We Have Broccoli!!!

After two days of rain and with at least one more on the way, we haven't been out to check on the garden much over the weekend. I went out today to make sure all my plants had not washed away and two of my broccoli plants had a floret on them. Yay!

Firsts

*It seems as if Bryan and I are always saying "Seth's first... and fill in the blank." We thought it would be fun to start a recurring firsts post. The funny thing is, sometimes we have new experiences and firsts of our own, so I thought I would try to include some of them, too.

Seth's Firsts:

• Seth and I went to Kirby Babies at the local library for the first time two weeks ago. We sang songs, read three books, and learned a few rhymes before some play time with friends. Kirby Babies just happens to be during Seth's morning nap, but he was so good. He lasted until play time and then we had to call it quits. He did flirt with the girl next to him. He kept grinning at her and trying to get her attention. It was so cute.
• Seth learned how to find an object under a blanket.
• Played with bubbles
• After the first push up, he has not stopped.
• Seth has tried chicken, cod, leeks, onions, cinnamon, cheese, potatoes, and strawberries in pureed form.
• Helping mommy and daddy turn off lights by flipping the switch. He recognizes light switches all over the house now.
• Went to a pet store
• Strolled around at the Farmer's Market
• Can move from a sitting position to a crawling position

Stephanie's Firsts:

• Made a lima bean wreath
• Made some meat purees for Seth and they were surprisingly delicious.
• Took Seth to Kirby Babies (Instead of meeting some other young mothers, which was really my motivation for going, I met several grandmothers who take care of their grandkids during the day.)
  

Bryan's Firsts:

• He claims none (again). :(

Push Ups

Seth is on the verge of being mobile. Today he proved his strength in the quest to crawl, but still lacks the coordination. He has been doing push ups, literally...

Lima Bean Wreath

A few days ago, I stumbled upon an inexpensive way to decorate the front door. I fell in love with this acorn wreath, but obviously now is not a great time to find acorns, so I opted for the lima bean version. To make the project even more fun, my friend Jo joined in on the wreath-making while the boys (her husband and mine) were at a baseball game Tuesday evening. Yesterday I spray painted my wreath Ivy Leaf green and today it found its new home on our front door.

A Hurt Knee

Today should be my first day of running for Week 3 of the "Couch to 5K" Running program. There is just one problem. I have hurt my knee. During Week 1, I felt pretty good after my first run. My second run, I noticed some pain in my left knee during the running portions. I endured and kept on going. On my third run, I felt extreme pain in my left knee but I was not going to fail at the whole running thing so I kept on even in pain. It only hurt when I would run, but then during my couple of days of rest before starting Week 2, it started hurting more and more. At first I thought it was my knee cap and it kind of felt like I needed to pop my knee. But then it soon became not really my knee cap but the bone on the inner side of my knee (above my shin). Walking became painful and going up and down stairs just about kills me. I have been on the verge of going to the doctor a couple of times, and yesterday when I was squatting down to pick up a toy and I fell forward on my knee I let out quite a scream. It now kind of feels like I have a bruise under my bone if that makes sense at all. I am hoping that if I just give my knee a rest for a while it will get better. If it doesn't I guess I will have to give in and have a doctor take a look at it. I do need my knees after all. So despite all my good intentions, the running will have to wait just a little while longer. So for now, I am back on the couch, but hopefully not for good.

The Start of the Garden

Last Saturday, our friend Wendell came over to help us till the garden. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to have a tilled garden so I set out the week before to dig it up myself. I laboriously had already removed all the sod and dug up the ground with a shovel, but tilling made all my hard work look useless. On Sunday, I planted peas and green beans in our 5 X 18 ft. space. On Tuesday, I bought some transplants at the local farmer's market. So Tuesday evening I planted three lemon boy tomato plants, four broccoli plants (although one was very puny), three zucchini and three yellow squash plants. I have a little over half of a row left for a few okra plants and maybe something else. We protected our garden from all those pesky rabbits with some poultry wire and lots of stakes. Here is a view of the newly planted transplants:

broccoli:

my sprouting peas:

Since I was already playing in the dirt, I started my herb garden on the deck along with some patio tomato plants (specifically designed for growing in pots and seen below).

cilantro:

sage:

rosemary:

sweet basil:

purple ruffled basil:

thyme:

and of course I had to add a little color to the table.

I think it is a pretty good start to the garden.

7 Months Old

7 Months!!! It's hard to believe how much Seth has grown in the past seven months. Our baby boy who once was able to do very little can now...

sit up steadily and play in his bed...

find things hidden under a blanket...

concentrate very hard while playing with toys...pass objects from hand to hand (he loves playing with his own remote control)...
and he loves being outside.

He is able to say mamamamama and eyeyeyeye when he gets frustrated or wants our attention. He can roll over very easily and gets to objects by wiggling and sort of scooting. He wants to be mobile so so bad and we think he is getting close. He loves to read books and swing on the porch swing. He loves music and loves being hummed to before going to sleep. He likes to flirt with the ladies and give them lots of smiles. He is fascinated with everything and is such a sweet, sweet boy.

