Our Other New Baby

Gestational period of approximately 7 weeks, and counting.

After years of dreaming, deliberating and debating the costs, Eric finally felt like it was time to take the plunge.

It was (is) a labor of love, including: 5 gallons of Round-Up, 300 feet of poly pipe, a countless number of couplers and joints, 30 feet of copper pipe, 15 sprinkler heads, 6 lbs of Bachmann's custom blended MN grass seed, three complete weekends and 15 evenings after work, some help from a couple of trusty friends, who knows how many shovelfuls of dirt and trips of the wheelbarrow, 2 hours of Becca's pregnancy spent digging trenches on her hands and knees, 35 trips to and from the Home Depot Rental Center (roller, tiller, etc.), a custom designed schematic from Toro, and one vacuum-pressure breaker (because Eric likes things to be up to code and pulls all his permits as he ought).

Add in the hours and hours Eva and Hope spent engrossed in tactile play in the world's largest sandbox, the vast army of worms rudely interrupted from their simple lives of tunnel digging, the innumerable loads of laundry set on "heavily soiled" and "second rinse" with a few scoops of Oxi-Clean for good measure, the muddy fingerprints and footprints found on all possible surfaces inside our home, and the weeks of surrendering to the disaster zone therefore deciding not to clean.
And let's not forget the 150 days (at LEAST) spent waiting for the city of Richfield to replace the old driveway apron with a cement curb. Perhaps there were 10+ calls of urgency to the city, which finally resulted in an entire baseball line-up worth of men and TWO cement trucks arriving to put in 15 feet of curb and work for approximately 20 minutes. Don't get me wrong... we love the efficiency of government, but really folks?!?And, I'm not sure from where abouts they rounded these fellas up... the cast of Survivor comes to mind...

Now, our new "baby" is thriving in damp fall conditions, growing up healthy and strong!
We now have a completely level, weed-free, underground sprinkler system engaged front yard. And though I am in disbelief, Eric says it was a simple project, really. By the spring, our newest human babe will be able to crawl around and enjoy the pleasure of a lush, green, soft and inviting lawn! Ahhh spring greenery.