A spring weekend

We had a wonderful weekend aside from me catching whatever felled Cameron last week. Aches, the sniffles and a slight soar throat are not a good accompaniment to a beautiful Spring weekend. Cameron decided to nap really, really well so I got to nap in the afternoons while DH toiled away doing yard clean up and a myriad of other tasks.

Cameron discovers the Tupperware cabinet. Mommy and Daddy discover that Cameron now screeches if she doesn't get her way. We quickly learned when we packed up the cabinet and tried to make Cameron move on to other games. Epic fail.

One of the tasks this weekend was to get rid of these ants that have invaded our pantry. They have come and gone for the last year and we've tried spraying and ant traps with little success. DH picked up some liquid bait that attracted the ants like, well, like ants to food. After a day of them congregating in our pantry they disappeared. Upon inspection DH decided to caulk every interior edge of the pantry to eliminate future migrations. Smart man!

Cameron dries off after a swim lesson. She is up to 4 seconds under the water!
Cameron plays before we head into swim lessons.

Adventures in gardening: the kitchen bed

This Memorial Day weekend I tackled adding color to the bed outside the kitchen window which is the bed with the bird bath. The plants already in the bed include:

• A couple of gardenia bushes (front) that produce fragile and fragrant blooms in the summer. I haven't done anything to them and despite needing a lot of care they have bloomed each year. My mother-in-law is very jealous.
• Two bushes that I have no idea what they are (back)
• A wisteria vine that I had DH cut back because it hasn't bloomed in the two years we've lived here (right). If it doesn't bloom next year I'm ripping it out and replacing it with a Clematis.
• Some lambs' ear
• A mum plant
• Some bearded irises around the bird bath
• A hosta (will probably be moved because of the sun)

Before photos

The bed gets a lot of afternoon sun so I knew I was safe in getting sun plants. DH had to go to Home Depot for his French drain project so Cameron and I tagged along to look at plants. Home Depot was having a big perennial sale for all the plants that weren't looking so good. 4 for $12! What a deal. The plants were fine, just not as covered in blossoms as you normally see. I focused on picking up plants that will propagate themselves. I've had a lot of luck with primrose in the front bed so I picked up a bunch of those.

I also spotted Yarrow which is similar to primrose in how it spreads. Both Yarrow and primrose spread out with new shoots about 3 feet and grow about 2 feet tall. I recommend primrose in particular if you want to cover a wide area in a garden. It isn't a selfish plant and can co-habitat with many others. DH made me get two Swamp Milkweeds to round out the bed. We probably wouldn't have gotten it if we knew the common name but there was no tag on the plants aside from its Latin name and really who can tell what Asclepias Incarnata is? It really stinks when there is no tag to tell you what to expect from a plant and the type of environment it needs. Apparently even with the "swamp" in it's name, the swamp milkweed should still do well in our bed.

To round out the plant selection I added two Fleabanes. I found out through my research that they can be short-lived perennials. I have to remember to split them in the early Spring so I can keep them growing. It's annoying when a plant is called a perennial when it's really a two year annual. I am attempting to plant mostly perennials to make maintenance easier down the road.

After planting everything I cleaned out the leaves and added some cedar mulch. Why cedar mulch? No reason in particular aside from the fact that it was on sale for 97 cents a bag at Home Depot one weekend. I made DH make two trips to get 40 bags of it. Much cheaper than the normal $2.97 a bag. That's my savings tip of the day: buy whatever mulch is on sale and as much of it as you can carry and store. Mulch really makes a bed look better and is decent at weed suppressing. If you have flooding issues then we have found that pine straw mulch is the best at staying put and not floating away.

After photos

Oh, and for those looking for a bird update I am pleased to report that the 3 baby birds in the next outside our kitchen are doing really well. I can hear them crying for their mom quite a bit during the day. At least I don't have to catch worms and regurgitate them for Cameron. Breastfeeding is a piece of cake in comparison!

Just a few days after hatching
And I thought Cameron is growing quickly! This is probably two weeks after hatching and they already have feathers.

The crib monster strikes

Every since Cameron started her morning nap, it has been both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because she sleeps for 2.5 to 3 hours which means I can either get a lot of stuff done around the house or take a nap myself. A curse because she really likes to nap in her bed which means we are tied to the house. The best thing about a newborn is that she tends to be really mobile and will sleep anywhere. Now that Cameron is almost 7 weeks, we have moved away from that mobility. I manage to sneak out with her to Barnes and Noble or Starbucks for about an hour in the early afternoon and then it's right back to the house for her first afternoon nap.

I know, I shouldn't be complaining because she is such a good sleeper. She is still going down before 9 PM and sleeping until 4 AM for her feeding. Technically that is sleeping through the night although I would prefer a few more hours...I just hope that going into daycare at 12 weeks won't screw it up. I did speak with another mother whose daughter has been in the program since she was 6 weeks old and the mother seemed really happy with the daycare. So that relieved my mind a little. But I won't be reassured completely until Cameron has been there a few weeks and is still the perfect angel she is for us!

DH and I went to a picnic this weekend. I dressed up Cameron in an outfit that her Uncle Ross sent her. DH also surprised me with a beautiful locket for Mother's Day and a lunch out! Another Mother's Day surprise was that the eggs in our nest hatched. They are little furballs right now but I'm sure they will be flying any time now.

This is for the birds

I use this colloquial expression on a fairly regular basis. But since DH and I moved to Charlotte and bought our house we have been enjoying the birds, not using them to convey displeasure. One of the first things we put up was a bird feeder. It was promptly destroyed by scavenging squirrels and we bought another one and added a squirrel baffle to the pole. We had to attach it below the bird feeder so that the squirrels wouldn't run up the pole and get to the food that way. Those pesky squirrels are so smart! DH jokes that we are feeding the entire neighborhood but we have about a dozen breeds that visit on a regular basis.

