New Car Shopping

Brian and I are the type of people that buy new vehicles and trade them in a year or two later. We have never kept the same vehicle longer than two years. We just like change and like upgrading. A year ago we traded in our new Tahoe for one of my dream rides, a Jeep Wranger. Of course I ended up pregnant two months after we did that and we regretted getting rid of our $60,000 roomy Tahoe for something that wouldn't fit our new baby. We kept the Jeep and Brian's brand new truck and got a used Suburban. I won't lie, I HATE the looks of a Suburban. I hate the body style and have always mouthed about how they look like a hearse. However, the extra room is amaze balls. I'm extremely spoiled to it now so down sizing will be a hard adjustment but we are thinking about doing it. I really want something new and my style. I'm torn though not only about losing extra room but also because as of right now all of our vehicles are paid off and if I get something new we will probably finance the difference between trade in and sale price which isn't ideal seeing how we are currently debt free. If we do got ahead and trade in the Suburban I'm undecided on what we will get. It'll most likely be another new Tahoe or a Infiniti QX 60 which is one of three dream cars of mine besides the 4 door Jeep Wrangler and a Range Rover Sport. A Rover has very little storage behind the 3rd row so that probably won't be the route we go as much as I'd looooove to have one. They are such sharp vehicles. I always grew up saying that I wanted to be 'the hot mom in a range rover' ha. How silly is that? A Tahoe and Infiniti are both roomy though. They are more practical for a family of 6. I'm going Thursday to have the dealerships quote me trade in value on the suburban and to see what kind of deals we can work out. That trip will probably make my decision for me on what I do. I'm an instant gratification kind of gal. I want what I want as soon as I've decided that I want it. If they will give me what I want for trade in AND have exactly what I want on the lot, mama will be coming home with a new ride. If they don't, I will wait until we can pay cash. 

The Tahoe we'd get:

The Infiniti we'd get:

The Range Rover that I'd love to get but wouldn't be practical space wise:

 
 After all of the trading in that we've done I know by now that price is ALWAYS negotiable and if they won't give you what you want, walk away. You'll find someone who will! Stay strong car shoppers. Do research and go in knowing what things are worth. Don't settle and don't get pushed around. 

 

Finding Joy in the Ordinary

As a stay at home mom with soon to be 4 children some might think that my life is 'boring'. I mean, how exciting could things be when you spend your days with preschoolers and rarely leave the house? How exciting could things be when you've been with the same man for 9 years? How exciting could things be when you are 27 and can count on 3 fingers how many times you've been drunk? How exciting can things be when you never party? How exciting could things be when you live on a farm in a small town? How exciting can such an ordinary life be?

Here's the thing, I find complete excitement in my kids learning new things. I find excitement in never ever having missed a big moment of my kids lives. I find excitement in late night talks in bed with my husband. I find excitement in the fact that I've almost spent a decade with the same person. I find excitement in the bond that we've created over that time period. I find excitement in falling more and more in love with each other every day. I find excitement in watching animals be born on the farm. I find excitement in how solid my life is. I find pure joy and happiness in the ordinary. Some people search their entire lives to find a place of joy. Some people never find it. Some people don't know how to find joy in the ordinary. Some people think that to be happy you need to have an over the top, wild, never settled life. To me those people couldn't be more wrong. To me there's nothing more amazing than being content and settled in the simplest of times. We must all learn to find the joy in ordinary things. You can't spend your life looking for the next best thing. You can't rob yourself of living the life that you have. Even in the bad times there is always something to be thankful for. Always! 

