BBQing

Our BBQing is pretty low key and relaxed...usually a last minute thing with whoever is available at the moment. But it is a super relaxed and enjoyable way to spend the evening. I don't always remember to pick up the camera to document the fun, but I happened to catch a few pictures from a little gathering on June 5th.

From the left: Andrew, Kyle, Winn, Mary, & Eric

From the left: Winn, Max, & Alexis

Andrew enjoying some tasty salmon

Me...soaking up some sun and trying to stay comfy!

"Our" view

Checking out the scoot

Kyle taking it for a test drive

We got a surprise visit from Roxy, the dog from a few doors over who thought it would be fun to join the party.

Lucy wasn't quite sure how to respond to this little barking thing invading her space.

Honestly, the visit was probably fun for Roxy and Lucy, not so much for the rest of us!

Summer

No baby yet, but we are enjoying our summer at a nice slow pace!  Andrew has been great about taking things easy with me.  I am feeling large and awkward, not up to any hiking or too full of a day, but still able to get around ok.  Since school got out last Thursday we have been:

• sleeping in
• eating special breakfast and drinking coffee
• reading lots of books
• taking long walks
• working in the yard...but not too hard!
• going for scooter rides and ice cream cones
• visiting with friends and family

I have been taking lots of pictures, so keep checking back for more of our summer relaxation.  Hopefully, we will have some exciting news for you before too long!

Miss Lucy

So, I've been thinking about our dog lately.  Andrew took her to the vet June 21, who said she looked great.  She's still been going to daycare almost every week, and they think she is great.  She has been doing awesome in the class we are doing with her, much more focused and attentive to us.  Andrew took her down to visit the kids at the school where he student taught and she did great.  Which got me thinking...she is pretty great.  We've had her for over a year now and she has grown and changed so much!  Not that I haven't been thinking she is great the whole time, but sometimes you get caught up in the times she ate your shoes, or continuously dug up the strawberries, or barked at nothing, or slimed your clothes on the way out the door.  So, in honor of Miss Lucy's greatness, here is a little update all about her.

Tricks Lucy knows:
Sit, down, crawl, bow, spin, twirl, shake, other paw, hurry, bed, heel, stay close, credits, come, touch, quiet, go, walk, wait, stay, leave it, give it.


Funny things she's been doing lately:
Leaning her chest on my yoga ball.  I think she learned this from watching me lean on it to get baby weight off of my pelvis.
Groaning when Andrew plays the trumpet.
Getting REALLY excited when you ask her if she wants to "go on a walk."
Knows that when you say "credits" it's time for her last feeding, bathroom, and bed.  Even if she is sound asleep when you say credits.
Watching her run with Andrew.

New things that are pretty impressive:
She walks really well now, especially when we are not in busy crowded places.  We have started dropping her leash for short periods of time to try and get her used to walking with us off leash.
She knows the boundary for the electric fence really well, and never crosses it, even when she is playing with all of the neighbor dogs and they run freely back and forth across the line.
She's been coming when we call her!  Well, at least most of the time, when we are at home.  It's a big improvement!

And the obnoxious things she still does:
Barking at nothing
Digging in the yard
Play barking (which sounds super scary) at dogs we pass on leash.  Not all the time, but usually in the most crowded places.
Eating shoes.  But again, not all the time.  Just often enough to make you angry :)

And the photo montage with some of my favorite photos of Lucy!

May 29, 2011

May 29, 2011

March 28, 2011

March 2, 2011

January 7, 2011

December 21, 2010

November 2, 2010

September 1, 2010

August 2010

August 2010

July 25, 2010

July 2010

June 2010

June 3, 2010

May 22, 2010

May 14, 2010

May 10, 2010

May 1, 2010

Favorite Baby Stuff

As I am writing this post before Baby Bybee arrives...I have no idea what baby products will actually be our favorite. But there are few gifts that we have received that I really excited to try!

A cloth wipe warmer for our cloth wipes...keeps them nice and moist and warm.  Doesn't it sound nice?

The Horton stuffed animal that I won from this blog...I love winning blog giveaways, and how awesome is it that this prize matches our baby's room!

The ergo baby carrier, I'm excited to try this for some longer walk and hikes.  It seems really comfy and there are lots of different ways wear it as baby grows!

