Summer garden

We love our backyard for many reasons. One being, we finally had a spot to plant a garden! It has worked out pretty well; I was excited for the prepping and planting and Andrew has been happy about the maintaining and harvesting. We planted green beans, sugar peas, carrots, basil and tomatoes. In hindsight, we should have planted only one to two plants at a time to get more of each crop. Unfortunately, we don't have that big of an area to dedicate to the garden and have gotten sample size portions of some of our veggies.


Our first carrot. It was an anti climatic harvest.

We have eight tomato plants. I wonder what inspired me to plant that many tomatoes? Especially since I am the only one that likes them...

We all loved the sugar peas. Little Bug happily gobbled most of them up. Little Bug still has yet to expand her meat and dairy taste buds, so this was a big moment.

In addition, while my mom was here helping with Little Tank she planted us a beautiful flower garden in what use to be a dirt patch in the corner of our backyard. It is so nice to look at flowers instead of dirt.



Is it silly to say I am already dreading the end of summer?

Pictures

If this picture were of me as a kid I would look at it and think, I was not as cool as I remember.

On the other hand, if Andrew were looking at a picture like this of himself he would think, man I used to be cool.

Either way, we both hope Little Bug finds this picture as entertaining as we do in years to come.

Baking with Mama

Bug mastering the art of making sugar cookies. Despite her excitement for stirring, rolling and tossing flour everywhere, I still can't get her to try a finished cookie.

Two weeks

And baby makes four

Introducing Little Tank. Born June 19th at 1:42am, 8 pounds 1 ounce, 20 inches long.

Sadly, Bug got two different colds, a double ear infections and the stomach flu all in a 9 day period right before Little Tank was born. So, she missed a trip to the hospital to see baby brother. Here she is seeing him for the first time right after a bath. When we made the introduction she said, "Baby brother is an angel" very sweetly and was genuinely pleased.

Bug has already been a good helper and as you can see is throughly enjoying being a mini mommy. We are all so excited to have a new addition to our family!

39 Weeks

The idea of taking photos while being pregnant has never appealed to me. However, I knew that I needed at least one to document each pregnancy. So, here I am, 39 weeks pregnant with Little Tank.

With my second pregnancy rapidly coming to a close I thought I should record some of my memories down. Although, I really can't complain about this pregnancy there were some annoyances along my way.

1) Having your baby decide to move up into your ribs at 20 weeks and stay there the remainder of the pregnancy makes for a really uncomfortable 4 months. When you then factor in the morning sickness for the first 2-3 months you only have about 1-2 months of feeling comfortable. Bummer.

2) I love soda when I am pregnant. Loved it with both my first pregnancy and my second. I only caved to such a craving about three weeks ago when McDonald's started selling $1 large sodas. Thank heavens that deal just started.

3) My last pregnancy I craved apples. This time around grapes did the trick. I could eat those tasty juicy balls of sugar any time. I wonder if Andrew noticed we started having them as a side to dinner...a lot.

4) And finally, 9 months really is a long time to be hauling another human being around. I know I thought this at the end of my last pregnancy but I must have forgotten.

And now Tank, with the couches done, pillows sewn, and a picture of my pregnant self posted on the blog, you are welcome to enter the world.

Pillows

I finished the pillows! And word to the wise; covering two buttons with thick velvet type fabric and then sewing them through looks much easier than it is. I broke 5 needles trying to get those things on.

For the grandparents...

Bug's rendition of 'Itsy Bitsy Spider.'

Living room make-over

I have not so secretly been trying to get rid of our couches since Andrew and I got married. My sister gave them to us when we moved into our first apartment. Although I was grateful we didn't have to buy couches, I have never loved them. My plan was to off load them before moving to Washington. But, somehow they ended up coming with us. It was at this point I realized they were here to stay. In reality, it was just the fabric design I didn't like. This left one solution; reupholstering. So, over the last three months, I have been spending all my free time reupholstering our 2 couches and 2 ottomans. I am so happy to say about a week ago I officially finished! I gave a big smile when I tossed the last of the blue floral fabric out.

Before;

After;

Considering my sewing machine hadn't been pulled out in 12 years, no exaggeration, this was quite the project for me. I am still doing some work on the green and orange pillows and am hoping to get those done before Little Tank decides to make his appearance.

And a slight confession. I ended up re-redoing the piano bench. Luckily piano benches take about a half an hour to reupholster.

Before.2;

After;


I'm a sucker for animal print and this one has some great texture. Whew! Thank goodness that is all over!

Hammock

Andrew has had a really nice hammock for as long as I've know him. However, with apartment living we did not have a place to hang it up. Sadly it sat for years. Recently, Andrew built a hammock stand in our backyard. Of course Bug "helped" and we have all been reaping the benefits of some relaxing summer swings.