Beach Trip?

Well, as of today I can pass through a metal detector without setting it off. Doc says I'm healing well, but I still have some pain on the left side of my incision. I'm not sure what that's all about, but I hope it goes away soon so I can lay off the pain meds. Carter is growing well. I swear he weighs more and more every day. I've been really tired today. Carter kept me up for a couple hours last night so I fell asleep watching Thor with Brandon this morning. I hardly ever fall asleep while watching a movie, so I definately was pooped! Today I came to the conclusion that I will not be able to talk Brandon into going on a cruise to Bermuda, so I've switched to plan B - going to the beach. We're looking at renting a house either the first or second week of June. Colby is old enough to have a blast at the beach and Carter...well he'll be barely a month old and not much trouble at all :-) Plus Brandon will be able to get his beach fix before the beaches get too crowded. And going to the beach for a week is probably much cheaper than going on a cruise, though maybe not as exciting.

Happy Birthday Carter!

Well, last time I wrote on my blog, I thought I had two weeks until Carter would be here. Boy can things change quickly! I went to the doctor on Friday May 11th only to discover that my blood pressure was high and my amniotic fluid was low. I was slightly irritated about my blood pressure because it had been perfect the entire time and I didn't have a lot of swelling until that day. At any rate the doctor said that I needed to go to the hospital and that they were going to go ahead and do a c-section. I was like "Oh man!" because Brandon was in Roanoke. He was supposed to be helping to lock down the Roanoke airport for the arrival and departure of Michelle Obama who was speaking at graduation at VT. So I called him, told him what was up and he did 80-85 down the interstate because we weren't sure when the surgery would be. He didn't have to rush though, because I had to wait eight hours since I'd had breakfast that morning. They wheeled me into the OR. My only thought was that last time I must have been really out of it because I felt a little overwhelmed and intimidated by the whole process. But Brandon sat with me and at 3:33 Carter Edward Gill was born and all was well in the world :-) He was 5 pounds 6 ounces and 18 inches long. I thought for sure he was going to be bigger than Colby, but he was a full pound smaller! My parents came down that day and my mother-in-law picked up Colby from daycare and they all got to meet Carter that day. I think Colby was a little unsure of the hospital and I think he was really confused as to why we were staying there, but I think he was excited to see Carter. He's taken to being a big brother like a fish to water. As I write this, Carter has gained back the weight he lost and then some and he's doing great! I'm feeling a bit sleep deprived, but that's nothing a nap can't fix. Thank goodness for good medicines because I think I'd be a pretty pathetic person without them. I still feel pain, but nothing I can't handle. I get my staples removed Friday. Well, speaking of naps...ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz

2 Weeks Until Carter!

Wow...I didn't know it has been such a long time since last I posted! I guess we haven't really been doing anything of note lately. I've been pregnant, Brandon's been working, Colby has been Colby. My pregnancy is going really well with two weeks left to go. About this time in my pregnancy with Colby my blood pressure had started to go all over the place and I was put on bedrest. So far this time around my blood pressure has been great (knock on wood) and I've not had any other issues. I've been trying to be really good about drinking plenty of water and putting my feet up when the opportunity knocks. The only thing that sucks right now is the fact that I'm really hot ALL THE TIME! At school I just burn up and at night I wake up sweaty. However, I'm really excited about Carter getting here and I hope that everyone else is too :-) I'm actually starting to get impatient...most people have noted how chill I am, but on the inside I'm really thinking that if he comes tomorrow I'd be okay with that! There's really not a lot going on right now. We're still working on our flower gardens and vegetable gardens. My peas, spinach and lettuce finally started to take off...I really thought I'd have something by now. We still need to work on the soil for our big vegetable garden or we're not going to have anything to show for the work we've put into it. I'm thinking of calling to have some manure delivered from a horse farm in Blacksburg. I guess I better get on the ball because we could really plant things now and they'd be okay. I heard they were already picking strawberries in Bedford so I think we're going to have a longer than usual growing season. School is going well. I feel really behind because our schedule this semester was really crazy and we had a lot of four day weeks instead of five. We took an extra week getting through Romeo and Juliet so now I'm not really sure if we're going to get to the Odyssey. I'm sure my kids are heartbroken :-) You can definately tell the end of the school year is within sight because my kids are really squirrely and I find myself being really snappy with them. Hormones might have something to do with my snappiness, but I have a pretty good excuse :-)

Thoughts on Gardening

Lately I've been thinking really hard about putting in a shade garden on the north side of the house. I went to Lowes this evening to see if they had any rhododendrons, but all they had were azealas and mountain laurel (same family, but not exactly what I want). I want to put rhododendrons along the back and put hostas, coleus and other shade plants in front. I'm just tired of looking at ugly empty space over there. Plus with the rhododendrons being evergreens, it will look okay in the winter time too.

