I realize I haven’t been around much recently. I’ve missed you. 🙂 December is very busy for everyone, and this year is particularly so for me. It’s the first year since we had Aria that I am singing in Holiday Pops concerts. I’ve attended four rehearsals and will sing three concerts this month (there were more rehearsals and are more concerts, but I can only do so much with a nursing baby). Anyhoo, that’s just a small taste of the December busyness, and it’s why I haven’t been around too much this month. The rest of December you can expect me to post my Friday Quick Takes and a couple other posts. I’ll be back at it in 2014.
- Aria has started living up to the other definition of her name. Or, at least, to part of it. See, “Aria” means “lioness of God”. We’re working on the latter part, but she’s started exercising the “lioness” bit to full effect. We are suddenly in a phase where we occasionally have full-on power struggles and meltdowns over differences of opinion. For example, whether she’s going to wear her coat or hat, or whether she’s going to take a nap. I am feeling my way through, picking my battles wisely (I hope), and sticking to what I’ve said once I’ve said it (mostly). I’m human, okay? I’ve had to leave her sobbing a couple of times, and it is unbelievably hard to do.
- Noah hit 5 months old on Monday. I am telling you, my friends, this is the fastest year of my life thus far. Let’s see…Noah is a sweet, friendly bundle. He’s quick to smile and laugh, and rolls with the relational punches beautifully. His sister’s presence makes him extremely happy. He loves crinkly toys, and puts everything in his mouth. He’s currently working on his third tooth. His hair is starting to turn blond, just like his sister’s did, and this week he (finally) started spreading out his feedings. He has outgrown his cosleeper (he could fit a bit more comfortably, but he’s safe). We’re waiting for the Christmas decorations to come down before we move him to something bigger.
- Holiday Pops concerts start tonight. Last night was the dress rehearsal. We have several new things happening this year, which is fun. Now I just need the weather to cooperate. I hear there’s a possibility of a prohibitive amount of snow this weekend.
- Work has been busy this week, and will be next week, as well. I have more than my usual number of meetings. It’s not really an end of the year thing, because our fiscal year runs June-May. It’s just that some big projects that require larger conversations are hitting at the same time. I don’t mind busy, though, because I love my job. (Also, we are shut down from the 23rd through the 2nd, and it’s easy to work hard when you know you have a nice, long vacation on the horizon.)
- We took the kids to see Santa on Saturday. Aria was very interested until we got there. She became disinterested as soon as he was actually in view. She wouldn’t even sit next to him in my lap. Nana held her beside the sleigh, and Santa held Noah, who was happy to twist his fist up in Santa’s beard and tug away. Conveniently for us, Santa always pays a visit to the fire department, so that’s where we saw him. Boppy was taking the official pictures, Daddy was printing them out, and the kids’ fire chief uncle was on hand for fun (that’s what uncles are for, you know).
- Saturday was also Andy’s birthday. We didn’t do anything particularly special. We spent the morning at the fire barn, and while the kids napped in the afternoon we vegged and caught up on NCIS. It was lovely to just lie around and watch something we love without feeling anything tugging on us.
- Sunday was the Christmas homeschool choir concert. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My kids did a great job on their songs – I was extremely proud of them. The other choirs (elementary and high school) also did a great job. The high school director asked my kids to sing “Silent Night” with his choir, because he had been impressed with the rendition they did in our set. That was a highlight for me. I was proud of their poise up there.