Ethan

We had a wonderful getaway this past weekend, and our family really gave us a nice relaxing break. Ethan received an abundance of love and affection, and he just ate it up!

Here's a group shot from this past weekend.


Ethan loves it when he gets to stand up -- especially on someone's belly!


Awww, I can't tell which one of my babies is cuter!


Ethan likes his toes...

and his hands...

... and his pirate!

"Watch out, I'm coming to get you! I'm learning the basics of a scootch."

It's time to stretch and grow!

"Are you going to just lay there and take pictures, or are you gonna play with me?!?"

Garden Update

A lot has happened in the past month. Here are a few of the garden events.

The tomatoes are starting to come out, and I even have a pepper that turned red. Of course, all of this is covered by bird netting to keep the mockingbirds from poking holes in everything.
Here you can see the netting and support on the left.
Here's a downside to keeping the birds out -- the tomato hornworms are allowed to roam freely, munching away at the plants. Luckily I only saw one of them, but I'm keeping my eyes open.

Our crepe myrtle is starting to bloom -- man, I love that color!

Here's our first blooming artichoke from about a month ago. It has a beautiful thistle like flower with a fairly strong (but nice) scent.

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, we're still trucking along. Ethan has started playing more, and at times, he really loves tummy time on his play mat. He's really loving his hands and what they can do... they're really good at grabbing chest hair, necklaces, glasses, noses, or anything else that gets too close. Here are some recent pictures of him, and pictures of our family from Mother's Day brunch.

"Oh, is there a booby over there? All this exercise makes me hungry!"

"Goodness gracious, I'm soooo cute!"

"Mmmm, this pirate tastes yummy!"

"Weeeeee! I'm flying... and drooling!"

This must have been the part where Ethan was asleep.

Happy Mother's Day, Cookie Pockets!

Here we all are gathered for brunch. It was a great time to see everyone together.

Times...They are a changing!

The past few days have been so much easier with Ethan. We're preliminarily attributing it to his partial adaption of a nipple-shield-less breast for the first time. We're thinking he might be getting more volume or eating more efficiently. He's been taking naps the past few days, and he's even had periods of awake-and-not-crying. During these times we've been able to play and we've been able to venture out a bit with him. Hopefully his new attitude will stick around for a while...we like it!
This is something he never used to do during the day unless he'd just eaten a bottle of breast milk.

That's right! Check out Ethan's post-bath-time hair!

Strike a pose! It's time to look cute for the camera...


Heres Mommy and Son heading out in our Hawaiian gear.

This is a supper-yummy dinner that Dad cooked the other night. Blackened Mahi with steamed asparagus and mashed potatoes with fresh-dill and garlic chives.

The many faces of Ethan

Now for the Ethan posts. There are a bunch here, but he's just so darned cute at times, and we need to remember those times when he is crying and fussing and mommy and daddy are tired... ;)

"Ooooh, look. My hand!"

"Is that food I see over the hill?!?"

"Shhh. I'm trying to catch flys."

"Mommy. Did you toot?"

"I'm practicing my inclined press so I can have big muscles for when I start hitting the gym soon."

"Who, me?!? No, I'm innocent..."

"Let me distract you with my cuteness..."

Three generations. Guess which of the three falls asleep when the hair dryer is turned on (the cool setting). Guess which one doesn't sleep well when daddy turns on the hairdryer.

In memory

Granny James passed away recently at the age of 97. She will always be remembered for her kind soul and spirit. She was a loving lady to all she encountered, and she always saw the positive side of every situation. Thank you, Bea, for being a great grandmother, mother, friend, and role model.

Our Garden is Growing

It's been a while, but I hope to make several posts today. This one is on the garden. The springs rains almost turned my garden (and our back yard) into a swimming pool/mud hole. Thank goodness the sunshine arrived yesterday afternoon and is *starting* to dry things out. I think I heard somewhere that plants need air, and not just water...

Our second (and 1st in the background) California Poppy bloomed yesterday. The cute looking bug drunk on pollen appears to be a spotted cucumber beetle. I'm going to have to do something about those guys...


Yesterday my Aunt told me she had her first tomatoes on the vine. This prompted me to check out mine, and sure enough, I have some babies too! This is a volunteer plant from last year, so I don't know for sure what kind it is yet.


My blackberries are starting to bloom. This is the first year I've had blooms, so I can't wait to see what happens next!


Here's a wide angle shot of the current garden. The tall green columns you see in the middle are my bolting cilantro. The giant bush in the back is actually two artichoke plants. It's a nice evergreen, but I hope for some production this year, considering the amount of space they take up. Near the front I still have some spinach that we need to eat, and the bamboo poles mark my tomatoes that I started and transplanted from seed.


On the left are my young swiss chard and beets. In the middle are my seed started pepper transplants.


On the left are my blackberries and garlic chives. On the left of the trellis(new for this year) are mommy's cucumbers. On the left are pole and bush green beans.


Yay! Our cukes have flowers!