Lupins

In the Grass

Busy

I have started to realize that the moments in my life that aren't busy are and forever will be the exceptions. But do I really want it any other way? I actually doubt it. These past couple weeks we've been blitzing James' mom's place getting it ready to sell. Just prior to that I spent part of a week helping get Grandma's house ready to sell. As of now my Grandma's is sold and Logan's Grandma's house has had its first showing. I have a whole day at home to start sorting this place out. So much can be neglected when one spends no more than one waking hour per day at home. But it does give satisfaction to know that things are being accomplished.

On a different note, I just noticed my last post title is Choral Bells and I'm not entirely sure if that is the proper spelling for heuchera's common name. Looking at it now I do believe it should be Coral Bells. It isn't surprising that my mind would gravitate to the musical interpretation but I think I was wrong. But the pictures are beautiful nevertheless.

Choral Bells

I have never had much appreciation for heuchera beyond some of the interesting leaf colours that have been developed but I took these up-close pictures of the flowers and they actually turn out to be beautiful when viewed this way. Who knew?

Writer's Block

I love fiction and have always been puzzled with my evident lack of talent in producing it. I think it is common with writers to find it difficult to get past the initial problem of beginning. But having spent at least six years honing my writing skills (mainly through essays) I don't think that or any other technical aspect of writing is the problem. Style and technique are things that with discipline and practice become less difficult. I also have very little problem stringing together sentences; I tend to be verbose more than otherwise.

It struck me today, however, that a deeper problem for me is that to create one particular character, for instance, is to exclude all other possibilities for that character. Descriptions essentially limit possibility. I enjoy reading of other peoples' created worlds because it opens new worlds to the imagination but to create one myself is to exclude all other possibilities. So I suppose my being a reader who cannot herself write is in a way rather a selfish position.

Maybe knowing this will help me overcome my writer's block. I guess we'll see!

Cheese

I finally have a picture where you can see the top teeth too. I think the bottom ones are beyond adorable and the top ones are cute too (but not quite as extreme on the cute scale) but since they're there I like having picture proof...

Speaking of picture proof, we've been meaning to get a video camera ever since he was born but haven't got around to it yet. I have also been meaning to switch my phone plan but that I finally accomplished last week. As I played around with my new phone I discovered it had a video option. Thinking of it now, my previous phone (perhaps all of my previous phones) had the video option but I never used it. Importantly, though, this current phone also comes equipped with bluetooth so I am able (really, my husband is able) to transfer them to my husband's laptop without having to buy some sort of cord. So I've started taking videos of as many of L's accomplishments as I can. The quality is pretty low but the subject is the best!

Happy Dominion Day!

Fever

Seemingly (to me) hard on the heels of his first set of teeth, my man is now cutting the top two. It's more rough on him this time with a low-grade fever and more evident pain and restlessness as a result but he's still taking it like a trooper. Even during the worst of it people who have met him for the first time have remarked on how happy and calm he is. He is such a blessing and joy. Another side benefit (for me) of his feeling under the weather is that he is more clingy and cuddly than usual. I generally like the fact that he is more than happy to go to or be entertained by other people but now that I have it it's nice to have a mommy's boy for a couple days (but I wouldn't want it to be like this all the time). I do hope he's over the worst today, though.

Pony

Oh my!

"Every child should have a pony"
So began one of my favourite books as a child. It is a simple story about how a mother got a pony for her children one Christmas. I didn't quite know why I liked it so much but for several years in the week before Christmas I imposed upon myself the tradition of reading one chapter a day leading up to Christmas. Well now our little guy has his own first 'pony' and seems to enjoy it quite a bit. When you squeeze the ears of this pony it dexterously will make trotting noises and sinisterly will sing a la-de-de-da song (very sinisterly when you begin to realize that the song is then stuck in your head the rest of the day). In general I have been trying to keep a limit on the toys that we acquire for him but for some reason I had a hard time saying no to this one :)

Stuck

As a result of the superiority of his backwards creeping to any forward movement, he frequently ends up in this predicament these days. His mobility is definitely increasing, though, and it won't be long before he'll be proficient in both gears (not to mention walking).

Eureka!

Father's Day

A few pictures

simple gifts

One of the perks of marrying a landscaper is the abundance of flowers that seems to come with the territory.

