Pumpkin at 34 Weeks

I still feel pretty good but very tired. I can't see past my stomach very well but I'm still the smallest of all my friends who are due the same week as me. The kids have to pick up lots of things for me as it's just a bit too hard to bend down. My hips are still sore but not too bad, unless I've been sitting for too long - which doesn't happen often with the kids here! I'm always tired but I know it will be worse when I'm sleep deprived. I've gained 17lbs so far and my goal was 15lbs, but I know I'm still doing OK. My acid reflux isn't too bad unless I eat dairy products after about 6pm.

We had an ultra sound on Wednesday and everything is fine. She measures about 4 1/2 to 5 lbs and she is head down with her spine curved up my right side. So when she kicks it's always on my left side. She actually gets hiccups quite a lot, which Nicolas never did. She is much more uncomfortable than I remember Nicolas being, but maybe it's because with having Nicolas to run after I'm more active than I was when I was pregnant with him. She is still really high up, to the point where I can make it though the night with out getting up for the loo, so I'm really hopefully I can make it until Mom and Dad come on July 7th.

As you can see from the picture, my goal of having a brown belly is not happening! I always thought that living in a hot country I'd have a tan, but if the kids are in the pool then I take the time to tidy or clean or email while they are busy, so I neve seem to just relax by the pool like I planned!

Nicolas at 17 Months - Acting Like a 5 Year Old!

For the last few weeks Nicolas has been more and more brave. He climbs on everything and his co-ordination has improved a lot too. He climbs onto the stools at the counter from the dining chairs so I just decided that instead of trying to stop him I would teach him to be safe. When I cook he sits at the counter and draws with his crayons, plays with jigsaws (he can't do jigsaws yet but we are practicing), and puts the kids markers in and out of the tub we store them in.

Now that the kids are here for the summer he sees them drawing with the markers and he wants to draw too. Yesterday he learned to take the tops off the markers so now I have to watch him in case he eats them or draws all over himself. At the moment all he wants to do is put the tops back on once he's taken them off, but often he's turned the top around in his hand so it won't go on and he gets very frustrated.

He can also use his legs to move himself on his firetruck and he drags it everywhere with him. He will put his feet on the pegs on his trike so we can push him on that as well now. He has definately discovered his strength. I was unpacking the diswasher yesterday when he ran up behind me and grabbed hold of the cutlery draw and pulled as hard as he could. He managed to pull the draw off it's runners and out of the cabinet. We were both horrified and it really scared him.

He babbles all the time but his only real words are still Mama, Dadda, dog, duck, goose and now bye. It was so funny because if we leave somewhere he says "ba ba ba", but with me being English I say "bye" so it never occured to me that he was actully saying bye properly, but with a southern accent. Adam doesn't say 'bye', he says 'ba', so that's what Nicolas says. He had his hearing tested again and everything is fine. I'm still working hard with him on his speech and he can point to lots of body parts and who people and animals are, but he just isn't saying them. He also understands everything I say to him but I'm just going to wait until September and he sees the speach therapist to see if he needs any additional therapy.

Nicolas' bottom molars are through and his top ones are almost through so he now has 11 teeth and can eat anything. Before he couldn't chew meat so I still had to puree it for him, so life is much easier now as he really does eat just what we eat. He still can't load his spoon but he can get the food in his mouth pretty easily once it's on his spoon. I discovered a couple of days ago that he's great with a fork. As the video below from this morning shows he feed himself french toast very easily with a fork. With practice he should be feeding himself very soon with no help. I love every minute I spend with him and I love how adventurous and brave his is. He's always covered in bruises and as my friend Katrina said "he's all boy!"

The Front Garden - Another Posting for Mom

The front flower bed is looking great, but maybe a bit overgrown. We can definately thin some stuff out. The problem is 40% of the stuff dies back in winter, so I don't want it to look bare then. Jon has pressure washed the new fence and will paint it in the next few weeks, so then I can start making the new flowerbeds under Nicolas' window, down the new fence and at the bottom of the yard. I'm thinking roses and sun loving plants under Nicolas' window, mainly things I can cut for vases, fruit bushes along the new fence as that bed will also get lots of sun, and then some tall bushes along the bottom fence, for privacy with hostas and shade perennials mixed in for color. All this will take MANY years to do, but I'd love your ideas in July.The overview
The pink is some kind of lamb's ear Stephanie got for me and I love it. She's going to try to get some more. The agapanthus is about to flower and the tall spiky thing is a blazing star I'd forgotten I'd planted which will be purple. The lorepetum is being smothered by the hydrangea which is blooming for the first time and I love it! There is also a daisy that never flowers at the bottom right of the picture. If it doesn't flower this year it's being moved.
The daisy is at the bottom left of the picture and the rest is day lilies, which are doing great and could be divided this year and a salvia, which also loves it in this bed. At the back is the mahonia (spelt wrong I think) which is being smothered and a lobelia which is also being smothered by the succulent with the pink flowers (I can't think of the name at the moment)
In this area I planted the chrysanthamums (spelt wrong!!) I had in tubs last year and they are doing really well. There are also the day lilies and oriental lilies which are all smothering my variagated butterfly bush. I'm moving the butterfly bush this year as it's never done anything here. I also have some forget me nots and coreopsis that are buried at the back and need moving to a sunnier bed.

