Summer Vacation - Weeks 5 & 6

Mom always says that when I do too much I get sick, and unfortunately she is usually right! We did so much in the first 5 weeks of the Summer Vacation and with me not getting to sleep for more than 4 hours at a time, thanks to Nicolas, I started getting sick last week and if finally got me on Friday. Adam had to get up with Nicolas on Friday night (the first time since he was born!) and I've had a temperature over 100 for the last 4 days. Adam has been so sweet looking after me, and luckily Nicolas is little enough that he doesn't mind just hanging out on the bed and playing.

Inspite of that we have still had a fun couple of weeks. We've had lots of friends over to swim and also half the neighborhood kids at times. The kids have had a great time and what we spent on the pool and deck has been more than worth it.

Jaden turned 8 on June 30th and as we had his party the week before, he opened his presents in the morning and then had a "boys" afternoon with Adam and Woody fishing. Kirsten and I stayed at home and baked and watched a movie.

We got Jaden a shark that squirts water for one of his presents.

I spent the early part of last week in the garden getting it ready for Erin's shower. The grass was overgrown and the flowerbeds filled with weeds thanks to all the rain we've had recently.

I spent some of the week clearing out the shed, which is something I have to do a couple of times a year as the junk just builds up in there and then I cleared the area in front of the kitchen window so that I can pave it and plant it properly. It currently looks like a piece of wasteland as I can't get grass to grow there and I see it everytime I look out of the kitchen window. I think it will take me at least another 2 years before I get the garden just how I want it. Never in a million years did I think I would enjoy working in my garden so much.

4th of July was wonderful. Adam spent the morning sleeping off whatever I have now (it took him a day to get over what has nearly killed me!) and then we had Woody, Stephanie, Sam, Russell and the kids around. Adam got fireworks from South Carolina as the legal ones here are useless. They were amazing and even Nicolas seemed to enjoy them.

We had hung sticky fly papers in the gazebo on 4th of July and on Thursday a mother bird, who had baby birds in the corner of the gazebo, flew into one of the fly papers and got stuck. I hate touching birds, but I couldn't leave her there, so I had to put on my gardening gloves and pull her off. It was awful as she flapped and screeched and when I got her off she had left most of her wing feathers stuck to the fly paper. She lept out of my hand and ran off in to the flowerbed. I felt very sad and knew she would probably die, but I hoped there would be a Daddy bird to raise the babies. No such luck!

On Friday I started to feel properly sick but I had lots to do ready for the shower. That was when the baby birds decided to start jumping out of the nest looking for food. In the end I got the number of a woman who would take the babies and raise them. They had little wing feathers already, so they had a good chance of survival, but the woman said I had to have them to her in an hour, and she lived 45 minutes drive away. I put the 3 babies in a shoe box and got the kids to watch them while I woke Nicolas and fed him quickly. Suddenly Jaden ran in to tell me Leo was trying to eat a baby bird that was stuck between the deck and the BBQ. I had to get two little sticks to lift the bird out of the gap as it was too small to get my fingers down and Kirsten's fingers were too short. Thanks to Leo we saved all 4 babies but it was the last thing I needed when I was feeling sick and trying to get ready for the shower. The birds really creeped me out but the woman who took them started kissing them as soon as I handed them over.......eeehhhgggg!

I got all the food done on Friday and woke up on Saturday after 12 hours sleep (thanks to my angel husband) and felt much better. I couldn't have done the shower without Sam's help and Rebecca and Ashley who brought food. I had a great time and Erin enjoyed herself, which was the most important thing. After everyone left Adam and I did nothing for the rest of the weekend, which was quite nice after the crazy last 6 weeks. I just wish I'd felt better so I could have enjoyed it more.