Firsts!

This week has been a good one with a few 'firsts.'

On Sunday, I held my first chicken. You have probably seen the picture by now, so this is old news. But as a result of Jesse helping Betsy and company build a coop and work with chickens a tiny bit, he has begun scheming how we can get our own coop and chickens set up sooner than we thought. He actually came up with a great plan using one of the existing buildings on our property, and it will be much cheaper than we thought! 

 I also used my clothesline for the first time yeaterday! Yes, the one I asked to be worked on in March..it's done now and looking much better than it was. Of course, my loads of laundry yesterday got rained out, but thats ok. I had more to do today, so I made some good use of it.  [no picture..just imagine what a clothesline would look like]

And finally, we have a beehive on our property! Our plan was to hopefully get a few bee boxes next spring, but a nice family Jesse met at the beekeeping meetings (we sound so neat..)- that actually live right down the road from us- had one of their colonies swarm (aka split and half take off), and once they got the new colony out of the tree, they needed somewhere to put it. I guess when a colony swarms, you can't just plunk it back in a bee box and expect them to stay, as they are pretty determined to go back to where they came from, in this case, the tree. So you ideally want to move them far away from their "home" to help them forget about it and start their new hive/colony in the box. So, we have a box on our property now! It actually works out well: we don't have the equipment, but can still get experience and knowledge on how to have bees while we help take care of them while the family does all the important work. If this colony settles into the box, they may try and split it again next spring and we might get the new colony then! We are pretty excited. 

 Other than that..life is moving along. I had a rough couple of days and nights at the beginning of the week, but hopefully we are done with that nonsense. I rarely have any issues sleeping..so the insomnia I have gotten to experience has helped me appreciate how quickly sleep comes to me even more than I normally do. I have gotten some good reading done in my books though..but I would prefer sleep and reading during the day. Bob and I have started having the midwife appointments weekly, which just further indicates that this pregnancy is wrapping up and we will have a new family member soon. Which also means I need to get the infant things out of the attic that we will need. Like a car seat..kind of important. 

Lily has been a champ. She is happy, fun, and we don't have too many bad days, or haven't recently. It's been so nice to not have a clingy toddler right now, and several people have commented on the difference that she isn't demanding to be held by me and only me all the time. Yes, I will miss the just Lily time and when I can dote on her solely, but she couldn't have picked a better time to start some independence. Her vocabulary is soaring- even if she isn't quite getting all of the word out- and Jesse and I have a pretty good understanding of what she is saying to us and how "buh-buh" is different than "buh-buhs" [buckle and bubbles, of course]. She met a tiny dog named Abby over the weekend, and while it took her some time to figure out how to say that name, by Sunday evening, she had it figured out.  And when I walked past her crib- a good 45 minutes after I put her down- I heard her saying "Aaaaaa-beee...Aaaaaa-beeee."  

As I mentioned, I have been dealing with some insomnia. As well as some pretty severe pains that are pregnancy related and just awful. I just keep reminding myself and hoping that it all goes away after I deliver Bob. Other than that, I can't complain! And if I did, it's not like it would do me any good anyway. I have been trying- kind of- to stay on top of things, but I'm finding that if I run errands after work, like I'm used to doing, I spend the rest of the day exhausted. I personally don't count it as nesting, but I'm trying to whip our house back in shape. I don't think it's nesting because it's nothing out of the ordinary, just the weekly chores that have been slipping to the side with how tired I have been. 

And slowly but surely, we have been chipping away at one project after another.  After Jesse's dad came for the weekend to help with some odds and ends that had been bugging Jesse to get done, we have continued with some of the smaller, more annoying, just-need-to-do-them-to-cross-them-off-our-list-and-improve-the-house projects.  Really, Jesse has been doing most of them and I keep him company while he works on them.  And by company, I mean try and keep Lily out of the way.  The one day/project, I asked if I could help and he smiled his sarcastic smile and said "why don't you stick to what you're good at?  Getting in the way.."  If he only knew how in the way I could REALLY be if I set my mind to it..it's a good thing I like him and think he's pretty funny.

We made the decision that we really needed to up the priority of buying and installing an underground fence for Zeke, so we have been working on that this week.  We plan on finishing it this weekend.  This was a "we'll eventually have the time and money for this" project, but after a few weeks of not seeing Zeke almost at all during the day and having to call and yell at bedtime to get him to come home some nights [he almost spent several nights outside because he wouldn't listen], we decided it was more important than we thought.  We don't mind the dog being outside and playing outside...what we mind is when he doesn't come when he is called and some of the most awful habits he is picking up from the neighbors dog.  Like standing in the middle of the road when a car is driving at him and not moving.  Dumb dog.  Oh!  And our garden is looking great; I will try and take a picture soon if I think of it.  

Ok, that's it for now.