"They Grow Up So Fast" and Other Truths

A little over two months ago, I had a baby.  One thing I have discovered about being a parent is that all the platitudes and cliches are true.  Everyone always says, "they grow up so fast, enjoy them while they are young."  They say, "The days are long but the years are short."  They say, "It's the best thing you'll ever do; your life will never be the same."  When I heard those things as a non-parent, and even while pregnant, I would think, "Well, of course."  I could appreciate the idea that children grow up fast--my niece and nephew seem feet taller every time I see them.  So, really, I always understood that these things were true--obvious even--and couldn't understand why everyone felt the need to repeat them endlessly.  Now I get it.  Not only are they true, but they are now central facts about my life.  I have a son.  He is growing.  Too fast.

This leads me to the other thing I have discovered about parenting--for every emotion, there is an equal and opposite emotion.  I feel my entire experience has become a paradox.  On the one hand, I am delighted that Nathan is growing so well--and by well, I mean almost off the charts.  After each doctor's visit, I call my mom and crow about how much weight he has gained.  I spend his awake time each day helping him learn to hold his head up, smile, reach for things, and we proudly show off his progress to Daddy when he gets home.  On the other hand, this is all entirely devastating--how can he change so fast?  And why can't I drink in each feature of his little person quickly enough, before it's gone and transformed into something else that will be equally wonderful, but not the same?  I wasn't prepared for the confusion of emotion that comes with parenting, and I wasn't prepared for the intensity either.  His sweet, slow smiles bring tears to my eyes, and (again, the paradoxes), his cry, moments after I put him down thinking he was asleep, pierces me like a red hot poker of despair.

Our days are pretty quiet, red hot pokers not withstanding.  Feeding, changing, dressing, playing, reading, singing, and napping (if I'm lucky).  He loves music, so I sing to him constantly--"This is the Day" for when he wakes up, "Alleluia" when he is going to sleep, and "Arky, Arky" and "This Little Light of Mine" in between.  My favorite is "Give Me Oil in My Lamp"--he likes it, I think, because it is quick and has some high notes; I like it because it is a true prayer for me--I need all the oil in my lamp I can get!  For books, we are liking Dr. Seuss and The Poky Little Puppy and Little Blue Truck.

I have been doing some reading myself, since it's something I can manage to do while he is feeding--at first, it took him upwards of 40 minutes to eat and he ate every two hours, so I had to have something to do!  He's become much more efficient now, taking only about 20 minutes, but I still sneak in some reading.  Over the past year, I have been working through my bookshelf, committed to reading all the books I own but have never read before.  In the process, I have made some wonderful discoveries and can't understand how I never got around to some of these books before.  Ironically, three of the books I have read have had to do with the coming of age of boys: Lloyd Alexander's Taran, Wanderer, Forrest Carter's The Education of Little Tree, and the one I finished today, T.H. White's The Once and Future King.  All of them sad, in a way (I read Little Tree just after Nathan was born and wept hot tears onto the top of his head at the end), but all good.

Knitting, cooking, and cleaning (and laundering cloth diapers!) round out the rest of my activities.  The knitting project is a sweater I started at the end of my pregnancy, and is by far the most advanced thing I have ever tried, but it is coming along pretty nicely, with beautiful grey tweed yarn I salvaged from another sweater.  I have been making lots of dishes using rotisserie chicken.  I hate cooking chicken, so having that part already taken care of is wonderful, and it is so easy to shred the chicken and use it in chicken salad or casseroles or soup, like the one pictured above, a new favorite: Moroccan Chicken Stew with couscous and zucchini and sweet potatoes.  We have been eating it with pita bread torn into triangles, slathered with olive oil and salt and toasted--oh my goodness, so crisp and chewy at the same time.

The days are long (and wonderful and exhausting)--but, they are good days.

Some things about pregnancy....

1.  Weird symptoms nobody mentioned before: nosebleeds (hydrogen peroxide is great for getting a blood stain off of a shirt; not so great for getting it off of a book); freckles and splotches; cracks in the corners of my mouth; insatiable hunger.  I have an area on my stomach just above and to the right of my navel that is completely numb, like I got a shot of Novocain.  Apparently, that too is normal.

