Clara is two months old!

Wow!  Time goes so fast and I'm even two weeks late with this post.  Clara and I like to play photo shoot a lot, so please forgive all of the photos!  It's just too hard to choose sometimes...

And I just can not decide which background to shoot her monthly onesies.  So, all three again!

And a very special photo shoot with Clara in her baptism gown that was made by her grandma.  As you can see, it's hand crocheted and just gorgeous in person.  It's such a special treasure and I hope someday that Clara can pass it down to her daughter.

I couldn't resist this one, because this is pretty much what she does now...gnaw on her arm like it was a turkey leg.

Read more...

The Love Ducks

I never told you about the Love Ducks, did I?  Since it was Valentine's Day this week, they popped into my head.

The Love Ducks were a pair of ducks that decided that the only thing in the world they needed was each other.  One was an Indian Runner duck and the other was one of my pet ducks.  The Indian Runner ducks had taken to roaming through the pastures to both of our ponds.  Sometimes they would come back at night and sometimes they would stay down by the ponds.  One day, we noticed that they stuck by the house more and that two of them were swimming in the pond by themselves.  After investigating for a little bit, I noticed that the Indian Runner duck was limping.  I tried getting closer but both ducks quickly slipped into the water before I could catch them.  Something was wrong the Indian Runner ducks leg and it wasn't able to swim very well.

I really wanted to bring both ducks back up to the house, but they were having none of that.  I gave up and let them be.  And darned if my pet duck stuck by the Indian Runner duck until he/she was healed.  Every day that I left for work and on my way home, I would check and make sure they were still there.  And they still were...just swimming around by themselves.  It just made me think about what made my pet duck stick around with the lame Indian Runner.  They were very vulnerable down by the pond, especially at night since we have LOTS of coyotes.  I decided that they must be in love, hence the name The Love Ducks.

Both Jon and I knew it was a matter of time before the coyotes got to the ducks.  And this story doesn't have a happy ending.  I wish I would have been able to capture them both and take them back up, but they were just too skittish.  One day the Indian Runner duck was gone....and it was just my pet all by his/herself.  And then one day that duck was gone too.  The Love Ducks were no more.  Makes me sad just thinking about it. My little pet duck was so devoted to that Indian Runner, always sticking by his/her side.  The animals in our world aren't so far off from us...

Since I neglected to take a picture of the Love Ducks, I will just share with you my own little love duck...

Read more...

A little redesign

I was feeling like the blog needed a change.  It's been over a year since I started the blog and it was due for a change.  I may be tweaking with it a little bit, but I'm pretty happy with the new header.  And I'm even happier that little Miss Clara slept for THREE hours while I figured out step by step how to create a header....thank goodness for naps!

Read more...

10 things I've learned about parenting in six short weeks..

1.  Never say never.

2.  As in never say, "I would never co-sleep with my baby".  Because pure exhaustion and a baby that won't sleep unless held in your arms leads to sleeping baby in the Moby, which leads to sleeping baby in Moby wrap and mom laying down on the couch to sleep, which leads to sleeping baby in Moby wrap and mom sleeping in her own bed, which leads to "Awwww....screw it kid... just get into bed with us".

3.  Said sleeping in bed with baby will lead to frantic searches over the Internet at three in the morning questioning if co-sleeping = bad parenting.

4.  Breastfeeding in the side lying position in bed with baby = new mom bliss and lots more new mom sleep.

5.  Realizing that baby will sleep through the night someday and today is not that day.  Expecting baby to sleep through the night at six weeks = unhappy parent.  Going with the flow and enjoying three am feedings = happy parent.

6.  Breastfeeding is hard!  Cluster feeding and growth spurts will make a mom question their milk supply and sanity.  But it's worth it!  Take it a day at a time and use Milkworks, one of our greatest resources in Lincoln.  Also the website http://www.kellymom.com/, will help to calm a new mom's anxieties about cluster feeding.

7.  Cloth diapering is fun!  Once I learned a good wash routine, thanks to the Rockin Green website, it's been a piece of cake.  We are so lucky in Lincoln to have another great resource, Circle Me, a cloth diaper store.  Visit them and buy lots!  They are so knowledgeable about cloth diapers and have a great selection.

8.  Don't have expectations about what kind of parent you will be.  As soon as little Miss Clara came into our lives, she blew all of those expectation out of the water.  I never expected it to be so hard to be physically away from her and just want her to be so close all the time.

