Updates

It's been about two weeks, but I had another doctor's appointment.  This time we got to hear the baby's heartbeat!  That is such a reassuring sound.  Since I found out I was pregnant, I had to just assume that everything was/is going okay.  That assumption isn't confirmed until you hear the baby's heart beat, and the doctor says, "That's a good sound!"  (Yes, it is!)  Next appointment will be the first ultrasound.  They will measure the baby's length and based on that measurement, they can determine the accuracy of the due date they've given me.  It's also the time where they can tell if the baby is a "he" or a "she."  I've been telling people that this time we are going to find out about the baby's gender.  Pat does not care if we find out or not.  Finding out would help all the name planning, the clothing planning, even the room planning.  But all of a sudden, as I'm coming within range of finding out, finding out feels like cheating!!

My recent Thumper preparations involve: making a baby sleep sack out of an old shirt I had.

I also knitted a baby kimono.

I thought that it would be more neutral looking, but I'm afraid it's kind of girly, despite the abundance of blue.  Thoughts?  There are more pictures and details about their construction on my other blog www.handmadebabyclothes.org, as well as other baby clothes projects I've done in case you are interested.

I've made a big push on finishing up my pool wall, and I'm really close!  We had almost a week of unseasonably cool weather, which was perfect for getting some stone stacking done!  Also I've finally planted my corsican mint in the cracks of the pool deck.  I had some help from Clara, and whether or not all of it will survive as a result is debatable.  I may have found a way to kill "unkillable mint."  Just add 1 year old baby.  (Hypothesis testing in progress.)  I still have a lot of area unplanted -- my little plugs only planted about 1/3 of the cracks that I needed to plant.  I'll include pictures next post for you!

The Wall and The Cracks

I want to have the pool's landscape all finished before the baby's born.  Since this isn't until November, I really hope to have most of it done before swimming season really gets started.  The two pieces I'm actively working on right now are the wall and the patio cracks.

The Wall
After my last post, I went out and worked on my wall.
Here's the before:

After a little while two strong men (Pat and Brooks) came and moved two of my big, heavy bluestone slabs into place.  I'm talking big: literally 8'-0" long.  Now the top of the bench and the second step is positioned.  Yes!
Here's the after:

The Cracks
The design of the patio space has intentional cracks in the slab around the pool, as the inspiration picture (below) shows.  It looks like moss; it could be moss, but I know better than to think moss would grow at my house in full sun.  So, searching for a substitute, last year I ordered some Corsican Mint seed.  I stuck it in my freezer because it was too late to plant, and I've recently started some indoors.

Corsican Mint is a perennial ground cover (also an herb) that is very low-growing.  It can also flower briefly in the summer with small lavender blooms.  It likes water, but it also needs to dry out before its next drink (so I thought a poolside would be a good choice).  We don't chlorinate our pool, (we use a copper sanitation system) which makes me hope the plants will survive nicely.


As you can see, some of the seed popped up!  I'm so excited that it was still good!

Since it is a mint, it should grow like the dickens and end up being a pain to get rid of.  I say "should;" we'll see.