Eating

Since I've been nursing Joel for the last year, I have never eaten so healthy. Originally it was just to make sure he wasn't getting junk food from me, and was getting all the nutrients I could eat. I've been eating more fruits and veggies than ever before. I have not been eating too many sweets, especially chocolate. If I wanted to eat something that wasn't too healthy, I made sure to only eat a little of it (like the Rotel we always consume tons of on our Girls' Weekends!) But Joel ended up being very sensitive to everything I eat, so a big list started growing of things I flat out have to stay away from as long as I am nursing. I'm not sure how much longer we will go. I'm hoping for at least six more months, but he is really slowing down now.

Whenever the day comes that he is completely weaned. I have compiled a list of foods that I have denied myself all this time. This doesn't include things that I couldn't eat because of possible food dangers, like goat cheese or sushi, even though I will enjoy those as well. These are things that I really wanted to eat, but couldn't because I would have been up all night with Joel. I will start tackling my list, and probably only get to one every two months or so since every thing on the list except one is NOT very good for you. And I will savor every single bite. Then I need to get back to trying to eat healthy. And start trying to consume much less than I have been for the last five years. Yikes, that's a long time to develop some bad habits!!

10. My homemade cole slaw, the only healthy thing you will find on this list.

9. Movie popcorn, slathered in butter

8. Pepperoni pizza

7. Jason's Deli muffaletta sandwich

6. Chopped BBQ sandwich, piled high with tons of pickles

5. Mexican Inn chips and salsa

4. Sonic coney and tots

3. Chicken fried steak

2. Fried catfish and hush puppies

And the number one thing?

Kincaid's onion rings. The biggest size they come in, with a Shiner Boch on the side.

Oh God how my mouth is watering right now.

Finishing up September

Every year we try to visit Haydee, an old friend of Jav's family and godmother of Jav's sister. She has been a cloistered nun for 25 years now, and her "nun" name is Sister Maria Rosario. She is Cuban and quite a character. Her home for the past five years or so is the Monastery of the Infant Jesus in Lufkin, Texas. Even though she is Tia Sandie's godmother, she is a little closer to Jav. She was thrilled when she found out we were going to be parents and made us promise to raise them right and be sure and visit her often. This trip is old hat now to Gabriel, who was a bit freaked out by the nuns the first couple of times we visited. I was concerned about how Joel would react, but in typical laid-back Joel style, he just accepted everyone with a big toothless grin. We complain about the trip every year, because it takes all day to go there an back, sometimes into evening, and it's just tough to do car trips with little ones. But we invariably end up having a really nice time. The drive there is very pretty, and the convent itself is absolutely beautiful, surrounded by huge East Texas pine trees. It's so quiet all you hear is birds singing. And the nuns are ever so sweet. They love it when kids visit and several always drop by to say hello. Most of them have great senses of humor, which for some reason surprised me at first. They have to stay behind the railing seen above, but can hug over it. They also let the kids be behind it some too. I still need to find out exactly what "cloistered" means one day.

Here is the third walking stick we saw this year. I think they are so cool.

Joel talking to me from inside. Notice Zoe looking at me too.

Really pretty almost full harvest moon. It was supposed to be one of the brightest moons we've had in a long time, and it was beautiful. My picture doesn't do it justice.

My sweeties having a blast in the backyard. Our grass always gets really thick and pretty this time of year, but this year it's even better. It's like walking on a really cushy wall-to-wall carpet. In a vibrant shade of green!

Gabriel in his Beatles cartoon tee he got for his birthday, which has caught the attention of lots of people every time he wears it!

The almost-perfect (Joel looks sad, but he's just not liking the bright sun in his face) end of summer picture, with my lantana in full bloom. We had tons of butterflies, bees, and even hummingbirds eating and pollinating it all summer.

My cultured son

Yesterday Gabriel was playing with his cars on the floor and humming Beethoven's 9th Symphony. I'm not making this up.

He knows it because of A) His little brother's Baby Einstein DVD and 2) the Beatles movie Help, because there's a huge tiger that's got Ringo trapped and the only way to calm him down is to sing that song ("He was raised on the classics.") That movie cracks me up.

Who says you can't learn culture from TV?

RANGERS

This pic taken at Game 3 against Tampa, Saturday October 9th.

Our little Rangers are going to the World Series!!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.

