A Poem

Dusting and cleaning can wait til tomorrow,

                                                   For babies grow up

                                        (we've learned to our sorrow)

                       So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep

Cause I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.

~Autor Unknown to me.

Family Pictures

Yesterday I took advantage of dressing up my family for Thanksgiving to snap some family pictures. I started the day out with a brown skirt on, and Dakota had on brown pants so we matched a little better, but before we took pictures Dakota threw up all over both of us. So we changed.

 My friend Paula took the pictures of all of us. I took the one of just Stephen and the kids, and Stephen took the one of the kids and I.

 I also made the mistake of waiting til after we ate to take pictures. If you look closely you can see food on the kids clothes, and maybe a little on their faces.

 I got the idea for this last picture off of Pinterest. I really like how it turned out. He's such a good Daddy. I'll bet my Grandma will ask for a 8X10 glossy. :)

I've got Thanksgiving pictures to post also. I just don't feel like making another post at the moment. So you can wait. :)

Dakota's Birth

So I think I am actually going to post the whole birth story. I have never done that before because, well even though I enjoy reading other people's birth stories I don't like writing about myself all that much. That's why I post pictures and say so little. So if you are opposed to reading about waters breaking and cervix's and such, you may want to skip this post. :) Just fair warning.



Sitting by the stove enjoying the sunrise.

 So this story would not be complete if I didn't tell you that on the evening of November 10th I got my first deer of the year. Sorry we didn't get any pictures of big ol' pregnant me with the deer. Stephen did most of the gutting of it for me, and then we let it hang all night since it was a cold night. Since I was in labor the next morning my brothers in law skinned it and put it in the fridge for us to process later.


Daddy fixing breakfast

 So I pretty much 'knew' I would have the baby on the 11th. (but I don't put a whole lot of store in what I 'know' about my pregnancies anymore. Because I KNEW I was going to have a boy. Really. I was very surprised (and certainly happy. Yay, my girls with both have a sister.) that Miss Dakota was a girl. But the reason I was so sure of the 11th is because God seems to answer even silly prayers sometimes. See I keep hoping that  one of these years I will get to go with the folks at our church who go on Trek each summer. Where they go backpacking in the mountains for a week. So at the beginning of the year I more just said than 'prayed' that if I was going to get pregnant this year and miss Trek that I hoped the baby would at least have a 'cool' birthday like 11-11-11 or maybe 9-10-11.  So when I found out I was pregnant and the baby would be due Novemberish, I kinda thought it would be then.

So yes. On with the story. I woke up about 2 AM pretty sure that I was in labor. I knew it could be a long day so I laid back down and tried to get some sleep. I couldn't sleep through the contractions, but I slept between them pretty well. When one would start I would look at the clock to see how close together they were. They were between 2 and 5 minutes apart for quite a while. Once when Stephen kinda woke up, I let him know that things had started. Then I texted my Mom to let her know when she woke up. At exactly 4 AM I called my midwife to let her know things were happening. She sounded wide awake. I figured she was just good at sounding awake so people wouldn't feel they were bothering her. Yeah. She had walked in her door and sat on her bed at 3:55 from another birth I found out later. She lives an hour and a half from us, so she said she'd get her stuff together and see us about 6.

When she got there I had given up on trying to get any sleep and was sitting by the wood burning stove in the rocking chair. The contractions were closer together, but still very tolerable. Soon after she got there the kids and Stephen came out and Stephen fixed them some breakfast. I didn't feel like eating so I set about making beds and getting the kids clothes out for the day. After that we just kind of hung out for a while with the kids bouncing around and being excited because someone was at our house. We told them why Miss Carol was there but I don't think they really understood that the baby would be there that day. For them to see. Since we seemed to be doing fine, Carol asked if we would mind if she went to take a nap. This was when she told us that she'd been up all night at another birth.  We called my MIL next door and she came and got the kids so the house would be quiet enough for Carol to sleep.

