A Little List

I love lists. They help me organize my thoughts. They remind me of what I’ve DONE. They help me remember what I need to DO. They keep me sane. So here’s a little list of happy things from this week.

1. Rose is such a squishy little cutie.

2. At lunch today, I gave Jay an apple and a spoonful of peanut butter. After a while, he said “this is bee-you-tiful, Mommy.” I asked him what was beautiful and he said “My peanut butter is so beautiful!” That’s my son.

3. This morning, I woke up to the sound of giggling and laughter coming from Jay’s and Rose’s room. That was the best alarm clock ever, even if it did “ring” about 45 minutes too early. Jay and Rose have started playing together more lately. Bed time has turned into party time for these two buddies. I have to go in and turn off the light and break up the fun at least twice each night before they go to sleep, and sometimes they fall asleep with the light on, mid-fiesta. [See picture]

4. Rose is officially a little wean-ee. Don’t tell the American Academy of Pediatrics, but her last mamamilk was yesterday, and she is now drinking COW milk from a CUP full-time! Sweet freedom for both of us. I know it’s a whole month before THEY say she should stop with the b-milk, butttt every baby is different and she kind of self-weaned. For about 2 months, she has barely been drinking anything at all unless it was in a cup. Not enough fluids equals not enough diapers. So over the past few weeks, I gradually dropped mamafeedings and added moomoofeedings. Rose is doing just fine!

5. As for me, it’s been more than 3 years since I’ve been JUST ME, not pregnant or lactating. So I’ll be enjoying this…lull between stormsImeanbabies.

6a. Jay and I have been enjoying his new blocks, cars, and train tracks. One of my goals is to spend more time just playing with my kids, and it’s been great! We’ve built mansions, fences, roadways, race tracks, tunnels, bridges, mountains, towers, and even a zoo. It’s cute when he gets his blocks out and tries to re-build our most recent creation on his own. This picture has our zoo in it.

6b. This is Noah’s mansion. We have this Noah’s Ark set of animals that came with Noah and his wife (Jeff named her Joan—Joan of Ark, get it? My witty husband). So We often build a house for Noah, Joan and all their critters. This one was my masterpiece. I love playing with blocks. And Jay. While we build, I have to use one hand and often both of my legs to defend our buildings from Hurricane Rose, the Rose monster, Rosasaurous, etc.

7. This week I discovered the secret to almost eliminating the drudgery and doom of LAUNDRY DAY: wait till the evening! Since Jeff drives the car to work now that it’s cold, my only vehicle is my beloved double jogging stroller. That thing can do a lot, but it’s just TOO hard to cram all of our laundry into it, (and into a bag and a backpack that I have to carry while pushing the 100lb stroller), and walk over to do laundry at the Whites’ house. It takes all day long. Dante forgot to include eternal laundry in his Inferno. Even though I don’t like putting things off and I’m most productive in the mornings, doing laundry at night after Jeff comes home WORKS.

8. I recently (finally) got the Mo-Tab’s best CD ever, Called to Serve.  Why do they even have women in the choir? The songs with only the men are SO GOOD! When I listen to them I feel so joyful and inspired. I love basking in those deep, rich harmonies. And it makes me think of my dear far away brother, Elder Kyle Brown.

9. A few weeks ago, I indulged in a Kindle. So we have a Kindle Fire and a normal Kindle now. Yikes—easy on the electronics! I adore my Kindle reader. It’s easy to read from, it’s small and light, and best of all, books published before 1923 are FREE. Since our local library doesn’t even have a complete set of The Classics, I am particularly stoked about my easy, gratis access to them. I can also play Scrabble on my Kindle. I think I love this little device so much because it makes my somewhat nerdy activities (like Scrabble and the Brontes) so EASY and FUN.

10. So many books to read, so little time! I have a big stack of books by my chair. I intend to read all of them…eventually. I’m afraid the pile is growing faster than I can finish books in it. Bones is partly to blame—a few nights I’ve chosen to WATCH A SHOW rather than read before bed. What has happened to me?  The two things I’ll blame for my lack of reading time are: my Kindle and my children. They are both worthy causes, though, so I’ve learned to find joy in just looking at my stack o books. I indulge in a few pages when I can.

January is usually such a flat, long, dull month. We’re doing our best to change that around here, and I think it’s working.