Quick Takes, Sick Baby Edition

1. Sheesh, I'm tired, and I'm on call tonight and then on Monday night.

2. The reason I'm tired is a certain little boy named Gregory James who is sick. The sickest I've ever seen him, actually. Last night he really didn't sleep, except for a two-hour period. Today he had a fever (101 and higher), a bad cough, and for several hours was exceedingly fussy. He seemed to feel better after his afternoon nap, but he still didn't want much to eat, so I'm worried about dehydration.

3. We put up our Christmas tree today. It's not decorated, but probably will be in the next day or so. I've never been a huge fan of putting up the tree so early (Advent and all), but last year we couldn't find any lights TWO WEEKS before Christmas (we save the lights every year, but some always don't work the next year). So, this year we're putting it up early.

4. Being a PRN (as-needed) chaplain is either feast or famine. A few weeks ago I was in the middle of "feast" mode: lots of extra on-call shifts, one regular day shift, and plenty of pages while on-call. Right now, I'm in the middle of "famine" mode: I've had about eight on-call shifts in the past three weeks, but only one of them has netted an actual page (I get paid $1.50/hr for carrying the pager, and then my regular hourly rate plus a "shift differential" whenever I answer a page), so my last paycheck was fairly small. However, that's going to change. I have three daytime shifts scheduled for December in addition to my regular twice-weekly on-call duties.

5. I bought Susanna the Candyland game at Target this afternoon because it was only $4 and I thought she'd like it. The first time, she was more interested in the pretty game board and the cards than the actual game and rules. However, the second game (which she played with James) was a little bit more fruitful. We shall see. Of course, now she'll be asking me to play Candyland every five minutes, but that's what parenthood is about, isn't it?

6. My traffic has really not picked up very much, and I was hoping it would as a result of my posting (almost) every day this month. I'm thinking of doing NaBloPoMo again in December (it's actually an ongoing thing you can sign up for now, not just a once-a-year deal) and actually making it all the way through this time. Maybe then I'll get more traffic...we shall see. Any suggestions?

7. Remember my de-lurking post from a week or so ago? I've done what I said I was going to do; I've left comments on just about every blog I've been "lurking" on and have begun "following" some new bloggers on Twitter. I feel good about that, and it will be interesting to see if any new Internet friendships come out of it.

Greg is crying! Bye!

Seven Quick Takes, Quick-for-me Edition

1. Today James and I had a date, our first one in over a month. We went to see "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1". I highly recommend it. I think it stayed very true to the books and ended at just the right point in the narrative. We contemplated going to see it in IMAX, but decided to save our money and see this installment at the regular theatre. However, we plan on seeing "Part 2" at the IMAX theatre, because it will be in 3D.

2. After the movie we had "lunner" at Olive Garden. The movie ended around 3:30 and we really hadn't had lunch (unless you count the ridiculously expensive popcorn), so we dubbed our meal "lunner". After that we made a quick trip to Home Depot to look at knobs for the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen and bathrooms. We found one that both of us like, so James may be going back later this week to buy them.

3. I think that the check I wrote to the baby-sitter may have been almost as much as what our tickets, snack, and meal cost. Baby-sitters are expensive! We love ours (she's 16, lives on the next corner, she's very responsible and resourceful, and our kids love her) and we pay her the going rate, but she makes almost half my hourly rate. Isn't there something WRONG with that?

4. Incidentally, we've only recently had to start paying a baby-sitter. My mom used to always baby-sit Susanna when we needed a date night/afternoon/overnight. It's not like it was every week; more like once a month at best. However, since the Unwelcome Visitor (breast cancer and the four surgeries and chemo that have followed) arrived, Mom hasn't been as available as she used to be (which is OK, because the surgeries and now chemo treatments are hopefully ensuring that she will be able to watch her grandchildren grow up. It's a trade off, and I'll take it.) She still helps out; she watched them overnight for us when we went to a wedding in Richmond last month, transported Susanna from preschool to daycare for me two weeks ago, and took Greg for me one night so that I could get a few nights' sleep. We just realized that we couldn't keep riding the "grandma gravy train" forever.

