Curtis was blessed in our church last Sunday. My parents and brother came into town to meet Curtis and where there for the blessing. Curtis went through a bit of a rough spot for a while (lots of fussiness) but he’s been much happier the last few days. He’s growing and getting nice and chubby. We all love him lots, except for Peter who is still deciding.
Life is very busy, mostly because I’m attached to a small baby. (Although he is growing quite rapidly–he gained 3 lbs in as many weeks.) We went to the Autrey Mill Nature Preserve before Conference on Saturday and took some family pictures. Here they are:
Here’s some advice I’ve been writing down in my journal for myself. It gives a good idea of how life is.
Spring is in full swing, and it is so gorgeous here. Streets are filled with flowering trees and shrubs in much larger quantities than I’ve seen before. I wanted to go visit a public garden, but not pay a lot or travel far. I finally found the Georgia Perimeter College Botanical Gardens, and headed over for a visit last Saturday. They feature a native plant and fern garden. The gardens are small and I enjoyed the naturalized layout and feel to everything. They also had a plant sale that was also going on and I was sad that I didn’t have a garden to buy carts full of plants for. It looked like a great place to get Georgia natives though, and also to get ideas on using them.
The azaleas and dogwoods were in full bloom making it a great time to visit. I loved the look of the fern gardens, backlit by filtered shade from trees just starting to gain their leaves. It was a great time to take a load of pictures, and I hope you enjoy them.
*Visit the site linked above for visiting information, along with plant sale dates, and free native plant talks and garden walks.
I like to read…though sometimes it’s hard for me to get into serious how-to gardening book. But I will read them straight through (not out of necessity just because I like it), even if it takes me a while. The most recent one was The Well-Tended Perennial Garden. I should have read it eons ago. The main complaint was it was a library copy so I had to return it after I had maxed out my renewals.
The Well-Tended Perennial Garden is the bible on maintaining perennial plants. If you are taking care of perennials, you should have a copy of this box. I don’t necessarily agree with or follow everything she recommends…but the book is an excellent place to start and then experiment on your own. I read straight through the first half, which is a how-to on installing and maintaining perennials. Even after maintaining perennials professionally, I learned a bunch from this guide. The second half is an encyclopedia with specific maintenance instructions for individual species, and that is why I want to own the book.
Because I’m currently nursing a lot, and I read when I nurse, I’ve read a lot. The next book I read was Four Tenths of an Acre
I’ve also read The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels–a Love Story
It’s spring now…and it’s been hot. The AC went on, even when thoughts of a power bill kept me from turning the temperature below 80. It’s a little cooler today…it feels like perfect weather. The trees are getting their leaves which makes me happy inside. The kids and I have been enjoying the nice weather with visits to parks, trails, leaving windows open…today I even bought a few plants and seeds. I would love to spend more time outside but it’s a billion times harder to get out with a baby and tantrums over shoes.
Joe’s computer became quite ill at the end of last week. I have spent hours playing nurse on it…but it remains un-functional. I immeiditely start to get in a bad mood when I think about it. Luckily my computer is fine, and we’ve just been sharing. It’s not the greatest replacement though. Before, Joe would hole up in our bedroom to do his homework, but now he’s out in the main room. A certain little someone likes to see what’s going on…so Peter is learning the names of all the bones on the x-rays Joe is studying, and his homework takes a little longer to get done. We ordered a Kindle Fire as a cheap replacement and plan on sharing both the computer and it. We’ll see how it works.
Peter and Curtis vary between being completely adorable or dropping bricks on my foot and crying. I use a lot of prayers to maintain patience and love. Kids are a lot of lovable fun, but a ton of work too!
Here’s my advice for the day. If you have a baby, ditch the clock. It’s easy to get distracted by how many hours, or lack of hours of sleep I’m getting. Or how long it’s been since baby Curtis nursed, or if he’s nursing long enough, etc. (He’s an incredibly efficient eater for how young he is.) But clocks and babies really don’t mix.
I am doing so wonderfully. I certainly don’t feel like I had a baby two weeks ago. I feel like I should be sleeping more–but in actuality I’m fine with the sleep I’m getting. I’m not nearly as tired as when I was pregnant. I went to take a nap today, and really couldn’t fall asleep. I’m still a little bleary from getting up at night, but not actually tired.
Peter’s been alright with everything–he skipped or shortened his nap for a while, but today he’s actually slept. He does usually like his baby brother, except I’m no longer available to meet his requests all the time. (It’s a good thing that he’s learning to wait a little more and do a bit more for himself.)
I’m very bad at taking things easy…the weather’s perfect right now too. We’ve gone to the park and library, but have spent a lot more time at home. It’s been fun to cuddle a lot.
My sister-in law took some of the pictures with my commandeered camera.  Looking at them, it’s amazing how fast babies change. Already he’s a bit bigger, much more stretchy, and more awake when he’s awake.
Well, after waiting several hours with no progression in labor, I was started on pitocin. Within about two hous, I was holding my brand new baby boy. I conviently forgot how much labor can hurt, but luckily it went fast for me. Pushing was nice and fast–my midwife was in a bit of a rush we almost missed her. We all made it home Sunday afternoon.
I feel super great now. I love being able to be a mom all over again. Peter is being a great big brother. He’s mostly excited about baby Curtis, but is also learning the need to be soft. My husband has been a tremendous help–couldn’t do it without him.
Curtis is doing great. And you probably want to see him, so here’s some pictures:
“Hi Peter”
“Hi! Eh doing?”
“I’m at the hospital. I’m going to have a baby.”
“Oh, great.”
“How are you?”
“I’m playing with my butterfly”
“Have you had breakfast?”
“Mommy have baby”
“Do you want to come to the hospital and see baby today?”
“Yeah, great…..Bye Bye!”
Not bad for a two year old. He sounds excited. Now I have to just convince the other one that my water broke and that means you are supposed to come out now. Not move around and bide your time! Starting pitocin to hopefully get some progression here…
I have a first. The tornado siren went off in the area, and I realized that I frankly had no idea what to do in the event of a tornado warning. Go in a basement or bathroom and wait it out? We weren’t’ that worried about it, and it was bedtime. Peter was already asleep. So all we did was make sure all the windows were closed.
I was also thinking how it would be interesting to go into labor and have to venture out into the storm. And then I woke up at 1:00 in the morning and my water broke, so away we went. It was rainy but not bad. Now I am awaiting the birth of little one.
We’ve been eyeing this hike for quite some time. It’s the closest “mountain” to where we live, although by Rocky Mountain standards, it’s pretty puny. A Saturday finally presented itself that wasn’t rainy, cold, or otherwise occupied so we headed out.
Peter hiked almost the whole 1.3 miles up. We took a lot of breaks and went very slowly. (It took us around two hours to walk one mile. Very slow pacing.) This also helped the very pregnant me make it too. Joe did carry Peter the last few hundred yards. It was pretty windy and cold up top, so we didn’t stay long. It was a fun hike, and I’d like to go back to the park after baby comes and go on some other trails as well.
I’m full term today. I even included a picture of me and my belly recently. I have really no idea when baby is coming…but hopefully it all goes alright when it does come. I’m losing motivation to do about anything… certainly not start any new projects, and I’m ignoring the few I have already started. Mostly I’m running after toddler, sleeping, reading a little, and keeping everyone well fed. And waiting and wondering….
Liz Braithwaite 