I had a different post planned for today but this seems to fit. To put it frankly, I had a less than great weekend. Brian got some things done but I didn’t accomplish much. The horse got out and ran through the garden, and one calf got out TWICE and it took us 1-2 hours to catch him. It was one of those moments when we were both so fed up that neither of us could do anything right. I was ready to throw in the towel and get rid of all the animals. I have 99 chickens stinking up my basement, for pete’s sake!! I’m not sure what brought me out of that funk but I’m fine now and of course, all the animals are staying. Well, not all. Brian’s sister took one of the horses and another is going to a new home this week too. The rest are staying!

Today I got more done than I did all weekend. While grocery shopping with my Mom we ran in to an old neighbor of mine. He is out of work and his wife’s hours just got cut. Hearing that really put things in perspective for me.  We are really lucky and blessed to have all that we do.

New:  Chickens in the basement!!!!  Really!?  I do remember those days I guess, where they spent their first few days down there is a big cardboard box with their heat lamp.  I remember not being able to sleep and checking on them all night long, afraid the house was going to burn down.  Boy am I glad that is in the past.  I still feel like we’re blessed though – more than ever!

Some days I really blow it.  Today was one of those days.

I was crabby and snappy and really resentful towards Brian.  The details really don’t matter, and it doesn’t matter how I justify it.  Let’s just say I let my temper get the best of me.  One minute I’m quoting a Joyce Meyer talk in my head and the next I’m listing all the ways I’m right and he’s wrong.  Grrrr, I thought.  I’ve had it!!

Fast forward a couple hours.  I was indulging in some long overdo “Me” time: a soak in the bath complete with vanilla scented bubble bath, a glass of iced tea, a bowl of popcorn, and a good book.

Brian (upon hearing the popping):  Are you really going to take popcorn in the bath with you??

Me:  Yes.  I am.  (bathroom door shuts)

As a further side note, Abbie, if you’re reading this let’s both pretend it was air popped locally grown popcorn and definitely not my secret stash of microwave junk leftover from a movie night gone wrong.   I’m doing pretty good with Real Food, promise.

Anyway, back to the original story.

So, there I was, soaking and reading.  Reading, my dear friends, a book about how to love your husband and children well and create a God-filled home life.  The subtitle is Establishing and Enjoying a Peaceful Home.  Oh, the irony.

I’m breezing through, reading about parenting strategies and thinking this all sounds lovely but Kent’s a little young so I’ll have to revisit this book in a year or two.  I love the way she really pushes having a patient spirit and turning children toward the Lord for guidance instead of just pushing them to behave “because they should” or “because I said so”.  Yup, good ideas, those.

And then I get to pg. 149, Chapter 15: Demonstrating Grace in Parenting.  Here Ginger shares the story of an acquaintance.  She had big goals for her marriage and her children.  She was a perfectionist of sorts.  She used a lot of charts, systems, routines, etc. to work towards this life she envisioned.  Remind you of anyone?

You’ll have to pick up the book to get the whole story but if you guessed she had a change of heart you’re right.  She was thinking all along that all of her hard work would produce Godly children who grew in to spirit-filled adults.  In the end, though, she realized that she couldn’t have it all by her own efforts – she had to refocus her life and her family on Him and His strength.  He gives grace for a reason – we NEED it!!

Oh boy… this is a BIG deal for someone like me.  Big, big deal!  We will get burnt out, we cannot do it all, there are not enough man-made gadgets or time-saving tricks to allow us to get it all done.  Fortunately, we don’t have to do it alone.  Reading that was so comforting for the perfectionist in me.

There are many, many more good points brought up in this book.  Time after time I would have little epiphanies.  This one will have a permanent spot in our growing library and should be reread once a year or so.  There is just a ton of material there.

I really didn’t take this book seriously at first… I expected it to be a little lightweight and geared towards woman who are way ahead of me spiritually and just in need of a little fine-tuning.  Instead, it left me feeling refreshed and ready to do my best – but not striving to do it all.

Overall:  Don’t skip this one.  It’s a good read, ladies!  5 out of 5 chicks!

P.S.  If you relate to this you might also enough this post I stumbled across recently.

M: Spaghetti + semi-homemade garlic bread

T: Homegrown chicken in crockpot + homegrown over fried redskin potatoes

W: Freezer burritos

R: Local pork chops + leftover potatoes

F: Homemade pizza + breadsticks

S: Leftovers

S: Soup in crockpot – recipe TBD

Feeding Kent what we eat is making me take a serious look at our diet.  Time to take a hint from Farmer’s Daughter and get back to real food!

Where to begin!?  My normal life and routine have been put on hold for the last several weeks.  I painted our office which meant letting my house go for a week and a half and painting, painting, painting, during nap times and when Kent was in the mood to play on his own.  The painting is done and I’m finally happy with the color.  I painted the dark, wood trim white and I like it.  I normally like to keep the natural wood look but after studying a lot of pictures online I realized the wood was dragging down our house.  The white looks fresh and new and actually allows the remaining wood (the floor in this case) to shine.  I have a new desk for me half built so that needs to be finished and then I can decorate on and around it.