Mom and wife life for me is the only life that I wanted. It wasn't an easy journey to get here. In fact, it was very hard emotionally, mentally, and physically at times. I didn't trust boys at all. I was a shut off soul with walls a mile high around my heart. I went through a lot of betrayal and bullshit prior to meeting Brian and I thought that I was forever damaged because of that. Nope. Brian swooped in and broke down every insecurity that I've ever had. He built me up and showed me what real love was. His love for me was genuine and obvious. So obvious that my parents (who wanted to hate him because he was 11 years older and I was barely an adult) fell in love with him quickly because of the way that he loved me. He fought for me to their faces when I tried to push him away. He cried to them about losing me when he thought that I wasn't ready for commitment. He still to this day talks to them when I'm upset and he isn't sure how to help. There were times when I got mad at them because I felt like they took his side over mine ha. He's their son as much as I'm their daughter and they will tell you that. He's impossible not to love because his love runs so deep. Once we got married we spent years trying to grow our family. We did fertility treatments and reproductive testing in Little Rock, AR. We spent thousands and thousands of dollars. We went through a failed adoption after our 2nd IVF failure. It was heart break after heart break. Once we were finally blessed with children we experienced reoccurring miscarriages as we continued to try and grow our family. We've made it through almost losing my dad twice, fostering, selling a farm that Brian built from the ground up 13 years ago, building our dream home, and now struggling to carry our rainbow baby full term plus so much more. Ordinary for us is a gift! It's something that we fought hard for. It's something that we wanted more than anything. It's a beautiful thing. It's peaceful. It's our happy place. 

No matter where you are at in life or what you are doing find joy in the simplest of things. That's when you know that you are truly and ridiculously happy. When on your most 'boring' days, you feel like you couldn't possibly be any more blessed. 

Germs & A Newborn Baby

I am not an overly obsessive germ freak. I mean, how could I be when I have 2 kids (soon to be 3) in preschool/school who are exposed regularly to every germ that there is it seems? However, I do think that extra protection through certain vaccines and avoiding certain places is always a great idea. It's why we vaccinate. It's why I have always avoided big indoor crowded places with my kids. It's why my daughters have been to the mall one time in their entire lives and my son has never been to the mall period. It's why I can count on one hand how many times that I have taken them grocery shopping with me. I'm all about kids being kids. Kids playing in dirt. Kids spending their days outside and not on electronics. Kids fishing and helping with livestock. We embrace the secluded farm/county life fully. We have had cow shit blow up into our faces while we were pulling a calf. We have watched our kids finger paint in deer blood while we were cleaning a deer that we killed. Okay, I'm kidding about that one but you get my point. We don't mind the dirtiness of farming but when it comes to avoiding strangers and the viruses that they could be carrying, I'm all about that life too. I don't make people shower before they hold my babies and I don't refuse to have company over that we are close to but I do require company that plans to be around our newborns to have certain vaccines and I do have hand sanitizer sitting around every where for people to use before they hold our babies. This has never been an issue for us because our family is close and respectful. They'd never risk a baby's healthy. 

With our baby that's on the way the odds are huge that he or she will be here and be less than a month old during Andlee's birthday party. That does take extra consideration by me as a mom. I want Andlee to have the party that she deserves with all of her friends there but I also have to keep the baby in mind so my plan is simple. I will baby wear or mom will keep baby inside. People won't be able to hold the baby unless it's a special circumstance like my brother and 2 of my best friends that are from out of town that might not of met the baby yet and have all had vaccines. In that case they can go inside where it's secluded and hold the baby. It'll be a pool party so everyone else will be outside. I want to be involved in Andee's celebration and have fun with her so my mom will keep the baby inside away from the party during the times when I'm with Ann. It's not close family holding the baby that concerns me since they will have already met the baby most likely and have been vaccinated. It's the other kids and extra people that will be there that I'm picky about so it's just simplest to not let anyone pass the baby around and to keep the baby away from the crowd. 

Germs are inevitable. They will find their way in to your home, on your clothes and on your shoes. They are there at the doctors office when you take your baby for well visits. They are passed around from kid to kid when you have older children in school. They are even all over the hospital that you birth your new baby at. A completely germ free and 100% sterile life is pretty impossible but there are many rational ways to decrease exposure without living in a bubble. I understand that but I can still do some things to help prevent exposure. 

Here are those things:

-Vaccines! We do selective vaccinations for our children but the ones that are a must for anyone who plans to be around our babies are the flu shot and Tdap vaccine. 

