7 Quick Takes, Vol. 62

Linking up with Jen, Friday-style. We'll see if this actually gets finished on Friday. :)

1. I am the luckiest girl in the world. Somehow, this (our awkward/embarasing/totally wish we could forget it slow dancing to Matthew West's "When I Say I Do." We ended the night with an even worse rendition of Rascal Flatts' "Bless the Broken Road."):

HA! I don't even have any (terrible, terrible) dancing pictures on my computer, so you get this one instead!

turned into this:

Monkey Face

and this:

Baby Selfie

See how I did that? Linking up with Grace.

2. Overall, things on the baby front are going well. Even though it is hard to judge in the very early sleepy newborn phase, Peter seems like he's going to be a "good" baby. He sleeps well. He eats like a champ. Best of all, he can be soothed pretty easily -- unlike his never not temperamental sister. He's a snuggle bug, so I think that once he wakes up a bit more, he's going to love the ol' Moby while I'm busy chasing Clare. His first go 'round in it yesterday was a big success, so that's hopeful.

Sleepy Newborn

3. Last night, though, was . . . rough . . . to put it mildly. Let's just say that the toddler was up as many times (or more?) than the infant. And that, as a result, Mama didn't exactly get a restful nights' sleep. Yes, I'm going on caffeine today. Why do you ask? (And yes, I should be taking a nap, but I'm dealing with that exhausted but not sleepy feeling.)

Did you know this thing has buttons? (From Monday)

4. Today, meanwhile, has been Charles' first day back at the hospital (and so, the kids' and my first day alone). So far, so good. We're all dressed, fed, and the house hasn't fallen too deeply into disaster. As scary as the first day alone with the kiddos is, I'm actually glad that it has come early both times we've done the new baby gig. Getting through it in the early days gives me a lot of confidence that I can get through it on any day. We can and will find a new normal and settle into a new routine. I just have to be patient. (There's that stinkin' word again.) [Grrr...as soon as I typed that, of course, I got the "my preceptor is keeping me for awhile" phone call. Blah! Still got it . . . just for longer than I'd like!]

Post nap bedhead selfie.

5. And Clare, oh Clare! She's already a great big sister. She's really into showing us Baby Peedow's eyes and socks and mouth, telling us that he's very soft (so true!), and trying to make sure that his paci (that he rarely gets/takes) is readily available. But she's still getting used to our divided attention, which is a challenge. We'll get through it, but it has definitely been the roughest part of the transition.

Paci Patrol

6. I think there is a lot of value in encouraging women to be easy on themselves and their postpartum bodies. God did a great thing with them, and it takes time for the ol' bod to recover and return to its new normal, whatever that might be. Add in sleepless nights, breastfeeding, etc., and well . . . we (not so) shockingly don't exactly bounce back in 2.3 seconds flat. All of which is a preface to my story from our first family trip to Target. In typical second child fashion, we loaded the kids into the minivan and headed out on some errands Wednesday afternoon. We had Clare in the front of the Target cart and the infant seat in the basket. As we were considering our options for wares, a fellow Target patron comes over and comments on how I've "pouched out" and turns to ask Clare if she's going to be a big sister soon, clearly without seeing/processing the infant seat right behind her. So, there you have it. I am miraculously 4-5 months pregnant days after childbirth. I'd also qualify the story as an example of why you should be cautious about assuming women are pregnant. But I digress . . .

7. On that note, I just wanted to echo a hearty "Amen" to almost everything Colleen said in her post this morning. So, basically, this take is a long way of saying, "what she said."

Have a lovely weekend.

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 59

FRIDAY?!?!?!! Linking up with Jen.

1. Today's the day!!!!!! Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!! 4 years of med school, 3 away rotations, lots of travel, lots of interviews, a good news email on Monday, and we're down to this. 1 of 8 geographical locations for residency. It could be as close as down the street or it could be across the country or plenty of places in between. Charles gets the news at 10am. Needless to say, we're freaking out just a little. It's an odd combination of peace and anxiety. More than anything, though, I'll be glad to have this stage behind us. I'll be glad to start making plans and organizing for a foreseeable life, instead of just waiting and trying my darndest to trust God and relinquish control to Him.

