10 days?!? Already?!

It doesn't seem like it's been 10 days since Maezie was born, but it has. Most of it's pretty much a blur of no sleep, junk food, a massive 'Scrubs' marathon, and dirty diapers. All last week I had Davey here to help me cope, and that was HUGE, because he already knows what needs to be done without anyone having to ask. He's a good man. Not even kidding.

But now Davey's gone back to work and I'm on my own. I'll tentatively say that it's going ok. I did have a bit of an emotional breakdown this morning, but only for about 10 minutes. I do seriously miss a good night's sleep. And I hope and pray that Punkin will adjust to having to share the spotlight with her sibling. So far that's been the hardest thing to deal with. Usually Punkin is a happy, easy kid. She just wants to hang out and do her thing. But for the past few days she wants to be held constantly, and is super duper fussy. Hard to deal with when there's a newborn around, too. Maezie, on the other hand, is a breeze. Much like Punkin was at that age, only even easier because I've had a little bit of practice this time around.

I'm optimistic about this staying at home business. I think I can handle it.

t-minus

12 hours and counting. We're due at the hospital at 5:30 in the AM to finally get to meet this little girl. This day has taken FOR EVERRR. Davey and I have spent the day trying to get labor going on it's own - we took a long walk, spicy food, all the little "tricks" (except castor oil.. I figure I'll be kind to the Drs and nurses.) While I do feel a wee bit more relaxed, I'm still totally anxious to get this over with. Sleep tonight? I doubt it.

times, they are a-changin'

So. Today I started my last week of work. Not my last week of work until maternity leave is over, or my last week for the next few months. My LAST WEEK EVER. Kinda freakin' out over here. I've been working pretty much steadily since I was 15, and been at my current job for 8 of those 15 years. This place is so much a part of my daily routine that I just kind of take it for granted that I'll be sitting at the same desk, in front of the same PC, surrounded by the same sounds and people and daily grind that I have for years now.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very VERY much looking forward to being at home with my girls, but there will definitely be some adjusting. Especially financial adjusting. This is a HUUUUUUGE leap of faith we're taking here, believing that God wants me to be at home raising our daughters, and that some way, somehow, he's going to provide for us. I truly believe that this is the right choice, and that if we don't take the step now and just trust God to keep us going, it won't ever happen. That doesn't mean it's not weird, freaky, and scary though. Expect me to be a neurotic mess every once in a while.
In the meantime, we're finally getting ready for Maezie's imminent arrival. Yesterday we did some work on her room, like organizing the furniture and even hanging a few things on the wall. I even got my suitcase packed!
Setting up her room brought out something to me though - how very different this pregnancy experience has been. With Punkin, we bought so many things just for her. For her room, clothing, care, etc. With Maezie, it's all make-do and hand-me-downs. I feel a tiny bit guilty. I don't have a whole pile of sweet cutesy things to decorate her room with, unless I pilfer from Punkin's room (which I've been doing). I haven't bought her any toys or stuffed animals. Not for her very own. We don't even have a baby book for her yet. It may be a little late in the game, but I feel like we need to get her some things that are special and just for her. I don't ever want her to feel like she's second-best, or an afterthought. It's just so much easier to focus all our attention on the child we can actually see. Not to mention Punkin's just plain adorable and easy to love and spoil. I'm sure Maezie will be, too. I can't wait til she's actually here and we can hold and cuddle and love and spoil both of our girls. Geez, that sounds mushy. Get over it.

Speaking of Punkin, it's been a big couple of weeks for her, as well. She started walking on October 28th, and she had her first birthday party on Saturday. It was such a fun day! I know she's only 1 and won't remember it, but it was still so awesome to see her have such a good time. I'm continually amazed by the love that our little family is shown by our friends and loved ones. It's just too good.
By far the highlight of the day for Punkin was when she got her Teepee from Auntie Jill, and her tunnel from Nana. This child just loves anything she can crawl into and hide in. She was literally squealing with delight, and did pretty much all weekend. I'd say eating her very own birthday cake was also a big deal, but I think it was more so for those of us watching her shove cake and icing up her nose than it was for her. She was just enjoying some cake, you know? Who cares that it was all over her face?

Now that the party's over, I'm ready to wrap up work, get the house back in order a little, and meet my new little girl. The next few weeks will be interesting, to say the least.

and the madness continues..

