It is 13 days until delivery day and I am wrecked. We have been together as a complete family for over a week and that has been wonderful. C had been gone for about 50 days out of 75 prior to that and it was a lot of work. Anyhow, now I am sitting here with my partner home, my kids pretending to behave most of the day and I have no energy. Granted some of that has to do with an iron issue, so I take iron pills daily. However, this is ridiculous.
We got the kids bunk beds to make room for the baby. They do a pretty good job of sleeping at night, but naptime is a constant battle. So to fix the issue I now put Hay into my room during naptime. Yesterday I let her stay in there by herself and then at night I realized my nice homemade wood bed had crayon drawings of hearts, letters and lines all over it. So I decided I have to be in there with her or chaos will ensue.
Today I laid with her in my room and Hunter in their room. It turned out nicely for us. I fell asleep, as did both the kids, and it was just what I needed. Now to do this every day as I obviously need the rest. What's going to happen when the new baby shows up? I am a little nervous I might pass out due to exhaustion then too... ugh!
All I can do is stay strong and keep positive. Its a little tough to do with contractions 10x a day and one evil one at night during one of the three pee wakeups I do each night. But, I will persevere... I think. God be with me!
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Turkeys and why you shouldnt raise them
In april C and I decided we should raise some turkeys. He convinced me that it would be some of the best turkey meat I have ever had and I of course believed him. They were so stinking cute when we picked them out and they only cost $5 each. How could this possibly be a bad idea? So we bought 4 of them and brought them home.
At first the turkeys lived in a little box. They were in the house as it was too cold outside and they were cute little stinkers at that. They we loved daily by my kids, my husband, my dog, and even by me. We then built them a house that would compare to a dog house in size. We included a little pen so they could graze and enjoy the fresh air. This lasted maybe a month.
Finally we had to build them a big pen. C spent a lot of time digging holes with the help of a friend and his tractor. He put in 8-10 foot tall posts he had found on the property and made a huge pen for the four turkeys. We then nailed some 6 foot tall chicken wire fencing all around this huge pen. It was quite an ordeal.
We put the turkeys in the pen and C made them a little awning to hide/perch under so they could stay out of the sun or rain. It seemed like a great deal. Oh yea, this pen is located at the bottom of our ridiculously long driveway and at the bottom of the hill to the house right near the 2 lane highway.
This all seems great and wonderful, but then my dear husband elected to sign up for a few different training opportunities that would take him out of town for extended amounts of time. I have been pregnant this year and growing at an awesome rate with the baby, but these turkeys were growing quickly and huge. They turned out to be two hens and two toms and the toms were obnoxious. They strutt around every time they hear anything and they started sexually abusing the females on a daily basis. I felt bad for the hens (though they probably didnt care that much).
Anyhow, as we started to look back over the 5 months we had the turkeys, they cost us about $35 per month in feed. That is $175 in food total. Plus the time and effort it took to deal with them, which isnt too bad but enough to be annoying when you are pregnant and the turkeys are like 40 lbs of male testosterone and 30 lbs of female pushiness. We finally butchered all of them (ourselves because we couldnt find any butchers who will do turkeys this year) about 1 week ago. Thank goodness for that.
Oh yea, did I mention that it took C and I and two of our friends over 5 hours to shoot, pluck, and cut up 4 turkeys? Yea that added to my disdain for the turkeys as well. On the upside, I now have a huge Christmas dinner and Thanksgiving dinner bird in the freezer and a fair amount of turkey breasts and legs to cook up and eat over the next few months. So overall it is a win, but definitely not financially responsible or something we will do again.
p.s. I will miss their gobbles every morning and anytime the kids made noise outside, it was pretty sweet. Otherwise I will hold no sad sentiments to what has occurred here and why I will never do it again.
At first the turkeys lived in a little box. They were in the house as it was too cold outside and they were cute little stinkers at that. They we loved daily by my kids, my husband, my dog, and even by me. We then built them a house that would compare to a dog house in size. We included a little pen so they could graze and enjoy the fresh air. This lasted maybe a month.
Finally we had to build them a big pen. C spent a lot of time digging holes with the help of a friend and his tractor. He put in 8-10 foot tall posts he had found on the property and made a huge pen for the four turkeys. We then nailed some 6 foot tall chicken wire fencing all around this huge pen. It was quite an ordeal.
We put the turkeys in the pen and C made them a little awning to hide/perch under so they could stay out of the sun or rain. It seemed like a great deal. Oh yea, this pen is located at the bottom of our ridiculously long driveway and at the bottom of the hill to the house right near the 2 lane highway.
