagram until we literally almost passed out because we were laughing so hard. Once you go down that rabbit hole, it is hard to get out.

My mom is the queen of making everything cute. 

Here she is helping me get ready for a friends dinner.

Witches night out, trips to the pumpkin patch, etc etc etc. Needless to say, we tried to fit in as much as we could while the weather was still decent and the leaves still colorful. I hope all the falls in my life are as happy as this one has been.