Seven Quick Takes

I meant to write a quick takes post...and then I forgot.  But I still have an hour until midnight, so here goes:

1.  Today was Not A Good Day.  The toddler is constipated, which is very much not a good time for anyone.  I have no idea why this should be, as his diet hasn't changed in the slightest bit, but it's enough to make me second guess every single decision I make.  Should he have a piece of cheese?  Should we go for a walk?  Is he drinking enough water?  Should I try another dose of disgusting medicine?  Plus, and, also, the baby is needy.  Super needy.  Don't-put-me-down-Mama needy.  There was a point at which I was holding a howling child in the bathroom (who knew a warm bath was torture?) while a furious infant screamed from the bedroom and I felt like yelling "I'm only one woman!!"

2.  Further on the bedroom bingo the children seem to be playing these days:  both of them are now insisting on sleeping in their room.  Well, the boy is.  The baby has no choice and sits in not-mute anger in her crib, her fat little legs sticking out from the bars, peeved that I would be so cruel as to put her to bed.  The horror.  However, Samuel is falling out of bed and while I *should* probably just cave and put his mattress on the floor, I refuse to budge.  I tried the whole mattress-on-the-floor rigamarole before and ended up with a toddler who slept on the carpet with a small square of fabric over him looking like a Victorian orphan.  I had to keep the heat on 'broil' in the children's room and offer explanations every time someone saw where my son chose to sleep.  I'm not going down that path again.  He's in a bed and that's that.  Someone suggested a pool noodle under the fitted sheet and I think that's the next step, followed by a bed rail.  I really don't want to buy a bed rail.

3.  We have a birthday party to go to on Sunday and I've already started 'prepping' my son.  We're going to the pool, you see, and he's terrified of the pool.  So we've talked about how we're going to give his friend a present (he interjected something about Jesus when I told him this - hope I'm not adding confusion to his understanding of birthday parties) and have a piece of cake and then IF he WANTS to and it's PERFECTLY OKAY if he doesn't, we will MAYBE go into the pool which is NOT SCARY at all because mama will be RIGHT THERE.  So far, no dice; the child isn't biting.  The pool is infested with giant water snakes and I don't know what I'm talking about.

4.  Yay!  We have company coming!  My friends from Nova Scotia are heading down our way for a ministry conference and bringing their two little girls, one of whom will stay with us for a few days and undoubtedly put Samuel in his place while here.  And because I hate to miss a par-tay opportunity, I'm throwing a baby shower at the same time for a mutual friend of ours.  She's expecting her first daughter, and if there's anything I like, it's babies.  And cake.  Well, and decorating stuff.  Okay, mostly babies and cake.

5.  Does anyone else still have their dead Christmas tree hanging around the house?  Um, please say yes.  And decorations on the stairs and cards taped up all around the doorways?  Tomorrow...I need to do something about this.

6.  The baby is crawling for real now.  It's very cute.  Samuel wasn't a crawler in the traditional sense; he walked on his hands and feet like a little bear.  But real crawling by a tiny little one is so cute.  And she's pulling herself up now as well, which is sweet and precious and I really want every minute to pause so I don't lose a second of babyness.

7.  Take a look at this family photo.  Isn't it beautiful?  I wish I was brave enough to have seven children.

Go check out the other quick takes!  And pray for Jen, our usual host, who is in the hospital with pulmonary embolisms in both lungs.