2.  What it feels like when the baby moves: this was something I was afraid I would miss out on, as I was told at a 17week ultrasound that my anterior placenta would probably hide his movements.  Not the case.  This kid moves constantly, and I feel it all.  I first began to notice the movements for sure around 20 weeks.  They felt like small muscle spasms in my upper abdomen; as a runner, I am used to feeling these little twitches, so it took me a bit to catch on.  Over the next weeks, I could feel the baby getting stronger.  He gives little kicks; sometimes it feels like he is rolling over or flopping about; sometimes thrashing rather wildly.  My favorites are when I can put my hand on my stomach and feel a little hand (foot?  knee?  elbow?) rubbing back against me, in a kind of exploratory way.  He gets the hiccups.  I first noticed these at 29 weeks.  Tiny, regular little blips.  They never last for very long, but he gets them sometimes two or three times a day.

3.  Clothes.  This is so hard...well, relatively, I know there are much worse things in life than trying to dress yourself and a 30 lb protrusion in the middle of your torso.  At the moment, even maternity tops are not fitting--nothing is quite long enough, so I am constantly pulling on the bottom of my shirt, hoping that I am not exposing baby belly while trying to teach Modern British literature.  The horror, the horror.

Maternity jeans, I found, are a joke.  At least for me.  Most are made so that they are real jeans, but instead of having a waist band with a button, they have a stretchy piece with elastic that rises anywhere from 2 to 6 inches.  My problem is that I can't stand pulling this fabric up over my stomach--I feel squished and uncomfortable--so I bunch it up around my hips, just under the bump.  However, this leads to the issue of my jeans then sliding uncomfortably down my hips.  Denim is heavy; gravity works.  My solution (you'll never believe this): Pajama Jeans.  Remember the commercials when they first came out?  They were incredibly cheesy, and I remember thinking the whole thing was a joke.  I am not joking now.  These things are seriously great.  They are lightweight and stretchy, so they put up a better fight against gravity.  They have an invisible drawstring waist.  They have pockets.  They are dark with gold stitching down the side, so they actually pass for real jeans--at least no one has yet seemed to notice.  And, they are comfortable.

Why am I not wearing dresses?  Well, I am, but more rarely.  These were great over the summer and early fall.  I had several in stretchy jersey that fit beautifully.  But, since it has gotten colder, I am faced with the dilemma of determining what goes over my legs.  Tights are no longer an option.  I got them on a few times, but the last time I tried, I got them all the way up one leg and half-way up the other before I fell over on the bed like an overturned turtle.  Jordan had to help pull them back off.  Leggings are better--for some reason, getting them on is not as much of a hassle.  But, I have never quite figured out what to do about my feet.  It looks weird to wear socks with leggings, but going sockless makes for some chilly toes.

Only three more days of dressing for work--then I am unashamedly embracing the Pajama Jeans, sweatpants, and Tshirts.

Nevertheless, this whole thing has been a wild but pretty fantastic ride.

Morning Routine: How I Start My Day

Now that classes have started again, I have tweaked my morning routine.  Although I am a morning person, getting going can be a challenge (I prefer to piddle about aimlessly, instead of diving in).  However, I know that my day will go much better if I get off to a good start, so I have been rather ruthlessly disciplined about making this routine work.  I have found that the best way to get things done in the morning is to not give yourself options.  Don't decide, don't think about it.  Automatically get up and do it.  When something becomes a habit, you can circumvent the deciding process, during which you might talk yourself out of doing something that you know you need to do.  (I read a rather interesting book a while back that talked about this very process: The Power of Habit)

In order to achieve this, I do a bit of prep work the night before.  I lay out the clothes I will need first thing (on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings, this means running gear).  I have my alarm set on my phone (I know, I know, an ancient flip-phone, but it works) and I leave the phone with my clothes on the bathroom counter.  When it goes off in the morning, I have no choice but to get up and walk over to turn it off, and there are my clothes, ready and waiting.  I don't even think about it--I just put them on.  I also have my nook out, and I do a quick check of email, Facebook, and the weather.  Even a couple of minutes of the bright screen time helps to wake me up, then I am out the door.  I love this.  The early morning run is something I savor.  No one except other runners and walkers are out at the park, and the sun slowly comes up as mist burns off the pond.  Fantastic.

