Our Summer & Pre-Baby Bucket List

As the flowers begin to open up to the warm and humid days, i find myself dreaming of our summer and all i want to accomplish and soak up.  It's such a special time, being our last summer, just the two of us, before we welcome the bambino into our world come autumn.  I'm so excited for all that is to come and to watch my middle section expand as the days grow longer.

Our Summer & Pre-Baby Bucket List:



Garden:

This year, we decided to move our vegetable garden out back and shrink it down quite a bit.  We couldn't keep up with the weeds last year, and we just had too much produce.  It would be one thing if i had more days at home to process/can/freeze, but the weekends just don't have enough hours in them.  I'm feeling very good with the smaller size and location this year.  I think it will be perfect for what we need.

Preserving:

We will be planting our garden this weekend, so my goal this week is to really plan out what we will need during the summer and what I'll need at harvest time in the fall for canning and freezing.  Looking at what is leftover from last year, I'm planning on tweaking some of my quantities.

Our Anniversary:

Before i found out i was expecting, i bought tickets to see Dave Matthews in Saratoga, NY for our anniversary weekend.  I have been feeling ok about it, but not great.  Well it just so happened that i won two tickets to a Red Sox game on the same night from work.  So we're going to head down to Boston for the weekend instead, go to the aquarium, see the sights and go to the game.  I'm so excited and feel so much better about this!  We'll go to Dave another year when the babe is on the outside (and at home with grandparents!)

Sugar, Sugar:

There is soooo much to be done before next spring to get ready for our first boil in the new sugar house.  Hubs has been spending every minute he has at home hanging lines, building stands, installing outlets & lights.  So many little things!

House:

We need to stain the back of our house.  It's sort of ridiculous that we haven't yet!

Organize the loft and make it a nice space.  It's currently such a mish-mash of things and furniture.  I kind of hate looking at it.  I want to re-decorate and make it a nice, inviting play space for the future.

Organize the upstairs bathroom vanity.  It's been pretty much empty since we moved in, waiting for little footsteps to take over.  Although the bathroom is decorated and is currently used as a guest bathroom, I'm excited to fill the shelves and drawers with little baby & kids things!

Camping:

I want to go camping at least once this summer.  I plan on buying a new tent soon, so we will be more comfortable.  I want to buy one big enough for when the baby joins us too!

Lake/Ocean Visits:

I plan on taking a day off some week and going to the ocean with Kate.  Also make a beach trip with Jas at some point too.  Then i want to get a bunch of lake time in at Sanbornton Town Beach!

Picnics:

Evening picnics by the lake.  You can never go wrong.

Nursery:

Hubs has to put one final coat of polyurethane on the baby's room some weekend when i am gone.

Install a ceiling light/fan

Paint the two Sheetrock walls

Finish the closet

Furnish & decorate!! (more details to come on my plans :))

Photography:

I'm scaling wayyyy back on sessions this summer.  I want time to relax and enjoy this pregnancy.  I want time to sew and make cute things for the baby.  I feel really good about this.  It all came at about the right time, as I'm feeling a little stuck with it.  I'm thinking of re-working some of the session options i offer.   Since it is a side gig (hobby), i want to have fun and feel inspired with it.  I also want to have time to be with my family on the weekends when the baby comes.

Vermont:

We'll be heading up to VT for the weekend of July 4th, as tradition has it.  Bristol, VT has one of the best 4th of July parades and celebrations.  It's one of my fondest memories from growing up.  My brother's kids are already part of this tradition.  It's so fun having the whole family together for a weekend to celebrate.  I can't wait for our baby to have this special memory too, and to join his or her cousins!

Marriage:

Just soak up time with Hubs.  Looking back i am so grateful we've had these last three years (married) to really fall into a rhythm together.  As much as i longed and dreamed of being pregnant and becoming parents, i also have really enjoyed spur of the moment plans, sleeping in, reading all afternoon and being free with my husband.  I can't wait for this next step and to become parents together.  That's one of the things i love about this blog community.  I read so much on how hard and beautiful it is during those newborn stages - and every stage after.  It's so good for me to know that there will be some really hard times, but everyone gets through them and really nothing is as important or special as your husband and children.

At sunset

Let the light of late afternoon

shine through chinks in the barn, moving   

up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing   

as a woman takes up her needles   

and her yarn. Let evening come.

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned   

in long grass. Let the stars appear

and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.   

Let the wind die down. Let the shed   

go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop   

in the oats, to air in the lung   

let evening come.

