The Garden is Finally Planted!

Well, it has been a cold Spring and so it has taken us longer than usual to get our garden planted. Everything is finally in the ground now, so if it will just warm up already they might start growing a little faster. We rearranged the garden this year, and expanded it a bit. I'm excited to watch it grow. We have already used some of our spinach. Fresh food out of the garden always tastes better.

My flowers are also starting to take off. This year I planted a lot of nasturtiums and they are just now starting to bloom.
My friend Holly sent me a few day lilies earlier this Spring. I wasn't sure how they would do after being mailed from Illinois, but they have taken root and are growing really well. I probably won't see any blooms this year, which is why I planted some zinnias and petunias around them, but next year they should be great.
And finally, I have the best husband. I mentioned that it might be cute to have a flower box below the window of the garage. Our house is very old (96 years-old to be exact) and the garage was added in the 30's and I'm pretty sure that these windows are original. Anyway, Tyson spent his days off building some new shelving units for the garage and used some left-over wood to build me this box. He also picked up some petunias while at the Home Depot. Isn't he great!
I'm so excited for July. By then the garden will be full, my flowers will be large and blooming, and hopefully it will finally be warm!

Eating

Some of you know, most of you don't, that I have trouble getting Lily to eat. I know I know, she certainly doesn't look like she's going hungry, but it has been my greatest struggle with her. The list of things that she will eat is so short, we're talking less than 20 items. She will not try new foods, or even old ones that she liked as a baby. Veggies are a no-go, so are meats, cheeses, beans, pretty much any protein besides yogurt and peanut butter. I've resorted to hiding the veggies and protein that she needs in various concoctions so that she gets the nutrients that she needs.

At Lily's two year check-up I talked to her pediatrician about it again and he recommended that she go see a counselor about it. I said sure, I wanted the help, but honestly I was so confused. A feeding counselor, seriously, who even knew that those existed and what can they do that I haven't already been doing? Well, Dr. Roy sent in the referral and this last week they called. They had an opening the next day and wanted us to come in. So Lily and I went, and honestly I was nervous, I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

We met with a woman named Jennifer who is a speech and language pathologist and apparently feeding issues fall into that category. We talked for about 45 minutes, she asked about Lily's habits, what she would and would not eat, how she behaved when offered her food, etc. And then she started talking about what the plan would be. She was so reassuring! I have felt like such a terrible mom because of this. So many people have told me just to give her the same plate at every meal and when she gets hungry she'll eat. Jennifer told me that that method works for normal eaters who are just being picky, but for kids like Lily it is not the way to go. She told me that I had been doing an excellent job and that she feels like we can fix this problem in just a few short weeks.

I felt so reassured when I left her office. I wanted to cry out of relief. This has been weighing so heavily on me and to see a light at the end of the tunnel felt so fantastic. This week we have our first real session. She gave me a list of food items to bring and the plan is to step by step get Lily to interact with them, smell them, taste them, and hopefully eventually eat them.

....Three Months....

Today our Charlotte Elizabeth is three months old. I know that I say this every time but I can't believe how quickly time seems to be passing by. We are already 1/4 of the way through her first year and I still feel like we just brought her home.

Lottie is learning all kinds of new skills. She grasps toys, smiles spontaneously, and she can even laugh. I don't have current height and weight stats, but she is growing! Charlotte is also sleeping 9-10 hours at a stretch almost every night, which makes for a happy momma. We have also decided that her eyes are going to be blue. They are still changing a bit, but never go brown, just blue.

So here's our little girl in her 3 months onesie.

And sitting with her piggy.
This is the only smile that I managed to catch on camera today. She has been smiling, but as soon as I pull the camera out she stops.
Look who's rocking the bumbo.
Lily read her book to Charlotte. I love it when they play together.
Charlotte grasping a toy on her activity mat.

Babies Don't Keep

This afternoon at church I was out in the hallway, yet again, because Charlotte was fussing. I finally got her to sleep and I was getting ready to go back into Sunday School when a dear sweet sister named June rolled up to me. She has always loved playing with my babies and she came to take a peek at Charlotte. She said to me to enjoy my time rocking my sleeping babies and reminded me of a poem that I heard ages ago.

Babies Don’t Keep
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

So here are my babies.They are growing up so quickly, every morning they wake up just a little bit older and I just want to bottle them up and keep them as my babies forever.I will cherish my time with them and make sure to take the time to get down on the floor and play and also to just sit down and rock them.

Spring Evenings

We spent this evening outside. It was a beautiful and busy day and when things calmed down a bit we went back outside to plant our tomatoes in the garden and a few more flowers in my beds. While Tyson and I worked Charlotte laid in her bouncy chair near us and Lily played in the yard. I looked up and saw her walking at me with two large tulips in her hands. She was so excited about them and she would not let them ago. I suppose that she finally figured out that the petals are prettiest on the flower rather than in a pile on the ground.