This all seems great and wonderful, but then my dear husband elected to sign up for a few different training opportunities that would take him out of town for extended amounts of time. I have been pregnant this year and growing at an awesome rate with the baby, but these turkeys were growing quickly and huge. They turned out to be two hens and two toms and the toms were obnoxious. They strutt around every time they hear anything and they started sexually abusing the females on a daily basis. I felt bad for the hens (though they probably didnt care that much).
Anyhow, as we started to look back over the 5 months we had the turkeys, they cost us about $35 per month in feed. That is $175 in food total. Plus the time and effort it took to deal with them, which isnt too bad but enough to be annoying when you are pregnant and the turkeys are like 40 lbs of male testosterone and 30 lbs of female pushiness. We finally butchered all of them (ourselves because we couldnt find any butchers who will do turkeys this year) about 1 week ago. Thank goodness for that.
Oh yea, did I mention that it took C and I and two of our friends over 5 hours to shoot, pluck, and cut up 4 turkeys? Yea that added to my disdain for the turkeys as well. On the upside, I now have a huge Christmas dinner and Thanksgiving dinner bird in the freezer and a fair amount of turkey breasts and legs to cook up and eat over the next few months. So overall it is a win, but definitely not financially responsible or something we will do again.
p.s. I will miss their gobbles every morning and anytime the kids made noise outside, it was pretty sweet. Otherwise I will hold no sad sentiments to what has occurred here and why I will never do it again.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
So, it seems I'm a control Freak
I have been getting a lot of comments on FB about the fact that I am always cleaning. Since I am pregnant I was chalking most of my cleaning issues to nesting or whatever hormones may make you decide to up and clean like a crazy person. Then, as I was cleaning up the crib for its 3rd use in 5 years, I started thinking about the fact that cleaning is one of the only things I have complete and utter control over in my life.
I am a mother of 2 crazy and wonderful kids that ensure I don't feel like I have control over much in my life. I don't believe I get the amount of sleep I want most nights of the year, I don't remember getting to read a book recently, the meals I make for lunch are almost always dictated by what the children will eat, going out to eat is dependent on if it's a kid friendly joint and if my kids are behaving at that moment in time... I can keep going forever. While I believe that cleaning has a lot to do with my kids making constant messes around the house as well, it is something I can do from start to finish and see that I have accomplished a wonderful task.
I know that my kids will likely destroy any section of the house they are allowed to "play" in and therefore some of my cleaning may last about 20 seconds, but there is the fact that I can spend that time and clean something and watch it be completed before the kids attack. Something about this is so wonderful and appealing to me that I continue to try and clean things over and over and... well you get the point. By no means is my house considered a clean house. Most times people would define us as a "cluttery" mess of a family with way to much junk, to include my husband and me.
Life is supposed to be messy and challenging, so my being a control freak about cleaning, or trying to be, is okay with me right now. It's something I can make my own and appreciate for even just 10 seconds, and hopefully if the kids see me doing it enough and participate as well they may become cleaner people too. I know its a lot to wish for, but if you don't wish for the moon then what's the point of wishing at all.
I am a mother of 2 crazy and wonderful kids that ensure I don't feel like I have control over much in my life. I don't believe I get the amount of sleep I want most nights of the year, I don't remember getting to read a book recently, the meals I make for lunch are almost always dictated by what the children will eat, going out to eat is dependent on if it's a kid friendly joint and if my kids are behaving at that moment in time... I can keep going forever. While I believe that cleaning has a lot to do with my kids making constant messes around the house as well, it is something I can do from start to finish and see that I have accomplished a wonderful task.
I know that my kids will likely destroy any section of the house they are allowed to "play" in and therefore some of my cleaning may last about 20 seconds, but there is the fact that I can spend that time and clean something and watch it be completed before the kids attack. Something about this is so wonderful and appealing to me that I continue to try and clean things over and over and... well you get the point. By no means is my house considered a clean house. Most times people would define us as a "cluttery" mess of a family with way to much junk, to include my husband and me.
Life is supposed to be messy and challenging, so my being a control freak about cleaning, or trying to be, is okay with me right now. It's something I can make my own and appreciate for even just 10 seconds, and hopefully if the kids see me doing it enough and participate as well they may become cleaner people too. I know its a lot to wish for, but if you don't wish for the moon then what's the point of wishing at all.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Is it the pregnancy....??
Yesterday my husband received a phone call from a friend in town. He mentioned that the yard was needing to be mowed and asked if C wanted him to mow it for him. First off, what a nice offer to make as he knew C was out of town and I am about 7 weeks from my delivery/C Section date. C declined since he will be home "soon" and therefore didn't want to put anyone out.