2. Between that and a birthday, odds are that I'll do some extra posting this weekend. It will make up for the distracted not-posting I've done all of this week. The upside of not posting all week (again) is that it makes writing 7QT that much easier. :)

3. This viral article about Super Mom-ing the holidays has been floating around, and it really resonates with me. Don't get me wrong, I love celebrating, but I think that only a few things need to be Big, Grand Celebrations. I also don't think there is a right or wrong way to do a celebration, necessarily, but I'm not going to go over-the-top for most holidays. My St. Patrick's Day (sans photographic evidence) is a good example. We wore green. We ate corned beef and cabbage with Charles' family. The end. If Clare were older, we might have talked more about St. Patrick or read a book or done a coloring page/craft, or made dessert, but, at the end of the day, I think we did plenty.  {Caveat: I get that we all have different charisms, passions, and gifts -- if going all out for holidays is yours, more power to you! I'm just envisioning myself, and lots of other moms, trying to out-holiday one another because of some sad social media peer pressure. If it isn't fun and doesn't feed you, it is just not a celebration at all. It's a chore. End rant.}

4. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, yesterday, Clare and I went with my cousin and her kids (Clare's "cuzzinz!!!!") to a local train park -- big playground, picnic, chance to "ride train" (as Clare excitedly told us). It was a great day, even if we were both exhausted by the end of it!

Ready for fun in the sun!

5. The absolute highlight of her day, though, was the carousel. She'd never really seen one before, but once it caught her eye, she was all about it, every time she saw it. We took her first ride, and I wasn't sure what she thought about it as it was happening (I think the up and down motion surprised her), but the tears getting off said plenty. She's still talking about "ride howses" (sometimes, "like pwincess") today. There is nothing better than experiencing something for the first time through the eyes of a child. Watching it brought me as much joy -- perhaps more -- than experiencing it brought her.

Magic

6. Today is Arizona's first NCAA tourney game. Bear Down and beat Weber State!!

Yes, Wildcats say, "Bear Down!!"

7.  38 weeks pregnant today!! My not-novel guess is that I"ll have this guy before 40 weeks (due date), but moms have certainly been wrong on the ol' guessing game before. He just needs to wait until after we find out final news about the Match, because I've always said that we would know where we were going before he was born. We're close enough that I'd prefer to stick to that. The picture of my gigantic, resting-on-my-pelvis belly is from Wednesday, but there needn't be more pictures of this enormous mess than necessary. I mean, it's always bad when your biggest maternity clothes are starting to fit awkwardly.

Gigantic

Have a lovely weekend!!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 55

After my week-long blogging hiatus, I'm back for my weekly 7QT fix. Joining Jen, of course.

1. Charles finished up the working portion of his rotation of nights in the ER, and now has a little time off. Which, paired with a leeeetle too much time watching NBC's glorious mornings of covering allll the figure skating, has left me slacking on the ol' blog. Where did the week go, exactly?!? Anyway, we are enjoying knowing that we have another lovely week off ahead of us before he hits the OR for his next rotation. Plus, that week includes Spring Training Opening Day, and we're excited for a little fun in the AZ sun (and to take advantage of Spring Training while we can!). Sorry in advance to our fellow lawn sitters if you're joined briefly by a squirrley 19 month old. And sorry everywhere that's neither AZ or FL. We may well be joining you soon enough.

Amazing what 12 months does to a kid!!

2. Which leaves me with the subject of temptation -- I want to try to not fail at Jen's blogging challenge, since I only made it to 5/7 last go 'round, and it would be a good chance to make myself actually write a couple of posts that have existed only in my head, buuuuuut . . . let's be honest. I'll probably at least try. I guess I'll let you know officially tomorrow.

3. So, I wrote about Valentine's Day last week. It's noteworthy mainly because Clare thought it was the best morning ev-ah. Charles came home with flowers and the morning was full of cards and presents and family time. So, bien sur, I'm prepared to photo dump.

Texting this was as close as I got to sending out the real deal

Tea with Daddy

Opening presents with Daddy

Her very own "fla-wows"

4. #3 was a two-for-the-price-of-one, let's let honest.

