Recharge and Start Again

Sometimes I’ll hear a comment or some advice and know it’s true and relevant to me, but it’s only after I’m in the midst of the experience that I fully process it and look back at how young I seemed when I first heard it. For example, I remember taking notes in the childbirth class before Rush was born, calmly writing down “go to the hospital when you can no longer talk through a contraction.” Oh Kelly, so naïve, how did you not think about how intense pain is if you can’t even talk through it?

These days I’m thinking about how every single person that I talked to with two kids approximately two years apart said “it’s really hard at the beginning, but after that it’s awesome.” I guess I thought “really hard” meant I would be tired and busy. I realize now that it actually means it takes everything I have to meet my kids’ most basic needs –eating, sleeping, no busted heads.

It’s been a little intense, but I did get a great recharge this weekend when we visited Trent’s family. Trent and I went on a lunch date to Jason’s Deli (Can you believe there’s no Jason’s Deli in Pearland? Not only that, but if you type “salad bar Pearland, TX” into google, the first restaurant it recommends is Chick-Fil-A. What? A fast food restaurant that serves three pickle slices as its primary vegetable is the closest we have to a salad bar?) and there were lots of extra hands to hold they boys and give them attention. I had the best sleep I’ve had in approximately ten months when Tate miraculously slept from 9 PM until 5:30 AM on Saturday night. And really it was just great to get out of the house and go somewhere besides Kroger.

Rush had a great Saturday morning when Trent’s family took him to Sesame Street Live. Apparently when Elmo came out on the stage he almost jumped out of his seat. From what I heard, the show was long but he stayed pretty focused on it. He does love Elmo. Oh Rush, you’re adorable.

Here’s a recent picture of me:

I have to stop making fun of the pageant moms on Toddlers and Tiaras for stuffing their kids with sugar all day to keep them going. I always say they should be giving their kids a decent breakfast instead of a Fun-Dip. Yet here I am after four hours of sleep, four Pop Tarts fatter. I find myself using Pop Tarts on myself just like those moms use Pixie Sticks on their daughters, but instead of needing energy for my beauty routine, I need it to clean the kitchen after bath time. I’m not even sure how I got started on Pop Tarts, which, until recently, I had not eaten since college. It might have something to do with the relentless product placement on 30 Rock.

Trent and I make real popcorn (real meaning made in the Stir Crazy instead of the microwave) every Sunday night and we settled into a routine of Trent making the popcorn and me cleaning up. Last night when we settled in for the Oscars I made the popcorn and obviously forgot how much to popcorn to use. And actually how much oil as well, that popcorn was basically deep fried. It was damn good.

I was happy to see a win for my favorite actor, Christian Bale. When he thanked his wife for being his “mast through the storms of life” I asked Trent if I was his mast. His response: “yeah, erm……………..” Okay.

Let’s just close out with a picture of the ever-growing Tate – what a sweetie.

Half and Half

Father and son, so calm and peaceful…

Not pictured:  Mother and son.  Odds are that Rush and I are in the kitchen involved in some sort of mess with yogurt or jelly or another related item.  Calm or crazy, things are wonderful right now.

Sunday Lunch

It has been weird not going to church lately. I’m ready to get back to a more normal routine, which should start happening soon. Tate will be six weeks old on Tuesday, so he’s getting bigger and stronger every day. Besides catching up last week’s episode of Toddlers and Tiaras this morning, I managed to get some really cute Tate photos. He’s modeling on the beautiful quilt made for him by his godmother Kellaura.

When Trent and Rush got home from church we had the usual weekly dilemma of WHAT ARE WE DOING FOR LUNCH? It’s a minor meltdown for me most Sundays. Growing up, we went out to eat with my grandparents, Gran and Pop, every single Sunday after church. Every Sunday, without fail, we went straight from St. Mark’s to their house, then headed to Luby’s or Bonanza or Po’ Folks, which served drinks in mason jars and served the fried clams that I crave to this day. There were the occasional weeks that we picked up a bag of burgers from Short Stop and ate at their house, but most weeks we went to a restaurant. After Pop died and the Sunday lunches ended, our family just floundered about on Sunday after church. None of us really knew what to do with ourselves without a standing lunch date.

Eleven years later I still haven’t been able to pull it together for lunch on Sundays. Every week in the car on the way home from church I start wishing for Gran and Pop to show up to take me to Luby’s. Pop often gave the vague, joking threat of just staying home and eating a bologna sandwich, which never once happened, but at this point I would take that just to solve the problem of what to do for lunch.

Sunday lunch was a big deal for Trent’s family growing up as well, but in his case it was a big family lunch cooked and enjoyed at home. They continue the tradition today and I have participated in a number of Sunday lunches with the Williams. The problem with adopting that tradition for our own family is the fact that lunch on Sunday is my breaking point. I’m completely sick of thinking of meal ideas, cooking, and cleaning up after meals from the week. Plus, again, I’m waiting to meet up with Gran and Pop for some General Wok. I recommended to Trent, who always talks about how he wants to cook more, that he could totally be in charge of lunch on Sundays, making any new recipe he chooses. So far, no luck. Today, after working through my floundering 11:30 Sunday feeling, it was a rushed trip to the grocery store for a rotisserie chicken.

