30 weeks

This week I'm suddenly feeling impatient. With just under 10 weeks until my due date, I feel like I may be pregnant for the rest of my life. I want to meet the kid, want to start the labor, want to have the time off work, want to see the spring peeking up through the snow. I consider myself a person who loves winter, and this winter has not disappointed me at all weather wise. But Dave started mapping out the garden this weekend and he's already placed his order for seeds with Baker Creek. It feels like spring is just around the corner, and we're barely into January. The garden has become such a central part of our home life that even in the dead of winter we can get excited just talking about all of the things that will be growing. This spring promises to be even more fun than usual, both because of the impending arrival of our baby and because of the garden expansions we made last year.

We now have 8 raised beds devoted entirely to vegetables, as well as a pumpkin patch, a raspberry patch, and a small section for herbs next to our walk. Along with those sites Dave will be incorporating vegetables and herbs into the flower beds this year. We added a second rain garden at the end of last summer, and if it's anything like the first one, flowers and native plants will be spilling out of it by June. We have hopes to improve the front and boulevard flower beds with more flowers, and this may be the year we put in an ornamental cherry tree. Most of the tree tree trimming and felling is complete now, and while I'm sure we'll probably cut down 1 or 2 more this year it seems like that phase is finally coming to an end. These plans are modest compared to our normal "to do" list for the summer gardening season. Since we'll have so many visitors wanting to spend time with us and the baby, they'll have to put in some work when they show up. Baby time is exchanged for shoveling and weeding, right? Dave is the master of this garden, and he did nearly all of the work last year. I was newly pregnant and plagued by exhaustion for the first 2 and a half months, and while I can say that I contributed a little bit, he did the lion's share of the work. I hope to be much more helpful this year, even if that means entertaining the kid and the pets so he can get serious work done.