Seven Months

Odds and Ends

A few snippets of life in Chez Gilchrist...

Middle of the night last night, I awake to Jon crawling into bed. "Where were you?" I ask. "In the kitchen," he replies. Strange, I think. Why was he in the kitchen in the middle of the night? I make a mental note to ask him in the morning. This morning, I slip in and out of sleep as he gets ready for work, and I remember to ask him why he was in the kitchen. His response: "I heard some noises in the kitchen. I think our little friends are back." NO. Not our little friends. I HATE our little friends. Here we go again.

I started going to an exercise class called "Strollercise." Yes, I know, the name sounds a bit hoaky...and reminds one of "jazzercise," which brings to mind women in pink and purple full body leotards, leg warmers, sweatbands, and big hair. Rest assured, my friends, I don't own any leotards (full body or otherwise). Strollercise is basically one of the best exercise classes I've been to in a long time. (Okay, let's be honest, it's the only exercise class I've been to in a long time). It's an hour and a half of intense workout. I went two days ago and my muscles are still sore today. On Tuesday we were working with weights. The instructor told us at the beginning of the class to grab two sets of weights--a heavy set and a light set. Because this was only my second class and we hadn't worked with weights the last time, I asked her a clarifying question. She then asked me if I had worked with weights before (she must not have noticed my well-sculpted arms). I said no, so she gave me a light pair and told me to use these for the entire class, even when she would instruct the class to pick up their heavy weights. SO, the class continues and we work on and off with the weights (and run laps, use the medicine ball, do squats, etc.). At the end of the class, everyone is supposed to do one more lap around the track and then go back to their places and get their heavy weights. Well, as I am nearing the end of my lap, I can see two little kids playing near my mat. When I get back there, I find that my weights are gone...but there's a little boy playing with them (That's how light they were!). So, I ask him if I can have my weights back. He stares at me. I ask again. He continues to stare. I ask if I can play with those weights for a while. Still staring. Then his dad notices (yes, men are in this class, too--I'm telling you, it's a good class) and says, "oh, here, you can use these weights" and tries to hand me some heavy weights. Ugh oh. "Thanks, but I was really hoping for the light ones." So the dad has the little boy give me the weights. Now I don't think the dad knew that the little boy had taken the weights from my mat. SO, I am not only the woman who needs the wimpy weights, but I'm also the mean one who takes weights from a little kid. Sigh.

Jon, Laurel, and I have been taking a swim class two times a week. Laurel loves it. She doesn't seem to notice that the water is cold. Tonight we're having her friends from her swim class (and their parents, who are our friends) over for a chili supper after class. I suppose I should clean the house and make the chili.

Laurel and I are getting ready to go to Michigan next week. That's the news from here. I will try to post some new pictures soon.

Bath Time!

Laurel loves bath time, as you can see...

And after bath time is bed time...apparently not as fun, but she does have cute ducky p.j.s

Rocks

It's Friday afternoon. Our house is seriously in need of cleaning (especially because we have friends coming over tonight). And, let's be honest, most of what needs cleaning is a result of my craft projects. Maybe one day I'll have a craft room. Anyway, rather than getting busy cleaning while Laurel naps, I thought I should write a blog entry. So, here I am.

This past Sunday our church service consisted of a time of worship through music and then a time of quiet reflection, aided by 5 different stations around the sanctuary. Each station had a series of thoughts and questions listed for us to think about. Laurel was very tired and not really interested in quiet reflection, so Jon and I took turns walking with her while the other one spent time at a station. Even with our scatteredness, we both walked away grateful for the space to think.

At home that night we shared some of our thoughts. One of the questions that had stirred something in both of us was this simple question: "If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?" It led us into a conversation about our priorities and whether or not we live the things we say we value.

That led us to talk using the metaphor of the big rocks. I'm sure most of you are familiar with it, but just in case you're not, here's how it goes....Picture an empty jar that you need to fill with a pile of different sized rocks and sand. When you put the sand and the little rocks in first, you'll find that there isn't room for all of the big rocks. But when you put the big rocks in first, the sand and the smaller rocks can fit in around them. So, the idea is that we should put the things that we really value in our lives first and let the smaller things fill in the gaps, rather than the other way around.

As Jon and I talked, we realized there is one big rock that never seems to make it in our jar. After deciding that we do, indeed, want this big rock in the jar, we started making plans to make it happen. In the big scheme of things, it's probably not a big deal. But I'm excited to see how we will start to live out our values more consistently, just by making intentional space in our lives.

And...in unrelated news...Laurel's first tooth has broken through! And, I believe she is now awake...no cleaning got done during this nap.

Spoiled

Our Christmas tree is sitting out by the garbage cans, waiting to be carted off to the Christmas Tree graveyard. Our decorations are put away. Even our gifts have the tags off and are stored in their places as if they'd always been part of our lives. So, I guess Christmas (at our house, at least) is over. But we did our best to stretch it out by opening our presents on January 1 and mailing our Christmas cards yesterday. And just today a box of gifts arrived for Jon! So, maybe Christmas isn't over quite yet.

I did get all the stockings made just in time for them to be filled by New Year's Day.

Jon pretty much wins the prize for rock star husband this Christmas. In my stocking, I found:

A set of metal measuring cups (they were on my wish list)

A pastry cutter (also on my wish list)

Scrapbooking tools (when I asked him if he'd asked his sister for suggestions, he said "No, I've just been paying attention).

Two little books: Book of Common Worship Pastoral Edition and Daily Prayers

The game Boggle. You have to understand that this is quite a sacrificial gift because I love playing Boggle and Jon does not...but he knew that giving me the game would also mean playing the game with me!

I would have been very content with just my stocking. And there weren't any other gifts under the tree with my name on them. But then Jon brought out one more little box. It's the kind of box that you know contains something good. And indeed, it did. Two thin, beautiful, and classy gold bracelets. I feel pretty spoiled.

And I feel very spoiled to have shared this little girl's first Christmas!