It's Spring!

Spring has finally arrived!  Just a few weeks ago it was snowing, so we are all very excited for the warmer weather!  No more coats and gloves.  Around here, forsythia, Bradford pear trees and cherry trees are everywhere, so we're seeing all kinds of beautiful blossoms.  Flowering trees are something that I didn't see much in Houston, so I soak it all in.  

Forsythia

Bradford pear

Some kind of cherry tree

This weekend I planted a veggie garden in pots on my patio!  I'm so excited; hopefully my first foray into edible gardening won't be a total bust.  I now have two tomato plants, two bell pepper plants, two strawberry plants, a zucchini, a cucumber, and a basil.  I also planted some Dahlia bulbs on a whim.  My patio looks nicer now.  It's fun having a backyard!

James and I also went up to Babies R Us to get some stuff for the baby.  We ordered a dresser and we bought the crib mattress. I was hoping to find a dresser I could refinish on Craigslist, or one from Ikea, but both of those options didn't work out.  The dresser that I liked online from Ikea turned out to look different and plastic-y in the store, and nothing was showing up on Craigslist for months due to our strict specifications.  The nursery is very small, so in order to maximize space, I need a dresser that is not too wide, but wide enough (and short enough) that I can use it as a changing table.  I just couldn't find anything so we splurged with some money we were given from James' grandma and just bought a dresser.  Then we went over to the mall and James made a build-a-bear for him!  It was really fun and I am super excited to be working on the nursery.

At 23 weeks, I am feeling pretty good, but definitely slowing down.  Things like gardening and running errands make me sore and tired now.  I have to sit down and rest more frequently and I'm having issues with my lower back, which was a trouble spot for me before being pregnant, and now it is flaring up again.  It's getting harder to get comfortable at night too, as well as doing things that require bending over. My belly gets in the way. I know it's all par for the course, and really it's not that bad in the scheme of things.  I just have to remember that I can't do as much now and not overwork myself. 

One fun thing that happened this week is that James felt Xander kick for the first time!  James poked my stomach where Xander had been kicking, and he kicked back!  It was really neat.  I'm so glad to have had a nice, productive weekend in the beautiful weather!

Spring is in the air!

Today is the first day of spring, but it's been acting like spring for weeks now.  The temperatures are in the 60s and 70s during the day.  I already busted out my flip flops and put away the hats and scarves and gloves!  The best thing about spring is that there are flowers everywhere!  Lexington Park is full of dogwoods and cherry blossoms and they are beautiful!

Two weekends ago we went to D.C. to spend the afternoon with my cousin Jenny who was in town with her choir on their spring break tour.  These trees were breathtaking!

I thought they were cherry trees, but I looked it up later and they seem to be Saucer Magnolias.  Whatever they are, they are gorgeous.

The Washington monument through the trees.

I think Spring is my favorite season.  Fall is just as nice, but you know that the cold winter is coming, which kind of ruins it.  But in Spring you get to put away your heavy coats, you get more daylight in the evening, and everything is beautiful!  Fortunately I don't suffer from allergies or I might be singing a different tune.  Of course, such warm weather so early in the season probably means we'll have a really hot summer, but I don't want to think about that right now.  I'm just going to soak up as much of the beauty as possible and worry about summer later.  :-)  What's your favorite season?