So, this is the last day of Nablopomo.

I DID IT.

This isn’t the first year I attempted posting everyday during the month of November, but the last time I completed 30 days of writing, I was pregnant with Hola and had plenty of material to share.

This year? Not so much. BUT, I did ask at the beginning of the month if there was anything anyone wanted me to write about. I believe I got one comment with a question. Joanna asked about Rt’s birth story, since I had already shared Hola’s while it actually happened (for the most part, not really.)

So, on that note, here’s Rt’s coming-into-the-world story.

On the eve of my due date, the first episode of Sex in the City began on TBS. I knew the really good parts were deleted or dubbed, but it kept me sane during the most unsure and overwhelming moments of my life. The contractions started slightly, but were right on schedule. I kept this tidbit of information to myself throughout the first episode. 30 minutes of a wee bit of pain every 3-5 minutes lasting 30-45 seconds. Once the first episode came and went, I let hubs in on the current happenings. We watched another episode while keeping time and the tightness came and went right on cue. It was time to call the doc and head in…..

We arrived at the hospital sometime in the 10p.m hour. We were taken up to labor & delivery and was hooked up to the monitors to see if I was progressing. After a few hours of waiting-to-see-what-will-happen, we were told nothing really was happening. So, we were given a choice. We could stay there and they could get me started on pitocin to move along my contractions or we could go home and let this thing happen as natural as possible.

We opted for au natural and headed for the car. This was back in the day when Daylight Savings Time was still in early April. They had not changed the clock in the hospital rooms yet, so we thought it was 2am when we got in the car. Nope. It was 3am. Well, there goes getting a good night’s rest prior to having a baby.

We got home and the contractions were still killing me, and since I was having what was later to be diagnosed as “Back labor”, my back was being put through the ringer and then some. A hot shower sounded like the only thing that would provide any sort of relief.

Well, the shower was nice and all, but no real change in the pain department. So, I got into bed around 4am and passed out rather quickly, somehow, someway. 10 minutes later I was awakened by a POP sound coming from down below. Yep, my water broke. (Glad I got that nap in.) Hubs asked if he could jump in the shower REAL quick while I stood there DOUBLED OVER IN PAIN. I said yes, cause I thought I could handle the situation. Ya, RIGHT!

Luckily, sheer fear is what got us to the hospital so quickly. That and it was 4am in the morning. Nobody was on the roads in LA at that time of night. (Oh, did I mention we were living in LA when Rt was born? Oh, sorry.) So, once we got to the ER, they put me in a wheelchair and wheeled me back up to the L & D floor. This time, by just looking at me, they admitted me to my room. No monitoring needed. Must have had that certain look on my face that meant business.

Ok, so by this time it’s 5a.m. I believe I was 4cm? I immediately requested an epidural since the nurse told me no kind of medication would save me from back labor, only the epidural would be the answer. On that note, I signed on the dotted line. Once we got that taken care of, I was a 6. Then, by 11am I was already a 10. But, because Rt’s heart rate had a hard time recovering from each contraction, the nurse had me practice pushing for about an hour. We would push a little every 3rd contraction or so to see if we could get him to move further along without much stress on him. At one point, she prepped me for a c-section, just in case we couldn’t get him out when we needed to. (That hour was one of the scariest ones of our lives. Hoping that heart rate would recover every 3 to 5 minutes was such torture.)

By 12:45pm, the nurse called the doctor, who was in her office a block away, and told her she needed to get there. The doctor said she could be there in 15 minutes, but the nurse said, “No, NOW.” Um, ya. Talk about scaring the living shit out of us, hearing that REALLY took the cake. (oh, did I mention we didn’t know Rt was a boy or girl? Ya, we didn’t know. Sorry. ) (Oh, and one more thing, every time I had a contraction, I pooped on the table.)

Yep, I said it.

It was awful, terrible, and not so bad all in the same breath. Hell, how would I know? I had to wear an oxygen mask, I couldn’t smell much of anything. (Cringe, shutter, cringe, cringe.)

Moving on.

When the doctor came in the room at 1p.m., she said, “oh good, looks like she’s ready.” (she said this while she saw a small turd on the table. YES, I KNOW. I DIED RIGHT THEN AND THERE. No, actually I thought, honey, we’ve been doing this all morning. This shit don’t mean ANYTHING.)

