Where We Are At

It's been awhile, and I've got several blog posts rolling in my head (my life change of quitting full time work to stay home, breastfeeding, the (home) birth story of Emri that's about to turn 1, our garden, etc.) but it's been so long, I probably just ought to start with Where We Are At.....

Starting from the littlest....

Emri -

Oh my, she's 11 months old...creeping up on that big one year!!  I seriously can't believe it! This kid has a STRONG and BIG personality in a little body!  We are still breastfeeding (this didn't go so well with Natalie, so every month is huge for me!).  We've had some issues with weight, but after readjusting her feeding schedule and how she eats, I think things are resolved.  She is TALKING!!!  Mama, Mommy, Dada, Mimi, Papa, NaNa (Natalie), kitty cat, uh oh, buh bye.  She is standing alone, walking should be in the near future!

Natalie -

She's growing intellectually leaps and bounds.  Things that come out of her mouth floor me!  We've started the whole, letting her play outside....alone....with rules.  She's confined to the sandbox (where I can see her easily). She's an outdoors girl that would live in the garden if we let her!

Myself -

I've picked up some piano students this summer which is a blessing.  I'm trying to get into a groove at home with housework, kids, garden, etc.  I'm always way behind in everything...but I've come to conclusion that's just life.

Kris -

Work is keeping him busy, and any free moment, he's outside working on the garden, mowing, etc.  So much to do, only so many hours in the day. Once again, feeling like we are always behind on our outdoor projects, but coming to the conclusion that's life! ;-)

Animals -
The chickens are venturing farther and farther out during the day free ranging, and we've had an egg reduction.  Laying elsewhere?  It's always as cycle with them.  Too many eggs, or too few.  But with free ranging, they are getting nature's food, and we don't have to feed them.

We've added a cat.  Mostly to help keep the mice down.  Living in the middle of a hayfield, field mice have become quite the problem.

Garden-

It is planted and mostly doing well.  Lots of our seed plants didn't do so well transplanted, so we had to buy new plants.  I've finally got my strawberry garden planted. I'm hoping to add more June bearing plants next year.  We hope to can even more this year. We've added quite a bit of fruit trees.  Lesson in gardening, the very FIRST thing you should do is plant your fruit, as it takes years for it to take off.  I wish we had done this 3 years ago when we moved....lesson learned.  We've added a giant fence around our garden so the deer can't get our beans this year.  We hope to add on next year a small raised bed of cooking and medicinal herbs.  Each year we add on, and it's exciting to see the progress!

I think that hits the major stuff!  Keep your eyes open for some more topic related posts that I listed above. =)