7 Quick Takes-Or Why You Haven't Heard From Me Lately

Jen at Conversion Diary has started hosting 7 Quick Takes on Friday. I love the idea because it allows me to share a few things going on around here without writing a full post. These days, that's all I have time for, and here's why:

1. Advent-We are definitely enjoying Advent around here, but trying to set aside time to be reflective while preparing for baby and Christmas is proving to be a challenge. Let's just say I have new respect for my mother and mother-in-law and anyone who ever had a baby near Christmastime. It makes things much crazier!

2. Nesting-As noted above, I am pretty busy getting ready for this baby. After three nights of contractions that were just a little too long, I finally got my husband to bring the baby things down from the attic. Now I am busy washing and folding tiny clothes, shopping for things I will need and trying desperately to get my house in some sort of order. It is amazing how much more chaotic it seems around here than usual.

3. Cold season-Around our part of the country, this is the worst cold season I've seen in a while! All of my friends have had multiple illnesses descend on their homes. Around here, all four of us have had a nasty cold and cough thing for nearly a month. Both boys have had pink eye and ear infections, and now we are fighting another little cold. I am considering quarantining us until after the baby is born.

4. Hobbes-We have been getting him evaluated for speech therapy over the past month. Turns out that he skipped a major developmental stage in his language...you know, the one where kids learn to make the basic consonant sounds. Thanks to his verbally advanced older brother, he jumped right to complicated sentences and vocabulary that we, unfortunately, cannot understand. Can I tell you how excited I am about finding time to do therapy with him with a newborn?

5. Calvin-Seems he decided to hit another difficult development phase right before things got busy around here. It has been a rough month, to say the least. But we seem to be coming out of it. Today he has been helpful and cheerful and downright cooperative. Let's pray it continues!

6. Sleep-I am sooooo tired these days that whenever I have time to write, I have to choose sleep instead. My body will do nothing else. Is it child neglect to put your four-year-old in front of a movie or computer program while you nap with the two-year-old? If so, I am in big trouble.

7. Gift shopping-I am actually enjoying having the excuse to scale down the gift shopping this year thanks to the baby. I finished all of my shopping in one day, thanks to my mother-in-law watching the boys. We are doing a few presents for immediate family, and even many of those are "gifts" through charitable organizations' gift catalogs. It is so freeing to give gifts that help someone instead of searching for the perfect something that someone doesn't really need!

So there you go. Not too exciting, but at least you know why I have been silent lately. Really, I am mostly just moving inward as I meditate on the changes to come. For once, I am not finding writing helpful at all for reflection. Maybe there will be some time for that in the days to come, once I get the external things a bit more organized. I do need time to get the thoughts in my brain a little more organized, too.