I've been on a cleaning spree lately - and a deep clean. Now that I'm home from Australia and Idaho, and will be in my own home for a while as we just renewed our lease, I've got the nesting bug.
I know I'm lucky, because my little man doesn't mind playing with his toys and entertaining himself while I'm going to and fro from room to room doing little projects. He's watched me the last few days use the vacuum to its fullest - including every attachment on every surface both vertical and horizontal. He's watched me sweeping and mopping and shaking rugs and scrubbing every surface in this home.
Depending on what project I'm working on kinda dictates what room and toys he'll be playing with. Upstairs is pretty much free game. I close the doors to the "non-baby-proofed" rooms and set up a barricade in front of the TV and all the electronics (it's not pretty, but it's functional). Using the coffee table, sofa cushions, and the protective clock (it's a singing, moving, waving arms clock. And it kinda spooks him. I'm taking advantage of this to keep him away from the DVR and Stereo), and so far it's working. Pretty soon he's going to figure out how to knock cushions down, that the clock is actually a fun toy, and that the table is thin. But today, the fort is solid and I can buy a little free time where only one eye is on him.
Today I got the scenting bug. So, I busted out my essential oils and baking soda and let the magic begin. I created a mattress / bedroom scent using only lavender. Then I created an upstairs scent for a gentle freshness using the Body Shop's Tobacco Flower (don't be fooled by the name, it is scrumptious!). And for the front room and stairs, I got creative using coconut, lemongrass, grapefruit, and spearmint. I think it is divine! While Ash took his first nap, I dusted the rugs and carpets below and let the aroma sink in while the laundry got done and Sadie's kennel and corner were cleaned.
Rather excited with my accomplishments, once Ash woke up I was still on the scrubbing mission. Now, when the little man wakes up, he likes to be able to move around. Once the barricade was assembled, I went to work on the stairs to suck up that heavenly white powder concoction. Just as I made it to the last of the stairs, I felt a kerPLUNK and a stunned sensation. And it hit me, I HAD JUST BEEN HIT! By one of Sadie's bones - the big hard ones! You see, Ash has recently developed quite a fascination of dropping things - from his highchair, from his crib, from his playpen, from his car seat, and most assuredly from the balcony of the loft. It's a daily activity to watch each of Sadie's toys, and raw hides, and Ash's cars and blocks and pretty much anything that will fit between the banisters fall all the way to the bottom and make a loud noise. This makes Ash laugh and squeal. He absolutely loves it. And until this moment, I thought it was funny. Sure, there has been a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something is going to get broke, but he's been pretty good to only throw from one corner and it's pretty safe - even within bouncing distance. But today, I just happened to be in the perfect spot. When I looked up, so dazed and confused, he wasn't even looking - he had no idea he'd just dropped a bomb on my noggin. He was already loading up for the next round. By the time I made it back up the stairs and around the landing two more objects had joined the bone (and my pride).
Poor Ash and Sadie. Changes are sometimes difficult. They are both getting used to the new locations of these little toys... on the first floor.
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Our backyard paradise!
This is exciting. It has been a fantastic day in every way imaginable. It started out as a gorgeous morning. An orchid I've kept on the patio that has been dormant for almost a year suddenly came to life. Three flowers are blooming and there are still two more buds!
I was going to water the plants and flowers while Ash splashed in his watertable. As I opened the gate to get to the hose on the side run, the momma dove that has been sitting on her eggs shrieked and darted off.
Sadie chased the poor bird and I felt so bad for her! When I turned around to see her nest, there was a baby dove freshly hatched, as it sat all nice and wet next to its sibling, still in the shell. Instant awe. This little mama has had quite a few babies born here and it is so amazing each time.
As we played in the water, enjoying our backyard, I went to inspect... wait, I should catch you up first. When we moved into this house, it was just after the owners had purchased it. They're a great couple who secured this little spot as their retirement home (luckies!) and after a grueling and very popular open house, selected us as the tenants. (I'm not sure if me being 7 months pregnant, arriving 20 minutes before it was supposed to start, securing a "private viewing" haha, and then parking it out in the backyard for the entire open house had anything to do with it, heh). One of the charms was the backyard. It was landscaped tropical, with super low (pretty much non-existent) maintenance, and a pond. Well, the remains of an old dried up pond with the potential to be an amazing pond. :) One of the conversations with our landlord was to get it back up and running, if possible.
It started out looking like this:
Lemme tell you, this has not been one of the simpler tasks. The pond that stands today is the third pond that was installed. The first two leaked. Over a period of about 6 months, we finally have our little waterworks! And it is beautiful.
That is, until it started to grow little critters that are multiplying like there is no tomorrow! At first (being the naive pondy person), I thought they might have been tadpoles. But they don't just appear out of nowhere, right? So a few days went by, and each morning and evening I would go out to assess our little water critters and see their condition.
