Starting to POP!

15 weeks and I'm starting to show!
I feel like this is my prize
for all the puking, up-chucking, retching, tossing of cookies
that the first 13 weeks entailed.

Bring on the baby belly;
I'm ready to show it to the world!!

And these 5 are just the beginning...

Can you believe it?
These two crazy kids have been married 5 months!
Ahh, so much Love.
So much Joy.

To celebrate, we went over to Gooseberry Island to take a walk in the sunshine.
It's nice to get some fresh air for the baby.

I'm amazed at how I love this sweet man more and more each day.

Here's to another 5 months....or how about Eternity?
Sounds Perfect.

The times they are a changin'...

After months of looking and feeling like this...
I'm UP! I'm ALIVE! I'm COOKING! Tasting the bitter certainly does make you appreciate the sweet things in life.
Having our own space definitely helps with my drive to get up each day. I love our open kitchen, and I think Marty loves that he no longer has to eat frozen burritos or lean pockets for dinner.
We spend most of our time out in the living room area. Don't you love our groovy free couch and chair?--Circa 1978, Germany. Eventually we would love to pick out our own set, but we couldn't really argue with free for the time being.
And here is the other half of our open living space. I love all the afternoon sunlight we get--perfect for reading or painting. Notice the lack of television? Yes, we absolutely love not having a t.v. around and how much more productive we are because of it.
Of course the apartment is still a work in progress. I'm busy working on some paintings for our bedroom, trying to organize everything better, and figuring out how our "office" will be able to turn into a nursery. But overall, we're just thrilled to have a warm place to call our home.

Ahhhhh, that's more like it!

As a tribute to my favorite season, I decided to give our blog a new face.

Yes, indeed, I love the fall!!! I don't think I can say it with enough enthusiasm. Why do I love the fall? Well now, where do I begin...?

TOP 5 REASONS FOR MY UNABASHED LOVE OF THE FALL:

1) The return of school! Oh, yes. I love school--new books, new teachers, new ideas, all of it! I am not officially returning to school this fall (a fact I am coping with on a day-to-day basis), but I am engaging myself in my own reading/studying during this wonderful season of seasons.

2) The heat is gone! I sweat. I'm a sweater (thanks for the genes, Lewis). I admit it. Therefore, the summer is a rather uncomfortable time for me. I look forward with absolute glee to the days where the thermometer does not go above 70-75 degrees.

3) Speaking of sweaters--The return of sweaters! And this time I am referring to the oh-so-cozy body coverings of the season and not the people who have no control over their perspiration. Warm, soft material--what, I ask you, could be better?

4) Apple picking! I thank my years in Northborough for this fall love. Apple pies, apple cider, parades to celebrate the apple, farms at which to pick the apples--it is a veritable paradise for the apple lover.

5) And...drumroll please...the season in which I met my sweet husband! After meeting Marty, the fall has suddenly taken on a new meaning for me. When I think of September I now think of not only the cool nights, warm sweaters, and apple pies, but also of our first date to T's farm, some of our wonderful first conversations over warm homemade soup and bread, and the pumpkins he brought me when he first came to visit me out in Northborough.

Yes. I cannot deny my love for this beautiful season. This year will add even more love for the season and wonderful memories as it becomes the season in which my belly expands for the first time with our first pregnancy. So for all you lovers of summer that are lamenting our trot into cooler territory, watch the changing leaves, pull a sweater out of the back of the closet, sip a cup of hot wassil, and give this season a chance. You might be surprised at how much you enjoy yourself!

A Baby Story

Well, we have had a quiet few months on the blogging homefront, but let that fact not lead you to think that our lives have been quiet. No siree. Back in July, while in North Carolina, we found out that we are pregnant! A few days later, I found out just how awful morning sickness can be. However, we have learned a few ways to help with the nausea: laying on the couch without moving and watching episodes of What Not To Wear and Jon and Kate Plus Eight has helped.

