Each week I post seven “quick takes” of things on my mind. Topics are typically related to our family happenings or things I’m into right now.

1. Saturday Mom, Noah and I attended a wonderful Phil concert. It featured a beautiful piece by Vaughan Williams called “Lark Ascending”, for which the orchestra was joined by a guest violinist playing a Stradivarius. It was beautiful. Noah decided it was a good time to talk, which totally stressed me out, but other than that…he had it good that night. I’m guessing he was the only six-month-old in the world that night who ate dinner while listening to a Stradivarius played live.
2. Life was supposed to be back to normal this week, but instead I have been unwell. Grr. It’s frustrating. I’ve been looking forward to a “normal” week, but it was not to be. Our house is a mess, I haven’t accomplished nearly what I wanted to at home, I’ve had to use sick hours at work, and we haven’t been eating well because I haven’t felt well enough to cook anything. I am finally feeling like myself today, though. So…on to next week!
3. My middle school choir was supposed to start this week, but we had to cancel because I wasn’t up to it. I also canceled a follow-up appointment to check how my face is healing. That appointment had already been rescheduled after the Big Snow last week (not to be confused with the Great Snow – my family may be the only ones who get that joke).
4. Noah is rolling forward and backward easily, and Tuesday evening I saw him lie on his stomach and lift his entire torso off the ground for the first time. Since then, he’s doing it regularly, sometimes getting his legs forward, as well. He’s very close to crawling. Aria rolled a lot before she crawled, but Noah hasn’t done that. It’s interesting how they’re all so different.
5. Aria has been a hilarious delight recently. She is such a little person now. She can open doors with ease (eek!), and can undo our child gates. Thankfully, she’s also fully cognizant of her behavior and instructions, so it’s not a disaster. She says “thanks” regularly and spontaneously when I hand her something or help her. She’s not as good about it with people outside our immediate family, I think because she gets excited about them so some of her manners fly out the window.
6. Since I’ve spent a lot of time lying around this week, I’ve also spent a lot of time watching NCIS. I’m almost finished with season six (don’t freak out – I started on season five a couple weeks ago…I watched the first four seasons a few months ago. It took me a long time to start watching this show, even though my parents and brother loved it, and it’s the only show my parents watch regularly. As in, they plan their schedules around it airing. Which is not like my parents. I kid you not, I called them one Tuesday evening at 7:58, and my dad immediately suggested I’d like to talk to my mom, who was far more subtle but it was obvious she didn’t want to talk to me, either. I told her I’d call back at nine. So, anyhoo, it was inevitable I would want to find out what all the fuss was about. My parents were right. It’s excellent.
7. I’ve been writing each evening in this wonderful Jane-a-Day book. It’s a five year journal. Each day has lines for five years, where you can record a few thoughts. I love the idea of seeing a five-year-span at a glance. The book is compact and really beautiful, as well.