May the Fourth be with you

Our Place, May 2011

It's been a while since I've done a post about our home and the improvements we've done to Casa de 1970. We're definitely overdue, and there's a lot of smallish things we've done that we're proud of, so I'm showin' 'em off.

See this vehicle? It's ours. Like, literally ours. We OWN this! 

Aaahh, what an awesome feeling.

 In October, we planted some spring bulbs out front. Last year we had some large pots and window boxes outside, but we both really like the idea of something that comes back each year. Since I was Angie the Pregosaur, I didn't really help with this project, but I'll say "we" just for the hell of it.

First, we started by extending and rearranging the stone border around the bushes. We extended the stones so that they went to the corners of the house instead of just smallish circles around the bushes. I really like this, because it makes the landscaping look a little more polished and less like someone threw some rocks around some bushes.

All we need is the white picket fence.

Next, we planted spring bulbs. Since I couldn't do much of the digging and planting, Graham let me pick the bulbs and decide on their placement.

I picked four types of flowers because I can't ever make a decision about anything. We alternated with red and purple tulips, which look and smell gorgeous.

We didn't have enough tulips to go completely across the front, so we put our tulips on the ends and placed daffodils right in front.

Call it an Easter miracle, but with the exception of the purple tulips which bloomed this past weekend, our red tulips and daffodils were all blooming and open on Easter morning. It was pretty terrific.

Behind the tulips and daffodils we planted purple irises. You can't see them yet, but they're starting to come up. Our neighbors on the corner have gorgeous irises, and I fell in love with them last year. These will come up later in the season, and I'm really excited to see how they're going to look.

While Graham has been doing much more work in the garden than me, I'm happy to say that this year I've been able to help out and work on some of the weeding and planting. Last year I had to opt out and let him do it all because of the risk of toxoplasmosis to me and Nanner. We weren't sure if any kitties had been using the garden as a litter box, so we chose to play it safe. This year, I've been slowly getting myself into the garden, and as the snow melted and the ground warmed, I was suuuuuuuuuper excited to see that my perennial herbs have returned!

Oregano on the left and chives on the right. I have some small sage plants growing behind them, too.

The old lady who lived here before we did loved to garden. Unfortunately, it got too much for her as she got older and she left her flowers and garden to their own devices. Last year we had peonies growing all over the place, small rose of sharon trees all over the yard, and lots of green leaves but only two daffodils. This year we broke open the ground in front of the garage and did some...redistributing.

We created a small raised bed in the back where we broke up some huge clusters of daffodils--like, seriously huge--and then planted some more tender bulbs in front of them. We'll have calla lilies growing here this summer!

My friend Amy yelled at me for uprooting daffodils in the spring because we likely shocked them. Not the best practice, but since we really didn't expect them to bloom this year given their condition, we figured it was okay. I should have taken photos.....you really can't imagine how many bulbs were growing in some of these clusters we uprooted. Some of the bulbs were so small and being choked out! This layout is much better and will give the daffodils a chance to reestablish themselves and actually grow and thrive.

This area will probably always be a work in progress. This side of our garage was a jungle when we moved in. There was a sick rose bush, peonies all over the place, and an infestation of day lilies. Add in some small and stubborn rose of sharon trees, weeds forever, and growth from the neighbors on the left, and we had a situation. Graham spent half of his spring break last year hacking away at the mess back there and trying to make sense of it. He replanted a ton of peonies that were growing where our vegetable garden was, and he broke up some huge clusters of peonies he found over here. He also cut back the rose bush and dug up a number of day lilies because they were taking over. It doesn't look like much now, but once everything blooms, this area is quite lovely.

See these down here? See that growth?

These are the peonies that Graham dug up last spring and transplanted over to this side of the garage. Like I mentioned above, he probably shocked them by digging them up in the spring, because they didn't bloom and just flopped over. However, it looks like nature is on our side because they're growing just the same and will be blooming this season.

So there you have it! Nature and flowers and springtime goodness. You're welcome.

Guess who has teefs?

Just shy of 5 months old, my baby has a tooth. On Sunday night she and I were playing "Nom On Baby" (it's just as weird as it sounds) and as she was laughing I saw a teeny hole with a speck of white in her mouth. I figured it'd be a few more weeks at the earliest, right?

Wrong-O.

I felt around in her mouth yesterday morning and she had a definite bump, but she was still happy and smiley. Yesterday when I went to pick her up, she had a tooth. That thing is sharp as hell, man. Why--or how--is my girl still happy through it all? She hasn't been all that fussy but she puts everything she can into her mouth. Her pedi said it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early for her to be teething, and a month later, here we are. With a toof.

Last night was rough. I gave her tylenol and put her to bed, and almost exactly 4 hours later she was awake and screaming. More tylenol was given, and then again at 2:00 a.m. she was....wait for it...awake and screaming. More tylenol. When 6:00 a.m. rolled around....well, you know where this is going.

