All is well. Not much exciting here.

—————

Sweet baby J is a pretty laid-back dude. He is, amazingly, still in his same regular routine. He wakes up at 3:30 or so, regardless of what time we put him down—10 p.m. or midnight. So 10 p.m. is the goal, obviously. But the guy poops with every diaper change, and will often let ‘er rip after we’ve got him swaddled and settled. We’ve also had some diaper failures. I bought Huggies today because the parental folklore is that Huggies is better for boys. Amazingly, we’ve had almost no pee fountains.

He is sooooo cute. Has been awake a little more each day.

Nursing is going very well—we also have a nice routine there—but I do get a little “touched out” by the end of the day. Which makes me a little less patient with the girls than I would like. Sigh.

They are both doing well. Had their flu shots last week. In classic firstborn fashion, C was really resistant to it until we told her that it would help keep J healthy—a flu could make him very very sick. She went willingly after that. The promised trip to Baskin-Robbins afterward didn’t hurt. (She’s also asked R and me each day whether we’ve had ours yet. Erm, no.)

M is getting even more verbal. Still hard to understand at times, but very social. She has always been a creature of extreme moods, ahem, but with the baby that has been even more pronounced. I can’t believe how grown-up she seems. She seems so big and fleshy to me compared to this compact little infant that I spend so much time with.

—————

Maternity leave is a great way for a pastor to spend Advent, I have to say. I made fudge today and took a nap. (You know you’re a third-time mom when you make a time-critical recipe involving a candy thermometer while your kid is napping nearby. Eh, he can wait if he wakes up.) Also did some laundry and sorted through the maternity clothes. I’m hoping to get the gifts sorted and shipped by Thursday. A lot of little details but I am doing my best not to get stressed about it. That rather misses the point!

—————

I wish I could clone MaDear and G-mommy for all those who need a helpful, engaged and loving grandparent for their kids. Whenever G-mommy visits I think about those “volunteer vacations” where you can sign up to go somewhere and build a house or do some kind of mission work. She pretty much has a volunteer vacation whenever she comes. She takes good care of us.

—————

I’m getting a lot of reading done while nursing. I am doing a lot of reading about simplicity. Got a book from the library called Living Simply with Children which is really wonderful. Lots of food for thought about how to live on less, not be so busy and consumer-driven, etc. It feels like good timing to be reading this as I prepare to move to part-time.

Just finished a chapter about how kids need time just to play, and also to do absolutely nothing. I think about this every time C wants to hold J. She can easily hold him for an hour without fidgeting. I think it’s her way of doing nothing.

That’s about it!