Botanical Gardens

This Sunday to celebrate my very first Mother’s Day AC took Adeline and I to my most favorite place in all of our area: Norfolk Botanical Gardens! They are having an event there called Lantern Asia so it is extra special right now. There are huge silk lanterns spanning 2 miles to walk around and see. And if you visit the gardens at night, all of the lanterns are lit up and some even move! I have actually seen Lantern Asia many many times as it has been going on since April and I go to the Botanical Gardens multiple times a week on my lunch break from work to get some sunlight and fresh air. But I never get tired of seeing all the colorful lanterns and flowers. If you live in the area or are visiting, I highly recommend checking it out!

Before we went to the Gardens, AC had made me french toast for breakfast. It was burnt but still delicious haha! He tried and that is what counts. We aren’t the best at cooking breakfast dishes and only recently learned how to make pancakes that actually look golden and delicious. Usually they are all squished up and burnt too. AC does make delicious scrambled eggs though. After breakfast AC presented me with a wooden painting that he stained and had the word LOVE written on it diagonally. He had used Adeline’s hand print for the O and her 2 feet for the V. Apparently she wasn’t cooperating and the letters got a bit smudged but it is still the sweetest gift. After that is when we headed out to Norfolk Botanical Gardens to enjoy the afternoon!On warm days like it was on Sunday, there are always cute turtles out sun bathing! I am not sure what kind they are but they are great at swimming. There is an abundance of wild life to see here at the gardens pretty much every time I go. Besides the turtles, there are loads of squirrels, a raccoon I keep seeing wander around, blue herrings, ducks bathing, geese and the occasional snake! I am not a fan of seeing snakes around but as

long as you keep your distance they seem ok. This big guy was hanging out just before a bridge under some azaleas. After walking around a good chunk of the grounds and seeing all of the lanterns we headed to Little Creek Joint Base to buy some flowers from their garden center! They sell some pretty unique flowers at the Botanical Gardens but they are a bit pricey. But believe me, I have still bought plenty from there anyway. Just recently I got a Taiwan Raspberry plant for ground cover in my front yard and wisteria! Still not sure what to do with the wisteria as I don’t want it climbing anything in my backyard in case we move soon. I don’t want to leave it behind! Anyway, at the Garden Center on base I was able to get an African Violet. I had gotten one for my mom for Mother’s Day But now I’ll have one for my own.

I just hope I can keep it alive! You’d think I’d be better at it because I have worked at 2 different florists making flower arrangements for several years but let me tell you, cut flowers and potted flowers are very different. And I didn’t gain much knowledge about potted ones. After the Garden center we headed to Walmart to get some random odds and ends and I grabbed some more potted plants for our backyard! It was a very flower filled weekend. We then headed home and watched Psych on netflix even though we have see the entire series a few times. We then ended the day with AC grilling us up some burgers! Overall, it was a great day.

11 Months

Adeline is officially 11 months old as of Saturday and now less than a month away from turning one years old! She is growing leaps and bounds these days and can do so much. She can sit by herself and only falls over occasionally, she can pull herself up to standing position from sitting position, and she is crawling and climbing all over everything and everyone these days! She has still just the bottom 2 teeth and I don’t see

anymore coming in yet but she likes to stick her tongue to the roof of her mouth so maybe something is going on there. She hasn’t been weighed since last month but I imagine she is still 13 pounds, maybe closer to 14 though.

This weekend we are getting her 1 year photos done to use for her birthday invitations. I think we are going to do a smash cake for the photos and I’m really not sure what she will do with it. I am excited to see! Then next Saturday is AC’s sister’s big wedding ceremony where Adeline is the flower girl. It is going to be a very busy month that is going to fly by with all of the birthday planning and being in a wedding.  Oh and I guess my very 1st Mother’s Day is coming up next Sunday! I am very excited about that. I don’t know what we will do for that yet or if AC is planning anything but I am looking forward to being able to celebrate that this year, as opposed to last year when we were in the middle of a year long struggle with my pcos and trying to get pregnant, we finally have our baby. AC really thought we never would, so I am just so overjoyed and blessed to have Adeline in our lives even if she ends up being our only child.

Which brings me to TTC news. I am on CD42 and nothing. I messaged my doctor if I should just let this cycle run its course or if I should be taking progesterone again to not let me get too far off track. We will see what she says. I also asked about a monitored cycle to see how I am responding to the Clomid if I am at all. Dr. C said that all she could really do was bloodwork on cd21 to see if I have ovulated or not yet and that my insurance probably wouldn’t cover it since it is in regards to infertility…I don’t think that is worth doing if that’s the case. I’ll save my money for the specialist, thanks.