Bubble Fun

Last week during my OB appointment (I was 38w5d in these photos) my mom rode to the office with me and took William to a park right around the corner. There is a pond full of geese and a sidewalk that goes around it. Also some shady area with picnic tables. So, a toy lawnmower, bubbles and a ball provided 2+ hours of entertainment! Here are some sweet photos she took of us playing together since we will soon have a brother or sister in the mix.

I have been making an honest effort to pay less distracted time with William. The weather has been beautiful and we spend hours at a time outside. My phone is inside. Everything else can wait (unless my husband is away on travel for work). I realize that our lives will soon change and I want him to have my full attention as long as possible. It has also left me with mixed emotions about asking his grandmothers for help even though I may need it. I feel bad "passing him off" even though he has a wonderful time with them.

I LOVE his sheer joy in this photo!

Another fun shot except my eyes are closed so darn tight...

Sharing bubbles with the baby

Time Out Tuesday #2

On Saturday this smile absolutely made me cry. Sure W has made "milk drunk" smiles while nursing and smiles related to bodily functions, but this one was during playtime and in response to what else...funny noises I, as his mommy, was making. I haven't captured his smile again, but this one photo could hold me over for awhile :) I consider it an [early] Happy Mother's Day/Happy Birthday smile.

This is my family and it is perfect for me. The baby definitely has his Dad's blue eyes, but I'm not sure you can tell here. This was at our Mother's Day dinner (who wants to fight the brunch crowds??). When I came down from feeding W on Mother's Day there was a beautiful framed 8x10 photo in our entry way of my husband and I kissing W after a bath, a photo that my mom took during her first visit to meet the baby a few weeks ago. When I went into the kitchen there was another photo, one of me and baby taken when he was 11 days old. These are the types of gifts that make me cry. I also got some birthday gifts from my in-laws since today is my birthday!

And just to show how much he has grown in 6 weeks, here he is propped up to a semi-sitting position that I'm sure wasn't too comfortable for him, but posed for the sake of a picture, in the family cradle (more on that here).

Right now he is napping, a great birthday gift since I had time to take a nice long shower, start giving myself a pedicure, have hot(!) coffee and read a few sections of Sleep is for the Weak, a funny book on motherhood that a friend gave me.

Take some time to enjoy your little ones today!!

Spring has Sprung

As my family and friends in Connecticut experience a fluke end-of-March snowfall, I can't resist sharing photos of our spring blooms at our home in Maryland. I know it doesn't look like much now, but considering most of the plants were rescued from choking vines in our woods and "split off" from a friend, I am very happy to see everything coming back strong since this is the first year we have seen them come up on their own. Maybe I am better with flowers than I thought :).

I am still waiting on our trees: cherry blossom, peach, apple and walnut, but here's a glimpse of the signs of spring so far.

Daffodils

Hydrangeas

Lilies

Sedum

tree (don't know the kind)

another tree

We planted our vegetable seeds a few weeks ago indoors in a Burpee container that was successful last year. This way, our veggies have already started growing by the time we put them outside in early May (depending on the weather). We start everything from seeds except for our Butter Boy tomatoes. This also makes it practically free. We also planted carrots, onions and lettuce into the vegetable garden already as seeds since they are more hardy.

Crazed Fan Weekend Hop

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Ours grows with lots of hard work and the help of my expert gardener husband!!

If you saw the last issue of Southern Living and the beautiful hydrangeas maintained by one southern man (yes, I said man), then you know why I love these plants. When we moved to Virginia in 2007 I was surprised by a large hydrangea that had the deepest periwinkle flowers in June and I knew I wanted to plant my own. This weekend, after reading about the type of light they like best, etc, we bought three of them. Consider them birthday gifts for me :). Last year we planted trees and this year we opted for two beautiful deep pink hydrangeas, a blue one, and a bright pink peony for the sunny side of the house.

Did you know that hydrangeas are known to bloom right around Mother's Day? Well, this was exciting news for me because that means they should always look nice right around the time of my birthday (May 10th). As you can see, our pink ones are in full bloom right now and our blue one is a few days behind. Last night I noticed some of the flowers opening up so I will take another picture once that happens.

In order to plant our new bushes, we had to till the ground, dig an edge, and mulch the flowerbed. Brad is a perfectionist, which is usually quite helpful, so he did the edging and I raked, shoveled and planted everything. I even buried an old rusty hook in the hole for the blue plant since it is supposed to make the color of the flowers better due to the acid content.

I am happy with how it looks and can't wait for them to keep growing. It sure is nice to see them everytime I pull into the driveway!