5. February in Arizona means it's time to get your planting on, lest it get too hot and fry your tomatoes. We're only doing tomatoes and peppers this year, but Clare thought planting them (ie "gahw-den-ing", ie throwing potting soil everywhere) was the best activity since Valentine's Day morning.

6. This is my new favorite picture of the Bear. She got a bunch of new "dwesses" this weekend, and spent most of Sunday ob-sess-ed. I was trying to get a cute shot of her carrying them around, but ended up with this one instead.

Dresses, dirt and mischief. That's Clare for ya!

7. I can't believe how close I'm getting to the end of this pregnancy! 34 weeks!! Things are getting really, really real. I've most definitely reached the random lumps from random baby parts stage of bump-dom. My cousin blessed me tremendously by handing down her son's baby wardrobe, so now Mr. Man has the closet of a real fashionista -- never mind that he's sharing said closet (and dresser) with his sister. (I think there should be an implied ewwwwwwww, even though I suspect these two will be partners in crime.) Anyway, I never got around to updating last week with a pic, so you get two weeks worth of comparison shots today! Lucky you!

Have a lovely weekend!!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 52

Joining Jen for my 52nd installment, which is a milestone, if not an anniversary, thanks to plenty of weeks off. :)

1. 1 week! Eeee! I can't wait.

2. So, I think, without any doing on my part -- at all -- that I'm raising a little diva. Her current obsession is shoes. She's been somewhat particular and opinionated on the subject for some time now. When buying church shoes this fall, we ended up with a sparkly pair after she rejected the simple black leather ones I was trying on her by not letting me put them on her feet. She reached for the sparkle and slipped 'em right on. Aye! Anyway, her new thing is wearing shoes at all times (except meals, randomly). We aren't into wearing shoes to bed, so this morning, all of 2 minutes after waking up, she toddles over to me with a pair of shoes insisting that I put them on her with her jammies. I told her that she needed socks with her shoes, so she needed to go get me some. She comes back with not just any socks, but super frilly ruffly white ones. It's official. I'm in for it. Does anyone want to borrow a teenager in about 12 years?!?

Jammies, socks and shoes -- after I made her choose different socks.

3. We had our first official mother-daughter tea the other day. I had a mug of the real stuff to get me through the afternoon, so she had to join in the fun.

4. It's a last day of the rotation day for Charles. That means a short day plus some school stuff plus a relaxing weekend. It also means that he's down to his last 4 rotations. Woo to the hoo!!

5. 3 Takes worth of pregnancy talk? Sorry in advance. 31 weeks. Woo-hoo!! Everything looked and sounded good at my appointment on Monday, and I joined the every-two-weeks club! I'm getting so excited to meet and hold and snuggle and kiss my little man.

Weekly bathroom selfie

6. The best part of being married to a (almost -- just over 4 months to go!!) DO is that he can do osteopathic manipulative therapy. In other words, in addition to all the traditional medical stuff he knows, he can also do manual manipulations (similarish to chiropractic care) to fix aches and pains. For my poor, pregnant back and hips, living room OMT is pretty much the bestest thing ever.

7. Charles and I have decided that Clare loves her baby brother more than she loves either of us. She'll randomly give him kisses and pats (with ample reminders that she needs to be gentle, already). She's slooooowly figuring out that he is not "Tummy," but "Baby Bruddah." I don't think we're going to get his real first name out of her for awhile, as much as we try! And she loves nothing more than to curl up with my bump when she needs to lie down or snuggle with Mama. I think she's going to miss it when it's replaced with a real live baby! Hopefully, she'll love her ex utero brother 1/10 as much as she loves him in utero. Heck, I might be happy with 1/100th as much!

Mah kiddos!

Have a lovely weekend!!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 51

Joining Jen.

1. No one is going anywhere out of town this weekend. No one at all. Can I just mention how freaking wonderful and glorious that is?!? Now that that's out of the way . . .

2. The Olympics start 2 weeks from today!! I haven't had the opportunity to talk about it here, but I am a pretty hard-core Olympics-phile (Olympiphile, if you will), and this particular Games brings out all of the things I love about the Olympics. I generally like the winter Games better than summer, though I have fond memories of the London 2012 Games. The timing was perfect, as I had a newborn, and something to watch 24 hours a day for a couple of weeks while we nursed 24 hours a day (or something like that). All of which is a loooong way of saying that I'm very excited and expect to be posting more on the subject in the next few weeks.

