my hanging garden is showing signs of life

About a month ago, I posted about how I bought some of those hanging tomato container things from the infomercial. I've remembered to water them enough and so far they seem to be doing well. We had a light freeze about a week after they were hung, so we put them in our closet on a sturdy hanger for that night. Later on, another freeze was forecasted, but Tim didn't want to bring them in again and said they'd be OK. Turned out that it did not freeze that time. It did get cold enough, though, to make the "seed leaves" (those little round starchy areas that stick out from the stem) on the cucumber plant whither up. Tim saw them a few days later and thought that it looked bad until I told him that those are the leaves that are supposed to eventually dry up and go away.

Anyway, the plants are growing. I got some tomato plant food that I'm feeding them, to hopefully help them grow more tomatoes (or cucumbers) and fewer leaves. The tomato plant is growing more and bigger than the cucumber plant is, but both have definitely grown since I brought them home.



In other news, Tim got laid off for the second time this year last Thursday. He is seriously considering leaving the plumbing world altogether and going back into the pool business, this time cleaning pools. A friend of ours from church already does this, and Tim is out riding with him on his route today. Tim talked to the owner several days ago, and he came home excited and then I got concerned, b/c I had some unanswered questions. But since then, through conversations with various people, I feel better about this change of career. Tim and I were both even able to go talk w/ the owner yesterday and get some of my more pressing questions addressed and clarified. He will probably come home this afternoon ready to make a decision, and I'm now prepared to support him in whatever decision he wants to make.

ouchie

We were over at some friends' house last night, and on the way home, Lydia tripped on the sidewalk and did a faceplant on the corner of one of the steps, right on the line of the concrete and the grass. Poor little girl looks a lot worse than she feels, and has little scratch spots on her forehead, next to her eye, on her cheek and next to her mouth.

a surprise basket in the kitchen

So yesterday was Lydia's third actual Easter, but this was the first year we put a basket together for her. No eggs, either hidden or colored, though. Maybe next year we'll hide some for her. I think she'd be more into it then. But we "hid" the basket in plain sight on the kitchen floor, and she loved it. :) Here's the video of her exploring it.


Tim's and my 5-year anniversary is this Friday, and he went out on Saturday and got my present, which he couldn't wait to give to me. It was a new phone. :D (I've never really been the flowers/chocolate/jewelry type.) I'd had my previous phone for about 6 years, lol, so it was definitely time for an upgrade. The only thing "advanced" about my prior phone was that it had a color screen (barely) and the phone I had before THAT did not. But it didn't even have a camera or anything. My new phone is awesome and I have been playing with it all weekend. I also downloaded the 141-page manual so I could skim through it as well (it just came w/ a quick-start guide). Ok, who am I kidding, I am actually going to READ the manual, b/c I'm a little strange like that. :p

I do have to share a few funny things from the quick-start guide though. Whoever wrote it has a bit of a sense of humor. Like here's a few tips for caring for your phone (the boldings are mine, and are what made me laugh):

"Water will damage your phone and accessories - even a small amount such as water droplets from a soda in your car cup-holder, melting snowflakes, tears of joy, squirt-gun crossfire or steam from hot water in the kitchen or bathroom.

Use only batteries and accessories from the original manufacturer of your phone - Non-approved accessories can cause damage to you or your phone and shorten the phone's life. Hint: if it's being sold out of someone's car trunk, walk away."

And then here's a safety tip regarding using your phone while driving:

"Keep your phone closed. If it rings and you discover it's in the back seat, do NOT crawl over the seat to answer it while driving.

The whole manual isn't like that (it IS a manual and not a comic book, after all), but those things and a couple of others made me laugh so hard.

