Life is Good....

Well,the last time that I had posted I was almost 33 weeks pregnant,32 weeks and 5 days to be exact.Here it is already June 14th (Flag Day!) and I am at 38 weeks.The last month has gone by way too fast and a lot has happened here too (and not happened...ahemmm).
We are still having GREAT weather,thankfully.We have not had to use our heat(for low overnight temps) or our air conditioner yet.I turned the heat off about 4 or 5 weeks ago and the day time temp in the house hasn't been over 81,which was the hottest it has been.It usually stays around 71 inside,so far. That should change for sure by next month.I should mention that that is the temperature for upstairs.Because downstairs is a different story,the temperature is usually about 15-20 degrees cooler and the kids love that. I think we will all be lovin' it when it does get unbearably hot outside and we can go downstairs and cool off.

Our flowering trees that I had mentioned last time have been replaced with their summer foliage,still just as beautiful.All of the tulips are done blooming,we have a group of Iris plants that have only produced one bloom :( and the summer blooming bulbs that we planted in the flower bed in front of the house are sprouting along with the Lavender plants that we planted with them. I spent 3 days weeding that bed! The weeds had gotten to be as tall as the leaves on the Iris plants! Jade helped me out on all 3 days,but, on the third day I enlisted the help of EVERYONE! My body said,"No more Michelle!".We bought five bags of mulch and couldn't believe that that wasn't enough! That isn't the only area on our property that needs mulching either! We have decided that we will call and have a couple of truckloads of mulch delivered instead.But,for now,that flower bed looks pretty good,if I should say so myself!The kids and I have been trying to keep the flower bed in the backyard weeded as well.That is a chore,let me tell you.It is larger than the one in front and goes around the sides and back of the yard, along the fence line.The children loathe that chore,well just two of them. I love to weed, to me it's a good way to relax, and luckily,Jade doesn't mind it either. She and I could sit out there for hours and just weed and talk! Unfortunately,during all this time that I was "working" outside it was causing a lot of pressure and contractions and my midwife finally said enough is enough.She cut me off of all laborious work at my 33 week appointment!She had a talk with the children and Craig and they were told to "watch" me and not let me lift a finger until I reached my 37 week mark!!Understandably of course,we didn't want a preterm baby.Oliver came 3 weeks early and we didn't want a baby any earlier than that. I was not happy,ONLY because I was in my nesting zone and I was on a roll.I had "things" to do to prepare us all for our new addition.Right??? I wanted to scrub our wood floors and polish them too and now I had to wait to do that after week 37???? UGHHHH..... and the Boise fundraiser walk,I was also banished from.I was instructed to,well, instruct....instruct everyone else to do things for me.I'm not wired that way so this was a challenge for me.I did get caught several times doing things that I should not be doing and then being chastised by my own children and then they would "tell" on me.LOL. Well, we all went to Boise for the walk,but I had to stay at the pavillion and wait for them to finish.Beautiful day trip and I didn't mind so much having NOT to walk. As soon as I hit week 37 I was back to "work" and scrubbing the wood floors and moving heavy furniture.I'm at week 38 now and baby is still doing fine.Although it went from being in a face down(towards my back) to a face up position(looking out right below my belly button)within the last week.There is still time for it to turn around so that I don't have to endure back labor. We have decided to go ahead with a water birth and use the birthing tub at the birth center.This should be exciting.I am still doing some mental preparation for having a med free birth.Out of the other 5 deliveries I have only had 1 epidural,the rest I was on Demerol or Stadol.So knowing that I don't have the option of "crying" out for some drug "help" is a mental hurdle that I need to cross and I am moving towards a more confident state of mind.Thank God! I was really wavering a few weeks ago and very unsure of myself.But I'm better now...I think.LOL. The kids helped me go through some boy clothes and girl clothes to wash, we've packed a baby bag, we got a snack bag (I should say bags) ready,my things are ready to go into a bag,we took a TV and DVD player to the birth center and donated it (the kids will now have something to watch their movies on while they wait)We've secured a girl name and are almost certain on a boy name.We found our crib hardware,Craig put the crib up right away. We also found the girls hardware to their beds.Matthea's bed is up,but Jade's bed needs some repair with wood glue before that can go up.Everyone has their bets on what day the baby will arrive and now we just sit and wait.

Let's see.....we haven't had our consultation yet for Oliver.But he is doing dramatically well.We actually took him off of goats milk too,it was causing alot of diarhea.He's been drinking rice milk.We noticed another reaction after he had some of our snow cones.It was on a Saturday and we had given him just a few bites and his eczema flared up a bit.Then three days later we went out for snow cones again and he had consumed a large quantity this time.He had some of Craig's snow cone,Sebastian's,Jade's and mine! His eczema was the worse that we had ever seen it was all over his face,legs,back,stomach,arms...everywhere and he cried for HOURS.So,we were now down to a couple of culprits,dairy and food dye allergy.The dairy,we have been slowing reintroducing that recently and he has not had any reactions.So we think that the main culprit is a food dye allergy.We checked out the yogurt that we thought was the problem in the beginning and low and behold,it has red food dye in it!That was the last thing on our mind.Our initial reaction was that it has to be dairy.Because that is a common allergy.Our chiropractor suggested to reintroduce the dairy to see what happens and then try the food dye.We are afraid to try the food dye at this point,only because of what happened to him when he had the snow cones.So,for now,we are staying clear of anything that has food dye in it,for his sake.Poor boy.He also has been nursing more frequently,he was just nursing here and there,once a day maybe and then he'd go a few days without nursing.Now it's back up to about twice a day.But we feel that it has been an added benefit to his condition.The fact that he's been getting a lot of colostrum,we feel, has helped to clear up his skin and given him some more enzymes and antibodies.He definitely is a different child now that those symptoms have waned.A much happier boy.He has been walking all over the place and getting into things.Trying to talk,picking up after himself,finding bits of debris on the floor and throwing them away,even throws away his own dirty diapers (I'm hoping he's got the neat gene from me,he'll be the only child so far),and telling us when he has a dirty diaper.He still loves being outside. He will cry so hard if someone goes out and leaves him behind.We bought him some new sandals and tennis shoes and he loves having them on and going outside to walk in them.He has fallen in love with flowers and wants to smell them ALL!!! We even had to give him some fake ones to walk around with inside the home.He makes us all smell them over, and over again.

