Nesting, Part One: Downstairs

So have I told you my peonies are blooming? When I saw the first one start to flower, it freaked me out just a bit. For months, I've been watching the peonies grow up from the dirt, knowing that once they bloomed, this baby was not far behind.

Um, well, they've bloomed. We never did get around to tying them up, but they're still pretty. See Nick helping me repot plants? Well, mostly he dumped dirt on the sidewalk and tried to steal my scissors.

That brings me to the nesting instinct. This is the urge that pregnant women get to stock up, organize, and get the home ready for the baby. I read somewhere that when the nesting instinct kicks in, a baby is not far behind. For me, that means I only have a few days left. This baby is being born on Thursday, and I'd better be ready. When Nick was born, I was only 37 weeks and I never had the full-fledged urge to organize. Frankly, this urge has got to be biological, because I am normally the least organized person on the planet. But in the last week or so, we've been cleaning and organizing like mad. Starting with my plants. . .

As I've mentioned before, my classroom is a jungle--I believe I had something like 30 plants there this year. Previously, I've just left them in my classroom over the summer and gone in to water them every week or so. There's a very nice janitor who checks on them for me and waters them if they need it, in between visits. However, the roof on my school is being replaced, and I won't be able to get into the building, so all of the plants have to go. Some of them were root-bound pretty badly, so Nick and Grandma Toni and I spend a few hours on Thursday splitting and repotting them. We'll see if they survive.

We got a lot accomplished this week, thanks to that nesting instinct. Greg did a lot of the heavy work--he cleaned out the screened-in porch, installed the car seats, set up my plant stand, found the vibrating bouncy seat, and located/cleaned all of the baby bottles. That's just what he did downstairs!

This may well be the first (and the last) time you ever hear of me voluntarily cleaning out the kitchen cabinets, but I did it. Blame it on the nesting. I started with the one where the baby and toddler stuff is kept.

I put all of Nick's stuff on the left, and the new baby's stuff on the right. The top shelf is for wine, beer, and booze-related items--Greg can darned well reach to the top shelf for those. Notice how I have several kinds of formula stocked. I'm rather proud of my strategy. A couple months ago, when I started going for regular NSTs (non-stress tests) at the OB's office, I grabbed a baby formula sample. The nurse saw me and said, "You know, you can take one of those any time you come in. They bring us more all the time." So I did. I've been grabbing a formula sample during each of my bi or tri-weekly doctor's appointments, and stockpiling them. I have tons more under the counter, too. Several times, I asked the nurses which formula they thought was best. "Take one of each kind," they said. "Then you can decide for yourself." I didn't turn them down.  :)  By the way, I'm going to try to breastfeed again, but I had a breast reduction back in '96, so I will definitely have to supplement with formula.

Then I moved on to my drawers. I wish I'd taken a before picture. This drawer (above) had to be slammed shut each time because there was so much junk in it. I pulled out the whole drawer, washed it, and reorganized everything inside. It is very nice to know where all of my measuring spoons are at the same time. For weeks, I've been doing funny things like measuring 1 1/2 tsp. with a 1/4 tsp. measuring spoon, six times. . . because, you see, I could only find that one spoon.

Onward to the freezer. Greg and I had our cleaning lady come out and scrub the house top to bottom. She cleaned the fridge, pantry, and freezer so that I could stock up. . . and stock up I did! I go to a place called Simply Homemade in Naperville, where I made 17 of my own meals. They filled the freezer, but at least we won't starve in the next few weeks. The brilliant part of this place is that I actually assembled every meal myself, so they'll be home cooked when we make them.

My pantry will only look like this for about a week. I still have more pantry stocking to do, but I'm pretty sure we're good for food. I even made cookies. Okay, those have nothing to do with nesting. I just like cookies.

Rain, Rain Go Away: A Gardening Update and a Blueberry Story

This has truly been a crazy spring. I feel like it's been way more rainy and cold than usual, and I've spent hardly any time outside. This weekend, it rained most of the day Saturday and Sunday, so we had to stay inside. Poor Nick was pretty desperate to get outside Sunday evening after being cooped up for two days straight.

