17 (er, 18!) Weeks

This post is so named because I took this pic last week when I was 17 weeks preggo, and now I'm technically 18. When you feel as crappy as I do, every week counts.

In case you can't tell by the pic, or you just haven't seen me in person in a while (ever?), I've lost almost 15 pounds so far. Yup. Fun stuff. Between the daily vomiting and the constant nausea and food aversions, I just can't seem to eat enough. Not that I really feel hungry much.

I hate that I really don't enjoy pregnancy. It makes me feel guilty, and I'm sure anyone who's dealt with infertility hates me (she gets pregnant at the drop of a hat! and has short, easy labors!) But the truth is that while I *love* the process of labor and birthing, and I *adore* my newborn babies, pregnancy itself is just no fun for me. That's what hyperemesis does to you, I guess.

On the bright side, everything looks like it's lining up for my homebirth. I have a midwife, my tax refund will cover the costs, and as long as no major complications arise, it looks like we'll be good to go. After years of fighting for it, it's almost unbelievable that I now actually have a chance.

When it comes to breastfeeding...yep, both girls are still nursing. I'm sure that's not helping with my weight gain, but I went through the same thing when I was pregnant with Lucy, and I'm confident that I'll be able to eat more soon. Besides, the baby needs so few extra calories at this point, I try not to sweat it. I really feel as though my body would tell me if I needed to wean.

I really thought Lucy was moving towards weaning completely...but then my supply rebounded a bit and her interest was renewed. She's only nursing *maybe* once a day, sometimes skipping days, but it's clear she's not ready yet- and that's fine with me. That's the beautiful thing about extended breastfeeding- by the time your kids are older, nursing is so infrequent that you can just enjoy the time you have together and not stress the "are they getting enough?" part. Emotionally, I'd be okay with her weaning now or later. I am only hoping that she is satisfied with occasional nursing once my milk comes back in, rather than going back to wanting to nurse more frequently. I need to get one more picture of them nursing together before she does, though.

Junie is still nursing several times a day, and I can tell she's still getting milk. She nearly always nursing to sleep for bedtime and naps, and besides signing "milk," she also calls nursing "nums," which I find adorable. I'm so happy we've been able to continue our breastfeeding relationship with very little stress on my part. She's old enough and so great with eating regular food that I haven't had to worry about her weight, unlike Lucy who needed to be supplemented towards the end of my pregnancy with Junie.

Well, that's all for now. Junie is already napping, Lucy is about to doze off, and even though dinner's already cooking in the CrockPot (LOVE that thing!), there's plenty that needs to be done. This whole "stay at home mom" thing is much harder that I anticipated! But more on that later.

I have chickens!

Lots of upcoming posts about our move and new home...but I'm excited to talk about our new pets, so here we go.

For my birthday this year, my awesome in-laws gave me the gift cards I needed to purchase my long-awaited chicken coop and run. With the girls in tow, I ran over to Tractor Supply about a week after we moved in to pick up the kit and other necessary chicken supplies.

Next, I scoured ads (mainly Craigslist) for chickens. Initially I planned on getting new chicks, but none of the local stores carried the breeds I was interested in, and the minimum order from hatcheries is 25- about 22 more chicks than I was able to handle. Additionally, I realized that chicks would take more equipment and care than I really cared for, and it would be several months before they started laying. For these reasons, I decided to purchase older pullets or younger layers.

After a few days, I saw an ad pop up for Ameraucana chickens- exactly what I wanted. Ameraucanas are reputed to be cold and heat hardy, good layers, and handle confinement well. Of course, their most famous characteristic is the fact that they lay blue eggs! Brett made the trip while I took the girls to Mass, and when we arrived home, we met our new hens: Hettie, Bettie, and Nettie.

The breeder told us that our girls were *almost* ready to lay. We were reassured that they like their new home when they started laying a few days later. Right now, we're averaging 2 eggs every-other-day, as two of the three are now laying pretty regularly. I haven't eaten any of the eggs yet, so I will update as soon as I do. So far, I've really enjoyed having them around, and I'm looking forward to starting to give them free-range time in the yard soon.

No News is Good News?

