A Different Kind of October

In trying to think of something to write about this week, I was looking back to my blog entries from this time last year and realizing how different my day-to-day life is from then. From the last week of October 2009 specifically. I wrote that I was feeling like Bilbo Baggins when he told Frodo that he felt “like a pat of butter spread over too much bread.” I am busy right now, although in a very different way than I was at this time last year, and I remember the feeling that I was describing very well. On top of it all, I was pregnant and not yet telling anyone. I am so glad that I’m not that pat of butter anymore!

Charlie’s learning so many new things lately. On Sunday he figured out how to stick his tongue out and apparently finds it really fun, because he keeps doing it. It’s so cute!

He also rolled over for the first time yesterday, and I didn’t even see it! I had just put him down on the floor with some toys and then turned to sit at the computer. When I turned around thirty seconds later, he had rolled from his tummy to his back. I can’t believe how fast he is growing! Soon he’ll be moving around our home on his own, and I’m beginning to worry about the state of our house as far as baby safety goes, as well as the cleanliness of our floors… let’s just say that the vacuum scares Charlie while he’s awake, and I obviously don’t want to wake him when he’s taking a nap. And this whole postpartum hair loss thing that’s making me shed all over the place isn’t helping matters either. In other words, the carpets are not at their best! At least the broom is quiet so that I’ve been able to keep the hard floors crumb and dust-free. For the most part, anyway.

Also this week, I took Charlie to his four month checkup. He had to get two more shots, and as much as I have always hated getting shots, it is even worse to watch my son get them. His appointment was on Tuesday, and I was so nervous about it all weekend. I hate seeing my baby in pain. At least the pain never lasts longer than a few minutes with shots, and Charlie calmed down much faster than he did at his two month appointment. I just can’t wait until he’s older so that I can buy him a milkshake on the way home.

My little family attended yet another wedding last weekend, this one for a friend from college, in the same chapel that Daniel and I had our wedding last year. As far as I know, we shouldn’t have any more weddings to attend for a while, which is a good thing. As much as I love weddings, five weddings in one year is plenty.

We have no big plans for this weekend, thank goodness. Our house is an absolute wreck, so I’m hoping to spend a good chunk of time cleaning and getting some of the stuff on my super-long to-do list done. You know me and to-do lists, though! We’ll see…

Living for Today

Daniel and I had my sisters Jane (15) and Annie (12) over to babysit last Saturday night after Charlie went to bed. At least, that was the plan. Charlie usually might wake up and cry once or twice after we’ve laid him down, but all it takes is for one of us to go in and either hold his hands or gently rock his cradle and he falls back asleep. That is what we told my sisters when we left, which was at 7:30, right after I had put him to bed.

Apparently, though, Charlie could sense that the person rocking his cradle was not Daniel or me. Jane ended up picking him up and taking him out to the living room with her because he just wouldn’t go back to sleep. I told her to take him back when he started to act sleepy, but that never happened; Charlie was still wide awake when we got home from our friends’ housewarming party at 9:30. Of course, I fed him again and laid him down as soon as I walked in the door, and he was out like a light.

So the “easy” babysitting job for my sisters didn’t quite work out like any of us had hoped.

On another subject, I feel like I am being kept so busy taking care of Charlie that I am beginning to wonder how in the world I am going to manage taking care of multiple kids at once someday in the not too distant future. As the oldest in a family of seven children, I have seen it done. But I am really becoming concerned as to how I am going to manage it. My mom is much more competent than I am—she is much better at juggling multiple things without getting distracted and wasting time, and she’s much better at seeing something that needs to be done and doing it right away rather than procrastinating. Maybe that’s just something that will come with time, and once I have to be taking care of two or three kids all at once I will get the hang of it…

Speaking of the future, I am realizing how very much Daniel and I have a tendency to spend a lot of time dreaming about “someday” and planning for things that we are nowhere near being able to do right now—financially speaking at least. A couple of years ago we were so anxious to get married and live together, and I guess I thought that once that happened that would be enough for me to learn to be patient. But now we are constantly talking about plans for our new house and how we can possibly be able to afford to build it, looking at bigger cars for when we will need to carry more carseats around, and dreaming about vacations we want to go on when Charlie is older, etc.

We also look to the past and ask ourselves whether we made the right decision in buying the land and house that we did, etc. Of course, if we hadn’t done things the way we did, a whole lot of things in our lives would be different. We might not even have Charlie. So obviously things happened the way they were supposed to happen… but does that necessarily mean that the decision we made two years ago was supposed to be a permanent decision? Should we try to sell our land and buy a smaller piece of property so that we can afford a bigger house sooner? And then we look out our living room window at the rolling hills and the pond and the horses across the street and we fall in love all over again. With the land I mean. :)

Sigh.

