Blueberries!

My mom and I loaded up the kiddos and headed out to a blueberry farm today. I'm not a fan of blueberries myself, but Matthew and Nicholas LOVE them! I knew they would have a fun time picking them off the bushes, and as a bonus, the farmer encouraged eating them straight from the bush. He uses no pesticides, which is awesome. It meant we didn't have to wash a single berry before popping in in our mouths and eating them. And, yes, I ate a few. I have to say they were the best blueberries I've ever eaten. I don't know if it was the act of picking it myself, the sun warmed berry, or that they were just that good. I guess it doesn't matter too much.

Hard at work.

Nicholas showing me his bucket.

Counting the berries he picked?

Matthew showing me how many he had. Taken moments before he dumped them on the ground and started over.

After you pick your bucket of berries, you place them on this shaker tray thingie. (I have no idea what it's called.) You then shake out your berries and pick through to get all the bad ones out. You can also pull off all the stems from your berries. And if you're 3ft. tall, then you get on your tip toes and eat them by the handful. For reference, that tray is holding a gallon of blueberries. Our refrigerator is now full of blueberries. Anyone need a few?

Benny, the farmer, let me take the boys out for a ride on his four wheeler. It was so fun. Matthew and Nicholas laughed in delight the entire time we were moving. When we came back to the farm, they begged to go out again. Maybe next time!

Zachary came along on our adventure, too. I think he had a pretty good time, even if he wasn't allowed to eat any berries off the bush. Maybe next year!

PS: This is the info on the blueberry farm...
BMB Farms - blueberries, restrooms
4277 Old Eagle Lake Road, Bartow, FL 33830. Phone: 863-698-0239.
Open: U-Pick is now open 7 days a week 8:30 am to 7:00 pm. Directions: Highway 98 S into Bartow. Take Old Bartow/Eagle Lake Road 2.5 miles to Farm (will be marked by signs.) Highway 17 to Spirit Lake Road. Spirit Lake Road 1/4 mile to Old Bartow/Eagle Lake Road. Old Bartow/Eagle Lake Road 1/4 mile to Farm (will be marked by signs.).Payment: Cash, only.

Three Reasons

...there haven't been any new posts lately.

Nicholas

Matthew

Zachary

Hopefully I will have a chance to write a real update soon.

New pictures

Caught up on Zachary photos for the time being. As before, they are at http://pix.tazman.net/v/Zachary/

Here's one of my favorites:

Busy week

This week has been filled with doctor's appointments and hospital visits. Two of my favorite appointments were when we went to see my regular ob on Monday and my high risk ob ("Dr. Risky") today. We snapped a couple of pictures in the offices and I just have to share them here. These doctors are just two of the many people who helped bring Zachary through the pregnancy safely.

Dr. Moore, my regular ob

Dr. Al-Malt (aka "Dr. Risky")

Life has been quite the whirlwind in the last few days. We were discharged from the hospital Saturday evening and hit the ground running and not sleeping. Life with a newborn is quite different than life with 5 month old twins was two and a half years ago. Rest assured that Dan has taken lots of pictures in the days since we've been home, but his free time (and alert time) has been greatly diminished by the needs of one little 6 pound person. One day soon I hope he will get some of them off the camera and online for all to see.

A glimpse of Zachary David

This was taken while Zachary was still in the NICU. We have several new pictures to share, but sleep, Zachary and Matthew & Nicholas are our first priorities right now. We'll get them up soon! For now, a picture of our sweet new baby sleeping peacefully.

Zachary David - 1 day old (12/31/09)

Welcome "Home" Zachary

Well, they finally got all the right people to talk to each other and Zachary has been moved into the room. PTL! He spent about four hours here and we had our first real shot at bonding and being parents for him without all the inhibitions of the NICU. He just left for that night (a little after 1AM) since he needs two medications and two lab tests over the next couple hours; we decided it was just better for all if we sent him back and got a few hours sleep rather than getting interrupted constantly. He will be back for his 6AM feeding.

I'm continuing to post new pictures at least daily. See the previous post for the link to the album, which will automatically show new pictures at the top.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. I know there are a bunch of you that want to visit, and we have to carefully manage it tho for both Zachary and Shannon's sake. So if you want to come, please call first to see how things are going. (Also, if you have kids under 12, they will not be allowed past the waiting room - hospital rules.)