Have you ever put something off for so long that it magically morphed into a giant project, 10x larger than it was originally?

That's how I feel about this blog right now.

Between work, kids, doula-ing, etc, my poor blog's been neglected for so long that even updating it now seems intimidating. But thanks to some nudging (thanks, Elizabeth!), I'll do my best- one baby-step at a time.

The past few months have been crazy- and flown by. Since I wrote last:

1. We found a new house in Georgia. We're moving this week!

2. I separated from the Air Force. Technically I'm on terminal leave until next month.

3. Junie and Lucy aged 4 months and are crazier than ever.

4. I've attended 4 more births.

5. We found out that we are expecting baby no. 3!

Yep, Junie is going to be a big sister in September. That means I'll have 3 kids 3 year and under- whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Because I write about it a lot, I'm sure you're wondering: yes, both girls are still nursing. Both are nightweaned, and Lucy is only nursing twice a day now, but we're still in tandem-nursing mode. Right now I'm trying to just go with the flow and see what happens. Part of me isn't ready for Lucy to stop yet, and the other part thinks about the logistics of nursing three (especially since Lucy and Junie each have their own "nummers" and are very protective) and is ready for the change.

Oh, and I have purple hair :-) Technically purple tips, but whatevs. Here it is:

I guess that wasn't so bad after all- here's hoping for more frequent posting as I transition to full-time stay-at-home-mom status!

I'm Dreaming of a....Crafty Christmas! Part 2.

Other cool gifts we're planning on giving this year are homemade "hand" ornaments. Originally I was planning on making these awesome bird ornaments a la Martha Stewart. However, it struck me that our family would probably rather have something more personal than a pretty bird...perhaps, stencils of their grandchildren's hands?

I can remember making hand ornaments in preschool- well, I can remember my siblings making them at least. They were set in plaster and SUPER heavy- Mama had to put them wayyyy back on the branches to keep them from sliding off. Anyway, I know how much she liked them, so I figured, why not combine the ideas of Martha's great, light dough and the handprint theme?

To make our ornaments, I mixed up Martha's dough, which consists of cinnamon, applesauce, and craft glue. The mix smells heavenly, by the way. After letting it firm up for a bit, I rolled it out. To form the hand shapes, I cut the dough around a tracing I drew for each of my girls on cardstock.

After the dough dried, I painted the ornaments and put the girls' initials on the appropriate hands. I also tied ribbon on and wrote the year on the back in marker.

I think these came out really cute and I hope everyone likes them as much as I do!

I'm Dreaming of a....Crafty Christmas! Part 1.

(Obviously my efforts to blog daily are an epic fail. An ER visit for what I thought was an appendix issue turned into the 12-hour migraine-from-hell, and the blogging train derailed from there. To make up for it, the next few posts will be amazing ideas for how you can make great, homemade Christmas gifts that don't scream 'homemade' or have relatives struggling for polite ways to express their gratitude.)

Idea #1: Liquor, and/or liquor assortment

Making homemade flavored liquor is not only easy, but results in a product that is often superior to what you'd buy in the store. This year Brett and I decided to make limoncello, Irish cream (aka Bailey's), and coffee liquor (aka Kahlua.) Because limoncello takes the longest (upwards of a month), it's already brewing away. The Irish cream and coffee liquors are pretty instant-gratification, so we won't be mixing them up until later. I'll post the recipes for those next week.

Limoncello How-To, based on original recipe posted by Patty Mitchell

You'll Need:

15 lemons

2x 750 ml bottles of alcohol, or one 1.75 L jug (our preference)

Everclear works the best for this, but a cheap domestic (FLAVORLESS) vodka works too

3 cups sugar

3 cups water

Large jars (canning jars work great)

Bottles for the finished product

Decorating supplies (ribbon, print-at-home sticky labels, stamps, whatever)

1. Wash the lemons to remove any wax present. Peel them, using either a vegetable peeler or a box grater. For our method, we used the box grater. Make SURE not to get any of the pith- the white part. It'll make your end product bitter.

