• Gardening

    Early Spring in the Flower Garden

    Today is a rainy, dreary day and we’re going to get a slight dip in temperatures to the 50s and 60s for a few days before we return to life in the 70s and probably 80s once again. I was hoping to get a few things done in the garden this weekend, pull some weeds, plant some seeds, and transplant some stuff, but that might be held off until later in the week. The garden is awakening well now, with a few plants taking a little longer than others. A couple of plants I am actually wondering if they are dead but we will give them another month before we…

  • Thoughts

    Birthday Musings

    Hello, 36. My birthday was on Monday. I turned 36. I’m officially heading straight for 40 and that seems really strange. I took the day off because I learned years ago that working on your birthday just isn’t all that fun. If I’ve got the days available, why not take the day off? Last year’s birthday was a bit of a dud. We were driving back from vacation in Port Aransas so most of the day was spent in the car. Forest had been sick that week as had several of us adults, and while the vacation itself was great and we celebrated my birthday the day prior with my…

  • Gardening

    The Formosa Lilies Take Center Stage

    The Formosa lilies grew tall this year, taller than me. They started swelling with buds a few weeks ago and I knew they would be blooming soon. I was worried when we left for the July 4th weekend that the first ones would open without us. But they waited. I love being out in the vegetable garden in the evenings but I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with the flower garden soon. It needs the attention and some doting oohs and ahhs from me as I discover what plants are blooming, what has survived the neglect and weeds. A glance at the abutilon/flowering maple told me that it…

  • Baby Teddy,  Family

    Forest at 18 Months

    We’re deeply entrenched in toddlerhood. Except, when I look at Forest, I can easily see him as a little boy already. The baby-baby is long gone. It’s a fast and subtle change. It seems that every few weeks is a new transition, something that will throw us (and him) off for a few days until we get back into the swing of things. Most of that has to do with sleep…sleep is *hard* around here. At his 18 month checkup Forest was 24 lbs and 9 ounces and 32 inches long. I knew he had grown a few inches since his visit in early December and I believe it was…

  • Reading

    June Book Report

    When I wrote my summer goals last month I mentioned wanting to read three books this summer. I am well on my way to getting that done and adding more to the list. I credit a few things for this, one of them being that I gave up Facebook back in late April. The last time I spent this much time away from the site was for the last half of 2009. I’ve done little hiatuses here and there, but it just got to be too much. I don’t have the personality where I can just say I won’t log in…because I will. I have to actually close the account.…

  • DIY

    Guest Bathroom Makeover | The Beginning

    A week or so ago Chris randomly tells me that he’s going to tackle doing a mini-makeover on the guest bathroom/Forest’s bathroom. This came after several months of dormancy on projects around here so I wasn’t expecting it. Really, we typically keep projects like this (except last summer and working on the guest room and Forest’s room) for the winter time and leave summer for working outside. I guess it was on his mind so he went for it! It was probably the second worst room in the house when we bought it, the guest bedroom being the worst. Now it is definitely the worst room. Chris had already started…

  • Baby Teddy,  Family

    Forest at 8 Months (33, 34, 35, & 36 Weeks)

    In the last month Forest has decided to start doing a modified crawl. One weekend morning he just randomly started making his way towards me where I was sipping my coffee and reading the internet. I did a double take before realizing he was dragging himself along the floor and then jumped up so I could document it! I’d been waiting and waiting for this to happen and here he was, starting to really move. He hasn’t figured out how to put his knees up under him yet, but that’s coming soon I think. It’s insane how this stuff just happens overnight. I know they are preparing slowly, little changes…

  • Baby Teddy,  Family

    Forest at 19 & 20 Weeks

    Forest has been really fun these last few weeks, not that he hasn’t been fun before. The difference is he’s changing daily! It was week 19 that we found out he had started rolling over from back to front at daycare. Chris found out one morning when he dropped him off and told me when I got to work. It was several more days, actually a week, before I saw him do it. I found out Chris saw him do it at daycare, days after the fact, which perturbed me quite a bit. He’s still got some problems getting over whatever arm he’s trying to roll over but once he…

  • Baby Teddy,  Family

    Forest at 12 & 13 Weeks

    How are we already at 3 months old? Y’all???? *sniff, sniff* Forest’s growing up! There have been lots of changes in the last two weeks, he’s really shed that newborn baby phase and taken hold into the just-a-baby phase. Every day a new little light flickers in this brain, activating some other process that had previously been quiet but is now actively engaged. Like grasping, that’s taking off a lot! I only use blankets on Forest when he’s napping on the Boppy or in the Mamaroo, places we keep an eye on him but he’s now figured out how to grab the edge of the blanket and pull up on…

  • Hiking,  Outdoors,  Texas,  Travel & Places

    Upland Island Wilderness Explorations

    Last weekend Chris and I met up in Lufkin, Texas to attend at Zoo Brew fundraiser at the Ellen Trout Zoo. Chris has been working in Beaumont again and one of our field coworkers lives in Lufkin and his wife was part of the Zoo Brew committee. It sounded like a great event and diversion for our weekend so Chris and I went and enjoyed ourselves. We didn’t get to see a lot of the zoo animals as most were put away to avoid being stressed too much. However, we saw and heard the zoo’s many peacocks. I’m pretty sure they need to invest in some peacock birth control; peacocks…