Garden Update

We are slowly starting to get sprouts. The squash, corn, and onions have all sprouted. I think the green beans have sprouted too but it may just be a weed. My cilantro has died. One of the tomato plants has a flower. I tilled up some of the areas that weren't growing and replanted some cauliflower and broccoli - wonder how that'll grow?? It has been wonderful having the garden. It is so nice to have an outdoor area growing nourishment for my family. It does bring me piece of mind. I enoy watering it twice a day and the kids are enjoying it as well. It is a twice daily trek out to see what's happening out there.

The kids had made these cute signs. I had taken pictures of them so we could remember them. Unfortunately, I had the kids use washable markers so the signs don't look nearly as cute now :(

Peach Pickin'

We went peach pickin' today!

I was up with the sun (and Baby J, of course) and was anxious to get out of here at 7:30 to get to the peach place to pick those peaches. Daddy Piper decided he wanted to join us and that put us leaving here at 8:30. The extra hour was not wasted though - L and S got their room cleaned : -) S choked on his medicine during that hour too. It must have gone into his lungs some how and he stopped breathing for a second or two. I was so scared. It took a long time for him to get his breathing back to normal.

While snuggling with Daddy Piper this morning, L came in to get me because as she put it "J was into the milking stuff". What stuff I wondered? Oh I quickly found out - my pumping stuff. Guess I am the resident cow around here : -)

We picked 22 pounds of peaches. I had no idea it was that heavy! The kids so enjoyed picking those peaches. The day was perfect for it. Very rainy and cloudy - a nice change for these parts. The hardest part was getting the kids to understand to check for ripeness before plucking the peach off the tree. Baby J got his first taste of a peach. Daddy gave him some right off the peach. Of course when I did it, he bit off some. We were told to eat as many as we wanted and enjoy the experience so we did! We came home and I made peach freezer jam.

Later this afternoon, we went to Lowe's and purchased a much needed BBQ grill. It wasn't money that needed to go out right now but our 12 year old grill needed replacing. This is my birthday gift and I couldn't be happier. We (I!) use our grill at least 3 x week so it'll be fun to get used to a new one. We christened her tonight with rib-eye steaks and boy were they good (although honestly they tasted about the same coming off the new one as they did the old one!!).

Tonight to go with the steak dinner, I prepared my first peach cobbler. L helped with this. It even included 1 farm fresh egg from our neighbors. Peach cobbler is something I remember from my childhood thanks to my "adopted" mom. She made frequently in the spring. I would beg for it constantly. I hope to instill the same type of memories into my own children.

I read tonight on a wonderful woman's blog the saying "Start as you mean to go". I LOVE this. I think I am going to print it and hang it up to see regularly. What a great way to live life, especially when raising children. Another great point to the day was talking to a dear friend from MN for a bit. I was so lucky to have worked with her for a few friends and we have remained friends, despite the distance. I had really thought we would be back in MN by now, damn economy get better already!!!!

Also tonight I ran some peaches and some of that wonderful cobbler over to our neighbor as a thank you for the eggs. It was nice conversation. I am really trying to enjoy life these days.

As it is now getting late and Baby J has been sleeping for 3 hours, I suppose it's time to wrap up. I just finished getting some peaches ready for the freezer - why did we get so many peaches??!?Oh I wanted to record that Baby J is now taking formula too. He is doing great going back and forth from nursing to a bottle. His u/s came back normal today so we are to increase his liquids and hope that makes up for the dry diapers.

Okay now off to bed!!

Baby J is CRAWLING!

While I was gone this weekend (I was gone for exactly 24 hours!), Baby J began crawling on all 4s. He is now fully mobile and into everything. He will not come onto the wood floor into the kitchen all the way though - stays right on the edge. I think it hurts his knees. So he will just sit and whine in the living room until I get him : -)

Pool Time!

We hit the pool for the first time this season. It is so wonderful to have a pool right out our back door! Baby J enjoyed the fresh summer air and cool pool water. He was lounging and grinning for the entire hour and half we were in the pool. L took right to the water right where she left off last year - diving and swimming like mad. She can now reach the bottom in parts of pool, which means she has grown about 3 inches since last summer. S was leery of the pool at first but after some patient instruction from Daddy Piper, was able to put his head under water all the way!!!! He became super comfortable in in the water after only a few minutes. I thoroughly enjoy pool time with the family. I have said it before but it such a nice time for us. We enjoy each other's company without a TV, computer or cellphone intruding. Wonderful time for us all!

