Living in Munchkinland

We spent a very nice, very relaxing weekend at home. We really needed it. We've been so busy lately! Michael got home late Friday and we were so happy to see him. We all agreed a weekend in our house was just what we needed. The weather was amazing this weekend. Cool at night and sunny and dry and mid-seventies during the day. Perfect. On Saturday we went to see Fabian and get the boys' hair cut. Sam had his first haircut! Really we just trimmed the back where he was growing a baby mullet. Davis got a nice trim. He looks good. Then we headed out to the Green Mesquite restaurant on Barton Springs. They have a patio and are very child friendly. That afternoon we were supposed to meet Annie and David for some playground fun, but Davis showed signs of coming down with something and we didn't want to pass around an illness. Instead, we put the kids in the bike trailer and went for a family bike ride. It was the first time that Sam had ever ridden in the trailer an...

I made this recipe this weekend and we loved it! It was in my newest Cooking Light magazine. I made a couple of substitutions, so it's my version below. It was easy and so delicious. I split it into two so that I could take some for a red tent delivery, but selfishly I wished I hadn't! It was so good. The kids loved it and so did Michael. He even mentioned how good the mustard greens were! I thought I'd share it with you. If you make it, let me know what you think. Black-Eyed Pea Stew from Cooking Light (with a bit of modification) serve with corn bread and beer. Ingredients 2 cups dried black-eyed peas 1 tablespoon peanut oil 3/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion 15 ounces sweet Italian turkey sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch pieces 4 cups organic chicken or vegetable broth 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 bay leaves 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 1 (28-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes 1 (10-...

Sam has a cold. There is snot everywhere. The funny thing is, Sam is the only kid I know that LOVES the bulb syringe. Every time I pull it out, he smiles. When I stick it in his nose and suck the snot out he laughs and laughs. He thinks it is so fun. Weird. But helpful. Davis is potty training. We are on day 10. Last Monday he went in the bathroom, whipped off his diaper, climbed up on the potty and peed. He was ready. He still wants nothing to do with the little potty, so we went and bought him some small seats to put on our big potties. He still isn't completely potty trained, but yesterday we had an accident free day. He loves his big boy underwear, but loves hanging around nude from the waist down most of the time. I've seen male genitalia more often in the last few days than in all my life. I am starting weaning today. Sam is 11 months old and we are going to slowly, slowly start cutting down on our nursings. I think this week we'll try to eliminate the...

We went to San Marcos this weekend. Michael drove directly down from Dallas and I had to pack up everything and get us all down there by myself. Still, it was totally worth it. Mom and Dad's house is always a wonderful place to be and this weekend was no different. Tiffany and Keith and Kade also spent the weekend there and so there was much merriment in the house. The purpose of this weekend's visit was a Gypsy Campfire party that was planned for Saturday night. This party was originally going to happen in July, but we got rained out, and this was the rescheduled date. The party was at the river and it looked beautiful. The weather was nice too, not really cold enough for a roaring fire, but not too hot either. The band was great and we even had belly dancers. There were probably about 75 people there and they were FUN people. Fabian and Don and Marchelle and Josh and John and Rob all came. Fabian and Don even camped! We were so glad they did because the next morning...

Subject: Davis Sleeping Davis: October 2005 Davis: October 2007

We had a really nice weekend. Friday started off badly with another fever illness for Davis, but he quickly recovered. That afternoon we dashed off to San Marcos to visit Mom and Dad and check out the progress on our new house. Saturday morning we went to the Farmer's market and ran into our friends Will and Kalyn and Jackson. That afternoon we headed to Target to buy three more Lightning McQueen cars since Davis is obsessed and we had to have some back-ups. Saturday night we went to the CASA's 4th Annual Fundraising Event. The whole family was there as well as our friends and we drank wine and danced and laughed and left the kids home with a sitter. It was nice. Sunday we headed to the Pumpkin Patch in Marble Falls at the Sweetberry Farm's Fall Festival. I had sent out an email asking everybody to join us there and several people accepted. It was so fun! Katie and Soren met us at Rudy's Barbecue for a quick lunch and then we caravaned up to the Farm. Annie and...

