7 Quick Takes

Okay. A quick insight into our lives of late.





1. We hosted the Crossroads Pro-Life walkers the weekend of July 9th. We had anywhere from 5 to 12 people sleeping in our house (besides the three of us) over the course of three nights. They were great kids, and it was so fun to have such a full house, and to support such a good cause. Plus, we got to see my brother David, who was super excited to see Miss A, his god-daughter.





2. My friend Susan came to visit the last week in June. She and Miss A were best buds by the time she left. Seriously, I have never seen my kiddo try so hard to make somone laugh! Susan, Miss A, and I had so much fun checking out the Plaza and going to the pool. Hopefully we'll have another visit before it's been another year!





3. I have been working very hard the last 6 weeks to have my house in a constant state of clean. I feel more peaceful when it's tidy. But this goes against my nature (as well as the nature of a toddler), so it's still a struggle some days, but I am happy to say that most days I'm successful.

See? This is my living room at the end of the day.

4. I'm going to learn how to sew. I'm pretty excited about it actually. George's aunt is going to teach me how to use my sewing machine. Hopefully I'll be able to make some things for Miss A before too long.



5. I have not started cloth diapering yet, but it's on the horizon. I'm actually getting pretty excited about it. I think I might phase it in with disposables the first couple weeks (1/2 and 1/2) just to get used to it instead of going cold turkey.



6. We thought we might be moving to Greenville, SC. But we're not.



7. Yet.

Gone and Done It

Well, folks. I took the leap and bought some cloth diapers. The local natural baby store here in town has a diaper swap every 3 months. Moms bring in their outgrown/homemade/excess cloth diapers and sell 'em for cheap. I've perused the diaper swap websites before, but I'm glad I went this route. I could see them, handle them, really know what I was getting prior to buying.

I got a couple different brands/styles. Most moms I talked to at the swap said their collections of cloth are a mish-mash too. I have slightly less than half of what I need for a full two days worth of dipes. I only bought 7, because I didn't want to go too crazy right away. I saved 60% from what I would have spent on all of these new. It's hard not to buy used when you see the savings. The ones I got are totally stain free, and in great shape (not all used dipes are that way). I got there an hour early, since the last time I observed the swap (when buying shoes for Amy), I noticed that people tend to pop in to the store - which opens 2 hours before the swap starts - and start buying before the designated time.

So with Amy strapped into the Ergo on my back, we browsed and bartered. And I walked away with a few to try. So, we'll see how this goes.

4 Flip covers (in which I will use prefolds), 2 one size All-In-Ones, and 1 medium BottomBumpers All-In-One.

What Women Want

As I was listening to Dave Ramsey's radio broadcast yesterday, a gentleman called in asking Dave's advice on what to do now that his wife of 30 years wanted a divorce. He was a former police officer, and had been disabled for 8 years. As Dave is wont to do, he asked why the man's wife wanted a divorce after all that time. He always asks that, because he is a big believer in keeping a marriage together if at all possible. And he always recommends counseling with a pastor or priest, etc. But then...oh, then.

The man proceeded to tell Dave that he had been completely blindsided and loved his wife very much, and that he didn't understand why she wanted to leave him...he was audibly in tears and obviously devastated. I was a little teary myself. Listening to him tell the reasons his wife had listed for her wanting to leave, what I heard was that this woman had been miserable. She had clearly been unhappy for some time. But he had had no. idea.

Now, in this day in age, most people would probably fault the husband here. He didn't do enough to make his wife happy, he didn't consider her needs, yadda yadda. But let me tell you what hit me the hardest. He told his wife that he loved her, that he was in love with her. And she said she just couldn't do it anymore. So I don't think this husband withheld anything from his wife that she needed. His grief was so raw, it was very clear that this was a man who loved his wife, who wanted her happiness. At one point he said "I would have quit that job if I had known she hated it! I would have quit!"

His wife withheld what she was feeling, because that's what so many of us women tend to do, isn't it? We bottle it up and stew about it, waiting for our husbands to read our minds about what we want from them, be it help with children or around the house, emotional needs, or even the things that are bothering us about our relationship. Where does it get us?

And it made me think for a long time after I turned the radio off about the times that I do that. The times I get so. angry. waiting for my husband to realize that I'm angry. But you know, he has no idea. And that man had no idea. And I would bet a hefty sum that she never told him. She just let it boil up until she couldn't carry around that anger anymore. And then she felt like her only option was to leave.

After a couple of minutes, it was clear that this man was losing it. He called a financial advisor but what he really needed was someone to talk to. He had it all built up, and the floodgates opened when Dave asked him why she left. Wisely, Dave put him on hold to set him up with a pastor in his area who could help. But man oh man, it was one of the saddest things I've heard in a long time.

So, if there's something on your heart that's bothering you, share it with your husband. Tell him if you're angry with him. Tell him if you need his help with something. Because if that call was any indication, he has no idea you need it unless you ask. And thirty years is way too long to wait for him to figure it out.

I sniffed an iPad

So, I sniffed an iPad the other day.

Well, no, I didn't actually...but it made for a good draw, didn't it?

Anyway, despite the fact that I have NOT sniffed an iPad, I think I can say with some certainty that if I did, there would probably be something very vital missing.

You see, I am a very olfactory person. Smells just...get to me in a way that nothing else does.

I constantly smell everything, too. (That might be more of a tic, actually - in fact I think a certain someone [MOM] would definitely agree that it is...but we won't go into that just now)

Smells are constantly bringing memories flooding to mind, or certain emotions or connections to another person, place or experience. Maybe everyone experiences these things as intensely as I seem to, but whenever I've brought it up, most times I get wierd looks, so I've always assumed that smells are a little more of a Thing for me.

My point being that I cannot bring myself to get behind the iPad or Kindle, or any other "mobile reading device", because for heaven's sake "What about the smell?" Or lack thereof.

Books have always been my safety, my comfortable place. As a kid I would devour chapter books in an afternoon, and begin another as soon as I finished one. I don't know if it was my way of dealing with grief or whether it is just in my nature to crave that soothing calm that books always brought me. Maybe it was my control in an out of control world. My center...not just to avoid or escape, but just as my own way of regrouping.

So when I smell that book smell...oh, but I just feel like everything is as it should be.

And my favorite thing these days? That my daughter is loving herself some books. She could easily spend 15-20 minutes looking at a book, exclaiming to herself in baby babble whenever she turns a page, pointing with her chubby baby finger at all the things she sees. And she doesn't always want to be read to (although we do plenty of that, too). Sometimes she just wants to be by herself with her books. And I love that. Seeing her take so much joy in something that brought me so much joy is amazing. I hope that she grows up loving books..the feel of them, the weight of them in her hands, the pages full of thousands of words, the imagination they cultivate. And yes, the smell, too. I hope she notices the smell.