Lucy, Lucy My Gal...

We are living in bliss. Words can not describe...so I'll let the pics.

Just an ordinary weekend...

Last night Joel and I had movie & pizza night. It was pre-planned. One of the items on our short list of what we wanted to do before movies are watched in 15 minute increments over the course of three days. We also went to the grocery store to stock up on food for family, snacks for the hospital and - lets face it - just so I could get in one more trip to one of my favorite places, the grocery store.

I woke up this morning at 9. Much later than I normally do. I rolled over (slowly and much like a rotisserie chicken thanks to this belly), kissed my husband on the cheek and SLOWLY rolled the other way to start the long process of sitting up and getting out of bed. I know this all sounds dramatic and oh so labored - if you've been there, hollah. If not, don't judge ;-). When I stood up, there before me sat the baby's bassinet.

I shuffled to the bathroom (ALWAYS the first stop in the mornings) and then shuffled to the kitchen (ALWAYS the second stop in the mornings) catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror along the way, bigger than ever and thought "I might miss this belly."

I fixed my preggo breakfast of an Eggo waffle with peanut butter, a banana and a glass of 1/2 skim and 1/2 chocolate milk and plopped down in our glider where we will spend countless hours, no doubt, holding and feeding and comforting our baby girl.

Joel got up and fixed his breakfast - blueberry frosted mini wheats. I didn't even know so many cereals existed - but then, that's what happens when Joel goes to the grocery store with me. He started the washing machine for me while I sorted through one more load of receiving blankets and tiny hooded towels.

He got a phone call from my dad about hotel rooms for this week and he took it in the nursery, sitting in the rocking chair.

It's so quiet - and peaceful and calm here. But there is a VERY electric energy in the house. Everywhere are the reminders of what is to come. Calm before the storm comes to mind - but it's more than that. We are teetering on the edge of coupledom and full on family. In a matter of days there is no teetering. We will be the Schoepf family...not just the Schoepfs. It's still incredible. It's still unbelievable.

Today we are running errands, writing thank you notes, cooking dinner...tomorrow we are going to the Floathouse for a cheeseburger, maybe to the Americana Jam at Gruene Hall. Just an ordinary weekend. Let it be known it has been documented here - so that when we look back and wonder what we used to fill our time with, we'll have record.

May...be, baby...

We celebrated our 3 Year Anniversary last week. Me and my best friend, Joel Charles Schoepf, Jr. I can't believe it's been three years. I feel like we just got married. Rather than scanning the past three years as a horizontal time line, I see it more like a stack of pancakes...sweet, delicious, blueberry and buckwheat pancakes - with one occurrence no sweeter than the next - but instead adding layers to our sweet life. I love thinking about our life and all that we have had the opportunity to enjoy together...all the travel and shows and freedoms that we have had...it's been amazing. Here's to you, babe. I can't remember what life was like before you...and I don't really want to.

Speaking of sweet layers, we are ONE WEEK away from our due date! I can't believe it. All the stories that everyone tried to tell me in the beginning about how flying time comes to a screeching halt towards the end, they were true. The nursery is ready, the house is ready, Joel is home, I'm wrapping up my work...we are ready!!!! But she, however, is not. Tomorrow will be 39 weeks and the little booger is still breech. The doctor isn't worried...so I'm not (much). I'm a bit thrown, but only a little bit. I have known all along that pregnancies don't always go the way we plan them...and neither do deliveries. I keep telling myself not to rush it - not to be anxious. Animals are not given a due date...they don't live in anticipation of a day on the calendar to give birth. They keep themselves busy and occupied with their normal everyday grazing and nut collecting and dam building. I'm trying to live like that. Patience has NEVER been one of my strong points...so "trying" is saying a lot. In regard to the breechness I'm walking, swimming, drinking water, spending lots of time on my hands and knees...I'm trying all the wives tales so we'll see what happens. Whether she flips or not, we are focused on a healthy baby and remembering that just because this process does not go as planned it is not a failure. And grinning slightly at the way she is already teaching us that regardless of our planning, she has the upper hand.

Joel is home for the next month and a half. We are on cruise control. We'll keep you updated!

Soaking it all in...

