Bicycle commuting with a baby bump

Chad and I are expecting our first baby in August, which we are over the moon about. I am 25 weeks pregnant this week, and so far I'm still riding my bike.

I go quite a bit more slowly than usual, and I listen to my body.  I'm also finding that my personal safety bubble is hyper-inflated, probably the beginning of my mama-bear protective instincts kicking in. I am way more nervous in traffic than usual, and I haven't enjoyed riding in the rain due to fear that someone won't see me. So, I ride on fair-weather days only, and I've modified my typical route a bit to take advantage of greenways and bike paths, as I feel most safe and more at peace when I'm not encountering as much traffic.

Springtime garden update

I love April in the garden. Everything is warming up and drying out from our typical March sogginess (especially bad this year, with our record rainfall). Everyone's been enjoying the sun breaks as of late, including Mini-kitty (who is now 14 years young... she's become a pro at lounging). 

The peas, seeded on President's Day weekend, are a good 6" tall and climbing. The brassicas, which were seeded just last weekend, have already popped as well.

The garlic is doing great and is well on its way to our finest ever harvest (fingers crossed).  I planted four varieties this year, all purchased from Uprising Seeds in Bellingham. All of this garlic is bred in the beautiful Methow Valley.

Basement remodel- plumbing groundwork and framing

In the past two months, we've made quite a bit of progress on the basement.  We dug a channel for the plumbing ground work for the new bathroom, which involved demolishing the concrete and digging out the dirt underneath. 

Pedaling around Oakland

We wrapped up our bay area trip with a stay in Oakland's Dimond District at the lovely, sunny place of our dear friends Jeremy and Gena. Isn't this back yard an enticing spot for a sunbath?

J and G have put a lot of time and effort into little details of their garden, including this sweet trellis decorated with chainrings: