Renee day, and a prologue to Cora's birth story

We have a little tradition with Renee each summer to go fruit picking. For the past three years we have gone picking for blueberries, peaches, and apples as the seasons change. Even though the kids don't go to her house anymore -- because she's moved in with her fiance and no longer runs a daycare! -- Renee is still part of our lives. We visited her new home, dogs, and horses last week. And this week she came to Ithaca to go apple picking and out to lunch with us.

Apples and pears everywhere

We went to Indian Creek Farm, where Nate's officemate Joanna lives (and thus we got the "friends with Joanna" discount, nice).

The seckel pears were perfect

Fillin' up her bag

We also did u-pick bouquets. That was a big hit with the kiddos, too.

Mom, look-a me!

While we ate lunch at Glendale Pines, Renee and I were reminiscing about our good times together. She shared an old photo of her middle son, Ari, with Silas at the daycare. What good kids we have.

They are still friends

Also, while writing this post I tried to refer to an earlier post that would indicate why Glendale Pines restaurant is so important to me, and I discovered that the story is not part of the record here. So I'll add it! The day of Cora's estimated due date, November 13, 2011, I wrote a post in the morning. But after that, I went for my daily hike, that day at Buttermilk Falls. There were lots of people on the trails and many asked me my due date. I was delighted to be able to answer "today!" and see their look of shock as they realized I was alone on the VERY steep trail and my belly really was as pregnant as it looked. I remember feeling comforted and held by my community as people checked that I had a phone, that I had someone to rely on, that I was ok getting back down by myself.

That night, I had planned to make a Thai recipe. I had all the ingredients. But suddenly, I was CRAVING a "Pinesburger" from Glendale Pines. I called Nate and told him I was going to pick him up after work and we were heading to Trumansburg for burgers. Apparently my body needed the protein in anticipation for the labor to come, because 4 hours later my labor started. Thus I cannot go to Glendale Pines without remembering that day.

Later, after burgers, I remember laying in bed at 10pm, feeling contractions and wondering if it was another false alarm. Like they told me in birthing class, I decided to change my position at about midnight to see if the contractions would stop. After taking a midnight shower and starting to bake something, I knew it was real. At 2am I woke Nate up, and that's where the blog post "Cora's birth" begins.