It's really hard for me to go to work when Joel is off the road. I spend the mornings piddling around the house, popping in our bedroom every few minutes to hop on the bed and re-snuggle with him and looking for any excuse to...not...leave...his...side. Most of the time I try to take a day off when he's home for a short time. Sometimes work just doesn't allow it.

So lately I've been wrestling with how to balance all this when our "little human" (as Joel calls her) gets here. It goes back to that feeling of being overwhelmed. I can't imagine how to add more to our lives right now. But I know we will. And she, along with we, will grow together to figure it out.

Tonight Joel called me just as I was leaving the office. He said he was on the porch with Dude...so I raced home to join them. After we got part of our dinner prepared, we worked on the sprinkler system and chatted in our driveway with neighbor from down the street who has a one-year old. Gradually, we moved back to the porch where we sat together for the evening...intermittantly chatting, reading, tossing the Frisbee for Dude and cooking dinner on the grill. We have listened to the rhythm of the neighborhood dogs barking, the beeping of the construction going on outside the subdivision and we can hear the high school baseball game being announced from here. There are lawn mowers roaring in back yards, kids playing on trampolines and all sorts of birds chirping everywhere. I can hear it all from where I sit. And it makes me feel like part of something bigger. Although it is "noise," it's "life noise" - and I find it oddly peaceful. It's a bit of a cacophony - but a beautiful one.

And I supposed that is how we will manage in the upcoming months. It may be messy, and unorchestrated...but it will be part of something bigger. And I have no doubt, it will be beautiful.

Happy Birthday to my sweet sweet husband...

I know...this post is a couple of days late. But it's just as heartfelt. To my sweet sweet husband. I love you more than I ever ever ever thought possible. And more today than yesterday..

Happy, happy birthday, baby!

Ommmmmmmmm...

I have been saying for WEEKS that I wanted to start yoga. I have a pregnancy yoga DVD here at the house, which is fine and all, but I like interaction. I like having someone guide me by talking me through what I'm doing - especially with something as "personal" as yoga. The last class I took was on Valentines day last year with Shannon and Kim. We had no clue it was a "Valentine" class we were taking. Every pose was a couple's pose designed to do with your "partner" so there were three of us trying to look each other in the eye(s) and "feel each others love." Aside from being just a little awkward, it was a great experience - I just never made the time to go back. And I've been told that the breathing techniques and the meditation can be life savers during delivery. So after a month or so of hem-hawing around and making excuses, I finally went.

And I'm sold.

It's hard to pick my favorite part...stretching, or breathing or just doing something physical for our bodies - mine and this babe's. Shavasana (I think that is the correct term) is the end of the class...laying on your back, palms up, eyes closed...it was awesome. It felt so good (don't worry, she set me up with pillows and mats so my baby belly was supported)...mentally and physically and spiritually to just be still and quiet and at peace. At peace.

Sarah (the owner of the studio) talked to me for a long time after the class. I guess she started yoga in her third trimester of her first pregnancy...just like me :). And she has been doing it ever since. I'm as impressed with her fitness as much as anything, but what strikes me is her demeanor. She emits calmness.

Like I said, I'm sold. I can't wait to go back.

I hope you all found some quiet and peace today, too. :)

Shavasana

Be Here Now...

It seems to be a recurring phrase I'm being exposed to..."Be Here Now." I read it on a friend's blog, I heard it from a very wise loved one, I got it as advice from a family friend...It's an Oasis song, a Ray Lamontagne song...

Be here now...

I'm a planner by nature. Always have been and to some degree, always will be. I think about the future - I mean THE FUTURE. From "how will we teach her how to water ski?" to "how do we make sure we will be able to retire?" I'm talking FUUUUUTUUURE. I fret about it a lot, actually.

Be here now...

I'm ready to be here now. I'm ready to be forced into the present. Just look at yesterday...and today...beautiful. Why would I want to spend them in the abyss of what-ifs?

Be here now...

Home, Sweet Stewy Home

I played hooky yesterday so I could spend it with my husband. No agenda, no plans, no errands...just flying by the seat of our pants. It was awesome. We both took our time to get around yesterday - I went for a (LONG) walk with a good friend and then Joel and I headed to Wimberly with the intention of looking for a print Joel found a while back. We didn't find the print but we did find some other fun goodies.





