Day 3

Max,

You waited. Grades were in. Finals completed. Your brother graduated from kindergarten. Once the end of the year flurry was over, you came. You came at night, 2:44 AM, with a head of blonde and red hair, the biggest surprise.

You’ve been with us for three days, now. The first day you dozed as nurses and doctor poked and prodded. The second day, we brought you home and you dozed, intermittently staring at us, the wall, the patterns in your bedroom. The third day, today, you cried. You cried with each diaper change, long, piercing wails for an infant only 56 hours old. Once, you pulled an Aunt Jackie and held your breath, an impressive force of will. At the moment, I’ve handed you to your father and you’re sleeping, happily. We must figure out this diaper thing. It’s rather non-negotiable, the bodily removal of waste and your mother’s disposal of it, so I am not sure how to stop the screaming, but don’t worry, your mother does not lack for imagination, and I will think of something. Something.

In other news, the house welcomed us home. The washer and a toilet backed up on the day your father returned to work. It was lovely.

Welcome to our family, Max. We’ve been waiting for you to complete our family, and now, you’re here, filling our house with your protests, your sleep smiles, and your laundry. Welcome, little one.

Of What I Do Not Do Well: Big Tries to Move

For the last four years, I’ve spent my days doing things that I like, that I have some level of aptitude. Graduate school, teaching and family meant I cut out all the extraneous details that can fill a day, things like driving and dealing with utility companies. I pay my bills online, and I found there are few places I can’t get by bike. The last four years have made me smile.

Enter the last two weeks. Circumstances filled every day with things I do not do well. We moved. I’m 22 weeks pregnant. My bike has a flat tire and my husband is too harassed to fix it. (Yes, I should learn to fix my own bike tires. Soon.) Moving meant my person was required at various utility companies and being put on hold with various internet providers. Normal people can probably get the lights on, the gas pumping and the water flowing in one try. I am not a normal person, nor am I good at details, like having the exactly right paper in my hand after waiting in line for forty-five minutes. The good clerks would patiently explain they had a system. I was not following the system. My eyes would well up because I am pregnant, prone to eye overflow, and perhaps, in slight hope, they would take pity on me. They did not, and I would drive my pitiful self back across town in search of the right paper (which was always a different paper). I would like to blame someone for this, but the truth is I have always and will probably always suck at the details of life (like driving, electricity and such). This is why I like camping.

In spite of my lack as a fully functioning adult, here I sit in my much larger house with electric, water, gas and a wireless signal. Tomorrow, I am promised a patched tire.

Motivating myself!

Not the point of my post, but I’m feeling a little like the lone sister here!

Anyway….

In my area, possibly every area, there are people doing shake diets like crazy. Seriously, my Facebook news feed is nothing but people showing off their new, post shake selves. This is totally great for them, but I am in no way a shake diet person. I tried it for two days once and I think my husband thought seriously about divorcing me. I was mean, almost as mean as I was when I was pregnant, and I was SO SO SO hungry. No shakes for me. I have to eat and quite frankly I eat a lot!

For the past few months I’ve been reading about the Paleo Diet, a.k.a. Primal, Caveman, or Blueprint.  I have about 5-10 lbs. that I could lose, but mostly I was just feeling like I had been hit by a truck when I got home from school. I had no energy at all and I have a 14th month old to enjoy so that just won’t work! So I read and read and read some more (here, here and here are a few good sites). Everything about it made sense to me. I am a total carnivore. I could eat meat all day everyday and if you want to throw in a bunch of vegetables that’s awesome too. I’ve never been a bread eater so that wasn’t difficult for me to give up. The two hardest things for me were/are probably sugar and cheese! I LOVE cheese.

I’m on Day 4 of Paleo eating and I can honestly say I haven’t had this much energy since before I was pregnant with my daughter and even then I’m not sure I felt this good! I also am so full after meals and bonus – I’m not having to eat teeny tiny bird portions! Also, since having my daughter, I’ve felt like it was impossible for me to find time to workout. There was no way I could workout. Not an extra 30 minutes anywhere. However, I have been able to workout everyday since starting Paleo. I feel stronger and haven’t had any cravings or headaches.

I have no doubt that Paleo isn’t for everyone, but I’m loving it so far! So, as a way to keep myself in check I’m going to post here periodically about my Paleo journey – difficulties, victories and meal plans!

Sisters….Blog!!!!!!!!!

Little. 

2012: The Year of the Blog!

The holidays are over and it’s a new year!

I am not big on New Year’s Resolutions because I forget what they were or don’t follow through. However, this year I am going to worry less, enjoy more and slow down. Simple, yet incredibly difficult for me to do! The best part – I wrote it, here.

On another note, after a great holiday meal the sisters and I were discussing our struggling blog. Let me assure you, 2012, you are the year of the blog!

Soon: Pictures of Christmas!

Little

On the First Day of Christmas: Paper Snowflakes

We made snowflakes.

Changes

I’ve been so busy the last couple of weeks that I put blogging on the back burner. Big didn’t let me forget about it though. My school semester has started and overall I am very excited about my classes. I’ll be doing my 2nd block of student observations which is very exciting because I’m one step closer to having my own classroom!

Before school this semester started, I was going to school full-time and working full-time. There was absolutely no way I was going to be able to do my 25 hours of student observations and work full-time. So I made the best decision for me and quit. It was very difficult because I enjoyed the people I worked with.

So far it is working out great. I have had so much more time to do things at home it unbelievable. The laundry is up, the floors cleaned and dishes put away. My kitchen only lacks the trim (pictures to come soon!) and the only reason that isn’t  done is because I can’t do it myself! I’ve done several crafty projects that  I can’t wait to put on here (if I would have remembered my camera card I would today – fail on my part), including wall art for the mudroom and Jodi’s room. I also made my own laundry detergent, despite the massive overflow out of the pot — it is awesome!

