Come for Tea...

It's been a long, LONG time since I've gone for "coffee" with anyone, coffee motivated simply by the chat aspect.  I suppose having a nursing baby changes that since I rarely (never) go anywhere without Levi and a coffee shop could be a nightmare with a 9 month old who grabs everything and just wants to MOVE.  I kinda miss those leisurely dates that I would have with friends, though, where we would just catch up on each other's lives and share our struggles and joys over a steaming cup of...whatever.

If we, you and I, were to go out for coffee today, these are some of the things that might come up...

Levi - He's sleeping through the night!  Sometimes...  He still wakes up around 5-6am wanting to eat, but then sleeps til 8-8:30 every morning.  How long does your baby sleep?  When did they start sleeping through the night?  He sure has food preferences.  He'll down four bowls of things he loves and only two or three bites of things he doesn't really care for.  How did you get your baby to eat?  Did they gain any weight in the second year of their life?  With Levi not eating alot, he's basically stayed the same weight since he was four months old!  Is this normal?!  He's so much fun to watch these days.  He's starting to problem solve!  He loves to stand but wants to play with a toy while standing so what does he do?  He'll reach up while sitting and put his toy on top of a ledge, then he'll pull himself up on the ledge and, if he balanced the toy well, it will be waiting up top for him!  What a smart boy.  : P  I'm so proud!

Marriage - Ok, so this one we might actually need to be sitting at a table together to discuss : )  haha.  In short, marriage is wonderful.  We've been married six amazing years...we've done alot of things together in those years...and we love each other WAY more now than we did when we were first married.  Wouldn't change a thing.  That said, every marriage has its challenges, whether it's outside forces that you need to work through together or relationship things from within.  There's always something, right?  Well, not always, but you catch my drift...

Moving - Whoo-hoo!  Yippee!!  I am so so excited to be moving in just over two weeks!  Put down roots?  Unpack the boxes without marking the next packing date on the calendar?  Yes please!  We're gonna burn those boxes just as soon as they're empty.  I'm picturing an ongoing bonfire in the backyard that we'll just throw box after box onto until we're completely moved in.  Ok.  Exaggeration.  Not really a fire.  But believe me, there will be a metaphorical fire burning and as I empty each box, I will toss it into the flames!  haha.  See ya later, BOXES.  (Much, much later, I hope.)  I am so done with living in boxes.  Having somewhere to live that is permanent just sounds amazing.  I was just writing in my journal today that, while I am nervous about a few things, mostly I just feel like we're finally moving HOME.  Altona, if I remember correctly, felt the same way when we moved there.  Of course there's an adjustment period.  But this is definitely where we're meant to be!

Crafting/Sewing/Scrapbooking/MAKING - For the past few months, I have felt nearly invincible when it comes to making things.  I'll see something I like in a store or magazine and think, "I could make that."  I've definitely been proven wrong a time or two (I seem to recall a dress-making endeavor that went horribly wrong just a few months ago before grad...think BIG, unshapely, not flattering in the least).  But my creative juices are flowing!  Right now, I'm working on a crocheted cover for a big floor pillow that has been losing its fluff in small, bite-sized clumps for a few years now.  It was never a big deal until those bite-sized clumps started making their way into a certain little mouth around here...gross.  New cover needed.  ASAP.  My scrapbooking these days is sporadic.  I still haven't started Levi's baby book and he's already 9 months old.  I.am.behind.  I've always been someone who is just waiting for things to happen so that I have more pictures to work with.  I think I must just be too intimidated...I want his book to be exactly the way I picture it.  I want it to be perfect.  And that is not going to happen.  So I guess I'm just trying to put it out of my mind...  I have started my pregnancy album though!  It's been fun.  I think I only have a few more hours to go before I'm done that.  I have been thinking about digital scrapbooking for a while now.  Have you done it?  Do you like it?  What do you do with all your traditional scrapbooking supplies?  Do you use them up before you make the switch?  And does it look weird when some of your albums are traditional and others are digital?  I'm just not sure.  And speaking of making things, what do you dream of making?  What's on your "to make" list?  What do you wish you could make?  What's your favourite thing that you've made?

Devos - Another fun one that may be better discussed over a coffee.  But how rarely does this actually come up?  Right?  Is it something that anybody actually talks about?  Or are we all so busy that devos get put on a back burner and we're too embarrassed or feel too guilty to actually talk about it?  I know I have felt like that.  ALOT.  But I've noticed that lately I've just been feeling tired.  And easily stressed.  And unfocused.  I've just been feeling a bit out of it and not like myself.  (Not hugely like that, but just kinda a haze that's been hanging over me lately)  So the other night I went on my iPhone and "bought" a free app called "You Version".  It has the whole Bible in numerous translations as well as many many different Bible reading and devotional plans.  I then set myself up a little devo routine and started right away - before I could forget!  I then committed to making Levi's morning nap time into "me time" where I'll read a bit and memorize a bit and seriously, so good!  SO good.  Funny thing, though.  Until now, nap time has been get-stuff-done-as-quickly-as-possible-while-the-lad-is-sleeping time so naturally, as soon as I finished my devos, my mind raced to what I should do next.  So I sat.  And stared out the window.  And THOUGHT.  And PRAYED.  And made a conscious effort to actually DO nothing for a while.  And it was so refreshing!  And right then and there I decided that I was going to do my best to guard that time and do it every day.  And so far it's been amazing.  I have more energy.  I have more patience.  I have more love...more focus...more joy... Of course, I'm not looking forward to the day that it becomes routine and I somehow forget how life was like without it because, seriously, it seems to happen every.single.time.  But for now, it's like a breath of fresh air. 

Now,  if we were sitting across the little cafe table, I would look you in the eyes and ask how it's going with your soul.  How are you?  How ARE you?  Really?  How are you doing?

(if you're up for a little virtual coffee date, you can either facebook me a message or go to my profile on the right side of this blog and email me or, if you happen to see me in the next week or two before we move, you can corner me and talk my ear off)

Thanks for the little coffee date!  Usually I'm not the one doing all of the talking but I think, in this case, it is the only way it would have worked...