8/28/2008: My Baby Girl is 240 months old today...

DaughterA @ 18 months

7:30am:

This morning, I want to wish a very Happy 20th Birthday to our Baby-Girl. Although, she will not officially arrive at the 2 decade mark till 9:48pm, she maintains that we celebrate birth-days, not birth-minutes so we will start the celebration early!

Even at birth she was eager and ready to go! A fast delivery, after labor of only three and a half hours, she burst into our lives with energy and an eagerness for life! A tiny bundlle of live-wire with the most beautifully shaped mouth and a smile that still lights up a room!

10:55pm:

Today, she is a beautiful, thoughtful and loving young woman. I am in awe of the tiny babe, I once held in my arms, has grown into such an amazing person. She works full-time in a lead position of the photo department for a major chain store while carrying a full credit load at college. And yet, she still finds time for family and friends and to pursue her love of photography.

And boy, does she ever adores babies! And it's mutual, she draws children to her like a magnet! She will be a wonderful mother when the times comes to marry and start a family!

That thought gives me goosebumps, thinking about how it will feel when I see her as I can still see myself, if I but close my eyes. Closing my eyes, I can still see her infant smile looking up at me while in my arms, and if I concentrate I swear I can feel the weight of her little head against my breast and smell the sweetest little soft spot on top of her head. It comes back so quickly and so powerfully it brings tears to my eyes.

Today is one of the three special days that I thank God for giving me the precious Gift of life!

Tonight, as I watched our family interact with each other while dining out, celebrating, laughing and sharing our day with each other, I am most aware that it is a Gift that still continues on. I am aware this Gift of life expands ever onward into my future, unfolding in new and unexpected ways as I see my children grow into adulthood.

What a blessing!!! Thank you, Lord for this day and for all you have given me.

DaughterA @ 240 months ( minus 2.5 hours)

Yikes! Summer, you are not aging well....

I can hardly believe that August is over half gone! As much as I’ve tried to ignore it, I see the maples trees are beginning to color up. I’ve also noticed that the porch light is on again when I go to leave in the morning. That means that once again, it’s still dark when DearHusband leaves for work at 4:45am. All too soon it’ll be dark when I leave for work at 7:15am. I am definitely not ready for that yet!

I saw my first flock of geese flying in V-formation on my way home today. Southward, even!

However, I do have to admit that I’ve been enjoying the cooler weather that moved in with last weekend’s thunderstorms. I love the sunshine but I do best when temperatures stay below 80 degrees. Of course, 85 is nice when accompanied with a tropical trade wind and a mai tai!

I took stock of my flower baskets today and they, too are looking like it’s late summer. The majority are rather overgown and rangy. Time to weed ‘em out and substitute in some pansies or mums. Not ready to plant flowering kale yet, that’s too much like Autumn!

This year I did some experimenting with my deck planters and window boxes. Instead of planting giant marigolds, I used calendula, thinking lots of smaller yellow/cream/orange flowers might be nicer than one or two giant flowers at a time. I’ll never do that again! That was definitely a mistake! Calendulas belong out in the landscape .

I think the abundant fertilizer caused lots of early greenery that was huge compared to the stock, purple petunias and geraniums planted at the same time. Later, the calendula leaves turned brown and spotty even when kept well watered. Next year I’ll go back to the giant marigolds for my splashes of yellow and orange in my mixed pots and baskets.

An experiment that went very well was the pots of fragrant heliotrope (clusters of dark purple long lasting flowers that remind me of my Papa’s tobacco pouch--cherry vanilla with smokey undertones), white verbena and yellow/orange lantana. They smell wonderful and the blooms contrast very nicely. As do the different shades of greenery. The heliotrope leaves are dark green and larger than the lantana and verbena, which have a lighter shade of greenery.

Another sign that autumn is approaching? All the spring bulb catelogues are arriving. Decisions, decisions!

Finish every day...

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson