Cats and Cannas

Cannas from our new backyard, many thanks to some unknown previous resident!

Growing and Remembering

She reminds me of Oliver so much.  She looks like him, but she can do so much more than he ever could.  Since Oliver's life was so challenging I had forgotten the joys of healthy baby development.  It doesn't lessen how proud I am of how well he did as he tried to do things, it is just different.  When I see her succeeding at rolling over to get her play things I remember how Oliver would try to hold himself up and grab at toys.  I am sad but also impressed with how much he did try to do considering all imbalances his body was dealing with.  After doing so much physical therapy "playing" with Oliver, Beatrice's unhindered development feels so easy and surprising.  Elsa and Nora are delighted with each of her new skills as well, and tell me gleefully whenever they see her roll over or snuggle with a new toy.  And I don't have a good picture of them yet, but she grew some tremendous thighs the week we moved to Birmingham - by her 3 month check up she was at the 80th percentile for weight and height!

Why we needed a backyard

House hunting for our move to Birmingham was a very stressful, arduous task for me.  As I kept running into dead ends I had to let go of one housing preference after another (ok, fine, I can live without a dishwasher, not a big deal) until I got down to a list of, in my mind, Absolutely Important Priorities.  Then I had to start letting go of those and it was very painful (what else do you want me to give up for this, God?).  About a week before Beatrice was born I was in tears frequently about the prospect of living in an apartment complex and not having a backyard and taking myself in circles trying to rationalize with my heart that we do not NEED a backyard of our own and that I did not NEED to garden and I wouldn't have any money to do so anyway and that people survive very WELL over the world in apartment complexes... so be at peace!  So I made myself look at one expensive apartment after another until God showed me this affordable complex.  The lady at the office said the unit had a small fenced yard and I cried.  She probably thought I was crazy.  

I may be crazy but I have a BACKYARD!  As hard as this transition has been for me and as much as I have struggled with depression throughout the process, having a bit of ground to myself is such an important therapy for me.  

And not just for me.  I think the girls would have gone insane too without getting to have their own, safe, corner of the great outdoors to pitch their tent in.  Or build their fort in.  Or fly their fairies.  Or whatever.

The back fence is lined with huge, beautiful canna lilies, which made the perfect roofing material for the lean-to.

In the first week of being here Elsa exclaimed "This is the best yard ever!  Its so wild!"  Since we've moved, our bug collection has doubled in size, and we regularly catch (and release) frogs, lizards, and all sorts of bugs.  (But not roaches.  My little innocent nature lover wanted to collect the first one she saw and I am still trying to explain why we collect just about any bug EXCEPT roaches.)

I did splurge and buy a few bulbs.  It was good to plant something - it helps me with the settling and the acceptance of being here.  The irises are from our house in Medford, the ones that bloom for Elsa's birthday, and the pots in the foreground are cotton and hibiscus from my mother

And just to complete the scene, here is our front door, with Oliver's tree (it survived the move!) and our (mostly) faithful watch-cat Tabitha Twitchit.  She hasn't run away yet, and she does keep the stray cats away from "her" new territory!

Hibiscus

My mother gave me several pots of outdoor plants soon after we moved to help me feel at home.  The hibiscus she grew opened to be huge bright flowers, but I almost liked the buds and faded blossoms better.

A visit from GG

One motivation to get our house set up quickly was that we needed a place for guests to sleep right away.  Several friends and family have already stopped by to visit, including my grandmother.  I am glad she got to meet Beatrice while she was still so little.

And of course we made many attempts a getting a good photo of four generations.  Our best one happened to include a half-dressed Nora who was a little bummed about being left out!

It pours!

The girls have now experienced their first thunderstorm.  In fact, we get a lot of them down south.  In Oregon it rarely rains very hard, but here it rarely drizzles.  It is either dry or pouring hard.  

This was our backyard after a few minutes of raining.  It doesn't flood because of slow drainage per say but rather the rain comes so fast and hard that it doesn't have a chance to go anywhere!

She's 4!

We moved across the country in early August, and in a few weeks Nora's much anticipated birthday finally arrived.  We'd been in Birmingham just long enough to have made friends with a few very sweet families with children the all about the same sizes as ours and we had a fun little party in our tiny back yard.  Thankfully Nora easily agreed to decorating cupcakes as the main activity of the party, so I didn't have to expend too much energy putting everything together! 

We blew bubbles, decorated cupcakes, played with balloons, and were so very thankful for new friends so quickly. 

I lover her satisfied expression, compete with the blue sprinkle on her nose!

Nora immediately suffered a pretty sever sugar coma immediately following her (several!?!) cupcake creations, but we did manage to convince her to play a bit more and open her presents!

Joel filled his usual roles of Master of Ceremonies and Facilitator of Children's Games.   As I mentioned we went simple for this party - several rounds of Keep the Balloons Off the Ground seemed to please the crowd rather well!

Nora is not quite as dramatic as her big sister.  This can be clearly seen in the vast difference in how they responded to their birthday presents:  Nora LOVED this set of wooden pets to go in the dollhouse - can't you tell?

... and chocolate is her FAVORITE!!!

We finally got a happy smile out her after we remembered what she really wanted for her birthday - what she asks for each year - her favorite blanket and pooh bear.  Joel remembered just in time and grabbed it from her bed, stuffed it in a used gift bag, and ran back out side for a grand finale that finally brought a big smile!

Our dear, sweet, content little girl.  We love you Nora Juliet!