The Cottage on the Hill

I've met two other women online who are due this summer just like me! Babies!! I'm so glad my online gals are excited for me. It's rather sad that those around me here aren't. It's not that they're not happy. Rather than the cheers and hugs I received after announcing my pregnancy with Baby Girl, I get, "Oh." Just a simple, "Oh." It's gotten so bad that I don't even want to tell anyone else I'm pregnant, especially a certain person who only days before I found out I am pregnant told me she hoped God would hold off pregnancy for me. I guess I just don't understand, especially in the Christian community, the neutral to negative attitudes towards pregnancy and babies. I'll admit, I wasn't aiming for pregnancy this early after giving birth, but every since we started "breeding re-enactors" hubby and I knew we'd take what we were given, when we were given them with such joy and thanksgiving. I received...

Hubby and I are so relieved! I have nausea! Things are looking up for this pregnancy! I'm also convinced that I'm having a boy. All signs point that way. As I go through my first trimester, I'll let you know how I feel because I'm fairly convinced that taking dietary measures are helping me feel better. I cut way back on refined sugars and white flour. I've cut back on carbs and eat loads of proteins (eggs, cheese, nuts, etc). I'm eating more veggies. I'm drinking kombucha, raw milk, and Bulk Herb Store's Pregnancy Tea. I'm taking a multi-vitamin, B6, Cod Liver Oil, and Folic Acid. My typical breakfast is two eggs, fruit and nuts. Lunch is usually a salad topped with feta cheese and cashews. Dinner is balanced. There are many benefits to Bulk Herb Store's Pregnancy Tea, but one unexpected benefit for me is that it quenches my unquenchable pregnancy thirst. I drink plenty of water when I'm pregnant, but I always have an unquenchable ...

I'm not one to leave Christmas decorations up past the New Year. When Christmas is over, it's over. So, down came the decorations and out went the tree in record time. I got everything neatly packed away, taped up and labeled just in case we move. If we don't, at least I'm all the more organized for next year. I did lots of cleaning and organizing today. I had to be creative with my exercise program, so I put in the new Sugarland cd and danced with the kiddos for 1/2 an hour. It feels good to see the house so "open" again. While I enjoyed the coziness of the garlands and the tree and all the little twinkly lights, it's always nice to take everything down. It makes the house look lighter and brighter. In preggy news, I'm still not sick nor am I feeling pregnant in any way. That's not good news. I'm not going to the doctor because they can't do anything anyway. In my second miscarriage, at 8 weeks an ultrasound showed the baby's...

Hubby and I agree that if he does secure a job southwards and we secure a house, then we're going to ask my little brother if he would like to come live with us and search for a better job for himself. *note to my sister---don't say anything yet to him!* Even though we're still in limbo and nothing is definate, I've started a box of stuff that'll go towards our moving sale. If everything falls through, at least I'll have a really great garage sale in 2009! I'm 6 weeks preggers and still no sign of morning sickness. While that's not completely alarming, the fact that I really don't feel pregnant is. I know it is early, but with my viable pregnancies, I was already feeling pregnant and sick by now. With my pregnancies that ended in miscarriage, I didn't feel pregnant and, in fact, felt great! I feel great, which isn't good. I've been through 2 miscarriages before. While they sadden me, I am comforted by the Lord and in knowing that m...

I had made so many plans and had so many dreams for 2009 and the coming years. They've all changed. I'm not upset. I'm just taken aback. Everything I scratched down in notebooks and in my mind needs to be tossed out and room made for even bigger plans. Right now, we're in limbo. We have to wait until after the first of the year. Candy, I think it would be so cool to be neighbors with you! However, hubby doesn't have a job possibility in Oklahoma, though he does in North Carolina. We just have to see if the company will hire him. The foreman wants hubby to work for him, but it's up the company. The company is a union company. Even though hubby is already in the same union, sometimes they have ridiculous and impossible hoops to jump through. One thing I am looking forward to if we do move is the massive cleaning and decluttering that'll go on while packing. Oh, and I have chosen a house already and we hope it's still on the market if hubby does g...

Hubby and I are seriously looking into moving out of the state we live in. In fact, many middle class, average American taxpayers are leaving this state. We're heavily taxed. Jobs aren't that great. The schools are horrible. Our politicians are massively corrupt and are planning on adding more taxes, fees, restrictions, regulations, etc. They don't strip away our personal freedoms outright....they just tax, fee and regulate them so much, we can't afford them! Moving is going to break my mother's heart. It is going to break mine as well. I love where we live. I'm surrounded by family I can see at any given moment. I have love, support, help and prayers at a moment's notice from people I trust whole-heartedly. Yet, at the same time I'm excited at the prospect of moving. The state hubby might have a job offer in has a VERY affordable housing market. We can get a 3-4 bedroom farmhouse on 2-5 acres of land for LESS than what we paid for our tiny 2-bedroom cot...

Yep, only 6 months post-partum, and I'm preggers! Hubby and I are happy, of course. I'm saying it's a boy. The only problem is I'm having very few symptoms, which in the past meant miscarriages for me. So, it's a one-day-at-a-time deal. I'm also wondering if my vast reduction in carbs, particularly refined ones, and my consumption of Vitamin B6-rich raw milk and my daily glass of kombucha are warding off symptoms. Only time will tell. I was sicker with my daughter than with my son, so that's an indicator that I'm having a boy.

Yep, we're not just snowed in, we're iced in! Thankfully, our power didn't go out and I had a blast plowing the driveway with hubby's 4-wheeler! Everything is all crystal-sparkly! I'd take the kiddos for a walk in the woods, but it's too dangerous. While plowing, several branches fell. When they pop off the trees while covered in ice, it sounds like a gun-shot going off. I didn't flinch the first time because I thought it was a gun-shot. (You know you're a country-gal when gun-shots don't bother you!) I've had people come up to me and tell me they can't believe I do my errands with my two children in tow. I don't think much of it. They're hardly apart from me! When the pediatrician asked if my daughter has separation anxiety, I couldn't answer because we're not apart. (When we are apart, she's with someone she's very familiar with, like Grandma or Daddy.) I'm just used to it. Sometimes, it is difficult...

It looks like I'm going to be snowed in for a couple of days. Of course, I don't mind at all. I'm looking forward to it! We already have our Christmas decorations up....except for our tree. That'll go up Saturday! The house looks so comforting when all the indoor Christmas lights are on. We just got word that our town is looking to heavily restrict and regulate the use of outdoor wood boilers. We have one and under the proposed regulations, the town would have the power to make us turn it off and get rid of it, if they so choose. We're attending a public hearing on the issue soon. Not only is this giving the local government too much power, but their reasons behind it are totally ridiculous. They say the environmental impact of these boilers is too heavy. Since when is burning wood an environmental hazzard!! God regulated nature itself to burn wood! Man has been burning wood since Adam and Eve needed it after eviction from the garden. They say it's the...

Hubby and I are actually considering raising quail! I'm excited! I have such a vision for our little bit of earth and raising quail certainly fits into that scheme. From what I understand, quail can't survive winters here, but they're usually bought as chicks in the spring and butchered in time for the holidays. Hubby expressed a desire to be able to work at the farm next door in order to spend more time with his family. The very same desire has been weighing heavily on my heart and mind recently, even more so than usual. Right now we cannot afford it financially. It would take a miracle. I'm stepping out in faith this Christmas season concerning it. How can we put our heads together and make this work?! My mind is swimming and I honestly feel as if someone is deep within my chest screaming, "Cry out to God!" Oh, if only the farm could at least pay him $20.00 an hour. We've gone through some tough and stressful times recently. I am in awe of God...