Happy Thanksgiving!

- We got back this afternoon from Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's. It was a nutty, pleasant whirlwind. I loved it, and now I'm loving that its over. =) There were 4 children under the age of 4 there, and the activities included lots of eating, very little sleeping for everyone, and tons of hanging out and trying to keep the kids happy and entertained.

- I've decided that Family Picture Day needs to be banned. It's quite stressful, and I personally do not think its worth the final product, especially with this many tiny kids. Inevitably, by the time everyone is dressed and ready to go, the whole morning is gone, and at least two of the kids are melting down. I do it because I love my mother, and it means a lot to her, and since she has made many sacrifices on my behalf, I will continue to do it. But I don't like it.

- By the time we'd left Mom and Dad's, the children had all been ranked by order of demandingness. We got the honor of having the outliers deemed Most Trouble and Least Trouble. Can you guess who got which honor? Doesn't take much guessing, does it? He also got the award for Least Likely to Sleep Longer At Night Than 3 Consecutive Hours. What has he won? Fistfuls of his mother's hair. Praying very, very hard that we get back into a good sleeping pattern... starting now.

- I think I've been starving my baby. I should've started him on baby food a month ago instead of a couple of weeks ago. He is finally eating oatmeal after rejecting rice cereal for a week. I'm going to put him on baby food at every feeding pretty quickly now that he's actually swallowing something. I looked at him this week and saw a tiny baby who's getting longer and not bigger around. Yes, he's developmentally on track, and he has no interest in a bottle of formula after he's nursed, but he's just sooo tiny. I'm a little worried about my milk supply, so we're shortening the feeding schedule again until he's eating more baby food and I feel better about things. I swear he burns up my milk like rocket fuel.

- Terri shared a great book with me called "A Praying Life." I think I'm going to get a copy soon, since I didn't get to finish it. It made me take a good hard look at my cynical attitude toward life and childlike prayer. He was brutally blunt about the reasons that we don't pray, and I loved that he put it right up front that one of the reasons that we don't pray is that we're tired of being disappointed when God doesn't answer... so we don't ask. Saves a lot of hurt feelings, right? Well, maybe, but it also keeps us from developing a close relationship. For more... go get the book. I think the author's name is Paul Miller.

- David is going away again this week, Tuesday through Friday. I will be doing a lot of praying for good attitudes and patience.... especially patience. And good sleeping. And patience again. And no disasters. And patience. You probably see a pattern emerging here.

- I just got a wonderful magnetic advent calendar. It's my big decorating splurge this Christmas, but I think its going to be worth it. You open each little box, and there's a magnetic part of the scene. One day a star, another day a shepherd, etc. I'm going to love doing this with the boys for years to come. I got the one from Kurt Adler on Amazon. It seems to be very sturdy and well made.

- And now I'm going to watch House Hunters. This is purely so I can feel morally superior to people who insist that their house must have pot lighting and granite countertops. =) Good night!