So, 3 pushes and a vacuum for his big ‘ol head later, our bouncing baby BOY was born at 1:20p.m.

The end.

The beginning.

e

This one was taken in the backyard of my in-laws house the day after Thanksgiving. The trees surrounding their house are insane. I am thrilled we got Hola to sit still long enough to capture this one. All we had to do was throw leaves in the air. He was smitten.

We took this one today at the tree farm. We cut down our own tree for the first time. It was such a great experience even thought we got a smaller tree than we’ve ever had before. Luckily, it was half as much!! Plus, we got to to with a great group of people.

Here are all the cousins together on Thanksgiving day. We are missing 3 from the crew in Oregon, but we still had some good representation this year.

Until tomorrow….

e

(forgot yesterday was Friday.)

I made this a few weeks ago and LOVED it. I am not the first one in line for Italian sausage or Turkey sausage for that matter, let alone KALE, but everything in this soup is hearty and DELICIOUS. I heard this soup is served at Olive Garden, but I haven’t been there since ‘91. I have no idea why, just worked out that way. Anyway, if you are looking for a nice new soup for the cooler days to come, then head this way. Plus, you can freeze the rest for another dinner quickie. Or, unfreeze it two days later, just because it was that good and you had to have it again RIGHT NOW.

ff

 original recipe: Annie’s Eats

Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients:

1 lb. Italian sausage (or half regular, half turkey sausage)
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup white wine to deglaze the pan
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
2 russett potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch chunks
2 cups fresh kale, chopped
3 cups chicken broth
2.5 cups water
1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half.)
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Place a large stockpot over medium heat. Crumble the sausage into the pan and cook until well browned. Remove the cooked sausage from the pot with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl; set aside.

Add the chopped onion to the pan and sauté until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan and cook for a minute more, just until fragrant. Add the wine to the pot and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits. Add the potatoes, kale, chicken broth and water to the pot.

Return the sausage to the pot. Increase the heat to medium-high, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer on medium-low. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender and cooked through.

Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

e

So, it’s the day after the turkey and I have managed to take a shower and put on clean clothes. I can’t say as much for some of the rest of the family. They’ve been playing Wii Fit since early this morning. I am mostly referring to anyone under the age of 13. There are 6 of those people here. (Boy are they louder as they get older. DAMN.)

The craziness and the noise doesn’t dissipated around here. Not until late at night and at that point my eyes are rolling back in my head from dealing with all the joyful noise all day. We’re having a great time. Really! Well, besides Hola the Houdini pulling out his new stunts last night. Although, he did not budge after I put him down today for his nap. He passed out and that was it. I am thankful for the break.

Here’s hoping last night was a fluke? Ya, I know it’s not, but it’s worth the wish, right?

Now, what to do with the rest of these people?

e

(When is this month over? I’m tired. Aren’t you?)

We got up to my in-laws house right around noon today. Hola had fallen asleep for about 20 minutes during the hour drive. He was fed, then put to bed not long after for a long afternoon’s nap.

Too bad that just wasn’t meant to be. After two poops, and 2 hours, 15 minutes later, we got him up from his pack ‘n play and hoped he could make it the rest of the day.

He wasn’t too much of a mess, for the most part. He was distracted with cousins and cousins galore. He even got a bath to help wind himself down. Too bad it did no good cause about 20 minutes after hubs put him down for the night, we heard someone grunting at the gate. Hubs thought it was Rt, so when he turned the corner and saw it was Hola, let me just say we were SURPRISED as all get out. And once that feeling of surprise passed, the feelings of OMG, WE ARE TOTALLY SCREWED FOR THE REST OF TIME took over.

We had placed the pack ‘n play in btwn two twin beds originally. I had thought he must have used one of the beds to help launch himself out, but after I moved him away from any accessories, the end result was the same. He used the corner of the square to lean on and then swung a leg over the side. It happened about 10 times before he gave up.

What will tomorrow bring?

And if thinks he’s going to pull this shit when we get home, he’s got another thing coming.

A tent.

e

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving!

