The below has only taken . . . several weeks to write . . . and as you'll see, the bulk of text is attributed to other authors!

Karis-isms:

- "You're such a miracle!"
- "Mommy, can you please go to the kitchen?"
- "Can I have some leaves, please?" (spinach)
- "I'll be the mother" (said to one of her younger friends at our small group gathering while she helped her use the bathroom)
- Lately Karis wakes up from her nap dressed differently than I left her . . . most often in a new shirt and tights. Impressive, considering she has to find her way to new clothing in the dark and then wiggle into the too-small tights
- "Some of my boys play 'hey now right now'" (true, this is the game she plays with her closest little guy friends)
- "Who is God?" (whoa, big question!)
- "Life is good!" (after Grandma Lorie asked her "How's life?")
- "A glass for mommy juice!" (a glass in her play kitchen that is actually for ice cream but resembles a wine glass)
- "You can go to Trader Joe's by yourself, I want to stay here with daddy" (said after I came back from being gone overnight . . . sad!)
- "Mommy, don't be overwhelmed!" (after hearing me - from another room - say that I feel overwhelmed. HOW did she get so perceptive? Scary)

Karis has been transitioning well with so much going on - it's been interesting to get to know her even more as she adjusts. I really miss our hours of one-on-one time, and I'm realizing that we're both growing up and separating from each other. I've had moments of grief about this, which I guess is also part of the growing process.

Judah adventures:
- Many people who meet him say "he looks just like Karis!". I love that.
- He is a sleepy, chill child. Falls asleep nursing, sleeps a couple hours at a time (day or night, feels long during the day and short during the night)
- He went to his first ladies' book club (only boy allowed, ha)
- He went to his first ladies' retreat (which included his first trip out-of-state to Wisconsin)

Middle of the night book reading quotables:

From The Social Animal by David Brooks (interesting method of writing - he's making his point about human socialization/self-realization and other things in narrative form . . . with tons of research and statistics woven throughout):

"The average baby demands adult attention of one kind or another every twenty seconds. New mothers lose and average of seven hundred hours of sleep during that first year. Marital satisfaction plummets 70 percent, while the risk of maternal depression more than doubles . . . women who give birth to boys have shorter life expectancies because the boys' testosterone can compromise their immune system . . .

babies organize their internal states by seeing their own minds reflected back at them in the faces of others . . . [babies and mothers/fathers] get to know each other largely through touch, tears, looks, smell and laughter. It is possible to have a complex human relationship without words."

Fascinating! And . . . true, probably?!  I'm really tired. Thankful to be healthy and feeling generally good and mostly positive.

And, from the Mayo Book of Pregnancy and Baby's First Year - advice about transitioning to having a new baby: 
"Postpone major changes"
I laughed at this one as I read it out loud to Trevor. Sure, no problem. But how about Trevor gets a new job (a couple months ago) and we decide to move homes? Exciting major changes for sure . . . all positive and we're thankful.

I'm also reading an interesting book by an NPR journalist about centenarians, If I Live to Be 100. Full of interviews and perspectives from 100-something across the country, I'm reminded to thinking about life NOW. How am I living, who am I becoming? The author reflects on an interview she had with a couple who are both in their 100's:

"My marriage is so short compared to their's. How lucky they are to have had so much time together. What can I possibly do to make the years my husband and I have left together mean more?

Be here now, I thought. Be here now."

This is admittedly a challenge for me right now . . . the days are a whirlwind and Trevor receives whatever leftover patience, kindness, affection that I have to offer. May I remember that "the days are long but the years are short".