Motherhood

As a new mom of two, I have found that the hours (or rather minutes) in the day that are exclusively mine are few and far between. Naptimes and bedtime are really the only opportunities that I have to myself, and yet those times are usually spent cleaning up the kitchen, folding laundry, or tidying up. And at night when Daniel is home, I enjoy spending a few moments with him before crawling into bed.

Yet, I crave more: More time to read, to write, to try out new recipes, to learn how to sew, even just to think. I miss graduate school because of the interaction with other grown-ups and the reading and studying of great literature that I love. However, while I do hope to return to my scholarly pursuits one day, right now I am blessed to be a part of two incredible Bible studies with friends who can empathize, advise, laugh and cry with me as I detail my current struggles with Kate's stubbornness or Cora's crying at night. And I know that all too soon Kate will be going to kindergarten and Cora won't be too far behind her, and then I'll be so lonely that I will actually wish one of them would come into the bathroom and ask, "Mama, what are you doing?"

A New Year, Some New Changes & Our Menu Plan

Last year I worked on minimizing our use of white flour, substituting whole grain brown rice and pasta and whole wheat bread for all the white stuff we'd been using. Mission accomplished. I also attempted to remove most of the preservatives in our diet by eliminating foods with nitrates, artificial colors and flavors, MSG, and other ingredients I can't pronounce. We did pretty well in that area although Daniel refuses to relinquish his pepperoni and I haven't found an affordable alternative.

This year my goal is to minimize our red meat intake so that we are only eating beef and pork twice a week and bringing in more fish, seafood, chicken, beans, and whole grains. The purpose is to improve our overall health by reducing our saturated fat and cholesterol consumption and increasing the fiber and antioxidants in our diet. Daniel agreed as long as I stopped fixing sweets! Whoa! What a minute! How will I survive without cake and icecream?! But I agreed. We don't need all the fat, excess sugar and calories, so instead we are going to try to eat more fruits and naturally sweet foods. This will be quite a challenge for me! I have also discovered that I don't have a lot of cookbooks with good recipes for beans, lentils and other whole grains so I am going to have to do some researching to find some that we like. As I found out last night, some recipes just aren't very good!

Here is our menu for this week:

Sunday: Taco salad with ground beef

Monday: Chicken parmesan with whole grain penne pasta, broccoli, and a sugar snap and carrot medley

Tuesday: Quinoa with cinnamon, feta, and cranberries (This crockpot recipe was DISGUSTING! I had to throw it out, which was disappointing because I like quinoa.) We ended up eating salad with spinach, hard boiled eggs, carrots, mushrooms, and beets and baked potatoes.

Wednesday: White beans, kale, and cornbread

Thursday: Breakfast Burritos from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook but minus the burrito shells [Eggs, hashbrowns, sausage] and biscuits and jelly

Friday: Pizza Night! A family tradition [Instead of pepperoni, I plan to use some sweet Italian chicken sausage for my lovely husband who HAS to have some meat on his pizza.]


I don't know how long I can keep up the menu plan each week but I've found that when I plan for the week, I am much less stressed and save a lot more money than if I'm trying to decide at 4:00 what we'll be having for dinner that night.

I've got some yogurt in the slow cooker for tomorrow's breakfast that I need to check on and Cora should be waking up soon.

Family Fun at Christmas

It seems like only yesterday that I was stressing about Christmas and now we are into January and a brand new year! This holiday season was the first time in which Kate really understood Santa and although she didn't necessarily enjoy opening her presents (she got way too much stuff!), she did thoroughly enjoy all the trips to Mops and Pops' and Gram Gram and Papa's houses and all her visits with her cousins. I think I had as much fun on Christmas morning as she did. Watching her go through her stocking and open her gifts made me even more excited about how much fun future Christmases will be when Cora is bigger.

We spent Christmas Eve at Gram Gram and Papa's with Brian, Jen and the kids, including our newest addition, little Holly Garner Mayes. What a doll!



Here are some pictures of our time with my family:









Some pictures at home Christmas morning:







Some pictures at Mops and Pops' house:





Speaking of little Cora (or Cora Jane as her big sister affectionately calls her), she is growing into quite a "chunky monkey." Kate gets very upset when I call her my "skinny Minnie" and Cora my "chunky monkey" but I'm sorry, honey, but there is nothing chunky about you. Here are some pictures of my Chunky Monkey:





As you can see, we have been richly blessed this year with material gifts and more importantly, with the wonderful gift of a precious new little girl. Happy New Year to you!!

