Now that the weather is lovely and warm, my new Anti-Laundry Accumulation Plan is to not put clothes on Benjamin unless it’s absolutely necessary.
This little boy has been just so sweet lately. Last month he was rather obstinate and ornery, I think partly due to my low energy because of the first trimester and the nausea that kept us cooped up inside. I’m still sleepy and pukey but we’ve been spending more time outside and he has been so precious, delightful, silly, and loving.
I’ve been meaning to take pictures of the beautiful wisteria, azaleas, camellias, and dogwoods that are blooming all over Tallahassee but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. Here’s just a little taste of the sights of Spring that Benjamin picked for me yesterday (his new favorite thing is picking flowers for Mama, it’s so cute and all his idea):
Suffice it to say that Spring has been so beautiful here that I haven’t even missed the Texas Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes that covered everything around our little farm last year:
Texas wildflowers are lovely, but Spring is just Tallahassee’s season to shine. I love living here.
Daniel’s garden is thriving.
We’ll have enough peas to start eating up any day now:
And so many different kind of Tomatoes are blooming!
Daniel’s raised beds are just so pretty.
But he has a lot of “help” in the garden from this guy:
Did I mention that he’s been on a painting spree? Sweet boy.
Daniel did a lovely post about the wonderful feast he made for St. Thomas Aquinas’ Day.
I’m an optimist. I get it from my Dad. We both always assume that the best case scenario is the inevitable. If things are bad, positive change is just around the corner. Whatever project we are working on will surely take the minimum amount of time…what could go wrong? This is often a helpful trait but it goes hand-in-hand with frequent disappointment when things don’t turn out as easy as anticipated.
All that to say, my morning sickness is NOT easing up. I’ve started a fun little ritual of throwing up first thing in the morning and most evenings are filled with pretty constant nausea. Blerg. Daniel and Benjamin are at Mass without me because just after I finished my makeup and was getting dressed with 2 minutes to spare, I had to run to the bathroom to vomit. Benjamin told Daniel, “um, Daddy, Mama’s saying, ‘Bleh! Bleh! to the potty!'” So I sent them off without me so I could lie down and try to rehydrate.
But enough griping. I am such a baby about feeling ill and I’m trying to remember how lucky I am to be pregnant with a healthy 10 week old little punkin’. I AM grateful and I’m trying not to be discouraged by how sick I feel.
Speaking of 10 weeks…my tummy is popping out. This was taken almost two weeks ago:
In other news, our garden is doing really well thanks to Daniel’s hard work and Benjamin’s “helping.” Benjamin mostly helps by using his little trowel to move dirt around to little hiding spots. We found a big pile of dirt in the carport where he must have thought it needed to be.
Check out this beautiful cauliflower:
I haven’t been up to taking a lot of pictures lately. Here’s an old iphone pick of our little sweet boy playing with the Tonka Dump Truck from Uncle Garrett:
And another iphone pic taken on a chilly day in front of the Brogan Museum:
In this one, apparently “Snuggle Bear” needed a snack. At least that’s what I’m told:
Filed under: Books
I woke up today feeling much better after a couple days of being really down and out with a cold. And today, my morning sickness is so much better. My last pregnancy was honestly pretty miserable and the daily vomiting until month 6 was almost unbearable. I’ve been very queasy most of the past 6 weeks but experienced a day here and there of relief and it seems to be easing now. Thank you to those of you who have been praying for me to have relief! Your prayers have been effective and a great comfort and encouragement to me!
Even with sleeping 9 or 10 hours at night, I’ve managed to read a little bit.
I finished the first book of the Kristin Lavransdatter saga and am almost done with part II: The Wife.
I had forgotten how good these books are. Kristin is such an interesting protagonist.
I also started reading Anthony Esolen’s Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child.
Esolen translated my very favorite translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy and I’ve read several wonderful articles by him so I expected to like it. I love it. It’s a must read if you have children, would ever like to have children, or are interested in education.
I’ve only read the Introduction of this next book, but I heard about it when I was still working at the Center for Christian Ethics and the Director was leading a seminar on vice and virtue with the author.
Glittering Vices is great so far. We’ll be reading it with some other folks at a weekly dinner and book discussion at my parent’s house. The group actually started meeting last week but only Daniel could go because I was still wallowing in bed with that cold. But I’m excited about reading it. The cultivation of virtue seems like a good thing to be thinking about during Lent, hmm?
Benjamin is still loving to read books with Mama and Daddy. His current fave is probably Donald Hall and Barbara Cooney’s Ox-Cart Man.
Daniel tells me that reading this as a child inspired him to want to be a farmer, an ambition he is currently exploring, quite successfully I might add, in our front yard. I’ll have to get him to do a guest post on everything that he’s got growing out there.
Anyhow, this book is wonderful and it’s just the right length for Benjamin’s attention span these days.
Speaking of Benjamin, my little wild active man is being so sweet to Mama when she can’t run around due to first trimester queasiness and fatigue. And Daniel let’s him “help” in the garden after he gets home from work and during the weekend to run off some of that little toddler energy.
So, what are YOU reading these days?
I haven’t posted in almost a month due to the morning sickness and fatigue accompanying a new pregnancy. That’s right, we’re having another baby!
Due Date: October 13th
We are so thrilled about this new life and can’t wait to see Benjamin as a big brother. We are grateful and humbled by the idea of becoming parents twice over and can’t wait to meet our little one.
Today was our first appointment with our midwife, Kim, and everything looks perfect. Good strong heartbeat and just the right size for 8.5 weeks! Praise the Lord!
The nausea and fatigue during the pregnancy isn’t nearly so bad as when I was pregnant with Benjamin…..so…..maybe it’s a girl this time?
Carrots for Michaelmas: Musings of a Catholic Wife, Mother, and Occasional Redhead 