Just a quick update to my previous post, I present further evidence that I have, indeed, lost my mind: Tuesday night, we adopted a puppy. He's an adorable little basset hound mix named Rufus. Supposedly he's going to be Davey's dog, but already when I mention that Davey needs to be the one to take him out to potty, feed him, etc, I'm getting the "He's your dog, too!" response. I really should have known better. I can only try and comfort myself with the knowledge that in a few days (as soon as I can get a collar that he won't slip his wee head out of), Rufus is going to be an outside dog. Then, no more cleaning up puppy poos and piddles. I'll be too busy cleaning up poos and piddles of the baby variety. My only concern with this plan is that Rufus is afraid of everything. The porch. The front door. His food and water bowls. A less-than-1-pound kitten. I'm hoping that once he has some time to adjust and bond to us he'll get over some of these fears, because he was an outside dog when we got him, so really, he ought to be able to handle it. But then what do I know? I'm crazy.

3 weeks, 4 days..

.. and counting.

That's the maximum amount of time remaining before girly # 2 makes her grand entry into the world. ( I know this is the MAX amount of time because I sooooo scheduled an induction this time around. I know it's not all natural and blah blah blah, but I'm not going to be in the hospital for Thanksgiving, dammit!) Whew. Anyhow. You'd think that with the clock ticking and time running short I'd be just about putting the finishing touches on the nursery, lovingly staring at wee baby socks and newborn-sized clothes. And you'd be WRONG. This time around my nesting impulses are on misfire. I have made about a dozen adorable baby hats, and some booties, and started organizing all my crafting supplies. Oh, and I got some new furniture for Punkin's room, which I totally redid and got looking all neat and orderly again (seriously, friends and family, no more baby clothes!! NO MORE!). But Maezie's room? Well.... Davey put the crib up on Friday, so I guess that's a start. And my dad is painting it for me this week. And we moved the twin guest bed into the master bedroom and smooshed it up next to our queen to make one giant-sized bed (Can you say "awesome"? Yeah you can).
I keep having this recurring dream where I go into labor and my suitcase isn't packed. Sometimes I'm at home screaming at Davey not to forget the boppy, others I'm at work, screaming on the phone to poor Davey not to forget the boppy, or I'm driving home from work (the hospital is 5 minutes from my office, and 1 hour from my house, for perspective) so I can pack my suitcase, because I'm not forgetting that damn boppy! As you can see, the insanity is on overdrive 'round here. And the stupid suitcase isn't packed. I keep thinking I'll get to it, but there are dishes to wash and birthday parties to plan and Halloween decorations to put up. I bring the madness on myself.
Speaking of Halloween- we took Punkin to Boo @ the Zoo on Friday night. It. was. awesome. Crowded, but awesome. Adorable kids in costumes (Punkin went as, what else?! a pumpkin), free candy, the zoo. What could be better? I got to wear my jack-o-lantern t-shirt that makes me look like the Great Pumpkin. Yes, I'll post pictures.
So. Maybe tonight I'll get around to packing that suitcase. Or just bake some cookies for the Halloween party instead...

Homemade goodness!

So, last month I mentioned how one of my goals for the near future was to conquer baking my own bread. I tried bread baking once, when I was about 13, with some help from dear ol' Mom. I don't know if I did something wrong, or if it just wasn't time yet, but what came out of the oven was not the fluffy deliciousness I was hoping for. It was more akin to a brick that a Pharaoh could be proud of. And since (even at 13) I believed that if I couldn't bake it, it just couldn't be baked, I turned my back on bread for 17 years. You know, until I had a 10 month old baby and another one on the way and the attention span of a toddler with ADD. I'm a genius like that.

I got inspired to try bread again after reading another friend's post about baking her own; and, in light of my whole quest to make delicious food on my own instead of buying crap at the grocery store, this was kind of a natural progression, dontcha think? It also didn't hurt that my wonderful husband bought me a KitchenAid for Christmas a few years ago. There is now no dough that could frighten me. I think.

Anyhow, I decided to tackle this amazing-sounding light wheat bread recipe. It sounds so very simple, what could go wrong?

Truthfully - the first loaf didn't turn out all that bad. It was still VERY heavy.. kinda chewy and dense and nothing at all like the recipe promised. But it was tasty, and I am still crazy optimistic, and determined (when I want to be). So, I gave it another go the following week. And it was better, really it was. (I'm still not passing the windowpane test; but frankly, I think that's just an urban legend) But it still wasn't right. So, right after I got done making the first batch of dough, I hopped on the internet and researched mixing bread dough in a KitchenAid mixer, and found out that, duh, you don't add all the flour at once. And this time, THIS TIME!!!! I got it right! a fluffy delicious loaf of bready goodness! Take that, 13-year-old me!

