Back to Dirty Diapers

Well, it looks like we’ll be back in dirty diapers sooner than we had anticipated...I mean changing dirty diapers that is…Chris and I aren’t quite ready for diapers ourselves.

Yes it’s true! Baby Bee #3 is on his/her way!

I am 16 weeks…aaaalmost halfway. In some ways I feel like I have been pregnant foooorever, and in other ways I can’t believe that we are almost half-way through this pregnancy. I think being sick makes pregnancy seem loooong. Unfortunately, extreme morning sickness hit around week 6 and thankfully I have Zofran…though it doesn’t help it completely, it makes it possible to function.

Luke and Will are beyond excited! They cannot wait to meet their little “newborn baby!” I think they are going to be phenomenal big brothers and super helpful when our new little baby bee is born.

I have been feeling the baby move for a week or so now – which is my favorite part of being pregnant. It makes it feel very real when you feel this tiny miracle kicking and turning.

My official due date is January 12^th, but I anticipate going late (since Will was so late.) I am already showing…I guess by your third pregnancy, your body is like, “yup, let’s get this show on the road and bring out the baby belly bump!”

(14 weeks)

(16 weeks)

One of the super exciting parts of this pregnancy is that I get to share it with my sister-in-law! We found out a few weeks ago that they are expecting too and I am so thrilled! We are only a few weeks apart, so these cousins will be super close in age!

I will blog with more later, but I wanted to get back to this blog and start posting again.

The garden is growing!

I'm actually quite shocked at how well the garden is doing! I've never tried to grow a garden of my own before, but I'm addicted to gardening now. My only "plant" experience has come from a few houseplants I've had, so I didn't really expect a whole lot of success to come from the garden. So I am pleasantly surprised to see actual plants growing and thriving!

Let me take you on a tour of my gardening journey thus far:

In March, I started some tomato and pepper plants inside. They finally started to sprout towards the end of March:

Chris built my raised beds and we slowly got them ready for planting through March and the first part of April...

(mixing all the soils and compost)

The first seeds were planted in April! I started off with spinach and lettuce and then a little later carrots and onions.

It didn't take long for sprouts to show up! And, as you can see below, I made the rookie mistake of planting WAY to many seeds in one hole. It broke my heart, but I had to pull up all the extra plants...otherwise they would smother one another and none of the plants would grow.

(lettuce)

(spinach)

A few weeks later, the little sprouts were making great progress!

(spinach)

After I was sure the last frost had come and gone, I proceeded to plant the strawberries (transplants), cucumbers, peas, beans and corn. Here is the garden as of May:

(spinach, lettuce, carrots, onions and green beans)

(strawberries, cucumbers, corn, peas)

My garden!

(please forgive all the tall grass...I promise we do mow our grass, we just haven't used the trimmer yet this summer...after seeing these pictures, I guess it's definitely time!)

Here are the tomato and pepper plants that I plan to transplant this week:

This week we will be able to taste the fruits of our labor as I can start harvesting some of the spinach leaves and strawberries! YAY!

Kids Workshop at Home Depot

Did you know that Home Depot sponsors a kids workshop the first Saturday of every month? I didn't know it either! =) I learned this information from a helpful sales member while shopping there. She said it was for kids ages 2-12 starting at 9am and lasting until supplies last...and it was FREE! (I don't know if this is something offered at every Home Depot location or if the age range is the same at every location, but it's definitely worth asking your local store if they do the workshops.)

The kids, since it was their first time attending, got an orange apron with their names on it. They looked so cute it them! The project this month was making planter boxes. They had tables set up with wood glue and little hammers. They each got a little packet that contained the materials and instructions and we started building the planter right away. The boys LOVED using real tools and even got to paint their newly built planter boxes. After completing the project, they each received a certificate and a pin to put on their aprons. It was such a fun little workshop and we will definitely be going back again!I wish I had brought my camera, but thankfully Chris had his phone with him, so we got a few pictures.

After we left the workshop, we let the boys purchase a plant to put in their planter boxes and they both wanted strawberry plants. We bought them, but realized after we got home that strawberries would probably thrive a little better with more space to grow.

So, a few days later, I took them to a local garden center and let them pick out some flowers. They chose these orange marigolds. Once it gets warmer, they will brighten up our porch!

*This is just my personal opinion and experience with the Home Depot Workshop...I was not asked to review or write about it by anyone. I just wanted to share our experience and this information!*

Trying a Square Foot Garden...

This summer, I am trying something I have never done before...gardening.

When I was a kid, my parents kept a huge garden for a couple years. At the time, I didn't know how much work went into it and how much to appreciate all the fresh vegetables that grew. Looking back, I wish I would have taken more notes on how to plant and grow a nice garden! My parents did a phenomenal job!

At our new house, we don't have the space to plant a large in-ground garden. So, I am trying something called Square Foot Gardening. If you haven't heard of it, you can find more info from this website or this book by Mel Bartholomew.

So, the goal is to grow vegetables in self-built planter boxes (we chose to go with the standard 4x4) that don't take up a lot of space. We are doing two boxes this year (hoping to do more next year if this year goes well) as well as some separate tomato plants and a little herb garden.

To say I am super excited is an understatement! With the price of produce so high in the stores (not to mention the questions about how the produce is grown and treated now-a-days) I am very excited to grow our own produce! I bought heirloom seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. It was hard narrowing down what we wanted to try this year...it can get really easy to get carried away with all the yummy looking veggies! So, I tried to stick with the basics...since this will be a learning experience for me.

Chris has been a big help. He helped me plan the planter boxes and built them for me.

It didn't cost much to do this. Just the cost of lumber and the weed cloth you tack on to the bottom of the wooden frames.

Thankfully, Chris had all the tools needed for this little project on hand.

Here is the completed box! See how easy that is!

Rinse, repeat and you have two!

I was a little late in getting my seed order in, so my starter plants

(tomatoes and peppers) may go out a little later then they should. However, I am excited about their progress as the little seedlings sprout through the soil!

So, the next order of business is getting the soil mixture in the boxes (a mixture of different composts, peat moss and vermiculite.) Once the weather clears up, I plan to get that mixture in the boxes and start planning out my seed map and planting seeds!

Fresh veggies, here we come!

Project Saturday

I enjoy scrapbooking. I haven't done it as much as I'd like simply because I haven't really had the space or the set-up. Here's the thing with scrapbooking. Usually you need lots of room to spread your stuff out. So, if you're like me the last few years, this means...

pulling all the scrapbooking stuff out...

spreading it out...

scrapbooking for a little while...

gathering it all back together...

and then putting it all away....

Rinse and Repeat.

The set-up and take-down was such a long extensive process that I tended not to scrapbook because of it.

When we lived in Germany, I did attempt to set up my own space (pictured below)...but it was just to small and I found it hard to spread out.


Now, however, I have found my own little nook to set up a scrapbooking corner. And, because my nook is in the basement, I can even leave ongoing projects out instead of having to continually pull everything out and put it all back again. This is so exciting to me!!!

So, last Saturday I started setting up my nook. I still need to put some pictures on the wall, but at least I have the table, drawers and shelves setup. The only new purchase I made for this space was a large (6 foot) foldable table (about $35) to create lots of workspace.

Before: Here is all my scrapbooking things...organization is needed!

Before: Here is the nook I want to set up my scrapbooking things in.

During: Here are the boys playing the keyboard I found while working...motivational music never hurts! =)

After: Organization completed!

After: My new work space!

Now I just need to find the time to start a new scrapbooking project! =)