Apart from the blazing stars that I forgot I planted and are a bit too tall for the bed, everything here is fine and I'm really happy with it. The gardenias were in flower for the shower so it smelt wonderful when everyone arrived. I put some petunias in the tubs by the door and in the first two whiskey barrels, and that will be all the annuals I do this year. My pansies will be dead in a few weeks but hopefully the day lilies will make up for them.

First Week of Summer

It has been so much more tiring having the kids than I thought! Because they had been with me for Nicolas' first trimester I thought I'd just be tired like that, but it's much worse! They have been so good but I hate them watching more than a couple of hours of TV a day so I plan as many things as possible to do with them as I can manage. We went swimming with some friends and their children on Tuesday and we've been to the park each day and the neighbor's kids have been over to swim most days. Luckily they are quite happy drawing or playing as long as I'm with them.
Nicolas has decided that he's at least 4 or 5 and can do everything that Jaden and Kirsten can do. He now goes down the slides at the park by himself and sits at the counter to eat and tries very hard to be 'big'. It's a bit nerve wracking at times, but I try to give him his freedom, within reason.

Both kids are so sweet with him and will fight over who gets to play with him. Jaden has said several times to me that he would die if something happened to Nicolas, which I thought was sweet. He's also started to call Nicolas Nic. I don't mind at all, but I pointed out to Jaden that when the 'real' Nic gets here in July, it could be confusing.

The grass has grown really well in the front yard, so we moved the playset and Nicolas' new sandpit down there. It's still a bit patchy, but we'll reseed again in Autumn, but it's a million times better than it was. I thought the kids would be too old for sand, but they've spent a couple of hours each day in the sand.

Nicolas gets bored quicker than they do in the sand and loves to walk around with a bucket on his head for some reason!
Just all the cooking and extra picking up and loads of laundry and emptying the dishwasher add up for me by the end of the day. The kids have a list of things they have to do each day and they are pretty good about helping. Poor Adam has had a crazy week so he's been home late, but I did get to go out on Thursday for one of my Mom's Club nights out. I was so tired I was home by 9:30pm! I just have to pace myself and do as much as I can each day because I'm sure I'll be more tired when Pumpkin arrives and I'm up every few hours during the night!

Memorial Day 2008

Last weekend was pretty busy which is why I've only got to blogging now. I spent the week getting ready for Jaden and Kirsten coming and finishing all the things I needed to get done and cooking for my shower. I had my baby shower on Saturday which was wonderful. I don't have any pictures yet as my friend Caroline took them all, but I'll post them when I get them. Pumpkin got so many clothes and I just felt overwhelmed by everyone's generosity.

I spent Sunday washing her new clothes and sorting out Nicolas' room to make space for her stuff and also getting everything ready incase she comes at 36 weeks.

Then on Monday it was Memorial Day and it's turned in to a tradition that all the Woodall extended family come to us, as it's usually the first time it's warm enough to swim. We had a really great time and it was so good to have Jon and Tori here. I'm so glad they moved here.

Jon and Ben by the pool.

Woody and Stephanie brought some amazing ribs and chicken and everyone else brought sides or dessert, so I had virtually nothing to do as the house was still clean from the shower on Saturday. It makes Adam and me so happy that we get to have things like this at our house because when we bought the house we always wanted to have lots for people around.
I've bought a little paddling pool for Nicolas and any babies who come to play as sometimes it's just too cold for me to get in the pool, but Nicolas always wants to get wet. He's in the pool with his littlest cousin Bowen.
Adam and Woody were in charge to cooking/heating the food so I got to relax after all the cooking I did for the shower. Poor Adam was very hot cooking in 30+ degree heat!

Clockwise from the left: Erin, Stephanie, James, Ben, Jame's girlfriend Megan, Jon and Tori
Clockwise from the left: Megan, Jon, Tori, Erin, Stephanie, James, Jack and Ben
Woody and Bowen relax once the cooking is done
Woody's sister Kay and Adam's cousins came too with Adam's great Aunt Genie. Josh, Woody, Kay, Caitlyn and Aunt Genie.
Adam's other cousin Laura Beth, Stephanie, Ben and Bowen. Adam's oldest cousin Ashley is away at university, so she couldn't make it. It was a great day spending time with family.