While Carol napped Stephen and I stood in the living room and watched birds fly around in the wheat field. We joked alot, and I kept saying this was the most tolerable labor I'd had so far. Not fun by any means, but certainly not hard. About 10:45 after Carol got up, she said she wanted to 'check' me. I was not as far along as we had expected. I was dilated to a 5 and the baby was 'right there'. The problem was that my cervix was tilted way to the back and was no longer dilating because the baby wasn't 'on' it. Sooo. Carol had to pull it forward, which wasn't pleasant. The very next contraction...wow. It was no longer the most tolerable labor ever. It may have been my hardest one from that point. All day Stephen and I had been texting back and forth with my brothers, my mom and some friends. Not long after this I sent out a text asking them to pray for me because it was getting HARD. Like, if I had been in a hospital I probably would have asked for drugs.


First family picture with Dakota

 So yeah, it stayed like that...and got more intense up until a little before 1:20 when I was finally complete and could push. With Tyrel and Kimber the pushing was a relief and didn't seem all that bad compared to right beforehand. This time it was just as bad as the contractions. Dakota was not in the most optimal position to come out. She was turned funny. She shoulders were actually harder to get out than the head because she wouldn't turn like she was supposed to. So then she was born and all was well. Only we didn't have a girl name picked out. We had narrowed it down to 'my pick' and Stephen's pick. I told Stephen I liked 'his' name and wrote out several middle names and asked him which he liked. He barely glanced at it and said 'Dakota Rose'. So then we had a name (this was a few hours later). Tyrel and Kimber adore her.


Fresh Baby!



Oh and Stephen has been 'Super-Dad and Husband' ever since then. With Tyrel and Kimber my Mom was here and so afterwards there wasn't a whole lot for him to have to do. This time he has been dressing, feeding, bathing kids. A lot of times with Dakota on his arm or in the sling. He has been doing dishes and laundry and general clean up like a pro. I am glad I am getting to where I can help out SOME and will soon be able to take back over MY work. I feel bad with him going to work and doing all the house stuff, but he keeps telling me he doesn't mind and to just get better and not to push it getting back into the swing of things.

*Carol took all the pictures except for the family picture, which my MIL took.

It's a Girl!!

Sorry I can't get pictures to load!! I will keep trying. But her name is Dakota Rose. She was 8lbs. 5.5oz. 20 1/2 inches.
Yes she was born on 11-11-11, at 1:20PM. Mama and Baby are both doing well. I'll post more with pictures when I can.

What Country Folk Do For Fun

So what is something our little family likes to do for fun in the evenings when Daddy gets home?

Rope kiddos of course! Good clean fun for the whole family.

 See the rope closing around her waist?

 Don't worry, Daddy's really gentle with them.

 And the kids have lots of fun.

 Daddy's a fair hand at roping.

 But even sometimes Tyrel has to ask 'What was that?'

Run Kimber Run!

 On the baby front, my due date has come and gone (November 4th) with no signs of labor. So I'm hoping we hold out for 11-11-11.

Early Summer

So since I still can't get pictures to come off of my card (I think something might be wrong with my memory card) I will do some catch up posting from earlier in the year.




Tommy said this was the 'you must be this tall to enter' sign.

  Back in June my nephew and niece came to visit for two weeks. It was lots of fun having them. I haven't seen them real regularly since they were pretty little, so it was nice to get to know them a little better.



We actually rented a stroller thing for the kiddos. It being hot and me being pregnant, I didn't want to have to carry anyone.

  While they were here we went to the Abilene Zoo, which is very small and if you walk really really slow, it might take two hours to get through the whole thing, but it is fun to visit.



Tommy joined us for the day, which was nice, I always like getting to spend time with my brothers.

  It was pretty hot that day, and we couldn't go til after my midwife appointment, so it was really hot by the time we got there at 10ish.




Cousins! They all wore their tie dyed shirts that they made at Granola's house.

  Connor and Alana were a lot of help while they were here, and can be really funny. They bickered between themselves some, but got along with all the other kids really well. :)



Hey, you can't even tell I'm prego here! If I was sideways you sure could though!

 


Tommy said he took this picture special for me. Gee thanks. :)





It is really neat getting to walk up over the giraffes. We didn't buy any crackers to feed them though.

 



We thought this was funny. No animals in the zoo? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

 

That Stranger

Hi. Remember me? I write on this blog, supposedly. But lack of posting over the past several months may make you wonder.