We made him finish dinner before running around, which is why he's shirtless. Nick refuses to wear a bib anymore, so I just stripped him, because we were having soup. I'm not sure what the bushes on the side of my house are called (the ones with the bright pink flowers), but they're certainly blooming despite the lack of sunshine. My clematis actually survived, and the flowers are gorgeous this year. I bought it as a rather sad looking clearance item, and planted it rather hopefully next to a metal thingie to climb. It climbed.  On a side note, the name of this flower always makes me giggle. More than once, I have mispronounced the name as something like "Chlamydia."  Yup, I know. They're not the same thing. Still makes me giggle.   : )

I have most of my herbs and random other plants on my front patio. They were all grown from seeds (Seed Savers Exchange) under my light table. In the box above, I think I see parsley (or cilantro, I can't tell the difference), sage, basil, a tomato, and a pepper plant. Last year, my herbs took over, so I have them planted in pots this year. My front porch gets enough light, I think. Hey, they haven't died yet, so that's a good sign.

Above you can see the other side of my patio. The peas are overcrowded, I think, but the peppers and tomatoes look decent.

You can see Nick checking out the tomatoes in the octagonal planter. He kept banging that plastic shovel on everything, including my bunny fence. The tomatoes are doing very well, considering. The two boxes on the left have cucumbers, squash, and zucchini, which is why there is so little green. My spinach is in the box to the far right, and it really varies in size. I cannot figure out why some of the spinach plants are so big and some so small. Maybe it has something to do with the weather, because they were planted at exactly the same time.

The broccoli and peas are surviving, though I think I may have planted the peas too closely together. Oh, well--you live, you learn. The carrots are in the upper left hand corner and are doing okay. Sigh. At least nothing is outright dead. I feel like that is an accomplishment in itself.

My strawberries seem okay, though I seem to remember more flowers last year. Nick liked the way the baby strawberries felt. He said they were bumpy. I hope we get a good harvest. . . although I may not be capable of going out and picking strawberries myself. I seem to recall that the strawberries were ready for harvest right around the beginning of June. I'll be a little busy in the next few weeks. My birthday is next Sunday, and then my wedding anniversary is on the 8th. Finally, I am going into the hospital first thing on June 9th for my c-section, and I'm not sure how long I will be in the hospital, let alone when I'll feel up to gardening. Hmm.



That brings me to the peonies. Yes, I know that they need to be tied up. We'll try to get on that right away tomorrow. I've been using the peonies as a kind of gauge for when this new baby is coming, and these peonies are getting huge and round, just like me.

A peony is an odd flower. I don't know that I would choose to plant them, but the three healthy bushes came with the house. They are gorgeous, if you can catch them on the three days of the year when they're blooming. So when the peonies bloom and then promptly get wet and fall over into a nasty pile on the sidewalk that looks like wet tissue paper, I should be giving birth. I probably won't look so hot, either, but I bet I'll be in better shape than the peonies.

The crowning glory of my garden this year is my three brand new blueberry bushes. They were a gift from my husband and son for Mother's Day, and there's a story behind them. Back in 2007, during the first summer I spent in this house, I bought myself three very expensive blueberry bushes from a nursery ($40 a pop). I did a lot of research about how to combine soil and peat, choose the ideal location, and ensure that the blueberry bushes survive.

I spent four entire days digging deep holes for my bushes. It was really hard, because I was digging through sod and grass, and I'm not terribly strong. I was very proud of those bushes. They actually did pretty well that first year, at least until my husband got to them. . .

That first fall (2007), Greg asked me one afternoon which plants he could cut down for the winter. I had him trim down the rosebushes, peonies, my autumn joy, and many of the wildflowers. I showed him exactly what to do with all of the plants in the front. But he got carried away. . . .

Greg decided to trim all the plants all the way around the house, without asking me how to do it safely. He trimmed my blueberry bushes right down to the dirt, effectively killing him. I actually cried when I found out. In his defense, he had never done any gardening before. But I had put my blood, sweat, and tears into those stinking bushes, and I never even got to taste one blueberry. (It is normal to have to wait a few years for a real blueberry harvest.) Last year, he bought me a raspberry bush to make up for it, but it was not the same thing at all.