Been busy all day making three dishes for Thanksgiving tomorrow and BOY, am I pooped. How did my grandmother do this for all of us back in the day? (Yes, she had helped, but she oversaw everything. And that takes skill.) I am only responsible for a few SIDE dishes and I am about to keel over. I thought working out this morning would do me some good. I needed a stress reliever, time away from the kids/time to myself, and needed to get some exercise prior to eating an entire human over the next 3 days, but I feel so stiff and sore right now.

So, I put the kids down for a nap at 1p.m. and never sat down again until 6p.m. I made my grandmother Nonna’s cornbread dressing, Pioneer Woman’s mashed potatoes and my mom’s sweet potato casserole. All are currently residing in the garage fridge waiting to be reheated tomorrow in time for dinner around 5p.m. (at my in-laws.)

It’s always interesting spending holiday dinners away from your own family. Eating other people’s food, in this case, my in-laws. Everything truly tasted wonderful. It really does. It’s just that it’s different. So, in the past few years, I have added a couple of my own traditional platters to the mix, to bring a little home to the table. I am fortunate they are so willing to allow more than what they are used to on the menu. I know if someone asked me if they could add to my family’s meal, I am not too sure how welcoming I would be. ha!

Is there anything another family has served for Thanksgiving that you just couldn’t STAND?

The one thing I can think of, actually happened at my own family’s dinner table. My grandmother’s “boyfriend” of 20 years, Jerry, used to bring marinated asparagus. I don’t think I ever touched then, just because they didn’t look normal, but hubs didn’t think twice about it and shoved a good ol’ bite into his mouth. The look on his face was PRICELESS. A soggy, limp and mush pile of goop was currently residing in his mouth. Poor guy.

Ok, I am off to bed. Well, I have to finish Biggest Loser: Where are they Now? But, THEN I’m totally hitting the hay, Here’s to a lovely day tomorrow filled with family and friends.

Until then!

e

MHM is short for Must Have Mondays, but since it’s Tuesday, I didn’t want to shout it from the rooftops.

As I have mentioned, I used to have straight hair for a good portion of my life, but in the past 10 years have turned into crazy wavy head. And mostly underneath. It’s a bitch to manage, but when I do take the small time to focus on it, it makes such the difference. Along with my new shampoo and conditioner, plus my new shower filter, which I will discuss at a later date, this flat iron makes a nice looking blow dry kick some major ass.

I was able to purchase this one at Ulta with a 20% off discount. I think I actually bought this for myself two years ago for Christmas. I was prego with Hola and needed all the artillery I could get to keep my hair looking hot, cause my body certainly was not.

All in all, if you have the ability to do so, buy a quality flat iron. Giving your hair that final polished look can really make all the difference. Plus, it’s fun to take crazed out ponytail gym hair and turn it into Girls’ Night Out hair within 10 minutes. Believe me, I tried it yesterday. and it WORKED.

e

(Once again, no one is offering any kind of moo la la for this opinion.)

So, today is supposed to be Must Have Monday, but I decided to move it to tomorrow, since all I can think of right now is the movie I just watched during nap time. My Sister’s Keeper just put me in my place.

I have been brewing over a couple juvenile issues that pale, PALE in comparison to the struggles this family has to deal with on a daily basis. There is no comparison. But I am not trying to compare at all really. Seeing this movie took me, as a viewer, to a place I needed to go. A big slap in the face, if you will.

For the love of GOD, one of the daughters has CANCER and is dying. The grueling toll it takes on each and every member of that family. It’s overwhelming. They spoke to me. They told me to be grateful for what I have. And not just that, but to be present in what you do have.

Just this morning I was barking at the boys while I furiously ran around the kitchen trying to get the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and find places for all the crap that had landed on the island over the past month. You know, I was being a mom. At the same time, I was angered Hola was trying to pull knives out of the dishwasher and was peeved at Rt for just spazing out like a typical 4 1/2 yr old.

What was the end result? Yes, I got the house in order before the house cleaner (so grateful for her!) arrived, but I put myself into a tailspin and took it out on the kids. Where’s the balance? I have no idea. I struggle with it daily. And while I would love to goof off with the boys more than not, I just can’t set all of that aside and play with the kids all day. Structure has to happen or this ship will most likely sink at some point.

