7 Quick Takes
1. Today, I have chosen to do the Quick Takes for real; that is, I will post my name on the link from Conversion Diary. This is a geeky exciting step for me in the blog world.
2. I have no idea why, but my apostrophe key is not working, hence the lack of contractions in the above Quick Take. This is what it is saying instead:
I havenèt a sweet clue why itès not working. (Yes, it is adding a French-looking e instead of a an apostrophe!)
3. I had a bit of a difficult time sleeping last night. The baby was unusually hard to get to sleep, and was more clingy than usual. Then when I woke up this morning, I had a Miley Cyrus song in head which has still NOT disappeared!
My 9 year old brother-in-law has taken to watching the Hannah Montana show, and the last time we visited, we were delighted to witness the climactic ending of the Hannah Montana film. It has all been down-hill for me since then, culminating in me hearing over and over this blasted song in my head.
So my Quick Take point is, which is worse? A night without sleep or a day WITH Hannah Montana?
4. On a better note regarding music (musical note, if you will! Oh the puns...!), I was given a Glenn Gould CD for my birthday. It is the collection of his two very different recordings of the Goldberg Variations by Bach, which interestingly enough, were the alpha and the omega of his recording career (that is, the first and last).
It is absolutely breath-taking.
It has also become the highlight of my afternoon with Noah to listen to it. Around 4:45, he starts getting cranky every day, and the only REAL cure is Daddy. Like he is telling me, I have had enough of you. I love you, but I need a change. (In the immortal baby-care words of my uncle: A change is as good as a breast.... But I digress.) So to distract him until Patrick makes the long commute from upstairs where he works to the living room, Noah and I listen to this CD and dance across the living room.
This is really restoring my sanity, at least. That is what Beauty is for.
5. Speaking of Beauty, I recently re-read Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. I first read it when I was a university student, shortly after Patrick and I started dating. I enjoyed it immensely, and I was particularly moved by the message that the womanly desire to be beautiful is natural.
It was interesting seeing my reaction to it now, after a year of marriage and having embarked in the journey that is motherhood. The message I took from it THIS time was that too much pressure has been placed on women to be perfect.
I have been wallowing in self-pity for a few weeks that our house is messy. I keep the laundry clean, cook the meals, and always have clean dishes to serve it on. Heck, I am even on top of the cloth diapers. But that is a far as I go. I have only vacuumed once since we moved in here in July (yes, I am ashamed to admit it!) and there are laundry baskets strewn here and there with clean clothes that just DO NOT get put away.
Patrick keeps telling me that being a loving mother is way more important that being a tidy woman. But the message was falling on deaf ears. Somehow, hearing this from two complete strangers (the Eldredges) was what I needed. I am just letting things GO for a while, and embracing the brief time I have with Noah as an infant.
Ah. Freedom.
6. Today is September 11th. It really amazes me that this is the 8th anniversary of that fateful day. I feel very ominous.
Now, this may be politically incorrect, but you all know (or are about to know) what my husband does for a living: he writes for a pro-life news source. We are definitely a pro-life family, by conviction and increasingly moreso, by action (having recently had a baby only confirms this all the more!). So on a day where we commemorate the 2,993 deaths -- a horrible tragedy -- I can not help but think that there are over 3500 babies aborted every day in the United States.
I long for a time when that fact will bring as many Americans (and Canadians, too) together to champion the dignity of life, and the tragedy of its loss, as the September 11th attacks. The only difference I see between these two forms of terrorism is that one is legally sanctioned and even, quietly accepted in society.
7. I refuse to end my Quick Takes on such a tragic note. Instead, I would like to talk about how adorable my son is, how much I love him, and how he daily inspires me to be more pro-life. Not simply in the "I am philosophically opposed to abortion/euthanasia etc. way" or even in the "I will commit myself to protesting these things" way. But in seeing each moment imbued with such beauty, such dignity, such grace, such LIFE. And in turn, being constantly challenged to better myself and the world around him, so that he can be the person God called him to be.
Noah breathes life, meaning and purpose into everything I do, and I desire to breathe life back into the world because of him.
Thank you, dearest Lord, for the gift of life!
2. I have no idea why, but my apostrophe key is not working, hence the lack of contractions in the above Quick Take. This is what it is saying instead:
I havenèt a sweet clue why itès not working. (Yes, it is adding a French-looking e instead of a an apostrophe!)
3. I had a bit of a difficult time sleeping last night. The baby was unusually hard to get to sleep, and was more clingy than usual. Then when I woke up this morning, I had a Miley Cyrus song in head which has still NOT disappeared!
