Seven weeks later

In the NICU, a few hours after birth

Some days I can hardly believe it has only been 7 weeks (tomorrow) since Malcolm was born, and other days I can't believe it has already been 7 weeks. The nightmare of the early days when Malcolm was in the NICU is receding, and while I remember it and could tell you all the details, the emotional impact is no longer so vivid in my mind. Neither is birth or the first couple of weeks at home, sitting on the couch watching the Olympics with a little tiny baby. I guess that is how it is with memory normally, but in our day to day lives we don't really pay that close of attention or have anything worth looking back on in the same way, so we don't notice the memories getting a little hazy. Nor do most events and people we remember change so rapidly as with a new baby. He is different every single day.

7 Weeks, minus one day

We have been walking Miikka around the neighborhood almost every morning, usually with Malcolm in the baby carrier strapped to my chest. I'm learning to read his cues; he's starting to make actual grins and cooing noises. He's sleeping a lot longer at night now, so I only feel like crying in frustration or exhaustion every couple of days, instead of several times a day. I am so looking forward to watching him as he continues to develop and grow!

Benjamin X and Benjamin XI contemplating each other

More Malcolm

Here are some more pictures of Malcolm, now that he has been home for a week. We are all getting adjusted to the new reality - lack of sleep, changing diapers in our sleep, someone new to care for and love - and watching the Olympics. Now, if only it would stop being so hot, so we could take him out for walks. Seriously, it was 111 yesterday, the 3rd hottest day on record in Little Rock - not just for this year, but since they have been keeping records. Ugh.

Not sure about the paparazzi.
 

Some day, he will be bigger than Oliver, and it will be hard to believe he was ever this small. But not yet.

What a big yawn for such a little boy!

Flowers for Good Friday

Ajuga

 I promised flower pictures from my garden, and here they are. Spring is in full flower right now, and it is lovely. We had some too warm weather last week, but this week has been perfect, so hopefully the flowers will all last a while.

Clematis

This clematis is pretty darn hardy. That first spring we were in the house, I chopped it down and planted a rose in its place - but it still came back. And now I am happy to have it, winding in among the climbing rose (pictures of that at the end).

Mexican Lime tree flowers

This is so exciting! See that little green nub in that one flower? That is a baby lime! Last year, this tree only bloomed in the middle of the winter, when it was taking shelter from the cold in our living room. There are no pollinating insects in our living room.  This year, it did bloom in January, but it kept blooming when we moved it back outside, and it has kept going for a couple of months. There are a lot of tiny limelets, so we are very hopeful of getting a good crop.

One of our azaleas, with added oak tree seed decoration. I don't remember the azaleas doing this well last year, and after the horrible heat and dry of last summer, I wasn't sure they would be in good shape. I was wrong.

This one was so bright that all the pictures I took of it look completely over-exposed, even though they are not. It is just that fluorescent. 

And here is the climbing rose. Last spring, the climbing canes never really filled in, and while we had some roses, there weren't really that many. This year, the bush is much fuller, and there are lots of blossoms. Plus, they smell really nice.

Since I took these pictures last week, the other three rose bushes have started blooming, and the peas in the garden have gotten a few flowers. Next time, I'll give you a few pictures of the edible parts of the garden.

Hiking at Pigeon Roost, now with pictures

After all the complaining about the problems with our hiking trip this past weekend, it is only fair that I show you the good stuff. The weather was pretty good - a little warmer and more humid than is ideal (for me anyway), but not truly unpleasant. Most of the trees have not yet regained their leaves, so we had good views of the hills, and eventually the lake.

The wildflowers were delightful - violets, and little white flowers that sort of looked like a type of allium (picture of those didn't come out), and these little rock rose-types.

I'm still experimenting with the various settings on my DSLR, and trying to take pictures while holding a dog leash is not idea (yes, I did have Benjamin hold it some of the time, but not always), so the pictures didn't come out as well as I had hoped. I ended up having to adjust the balance and colors on the computer, which I would prefer not to do - I want my picture to be untouched-up. Not that it is a crime to "fix" a picture - the primary reason Ansel Adams' pictures are so very good is his darkroom technique - but I don't really like doing it because of operator error. Oh well, gives me a good reason to go hiking again next spring.

Here are a couple of pictures for those of you who want to have pictures of my pregnant belly. Since I refuse to post posed belly pictures until I am truly "great with child" (and am even more adamant about never referring to it as a bump) they are all you are going to get for a while. Not a whole lot to see yet.

Hmm. This one is sort of awkward - where is my other leg? And pictures of people eating, not generally graceful. Oh well. You can see our cooking set-up on the grill of the brand-new fire pit (and a very nice fire pit it was), and the too-short tent pad in the background.

Miikka in a quiet, and relatively undirty moment. Because the boy scouts had taken out the old, rusted fire pits (we saw them farther down the trail, waiting to be taken out by boat), they had also scattered all the old ashes around the area. Miikka had a good time hunting for food scraps and lolling in the ashes; since we also slept with him, the tent got rather gritty as well. The first thing I did when we got home was give him a bath.

And our morning view of our corner of a very large, winding lake. If the trees had been in full leaf, we would hardly have been able to see any glimmer of water. I didn't take any pictures on the hike out, since I packed the camera in my backpack. The wildflowers were still very pretty though.

Post-Thanksgiving Hike: Spy Rock, 8.8 Miles

Wearing orange so hunters don't shoot us.

