Fence Facelift

We began work on one of our unused pastures this week to get it ready for the goats.

The Grand Parlor Reveal

The Parlor is now finished and we are so pleased with how it turned out! To see all of our work from the very beginning, please click HERE to see past parlor posts.

 

Without further ado, here is THE PARLOR, beginning where we left off.

 

First of all, Handy Husband built my bookcases along one wall, just exactly as I'd always dreamed of having for all my books. They turned out so nicely!

 

 

Revealing part of the old chimney was an added bonus for me. I think it's become a beautiful focal point of the room and Handy Husband did a great job of trimming it.

The crown molding was pretty tricky at first, but after watching an instructional youtube video, I think we did a good job on it.

 

Here are the final pictures:

 

 

 

  



Trim in the Parlor

Oh, the moment has finally come! We began working on the Parlor trim this past weekend, and its a bit slower going than we were hoping. Nearly all of the door jambs have had to be adjusted, or resized due to the fact that we had removed the old sheetrock and paneling from the walls. We're not done with all the trim yet, and we have yet to tackle the crown molding, but its looking SO pretty! I'm so excited to see this room nearing completion!

Eggs! Eggs! Eggs!

As much as I loved having the chickens free-range, it was becoming a real problem. Not only were they constantly scratching up my newly sewn garden seeds, digging in the trash, and pooping on the porch, but they were notorious for laying their eggs where our greedy human hands couldn't take them.

It's because of that, that we were always having to buy all of our eggs. They would lay under the barn, or up in the loft... always trying to hide them. Well those days are over! Handy Husband and I built a large pen for them and we got them all rounded up. Now they are laying their eggs in the nest boxes, as they should. And we will not have to buy our eggs any longer.

Hay Barn Roof Repair

Handy Husband spent the entire weekend reinforcing and patching the section of roof that was ripped off in a tornado about 3 years ago. The hole kept getting bigger and bigger every time we'd get any strong winds.

Trimming Limbs

Handy Husband trimmed back some tree limbs that were hanging over the house and some that were broken and just hanging from the trees.

New Critters

Handy Husband came home with some new additions to our little farm- 12 pullet chicks and 2 young rabbit does. The girls named the bunnies Seraphina and Annaliese.

Cleanup Nearly Complete

The chicken house cleanup is nearing completion. Handy Husband has been putting in many, many hours out there... digging holes, burning wood, hauling metal to recycling. It's been a huge project and we can't wait to see the end if it.

Fired up the Grill

We thoroughly enjoyed the near 80 degree temperatures yesterday by getting our firepit up and running again. The boys did a great job of rebuilding it and they helped Handy Husband get the fire going. We had BBQ pork ribs for our one and only non-vegetarian meal of the week, along with baked beans and potato salad. It was delicious!

Weeping Willows

After the grasshopper swarms killed many of our young trees last year, we thought these more mature trees might fare a bit better if the swarms come back again this year.

Score!

Handy Husband was in the right place at the right time and scored these totally amazing closet organizing systems for an unbeatable price. There are 27 boxes in all of various closet components. What a deal! I can't wait to get to work finishing up the insides of the girls' bedroom closets, and there is plenty here for us to do our future closet remodel, as well as the boys' too! 

Flash!

Our family had the privilege of caring for "Flash" for a short time recently. Flash was dumped, or had somehow gotten lost, and was brought home by Handy Husband, who found him wandering around his jobsite. It was such a high-traffic area, that we didn't want to take the chance of him getting run over, and no one in the area seemed to know where the dog had come from.

 

So, Flash came home with us.

 

 

We immediately started looking for his owners, as we just couldn't believe that a dog like this would have been dumped. But no one came forward to claim him.

 

Since our feed bill has almost tripled since taking in Big Giant and Kayla, we could not afford to keep him. Besides, he is such an active, energetic dog, that really needs a LOT of attention, we decided to find a home for him that could give him more time than we could.

 

We temporarily put him in the goat pasture with Big Giant until we could find a new home for him.

 

And we did! Flash is now living with a wonderful family who were so excited to find a dog like him. He was exactly what they had been looking for as a pet for their daughters. I'm so glad that we could help Flash find a good home. I'm sure he'll be very loved and spoiled rotten there!