Another plus is I’ve been able to pick Jodi up form daycare so much earlier. I love, love, love her daycare, but I like to have her with me anytime I can.

Life is good and sometimes hard changes are the best kind.

Bugs, Reptiles and Salmonella

There are bugs, which we catch, study, and with much cajoling, release.

“I’m going to miss BT (a beetle). I’m really going to miss him.”

Bug catching paraphenalia

And lizards that we feed, spray and handle.

“Do you think Miter and Scrubby love us?”

The Lizards

And a turtle for the garden and one boy’s endless fascination.

“I like him. I just really like him.”

And there’s the reading of books about said creatures for there is much to know about the life and times of beetles, spiders and  snakes. It is knowledge the boy soaks up and repeats with some false information, but all the right words. “Sam, what are you doing?” “I’m building an ecosystem.”

And there’s joy and constant plans for what’s next.

The reptiles carry salmonella, but they also carry his wonder and spark his unending curiosity. It is through them that he’s learned of Africa and South America, the Amazon, the Nile, places he now dreams of visiting. So, we wash our hands, put sanitizer next to the cage, and take our chances. To be a boy, a child, is to take those chances; to be a mom is to buy the sanitizer.

Morning

I had plans to write a post entirely about Pinterest. Why? Because it’s awesome. Then, my morning happened. So Pinterest is for another day.

Background: My husband left for Louisiana yesterday to help his sister and her family (husband and two little ones) move. I was dead set on mudding and painting my kitchen while he was gone because he would be so impressed with everything I had done. I got all the mudding done and about three quarters of the painting done. Not bad when it’s just me and a 9 month old who is insistent on eating the mud. I literally washed her hands at least 10 times in a 2 hour period. Everything was going good. Jodi went to sleep at about 8, so I finished my painting for the night, took a shower, started a load of clothes and folded the ones in the dryer.

When I got in bed I couldn’t sleep because it was thundering, and I was a tad bit paranoid about being home alone. All the serial killers movies happen like this.

When I finally gave myself the “you are an adult stop being a baby” pep talk and fell asleep I slept really hard until Jodi woke up hungry at about 4 AM. When I woke up I realized the fan was off. My first thought was “great someone is in my house and they are turning my fans off.” Then, I realized it was really hot and the air conditioner was off too. My thought were then, “Awesome, they cut the electrical line and Jodi and I are done for.”

I seriously thought these things for a few moments. I’ve obviously watched too much Dateline.

When I finally made myself snap out of my half asleep induced horror movie plot I grabbed Jodi and a flashlight so I could flip the breaker. Our breaker always flips in the winter so naturally, I thought that must have been the problem. Nope. So I took the flashlight to make Jodi a bottle and had no water pressure, which means the electricity at the well is off too. I decided I would drive to my mother-in-laws, only about 1/2 mile, because she was home alone too and surely she’d have electricity. By this point, Jodi is mad because all she wants is a bottle not to be drug around the world at 4:15 AM.

On my way, I called the electric company and they informed me that all of my area was out because there was a problem with a substation, whatever that is, and someone was on their way to fix it that very moment (liars). I got to my mother-in-laws and there was no electricity there either, but she had enough water pressure to at least make my starving child a bottle. I made the bottle and headed back home. When I get there my front door was locked and guess what! I didn’t have the key. So at 4:30 AM I moved my husbands spur board, which is really freaking heavy, popped out the screen on the kitchen window and  crawled through. When we finally got inside I had about 45 minutes before I needed to get ready for work and Jodi was sweating to death because it’s 4:45 AM and already 85 degrees.

At 6:45 AM  when I left for work there was still no electricity.

At 10:20 AM, I’m not sure if I have electricity, but I am very conflicted on if I should start locking my windows or not.

Big Tortures Little with Music

I grew up with country music and classical music. The combination means I have odd tastes, odd tastes that I tried to instill in Little to no avail.

As I drove her home from kindergarten, I would honk my horn and sign to Van Morrison’s Into the Mystic. Little would hit the floor, ashamed of her older sister’s antic and horrified by the music.

My taste hasn’t improved much. I like songs that ache, that sound like they know something about joy and pain and disappointment. Elizabeth Cook sounds like she knows something of things that matter.

So do Amos Lee, Allison Krause, The Weepies, and Nellie McKay.

And on really bad days, I listen to a hometown girl, Marjo Wilson.

Music

I went to Oklahoma State for my first two years of college (In-law  graduated from OSU and Big spent a semester there as well, Go Pokes!). I loved pretty much everything about it (except that it wasn’t home and I had to study, boo).  I really loved the music. Stillwater claims to be ‘the originally home of Red Dirt music.’  But, Red Dirt isn’t the only type of music coming from Stillwater. OSU is where a ton of bands/singers have got their start. The All-American Rejects, Garth Brooks and Cross Canadian Ragweed are just a few that started their long trek to fame in fortune in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  

I know that Big, In-Law and I all have very different tastes in music so I thought it might be fun for each of us to take turns posting songs or artist that we’re loving right now. I’ll go first! 🙂

I’m kind of obsessed with The Band Perry right now. They are composed of two brothers and their sister. I love the way their music sounds. My husband says they sound ‘high school,’ but I have fond memories of high school so I don’t care.

My favorite song: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCwLsXZnFl4

Another group I’m loving is Pistol Annies. My cousin actually introduced me to them and I couldn’t get enough. They only have their single out right now, but the entire album release next week. They remind me of the Dixie Chicks in the late 90s early 2000s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IriEmm4ilfI