 On Friday, we took our now annual post-Thanksgiving hike. We started doing this as a tradition back in Texas, as a way to avoid shopping or sitting at home doing homework. This year, we chose an 8.8 mile loop hike in the Ozark National Forest that took us through a (planted) pine grove, up the side of a ridge, and eventually to the top of the tallest hill/mountain in the area.

Because most of the leaves were off the oaks, we had some great views out over the surrounding countryside as we climbed. Although it was primarily an uphill sort of hike on the way out, it wasn't really that bad, and I speak as someone who really hates hiking uphill.

There were some great natural features, like this big boulder and moss and lichen (which I am saving for another day). 

And peeking through the trees is a view of Spy Rock - the midpoint/destination of the hike.

Hmm. I was calling this Spy Mountain when I was telling people about it, but clearly, I was incorrect. The sign from the trail proves it.

This was the view at the top. What you can't feel is the wind. Hold on to your hats!

It was a good day for a hike - not too cold, but not too hot. And it was only really windy at the exposed top of Spy Rock.

Miikka had a grand time on the hike. Yes, he made it all 8.8 miles without any trouble. And even better, he was allowed to go almost the entire way off-leash. The dog who, in the neighborhood, can't even be let out in the front yard off-leash, went at least 8 miles without wandering away or running off into the woods. He just stayed on the trail, between Benjamin and I, the whole way. Once, at a Y in the trail, he did want to go down the opposite fork, but was eventually convinced to come with us instead. And even then, he didn't just cut through the grass to reach us - he trotted back to the Y, staying on the trail. He was on the leash at the top of the mountain, while we ate lunch, because I don't particularly trust him not to go over the edge, and a couple of times when we got close to logging roads where we heard the occasional 4-wheeler (the only other people we saw the entire hike). Otherwise, totally free. What a good hiker!

Hawaii Pictures Part 1

Dragon fruit

This time, I don't really feel like giving you a day-by-day account of our trip to Hawaii, but I don't mind sharing pictures.

Eucalyptus tree bark

 Most of these are from our visits to botanical gardens (yes, we made multiple trips to botanical gardens. We are nerds, get over it).

Supposed to be upright, but honestly, don't feel like fixing it, again.

Looking up at a tree from below.

Star fruit

Orchid

Pepper corns

Pineapple

After our pizza dinner at Delancy, we took a walk around the Ballard Locks.  We entered through a lovely botanical garden, where all the flowers were blooming.

I was trying to show the glow given by the setting sun, but somehow, it is never as magical once captured by the camera's lens.

The Locks connect the saltwater Puget Sound with the freshwater of the Ship Canal and from there Lake Washington. Above is one of the large chambers that fills with boats and water, raising or lowering, depending on which direction you are going.  When we first got out of the car, my nose started twitching, sniffing deeply as I tried to pull in the smell of salt water. I miss that smell. It isn't as if I smelled it every day when I lived in the Northwest, since Bellevue is pretty far from the saltwater of the region, but the smell reminds me of ferry rides, and trips to the beach, and a sense of freedom that comes from standing on the edge of a continent, with nothing to see but the ocean. There is no saltwater in Arkansas, and I sometimes think I can feel the weight of being so landlocked.

One of the interesting features of the Locks is the fish ladder, built when the Locks and Dam blocked the natural pathway for salmon spawning. The salmon of the Northwest are anadromous, meaning they live in saltwater for most of their lives, but return to freshwater to spawn (and then die, but that is another story). So, they had to come up with a way to get the fish from the saltwater to the freshwater.

Yes, it actually is like a set of stairs. I don't have pictures from inside the viewing room of the fish ladder, because it is just too dark, and besides, it wasn't the right time of year for fish.

This is the dam that prevents the lakes from spilling out into the Sound, and keeps the Sound from saltifying the lakes. The white tubes are where the smelt (baby fish) go shooting back into the Sound. Kind of like a neat water slide.

As we left, we noticed this Canada Goose sitting on a nest, in the middle of the garden. I hope she was left undisturbed.

Bellefield Nature Trail

The Bellefield Nature Trail is a great place to go to take pictures, pick blueberries, walk, splash in streams, and get muddy (especially if you are of the canine variety). When I visited last month, the leaves were just starting to emerge on the trees and vines, and the skunk cabbage was in full bloom. In the summer the paths are dappled and shaded, a good place to go to hide your tender white Pacific Northwesterner skin from the harsh sun (yes, Northwesterners are a little like moles when the sun comes out).

The area that is now park used to be filled with farms (warning, the background on that page is atrocious), during the first half of the 20th century. At some point, the city started buying up the parcels of land, and now it is a large park, just south of downtown Bellevue. To camera right in the above picture is still a working blueberry farm, owned by the city. You can go and pay to pick your own blueberries there. This is not where I pick blueberries, but I am not about to tell you about that patch - it would be like an angler giving up his favorite fishing hole.  Anyway, that water you see is part of the slough. Before the level of Lake Washington went down (after the Ship Canal was cut) it was all under water. Now, it is a slough, a swampy, marshy area with some running water and lots of mud. (Didn't know you would be getting a history and geology lesson, did you?!)

This part of the park also links up to a larger trail system that goes into Seattle and around other parts of the Eastside. We usually just do the shorter loop, but that's OK, especially when you get to take pictures of such great shadows, and of course, skunk cabbage.

Stay tuned - next week I will finally get to this mysterious plant.