Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, From Baby Jack!!!

Ho ho ho!

We are having a wonderful time in Mississippi!  Jack and I have been home for a week now (which is sad, because it means we only have a week and a half left!).  

Jack did amazing on the flights here.  He didn't fuss or cry, and he even napped in my arms for some of the time.  And, of course, he smiled at everyone in sight.  He is such a sweet, happy baby!  Even though he was great, I am glad Bech will be flying back with us, so I won't have to hold him the whole time.

Jack has been soaking up being with our families.  He has been cuddled and kissed so much, and he is eating it all up!  We have gone up to Jackson a couple of times so that he can see Bech's parents.

And I am enjoying getting a break from school.  The semester ended all right.  I am happy its done.  Only 1 more semester (and 4 comprehensive tests!) left!

My mom got this little Santa outfit for Jack at Wally world.  Jack looks cute as a button in it--I think it helps that he has the huge belly to fill it out!

I love this last picture of him...he looks a little crazed!  

We hope everyone else is having a wonderful Christmas season as well!

Yesterday was the last day of classes here at UVM.  

Totally random side note:  University of Vermont goes by the initials UVM.  That is because the Latin name for the school is Universitas Viridis Montis (or University of the Green Mountains).  But if you didn't know this, UVM might sound strange.

So we are officially in finals week.  Which is not so bad.  Thankfully, I stayed ahead on classwork all semester so I honestly am not left with a huge amount of classwork.  I have got 2 more pages to write for a final paper in my Greek translation class.  I have a take home exam in my Latin Composition class.  I recited a Greek choral passage today for my professor, so that's done.

All in all, not too bad!

I also have to turn in an abstract for a conference.  In the academic world, there are tons and tons of conferences.  And there are also tons and tons of calls for conference abstracts.  That's basically a word snapshot of a paper you have written or will write, which fits in with the conference theme.  Last year, I deleted all of the emails I got about conferences.  This year, I have realized that I probably should apply for a least one or two.  So I chose the closest ones, both in Boston (3 1/2 hours away).  I would LOVE to be accepted into at least one of the two, but I have no idea what my chances are, having never done this before.

Plus, we have a bunch of parties/get togethers:  cookie swap tomorrow night, potluck Saturday night, baby shower (I'm hosting!) Sunday, last minute hang outs with neighbors...It is going to be a busy next couple of days!

And then, after I get all of this done, I get to go home!  I am so ready and excited to be home!  And Jack is very ready to be back in the South!

Because I like to keep it real around here...

You know all those cute "baby in the lights" pictures that are going around pinterest?  Like this one?  I tried to recreate it today for our Christmas card.  And I did get some that will work, but it was not easy work.  Jack tried to put those lights in his mouth EVERY SINGLE SECOND.  

And this is what happened when I pulled them away...

Yup, not so happy.

On another note, watch this video.  It is beautiful.  I cried the first time I watched it.  Then I watched it again, and cried again.  I would love to blame this all on post partum hormones, but I think I would have cried anyway.

Pictures!

I haven't put up pictures in about a week, so I thought I would add some new ones!

I mentioned it once before, but Jack is now sitting up!  He is such a big boy.

He is still a little wobbly, so, unless we are right there, we cushion him with the Boppy.  Here is Jack showing off his new skills.  I love this outfit on him.  Bech's parents got this from Prague (I think?).

He's still not a fan of tummy time, but sometimes we make him do it...we're so mean...

This next picture is awful, as far as lighting is concerned!  I need to figure out how to take good pictures of Jack in front of the tree.  But I put Jack in one of his Christmas outfits, and I needed to get a picture of him in it!

Also, Jack has officially dropped the dreamfeed, and now sleeps from 7:45 ish to 7 a.m.  Last Thursday, Jack ate a little late, so I decided to just skip the dreamfeed and see how long he could go.  And I was completely surprised when he went all night.  I have a feeling that he could probably have done this a couple of weeks ago, but I love snuggling with him after the dreamfeed!  Oh well, I know there are so many fun things about this age too.  I just miss my little baby!

And finally, here is Jack, showing off his newest skill, saying "Ba."  Of course my mom thinks he is really trying to say "Bella."

xanga and other randoms...

I have little to no motivation today.  It is almost the end of the semester, and I really need to get stuff done.  But instead, I have just been rereading all of my old xanga posts.  Let me just tell you, it is a wonder I ended up normal at all.  I was a weird, strange kid.

But it is fun to remember things I was excited about.  For example, here's a post from November 1, 2004:

C. S. Lewis had this idea of sehnsucht, or of longing, "sweet melancholy," desire for that which one is alienated from.  Corbin Scott Carnell writes (in a book of his about Lewis):  "The Day is coming, however, when we will join in a great cosmic dance or ride magnificient stallions through the heavens, when we will have reached the individuation we have longed for, and when the cord of lnging will lead directly to Him who bids be one with Him in a great mutuality of loves."  Lewis wrote (in his copy of von Hügel's Eternal Life): 

"It is not an abstraction called Humanity that is to be saved.  It is you,…your soul, and, in some sense yet to be understood, even your body, that was made for the high and holy place.  All that you are…every fold and crease of your individuality was devised from all eternity to fit God as a glove fits a hand.  All that intimate particularity which you can hardly grasp yourself, much less communicate to your fellow creatures, is no mystery to Him.  He made those ins and outs that He might fill them.  Then He gave your soul so curious a life because it is the key designed to unlock that door, of all the myriad doors in Him."

How beautiful is that?  To imagine that all of our distinctly unique and individual quirks were shaped by God and are completely understood by God.  We are made to be filled by Him.  Blaise Pascal had this idea that every man has in him a God-shaped vacuum.  We all have holes made only to be filled with our Creator.  We were made to be worshippers of that Creator.  There is no other thing in this world that will fulfill and satisfy us.  And we can feel it.  We can feel the longing, the sehnsucht, to be with our Creator.

I am so glad I recorded these quotes.  The xanga could do with a lot less of the "oh my goodness, my boyfriend broke up with me and I think I'm going to die" posts.  

On a different note, this was the last full week of classes!  I have class next Monday and Wednesday.  Then I have a test on Wednesday, a paper due on Friday, and an exam on Monday.  Not too bad.

Then, that next Wednesday (the 14th), Jack and I will be heading home (Bech will come a week later)...CANNOT WAIT!!!