Firsts

Seth's Firsts this Week:

• Scooting backwards across the room and under a side table. He wasn't pleased with where he ended up.
• Tried beets, bananas, and green beans for the first time. There is a reason why beets cannot be found in the baby food section. They stain clothing while eating and they stain the other end coming back out. Yes, that's right, purple poop, purple bottom, and purple diaper. While Seth did like them, I am not sure we are up for all the purple for a while.
• Moved up to a big boy car seat this week. He loves being able to sit up and look around better.

Bryan's Firsts:

• He claims none.

Stephanie's Firsts:

• Completed Week 1 of the "Couch to 5K Program"
• Prepared our garden and planted peas and green beans.

Goodbye Couch Potato

Flowers are blooming. The weather is getting nicer and nicer each day. Now seems to be as good a time as any to start getting into shape. There used to be a time when I was a size 4 (not that size necessarily matters, but I was incredibly pleased with my body)!!!! Seven years and a baby later, I am no where close to a size 4. I can still fit into most all of my pre-pregnancy clothes, but to be completely honest I wasn't extremely pleased with my body before the dramatic changes that having a baby causes. I am not motivated enough to do a workout video at home. We don't own a Wii. We don't have gym memberships. We really don't have the money to spend on Jazzercise classes or something like that. So I heard about the Couch to 5K Running Program and it actually sounded doable. I am not a runner. I like to take strolls and I don't mind walking, but Bryan has always been the runner, not me. Even when I was in college, I didn't really run to get into great shape. Slowly over time I have become the couch potato that this program is trying to help. About three years ago, I also thought that I would give running a try, and ran a 5K but almost died trying (not literally). I didn't train properly and thus as soon as the 5K was over I quit the whole running thing. This time I want to try to do it right. I want to be in shape and I want to try to get there frugally. Tonight I went on my first run. Bryan found a podcast that followed the program so that I didn't have to keep up with how long I was running/walking. It was some weird music but the guy that made the podcast told you exactly what to do and the first day was actually pretty easy. I felt good. I wasn't completely exhausted (even after making a wrong turn and walking an extra 10 minutes after the cool down at the end). Even though my legs feel a little bit like jello right now, I feel motivated that I can actually do this. :)

Firsts

During the past couple of weeks we have had a few more firsts.

Seth's Firsts

• Tried: zucchini, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, avocado, broccoli, butternut squash, yellow squash, oatmeal
• Played in the grass
• Experienced life without a pacifier
• I almost forgot Seth's first Easter or Resurrection Day as we like to call it. No bunnies, eggs, or baskets, just a great day for reflection.
  

Bryan's Firsts

• Made a growth chart
• After 6.5 years of marriage he absolutely hated one of the meals that I made (and barely ate any of it).

Stephanie's Firsts

• Designed a t-shirt logo for the Western Kentucky Reading Council's upcoming Young Authors' Conference
• Dug up a garden plot (which was very hard work)
• Made this recipe that I loved and Bryan hated

The Giant Ruler

Sometimes a project just doesn't turn out the way that you plan. Bryan mentioned a few days before Seth turned six months old that he wanted to start a growth chart. I hadn't really thought about starting one so soon (I don't know why), but it was a great idea. So trying to be crafty, I set out to make a growth chart. I had seen a few before that were super cute and I thought how hard could it be? Well, folks, there is a reason that they are forty plus dollars on Etsy. A growth chart is hard to paint and when I realized that I should have used paint pens instead of actual paints, the cost was going to be too much. So we decided to go a different route and seek a little help. We did turn to Etsy, but in a much cheaper way. Ditching the old work in progress, we came up with this...a giant ruler.

Once we changed gears, Bryan took over the project wholeheartedly. He picked out the board, oiled it, and applied the vinyl to it. We think it turned out great and better than we had planned.
We plan to measure Seth every six months or so to track his growth.

6 months old= 25 inches

(although it was a little hard to see that from this angle)

The Lemon Tree Challenge: Sprouting from Seeds

In case you haven't heard, I am trying to keep a lemon tree alive for two years as part of the lemon tree challenge. In my hopes of getting my Meyer lemon tree two years from the date that the plant started growing, I was determined to get going as soon as possible. I set out to the store the day after writing my last post on the subject to buy some lemons. I cut them open, removed the seeds, placed them in wet paper towels and then into plastic bags (you know like you did in school with lima beans), and put them under our bathroom sink which is a warm dark place. I checked on them daily in hopes that I would see some sprouts. I kept the bag moist. I prayed and prayed, but nothing happened! What in the world was I going to do if I couldn't even get the seeds to sprout? I was starting to lose hope, but then called in the reinforcements (my mom). Our lemon tree challenge rules did not state that I had to be the one to get the lemon tree growing, I just had to keep it alive, so I asked my mom if she could give sprouting lemons a try. Being the wonderful mother that she is, she obliged. When I talked to her on the phone she would always give me an update on the lemon seeds. She was about to give up hope too, but one day she called and said, "the lemon seeds have sprouted." (Apparently you have to pierce them with a fork.) My mom took care of them until this past weekend when she handed them off to me. So to be fair to Bryan, keeping the lemon tree alive for two years from the end of March will be my goal. We'll see how it goes...