I'm still here.

I've been busy. And not so busy. The real reason I haven't blogged in awhile is that I haven't had much to say. But I wanted you all to know that I'm still here! Here's a little photo montage of a few things I've been up to.

Watching the dog and the girl sleep. Really, at times it seems that's all they do!

Me and my FABULOUS apprentice, the other Kelly. Together we are the Kelli/y's.

We don't look our best here, but we were having a great time. This was at a birth that we refer to as a "butter birth". Third baby, Kelly was there just a few minutes before the birth, me a little longer. Mom was amazing and the baby was born healthy. But it was early in the morning!

And here we are with the new little guy. So cute.

We had 4 births in three weeks. 3 primips (first time moms) and one multip (see above). They were all great, none were super long and we were excited to be busy, yet with perfect spacing, giving us time to recuperate.

Dinner with the Kids

Alexis is in town and we were able to spend a few hours with her on Sunday. We had dinner with all of our kids, minus Chial (in Fiji) and Parker (who knows where he was!). It was nice to have everyone together. I know it made Mario very happy. Alexis gave Mario a killer shoulder rub before she left! Lucky!

Some Changes Ahead

My husband officially resigned from his job today. He had been considering early retirement but when we looked at what he would bring home it is about half of what he makes now. I was hoping that he could stick it out for a couple more years. That way Chial would be home from his mission and hopefully the 3 adult children living with us, plus Chial, and possibly even Savannah would be out on their own. (YES, it is a possibility that I will only have ONE child home in a couple years!!) Without going into the politics too much, he was set up to fail at his job. Honestly, the biggest mistake he made was....SURPRISE....he was too nice! He covered for someone else for a full year that he should have just exposed. He was told this person was undermining him, but I believe he didn't fully grasp what was going on until it was too late to do what he should have done. By a mutual agreement with his boss he chose to resign and let the school go in a different direction. (By the way, this person has already begun to lobby for Mario's job, before the resignation was formally given. I'm a little bitter. Mario is very calm.)

Over two years ago, when I first heard that his position was available and he was thinking about applying I KNEW he would get the job. I KNEW this was where he was supposed to be. And from the moment he was hired this job has been a struggle for him, and for our family. We have all suffered because of it, but Mario most of all. I don't know why he was supposed to be there for such a short time and have this experience, but I am trying to have faith that it is for a greater purpose and something better will come along. I have complete faith in my husband and his integrity in doing his job. I have complete faith in his experience and skills. What I don't have faith in is the state of our economy and the crisis that our country is in right now. It is not a good time to be looking for a job. It is not a good time to sell a house. But as we consider our options I pray that we will be provided for.

Please pray for our family
that Mario will be able to find a better job
in a healthy work environment.

We have so much to be grateful for. I am grateful that we are able to draw from Mario's retirement if we need to. I am grateful for my experience in living on less and the knowledge I have that we will be able to do with less. I am grateful for the abundance in my business this year and the wonderful women who have entrusted me to be their midwife.

I have been nagging Mario about his health for such a LONG time, and I am grateful that this change will enable him to focus more on his health and making the life changes that he needs to to feel better. I am grateful that we have health insurance (at least until September)that enables us to see alternative health practitioners for only $5. We are both seeing a Naturopath and making changes that I hope will make us feel a whole heck of a lot better.

I brought home a bag of dirty dishes from my Midwifery conference yesterday. Oh, what a sweet treat for Amos, who thought it was wonderful to stick his head inside the bag and lick all the goodness off of those dirty plates. Being the eager pup that he is he just plunged himself in, not taking notice that he put his head through the handle. We had to laugh and take videos before we let him free. hehehe.

The First Half Dozen

Don't they look like pretty Easter eggs?
They are fresh from the hen and tasted oh so good!

For your viewing pleasure....

I was finally able to upload my videos of the girls playing Guitar Hero.
Aren't they hilarious?

I tried everything to rotate this video with no success. Sorry.

