Sundy Morning Rant

Dan is out of town for a few days and Cass, uncanny little squirt, knows it. He's trying to see just how close he can get to making me crack. Not so, you say. A 3-month old baby simply isn't capable of scheming. Yeah, well...a new mother clinging desperately to her last nerve simply won't listen to any logical explanations, either.

The kid, who has been a pretty sound and predictable nighttime sleeper up 'til now (never did like daytime naps), has suddenly become a tosser-and-turner, jerking his arms and legs like some kind of marionette on speed and grunting like a wild boar. And waking up every hour - 3:30am, 4:45am, 5:15am, 6:25am...you get the idea.

And after weeks of being pretty darn happy, now we have fussy again. Pick me up, no not like that, I wanna face out, now I wanna stand, now sit, walk around, put me down, do jumping jacks to entertain me, green light, red light, feed me, no I'm not hungry anymore, sing, stop singing, read, stop reading, I'm tired but I might miss something if I take a nap so I think I'll just sit here and howl...

So if anyone in the Lincoln area wants to do something charitable this week, please stop in and visit us. Thank you forever. Amen.

Celebrating With Food and Drink!

Dan and I were married for two years last Saturday. My, how Father Time rushes past without a backward glance. How we stare after him, open-mouthed and breathless, wishing we had snatched golden opportunities instead of waiting for hypothetical tomorrows...

In true "seize the day" spirit, we vowed to make the most of our day, infant and all. With Cass in tow, we set off for the Farmer's Market this morning and browsed the local tasties and crafts. Sipping iced mocha, we strolled hand-in-hand and smiled at the hustle-and-bustle. Ever the frugal twosome, we satisfied ourselves with take-home purchases of Wisconsin buffalo wing cheese (exactly what it sounds like) and a jar of honey. After all, there are still four months' worth of marketing left. Have to save some goodies for next time..




Next, we decided to visit James Arthur Vineyards in Raymond, NE. For $5 you can sample any six of JAV's 20 wines. We took our first pick, a dry red, to a shaded table in the courtyard, where the air was fragrant with summer blossoms and there was a lazy breeze to keep us cool.

JAV would be a beautiful spot for a wedding reception or golden anniversary party. We left with a bottle of full-bodied St. Croix and an award-winning Edelweiss. In truth, we easily could have left with all six of the wines that we sampled BUT lo and behold...The Wine Passport.


A compilation of Nebraska wineries: hours, contact info and map. It's one of those "visit-to-receive-a-stamp-and-get-discounts-and-prizes" type things. So, sure, twist our arms. Since we had such a good experience at James Arthur and since there just happened to be another winery in Raymond...yes, well. You can guess our next stop. WindCrest Winery was much smaller and more intimate. Owner Dale was extremely personable (and generous - he let us sample TEN wines for $6!) and though his wines didn't have the "drinkability" of James Arthur's velvety reds and buttery whites, they did win points for originality. For example, WindCrest has a whole line of cherry-based wines and the chocolate color of their hearty De Chaunac is intriguing in itself.

So, I found a whole host of new places to check out right here in America's heartland. And the Mr. and I are not waiting around for our next anniversary to visit them!

B is for Berry and also for Mmmm...

The Warrens celebrated Memorial Day with a trip to the Roca Berry Farm for the kick-off of the 2010 strawberry season. If you make the first right after entering, you can purchase cartons of pre-picked berries for $2.00/lb. Or, you can travel a bit further down the long dirt road and tromp through the fields with basket in hand for $1.25/lb. Personally, I think I'd pay extra for the pick-your-own experience. Few things can say "summer is here" like the sticky-sweet aroma of strawberries baking in the hot May sun.

Husbadoodle and Cass sat back in the shade and I headed for the sea of dark green shrubbery. The picking window is short - 3 weeks at most - so we got there early to get the jump on our competition. There were still quite a few unripened berries, though. I was told by one of the few seasonal workers to push back the leaves and root around near the earth. Sure enough, lumps and mounds that I first took for dirt were actually the plumpest, choicest berries, half-buried by their own weight. I worked my way along the row and every so often I thought, that's more than enough for just the two of us. But the allure of that sugary smell made me drunk with the pleasure of being out, plucking away, watching the berry pulp stain my fingers.

I almost feel like I never really had a strawberry before this. Deeply red and rich and juicy, the skin didn't make a whisper of sound when I bit into it. There was no hint of resistance in the texture.


I'm pretty much ruined for store-bought fruit now. I think I'll head down to the farmer's market on Saturday for some cherries as well. Who knows? Maybe I'll even try my hand at growing a pineapple plant!

Roca Berry Farm reopens in the fall for pumpkin season and goes big with haunted houses and barns, fair-style munchies (candy apples, funnel cakes, kettle corn and more) and hayrides. I know where we'll be getting our jack-o-lanterns this year...

Fun in the Sun

With only days of spring left, the weather here has finally turned warmer. Dreadfully rainy and overcast, but warmer at the very least. I live for the heat. Heat means barbecues, vacations and sun tans. Heat means freedom and adventure.