Merry Christmas: Pass the Cakes and Candies and Cookies Please!

This holiday season has been a very busy but exciting one. Kate has been learning about Santa Claus and Christmas trees and all the goodies that go along with the season at her preschool and she LOVES to point out all the snowmen and Santas she sees on TV or at the stores. Santa came to her school last week, and because he gave her candy and a book, she thinks that is all he brings. So, when I asked her what she wants Santa to bring, she says, "Book and candy." However, she has also requested a bee Pillow Pet.

We have been baking a lot this season and this year Kate has helped me. Her favorite part though is licking the batter or eating the sugar that falls on the table. I have ruined her! We have made fudge and peanut butter balls and chocolate cookies with peppermint kisses and peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses and sugar cookies cut out and iced and a pumpkin roll. I think I have to bake excessively to instill a sense of Christmas in the house. Even though first thing in the morning we turn on the Christmas tree lights and move the star on our Countdown to Christmas calendar, there's something about creating special Christmas treats that only come once a year that really gets me in the spirit.

Tomorrow we will go to the mountain for the Mayes family Christmas, and all I can think about is eating Mema Jean's candies and Mom's red velvet cake. Now the cake is not a tradition. Actually, I think this will be the first time I have ever eaten Mom's red velvet cake, yet anything and everything my Mom bakes is delicious. But Mema Jean ALWAYS makes candy at Christmas and I am ALWAYS eager to help in the eating of them.

And so I am picking up on a theme here: Food. Perhaps that is what I most associate with Christmas. The strawberry cake my Mema Garner used to make and that my Mom now fixes every year; the tea rings my Mom labors over every year, which were a recipe from our dear friend Miss Mary Jane; the candies that my Mema Jean always makes.

Perhaps it isn't the food that I most love about Christmas but rather the people who have prepared them and who, after passing on, have also passed down their recipes to us. The memories of the strawberry and coconut cakes my Mema Garner would make and set out on the enclosed porch along with the myriad other desserts that I would sneak bites from when no adult was watching. Memories of eating Miss Mary Jane's tea ring on Christmas morning after opening presents and years later still enjoying them with my family though now prepared by my mother. Memories of making peanut butter balls with my Mema Jean and eating most of them myself.

Maybe that is why I have found myself baking a lot this holiday season: I want to reconnect with family members who are no longer with us or who I don't see as often as I should. I want to carry on the tradition of baking and enjoying holiday treats. But I also want to emulate my grandmothers and mother who are not only extraordinary cooks but true servants, and I want to teach my daughters the joy of preparing food to share with others. Those are some really big shoes to fill I know!

Merry Christmas!!

Meet Cora Jane Tidwell

On Sunday, October 3, 2010, Daniel, Kate and I welcomed our new addition to the family into the world. Cora weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. (1 oz. less than her big sister) and was 19.5 inches long (1 inch shorter than Kate). Still, although she was born one week early, Cora arrived with chubby cheeks and a temper that could only rival her father's.

Everything about Cora's delivery was different from her sister's. Because she was in the breech position--and despite all our efforts to help her move head-down, including several visits to the chiropractor, multiple attempts at headstands, and even a version, which is where two doctors atttempted to manually turn her head-down--I had to have a C-section. With Kate I went into labor and progressed normally and naturally with no medications or interventions. Cora was just determined to stay bottom-down. All in all, though, the surgery was not as bad as I had anticipated, and it is a blessing to know that Cora was perfectly healthy.

I also want to confirm and reaffirm that everyone who told me having two children was hard, especially two under 3 years of age. Kate has her moments when she only wants Mommy and that can be hard, especially when I am feeding Cora or trying to get her to sleep. Yet, Kate loves her little sister very much and tries to hold her and love on her all the time. She is particularly helpful when I'm changing Cora's diapers, bringing me the wipes and throwing away the dirty diapers. I do have to watch Kate very carefully because yesterday when I was on the phone with a doctor's office, she was lying on top of her little sister. Sweet Cora never cried or made a peep but just looked at her big sister with wonder.

We are truly blessed with two beautiful little girls and thank God for them.

Getting Ready for a New Season

Summer is almost over and I, for one, am glad. Being pregnant during this miserably hot season has made me crankier and more sluggish than normal. I am definitely ready for some cooler weather so we can spend more time outdoors. Some days we don't even venture outside because it is too unbearable. Poor Kate, who loves the outdoors, has had to sneak out the door anytime I open it and run as fast as she can just so she can escape the house. I can't blame her. Being cooped up when the sun is shining and the day is beautiful is no fun. We try to go out early in the mornings to run our errands and play, but the majority of the day is spent inside.