5. Remember my how part of my "grand plan" for saving money on clothes was to sell Susanna's outgrown clothes via consignment? That may not be as easy as I thought. On Tuesday, I (along with my two sidekicks) took a box of mint-condition clothes to a local consignment shop that pays cash for secondhand kids' stuff. The lady looked through it...and bought a pair of shoes and a sweater. I chose store credit, so I now have...$2.40 in store credit. She handed back the rest of the box, which included a girls 2T winter coat (I would think that would be a hot item, but I guess not). I have a few other places I can try, and several more boxes of clothes, but I may be looking at either Craigslist or simply donating them.

6. James and I are planning on going "Sunday School class hunting" tomorrow. We haven't been part of a small group/Sunday school class in years. When we were in Lexington, we had a wonderful small group. I still miss them, four years later. When we moved to Danville, the church I was serving really only had one adult Sunday school class, and James didn't like the style (it was more lecture than anything else) and I liked using the time for last-minute sermon and worship prep. When we moved here, we didn't really try to find a class at the first church we attended (none of the Sunday School descriptions sounded interesting to us, and my schedule made weeknight evenings difficult). We've been at our current church for almost a year, but haven't made much of an effort in that area. Sad, I know, especially for a clergy person! So, we're going to begin making it a priority, for our relationship with each other, with God, and so our children can go to Sunday school.

7. I'm on-call tonight, and hoping to actually get a page (or two). I had a "Pager Palooza" weekend over Halloween (meaning I had four on-calls and one full-day shift in four days) and made loads of money, but I've had four on-call nights since then, and my pager has been silent for all of them. I take calls from home (so it's not like I'm away from home) and do get a pittance ($1.50/hr) just for carrying the pager, so it's not like I'm spending nights elsewhere and having nothing to show for it. However, my next paycheck is going to be on the light side. Thank God that I'm not the primary breadwinner!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Seven Quick Takes, Sunday Afternoon Edition

1. I totally skipped blogging the past three days because I'm trying to get the house somewhat clean. Emphasis is on "trying." It's not working. I'm horrible at housework and incredibly envious of those women who can have two (or more) children underfoot and still keep a reasonably clean house.

2. Greg is getting baptized next Sunday. We're very excited. He will be wearing the Heirloom Baptismal Gown that his great-great-grandfather wore in 1869? 1879? Anywho, a long time ago. Susanna wore it when she got baptized...at ten weeks of age. Because of all the craziness of this spring and summer, I didn't feel like having Greg baptized right away. So, Greg will be nine months when he gets baptized (Methodist theology does not associate baptism with regenerating grace, so unbaptized babies still go to heaven). It will take a little maneuvering for the gown to fit him, but we're making it work. It's all about TRADITION, darn it. And not wanting to fork over the $$ for a new baptismal gown.

3. I've begun applying for full-time chaplain positions. I love staying at home (most days), but I need to be ordained by 2015 or begin the whole process over again. I need two more years of full-time ministry before I am eligible for ordination. I don't really feel that going back to the local church is an option right now. Therefore, I am looking for chaplain jobs. I applied for three this week, but the job market is fairly competitive in this field, so I'm not sure what to expect.

4. We got a new stove on Thursday. Our old one was original to the house (1994), and while it worked, the thermostat was funky and so things would sometimes take too long to cook or get burned because they cooked too quickly. The new stove is AWESOME. It is a double gas oven, self-cleaning, and BLACK. I love black appliances.

5. We also got a new, over-the-range, microwave. It is also black, to match the stove, of course. Now all our kitchen appliances are black! Woohoo!!

6. I have to  want to buy myself a new winter coat. My current winter coat is "wearable", but I bought it when I was DATING James and we've been married for nine years. There are a few holes in the lining, too. I think a new winter coat every ten years is a reasonable purchase, right?