My Garden - A Posting for Mom!

This is infront of the top shed. To the right of the photo is jasmin, but the Cote Bank wild rose is going crazy so I'm going to move the jasmin to a tub on the deck (if my hips hold out today!) and train it around our bedroom door. I also need to move the stones edging the bed forward now the roses are growing so I don't mow over the rose branches. In the middle is what I think you said was the American pillar rose. It's doing well but not blooming yet, the Cote Bank rose has about 10 flowers. There are also a couple of lilies in with the coral bells and varigated grass and honeysuckle.

The huge "triffids" are lilies and the pink is the knockout rose. The winter flowering jasmin is going crazy on the end. Basically this bed is fine, apart from the jasmin and moving the stones forward.
The azaleas love it in front of the kitchen window so I need Dad to dig me a hole (through the gravel-sorry!) on the left of the picture, right in front of the window. I planted some irises there, but I have an azalea which would be much better and still provide access and shade for Leo in summer. Everything else is doing great, including the butterfly bush, at the back on the right, but depending on how big it gets, I may plant some more things under it as there are lots of weeds and exposed soil. The lace hydrangea loves it infront of the BBQ and there is a gardenia at the corner of the BBQ.
This shot shows how the grass is growing, but is still patchy. I'm very happy with it as it's a dream to mow now and we can just keep reseeding it in Autumn. I may need to move the wood forward as the plants expand, but mainly I just need another sunny bed (probably in front of the bottom shed) to move some of the plants to. At least I know what does really well now.

This bit in particular needs thinning out as I have all kinds of things growing on top of each other.
The yarrow and verbena are great and I will definately divide/buy more next year. This is also a great spot for my lilies. I cut the ones in the photo at the end of the blog from here.
The tall stuff on the left is beebalm. The label calls it Monarda "Jacob Kline" if that helps you know what it is, and it's just too tall for the bed. Also on the right is the sage thing that doesn't seem to do much. If it doesn't flower I'll move it to a tall bed as filler and fill this bed with shorter plants. The irises and ice plant love it here and are doing great.
This is more beebalm and daisies. Again it needs moving and replacing with something shorter. The lilies love it here and I'm hoping the lily in the photo lasts until Saturday to be the center piece for my shower. The little plant bottom left is a heather like flower with varigated leaves which adds a bit of interest in a green bed.

This section is doing great with hostas, coral bells, azaleas and hydrangeas. It all just needs thinning out when we make a new bed under the bottom tree - sorry Dad, more digging!!

These were the lilies from the garden with some yarrow mixed in. I definately want to plant more lilies for next year. I've made a plan for what I think would work in each new bed we make, but when you come we may only be able to do some prep work as it will be too hot to move plants. You can give me your input ready for Autumn planting.

Nicolas Wants to be Grown Up!

Now Nicolas has mastered the art of climbing, he climbs on the dining chairs and then on to the stools at the counter. So far he hasn't fallen off and I watch him carefully, so I let him because all he want is to be like Jaden and Kirsten and sit at the counter and draw, which is rather sweet.

His drawing skills are definately improving but he would still rather eat the crayons than color with them!
I don't feel like I spend a lot of time on the phone, but I must, because Nicolas' new thing is to walk around with anything phone-like pressed to his ear. His favorite is Jaden's gameboy or the remote for the TV. I won't let him have the real phone as he keep deleting my numbers by accident!

Nicolas' First Time at the Beach

We were about an hours drive from the beach, so we only went once. We drove up the coast a bit, which was pretty unspoilt but there was no way to get onto the beach because there were houses built right up to the water. We were both very glad that Woody didn't decide to settle in Atlantic, NC because there was NOTHING there!! We had lunch by the dock in a town called Beaufort which was really pretty but the food wasn't so good. All Adam and I wanted was to eat amazing sea food by the ocean, but the only really good meal we had the whole week was when we met Adam's Mom at Ruby Tuesday's to treat her to dinner for her birthday!!



In the afternoon we drove down the coast a bit to find a beach for Nicolas. He wasn't very impressed with the beach or the sea and just wanted to climb on the stairs to the beach, so we only stayed there for about 30 minutes. Adam and I didn't want to get covered in sand and the sea was freezing. We'll wait until we have Jaden and Kirsten with us before we do a proper beach vacation.



Nicolas' first look at the sea.

The beach was very pretty and the sea was very clear.
The love of my life! It was so wonderful spending a whole week with Adam, I really miss him now he's working so much. Part of me wishes I could go back to working for him so I could spend everyday with him, but I know Nicolas needs me more now, and being with Nicolas is like having a miniture, blue eyed Adam with me anyway. Looking fat, but not pregnant on the beach!