May

Oli's schedule is pretty predictable now.

130 Days

We finished the last little bed this morning and now we almost have all of the gravel in. First we need to put some edging by the berry bushes. Layden likes putting the gravel in the dirt and the dirt in the gravel. Unfortunately we really do want to keep them seperate. I can't wait to see how it looks with all the plants growing in them. On this side of the state our growing season doesn't officially start until May 15th and ends a mere 130 days later. So we will be using those pipes to turn the beds into mini greenhouses. This way we might actually have something to eat before September. We are using the square foot method for squeezing as much as possible in and I have been checking out a book on companion planting which results in a very complicated planning process, especially if you allow for staggered plantings, replantings, varying sun level, plant heights, appearance, yield and climbing vegetables. That is why in the end I just kinda made it random. If everything we plant matures and does well we are going to have one heck of a lot of vegetables.
We had canned mandarin oranges last night and Layden really really likes them. He likes them so much that he just sucked them straight down with so little chewing that there was recognizable orange in his diaper. Lately I have been reading the books in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series so I keep having the song "So Long, and Thank's for All the Fish" from the movie stuck in my head. Now I have it stuck in Oli's head, he he.

Goodbye bathroom sink

The sale went well. We got rid of over half of the stuff we bought. Some one even bought our old bathroom sink. We made around $75. I even managed not to replace too much. We only got a crock pot (a small one), a chess set, a few gardening books, an umbrella stroller and a thing for cutting photos. After writing that list I realize that maybe the word "only" shouldn't be at the beginning. Then Layden and I visited Lisa and she made frittatas, which I had never had before. Then we picked up some compost/potting soil. Layden slept on the way home. He slept when we got home for a couple ours and I even slept an hour or two. It was hard getting up at 5:30 this morning. After that I finished leveling out the second raised bed, started the gravel path and got one bed filled with dirt/compost/potting soil.
Now I am tired and waiting for Oli to get home so we can have pasta and go to sleep again.

Raised Beds

Today we got two raised beds done. Aren't they lovely? I helped, I cut wood, cut pipe, screwed and such. Be impressed, be very impressed. I used power tools and I still have all my body parts. And, and, the bed are put together correctly and work. The neighbors down the street were packing the UHaul today and Layden found that very interesting, he could hear them talking and had to check it out. Then he discovered that there were dogs, two dogs. So he had to keep going down there to look at the dogs and point. When the dogs came over he wasn't so sure about petting, even though they were nice. Lucy has taught him well. Later he found a ball and discovered gravity. Gravity is great. When you throw a ball down the road it goes ever so much farther. Daddy didn't like the game quite so much.

The grange has chicks right now, lots of chicks. Layden is not sure about the chicks. At first he just stared for a bit. The he reached one finger in, gently touched the back of one chick, and pulled it back out. Then he gently poked a little beak. Then he was done.

After we finished the two beds and tidied up we packed up the truck with all the junk we hope to sell at the big garage sale in the coluseum tomorrow. We will have to get there too early to be ready by the time it starts at 8:00. Hopefully we will sell most of the stuff and not replace it all with other peoples junk. The nice thing is that a Goodwill truck will be there for everything that doesn't get sold. Wish us luck.

CO

We had bit of excitement last night. We were watching "Over the Hedge" when the smoke alarm went off, only it wasn't the smoke alarm it was the carbon monoxide detector. Great. So I went around opening windows, opened the door, and in the kitchen discovered that a burner had been left on. So I shut the burner off, grabbed Layden some pants and headed outside to call Oli. Then we went to the neighbors for a bit and watched American Idol with Joe. Or tried to watch it while keeping Layden out of everything. Finally I went home and took the battery out put it back in and it stopped beeping so we went to bed. Sadly my cell phone has been acting up, only quietly beeping not ringing. So went Oli called to check I didn't wake up, Oli of course didn't know why I didn't answer so he drove all the way over to check on me and then had to go back to work and didn't get home until 5:00.
Today I picked up so lumber for raised beds and when Oli starts his 7 on tomorrow hopefully we can get them built. Right now Layden is sitting on my lap being amazingly good. He has pushed very few buttons and is being wonderfully cuddly. I do love the cuddly. Scratch that he just tried to kick the computer to the floor. I think it is time for bed.