Oh well. We are really trying to remind ourselves that we need to live in the present and trust in God’s plan for our lives from this point forward, whatever it might be. So, I will end with a song by Natalie Grant. Thanks for keeping up with my stream of consciousness!

“You told me not to worry
About what lies ahead
So I am gonna focus on today instead
Making every moment count and counting
Every single blessing
I'm gonna set my mind on the
Here and the Now
This is what I want my life to be about
And this is How...

I'm gonna live for today
I'm gonna follow in your way
I'm gonna let my little light shine
Like there's no tomorrow
I won't worry about the past
I know my future is intact
So I'll choose to live my life one way
I'm gonna live it for today.”

Writer's Block

I have a very bad case of writer’s block right now, so you’re not going to get anything especially witty or inspiring from me today. Not that I am claiming to be witty or inspiring ever, although I do try sometimes… but today I’ve got nothing.

Last Saturday, Daniel, Charlie, and I attended yet another wedding. Not that I’m complaining; I love weddings and I love the beautiful new married couple, Charlie’s godparents Mike and Leanna. You may remember Leanna as the guest coauthor of the entry written the week after my wedding last year, along with Caroline. Caroline was with us on Saturday, and was actually Charlie’s “date” for the wedding! Anyway, the ceremony and reception were both lovely and we are so very happy for Mike and Leanna.

…Seriously, I am really struggling here. Nothing much new is going on; Charlie is growing like crazy and I’m starting to wonder where my little baby is going. I know that’s pathetic, considering he’s only four months old, but still. He’s “talking”, laughing, sitting up with a little help, and actually enjoying playing on his tummy on the floor. Every morning when he wakes up, he kicks and waves his arms all around, squealing with a huge grin on his face at the prospect of a brand new day. I didn’t think anything could ever turn me into an early morning person, but Charlie is doing it.

Okay, that might be a bit of a stretch, but it certainly is difficult to be grumpy, even at six in the morning, when you’re looking at such an adorable face that is clearly so happy to see you. Daniel shifted his work hours last week so that he can have an extra half an hour here in the morning while Charlie is in such a good mood and ready to play. He gets really cranky in the evening when it gets close to his bedtime, which is right around seven. But my goodness, during the day when he is happy and playful… I love my job!

Charlie puts on Christ!

Sunday was a perfectly lovely day, with Charlie baptized during noon mass at our parish by the same priest that officiated at our wedding (which we didn’t know about beforehand, so it was a nice surprise) and a reception with our family and close friends in the church social hall afterwards.

Charlie was very well-behaved for all of mass, which we had been a little worried about since we would be sitting in the very front row. For the first couple of weeks after he was born, we sat in what is called the “growing room” during mass. I’m sure most of you probably have something similar at your own parishes; ours is a small room behind a glass wall at the back of the church. There are speakers so that people with small children can sit back there and still hear what is going on, but the few times that Daniel and I sat back there with Charlie were more than enough for us. We found it very difficult to focus on and participate in the liturgy from that room. Since then, we have been sitting along the back wall in the church itself so that we have an easy exit for emergency diaper changes, etc. Anyways, to get back on track, we were very happy that we didn’t even need an easy exit for the entire mass because Charlie was so quiet and seemed to keep his diaper clean! He did spit up on his godmother twice, though, but spitting up is never something to make HIM upset…

He was a little fussy while we were standing up there and the water was poured over his head, but nothing major at all. It was so wonderful for Daniel and me to bring our child to the Church for his first sacrament, and we are so excited to teach him all about our faith so that he can love the Lord as he grows!

As it happens, Sunday’s reception was also the first party that Daniel and I have hosted. Of course, we couldn’t have it at home because our house would never hold fifty people. It went very well, in that I think everyone had a good time, we had a good amount of food as far as I could tell, and the cake was delicious (Costco cakes always are, in my opinion).

This weekend we have a relative break from all of the events that have been going on this past month, which should be refreshing. We hope to visit two sets of grandparents, my dad’s parents on Saturday and Daniel’s dad’s parents on Sunday, although we haven’t actually made any official plans yet. Without going into detail, I would like to ask for prayers for my grandmother, who is not doing very well health-wise. If you don’t mind, please say a prayer for her.

Speaking of prayer, thank you to those of you who prayed for Charlie on his baptism; it was such a special day and is now a treasured memory! And thank you to those family and friends reading this that were there to help welcome our son into our Christian family.

“Charles Edward, you have put on Christ; in Him you have been baptized. Alleluia, Alleluia!”