The bottom three pictures are from the last regular season game we went to in September, and brought my Mom along. She LOVES going to Ranger games and I wish we could take her more often.

Jav and I went to the third game of the 1st playoff series between Tampa Bay and Texas (which happened to coincide with Jav's birthday). Texas had already won both games in Tampa Bay, then was coming home and everyone assumed they would finish Tampa off. We had traffic and parking hell before the game because we didn't leave early enough. But once we made it in (we missed the 1st inning), the atmosphere at the ballpark was so cool. There were no cell phone conversations going on about trivial matters, no one chatting about what they did that weekend. Everyone was into the game, and standing when our pitcher was up two strikes, or if a hitting rally got started. It was great when Darren O'Day got called into to relief pitch, because the whole entire stadium did the chant: "O'Day, Oday Oday Oday, Oday, Oday" which is what alot of fans chant at soccer games except it's "ole".

Sadly, we ended up losing the game because of our relief pitching. It was a long, long walk back to our $30 (OUCH) parking place, and then took another hour and a half to get home. But I'm glad I got to experience some post-season baseball. The Rangers lost the next game at home, too, which Jav got to go to also with his dad and sister because someone at work handed him the tickets thinking we wouldn't need that fourth game. Things were looking sort of bleak. But they went back to Tampa and our new star pitcher, Cliff Lee, got the job done and we moved onto the ALCS - against the hated and dreaded Yankees!

Watching these games, I don't think I've been as nervous since I was in the hospital to have Joel. I couldn't watch on TV if they started to fall behind (which they rarely did), but would switch over to radio and keep doing chores while listening. We lost the first game at home, then won the second one. Then we did the unthinkable in NY - won two out of three. And didn't just win games, we slapped them silly in their own house. The team traveled back home and had a game Friday night, which my husband was lucky enough to get lottery tickets for. I decided that it was too much to ask someone to keep the kids for that long around bedtime, so Jav's dad went with him.

THEY WON!!!!!! And so goes history. I was listening to the best baseball broadcaster EVER in the history of radio, Eric Nadel, so I could hear him say, "The Rangers have won the pennant!" But then I was a little depressed about not being there right after the game, mostly because I was by myself and had no one to share my excitement with. But then I called my parents (my dad actually stayed up, which is just unheard of!), and then my brother texted me, and then I got on Facebook. Facebook actually helped me more than anything, because everyone was so excited and responding to statuses in real time, so it felt like we were in the same room. I dug down deep and realized that my sainted husband really deserved to be there (he's been a fan much longer than I have), and then I realized how many times I've heard him say, "Once when my Dad and I were at the old stadium..." . So how fitting is it that they could be there together for the Rangers' finest hour (at least up to this point?)

It's still very surreal. When I see promos I think, "Oh yeah, the World Series is about to start". Because we watch it every year. And then I realize, "Oh my God the Rangers are in the World Series" and I get goose bumps all over, then my goose bumps get goose bumps and I get so excited I want to jump up and down and scream like a little kid. Which is SO appropriate, because I think this team is constructed of guys who are little kids at heart. They've all been playing their hearts out, and looking like they're having fun doing it. I credit Ron Washington, the manager, for that. It's just a great group of guys that you can't help but root for. AND THEY BEAT THE STINKIN' YANKEES FOR GOSH SAKE!!!!!!! I hope they can now take on the SF Giants with as much gusto and prevail, but to quote long-time Star Telegram sports writer Jim Reeeves, "Does anyone really give a rat's patootie at this point?"

I just want to savor this happy feeling.

Annual birthday party!

The Burfday Boy

The very poorly constructed cake that fell apart after I started cutting it. And Woody kept falling off.

Swingset fun. Gabriel was so happy his best buddy Lenah came to the party.

My Dad and Joel, who tolerated all the excitement really well. Joel did pretty well too! (Hah)

Gabriel and Luke (a.k.a. Lukey-Luke), his best friend from preschool. He had stitches in his chin that popped open during the party when he landed really hard after sliding down our slide. He had to leave and go to the emergency room to get stitched back up, which we felt horrible about. I gave him a big piece of cake to try to ease his pain!
Mom and Joel. who looks disgusted with the lack of attention he was getting.

