Aug 3, 2016 | DIY, Family, Farm, Knitting, Yarn Along |
Joining Ginny and Nicole.
Feed the baby.
Run the dishwasher.
Change the toddler.
Text mom.
Transfer the clothes from the washer to the dryer.
Change the baby.
Did I feed the baby?
Hold the baby.
Feed the four year old.
Check the tomatoes in the garden.
Did the rabbit get through the fence again?
Did I fertilize?
I should blog. About what? You haven’t touched your knitting in four days.
Maybe I should learn embroidery.
That’s pretty much how my stream of consciousness has been lately.
I haven’t been much of a presence on here in the last two weeks. Too tired. Too busy. Typically I have a mother’s helper who comes twice a week so I can get things done around here: laundry, meal prep for the week, a bit of gardening, etc.. She’s been on vacation and boy, am I missing her.
We have been doing things around the farm here and there but for the most part I am in survival mode. Keep everyone fed, healthy, and (relatively) clean. Caleb has started sleeping through the night for the most part, only waking once to feed. The extra sleep has been helping but I feel like I could use three days of solid sleep before feeing like my old self. Such is life with children.
The doe with the twins has taken up residence in our orchard. We don’t have time to do much harvesting this year, so we figured since we don’t have time to eat the apples, we might as well let someone enjoy them. The fawns no longer nurse and seem bigger everyday. Must be all that fresh fruit.
I’m still working on a pair of self striping socks for Eddie and plugging away on my Rosewater shawl. I’m itching for a new project but I don’t want to start anything until these two items are finished. We are going to be in Dallas for a week this month and I want to to bring the shawl with me to wear during the evening with dresses.
Yes, I took a photo of a deer going to the bathroom, because, well, why not? You’re welcome.
Happy Wednesday, friends.
Jul 13, 2016 | DIY, Family, Knitting, Photography, Yarn Along |
Joining Ginny and Nicole.
I finished a pair of socks for Eddie this week, and I plan on knitting her another pair with the leftover Cascade Heritage sock yarn that my mother gave me. It’s self striping and because the sock is being knit in a child’s size, the stripes are quite thick and bold, which I like. The yarn is very bouncy and soft, I think she will like them.
Caleb is growing so much, He turns 9 weeks tomorrow, and he’s already taken on the role of “Easiest Baby,” in our house. He only cries when he’s hungry or tired, his acid reflux has completely resolved itself, and he sleeps for a four-six hour block at night for three to four days out of the week. That might not sound that great to those who have babies who sleep eight hours a night by six weeks (I hate you) but that’s the best I’ve had with any of my kids. I don’t think Sam slept for more than an hour in a row until he was four months old and I had an emotional meltdown one morning and did Cry It Out with him the following evening. He cried for two hours but then started sleeping for 13 hours a night after that, only waking up once to feed. It was a miracle.
Our summer here in Washington has been almost nonexistent this year. Our temperatures are barely reaching 70 degrees most days and it drizzles frequently. My garden looks terrible. I find time to weed it about once a week, which is good, but my summer fruits and vegetables are not doing well. Somehow the chickens made it through the fence into my garden and ate my strawberries, radishes, ALL THE HERBS, and my lettuce. My eggplants haven’t grown an inch since I planted them and my tomato plants are scraggily looking from lack of sun. It’s depressing to look at but I just don’t have the time to give it the extra care it needs to thrive in this cool environment. I have decided that this year it’s survival of the fittest: if a plant manages to grow and produce this year, great, but if it can’t do it on its own without my help, it’s just going to have to die. It is what it is.
We have a mama deer who spends all her days with her twin fawns from last year and her twin fawns from this year eating our apples. I couldn’t photograph the fawns because they are so fast and a little more skittish than the mama but I love watching them. There is an apple tree right outside our bedroom window; I have the perfect view from my glider where I rock Caleb at night. I often sit there and rock him and watch all five deer pick apples off the tree and play chase. The two younger fawns nurse from their mother and she gives them just a minute or two of feeding before kicking them off her so she can eat. There’s a sense of camaraderie there, although she doesn’t know it. Two tired mothers, up in the middle of the night, feeding their babies. I think she likes nursing about as much as I do. Perhaps I should loan her my pump?
Jun 20, 2016 | DIY, Family, Farm, Knitting, Yarn Along |
I have managed to find some time to pick up the Rosewater shawl here and there and I have finally hit the lace portion of the pattern. It’s not complicated at all, but it is lace so I try not to work on it when the kids are jumping all over me…which is hardly ever.
The chickens are laying five or six eggs a day and free range every day. Free ranging is wonderful for many reasons. They aren’t pooping in the chicken tractor all day, which means we don’t have to move it more than once a week. We haven’t even had to clean the inside area where the brood boxes are because they hardly spend any time in there, except to lay an egg. They spend most of the day hunting for bugs and worms in the field and rarely touch the chicken feed we give them, which can be quite expensive. We feed them scraps from the kitchen and I think they may enjoy pancakes more than my own kids. While they are certainly not the most cuddly pets, the kids get a kick out of them and I love their eggs, so win-win.
