Wow, I miss this!

Life has been so busy here lately! The days are so full that I can't quite find the time to write when it's light outside...

But as soon as the kids are in bed, I pass out!

I'm in the car- in Tennessee!
We are heading to Missouri...
For TWO weeks!!

I am hoping for loads of great photos and the time to play catch up when I get home.

I have so much fun stuff to share! So many great projects going on involving our home and property! Some big announcements!

But for now, I just wan to share that my kids are fantastic travelers, an avocado + a bag of tortilla chips is a fantastic snack to eat on the road, and I have spent a lot of time today laughing at myself as I try to pump donor milk and keep from flashing truckers! <3

Being MIA

I do seem to go missing, don't I?

I have been having the most amazing time with my family! I have so many photos and stories- but I am too busy cuddling my 7 month old to upload them.

I'm even writing this update from my iPhone- I have barely touched my laptop in weeks!

Just a few observations...

Keelin is a wise little soul. Wise beyond her years.

Jackson has music in the air around him, I swear!

Finn has the softest hair and the gummiest grin.

Being Happy during stressful times

Wow. Being Happy.

Recently, I have had a few people refer to me as a happy person. I am happy, but I choose to be happy. I feel negativity and stress in such an overwhelming way that I have to sometimes make the choice to be joyful.

Yesterday, I was so stressed out (had so much to do that I ate a packed lunch while I drove and only stopped to feed and change the baby)... And I found myself becoming a bit of a wreck.

I decided that today was going to be my day to recoup. I'm going to do laundry, watch useless cartoons, update my budget, and just reorganize myself. I'm a bit behind the 8 ball at the moment and I really need to catch up and take a breather!

Do you sometimes have to do things that help you adjust your attitude, reclaim your positivity? :-)

"Gluten &apos;Free to be you and me&apos;"

I crack myself up sometimes ;-)

I just finished a gluten free elimination diet to try to pinpoint the source of his tummy issues. After weeks of being gluten free, I can say with much certainty that gluten is not Finns issue.

Today was my first day of a dairy elimination diet. All I wanted all day was my raw milk... And it teased me from the fridge!

Any good dairy free recipes, y'all? I think this will be tougher than going gluten free!

NC meetup!

Heading out to meet with some of my favorite bloggers in Charlotte, NC!

Can't wait to share the event when I get home!

First Day of Spring!

It is here!
Know what this means?

I'm about to get busy!!!

I made a to-do list...

I need to purge my kitchen cabinets.
I need to purge the kids toys.
I need to clean my car really well!
Time to sun diapers.
Need to map out garden plans.

Highs in the 70's all week!
Hurray!

Winner! And I&apos;m 25!

Emily Passaro is the winner of the Inspired by Finn hazel wood necklace!

Today is my birthday (I'm 25!), so I've been enjoying myself and taking it easy. I have some cool news from ye ole backyard for you later this week!

Inspired by Finn Hazel Wood Necklace- Review and Giveaway!!!

Oh,my friends! Do I have something fun to share!

I had been in contact with Greenie Beanie Bottoms, a fantastic online retail source for the needs of the eco-conscious family about doing a review for them. It was decided that I would review an Inspired by Finn Hazel wood Necklace!

Oh, the excitement!! Besides having such a cool look (fabulously crunchy!) to them, this jewelry has medicinal properties. The necklaces are Inspired by Finn, makers of our favorite amber teething jewelry, so you know that they are made from quality materials!

I was given a great little packet of information with our necklace, explaining that it is made from beaked hazel wood, how best to use it, and what benefits we may notice.

Beaked hazel wood is good for so many things, positively affecting the body mainly by balancing pH. It can reduce reflux, which is what most people use it for, but it can also help with acne, reduce headaches, eczema, diaper rash, and more!

It is to be worn around the neck as much as possible, in contact with skin.It is fine to wear in the bath tub, because getting the wood wet helps it to be absorbed through the skin. You don't want to wear it in highly chlorinated water, though, like pools.

For adults, it is recommended to wear them to bed, but our necklace, and yours, is 11 inches and perfectly sized for a little neck, so you should remove it from your little one's neck at night. The hazel wood pieces are small, so use common sense, as they are a choking hazard.

I was very pleased that the hazel wood necklace was 11" long, so it fit him well around the neck and was easy to keep tucked under the collar of his shirts, close to his skin. He had been dealing with some reflux, so I wanted it him to receive the maximum therapeutic benefit.

We left the necklace on for baths and supervised naps, removing it at bedtime. It did take a good week before we started noticing the positive results, but we were really happy to notice his spitting up was slightly less frequent. The longer he has worn it (which is almost a month now, and they can last anywhere from 4 months to a year!), the less spitting up we are seeing. Instead of the automatic reflux after he eats and we move him, if he spits up now, it is because we are jostling him (sorry, Finn!) and it is partially digested breastmilk instead of it coming out of him almost as soon as finished nursing.

As a mom, it pained me to see him deal with reflux. As a breastmilk donor, it hurt me to see so much liquid gold be wasted hitting one of us or the floor after a feeding!!

We are really glad to have our Inspired by Finn hazel wood necklace from Greenie Beanie Bottoms! I feel like it is important to let moms know that this is a great product and that isn't a new-age hoax. It is a natural remedy that people have used for many, many years and I would highly recommend moms give them a try for spitty babies or for themselves, since there are so many benefits to having balanced pH that don't necessarily just apply to children!