 



The Long-Awaited Birth of Baby W

I was beginning to wonder if this moment would ever come. I was 17 days over due... the longest I'd ever gone past my due date. I tried every old wives tale in the book... walking endlessly, climbing stairs, getting down on all fours and rocking, taking various herbs and castor oil. Even having my membranes swept. And re-swept. Thunderstorms and full moons came and went, and STILL no signs of real labor. So I gave up. I decided that our sweet growing baby would come when he was ready, and not a moment before.

Finally, after having pre-labor/false-labor symptoms for 3 weeks, my water spontaneously broke Sunday, December 9th around 6am. This was a first for me- my water has never broke on it's own before. We spent the whole day Sunday doing normal things, even going to the grocery store and doing chores- a typical day. My contractions were consistently 8-10 minutes apart all day, but never got uncomfortable. My midwife was kept abreast of the proceedings, and I told my best friend, but I didn't want to tell anyone else because I honestly thought I would be in labor for a very long time, and I didn't want any of my family to worry.

 

That night, we went to bed, knowing that at any moment "hard" labor would arrive.

 

At 1am Monday, December 10th, I awoke because the contractions seemed a little "tighter," and I began to time them. They had gotten closer together, and were about 6-8 minutes apart. I sent a text to my midwife to let her know, but told her that they still were not painful.

 

So back to bed I went.

 

At 2 am I woke up to some pretty uncomfortable contractions- the hardest I had had up to that point. Again, timing them, they were still apart 6 minutes apart. Knowing how different these contractions were feeling, my midwife said she'd gather her things and would head over- but being that we live an hour away from her, she wouldn't arrive until 3:30am.

 

One of the midwife apprentices' arrived first, as she lived the closest. She offered to check me, but I declined, as I assumed I was still very much in the beginning of labor.

 

My midwife and another apprentice arrived at 3:30am and almost immediately my contractions got painful. I was checked and shocked at finding that I was already dilated to 8cm! The next hour and half were the hardest, with me having to utilize relaxation and breathing techniques to get through the contractions. They were so close together and very intense. I spent most of this time sitting on the edge of my little couch in the bedroom, rocking back and forth with my eyes closed, and concentrating on just RELAXING.

 

Handy Husband was so helpful and supportive this whole time. He kept asking what he should do, but honestly, I didn't need him to do anything but be there with me.

 

I'm not sure exactly what time I started getting the urge to push, but I tried pushing on the bed for a little while, but we felt that I was not getting anywhere in that position. So my midwife had me try out the birthing stool and that was so much better. I could instantly feel that my hard work was making some progress as my little one moved down. We knew this baby would be big, and the birthing stool helped to open up my hips better and I was much more able to really utilize all my pushing power in that position. From here, I believe I only pushed for about 20 minutes when his head was born.

 

At this point though, my midwife had one of the apprentices help hold my right leg out and up a bit to open my pelvis up even further to get the baby's chest delivered. This was no petite baby. After one more push, his body gently eased it's way completely out.

Though I was relieved to have it over, a moment of panic and confusion set in when our baby boy did not immediately respond to the midwives' rubbing and stimulation. All I remember was them telling me, "Talk to your baby." So I did. I said hello. And I caressed his cheek. And then he woke up and it was one of the most wonderful moments of my life.

I held my sweet baby boy to my chest as the midwives and my dear handy husband helped me back to the bed. There we spent some time bonding and he instantly latched on for his first meal.

What only seemed like a few minutes later, the placenta, my baby's home for nearly 10 months, was delivered. Now, I don't know much about placentas, but according to the midwives, mine was simply amazing. Very robust and beautiful.

After our mother & baby herb bath, we got all cleaned up and our little one was weighed and measured. It wasn't long after that, that our older two boys woke up and came in to meet their little brother. After that, we sent them upstairs to wake up the girls. We could hear the stampede coming down the stairs as all four kids came running down to see Baby W. They all loved him, just as I knew they would.

 

Baby W, weighing 11 pounds, 7 ounces, and measuring 22 inches long, was born at 5:22am December 10th, 2012. He is one hefty little boy- with his chest measuring an inch bigger than his head! 

 

Now for the pictures:

Taking our herb bath.

Daddy holding his first-born for the first time.

Getting checked out and dressed by our midwife.

Me and my little guy. Love!