She's handling it quit well, though. After some initial discomfort this morning, she was back to being smiley and happy again. She gave me a huge grin when I picked her up, and she was nothing but smiles and giggles all the way to the babysitter. How the hell did I get so lucky?

I wish that teething didn't have to be so painful. I really hope that this tooth business comes in quickly so she can get a little relief and we can ALL get a little sleep.

Happiness is....

Aaaahhh.....

Easter 2011

I love Easter. I love Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween, but I really love Easter. I don't go all out like I do for other special days, but I do enjoy celebrating. There's something about what it means to be as a Christian, and then there's also something about Easter as the official start of Spring. Flowers are blooming, trees are budding, winter is over....it's amazing, man.

I really love the Easter traditions we've started, too. Growing up, we never dyed eggs for Easter (though we did have kickass plastic egg hunts that I always won), but we always watched The Ten Commandments on ABC & went to church on Easter Sunday. Since we got married, Graham and I have created our own traditions and incorporated our family traditions into them. I love that we can have a low-key holiday and have a little fun in the process--even if some of it is pretty secular and doesn't have anything to do with the risen Lord. Heh.

Totally random, but one of my favorite Easter memories involves sitting on my parents' couch with my best friend, Abi, and laughing hysterically over The Ten Commandments. It's a classic, but man...it's terrible. Meanwhile, my mother is sitting next to us screaming, "You people are terrible! You're going to hell! This is a holy movie!"

Oh mom.

Okay, here are your photos, folks.

I love dying eggs.

Note the cracked egg in the upper right. I don't have a steady hand.

"Do you wanna dye?!?!?!" 

You can't see it, but I kicked up my right leg. I seriously love coloring eggs. I'd do it for every holiday if I could.

"When do I get my turn?"

"On second thought, I'll just chew on this guy."

"Get. In. My. MOUF!"

We dyed an egg for Hannah while she works on her fine motor skills.

 The next morning, we woke up and Hannah was delighted to find that EB had indeed arrived.

Someday, she'll actually understand and care that EB showed up. Until then, Easter morning is really just for us.

Yay! It's Easter!

"Ooooh, soft."

"Can EVERY Sunday be like this?"

"What are these things for?"

Lamb finger puppet from Aunt Liz.

The bunny brought Hannah two Cubbie shirts and one Cubbie hoodie. Mommy is very understanding about this.

Getting her crazy on.

All dressed up and ready for church!

After Mass, she was tired. So, we took advantage of the sleeping baby.

Woo! Looking at the camera!

The Easter Bunny stopped by my parents' home, too. Lucky little girl...

The Bunny understands that Mommy & Hannah have a special thing here.

They make Easter toy books? Who knew?

Another storybook, this one about the first Easter.

Did you pay your taxes?

We did!

If there was ever a year that we were paying our taxes, this was it. Hellooooooo refund!

Four Months Old!

I can't believe I have a 4 (almost 5) month old. Hannah's getting bigger and more fun all the time. I'm really having a blast with her. 

Stats: At her 4 month appointment, Hannah weighed in at 12 lbs, 3 oz. and was 24 and 1/4 inches long. The week before at an appointment with her GE specialist she weighed 11 lbz. 7 oz and was just 23 inches long. In the week between appointments, she gained 19 ounces and grew an inch and a quarter. The hell that we were put through in thinking that there could potentially be something wrong with her is OVER. Her pcp, Dr. Love Her, said she's "fine" and "perfect" and doing everything normal 4 month olds should do. Dr. Don't Like Her As Much will probably always find something to nitpick about, and that's okay. It's annoying, but really, I know my kid is fine. "Failure to thrive" my ass.

As you can see from month one, month two, and month three, this kid is growing an obscene amount each day. It's really quite ridiculous. In addition to all that baby fat, she's losing her hair and it's being replaced with light blond and strawberry blond hair. I've got me a ginger, folks. This kid also TALKS. For realz. She will. not. shut. up. Not that it's a bad thing. She loves to talk, and she makes some super fun sounds. If you know me in real life, or my husband, the fact that she never stops talking really isn't a surprise.

Enough of my jabber. PICS!!!

As you can see, I sit quite well.

Jane wouldn't let a month go by without making an appearance.

Hey, what's going on over here?

Woo! I'm up past my bedtime!

Alright, where's the dog?

No, seriously. I know he's here somewhere.

Bingo! Let's get this over with.

We done yet?

I am not amused.

I am obsessed with baby feet.

Besties.

Her dad thought it would be funny to put her pants on her head. Since "everything must be documented", I naturally kept snapping photos.

It's really hysterical how cool she was with wearing her pants like this.

Le sigh. For this, I will languish in parental hell.