one day I’ll be a good blogger again

Wow, when did this blog turn into nothing but a travelogue?  I have all kinds of aspirations to be a writer and share my thoughts here, but in the busyness of everyday life, sometimes the easiest blog post to throw together is a bunch of pictures from our most recent adventure.  Of course, they can be fun, and I do know I’ll be grateful for them in the future when I want to look back and remember our life in Italy.

But my favorite posts — for myself in the future and for honesty’s sake with my readers — are the ones where I really write and think and process and share life with you all.  The ones that are filled with pictures from our home: playful mornings with my children, a butter-smudged baking project with Lena, an iconic snapshot of Gil as he grows and changes every day.  (He’s almost 11 months old.  11 months!!!  How is this happening so fast?)

I know that this world is made a richer place by sharing, and I want to share with you.  To share what I’m learning as a mom, to share what’s working for me in this whole parenting thing, to share what is beautiful or hard in our marriage, to share a recent favorite from my kitchen, to share a recent book that I just couldn’t put down.

So I’ll start now!

The children are napping, a blessed time of day that will hopefully last at least another 30 minutes.  We had a good morning with breakfast together, a short playtime on the living room rug, and then Gil’s nap from 9-11:30. (He’s been sleeping so much lately! Growth spurt? Deprived of sleep? Either way I’m grateful.) Lena and I took a shower and then she put lotion on my face and brushed my hair and blow-dried it for me. I felt like I was in a salon; it was amazing!  She asks, “Can I make you fancy, Mama?” all the time these days. I was impressed today, as this is the first time she’s actually had the skill and attention span to perform these tasks without putting either of us in mortal danger. I have high hopes for training her to also give me a pedicure and draw a bath.

We painted pictures together until Gil woke up, then ate a quick lunch and drove to base to see Elliott, send a package (be on the lookout, Abi and Lucie!), and hunt for books in the library. We found a whole stack of wonderful winter picture books for Lena. (But they are all about snow, and I realized that she doesn’t know what snow is! I think we need to take a trip up to the now-icy slopes of Mt Etna sometime soon.) I wanted to get a Christmas movie to watch with Elliott, but they only had Four Christmases.  I’ve never seen it.  Is it any good?

On the way home I bought a crate of blood oranges for 5 euro. These will be our first blood oranges of the season, and I can’t wait to eat them! They are my favorite fruit in the world.

Yesterday I hosted a simple hot cocoa and cookies party for some friends, and it was so much fun. They brought their kids (if they had some) and we sipped hot cocoa as the children played. I told people to come as they were, in pajamas if they’d like (which gave me the excuse to wear my yoga pants the entire time). It was definitely a sugary and casual way to enjoy the season.

Finally, a general life update: two days ago Elliott was offered his dream military job supporting a special operations unit in San Diego. He’s been wavering as to whether he wants to stay in the Army or not, and he needs to make his decision by early January. We were thrilled that this job offer came now, as it gives us a couple of weeks to think and pray before moving forward. There are so many factors to consider, and the job sounds amazing… but so does civilian life. If you think of us, please pray for wisdom and humility in our decision-making.

Also, if you happen to know any military wives with husbands in a similar job to what Elliott might have, will you send them my way? As much as I can, I would love to know what we will be getting into if we take this job!

And now back to the present day, I’m planning to make this for dinner, but sadly I don’t have any apricot jam. Do you think I could substitute raspberry jam?  Might be interesting…

… and I hear a little voice calling, “Maaaama, I’m awaaaaake!” Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!