Anyway (potential spoiler alerts here if you haven’t read it), Natasha is now in a blissful family-growing state. Humorously, Tolstoy deems her a bit of a supermom because…she is nursing her babies herself. Well, three of the four of them. This cracks me up given modern breastfeeding narratives. Everyone is shocked by the Countess’s decision not to use a wet nurse after baby #1. I guess breast was best, just not your own breasts.

Since my little guy turns 2 before the end of the year, it looks like I will wind up nursing for the full WHO-recommended two years. I have never gone this long before. My other children all lost interest somewhere between 12-18 months. He is not losing interest. As a toddler, and a vocal one, he has lots of dictatorial opinions about when he wants “Mommy milk” vs. “Baba milk.” He will stop and tell me “other side” when he wishes to be switched over. He made his big brother get off a certain chair this morning because he refused to be fed anywhere other than that chair.

His second birthday is just one event occurring over the next six weeks, which are just going to be…full. Christmas is coming. I’ve bought way too much that will need to be wrapped and moved. Speaking of which…we are moving! It’s looking like the first week of January. I’m trying not to think about this too much — all the logistics of moving one house to another. We’re hiring movers but it will take them two days to pack and another day or two to cart everything over. I’m thinking I will just move the family into the new house on day one of that project, and take air mattresses/sleeping bags and suitcases. That way we won’t be frantically trying to protect certain things from getting packed up because we still need them. If anyone has done a local move and has tips I welcome them.

The manuscript of Tranquility by Tuesday is back in my lap. Those edits need to be turned around by the end of January. I’m always looking for a few more stories, so if you followed any of the rules (in the project or not in the project) and have a good story of transformation you’d be willing to share, let me know! As always, lvanderkam at yahoo dot com.

I’ll be running a time-tracking challenge the second week of January (though during the move would be pretty funny — sharing those logs with the world!). If you’ve been looking for a good time to track your time, January 10-16 will have the built-in accountability of other folks doing it too.

Last night I went to my eldest child’s choir concert. I skipped my own choir practice to do this, but it seemed like the right choice — I am happy to cheer on my kid as he develops a love of something I love too. It was really good! He’s in his high school’s main chorus and then he auditioned for (and joined) their select ensemble. I posted a quick clip from their a cappella version of Linus & Lucy over at Instagram (@lvanderkam). The 10-year-old tagged along with my husband and me and she enjoyed seeing the jazz band play a few pieces too. She just picked up the trumpet this fall and has made very quick progress. It is not an easy instrument to start but after two months she can recognizably play the melody of Jingle Bells.

Not too much else to report. I’m going to a Christmas party this weekend (I’m getting to be a pro at taking the rapid at-home Covid tests that some hosts ask for). I’ll watch a livestream of a Christmas concert. I put sending my Christmas cards on my to-do list but we shall see….