A Day in the Garden

Today was another beautiful spring day. Cooper and I spent all afternoon working in our garden. Today I bought him a watering can in which he is quite happy with. Today we worked the soil in one of our raised beds by adding compost from our worm bin and then we planted our salad greens. We are calling this raised bed our "salad bowl" as we hope it will provide us with our salad greens for the summer. We also planted some radish seeds as well. After working hard, we rested on a lawn chair in the sun and then headed in for a nap. So far it has been a wonderful day!




Enjoying the watering can.


Our summer "salad bowl".


Mama relaxing and sunning the baby.


My gardener. He makes me proud.


And this face. I can't get enough of it...

Livia May

Lover of naps on her mama,
Banana eater,
wild hair having,
baby talking,
admirer of her big cuz Cooper,
is one wonderful little girl!

Livia, we love you and think you are pretty darn great, and cute!

Our Yard

Our yard is taking on it's spring transformation! Doug spent an entire Sunday a few weeks ago transferring a play structure that our neighbor gave to us (so lucky) into our yard. It has made our yard so much more fun! We have started our spring gardening and have been spending lots of time every day outside getting our yard ready for summer. Cooper is very into gardening and helping out in the yard. Yesterday we went to the spring tilth plant sale and purchased our cold hardy greens that we plan on putting into the garden this week. I love gardening, can you tell :)
Here are some photos of our yard in full effect:

Here is a proud daddy in front of the new play structure


Cooper gardening


Going on bug hunts with good friends has is always fun


Climbing with best bud, Liam.


Swinging with Liam

The Loves of My Life

This is what I come home to in the morning from a long night of work. I take one look at these cozy boys and my heart bursts! I am one lucky girl.

A Calming Foot Bath

Since I weaned Cooper (yes, I nursed him until he was 2.5, and proud of it) he has been a bit off. We have been having more daily power struggles and he has been exploring his sense of independence. There has been a lot of back talk and some harsh words exchanged on both ends. Doug and I have been working hard on practicing positive discipline and on helping Cooper with this "off" time in his little life. After all, growing up is tough, even if you are two. It is a big world out there with so much to learn and see every day, it can be overwhelming. I am not denying that it is extremely frustrating for Doug and I as well.
We had a very busy Saturday with a fun play date and then some shopping. As I was beginning to prepare lunch for Cooper, the whining kicked in, along with a lot of "no, mommy!" and "don't talk to me daddy!" talk. For some reason I thought, how about a foot soak. I can't say I came up with this myself. About a year ago I read an article in Mothering Magazine about setting up a foot bath for your cranky toddler and never tried it but for some reason on Saturday it seemed like the perfect idea. Who doesn't feel relaxed when they soak their feet in warm water? I said "Cooper, want to soak your feet?" He looked confused. I suggested he go to the garden and pick some flowers to put in, then told him he could add his own salt and olive oil to the water. He was totally into it! He sat on his little rocking chair, put his flowers in, added the salt and oil and plunged his feet into the warm water. He sat there for an hour, pleasantly reading and singing. I rubbed his feet a bit and sat and talk to him. It was great! After, he was relaxed and ready for a nice nap.
We will defiantly be trying this again, next time I am going to set one up for me as well and get in on the relaxation.

Our Baby Girl

We would like to introduce you to the newest Blair in the family. Meet, Baby Girl Blair! I am about 24 weeks along with this baby girl. I had a feeling that the baby was a girl as this pregnancy has been sooooo different from my pregnancy with Cooper. We feel very blessed to be having a girl but most importantly the ultrasound showed that everything looks very healthy. This little girl is due on the 4th of July and we are so excited!
We hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far. Doug and I had a pregnancy massage class and a date last night that was lovely. We are finally starting to prepare for this baby and for the birth. I feel like with the second I have been so distracted with the every day to day of a toddler that it took me a while to embrace this pregnancy. I was also very sick which made it hard to enjoy it. I have felt wonderful for the past few weeks and have really started preparing for natural birth again which is very exciting for us. I feel like I am preparing for my second marathon as giving birth was the most challenging and rewarding experience of my life.
We are also working very hard on preparing Cooper for being a big brother. We have checked out many books from the library about pregnancy, birth, and being a big brother. He can tell you all about the umbilical cord and how mommy is going to "push" the baby out. He acts excited about being a brother but we are quiet aware that it is going to be very challenging for him. Luckily, Doug will be off for 2 months after the baby is born so we will have lots of time to adjust as a foursome.
Enjoy the photos of our new baby girl!

A Poem For Busy Mamas

If I Had My Child to Raise Over Again


If I had my child to raise all over again,
I'd finger paint more, and point the finger less.
I'd do less correcting, and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less, and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd teach less about the love of power,
And more about the power of love.

By Diana Loomans



Now get out there and enjoy those beautiful babies of yours! All we really have is time.