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, I have an 8am class, so I get up, turn off my alarm, and head straight for the shower (after a quick check of the internets!).  When I get out, there are my clothes waiting for me.  I get dressed and fix my hair and makeup.

Once I am finished getting ready, or once I get back from my run, I eat breakfast and have my quiet time.  Bible study and prayer are habits that can be difficult to form, but I know they are crucial.  The best trick I have found is to tie them to something I know I will do without fail--which is eating breakfast.  Recently I found a resource offering different daily Bible-reading plans that could be sent to your email.  I chose the "Every Day in the Word" plan, which sends passages from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs.  This works well for me as a daily supplement for my more intense Bible studies that involve commentaries and lots of note-taking.

For breakfast, I try to eat a combination of complex carbohydrates (high-fiber cereal, oatmeal, or whole-grain waffle) and protein (scrambled or hard-boiled eggs, peanut butter, yogurt, or kefir), with some fruit or veggies as well.  I also almost always have a cup of decaf Earl Grey tea.

I love my morning routine, and it works for me.  I know that this is subject to change.  Recently I have been thinking about how different things will be once the baby gets here--he'll have his own ideas about when things will be done.  But, for now, I am enjoying my peaceful (if predictable!) mornings.

Summer Recap

According to the calendar, summer doesn't officially end for another month, and according to the typical weather around here, it could actually continue through mid-October.  But, since we are teachers, our summer really ended Tuesday.  It is back to school time. So here is a look back at Summer 2013.

Where I Went:

Tryon Palace, New Bern North Carolina.  At the end of June, Jordan and I took a quick weekend getaway.  Our first stop was New Bern, to visit the first Governor's palace in NC.  Beautiful, and, funnily enough, very British.  It was, of course, a British government building before the Revolutionary War.

We went next to Fort Macon State Park, near Atlantic Beach.  We had visited Fort Caswell, but Macon is in much better condition.  They were doing artillery demonstrations, so we saw two types of cannons fired, which was very cool and very loud.

Our last day was spend in Wilmington, NC.  We visited the USS North Carolina in the morning, and then drove to Carolina Beach State Park.  Our intention was to see Venus Fly Traps, which are native only in a 70 mile radius of Wilmington, but, despite walking the entire trail twice, we failed to find any.  It was a nice hike, though, all boggy and swampy and quite different from our typical mountain hikes.  You'll notice the recurring state park theme--we have a goal of visiting every state park in North Carolina.  Of the 35 parks (one is currently under construction), we have visited 14, so getting close to halfway there!

What I Ate:

This was my favorite breakfast this summer: Grape Nuts Fit cereal + blueberries + honey + kefir.  Kefir is something new for me--it is a fermented milk, kind of like yogurt, but with even more probiotics (which are bacteria!  but they are good for you!).  It is tangy, a bit like buttermilk or Greek yogurt.  With a bit of honey, it is delicious.

Kale and White Bean Stew.  The recipe is from the now obsolete Whole Living Magazine, although their online contents have been archived and are still accessible.  Kale is also something new for me.  In the stew, it wilts, though still a bit crunchy, and goes nicely with the tomatoes and beans.  We also had a kale slaw at a church dinner that was delicious and apparently came in a bagged kit from Costco--who knew!

Apple-Plum Skillet Cake.  This was a bit of an experiment.  We watched The American Baking Competition on CBS this summer (hosted by Jeff Foxworthy) and drooled every week over the amazing recipes.  There was one challenge that involved making a Tarte Tatin, which is baked in a skillet, but has a pie crust.  This is not tarte tatin (it's cake, not pie), but it was pretty tasty, nevertheless.  I adapted the recipe quite a bit from a Pioneer Woman recipe, and it came out pretty delicious, although it was a bit stressful--my only skillet is a tiny six-incher that I've had since undergrad (because you must be able to make cornbread in your college apartment!)  I really need to upgrade to a bigger skillet--maybe then I wouldn't have such as issue with batter run-over.