-Limited Public Outings! We still occasionally went places like doctors appointments, out to eat, our parents houses, church (once the baby was older), the movies (we'd go during the day in a small town so it was always basically an empty theater), ect. Places that were either controlled, clean atmospheres or somewhere that I could baby wear so the baby had no close exposure to people that we didn't know. We also spent a lot of time outside in those early months. It got us out of the house but also was away from public places. We did not go places with big crowds or a lot of people. We stayed at home 90% of the time. Our family and friends were so great! They would randomly bring us groceries and cooked meals. My mom would check in daily and see what errands I needed ran. Plus Brian worked outside of the home so he could pick up anything that we needed. I rarely had to leave home but let's face it there are times when you just need to get out. We didn't turn those times down. We just found safer ways to get out and to still have fun.

-Hand sanitizer! I always have bottles sitting around our house and in my purse. It's not just something that I do when I have a small child around, it's something that I always do. It's a quick and effective way to clean hands and arms. 

-Air Purifier with Disinfectant! We have 2 Rainbow brand air purifiers. One is huge and one is small. They are some of the best on the market. Like, we spent over $6000 on the big one. Rainbow also sells a green disinfectant that you put into the purifier and run it 24/7. It's the same stuff that hospitals run through their filtration systems and it's really effective to kill germs. Like I said, nothing is 100% effective but I still highly recommend this product. You can get it at any Rainbow store.  

-Baby wearing and car seat covers! If we are going to be around people or in public I either baby wear or keep the baby in the car seat with a cover/blanket over it. It keeps people from getting close to the baby or touching the baby and it helps shield some germs. 

So, I felt like more of a germ freak than I thought as I got deeper into this post ha. But my point is that there are a lot of practical ways to lessen the risk of sicknesses without being a nut job who lives in a plastic bubble. The reality of it is that kids are going to get sick. It's going to happen and we just have to accept that. We can't lose our minds over it and we can't live in fear of it. 

I hope these tips were helpful to y'all. I've never had an infant while having school aged  bigs so this is going to be new for me. I am nervous but I am also trying to stay practical and thoughtful of the older siblings who will still want to go out to do things on the weekends sometimes. 

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day! A day that I envied for years because I wanted to be a mom so badly. Now I'm the blessed mom of 4 plus bonus boys through foster care and angel babies. Being a mom is one of the greatest privileges and having a mom as amazing as mine is one of the greatest gifts. The other day I was thinking about how much she impacts my life and it hit me that there is no one who I am closer to than her. There is no one who I rely on and turn to more than her. There is no one that is my go to for advice more than her. Of course my dad and husband run a close race but ultimately my mom takes the cake. My heart feels slaughtered to imagine a day with out her. I truly turn to her for things multiple times a day. She's the first person I told that I was pregnant every single time. She's the first person that I instinctively call or text basically any time I have a thought. I see my relationship with her and the way that I turn to her like I see breathing, it's not a thought process it's natural. It's not a choice, it's crucial to my well being. She's just my solid and I pray that my kids see me the way that I see her. I love her so much. 

I spent Mother's Day with my loved ones. I was woken up to the sweetest gifts and cards from my kids. They each hand made my cards and picked out flowers for me. These types of gifts are the absolute best. Money can't buy that kind of happiness and appreciation. Gifts from the hearts of 4 and 5 year olds. Oh my soul. They also made me breakfast which tasted amazing I must say. We spent the morning cuddling and watching TV then we went to visit my mother in law. We gave her the gifts that we got her and spent some time with her. After that we headed to my parents house. It was a gorgeous day so I set up a little pool party. I invited my grandmas so that my parents could spend Mother's Day with their moms, I could spend it with my mom, and my kids could spend it with me. Brian and I grilled some food for everyone and we all enjoyed the pool. It was just a great day spent with special people. I feel very lucky to have the moms in my life that I do and to be the mom of such incredible little ones. 

 

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there. I hope that you each had a wonderful day. 

Pregnancy Update: Weeks 29 & 30

Week 29:

-No weight gain

-Craving Ice every waking moment

-Increased strength of baby movement (the movement hurts me which isn't something that I had happen with the others)

-We got a 4D ultrasound and baby looks like Andlee to us 

-Dreams that I have a 4 lb 7 oz baby boy (which ends up being freaking considering what happens in my 30th week) 

Week 30:

-Gained 7 oz

-Ice cravings going strong 

-Baby movement is still hurting (I found out later this week why, baby like to lay sideways inside of me and is tall for his or her's age. Baby stretches out which pushes my hips and rips apart causing me increased pain.) 

