Birthday Bike n' Hike

Yesterday was Orin's fifth birthday.

For his big birthday present this year

we got him a new bike 

which we actually gave to him a couple days ago

so that he could use it on our daily walks around the neighborhood.

 For his actual birthday festivities,

I enlisted the help of my mother,

not knowing what state I would be in on the big day.

She made him a birthday shirt

which he proudly wore all day,

stopping random people to tell them that he was 5 now.

She also made cupcakes which we took to the 

dining common at her school

so that Orin could pass them out to all the other kids

and she got him a couple presents to open

like this soccer ball:

The rest of the day we spent walking

as much as possible

hoping that we could manage one more birthday present 

for Orin if his sister decided to make her grand entrance

into the outside world 

(which she didn't)

 but Orin did find the first pink lady slipper of the season

maybe not quite as cool, but oh well.

 

 Two days late and still waiting...

Mad Dash Home

The longer I have been in Andover,

the more home sick I have become

so today, despite having only a couple days until

my due date, I decided to take a trip to the Cape.

The first thing I did when we pulled in the driveway

was to go check on my girls.

I am not sure who was happier to see who.

I, of course, just wanted to say hi and catch up on some petting,

while they were more interested in the fact 

that I let them out into their

larger pen so that they could take a much needed dust bath.

 I was also happy to see that everything was growing.

My grapes, which several weeks ago had looked pretty pitiful,
 were thriving.

 and all the seeds I had planted the day I moved out were coming up

(along with boatloads of grass and other weeds, 

but that project will have to wait for now)

 Our trees had leafed out and our dogwood was in full bloom.

 The grass which we seeded right before I left had also emerged,

forming a soft carpet of green in the back yard

 and Orin's garden had taken off as well.

When he saw his plants he exclaimed

"Look mom, my carrots! 

I am going to pick some now"

(I had to explain to him that carrot 

harvest was still a couple months off.)

 And then, of course, there was one other thing growing away...

this one in the kitchen.

I am not entirely sure what this was in its former life,

Casey says it was cereal.

Either way, it was taken care of during our frantic
2 and 1/2 hour cleaning spree

before we jumped back in the car to make it to Andover before

the nightly traffic jam. 

And then, just like that, we were back again.

With enough time to pose like Huck Finn

and take our last round of family-of-three pictures.

Next time we go back, it will be as a family of four.

I can't wait!

Happenings

With final exams over, Casey and Orin 

have been with me in Andover full time.

 We have been keeping busy

by posing as farmers:

 

Feeding reindeer through a long orange tube:

(I am actually not kidding)

 Looking at peacocks displaying their colors:

Looking at peacocks displaying their lack of color:

  Going to the local fair:

where I was barred from jumping in the pit of plastic balls:

 and where Orin fell in love with some of the rides:

and was less thrilled about others:

We also went to a music and dance festival at the academy

where we got to play with balloons:

Listen to an acapella group:

Watch dancers make a painting by dancing 

through buckets of paint:

And do some swinging:

  Just a couple more days until 

Baby Number 2 should arrive...

What I am Missing

With less than two weeks left before my due date,

I have moved in with my mother in Andover.

I decided to move to Andover so that we could deliver 

Baby Number Two in the same place that we had Orin:

the North Shore Birth Center.

Because if you have to be in labor,

you might as well get to be in a huge tub next to 

a door that opens so you can hear the birds singing

and smell the sweet breeze of springtime

in your state of otherwise utter and total misery.

 Although I am glad to finally be here because

it has ended my anxiety about not being able to make it

to the birth center in time if I went into labor early

(with Boston and its unpredictable traffic looming right

 in the middle of the commute from the Cape),

I am a bit sad that I am missing some important things back home.

For example, T-Ball has started. 

 The video on our camera didn't work during practice number one

so Casey took these pictures to help me feel

slightly less left-out:

The team (or part of it, anyway):

 

Orin practicing his base running:

His catching:

His batting and running to first:

 And his looking adorable in a batting helmet:

If Baby arrives on time, 

I might be able to catch the final practice of the season.

In the meantime, I am with much less interesting company

 Paley: the queen of sulking

and Atlas,

the king of shedding.

When she is not working,

I also get to hang with my mother who keeps me sane

and, of course, Baby Number 2

who is trying to drive me crazy by continuing to

flip into breech position

despite the fact that I cannot actually deliver her like that

and I am very close to my due date.

Likely, there will be more on this issue to come

as I have just scheduled an appointment to 

try to have an acupuncturist turn her

with a procedure called moxibustion

so that I can avoid the dreaded external cephalic version...

a procedure which I narrowly escaped last week

and will be on the table again if she is not head down

for my next exam on Wednesday.

Wish us luck.

Better Late than Never

Today I weeded my garden with a spoon.

This spoon.

 

 Why? Because I had it in my hand when I noticed that

the garden needed to be weeded. 

It was, after all, the big day for planting. 

Don't even bother asking why I haven't planted the garden yet.

It is a combination of bad weather, lots of other things to do,

and my scatter-brained nature 

which is also responsible for my setting out to weed 

four enormous raised beds with a soup spoon.

Once the beds were weeded it was time for the spoon

to head to the dishwasher

while I headed to the kitchen table to determine

what to plant and where to plant it.

(I find this process is enhanced by making a huge mess).

 

 Next it was back outside to turn the soil.

This can be done in several different ways,

but I always choose to do it the most labor-intensive way

i.e. using a shovel and a rake

(hey, it is an improvement from the spoon!)

Once the soil was turned, I amended it with one of my favorite

composts: Coast of Maine Lobster Compost

(and yes, it actually is made from lobsters)

Then it was time to plant:

mostly I am doing direct-sow crops this year

but I also planted some strawberries

after the dogs decided to uproot all of my plants from last year.

 And the best discovery while I was out there was this:

 My asparagus made it through its first winter!

Only a couple years to go and 

I will actually get to harvest some.

So there you have it, 

the crops are in.

Better late than never.

And in my defense,

I have been growing some things for a while.

Here is our hydroponic set-up in the kitchen

where we are growing lettuce, kale, chard, and basil.

Term

Today I officially hit "term"

That means that if I go into labor on my own now

it will be because the baby and my body have agreed

that she is officially done cooking 

(notice that I said "my body" because the rest of me 

has been ready for her to be done for a while).

So how am I feeling?

Not great.

Mostly, I would just appreciate the opportunity to sleep.

I think that sleep becomes so difficult at the end of pregnancy

as an evolutionary adaptation to ensure that you appreciate

the additional hours of sleep you get after your baby is born

(even if that sums to 1/10 of the sleep you got before pregnancy).

Why am I not sleeping well, you ask.

Well, first of all, I can't sleep on my back, or my stomach, 

or my right side and my left side has a pinched nerve 

which acts up after a couple hours.

From there on out, I "sleep" sitting up.

But now there is a new menace in the game... contractions.

Two nights ago I had so many contractions that I barely slept at all.

Every time I would start to fall asleep I would be rudely awakened

by the tense muscle tightening and difficultly breathing 

that comes along with the contraction.

So yesterday I consulted some pregnancy books

and found out that these contractions could be minimized

by flooding my system with water.

So last night, I drank two or three huge glasses of water before bed

which meant that instead of being rudely awakened by 

the sensation of a contraction,

instead I was rudely awakened by my bladder announcing that

it was full... again.

Have I mentioned that I am ready to be done?

 And because I don't have pictures that go along

with any if the things I have just complained about,

instead I give you Orin in a box,

because you know I wouldn't

deprive you of pictures for an entire post.