Sweet Berry Farm

Who knew that Austin had berry picking farms? Well, Austin doesn't, but Marble Falls does. So, we took Norah on a short road trip (about an hour away), to a cute little place called Sweet Berry Farm. It was hot. Very hot. But, Norah was enthusiastic about the whole thing.

In season were strawberries, blackberries, and obscenely large onions.

I love my girl, and my girl loves my sunglasses.

The Tuckers were excellent berry pickers.

Norah hadn't had strawberries yet. They are on the list of highly allergenic foods that should only be consumed after a year old. So, for some reason I decided it was a good idea to let her chow down on a few straight from the bush, in the middle of a field, in the middle of nowhere. I am an awesome mom.

She loved them.

So, I let her eat like four.


The Tuckers are also excellent berry eaters.


Norah and Aunt Kristin disappeared for a bit and when I found them they were petting a horse. The kid has no fear.


Evidenced by the fact that her favorite part of the whole afternoon was riding on Aunt Kristin's shoulders.



There were lots of school buses with lots of grubby little kids whining about the heat and the fact that their teachers wouldn't buy them homemade ice cream.


So I rubbed it in by buying homemade ice cream and eating it in front of them. Norah had a bite, but I think she was more into the rocks she also tried to eat.

The loot (sans blackberries):


After the farm Grammy treated us all to a delicious lunch at a local cafe. Their specialty is peanut butter pie and they have pictures of George Bush on the wall. Ah, Texas. Norah had a grilled cheese, put her feet up, and promptly passed out.

Without question, a lovely day.

The next morning Norah woke me up like she usually does by pounding me in the face. I tried to get her to lay down by rubbing her back. Which was all wet. I opened my eyes sleepily to find that she had pooped so much that the mess exploded out of her diaper, up her back and out of her pajamas, and ended up in her hair. She won't be getting strawberries again for a while.

The Pool

The Tuckers live in a suburban wonderland. In this wonderland is a community pool that's nicer than any community pool I have ever seen. I don't even think people pee in it.

Megan and Trevor were dying to take Norah swimming, so I got her dressed in her SPF swimsuit. Everyone laughed and pointed and called it a scuba suit. Just wait and see who never gets skin cancer, suckers! (Seriously, both BVZ and I are practically translucent. The poor girl never had a chance).



She loved the water. It was a little chilly but that didn't seem to bother her a bit. We passed her around and she had a blast.


Look at this place!

Trevor was kind enough to let Norah chew on his whale. Thank goodness for big cousins.

The Stairs

One of the best parts of the Tucker mansion is the staircase. It is carpeted, angles around three times, and has a sturdy wrought-iron railing. Norah was mildly obsessed with this staircase. She could climb up, but not down. So, she would crawl up and I would then carry her down. Rinse and repeat.

Update

Sorry for our long absence...Norah and I just got back from visiting the family in Texas. Fun updates soon, I promise.

Santa Barbara

We've been desperate to get away for a while now, so we took a weekend trip down the coast to Santa Barbara. We stopped a number of times along the way to stretch our legs and discovered that Norah's favorite past-time is crawling (and kind of walking) in the back of the Prius.



We stopped in San Luis Obispo for lunch and ordered her something off of the menu for the first time. A piece of toast and a piece of cheese. Big time stuff!

We stayed at the beautiful Inn of the Spanish Gardens. The pictures don't do it justice. It's a spectacular place. I especially loved the courtyards, which I apparently failed to take a picture of at all.




Norah and I both loved the giant bathtub best.


We walked around downtown on Friday evening and then ordered in room service. Norah ate 4 kalamata olives in 15 seconds (and then threw up on the hotel comforter).

We spent Saturday morning at the Santa Barbara Zoo. It is relatively small, but very well maintained, and the landscaping is just spectacular. Norah had it made in her comfy stroller.

She was the most taken with all of the birds. I suspect it was because they were colorful and made sounds she could hear.

She especially loved the flamingos.

She had no opinion on the elephants.


See what I mean about the great landscaping?



The giraffe habitat was huge and there were about five of them milling around.

You could pay $5 to feed the giraffe from your hand. Give her a few years and Norah's going to love that.


After the zoo we drove to the ocean.