It was such a great afternoon - just wondering around the little shops, not really looking for anything but looking at everything. And the weather was beautiful...perfect in fact. We got to have dinner with sweet Joyce and we were home in bed watching a movie by 8. It really was one of those days that we are cherishing right now.

Today we woke up to freezing weather and a forecast of snow. I stayed in bed as long as I could, soaking up the warmth of Joel being home - but eventually had to make my way to work. When I came home this afternoon, THIS is what I found:





...and Joel practicing guitar in our quiet, warm, stew-smelling home.

It doesn't take much, really...to show each other how much we appreciate each other. Joel does it every day. I keep thinking that these days are numbered...soon we will be passing in the hall with hands full of diapers and laundry and baby. Everyone has told us to take advantage of our time now. So we are. Anxiously awaiting...

Joseph A. Stack

Let me be very clear...I LOVE learning from my husband and I always respect and appreciate his perspective. He is phenomenal at expressing himself without judging, explaining new perspectives without pushing and listening to others. I love that about him. That's how I can learn so much from him and it's those qualities that make me so excited to watch him be a father.

But sometimes there are instances where situations are simply Rorschach tests to us: they are and will remain with each of us "how we see things." Here's an example:

Here is how Joel sees Joseph A. Stack.

Here's how I see Joseph A. Stack:

Joel reads the words. I see the picture.

Joel focuses the cause. I focus on the effect.

In this scenario, I see a building full of individuals. Not a government agency.

In reading his manifesto, I think of the family he left behind in his "new marriage," now also homeless) not the statement he tried to make about his discontent.

I think of all the people he made a choice for today - without their consent or permission. Just like he complained of our government. I can wrap my mind around his motives, but in my opinion, he is a hypocrite. In his plight for HIS rights he took away the rights of others. And isn't this his biggest complaint of what the upper class minority took away from the middle class majority - their voices and their freedoms? He talked of the bodies he would be joining - as if he believed them (and himself) to be martyrs. What do we call the rest of the wreckage?

I sympathize with the frustration he expresses, and I understand the feeling of having no say or options or control over how much the government takes from us - in reference to taxes, etc...but there are ways around all of it. There are ways to make this world a nice place to live in despite all that other stuff. There are ways to help each other, together, get through the mess that he was drowning in...maybe not a fix for the problem, but a way to get through it. We can help each other...HELP EACH OTHER. Heaven knows the family he left behind is going to need it now.

Quiet Time

In case you haven't been made aware, my sweet husband has started blogging. He is revamping his priorities and "cleaning" his mind. We don't turn on the TV like we used to (well, HE doesn't. I'm working on it). And he is reading about three books at once right now. He mentioned the other day that "he has a lot to learn." He's inspiring me. I've started blogging again - granted, his writings are about the books he's read and current issues and mine are muppet videos, but still..I have refreshed my website bookmarks, I'm searching for books and I am making plans for finishing those scrapbooks I keep talking about.

Like I said, he's inspiring me. In all of this, we are finding a happy medium compromise of our old habits with our new. I am letting him take the lead on this change for us, and I like it. I like the quiet time in the house and the time we now have for conversation rather than commercials.

Hope you're finding some quiet time in your day, too.

Full Circle

Here's how the circle goes. This blog is titled "Robin's Hood." I did not come up with that...Sean Faires did YEARS ago. I can remember sitting in our old office off Walnut talking to him on the phone about the wording he wanted to put on the Dedringers EP (this was also following our discussion about how to make the spelling of Dedringers original - I suggested a "z" at the end...Sean replied, "That is so 5 years ago." I guess he knew best!)

Today I am listening to The Happin-Ins CD that just arrived in the mail. I was listening to it when our friend Matt Briggs came it to talk shop - and of course shop talk was derailed by stories of Sean and Jonny "back in the day." I can't believe how much we have all changed. I feel like I'm watching it happen right before my eyes still..our friends, our jobs, our families...everyone is blooming. It's really beautiful.

