Real inspired title, right? I’m really struggling with a creative theme for this blog entry… I even fell asleep last night trying to think of something, and I feel like I thought of something but didn’t get up to write it down. Now, it’s gone. Maybe it was chased away when I was awake from 12:30 to 2:00 this morning with Charlie, who was having trouble breathing through a stuffy nose. That was the first time I’ve used the baby saline drops and nasal aspirator, so I had a fun time figuring out how to use them when I was half asleep. Poor baby! He was such a good boy, though, and didn’t even cry.

Time is really flying, isn’t it? Charlie will be six months old next week—a whole half a year! He’s growing so fast. We started him on solids about a week ago, and by day two he really seemed to like that rice cereal. We have yet to add any fruit or veggie to it, but that ought to be fun. Teaching a baby to eat from a spoon is messy business! Charlie is also doing a really good job of learning to sit up on his own, although we still need to be nearby for the inevitable eventual topple-over.

Last Sunday, when we were eating dinner at my parents’ house after the Redskins game, Charlie’s Aunt Marie was waving at him across the table and he waved back! A real grown-up, side to side kind of wave, too! It was adorable. Those next few days, I kept catching him practicing waving while he was lying on his back. So funny!

As we get ready to light the pink candle (already!) on the Advent wreath this Sunday, I’m reminded of how long this season seemed to last when I was a kid. As I would wait for Christmas with such eager anticipation, the days and weeks leading up to it would just drag by. I guess that’s because kids don’t have anything to do to prepare for Christmas. For adults there is shopping, wrapping, baking, cleaning, family photo taking, Christmas card sending, tree choosing, decorating, and party planning, etc. This year I finished all my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, which is a wonderful feeling, but there is still plenty that needs to be done.

We are getting our Christmas tree this weekend, and then hopefully taking family pictures in front of it for our Christmas cards. We also plan to go to have professional portraits taken of Charlie before the end of the year—I’m so excited for those!

Newsflash: it’s snowing! And more than just flurries, and sticking to the deck and the roads and everywhere! I really want to show Charlie, but he’s napping right now. Hopefully it keeps up long enough for him to see. I would love to see his reaction!

That’s all for now. Good luck with all those Christmas preparations, everyone!