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Sunday, September 27, 2009

My Wynona Now

On Saturday we loaded up and headed to my hometown of Wynona to visit my grandparents and mom (Mom had to work so we only saw her for just a little bit). It was one of those long visits that centered me and filled me with peace.

Before we could get Tucker and his barrage of stuff out of the car, Grandpa was out the door, off the front porch and welcoming us with hugs. Grandma was in the kitchen already getting everything ready for lunch. I snuck in and sat Tucker on the kitchen floor to surprise Grandma and it was so cute hearing her laugh and be so tickled to see our sweet boy just sitting in the middle of the kitchen!

Grandma and Grandpa were happy to cook us a big lunch of fried catfish (caught by Grandpa), fried potatoes, corn, tomatoes, onions (all from their garden - except the corn. Grandma uses Del Monte canned corn because she's never had corn better than Del Montes!).

While lunch cooked, Alec, Tucker and I went out to Grandpa's shop to see his latest sweet potato crop. I've never seen such huge sweet potatoes! One was so big that Grandpa had to get out the scale so we could weigh it (almost 5 pounds)!

After lunch, Grandpa whisked Alec away ("Only those who can grow facial hair can go" Alec announced) while Grandma and I tried our darndest to get Tucker down for a nap.

The most endearing moment was watching Grandma rock Tucker and sing to him. My eyes kept tearing up and I blamed it on allergies (I get my soft heart from Grandpa - not Grandma). It was just so sweet! Grandma is 84 years old, but she played with Tucker - lifting him up over her head and walking around swinging with him - like she had all the strength in the world.

Grandma is at the stage in her life where she wants to give us things - just little things - a deviled egg tray, some little hors d'oeuvre dishes and some crystal salt and pepper shakers ("When you put out your crystal, you can use these!"). Grandma is a firm believer that everyone should have a little bit of crystal (she's also given me a crystal vase and crystal pickle dish).

Grandma showed me some of her favorite necklaces and her other favorite jewelry. She always remembers when "Daddy" got her this ring or these earrings ("They're real diamonds!").

After Alec and Grandpa got back from checking things out around town (and digging up more sweet potatoes), Grandma asked that they take us riding around town. So we all loaded up in our car and headed out on the big Wynona tour!

Alec drove and turned down each street Grandpa instructed with just the slightest point of his finger. Grandma and Grandpa offered commentaries as we crept along the crumbling streets of my hometown - "This is the house where we were married!" Grandma said; "87 years ago, I was born right here...well there used to be a house there..." Grandpa points out; "When I was in high school, we lived here." Grandma tells us. It was a bit of a challenge keeping up with them - our heads turning left and right like we were watching a tennis match!

It was one of those nice long visits where time just gets away - talking about sweet potatoes and flowers and all the simple things in life. It's nice to go back home to remind you of the importance of family and marriage and to clear your head...even if it's just for an afternoon.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

What a Whirlwind Week!

Tucker turned 5 months old last Sunday and it's been a whirlwind week since! Not only did our big boy turn 5 months old, he also had his first taste of sweet potatoes!

We mixed the sweet potatoes with a little bit of rice cereal and he gobbled all of it right up! For the most part, he seemed to like the taste, but there were a couple of bites that didn't sit very well with him!


We decided to try making our own baby food which is actually pretty easy to do. We peeled and chunked up the potatoes, boiled them and then pureed them in the food processor. Then we filled ice trays with sweet potatoes (1 oz serving each)and placed the frozen cubes in freezer bags. I think we're saving a little $$ making our own but I think it's really about peace of mind.

Sunday evening we went out to dinner with Alec's parents and Tucker wore some boots his Aunt Kim had given him. He hadn't napped all day so he konked out as soon as he got in the car and slept all through dinner. At the end of dinner, Tucker was awake and we had him standing on the table in his boots. Well he got a little attitude and stomped his feet! Whoa! Where did that come from?!?!


On Monday we bought our new dining room set and it was delivered on Tuesday! Our first dinner at our new grown up table? Barbecue sandwiches! It was really nice to sit down as a family (Tucker hung out in his high chair) and only focus on our meal and each other! We didn't have place mats or anything so Alec laid down burp rags which worked perfectly fine.


Then...Tucker decided to take everything next level...we're talking BIG TIME! Saturday morning we went to Target (looking for place mats) and Alec said "Look at Tucker." I looked and he just sat there so I smiled and tickled his gobbler (that's his triple chin) and he smiled. And lo and behold, that child has 2 teeth! I'm sure we looked like idiots squealing and laughing in the middle of Target but I can't believe Tucker has teeth! They weren't there Friday...they just popped up overnight! That poor baby has been cutting teeth this whole time and never once was super fussy or anything! Of course we just had to keep pulling down his lip to look at them and we just had to jab our fingers in his mouth to have a feel. I haven't felt his teeth (in the breastfeeding momma kind of way) yet, but I tense up a little each time he eats, preparing myself for the big bite!

We tried to take pictures, but that's impossible so here's Tucker trying to eat his toes. Careful, Baby! You'll bite off your toe!


Today it was time to switch vegetables so Alec popped a butternut squash in the oven. Tucker seemed to really like it so he'll have that the rest of the week. We were giving him veggie and cereal twice a day, but I think we'll try cereal in the morning then a veggie at lunch and dinner. And he'll still have mother's milk for every other feeding.

Oh - and we got Tucker's Halloween costume...but that'll have to wait till the next blog!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Our Table

We're on a quest to find a new dining room table. We have one but it's small and would fit better in our kitchen.

The table we have was Alec's grandparents table. It was the first piece of furniture his grandpa bought when he came home from the war (WW II). With history like that, there's no way we would part with it!

Now that Tucker is able to sit up and eat, I have this dream of having family meals at our dining table - breakfast on Saturday mornings (pass the biscuits please), big Sunday afternoon lunch (complete with fried chicken & all the fixin's) and of course dinner each evening when we can talk about the good things that happened that day.

Growing up, I rarely had meals at a table. My mom was a single mom and worked 2 or 3 jobs so my sister and I could have nice things. So that left us to fend for ourselves and meals consisted of grilled cheese sandwiches or Spaghetti-Os or a variety of Schwann's deep fried goodness cooked in our death trap of a Fry Daddy! Every now and then we'd have a big breakfast at our table, but mostly, we ate in the living room in front of the TV.

I look forward to turning off the TV, setting the table and presenting my feeble attempts at home cooking to my family. I want to have family gatherings and holiday parties with our friends at our home. I want to linger over a cup of coffee and the Sunday paper with Alec at our dining table. I want Tucker to grow from his highchair, to a booster seat to his very own chair all at our dining table.

That may seem like a lot to expect from a simple piece of furniture, but there's a quiet niceness to simplicity that reminds us of the important things in life. And it all begins with family.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Reasons I Love My Husband

*This is an ongoing series*
Note: I was going to number these but I'm horrible at counting. One year, my sole job when working cattle was to count the calves as they came out of the chute. I made it to about 13 or 14 then got distracted and...well who knows how many cattle my dad actually has!

*Today was his day off...and by the time I was ready, he had:
let out the dogs and fed them
made and packed up my lunch
made me breakfast
put my pump, purse, lunch and hot cup of coffee in the car

*His vacation day consisted of taking care of Tucker all day and doing all of the laundry

*When I got home he had a glass of wine chilling in the fridge and he led me to the patio for a little post-work wind down.

*I subscribe to Parents and American Baby magazines which are usually "bathroom reads". I came home to find American Baby on the coffee table. He actually reads this stuff!

So that's 4 reasons so far. More to come, perhaps the next reason will be number 5, but don't hold me to that!