(another is the great tan...)

Dinner

Oatmeal cereal to start


With raspberries to finish

Changes

We visit James' brother and his family quite frequently (at least a couple times every week). They have been renting a house with about an acre of land and it's been great to have a place that's still quite close but where we can head outside and where the little guy can play with his cousins. Recently, however, they have been looking into buying a place of their own and have just put down a conditional offer on a house further outside of the city. While we are happy for this step and looking forward to visiting them at their new house there is still sadness at the thought of leaving the house they have inhabited for many years. We went for a walk along (and through) a nearby creek with our older nephew over the weekend. This may have been the last of the walks in this creek but apparently the new house has a creek right on the property so I'm sure it won't be the last of our creek walks!

Teeth!

He's had these for a few weeks now but I just haven't got around to putting anything up on here about it. The first two teeth came in at the same time and didn't seem to give him more trouble than one fussy night (or at least didn't give me more trouble than that) but I believe his top ones are starting to rear their heads and he's been fussy and not sleeping well for the past few days so hopefully they poke through before too long. I think these teeth are an adorable addition and make for some really cute faces as he tests out the new feeling in his mouth. Thankfully we haven't had too much trouble with biting yet so over all it's been a positive experience.

When I discovered the first tooth (not having realized it was coming through already) it gave me a pang to think he's already reached another milestone but at the same time I'm so happy he's developing as he should. He's getting to be a big boy already!

Wedding

Our marriage had been postponed several times for various reasons last year so eventually we decided to be married quietly at City Hall and have our celebration with friends this year once things had settled down a bit. It turned out to be six months and a few days from our original wedding day that I finally walked down the aisle. Last Saturday turned out to be perfect in so many ways. It was difficult to plan with so many other things going on but we pulled if off. No, we more than pulled it off: it was everything I could have hoped. The one aspect that I do regret is that with everything going on we never got a chance to get most of the invitations out. I did try to let everyone know by word or over e-mail but it isn't the same as a real invitation. But those who were able to make it made it a wonderful day. As I was saying with one of my bridesmaids, for the amount of joy and fun that came from the day it was the perfect amount of work. I was so happy to see everyone and celebrate with them. Although we were already married we both agree that this was necessary. Anyway it was beautiful and I am so glad we went ahead with it despite the hectic pace it put us through for a while. Oh, one more regret: we never got our own pictures. It looks as though enough friends took pictures but it would be nice not to have to rely on others. But that's what makes life worth living so I guess it's fine too.

Food!

The little guy was weighed at his Doctor's appointment yesterday. We had weighed him at home a few weeks ago and he was just under seventeen pounds. I figured he was around eighteen now so I was surprised to hear he was nineteen-and-a-half! I'm just glad his car-seat is rated to 32lbs rather than the standard 21. He is growing so quickly and is quite interested in food. I had given him some rice cereal several days in a row last week but it looked like he had a tiny rash on his cheeks after eating it once or twice so I decided to leave off for a little while and try again in a bit. This weekend, however, one of my family members gave him some honeydew melon. He made a face at first but then worked away at the chunk until he had reduced it to mush (pretty good for having no teeth yet). They then gave him something else but there was no face this time. The next day I let him hold and try out raw broccoli and cauliflower and he was quite interested in those veggies too (no face this time either even though they have quite the strong flavour). He is definitely aware of what food is and is quite interested watching us eat various things. He also wants to sample our drinks but we still just give him sips of his own water so far. It's been interesting and I'm happy that he's eager to try new things. Hopefully he keeps this attitude throughout life but we'll see.

Through generations

It has been interesting unpacking things that have been packed away for years from when James stored his things at his aunt's place. Porcelain eggs he made and decorated as a child, old photos, and an extensive stamp and coin collection among other things. One of the more interesting discoveries, in my opinion, was a small New Testament/Psalms book inscribed with his father's name (mid last-century) and a confirmation class help and guide book given to his Grandfather in the 1930s. I love books, I love old books and I love the Bible but what makes these particular unassuming old books extra-special in my eyes is the heritage they represent. It has been passed down from generation to generation. I know we have no say ultimately as to how successfully it will be passed down but my hope is that I do my best to keep them going strong.