-Started feeling a lot of pressure 'down stairs', had a lot of cramping, and got a dull back ache like I did when I went into labor with Hudson. This went on for a day or 2 when I started bleeding bright red and realized that I was having preterm labor pains. I went to the local ER because that's what the midwives told me to do. They didn't want me to risk an hour drive to get to them. Long story short a few days in the hospital and a lot of drugs later we got things slowed down. I have a detailed post on that experience a few posts back if you're curious. (This scare and the overly vivid 4 lbs 7 oz baby boy dream kind of creeped me out. What's the odds that I dreamt that a week before I went into early labor?)

-More baby boy dreams and my first c section night mare. I'm sure I'm dreaming about that because of my hospital stay but gosh it was rough. Major props to mamas who have c sections. I'm a tough girl and not scared of surgeries or anything like that but something about having surgery while wide awake gets to me. 

All in all this point in my pregnancy changed things. It risked me out at the birth center. It changed how active I can be. It bumped my doctors appointments up to sometimes twice a week. I have to take medicine every 4 hours to hold labor off and I have to get booster steroid shots regularly until I either deliver or make it to 36 weeks. It put the reality into our heads that baby #4 might HAVE to be our last baby if I can't carry to term. Hudson was my earliest birth and although it was only by a week this time preterm issues started way sooner. I may not ever be able to carry a baby to term which puts future children at risk. It's a lot to process but we are getting there. I can't worry about hypothetical pregnancies when I have the current one to keep safe. I want to hold in this baby as long as I possibly can. Not just for his or her's safety (obviously that's my biggest concern) but also because if this is my last baby I want to soak in every moment. I don't want it to end. Our house needs to be moved in to. Maternity pictures need to be taken. All the cute pregnancy shirts that I've boughten need to be wore. The baby needs to gain a bunch of weight. I need more alone time with my bigs before their baby sibling is here. There are a ton of reasons why I can't have this baby any time soon. In a perfectly amazing world I'll carry to 42 weeks and have a 10 pounder ha. Okay, maybe not the 10 pound part but I'd take that over a preemie any day. My point is that baby needs to bake. 

 

People Come & Go

One thing that we all know about life is that people come and go. Someone that you were the closest to at one point, becomes a stranger. Someone that was a stranger, becomes a friend. Someone that you thought you could trust with anything, you couldn't trust at all. Someone that you thought you wouldn't get along with, ended up being your kind of person. Our requirements for friends changes as we mature. When you're young you settle for good times and hang out buddies. When you're older you want quality traits in a person that you spend your time with. When you're a parent you want friends that your kids can look up to and learn from. My group of friends has changed dramatically. Sure, I still have a handful of the friends that I did as a child and in high school but in my mom life I've found many new friends that I appreciate so much. Women who are at the same place in life as me. Women who I can totally relate to. Women whose families come first. Women who have drinks over potty training discussions. (Yes, my best friend Lauren and I have seriously sat at a restaurant drinking mixed drinks while talking about potty training and cloth diapering ha.) Women who still enjoy girls nights but want to be home to their family at a decent hour. Women whose girls nights are usually dinner and a movie or even a night in watching the kids play while you snack on homemade chips and salsa. Women who you can complain to about your husband and know that they aren't judging you because they've felt the same exact way. Women who don't get butt hurt if it takes you a week to reply to their text because they know how crazy a moms mind is and how busy you are. Women who check on you and your kids when someone is sick. Women who don't care if your house is dirty because they know the struggle. Women who randomly drop by because they know that you're always at home with your kids and they wanted some adult interaction. Women who you can ask for mothering advice and not feel like they think less of you because God forbid you not know it all as a mom. Women who are the kind of friend/person that you are. 

I've been burned a lot by girls. I'm the type of friend who is all in and expects the same loyalty. I don't need people in my life that I can't trust and sadly it's taken me years before to find out what someone was really like but those people taught me great lessons. They have taught me to be the kind of friend that I'd want someone to be to me. They have taught me that people will come and go but the people who matter will always stay. They have taught me that some of the best people that you'll ever meet might be the ones that you never expected. They have taught me that sometimes the friend that you've known the shortest amount of time might end up being the one that you share the deepest bond with. 

