Impatient!

 I am impatient.
These little babies are so tiny...and all I want is juicy cucumbers, fresh and crisp, and tender, crunchy sugar snap peas...and judging from the size of these little guys, it's going to be a while....

Sigh.
I'm also impatient for my daisies to bloom

At least my lillies of the valley are blooming full-force. I brought some into the living room (and miraculously, the cats haven't eaten them yet) and they are dispersing their intoxicating fragrance throughout the house.

Speaking of impatience, I cannot wait to meet my baby.
I am impatient that I am experiencing many of the lovely pregnancy symptoms, as evidenced by the bounty from a recent shopping trip to Walmart (not to reinforce any stereotypes here, but I really did need all of that stuff, except maybe the pickles, and who can resist a jar of pickles that size for 3 bucks! And yes, I loved pickles before I was pregnant, ok?)

But it is still evident to only me, myself, and maybe my hubby a little, that I am carrying a real, live baby inside. See, this was me at 4 weeks:

And this is me at 15 weeks:

Yes, not much progress. Hence the impatience.
But my impatience at meeting my child was temporarily assuaged yesterday when my doctor, who is the best doctor ever, asked me if I wanted to do a quick scan to see the baby, "Just for fun?"
Who in their right mind would say no to that?! So I did get to see him (we still think it's a boy) and it was such a blast!!
Here you can see his spine and profile

 And here you can see him trying to kick and stretch out those legs, I think he looks a little claustrophobic in there:

Here are his little legs, or I should say long legs with big feet (he's taking after his momma) stretching out, with ankles crossed:

And here is one of my favorites, simply his little arm, with his hand balled into a fist:

I guess not much change is happening on the outside, but things are certainly happening in there.
Thank you God for protecting our little peanut!

April in my garden (A belated post)

I took these pictures 10 days ago, and I'm just now getting to post them.
Mostly due to procrastination...feeling no inspiration, and no words, so I will simply post these pictures of my darling flowers.

Helibor and Trillium

Helibor

 Bleeding Hearts

Virginia
Blue-bells

Daffodils

 Tulips, about to burst forth in blooms (now they are wide open)

Here's a post-winter bed that I have not gotten to yet (one of many!)

And here is one that I did get to!

Some Lily of the Valley starting to poke through (now they are 5 inches tall!)

Forsythia bush in full bloom

Another shot of Trillium... one of my favorite plant names, and check out the amazing pattern on these leaves.
That's all for now folks...stay tuned for a summary of the month of May in my garden...

Progress.

Well folks, I'm happy to report that in a mere 5 weeks, we've progressed from this:

(a corn kernel)
 
To this:

(a prune, not a piece of poop :)

To this:

For the un-sharp tools in the shed, I am referring to the size of baby.
Here, for comparison:

Yup, 5 short weeks. That's some incredible progress if you ask me.
Today on ultrasound (11.5 weeks) we saw our little guy kicking around, squirming, bending, jumping, moving arms and legs. So, now my hubby knows I am not lying when I get up to pee three times during the night and I say it's because baby is doing jumping-jacks and cartwheels on my bladder.
Here is today's picture:

I almost died when I saw him moving around so much and looking like a little baby. Most awesome thing ever. And still feeling too good to be true.
Now that is progress folks!
And speaking of progress....
Check out the huge changes in my little niece is making....
Here she is at 1.5 weeks (two of my favorite shots from our photo shoot)

And here she is at 8 weeks - so much more alert, and she's almost smiling in this pic!

And talk about progress...my sis-in-law is already back into her pre-pregnancy jeans! Way to go!!
I will leave you with two more pics of my niece...and yes, she does love her grandmas :)

Work??

Last weekend it was over 70 degrees in Chicago-land. 
After we got back from church, I ran outside to my garden, excited to say hello to an old friend after months without communication (3 feet of snow will do that to a relationship).

As I walked around, I began to become more and more overwhelmed, noticing fences in disrepair; piles of leaves, sticks, and various garbage accumulated over a winter; bed after bed after bed needing tidying, edging and weeding (seriously, already??!); three of my four beautiful clematis' completely chewed through by those damn rabbits (anybody have a shot-gun I could borrow?)...so I finished my garden walk-through, which had evolved from a nice little catch-up conversation to the equivalent of a conversation in which my best friend tells me she has lost her job, her mother has died, and she has discovered she has colon cancer. Needless to say, I trudged back to my house, dejected and depressed, and already ready to give up, and call it quits. 


The beautiful weather, chirping birds and blue skies were calling my name though, so later on I changed out of my Sunday-best and went to tackle the front beds, wielding my trustiest garden tools.

It was then, after a few minutes of kneeling over the long-neglected beds, raking through piles of decaying leaves, searching for each new treasured discovery of fresh green life, with the sun on my neck, birds chirping overhead, earthworms and centipedes frantically scattering out of my way...it was then that I remembered, it all came back to me: there is no need to get overwhelmed. This is not work for me...this is therapy.

Happy Spring everyone! May you attack your neglected gardens with exuberance and vigor!

1.2 centimeters...and shock.

Not sure where to begin. Ok, I guess I'll begin with this:

After having 4 ultrasounds last year, each one revealing crazy, dysfunctional ovaries and a lonely, empty uterus, today I saw this.
Complete with a little flickering heartbeat.

Perhaps some of you are aware of the struggle the past 15 months have been as we tried to start a family, and then were told by a fertility specialist that our only hope of conceiving was by doing in-vitro fertilization. Well, two days before our appointment to start all of that ordeal, we found out we were pregnant.  That was three weeks ago...and today our baby measures 1.2cm, and I am still in shock.

Words fail me...I can only echo the joyfulness, gratitude and praise reflected in the the words David the Psalmist:

"I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall be continually in my mouth.
My soul will make its boast in the Lord,
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
O magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
O taste and see that the Lord is good,
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!"

All praise be to God for this little blessing. 

Our upstairs bathroom...before and after

Sorry about the lack of text in this post - or perhaps my readers are happy.
Just wanted to share with you the before and after pics of our upstairs bathroom re-do.
I picked the paint color from a bunch of mis-tints at the store, and then found that painting that I LOVE that matched the color, and then later found the vase that also matched the colors! I love it when things in life work out that way.