This Classical Life

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We got a nice new computer tonight. I love it. The only bummer is that my old hard drive is fried. Right before the end, back-ups were made of Kate’s pictures from the first year, etc. but we still lost a lot. Like, all of my emails, address book, etc. So, if you are someone who would have been in my email address book, send me an email to myfirstname@thisdomain.com (there’s a link to the right) and I’ll be really glad that you did. Lesson learned: back-up address book regularly. Also, if I owed you an email, remind me.

Kristen’s computer is dead … well, nearly and we’ve decided to pull the plug.

It looks like BestBuy will be making a killing on us this weekend. I suppose we’ll post links to the most recent, unexpected member of the family in a few days.

Kate’s blog has a link to our beach trip photos and also the aforepromised review of toys that she likes right now that would be appropriate first birthday gifts.

I hadn’t even finished the preface to Real Sex before I breathed a sigh of relief and thanksgiving that someone had finally written this book. Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity is a book that has been needed for quite some time, and Lauren Winner was up to the task. I read and thoroughly enjoyed her first two books (Girl Meets God and Mudhouse Sabbath) and am glad that she used her gifts at bringing the theological, historical, sociological and personal together in a compelling way on the subject of chastity. (more…)

Kristen and I will get the book midnight tonight. Below we’ll begin to post our thoughts as we are reading. Add your comments below!

Beware of Spoilers!

I thought I would bump this thread up a bit.

We’ve been so busy this week with life that blogging has been on the back burner. I did get the beach pictures from my fam and I finished Real Sex by Lauren Winner, so I have a few book reviews to catch up on. Hopefully tomorrow or Monday, though life will continue to be busy next week. Speaking of staying busy, my mom and sister came to visit today, which was really fun. We went Friendly’s ice cream for dessert after dinner. Mmmm good. Even Kate said, “MMMmmmm!”

Give thanks.

When people talk about the difficulties of parenting an infant, the first thing that’s generally discussed is what happens at night. Having survived the first year of nighttime parenting and getting ready to go there again in less than six months, I want to record some thoughts and observations I picked up this year to remind myself as I go through it again and to share with others who are in the trenches.

Sleep has always been an idol for me. I’m not a morning person. I slept through more than one exam (and once, a final!) in college because sleep overcame me, in spite of setting multiple alarms. I’ve also slept through hurricanes and riots, but who’s keeping score? I hated the sleep interruptions being big and pregnant brought and I dreaded nighttime parenting long before Kate made her debut.

God made infants incredibly light sleepers. Not only are their sleep cycles much shorter, giving them more opportunities to rouse, they go through twice as much light, active (REM) sleep as adults do. This may be a mystery to you akin to “why do mosquitoes exist?” but God designed them this way to help them survive. (more…)

All those in search of Joan, Joanne, John, Jonathan and Johann Dean, please stop calling our home. Whoever that is hasn’t lived here in over a year. In spite of the fact that I have told every single caller (a) I don’t know that person (b) they don’t live here and (c) take that name and number off your list, I get more calls now than ever before. Stop selling that name and number amongst yourselves!

TCL.com
+ A full-length review of Keeping the Sabbath Wholly
+ Sleeping through the night? Reflections on nighttime parenting, the first year.

allthingskate
+ Toys Kate loves (suggestions for first toys and first birthday gifts, as ranked by Miss Kathryn)