7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 43)

A friend of mine sent out a family update email today which has inspired me to write this post. I originally started this blog with the intention of keeping a journal of our family - I wanted something I could look back on to remember the little things that happened. Unfortunately, I've only been posting about major events lately and neglecting to record some of the more mundane and, to me, interesting parts of life. I'm going to try to do a better job of keeping up ... we'll see how it goes.

1) Joseph's naps have been very erratic lately. He went from taking two naps a day to not wanting to nap at all. I did push the two-nap thing a little through my 1st trimester, but he didn't seem to mind and would take two good naps for me. But literally the day I entered my 2nd trimester is when he started fighting his naps. And this past Saturday he went on a nap strike altogether. He tried to strike again on Sunday, but ended up falling asleep with me on the couch in the late afternoon. This week has continued to be a little rough on the nap front. And the fact that Joseph has been a little sick (just a runny nose, really) hasn't helped the matter. The only way I've been able to get him to nap is by holding him and singing him to sleep or having him nap in the car. Neither of which are very good options. He has even started rejecting his before-nap books. He'll let me read the first few pages then he shuts the book as if to say he isn't interested in napping.
He generally needs at least one nap or he gets super clingy/cranky. I'm just not sure what to do about it.

2) Joseph has recently started saying "mama." I think he quasi-associates it with me which is super exciting. He also tried to say "ok" yesterday a couple different times. It's very similar to "uh-oh" which is why I think he likes it. I also taught him to say "dirty" today. As in, "The dustpan is dirty. We don't reach in to grab the dirt mom just swept up" or "The trash can is dirty. We don't reach in to pull out used diapers."

3) Joseph has also been teething like crazy lately. Starting right around 13 months I noticed he was getting his baby molars in on the bottom. Those were soon followed by the top bi-cuspids (the teeth between the incisors and baby molars ... I think that's what they're called) which are still working their way in. But in the mean time his top baby molars and bottom bi-cuspids have started coming in as well. All but the bottom bi-cuspids have broken through the gums. So, within the course of one month he's gotten 6 (soon to be 8) teeth. Crazy!

4) My belly grew last night. It's so weird how that happens when you're pregnant. I mean - not that it's weird that it gets larger, but that you'll wake up and feel that it is larger than when you went to sleep the night before.

5) I've been on the hunt for a couch this week. With it being Labor Day weekend I figured I'd be able to get a good deal (and I can), but I can't seem to make a decision. I've found a few that I like, but for some reason I just can't take the plunge. I feel like it's a lot of money to spend and ever since Will and I came up with a yearly budget for me to spend on stuff for the house...well...I've been much more cautious with my spending. Pretty much all these couches would eat up the remainder of the budget for the year, and I'm not sure I'm ok with that. I'm leaning towards putting off the purchase until next year so I can just roll over some money from this year and combine it with next year's budget. That way I won't eat up my entire budget 4 months before the year is over. And this way I can buy a few other more necessary things before the baby arrives (ahem, a crib). There will be more sales, right?

6) Joseph has been obsessed with the book "Good Night, I Love You" lately. He'll have us read it anywhere from 4-10 times in a row. He's also still fairly obsessed with "Llama, Llama, Wakey Wake."

7a) Two of my mommy friends (you might know Lisa) moved to TX this week (one last weekend, one this weekend). I'm sad to see them go, but it gives me a liiiiiiittle more leverage for convincing Will that we should move to TX (like that's ever going to happen...). I can dream, right?

7b) I'm super excited for the long weekend. Yay for having my husband home for 3 days in a row!!!

Aaaand this basically turned into a 7 (errr...8) Quick Takes Friday, so I guess I shall publish it as such.