I started looking at the yard and realized it has been driving me nuts too. Whenever we mow the lawn it is a joint task. This is because our yard is at least 1 acre and if we do it together the time is cut in half. We have a push mower and a riding lawn mower at our disposal and some of the yard is hilly so the push mower is a must. I usually do the push mowing (sounds like the crappy deal but whatever) on the hills and C does the sitting mower.
Anyhow, today was it. I decided to mow some of the yard, which may or may not have been a good idea. I mowed near my fire pit because it makes it more appealing to enjoy a fire at if its mowed. I also mowed near the chickens and turkeys because the grass here has some angry portions that get prickly and hurt whenever you walk within two feet of them. Then I mowed by the driveway (which is a ridiculous hill by the way) because it looks better mowed of course. And finally I mowed a portion of the grass that C had left from last time and was starting to look like the amazon.
While I was mowing I was trying to figure out why I would do this. I know I am 8 months pregnant and this was probably all my body will be able to take today, and I have a list of other things I want to accomplish also. Then I started thinking about my former life in the military. When I worked in one of my units we had people deployed year round. As such the unit made certain to contact the spouses on a weekly basis to tell them how things were on the deployment, any specific changes, any events they could attend on base, and to just check in to make sure they were okay. The unit also provided assistance to moms/spouses who may need it with chores like mowing the lawn or picking up furniture when something inevitably crapped out while their spouse was gone.
This made me reflect on my husbands unit now. We are no longer military but it is a federal job. He chooses and is asked to attend certain training programs that take him all over the country. While it isn't the same as a military deployment, it can still affect the home life for sure. Have they called to check on his pregnant wife? Have the stopped by to see how things are going? No.
Now, I always swore I would never be "that spouse" that asked for help getting the groceries in the door or whatever ridiculous task was upon me. While the people he works with are really nice and have checked in with me frequently I am a little saddened that his unit as a whole doesn't care about the welfare of their people and their families. So I wonder now if I am caring about this just because I am pregnant and took my pregnant ass outside to mow the lawn for almost two hours or if I am just sad my husband is still gone and coming up with something else to complain about.
Well, I guess that's about it. I'm off the soap box for now.
I started looking at the yard and realized it has been driving me nuts too. Whenever we mow the lawn it is a joint task. This is because our yard is at least 1 acre and if we do it together the time is cut in half. We have a push mower and a riding lawn mower at our disposal and some of the yard is hilly so the push mower is a must. I usually do the push mowing (sounds like the crappy deal but whatever) on the hills and C does the sitting mower.
Anyhow, today was it. I decided to mow some of the yard, which may or may not have been a good idea. I mowed near my fire pit because it makes it more appealing to enjoy a fire at if its mowed. I also mowed near the chickens and turkeys because the grass here has some angry portions that get prickly and hurt whenever you walk within two feet of them. Then I mowed by the driveway (which is a ridiculous hill by the way) because it looks better mowed of course. And finally I mowed a portion of the grass that C had left from last time and was starting to look like the amazon.
While I was mowing I was trying to figure out why I would do this. I know I am 8 months pregnant and this was probably all my body will be able to take today, and I have a list of other things I want to accomplish also. Then I started thinking about my former life in the military. When I worked in one of my units we had people deployed year round. As such the unit made certain to contact the spouses on a weekly basis to tell them how things were on the deployment, any specific changes, any events they could attend on base, and to just check in to make sure they were okay. The unit also provided assistance to moms/spouses who may need it with chores like mowing the lawn or picking up furniture when something inevitably crapped out while their spouse was gone.
This made me reflect on my husbands unit now. We are no longer military but it is a federal job. He chooses and is asked to attend certain training programs that take him all over the country. While it isn't the same as a military deployment, it can still affect the home life for sure. Have they called to check on his pregnant wife? Have the stopped by to see how things are going? No.
Now, I always swore I would never be "that spouse" that asked for help getting the groceries in the door or whatever ridiculous task was upon me. While the people he works with are really nice and have checked in with me frequently I am a little saddened that his unit as a whole doesn't care about the welfare of their people and their families. So I wonder now if I am caring about this just because I am pregnant and took my pregnant ass outside to mow the lawn for almost two hours or if I am just sad my husband is still gone and coming up with something else to complain about.
Well, I guess that's about it. I'm off the soap box for now.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Nesting a little
My husband had to go to WV for some training and I am left in small town Wa with my two kids, two cats, 1 dog, 18 chickens, and 4 turkeys. This is ridiculous! Anyhow, I have noticed that my house is a complete wreck. Mainly this is because I have been neglecting the house to do school for the last 4.5 months. While I am proud of what I have done so far, I feel like I am ashamed of the house upkeep/prep.