As for Matthea,we took her to see the chiropractor and YES she was definitely a "Crooked" child!!He said that her whole spine was out of alignment and asked her what kind of acrobats had she been doing?? He put her on daily supplements for some gastrointenstinal things that were going on and just to make sure she was getting a daily vitamin,told her to drink more water, and "straightened" her spine out too! She was shocked that she could stand and feel that both legs were "even" again. She doesn't need to go back unless she starts having problems or we notice her alignment off again. Overall she's doing well,has way too much energy,a bottomless stomach and legs that go up to her neck!!!!

Jade is doing very well. She is becoming more and more of a responsible young lady.She helps me out so much with everything.She is getting the hang of how to run this household with little help from me and the way she takes charge of taking care of Oliver is just amazing.Craig and I are so proud of her. She has blossomed right before our eyes and has transformed from a little girl to a young women in just a few months!! Even people from our area that see her on a more regular basis have made comments on how different she looks from just a couple of months ago.Our midwife's assistant just saw her a couple of days ago and didn't recognize her.She asked us,"Is this your daughter Jade? Oh my gosh,I don't even recognize her!! She has changed so much". She has. She's grown several inches (4 feet 11 1/2 inches tall,almost hitting the 5 foot mark, she was 4 feet 7 inches) in just a few months and "lost" her little girl look.

Sebastian is growing just as fast as Jade is,he's 5feet 4 inches now.He has been working so hard along side his father.I don't think I have ever seen him this tired before, or sore!! They have been working every spare minute that they have.They have even been working before Craig leaves for work and after he gets home,until it's too dark to see anymore. It is helping to mold Sebastian into a totally different boy/man.He's learning some hard lessons on working hard and turning away from laziness,but it has been well worth it.More for his sake than ours, for sure.It's a work in progress, I see the light at the end of the tunnel.He has been working with the Llamas the last few days,trying to get them use to being handled.Noel and Bess will now will let Sebastian pet them and brush them,but only if he's giving them some grain while he's doing it.But,it is progress.They wouldn't allow anyone to touch them before.He's helped his dad put up some more fencing for the goats and chickens,they've been building a chicken coop,they just started on a kidding pen for our doe,he's been keeping our grass cut,he's been setting mouse traps out in the potting shed and showing us his kills (loves that),they are still working on the garden...we've had some problems with our tiller,but that should be close to being done soon too(luckily their plants are still alive and waiting).The other thing I should mention is Sebastian's ingenuity! It amazes us each and every time when we are out there scratching our heads trying to figure out the best way to "fix" or "do" something and can't,Sebastian comes up with a way.Or Sebastian will build something during his "free" time and come in to show us,and we are just astounded at his ability to build something from just his head without plans or anything and it works!!! He's cut out an airplane from styrofoam,put it together and it flies! He's made some arrows from twigs and chicken feathers that work with his cross bow! Those are just a couple of examples of what he's done.Just amazing.....

Craig has been doing well too,though tired,but a good tired.In just a few months he's gone from working a night shift,which he has been doing for years, to a twelve hour day shift(6am-6pm) for about a month and now to a normal 8 hour day shift 10am-6pm.We all are adjusting well to this schedule,even though he is working like a dog from the time he gets up until he lays his head down at night.But,he's happy that he does have this time now to work on things around here,when he didn't before.Before he only had his off days and felt as though it was taking forever to do the things on his list.Which it was taking a long time and he wasn't getting enough rest.Now he can at least sleep 8 or more hours and still do something everyday and as a bonus we get to see him before AND after work AND have breakfast AND dinner with him AND..there's progress at home...life is good....

Also, the eggs that we were trying to hatch in the incubator didn't hatch.They all died.Most of them looked as if they made it to full maturity and possibly died a few days before they were suppose to hatch.So we tried again.This time only with eggs from our hens who were fertilized with the Polish rooster and a few eggs from our Rooster "Cocktail" and our hen "Dorothy".(Before we had purchased 6 fertilized eggs from someone and used some of our own too)Cocktail is no longer with us due to his increasingly vocal,all day,communication! I don't remember how many eggs altogether,but,we've had a successful hatch finally.Four chicks from the Polish rooster,so they are a mixed breed except for one.We got two Buff Orpington/Polish chicks,one Golden Laced Wyandotte/Polish mix and a full blooded Polish chick! And only one chick from Cocktail and Dorothy which is a Buff Orpington/Silver Laced Wyandotte(we think) mix,this one is by far the cutest. The Polish chicks all have the "crest" of feathers on top of their heads.It will be very interesting to see how they all turn out.Probably very funny looking.
Our Doe (goat),Jane Doe,is suppose to be giving birth this month as well.So, we've been keeping an eye out for the "signs" and hoping that she doesn't kid while we are "kidding" at the birthing center!!LOL...

Again, life is good,God has blessed us and continues to do so.
Thank you Lord for my blessings....