I swore when I started blogging again that I wasn't going to get into the rut of "Life Lately" posts again. But, here we are again. I just don't have anything terribly exciting (or tragic) to share, and this seems to be the easiest way to share a bunch of hodge-podge topics all at once without seeming too ridiculously disjointed. I don't have a picture for this post because all the photos I've taken recently have my childrens' faces in them, so enjoy this purely black and white Lately post.
Reading: I literally just finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley last night. It was...weird. The beginning was interesting and bizarre because of the dystopian premise, the middle was a total slog to get through (I skimmed a lot) and the last chapter or two was kind of what I expected the rest of the book to be like, and it was better. I would probably recommend it just because it's been said to be the antithesis to Orwell's 1984, and I would agree with that assessment. I'll just warn you that it's not exactly an easy or enjoyable read. Winston (1984) is at least a somewhat sympathetic character. There just isn't one in Brave New World. I hated everyone. Maybe that's the point.
Watching: The new season of The Masked Singer on Hulu. It's enjoyable if you like listening to masked celebrities sing so you can try and guess who they are, based on a bunch of clues they give throughout the season. Just once, though, I want a complete stranger to be inside the costume when they take it off at elimination and reveal who they are. I just want to see the confusion on the judges' faces when they're like, "...and who are you???"
Listening to: This Spotify playlist. It's maintained by Redeemer Bible Church in AZ (Costi Hinn's church, if you know who that is) and I really like it. Takes the work out of putting my own "God music" (Imogen's term for worship music) playlists together. If you can call it "work."
Baking: These lemon rolls this weekend. Isaiah has a coworker who is retiring so they're having a retirement party. It gives me an excuse to bake and not have to eat. As a friend asked me recently, "Is baking your stress release?" Yes. One hundred percent, yes.
Wishing: That the internet at large would be a little more sensitive toward moms who stay at home with their kids with no help from family or friends and who haven't had a solo date with their husband in over two years. (Me. That mom is me.) I've honestly thought about writing a whole blog post on this topic before, but I can't think of a way to express myself that doesn't come across as angry and jealous. I mean, I might be a little jealous (working on it!) but I'm not angry. I'm just sad, and frustrated. I'll leave it at that for now, because one of these days I just might get angsty enough to write that post. It's not just everyone else's monthly date nights and childless weekend getaways that get to me, it's feeling alone in motherhood in general. And I know some people have it even worse than we do - though I don't see how it gets worse than literally never getting a solo date with your husband, ever - but I'm sure it's possible.
Thankful: That Kilian is getting better all the time at communication. We still have our typical early-toddler struggles, like crying in the car because he's hungry and doesn't understand why he can't eat now, instead of five minutes from now when we get home, but it's getting better all the time. He's starting to put two words together fairly consistently, and it's so fun. "Mommy come" and "Sissy play" and things of that nature. Now, if only he would get better at eating. He is absolutely not the adventurous eater that his sister was, and still is. That girl will try just about anything once, and insists that she is "the only girl in the world who loves spicy food." Kilian won't even put something in his mouth if he doesn't already know that he likes it. Makes for some super fun family dinners. Not.
Laughing at: The Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shrimp-Gate saga. If you haven't seen this, it is both completely disgusting and utterly hilarious. You just can't do any better than Jensen Karp, married to Danielle Fishel, finding shrimp tails in his cereal box (get it?). I'm dying to see what comes of this.
I also don't understand the random weekend getaways that involve childcare. We don't do it. We rarely do anything we can't all do together, dogs included, when it comes to activities. I do think that many parents of young kids have no idea how hard the rest of us have it, not having grandparents at the beck and call. This is a "dependence" issue in itself though. Nothing burns me up more than someone saying their mom came over to help them clean.(I've heard this a lot over the years.) Like, what is wrong with you? Grow up.
ReplyDeletePlease write the post about not having constant date nights. It is a very lonely feeling to not have a huge network of support at your beck and call.
ReplyDeleteI read Brave New World last year, and I agree that it was weird. To me it was much harder to understand the point of it than it was with 1984. Especially the last few chapters, I was wondering what the heck happened and wishing I had someone to discuss it with! Maybe I need to read it again. I’d like to hear about your struggles with date nights, because I think I can relate. For a while, I had certain friends that seemed to be always going on dates or trips or whatever, and my family is just not that way - they don’t want to take the kids every week (or multiple times a week!). It’s hard for me to imagine having a system like that. We’re still just lucky if we get a real date once a quarter. BUT, one thing that has been a huge thing for us this year is Awana! Our kids are all old enough for Awana at our church now, so Derek and I get to go out for a quick dinner together once a week in this season. We are soaking it up, because we only have two more years before our oldest ages out! So I’m just saying, when they are both a little older, there may be options like that too. 😀
ReplyDelete