Texas Peach!

First Texas peach of the year.

I clearly remember my first bite of fresh, farmer's market Texas peaches. It was in Luling, Texas after a rousing music therapy session at Warm Springs Rehabilitation Hospital. I was on my way to Brown-Karhan Healthcare in Dripping Springs, Texas and I stopped for a peach.

She gave me my first one free and as I took my first bite I was transported to my California childhood by the pool. I think I heard angels singing and I could feel my eyes roll back in my head. It tasted like summer and sunshine and I was hooked. I began my quest for the Perfect Peach.

Grocery store peaches don't compare one lick to a fresh ol' farm peach. They don't look perfect, this one has a little goop you can see in the photo, but we just cut that part away and had our first peach experience of the summer.

This batch is from Floresville, Texas. Dora at the Farmer's Market at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in San Antonio explained that as the summer creeps forward the peaches creep northward up Central Texas. I bought this batch confidently and then assuredly as a gentleman came by to purchase a basket because he was about to run out at home. "They're bigger than last week," he said, and it seemed like a good idea to me to follow the peach up Texas this summer.

Not peach nirvana like my first experience, I'm certain that nothing will ever give me that level of bliss again, but pretty darn good for May peaches. I've eaten two and Jenna is also a fan. Go on by and try for yourself. St. Andrew's Lutheran Church is located at 16320 Huebner Road., San Antonio, Texas. The Farmer's Market is on Mondays from 9-1 all summer long.

Where in Texas will we experience the next peaches? Stay tuned!

32 weeks!

It's going! I am 32 weeks pregnant tomorrow - can't believe it! I had forgotten how long pregnancy lasts.

People ask me, "Are you about ready for this to be over?" My answer is mostly no and a little bit yes. My sacroiliac joint on the left side is causing me a lot of grief. I've tried yoga and it makes it worse, sadly. I know yoga can be really good for Mom and Baby, but it's apparently not good for me in my current residence - Relaxin City, Texas. So the pain is no good. I'm ready for that to be over.  

Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This Scripture has to do with contentment and I'm working on it - being content even though I'm hurting and struggling some.

On the other hand, there are many, many more things about pregnancy that I truly love and will miss in eight weeks or less. First, babies are easier for me inside. I get to sleep all night, am sleep-refreshed, and have some free time during the day when the boys are in preschool. Second, I love looking pregnant. I feel better about my body when I'm pregnant. I don't think I have a poor body image, but my tummy is my trouble spot and now it's supposed to look this way! Love that.

Lastly, it's a really special time for me and this baby to be just us sometimes, and it is amazing how sweet the boys are to me and to their baby sister. They help me up when I'm sitting down and they need me, they snuggle my belly and make sweet noises and faces to their baby sis, and her biggest brother is absolutely gleeful about feeling her move.

And move she does. Yikes! I don't remember LB being this movey. She waves her hands around (they are in my lower belly), sticks her butt out (on the right and even with my bellybutton), bends her knees (bellybutton), and kicks me out to the right side like her big brother used to. Late in the day when I sit down she must stretch out because she's practically up in my sternum. Sometimes she wiggles around, getting comfortable I guess, and it feels like a tempest brewing in there. BB puts his hand on my belly and every time he feels a movement says, "Was that you? Was that you?" He can always feel her. They're tight, those two. This afternoon he sang her his ABCs. I will miss that.

People also ask if we're ready. Do they not know who they are dealing with? Me! I'm the worst procrastinator. We have a room. It's newly painted lavender. No crib, no sheets, no monitor, no dresser, no changing pad, no nothing. We do have plenty of baby washcloths and some cloth diapers for burping. We also have a PacknPlay we'll set up in our room for awhile. I guess we ought to make sure we still have all the parts! So no, we're not ready.

So am I about ready for this pregnancy to be over? It doesn't look like it! Even though this is now my second pregnancy, after years of trying to get pregnant it still feels like such a novelty - something I thought I'd never experience once let alone two times. As I sit here and type, looking down over my sweet baby inside, I can't believe it's really happening again. A huge blessing.