We have not been up to a lot, yet have been fairly busy, if that makes any sense. We haven't done a lot to tell about, yet life is full of work and fun.

Stephen and his dad and some of his brothers re plumbed our house a few months ago. It is so neat. I can turn on any faucet in my house, and be reasonably sure that I will have running water when I do so! What a novelty!

After a record breaking hot summer (WAAAY over the previous record of number of days in a  year over 100*) so far it looks like September may bring some relief. I don't even mind missing out on some dove hunting if we'll get some rain!

The kiddoes are doing well. Tyrel has sort of started 'school'. He knows most of his colors now and can count a little. He knows that a T is the first letter of his name. And he can quote Psalms 1:1-3. We are working on memorizing all of Psalm 1. I am amazed at how fast he can memorize each verse. I just have to work with him on not saying it so fast that he skips words, or where no one can understand him.
He has really taken an interest in dinosaurs lately. So we got some books from the library on dinosaurs. Most of them I can't even read to him really, because I can't edit that much as I read. They are so full of evolutionary gobbledy gook. I was SO glad to find one called "Dinosaurs by Design". I don't even have to try to edit it, because they know God created everything!

Kimber is talking up a storm here lately. She doesn't speak everything real clearly, but I can usually guess what she means. She calls Tyrel "Dy-da" but most other names she says fairly clear. I don't know if it is because she can't say Tyrel or if it's because Daddy call's him Cowboy, but a few days ago, Kimber started just calling him Cowboy.
Yesterday we started potty training Kimber. She has been showing interest in learning, and we are almost out of diapers, so it seemed like a good time to start. She always wants to sit on the potty, but doesn't necessarily USE it. We had quite a few accidents yesterday. I'm not sure if I'll wait to really get her started, or just keep it up since we did start.

Baby is growing and moving and doing well. Only two more months to go! I am getting a little apprehensive of labor. It is so worth it for a sweet little baby, but I don't look forward to labor itself. Right now (as of when I previously saw my midwife) the baby is 'posterior'. Meaning that he/she is head down, but back to back with me. So pray that changes, because that makes for extra painful labor.

Well I can't think of a whole lot else going on here right now. I can't get my computer to upload any pictures, so I won't be posting any til I can get that fixed.

A Blue Jean Quilt.

I have been wanting to make some blue jean quilts for the kids since about....well before they were born. :)



The stack of cut out blue jean squares. I thought I had all I needed cut out, I laid them out on the floor and needed 1 more! So I cut out a pocket square.

  I couple of weeks ago I decided to go ahead and start one, or I'd never really get around to it. I am trying to get rid of a lot of 'stuff'in our house, and couldn't rationalize keeping tubs of old blue jeans if I was never going to actually make the quilts.


Kimber's bed before I started sewing the quilt. The one on there is one my mom got at a garage sale.

I decided to start with a small one that would fit on Kimber's toddler bed. That way I would be more likely to finish the task without getting discouraged that it was taking too long, and never finish.

all laid out and ready to gather back up and start sewing. You can actually feel the difference in the Wrangler or Rustler material. Even though they are made by the same company, Wrangler definitely has better denim.

  I didn't get any pictures of me actually working on the quilt. I started it about 9 in the morning with cutting out all the pieces. I was finished with it before bedtime. Which isn't bad considering I had to stop to take care of children and feed them and myself, etc.



I used a flannel sheet that I cut up for the backing.

I was wondering what I should use for the batting. Because I didn't want to wait til I went to town to buy some batting to put in it. I know me. If I quit working on it, it could literally be years before I started working on it again. So Stephen suggested using some of the blankets I had put in the living room to give away. It worked great! As I was sewing it all together though, I was thinking to myself. "If I am getting rid of all these other blankets because we have too many, WHY am I making a new one?" :)

Here is her bed all made up with the new quilt. She sleeps on top of it and under the other one for now, as it is too hot to sleep under it right now. And yes, she sleeps with her Annie doll every night. I keep meaning to take a picture of her cuddling it in her sleep to show Sarah. :)

My MIL had the string for me to use to tie it together. So I got it all finished from cutting to making the bed in one day!  I plan on making two twin sized blue jean quilts for the bunk beds Stephen is going to make before the baby is big enough to take over Kimber's bed. (Stephen and my brother Tommy made the toddler bed you see here. :)

6 Years



Stephen checking to see why my brother Ben is back there looking suspicious.





