Where does the time go?!?

Holy SAP!! Has it really been over a year since my last blog? Wow. Where does the time go!?

My orchard has not changed overly much. I have had no additions to the greenhouse. Two years and not only are there no new babies, but I am not EXPECTING any more babies. To some in my family, this is a cause for celebration. For me, it just feels weird. I -miss- not having a baby around the house.

I took down my crib for the first time in something like 10 years, and I honestly shed a tear. My youngest baby, Peanut, is now potty trained, so there are no more diapers to change. And while I rejoice at not having to change any more diapers filled with some of the -nastiest- stuff known to tree or beast, it still feels....strange. No more time spent cuddling a baby in the wee hours when it is just me and the baby cuddling and nursing...no more baby belly laughs....no more first words, or first steps, or first tooth. No one else I know, not even my husband, understands why I am not as joyful about the loss of my ability to have more saplings. While I do not really WANT to have another, I still sharply regret that this period of my life is over.

Still. I have other great things to look forward to. Like my little trees starting puberty. (yes...I've filled that with as much sarcasm as I can stuff into one little sentance). I am NOT looking forward to this. Almost all of my friends have teenagers, and they are beasts. Even Dr. James Dobson, the man I turn to for tree-rearing advice, says that just keeping saplings alive during the teenage years can be a challenge. My eldest son, Almond, has not yet reached that age. He still loves his mom, he still likes to be cuddled, and he has not started to be a mouthy little brat....okay....he's not a little brat....but my point is, he has not hit puberty.

I am answering all his questions as best I can, and answering some that he has not thought to ask yet. He knows how babies are made...and firmly beleives that he will never never do that `cause YUCK! He understands that his voice will change, and that girls are gonna be bigger/taller than him for a while. He thinks that he will look funny in a beard, but that he will eventually grow one, and that he will shave his pits like mom `cause all that hair there looks terrible. I haven't had the heart to tell him where else he'll start to grow hair.

My oldest girl, Hazel, is a long ways from the dreaded Puberty, but she has grown mopie and emotional. I have to step twice as fast and work twice as hard to find out what is wrong and work with her to fix it. And a lot of time, it does not even make sense. She cried for a whole hour one day because she did not want to go to summer camp because she was going to a different school. To this day, I am not really sure how the two are related, but my girl was upset about it, so we talked, and we cuddled, and I let her cry. She was fine after an hour or so, and I never heard another work about it.

My next three are about as far away from the big 'P' as they can get. My middle tree, Cashew, has Middle Child Syndrome something fierce. He is too old to be treated like the little trees, but not old enough to be treated like the bigger trees. His father, Oak, has been working hard to do special things with him, things he hasn't done with the older trees, to help make him feel special...like fishing! He LOVES to fish! He can cast better than I can, and he has actually caught a fish! A little catfish that they released...but he was THRILLED! He is starting full time school for the first time this September -- grade one -- and he is beyond excited!

Pecan, a stoic little 4 year old graff, LOVES taking care of his little sapling-mate. He was CHANGING DIAPERS!!!!! FOUR! and he could do a better job than his eldest brother!

Peanut, well...she's two. `Nough said. Well, gotta go...gotta put another coat of varnish on my floor...later.