Baby J relaxing in sun.

Mommy watching her baby boy enjoying the water.Mama and S doing some swimming with a noodle.Mama and her babies - all 3 of them : -)

Mama and her boys.

Daddy and Baby J. Baby J was so cold towards the end of pool time. Daddy pulled him out of his floatie to find goose bumps covering his arms.
Poor Baby!!

On a side note - Daddy Piper has work tomorrow. WOOHOO!!! What a great blessing this is, especially with the testing Baby J has to undergo now. He'll have an u/s tomorrow and hopefully will avoid the VCUG. I am praying and praying for no VCUG.

Okay off to put kids to bed (they are staying up late and watching Transformers with Daddy).

Vegas Baby or not.....

I was supposed to be in Vegas this weekend with my sis but that plan busted with Baby J being sick. I just couldn't leave thinking something might happen. So being a wonderful big sis, D agreed to stay in town and postpone our trip. We ended up getting a hotel in a town about an hour from us. We did some coupon shopping, had a scrumptious dinner out (with mojitos and dirty martinis!!), and time by the pool (at midnight, nonetheless!!). It was a treat to be on my own schedule and not answer to anyone else's needs - if only for 24 hours. I was disappointed when she was up at 6 on Sunday morning ready to head home. I was home by 8:30 AM : -(. The time together with my sis was amazing and much needed. Next trip - alone with my hubby!!

Chickens

In an effort to be more self-sufficient around here, the talk has come up more than once to get some chickens for egg purposes. I am completely and adamantly against such an act yet a chicken from next door has decided to make Daddy Piper's tire pile a nest and lay her eggs there. L and Daddy found this out yesterday. I found out today. L took me over to show me the chicken and her eggs. She followed that up by suggesting I get the camera and take a picture for our blog : -) Sadly we didn't make it out there before sundown (Dancing With The Stars was on - give me a break!) but hope to get out there first thing and get that picture!

In other news - our seeds are sprouting!! Corn and squash have sprouted. I hope some of the other stuff comes up soon as well. I don't want to spend the summer eating corn and squash only - some carrots and tomatoes would be nice as well.

Off to do laundry - my boy has no more undies!

Mother's Day 2009

Today was a wonderful day!

We went last night to a local pottery painting place where we painted a family fruit bowl which included all of our handprints . The kids had fun painting and I had fun knowing it was a family outing and the result will be a very cool bowl (with exploding paint no less!) on our table filled with fruit and veggies, hopefully fresh from our garden : -) We followed up this fun family time with a dinner to my fav Mexican food place. The dinner was slow coming from the kitchen but didn't disappoint when it landed on our table. Even J enjoyed some refried beans. S declared himself "FULL" and we were ready to go.

This morning Daddy and the kids cleaned the playroom, made our breakfast and did the dishes - I wish everyday were Mother's Day!

The rest of the day went well. I talked with my sis some (she had a coupon emergency : -) ). We talked alot of our upcoming weekend. A getaway with just us!!!!! The only negative to the day was the situation with my mother but that ended okay. I just didn't play into the drama. I had a fun conversation with a good friend, got Daddy some lemons for his ice tea and headed home.

Now I am so thankful for the family I have been given, the home we are filling with love, the yard we are trying to grow a garden in, the friends I have made along the way and the life I live on a daily basis.

Baby J Accomplishments

Baby J is just developing and getting bigger and more advanced all the time.

He can now push himself to sitting up from laying down (first time today!). He is now sitting up. This kinda all happened all at once. He still isn't fully crawling but is trying and sort of army crawls to get where he wants to go. He is still only saying "DADADA" over and over. No "MAMA" yet. Hopefully soon though : -)

Downside: possibly kidney problems like his brother. Baby J hasn't been having nearly enough wet diapers. I thought it might have to do with my period or his teething but after 10 days of 1-2 wet diapers a day, I called the dr yesterday and they wanted him in right away. We headed up there. He isn't dehydrated, which is what they thought but instead might have a blocked kidney. We need to do a renal u/s and a VCUG. He has lost some weight. I am supposed to push the milk and try to introduce formula to get his liquids up. We did try the formula twice over the weekend since I was worried and he is just not taking it. So I started Fenugreek and pumping like mad. I am so scared of the VCUG again. This was the worst experience with S 2 years ago. And the cost - HOLY COW! And it stinks that the cost even has to be a factor in my worrying mind. Of course he'll have it done, without a doubt, but I am worried about the additional impact on our already strained finances.

