Where did my tiny baby go?

Baby's hair was getting too long, and growing in unevenly.  I haven't wanted to cut it because cutting it makes him a big boy instead of the tiny baby.

But the time had to come.

Before

First cut

Mid cut

All done.

Rice Cereal!

6 months old this week and it's a week of firsts.  We got his crib together and he's slept a few nights in it.  He enjoyed all the space to play in.  It's just a little wider than he is tall.

We also went to the baby conglomerate, and looked for items to feed the baby face.  FYI they don't carry much made in the US.  We got spoons, bowls, cereal, and sippy cups.

Here's a view of baby's first taste of something less liquid.  I had to chop it up, because 2 minutes,45 seconds was too much for the phone to handle, but you get the idea from the first video.

I

I'll never be a gardener

For years, I've tried to foster life in the form of tomato plants, zucchini, peas, greens.  Every year, I've been a failure.  It started with small plants on my patio.  When those failed to flourish, I blamed it on the shallow pots.
Then my land lady allowed me to use a small plot of land in the yard.  This should have been ideal, but again, things didn't progress.  The plants were a lot bigger, sure, but the fruit they produced were measly.  I blamed it on the poor soil (lots of clay, and limited direct light.
Then I married and moved to a new apartment with lots of light, and a small balcony.  Perfect!  Get some nice big pots to give everything lots of room, there's lots of light. I bought some carrot seeds, too, and cucumber seeds, all heirloom and gorgeous.   Everything will blossom and be beautiful and I'll have tomatoes aplenty.

Nope.

Now, we're in a home of our own, so I tried again.  Went with the pots again, thinking that moving in, cooking up a baby, and dealing with an imminent layoff was enough to deal with in one summer.  But this time, limited myself.  Zucchini and tomato.  From a seedling I bought at a local nursery.  What can go wrong?

I think I'm on the only person on the planet unable to grow a zucchini.

Look at this tiny thing.  Lots of flowers, no fruit.  Again.

I compare my garden with the one my mother grew in New Jersey growing up.  Stuff got huge!  We were picking beans everyday just to keep up.  We had to foist zucchini off on neighbors.  My parents would eat home grown tomatoes as big as your fist for dinner most nights.  And all i've got is one tiny tomato.

My sister in Ohio is similarly blessed.

I guess the gene skipped over me.

Moving into The House - Part 1

It's been a whirl wind 2015.  One of the three BIG things that are happening is our house.  I've finally bought a house.  First comes a "new car", then marriage, now a house.  If ever there was a sign I was finally becoming an adult, it's signing a 30 fixed mortgage (and promptly having a panic attack).

I've lived for almost 2 decades in Denver, and the whole time in apartments. I moved here with my friend, Diana, when we lived in a nice 2Bd2Bt equidistant from a library and a Hooters. Then apartment I had in Capital Hill for like 15 years which was cramped and weird and inconvenient for a lot of things, but perfect for me.  Then, I moved to Englewood with Andrew to a very conveniently located and designed apartment that had a terrible office staff, but an awesome pool.  There were trade offs to each one.

The real estate world is inSANE!!!!  I would have given the whole thing up pretty quickly except for the idea that rent was only going to go up and up and up in the whole metro area.  Rents and house prices are quickly getting out of hand.  Anything in our range was getting snapped up on the first day they went on the market, often for more than asking price.  We were really lucky to have a connection and got a chance at a nice house in a good neighborhood just within our budget before it went on the market.

Not a lot to be done to it really, just some cosmetic stuff, and a few unexpected things that made the first month or so challenging.  (I might have threatened to call Lemon Law on this place, but that only works on used cars.)

First weekend: Spring snow that took out that one ugly tree that was going to be removed anyway.   It took out the patio furniture.

Second weekend:  My parents came over and destroyed the wall paper in five rooms, and replaced the light fixtures in two that didn't work.  (not a disaster, per se, but it was eventfull, plus piles of shredded paper sticking to everyone's feet.)

Third weekend: the hot water pipe sprung a leak and Andrew and I got a chance to see why plumbers make the big money.

Here's a picture of one of the piles of boxes filling our living room.

It started with a wedding...

I waited a long time to get married: 38 years.  It took a while to find the right guy, and then a while to believe my own good luck.

Long story short, he got me to move from my cramped and inconvenient apartment in Capital Hill that I'd been in for YEARS and into a somewhat boring but convenient in many ways 2BR2BATH along the lite rail line.

Life, in the short time we've been together, has been both sweet and unexpectedly different.  Marriage is not as advertised.

2015 is going to be another big year, with a new house (rents are insane lately), and a frankly unplanned baby on the way.