Lest I Forget

Last week, right before a long four-day weekend, I had an ultrasound to determine the position of the placenta, since it looked suspiciously close to the cervix at my 20 week scan. After not so patiently waiting the whole weekend, I got a call this morning. It is close. Four millimeters close. Too close. There will be more ultrasounds, one at 32 weeks and again at 36 weeks, to monitor how things are progressing. The hope is that as the uterus expands, it will pull the placenta back. If not, then we are looking at a C-section. My first after six normal, uncomplicated deliveries. So I am asking for prayers that things will improve enough that I can avoid surgery. And if that is not the case, then please pray that I will be brave. I am a wimp about these kind of things. No medication for a natural delivery? No problemo. Put a big needle in my back and then slice open my skin? Egads! I will also let you know that I have had this sense of urgency to get things ready early this tim...

With my coffee mug in one hand and the hose in the other, I started watering all my little garden beds this morning. The cucumbers are starting to develop vines and are filling in the beds quite nicely. The okra are about 6-8 inches tall. The squash plants (whatever variety they happen to be) have huge wide leaves, though I have seen no blossoms yet. I even have a few volunteer tomatillos plants from last year that do have little yellow blossoms adorning them. I bought some tomato and pepper plants from a local vegetable stand and those are not looking too healthy. I may have to buy some more. As I walked over to the herb garden, I startled a fat little toad. I called to the kids through the open windows and all three little ones came running out the door. Holding up my hand to slow them down, they approached cautiously. They were able to get within a foot or so before he tried to make his escape. He chose poorly, however, and ended up cornering himself so that the kids were able to ...

Joining the Yarn Along over at Ginny's! Well...it's done. The bolero. I would definitely not use a pattern like this again. This is a small piece of knitting and I had to seam together five, count 'em, five pieces! Then I had to pick up hundreds of stitches around the neck and body. The front pieces never came out like the picture that made me want to knit the pattern in the first place. OK, that's the bad stuff.  The good? I love the color, I love the lacy pattern, especially how the back turned out. Oh, and I am done reading that pattern! Most definitely good. The following pictures have nothing to do with knitting unless you factor in that it is warm enough to send them out back to play while I work on things like picking up hundreds of stitches. (for which I need quiet or I lose count!)  Why does Jack think roller skating and swinging are a good mix?  I can not even begin to tell you. And why, oh why does my 20 month old have to b...

I am so glad I can....now. I have had several great posts that were profound and deep (or maybe they were stories of the things my kids do that make me wonder what kind of geniuses we are raising around here). No matter the content, I could not write them. Every time I tried, I was faced with a blank screen. Being the computer savvy person that I am, I complained to my husband to please fix it, soon. He suggested that it might be caused by our filter we have to block out all the internet nastiness. Not believing him, I sat here for days, wishing I could get into my blog. Today I finally summoned the courage to call tech support and admit defeat and in less than two minutes, he had my computer problem solved. Makes me wish there was a tech support line for life and all its questions. Here is what I wanted to tell you about: Bright and early this morning, way before I would normally get up, I was ready to head out the door to take my glucose tolerance test. You know, where...

I realized on this Mother's Day that I have not taken any pictures of me while pregnant. Doesn't this seem like the perfect day to remedy the situation? I got out the camera and someone else thought they needed to dress for the occasion!  I love, love, love how this candid moment captured her better than any of the pictures I took for her 1st Communion shots.  Photo by his sister Anna  I had Tony try to take some pics, but unbeknowst to us, chaos was in full swing indoors and about to make an appearance outdoors as well.  See what I mean?  Once we regained control (somewhat), I had Olivia take her turn behind the camera. These were totally unplanned. I think they are sweet. Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's who happen to stop in today!

With two very ripe bananas on the counter and a craving for something warm and delicious for my morning meal, I browsed the recipes at foodgawker until I came to this recipe . With very little to modify, (I substituted 1/4 cup coconut oil and 1/4 cup applesauce for the butter), I deemed it worth a try. I also left out the nuts, only because I wanted the kids to eat them too. If it were not a success, I would not be sharing it with you. Go ahead, make your taste buds happy. My taste buds could not wait for a loaf to bake, so I made muffins instead and baked them for about 20 minutes.

This past week has been a whirlwind! It seems like things always come in clusters. Anna's First Communion required a lot of preparation, at which I am not particularly adept. Luckily for me, everything came together quite nicely, thanks to the help of my mom and some very good friends!  Doesn't she look lovely in my dress?  I see a little nervousness in those eyes.  A family shot. I would like to point out that my camera is not capturing the true color of the den. Here we all look a little green in my opinion! I would really like to get a new camera, but that is not in the immediate budget. A car to fit us all is.  My parents and two little kids who are very tired of posing. A funny little story about my dad....For breakfast he got himself a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. He enjoys sitting outside on the deck with his breakfast. He came right back inside though, stating, "This is NOT apple butter!" You see, my dad is color blind and ...

I am joining Ginny's yarn along this morning even though no projects are finished. The bolero has been steam blocked and seamed. I really like steam blocking. It was my first attempt and the pieces came out beautifully. I started to pick up stitches for the edge, but realized it would be smart to place more markers than I did along the way. I need to pick up 200 stitches and making that come out even has proven challenging, to put it mildly. To take my mind off all those stitches, I started a little kitty as a baby gift for a friend. I am almost out of yarn though. If I don't have enough, I think it will be a hand puppet for Therese, since that is what she thinks it is already! I love this little book I am reading to the kids, and so do they. Jack looks ahead to see if it will be a short or long chapter, hoping for the latter, and begging for two chapters if it is the former.

On Friday, in yet another of my crazy attempts to achieve perfection before guests arrive, I drove to Lowe's to find some chain to fix a broken swing on the swingset. But really, I had another mission. I wanted to buy flowers to fill the front flower beds so that when everyone came to the door, they would be greeted by a lovely, colorful display. One look at the price of already grown and blooming flowers dashed my hopes and trampled them down. I moved onto the little tiny plants sold in packages of six, that have barely begun to grow. I let Anna pick out some pretty plants that can tolerate the full sun of our front yard. I also snuck a package of basil plants into the cart on the way to the checkout counter. Today, we planted them. I took out the overgrown lettuce plants from last fall that had bolted and put the tiny, tender basil plants in their place. Then we moved out front and pulled all the weeds from the bed. I sat back and studied the area, pondering how best to arran...