By the second month or so my garden is usually taken over by weeds. The produce, if I can find it, is mediocre at best. The squash I planted on year one spontaneously combusted and my tomato plants from year 2 produced mutant dwarf tomatoes. I like trying to grow things, but I lack the perseverance to get out there and pull weeds, water the plants, and research natural pesticides. However, I usually have good luck with growing basil, which happens to be my favorite herb, mint (who can't grow that??), and I have a strawberry plant that has been clinging to life from year one, that little miracle. Everything else usually proves to be a toss up. For example, one year I had bell pepper and jalapeno pepper plants that produced well into fall with no care whatsoever and last year my cucumbers went nuts producing fruit like crazy. Pure luck. No skill.
With that being said, I am giving it another go. This year we are planting tomatoes (heirloom and roma), bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, basil, rosemary, mint, and thyme (and the strawberry plant that keeps coming back). I figured I'd go with that works and try tomatoes again because, after all, what is a garden with no tomatoes (dead or alive)?
So, this past Monday my dad came over innocently bringing us pancakes and unknowingly walking into a trap of plant shopping and garden preparation. He helped me pick out new cushions for the patio furniture, plants for the patio, and garden supplies. Then he hoed the weeds out of the whole garden and some of the other beds. I just watched. Thanks Dad. Just kidding. Dad did do all the work, but I had to make another trip to exchange patio cushions and while I was working on that Dad did everything else. So, the garden is ready for planting but I am waiting on these cold nights to go away before I put them in the ground. Right now, they are all living in the wagon and being carted in and outside as needed per the weather. I might have jumped the gun a bit, but Monday was so pretty it just seemed like the right thing to do.
As you can tell by the pictures, particularly the one below, Mason has inherited my green thumb and my fashion sense (cowboy boots with gym shorts, of course). He LOVED pulling the plants around in the wagon, stopping periodically to unload and reload them about twenty times. You better not even think about touching HIS plants either because he is quite particular about where they go. If I tried to move one from the wagon to the garden he would say "stop!!" or "no no no!" He was also a huge help with the weeding as you will see in the video at the end of this post.
This is his weeding stance.
This is his midmorning snack recovered from the sandbox. It used to be an apple.
On Tuesday of last week Mason came down with a rash which turned out to be Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. This is the second time that he has had it and I have no clue where he picked it up. Thankfully, no one else has caught it (yet) that I know of. Other than the sores in the obvious locations, you really wouldn't know he has been sick other than being a bit more fussy than normal. He has been a trooper and thankfully it all seems to be going away but unfortunately, it looks like it may be closely followed by a cold. Sickness go away!!!
On Thursday of this week I started having contractions while I was at work and ended up having to have a shot to stop them. They were just braxton hicks but they were coming so frequently I called to make sure that everything was ok. To my surprise the nurse said "How soon can you be here?" when I was expecting her to say "Oh, that's normal." So, I had to leave work and leave the other pharmacist by herself and I hated that, but better safe than sorry. Thankfully, everything is fine! Baby looked great! The doctor sent me to the hospital for the shot and monitoring and said he might have to put me on some medication if these contractions keep up. We'll see. On the up side, it turns out I am 29 weeks pregnant when I thought I was only 28. It is amazing how fast the time flies with the second baby as compared to the first.
All of that to say that Mason was sick, I was having to take it easy and the icing on the cake was that Ben had come down with cold and flu symptoms the day before and was feeling really bad. So, we were a pretty puny bunch all weekend. My parents came over on Saturday and mom helped me get groceries and cleaning supplies I needed and then single handedly over-hauled the new baby's room and Mason's room in only 2 hours while I went in to work for a bit. I came home to find the daunting task I had been dreading was already done. What a relief! I can't tell you how much better I feel now that that is done. If I can just find a place to put the junk lining my hallway then I will be good to go! I should probably get on that....
Since Mason was sick, he did not get to participate in our Lifegroup Easter Egg hunt for the kiddos yesterday. I was so sad he had to miss out but he had a big time playing at Mom and Dad's. He had been asking to go to "Nana's house" and Cara was passing through so she got to spend some time with him too! (She texted me the photo above.) After Ben and I left Lifegroup (we were in charge of cooking dinner and had already bought everything for it) we took some eggs over to mom and dad's and let Mason hunt for them. He loved it and kept saying "more" after every one that he found. Then after he found all the eggs, he hoarded them and refused to let anyone else touch them unless they were helping get the candy out of them. We couldn't even re-hide them. My dad kept asking Mason if he could have an egg and Mason would say no. So we told him that he should share with BopBop. Mason's response, "No share BopBop!"
Speaking of candy in the eggs.... Mason's daddy filled them up good. We bought some Jelly Beans at Costco and I had purchased some little Reese's eggs to go in them thinking one Reese's egg or a few Jelly Beans per egg would be plenty. However, upon opening them (after taking the tape off) I discovered them packed full of Peanut M and M's, multiple Reese's eggs, or Reese's eggs and Jelly Beans combined. We all got a good laugh about that because Ben is famous for his love of sweets. Our friends from Lifegroup are always sending him home with their leftover desserts or candy. Just last night he got half a bag of Snickers and half a bag Reese Cups without even asking. Everyone is like, "Here Ben, I know you will eat this." He never complains.
This is a picture I took of our friend's baby, Eli. They had me take some newborn photos of him and I was honored but quite hesitant to do so because that is sort of important and I was afraid I would mess them up or something due to lack of experience. For some reason they trusted me with the task and I worked on finishing them up over the weekend when I was trying to just take it easy. I really love taking pictures and I learn a lot with every new shoot, but I am basically winging it and teaching myself as I go. I tried to take some newborn shots of Mason but after the c-section, trying to pose a newborn and take photos in the first week of his life with me recovering from surgery and having a new baby was kind of crazy (who knew?). That being said, I have no idea what I will do this time around. I may be crazy enough to attempt it again now that I have a tiny bit more experience.
And here is the video of Mason helping in the garden....
I am hoping to post our egg dying experience soon!
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