A while ago, I thought I’d copy Katherine and Elizabeth and do a weekly Daybook, since it would make me update each week and give me prompts so I wouldn’t have to come up with everything off the top of my head. I did it precisely once. But I’m trying again! I’m going to try and do one each week, and I hope Katherine doesn’t mind my copying her wholesale.

Outside my window…

It is cloudy and muggy out. I’ve been so grateful for the cooler weather, though. So much nicer to go on our daily evening walks when it is cool out.

I am thankful…

that Paul’s parents and aunt and uncle were able to join us for James’ baptism

for a wonderful parish family who has been so gracious and generous to us

for a husband that is a wonderful Papa

and, of course, I am most grateful that this week our firstborn son was granted the grace of holy baptism and was made a communicant of Christ’s holy Church.

I am hoping…

that all of us, especially James, gets over this cold quickly. It is awful to hear such a little baby coughing and sniffling all through the night. It also wakes him up regularly when he can’t breathe, which means his mama stays up all night keeping him asleep. Papa doesn’t get much sleep either with me getting up and down and the baby making so much noise.

From the Kitchen…

I’m very slowly getting back in the groove of planning menus each week after weeks of buying whatever was easiest and eating a lot of meals graciously provided by others or frozen by me before James was born. It’s also nice to be back in the rhythm of the fasts after not paying so much attention to them during pregnancy. I’m actually enjoying finding new fasting recipes. I’ll post the recipe to a new favorite, Thai Butternut Squash Soup, soon. I’m hoping to start baking our bread again soon too. I think I’m going back to being the grocery shopper this week. Paul’s been kindly doing it for a long time now, since several weeks before James was born.

I am reading…

Homer’s Iliad, finally. Really, how can the wife of a Classics graduate student, especially one who loves Homer as much as Paul, not have read the Iliad? I hope to follow it with the Odyssey, which I read in college, but I don’t remember much of it. I have also been scanning through a lot of the Dr. Sears’ Baby Book, which I like more than I thought I would. Even though I don’t like his advice on discipline (which is not exactly relevant at this moment anyway), there is a lot of basic information in there from the parents of eight children and a pediatrician to thousands.

Around the house…

Our little home gets cluttered in about five seconds. I’m continuing the constant project of finding places to put everything. People keep asking for pictures of the apartment, so I’ll try and get it clean enough to show off. I really like our little apartment, though. It’s just the right size for the three of us. It’s all our STUFF that doesn’t fit :)

One of my favorite things…

Baby smiles. James smiles all the time, big, gummy, open-mouthed smiles. He really likes the new game Papa taught him - sticking his tongue out. We stick ours out at him, and he thinks about it for a second, and then copies us. He looks REALLY proud of himself :)

This week in the Church…

We’ve just finished a week of celebrating the Exhaltation of the Holy Cross, which was the feast celebrated the first time I set foot in an Orthodox church in America (I had visited a few in the Middle East, but had no idea what what going on). Today we remember the Prophet Jonah, who I have decided I have mixed feelings about. He has to be the whiniest person in the entire Bible. Maybe part of remembering him is to remember to have a good attitude or bad things may befall us. Tomorrow we celebrate the conception of the Honorable Forerunner and Baptist John, and Thursday is the Synaxis of All Saints of Alaska. Thursday is also the feast of the Protomartyr and Equal to the Apostles Thekla, who is an especially dear saint to me. It was a visit to her ancient monastery in Syria, built near the site of the cave in which she dwelt for many years, that I first became interested in the roots of the Christian faith and of these blessed saints I had not before learned about. It was coming home and inquiring about St. Thekla that led me to the Orthodox faith that still remembered her. Friday we remember the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh. I hope to one day have an icon of him in our school room, since this blessed saint could not read nor write as a child, and begged the Lord to grace his mind and to give him understanding, which was granted to him. Lastly, on Saturday we celebrate the Repose of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian.

A few plans for the rest of the week…

I have to have gum surgery tomorrow. Yuck. I accidentally scheduled it for when Paul is teaching Latin, so I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I scheduled the appointment two months ago, and it would probably take another two months to change it. Luckily, a friend of mine is able to come with me and hold the baby while the dentist does unspeakable things to my mouth. On Friday my midwife comes over for our last appointment. It will be weird not seeing her all the time - I think James assumes she’s part of the family. Other than that, I hope we can mostly stay home and recuperate, both from our colds and from having my gums cut up.

A picture to share…

I’ll post pictures of the actual baptism later, but for now, here is James in his antique baptismal gown that my mother found, laying on the quilt that she made him.

When he pouts like this, Paul says he looks just like me.