Still doesn't like his hair washed

Well Layden still doesn't like getting his hair washed. He doesn't like water on his face period. We are going to have to work on getting over this.
Today Oli and I got up early (for us) and went to an estate sale and some garage sales before he had to go to work. Layden has a coat for the winter after next and he picked out a softball for himself at the estate sale. He also chose a turtle book at a garage sale. We had lunch with daddy at the hospital then headed home for a nap. Layden was not impressed when we woke him up before he was ready this morning. Now he knows how we feel.
Then Layden and I went down to Lewiston/Clarkston with Lynda. We went to Ross, Fashion Bug, Old Country Buffet (I am so stuffed, still), Home Depot and Walmart. At Home Depot Layden discovered the lighting department and was very impressed. He also found a woman and her two kids, an eightish year old boy and younger sister. He followed them around a bit walking more with them then us. Then he grabbed one of the boys fingers and walked around holding his hand for a bit. It was so sweet, he is a friendly little guy. The boy tried to get his mom's attention to show her that there was a baby holding his hand but she just ignored him. Her loss, it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Then we decided to leave and Layden took my finger for a second, then I guess he decided he would rather hold the little boy's hand and started off after them again.

The wall is done!

Our retaining wall is finally done. It is all stacked up, all backfilled and the dirt has been redistributed. We have a plan for landscaping/raised-bedding the yard. We bought some shrubberies and strawberries today. We got a mix of 6 different strawberries (12 total) and they are planted along the bottom of the wall. We got 3 gooseberry bushes and 3 blueberry bushes, and they will be planted along the top of the wall. Blueberry bushes are exorbitantly priced but with how much they charge at the grocery store for fresh blueberries in a year or two we will get the money back. We hope that the bushes will discourage small children from playing close to the edge but until they get a bit taller we will probably need some sort of small fence. Layden keeps making us very nervous by insisting on toddling along the edge with a 4 foot drop. We are thinking 4 rectangular raised beds in a grid with their central corners notched and a circular bed in the middle. We had the lines all drawn and then the neighbor boys were playing in our yard and now they are pretty much gone.

Layden is getting better and better at eating on his own. He ate a pretty good sized meal of eggplant parmigiana on his own last night and was drinking out of his sippy cup. He finally figured out that you have to tip the cup, sucking alone does not work. Sometimes he would get the cup turned around and have to crane his neck way way back to drink. He made quite the mess of himself, even managing to get sauce in his ear and all up one sleeve. Today he played with his gourmet vegetarian pizza. Tomato seems to be a favorite. He sucks the ketchup of fries and will eat anything that involves tomato sauce. He also got a hold of a big chuck of cheddar one night and managed to eat most of it. Until he bit off too big of bite, gagged, and threw up cheesy, sour milky substance. On me. On the bed. Lovely.

Fires

Today Oli got a couple more layers on the wall. There are only 6 more first layer (ones we have to level) blocks left. Then we can redistribute the dirt and work on raised beds. I researched for my thesis and picked up some more gravel.
For the second night in a row we had fire trucks at the empty lot to put out a burn pile fire. I think the landlord keeps lighting it then going home and leaving it burn. Apparently one of our neighbors then calls the fire dept. I just wonder if the guy who starts the fires even knows that the fire dept. keeps putting them out.

Daddy's Helper

Today we finally started building the wall. It is going pretty well. We have about 2/3 of the bottom layers that we have to level done and more than half of the total wall done. When we first started I questioned where we would get the dirt to level out the lawn. Now I am questioning what we will do with all the dirt we dug out for the wall. We have to drive to Pullman to get the gravel for behind the wall and unfortunately the truck can only handle half a yard at a time. So far we have used a yard of gravel and we will probably need between two and three yards total. Layden, Tristan, Evan and the Kitty all wanted to get in on the action. For a bit the neighbor boys would just stand and stare at us while we built the wall. I think they finally figured out what all the digging is about. It is raining now. Hopefully it will clear up by tomorrow afternoon, Oli expects to be sore so he will probably take a break tomorrow morning. The blocks are heavy enough that I don't want to do it all on my own. So tomorrow morning I will probably go to do some research on my thesis. I got a first draft of the proposal done today, hopefully that will get turned in soon so I can get the project I am already working on approved.
At one point today I asked Oli where Layden was, he looked around and said "She has him." She who? Why does she have him? She was our neighbor Sarah and why is because he was headed off down the neighbors driveway to the Catholic church. Today I gave Sarah all of our little cloth diapers and some covers she has decided to give it a try.