Even though it was cold, I was insistent that Norah get to put her feet in the ocean. Thanks BVZ for the photograph of this momentous event (and my giant ass).


Back at the hotel we changed her into her SPF protective swim gear and went to the pool.

I thought she would be scared of the water, but she didn't hesitate a bit. Next time we'll put her head under water.



We had a fun dinner out on Saturday night and then headed home early on Sunday. It was a quick trip, but a much needed vacation. Weekend get aways may not be the same post-Norah, but family vacations are awesome. We plan to go on many more of them.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the fabulous, amazing, and tremendous moms I know!

Ear Infections

Don't worry, Norah doesn't have an ear infection. In fact, she's never had an ear infection. That hasn't stopped me, however, from spending roughly $10,000 on doctor's co-pays for them to continue to tell me that she doesn't have an ear infection.

She has had an on-again, off-again cold now for months (or at least it seems like months), and lately, in addition to massive amounts of thick snot, she has been f'ing with her left ear all of the time. She pulls on it, she scratches it, she sticks her little finger in it and digs for gold. She scratched it so badly one day that she drew blood. Clearly this seems like her ear bothers her, right?* Well, I always decide after hours that she must have an ear infection so we have seen a wide variety of urgent care doctors that all assure me she is fine. When she was doing it again earlier this week, I called during the day (what a novel idea) and we got to see her actual pediatrician. She didn't have an ear infection. What she did have, however, was a MASSIVE amount of impacted ear-wax. The doctor removed it with a little tool that looked like a mini-crochet needle. It was beyond disgusting how much thick yellow wax this kid had in her left ear. Grown men who live on the streets don't have that much ear wax.

However, I am happy to report that since the removal she has left that poor ear alone and we have stayed out of urgent care.

These pictures have nothing to do with her ear, but are awesome because the other day she learned how to duck around the recliner in her room and turn her lamp on and off.



(*BVZ and I watch a lot of that show 'Intervention' (if you haven't seen it, do so immediately), and a common theme is that substance addiction is usually caused by something traumatic that happens during ones childhood. In the book Million Little Pieces, the author, in trying to figure out what caused his tremendous addiction, theorizes that it was perhaps because as an infant he was left to suffer with raging, untreated ear infections. His mother defended herself by saying that they didn't have a lot of money to keep going to the doctor and it was impossible for her to tell when in fact he actually had an ear infection. I know the book has been discredited as a bunch of bullshit, but I will never forget that. Apparently untreated ear infection=major drug abuse as an adult. I am just trying to keep Norah off the streets and off the pole, people).

Disaster Area

Part of me thought that while I was home with Norah I would have time to cook dinner every day, clean the house, and get done all kinds of projects I have been putting off.

It's a good day when BVZ gets home at night if I have brushed my teeth, eaten breakfast (by 8:00 pm), and everyone is still alive.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

The good news is that Norah has gone from a D- to a B+ formula drinker. It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than it was even a few weeks ago and I can now sleep at night knowing she isn't going to starve.

But of course, there is bad news. Norah will no longer sleep without me next to her. My theory is that the combination of 1) the lack of nursing, and 2) the usual separation anxiety babies this age tend to have, means that she is not cool sleeping alone anymore. I don't mind having her in the bed--I actually sleep better with her there, and lately she sleeps all night long. What I do mind is that her bedtime is 7:00 pm and mine is not. I love, love, love spending my day with her, but as 7:00 pm rolls around I get a little excited at the anticipation of Norah-free zone for the rest of the evening. Also, while I don't really think I would be getting tons of laundry done during her nap-time anyway, it would be nice to at least have the option (I either sit with her or take a nap myself).

So, we came up with the brilliant idea to take the frame off of our bed and push it up against the wall. That way, we could put her to sleep in our bed and not worry about her getting hurt. Doesn't it look sad (and kind of like a college student's bed)? We killed ourselves to get the frame off so that she could go to bed on time. I lay down with her and she fell asleep. And the second I left, she woke up. We played that game for about an hour and then finally I figured if I was going to have to keep going in to get her, she might as well be in the crib.

Ugh. So, now it takes about an hour to get her to go to sleep in the crib and she wakes up a handful of times before I am ready to go to bed. And our bed is in the corner with no frame. Bummer.