7 Quick Takes (vol. 18)

--- 1 ---

Last night after catching up on my last several blog posts, Alex informed me that I'm too hard on myself.  He also instructed me that I had to include that as one of my quick takes today.  I'm being an obedient wife :)

--- 2 ---

I love Advent!  It's going by much too quickly (as usual)--I can't believe this weekend is already Gaudete Sunday.  Where does the time go?  No matter what I do, Christmas always sneaks up on me.  This year I think it's due in large part to being so optimistic that we were going to be in our house by Christmas, only to find out last week that the seller's bank sold the mortgage to another bank, meaning we have to pretty much start over with the new bank.  There's still a possibility that we can close before the end of the year, but I'm not expecting to be decorating my own house for Christmas this year.

--- 3 ---

I've been looking for years for some good Advent music.  I love Christmas music, and this year I'm trying to be more intentional and use Christmas music to help me focus on Advent by reminding me of the goal of all this preparation.  But I still wanted some specifically Advent music.  And guess what?  I found it!  I meant to order it weeks ago but just got around to it--it should be here early next week, still in time to make good use of it before Christmas :)

--- 4 ---

In other news, we are officially grown ups (because getting married and having two kids and working multiple jobs and stuff doesn't make us grown up enough)... we got our very own Costco membership last weekend.  Is it ridiculous how excited I am about this?  Yeah, kind of.  But I am (and so is Alex, so at least we're ridiculous together...)

--- 5 ---

Speaking of being together, only four more days of school before Christmas break!  Woohoo!  So ready to not be the lone toddler-wrangler during the day.  Michael's tantrums are escalating.  I'm not sure if it does any good to look for a cause for those especially tantrum-rich days (like this morning).  It might be because he's started to get really grumpy when he's hungry (although I can't necessarily get him to eat anything even when I know he's hungry).  It might be because he's going through an identity crisis and thinks he's a wolf cub instead of a human boy.  It might just be because he's almost two (and good at it)...

--- 6 ---

As much as I'm enjoying having a sweet little infant to snuggle, I can't wait to see Liam's personality continue to develop.  He is so radically different from Michael as an infant, I'm really excited to see what he's like as a baby and a toddler.  Not that I'm desperate for a radically different toddler--I absolutely love Michael's personality, even when he's being a rabid wolf cub (mostly)... I'm just hopeful that Liam's incredibly laid-back temperament now hints at a little less drama two years from now.  Maybe...

--- 7 ---

But regardless of what the future holds, our morning of tantrums has turned quite unexpectedly into a quiet afternoon of napping.  Michael went down quietly for his nap about an hour ago, and Liam has been napping in his bouncy chair for a little over two hours and is just now starting to wake up.  I got to eat lunch, take a shower, and blog.  Craziness.

Go see Jen for more quick takes!  Happy Friday :)