This year, when Greg asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, I immediately brought up the blueberry situation. Greg bought me three beautiful looking blueberry bushes from Costco, called JULIE to make sure he wouldn't hit any gas or power lines, and then spent several hours digging holes deep and wide enough to plant my new favorite plants. He was not pleased when he realized how much work went into planting them. I then reminded him that I had done the same thing that first summer, and I believe he now knows why I was so devastated when he destroyed those bushes.

This evening, while we were having our dinner out on the porch, one of the neighbor's children threw a ball into our yard, bumping one of the bushes. Greg, who usually is not confrontational about things like this, stood up and shouted, "Hey, cut it out!" at the kids in a rather agressive voice. He now understands my position on blueberry bushes, and both of us will protect the darned things with our lives. Let's just hope they survive.

What's Growing?

Besides, me, that is. . .

It's been a very cool spring, and I feel like I've hardly been outside at all. However, we did start our garden early in April, and there are definitely things coming up. The strawberries came up all on their own, although grass is starting to infiltrate. I keep meaning to do something about that, and then I think about how hard it is to get onto the ground, now that I'm so round.

We'll see how the strawberry crop does, without any help from me. This year, by the time the strawberries start ripening, I should have the baby. Last year, they were ready right at the beginning of June. I'm scheduled for my c-section June 9th, so I'm counting on coming home to some nice, ripe strawberries, even if they're a week or two late.



I still haven't put seedlings in my regular garden yet, mostly because it's been so cold. Last year, I planted them the last day of April, but it's still getting down into the 30s many nights, so I want to wait another week or so. For now, it's just spinach, carrots, and peas growing in my big garden. I haven't considered what I'm going to do when it's time to plant. You see, Greg didn't make any kind of gate to walk through, so you have to step over the 3 foot fence in order to gain garden access. I cannot climb over a three foot anything right now, so we might have to take the whole thing down just to plant the seedlings.

I did have to repot most of the seedlings, though, because they had totally outgrown the seed starting greenhouses I put them in, way back in March. They're still up in my bedroom, under the lights.

I guess they're doing alright, although I'm hoping to get them in the ground very soon. I planted peppers, tomatoes, sage, thyme, cilantro, parsley, basil, broccoli, and some other seeds I don't remember. Unfortunately, I've lost the labels once again, so I will have to guess what these plants are when they get bigger. I'm starting to learn just by looking at them.

I have everything planted in a hodgepodge of peat pots, old plastic pots leftover from things I bought last year, and empty tupperware containers.

My garden certainly isn't as ambitious as last year's project, but I feel good about what I accomplished, despite being pregnant. Hopefully at least I'll get some produce and herbs to use.

Things I Love About Spring

1. Tulips and Irises. They're so cheerful. I especially love the color of the irises. In fact, I love all spring flowers. I like the daffodils as well, and the hyacinths. I'm kind of using the peonies (you can see them sprouting in the front of this picture) as a timeline for when the baby is coming. They usually bloom around the end of May or beginning of June, and I'm scheduled for my c-section June 9th. So as those peonies pop up, it reminds me of all the things I need to do before the baby is born.





































*Above photo courtesy of Amanda Wiatr.

2. That first pedicure of the year. Sandal season has officially begun! Just in time, too, because my feet have been swelling a bit, and flip-flops always fit, no matter what. I love the way my feet feel after a nice spa pedicure.

3. The first frappucino of the year. I know I could order them in the winter but they just don't feel right until a warm spring day. I always order a tall, light caramel frappucino, but I make them add the whipped cream anyway. It's all about the trade-offs.

4. Little boys with worms. Aww. Enough said.

5. The gorgeous trees in my neighborhood that flower with lovely white flowers this time of year. They look just beautiful--see the one in the background of this picture?

6. The smell of spring. I don't have a picture for that, so here's a hyacinth. Oh, maybe I do have a picture for the smell of spring.