Be open to new journeys. Be open to new friends. Be open to surprises. Guard your heart but don't let the fear of getting burned keep you from giving people a chance. 

And remember that life isn't a competition. If you find someone just like you, cherish that. Don't see it as a threat. I've been guilty of feeling this way. Of feeling like someone who had a life very similar to mine was someone trying to compete with me or 'copy' me but with time I have learned that it isn't like that. If anything it's a blessing to have someone out there so much like you because believe it or not it can be hard to find someone who has a ton in common with me that I also actually get along with personality wise. I think that's why I felt put off by it. Because it's so rare. I mean, I'm a stay at home mom with soon to be 4 kids ages 5 and under. I didn't get stuck in this life, I begged God for it. I love being a mom despite the craziness and I truly enjoy it. I enjoy cloth diapering and making my own baby food. I enjoy birthday party throwing, arts and crafts time, home school lessons, chores and chart making, learning new things about children's safety, foster parenting, going over board on holiday decor, making fun snacks with faces, ect. I'm a small town girl who lives on a farm with my onry tribe and a million pets. People in the same place in life as me or who feel like I do about momming just aren't common. Good working mom friends with 2.0 kids aren't too hard to find and I adore my working ladies who think two kids is too much. I still have plenty in common with them. But if I find a mom like me who wants 10 kids and has a bomb personality that's like finding a freaking unicorn. I shouldn't of ever seen those girls as anything but an opportunity to make a life long friend. 

Pregnancy Update: Premature Labor Round 2

Three days ago I started cramping constantly and contracting regularly. My lower back hurt too and I began to bleed so I called my midwife. She told me not to risk driving to the hospital that they partner with (it's a hour away) and to get to my nearest ER. That's what I did. Little did I know that I was dilating and softening. After 2 days in the hospital, a ton of bags of fluid, antibiotics, pills every 4 hours to try to slow the contractions down, steroid shots for the baby, another Rhogam shot, magnesium sulfate, an ultrasound to check on baby's size, make sure there's no uterine blood clots or placenta ruptures, and to check cervical length I am stable. We were able to go home on bed rest and medicine to minimize contractions. I'm still cramping and having constant uterine irritability but the contractions are much farther apart and I haven't dilated any farther (I am 2 cm) so that's great news. Baby stayed extremely active through the entire hospital stay and the heart rate stayed perfect. The ultrasound went amazing as well. According to it we have a 3 lbs 7 oz baby in there that loves to lay sideways. That would explain the sharp jabs directly to the hip bones that keeps waking me up ha. 

On another note I just have to send a shout out to Grove's labor and deliver staff and Dr. Thomas. When preterm labor started I was terrified to go to a small town hospital but also even more terrified to have a 30 weeker on the side of the road. Plus I honestly thought I was crazy and that they'd send me right home. My labors are weird. Contractions didn't hurt me until an hour before I delivered. My back constantly killed me with my son the whole labor but I didn't have pain from the actual contractions until the end. I contracted regularly for weeks with all 3 babies before they actually came. I have notorious prolonged labor that I never really considered labor because the contractions didn't hurt until it was it was close to push time. I just don't take myself seriously and I never had those cool, "Omg my water broke, let's have a baby!" moments. I had sketchy, "Is this really it?" moments. Anyways this time was no different. I under estimated what I was feeling and blew it off for a day before I went in which was stupid of me. I showed up to the hospital with every intention of it being normal pregnancy symptoms and being sent right home. Little did I know that I was actually dilating and softening or that I'd end up loving every single nurse that I met and the doctor. From one nurse sitting on my bed with me to feel/time my contractions with her hands because the monitor wasn't picking them up consistently and she trusted me when I told her what I was feeling to another nurse giving mom and I the 411 on what's NOT hospital policy and all of my options for birthing there if that happened. Literally everything that I wanted out of my birth can be done there aside from a water birth. If I can carry to a safer point in my pregnancy, I can do delayed cord clamping. I can be unhooked from the monitor after 40 mins of being monitored. My husband can deliver the baby. I can shower while in labor. I'm allowed to eat if I want to. They fully support natural births with no pain management despite what gestational age the baby is. The OB confirmed all of this. He even offers/performs vaginal births after a cesarean which isn't as common as you'd think. Because of this scare I'm no longer a candidate to be a patient at the birth center but I'm thankful that God laid the best back up plan possible into my lap. I will be using Dr. Thomas from this point on and depending on how things happen I'll either transfer to Tulsa to deliver if it happens in the next few weeks and I'm not bleeding like I was or I will deliver in Grove if I can make it to 34-35 weeks. No matter what I truly feel like the baby and I will have the best of care after everything I just witnessed from this staff. I have total faith that baby can stay put to term but even if he or she doesn't I know that God will take care of our sweet little Rainbow and I know that this all happened for a reason 🌈