Undies

Dieter visited yesterdat. He and Layden had fun outside in the dirt. Laydne would scoop up the dirt and put it into Dieter's hands and laugh wildly. Sometimes it got on Dieter, very funny, once it got on Mom, also very funny, then it got on Layden, not as funny.
Layden and I visited Al and Mimi yesterdat while Oli helped Nancy with some stuff at work. Layden was pretty well behaved until he started feeling a bit more comfortable. Then he went after the ornaments (yes they still have a small pink Christmas tree set up, yes they are Buddhist). Then he went after the China teacups, picking each one up very elegantly and sipping out of it then moving to the next one in line. He also thought the talking Pooh bear was great, he smiled and hugged it and smiled.
We didn't really get anything much done yesterday because Layden decided to wake up at 6 am. He woke us up too (Oli he woke up pulling his underarm hairs). He stayed awake talking happily and wallowing about till somewhere around 7:30 while Oli and I tried to keep sleeping anyway, I atleast was fairly unsuccessful. Then he went to sleep again til around 9:00 or so and I got a bit more sleep, then he woke and I continued in my state of denial until around 10:00 when I gave up and accepted the fact I wasn't sleeping anymore. Oli got up a bit before that. So in short, we didn't really get moving til late in the day and we were definitely tired. Then we visited with the neighbor, visited with Dieter, went out to dinner, oli went to work and I visited with Al and Mimi.
Disturbingly enough our topic of conversation today was the news.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/hbo/media/mp7.htm
First item, crazy Pullman man/Uof I student who stole 96 lbs or 1600 pairs of womens underwear. One pair was distinctive enough that it could be traced back through a European shop to the owner.
http://www.uiargonaut.com/content/view/3637/88/
Second item, crazy UofI student who went around the western US tracking down former high school class mates and killing them because they were stealing his "aura".

Today we slept in, yet I still thought it must be 6 am when we woke up. We went to the craft fair, a quilt show and grocery shopping with Lynda. For dinner we had some lentil chili from a mix we got a the craft show. Strangely it tasted better at the show. It rained today so we didn't have to feel guilty for not working outside.

Mirror

Since Layden is taking an incredibly long nap today I thought I should take the opportunity to post. The weather here has been cool, sunny and windy. Hopefully it will stay nice for a bit and we can get some yard work done to celebrate Oli's first 7 days off. Layden has rediscovered the mirror in our bedroom. It is currently leaning against the wall on the floor since we haven't done anything about it since I took it out of the livingroom. He figured out that when he waves the baby in the mirror waves and he can look at me in the mirror when I look at him in the mirror. This is a lot of fun. He is starting to get the waving thing down a bit better too. He waves more often when someone arrives or leaves, though there is generally enough of a delay that the person doesn't see it. He was also waving to Oli this morning saying something along the lines of "da da da dee da da ba ba ba bee, giggle". Of course Oli was sitting next to him on the bed so the timing wasn't terribly appropriate.
Layden's nose is still running and Oli and I still have some congestion and coughing but we are feeling a good bit better.

Well Oli headed off to work again today and I am slowly beginning to feel better. Still coughing, still phlegmy, still tired but better. Layden's nose is still running but so is he so I don't think it is getting him down. He discovered the toy lawn mowers today and they are an incredible amount of fun. He had a ball pushing them around the yards and driveways. Today he discovered nodding, yes nodding. He nods his head, I nod my head, he grins and giggles, repeat indefinitely. He also likes it when I make shadow puppets or chase him around the house growling and tickling him when I catch him. He must enjoy the tickling because he runs for a little bit then stops so I can catch him. Today he helped my scrub the floor. I would be on my hands and knees and he would crawl between my legs so he could lie on his stomach under my chest, occasionally trying to lick water off the floor. Gross.
He now has a real bed in his room with a bed frame and everything. It looks so high off the floor, I have gotten too used to mattresses on the floor. I don't know when he will start using it but Oli and I have both used it a bit in the course of all this sickness.
Oli works two more evening shifts and then he has his first 7 days off. Keep your fingers crossed for no sickness and good weather so we can get some yard work done. I am getting tired of a lawn that consists of a pile of rocks, a pile of blocks, a pile of dirt and a trench. The neighbors think it is great though. Various earth moving toys are constantly being left in our yard, but I am not complaining since Layden spends a good bit of time playing with their toys in their yard. They all seem to like playing together though Evan was very concerned that Layden would steal his easter basket on Sunday. Even after he put it in the house he became upset whenever Layden headed in that direction.

Sick

We are now the sick house. The weather is beautiful, we have a wall to build and Oli and I are snuffily with no energy. Layden seems relatively good though.
We had a good time visiting my parents. Aunt Karla surprised them for their anniversary and mom suprised Aunt Karla for her birthday. We went over to Seattle to the Pike's Place Market and the Underground tour. That is about all I have energy for.

April