Not too far from the bird feeder is a bird bath that the former home owners left behind. I moved it to just beyond the kitchen window and faithfully add water to it while watering the plants. This year the birds have really discovered it and I've been enjoying watching their antics while futzing around the kitchen.

The other big bird related item is the nest that was built in the begonias hanging outside the kitchen door. DH was going to remove the nest but we discovered this morning that there are 3 eggs in it! Needless to say since we are "nesting" ourselves with Cameron there was no way we were going to remove it now. The plant is doing fine and the bird hasn't minded my watering it. I hope we haven't scared it off by taking a couple of pictures. It would be such a bummer if the eggs never hatch.

Is the whole, "if you touch the eggs the mother bird won't return and hatch them" thing true? What experiences have others had with bird nests?

Did you know that birds need to drink water too? I had read that but actually saw it in practice this Spring. But they enjoy splashing around in the bath the most.

If you look closely you can see the three eggs.

Growing a green thumb, one spring at a time

DH and I have been attempting to spruce up our "curb appeal" since we moved into our house two years ago. The former home owners focused on the inside of the house (stripping wallpaper, installing hardwood floors, etc.) but neglected the exterior of the home. We have about a half acre so there is a lot that can be and needs to be done. The front of the house is very different from the back. We've done a bit more in the front so this post will focus on that. I will attempt to include the names of all plantings for any other gardeners in the southeast.

The Home Depot Expo was going out of business in Charlotte so I picked up two containers for less than $40 each for the front door. My mom planted the annuals in here and they all take lots of sun. The plants are Red Fountain Grass, Purple Queen, Petunias and Blue Lobelia.

My main goal in selecting plants for the front yard is to find plants that bloom primarily in the spring and summer. I haven't focused yet on adding autumn color but I'm sure that will come in time. I also tend to select perennials for their lower maintenance. My mother is a big believer in adding pops of color through annuals and I will do that as well once the perennials are more established. The biggest challenge is that a significant portion of our yard has clay soil. For anyone who hasn't had to deal with clay soil, you are very lucky. The only way to get rid of it is slowly amend it with peat moss and compost as plantings are placed. Even then more plants die than they should because of the thickness of the clay. I lost about 12 perennials last year because of it. And FYI, Home Depot does not always refund your money. So keep that in mind!

This bed is to the left of our driveway and because it is a raised bed it is a great spot for plantings. The back border features bearded irises. They are actually irises that my mom gave me that she got from her grandmother. Pretty cool, no? A few bloomed last year but it usually takes until the second year for them to bloom. I've seen yellow and purple blooms so far. There are some marigolds tucked in along with creeping jenny, echinacea flowers, a blooming bush and some other bulbs. The back bushes are rhododendrons and they flowered amazingly this year. We actually got a lot of rain this winter which explains why the blooms were so great.

This small area is to the right of the house and gets a lot of sun. As a result it has some liriope (make sure and cut that almost all the way back every February), balloon flowers and a clematis. We are particularly excited about the clematis because it will grow up the bird house and can be 4 feet high and wide.

The first project we did was to line the end of the big bed in the front yard with stones. It really helped add definition to the space and keep the mulch from running off (it's a small hill) during rain storms. It was a huge project for us and took an entire weekend in 80+ degree weather. I sweat my ass off but it was a great bonding experience for me and DH. Except when we kept running into old tree roots. Very big old tree roots. Thank goodness for the reciprocating saw!

There is a Japenese maple in the center of the bed. Also featured is an eldeberry bush and some liriope around the edges. Last year I planted some dianthus which is still doing well and primrose which is really starting to spread. New spreading plantings this season include creeping jenny (in the back) and creeping phlox.

This last area is just to the right of the big bed and we planted some guara in the back and tickseed in the front. I'm a bit worried that this area may not get enough sun for these plants so I'll have to keep an eye on them and move them if needed.

What other plants should I be considering? We also get a ton of shade in the backyard so suggestions about shade plants are also welcome.

Spring has sprung, I hope

DH and I were blessed with a fantastic weekend weather wise in Charlotte. Temperatures reached 70+ degrees on Sunday and will again today. I realize it is only the second week of February but I can't but feel that our cold winter weather is done for. I'm sure a nice ice storm will come along to prove me wrong. But in the meantime, I have hung up my winter coat in the closet and hope to not pull it out until next winter!

It was so nice outside I felt guilty about the massive cardinal bathing itself in my disgustingly dirty bird bath. So I pulled out the hose for the first time this year and cleaned it out. I also filled the bird feeder. We have so many birds that the bird seed lasts less than 24 hours. But Charlie loves to watch the birds so whenever I remember I fill it up.

Other than that, DH and I had a lazy weekend broken up by some shopping trips and eating dinner out on Friday. I tried to pick up an exercise ball from Target but the medium one (65 cm) seemed way too small. There are a few reasons I want an exercise ball and using it for exercise is just one of them! I have heard it is great for pre-labor and during labor for easing back tension. Plus Mommy, Esq. swears by it for bouncing and calming her twins. Anyone know what size I should get? And should I swing by a sporting goods store instead of a Target?

In other news, I am now T minus 7 weeks until my due date. Apparently the little one is now over 4 pounds (the size of a pineapple) and over 17 inches long. DH is impressed that she somehow fits in my belly. I know she does because now I grunt every time I get out of a chair or roll over in bed. I'm also a lot more short of breath and run to the bathroom at least once an hour. As I said, T minus 7 weeks!