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.

The Farmer's Market & the Tidwell Garden

This morning Kate and I ventured out to the Farmer's Market here in Rutherford County at the Lane Agri-Park. We usually go on Tuesdays, but last week there were only a handful of vendors and very little produce offerings. Fridays are definitely a much better day to go! Today, there were three vendors selling grass-fed, organic beef; one selling grass-fed beef, chicken and pork; one selling goat cheese; and numerous vendors selling a variety of "in season" fruits and vegetables including beets, sugar snap peas, green beans, Early Girl tomatoes, lettuce mixes, squash, onions, carrots, and leeks. Plus, there are Amish vendors selling jams, jellies, relishes, breads and other pastries and farmers selling beautiful flowers, herbs, and other plants. Needless to say, Kate and I had a blast and learned a lot about the items local farmers are growing and producing here.

Today, we purchased three Early Girl tomatoes that will be ripe in a few days (DELICIOUS!), two Zephyr squash (beautiful, yellow and green-colored), a lovely red cabbage, and a tub of herb-flavored goat cheese made in Franklin, TN. We spent a little more than we would at the grocery store, but I feel good knowing the veggies are all organic with no chemicals and locally produced. I would have bought more produce but I won't be home much this weekend.

I plan to purchase most of our produce at the Farmer's Market until our garden yields its surplus of squash, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. Here are some pictures of Daniel and Kate watering the plants in our garden. Kate is such a cute little shadow who spills more water on the ground and herself than on the plants, but we believe that her involvement in gardening will help her learn about produce: where veggies come from and how to grow and tend them. Such hands-on experience will help her develop an appreciation for what farmers do and hopefully one day she will grow her own veggies.

Becoming More Conscientious in the Kitchen

For some time now, I have been meaning to check out and read Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Mineral about her family's quest to eat only locally raised produce and livestock for one entire year. While Kate was napping this afternoon, I read the first two chapters and just after reading less than 50 pages felt an overwhelming call to do something! Kingsolver is concerned primarily with our dependence on and consumption of products that require significant quantities of petroleum for production, processing, and transportation. She proposes eating whole foods raised and grown locally, which one can pick up at a farmer's market or grow in her backyard in order to support small farmers and reduce our fossil fuel usage.

My concern as a parent is, like Kingsolver, where the meat, eggs, dairy products, vegetables, and fruits I buy come from. Since I first started couponing, I have actually found that coupons dictate a lot of what I purchase: I even bring home products that I have gotten free with coupons that without coupons, I would NEVER have considered buying. For example, last week I bought a bottle of marinade in a bottle for 50 cents that normally I would make myself. The cost for the bottled marinade was probably about the same as what it would have cost me to make it. The problem though is that there are some ingredients in the bottled marinade that I do not like.

Kingsolver also argues that just because a grocery store offers "fresh" vegetables and fruits doesn't mean that we should eat them. The accessibility of exotic fruits from Costa Rica and tomatoes from California year round has seduced us into thinking we can and should buy them whenever we want, even if the foods are not in season locally. However, for anyone who has ever eaten a fresh tomato, handpicked from the garden, there is no comparison with those pink-colored, fleshy globules in Kroger. I want a "Tidwell tomato" all year but unless I've preserved or frozen some, I will not have one until the summer months roll around and then only for a very short period of time will they continue to produce. Kingsolver urges Americans to deny themselves the fruits and vegetables that are not in season and eat only what is available during that particular time of the year in your area. During the winter months, unfortunately, that would mean very little. However, I think that by canning, freezing, and preserving foods from the garden when they are in season, one could eat those "Tidwell tomatoes" in the winter, albeit in a modified form, even when the plants are long gone.

I'm not sure where I am going with this post. My mind is racing with ideas... I had better wait and see what Daniel thinks first. I know that what we consume matters. Food is what fuels us; it's part of our identity as a culture. How we view food reveals a lot about who we are. Do I cook whole foods? Do I use fresh vegetables and fruits? Or do I order take-out or fast food? Do I purchase prepared foods that are overly processed and hazardous to our health? I am sure of one thing so far: I must be more cognizant of what I am buying, the ingredients in it, and its effects on my family.

To Our 18-Month-Old Daughter

Dear Catherine Anne,

It is hard to believe but today you are eighteen-months-old! You have changed and grown so much over the past year and a half and are transforming into a beautiful, energetic and curious little girl. Recently, you have grown fond of baby dolls but still prefer to smother and hit them rather than love and cuddle them. That's okay. You're learning to be gentle, an attribute your Mommy is also learning everyday. Still, you are a little girlie: you love to put all your hair barrettes and bows in your hair.





Kate, you have just recently started chattering a blue streak and it is amazing how rapidly you are adding new words to your vocabulary. Now you can clearly annunciate words like "socks," "shoes, "juice," "baby," "pee pee," and "poo poo." The last two words are a result of our recent experiences with potty training. Although you do not seem to like the potty seat right now (I think it hurts your little bottom), that's okay. We're going to take it slowly.