I can also remember when Sean realized that Joel and I were actually dating...not just coincidentally sharing an interest in the lives and careers of these two. At least once a week we all had dinner at my house - me, Laura, Sean, Jonny and Joel - at the minimum. Often times there were more folks, but we were the core group. After about the third or fourth time Joel went inside for a minute and Sean looked at me with a really concerned expression..."Um...is there something going ON between ya'll?" I think I said something along the lines of "I hope so" and not much more about it was brought up...until we told them we were engaged. Sean very plainly said "Well, good. When you told us you were dating we got a little nervous. This was either gonna end good or bad...no in between. We didn't want to have to pick between the two of you so I'm really glad this worked out." And now here we are - years down the road, still connected to each other - all of us- with growing families and growing lives...

I'm glad this worked out, too, Sean. So very very glad.

Oh, Baby...

To say we've been distracted is an understatement. We have been enamored, overwhelmed, swamped, ecstatic, anxious...for six months now.

At the time I posted last, I had taken three pregnancy tests just days before. I can't believe I was so calm. I also can't believe that was exactly six months to the day ago. Six months sounds like so long...but time has really flown. And now that we are three months away (92 days give or take a few) I am wishing for those 6 months back. I LOVE being pregnant. I love how healthy I feel and how much I get to sleep and eat and having an excuse to go home early. I love listening to the heartbeat and wondering what she's going to be like. I love thinking about Joel being a daddy to this little girl and teaching her how to read and how to listen to people tell stories and how to appreciate music and all things grand. I LOVE hearing him read to her...even if it's about the political environment of Berkeley. It's such a great time right now...the calm before the storm, I know, but it's really peaceful and sweet and I cherish it every day.

I don't know what's in store for the three of us. It's scary to think about all of the unknowns, but it's not in our hands...and I believe we are okay with that. Whatever may come, we can handle. I do know that.

Oh, the Ideas...

I think to myself, about 5 times a day, "I should blog about that." Recent topics range from political to social to just plain silliness. Like ol' Kanye West's most recent antics - but then I think...why waste my time on that nonsense. He did not affect my day to day life before this incident. Why would I let him now?

And the health care reform...I can not for the life of me figure out why we would NOT want to reform our current system, fix the insurance issues that so many face and make it affordable to EVERYONE in our country. Watching those that marched in Washington against the reform makes me feel like they were marching against every sick person who has been denied insurance.

It makes me nauseous, really. And very very sad.

And then I see something like this:

And I drive home as fast as I can to sit on the back porch and let the water wash over me.

A month in the life...

It's been a whirlwind of a month. Lots to cover, but I'll try to make it quick.

Joel officiated a wedding for his friends, TK & Holly in College Station...

We went to visit Granny & Papa, Aunt Susan and Kevin in Houston...

We went on a cruise from Galveston to Mexico & back...

And we went to the Braun Brothers Reunion in Idaho...

Where we got to hang out with some of our favorite people...

...including Joel and Sam...

...and catch a glimpse of what rain looks like...

...and finding ourselves sitting in a pot of gold right here.

And so it goes in a month in the life of us!

6 Months to the day...

*I started this post earlier in the week...didn't even realize the "anniversary" was coming up. But six months ago yesterday, I was standing on the wing of an airplane in the Hudson River. They say "all in time." I guess "they" are right.

I can't tell you how many times I've told the story. People always say "I bet your sick of telling this story...but tell me the story." Truth is, I never minded at all - I think because I didn't think there was much of a story there. The event is such a blur, really. I felt worse for my friends and family at home who were watching it, not being able to really KNOW that I was okay. When I got home, after the exhaustion and recovering from a bad, bad cold I filed the whole experience away like I typically do. I put it in a case where I could look at it, but not really touch it or feel it - like it's very own shadowbox. I have a habit of doing that with things that I don't really know how to process. But recently, I have taken the shadow box down off the shelf, opened it up and starting sorting through the contents.

A month or so ago I was at the office, busy with whatever it is that keeps me busy there and I got a call from the NTSB on my cell phone. The girl that was sitting next to me for roughly 4 minutes of what was supposed to be our flight from NYC to Charlotte was looking for me. They asked my permission to give her my contact info. Of course I agreed. I had not talked to one single person from that flight - no crew, no passengers. NO one. I got an email from her about an hour later, asking if she could call me. I had no clue what she would want to talk about...but I told her "of course." We talked for an hour and a half.

