How to...

be massively pregnant, garden, take care of 17 animals, and keep the kids happy at the same time!

Have Daddy apply sunblock liberally!

Add a $10 kiddie pool!

Add 5 year old!

Still can't believe she's already 5!

Add two and a half year old in his underwear!

Mix well!

And voila!

:)

I will say that the hardest part of being pregnant in the summer like this is the NC humidity.

I can handle the heat, the belly is not a bit deal-

but the humidity has been rough on me.

It's really nice, though, to pop the kids in swimsuits, slather on some SPF 70, and let them enjoy themselves while I hurry through the outside chores that wear me out. Thankfully, Tim has been bearing the brunt of the animal feeding and water carrying- but sometimes I feel like I need to take a cold swim after just walking across the yard! *sigh*

I'm ready for cool breezes!

Catching up-

Thanks for bearing with me, y'all!

Dad is out of the hospital and starting the recovery process at home.
So thankful that ribs heal- even when it's ten of them!

Just a little photo catch up from the last week--

Geocaching on Father's Day!

Had a sleepover with my girl in our room while Tim was away in Georgia for work!

She thought she looked like a little granny lady in my glasses!

When my Aunt Valerie came to visit my dad in the hospital, she brought me my grandmother Sarah's pressure canner. A precious thing be given/to have, especially during the midst of my dad's ICU stay.

I hit 29 weeks!

And 30 weeks!

Today is Keelin's 5th Birthday, so I'll update soon with pictures of her birthday beach trip and cake making!

Jackson and Big Bird?

I just feel the need to celebrate my wild guy!

This morning, Tim and I took him outside after we took Keelin to school.

It was time to check on the chickens water/food and open the door for them to go outside!

"Mommy, it's BIG BIRD!!!"

So, the chicken Jackson is pointing to is officially his special hen.

She's an Araucana hen named Big Bird.

Big Bird decided that she'd had enough.

Jackson WILL find you, Chicken... in his pjs and flip flops!

Jackson holding Big Bird.

I have never seen that little boy just stand still...

He really enjoyed getting to love on his feathered friend!

What an incredible day!!

Today was a really interesting day, so if you can hang in there through the whole post, you will be a real trooper! :)

Woke up this morning knowing it would be a crazy day! Why, you ask? Today is the day that my husband, Tim, goes on terminal/transitional leave! He is using up the paid leave that he has saved up before officially getting out of the Army a month from now after almost ten years of service. Crazy, right? (Paid leave being a relative term, considering what is going on with the governmental agencies acting like a bunch of kids with dirty diapers!)

We've been looking forward to this for the last 3 years that we've been planning this transition to civilian life and it was just so cool to see the day finally come! We got out of debt (car loans and such), saved up a chunk of change, had a baby, got me preggers with another, and got both he and I back in school.

What a way to sum up three years of marriage!

It felt like we waited all day for Tim to get home, so I tried to keep my hands busy!

I picked up sticks out of the yard (thanks, storm!), cleaned the chicken coop, lamented over the huge tree down in our yard and how being 19 weeks pregnant, I'm not in any shape to bust out our chain saw...

Oh, did a ton of diaper laundry, got Jackson down for a nap in his twin bed (Yay for my big boy!), and got in the kitchen!

This was our lunch, along with some homemade corn muffins that my son absolutely adores! Zucchini, squash, red potatoes, and carrots. All thickly sliced, drizzled with olive oil, and sprinkled with sea salt. The flavor was incredible, totally filling, and the chickens were thrilled to get the ends of the veggies as a treat! (Maybe now they will feel inclined to give us some eggs?)

Here are some banana chips dehydrating! I had to lay the smack down on my dad and son today. They were both in the kitchen getting into the dehydrator all afternoon. These guys just slay me- I can't make chips that actually get to be chips, because they get eaten too quickly. Banana fiends need to back off of my snacks ;) But yes, these were salvaged- 3 of my 4 trays made it into crispy, crunchy, delicious chips! I'll take the 75% odds!