I've been thinking of this for some time and decided to try and write a post about it. These are my thoughts about the job of parenting. Sometimes I'll be having a challenging day and I'll think about how much easier it would be if the kids were in full time day care. And I also sometimes worry that I'm not enriching them and playing and teaching them enough and that they would benefit more from full time daycare. I love being home with the kids. And I don't want to send them to daycare. But why is the choice that I'm making necessarily the right one? What does the job of parenting mean? Where or with whom does the responsibility of parenting lie? When you send the children to day care, are you asking that day care to share your job of parenting? Do you do less parenting if you aren't a stay-at home parent? I don't think so, but perhaps at least, some of the responsibility of that parenting is shared. I certainly don't think that it means t...

Last weekend Michael and the kids and I met up with Rob and Violet and took a road trip down to Fredericksburg for their Oktoberfest celebration. The kids had a great time and so did we. The beer was delicious and the sausage was spicy and satisfying. I even had a funnel cake! Ummmmm, fried bread with sugar. So not south beach. We listened to several oompah bands and the kids played in the big blow up jumper houses. It was a nice day, but really hot. Then last night Michael and I had a date. We dressed up and went out to the Driskill hotel where they were holding the Film Festival Food and Wine event. Mom and Dad had bought a sponsorship and invited us as their guests. It was so fun. The food was delicious! They had all these restaurants with booths with little tasting portions. The silent auction was pretty good and the liquor was flowing. The only bummer was that the music was WAY too loud. I'm not an old fogey either, it was so loud you couldn't talk at all an...

Waterboy is an Adam Sandler movie that Michael and I both think is pretty funny. Adam Sandler plays Bobby Boucher (pronounced in the French fashion as "Boo-SHAY"), a socially inept (but also intelligent) water boy with anger issues due to constant teasing and his mother's (Kathy Bates) excessive sheltering. He wants to play football, but his mother tells him that "foosball is for the devil". Michael and I often quote this movie. For instance, if Davis refuses to brush his teeth and acts like we are torturing him when we ask him to brush them, we'll say, "What, Is Brushin' your teeth for the Devil?". We're just being silly. Yesterday I got ready to work out and Davis DID NOT want me to. He wanted me to play trucks with him. I laid out my workout mat and cued up the DVD. Davis ran into the living room took a wide stance on the mat, put out his hand and said, "NO WORKOUT, Mommy, WORKIN' OUT'S FOR THE DEVIL!!!" I cried ...

I love to play with the kids. I didn't think that I was going to be a "playing" kind of mom. When I was little my Dad played with me and my Mom took care of me. Of course they both did each of those things, but the first scenario was most often the case. I assumed that was the way it would be with me as well. When Davis was a baby, I found it difficult to play with him and while I could read to him forever, we were both quite content to do our own thing. We still don't NEED each other to play. I'm happy to let him entertain himself when I am hanging out a friend's house or a playgroup. Mommy needs adult attention too, but when we're just hanging out at the house, and the chores are done, then it's time to play with each other. We have entered the world of pretend and playing is SO FUN. Davis and I enter our world of pretend and really go for it. I'll crawl across the floor and transform our living room into a Farmer's Market, and then ...

I am so frustrated right now. I don't even know where to begin. My body started hurting me when I was in college. Not all the time, but a few days each month. i went to the doctor who tested me and didn't find anything and told me it was "Anxiety". He put me on anti-anxiety medication that made me drugged and did nothing for the body pain. This doctor also made me feel like this was all in my head. I felt embarrassed for seeking treatment and ignored the pain for the next ten years. Then a couple of months ago my body started hurting in the usual way, but it didn't go away. It got more and more intense and more and more painful and was constant. It had never lasted more than 24 hours before. So, unable to do my daily life, I went to see treatment. I was tested again and the results were normal. I was given a referral to a specialist and some medication. The medication actually worked and the pain receded. I can still feel it, but it's not too i...

We had a nice weekend. The weather was weird. First rainy and then hot and sticky. Where is fall? We had a week of chilly temperatures and now it's not so great. Oh well, enough about the weather. Saturday we woke early (as usual. Sam has been waking around 5:30AM lately!!!!) and got ready for the Alzheimer's Walk. We had done it last year when I was very pregnant and I was looking forward to doing it this year without that extra burden. It was fun, but I think that Sam wished he was still in womb. He yelled at me from his backseat in the stroller for a good portion of the walk. It's all for a good cause though. After the walk we headed over to the Farmer's Market downtown to participate in the 2007 Breastfeeding Challenge. It was great fun and we saw several friends there. We ate delicious food while we waited and then joined in the breastfeeding group on the lawn. We had over 100 mamas there! That afternoon we rested and then headed over to Freddie's a...