Yesterday was our first really scary day with the pregnancy. I started feeling sick Thursday night and threw up once before bed. The minute I got out of bed the next morning, I started throwing up more and more. Tons more liquid than was going in was coming out. After about 7 or 8 rounds of sickness we got into the doctor's office, and they sent us straight to the hospital.

Four bags of saline and a mandatory clear liquids diet later, I am feeling back to my usual pseudo-nauseous but not throwing up self. The best part of being at the hospital was that my Doctor was able to get us our first ultrasound done a few days early. Finally, we get to see the little jelly bean making me feel so sick! It was amazing to see the little heartbeat and the little legs squirming around. The pregnancy has suddenly become more of a reality and less of just a daily discomfort. Pregnancy really is a miracle. Somehow, my body knows how to do everything it should.

Does anyome tiedye anymore? Cause we do!

What do you do on a Friday night when there seems like there is nothing to do? Well, you can always tiedye shirts. There is nothing like it to make what would be a boring evening an absolute blast! Oh, and you don't need to do it only when young neices or nephews are in town. Kim and I found it thoroughly entertaining even in our old ages.

So, I went with the folding technique, a personal favorite, while Kim chose her own twisty, turny what-ever-floats-my-boat-today pattern.
I'm not sure why we made these poses, but we did. She is just angry she got some dye on that awesome shirt I bought her on our honeymoon.
I was just happy to be doing something fun. We really had been bummin' earlier that day.
Voala! There you have it--ridiculously cool shirts to wear on our roadtrip to North Cacalack!

Granola Crunchy

Well, for those of you who thought I was already crunchy enough, SURPRISE!!! I'm managing to become even more crunchy: Onward and Upward!

Since the Westport school system decided to not put my subbing paperwork through until last week, I have been spending about two days a week helping out on T's farm over in South Dartmouth (yes, that is where Marty took me on our first date). I never thought I would love farm work as much as I do. Ellen has been teaching me all sorts of great things. My first week included some cheese making 101. We made a chevre, a semi-soft queso blanco, and brie, all with raw goats milk from the farm. I've also learned all about planting and pruning, and even had a little lesson in goat milking last weekend.

Goat milking was not the only highlight from last weekend. Oh no, no. When I showed up to the farm on Friday morning T and Ellen were helping one of the mama pigs get ready for labor. They gave her some natural pain reliever and we took off to move some sheep. When we got back from the back fields, we found three little piglets running around! As we stood there watching how cute these new babies were, out popped a fourth and a fifth baby piglet! They come out snout first, very stream-lined, and immediately get up and wobble around on their new legs. What was most shocking was their first duty in their new little life: chomping off their own umbilical cord so that they can be free and clear to go begin nursing. The mama pig has about 10-15 piglets, each with their own cord to chew through. Amazing. Life is crazy!

Friday night also held some adventure. Marty has a pet horse that his dad keeps here on the small farm, and what do horses eat? That's right. Hay. Welcome to haying season, my friend! T, Ellen, Pops Vieira, Marty and I took a few trucks down to another local farm to pick up hay. We spent the evening throwing and stacking hay bales onto the trucks and then did the process over again to get them into our barns. Well, it wasn't so bad at first. But after hours of being around the hay, this little girl with allergies was not doing so well. I starting in with a massive sneezing attack, immediately took a shower and medicine, and proceeded to almost pass out at dinner from being so tired. I'm not sure haying is my favorite activity, but I wanted to be a part of it.

Aside from all the farm work, I've also started teaching art lessons. I love it! One 7 year old girl from our ward comes over on Thursday afternoons, and while listening to Disney classics, we bust out some pretty sweet art projects. So far we have learned to mix paint colors, created a "seasons tree" based off of all the colors we created, and have started a tree on canvas using real wood and rocks from outside that we hot-glued onto the background she had painted. We'll have to stop lessons for the summer while I am gone, but she wants to start back up in the fall. I'm hoping to maybe get a little class together of about 5-6 students.

However, even with all this exciting stuff going on, I am ready for the summer to officially begin! Marty is done with teaching TOMORROW, and we take off in a week for North Carolina. I can't wait to see what kind of adventures we have down there!