Somebody is making it difficult for me to write blog entries.

Can you guess which one it might be?  These first two photos are deceiving because the Little One looks happy.

That's more like it!  Actually, he's quite the happy baby.  Loves to smile at everyone.  But he doesn't like to nap for more than thirty minutes at a time.  And interestingly, the length of time he's been doing things this way corresponds to the length of time since my last blog entry.  Huh.

At least he falls asleep quickly.  And he does take four or five naps a day now.  But I got kinda spoiled by him taking usually two one and a half hour naps and one thirty minute nap.  Thirty minutes is not much of a break or much of a chance to get things done. 

Somehow, I feel like I've been really productive since we started homeschooling again after the holidays, though.  We moved to a slightly larger apartment the week before Christmas (it was just upstairs, so don't pity us too much, but it was still rather disruptive), and since we moved, laundry and housecleaning have fallen into place a lot better.  It helps that the kids now have a large playroom upstairs and that most of their toys stay up there (per parental request).  For some reason, I seem to have found a system of laundry that works well for me.  I've also found a system (method? technique? set of expectations?) of homeschooling that I am comfortable with.  I'll write about those things sometime if The Boy ever decides to start napping.

But right now, I think he's just soiled his diaper.  Such a cute little interruption, though.  Well, not the soiling part.  But he's a cute Little Boy.

Next Time

It's been a couple of years, but I think I have finally figured out what I will say "next time."

I'm sorry, nursing in public is something I feel very strongly about.  I think the more we see women caring for their babies in public and doing so comfortably, the more women will feel comfortable making the decision to have babies and be mothers.

What do you think?  Is this respectful enough?  Does it get my point across that I think forcing a nursing mother to nurse elsewhere may contribute to our culture of intentional childlessness and abortion?   I truly want to be respectful of the hypothetical person asking me to leave, but I very firmly believe that welcoming mothers and children into everyday settings is important for these reasons.  I'm honestly interested in your opinions, so please share.

Map of American English dialects

Being an English Major, grammar geek, and fan of all things linguistic, this post delighted and distracted me for a good while:

Patrick Madrid: Map of American English dialects

Fascinating! (Thank you, husband!)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Our tree and front window with stockings hung by the windows (no chimney) with care.

A view from that window: Most definitely a white Christmas!

Our hodgepodge tree.  The kids and Dad decorated while I cooked the traditional Christmas coffee cake.  I don't think I have pictures of that, though!  Maybe on my phone?

[coffee cake photo here!!]

One of our Nativity scenes.  Baby Jesus has arrived!

Our Christmas card display. I know it sort of looks like a pile stuck to the wall, but this is where I display birthday and other seasonal or Thank You cards throughout the year, so I love to switch it over to Christmas at this time of year!  I used to dread Christmas cards because it reminded me that I never get around to sending them.  Thanks to my dear husband who now takes care of this, I can enjoy each card and know that we've reciprocated!  What would I do without you, My Dear?

My shy princess.

My boy.  With his new musical toy.

My not-so-shy-any-more princess.

There's that lovely smile.  :)

Finally, a use for the neglected Boppy pillow. (Opie is the orange kitty, and Faust is the Siamese or Himalayan or whatever he is.)

 

 

 

My first roast duck.  It was a success!

Some of the rest of the feast.

The girls at dinner—I think Maggie's going to eat that whole plate of potatoes.

Still sleeping, although they seem to have shifted positions.

A multi-generational Christmas trip downtown later in the week (included grandparents, kids, uncle, parents).  I think you can see my reflection taking the picture in the El window.

The Daley Plaza Christmas tree as seen through whatever that weird piece of Chicago art is.

Another view.  Some years they have piled many little trees, but this year it was a single giant tree!

Me and my boy in our favorite coat made to go around a baby in a carrier.  The monkey hat was a gift from his Aunt/godmamma.

This is the family photo where the average of the sum total of our expressions comes out at "fairly pleasant."  

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours from all of us!

Schrodinger's Coffee

I keep chuckling over this, so go read it yourself.

I'm really going to do it!

Since Mat. Anna keeps making it look so darn easy, I went here and ordered a bunch of supplies.  I will start felt ornaments for my Jesse Tree!

I have felt, embroidery floss, needles, assorted ribbons and buttons in the mail and it was only around $60 for the whole shebang.  While I have sewing-machine phobia, I've always sort of enjoyed mending seams and sewing on buttons by hand.  I'd love to have a hand project going here and there.  Maybe by next year we'll have some real ornaments for our Jesse/Advent/Whatchamacallit Tree.

So excited!

Sink Wall Love

Like Mother Like Daughter is having a linky party today.  We are beautifying the wall or windowsill or whatever it is that you have behind your kitchen sink.  I love it!

Mine used to look like this:

Boring, right?  I've wanted something up there for a while now—a specific something.  But I put it off because notice I use that space for drying large flat things like cutting boards and cookie sheets.  That pretty much covers up that little wall.

I haven't been using a dish drainer lately because I find that I empty it and put away the stuff even less frequently than I get rid of this pile.  At least when I get rid of this pile, I have the option of an extra square foot of counter space, which adds up in a Chicago apartment kitchen!

Notice the towel my stuff is drying on?  Go to this post on Kitchen Flow and scroll down a ways.  Leila does the same thing!   (I'm so validated!)

Mercifully, my iPhone camera is not high-enough quality to show how dirty the wall back there actually is.  And I'm not showing you the rest of the kitchen either.  I took some photos of it though... maybe I will show them to you when I have something clean to put with them!  Let's just say that since we added child three and homeschooling a kindergartener to the mix, I've been a little out of sync with my kitchen cleanliness.

I didn't have a chance to examine the "flow" in my kitchen.  It's a little odd since our dishes are stored in the dining room in the china cabinet to leave space in the kitchen cabinets for food since our pantry is our utility laundry closet.  (Whew!  That was a long sentence.)  And there's only one way the dishes can be stacked and flow which is not very efficient because of the placement of the stove and dishwasher.  But it's fine.  This is the most counter space I've ever had!  (Not showing you the rest of it, though, remember?)

I didn't even have a chance to clean the wall.  Shame on me, I suppose.

Instead, I made one change.  Just one!

 

 

OK.  Maybe that counts as two.  Although, I'm not sure that anyone else will put my cutting boards up there.  In fact, I think my husband actually moved one down from up there thinking it was probably an accident that someone balanced it up there and that it would fall if not moved.

The important change is that little framed Bible verse.  For a long time now, I've wanted to have various verses posted around my home that apply to the task at hand.  It's similar to what I've seen when our Orthodox priests vest.  For each piece they put on, a Bible verse (usually a Psalm verse) is prayed.  Naturally, the psalm that comes to mind when I am at the sink is this:

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

~KJV, Psalm 51/50

I spent a little time reformatting a file I'd already made for another framed verse on the opposite wall.  I think I posted it here somewhere, but I can't find it, so I can't link to it (I think it's still in draft).

This is what I came up with:

(To save, click on the image to enlarge it, then either click and drag it into a document and print, or right-click and save the image and then insert into a document.)

I printed it, trimmed it, and framed it with an inexpensive black IKEA frame.  If you like it, feel free to follow the instructions above and use it!  I'd like to come up with a few more of these for other places in the house.  It's one way I can remind myself to pray throughout the day, especially during the less-than-exciting household tasks.

Thanks to Leila for the nudge to get this up there!  Go visit her post and see some more Sink Wall Love or join in yourself!