Time to Garden!

It's that time of year again where you can start to work outside and get the earth prepared for a new garden! I love this time of year! When I look at the earth all freshly tilled up and ready it just makes me giddy for some reason. It's like I am working with mother nature to help her do her job and helping to create new life. I know weird...I don't think I am even explaining it correctly.

But I love to work in the yard. I enjoy mowing the yard, pulling weeds, pruning bushes, planting and harvesting a garden, planting flowers and cutting flowers. It's all wonderful to me! I can remember working on my green thumb as a child. I thought the rhododendrons in the front yard needed some pruning. Yea, that went a little too far. I almost killed them. My sister Cathy got me a mix of wild flowers one year for my birthday. I couldn't wait to dig up the ground and make myself a flowerbed. My favorite flowers to see each year are the Crocus and Daffodils. The reason is because they are a sign that spring is coming.

So last Saturday (March 24th) Jared and I took Benjamin outside and got to work on the garden. We even made a new garden bed!! We realized last year how much bell peppers and jalapenos really love the heat and on the back of the house is the perfect spot that gets really hot. We have a few more things we need to do but we are getting there.

28 Weeks

Here I am at exactly 28 weeks. We took this on 3/23/2012. I am starting to feel very pregnant. My body is doing okay with the pregnancy. I'm grateful the morning sickness phase passed quickly.

Our little girl is very active and kicks a lot. I'm learning a lot about how after the first pregnancy you notice more things like kicks earlier and contractions. The contractions are good thing but I do have to take a break and rest. Yesterday Jared commented to me that I always over do it. I can't help it! There's a lot to do. I just try to drink my water and stay hydrated and then pay attention to when the contractions start and take a break.

Benjamin likes to play with my belly sometimes. I am trying to explain to him that his sister is in my belly. When this little girl comes it will be a whole new world for Benjamin and our family. We are so excited!! June 15th is right around the corner. I must say I time these babies pretty well. Summer babies mean summer time at home.

The Unexpected Working Mother

I've always wanted to participate in a Wordful Wednesday post hosted by Chocolate on my Cranium but I always forget, run out of time, or just don't do it. I am finally going to do it today.

My husband and I had our first child in May of 2010. We were so excited to finally have a baby after being married for almost 5 years. We knew that we did not want to have our child in day care so we made some cut backs on our expenditures so I could quit my job and stay home with our son. I was home for 3 months when work called asking if I would be willing to help with a project part time from home. Jared and I felt it was a huge blessing to have the extra income and since I was still at home we said yes. That lasted for almost 5 months and ended in December of 2010. We knew money would be tight again but we knew we were doing the right thing by having me be home. The mother's role is a nurturer and should be with her children.

Well mid January came and our world went upside down. My husband lost his job and we were both on unemployment. Once we got past the shock of the situation we realized we were being blessed unexpectedly. Jared got the opportunity to go to school in the spring. I found a job coaching track and field. Money was extremely tight but with the help of different programs, our savings, and our food storage we were making it through. I never thought I would be using my food storage for a non-natural disaster situation like this.

In April I got a phone call for my old job asking me if I wanted my job back. I couldn't believe it. I had been looking for a full time job as now we knew that I needed to work and support my husband to go to school so he could in time support our family so I could be home with our children.

It has not been the ideal situation that I would have picked out with me working full time and being the provider but what a huge blessing it is that I have the skills and a team who believes in me that I can provide for my family. My husband and I have tried counting our blessings through this trial over and over again. They are numerous. We've been blessed to always have food, to be able to pay our bills and still have our son home with us. We've had to use some other resources to care for our son but it's always been in a trade situation (you watch my kid, I'll watch yours). I feel so blessed as we've gone through this trial and changing our circumstances from what we expected to do and how we were living.

Flowers from Nana's Memorial

Aren't these flowers beautiful? I had to take their picture to keep them in my memory.

My mom gave them to me today after doing a slideshow of my grandmother's life for her memorial today. It was so fun and I got to use my new portable scanner.

Again and Again

Once you know you can do something you want to do it over and over again right? Benjamin keeps running back to his bedroom (even if the door is closed...he just opens it right up) and climbs up into his crib.

He does have another favorite spot to hang out though and that is under the rocking chair.

We've had fun hanging out in his room letting him climb into his crib and playing. Amazing how it's a fun place now that he can get into it on his own.

Climbing Into His Crib

Yesterday Benjamin showed us how he can climb into his crib. Thankfully for now he can't climb out.

My new hair cut.

Hair Cutting Time!

Benjamin's hair had gotten a little on the long side. It was starting to curl in the back and took a lot of brushing. I had desired a haircut for some time and after a bad attempt at myself I decided to just wait. My mom is in town so she was able to cut my hair while Jared cut Benjamin's.

Benjamin takes more than one person and Phineas and Ferb to manage to get his hair cut. It tickled him a lot but at the end he was not enjoying it has he hand to held so still to get it cut.

I was a much better person to cut hair on. Though I always worry that I am not sitting straight and making my hair lopsided because of it.

Before

After