The Big Purse Dump

Kendra over at Catholic All Year is hosting a link up so we can all have a look in each other's purses.  It sounded like fun, so here we go.

One of Elijah's favorite games is "What's in Mama's Purse?" so mine actually gets cleaned out pretty frequently.  Also, I'm one of those silly mamas who still maintains a purse apart from the diaper bag.

This is the purse I'm carrying right now, a Christmas gift from Elizabeth, it soothes my daily longings for England.

And here's what I've got:

Okay, so the bib under the tablet was not actually in my purse, but on the table when I took the picture and I was tired, so I didn't move it.  Here's a more organized look at the mess.

From left to right:

• Garbage, including coupons I won't use, receipts, and a gum wrapper.

• A little bag I decided to put my rosary in, coupons from Victoria's Secret I likely will use, and random key chain fobs I don't use.

• My Microsoft Surface (almost never in my purse, but I was out and had it with me.) On the surface are a red envelope holding keys to our empty safe deposit box, an old appointment card, my jump drive, a penguin compact and the top of another compact that came off in my bag.

• Above the surface is a pack of gum, my lip stick, lip gloss, and chapstick; an off-brand Kit Kat, my book list notebook, and hemp lotion that I'm a little afraid to use.

• Next to that, my rosary, two blue Papermate pens--my favorites, I know, high class--my wallet, keys, phone, and bank pass book.  There is a dime below my wallet, representing the 31 cents I had and somehow lost while getting everything organized for the picture.

My favorite thing: Probably my rosary, but not because I use it while I'm out (too easily distracted), it was my Grandma Eaton's.

I wouldn't be able to live without it: My book list note book, seriously, I get anxious if I'm out and don't have it, that also happens with my phone.

I'm surprised that's there: My keys!  Yay, I know where my keys are for the next 20 seconds!  I need to get one of those little lojack key chain fobs.

I'm inspired by everyone else and will probably start carrying: My day planner, smart, smart ladies!

Lent is Coming...

Lent is hard.  I always think of it as this grey barren wind-swept plain of our faith, or to quote Douglas Adams, "the long dark teatime of the soul." 

And to be honest, I kind of love it for that.  It's cold and bleak and makes us take a long look at our lives and the state of our souls.  Lent is a time to pare down what we dislike about ourselves and try to build up what is good and pleasing to God.  I'm kind of lazy when it comes to challenging myself to be better.  Lent is 40 days in which the point is kind of to make myself work harder at being who I actually want to be instead of who I am used to being. 

This year I resolve during Lent to work harder at generally cleaning the house more regularly, things like sweeping and vacuuming weekly, and doing dishes nightly instead of pretending I don't see them as they pile up on the counter.  Picking up the nursery and our bedroom because it is very easy to think to myself, "no one ever sees these rooms, so it doesn't matter if they look like this."  I actually like having a clean house, I just don't enjoy all the work that goes into it.

I also resolve to be less offended by the tone of peoples' voices when they talk to me, because tone is so easy to misinterpret.  And, I hope to try to be more diligent about saying my Rosary.  I would also like to write more.

So, Lent is coming, I'm going to be as hopeful as I can in the next week.

But really, Ash Wednesday makes me cringe. 

7 Quick Takes

one--

This is the probably the second day in a couple weeks when I'm not napping during Elijah's nap time.  While I was on vacation the last week of January I finally got him to nap with me.  Normally if he gets in the bed with us he decides it's tickle time and he won't settle down.  But I discovered his weakness--Elmo.  Yeah, it wasn't too hard to figure out.  Now we watch about 15 minutes of Sesame Street, I turn it off and say "okay, nap time," and he lays right down.  It's kind of my favorite time of day now.  But I had things to do this afternoon.

two--

Something about turning two has made Elijah much more cuddly than he used to be.  These days before he goes down for bed at night I sit in the chair in his room and hold him and we tickle and talk for a while before he goes to bed.  He thinks if he doesn't give me a goodnight kiss, it means I can't put him down, so when I ask for one now he always says, "no."

three--

I've been trying to read Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila recently.  I got to the beginning of the chapter on the fourth mansion when I had to put it down because I was having trouble really absorbing what she was saying.  That happens sometimes when I read nonfiction, I get to a point where I have to take a break.  I picked it up again the other day and I can't seem to get back into it.  I think I need to stick more to stories about the lives of saints for a little longer before I can get into anything denser.

four--

Can you tell he was excited to play outside, finally?  Now if I could only get him to wear his boots.

five--

We watch a lot of Thomas and Friends here...a lot, it's little boy's favorite show.  Nathan and I can't help but be puzzled by a few things: 

• First of all, with the trains going off the rails so frequently or upending cars of various, usually sticky, things, why do people live on the Island of Sodor? It seems more dangerous than it's worth.

• Also, why do they keep giving jobs to Thomas?  He never listens and always has to do everything again.  If I were Sir Topham Hatt, I would just kind of let him do his own thing.

• We can't help but be a little worried for the engine drivers.  They just kind of go along for the ride while the engines get into  all kinds of trouble.