The end of summer not only means the culmination of hot weather but also the beginning of new activities in the Tidwell household. Next week Kate will begin preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have battled feelings of guilt about this decision. I know I am more capable of teaching my child what she needs to know than a stranger, but I also know that Kate loves being around other children and has very few opportunities for that right now. Plus, with a new baby coming very soon, it will be nice for her to have her own thing to focus on and take pride in, and I will need some one-on-one time with the baby that I know I won't be able to get with a toddler running around. Pray that Kate and I both adjust well to this new experience.

Also, in September, Community Bible Study will be starting back up, and I am so so so excited! After a riveting and intense study of Revelation last year, this year's study of Daniel, Colossians, and I Peter will be awesome I know. Plus, Kate will move out of the nursery and into the two-year-old class where she will learn Bible stories, sing songs and play with the friends she's made already! I wll be in the new mom's group since Baby will be here in October. It will be nice to be among other moms with babies again.

Daniel and I will also resume teaching the 4th and 5th graders at our church on Sunday mornings. I'm working on the curriculum for that right now and looking forward to a wonderful new quarter!

Within the first two weeks of October, we are expecting our new addition to arrive. October is rapidly approaching and I'm excited but very nervous about being a mom of two little ones.

Kate will turn 2 on October 28th, which is very hard to believe at times and yet at other times, it seems like she should be two already. She's very independent-minded and loves to ham it up in front of the camera. Her favorite expresssions right now are "don't like it," "no ma'am," and "no thank you." Notice all the negatives. She is very opinionated and stubborn as a mule.

Here she is using the potty like a big girl, something Kate will do whenever she feels like it. Most of the time she still prefers her diaper. See the pile of toilet paper on the floor.



Here Kate is helping Mama wash dishes although most of the water ended up on her and the floor! I have to give her credit though: she does love to help her Mama.



We're looking forward to some crisp fall weather and beginning a new season in our lives as a family of four. May God bless you and your families.

The Joys of Summer: Family, Fun & Sun!

Whew! June flew by like a whirlwind! Where has the summer gone? It is already July and in just three short months, we will have a new addition to the family. Poor baby, your room isn't even a room right now but more like a storage unit.

The first of June Daniel worked at Bonnaroo, selling ice and hanging out with hippies while Kate and I spent the week with Brian and Jen and the kids on Signal Mountain. There's just something special about having cousins nearby for your children to grow up with and Kate loves her cousins, especially Robbie!





After Bonnaroo we had Vacation Bible School at church, and I taught the 2 & 3-year-olds again, a position that I vowed last year NOT to take again because I think it requires a patient, creative person, someone I am not. Somehow, though, I managed to find myself there again. Don't get me wrong, I do love the children but you can't get a child that age to sit still in a chair for more than 10 minutes and our classes lasted for an hour! Needless to say, we played a lot of games, blew tons of bubbles, and chased a lot of balloons every night!

After VBS we headed to Charleston, SC, for a week at the beach--Folly Beach, that is--with Daniel's family! What a welcome respite from all the running around of the previous weeks! I wasn't sure how Kate would take to the beach: she hates anything dirty on her hands, and I didn't think she would like the sand. Boy was I wrong! She loved playing in the sand with her other favorite boy cousin, Zach (she has a distinct preference for boys), and couldn't get enough of the "ray-ray" (the ocean). She would drag Daniel and me out as far as she could into the water and waves would crash all around, knocking her down, but, undaunted, she got back up and forged onward. Definitely a beach baby!











We also did a fair amount of exploring downtown Charleston: visiting the Market and the beautiful old churches with their centuries' old graveyards as well as eating a good deal of seafood, probably my favorite part of the trip. Daniel went fishing a few times and we ate fresh shrimp, redfish, grouper (one night I ate an entire fish, minus the head, and I think I scared Daniel's brother by doing that.), flounder, and Mahi-Mahi. Yummy!

After being gone for a week and battling a sleep-deprived 20-month-year-old, I was ready to come home. Now we are getting back into our old routine and returning to our mundane but happy lives at home. I have always been a homebody but being a parent has really made me even more of one. As much as I love to travel and see new places, my house is my favorite place to be.



Thank you, Lord, for giving us all these exciting and fun opportunities, and thank you for the sanctity of the home we have where we can always find rest and comfort from our busy lives.