I tried something new this year. I made Gabriel pose for a picture with every group as they left the party. I'm not sure if I'll do that again because it was kind of a bummer for him to have to stop having fun. Aunt April, Uncle Philip, Cade and Macy.

Just after he blew out the candles, he looked around the entire room full of people and had the most joyful smile on his face. That moment right there was worth all of the work and then some.

Mamaw and Poppy and Uncle Dave.

Tia Sandie and boyfriend Michael with daughter Lizzie. His older daughter Grace couldn't come.
Andrew with Molly. He's so sweet with animals.

Godparents Aunt Christine and Uncle Keith, with kids Andrew, Allison and Matthew.

I just love, love, love this picture.

And to prove that we made it through another party. Joel is either giving his brother a love pat or smacking him in the back of the head. We have no way of knowing which!

Birds

I am intervening from trying to catch up with family events to tell about two really cool bird sightings.

The first is that we have a really big red-headed woodpecker that occasionally graces us with its presence and eats from our hanging feeder in the backyard. It is one of the prettiest birds I've ever seen, and I believe that it visits us every time around this year. I'm not sure if they migrate or not, but I'm thinking they do. I can't quite get the camera out quick enough to catch it for a picture, but I will keep trying.

The other thing happened last night. The kids and I finished eating and since it was almost dark decided to go out to turn on our Halloween lights for the evening. (Jav was working late so he missed this). We always turn on Gus, our scariest of scary guys, for Gabriel to enjoy a few times before heading back inside. I was trying to convince him to come in when we heard this strange sound from the trees in our neighbors yard across the street. I was convinced it was a kitten yowling, and we walked over to try to see exactly where the noise was coming from. But it was really hard to tell because the sound was so high. I was saying, "Kitty kitty kitty" and making my cat call noise, but it just kept making the sound. We noticed that our neighbor Helen had walked out and strolled over to talk to her. She said that whatever it is, it's not a cat, because she hears it many evenings and from different trees all around her house. I realized it was just dusk, and it hit me that it was a screech owl. I had heard them from farther away when I lived in the country, and I knew there were some around here. But this was the first time I had heard one up close and personal, and was amazed that it didn't fly away even though we were standing right under it. The reason the sound was so hard to pin down was because it had been changing trees. Gabriel wanted to go in and get a flashlight, but I explained that these owls liked to be really high up and weren't very big, so there was little chance we could see them. I think we will try to go out again at the same time when Jav is home and try to hear it again.

The Joelster

I haven't posted about Joel in awhile, so I thought I'd take a break and catch up with our little guy. That is, if we can catch him!

He has no fear. His crawl finally kicked in high gear and there's been no stopping him since. Gabriel was pretty content to stay in one room and play for awhile. Not Joel. He is constantly circling the house and I have to watch him non-stop! He crawls with purpose, lifting his hands way up and smacking them down on the floor as he goes. Up until a couple of weeks ago he was pulling up to his knees anywhere he could reach. But then that changed to feet. He's already had some bad falls and has learned to be cautious when he pulls up on new things. And then, Thursday afternoon I looked up from cooking dinner to see him walk across the living room pushing the footstool my grandfather made, which was shocking, funny and sentimental all at the same time. It's the perfect height for him to lean on.

He can communicate already without talking. Gabriel had this cute move in his highchair, where he would lean his head over, always to his right side, and we'd say, "Aawwwww look at the baby!" Joel started doing it, but to the left, and I always touch his face when I say the Awwwwww! Yesterday I didn't and he took his own hand and touched the side of his face while making sure I was watching him. I caught him holding the toy phone up to his ear one day. At the zoo last week, he had been fussing about something for awhile, and I finally noticed him trying to unfasten the strap around him in the stroller.

He loves to follow Gabriel around and do exactly what he's doing. Same toys, instruments, it doesn't matter what it is. They play a crawling form of chase all over the house. For some reason, he wants to put his mouth on everything all of a sudden. The dishwasher, his quilt, the door to his room, the crib, the rocking chair all get special Joel kisses all day long. He was staying at Jav's parents one day and they had him sitting in the big plastic car in the backyard, and couldn't believe he was already turning the steering wheel from side to side and turning the key in the ignition. Then he'd stop and throw the football back at his Tito. He's already so far ahead of where Gabriel was at his age, I guess because he's got a big brother to catch up with.

