As he’s raiding the fridge for the hundredth time of the day, he says, “Mommy, look, Veggie Tales!”

Happy Father’s Day, Father of Pearls & an Emerald! We love you. We hope you have a relaxing day, oh wait, maybe in about 20 years! Thanks for being the best Daddy kids could ask for, taking us swimming, fishing, camping, bringing home snakes, cooking us breakfast, & tickling us til we scream! And so much more…
How is that, we don’t have any pics with Daddy & all three of his kiddos, so I’ll just post three of my favorites of them around the same age as Mister Emerald.

Daddy & Miss Pearl

Daddy & Mister Pearl

Daddy & Mister Emerald

…Maybe that’s the purpose this blog will serve, for me to be accountable for various tasks! I said in my last gardening post that we would get the rest of the garden planted on Sunday and we did! Now for the hardest part, the waiting, waiting, waiting. We are very encouraged by the sight of some shoots already peeking out of the soil, especially the cucumbers! I see fresh cucumber salads in our future. We’re supposed to have some hot weather this week, so grow garden, grow.

Now if we could just figure out how to keep the birds out of our stawberry patch… Or at least they could be neater about it and take the entire berry. They nibble on part of the best, reddest berries and leave the rest languishing on the vines. And even more aggravating is that we have a pretty bird-friendly yard. We have several bird feeders and some serviceberry trees with lovely, ripe red berries just for them. Maddening!

And to close with a funny… Mister Pearl and Miss Pearl were of course helping us plant.  I had just run a length of twine between two nails across one of the beds along which we would plant seeds.  I turned around to get my shovel just in time to see Mister Pearl ceremoniously snip my line with the kid scissors I had brought outside with me. I couldn’t get mad at his sudden fine motor prowess with the scissors.  He is now affectionately dubbed  “The Mayor”!  We’re booking him out for opening ceremonies and engagements!

Wow, it’s been way too long since I’ve posted here!  New little baby guy is already 6 weeks old, time is just flying by. Not sure of the focus or direction I want to take with this blog, more personal/family or more for Watkins business related items. Stay tuned for that!

Meanwhile, garden season is upon us in full swing. We’ve gotten a bit behind in planting, in part due to the weather and some due to the fact  we’re still in new baby “survival mode”.  We’re hoping to get the rest of the seeds planted tomorrow. Even with that, we’re at Mid-August until there will be veggies to harvest. I so wish we lived in a warmer zone that allowed for earlier planting.

Based on how last year’s garden did, we made some big changes to our planting choices. We also switched up with what would be more fun for the Pearls to harvest.  Not as interesting  without pictures, but we are trying the following: Burpee Sweet Treat Carrots, Burpee Green Pearls Edaname, Burpee Sweeter Yet Cucumber, Burpee Blue Lake Pole Beans, Burpee Bush Sugar Baby Watermelon, & a variety of tomatoes. We found an interesting variety called “Health Kick” which is said to have twice the amount of Lycopene.

Yes, ‘Health Kick’ is the real, registered name of this fantastic tomato that gourmet chefs are choosing for any recipe that requires a tomato. The news media also has been full of praise for the antioxidant element known as lycopene—a pigment that gives tomatoes its bright red color. Lycopene promotes healthy cell growth and fights cancer causing agents in thebloodstream. Tomatoes are the bestsources of lycopene, and the already high lycopene content in ‘Health Kick’ actually increases when cooked—as a tomato paste applied to popular dishes such as pasta and pizza. Even as tomato soup, tomato juice and ketchup, lycopene can become four times more potent in its health content! ‘Health Kick’ is also high in vitamins C, potassium, iron, phosphorus, vitamin A and vitamin B.

We also have some Oregano that came back, Dill & a large pesto type Sweet Basil.  We’re able to do the Cukes & Beans this year because Father of Pearls was charged with building a cedar a-frame trellis to support them. Ahem, Father of Pearls, are you still reading? Oh you must be working on that trellis then.  Ahem, perhaps I got a bit carried away with the garden ambitions in light of how busy our lives are right now. Sorry. We love you Father of Pearls! Maybe it’ll be a gardening blog, I never tire of that topic!

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am in a thousand winds that blow,

I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain,

I am the fields of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush,

I am in the graceful rush

Of beautiful birds in circling flight,

I am the starshine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom,

I am in a quiet room.

I am in the birds that sing,

I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there. I did not die. ~Mary Elizabeth Frye

“I understand that you little guys start out with your woobies and you think they’re great … and they are, they are terrific. But pretty soon, a woobie isn’t enough. You’re out on the street trying to score an electric blanket, or maybe a quilt. And the next thing you know, you’re strung out on bedspreads, Ken. That’s serious.” says Michael Keaton in the hilarious Mr. Mom about his son’s security blanket attachment.