7. The fact that Panera has spinach again. They only have it in the spring and summertime, and it's back! I've been really, really craving spinach salads lately, and the BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad is awesome when you substitute spinach for the lettuce.

It must be my anemia, but I have even been having dreams about this salad. I very suddenly got extremely anemic. Apparently the cute little parasite inside of me has sucked my entire store of available iron, leaving me exhausted and paler than death. I went today for my first IV infusion of iron, and had to stop on the way for this salad. I only ever eat the half-size portion, though. I guess desperately craving salad is far better than those red velvet whoopie pies I was craving last month.

8. Speaking of spinach, I love the way my spinach is actually growing this year. Thanks to the chicken wire, the bunnies haven't been able to touch it. I can't wait to taste my own garden grown spinach.

Gardening Update

We finally got the garden ready for spring on Sunday. Despite the threat of rain, we went to Lowe's and filled the cart with soil, compost, mulch, a new rake, and some anti-rabbit fencing. I'm determined to defeat the bunnies this year.

It didn't end up raining until after dark, and Sunday turned out to be lovely--it even got into the 70s. We added the good stuff into the soil and mixed it all up, and Greg put up the bunny fence. Do you think it will work? (Oh, how I hope so!) I'm so proud of how we all worked together to get the garden ready. Greg was really helpful, now that I'm getting bigger and can't lift anything.

I planted spinach, early peas, and tons of carrots so far. I also planted a bunch more seeds to go under the lights inside. I'm hoping we'll be able to eat some spinach this year, unless we have kamikaze bunnies who try to jump the fence. Last year they ate every single morsel of spinach.

Oh, and remember when I had to rake leaves with a snow shovel, because we didn't have a rake? Not only did Greg buy a new rake, we also found a little man rake for Nick. He loves it, though he hasn't mastered the art of actually raking quite yet. But he's trying.  :)

Raking Leaves in March (With a Snow Shovel)

Since spring is officially here, of course snow is expected later this week. That's what happens in this part of Illinois. We get teased with lovely weather for a few days, and then get slapped in the face with the remnants of winter. During one of our last "teaser" days of nice weather, Nick and I decided to go out and see what'd happened with the garden. Grandma Toni joined us, too.

Before you say anything, yes, I am indeed aware that my garden was covered with leaves and dead plants. I know that gardeners are supposed to do some work in the fall to clean up. My excuse? Last fall I was in the first trimester of this pregnancy, and I was more than a little nervous about overexerting myself. So we did nothing. We didn't even rake the leaves.

So that's why we were outside on a sunny day in March, raking leaves and turning over the soil. Nick was actually pretty good at helping with this. He loves digging in the dirt, and preparing the soil, at this point, involves nothing more than a bit of digging.

Nick even helped us gather the leaves and put them into the yard waste bags. Would you believe we filled two entire bags just with leaves and old plants from our small raised bed garden? Really.

Oh, and the snow shovel? I couldn't find the rake--later Greg told me he'd thrown it out because it was in bad shape. At first we tried picking up the leaves with our hands, but that was frustrating and not very successful. So I pulled out the snow shovel, and that did the trick fairly well. I also used my funky twisty tool (that green thing with the handle) to turn over the soil. I'll probably supplement the soil a bit with some compost, but it still looks decent. I like raised beds because the soil doesn't get packed down as much.

We already planted some seeds, and they're growing well indoors. Now the garden is mostly ready for planting. I'm thinking the spinach will go in first, sometime soon. This year we're going to put in some chicken wire, because the bunnies around here are ravenous, and they've eaten quite a bit of my produce in the last few years.

I am totally ready for spring to arrive, this time for good! If we get both nice weather and time this weekend, we'll be doing some planting. I ordered a whole bunch of new seeds from the Seed Saver's Exchange, and I can't wait to see how they'll do.

Please don't eat the seeds!

Last week, on one of those random warm days, Nick and I decided that it was time to plant some of our seeds. I'm obviously not going to be as gung ho about my planting as I was last year, but I'm still hoping for some decent produce. My weeding, however, might be significantly reduced, seeing as it takes me a sold minute to get down to the ground. Let's not talk about how long it takes my pregnant body to get up.

