The summer gardening season began well enough. I had no major projects to see to, and my goal was simply to keep up with the weeding and watering so that my garden didn’t look abandoned by fall. As you read in my previous post, I got about 6 weeds pulled up in June when we found out that we were going to have a baby.
After that, the garden was on its own for the summer. Not that I didn’t want to work in it. It’s just that for about 4 months, Teresa was sick and absolutely drained of energy, to the point that all she could do after work was lie on the sofa until time to go to bed. Normally we split the housework about 60/40 (you can guess who does the 60) but when it was 1/99, that left no time for gardening, or blogging for that matter.
So, fast-forward to November. The leaves are mostly off the trees, the juncos, white-throated sparrows, and yellow-rumped warblers have already made it to my yard, and what used to be the spare bedroom is getting full of baby stuff. We are having a boy, and we’re going to name him Patrick. (Francis, of course, is the patron saint of birds and animals; Fiacre the patron saint of gardeners, but I thought those names might provoke fistfights. And Teresa and my mother both vetoed Roy Dean, which was the favorite of Carolina fans at church, who wanted to name the baby in honor of the two greatest basketball coaches who ever lived.)
I actually got a little work done this fall–moved some Shasta Daisies, planted a couple of cotoneasters in the front bed–but it’s raining now and I can’t get pictures.
Thanks for all the good wishes everyone. I’ll try to write some more before another three months have passed.
7 Comments
November 10, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Congrats, again. You could name him Tyler after Tyler Hansbrough who is now playing for my Indiana Pacers. (He’s a NC guy, right?) He played his first few minutes as a pro last Friday night and I was somewhat impressed.
Oh, and regardless of what you name him, just think, in a few years he’ll be out there helping you in the garden. Then you can get all caught up!
November 11, 2009 at 12:38 am
It is good that you can/will do things around the house. You will soon be too busy to do anything else. You might as well get used to it.
November 11, 2009 at 1:07 am
Congratulations! I hear you on the housework split. I even had to change the ungrateful cat’s box while my wife was pregnant, the only time of my life I have ever dug in the litter (or ever will).
Speaking as someone whose parents only had one name in mind, whether I was a boy or a girl, your son will thank you for not picking Francis.
November 11, 2009 at 1:14 am
Glad to see you pop in here. I think many of us have been wondering about/thinking of you and Theresa. And a real man can admit the 60/40. Kudos to you!
November 11, 2009 at 4:34 am
Maybe Patrick will grow up to be a wonderful garden helper–as was Henry Mitchell’s son. Best wishes to the three of you as you get closer to the birth day.
November 15, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I have to concur 100% with Lisa, it’s good that you are “prioritizing” your yard work. Even if you do have time to do some after the wee man is born you’ll be too sleep deprived to do anything about it!!
November 29, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Congrats! The first few weeks of sickness was always my wife’s hardest to get through due to the sickness. After that it gets better. Right now we’re going through it again so I definitely understand how you feel!