9.  Parenting is fun!  Watching Clara change everyday and become full of personality is the best job in the world!

10.  Seriously....sleep when the baby sleeps...  Experienced parents will preach it, but new parents must follow this golden rule.  Who cares about laundry and dishes, just sleep!

Read more...

My baby is a month old!

Wow, does that time go fast!  It's hard to imagine life without her.  She's changing so fast and I just want to squish her and keep her little.  Before we know it, she will be off to Kindergarten..gulp!

Of course, we had to commemorate her growth with monthly onesies.  These took me forever to make, because Photoshop and I don't get along very well.  But there is a really great tutorial I found, that took me step by step through Photoshop.  I also may have burned the first onesie...oops!

Just doing a few test shots...

That chair is my next big project.  I want to recover it or make a slipcover.  You know...when I actually have time...

This is the fabric I want to cover it with...and my sweet pea being ever so patient with our photo shoot.

I know Clara...it's rather shocking, isn't it?

Modeling on the quilt I hope to finish some day.  And yes, I did make my baby sit on safety pins as Jon likes to point out...it was a quick photo shoot, I promise!

Mom, you're funny...

Are we done yet?

And of course, a picture in her cloth diaper!



Read more...

Thoughts on a Monday morning

Whew...I think I'm almost back to my normal self!  It only took about a month and two days since little miss was born to feel that way, but I'm okay with that.  Pregnancy is hard on a body and giving birth is even harder!

Back to the farm.  I was pretty much absent the last couple months of my pregnancy from the farm details, but I'm getting back into the fold.  One project this year will be mostly under my direction is the market garden.  We have almost an acre of land that had previously been used as a garden and a portion had planted to asparagus.  The asparagus needs some TLC, but it was pretty plentiful last year.  My goal this year is to attend one, maybe two farmer's market and sell our produce and meat.  I'm pretty excited about this because I love growing veggies and last year I really slacked off.

This will be a challenge for me in a couple of different ways.  Number one, I've only ever grown a home garden.  Sizing up will bring some interesting challenges.  Increasing the organic matter and quality of soil will be one of my biggest projects.  The area has been neglected for a couple years and is pretty weedy.  It was easy in town to add organic matter.  Go to the nearest home store and buy a bag of compost and BAM!  Instant soil....  That will be neither feasible money and time wise.  I'm going to have to do it the old fashioned way by building it up through crop rotation and green manures.

The second challenge for me is the actual selling, packing and marketing of the produce.  I will hopefully be attending the Growing Farmers workshop at Community Crops in Lincoln.  I've looked over the classes and every single question I had thought of as a potential barrier for selling at market is covered in this 8 week class.  Hopefully it's not full and I can still get in, because I think this will help me immensely.  Jon and I kinda do things backwards on the farm sometimes.  We jump in head first and then figure out what we are doing after we've started the project.  For some people that wouldn't work, but we always manage to squeak by with little to no experience in this farming adventure.  I'm looking forward to getting some good training for experienced market gardeners instead of having to trial and error everything. 

I feel like I'm a little behind already and that I should be starting my market garden planning, but as you can see I've been a little preoccupied.  When is it too soon to start her pulling weeds...six months old? Just kidding!

Read more...

Greetings from the land of poop and breastmilk!

This is how things have been going on the farm lately...

Eat, sleep, poop...repeat!  And of course, pose for Momarazzi pictures that show off one of Clara's better hair days...

It's so true what they say that they grow up before your eyes.  I can't believe our little farm girl is around 2.5 weeks old!  And it's also true what they say, that nothing prepares you for parenthood.  I've worked with kids and babies since I graduated nursing school, but that was cakewalk compared to the last 2.5 weeks!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we may have finally found a new normal and that we are getting into a routine.  It's been difficult to get into a routine due to the holidays and difficulties with breastfeeding.  Thank goodness that Lincoln has such a great resource in Milkworks.  I'm really hoping that we've crossed over the hump with breastfeeding and are on our way to smooth sailing.

And yes, this post was being written and posted around 1:00 in the AM.  I can hear little Miss Clara in the next room grunting around, waking up for her next feeding.  Like I said...this is a new normal for us!

I'm really hoping that soon I can delve back into helping out more with the farm.  I've been getting seed catalogs in the mail, which make me really excited for the spring!  We've got big plans for our little farm, but sometimes it's difficult to stay on track when life gets in the way.  I just keep telling myself that we will get there...baby steps...

Read more...