Transplanted in Texas

Today I change course a little. Today, I focus less on my other passions and transform this blog into telling of how I juggle being a mom with those passions - horseback riding and training, this blog, and horse racing... and being a wife. Will you join me as I tell the tales of the ups and downs of being the mother of one adorable, sometimes-cranky, people-person boy? As I write this, my eleven-week-old son is sitting next to me, grinning and chatting. Last weekend, he enjoyed being passed around from aunt to uncle and grandparent to grandparent, and meeting two people he had never seen before - my best friend and her father. Right now, Yance sleeps about six and a half hours a night and gets fed six times a day. Woken for each meal, he spends an hour to an hour and a half awake (including meal time), and then he gets tired and cranky and put to bed. The only exception is for his morning meal, at 5:30. I always need extra sleep to survive to his last meal of the day, so he gets p...

Here is my final springtime review of my 2016 KeeNov mares and weanling/yearling selections. I have two more reviews coming - in August and November. We already know that General Quarters is in Turkey, Dynamic Sky is at Shannondoe Farm in Ontario, Canada, and that Dads Caps is at Legacy Ranch in California. As for the mares... Madame Giry produced a Jayde, Inc.-bred colt by Honor Code on April 9 in Kentucky. My Conquestadory has a bay filly by Tapit, foaled May 11, that is possibly placed on a nurse mare. My Conquestadory should be heading to Australia for their breeding season shortly. Still no word on where Promise Me Silver is or who she was bred to. She's Not Here is still in America... somewhere. No idea who she was bred to. Burning Arch had a filly by American Pharoah on March 31, bred at Hinkle Farms in Kentucky. Crisp, who is probably in Japan, has not produced an expected American Pharoah foal yet. Favorably produced a colt on March 25 by Honor Code for ow...

Our latest trips have been interesting. For the past three weekends, we've been doing one thing or another, as close as an hour from home or as far as three and a half hours. And it's varied from a family visit to a paying band trip to an expensive hobby. April 21-23: My parents' place to see my grandparents, who hadn't seen me since the wedding last March. April 29-30: Houston, for my husband, his best man, and my father-in-law to play background music as a band at an outdoor Sons of Confederate Veterans supper party at a wealthy gentleman's home. May 5-7: Jefferson reenactment. The highlight of the reenacting season, and our first campout reenactment of the year. I will review them in chronological order. _________________________________________________________________________________ On the evening of April 21, which by the way just happened to be a stressful day for unrelated reasons (o.O), we drove up through testy weather to my parents' ...

This will be the second time I have missed the Kentucky Derby & Kentucky Oaks for a reenactment. The first time was two years ago - for the same reenactment. It was my first time going to one of these events. Last year, the event was cancelled due to rain, but it wasn't on Derby weekend and we went to the rival event in the same town instead, which wasn't nearly as fun. Last year following Sunday's skirmishes It's Jefferson weekend, the highlight of our reenacting year. And it will be Yance's first overnight camping weekend - two nights! We leave tonight and come back Sunday evening. Also, I chose not to watch the Derby last year. I wasn't interested in the least in the field. In fact, only Gun Runner and Exaggerator were thought of at all by me - and they ended up finishing third and second, respectively, behind Nyquist. Exaggerator went on to beat his long-time rival Nyquist in the Preakness and Haskell before being retired after a pair of lacklust...

It's been a rough week. I've been slightly depressed, and all the way stressed from being congested for two weeks.... AND sick off and on for the past ten months for various reasons (concussion, morning sickness, stomach bug, late pregnancy Braxton Hicks & "false" labor, labor/delivery recovery, and now weather-induced congestion turned sinus infection turned postnasal drip). But yesterday made up for it a good deal. First, I actually folded laundry. Then I got a nap in the afternoon (which turned out to be a bad move, or so Yance thought). Ma came by and saw her little great-grandson, and then shortly after that took us to her place so she could still see her favorite baby while doing stuff around the house. And I could rest while not being completely alone. Ended up watching Bones and M*A*S*H and enjoying Ma's reactions to Yance's expressions. He also gave her a loaded diaper, which was unexpected since he'd already given ME one earlier in the d...

Yance has a new uncle. His aunt looked beautiful in her lacy, modest wedding gown. My brother ended up "DJ-ing" the wedding (there was no music at the reception), and my own husband was quite handsome in his blue and gray outfit. This weekend, we go to my parents' place to see my grandparents. It's been more than a year since we've seen each other, and so they have not held their first great-grandchild yet. I've been battling a sinus infection all week, so I haven't gotten a chance to ride or play with any horses... But Yance has! On Sunday, we went outside and he sat on Jack and then Windy. D held him and I took pictures. The little boy was just fine with it. Kelly has adopted nieces and nephews - two girls and two boys out of her late sister, Jadzia. Two tortoiseshells, a blue lynx point boy, and a black male. They are about the same age as her own two blue lynx point sons, and she took to them as soon as she heard their meows. She now has...

It's 2am. My alarm goes off under my pillow by my head. I wake up, yawn, and shut it off. Then I lie there for a couple minutes before getting to my feet. I go through the bedroom door and out into the hall. Directly across the hall is the spare room, and I open the door and enter. On the bed in there is a little baby-bed thing, with my half-awake and hungry little boy inside. I pick him up and bring him back to the master bedroom. Once there, I get comfortable and feed the baby, who guzzles his nighttime meal in 20-25 minutes. I struggle to stay awake while my sweetheart snores quietly. Then Yance is finished, so I bring him back to his bed, close the doors, and fall asleep in my own bed again. The next thing I know, my husband's first alarm goes off. It's 5:30. After a minute or so, he rolls over and turns it off - and then we're asleep again. My alarm goes off again. This time it's 6, time for Yance's next meal. I repeat what I did at 2, this time with my...