It’s just balance, I guess. I am really not sure. All I do know is that when I am dialed in, into the kids, it’s a truly magical place to be. And when I am on a major roll with my responsibilities and the kids are content with what they are doing, it certainly is a great place to be as well.

It’s perspective. Perspective makes all the difference. These kids matter, but for some reason petty bullshit keeps getting to me and getting in my way. And I LOATHE that some things matter to me. They get to me and I can’t decipher why. It’s painful. But, like today, I was transformed to another time, another life, and I was enveloped into these people’s lives. And I empathized with them. I cried for them. I felt so sorry for them.

And for an afternoon, I was filled with gratefulness, thankfulness, and gratitude for the life I have. I was reminded about all the little things one can easily forget on a daily basis. I pray, I HOPE I can continue to keep what’s really important, WHO’S really important on the main burner. It’s a much richer life that way.

And, on that note, I am going to go join my two precious boys and sing along to “We’re the MAPS, we’re the MAPS, WE”RE THE MAPS!”

May your week be filled with reminders of how lucky you truly are.

e

For the past 9 months, we have been using reusable diapers on Hola. It’s not a 24/7 kinda thing. (We use disposables at night and again while we’re washing the others.) But for the most part, we’re dumping poop in the toilet and using our washer to make what was simply DIRTAY, new again.

I thought it would be hard to do, so I just bought 3 to start. You know, ease myself into it. I tried working them into my routine and got comfortable with the small effort they took to use. And, for the love of God, THEY WERE SO FRICKIN CUTE. After a month or so, I bought 3 more. Then, a month later, the final 3. The kind we use are the Pocket diaper variety. They have a liner that goes inside the outer diaper layers and does most of the soaking.

Since we are saving money on diaper purchases, (WOO HOO!) (or at least extending the length of time until we have to buy disposables again) I feel ok spending an extra $5-$10 on buying “earth friendly” disposables. (My only beef about these diapers is they don’t do as much for the environment after you dispose of them as I would like, like DISAPPEARING, but I do love they do not contain chlorine among other advantages.)

I think the thing that I dig most about making this effort, cause in all honesty, it is an effort, (but you get used to it and it does feel good,) is not having to buy diapers EVERY TIME I turn around. Besides traveling, when we use disposables, it’s nice to have a box last, for what seems like, MONTHS.

So far, Hola hasn’t outgrown the 9 we have purchased. I hope we can get all the way through to potty training on these alone. If not, I don’t mind adding a few extra colors to our stash.

e

(Man, I think I used parentheses more in this post than ever before. FTW!)

It’s be a rough year being an Oklahoma football fan, but I’d rather root for no one else. I was born this way. I was born into this love, this obsession, this thing that gets me so worked up, so down, and so ecstatic all within the same year.

Yes, I did grow up in Oklahoma, but since we didn’t have any pro teams in the state, till, um, LAST YEAR (Go Thunder!), college football was where it was at. (that sounded so wrong, but it’s exactly right.)

In middle school, I had a lovely friend who would take me most weekends to home football games. We would sit in the really good seats, have access to the indoor places only “gold” tickets could get into. Our team was so good, we were crushing our opponents at halftime by about 50 points. Therefore, we would ditch the game and head off shopping to campus corner until the game was over. Not bad, eh?

When I was in college, we sucked donkey balls, which was so out of character. It was more of joke than anything. Our hopes weren’t high and we were thrilled when we beat someone who was better than us.

Come 1999, we got the coach we needed to take us to the next level. And we did. One year later. IDEAL Success. How sweet it was. And since then, we have gone to the title game THREE TIMES, only to lose all three. (by close margins and far from it margins.)

And then there are the shining stars: The Heisman Trophy winners, Jason White and Sam Bradford, and the Adrian Peterson’s who have taken on the NFL by storm, and the Josh Heupel’s who took us to the dance and won IT 9 years ago.

And then there’s the here and now.

This season, we lost our Heisman trophy winner to injury. (first game even!) (Actually, 6 starters to injury to date) And the rest of the season has unraveled from there. (how could it not?)

It’s truly sad. It’s heartbreaking.

But, it happens. It’s happened to us. And we’ll recover. Someday. Hopefully soon. But, no matter what. I’m here, all the way out here rooting on the Crimson and Cream.

BOOMER SOONER!

e