To my sweet friends still waiting, I love you dearly! And as I was saying to someone recently, this stage of pregnancy and newborn is just the tip of the parenting iceberg. There is so much more to parenting than being pregnant! As time has passed and the boys are older, I feel more and more like a parent. At first when they were small I felt like I wasn't a parent if they weren't babies. Isn't that something? I had never really thought about parenting past the newborn stage. And it turns out, um, I don't really covet the newborn stage. Sleep and babysitters are not overrated.

He is Risen!

He is risen, indeed.

Mommy Spring Break!

I'll be taking a staycation this week in my own home. I'm so excited!

Step one: making my bedroom oasis look nice. We have a nice, large bedroom with a little corner just for me. I'm sitting there right now on my couch with my feet up on an ottoman. Nice. But the room is a mess and doesn't feel very oasissy! I'll put in a new Scentsy fragrance, tidy up some messy spots, vacuum, and have a mini spa bedroom. Ahhhh...

Step two: eat lots of berries. I have a huge container of raspberries and a container of strawberries that I plan to indulge in daily. Perhaps I'll have raspberry waffles one morning for breakfast and a strawberry yogurt parfait one afternoon (or four).

Step three: get some errands run and maybe even shop for Baby Girl Standridge!

Step four: get my knitting on!

Step five: nap, nap, nap - got to catch up on some zzzzzz's.

So if you need me, I'll have my feet up so give me a few minutes to get to the door or the phone.

Oh hey, I forgot step .5. Drop the boys off at kid's gym camp every day!

Spring break is here!

A Moment

You know those moments when you fall in love with someone all over again again? I had one of those moments with BB today.

We were doing some youtubing, my two boys and I, the three of us snuggled up on the bed looking up mewing kittens and screaming chameleons and the like. I got the idea to look up baby girls.

I found a youtube video with a tear-inspiring song in the background while still shots appeared of a baby girl on her first day in the world. One part showed the baby girl in the arms of her grandfather. The baby, the music, and finally the grandfather got me emotional and I started to cry.

LB is not a fan of tears. He said to me, "Please stop crying, Mommy, can you please not cry?"

But BB, he is an empathetic and supportive little boy. He looked at me so tenderly, so sweetly, and traced the back of his fingers down my face. He just sat there with me as I talked about why I had tears. Then he got a big grin, took my face in his hands, and kissed my tears. I do this to him sometimes to make him laugh - eat his salty tears. And that is exactly what he did to me. It worked. I laughed. And I fell in love again.

This kid is a spark plug. I find myself correcting him dozens of times a day. He gets into any sugar he can find (because he's so sweet, I guess), he drops trash and other items on the floor the minute he finishes with them, and he plays too rough. And he's the sweetest, most sensitive, empathetic boy inside. He's sugar and spice. That kid is really something.

The no good, terrible, very good day.

Today started for me at 4:57 a.m. A little boy, who shall remain nameless, is suddenly a morning pooper. Yay. So today the big event happened super early. Randy has been getting in to work at 6 a.m. all week, so he got up, this boy got in our bed with me, and we finally fell asleep again at 5:40. Brother came in at 6:30 to start the day.

I told them to go play while I slept a little longer, so at 8 a.m. I came downstairs to a table covered in chocolate Lucky Charms minus all the mushrooms. Oh yes, I do mean marshmallows - it's been a long day. Also covering the table and floors were Starburst wrappers and jelly beans. BB had made breakfast! I found two little boys sitting on the back steps discovering dead bugs to pick up, and pretending to plant "magic beans." So cute. Messy, but sweet. Literally.



