The Garden of Weeding

I need to catch up on the last couple of week of the boys gardening class at Harlinsdale Farm.  There is no class this week because of the Fourth of July (Harlinsdale is the location of the Franklin fireworks display).

Two weeks ago, the class was called "The Garden of Weeding".  Before the kids got to work cleaning up the garden, Ms. Lisa released 500 ladybugs into the garden.  The kids loved finding ladybugs on them for the rest of class!  The ladybugs help to keep the aphids in check and also help pollinate as they do it.

Then it was time to weed the raised beds by hand.  With all the rain the previous week, it was easy to find lots of large weeds to pull!

The kids also got to spray a natural weed killer made from apple cider vinegar and dish soap on the weeds along the outside of the beds.  I'm curious how effective it really is.  We keep the garden organic.

 At the end of class, the kids got to collect dried up poppy flowers for the seeds (to take home and plant for next year).

Happy Birthday, Rylan!

Rylan turned 4 today!  Happy birthday, sweet boy!!!

Swim Test

Carter passed today!!!  This was his second attempt at the swim test at the Maryland Farms YMCA and he did it!!!  Carter was nervous to try it again, but I he tried it without me having to beg too much :)

When he finished he kept saying, "I'm so proud of myself!"  We are so proud of him too!!!

A horrible picture of Carter a little after the test showing off his new bracelet ...

These are VERY important :)

A better picture taken this afternoon ...

Luke's Birthday Party

Rylan went to his very best school buddy's birthday party on Saturday.  Luke (the birthday boy) and Rylan were never more than a few feet from one another during that party!  They are so, so sweet together.  This was the first time I've actually gotten to see them play since we've never done a playdate outside of school (his mom works full time so it's hard to get together).

Luke had a superhero themed party.   Spiderman even showed up!  Luke is standing next to Rylan in the picture below.

Who knew that Spiderman could paint faces!!!

Rylan really wanted his picture taken with Spiderman :)

Rylan almost split open the piñata with his crazy good hit!  He definitely knocked out a few treasures and the big kids eventually finished it off.

The party was at Luke's house and they had a bounce house that the boys played in most of the time.  It was super fun except for when a fuse blew and the bounce house quickly deflated on Rylan as he was about to get out (he was the last one in there at the time)!

I didn't know anyone until about midway through the party when one of my friends showed up.  I did however talk to Rob Bironas for a while without knowing who he was!  He was the kicker for the Tennessee Titans for nine (?) seasons through last year (and apparently one of the better NFL kickers for awhile).  I'm clueless though and never recognize anyone famous around here (our area is full of them!).

Too bad Luke's uncle had to give the boys' bunny ears in this picture because it was a cute one of Rylan and Luke!  Happy Birthday!!!

Recent Pictures

I am so behind on blogging!  I spent hours and hours spreading mulch last week and I'm still not done.  But I have made a huge dent in the pile (less than 20% is left).  Brian worked insane hours last week and all weekend so I haven't gotten much of a break from taking care of the kiddos.  Plus I'm TRYING to get ready for Rylan's birthday party this weekend - I'm so far behind on it.  Maybe if we didn't go to the pool every single day I'd be more caught up!

Anyway, here are some photos from the last few weeks.

I've been taking the boys to the Brentwood Library once a week to see one of their summer shows in the afternoons.  A few weeks ago they had the Natural History Educational Co there.  The animals weren't as good this year but the boys' favorite was the parrot.  Carter HAD to take a picture of it.

Being silly while waiting for sunscreen to soak in before going into the Maryland Farms YMCA pool ...

Random, but Carter actually had the courage to try the swim test last week there.  Once a kid passes the swim test, their parent doesn't have to always be arms length away (and you can only have one child at a time being arms length away).  We were planning on heading there right after my OB appointment on Thursday.  When we got there, I discovered that I had packed everything but Carter's trunks.  Carter had already decided in the car that he was going to try the swim test and because I wanted to give him that chance while he actually wanted to do it, we drove all the way back home and got them.  We were only left with about 45 minutes to swim but that's okay.  And Carter did not pass the test but got 60% of the way before pausing too long and sort of treading water for a couple of seconds (you have to swim 25 yards without stopping and using fully extended arms while doing a freestyle stroke - they are REALLY strict).

Last week was dry and super hot but the week before was cooler and super rainy.  On the Friday of the rainy week we went to Ashley's house for a playdate.  Carter and Harper (almost 2) were too cute playing air hockey together!!!

Last Monday, Ashley invited us over again to go swimming in their neighborhood pool.  This pool rivals Disney World.  It was the most amazing set of pools I have ever seen.  Plus there is a large water slide that I even went on because it was so cool.  Carter loved it (Rylan didn't try it but he was too short to do it anyway).  There were a ton of kiddos in our group (Ashley, Missy, Laura, and our kids).

Rylan made this center photo for me for Mother's Day at school LAST YEAR.  I have it on a little dresser in my closet along with the handprint Carter made.  Rylan somehow always sneaks his picture out and puts it on the dresser in our bedroom between pictures from our wedding :)

On Thursday we got to see Roger Day at the Brentwood Library.  He is probably my favorite local children's performer.  Warren (Missy's husband) brought their kids to the show too which made the show even more fun!

Our favorite song is "It's a no no to kiss a Rhino!".  The boys sing it (and many improvised versions) all the time (even though we see Roger Day maybe twice a year).

On Friday we went to Radnor's fourth birthday party.  Radnor was Rylan's best buddy in his first year of preschool (they were in different classes this past year).  It was at his neighborhood pool and lots of fun.

Carter lounging with Radnor next to him ...

Rylan is getting so brave!

Radnor had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle theme, just like Rylan is having this weekend!

