A Likely Story

So here’s the down low on what’s going on down below – and everywhere.  Ugh.  We are approximately 1 month away from the given due date.  I honestly cannot see how in the world this child could stay in here another month.  She hasn’t got a bit of room to squirm in, but believe me she tries!  I get nothing but comments like, “Gosh you haven’t had that baby yet?!” or “Wow, any time now huh?”  My favorite are the empathetic glances of moms who’ve been there.  Jason is on my case to get my bags packed, because he is convinced she may just fall out any minute now.  Sorry, that was a horrible sentence to lay on you, but it is what it is folks.

With that, I am desparately trying to wrap things up for the magazine and get my home ready AND wrap up a hundred little details before she arrives.  It’s exhausting.  Not suprisingly I had a mini meltdown while talking ot my mom on the phone yesterday.  It was not a pretty sight, and I am so glad no one was around to see it.  Still it felt good to cry it out a bit.  Good news though – I found a coupon for a pre-natal massage.  It is totally affordable, so my girlfriend Michelle and I are going on Sat.  An hour of quiet, relaxation and someone rubbing my back who won’t get distracted by the TV.  YAY!

Jason and I had a date last Saturday night.  He has now been an official full timer at the Express Headquarters for a year now.  They gave him a gift card to the restaurant of his choice and he wisely chose Red Rock Canyon Grill in OKC on Lake Hefner.  Now, I know you all have had to listen to me whine about the abysmal lack of fine dining in OKC.  I am happy to report that we loved this place!  While it was pretty crowded and the wait was about an hour, we had a great time!  They had a nice fire going outside in a firepit, so we snuggled up and chatted while waiting for a table. When it got close to an hour Jason strategically moved us near the hostess stand so they could not miss the giant, hungry preggo.  It worked!  We were seated within 5 minutes of coming indoors. 

 Since we had a gift card we decided to live it up by getting the full 4 courses.  For an appetizer - the million dollar shrimp – they were huge and while I could not have told you what was in the sauce, it was yummy.  Then, thanks to a tip from a friend who waits tables there, we had two small house salads – the first time I have ever had croutons made from cornbread.  Again, yum!  For our main course we chose the cluck-n-moo.  Red Rock’s specialty is rotissiere chicken, and the cluck-n-moo is the chicken paired with beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes and sweet glazed carrots.  This was comfort food at its best!  We are so glad to have only ordered one entree as it was the perfect portion for two.  The chicken was delicious and the beef tenderloin – amazing!  Of course, the mashed potatoes and carrots were good enough that I think my girl Paula Deen would have even sighed in delight.  Last we ordered the pineapple upsidedown cake for dessert.  It was so good I almost cried.  I walked out of there in a world of hurt, but happy too.  Sometimes you’ve got to take the joy with the pain, right? !

The Zaragoza family has turned a rather surprising corner. We, who used to be avid American Idol fans, just aren’t that into it this season. We decided tonight, despite Jonah’s desperate pleas for The Biggest Loser, to watch AI since we can always catch TBL later on the Internet. We got through two performances before turning on the double screen feature on our TV and one more performance later until we decided to just admit to ourselves what we already knew – that we love TBL.  Jonah was pleased. Maybe going to last year’s AI concert wasn’t such a hot idea. I am wondering if seeing just how mediocre a lot of the top 10 were made us feel like we wasted a lot of time watching the show. After all, we relate more to TBL.  You don’t have to be beautiful or talented to lose weight and make a positive change in your life.  You need dedication, commitment and sweat.  That, we can provide.

Our other Tuesday night ritual is What Would You Do? with John Quiñones.  It’s a fascinating look at ethics and situations that cause people to either stop and get involved or simply walk on.  It’s great because it provides Jason and I a great spring board for some really interesting discussions.  Also, I think it has caused me to remember that as a human being and as a follower of Christ, I need to really love my neighbor as myself.  This often means being an advocate for someone else, stepping into situations that aren’t comfortable or speaking out when no one else is. 

I think I’ve said before that this was something my mom especially took time to teach my sisters and I.  She didn’t teach us to “tattle”.  Believe me, no one likes a tattle tale, but that when you see something that isn’t right and will hurt someone, you must speak up.  I remember a specific incident in the 4th grade.  My friend *P wore glasses, thick plastic ones just like mine.  *P and I weren’t great friends yet, but we were neighbors.  Another girl – cute and blond, without glasses began to make fun of *P in class one day, using her fingers to make glasses and calling *P “four-eyes” – something only a meanie says to a kid with glasses.  I just couldn’t stomach it and you guessed it, I totally ratted blondie out to the teacher – also a glasses wearer.  Blondie got time-out and I gained a life-long friend.  *P and I while living hundreds of miles apart are still friends today.  Oh and Blondie and I eventually became friends too.  And as fate would have it, she got glasses in the 6th grade.  Big, thick plastic ones. 

That one incident was a sort of stepping off point for me. I’m not overly confrontational, nor do I like bringing attention to myself – but I think it’s always worth it to experience discomfort and take a little time to step up when needed.  After all, you never know when you’ll need someone to do the same for you.

Kristen tagged me to do a picture post . . . I am finally getting around to it.  I’m not going to tag anyone, but by all means if you feel so inclined go ahead.  This is a fun idea.  Simply go to your pictures file, find the 6th file, 6th picture and blog all about it.  Have fun!

The photo above was taken in Ocotober of 2008 – Jonah is riding in the jeep with his younger cousin, Jackson.  It’s always interesting to watch these two together since their daddies are twins.  They get along, for the most part.  I gather that they get along better than their dads did as two unruly twin boys. 

Jack is admittedly more of a “boys boy” while Jonah takes after Jason with a definite love for art and music.  They’re both very talkative – it’s always a treat to hear a three and four year old carry on a serious conversation . . . you know about important issues like Elmo, Thomas the Train and the like.

Another thing these boys have in common is that they will both become big brothers in 2009!  Jonah of course will be big brother to miss Lyla in just 5,5 weeks while the sex of Jack’s sibling is yet unknown and will join the Zaragoza clan in late July.