Just when I started to get back to normal my Dad and my step-mom came for a visit.  We were thrilled to have them and grateful that they came.  My Dad helped me do two big projects that would have cost us a lot of $$$ to have someone else do.  More on that later!  It worked out really well because Dawn, my step-mom, was able to watch Kent in the house so I could work with my Dad and get more done.  Let me tell you though, there is a reason I stay at home:  I miss my baby when I’m not with him!!  I’ve been holding him at night for awhile after he falls asleep just so I can get in my cuddle time.

Now they are headed home and things are still going to be hectic for awhile.  Tomorrow December starts so it’s time to finish the last of the Christmas presents and do a little shopping.  I want to decorate and we need to fit in a trip to our favorite holiday CHRISTMAS tree farm.

The projects continue around here, too.  Tomorrow the plumber is coming to hook up our laundry tubs and a kitchen sink in our basement.  He’s also going to run a line for a gas range so we can eventually install one of those down there.  The plan is to make one corner of the basement in to a canning kitchen so I don’t have canning supplies all over the main kitchen from July through November every year.

The laundry tub installation is of particular importantance because I’m raising baby calves.  Washing and filling a bunch of calf bottles in your kitchen sink isn’t beautiful or hygienic.  It’s gross.  Raising bottle calves isn’t easy but I’m enjoying the challenge and increasing the farm’s income, too.  That, among other things, is helping me to refocus on the farm as a whole.  We’ve been talking over our long term plans for the place and I have a lot of work to do to get our goals on paper and make them happen.

It’s an exciting time around here.  I don’t know if it’s the hormones from nursing or what but I cry really easy these days.  Fortunately they are mostly happy tears!  Kent is growing so, so fast and I really am cherishing every moment.  Brian is enjoying him more and more as he smiles and laughs at us now, and I just love the moments when we’re all together.  God is working in my life, I can feel it.

If I have any readers left after the crazy. sporadic bit of posting I’ve been doing than I thank you for sticking around.  I don’t know when or if I’ll be able to commit to writing here regularly again but I don’t intend to stop completely.

Until next time!

This isn’t genius but Kent has been teething for months and this is the first time I thought of it so in case you didn’t think of it either…

Knitted washcloth + water + 5 minutes in the freezer = a great teether!

It is cheap, homemade, and not plastic!  I’m going to keep one in the freezer from now on.

What’s your favorite teething trick?

T: Homegrown chicken in crockpot + homegrown over fried redskin potatoes

W: Freezer burritos

R: Local pork chops + leftover potatoes

F: Homemade pizza + breadsticks

S: Leftovers

S: Soup in crockpot – recipe TBD

Feeding Kent what we eat is making me take a serious look at our diet.  Time to take a hint from Farmer’s Daughter and get back to real food!

Just when I started to get back to normal my Dad and my step-mom came for a visit.  We were thrilled to have them and grateful that they came.  My Dad helped me do two big projects that would have cost us a lot of $$$ to have someone else do.  More on that later!  It worked out really well because Dawn, my step-mom, was able to watch Kent in the house so I could work with my Dad and get more done.  Let me tell you though, there is a reason I stay at home:  I miss my baby when I’m not with him!!  I’ve been holding him at night for awhile after he falls asleep just so I can get in my cuddle time. 

Now they are headed home and things are still going to be hectic for awhile.  Tomorrow December starts so it’s time to finish the last of the Christmas presents and do a little shopping.  I want to decorate and we need to fit in a trip to our favorite holiday CHRISTMAS tree farm. 

The projects continue around here, too.  Tomorrow the plumber is coming to hook up our laundry tubs and a kitchen sink in our basement.  He’s also going to run a line for a gas range so we can eventually install one of those down there.  The plan is to make one corner of the basement in to a canning kitchen so I don’t have canning supplies all over the main kitchen from July through November every year. 

The laundry tub installation is of particular importantance because I’m raising baby calves.  Washing and filling a bunch of calf bottles in your kitchen sink isn’t beautiful or hygienic.  It’s gross.  Raising bottle calves isn’t easy but I’m enjoying the challenge and increasing the farm’s income, too.  That, among other things, is helping me to refocus on the farm as a whole.  We’ve been talking over our long term plans for the place and I have a lot of work to do to get our goals on paper and make them happen.

It’s an exciting time around here.  I don’t know if it’s the hormones from nursing or what but I cry really easy these days.  Fortunately they are mostly happy tears!  Kent is growing so, so fast and I really am cherishing every moment.  Brian is enjoying him more and more as he smiles and laughs at us now, and I just love the moments when we’re all together.  God is working in my life, I can feel it.

