Ready to go home...again.

We have been staying out at my dad's place taking care of my elderly grandma while he and his wife are away for a few days. Caring for an elderly grandma with early signs of dementia is probably not that far off from caring for a child with a WILD imagination, or a teenager with whom there is just no reasoning. She is completely lucid and normal, but then she will start to talk about super crazy stuff that is just not happening. When she starts to do the paranoia thing, there is just no consoling her - you can only shake your head and let her know that you're listening. It is very sad to watch her be so scared about things that aren't happening and not be able to calm her.

But on the bright side, we've had a nice stay out here in the hill country. It was like a little winter getaway with a nice back porch over looking the hill country, lots of deer right up close and a big screen TV. We limited ourselves to like 1.5 movies per night, forcing ourselves not to turn it on until like 8pm, and not to watch it past 11:30. It's hard to stop watching good movies like American Gangster, Forrest Gump, Cold Mountain and Knocked-Up...I am SO GLAD we don't have a TV!

The deer in my dad's backyard.



Scrabble with Grandma.

But after spending 10 days in DC and 4 days out here, we are definitely ready to be in our own house for awhile. Eating when pregnant and sick is so much easier at your own place. My dad's place is pretty far away from a grocery store, so there's no running out to grab something when everything in the house makes you want to throw-up. But I was glad to see that his grocery store carried some organic products. Though we are in Austin where Organic is God, we are still out in the country where BBQ beats all.

My nausea still comes and goes but I'm grateful that it's not as bad as it was. Now that I am more stabilized, I am going to try to limit myself in some of the things that I'm craving. For instance, I CANNOT get the image of a chocolate pie out of my head today. Last night it was watermelon and sour cream (not together, thank goodness), and today it's pie. When my dad comes in from the airport, we are supposed to get lunch in the hill country (a town down the road called Dripping Springs), and we will eat at a precious little bakery known for its pies. So I may not be able to pass up satisfying this craving today (I pray they have chocolate pie), but I am going to try not to give into every craving that crosses my mind, especially if it's going to affect my thighs. Because our baby will be born in July, I will save the watermelon cravings for summertime. You will probably find me in some pool somewhere with a huge plate of watermelon through all of June. The consistent thing that I often crave is some variety of grapefruit, whether it's the actual thing, or a grapefruit-flavored soda or grapefruit Popcicles. Something about the sourness calms my nausea and satisfies my sweet tooth, too. Hail the mighty grapefruit!

It won't be long before we have to pack our bags up again and head to California for a week to see Erik's mom (which we are way excited about - we leave on New Year's Eve), but until then, we look forward to a little bit of routine and R&R at home.