Cake cutting time! My Grandma Rose made the cakes, and Grandma Kathy made my dress!

 



Stephen doesn't like this picture because he's making a goofy face, but I like it. :)

  So on May 28th Stephen and I celebrated 6 years of marriage. It has been a wonderful, fun, love filled 6 years too! We're pretty much still like newlyweds, in fact I consider 6 years still newly wed... I mean really, 6 years isn't THAT long, it has gone by in a flash. We were but wee babes at a mere 18 and 19 years old. Now here we are 6 years older with 2.4 children and just as in love as ever. I love you Stephen and look forward to the next 6 years and beyond!

God's Grace and Mother's Day

A little after midnight I believe it was, so a little after mother's day, my brother Tommy fell asleep at the wheel a half a mile from WalMart where he works the night shift and rolled his pickup. He called Stephen to see if it was okay to leave his pickup at the office in town, and then he went to stay the night with a friend in town. I am SO glad that he is okay.

 As far as I know other than being sore he was not hurt at all, Praise God!

 I just saw his pickup for the first time today, when I went into town. I almost cried when I saw it. His pickup was much prayed and saved and waited for. Tommy always said that God gave him a purple pickup, so he would be clothed in purple. :)


Aren't you glad he didn't have a passenger?

  He also used to sing a song I've heard on K-Love before TO his pickup. Something along the lines of. "God gave me you for the ups and downs, God gave me you for the days of doubt" So when I saw it, that was all I thought of.

 So yeah, his pickup is now totalled, but I am SO thankful that he is fine, and nobody else was even involved in the wreck. My brothers all have a saying they always say to each other which is "Do a barrel roll", just because they do I guess. Tommy now says he has DONE a barrel roll and it's not all it's cracked up to be.

In the picture below, I noticed that the cups are still in the cupholder, which I thought was kinda neat.

 On a completely different note, today my SIL and I went and had a pedicure for Mother's Day. I had never done anything like that before. It was fun. Thanks Crystal!

Happenings

We have the first fruits of our labors! After THREE years of trying to grow a garden, and one thing or another killing it. Be it cows, peacocks, chickens, etc... anyways, this year, a few days ago, we got our first food from our garden! Three cherry tomatoes. Stephen and the kids said they were good. (Shh, I don't like tomatoes....I like many things you can make with tomatoes, but I don't like to just eat them plain.) But so far our tomato plants, corn and onions are all coming along fine! I still need to plant okra, green beans, watermelon and cantaloupe. I hope to grow some greens when it cools off in the fall. It gets too hot for them to do well here in the summer.

Lets see what else. Oh yes. A few weeks ago a friend of ours gave Tyrel a 6 months old miniature donkey. An albino miniature donkey no less. He was rather stand offish at first, but in the past few days he has warmed up to us. You can often find Tyrel hanging off his back out in the yard. Yesterday Tyrel asked if he could ride Ice (he named him himself!) I told him that he might get bucked off and he was okay with that. I set him on Ice's back and Ice just stood there for about 2 minutes. I went to get a handful of feed and he started to follow. He took one step, went hop hop, and Tyrel went splat! He got the wind knocked out of him, but he was fine. He cried a little, but mostly he was proud of being 'bucked off' and that he is a REAL cowboy now because of it. :)

Kimber has been going to the potty a few times a day. I am not even really potty training yet, but if she's interested then hey, go for it! She has also started saying quite a few words. DADDY being her favorite. She will sometimes say Mama. She says apple, happy, please, hi, bye, donkey, cow, goat, up. water bottle, chickies, drink and NO. Most things she says, she says with great enthusiasm. NO! DONKEY! APPLE! BYE! Oh and she calls the swing in our tree a "wheee" because that's what you say when you swing right?



shhhhhhh



I have been feeling a lot better most days. I still get kinda sickish or tired some days, but mostly a lot better. My first prenatal appt. is on the 21st. I accidentally said I was at the beginning of my third trimester in my last post. I meant the beginning of the second! I am due early Novemberish.

Tyrel's picture of Kimber and I.