Ok, so back to the story. On this particular day I took one look into the water and panicked - what was only 25-50 yesterday was about 200 today! Not knowing what these things were, I knew I had to find out before we had some kind of amphibian takeover.
Using an empty baby food jar (I kept these, knowing they'd be great for some craft project - but never imagined they'd be used as scientific swamp sample devices), I dipped it into the water and had a much better viewpoint of the little swimmers. They are bizarre! With giant round heads that taper into a slimy slender body that ends with a little point and have these feathery white wispy arms all the way from the neck to the tail waving the entire time. And they move so oddly too. Kinda like a jumping bean - it jerks from each spot with a propelling type result. Sorry, I have no idea how to describe it. You'll just have to watch for yourself:
Anyhoo, after I finished the head shot session of our newest little residents, I knew something had to be done. Partly fascinated, and partly petrified, I loaded Ash into the car and headed to a local pond specialist. Sure enough, she confirmed they were indeed not tadpoles, but mosquitoes. ACK!!! For about 2 seconds I was starting a mini heart attack as I imagined how infested our little paradise was going to be and there would be no more water playing sessions with Ash in his pool, or BBQs for dinner, or star and moon gazing at night, or bird watching, or.... and then she kindly said "that's ok, I give out mosquito eating fish for free" and started walking over to a gorgeous little tub filled with water lilies and water hyacinths. As she opened a bag and started to pour in the water and little fish, instantly, a sense of relief poured over me. Ash and I hung out for a bit longer to learn about the water plants and how easy they were to take care of : Per my new heroine, you just "drop them in the water, let them get sun". That's it. Seriously. We learned about adding goldfish too. Pretty much the same as the plants. God knew what he was doing when he made his little water gardens. It wasn't going to be so difficult after all to create our own little ecosystem in our pond. Air, Sun, Water, Fish, Plants, and Algae.
As soon as we arrived home, we made the quick introduction of our new friends and gave them a little house warming party. It was thrilling. :)
They immediately went to town chowing down on the little skeets.
About an hour later, a little bird was chirping like crazy, hoping from rock to rock on the waterfall and what seamed like almost bird-screaming was looking into the water. Could it be? Could that little bird possibly have already noticed the changes? Yep... it dove into the water and tried to get a little snack! I ran out the door and just as it flew away, there was definitely something in its beak, I'm just not sure if it was successful in getting a fish or not.
A little while later, I went out again - you know, just keeping a close eye to be sure everyone is adjusting ok. Are they eating enough? Is there chlorine in the water that can make them ill, or worse? Are they in shock? Are they still alive? Do they have their sunscreen on? You know... thoughts that a mother has.
Much to my delight, there were itty bitty mosquito fish! They must have been in the roots of the plants! I counted 9 babies, and 7 adults. I was giddy.
Sadie must have wondered what the big fascination was, and had to check it out for herself. I was in the kitchen, making dinner, and all the sudden heard a bark fest going on outside. When I looked out the window, there she was crouched down head right on top of the water barking. I laughed, hard. Then she started to drink the water. *GAG*
Over the next few days we watched as the plants got settled and found their groove with the ebb and flow of the waterfall cycles. We've marveled at the fish and how comfy they are as they've settled into their new little rock crevices. And I was ecstatic at the new dragonfly that comes to visit! It is bright red, almost orange red, and likes to sunbathe on the chain of the bird feeder.
(Click on the pic to see it in big screen. Seriously!)
I am loving this. And so are Ash and Sadie, each in our own little ways. It'll be fun to show Rich our little aquatic zoo and new life in our yard as soon as he's home. :)
I was going to water the plants and flowers while Ash splashed in his watertable. As I opened the gate to get to the hose on the side run, the momma dove that has been sitting on her eggs shrieked and darted off.
Sadie chased the poor bird and I felt so bad for her! When I turned around to see her nest, there was a baby dove freshly hatched, as it sat all nice and wet next to its sibling, still in the shell. Instant awe. This little mama has had quite a few babies born here and it is so amazing each time.
As we played in the water, enjoying our backyard, I went to inspect... wait, I should catch you up first. When we moved into this house, it was just after the owners had purchased it. They're a great couple who secured this little spot as their retirement home (luckies!) and after a grueling and very popular open house, selected us as the tenants. (I'm not sure if me being 7 months pregnant, arriving 20 minutes before it was supposed to start, securing a "private viewing" haha, and then parking it out in the backyard for the entire open house had anything to do with it, heh). One of the charms was the backyard. It was landscaped tropical, with super low (pretty much non-existent) maintenance, and a pond. Well, the remains of an old dried up pond with the potential to be an amazing pond. :) One of the conversations with our landlord was to get it back up and running, if possible.
