Transplanted in Texas

It's been a year since I felt this good. It's been a year since I felt like giggling and play-fighting with my sweetie, running, working, and being adventurous. And being myself again feels awesome. I've changed over the past year - but what could one expect for a year full of house improvements and body changes related to pregnancy and delivering a baby? I can't do as much as I did then - I find myself with less free time and muscle tone - but I am throwing myself whole-heartedly into my book (which will be published in November), and into getting my body better than it was pre-pregnancy. I have a three-and-a-half-month extroverted baby boy who is easily bored by toys and a kitten about his age who likes to ruin Xbox games (sorry, D...). Yeah, Midget gets on the Xbox and hits the eject button while jumping off of it. Hmmm. And Yance likes his mobile for only five minutes at a time. Usually, more than ten minutes on his back at one time is too much. He has fig...

I am still writing this blog thanks to a miracle. A miracle that happened one year ago yesterday. The stallion I was breaking in was being ridden (by me) for the first time. And D and I made a mistake, which led to a nearly-fatal accident. The horse freaked out, scurried backwards, and fell onto his back. Fell onto me. D was sure I had died, and even today is still likely to let a tear slip when he thinks about it. I apparently was brought back to consciousness, but I have no memories from the moment that I suggested something to D late into the ride (the suggestion that ultimately led to the wreck), to the moment I woke the next morning in a hotel with D, and my parents in another room. Thus, one year ago today is the day I was told, to my memory, that I was pregnant. I was excited. The fact that Yance and I are here is a miracle. I came away with a diagnosis of a mild concussion and definite pregnancy, and bruises that come from being slammed to hard dirt from five ...

My plan was to do a review on Debi Pearl's "Created to Be His Help Meet" this week. But Sunday brought a change of plans, a change that may or may not be for the better - we will find out. Anyway, that is the day that Postpartum Depression whopped me in the back of my head. It shocked and just about infuriated my husband, and I thought I was just having a bad day. A really bad day. Turns out I was wrong. Yance during his Monday morning bath Monday was as bad, if not worse. I woke up in a good mood, but everything went downhill that afternoon and I stopped talking to my husband. I had no urge to do anything, so even though I did start to wash the dishes that day, they never got finished. I still cared for my son out of pure obligation, but only did the bare minimum even then and hid in the spare bedroom across from our master bedroom. It was a strange sensation. I am a very stubborn, even defiant person, but I had no urge to get out of this fog. The tiny part of ...

This week was a change from routine. Katharine from L'Art Classique  was here from Sunday night until mid-morning on Wednesday. Yance got passed around a bit on Sunday night, when we went to a going-away fling at a Mexican restaurant in a nearby town for D's second cousin. KitMarie arrived in plenty of time to come to that, and it was awesome. We won't get to see Alli again until the end of September, but working for the season at a dude ranch sounds fun! Even if it isn't being a ranch hand... Fortunately, Katharine sleeps in and loves it. And she loves cats. Because with Midget and Ekta in the house, Sunday night was fun - they were playing tag for a while outside her room at bedtime! Midget and Ekta, enjoying Yance's company Anyway, I didn't make my appearance until about 10am Monday morning. And once Yance was put in his swing, we fetched the beautiful three-year-old palomino tobiano half-Quarter Horse filly owned by my sister-in-law, and put her in...

Well, it's been a rough week. On Sunday evening, during a storm that produced multiple tornadoes (though none very close to us), we lost power. We later discovered that lines had come down over our driveway. Monday wasn't too bad. It started out cool, and the house only slowly warmed up as temperatures rose to the high 70s. It was mid-evening when it was finally warm, but not too warm. The house cooled off again that night, enough to sleep pretty comfortably. Tuesday was terrible, at least for the first part of the day. Everything warmed up quickly, affecting both my own mood and Yance's. A hot, miserable baby does not eat much or stay very calm. The same can be said for his mother. Finally, we were picked up by D's cousin and went to her place, where Yance was held by cousins and got cooled off in front of a fan. His grandmother was there as well, and that evening picked up a generator and set it up at our place. The deep-freeze and bedroom air conditioner we...