Botanicals

More Table Mountain goodness. I spent a day in April with Maggie and friends exploring this wonderful botanical paradise outside Sacramento.

Onto summer. My mom helped me get my summer vegetables in (squash, gourds, cucumber, basil, cherry tomatoes, and regular tomatoes (mix of common and heirloom varieties)). Still need to plant the pole beans where the lettuce is growing. We also planted pretty shrubs in the front yard in a lonely area that faces the street and has been plant-less since we moved in.

If you haven't discovered hot lips sage yet, buy it! It's amazing! Also loving our native deer grass, English lavender, roses, and native California fushia. Planting purple needlegrass soon, found at our local CNPS native plant nursery run by volunteers at a Day on the Farm (Soil Born Farm-sponsored). Had forgotten purple needlegrass is our state grass. It's a native bunchgrass that is near and dear to botanists and occurs in our regional grasslands.

Ok plants, grow, grow, grow...

Sun!

Today feels pretty good. Lately, it's been dreary with the socked-in foggy/cold weather and it's been getting depressing. I was starting to dream about spring and all the fun stuff we could start doing in a couple months. Friends are talking about starting their gardens and I have to remember that it's only January! Good time to do some digging and fertilizing before spring planting though.

I woke up this morning after a really fun night out dancing with old and new friends. Good, goofy memories and have I said how much I love dancing? I especially love dancing with my friend Jessie, she is a blast to hang with. So much confidence, such a kind heart. To wake up a little later than usual, have breakfast made for me, and things going generally well started off the day right. To fully clear my head from the night before we set off on an awesome trail ride, Maggie in the trailer. It was perfect. Michael spotted a bobcat just off the trail and our destination was the last cycle-cross event of the season where friends were riding. It was good to see so many people out exercising, staying healthy, and kids playing in the dirt laughing.

We've joined a bike team this year and are excited to get involved. Our first club ride is in April and Michael is doing his first mountain bike race with the team tomorrow. I'm feeling pleased with the slight changes I've made in my life over the past few months. I feel like I'm growing into a new phase of my life and I'm excited to see what the next year holds for us.

Cute pic of Maggie last week - she desperately needed to play and run despite the cold weather! That's one of her favorite binky's that her Tia Boo-boo got her before she was born :-) Ha ha

Going with the flow

I'm starting to understand why they use no sleep as a form of torture and why my sister has been telling me over the past two years that it's really hard to function when you are constantly up at night with a baby and not getting good sleep. I always thought it was funny how everyone would ask us about sleep and whether any of us were getting any because overall, the past 8 months have been pretty good to us. I really didn't understand...until now.

I've really noticed a change in her lately. Maggie is a little crankier (it's got to be teething but no teeth yet), she's easier to upset, and she is crawling like crazy which means she gets into stuff before you know it and taking things away from her little hands is like prying something out of a ninja grip and it does not please her one bit. Just getting her diaper on is an ordeal. And naps. What naps?

Yesterday, I was amazed I could get up and go to work looking better than I felt seeing as how I got no sleep that night. I woke up exhausted and had a heck of a day (turns out no sleep increases stress about everything which in turn makes it hard to pump and so that makes me go a little crazy). It was lights out just before 8. The other night, between Michael and I, we got up 6-8 times to soothe her. It was exhausting.

On the bright side, we painted Maggie's room. It's pretty cliche, but it's pink. We were given a lot of hand-me-downs for her room and a lot of the items are blue and white but there is this undertone of rose pink, so I incorporated it on the walls and love it. Below are the cute knobs my sister and I spotted at Target and she suprised me with pink ones awhile ago. They go perfectly.

I'll leave you with this...I think a raccoon got into the leftover paint as I let it dry outside overnight. There is one pink paw after another trailing down our walkway.

Urban nature

I moved our little bistro table in the backyard to a shady spot and with that, I started spending a little more time outdoors. The best of it is we have a hummingbird feeder set up near the table and right in front of the kitchen window and it's brought quite a few hummingbirds in (my birding buddy at work says they are Anna's hummingbirds). They fly up into our trees, so I think they have nests up there, and I hear them chatting all day long. What's really cool is watching them up close-when they drink the sugar water, you can see them gulping it and when they are just sitting there, they will open their long pointy beaks and be quiet and still, just looking around.
We've got morning glory growing over the fence and HUGE black bumble bees are sucking out the nectar. Then there are the pretty roses we've planted-miniature, peppermint, and an old English variety that smells like rose perfume.