Harvesting Offspring

In a little less than two hours, we will be leaving for the hospital to return with a freshly plucked son! We will squeeze him, poke him and sniff him to make sure he is ripe, but I happen to know he is purely organic and perfect. We are ready for our new little addition. We are ready to see his tiny face. We are ready to shower him with kisses. We are ready to introduce him to Big Sister. We are ready for the month (if we are lucky) of sleep deprivation. We are ready for the obscene amount of poo-filled diapers. We are ready for spit-up. We are ready for "coos" and gurgles. We are ready. Today 3 become 4. I hope we are ready.

The Stockings are Hung by the Chimney with Care

Black Friday

If a red "sky in morning" means "sailors take warning," then what does waking up with a migraine headache mean? This is the first one I have had in almost two years. I used to get them quite frequently in college, then less frequent in grad school, then maybe once per year or two after that. When I went to the doctor about it early on, he said these types of headaches are caused by vasoconstriction in the brain thus potentially effecting vision and causing acute pain. He said the tricky part is figuring out your trigger: too much caffeine, too little caffeine, stress, certain foods or dyes, etc. I used to think caffeine, but now I know it is stress. Last night, for some reason I decided to lay in the bed with the weight of all my worries lying on top of me. I rarely dwell on the negative, but my mind was swimming in it last night. Dwelling on worries=stress=vasoconstriction=migraine=fat headache=crap start to my day.

On a less headachy note, Thanksgiving was deliciously worthy of thanks. I (with only a little assistance) successfully prepared my first Thanksgiving feast including: herb roasted turkey, fresh yeast rolls, corn on the cob, green beans, dressing (this is where the help came in), sweet potatoes, fresh cranberry sauce (which was forgotten in the fridge), and 2 pumpkin pies. The one day a year it is acceptable and encouraged to overeat. Today, as soon as my head feels a little better, I need to get my workout on - extra long, extra effort. My Christmas wish is to not indulge a bulge, but instead workout with extra vigor and eat in a manner that allows me to feel refreshed after a meal as opposed to sinking. Healthy Holidays everybody!

'Twas the Night Before Overeating

'Twas the night before Thanksgiving and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Meanwhile, out in the country, my entire family has, once again, gathered all together and is hooting, hollering, laughing, eating, loving, sharing, sitting, talking, remembering, and enjoying. And here we sit.........waiting..........on...............baby.............Nathan............to..............hurry.............up. Life is good though. For tomorrow will find me a year older, with a turkey, fresh baked yeast rolls, sweet potatoes, corn, 2 pumpkin pies and a birthday cake all in my cross hairs of imminent and swift destruction. I will give thanks.

Elephant and Things in Trees

Productivity

Sewing machine? I am a sewing machine. I finally finished all of Zoe's Christmas present foods and "paper" bag. I am most proud of the sandwich and the egg. The sewing machine was only used on the grocery bag (Nocona did that part...I mean give me a break I'm already sewing, to use the machine would be just too far). Everything else was done by hand. It was a lot of fun and actually pretty easy. Next up, a new pair of jeans (not really). In addition to felt foods, I made a mobile for baby Nathan, who still has yet to make his grand entrance, and I also made a sweet elephant clock out of the same old salvaged fence wood I used to make Nathan's changing table as well as a bunch of bird houses. I'll post some pictures of the little nature mobile and elephant clock later.

The weather here has been nothing short of spectacular the last couple of weeks. In the mornings and evenings, we bundle up in jackets and hats to walk the crunchy leafed path to the park. I intentionally dress too light in order to soak in the full cold of the northern blasts of wind. When I look down at Isabel riding in the stroller, I often see my feeling of contentment and joy expressed on her little face as she points her nose into the breeze and says, "wwwiiiind!" We swing and slide and climb until our need for lunch or dinner outweighs or want for fun. Then we load up and stroll home. So far, my days off have been a fantastic look into what the life of a wealthy heir might look like...minus the wealth. Maybe I was born during the wrong time period. I should have spent my days at home building barns with neighbors and working the fields along side my sons, while the wife and daughters cooked up hearty breakfasts and sewed awesome new clothes (note: I was just stating traditional roles of a time gone by. I would have no problem whatsoever putting my girls to work while I stayed inside and made a scrumptious meal and sewed some felt foods). It was a hard existence then, but you have to know at the end of the day they found a much deeper sense of satisfaction in their labors and life than we do now. Who says we can't still live like that!?

Books and Bearded Holidays

I once wrote a children's book called Corn Boy and Peanut: Adventures in Eating. I just found this picture on my computer and had to post it because it is hilarious. But, I have no intentions whatsoever of revealing the story line, so all you empty-headed plagiarizers out there can take a hike. Actually, I want to talk about my beard. My gloriously growing beard. My four days of shaving strike look more like two and half weeks. Its like each little hair on my face is stretching its neck to the max with the longest sigh of relief. I never used to shave. Oh, I would break out the razor somewhere in the neighborhood of once or possibly twice a month, but never more frequent than that. It was great! During my month off, I have granted my little facial proteins a pardon. Well, I guess it's more like a stay of execution since they will be back under the knife at the start of the new year. So, throw out those razors and join me for the bearded holiday revolution!