I've also been thinking about what I want to do in the back yard now that Brandon has installed a fence to keep the dogs off the patio. A serious container garden would look good and be easy to install, but if I actually plant things in the ground maybe they'll last longer? I don't know...and I guess that's the beautiful thing about gardening - if you try something and you don't like it, then try something different!

Close to Paradise

So, I've been having a good time lately. I've been able to spend a lot of time with Brandon and Colby. I feel like Brandon and I are at a really good place in our marriage and honestly I wouldn't change a thing between us. I've been enjoying Colby - I love his facial expressions, I love the comments he makes sometimes and I love the way he says I love you. His comment of the day yesterday was "That's the deal!" Is it always paradise...definately not...especially when he threw himself on the floor in a full out tantrum this afternoon as soon as we walked through the door, but it's been pretty close.

Carter seems to be growing like crazy lately. He's been moving around a lot more lately which has been making me a tad uncomfortable. I didn't use to have any issues at school, but lately I'll stand up and whince because it doesn't feel great when your child is pushing down or out.

In other news I'm really happy with the way our front flower beds and planters are coming along. The pansies look great with the tulips blooming. The wildflowers are coming up and the butterfly bush looks like it's going to fabulous this year. I planted some lettuce, spinach and peas in three of the planters on the front porch and we started some other veggies inside. I can't wait for Brandon to get the big garden tilled so something other than dandilions can grow in it.

Life is good right now. I'm not sure what's going to happen with foster care in the future. We spoke with our case worker's boss yesterday and we talked a little bit about the future. We're definately open to doing foster care again, but we made it clear we wanted to have Carter and get to know our new family for a while before we do this again. We'll have to be a lot more careful about who we allow into our home and we will never be able to do three kids again. While we were reflecting on our experience, I realized that we had a great time with the two younger girls and not as much fun with Noah...maybe if we do it again it will be ONE baby - that would be ideal :-) But for now, I'm living in the moment and the moment is pretty good :-)

I want spring!

Today I planted some hanging baskets with pansies. I want spring to be here so bad! I don't want any more cold, wind and snow - I want flowers! I want sunshine! I want to go outside wearing my flip-flops!! And I want my skin to not be so dry! I'm kind of antsy to get my vegetables started too, but I'm trying to wait until the beginning of April because I can't plant anything outside until May anyway. In the meantime I hope we'll get some horse manure from Blacksburg to work into the garden and I also hope we'll be putting a picket fence around the patio to keep the dogs off and make a really nice place to entertain.

Brandon has been working on getting the truck running again. He replaced the battery, but now it needs new tires to pass inspection. We had an offer for someone to buy it, but we're hanging on to it for now...how else are we getting manure from Blacksburg? It's not costing us anything except for insurance and upkeep, plus it's a little blast from my past :-) I put many miles on that truck from Blacksburg to Hampton :-)

I wonder...

You know, not having foster kids has it's perks. The house has been cleaner for longer, I get to spend a lot more time with Colby and Brandon, we don't have to run around as much taking them to various appointments and I don't wake up in the mornings to the sound of Ariyana screaming. I can drive out to Walmart at almost any time since Colby is pretty good to go shopping with and I don't have to fight any small children into bedtime or naptime. I can spend time planning our gardents and which vegetables to plant where and when. But sometimes when Colby's engrossed in X-men and I am just sitting around avoiding housecleaning (like now) I miss the Rose kids. I wonder what they're doing, I wonder if Sahara is smiling, I wonder if Ariyana is using her words and if Noah is playing with his Barbies. I wonder what they're future holds and I wish God would just grant me one glimpse of their grown-up-selves so I'll know that everything turns out okay.

In other news, the English teachers pre-ordered their Hunger Games tickets. I'm going to find someone to watch Colby (March 23 if you're interested in watching Colby!) and go out and enjoy myself :-) I heard that it will be in imax so maybe Brandon and I will catch it in Hampton when we go visit my parents for Easter - a trip I'm really looking forward to! I think this movie will be really good and if it's not then it will still be fun to hang with the teachers outside of school!