Sunday, October 19, 2008

Catching Up

I'll try to recap some of the excitement that's been happening around here, and by excitement I mean the mundane predictability of day-to-day life.
I'll start with me since that is what I know best. Here is Ms. Kelly Jelly Belly pictured above, laying on top of 7-bags of mulch. It was comfy and it smelled good. Down there is my belly with a 33-1/2 week old fetus. Ultima and I started our biweekly testing this week. The first day didn't got so well, I had lost 3-pounds, it took an hour to get her heart rate reactive, then during the amniotic fluid scan it initially didn't seem like she had enough fluid. Things righted themselves and we were finally on our way. On Friday's testing appointment, she had a reactive NST right away, fluid wasn't checked, I measured well and my weight was up 1-1/2 pounds. Despite my fatigue, I actually look forward to going to work at the hospital these days. Primarily my energy for work is due to the fact that we have a fabulous ice machine on the unit and I can consume ice to my overburdened heart's content. Considering I'm craving ice just as much as ever and now have been having increasingly more common dizzy spells, spots in my vision, ringing in my ears and exceptional fatigue I'm guessing my hemoglobin hasn't improved with the iron supplements. Otherwise, some back pain and difficulty sleeping are a hindrance but certainly to be expected. Lars seems to be concerned with what I'm lifting and what I'm eating these days, but mostly he has been supportive with cracking my back and filling my cups with ice.
Petra (above #3 in white jersey) spent most of the weekend with Taylor. It was a double-game weekend, with one yesterday morning and one way far away this morning. Greg and Kristen took their kids and Petra out to Temecula last night where they spent the night. We drove out with our little ones this morning to watch their game. There were only 7-girls for our team today, so they all played the whole time in the 90-degree heat. Petra had several break-aways down the field toward the goal, but most of the other team's players were the size of 5th graders and so she was thwarted. No matter, we were very proud of how hard she played. Right now, she's playing school with her siblings and the neighbor boy. She is the teacher. Her 2-week fall break starts tomorrow, Lars will take tomorrow off to be with the kids. She can really use the break, I'm excited for her to sleep in and lounge around.

Annike was a bit amiss without her sister, but she and Soren made do. She had a t-ball game yesterday, per Lars' report she did very well. He took a million pictures, as usual. Recently she told Lars and me how excited she was for the baby to come. We asked her why and she replied, "because then I'll be big and I can wear a bra!" OMG! We tried to put it all into perspective for her, though mostly once she found out we would not be getting her a bra this Thanksgiving she tuned us out. What's a parent of a 3-year old to do?


Here is a picture of the quality of soil in our front lawn. It's a clayish, dusty, pine needley mixture. Lars and Soren worked hard on it yesterday while I guarded the mulch.
I just love taking pictures of Lars through this tree. Dunno why, just do.

The man isn't afraid of hard labor. His softy scientist hands are filled with callouses and blisters.

Now, I don't know much about the physics of landscaping, but I'm pretty sure that rake is upside down.

It's all so intriguing, no? Man vs. the soil. It could be a novel. I could write it. Under a pen name, of course. Anonymity is so important when you're a millionaire. I'd call myself Libre Stilo.

Well, there's the end product (almost). Those boys put six Bird's of Paradise and three irises in that rocky soil that day, folks. 10-bags of mulch were laid down and spread out (I helped with that). Now, 1/4 of our front lawn is landscaped. Looks mighty purdy, sho' nuff.

And now for my Brazilian Helper Man, his Daddy's right hand boy. When there's a tool to be used, or dirt to be moved Daddy can always count on little Soren. Soren had a great soccer game yesterday, he scored 2-goals. His first goal he made from all the way across the field while he was standing in the goalie box, he was determined to clear that ball out of there that he booted it as hard as he could. It was phenomenal. The second goal was from midfield, he just popped it right in. Beautiful.

Then he dug some holes in the bedrock to get these irises in the ground. He picked the irises out at Home Depot. Daddy let him ride the big cart that was piled with mulch.
Such a good worker.
Workin' with his #1 teammate, Daddy. Those two are one in the same.

Soren was a bit troubled in Petra's absence, too. We kept him busy with the Home Depot run and then a trip down to IKEA, where we probably permanently damaged our credit. Soren's pretty excited about his, and Ultima's, new furniture (it matches the pre-existing furniture). On the way home, Soren tried to count to a google. He got to 100, then it was pretty spotty after that until he got to 'sixty-forty hundred google.'
Maggie had the itchy-scratchies. I gave her a flea treatment this morning. She's got relief all over her face.

Can't you leave a dog to scratch in peace? Sheesh, Ma.

3 comments:

Jamie Payne said...

Glad to hear you had a good weekend! We too are in full home improvement mode...or should I say Jason is. I supervise. 3 weeks ago we layed 70 bags of mulch down in the front of the house. We still have the side to do, but I'm not sure what I want to plant there yet. It's not an easy job guarding the mulch, but someone's got to do it!

Debra (a/k/a Doris, Mimi) said...

I have always enjoyed your newsy e-mail updates. Blogging is so much better! I look every day for an update of the family and photos.

Our weekend was fairly low key. With your dad out of twon two weekends ago, and me in Connecticut last weekend, we enjoyed each other and the glorious autumnal weekend. Your landscaping looks great!

Mommela said...

We miss you guys like crazy and you've been on my mind a lot lately now that Mr. Handsome is interviewing for a job in a Far Away Town (no not your Far Away Town, not even an interesting Far Away Town, just another midwestern town with rotten winter weather and far too far away from A2). Kel, you look great on that mulch, Petra looks like a really hard-charging soccer diva, Annike looks so much older, and Soren, well, I just love him to pieces. And bravo to Lars for all his hard work!