Pickin' Peas

One reason I've decided Erik is worth keeping around is his desire to get us out and about (because let's be honest: most of the time, I'm perfectly content to sit at home with a good book). Today's adventure involved heading up to Cove and picking some peas.

Seriously. This is what we did this afternoon. Erik found about about a farm in Cove that lets you pick your own peas and then pay what they're worth to you. For some reason, this mention of peas made him suddenly think about the creamed new potatoes and peas dish his grandma used to make (which has never been brought up in our 8 years of marriage). Being the impulsive guy he is, he decided we would be making this dish tonight and we needed fresh peas.

Admittedly, the pea patch (or whatever you would call it) was fairly picked over and trampled. We weren't the only ones who had heard the news about the peas, obviously. But Lily had a great time looking for pea pods and putting them in our bucket. After harvesting a few, it turned more into Lily holding the bucket while Erik and I searched for the peas, and she was always very polite as we dropped them in, saying Thank You every time a new pod was added.

On the way home, she asked if she could open one. Figuring we'd be vacuuming up peas once we got home, I gave it to her. She opened the pod like Erik had shown her, and to my surprise, she stuffed them in her mouth. Not one at a time of course. No. She shoved the entire pod's worth of peas in and started chewing. Since she's recently developed a reluctance to eating vegetables with dinner, I was amazed at her eagerness. Once she realized she had a quite full mouth full of peas, however, it was a different story, and she wanted to spit them out. I didn't have anywhere for her to spit them, though, so I told her she'd have to chew them up and swallow. Which she did. But she didn't want to eat any more once we got home. I figure at least she got vegetables in her today so I win.

So for our dinner tonight, we were able to enjoy creamed new potatoes and peas made with peas that less than an hour before had still been attached to the ground. Pretty fun, really. And I promise you, we'll be heading back up to Cove before the summer is over...

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Mission Complete: One Month

Where has the time gone? Timothy is officially one month old and I'm having a hard time comprehending that. I feel like we've been super busy but super lazy at the same time. How is that possible?

We haven't done anything of much excitement in the last month - I will admit that. Lily and I try to take a walk most mornings. (Timothy tags along in the stroller, and sometimes I'm game to dealing with Laddie, too.) I think it's something she's started to look forward to because as soon as we're done with breakfast, she asks if we can go on our walk. During these walks, Lily has taken on the task of single-handedly ridding the neighborhood of dandelions. Having semi-planned activity every morning has been good for me since it encourages me to get ready for the day.

And some mornings, that's harder than others since Timothy isn't much of a night sleeper. The first couple weeks weren't bad since that's about all he did around the clock. But over the last week or so, he's decided he wants to be held all the time and will wake up as soon as he's put down. I guess he takes after Lily that way. I can't remember how we dealt with it for Lily other than I think I spent a couple nights sleeping in the glider. Trying to avoid that fate this time, we're plugging away, but it makes for some groggy mornings when I've had maybe an hour of uninterrupted sleep. Erik, of course, is oblivious since he has no problem sleeping through the whole thing (even though Timothy is still sleeping has his bed in our room at the moment).

Our days are about the same, really, so I feel like I don't get much accomplished. I'm either feeding Timothy or trying to get him to sleep and/or stop fussing. And during the times he's actually asleep or sitting contentedly, I try to spend some time with Lily doing something she wants to do. I feel like I'm having to tell her "in just a minute" way more often than I'd like. I don't know if she's noticed or if she even cares, but I still feel bad. Needless to say, my day is completely full but my house is still a disaster (it's probably not as bad as I think it is, but in my sleep-deprived state, the clutter just mocks me) and before I know it, the day is over and I'm back to trying to catch a few minutes of sleep before Timothy realizes I've put him down and begins to let me know his displeasure.

Sleep issues aside, we're enjoying our new addition. Lily is a very big helper and wants to be right in the middle of all the action. She makes sure I remember to change his diaper and helps him find his pacifier when it falls out of his mouth. If she's busy with other things when that happens, she's quick to remind me I need to do it. A couple weeks ago, she asked if we could keep him, so I'm assuming that's a good sign. Much better than asking if we HAVE to keep him, right? When he starts to cry, she sings him Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, which will amazingly make him stop most of the time.

We haven't just hung out at home, though. We've gone on a couple adventures, too. We hit the Summerfest twice, once just for the food and once to check out the wares. For the Fourth, we met up with the gang and watched fireworks. Lily is almost done with her second session of swimming lessons for the summer, which she is really enjoying. Especially now that she's ok once again with putting her head under the water. And we've had some nice visits with family. We'll also be going camping in August just before I head back to work (it's coming too soon!!!). It's been so nice to have my maternity leave during the summer. Even if we aren't participating in a lot of uber-interesting activities, I feel more free to go out and about since we don't have to worry about bundling a baby up like we did with Lily.

Life has changed completely but stayed the same all at the same time. It's been an exhausting month...I won't deny it. But it's all been worth it.

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