The loaf on the left is my second attempt. Still a lil bit funny looking.. though it was AMAZING for breakfast with some blueberry preserves smeared on top, if I do say so myself (and I do).

The one on the right.. that, my friends, is my first-ever successful loaf of bread. Nothing can stop me now!!!

Truth be told, there are still a few adjustments to make... I think it could still be a wee bit fluffier, and when it's sliced you can still see where it was rolled up before being put in the pan for the final round of proofing, but these are minor details. The point is, I'll never buy sandwich bread again. For realz.

Speaking of... here's another thing we'll never have to buy again:

Yep, that's right. The ladies have started laying. Now we just have to figure out what to do with 19 eggs a day. Especially considering that I've not been a fan of eggs this pregnancy. I guess this means I need to bake a lot. Err.. a LOT. Seriously. Anybody need some eggs?

P.S. I almost forgot: meet the newest additions to the farm! We got ourselves 7 muscovy ducks (yes, they're the kind we used to call 'ugly ducks' in Florida, but they're bigger and meaner than your average duck, and we're hoping the dogs will think twice) and a goose named Bill. I'm starting to think that Bill might be a girl.

And, just because:

crafty update

Hard to believe it, but my 3rd trimester in the Great Baby-making Production, the Sequel, is already here. And boy howdy, is it ever. If I say that the world trembles at my approach, I'm sadly NOT being metaphorical. Back-to-back pregnancies are definitely not kind to the figure. I can only try to resist that bag of M&M's in the vending machine downstairs (you know you want 'em!) and pray that I bounce back from this as quickly as I did the first time. There is some comfort in coming back from the hospital weighing 20 pounds less than you did 2 days before.

So, with the birth of baby # 2 looming and my nesting impulses firing like mad, I've been working on a lot of projects as part of my whole "waste not, want not" campaign, and I'm hoping to develope some things that I can add to my Etsy repertoire when I finally get my site back up and running. This week, I learned how to make rag rugs - so ridiculously simple, and so many applications!- and dish soap from scraps of bar soap and lemon juice. I've also been working like crazy on making my own kitchen dish scrubbies from crocheted hemp twine, which I have left over in abundance since I outgrew the hemp jewelry phase. I think they came out pretty nice, and when I can find my camera cable, I'll post a picture.

This past month, I also took my first stab at pressure canning. Nothing exploded, so I'm calling it a success. We now have 18 jars of stewed tomatoes and 9 jars of green beans in the pantry. I'm hoping to get a chance to do some more soon. I'd really like to try pickles, though I'm doubtful that I could ever top the tasty deliciousness of Claussen Koshers. I love those things, pregnant or not.
I don't know that I actually saved a lot of money by canning this time around (I bought the green beans from the farm market) but it was definitely good learning experience. And now that I know how to use the pressure canner, nothing can stop me.

Next on my list to accomplish - homemade bread, the rag rugs I mentioned earlier, and crocheted cotton kitchen towels. I'd also like to play around with soap flakes and essential oils to see if I can make a scented soap concentrate that I could sell in dry form (to save on shipping). A 'just add water' kind of thing. I might have to learn how to make my own bar soap for it. Oh darn. AND - I still need to find a good, cheap, sulfate-free shampoo.
Oh, and also reusable food storage bags. I haven't had a chance to research yet, but I'm going to start looking for a waterproof, washable, food-safe fabric that I can make bags out of that can be washed and reused. I hate throwing out plastic bags all the time. Such a waste.
(Though now that I think about it, could you run the higher grade plastic bags (like ziploc or something) thru the washer and reuse them? How long would they last? or would they just fall apart? I may have to test this.)

In the end I hope to come up with enough cute, creative and thrifty products that I can make at home and sell to other people who are interested in that sort of thing, but maybe don't have the time or resources to make them on their own. Maybe it's all just one of my crazy Ideas that will end up not amounting to much. But it sure is fun to try, and I'm learning so much about being self-sufficient in the process, so it's a win any way you look at it.


Note: since I posted this, oh... 2 hours ago? I've found the answer to my plastic bag material question, and it is (drumroll please): ripstop nylon! I'm definitely not the first to realize that plastic storage bags are a total waste. These things are all over Etsy. Now, to get some fabric (it's surprisingly not that expensive) and make me some food storage bags!