Gotta love his "no poo" hair and cloth diaper!!

Jackson on his $5 consignment sale bike! He's a little guy, so it cracks me up that a bike that teeny has training wheels that are removable. I would love to see a person that small riding a Fisher Price two-wheeler without training wheels!

On top of my cooking, cleaning, and thumb twiddling- I sliced up a TON of fruit and froze it combinations that would be yummy for smoothies, which have become our go-to breakfasts around here.

I finally got tired of being productive and sat myself in a lawn chair to read the end of a book and start another while Jackson napped.

The book I just finished is:

“Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid and Beyond the American Dream . “ by William Powers

A great book written by a guy local to me. It highlights his experiences living in a 12 foot by 12 foot cabin in rural North Carolina. Very cool read!

I'm actually planning to give away a copy of this particular book (gotta support our local authors!) next week!

This is the book I just started reading:

"Better Off : Flipping the Switch on Technology," by Eric Brende

So far, it seems to be a book about an Ivy League educated couple that decide to see what life would be like without the distraction of electricity and their quest to return to simplicity. I have a feeling that this one is going to be good!

Friday, Beautiful Friday!!

People that know me know that I adore furniture that has been taken from a virtual heap and turned into something beautiful! And I have always been in love with Hoosier Cabinets. If you love antiques, then you might know that when they are in good shape, they are expensive!! I finally found one about half an hour away within my budget and picked it up yesterday. I'm so in love! Can't wait to bring it back to life- the picture makes it look like it is in a lot better shape than it actually is. This furniture is going to require a lot of TLC to return it to it's former luster. :) It has an original flour storage unit and I'm hoping to find a glass sugar storage to mount on the inside. The countertop slides out towards you. It seems that this piece of furniture was a favorite of women when baking bread. They used the slide out panel to knead dough and cut out biscuits!

A picture of my precious Keelin! She goes to a 3 morning a week preschool and loves it. She chose, on Friday morning, to wear her tie-dyed t-shirt, turquoise flats, and her breast cancer awareness hair bow. She's just so bright and shiny. I can't get over how delightful my daughter is. Love her!!!

Oh, and before I forget, Tim and I were able to go out for dinner and a movie last night, courtesy of my awesome dad for watching the kids- especially when Jackson stripped naked and peed all over the floor AFTER he was supposed to be asleep in his bed ;)

We went to Basil's & Co., a local bistro that locally sources some of their food- including a lot of their meats and cheeses (Goat Lady Dairy, anyone?!). We shared the fried pickles with horseradish aioli to start with- SO good. Tim got the shrimp and grits, I had a small plate portion of the sirloin with a green salad, truffle dusted shoestring fries, and ordered an extra side, because the asparagus risotto sounded too good to pass up! For dessert, we had a chocolate ganache cake that was so rich, we brought most of it home!! The baby bump enjoyed it, though!

It was really nice to get out for a while together and focus on what we wanted to talk about, no booster seats, enjoy hot food (parents, you know what I'm talking about!), and the movie (Limitless) was pretty good, too. Although by that time, I was ready to go home and go to sleep. I'm too much of an old lady (at 24) to go to a ten o'clock movie! :)

For the loves of our lives-

Tim and I decided this winter that as soon as the weather started acting Spring-like, we would get the kids some play gym things for the back yard. When I was out of town a couple of weekends ago for Elizabeth's baby shower, Tim put together the airplane teeter totter and the swingset. The swingset is small, sweet, and to the point. The airplane teeter totter is by no means minimalist- it was simply purchased for the love of the kids. Here are a few pictures of Tim's projects!


Keelin steering and Jackson hanging on for dear life!


Keelin pushing Jackson!


The airplane that nearly caused Tim and my little brother's heads to explode- it took 4 hours to build!



Our precious loves swinging together this afternoon!


I hate that the swing's chain was in the way of his face in this picture. He was just radiating pure joy.

Special thanks to Tim for being an amazing Daddy to our little ones. Any man can be a father. It takes something special to be a Daddy. So glad I'm married to one!