Meet my Little Ladies

Went to pick up my hens yesterday. They are Banty's which means they are much smaller than a regular hen (therefore: less food consumed, less poop and smaller eggs). I have 2 Ameraucana's and 1 Barred. The barred is already laying and we got our first egg this morning! The Ameraucana's may be laying but the woman we got them from isn't quite sure. In any case, they should begin laying soon.

The biggest challenge is Amos. No surprise there! We can't figure out if he's excited or terrified. Maybe a little of both. But he sits at the back door whining and scratching to go out and when he's out he is barking and terrorizing the chickens!

I hope I learned my Lesson!

Things have been going fairly well on the allergy elimination diet. Surprisingly I've had very few moments of truly craving a food I shouldn't have. I've done a good job of keeping the pantry stocked with foods I can eat. I have felt quite satisfied with the food options I have. I have been eating more vegetables and fruit, cooking more and eating out less (or almost never...I've been to Burgerville twice and the only thing I could eat were french fries, not a good option.)

After one month of success, and two more weeks until I can begin introducing some foods back into my diet, I made a big mistake this last weekend. I was making cookies for a wedding reception (LOTS of cookies), and they looked so good, I decided to take a taste of the cookie dough.

Well do you think you could resist oatmeal cookies with golden raisins, coconut and nuts?

Then that bite turned into more bites. Then I ate a baked cookie (and they were quite large). Then grandma came over with a VERY LARGE cookie for the kids. You know the kind the size of a pizza. And since I'd already blown it that day, and even though I was in the middle of making a healthy bean soup for dinner I made the big mistake of taking a taste of that VERY LARGE, chocolate chunk cookie. Then one bite turned into more bites. Then it was time to go to the reception, where there were even more cookies than the ones I made. I didn't eat another cookie, but I did eat some bread and fondue.

What was I thinking?

I guess I just wanted to make sure to expose my body to all of the major food groups I was to avoid...wheat....sugar....dairy. I felt a little yucky that night. But the real suffering kicked in the next day. I guess after avoiding said foods my stomach had a little seizure or something. I was in so much pain. The surprising point? That pain lasted for 3 days!

Today I feel much better, but not completely back to where I was before the lapse in judgement. I think I needed to screw up to realized how great I was feeling before. And I did feel great! I know at times it will be difficult to avoid the foods that cause me pain, but I think after that experience I can remember that the suffering afterward is NOT worth it!

And really, if I can still eat food like this I will be ok. I have been experimenting with flours and sweeteners that I can eat and tonight we had blueberry waffles for dinner that were delicious! Especially because I can have real maple syrup with them. I also made a peach and blackberry crisp that brought on visions of summer with each bite, and I had lots of bites. YUM!

Urban Farm Fresh Eggs

I'm going have chickens again. This time on a much smaller scale. I'm getting 3 banty's, which are much smaller, therefore we have a smaller coop. Hopefully this will be easier to maintain, yet give us an adequate number of eggs for our family. Mario is always so willing to take on MY projects. He worked most of the day to finish up the project. It's done except for the nesting boxes-they need to have a hinge on them so we can open them and retrieve the eggs. I've got the chickens reserved for me, and I decided to get hens that are just about ready to begin laying. This will be easier than raising them from chicks (though maybe not as much fun for the kids), and we won't have to wait long for the eggs.

Amos trying out the chicken coop.

I wonder how much he will terrorize the newest animals to join our family?

Happy Valentine's Day, my sweet!

He really does make me laugh, every day! I may not always be in a good mood (OK, I can be a moody bitch to live with) but he always does something that makes me laugh. Take this picture above. For no reason he puts on his cowboy hat, climbs into bed, and makes some smart ass comment that cracks me up. Or when he acts like Amos to get attention (because everyone thinks I love Amos the most). Or the night the girls dared him to run outside in the snow, 20 degrees outside, in his spandex. I have pictures. But really, it would be mean to post them!

Thanks, honey for putting up with me. For making me laugh. For being willing to have fun with me. For listening, talking and growing with me. For taking care of our family. I love you for giving me a life I've never had before. A life of love, trust and fun!