You have also revealed to your Daddy and me how observant and smart you are: you know all your animal sounds and can point to all the animals in your books. You are learning your colors and numbers and will probably know them pretty soon, too, because you love to sit and look at your books. Some times when I don't know where you are I will find you behind Mommy and Daddy's bed on the floor surrounded by your books, and you are "reading" them to yourself. It is always nice when you can entertain yourself and you are pretty adept at that.

Kate, you are also becoming a good helper. You help Mommy put away the dishes; you pick up your books, clothes, and toys; and you sweep, vacuum, and dust with Mommy. You also help Mommy and Daddy water the flowers and work in the garden. When you want to be, you can be Mommy's big helper, which will be really nice when Baby comes.



While to others you may seem the perfect angel, your Daddy and I know all too well that you have a fierce temper, a strong will, a stubborn streak, and have a way of throwing some horrific tantrums. We are working hard to help you tame your temper and submit your will to your parents' but would appreciate a little cooperation; that is my constant prayer!!

Still, you are a special little girl, Kate. We love you very much, and we love to see how you grow and mature each day.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

p.s. I know you will be totally embarrassed one day by these pictures, but you are just an adorable little girl right now.

Baby Tidwell

I suppose I will need to differentiate between "Baby Tidwell" and "Baby Kate Tidwell." It seems that no matter how old or big Kate gets she is still lovingly called "Baby Kate." We joke that she will be a teenager and people will still call her that. While she is still Mama and Daddy's baby girl, we do have another precious baby on the way. Yesterday, I had the awesome experience of hearing the baby's heartbeat: a firm reminder that there is indeed a baby in there! I think every time I have heard my babies' heartbeats a little tear came to my eye: life is so amazing and God an awesome God!

I have decided, although I am not sure Daniel is completely on board with me now that we're scheduled for another ultrasound to check the baby's anatomy, not to find out the baby's gender. Yes, I know this is a surprise to many because I am a planner by nature, but I really don't have a real reason to find out except maybe to narrow down names and help Kate get used to his/her name. But I would love the surprise and anticipation of finding out after I have birthed him/her. My guess is that it's a girl, but Daniel is determined it's a boy. Either way we have to get our boy names together. I think boy names are so much harder to come up with girl names. I'm not sure why either. Fortunately, I still have plenty of time to convince Daniel that while I love his grandfather and dad, I do not care for "Horace Boone" as the name for our son. People, please talk some sense into my husband. I'm all about family names but not ones that will get my kid beat up.

Thankfully, most of the nausea has ended with the end of my first trimester. Suddenly, it seems like I eat and eat and eat and never get full. The other day I ate an entire foot-long sub from Subway! But we are walking every day and I am trying to get in shape for this labor and delivery as I know it will be here before we know it. I will keep you posted on further progress!

Easter Eggs & Family Fun

Easter weekend was a fun-filled time with family and loved ones. On Saturday we went to Mema Jean's for lunch and an all-out egg hunt with over 100 eggs! Kate needed a little help at first finding the eggs, but once she got the hang of it, she did a good job spotting them. Like most kids what she really wanted was the yummy candy inside!



Ellie was too intent on getting the candy out of her eggs to be bothered to look up for a picture. Not long after this picture Kate fell down between the table and bench and bruised her back pretty badly, poor thing. What a bad Mommy for standing her up there!



Saturday was also Daniel's birthday, so Mom and Dad took Kate back with them so Mommy and Daddy could go to dinner. We had a very delicious dinner at Provino's, one of my all-time favorite restaurants. After we left I could have sworn garlic oozed out of my pores. I was stuffed but how often does one get to go to Provino's?

On Sunday the Easter Bunny visited Kate at Gram Gram and Papa's house.



After church and before a delicious lunch by Mom, we took some family pictures. What a good lookin' bunch we are!





Following lunch we had yet another egg hunt and then ate Bunny cake and ice cream outside. What a wonderful weekend full of fun and good times with our family.

My Fears List

So, I'm reading Peggy O'Mara's Having a Baby, Naturally, and she recommends writing down the things we fear while we are pregnant to help to face them. I think because I had such a relatively easy labor and delivery with Kate and because I know what to expect that I am worried that this next baby might be a lot more difficult.

Here are some of my fears:

(1) I fear not being mentally prepared for the intensity and emotion of natural childbirth.
(2) I fear not being physically prepared for the same.
(3) I fear the unknown during pregnancy, labor, and delivery.
(4) I fear the pain of labor and delivery as well as afterbirth pains.
(5) I fear for the health of the baby. (I know, a perfectly natural emotion.)
(6) I fear for Kate's adjustment to the new baby.
(7) I fear the challenges of taking care of two babies and therefore the loss of my own personal space and time. (A selfish fear but one that haunts me.)
(8) I fear not being a good mother.

While these fears are nothing profound or unique to me, they do stir up flutters in my stomach and, fortunately, motivate me to do my exercises, read my books, pray a lot, and begin to make the preparations necessary to combat these fears.