Our moby wrap, for wearing baby around the house and yard.  Doesn't this look nice and snuggly?

Our fancy cloth diapers...we have 22 or 23 of these all in ones and about 5 of the bumgenius pocket diapers as back ups.  I know they might be a little bit big right at first but I can't wait to see how they work!  And I love that we won't have to buy any diapers!

Work Baby Shower

Yes, these pictures are very, very old. My work shower was on the 23rd of May, over a month ago! But we were so spoiled that I feel like I need to mention it and share the few pictures I have, even if it is old news at this point. We had so many people pitch to buy us gifts! In addition to some of the lovely homemade quilts that you saw hanging in the baby's room, we got our car seat, 15 cloth diapers (the fancy bumgenius all-in-ones, not cheap!), a jumperoo, the awesome diaper bag we wanted, and lots of books, outfits, blankets, nursing gear, and small toys.  I can't believe how amazing people have been!

Some of the lovely ladies that I work with.

Can you believe this cake?  It fits perfectly with our theme and it tasted amazing too!

Me with my fancy cake!

The Garden

Remember what the garden looked like when we first got it set up? (Thank you wonderful neighbors!)  

We really weren't planning on getting much of a garden in this year. We were just excited to be getting some kind of start on it, and hoping to be able to plant a decent fall garden later this year. I can't say that our garden is anything to brag about, but we have made more progress than I was hoping for!

Two rows of strawberries and to the left you can see our blueberries and the few tomato plants I got from school.  The strawberries were originally in the one garden box that was here when we moved in, but Lucy decided that it was an excellent digging spot.  Despite our best efforts at instruction and training, we finally decided that the strawberries needed a new home. These are ever bearing strawberries, so I'm hoping that they will keep expanding and sending out runners until we have two, nice, thick rows of berries.  There are quite a few berries ripening, but after all of the abuse they have received the past few weeks from Lucy and then from us moving them.....we will see how many strawberries we actually get to snack on.

We also picked up some asparagus roots with our nursery gift card.  Planting asparagus roots is kind of a process as you add dirt back over the top slowly so they are always just lightly covered with dirt.  Like the blueberries, we won't get any asparagus this first year, but we are planning ahead for next year!

Our little cucumber and squash starts.

Kale and our very sad peas, we planted them too late.  Maybe we will be luckier with our fall crop!

Me, after working in the garden.  Not the best summer weather...but it was actually fairly comfortable to be working outside.

Debbie, the previous homeowner was obviously a big fan of flowers.  Every few days we got outside and find some new flower is blooming.  I think she had let them go the last few years and it is hard to tell where the grass is, where the weeds are, and where the pretty plants are.  But we are slowing tackling it.  We are working on pulling out weeds and putting in a rock barrier between the grass and the plants.  But in the meantime, it's been fun discovering the new surprises.  Lucy likes to smell them too :)

Our apples starting to grow!

Baby's Room

A few updated photos of the baby's room, now that we have all of our baby shower gifts unpacked and put away. Sorry they are fairly poor quality.

The bassinet is not still in the baby's room, it is right next to my bed all ready for baby to be near us.  And there is no more junk on the windowsill.  The quilt that is covering the top of the bookcase was handmade by my principal...aren't the colors perfect?  Also, the bumbo seat is now stored nicely in the closet, the stuffed animals are on top of the red shelf and I have some diaper and nursing supplies where the stuffed animals are in this picture.

We are planning on making a changing pad cover with Lynne this weekend, it will match the bumper pads and curtains.  The bulletin board you see tucked next to dresser is hanging on the wall, ready for lots of baby pictures.  And we have put a few hooks up on the wall for the laundry bags to hang on so they aren't just floating around.

You like the bed full of all of the home birth supplies?  I promise it won't actually be that full when Baby Bybee sleeps in there!  The quilt above the bed was handmade by one of the paraeducators that I work with, it's a baby babushka pattern and all of the material has different foods on it.  I love it!

And we can't forget the sneetches.  Both of whom are a darker shade of yellow and are getting closer to being completely done!

I guess these pictures are already a little bit out of date, but we are pretty much done! Maybe I will take one last set of photos when the sneetches are done and when the changing pad cover is on, that way we have one finished set of pictures for posterity!