19 Weeks, 6 Days Appointment

After my ultrasound yesterday, I met with my doctor.  She said everything looked great with the ultrasound.  Baby boy is growing perfectly.  The ultrasound tech was able to measure everything except one thing with the heart.  The baby was curled up tight, way up in my belly, and she had a lot of difficulty trying to get everything!  Plus he was moving around a ton (though I still don't feel him a whole lot).  Looks like we are not having that easy-going third child :)

My weight was up to 136 lbs so I gained 3 lbs in the last month (11 lbs total).  My blood pressure was 104/52 so again my doctor told me to NOT limit my salt intake (which is good since I've been drinking Gatorade like crazy while working in the yard in this heat).  I haven't been dizzy every time I stand up like I was earlier in the pregnancy so that is good!

My doctor said that the placenta is at the back of my uterus so having a VBAC is still a great option (not sure what we are doing yet though).  The baby is also measuring almost a week ahead (go figure - a big baby!).  According to the ultrasound, he is currently 11 oz.

And I'm still expanding ...

Another Boy!

We are super excited to have another baby boy!  We love our boys!  Carter and Rylan were both expecting the baby to be a girl - they really wanted a sister.  A lot of the kids we play with have little sisters, and I think our boys like taking care of them.  But they will be able to do the same for a little boy!  Carter's reaction was to be quiet.  Rylan's was typical Rylan - he stared me down, then stuck out his tongue, and went "pppbbbbttttt".  However they were super excited to tell any friends we saw yesterday afternoon that the baby is a boy!

 

Mulch

This is what I'm going to be working on for the next few days (or longer).

This morning we had 11 yards of playground mulch delivered.  I had a couple of hours this afternoon to work on it and got 2 beds mulched.  It got into the 90s today though so I was taking it slow and probably drank 1,000 calories in Gatorade (silly pregnancy limiting me!).

I had a couple of little helpers for a few minutes (the boys decided it was too hot and watched a movie instead).

Fireflies

We decided to let the boys stay up late last night to catch fireflies.  Lately they have been showing up right around the boys' bedtime, so after bath, we went outside.  We didn't see many fireflies for a few minutes and then they were everywhere!  Since it was dusk and not totally dark yet, it was really easy to see the fireflies flying around after they lit up.  We all caught a bunch easily - even Rylan.

I really thought Rylan was squishing them in his hands because he wasn't very gentle (especially when putting them in the bug box) but all seemed to survive!

(We ended up with at least twice as many fireflies by the time we went in.)

We finally went inside when it was too hard to see the bugs after they lit up, making them really hard to catch.  The boys had a blast but hopefully won't beg to catch them every night now :)

Jr Swim Team Update

Carter did really well his first day of junior swim team last Monday.  He wasn't great at it or anything, but he tried and seemed to enjoy it.  Afterward he told me it was actually kind of fun.

Then when it was time to go back on Wednesday, Carter was freaked out.  He was suddenly extremely scared (to the point of tears when he was getting into the water).  Just a few hours before he was doing a flip into the pool with Suzy's kids.  I had no idea why he was so scared.  He could barely function in the water - only going a few feet before wanting to grab the lane divider or wall.

Thursday was more of the same.  The drive to the pool was hard and then we had to wait an extra 30 minutes to get into the pool because there was a passing thunderstorm which also closed the indoor pool for 30 minutes.  I had even called Brian on the way to the pool to ask him to come if he could to help Carter with his confidence.  Carter made it through practice again but there were some tears in his goggles and he would not stick that bottom lip back in.

After practice Carter could not warm up.  We went out to dinner and he fell asleep while there.  When we got home we took Carter's temperature and it was 100F.  I took him to the pediatrician the next morning to discover he had a double ear infection.  I really don't think that is what made Carter freak out but I'm sure it didn't help.

Carter's next practice was this Monday.  Carter was still scared.  However, our neighbors that told us about the program were finally starting it that day after being out of town for two weeks.  Emory and Cade (who is on Carter's soccer team) are twins and start kindergarten with Carter in the fall.  Cade is a decent swimmer but Emory was just as freaked out as Carter.  There was also another boy there that had missed a week that was extremely scared and kept having to leave the pool.

Having friends there and not being the only scared one seemed to help Carter tremendously.  About halfway through practice Carter actually looked at me with a half smile!  After practice he told me he actually had a little fun.  Plus, by not being so scared, Carter actually swam so much better.  He made it half way down the 25 yard pool without grabbing onto anything.  His coaches were very excited for him!

After practice Carter also got his team shirt and swim cap.  He had to put the shirt on right away and where it the next day.

Yesterday Carter asked me all day if it was time to go to swim practice yet.  He appeared excited which was awesome.  When it was time to go though he told me he was a lot scared and a little excited.  This was still an improvement.  But, wow, did he do so good yesterday.  He didn't appear scared and instead of standing in the water and not moving while waiting for his turn (and encouraging everyone to go in front of him), he was diving under the water and enjoying himself.  The very last thing the kids do at practice is jump into the deep end (10 1/2 ft) and swim freestyle to the other end of the pool (25 yds).  For the first time ever, Carter made it the entire way across without stopping!!!  Yay!!!  This is also what kids have to do to pass the swim test (they are really picky though about not pausing at all and full arm extensions).  Coach Victoria was super happy and told me she knew he'd be at that point in a week.  I'm excited to see what today's practice will be like!

The kids have been working on freestyle and backstroke.  They use kickboards at the beginning of practice and even used them yesterday for backstroke.  It really helped Carter with backstroke - his kick is so much better.  Practice is supposed to be 45 minutes (and 3 days a week), but Coach Victoria has been making it almost an hour each day.  Carter has 3 weeks left and I'm hoping he can pass the Y's swim test by the end!