I sneakily actually did write about several of these things because I am just that clever

Things that have happened since I last wrote:
Christmas
New Year's
Jack transitioning to a big boy bed
The blessing of my family by the cardinal
Maternity clothes on my person
Jack singing for five full minutes for the video camera

The thing I will write about now because Swistle linked to me and there are possible throngs of people flocking to my blog:
My absolute favorite part about being a grown up.

What, you thought I would say "Christmas?"

See, I can't write about Christmas, New Year's, or Jack's transition, because these posts require the transference of photos from my camera to the computer and then I have to UPLOAD them and then I have to LINK to them and I can't do any of that right now because the computer is currently converting the video of Jack singing for five full minutes. And after I convert it, I will have to upload it to Vimeo and that takes about eleven hours for some reason, so the computer will be busy for awhile. And then I will likely find out that the video looks weirdly squished or something and have to start over, but let's worry about that when the time comes. Conveniently, I have now also explained why I can't write about Jack singing, as that is a video that will be posted sometime next year after it has been converted and uploaded successfully.

As far as the cardinal blessing my family, well, that's kind of all there is to tell. He was at our church today to celebrate the closing mass of our 125th anniversary year. I'm a bit thrilled about it because I really like this cardinal, and this is the second time I've received his blessing. The first time I was pregnant with Jack, so both Jack and his little brother or sister have now been blessed by the cardinal in utero. But the story is pretty much: He blessed us. The end. It's not like we sat down and had a long private talk or anything.

And all I have to say about maternity clothes is that I am glad they are stretchy because now the pants I put on in the morning no longer cut off my circulation at night. Sadly, they are still slightly too loose in the morning, so I'm at the particularly annoying size range of 12-maternity right now. I am almost looking forward to getting big enough that the same pair of pants fits me for the WHOLE DAY.

But I am not going to write about maternity clothes. I am not even going to tell you that when I picked them up from my sister-in-law, the family stash of maternity clothes (to which I have contributed about five shirts and two pairs of pants) has morphed into a mind-boggling five enormous bags and one huge storage container. No, instead I would like to tell you that my favorite part of being a grown up is not being allowed to drink or rent cars. It's not getting paid about ten times per hour what I made as a cashier. It's not even getting to stay up as late as I want (10:30pm) whenever I want (only on very special occassions). No. What I revel in is the knowledge that when I'm out somewhere, I can stop for doughnuts any time I want to. There's a Dunkin' Donuts every 150 feet in this state, so if I want a doughnut, dammit, I can buy a doughnut. I no longer have to beg and whine and plead with my father from the way back of the station wagon on the way home from church, I just have to decide to pull in to the parking lot. Just because I can stop for doughnuts doesn't mean I do stop for doughnuts; just knowing the option is there is enough.