The school year is quickly coming to an end and that means two months of R&R for me. With a baby on board, our doings will be more restricted than in the past: no visits to far-off continents, no late nights out on the town. But that doesn't mean we have to sit around like bumps on a log. Dan and I will stay busy celebrating our anniversary next week, hosting our annual bicycle ride in June and taking our wee little lamb to meet his great-great-grandfather down in NE Texas in July.

Aside from the big events, I hope to explore more of Lincoln - from farmer's markets to berry farms, free concerts in the park to wine tastings at the local vineyards, fireworks shows to picnics...anyplace we can take a potentially noisy child and all things we can do on a budget. Now that we're parents, we have to quit moving at warp speed. And actually, surprisingly, this is fine with me. Now we'll have time to stop and smell the roses.

Things I Love Thursdays

I really feel like writing today but lack the time and brainpower to string together a narrative. How fortuitous that today is today, so I can get by with a Things I Love Thursdays post. In no particular order, I love:

Lemon cake, which my lovely coworker Susan made for my birthday yesterday and which I also ate for breakfast this morning. Divine.

Pink tulips - and I like them better closed than open

Movies about dancing, no matter how lame the plot and/or script (Step Up, Center Stage, You Got Served...oh yes, I went there). And I truly do want to see the Disney Channel's "Another Cinderella Story".

Pearls - love them all and will be asking for Tahitian blacks on our fifth wedding anniversary

Shelter dogs, like this one. I wish Nyla played nicely with others. I would scoop up this sweetie in a heartbeat.











And of course, I love my son. The little peanut is 8 weeks old today. Can't believe how time is flying...pretty soon he'll be asking for gas money and bringing home girls that I can't stand.

Back to the Grind

Six weeks have come and gone, and yesterday I rejoined the workforce. On days that Cass was happy, alert and full of gentle coos, I dreaded this day. On days when he was extra fussy, I begged for it to come faster. Now I find myself wanting some impossible hybrid of both, a perpetual bring-your-child-to-work day...or a work-from-home situation that isn't an envelope-stuffing scam. Either way.

It was nice to feel good at something again, to know with absolute certainty that I'm doing things the 'right' way and to have black-and-white answers for all my questions. Raising a baby seems to be a constant guessing game where all the rule books say, "Most babies do this by such-and-such age, but every baby is different". Which, of course, means you're on your own to figure this thing out. Most of all, I welcomed the return to adult conversation. After all, you can only sing The Ants Go Marching so many times and I already have Where the Wild Things Are memorized.

On the flip side, I miss him. I miss his weight in my arms, his sweet sweat-and-milk smell (not sure how this combination comes off as sweet, but it does) and his gummy smile. I really enjoyed wearing house shoes all day and pumping definitely sucks. And I hate the feeling that I'm missing even the most imperceptible changes - maybe he's holding his head up a little longer today or making a new squeak, and I won't be there to see/hear it. Sad.

But, as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder and while I don't think it's possible to love him any more, I do feel that being apart makes me better appreciate being together - every day, every precious moment.

Motherhood Is...

So, the other day I was changing my son's diaper and like 30 minutes later I found a smudge of orange poo on my pinky. And it didn't gross me out (although it's probably grossing you out). In fact, I laughed about it. Because that's my life now - poo on pinkies, spit-up on shoulders and occasionally even baby wizz on the walls.

How priorities change...Dan and I left our munchkin with grandma Monday night for our first post-baby date night. We were back home after an hour-and-a-half. And even though I had plenty of bottled milk stored up to feed Cass, I didn't even drink my entire glass of wine. Because...I dunno, just in case he was hungry the minute I walked in the door and there weren't 2 minutes to spare heating the cold supply?

And it was difficult to remember the things we used to talk about as a childless couple, which was definitely a bit disconcerting. Daycare, medical bills and upcoming doctor's appointments, and the boy's recent diaper explosions...it was hard to shift focus and talk about something else. And really, do you want to talk about diaper explosions over dinner? Ok, really, do you want to talk about them at all, ever?

But then again, he's given us some great stories after just six weeks and I know there are many more to come- the kind of stories that can be told over and over again without losing their charm. So I suppose that we'll never run out of conversation at the dinner table...though we might agree to stop discussing the contents of those diapers.

And Then There Were Three...

From conception to birth...and then some. God, could it be that long since I've tapped out a posting??

Well, I suppose I've had other things on my plate. Lots of things on my plate, so it would seem - I gained 60 pounds during pregnancy. Good thing my bouncing baby boy accounted for almost 9 of that. I think water-weight was another 10 or so, as I had no ankles by the ninth month and none of my shoes could contain the fat little sausages that had previously been my feet.

Anyhooo, now that THAT's all over and done with, along with the joys of labor and delivery (one allergic reaction to antibiotics, two failed epidurals, a last-minute C-section and a 4-day stay in the NICU for the babe), on to bigger and better things. Things like raising this little monster. Things about which, on days like today, I feel that I know next to nothing. Not that I'm not up to the challenge of learning...and learning I am.

For example, I've learned that my child does not like the following:
his bassinet
pacifiers
baths
naps
car rides
the vacuum
the clothes dryer
tummy time
not being held while awake
not being held while asleep

Now, I guess I don't blame him for the vacuum because I hate it, too. But seriously? Who doesn't like naps and car rides??

So there you have it. Men truly are a mystery, even before they're men...