In pregnancy news, it's moving right along. I'm undeniably showing a tiny bit now. I have a pair of capris that I wore when I was postpartum with Lydia, and they are my "way fat" pants, lol. They are still a little too big at this point, but my other bottoms are too small. I was wearing them for our most recent appointment and she commented that I was "still fitting into my pants nicely." I had to confess that they were my fat pants, lol. The rest of the appointment went fine. She said that I felt big, but when she actually measured me, I was measuring right on. We talked about my labwork. On two of the measurements, I was very slightly below the "normal" normal range, but the level I was at was perfectly normal for pregnancy. Hematocrit was slightly low at 35.6, but hemoglobin was still in a good range at 12.5. We heard the heartbeat again and talked about my morning sickness. Hopefully THAT is on its way out. I'm trying to eat as soon as my feet hit the floor in the morning, and also eat more protein overall, to help keep it at bay. So far, it seems to be working. We'll schedule our ultrasound at our next appointment. I'm excited b/c we will actually get a DVD of it this time instead of just a few pictures like w/ Lydia. :D Yesterday and today I thought I was feeling the baby move again, but the movements still seem "too big" for the size that the baby actually is right now. Like something so tiny surely can't kick me that hard, right?

a bittersweet end of an era

I think I can partly-tearfully and partly-joyfully say that Lydia is now weaned. She's 28 months old. I met all my nursing goals, both in absolute timeframes and in "situational" things (like I wanted to have a talking nursling). I have no regrets, either for stopping right now or for going "so long," but I do kind of miss it, and am glad that I'll be able to do it again in about 6 months. I went to my first La Leche League meeting in over a year today, and as soon as I said that "Lydia WAS nursing until about a week ago," I started bawling. But I think part of that bawling just came from the pregnancy in general, because even Reader's Digest articles will make me cry at this point. :)

the incredible shrinking belly, and the feeling is gone

I've decided that what I felt the other day was just an imagined baby movement, and was just digestion instead. No worries, though. I will feel REAL baby movements in my belly soon, soon, soon.

Speaking of the belly, I'm at the point now where I "show" differently, depending on what time of day it is. I'm still small enough that if I lay flat on my back, it completely disappears. Also, first thing in the morning, I'm still somewhat smallish. But all that changes as soon as I eat anything, and then throughout the day, the belly seems to get a tiny bit bigger all the way through to bedtime. Then overnight while I'm sleeping, it shrinks again. Even with all these changing sizes, I have gone ahead and made the switch about 90% over to maternity clothes, especially for skirts. I had a few that were a little forgiving, but the forgiveness can only go so far before comfort needs to take over.

an interesting feeling... and a two-year appointment

So, I've been waking up at night several times. Sometimes I can go back to sleep if I adjust my position, but other times I need to get up and go get a drink or whatever first. During one of my wake-ups last night, at about 2:00 am, I had a strange feeling way down in my lower left middle-ish stomach area. It might have just been digestion, or mmmmaaaayyyyyyyyyybbbbeeee it could possibly have been the baby. It felt like a pea-to-dime-sized bubble that popped, and happened a few times in a row. The area I was feeling it was "correct" to be a baby, as was the size of the feeling (my normal digestive feelings are... much bigger. LOL). But I don't know for sure if I can call it the baby or not. I think I can, but I'm still so early. I didn't feel Lydia until 18 and a half weeks, and I'm 5 weeks away from that right now, but "they" do say that you feel your second baby earlier than your first. So who knows? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But it's nice to imagine that it is. :)

We also finally had Lydia's 2-year well-child appointment this morning, only 4 months late. I mentioned to her doctor that I'd be bringing her a new patient in October, and she said "Oh, ok... OH! Congratulations!" lol. Lydia is the picture of good health, and has maintained her 30% height curve and also gained in her weight curve, from 1% up to 20%. So yay, now she is proportionate. We don't have any issues with her and she wasn't due for any shots today, so her next visit won't be until she's 3. I had Lydia sing her ABCs for the doctor, and then later when she was offering Lydia a sticker, I asked Lydia if she could "ask nicely" for a sticker and she said "May I have a sticker please?" I also taught her the name of her doctor this morning, so that she could say "Hi Dr. ___" and "Bye Dr. ___" today. The doctor recommended moving Lydia from skim milk (what our family is used to) to 2%, but Lydia gets some good fats elsewhere in her diet like from olive oil and whatnot, so I think I will try out 1% instead. Her stats today were a head circumference of 18.5", height of 34" and weight of 25 lbs 8 oz.

Also, I have another "funny word" to add to Lydia's repertoire. Yesterday before church, I had her sitting on a stool in the bathroom so I could curl her hair (and then it fell down about 5 minutes later, lol). She saw Tim's toothbrush by the sink and said "I see a brush-your-teeth!" Then she noticed her toothbrush as well and said "I see Lydia's purple brush-your-teeth too!" I love her cute little words. :)