2. If you're using the 750 mL bottles, divide the liquor between a couple large glass jars. If you're using the 1.75 L jug, you'll simply remove .25 mL (measure using a measuring cup) and reserve for another use.

3. Add the lemon peel to the liquor.

4. Hide the jars/jug in a cool, dark place. Shake them up whenever you think about it and let stew for at least 2 weeks.

5. Mix up a simple syrup using the sugar and water. Heat on the stove on low heat, stirring frequently, until sugar is completely dissolved. Let cool.

6. Add the syrup to the liquor. You may need additional containers at this point- just do your best to divide it equally.

7. Let sit for an additional 2 weeks (minimum).

8. Strain through cheesecloth (or a coffee filter) into clean giftware.

9. Allow to sit for at least another week before using. After that, you'll want to store it in the freezer.

10. Share and enjoy!

Endnote: What to do with all those lemons???

Brett and I love to cook together, and we go through a LOT of fresh lemon, as "lemon juice" from a bottle is persona-non-grata around here. After we made the limoncello, we juiced all the lemons and poured the juice into ice cube trays. Once they were frozen, we dumped them into ziploc bags. Now we have *real* lemon juice readily available! We also made some candied lemon peels with the lemons that were left after we wore our hands out juicing the first 10 or so. We will be giving those away with our limoncello. Throw in some homemade biscotti and a good coffee and you have a delicious Italian gift basket!

Are you having a crafty/homemade Christmas this year?

Poor Bug!

For the first year of Lucy's life, I was *so* diligent about updating the blog with all her milestones. Her first solid food, words, steps...all were duly recorded.

Poor Junie! I haven't done nearly as well with keeping up with her development. We've been good about taking pictures, but...her poor scrapbook is months behind. Luckily I had the foresight to purchase a "baby's first year" photography package when she was first born, so I do have some amazing portraits for her.

Ironically enough, Junie has actually been hitting all her major milestones *much* sooner than Lucy did. At almost 11 months, Junie:

- walks all over the house!

- is very vocal: can say mama, dada, bug-bug

- enjoys playing with her big sister...as much as Lucy will let her

- loves dancing to music

- still takes 3 bottles a day, but can drink just fine out of a sippy cup

- eats lots of solids, including nearly everything we eat at the table

- goes to bed when we do, but sleeps in until after I'm out the door for work

- usually has one nursing session during the night, after work, and before bed

- smiles almost all the time- she has the sunniest disposition!

- hangs out on my back whenever she can

We love our Junie Bug!

My last meal.

NaBloPoMo prompt for today:

If you knew that whatever you ate next would be your last meal, what would you want it to be?

Oh, man, do I love food! Cooking is one thing that Brett and I really enjoy doing together- along with watching cooking shows. When we watch tv together (which is actually pretty rare), it's almost always Food Network. We especially love Iron Chef and Chopped. Although our tastes are constantly evolving, there are a few specific things I'm crazy about right now. Luckily enough, they fit perfectly into a cohesive meal! Here we go- I'm including the recipes we use as well.

Appetizer:

Hummus with vegetables

(Cup of soaked garbanzo beans, heaping spoon of tahini, swirl of olive oil, squeeze of lemon, as much fresh garlic as you like, sprinkle of sea salt- whiz in the food processor until smooth)

Main entree:

Massaman curry over jasmine rice

(Click on link for recipe- I learned this by heart and now cook from memory)

Side:

Homemade, freshly-grilled naan

(Click on link- cooking it on the grill is key. One batch makes enough for two meals for us, so I freeze half and save it for next time.)

Dessert:

Rice pudding made with more jasmine rice, coconut milk, and coriander

(Use your favorite rice pudding recipe, subbing jasmine rice for regular, coconut milk for cow's milk, and coriander for most of the cinnamon. Here's a good starting recipe.)

Beverage #1:

Mango lassi made with homemade yogurt, whole milk, and a sprinkle of coriander

(In a blender: flesh of 2 mangos, tablespoon of your preferred sweetener, cup of yogurt, 1/2 cup milk....blend until smooth, and then sprinkle on coriander.)

Beverage #2:

Expresso with sweetened condensed milk :-)

...And there you have it! What would you pick for your last meal?