Here is a combo "What I Made" and "What I Ate."  Except I actually didn't get to eat any of this!  It is Banana Bread, using my mom's recipe.  We were asked over for dinner by several lovely friends this summer, and since I don't like going empty-handed, I made Banana Bread.  This recipe is very easy and simple, but it makes the moistest, tastiest bread.  I prefer it with walnuts or pecans, but I usually leave them out when baking for others.

The quilt top is for Baby Womick.  I have, by this point, moved on to actually quilting.  I am quilting by hand around the perimeter of the strips, and boy, does it take a while!  This is my first quilt, and it is not perfect (you can definitely see that the corners don't match up), but it will definitely be cozy and warm.

Other summer stuff has involved lots of reading: I finished the Chronicles of Prydain series (which I started in 6th grade, but somehow never got around to the last two books!), as well as lots of books on parenting, childbirth, baby sleep, nursing, and raising boys.  But, like the doctor said, most babies haven't read the books, so he may not behave just like we expect.  He'll be his own person, and I just can't wait to see what that means!

We've also spent lots of time with the family, going to church and choir practice, running (including a 5k on Tuesday), and, of course, working--even in summer, there are classes to be taught, lesson plans to be made.  But, I do enjoy summer's laid-back pace.  However, I'm also excited for a brisk and busy fall--good things ahead!

Simple Autumn Wreath

I don't know why I never made a wreath before--it was very simple!  

Grapevine wreaths can be found in many stores, including Wal-Mart.  I got this one many years ago, and cannot remember how much I paid for it, but I saw someone recently say that they found one for $3.  The fall mums were from Big Lots for $5, and the roses were from Wal-Mart for $0.97.  I looked high and low for a small chalkboard--I had seen a wreath featuring one on Pinterest and loved it.  There was not a single chalkboard of the right size to be had anywhere, so I decided to just paint it instead.

I started by clipping the flowers, leaving the stems pretty long.  Those things are surprisingly hard to cut, and took some twisting as well.  I then sorted the colors.

I arranged things on the wreath, making sure to leave enough room for the board.  My initial thought was to wire each of the flowers, but actually, I ended up just curving the stem a bit to match the curve of the wreath and threading them in.  If any felt a bit loose, I would then reinforce with the floral wire, but, for the most part, they seemed quite secure.  I began with the mums and then filled in with the roses.

To make my faux chalkboard, I measured a 1/2 inch border, and then blocked it with painters tape.

Then, I covered the board with black acrylic craft paint.  It took two layers to get it nice and opaque.

I had planned to create a stencil for the monogram by printing a letter on printer paper, and then cutting it out.  However, half way through this project, I remembered my printer wasn't working.  I took an hour break while doing far too much unproductive research and experimentation with downloading drivers and compatibility mode and so on.  I gave up and carefully free-handed the "W"  in pencil while looking at the font I liked from Word.  I then used the white craft paint to outline and then fill in the monogram.

I used floral wire to make a hanger on the back, securing it with super-glue, and then covering with tiny squares of painters tape for good measure.  I then attached it to the wreath with a bit more floral wire, giving it a bread-tie-twist to keep it secure.

Done!  I am displaying the wreath on a wreath stand my mom bought be from a gift shop in Meadows of Dan, Virginia.  No one uses our front door, and the side door, which everyone does use, would not be nice on a wreath (storm door would squish it).  I am happy with the arrangement, and I am already planning a new Christmas/winter wreath.

Packing Cubes

I mentioned in a previous post that I had abandoned the "stack-fold-roll" method of packing in favor of using packing cubes.  Here's a closer look at what they are and why they work.

First, here are the clothes I packed for a week at the beach: not really a ton of stuff, but not hyper-minimalist either.  Normally, I would have rolled these up to go in my bag.  While this can be a good use of space, it has a few problems: first, it is hard to keep them nicely rolled/folded in the bottom of a bag.  When you get where you are going, you have to dig around for what you need, and things inevitably come undone, and I end up with basically a pile of laundry in my bag.

Here are the clothes folded and placed in a packing cube.  Note: it is not actually cube-shaped; more of a rectangular prism, really.  (I didn't come up with the name.)  They are soft-sided nylon, with mesh panels on top, and a double-zipper on three sides.  The more you put in them, the better, because things slide around less and they hold their shape.