Greenie Beanie Bottoms is thrilled to offer one lucky reader their very own Inspired by Finn Hazel wood Necklace! It is 11" long and retails for $21.95!

Review +Giveaway starts TOMORROW!

Get ready! I have a great product to share with you all... And you can win one!

A chicken in my car? Say what?

Some funnies from this week!

One of our hens was helping me clean my van today!

That is what happens when I spill a bag of oats.

This chicken is Cake, my favorite Araucana hen...

She jumped right in and started helping.

I let her snack while I took out excess jackets and kid socks,

but I was nervous she would poo in the van.

No worries- she didn't!

We get such beautiful eggs!

These beauties went in Round 2!

Yes, the incubator is running again!

We will have more babies right before Easter

:)

Purple potatoes, anyone?

They make the prettiest mashed potatoes!

Eggy Happenings!

See the pip in the bottom egg?!

We hatched our first babies!

Will do a special post all about them- I couldn't get the sweet little guys to not be blurs in photos, but will try again soon!

And guess what!!

I can actually look at a couple and tell who their moms are!

One of the babies is from an egg laid by our feather footed hen, Goldilocks!

How do we know?

Teeny feathers on the legs and feet.

SO stinkin' cute!

What have I been doing?

I have people asking why I haven't been blogging.

Truthfully?

Because I've been doing this...

Babywearing.

while planning Triad Tot Toter stuff!

Babywearing.

while getting a five dolla footlong!

Babywearing.

while at the last Triad Tot Toter meetup!

Babywearing.

while groceryshopping at Earth Fare!

(photobomb by Kate- hehe)

Babywearing.

while feeding the chickens!

I would get nothing done if it weren't for babywearing... especially since Finn's allergies are acting up AND he's teething. Rough stuff, my friends, but I am able to stay productive by keeping Finn close.

Jackson has made great strides in potty learning and Keelin has her first loose tooth.

My world is changing :-/

A new kind of cloth diaper.

Frosty Tush?

Snowy Buns?

Chilly Booty?

;)

We got some snow!! Finally!

I didn't believe it would snow, so I left my not yet dry load of diapers on the line!

hehe

Anyone else experiencing their first little bit of winter weather?

Tonight!

Tonight is the night! Time to stop turning our eggs and bump up the humidity!

You do this a few days before they are due to hatch!

Could we have babies soon??
I sure hope so!
:)

At least half of the eggs we put in were not fertile, so I'm hoping for a good hatch rate from the eggs we have left!

Some of the eggs we put in the incubator were from others, but this is a photo of some of ours! Can't wait to see our chicks- my hope is that they are all as differently colored and beautiful as the eggs they will hatch from!!

A week in photos

And when I say a week in photos, I mean last week ;)

We did an evaluation of what needed to be done to the barn before we could get our goats. Keelin just chilled out on a bale of hay and drew :)

My mom shopped for me this Christmas from my Etsy "favorites" list!

Mason jar lids with straws make for easy carrying of my favorite decaf teas mixed with lemonade!

Finn was laughing at his mommy's silliness.

He turned 5 months old!

A little brag about Keelin's report card!

Tim turned Finn into Super Baby :-)

Success.

Tim and I were talking the other day about my educational goals. I would like to go ahead and polish off the last little bit of school I need to finish my Bachelor's degree, but I am thinking about going in a different direction than I had previously planned.

No biggie, it won't throw off my completion by more than a couple of classes that I will have to add in. But I heard words come out of my mouth that really distress me now.

I said, "I don't know when I will finish my degree, but I would like it to be before my 10 year class reunion, because I would much rather say, 'I am a _______, but I run a small farm and homeschool our three children!' than 'I am a housewife.'"

Amazing that I am so passionate about my family, but I still found myself in a mental place where I felt the pressure of what other's deemed as success. I felt the pressure to such a degree that it actually, for a moment, made me feel like I was not successful in my own right. For just a second, I said words that I didn't mean, because I felt a little insecure.

SO, in light of that, I thought I would share some of the things that have gone on this week that some might seem mundane and/or uncool, but were successes!

I am still making new friends! Putting myself out there is hard, but I'm trying to meet new people! I went to quite a few social events this week- it was fun!

I put 25 eggs in my new incubator! So exciting! Im also working on repairing an incubator that my dad gave me!

I have really purged the excess stuff from our living space and feel like we have a lot more room now!

I sewed a bunch of flannel wipes to be used for baby wipes, tissues, an family cloth- all different prints so we know what is which ;).

What success did you achieve this week? Share your awesomeness!

Being a milk donor--

I met the family that I will be pumping for! :)

I took her a couple of bottles of frozen milk that first day and have met up many more times since! I have taken her around 200 ounces, so far!

If you have extra milk or even just a good supply and would be willing to pump a few minutes a day, please consider being a breast milk donor!

The first bottles!

I pumped while steeping tea and baking kale chips for Jackson's 3rd Birthday party! Takes very little effort to make a big difference in a baby's life!

Finn hanging out in my lap waiting for me to put my pump together- we were waiting on some friends for lunch and I had a moment to pump :)

Human Milk for Human Babies


and


Eats on Feet

Both of those nonprofit organizations are great ways to link up with moms in need of milk or to express a need for donor milk!

Because I love you guys.

Hurray!

We had to postpone our last closing date, because of some confusion with our insurance... but today was the day!

We closed on our house!
We're homeowners!

Now, I just need some goats...