DONE

The final product! Another shot of the final product.

Now hopefully this stuff will grow....

More Gardening Pics

How Does Your Garden Grow?

We have been talking and contemplating planting a garden. Yesterday we did it!! Well between Tuesday and today, we finished getting it ready. Daddy Piper's work has stopped for the time being so I took advantage of his muscles and put him to work. Tuesday was spent getting the ground level and supplies for building the raised bed. Wednesday was spent building the raised bed, filling it with dirt, manure and good soil and then planting the goodies. We did it based on the Square Foot Gardening concept, giving each item a square foot to grow and then switching around the vegetables next planting season so that the soil gets used to grow different stuff each time. This time we planted the following: Tomatoes, Basil, Carrots, Radish, Onion, Chives, Cilantro, Green Beans, Corn & Squash. We also planted a tire in the ground to do potatoes but I need to find seed potatoes to do this I guess, according to the sources I found online. The kids were having fun helping. I did learn though that neither of the older 2 like to get dirty. Almost immediately after getting their hands in the mud to plant seeds, they want their hands washed! Baby J hung out in his Einstein or in the Pack-n-Play, enjoying the wonderful weather.

L standing next to the ground being prepared for the raised bed. We had to level the ground out before we could out the raised beds down.

S standing next to the level ground, on the tire we are planning to use for the potatoes. This was back breaking labor. I wanted to save the money on a tractor and do it ourselves, so we did it all by hand. I did help about 2 wheelbarrows full but Daddy did most of it.

Here Daddy and the kids are bringing around the manure and top soil for the raised beds. Daddy handing J to L to hold for a second. I happen to catch it from the across the way. She did great holding him all by herself.

Daddy Piper and L realize I caught them on camera after her holding J : -)
Daddy and his helpers hauling the material over to the garden area.
Daddy and Baby J
Baby J after a hard day working in the garden.

Swimming Fun

I don't have any pics from today's adventure, darn it but it was a fun one!

I let the kids skip naps in favor of visiting a friend's house and going swimming in the afternoon. This was no small decision on my part. I am known as the Nap Nazi. We NEVER skip naptime around here. This particular friend doesn't observe naptime and wanted to swim in the afternoon. I went back and forth and finally decided in favor of the activity for the main reason - why not!

So off we went after lunch, to swim and have sundaes. I was soooo nervous taking L, S and J swimming by myself. Daddy Piper didn't have work and I tried to convince him to join us by he skipped out to finish some stuff at home, alone with no help (I wonder what that is like - finish a project without little helpers around??). L did a great job swimming this time. S did wonderful listening and floating with his life vest thing on and Baby J enjoyed his floatie. I learned Baby J doesn't like to get splashed in the face : -) Everyone had a great time. We played in the pool for about 2 hours. I particularly like this friend and her son. L gets along great with G.L. and his mama is a neat person. She's always quick to help with Baby J when things get busy with the other 2 and never makes me feel bad about. S also enjoys G.L. He thinks he is something special. We headed up their apartment and enjoyed ice cream sundaes and some play time. S got to play with the remote dinosaur thing from the GeoTrax DVD and was so awed by it. We might have to get him one for the next holiday/special prize.

We headed home about 5 and home by 6. Everyone fell asleep in the van within 2 minutes of leaving the parking lot. When we got home, both L and S woke up crabby from the missing nap issue. We moved the kids inside and starting getting ready for dinner. Thankfully I had put dinner in the crockpot before I left! L got her hands washed and ready for dinner and S opted out of dinner to rest in the chair. Daddy ended up moving him from the recliner right to his bed where he slept until 7 the next morning!! L and Baby J got all our attention for the night. It was fun to shower our attention on them for the evening.

Daddy's work has slowed down. It sure is nice to have him around but I am worried sick about the state of our personal economy. I know something will break loose and things will pick up but I am worried ;-(

My boys were playing around on the kitchen floor today. S has really taken to Baby J lately. I suppose it has to do with J being more fun and interactable (is that a word?!). S is very attentive to J and enjoys being a being brother to him.



Later this evening, the older 2 ran through the sprinklers outside. They had a ton of fun getting wet and cooled off before their shower and bedtime.
I have no idea what L is doing here. When I uploaded the pics, I found this one. I guess it will remain a mystery what she is thinking at this moment.