Patriotic Opening Ceremonies outfit

3.I'm pleased to have my first two "kids say the darndest things" to share today. Posterity, people. Posterity.

Me: What does a kitty-cat say?
Clare: Meow!
Me: What does a cow say?
Clare: Moo Moo!!!
(etc.)
Me: What does a baby say?
Clare: Goo goo gah!
Me: What does a cowboy say?
Clare: Goo goo goo goo goo gah . . . yee haw!! Cwown! (Clown)

Charles: Say "love you, Daddy!"
Clare: Wuv woo . . . Mommy! (Covers her mouth and laughs maniacally)

4. Clare has developed a real affinity for Dr. Seuss. I'd guess on average, I read Dr. Seuss books 5 times a day (often the same one that happens to be her favorite du jour). I'm pretty sure her poor brother will either arrive with a natural love for or hatred of The Can in the Hat. I'm 100% sure that any potential love will turn to hatred after the 3rd or 4th time his sister thwacks him on the head, interrupting a perfectly good breastfeeding session, with her demands to "wead."

Via

5. Meanwhile, in learning to parent a toddler land (also known as "tales of things I fear will happen (will definitely happen?) while I'm breastfeeding the newbie"), the table has become a real attractive nuisance for Miss Clare. Go after contraband (for babies) objects? Check. Climb chairs? Check. Climb on table? Check? Climb on chairs while Mama does the dishes (thinking you're reading nicely like you were 2 minutes ago) to reach for a cell phone and/or bottle of Coke and knock yourself and the soda and the (thankfully very well protected) cell phone into a big puddle of mess on the floor? Check.

It's gotta be the allure of the scrunchie.

6. There was lots and lots of lovely stuff written Wednesday in light of the March for Life and anniversary of Roe v. Wade, but I was particularly moved by this piece from Heather. If you didn't read it, you need to.

7. 30 weeks today. April sounds like it's foooooooorever away, but 10ish weeks sounds crazy close. I'm still feeling pretty good, minus the routine discomfort. I'm getting to the point where pants are universally uncomfortable in one way or another, but fortunately, it has been a mild winter, even for Arizona (Sorry, non-West Coast peeps; if it makes you feel better, we are always in need of rain over here!), so I'm getting away with typing this (on Thursday) in a maxi skirt. I may well be torturing you with a pic a week for the duration, so consider yourselves warned, internet land. :)

From Wednesday, so 29w5d.

Have a lovely weekend!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 43

Writer's block = Blegh. I'm just putting it out there.

I sat down at least three times this week to compose a post about actual thoughts in my head, but somehow none of them even so much as began to come out right. as a result, I'm turning some of my incomplete post thoughts into my 7QT. As always, linking up with the fabulous (and conference hosting) Jen.

1. Charles was out of town on the interview trail all week. I wanted to write about the challenges of having him out of town without coming off as complaining. It's challenging, as anyone who's ever had a spouse away can attest, for any number of reasons. If dinner would make itself and land on the table at a preappointed time, things would be going pretty smoothly indeed. That said, I can't say I'm not counting down until his flight arrives.

2. I marvel at Clare's growth and development. I think so many parents think their kids are brilliant because they marvel at how much a little person can learn so quickly and how much they change in the blink of an eye. I know I've marveled at her vocabulary explosion any number of times, but it just doesn't cease to amaze me. I'm also in awe of her mimicking. The other day, she "sunscreened" her baby after I got her ready to head to the park. I realize these are developmentally normal, but to this first time mom, they are mind boggling!

3. I am now 20 weeks pregnant. Half-way, give or take. It is unbelievably amazing and unbelievably surreal to carry a little miracle. I'm extra excited to have our anatomy scan this week. I pray everything looks good, and hope we find out if our little bundle of joy (and sleepless nights) is a boy or a girl.

4. I had lots of little opportunities this week to reflect on the culture of death and how deeply it has seeped into our culture at large, but my thoughts are still rambling. Something might still be coming, but in the mean time, it's still a pass. Maybe God wants me to ponder more and "have the answer" less.

