Sunday, May 27, 2012

Welcome to the World...

Its been a week and two day since Cadence was born. Its still hard to believe that this precious human came out of me. The night  before her big day, I could barely sleep. I kept wondering if everything was going to end up ok and if the health of my child and myself would be ok too.




One dose of the spinal block wasn't enough for me so I was concerned how many shots it would take since the shot itself was so painful. Two doses worked plenty! The whole delivery room was scary, esp with the fact that Charles could not come in with me for the spinal block... and that process itself was delaying the whole surgery. I couldn't stop shaking while I was waiting for the numbness to take over my lower half. I felt so alone even though there were at least five nurses and three doctors. And it really didn't make me feel any better to know I wasn't in the actual Labor and Delivery ward for the possible seriousness of my surgery. I kept asking when Charles would be able to come in and when he was finally able to, it honestly seemed like it had been hours. He held my hand throughout the whole process and I couldn't have asked for anyone better.


Its a very bizzar feeling to be laying there waiting to hear a little one crying in the cold atmosphere. That too seemed to take forever but when I finally heard my first born cry, it was bawling. It was a wonderful, personal experience to see Charles waiting in anticipation for his daughter to make her big debut into the world. It was so hard not being able to see her right when they took her out. I just wanted to see her. And when I finally did... I couldn't believe how beautiful she was. And to know that I was finally meeting for the first time in my life something that was blood related to me was a total blessing from God!





Overall, Cadence seems to be a pretty good baby... for all I know! There's so much I want to get done around the house and start helping out in the garden that sometimes it becomes a little frustrating that I can't do those things quite yet. I have to keep reminding myself and being reminded by others that my job is to rest, heal and take care of Cadence. And as much as I love looking at her and holding her when ever I want, sometimes I just want to be able to do something else so I can actually miss her. But to be honest, I miss her all the time when I decide to let her nap in her crib, so really, I should appreciate the time I have with her more.

BREASTFEEDING:
From personal experience I have to be very blunt by saying I think all women who are capable, should breast feed their children for at least six months to a year. I understand how a lot of women are afraid or get turned off by breast feeding because of how painful it is at first. Honestly, I even considered not wanting to do it after the second day. But I knew that was just my emotions talking. So, I 'woman-ed up' and stuck to it. And I'm so glad I did. There's a TON of benefits to breastfeeding that I couldn't turn down!

SLEEP: That's a word? I thought I was prepared but I wasn't! Feeding used to be kind of all over the place, which... is natural but now it's come to the point where Cadence has to fall completely asleep in my arms before I can lay her in her crib. That becomes pretty exhausting when I seem to have a bad judgment of when she's finally fallen asleep. But when I hold her again to get her to sleep she expects to be nursed for another hour, if not more. Unfortunately she doesn't actually nurse from me when I have to hold her the second time so when I do finally get her to sleep, she's up a half hour later to be fed.



CLOTH DIAPERS:
Today marks the first day of using cloth diapers. Cadence is TINY! She looks super ridiculous but both Charles and I feel better about not contributing to more garbage than we need to. What cute designs too! I'm a HUGE fan of the brand KUSHIES and OSOCOZY! I just wish I had known Kushies had a newborn size.

LAST NIGHT:
One of our goats had two baby girl kids! Which is super great news for us!! So much milk that can be turned into ice cream, milk, cheese and butter. What joys we've been given!



Wednesday, May 16, 2012

You Start With Seeds...

Alex is done with school for the year and is helping out so much with the garden this summer! It's been great to see the transformation of both the yard and vegetable gardens. And while it doesn't look like much has been going on, the boys and Kristi really have been working hard! I can't believe how much they do in one day!

We welcomed two female goats this past week. One is pregnant and is due in June. We get about 2 gallons of milk every day and it's seriously the best milk I've ever had. My stomach and blood type really cannot handle cow milk so goat milk has been such a blessing. I learned how to milk the goats a couple nights ago, and boy... it's not as easy as I thought it would be. But all I need is more practice!

Alex and Kristi put a fence around the duck/chicken/turkey house a few days ago which also includes a little pond. I can't wait till the ducks finally stop being such pansies and move around more in their pen and venture into the water.

So far we've planted:


  • Raspberries
  • Blackberries
  • Broccoli
  • Peas
  • Carrots 
  • Beans
  • Strawberries
  • Asparagus 
  • Onions
  • 20+ Fruit Trees
It's coming along! 

While I wish I could be doing more, I can't. Cadence will be here on Friday and for some reason I feel incredibly exhausted ... more than I usually do. It's been a long haul but I'm thankful that I don't have to be in it for another 2 weeks like most pregnancies due to my condition. Yay! My life will completely change in just a few more days. I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Ofta! 

Charles setting up the crib.


Babies are so lucky to get such cute things! Too bad they don't care!

Chickens, ducks and turkeys... when we first got them. 


The ducks!

The ducks were getting way too big so we moved them to a little house with a pond next to it. 

 This was my favorite duck that I would always snatch and give extra attention to.

 But now he/she could careless about me and always runs away from me along with the other ducks.

 Charles working hard.

The duck house and pond before the fence was put up. 


Thursday, May 3, 2012

No April Showers... But May Is Sure Blooming!


I'm sorry for not updating... it's been quite a hectic April and now I've heard that it's already May. I'm still trying to believe that rumor...  :D

Wondering what's been going on? 

Baby Cadence, Charles and myself moved to 'The Big Sky' state: MONTANA. We're fortunate enough to be living in a decent size house that has great, open space for us to start the family garden business. Not only that, the house is nestled in the convergence of two rivers: The Yellowstone and the Tongue River, which if you know what that means, well watered and cared for plants... the more delicious and pure they taste! 

I'm not allowed to do much under doctor's orders but I try to keep the house clean, water plants, letting the chickens run in and out of their pens, start seedlings and brainstorm fun ideas to transform this place into a floral and vegetative oasis!! The most credit goes to Charles and his mom, Kristi who have worked so hard on plowing and tilling the acre of land we're planting on. 

We have also been raising chickens, turkeys and ducks. The ducks are my favorite, being funny looking with really no wings to speak of. We also have been taking care of laying hens and have gotten pretty decent sized eggs. They are by far the best I've ever eaten, and that's coming from someone who absolutely does not like eggs in the first place. 

Other than trying to fix our house up, baby proofing, planting seeds, and feeding our birds AND maintaining 22 fruit trees, things have been pretty swell!! We can't wait to see how this place transforms! It's really coming along for us being here only a month now. 

Looking for some bonding time with us and the earth? We would love for really passionate people to come help us! Any one who would love to get their hands dirty and really live by being self sustainable and organic/natural raising of fruits/vegetables, chickens and meats, then come out for a few days or a couple weeks. 

Pictures will be up soon! 

It's kind of a waiting now for when Cadence will arrive... counting down the days!