Sweet Caroline, you tough baby of mine!

Sweet Caroline!  One moment you are this precious little cooing, smiling sweetheart, and the next you are this screaming, grumpy little person, usually right in the middle of dinner, or when I'm about to step into the shower, or as I'm just about to sit down to play with your siblings, or check my email!

You are by far my toughest baby yet!  While we have gotten out of the PURPLE period of nightly screaming, you must be bounced to sleep on myself or your Daddy and if we happen to lie you down in the swing or pack 'n' play you are quick to waken. 

When I am trying to put you to sleep, I have on 2 different fans, the noise machine of rushing water or chirping crickets, and sometimes the swing's music....when it decides to work....just so we have the "right" type of background noise for you!  Usually your favorite white noise is the bathroom fan in the kids' bathroom....because not all bathroom fans are made alike, you know.

The middle of my back hurts when I hold you because I have to hold you a certain way to balance your body that wants to propel itself out of my arms with your newfound baby strength!  You prefer to be straight up.  If I hold you on your side you get super mad because it is not nursing time, but if I give you a paci, you are still quite clueless as to how that thing is supposed to pacify you. 

I am so thankful to whoever invented the Miracle Blanket, because it is our GO-TO when it is time to soothe you to sleep, but you are only supposed to be in that up to 14 weeks....and baby, we've only got 2 more weeks to go! 

You and I both hate the baby Bjorn, but the Moby, which we both love despite all it's miles of fabric is just plain hot this time of year!

But little Caroline, when you decide to smile, it lights up your whole face and your coos and giggles bring my heart back to where it should be....melting with love for you.  And it makes those long, hours of rocking, and my aching feet from standing,...it makes it worth it.

There are moments when I have to beg God for more strength....to keep on rocking, to have patience and to remember that the tough baby times will pass all too quickly....and He always answers my prayer and sends me back renewed to continue my job of mothering. Caroline, I think you are here to help humble me and to turn my eyes back to a more constant (!) prayer life, because that is what is happening!  Praise God!

Garage Door Makeover

What a difference this made!!!

Before.....................

 

 

And After................

 

 

It helps that we changed the wall color too.  But I can't believe how much better it looks to have those opaque circles rather than those colorful grapevines!!!  Whew....talk about an easy way to declutter the door!

 

It took about 5 bucks and 5 minutes!  Wish I hadn't waited 6 months to tackle that huge project! ;)

The Garden: Mid June 2013

Here are new pics of the garden.  Some things are a growin' and some things are a goin' wrong!

From the front of the garden

 

Okra planted by our neighbor

 

Our first teeny tiny green beans are starting!

 

Hooray!  They are growing on the purple podded beans too!  

 

These are cucumber plants just starting to come up.  My first seeds did not emerge from the soil so our neighbor planted some for us!

 

My batch of okra which was planted a bit ahead of our neighbor's.

 

Tomato plants on first inspection were doing well.... They are now as tall as the stakes I've put in the ground.

 

Most of the tomato plants have flowers on them.  However this is what is happening:  They are either browning and falling off or shriveling....I don't think this is supposed to be happening.  Dad, help! What does it mean???

 

Here is a watermelon plant covered in blooms. 

 

More tomato problems....is this blight?  Sunburned leaves?  It's not on all of them...yet.

 

Pepper plants seem to be doing well except for one which completely shriveled up and died. 

 

 

Zucchini plant still has yet to produce a 2nd zucchini....the first I gave away to the neighbor, remember?  And this was my only zucchini plant that came up from the seeds I planted, so I'm really hoping to get to try one!!

 

We've had lots of squash so far!  Well, not so much that I'm sick of it, but enough to harvest a few every couple of days to eat for dinner!  Yay!  At least that is going well!

 

Sweet peas are really producing.  It's funny because they didn't really grow up the vine as well as I thought they would, but they've done a great job of producing!

 

Our corn = taller than Isabel.

 

The pumpkin plants are doing well....lots of blooms.  Oh, don't mind the weeds ;)  The weeds are such a problem in our garden because we were trying to go all organic and pick them by hand or till them up, but they are just out of control!  I need a goat that will only eat the weeds to control it.  Hah!  If I had time to get out there everyday and weed, I would, but between the 3 kids I just don't.  So we try  to weed mostly just around the vegetables and the rest of the garden is a weedy mess.

 

The corn our neighbor planted for us!  Not as tall as Isabel, but starting to grow some ears!!  Hooray!

 

A pic of the beans climbing.  They are starting to yellow at the bottom leaves.  Not sure if that is just because they are thirsty, or if something else is going on.  I've got to add some more compost to them.

 

And that's it!  The garden IS really dry today.  I am turning on the sprinkler tonight to give everyone a good soaking...we need some more rain!

On the Farm Photo Shoot with the Kids!

On the Farm Photo Shoot with the Kids! 

Isabel, 7

Ian, 26 months

Caroline, 2 months exactly

 



Cool Nature on the Mini Farm.

Thanks to God we had some really great science lessons up close and personal this past week!

It's a Polyphemus Moth! (thanks, Google)  Isn't it incredible?  Ian thought the spots on it's wings were really it's eyes!  Just what it wanted him to think! :)

Then we had the Eastern Phoebe bird baby that fell out of it's nest.  There are two Eastern Phoebe nests...one we could reach with a ladder and one which we could not reach.  Unfortunately this baby fell from the one that we could not reach, and it did not survive the night.  Oh, it broke my heart!  It was sooooo cute!

Then there were the 2 black rat snakes we found curled up together (!) in our bluebird house....the birdhouse nearest to our house, I might add.  There are about 20 different birdhouses on our property.  The snakes (below) are in a garbage can.  We transported them several miles away.  I know black rat snakes are good for keeping down rodent populations, but they are also good at killing chickens.  Can't have that!

Just in case you don't believe me about them liking chickens....the one below was hiding in the roll of extra chicken wire....IN THE CHICKEN COOP!  He got transported elsewhere too.

And finally, the biggest science lesson surprise of the week....

our little Rhode Island Red hen, Gloria.............

Ummm.....is no hen at all. 

 

She's a he. 

 

A wannabe hen faker. 

 

A rooster.

 

And she he has a new name:  Mr. Glory.

Now I feel slightly stupid for not realizing this sooner.  But really, when Mr. Glory started becoming more distant and kinda doing his own thing, we just thought maybe he was developing faster than the others and that he wanted to start laying eggs soon!  And that his bright red comb and waddle were just part of his early bloomer development??

Okay.  Really, we were just in denial.  I mean we ordered ALL HENS....so it was just a big surprise. 

Here is a picture of Cherry (hen) to compare to Mr. Glory:

 

And one with both of them.

Silly Rooster.  We plan on keeping him as long as he stays nice.  I've heard he could go either way, but I can't have a mean rooster around with little kids.  Now Isabel's dream of hatching baby chicks on the farm could become a reality!