If I have any readers left after the crazy. sporadic bit of posting I’ve been doing than I thank you for sticking around.  I don’t know when or if I’ll be able to commit to writing here regularly again but I don’t intend to stop completely. 

Until next time!

The cake was made to match the invitations which I got as a print your own customized .pdf file here.  I highly recommend the creator, she was very professional and speedy.  I did our thank you notes the same way.

Thanks again to all who made it the wonderful party that it was!

Kent at 6 days old in his Moses basket

I mentioned his Moses basket when I talked about my favorite nursing spot.  I had a couple questions about it so here is the story on how we arrived on a Moses basket and how you can go about finding your own.

When I was pregnant I spent hours and hours, seriously, hundreds of hours researching baby products and reading reviews on Amazon.com.  It has really paid off as we’ve been very happy with all of my our choices.  All of the decisions we made selecting a place for baby to sleep was the biggest stressor for me.  We already had a crib but I wanted a portable place for him to sleep too.

I considered a co-sleeper like these ones.  I was really put off by the appearance – plastic and mesh wasn’t my idea of a beautiful place for my newborn.  The look didn’t fit in with our hodge podge of country decor.  We went to Babies R’ Us and looked at one anyway.  Brian said no, and I agreed.  It did not seem sturdy at all (partly due to the quick assembly at the story I’m sure) and it came with a lot of parts and pieces.  We didn’t need another thing to put together.  I didn’t measure our bed before we went but judging by the one at the store we might have even needed extra lifters or whatever to adjust the height. Plus, co-sleepers are expensive!  It would have been different if I was sure I’d use it.  Everyone tells you something different when you’re pregnant: you’ll want him near you, you need to put him in his crib right away, you won’t sleep if you can’t see him, you can’t sleep if you can hear him.  I had no idea what would work and I didn’t want to shell out that kind of cash for something we might not want or need.  So a co-sleep was out for us.

Then, what about a bassinet?  After all, I had always envisioned myself using a beautiful bassinet with a long, flowing, white skirt.  I even had thoughts of making a bassinet skirt out of my wedding dress.  Yeah, right!  We have 4 dogs and a cat, and we live in a dusty farmhouse.  A lot of floor length white lace?  Not happening.  Still, there are some nice bassinets out there.  Research completed, I decided on this one and registered for it at Babies R’ Us.  I loved that it had a sturdy wooden frame, a portable basket, and storage.

They promptly discontinued it.

Then I decided okay, let’s be practical.  We have a crib.  We have a pack n’ play that can go in our room.  Wasn’t that enough?  No.  I planned to (and do) nurse on demand and I wanted the option of having baby where I could easily reach him in the night, in case that’s what worked for us.  I started looking at Moses baskets.  They were portable, charming to look at, and would fit in the tiny spot between our bed and the wall.  The reviews pointed to Tadpoles brand as being the best for roomy size and durability.  The problem?  Still expensive.  They come with a mattress, fitted sheet, bumper, and impractical little flat sheet.  I was trying hard to avoid brand new conventional cotton products and stick with either secondhand or organic materials.  The basket with organic bedding was well over $100.  Not cool, again, in case we didn’t end up using it.

So now that you know the pros and cons and whys that brought us to wanting a basket but not finding one I can let you in on how we got ours.  If you go directly to the Tadpoles Bedding Company website you can find a Plain Moses Basket with no mattress or bedding – for $30!!  I believe it was only around $5 for shipping.  It arrived quickly and was everything the reviews said it would be.  Don’t be tempted by the cheaper ones – I looked at one at a store and it was no where near as nice as the Tadpoles version.

I made my own mattress.  It was super easy and anyone with a sewing machine can do it.  I took step by step pictures so someday there will be a tutorial here.  If you don’t sew ask around – I bet there is a lady out there who would love the opportunity to make a special mattress and bedding for your baby, especially in lieu of an expensive shower gift.  I never did make a bumper pad or any sheets but some creative folding of receiving blankets got me through.

The basket was perfect for us.  We moved our cedar chest to my side of the bed and sat the basket on that.  I could easily sit up and pick Kent up for night feedings.  I could sleep with my hand resting on his chest if I needed reassurance that he was okay.  He was safe from Daddy rolling on him.  He just now moved in to his pack n’ play at three months old.  I haven’t weighed him in awhile but he’s probably in the 13-15 pound range and not overly tall.  He still fits in his basket but as he’s getting stronger I didn’t want the chance of him somehow flopping out of the basket.  He seems to sleep better in his own little quiet corner of our room, too.  He sleeps for 8 hours or more most nights now so reaching him for feedings isn’t an issue anymore.

I hope this helped a little and gave you some ideas if you’re unsure what to do for sleeping arrangements.  As a side note, going straight to the crib might be a good option depending on how your house is arranged.  Kent’s room is too far away for that to work well for us.

Have a little grace and overlook any typos please.  Time is too precious for much editing these days!