As for my thoughts/feelings on losing my water birth experience, I am doing surprisingly well. After hearing the risks to my baby if he or she was born now and signing wavers saying that I understood these risks it puts things into perspective. From the baby having an increased risk of brain bleeds and cerebral palsy to the baby having to stay in the NICU for a long time and my family spending time apart because of it. My kids not getting to meet their siblings or hold them soon. My teeny tiny baby being hooked up to machines and struggling or in pain. Not being able to spend every moment in the same building or even town with all my kids. It all was just a huge blow of emotions and my selfish desire to birth in water instantly disappeared. If I get any my birth desires, cool. If I don't and every single thing goes completely against my 'plans' but baby is here safely, I couldn't be happier. 

Thank you to all of my personal friends and family for your prayers and well wishes. From bringing us dinner to offering to keep the kids, y'all are dolls. To my readers, please keep us in your thoughts. We hope that it's months before we meet this precious miracle and we can use all of the prayers and good vibes that we can get. 

 

 

 

30 Days of Me: Days 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, & 21

30 Days of Me: Day 16

Another picture of myself!

 

30 Days of Me: Day 17

Someone that you want to switch lives with and why!

That one is easy, absolutely no one. No one because I truly do love what makes up my life. I don't always love the situations in it or love things about myself personally but I do love the people that are in it and everything that makes my life, mine. I love where I am at. I love my kids. I love being pregnant. I love my family. I love my husband. I love my friends. I love our new house and land. I love being debt free. I love being able to be a stay at home mom but also having the comfort of a career doing what I love in line. I just appreciate it all so much. I wouldn't give those things up for one second just to live someone else's life. 

Now, if a genie would swoop down and grant me 3 wishes that would be a different story ha. I'd take those wishes in half a second. I'd wish for my family and I to all live long, healthy lives. I'd wish that my kids are always happy. Then lastly, I'd wish to be crazy rich ha. I'd spend that money putting it into trusts for each of our kids futures, paying off all of my family's debt and medical bills, no kill humane societies, foster care group homes, donating to several of my favorite organizations, taking our loved ones on big trips all together to make memories, and of course I'd have more babies. I haven't already planned this all out or anything just in case we win the lotto one day. Can you tell? 

30 Days of Me: Day 18

Plans/dreams/goals that you have! 

Well that's pretty vague. I'm guessing since this had me do short term goals a few days ago this one is more like life goals. I don't know so this might be a random mix of both. 

Get Andlee's thyroid issues resolved and rule out anything serious. Get moved into our new house. Welcome a heathy baby into the world. Enjoy my summer with my kids. Sell what's left of the land at our old farm so we can have even more savings. Get more cows. Have more kids. Take in every moment of my kids being the ages that they are even when that's hard. Build a big, nice barn for our farm animals and show cattle. Get my kids in riding and equine lessons. Travel to some dream locations. Get my dream mom car (an off white Land Rover) and NOT finance for it. Go to work at a salon part time when the baby is toddler age (my grandma and mom will keep the baby so no day cares). I want to build up my clientele before the baby starts school so that I can open a salon in town near the school. I want to own my own business so that I can work full time but also have the flexibility of being involved in all of the kids trips and extra curriculars as well as earn a steady booth rent from employees in my salon. Plus around the time that the baby is in kindergarten we plan to have another baby so owning my own business will help with that flexibility as well. I can continue to work throughout my pregnancy and whenever I want to after baby #5 comes. It's a win, win. I'll need to build up a good clientele first for it to be successful though. My ultimate goal is to just simply enjoy my life. To raise decent human beings. To stay healthy. For my family to stay healthy. To remain comfortable financially. To spend all the time that I can with my loved ones. Continued happiness. Total happiness. 