It started out looking like this:
Lemme tell you, this has not been one of the simpler tasks. The pond that stands today is the third pond that was installed. The first two leaked. Over a period of about 6 months, we finally have our little waterworks! And it is beautiful.
That is, until it started to grow little critters that are multiplying like there is no tomorrow! At first (being the naive pondy person), I thought they might have been tadpoles. But they don't just appear out of nowhere, right? So a few days went by, and each morning and evening I would go out to assess our little water critters and see their condition.
Ok, so back to the story. On this particular day I took one look into the water and panicked - what was only 25-50 yesterday was about 200 today! Not knowing what these things were, I knew I had to find out before we had some kind of amphibian takeover.
Using an empty baby food jar (I kept these, knowing they'd be great for some craft project - but never imagined they'd be used as scientific swamp sample devices), I dipped it into the water and had a much better viewpoint of the little swimmers. They are bizarre! With giant round heads that taper into a slimy slender body that ends with a little point and have these feathery white wispy arms all the way from the neck to the tail waving the entire time. And they move so oddly too. Kinda like a jumping bean - it jerks from each spot with a propelling type result. Sorry, I have no idea how to describe it. You'll just have to watch for yourself:
Anyhoo, after I finished the head shot session of our newest little residents, I knew something had to be done. Partly fascinated, and partly petrified, I loaded Ash into the car and headed to a local pond specialist. Sure enough, she confirmed they were indeed not tadpoles, but mosquitoes. ACK!!! For about 2 seconds I was starting a mini heart attack as I imagined how infested our little paradise was going to be and there would be no more water playing sessions with Ash in his pool, or BBQs for dinner, or star and moon gazing at night, or bird watching, or.... and then she kindly said "that's ok, I give out mosquito eating fish for free" and started walking over to a gorgeous little tub filled with water lilies and water hyacinths. As she opened a bag and started to pour in the water and little fish, instantly, a sense of relief poured over me. Ash and I hung out for a bit longer to learn about the water plants and how easy they were to take care of : Per my new heroine, you just "drop them in the water, let them get sun". That's it. Seriously. We learned about adding goldfish too. Pretty much the same as the plants. God knew what he was doing when he made his little water gardens. It wasn't going to be so difficult after all to create our own little ecosystem in our pond. Air, Sun, Water, Fish, Plants, and Algae.
As soon as we arrived home, we made the quick introduction of our new friends and gave them a little house warming party. It was thrilling. :)
They immediately went to town chowing down on the little skeets.
About an hour later, a little bird was chirping like crazy, hoping from rock to rock on the waterfall and what seamed like almost bird-screaming was looking into the water. Could it be? Could that little bird possibly have already noticed the changes? Yep... it dove into the water and tried to get a little snack! I ran out the door and just as it flew away, there was definitely something in its beak, I'm just not sure if it was successful in getting a fish or not.
A little while later, I went out again - you know, just keeping a close eye to be sure everyone is adjusting ok. Are they eating enough? Is there chlorine in the water that can make them ill, or worse? Are they in shock? Are they still alive? Do they have their sunscreen on? You know... thoughts that a mother has.
Much to my delight, there were itty bitty mosquito fish! They must have been in the roots of the plants! I counted 9 babies, and 7 adults. I was giddy.
Over the next few days we watched as the plants got settled and found their groove with the ebb and flow of the waterfall cycles. We've marveled at the fish and how comfy they are as they've settled into their new little rock crevices. And I was ecstatic at the new dragonfly that comes to visit! It is bright red, almost orange red, and likes to sunbathe on the chain of the bird feeder.
(Click on the pic to see it in big screen. Seriously!)
I am loving this. And so are Ash and Sadie, each in our own little ways. It'll be fun to show Rich our little aquatic zoo and new life in our yard as soon as he's home. :)
Friday, July 22, 2011
Splishity Splashity!!!
Aunt Deanna, Uncle Robin, and Cousin Jaren sent Ash the greatest toy for his 1st birthday!!! Ash LOVES to splash... in dog water bowls, in tubs, in sinks, in dishwashers... and now, in his very own waterfall pool!!!
So far, we've logged about 6 hours in this magical toy. :) Thanks to the Colorado peeps!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
12 month vaccines = Bandaid flags
Ash got his 12 month check up and vaccines today, plus 3 dinosour bandaids.
On our way home, he ripped off two of them, ate one, and proudly
showed me the other as he waived it like a flag.
This was probably the only time I had ever actually wished for a red light :)
Thursday, July 14, 2011
More baby birdies are coming...
They're at it again. The little love doves.
This little couple have created quite a few lives in the 1.5 years we've lived here. The nest is nuzzled perfectly under the boganveia and stays pretty protected, since we rarely access the side yard. I love thier sounds in the morning. And the momma is always so patient with me. I try to talk softly as I approach the gate, to not startle her. I can't wait to see her new little batch of babies. :)
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