A quick update

Many things have changed since my last post.  It has been an extremely busy 5 months.

- first off, my absence coincides with my pregnancy.  We are expecting a little girl in early November.  I'm 25 weeks now, and she is incredibly active.  I feel much more regular and strong movement than I ever did with Eli.  No decision will be made on her name until we see her, although we have several leading choices.  I have another ultrasound to see her on this Monday, as she was too active in the last ultrasound to get a good look at her heart.  I'm looking forward to seeing her again, as last visit she simply moved too much to get a good look at her !

-  We bought and moved into a house.  We moved in the middle of May, and we are finally getting settled.  It is a wonderful 1904-built two story with hardwood floors throughout.  It is a gift from God.

- We've been in the middle of home improvements.  We've redone the garden beds, taking out the covering of river rock that was 3 inches deep in all the beds, discovering and removing the concrete pad that was UNDERNEATH a couple inches of dirt, and finally improving the soil with lots of compost, adding my plants and covering with lovely mulch.  I've got a large vegetable garden going, with 8 buttercup squash, 4 cabbages, 6 muskmelon, a watermelon, and 2 rows of green beans.  There are also zinnias in there for cutting, which I've greatly enjoyed.  There are also 4 mature rhubarbs on the property, and I have a freezer nearly full with chopped rhubarb to bake with !  Finally, today the final stage of my dishwasher will be finished.  This is why I've had no time - I've been hand washing dishes for 2 months.  Ben finished the plumbing this past weekend, and the electrician is coming today to finish the wiring work.   We found a very high end dishwasher on clearance at Sears, and I'm just thrilled with how it will look in the end.

- I've been continuing with my New Year's Resolution to declutter a thing every day. It continued throughout packing at the old place, and maintained it through unpacking here.  I just started conquering some of my hanging clothes and went through my lingerie and threw away what was clearly junky or no longer a practical option.  I added 3 bags to the donation/garage sale pile and a full bag of trash.  We've gone through our books and gotten rid of some easy pickings, and we're focusing on reading books that we own that will likely be one-time reads.  On my radar for today is to go through some of my knicknacks (and Ben's knicknacks...) that are stored in my blanket chest right now and getting rid of the things that are not in use.  We don't have a linen closet in this house, and I need to actually put blankets in that chest !

-  We've had Ben's parents out (to help us move) and my parents over the 4th of July weekend.  We will be seeing my beloved Uncle Bryan and Aunt Linda and their dog, Emily (who Eli ADORES) this coming weekend and we are very excited for it.  We feel like we live in a situation now where we can have people come to see us.  There just wasn't room in the last few places.

-  Eli is his charming cute self.  He has picked up a lot of speaking skills in the last few months and now chats our ears off.  He loves everything boy, especially trains and tractors, and just discovered jumping and loves to jump wherever and whenever.  He hopped on the scale when we were at the Vet's last week, and he's weighing 39.4 lbs.  He's just under 40 inches, so he's still a very BIG boy.  He enjoys going for bike rides and helping me with chores (holding the dustpan while I sweep is a favorite), and Heidi is still his best friend.

I need to move along with my day, but I do hope to be back more regularly.  It's going to be pictureless for a while.  Our camera is (probably irreversibly) broken, but is at the repair shop right now.  Otherwise I'll need to start camera shopping !