“Lucy: You think you’re so smart with that blanket. What are you going to do with it when you grow up? Linus: Maybe I’ll make it into a sport coat.” from a Charlie Brown Christmas.

Poor Mr. Pearl. He’s had a beloved security blankie since birth, his “Doot doo”. We’re not sure where the name came from, but he’s called it that since he began talking. It was a beautiful crocheted blanket that “Aunt Caffy” made for him. He has literally loved it to death. It is full of holes whose repair lasts only a short while & dangerous strings that are continually being pulled loose. Father of Pearls would prefer to go the route of Mr. Mom & torch the thing, but I hesitate to go that far yet. You see, I myself had a beloved crocheted blanket that met a slow demise as well. I remember tucking a forlorn scrap inside my pillow case when I was in first grade, just so I could still have it nearby.  I know, sad.  As a compromise, I found some silk blanket binding at Joann’s today and am going to try to salvage a nice section of it for now. And hopefully that section will get smaller and smaller, a weaning of sorts! I just feel for the lil guy is all.

Merry Christmas Eve! Hard to believe it’s finally here. We can’t wait to see the Pearls’ excitement over all the holiday festivities. Miss Pearl may even be old enough to make it to Midnight Mass with Father of Pearls tonight.

So, this morning, Miss Pearl and I were attempting to pick up the pig sty that is called her room. Or more like Mommy was picking up and Miss Pearl was dancing around merrily, talking a mile a minute. You know, generally avoiding any and all work. So as my already uncomfortably pregnant body is crawling around the floor picking up 3/4 of the emptied bookshelf and I’m grumbling and mumbling to myself about how Santa would fall over dead if he saw this room, Miss Pearl, exclaims, “Mommy, you sound just like The Grinch.” OUCH. TOUCHE. Out of the mouth of babes.

Sadly, Miss Pearl isn’t too far off the mark. This difficult pregnancy & juggling holiday and home has taken it’s toll on me. And I’m sorry about that baby girl. I will try harder to see the wonder and joy in life through your gorgeous baby blues. If you can look past all these messes, surely I can?

“It’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to…” You would cry too if you spent 4 long months fighting awful morning sickness, followed by a month of sinus infections on top of said morning sickness, followed by a UTI, followed by the brutal stomach bug circulating these parts. OK, maybe you wouldn’t, but I sure have. 

Moving along, we’ve somewhat decked the halls, somewhat shopped for gifts, somewhat wrapped some gifts, and somewhat attempted some favorite holiday traditions. Somewhat just has to be it this year.

Miss Pearl, in particular, dove into these festivites with as much gusto as she usually approaches life. I think she single-handedly decorated our tree for us. I had figured we would probably stretch it out over this long week doing a bit at a time.  Nope.  And Mister Pearl has been absolutely hilarious riding in the car admiring all of the Christmas lights! No matter how meager the display, they all get his accolades. “Look, Mommy a Cwiss-miss tree” “Look, Daddy a no Man!” This has helped pass many a nights by driving all over town looking at lights to the sweet request of ”See more! See more!” To which Father of Pearls and I chuckle and say “Feed Me, Seymour”. Truly the holidays are a time to count blessings and these two feed our souls with such innocent sweetness, it’s hard not to feel like a kid again seeing this wonderful time of year through their eyes.

I’d once read the letter “If I Had My Life To Live Over” from the beloved Erma Bombeck and one line in particular always affected me deeply. And I thought to myself, if we were blessed with another pregnancy, that I would follow that advice this time.

“Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have
cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment
growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in
a miracle.”

Beautiful sentiment, Erma, and I sure hope one of these days I can live up to it. Until then, I’m fighting off my second cold in a month, all on the heels of the most miserable of first trimesters. Still, I feel hope and joy at the thought of what’s to come,… These sweet, intermittent flutters in the belly will soon turn into nudges, then kicks, and finally full-on kung fu assaults seen from the outside. I love the quiet time of night when you first lay down and baby takes this as his/her signal to communicate, “hey, I’m awake, let’s play!” Until then, I need some serious R&R.

I cannot believe how sick I’ve been with this pregnancy. How one tiny little bean in there could wreck wreak this much havoc. (I stand corrected, Father of Pearls. He had to pull out Webster’s to prove that I had misspelled the word.  It’s hard to have two spelling bee champions in the house!)  Could it be that I am years older than with the others? Mercifully, my doctor doubled my Zofran dose and it seems to have helped alot.  And I’m almost afraid to say a bit of the first trimester fatigue is lifting. It’s been an awful long couple of months. Hopefully I’ll be back on with some regularity. I’ve got some fun stuff to post!