Here are all the clothes packed into the cubes.  These are made by ebags, and I ordered my set of small, medium, and large off Amazon when they were on sale.

The thing I really like is that they make my bag so neat.  For my valise bag, they are especially useful because I turn them on their sides and file them.  They have handles, which makes pulling out the one you need even easier.

For the beach trip, I packed everything in a large duffel bag.  When we got to the condo, I took out the cubes, unzipped them, flipped the top under, and placed them directly into the drawers in my room.  Unpacking: done.

I am thinking that these have several further applications: keeping gym clothes organized, separating diaper bag essentials, etc.  We shall see!

Vacation Meal Planning: Making the Most of Your Vacation Rental's Kitchen

Last week, I spent a week at the beach with my family.  We stayed in an ocean-front condo with a kitchen.  Since the group included 10 people, including a toddler and an infant, eating out every night would have been nightmarish.  So, my sister and I planned meals for five nights and divvied up the grocery-buying and equipment-packing.  The results were pretty great, and we were greeted each evening with exclamations of "oh, yeah!" from my teenage cousin and his buddy.  It's nice to have an appreciative audience!

The backbone of our meal plan was the crock-pot.  My sister and I each brought one, and one night we actually ended up also using the one that came in the kitchen.  Only two nights were non-crock-pot meals.  Here's what we made:

Night One: Taco Salad

This is a family favorite and very easy: ground beef browned with taco seasoning, served on tortilla chips with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, salsa, cheese, onions, olives.  Doesn't get more simple than that.

Night Two: Barbecue

I think many people are surprised to find that you can make barbecue in a crock-pot, and I am sometimes hesitant to release that detail.  We come from a barbecue-cooking state, and regional lines are thickly drawn--everyone has an opinion on how barbecue should taste and how it should be prepared, and I am sure that many would be horrified at the thought of calling something that came out of a crock-pot "barbecue," but my family sure enjoys it!

It is ridiculously easy: pork tenderloin in the crock with about a cup of water and a drizzle of barbecue sauce (there's not much point in using a lot at this point).  Cook on low for about 8 hours or high for 4-6 hours, depending on the size.  Once it's done, it shreds easily with a fork, and then I pour the sauce on.  We like Sweet Baby Ray's, but again, to each their own!

We eat it on a bun with slaw: homemade also, and we like it simple--chopped cabbage, maybe a bit of carrot, mayonnaise (Duke's, if you please!) and salt and pepper.  We ate it that night with corn that my parents had picked up at a produce stand on their way down to the beach.

Night Three: Hawaiian Chicken with Fried Rice

This was a bit of a mash-up: I brought the Hawaiian Chicken recipe; my sister brought the fried rice recipe.  Both originally came from Pinterest.  The Hawaiian Chicken is a fantastic crock-pot recipe, and the only one that I prepped before we left home--it involves combining the ingredients (chicken breasts, pineapple chunks and juice, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and garlic) in a ziploc bag and freezing.  I doubled the recipe, dividing into two gallon-size bags, and freezing--the next morning they went into the bottom of the cooler.  The whole frozen thing is dumped out of the bag and into the crock-pot, and then shredded, similar to the barbecue.  My sister made the fried rice, a recipe that I hadn't tried before, but it was particularly tasty, and went well with the Hawaiian Chicken, despite the regional differences (not that either are particularly authentic to begin with!)

Recipe for Hawaiian Chicken
Recipe for Fried Rice

Night Four: Ham and Sweet Potatoes

This was my sister's recipe: sweet potatoes are placed in the bottom of the crock pot, topped with sliced ham, and covered with a brown sugar/ dry mustard mix.  We finished the meal off with squash from the produce stand.

Night Five: Spaghetti and Salad

Simple, easy, everyone can make spaghetti--noodles, sauce, and ground beef.  However, this one didn't actually work out for us.  We found out that the meat had been recalled, so we decided to forgo the meal and eat up the leftovers instead.

Although we enjoyed the nights we ate out, cooking in was pretty special.  My sister and I live several hours apart, so it was great getting to do something like cooking together.  We are very much in sync and the whole process of preparing meals in that little kitchen flowed seamlessly, and almost without the need to discuss it--we just did it.  There aren't many people with which that can happen!