What's your language?

I've been thinking a lot about love languages lately. You know, from the book by Gary Chapman. There are 5 languages mentioned: physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, and gifts. The idea is that each of us has certain things that show us love, and if we can do/say the right things for each other, our "love tank" will be full.

They say you can tell what your language is based on what you naturally want to do for others. While I don't think I can rank them 1-5 for myself, I do know that touch and time are at the bottom and service and gifts are at the top. I really enjoy serving other people -- while I might never want to do dishes in my own house, I'll surprise my best friend by doing hers while she's away. I find myself always asking Rocky "can I get you anything? something to drink?" etc. And when he does the dishes for me... oh I feel so loved!

I've come to acknowledge that my other top language is gifts. I know exactly when the mailperson is supposed to come, and I check the box before noon every day. I have a box downstairs of all the letters and cards and random things Rocky gave me while we were dating. I even saved the petals from my first bouquet of flowers from him. We're doing a Secret Santa exchange at school right now, and I have the name of a 5th grader and another student has me. I'm having so much fun! I love to leave little notes for people to find, or to stick in lunchbags.

And of course there is Christmas shopping. This is where things are a bit troublesome for me. Because I love to give gifts, I spend so much time pouring over what to get each person and I have to really limit myself. This year I'm following the concept of "something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read" when I'm getting gifts for Rocky and Abby.

Unfortunately I have to put from my mind any sort of expectations when it comes to receiving gifts from others. Rocky has told me that gifts is at the bottom of his love language list (and of course time and touch are at the top... remember what I said my lowest were??). So I struggle with wanting him to be as excited and joyful as I am about getting gifts for others (and not just for me).

How would you sort the list of love languages for yourself?

This and that

I need to get better at this.

I always have such good intentions. I'll write for a few days straight. Then be MIA for a month. I would love to have more followers, just for the satisfaction of knowing I'm writing about interesting stuff. But who wants to read a blog that only posts sporadically?

I think one of my new year's resolutions is going to be to write every day. Or at least try to. Even if it's just a paragraph.

It's not that I don't have things to write about. I find myself thinking throughout the day "Ooo I should write about that!" Or something happens that is worthy of posting, etc. etc... I just never stop to take the time to write. Mostly because I have a 6 month old, and have you ever tried writing and being creative with a squirmy baby next to you?

So this current post (which is getting long already) is going to include some of the random stuff that's been in my head lately. And hopefully I'll get better at posting more often.

Cloth Diapering
Since Abby is now 6.5 months old, we've been cloth diapering for about 6 months. It's been working out really well. Yes we've had our share of leaks and explosions, but overall I'm happy with the experience. I do keep a pack of 'sposies on hand, I'll use them when we're out and about for more than a couple hours at a time. And we used them at night for awhile (since Abby continues to be a 12-13 hour sleeper), but I've discovered the joy of hemp inserts. I open up my Flip cover to the highest rise, put down two of those inserts plus the stay-dry insert the Flip came with, and voila! A super-fluffy butt that doesn't leak at night.

The only thing I might do differently if I started cd'ing all over again would be to start with a bunch of different diapers and see what we like best. We started our stash exclusively with Flips, based on price and the all-in-two type of system, and have stuck with them ever since. Luckily they've worked out well for us, but there are so many other kinds out there that I would love to try... but I can't justify spending more. So I resort to entering giveaways. :) I follow a number of blogs that have weekly or monthly giveaways (such as Nicki's Diapers and The Cloth Diaper Whisperer). This will probably be the only way I'll ever have a chance to try all-in-ones or pockets or prefolds! (I did win a Snappi once but have yet to use it!)

SAHM
So I'd like to still consider myself a stay-at-home-mom, but I don't think I can. My 13-hour-a-week secretary job at FCCS has been awesome! I'm loving the chance to use some of my computer and writing and other skills to serve this little school (and I think they enjoy having me...??). And quite honestly, I enjoy having some time away from Abby each week. I think being away 3 days a week would be too much, but 2 days is just right. And I'm leaving her in very capable hands (love you Debbie!), and I think the best part is I'm able to leave her at home. I do find myself missing her every so often, especially now that she's jumping across some big milestones (sitting, crawling, etc.). BUT I'm home by 4:00 on those two days, with Rocky not far behind me, so I still get plenty of hang-out time with her. :)


I think that's all I'm going to post today, as it is I've been working on this post for the last 3.5 hours. Abby got up in the middle of it so I had to come back to it at naptime!