Here she is showing them off to her little sister.
Running around examining them.
A girl and her tulips.
She climbed up to the patio table and apparently expected dinner because she folded her arms for prayer.
Lily would not drop the flowers, not for anything. She wandered the yard the entire time that we were working in it holding on to her precious tulips.
My little Lottie just sitting in her chair watching her momma plant more flowers.
Tyson wanted to see how Charlotte liked the grass. She didn't.
Charlotte and daddy playing while I planted some more flowers.
This is part of the bed in front of our house. It is full of columbines (which have bloomed), daisies, poppies, hollyhocks, peonies, and a hydrangea there in the back. In the next month it is going to be full of blooms and I'm so excited to see it.
This is the bed running down the west side of our home. I'm working on getting a few things to put in behind the columbines.
Just a few of my many beautiful columbines. I love them. The shape of the flowers is just so dynamic and interesting.
I planted the bare root for this bleeding heart last year. It barely came up last year so I wasn't sure that it would survive, but it came in with full force this Spring. I just need to get a few things to plant around it so that it isn't so lonely.
I'm so excited to see how everything comes together over the next month.

Playdough

It was sunny for a while this afternoon, during nap time of course. By the time that Lily was awake it was cold and rainy again.

I bought some playdough a while back, but we hadn't gotten it out yet. I decided that today was the day and sat Lily up to the table and set it in front of her. She had no idea what to do with it, she figured that it was food and put some in her mouth (which gave me an idea about feeding her new foods, but that's another story). I showed her how to make a few things and then she was off!

She especially enjoyed smashing the things that I would make.
Here she is asking me to make another doggy. She had smashed the last one and wanted another.
She's checking out the rain outside.
A happy girl!
It really thought that by mid-may she could be spending every afternoon outdoors, but so far it has been raining all week so we are stuck inside waiting for the sun to come back to visit.

Bye-Bye Sippy Cups!

Well, the binkie went away when Lily turned one and now that Lily has turned two the sippy cups are making a disappearing act.

I decided that since she is perfectly capable of drinking from a normal cup they are no longer needed so today I boxed them up and put them away. I bought Lily a little water bottle a while back that we fill with water and she keeps it with her. I carry a water bottle with me everywhere and she loves to take mine so she got her own. For meals she will continue to use a regular cup.

Now if I could only get her to eat her dinner...

Of Toddlers and Tulips

Oh, the joys of gardening with a two-year-old!

Yesterday we were outside playing and I ran inside to take care of something. I came out a couple of minutes later and found a pile of tulip petals.

I thought it odd that this cluster would drop all of their petal all at once. I turned the corner and came upon this little scene.
Lily gleefully pulled off yet another petal and showed it to me.
Lily, in just a few minutes, had managed to pull the remaining petals off of nearly all of my tulips. Oh well, it was near the end of the season for them anyway.

It was perfect weather yesterday, the warmest day of the year so far. We spent a lot of time outside in the yard. Charlotte is still getting accustomed to the breeze.
She'll be happy if I hold her hand though.

Lily's 2nd Birthday

Two years ago we started on the most amazing adventure!

On Tuesday May 12th, 2009 at 10:42 pm Lily Ann came into this world weighing just 6lb 12oz and measuring 20 in long. She had a bit of a rough time getting here, but she has been such a joy ever since.

Today Lily is measuring 32.5 in tall and weighing 30 pounds. She loves to play, especially outside, and is so adventurous. Lily is the best big sister that any little girl could ask for. While she doesn't care to speak much (even though she can) and refuses to eat nearly everything, we love her dearly and we are we so grateful to have her in our lives.

This morning Lily got to open her present. She was very excited to see the little cars and was amazed when I showed her the ramps.

It took a while for me to convince her to get dressed and eat breakfast because she wanted to play.

We took a little trip to the zoo since it was going to be a beautiful day and we thought that Lily would enjoy it.

Here she is checking out the tigers.

And waiting patiently for mom at the petting zoo. Charlotte was getting kind of grumpy and needed to take a break.

At first she was a little scared of the goats, but she liked the babies.

She was very excited to get to feed them. She loves to feed Oscar from her hand so she knew just what to do.

She got a little excited with the other animals. I guess that we need to work on staying behind the ropes and off of the fence.

After the zoo, because we were downtown, we stopped by Guido's Pizza to pick up some lunch and then went up to Camel's Back Park for a picnic. For the first time ever Lily took a bite of pizza. She actually had a few bites. Normally she just munches on the crust and leaves the rest.

I've decided that I need a pair of sunglasses like hers in my size.

Afterwards we came back home, had naps and then went outside to play. She hopped right back on her trike.

She loves to store things in the basket and figured out to have the flap down when carrying her doll and up for everything else.

When we came back in she got right back to playing with her cars and ramps.

For dinner I made her favorite foods and then of course birthday cake. I even made Lily her own mini-cake. She didn't understand blowing out the candle, she just wanted to touch it.

She seemed to like her cake though.

And she was very happy to find the lemon filling.

Overall it was pretty much a perfect day.

*This should have been posted on the 12th, but blogger was having issues so it is a day late.