So, here I am with 8 weeks until we meet number 3 and my house is not clean, not kept up, and definitely not ready for a baby. I have no clothes or really anything as I passed all of our stuff onto others thinking we were done with the pregnancies. Ha! Watch out for that one friends. Anyhow, I still have a crib and a chair which really are the big ones for me to survive. We still have two months to accumulate the other necessities.
That being said, I don't feel I have the time to get this house in order. Every time I get something accomplished I have my two little shadows undoing my progress. Its something I have gotten used to in the past 4 years, but I am freaking out a bit now. I am still optimistic that if I tackle a few things each day I may be able to conquer this mess and be a little more prepared for the blessed event.
I figure if I set my sights on little goals there is a chance that I can make this work. But then there is the deal of keeping the clean parts clean. That and trying to spend time with the kiddos, keep my sanity, take care of the animals, and also ensuring I remember to shower and take care of me is a lot to keep up with all together. Its straight up exhausting. I will be glad to have C home in a couple weeks so I can have a little help with the little people or the crazy animals.
So, here I am with 8 weeks until we meet number 3 and my house is not clean, not kept up, and definitely not ready for a baby. I have no clothes or really anything as I passed all of our stuff onto others thinking we were done with the pregnancies. Ha! Watch out for that one friends. Anyhow, I still have a crib and a chair which really are the big ones for me to survive. We still have two months to accumulate the other necessities.
That being said, I don't feel I have the time to get this house in order. Every time I get something accomplished I have my two little shadows undoing my progress. Its something I have gotten used to in the past 4 years, but I am freaking out a bit now. I am still optimistic that if I tackle a few things each day I may be able to conquer this mess and be a little more prepared for the blessed event.
I figure if I set my sights on little goals there is a chance that I can make this work. But then there is the deal of keeping the clean parts clean. That and trying to spend time with the kiddos, keep my sanity, take care of the animals, and also ensuring I remember to shower and take care of me is a lot to keep up with all together. Its straight up exhausting. I will be glad to have C home in a couple weeks so I can have a little help with the little people or the crazy animals.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Just when you think...
you have it all figured out, something significant changes and readjusts your perspective. In Nov 2011 I decided to start a master's program through the University of Phoenix for education. Charlie and I finally decided that we were happy with 2 kids and ready for me to start working my way back into a possible career field and how better to do it than to get the school part knocked out as soon as possible. So I worked with Univ of Phx for a few months to get set up. And then it happened...
Ooops... we got pregnant again. By Feb 2012 I knew we were pregnant and began preparing and getting a doctor lined up. Charlie's immediate response was pure elation. My initial response was fear and worry. How am I going to be a mother of 3? I am about to start school again, what happens now? Will I be able to handle all the work and the kids and still be a good mom? So many questions were racing in my mind.
In the beginning of the month we found out we are having another girl. In some ways this totally comforts me. I just don't quite understand why my little dude does some of the things he chooses to do. Haylie on the other hand, I totally get her, even though she is a complete princess. We are expecting to meet the new addition on Sept 21, 2012 via C-section. As of this point, we are thinking the name is going to be Isabella Louise after both of our grandmothers middle names. I think it will stick, but you never know with 4 months to go.
We are getting pretty excited to meet her and are very excited for the kids to meet her as well. It will be interesting to see what Hunter does not being the baby. Lots of adventures are definitely ahead for the Snow fam.
Ooops... we got pregnant again. By Feb 2012 I knew we were pregnant and began preparing and getting a doctor lined up. Charlie's immediate response was pure elation. My initial response was fear and worry. How am I going to be a mother of 3? I am about to start school again, what happens now? Will I be able to handle all the work and the kids and still be a good mom? So many questions were racing in my mind.
In the beginning of the month we found out we are having another girl. In some ways this totally comforts me. I just don't quite understand why my little dude does some of the things he chooses to do. Haylie on the other hand, I totally get her, even though she is a complete princess. We are expecting to meet the new addition on Sept 21, 2012 via C-section. As of this point, we are thinking the name is going to be Isabella Louise after both of our grandmothers middle names. I think it will stick, but you never know with 4 months to go.
Holidays and West Coast family
During Thanksgiving I had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time with my mom and Step Dad as well as my Brother and his family. I had been watching my two nephews for about a week when the rest of the family arrived at their home in Seattle. I had not see my brother in 2.5 yrs and it was nice to get reacquainted and to introduce him to his nephew Hunter.
We celebrated the holiday together and got the opportunity to stay in a beach house on the water for a night as well. It was definitely a treat. Only down side was returning home with Hunter having strep throat, Charlie having strep and then getting another sickness the week after, Haylie having a cold and me trying to survive it all. Overall, definitely worth the trip and always fun to spend time with family and we got a sweet family photo out of it.
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| Our family photo op |
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| My sweet little boy |
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| My mom, brother and me |
My beautiful Monster and me
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