Jane Eyre: Where have you been all my life?

I will tell you where Jane Eyre has been all my life - right in front of my face. And i just simply didn't read it. Now that I have read it I realize what a true tragedy this is. I could have been in love with this book my whole life! Oh, the wasted years.

As soon as I finished reading the book I decided I had to see the movie. Because the most recent (and best from what I hear) film will not be available to me until February 1st, I made do with the 1996 version. It was not up to snuff in my opinion. I enjoyed it a little, but I have high hopes for the other one.

I will say give one more piece of eveidence that I really loved this book before I finish blabbering.  As I have probably mentioned before on this blog before, I get really caught up when reading a good book. I have been known to stay up almost all night. Well Jane Eyre was so absorbing I literally made myself sick by forgetting to eat while I was reading all day. Whoops. I really get way too involved in good books. But seriously, it was so good that I don't know how I could have prevented myself from being so obsessed!  I already have already started reading it again. Well at least my favorite parts.

As a side note, I read it on my phone for free! There are tons of free classic books available through the kindle app.  It is really nice.  I recommend trying it if you haven't yet.

Christmas Break Photos

I loved, loved, loved all the time that we got to spend at my parent's house for Christmas. Avery and I were there for two full weeks and Brad met us after a few days of being on a business trip so he was there for 10 days. Everyone was able to some this year, and it was so much fun! I love all the pictures of the bonding between cousins, and of my grandparents with the babies.  Because of health problems, this was the first time that they had been able to meet most of the babies in the family.

Oh my word.

This is when Avery and Brad were reunited after being apart for  four days.

I love the Christmas outfit my Mom got Avery!

Grandma got the boys a lego table, but Avery also seemed to enjoy it!

Christmas morning

This is me crying when I opened the gift that Brad made me.  We did homeade gifts for each other and his was so sweet!

Exercising her female right to be a drama queen. 

Four generation photo.

They were all sick of the picture taking.

I'm so glad that my grandparents were able to come!  

2013

I am really excited for this year because it is going to be so different from the past seven years of my life. Not that the past seven years haven't been awesome, but 2013 will be the first time in my adult life that I won't have any major life events happening. For the past seven years, I have been moving constantly, I have been in and out of relationships, I have graduated, started a career, gotten married, gotten pregnant, Brad graduated, we had a baby, I ended my career and we moved again. In seven years the only constant in my life has been change. This will not be true in 2013. I have no major life events to look forward to or be stressed about.

I am thrilled by this prospect! I absolutely love my life exactly how it is right now, and am so glad that the major things in it are going to be constant. Nothing is going to change. As I have been trying to decide what my goals will be for the year, this lack of change is giving me a sense of freedom in what I will be able to accomplish during all of this blissful domestic stability. I feel like I can do anything I want.

And out of everything there is to choose from what do I want to do, you might ask? Anti-climactically, I would reply that I do not know.  I want to do too many things, that is for sure. I feel like that girl on Never Been Kissed, who, when asked by Drew Berrymore's character what she wants to do with her life, goes off on a list of million things. I just don't know which things to choose. It is hard when you have too many interests and there is only so much time in a year.

I will tell you what I don't want to do.  I don't want to waste time by doing a million things but each only a teeny bit. I want to have focus and purpose with the things that I dabble in. So that is my goal.  Make this year purposeful. I want to purposefully plan what I am going to do in advance. Schedule all the awesome, fun things I want to do so that I make sure that they happen and I am not looking back on this golden opportunity that is 2013 wondering how I could possibly have gotten so distracted by Pintrest and The Mentalist. Although I do love those things. And they are so diverting.

I think I need to buy a planner.

Happy New Year!

O Christmas Tree

Sleep Training

Avery has been such a terrible sleeper lately that I was getting worried that she was becoming chronically fatigued.  So when she started showing the signs of waking up every hour or less again last night, we put her in her crib to let her cry it out.

I went in to pat her briefly once but it made her cry even more for longer so I won't be doing that again I don't think even the books say that it is a more gentle approach than "cold turkey".  I had to leave the house to be able to let her keep crying. She fell asleep on her own after half an hour. Even though it turned out well (i.e. she didn't cry for hours, and she got good sleep last night, seemed like her happy self this morning and is now taking a good nap) I still pretty much cried myself to sleep last night.  I just felt guilty and sad. It is important that Avery get enough sleep, and this is the only way to make that happen, but it was kind of an awful experience. Being a mom can be extremely difficult emotionally. Loving another person this much is wonderful, but can be so painful sometimes.

Solids

Avery loves eating solids! She has had mashed sweet potatoes and peas, and we have also let her suck on apples, oranges, cucumbers, carrots, and bananas in her little net thing.  She loves eating so much that she attacks the spoon and helps us put it in her mouth.  She started finishing what we gave her the third time or so that we tried.  It has been so fun feeding her!