24 weeks

Last Friday I had an OB appointment.  I previously told you about taking all the kids and Amy coming in with me after I used the bathroom.  The appointment went well.  Amy had all sorts of questions about all of the posters on the walls :)  We didn't have to wait long once I was put in the room.  Everything looks good.  I finally hit the 10 lb mark, so my Dr. and I are pleased.  Not bad for 23 weeks.  Dr. I* said I don't look very big, but I'm measuring fine.  We'll see if I can keep this under 25 lbs.  Of course the birthday weekend provided way too much temptation, and I ate way too many sweets.  At my next appointment I'll be 27 weeks, so it's time for the dreaded glucose test.  I was pleasantly surprised when she gave me the option of taking the drink home with me and drinking it  about 45 minutes before I came in.  Then I can call them and let them know what time I drank it, and get my blood drawn right before the appointment.  Of course then I left it on the counter when I went to make the next appt.  Amy wanted to watch the rest of the movie, so we went out into the waiting room to make the appt. at the window rather than the counter.  It was an hour later or so when I remembered.  So I texted Aaron and asked if he could stop by and grab me one.  He had a couple minutes so he stopped by, and it was still on the counter.  So now it's in the fridge.  I just hope I remember to drink it before I go in.  It will be nice not to have to stay there for an hour waiting.

As for everything else, I'm in a good stage now.  At 24 weeks I don't have much to complain about.  No nausea, I have more energy - although I still nap occasionally.  I'm obviously getting bigger which makes it more difficult to bend over to pick things up, but it's still doable.  I can feel her moving around every day.  It's not constant, or painful, so it's still fun.  Aaron's felt her a few times, but the kids haven't.  It's usually when I sit at the table, or in the van, or lay down for bed that I feel her move.  I don't have back aches, or swelling feet yet, although my hands do swell a bit if I've been walking around a lot, or working out in the yard and garden.  I can still sleep on my back, but I'm trying to train myself to sleep on my side.  I usually only have to get up once at night to use the bathroom, not that I don't wake up multiple times, but I usually only get up once.  I'm having the weirdest dreams, and most of them I really don't want to share.  Some are just bizarre.  Anyway, for those of you interested here's a belly pic. 

I did have someone tell me I looked "cute" this week with my belly showing.  We'll see how "cute" I am in 16 weeks!

Garden Update

Is it really time for another garden update?  It is!!!  In fact it's been so long that I've taken two sets of pictures already.  Some on the 21st and some today (the 28th).  So here goes!

raspberries harvested on the 21st

 Look at this funky strawberry we picked!

 Our harvest on the 21st - sweet peas, strawberries, lettuce and raspberries (some got eaten before the picture was taken)

 Upper Terrace

 blossoms on a tomato plant

 volunteer tomatoes

 onions and potatoes

 sunflowers, and peas

 sweet peas I picked that day - We all have been eating them like crazy - I love it!

 zucchini

 carrots, Swiss chard and lettuce ( a couple of Swiss chard plants that grew next to the zucchini)

 volunteer potatoes and pumpkin

More volunteers. I thought these were pumpkins, but now I think they are zucchini

 I tried to transplant some pumpkins that were crowding the tomatoes, they didn't take too well to it.  But they are still alive.

 watermelon plant looking good

 corn

 apples growing

first harvest of Swiss chard

These are the ones I took today

 the raspberry bushes are getting huge

 The strawberries are slowing down, but there are a ton of new blossoms and new ones growing. 

ignore the weeds :)

 The corn is looking good (and the volunteer sunflowers)

 Our largest corn stalk is one from a kernel that dropped on the side - it's not even in a row.

 My three squash plants.

(and Dashes' tail)

 Our new lawn looks great - after it's mowed that is, otherwise you can see all the ugly weeds.

 Tomato plants look great.

 cherry tomatoes growing

 peppers - two of my four jalapenos died :( 
also radishes and kohlrabi

 cucumbers and cantaloupe

 volunteer tomatoes

 onions and potatoes

We harvested our first potatoes on Sunday along with some peas.  The peas were great, but I think the potatoes could have gone a little longer, I only had about 5 potatoes per hill, and there were several tiny ones that could have gotten bigger.

sunflowers and peas

 beans

a few beans are ready to pick

 carrots - big and bushy, but small underground

lettuce and Swiss chard

We had some Swiss chard on Sunday too, along with lettuce for our salad.

zucchini

volunteer potatoes and pumpkins

I really thought these were zucchini, but the leaves are slightly different, so I guess we'll wait and see what grows.

watermelon plants

look at those pumpkin plants!!!  We now have to watch for vines, and pull them down out of the pasture, so they will grow along the berm.

two more pumpkins

The last of the pumpkins

Lower Terrace

Upper Terrace

I went back up top to get pictures of the tomatoes and peppers

(the tall one is a weed :P)

a couple of ripe blueberries!

flowering tomatoes 

ripe red raspberries

ripe golden raspberries

And that's it for today.