Our first step was hydrating the soil pellets in the little greenhouse. Nick enjoyed helping with that, although he spilled as much water on the floor as he got onto the soil pellets. Kids always love when the pellets start to grow--it looks like magic to them.  I bought one of the greenhouses that had 75 little pellets. That should be enough seeds to get me started. I still had plenty of seeds left over from last year, when I ordered from the Seed Saver's Exchange.

I think Nick is just excited to be outside again. I am too, to tell you the truth. It's interesting how we don't go outside at all for four or five months out of the year, and then suddenly it's nice enough to sit on the porch. We did notice something fishy on our front porch, though. . .

Yup, that "Welcome" pole with fall decorations and the scarecrow has been there since September. My mother-in-law got that for us a few years back, and this year we forgot to bring it in. At one point it was covered in snow. I guess it's time to bring it in, since it is now officially SPRING.

Here are the seeds tonight, about a week later. They've pretty much all sprouted and are doing well under the lights. I just bought another ten kinds of seeds from the Seed Saver's Exchange, so we'll see if I'm too late to plant those as well, once they arrive in the mail.

Oh, what did I plant? Is that the question? Sigh. Nick kept trying to eat the seeds. He called the bigger ones "beans" and it was all I could do to keep them away from him. I wasn't paying attention while I was planting, so I couldn't tell you what is what.

I'm never very good at remembering what I planted where. I remember I had the same problem last year. I know that I did 2 rows of tomatoes and peppers and at least 1 row of everything else, including lots of herbs. I think I planted broccoli, too. Nick was distracting me as I was planting, and I lost the paper where I had written down which seeds are which. Oh well. I'll figure it out eventually. I'm just proud of myself for remembering to plant the seeds!

What on Earth is in those boxes?

A little over a week ago, my mother-in-law greeted me at the door after work with a question: "What on Earth is in those boxes?" Apparently, two humongous boxes had been delivered during the day.

My mother-in-law is used to strange boxes being delivered during the day, because I order lots of stuff from ebay. But she'd never seen boxes this big. I was really, really excited, and Nick was very curious.

So what was in the boxes? Let me show you.

These are just some of the plants I was sent. I had recently been contacted by a lady (also named Melissa) who works for Costa Farms. She had read my blog and heard I was looking for plants for school. She asked me if I'd like to try some plants for my classroom. I said sure, because you can never have too many plants in a classroom. I thought she might send me two or three nice plants. Instead, she sent me 25! Nick really loved touching all the leaves and saying, "Plants!"

This was one of my favorite plants. It is simply beautiful, and I'm desperately hoping I can keep it alive. It's a croton, but I like to call it a crouton.

See the bonsai tree? That was Greg's favorite, and we decided to keep that one at home. There's also a neat bamboo plant and some really healthy looking succlents. I love them all. I'm wondering which ones I'll kill first, and hoping that it isn't too many of them. I'm pretty attached. I was very impressed at how healthy all of the plants were. Not one showed any signs of over or under watering, even after being shipped from Miami!

I totally adore the pink peace lilies (2nd from the left). I also liked how many of these plants are pretty tolerant and enjoy shade. Melissa from Costa Farms really paid attention to what I told her about the lighting in my classroom. The only thing I had trouble with was that most of the plants came with no instructions about how much light or how much water each plant needed. I called my mom on the webcam and she gave me general instructions for each one. (I tried to remember, but forgot some of the details.) We kept some of the plants at home, so I'm hoping the cats don't eat them. Sebastian, especially, likes to munch on green things.

Then, at school, I used the internet to try to figure out the names and conditions. Hopefully I've put plants in their correct locations.

I'll post again next week and show pictures of how the plants in my classroom fared, at least thus far. Now, when new people visit my room, I can say, "Welcome to the jungle!" because the whole room is green with healthy plants. I happen to think the room smells nicer, too. Certainly nicer than the scent of 5th graders.  ;)