5. I'm lamenting the fact that I don't have Grace's knack for the hilarious retell of the ridiculous things my kid does. Strangely, this is one area where I really am better in person. Or maybe it's easier when my audience truly gets how crazy my kiddo is. Regardless, that is the main reason my blog is void of Clare's craziest antics. *sad face*

Relaxing and enjoying some tea at my cousin's house.

6. I have every.single.intention of linking up with Cari (even with her temporary MIA-ness) to talk about Thanksgiving, as I dream about turkey and stuffing and sides and family and food and gratitude. My first attempt at a draft was an exceedingly incoherent nightmare, so I'm hoping to get something pulled together for next week.

7. One goal that has long been deep in my heart is helping my family really live and celebrate the liturgical year. It's something that I'm truly passionate about and want to have as part of my family's life rhythm. Since neither Charles nor I grew up doing this beyond basic celebrations, Advent and Lent, etc., it's a slow process of incorporation. It's something I want to do more and more in the coming (liturgical) year, so I hope to write quite a bit about our journey in the coming months. 

Have a lovely weekend!

7 Quick Takes, Vol. 42

Joining Jen -- thanks as always for hosting us!

1. Today is Charles' last day of "work" for 2013. It was the last day of his neurology rotation, and the rest of the semester is "off" for residency interviews. He spent the morning in the hospital, and was free to go when they finished up there, which was before lunch. Crazy! How is the year almost over?

2. I reflect again and again (and so probably mention again and again) the surreality of passing time. On one hand, you just live day by day. Time passes. Things happen. It seems natural that kids grow, new ones come about, milestones that once seems impossibly far away come and go. Then you stop and think. Hold on! Wait! What?!?!!? How is Clare so big? How am I already 19 weeks pregnant? How is neurology over? How it is interview season? How did we get here? What happened?

19 weeks, deceptive shirt -- I am not this small in the bump department

3. Charles also happens to be fighting a cold, so he's snuggled up on the other side of the couch playing Risk on his phone. He enjoys trying out new strategies on the phone, because the games go so quickly with the computer aspect. This means I'll never, ever play against him at Risk again. It was already rare, because "World Domination" too often equals "hurt feelings," but this is the nail in the coffin. I have no hope at ever winning ever again.

Via

4. Poor Clare has been cutting molars for weeks now. She was only occasionally crabby (but very drooly) for the cutting of most of her other teeth, but molars, man. Molars have been awful. One has been fully emerged for a couple of weeks now, and I can feel parts of the other three when I manage to get a (clean) finger in her mouth to check her gums. Poor kiddo. Hopefully, it will be over soon.

5. I'm pleased to report, if only for myself and my sanity, that Clare seems to have passed her 'rip pages out of every book upon impact' phase, and has now firmly placed herself in the column of "my daughter" by flipping idly through the pages of any book she gets her hands on. She is also sitting still through longer books, which makes me happy. I'd much rather read Hop on Pop once than I love You Through and Through 50 times. She still likes her shorter board books, but at least I get some reprieve now and then. I'm pretty sure all parents can relate. Still counting down the days until we can reasonably read chapter books. That's 16 months, right?!?

6. I know it's already all over Facebook/the webz, but I really enjoyed this piece on the American Girls dolls. I've been saddened by the retirement of the original historical dolls and the rise of the "modern girls" dolls. Business and blah blah blah . . . but the historical dolls were my heart. I had Kirsten, who looked nothing like me, but whose stories I loved. I read the catalogue cover to cover, even though it rarely changed. I read all the books, checking them out from the library way after I was the age to read them. I love the history section at the back of the book. I'm a history B.A. with a reading problem, what can I say? I think the lack of historical perspective and passion for reading among (obviously not all) kids is saddening. I have lots of semi-articlate thoughts that could amount to several terrible, rambling blog posts, so I'll just leave it at that.

Via

7. Charles is off interviewing most of next week, so I anticipate lots of evenings of "turn on the tube and knock out a blog post." Get excited. In the mean time, prayers for safe travels and good health are always appreciated. :)

Have a lovely weekend!