She filled me in on all the passengers, all of their reunions, their stories...they had a Yahoo Group online where everyone virtually "gets together" pretty frequently. And then we talked about that day - how she got out of the plane, how I got out of the plane, where we both ended up, etc., etc...etc. And it felt GREAT. We laughed about the minutes before we hit the water, her asking me "Land or water? Land or water? LAND OR WATER?" We shared our stories about calling our husbands. We discussed how our families dealt/are dealing with it. I felt like I had known her forever.

Once I made contact with her and with the group online I learned that a book is being published. "Miracle on the Hudson" will be released in November of this year. The "group" has formed an LLC for such situations...and I joined. I did my interview with one of the writers two weeks ago. And again, told my version of what happened that day. Only - the extended version. Only - it was different. She was pressing me, digging a bit and I was forced to really get my hands messy in the whole experience.

What I learned was, I am REALLY okay with all of it. I mean it when I say that I feel humbled. I had to delve into all of "what have you changed about your life/do you think or feel or believe differently than you did before" questions. And even after reliving every detail, down to how I got out the door of the plane and who gave me socks at the ferry terminal - that is what I am. Humbled. (I'm glad - since it's tattooed on my body now.) Life really has gotten so much easier since I realized that I am not the supreme ruler of the universe. I do NOT have control of every situation. And consequently, the universe is not out to get me. That was not a bad thing that happened to me on January 15, 2009. It was a BEAUTIFUL gift of opportunity. I have learned to let go of a lot of worry and fret and anxiety about why things happen - or don't happen - the way they are supposed to. And I have realized they DO work out like they are supposed to, I just may not have planned them them that way.

In all of the research online about the writers of this book I have found a lot of info and pictures of Flight 1549. And still, after all the processing, the one thing that makes me get weepy and sad...are pictures like this one. The plane in the water. I hate seeing her there, knowing she held up - and held us up - then had such a slow and cold and painful demise. Even as I type it I realize how weird it sounds...then again, I'm the same girl that hugs my shoes.

RIP, big ol' jet airliner. And thank you.

Tell 'Em That it's Human Nature...

With all the buzz about Michael Jackson going on, I'd like to share my thoughts. Agree or disagree - to each his own. But here, I get to speak my mind.

It's sad. Period. His life is sad, his death is sad. He never had a childhood of playing in parks or running through sprinklers or going to junior high dances or getting acne or trying out for the track team and making it or trying out for anything and NOT making it. He didn't learn how to build relationships or chose what he believed in or experience the difficult times that give us all character. Maybe I ignored all the hubbub when he was on trial, but where were all of these people then? Where was Brooke Shields standing up for his character then, where were his peeps? I'm not a huge fan of Al Sharpton, but the point he made to Michael's children was pretty poignant..."There was nothing strange about your daddy, it was strange what your daddy had to deal with." Who else on this planet has been through as much fame, publicity, ridicule, prosecution? No one that I can think of in my lifetime...

WE did that to Michael Jackson. We watched the good and the bad, we talked about it in coffee shops, we either made or entertained jokes about his life...HIS life.

I don't know that much about him. I know I loved the Jackson 5 as a kid. I tried to memorize the dance from Thriller. I cleaned my parents house for my allowance to his music. I believe that he was a generous man. I believe he tried to do good...searching for something that was real to him - and that he tried to recreate the childhood that he missed out on. What is reality to us is NOT reality to our neighbor.

We are curious folk, us humans. RIP MJ.