7. On that topic, I'm deciding whether to buy a traditional, wool coat that will keep me warm even if the temperature goes down into the teens OR buy something lighter that will keep me warm as long as it's above freezing. Here in Hampton Roads, it's pretty rare that it gets REALLY cold and most of my time is spent indoors or in the car. So, I'm leaning towards the latter, especially because that sort of coat will be cheaper. And I can always keep my old coat in case we do get Arctic temperatures.

There you go! Happy Sunday afternoon!

Seven Quick Takes Friday, Long Overdue Edition

1. Hi out there (waves and smiles guiltily)! OK, so it's been a while since I've posted. Probably all of my readers have stopped checking the blog and given up on me. But I'm back! And I have at least three future posts brewing! And maybe more! So, there. Come back, blog readers, come back!

2. Part of the reason that I haven't posted in so long is that I now have two children. And as those of you with two (or more) children know, 1+1 DOES NOT = 2. No, it's more like one plus one equals 20, or something like that. I had no clue how EASY my life was with only one child. Just like I had no clue how easy my life was before I had children.

3. In case you're curious, we are DONE with the procreation thing. I love Greg and Susanna, thank God for them every day, and am so delighted that we had two children. However, James and I mutually decided that for us, two children was enough. And that decision was made final in June at a urologist's office in Virginia Beach. (:

4. My children are very similar in some ways, but very different in others. They clearly resemble each other, are both somewhat stubborn, and have excellent appetites. But there are plenty of differences...An example is the sleep issue. Susanna was sleeping eight hours at night by the time she was six weeks old (don't hate me, please). I did not expect Greg to do THAT, because it's pretty rare. He did show promise, though; he was sleeping ten-hour stretches at three months. However, that screeched to a halt at the four-month mark, when he decided that it was way cooler to sleep for only two or three hours at a time. He's gotten better since then (we regularly get at least a 5-7 hour stretch each night), but I spent most of the summer in an exhausted haze, chugging Coke like it was water and craving sleep like an addict craves their next fix. It's a good thing he's cute and smiles adoringly at me several times a day. He's a happy baby, although his first few months were tough due to infant reflux. He still takes medicine for it, but it seems to be much more controlled now.

5. Besides the two children thing, this winter/spring/summer has been somewhat emotionally stressful for me and my family because someone I love dearly was diagnosed with a MAJOR HEALTH ISSUE in January. Two weeks before Greg's birth, as a matter of fact. I'll talk about that later, in much more detail. Don't worry; no one is dying (as far as we know).

6. I'm still doing my very very part-time chaplain gig for Bon Secours Hampton Roads. I love the work, I love the chaplains in both Spiritual Care departments (I work at two hospitals), and I love the hospitals themselves. The facilities are not nearly as nice as those at Riverside, but I've found that the staff is friendlier, more caring, and generally has a much higher view of chaplains than at Riverside. I'm seriously considering staying in the chaplaincy field and not going back to the local church. Problem is, the job market for chaplains is kinda tight, especially if you want to stay in one geographical area (which I do).

7. Susanna turned three at the end of August and started preschool a week later. She's attending a preschool run by our church, and we've been very pleased so far (and she loves it, which is also important). She is talking a blue streak and it seems like her vocabulary doubles every day. She is still not potty trained, but we're working on it and know that it will happen someday, and hopefully that someday will be soon! My parents say that she is the "spitting image" of me when I was her age. Susanna is, however, much much taller than I was. She has never gone below the 75th percentile for height, and at her three-year checkup was 39.5" tall and 36 lbs (both 90th percentile). She wears size 4 clothing easily and we're probably going to have to convert her bed from the toddler bed to the full-size bed (she has one of those convertible cribs that is currently in the "toddler bed" mode) within the next year.

And that's all for now, folks! Have a great Friday!