Sunshiny Walks and Ice Cream Cones

I've been thinking about all of the ways our lives will change with the addition of another child. I know it will be fantastic and magical at some moments and incredibly overwhelming at others until we settle into the new normal. It doesn't feel as real as I think it should considering I've done this before and live with the physical end result of that positive pregnancy test, those weeks of constant nausea, the expanding waistline and random attacks of restless leg syndrome. I was expecting to appreciate every part twice as much, be even more sensitive to the changes and more aware of what was on its way. It may be that my attention is so often fixed on the child running up and down the sidewalk that I haven't been as mindful of the one in my belly. And I'm sure that will all change once this little one is big enough to lodge its foot between my ribs.

While visiting his family last month, Brett's grandma surprised me with the stippled quilt that I'd left with her at Christmas. The texture is fantastic. Once I make my mind up on which fabric I want to use, I'll be able to add the binding. For those readers who weren't here in October, this is the quilt top I made to remember the pregnancy we lost. Gender neutral, happy colors to represent the early days of excitement and possibility that new pregnancies can bring. I'm really thankful that she was able to quilt this together for me at a time when I couldn't bring myself to work on it without getting overwhelmed with emotion. I love it. Thank you, Dorotha.

In other news, the shipment of bees arrived last week! Brett got the call to pick them up from the post office while I was teaching at the craft weekend so I wasn't there to see the wire mesh cage they were so carefully packed in buzzing with hunger or the six bee stings my SIL got while Brett was transferring them to the hive. He only got stung once, which still amazes me. They are settling into their new residency at the back our yard and battling the ants over their sugar water supply. Brett has them up on cinder blocks to keep them dry during the spring rains. He'll check the honeycombs next week to make sure things are starting up well. The majority of the honey bees are female. Brett calls them his ladies.

Our bat cave is still unoccupied but we've spotted two bats in the neighborhood. I also saw our first two mosquitos yesterday. We may have built just after the bat housing bubble burst.

Sebastian and I spent a good chunk of our time outside on walks yesterday. One walk for exercise that ended up at the park playing with the preschoolers, one that led us on a wild goose chase to find the ice cream truck, and one with Brett that took us to the gas station to get a sad boy some ice cream after we didn't find the truck. He finished it up on the front porch and was so sticky from ice cream run off that we stripped him down and introduced him to the manly act of peeing in the grass. By this time it was dark and the street was quiet so we didn't think twice about public displays of nudity until I heard a little snicker across the street and saw the lit cigarettes of our neighbors on their front porch.

At least Brett wasn't teaching by example this time!