The Summer of Learning

I took my second spanish lesson tonight. I hope I'm doing this right...seems like it's way too easy for learning a second language. I did have three years of spanish in high school (a long, long time ago) but I only seem to remember bolsa, pescado, escucheme, digame and Pepita (my Spanish class name - which I believe translates to "seed" - that our teach picked out for me). While the escucheme (listen to me) and digame (tell me) seem pretty usable now, bolsa (purse) remains burned in my memory only because my dear friend had her purse stolen in spanish class and kept screaming it to the teacher..."Mi Bolsa! Mi Bolsa!" And pescado...well, you see, "perch" was our little group's word for "chill," or "cool it." If someone was rambling on about something (say, someone who was screaming about her bolsa in spanish class) we would tell them to "perch" (as in a bird perched in a tree - there was a super sweet hand gesture that went along with it simulating a branch, or how one might hold a parakeet on their finger). But everything had to be in spanish for that hour. When we asked our teacher what the word for perch was, she assumed we were talking about the fish. So she told us pescado. It took us three years to figure out that we were telling each other to fish rather than to perch. Needless to say, what remains with me from those three years of spanish is rather limited. Hence...Rosetta Stone.

I also finally learned how to use picnik. My sisters in luv have been using it forever, hence their uber cool photos with fuzzy edges and rounded corners and vintage stirrings. My first project is what you see above...and I'm SOOOO PROUD! To think, I've been struggling through photoshop, etc for a while now - and BLAM. Picnik came along. I have visions of Christmas cards, invitations...PHUN with PHOTOS!

And finally on the learning front - I did NOT take the spinning class as promised, but I did wii Active last night for the first time - and I'm soooooore. Wrongfully sore. I thought I was in better shape than to let some electronic robotron thingymajig whoop up on me - but I was wrong. Biceps - sore. Quads - sore. Abs - sore. Like...I had gone to the gym. Only without the drive across town and on my own schedule. I'm not saying it's a replacement work out, but it will be my new "on call."

Well, the sun is down here so that means it's only about 98 outside - prime time for an evening stroll to get the mail. Sweet dreams, friends.

Hello. I'd Like to Introduce Myself...

Hi. You may not remember me. I've been AWOL for a while. My name is Robin Schoepf...and our life is good.

In a nutshell, here are some things you may or may not know.

1.) Joel and I celebrated our two year anniversary on May 5. He, like the sweetheart that he is, looked up the traditional anniversary gift for numero dos and bought me three cotton blouses. He knows me so well. I'm breaking them out on the cruise!

2.) We are going on a cruise in a couple of weeks. Not a true blue vacation cruise - he has to work. But it's a week away from this insane heat and 7 days with him rather than without.

3.) We moved! There is no more life for us on common street...now it's oak forest. New blog title suggestions welcome.

4.) Joel is gone for 6 weeks (approximately). Don't panic...I get to see him on the cruise and I'm meeting them in Idaho (see Idaho) but this house is going to miss him. (I mean...this household).

5.) Speaking of "numero dos" (ahem...refer to numbero uno) I am doing the Rosetta Stone Spanish Lessons. Well...I've done one (uno). Yesterday (ayer). I learned "manzana," "bebe," "come" and "boligrafo." I have yet to try and use apple, drink, eat and pen in one sentence. I think I would scare some fluent spanish speakers into "duerme" (or would that be duermen??). Needless to say, I have a ways to go.

6.) My sis-in-luv has inspired me to get back to the gym and try a spinning class...um, tomorrow. ;-)

7.) We are officially Godparents. Brayden Weiland DeBruin was born last Monday. He looks just like his Daddy, Bert...only without all the ink. (Yet.) Mom Angela and big sis Taylor are all doing great and we are so honored. Maybe instead of studying spanish, we should be looking up how to be hip and cool Godparents. Cuz we all know he'll be a hip and cool kid!

And quite possibly, the item that may (or may not) have had the greatest influence on our lives since the last blog...

8.) BLUEBELL ICE CREAM HAS A NEW FLAVOR!!! BLACKBERRY COBBLER!!! IT'S DELICIOUS!!! PLEASE TAKE THE CAPS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS SERIOUSLY...IT'S THAT GOOD!!!

That should get us all caught up. I still like long walks on the beach, the smell of fresh cut grass and going barefoot when possible...

...and Bluebell's Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream.

I think I'll go get some. You should too.

Barefooted.

Buddies

Hi. My name is Sam Hunt. 

I love white cheddar puffs. 

But I also love my new buddy, Dude. 

So what's so wrong with sharing? 

I've heard that it was the right thing to do for all of my life.

I try to do what I'm told. So I'm sharing with my my buddy, Dude. 

Plus...I just think it's funny.