Pregnant Pizza

Last night, Tim and I got a pizza from a little place a few miles away. Tim told me that since I was the pregnant one and my birthday is Sunday, I could order whatever I wanted.

*ca-ching!*

I ordered an extra large pizza with pepperoni, mushroom, black olives, and pineapple. We dubbed it my Pregnant Pizza. It was bliss!

Well, it was until I had to barf later. When is this mess going to end? I'm almost 15 weeks pregnant. I'd really like to feel better soon! Puh-lease?

This weekend was

CRAZY!
That is honestly the only way to describe it!

I took this year off from school to spend more time with my family. I definitely have been! It's been great to not leave the kids for class, read for pleasure again, and being able to say, "Yes, we are trying to have another baby!" I couldn't be pregnant, be the kind of mom I want to be, and maintain my commitment to my classes. Something had to fall by the wayside.

I have found, though, that even though I tried to simplify my life, I'm still over-extended. I've started crafting for babies and children- making family cloth (reusable toilet "paper" that you wash with your cloth diapers), cloth baby wipes, etc. I took a few orders for friends and barely finished them. The first trimester fatigue just zapped my energy. I had none. So I finished the projects that I'd started and decided not to take on anymore.

I finished off the last of the baby wipes for a friend due in a couple of weeks. Those will be mailed off tomorrow. (That was Friday)

I (along with another Army wife) threw a baby shower for a friend. The feedback seems to be good, so I think it went really well. Will post some pictures of the decor I organized later. Think vases of flowers and bowls of lovely orange goldfish that my friend Patti's daughters and my kids took home after the baby shower to be loved (and fed regularly) as pets! $0.13 feeder goldfish getting saved from being fed to a bigger critter. I hope we can get them to last a while! (That was Saturday)

When I got home from the baby shower last night, I saw that Tim had finished up the kids teeter totter and swingset! Today, it was pouring rain allllll day! Keelin (our 4yr old) went outside in boots and a raincoat to play for a little while, but decided it wasn't a dry idea pretty quickly. I'm so thankful that Tim loves our kids like he does. He could have watched the History Channel and eaten Girl Scout cookies all day, but he showed his love for his kids on his day off. Absolutely precious.

As for today, I woke up when the kids started being noisy and immediately tapped Tim and started rattling off what we needed to do today. We ate some granola, blackberries, and almond milk for breakfast then got to work! The kids organized their toys, beds, etc. Tim cleaned the sunroom, dining room, and living room. I spring cleaned the kids toys/clothes, washed a ton of laundry, cleaned all of the bedrooms, bathrooms. It was a super productive day!

Right after I finished cleaning, my mom showed up for a visit that didn't prompt but certainly helped motivate the cleaning spree this morning. While she was here, a man stopped by to check out my car. Well, two hours later... after a test drive and a visit to a mechanic to check under the hood, he bought my car!!!!!

So this weekend was totally crazy, but amazing. I finished up my crafting plans, threw a baby shower that I've been planning for months, and cleaned our whole house!

I then realized that I'm now 14 weeks and 1 day. I cleared out my schedule, got my home spring-cleaned to a clean slate, moved outgrown toys and clothes to marked bags to pass on to friends JUST in time to start my second trimester of this pregnancy. My final pregnancy, I believe.

It seems like this weekend cleared my heart and mind of stress, worry, and brought me to a place in this pregnancy that makes me feel like it's time to start preparing for this baby to arrive.

It's time to start prepping our newborn sized cloth diaper stash, washing and freshening baby carriers (my Kozy and Ergo are begging to be worn with a wee one!), and getting myself centered... so I don't get to the point of feeling totally overwhelmed with things I've told people I would do. I certainly do not plan to stop doing things for others, making items, etc. but I do need to be mindful of my stress levels and pace myself. I just signed up to do way too much at one time. Moderation needs to be a word that I repeat to myself often throughout the day. I am not superwoman and do not strive to be. I just want to be a good mom and a good wife. And being stressed to the gills doesn't make me a better wife or mother.