Fruit for Thought at Week 16

16 weeks now.

I said before that my appetite was back, but that was premature. I was kind of just expecting it to come back, so I just said that. But it didn't come. Sick again. Until yesterday!

I ate everything I wanted whenever I wanted for the first time in months. I gave myself one day of that gluttony. One day later, I am trying to think more about fruits & veggies, but that first day was really nice.

Speaking of food... They tell me now that the kid is about the size of an avacado. ("They" being the geniuses on the world wide web.)

They also tell me that the home I've created for it is better than the size of a cantaloupe.

I think they were just trying to find a way to use the two hardest produce items to spell in the same paragraph... Here are some other things they say.

At 4 1/2 inches long (head to bottom) and 3 1/2 ounces, your babyis about the size of an avacado. In the next three weeks, she'll go through a tremendous growth spurt, though, doubling her weight and adding inches to her length. Her lower limbs are much more developed now. Her head is more erect than it has been, and her eyes have moved toward the front of her head. Your baby's ears are close to their final position, too. Some of her more advanced body systems are working, including her circulatory system and urinary tract. Her heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, circulating her total blood volume through her body many times. (By the end of the pregnancy, this will increase to about 190 quarts.) The patterning of her scalp has begun, though her hair isn't recognizable yet. Although closed, her eyes are moving (slowly), and she's even started growing toenails.

The Bump Begins

Overnight. I think it just happened overnight. I spent the first 15 weeks pretty much looking the same as usual, and then *boom* -- I looked in the mirror and there it was. I think a woman is generally in touch with whether she's got her tummy in or out. You're going out? Tummy comes in. Your staying in? Tummy comes out. But as of this past Sunday, I have released control to the kid. The Tummons-Tummy is out. ..... And I guess it'll be out for awhile!

Tractor Time in the Garden

Pop called me yesterday to see if I wanted to try to get the rest of the garden in. I headed to Planter's Seed & Spice to get the rest of the seed we needed (mostly corn & beans), and made it out to the farm around 6pm. Late! Pop was working the garden (the part we hadn't yet planted) with the tractor. And guess what???????
I got to drive a tractor too!!!!! I had to follow along in another tractor with something called a harrow. I thought (with the way farmers talk & name things) that it would have been called a smoother, but it's not. It's a harrow. When Pop worked the ground, it got it all stirred up with ridges & valleys, so I went along afterwards and the harrow smoothed it all out. This is me on the Kubota!

Keep in mind, this was the second time in my life I've ever driven a tractor. I think I did okay, considering. But I did take out a couple of stakes (see below)....

This is what the dogs do while we plant garden. They just go crazy with each other.

This is Pop using our planter. It's a pretty sweet little contraption.

Big [Little] News!

Probably most of you have heard by now, but in case you haven't -- WE'RE EXPECTING. Our first is due October 28th, which makes me 15 weeks as of Monday. First trimester was ok... Don't remember much of it considering how comotose I was. I traded the traditional morning sickness in for evening sickness, and had a hard time mustering up much tolerance for food past 3pm. But now, the appetite is back and I am up for Chinese, Mexican, Sweets & most anything else!

I've been to the doctor several times so far. We've heard & seen the heartbeat and everything appears to be in working order. So far it's a great kid -- doesn't talk back, doesn't run off, doesn't ask for money, and does everything I tell it! We had to borrow a picture of someone else's offspring until we can get a pic of our own. But they kind of all look the same at this point, so I probably shouldn't have even told you..........

This is a kid at 15 weeks:

And this is me at 15 weeks:
Stay tuned.... The treasure hunt is scheduled for my birthday, June 4th. We'll let you know whether we're looking at another Beth or another Tory!

KAT Nurseries in Bloom

I went out to the nursery today -- things are PHENOMENAL! Take a look at some of the fantastic plants. And the gorgeous sky. How refreshing.

Garden, 4-30

Here we are again just a week ago. Things are starting to look more like their grown-up selves -- take a look.......

POTATOES

ONIONS

CABBAGE

BROCCOLI

LETTUCE

MORE LETTUCE...

SPINACH

LETTUCE -- RED OAKLEAF

PEAS

the horses & the old barn

Garden, 4-13-08

Here are some pics from the garden on 4-13-08.

This is the part of the farm where we grow the garden. It's about 1 acre; the entire farm is about 100 acres. At this point, we've only planted about 1/8th of it -- but the rest will come when it's time for summer stuff to go out.

This is ARUGULA. Also pansies. I absolutely have to have flowers incorporated into the garden! It makes things look so much better, and it's great for motivation.

These two pics above are of some lettuce -- I believe this variety is buttercrunch.

I know this is bad, but I can't quite remember what this is -- I need my tags! I think it's either spinach or carrots. Believe it or not, they actually look a little similar coming up. Spinach starts really wispy like this, and then starts looking broader later.

These are peas! I love to watch them grow -- they get curly tendrils.

The garden & me.

Tory & his loyal following.

Starting Seeds in the Greenhouse

On Easter weekend we decided to start some seeds in the greenhouse out in Atherton. This would give us a head start when it came time to plant outside. Unfortunately, someone who will remain unnamed put a little too much fertilizer in the mix, and all the plants burned up. So we started some more again on April13th. I went out yesterday, April 30, and they look AMAZING! I can't believe they grew so fast!!! I think we may plant them out in the garden either this weekend or next weekend.

Here's Tory getting our mix ready.


This is the potting area, where the crews usually pot up little trees and other green stuff. We borrowed it for the afternoon -- sure was nice to have such a great setup for the project!

This is the greenhouse. It's attached to the back of the building where the potting area is. It was a great spot for the seeds to grow!

And..... here they are!!!!! If you click on the picture & make it bigger, you can probably read the tags and see what we're growing.

This is one of the cats -- Bob. He crawled right up on my lap & made himself comfortable. His name is Bob because he was born with a bobbed tail. Named by Tory = stating the obvious.