He is trying all kinds of new foods daily and my nursing is starting to slow down. We are down to three times a day with one overnight feeding. But then he'll have a tough night where he wakes up three or four times. My hormones are not amused. I think he may finally be working us and just wanting Mommy to be in the room with him until he falls back asleep. During the day it's hard to get him to sit still long enough to nurse. He kicks his feet and squirms around, and wants to see everything going on around us.

Of course, all of this growing up is breaking my heart a little. I'm not ready to say goodbye to his babyhood and hello to toddlerville just yet. I breathe him in every chance I get to smell that sweet baby smell, the one that I wish I could bottle up because I know it's going to go away. And he's such a sweet, sweet guy. He gives HUGE hugs that you can tell he really means. He's starting to lay his head on my shoulder when he's tired. I love it when he wakes up at night and talks to me ( in his own baby language) about what is wrong until I start to feed him.

I think I have magical thinking when it comes to Joel, even now. You would think by now I wouldn't still be in awe that we actually get to have two of these wonders running around. (Well, at least one is close to running!) It's hard to explain, but we expected to have Gabriel. When we found out about Joel, all hope of having another one on our own had been gone for awhile, and we had moved on to other plans. Sometimes I look at him and feel in my heart that he is actual proof that God exists and answers your prayers. That's alot of weight to carry on such small shoulders, and I need to get over it. But watching my two boys playing on the floor, both laughing, I can't help but be humbled by the powers in the universe that have brought my life to this point in such an amazing way.

Addendum: When I read this back it sounded to me like I think Gabriel is just ordinary and not special in any way. So this is just for him, so that later when he reads all of this he will understand a little better what I was trying to say.

Gabriel, when you came into our lives it was like opening the big giant present under the Christmas tree that you'd been looking at for weeks, the one that you hoped was the thing you wanted most in the world, and thought it probably was but you were still just so, so happy to find out that it was. And Joel coming into our lives was like someone pulled out one last package from behind the couch, one that you didn't know about at all, so it was really exciting to open. I hope that clears things up.

Pizza night

Yesterday Gabriel had been in trouble after school because he wouldn't mind me AT ALL about rest time when we got home from school. First I threatened no visit to Mamaw and Poppy's that afternoon. Then I threatened to take away TV and computer. Then cars and trucks, and finally no music or instrument playing. None of them worked. So he was pretty much stuck with reading books or playing pretend games the rest of the day.

And as these things go, it ended up being such a fun afternoon. Gabriel had received a robot from our neighbors, George and Billie, for his birthday, and he and Joel crawled around on the floor after it. We played with the dinosaurs. Gabriel was funny because at first he was having the big dinosaurs eating some of the smaller ones, and when I said something about how sad that was, he started having the big ones spit them back out.

It got to be dinner time, and Joel gets to watch a half hour of either Tellytubbies or Baby Einstein. Gabriel decided to hang out with me in the kitchen, and started out reading some books. But then I asked if he wanted to help me make dinner, and he said yes! Thursday is pizza night at our house, and last night I was making turkey sausage, mushroom and black olive with Alfredo sauce and mozzarella cheese. I chopped and grated and he help me put things on the pizza. I've read somewhere that if kids help with dinner they are much more likely to try new foods and eat them.

And it was true! He ate an entire piece, mushrooms and all. Maybe it had to do with him going through a growth spurt, because he gets really hungry and will try just about anything! But it really warmed my heart. I will not push him to help again, but I will definitely ask every once in awhile because we both had a great time. I can't say that I hope he will get in trouble again soon, but maybe he'll keep wanting to help on pizza night. IF I can tear him away from the computer games.

Oh, and notice the President placemat sitting underneath his food in the picture above? Tia Sandie and Michael brought it back from DC for him. He has now learned half (22) of our Presidents by sight. First and last names. We play the President game every night at dinner. The way he remembers them varies. There's the one with crazy hair. And one with wet hair. There's the three in the "long beard" group. There's two named Franklin and two with the last name Johnson. But the reason the game got started was because of the really bald ones, which he calls "baby head Presidents". (John Quincy Adams, Eisenhower, and Ford). This seemed totally innocent until we were on vacation eating dinner one night and Gabriel pointed to man walking by and said (loudly, of course), "Look, that man has a baby head!" Oops. We're working on reversing that mistake.