is a HE!
Allow me introduce our newest addition, Baby Casimir!
Casimir, who shall also be known as Kaz, is the little man who has filled our hearts to the very brim with gratitude and love. He made his grand entrance on Thursday morning, June 28th (via VBA2C, 10 days after his due date!) weighing in at 8 lbs 14 oz and 22 1/2 inches long.
Just a quick post to announce that he’s here! We are getting settled into our new life as a family of five, I’m off now to eat, sleep, nurse, repeat.
The first thing I need to tell you is that this was not my idea.
In fact, I kept trying to change the subject every time it came up, in the hopes that they’d forget all about it.
The little one made fruit shish kabobs with a group of her little friends last week. On our way home that afternoon, she asked if we had some of those same sticks and if we might be able to make these at home too, you know, with kinds of fruit that she enjoys. Like apples!
And maybe… oh yeah. Just apples.
Today, I’m bringing my homeschooled children along with me to a prenatal exam with my midwife.
Hi, my name is Alison and I am a former mainstream, rural, middle class girl turned still-middle class, urban, hippie (but not hip) stay at home mom. Nice to meet you.
Before we head out today, I’m making some granola! Of course I am.
No matter where you happen to fall on the lifestyle spectrum, chances are good that you’ll like this stuff.
Please allow me to introduce you to my crunchy granola friends:
I get these “Your Pregnancy This Week” emails that list a myriad of facts and tidbits about the wee babe growing inside my uterus, along with any other timely pregnancy notes. You know, like “you’re probably busting out of your bra by now” or “your baby is the size of a tarantula”. Stuff like that.
The Week 18 email mentioned that I’m probably feeling an increase in appetite now.
Well, I hadn’t noticed, but now that you’ve planted the hunger seed, I think I AM feeling hungrier than usual. Thanks for the idea!
In fact, now I’m positively starving.
A few things to tell you today.
I want to weep when I look at this simple salad and remember how amazing it was. But then again I weep when the Disney World commercials play on Hulu during The Biggest Loser, so take that for what it’s worth.
You know that one, where they say “only so many mountains left to climb together…”
Gets me every damn time.
Today, I had a plan.
That plan was to make dinner early, so that when we got home from an outing with friends late this afternoon, dinner would be mostly ready. All that would be left to do would be to make some guac to top it all off.
And that plan worked. For the most part.
I did indeed make Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili with quinoa this morning before setting off on the day’s adventure.
Can you eat just coleslaw for dinner?
I can.
You can too if you want, I won’t tell. Here’s how you do it.
First, spend your afternoon at a child’s birthday party that you didn’t intend to stay at. When your sometimes-shy-sometimes-not 5 year old persuades/begs you to stay because today she’s feeling shy, you stay.
But that means instead of heading home for a couple hours to prepare a real dinner and then coming back later to pick them both up, you sit around chatting with some of the other moms who stayed too, snacking on pretzel sticks and a particularly beautiful fruit salad.
Did you ever watch that HBO show Six Feet Under?
There’s this great quote in one episode that I think about from time to time.
We all go through fallow periods when we must let the soil rest to prepare for new growth.
Agriculturally speaking, when a field is left to go “fallow”, that means nothing is planted for a period of time in order to let the soil rest before it’s called upon to grow another crop.
I often think of that quote when it’s time to take a break from anything, whether you particularly want to or not.
Ava said, “you’re sticking your tongue out” while I was taking this picture.
That’s my Thinking Tongue! And besides, that’s how the French do it.
(OK so maybe I left out that last bit when responding to my 7 year old’s observations.)
I had French toast on the brain when I woke up this morning, so French toast it was. I remember eating French toast as a kid and how mysterious it seemed. How on earth did my parents turn ordinary bread into something so soft and sweet and delicious?
We didn’t have anything official on the agenda today, so we didn’t really call in sick. But we’ve been goofing around today for sure. Stay at home mom’s and homeschooled kids get a day off once in a while too, right?
Right.
We had breakfast together, we got dressed and then we went about our business.
The girls set up shop in the upstairs foyer.
I found Barbie hanging from the register in the kitchen. When I asked no one in particular what this was all about,
Maxine responded, “So I know where she is.”
More Mama’s Weeds