Elijah doesn't seem to pick up on any of these concerns.

six--
I cannot make myself get into Downton Abbey this year.  I don't know why.  I love the show and I watched the first 30 minutes of the first episode but ever since then every time I think I'll sit down and watch it, I turn into a 6 year old whining,  "I don't want to," to myself.  It's probably because Nathan won't watch it with me.  Instead we watch Sherlock, Raising Hope, and I honestly don't know how many times in the last month we've watched Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, but I'm pretty sure it's getting close to 10.  Seriously, I love the "Bad Horse Chorus."

I better get over this by the time Call the Midwife starts, because I really want to watch that and I know Nathan won't watch it with me.

seven--

Keep Nathan's cousin and his family in your prayers, they're taking a mission trip to Kenya for three weeks.

For more seven quick takes check out Conversion Diary. 

Back...Again

I don't know why keeping up regularly with this blog is so hard for me lately.  I honestly haven't even been back to this page since my last post that I remember.  But I actually do enjoy blogging and I like getting the opportunity to write more often.  So, here I am, trying again.

I'm going to start with a question for other moms and dads.  The thing is, Elijah doesn't talk.  He has a few words he'll say, mostly ours and his grandparents' names, "Elmo," and "cookie."  Those are his big ones.  He also says "Thomas," and "tractor" with some frequency.  But we really have to work to get him to use any other words.

And the thing is, he is very smart and he can talk.  He can say "downstairs," and "window," and "light," and "in," and all kinds of things.  He just never does, unless we make him.  We've started really pushing him to use more words and most of the time it just frustrates him.

I came home from work the other morning and found he and Nathan sitting in the living room, both of them looking irritated.  Nathan told me they had had a 30 minute battle of wills because he asked Elijah to say "downstairs" after he woke up before they went down to breakfast.  And Elijah would. not. do. it.  Eventually Nathan just tried to get him to say any word, any word at all and the little guy still refused.

We talked to his pediatrician about it and he mentioned it might just be because Elijah is very mellow.  He doesn't feel like he needs to talk to get what he wants.

Every day I tell him that pointing and whining to get what he wants isn't cutting it anymore and he needs to start giving us words, and he just sits down and cries.  I feel terrible. 

If anyone has had a similar experience or has any advice or ideas I'd love to hear about it.

Milestones

This morning, given a choice of two shirts and two pairs of pants, Elijah picked out his own outfit.

He was very definite about the shirt, pointing to it right away.  It was probably the googly-eyes that did it.  He carried around both pairs of pants for a while, eventually holding these out at arms length away from the others.  It may not have been a clear signal of his wishes, but it was good enough for me. 

I am by no means a fashion expert or clothes horse, but I'm calling it a milestone, and I was proud of him.

Also, in big step news, we have set an end date for the use of pacifiers.  We have been severely restricting them to crib time only recently and we will make the jump to a pacifier free toddler on November 5.  I anticipate the first few days being very rocky, which is why I picked a Tuesday, it is Saturday for me and so I will be home at night the first two nights.  Pray for us.

Finally, today, Nathan and I are celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary.  The three of us are going to go out to dinner tonight.  I'm looking forward to it very much.  Nathan is also honoring the occasion by becoming as sick as he was on our wedding day.  If you were there, you may not have known, but Nathan had a  terrible cold/flu thing going on and we are getting a replay of that today.  Poor thing!

I wanted to have a video play with the last song we danced to at the wedding reception, but for some reason, I couldn't get it to embed here.  If you're curious, here  it is.

Sick Mama

My least favorite person showed up today.  I can't stand myself as a parent when I'm sick.  I get cranky and irritable and all my energy is gone.  Elijah is sick as well so we stayed home today and were annoyed with each other all day.

He got mad at me because I wouldn't let him out in the 50 degree weather while his little nose is running like a faucet.  And I have to say, I was less than pleased with the 20 minute nap he favored me with. 

I tried to be fun and engaging.  I built a crappy half-assed fort and sat on the floor with him reading books and playing with his puzzles.  But every time I had to stand up, my knees hurt a little more.  We ended up watching way, way more television than I am comfortable with Elijah seeing in one day. 

Unfortunately, when sick mama shows up, that's all I can make myself do.  Let's hope that bitch goes home soon.

Techno guru

Nathan has always been our technology guy.  When we run into problems with the computers (we each have one, our marriage works better that way,) he's always the one who comes in and fixes it.  He wires and enables my parents' system of surround sound, and TV, Roku box, and DVD player.

But a few weeks ago, we wandered into uncharted territory for him.  Since my laptop is just about to separate permanently into two sections,  decided I wanted a new portable computer, I wanted a tablet.  The initial conversation went something like this:

Me: I want an iPad.
Nathan: Why?  (Nathan doesn't like tablets.)
Me: They are easier to Skype on and the laptop is just about dead anyway.
Nathan: Okay, let's look for a non-Apple product. (Nathan really doesn't like Apple.)

We looked at an Amazon Kindle, and a Google Nexus, but eventually settled on the Microsoft Surface RT.

I love it because it comes with a baby version of Windows and Microsoft Office and can actually function like a small laptop but looks and acts like a tablet.
Nathan has used it on a preliminary basis and these days I'm the one answering his questions about how to do things.  I kind of love that too!