We met a seller from Craigslist this afternoon to buy a stroller for Baby Girl. We decided to try a new park on the way, but when we got there I thought it looked a little scary. So we left for another new park, which was equally dilapidated and did not include a playground. Basically it was grass and a worn-down pavilion. BUT, there was a ravine with a little bit of water in it into which the boys immensely enjoyed throwing rocks. We were there for five minutes before we had to go. Park problem solved.

Upon getting to the meeting place, I spoke with the seller who was late, so the boys and I went to Wendy's for a Frosty and yes, I admit it, an order of french fries which, to my credit, we split three ways. And it was good.

Off to the gym we went to burn off those calories! I had planned to get to the gym at two and we were there closer to four. I sat for awhile, swam for awhile, changed for a while, stretched, and made it home just in time for dinner at six. The boys' dinner was ready and on the table due to our late arrival. Yes!

Today was a comedy of errors at best. But a lovely day. Lemons, lemonade. A breakfast mess turned into magic beans, a park problem turned into rock-throwing fun, and a late trip to the gym turned into Mommy not having to make dinner for hungry boys. The boys were (mostly) in a good mood, they loved having an excuse to throw rocks, and they always love the "kids gym." I had a relaxing work out and just enjoyed a bowl full of leftover-taco soup after a quick jaunt to the corner store for some pinto beans.

AND I have a coffee date in the morning, AND a date with my husband in the evening. And now I say yes to Yes to the Dress. It is a good day. Ciao.

I just flew in from Ames, Iowa...

...and boy are my arms (and everything else) tired.

But seriously folks, I'm exhausted! It's 7:00 and I feel like could just go to bed, but I have a few things to do and I saved enough calories today to have a bowl of cereal and berries for dessert. This requires me to arise and go downstairs to the kitchen, and so arise and go I shall.



Tomorrow I will be 24 weeks pregnant, and I do NOT remember being so tired last time. Granted I am almost 5 years older and my kids don't nap and need to be entertained and taken places pretty much every day, plus I feel responsibility to do some laundry and prepare meals for my family of four once in awhile. (While pg with LB I only had two solid-food-eating people in our family.)

Wednesday is coming up and it is my loooong day, starting with BSF at 9am and going through children's choir (one more week!) and my choir rehearsal ending at 9pm. Perhaps I can catch a quick nap at Chick Fil A at lunch with my friend who I'll call Delores because half the time I forget her name and call her that anyway. Wednesday is the day that I try not to feel too guilty when we have Chick Fil A for lunch and Dominos Pizza for dinner! (Did I mention that my midwife suggested that I gained a couple extra pounds last month?)

So what's happening with me? Well finally this week people I don't know have asked me when the baby is due. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and think, "Huh? Oh, right!" Also, my lower back/sacral muscles hurt about 60 percent of the time despite my wearing a maternity belt when I can. I've been back to the chiropractor which seems to give me some relief but not as much as I'd like.

I'm exercising when I can, swimming two times a week and doing pilates and prenatal yoga, and I pretty much don't have any cravings besides the craving to rest and the craving to eat out anywhere that includes me sitting down and not preparing anything. I do hanker for hot wings regularly, but so far have indulged that only once. Girl Scout cookies are irresistible, or were irresistible until I stepped on the scale yesterday, and I'm into fresh fruit which is probably a better bet for me anyway. Oh well, I felt much better after reading what Jessica Simpson is eating during pregnancy!

Most importantly, Baby Girl is a super active little thing and the boys are very excited for their baby sister to come out. She kicks and punches pretty strongly, and I had my first experience on Sunday with a very obvious repetitive bladder punches. Mmmm, fun. She is more active at 10:30 am and 6:30 pm, and occasionally whoops it up first thing in the morning or right at bedtime. This does not keep me from sleeping yet, however, and I can make it from 9:30 until 6:30 without getting up to use any facilities. TMI!

I went off the sauce recently (Facebook), and plan to blog more, but lying down and vegging out is pretty much taking priority over everything right now, including BSF which is what I need to be doing tonight but might not. I'd rather just have my cereal and be done with it. Lesson, complete thyself.