Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Garden Fever!

Okay, quick update: Henry is getting better and better generally, though Dave still sort of dislikes him and thinks he is difficult. This is not true, he is just a baby. Henry, not Dave. Well, maybe both when it comes to this :-) Found out the hard way that his reflux meds are actually quite important when CJ managed to lose his medicine and he missed two doses and then went nuts the following day. Bought two week supply more for $24 then found the bottle in the pantry. Thanks, Charlotte.

Charlotte is super cute, talks all the time, likes to sing, loves the snow. She stomps one foot into the snow along the driveway all the way down. I'm not sure why this is so interesting, but she's been doing it for months.

On henry's three month birthday we joined the YMCA (they watch kids in childcare center for free with family membership as soon as babies are 3 months old). After some false starts, we found a good rhythm to going and now go 6 days a week at 8:30-10:00. I've lost 10 pounds and several inches and I feel much better!!

Getting out with the two kids is getting easier, or I'm just getting used to it. But I'm getting desperate to get out withOUT the kids and maybe WITH my husband. Need a date night soon!

I'm reading a book called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle about a family who vows to eat only food that is local. They grow much of it themselves on their farm in Virginia (?) and buy local meats. Although I'm not up for that challenge (it is a holy amount of work), I'm super excited about my garden this year!! Last fall I killed a flower bed so I could do more veggies and I'm so glad. I plan to plant lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, beans, onions, garlic, maybe potatoes and I already ahve some strawberries. I'm going to do my best to do it all organically and I have a few books on hold from the library about this. I also plan to try to hit the farmers market as soon as they open this spring and do more local buying and more food from scratch. I'm reading alot about the amount of preservatives and chemicals in our foods and I don't like it! Besides, I enjoy cooking and so does Charlotte. She is a tremendous helper and makes muffins with me about once a week. Now that Henry can sit in the Bumbo on the counter, we can probably do even more! I used my food dryer for the first time since last fall and dried some kiwi. They look awful but taste pretty darn good! I plan to try to do more with tomatoes this fall and dry some and can some and freeze some. I love me my tomatoes and so does Charlotte! I'll have to plant at least three cherry tom plants this year to keep us all satisfied.

Okay, kids still napping (I have them on the same schedule for the afternoon and it was a stroke of brilliance/necessity that I am glad for every single day) so I might get some stuff done.