My 9 year old brother-in-law has taken to watching the Hannah Montana show, and the last time we visited, we were delighted to witness the climactic ending of the Hannah Montana film. It has all been down-hill for me since then, culminating in me hearing over and over this blasted song in my head.
So my Quick Take point is, which is worse? A night without sleep or a day WITH Hannah Montana?
4. On a better note regarding music (musical note, if you will! Oh the puns...!), I was given a Glenn Gould CD for my birthday. It is the collection of his two very different recordings of the Goldberg Variations by Bach, which interestingly enough, were the alpha and the omega of his recording career (that is, the first and last).
It is absolutely breath-taking.
It has also become the highlight of my afternoon with Noah to listen to it. Around 4:45, he starts getting cranky every day, and the only REAL cure is Daddy. Like he is telling me, I have had enough of you. I love you, but I need a change. (In the immortal baby-care words of my uncle: A change is as good as a breast.... But I digress.) So to distract him until Patrick makes the long commute from upstairs where he works to the living room, Noah and I listen to this CD and dance across the living room.
This is really restoring my sanity, at least. That is what Beauty is for.
5. Speaking of Beauty, I recently re-read Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. I first read it when I was a university student, shortly after Patrick and I started dating. I enjoyed it immensely, and I was particularly moved by the message that the womanly desire to be beautiful is natural.
It was interesting seeing my reaction to it now, after a year of marriage and having embarked in the journey that is motherhood. The message I took from it THIS time was that too much pressure has been placed on women to be perfect.
I have been wallowing in self-pity for a few weeks that our house is messy. I keep the laundry clean, cook the meals, and always have clean dishes to serve it on. Heck, I am even on top of the cloth diapers. But that is a far as I go. I have only vacuumed once since we moved in here in July (yes, I am ashamed to admit it!) and there are laundry baskets strewn here and there with clean clothes that just DO NOT get put away.
Patrick keeps telling me that being a loving mother is way more important that being a tidy woman. But the message was falling on deaf ears. Somehow, hearing this from two complete strangers (the Eldredges) was what I needed. I am just letting things GO for a while, and embracing the brief time I have with Noah as an infant.
Ah. Freedom.
6. Today is September 11th. It really amazes me that this is the 8th anniversary of that fateful day. I feel very ominous.
Now, this may be politically incorrect, but you all know (or are about to know) what my husband does for a living: he writes for a pro-life news source. We are definitely a pro-life family, by conviction and increasingly moreso, by action (having recently had a baby only confirms this all the more!). So on a day where we commemorate the 2,993 deaths -- a horrible tragedy -- I can not help but think that there are over 3500 babies aborted every day in the United States.
I long for a time when that fact will bring as many Americans (and Canadians, too) together to champion the dignity of life, and the tragedy of its loss, as the September 11th attacks. The only difference I see between these two forms of terrorism is that one is legally sanctioned and even, quietly accepted in society.
7. I refuse to end my Quick Takes on such a tragic note. Instead, I would like to talk about how adorable my son is, how much I love him, and how he daily inspires me to be more pro-life. Not simply in the "I am philosophically opposed to abortion/euthanasia etc. way" or even in the "I will commit myself to protesting these things" way. But in seeing each moment imbued with such beauty, such dignity, such grace, such LIFE. And in turn, being constantly challenged to better myself and the world around him, so that he can be the person God called him to be.
Noah breathes life, meaning and purpose into everything I do, and I desire to breathe life back into the world because of him.
Thank you, dearest Lord, for the gift of life!
My favourite was Take #7. Noah rocks my socks, and you are such an incredible mother to him.
ReplyDeleteRegarding #5: I, too, fall terribly short in the house-keeping arena. Part of my problem is TOO MUCH STUFF, a problem which we are currently working on fixing. But the REAL reason I don't get much done during the day is because I'd much rather giggle with Simon in the Jolly Jumper or colour WITH Norah than just use those times as "babysitting". Your husband is right: Your job is to be Noah's mother, his first teacher, his "chef", his bum-changer, etc, etc.
And finally (long comment!) regarding #6: I have a vision of a beautiful future in which each year we mark the anniversary of the day our country ends legal abortion. When our children's children hear what used to happen to the unborn, they will simply shake their heads in disbelief.
Now I'm going to go dig out my copy of Captivating, and the workbook/journal-thingy that goes with it. Time for a re-read!
The c and l in your post (clingy) are exceptionally close so I struggled for a while wondering how Noah could possibly have been really dingy last night. On another note: great takes and way to go on not cleaning and appreciating infancy - you and jaclyn have a lot to teach me.
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