30 Days of Me: Day 19

Nicknames that I have and why!

I don't really have a lot of nick names but I do have a few names that I'm called by. Momma, Sis, Cal, and Babe are what I'm called by people that I'm close to more than my actual name. 

30 Days of Me: Day 20 

Someone that I want to marry!

I married exactly who I was meant to marry and who I wanted to marry. We will soon be celebrating 8 years of marriage and it seems like things just get even better with time. There's a Taylor Swift song that says, "Let's get married, have 10 kids, and teach them how to dream.". That's basically our life in a nut shell ha. 

30 Days of Me: Day 20

A picture of something that makes you happy! 

That's easy enough ha. FamILY! 

 

30 Days of Me: Day 21 

What makes you different than others!

This is easy too. I definitely think that my desire to have 10 kids makes me different than most people ha. 

Placenta Encapsulation: Why I Am Doing It

People have the most annoying response to me when I tell them that I am doing this. As if I'm planning to eat my raw placenta like an animal right after I deliver or something. Y'all just STOPPPP! You people don't think twice about tossing a pill full of chemicals into your mouth and swallowing it but you think consuming something completely natural is so ludicrous? Right! 

Here's the real deal on this topic and my plans to do it. Yes, there are several ways to prepare your placenta. Some do consume it raw by putting it into a smoothie but most women now days pay to have a specialist dehydrate the placenta and put it into capsules. It's pill form and no different than taking a pill. The said benefits of it seem very worth it to me so I'm going to share those benefits as well as share a link here to support them. 

https://www.placentawise.com/research-studies-supporting-placenta-encapsulation/

Benefits of Placenta Consumption:

If you are considering doing this please be sure to find someone specialized in it. Do your own research and form your own conclusion. 

And for those of you that want to judge why someone is doing it or jump to conclusions about it, just don't. Educate yourselves and try to understand their side if it's THAT big of a deal to you. 
 

New House Update: Flooding & Unexpected Circumstances

A few weeks ago we were told that things are going about 2 weeks ahead of schedule on our house so we could most likely move in mid May. Well recently we've gotten a lot of rain and the creek that runs through our property has flooded out. It's washed roads away and has blocked off both entrances to our new home. No one can get up there including workers so for 2 weeks now there hasn't been much progress on the house. The electrical company and water company did manage to do their part before the creek got too deep but that's about it. The walls in the home have been textured but not painted. The cabinets are done but can't be installed. The fire place is framed and ready for rock but can't be rocked. The wood flooring is there but can't be put down. There's so much ready to be done but no one can't get there to do it and after this weekends flood it's way worse. Not only is our creek roaring but one way of the county road that our our land is on is white capping with running water. It's unreal. We are able to get to the cabin from the other direction on the county road but as far as our new house goes the creek is far too deep. We ordered huge pipes to put in at the bottom of both drive ways to the house but they can't be put in until the creek goes down. We aren't sure how long it'll take for the water to recede or how long it'll take to fix the roads so it'll probably be another full week before our house can be worked on again. That puts us 3 weeks behind on moving in. Possibly longer. It's very stressful to be dealing with flooding on top of being worried that the house won't be done before the baby comes. If this baby comes when our bigs came we will NOT be moved in. That's a very upsetting thought for me but I'm trying to stay positive. I'm determined to carry not just to 37 weeks/full term but the entire 40 weeks. It might be extremely close and we might not be 100% settled in on the hill when the baby comes but by gosh we are going to try. 

This is the creek that's washed out 2 ways at the end of our driveway:

 This is the county road to our property:

This is the drive way to our cabin and the water coming up to the bottom of the deck on it:

Prayers for everyone who has been affected by these floods would be greatly appreciated. I have seen homes under water, injuries, and deaths come of this. Our problems are nothing compared to others and my heart is with them.