catch up.

I've been away.

Not literally, but more figuratively. Things got a little overwhelming the last few weeks, and I decided to drop a few of the balls out I've been juggling so I don't bumble them all. The blog went out, my phone turned off, and I focused on trying to make happen the few things that had to: Boys, school, laundry, food, etc. Elijah's working really crazy hours right now on a project, and when that happens I tend to circle the wagons and pull in tightly so I don't stress out that our schedule is a mess and that I miss him so much. It's really amazing what a integral part of our family he is...when he isn't home for dinner or bedtime, or is gone in the morning before we all get up it just throws us all off terribly. He makes the house so happy, and he relaxes me by helping me see when I'm stressing unnecessarily. Me? Stress? Imagine that.

So, while he's been away lots of things have been going on. The biggest and MOST exciting to me was the installation of a new, fabulous backyard...or 3500 sf of sod to be more exact. We have lived in this house with this enormous back yard that was nothing but milkweed and goat heads for almost 5 years and have dreamed of having grass for the boys to play in. Elijah's family all came in and saved the day two weeks ago Friday and laid the grass in less than 3 hours. Kate came by and helped too...and the yard looks night and day. It's cooler out there, the grass is so GREEN and so soft, and the lack of dirt that is normally tracked into my house is enough to make me cry. We can't walk on it until this weekend, but you'd better bet we'll be out there rolling on it as soon as we can. I don't have any sunny day pictures of it yet, but this is a shot during the rain right after it was laid. It's a little distorted because I laid three pictures together since my wide angle wasn't on the camera...but you can get the idea. The terrace gardens Elijah built are on the left side. Back where the grass stops we'll be installing a small retaining wall and then most of that area back there by the tramp will be fruit trees. In the far left corner we're putting in a small shed and our compost bins. Over where the enormous Jumanji weeds are will be the fire pit, and some fun play areas for the boys. The chickens are in the two tier coop over on the right side and then all along the right fence is where my Reka Blueberries are getting planted. Hopefully next week. :) The sycamore is HUGE and gives great shade to most of the grassy area which should make for a fun summer playing outside.

We've also been moving big time on the garden...the tomatoes, onions, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, brussel sprouts and corn are in, and we have tons of herbs and the cucumbers, spaghetti squash, beans, and a few other things will hopefully go in this week or next. I'm really excited to live off this garden this year...I'm hoping all goes well with it. We found a huge crow eating the zucchini leaves last week, so we've been reading up on how to deter those pesky things...suggestions welcome!

In other news Jude has decided to start on the road of being what he calls a "big boy baby". In other words, he goes to the "big boy potty" but is still wearing a diaper or pullup. I decided to try potty training a little bit backwards this time around, since #2 seems to always be the hard one for them to get down, we bought a big box of Speedracer cars and every day that he uses the potty for #2 he gets a car. He wanted to wear pullups, and is doing a great job keeping dry most of the time. I learned from Liam not to push the potty training thing until after 3, and so I'll just let him keep practicing and earning cars until the summer when he's 3 and then we'll knock it out. Hopefully since he's used to using the potty for #2 it won't be our nemesis this time around.

Things with the pregnancy are going fine. My weekly appts have moved to every two weeks which is a LOT easier for me. Today I had a great ultrasound and Jude went with me. If I had any shred of doubt that MAYBE Libby my ultrasound tech was wrong about the sex of the baby I was CONVINCED today. He refused to let us see his face and we got plenty of views of...uh...everything else. ;) I'm so excited to have another boy...now we just need a name for him. All suggestions welcome.

Elijah just came home to say goodnight to all of us and talk for a few minutes, so I'm going to go now...but I'll be back and more regular this week. Alicia is coming to see us for a few days, we've got a huge block yard sale this weekend we're participating in, and the boys are going for 2 days to the Father/Son camp out. Should be fun!