It was fine, but still. Someone come take me out to eat!

About the lack of Rush photos: I’ve tried to take pictures of him lately, but it’s like trying to take a picture of dolphins from the ferry. He’s in constant motion and I always end up taking the picture a second too late. It’s more likely that I end up with a picture of where he was. The bowl of nuts above was left behind by Rush the other day after he was helped me cook. I’m not sure what he was making, but I’m impressed that he skipped all the spoons in the utensil drawer, opting for the pizza cutter and juicer. What else would you need for a bowl of nuts? He’s obviously a very creative thinker.

1 + 1 = Laundry

I like the feisty look-

I have never seen sweet Tate make that face other than in this picture.  I wonder what he was thinking at that moment?

I’m in a brief moment of overlapping naps and I can hear Tate stirring.  Somehow I’ll need to figure out how to get both boys napping at the same time.  Today is the first day I’ve made any sort of general attempt to think about getting Tate on some sort of schedule.  It’s week one of Trent’s new job and therefore week one of regular life for me, meaning that Trent isn’t getting home early.  I wonder what’s going to happen when we run out of meals in the freezer?

So far, we’re having great days.  As long as the only things required of me are keeping the boys happy (aka being outside) and doing laundry, then we’re fine.  Laundry is one of the only chores I don’t mind, and it’s a good thing because I forgot that it really picks up with a baby around the house.  Things like having to wash the quilt on our bed for the second time this month really add up.  So that’s what’s happening today:  laundry and playing outside.  I like to compare my days to what I would be doing if I was still working…would I rather be doing this or going over spreadsheets to verify inventory and joint venture ownership percentages?

I think we all know the answer to that.  I’ll be in the backyard if you need me.

Red Badge of Courage

A week ago we were starting Trent’s week off, planning all the things we would do to be totally caught up and organized before he starts his new job on Monday.  After a trip to the emergency room and a few days in the NICU, we wrapped up the week completely messy and unorganized, but with two completely healthy children.  Who cares about the cluttered house?

Once we started having children I knew trips to the ER were inevitable.  Thankfully we made it through our first trip successfully and whatever the future holds, at least I no longer have to worry about not knowing how to get there.  If you got badges for parenting, similar to scouting, I could get the Emergency Room badge and Trent could get the Pack Your Wife’s Hospital Bag badge.  

So life is returning to normal after a weird week.  I actually got to leave the house today and I stocked up on all the things we’ll need just in case we don’t venture out again until next weekend.  Making a trip out with both boys on my own still seems impossible, so preparing for a new week is a little like preparing for a hurricane.  Really the only difference is that instead of water and batteries, we need diapers, laundry detergent, peanut butter and crackers.  That sums up my Target receipt.

Well, it’s 5 PM and the remains of lunch are still on the kitchen table, so perhaps I should get to that?  I guess that’s the trade off for leaving the house for a few hours and spending a beautiful afternoon outside with the family.  Worth it.

Oscar Buzz

It’s that time of year: the Academy Awards are approaching. Trent and I are in the midst of our annual push to watch as many Oscar nominated films as possible before the awards show. We’re pretty far behind; we’ve only seen three of the ten Best Picture nominees so far and it’s not looking good for us making it to the theater anytime soon. I’m not a huge of fan of the switch from five to ten nominees, but I do enjoy the added aspect of selecting the five movies I think deserve the nomination and the five that do not. If I can finagle a way to a theater outside of Pearland, I would like to squeeze in a viewing of The King’s Speech, which appears to be the front runner. It’s always nice to be able to make educated guesses on Oscar night.

The reality is that we’ll probably catch up on a lot of the films after the fact. While this guy-

slept through Inception in my arms last night, this guy-

isn’t likely to sit through a movie anytime soon. We're great for movies after bedtime, but I don't think we'll see the inside of a theater for awhile.

One of my favorite memories from our Oscar nominee watching push is from a few years ago when we rented Walk the Line and North Country and watched them back to back. By the end of the night I hated all men and was in a complete meltdown funk. It’s not a great Friday night movie combination.

Of course it’s 31 Days of Oscar on TCM again, which is another annual February perk. Of course every year we ambitiously record all kinds of classics, then just end up watching Tootsie and Annie Hall again. One selection for each of us, can you match the person to the movie they select every year? Hint: Annie Hall is my pick.

Brrr…?

I’ve been counting the snowflakes as I see them falling in the yard; I think I’m up to 24.  Having the weather man confidently predict snow and then not having any just seems so right.  If it had snowed, or I guess if it does happen to snow today, it would be the third year in a row, which is totally absurd.  In thirty years I’ve seen it snow four times total, so three years in a row is pushing it.

Some people have pictures of snow days, we have pictures of “that day it was really cold.”  Let’s be real, we live on the gulf coast.  We’ll be back at the beach next month.