Let it come, as it will, and don’t   

be afraid. God does not leave us   

comfortless, so let evening come.

-Jane Kenyon

Come November

We're due at the end of the harvest season this year.  We can't wait to welcome our first baby into our family.

Being that i am now into my second trimester, i figured it was time to update the ol' blog.  We are so, so excited.  Everything has been very smooth with this pregnancy so far.  With only one scare at 8.5 weeks, we were thrilled to confirm we had a tiny baby growing with a very strong heartbeat.

At ten weeks we went in and met with our midwife and she found the heartbeat with the doppler this time, so we were able to hear it.  It was beating nice and strong at 180 bpm.  That was probably the most meaningful moment of our life.  I can't even imagine when we actually meet our baby.

I'm now just about 15 weeks, and still in amazement that a tiny little human is wiggling around inside me.  I had a pretty typical (from what I've heard) first trimester.  I basically wanted to sleep all.day.long.  I was a bit queasy at times.  I didn't have morning sickness, but more frequently had night sickness.  Thankfully never actually throwing up.  I am a pretty healthy eater for the most part, but that first trimester sure does take over everything!  I ended up loosing a pound during the first 12 weeks.  Then at my appointment today I found out that I finally gained 1.5 pounds!  The midwife said that is totally normal and not to worry, that the weight gain will come.

Here are some pictures i took during the first 14 weeks.  But mostly?  I slept.  A lot.

six weeks - crazy bloat!

8.5 weeks

9.5 weeks

11 weeks - starting to get some energy back!

And most recent - 13.5 weeks!  My stomach is definitely feeling hard these days!

I started a scrap quilt for the babe, i have the top finished now, just have to quilt it up!

Positive test (must to our surprise!) on 2/23!!

The only thing that tasted good.  French fries and anything with cheese.  Especially bagels and cream cheese!  Yum.  OJ was also a need every morning.

And these…..whatever is in them was like a miracle drug!

Our house now has baby things gathering in all the corners.  I love it!

I really enjoyed reading the birth stories in Ina May's book.

Only ultrasound so far, at 8.5 weeks.  We saw the heart beating on the screen, and a little nugget moving it's arms & legs.  Totally amazing!

Some burp cloths in the works.

I already have so many cute Zutano outfits.  It's going to be ridiculous.  

And a few pairs of hand-me-down baby carhartts.  

And stripes.  

My child is going to be covered in stripes.  I'm pretty sure there is nothing cuter on a baby.

Some pictures of our baby with our other baby - the evaporator!  

I think this was around 8-9 weeks?  I was barely functioning.

Ever since i hit about 14 weeks, my extreme cravings for french fries and grease went away and now all i want are salads and fresh fruit.  I guess it's time to balance out.  I went to the doctors today for a checkup.  The heartbeat was nice & strong at 160 bpm.  Such an amazing thing to hear.

We're still nervous but staying positive that our little one is strong and healthy.  

Being a mama has been my dream since i could walk.  I just can't wait.  I feel so, so grateful that we were able to conceive again so easily (and quickly) and that everything is going well.

I scheduled our 20 week ultrasound for 6/13, which is Jason's birthday.  

What a great birthday that will be!

Sugaring Plans

My husband has been making syrup for almost 18 years at Bean Hill Farm.  It has been a spring tradition and part of our yearly rhythm since we began dating.  Although he has been boiling far longer than me, i have always grown up around it and love the process.  The passion he has for it, well it's one of the many things i love about him.  

We were married at the farm, almost three years ago, at the end of the raspberry rows overlooking the pond.  It's my favorite place to go walking in the woods with charlie.  We are so very close with John & Eliza, who own the farm.  During the sugaring season last year, Jason and John talked about the future and how we would be able to keep making syrup when John was no longer.  It was certainly weird to think about not making it over there, but after long discussions and decisions, we began our Maple Farm.  

We have a few hundred taps in our woods, but the majority of our sap will still come from Bean Hill, across town.  It's bittersweet to end a tradition that was so familiar, but also so exciting to be starting our own family spring traditions.

We'll be operating a bit more high tech than at Bean Hill.  We bought our evaporator last spring, during the annual sale and began building last spring.  John will be coming over and helping Jason next spring.  

Time moves on; traditions grow and flourish.

Huckins Maple Farm will be boiling syrup next spring.  Such an exciting thing to look forward to!  Here is our progress from start to last weekend.  We'll be busy until next spring!