Evening at the farm.

These pictures are not the greatest. They are phone pictures and some are in a dark barn, but it's the memories I want to treasure for my children.

We have been spending more time with our families since Jacob is free most evenings during the summer. It's been so nice to be able to visit on other days than Sunday so we're not rushing home to get the children down for naps or bedtime. Lily and Levi have loved getting to go to the barn and play outside...which they don't get to do since it's dark by the time we get there on Sunday nights.

Papaw and Lily headed to the barn.

Yaya, Levi, and Lily watching the brand new baby goat and his momma.

Lily holding the new baby goat.

Levi was content to watch from Yaya's lap.

Yaya about to milk the momma goat.

Going to see the other animals.

Seeing Lily and Levi having such a good time at the barn with Papaw and Yaya reminds me so much of my childhood. I remember being at the barn as much as I could "helping" my Granddaddy. I don't remember him ever once losing his patience with us kids, although I'm sure we were completely underfoot. 

Birthday and July 4th Week.

Last week was such a busy, busy week.

On Monday, my brother's - then girlfriend, now fiancee - who was in town for the 4th, came over for the afternoon to spend some time with me and the kids. Then we went over to my parent's for supper with all the family. Lily and Levi had a blast playing outside.

Sweet couple.

Of course we had to go to the barn to see the animals. Lily held the kittens and didn't break out in a rash! The last time she touched a cat (about a year ago), she broke out and we assumed she was allergic to them. She was so excited to be able to pet and hold them and not have to just look at them.

Tuesday was my birthday! We started out the day at Cracker Barrel for breakfast with Jacob's family (that's the only picture we took all day. sad!), then Jacob had a meeting all morning. Our mother's helper came to watch Lily and Levi so I could get out and do some fun stuff. Asher tagged along with me. First, we took my friend who works at the Post Office a milkshake from Chick-Fil-A. Back when I was selling hair bows and going to the PO every other day, I got to be good friends with C. She had a baby girl about 3 weeks after Asher was born, so she's just recently gotten back from maternity leave. We had the sweetest visit even though we just chatted between customers.

After that, we went to the hospital to visit Jacob's Pawpaw. He wasn't doing very well that day, but he perked up a lot when I read some Psalms to him. He was a baptist preacher for many years, and he still preaches when he's up to it. Thankfully he's improved just over the couple days. The doctor finally figured out that he has a small fracture in his back - which has been causing Pawpaw's excruciating pain. We are so thankful to have an answer and a plan to get him back on his feet, Lord willing.

Asher and I ate lunch with Mom at Panera, then we headed home to get all three babes down for their naps. 

We had a good 4th of July. Our annual church picnic was in the evening. It was super hot and the kids got a little cranky when we tried to get a picture, but overall it was great!

We enjoyed yummy food.

Visiting with my sweet Memaw.

Feeding the goats.

Playing tug of war.

Looking cute in patriotic clothes. 

 (excuse the fake smile, she had too much to do to smile normally for the camera)

Enjoying beautiful fireworks.

Thursday and Friday were spent trying to get our house back in order from the chaos of the week. 

On Saturday morning, a friend, who was in town at her parent's house, invited me and the children over to play. We had such a fun time! Lily is already asking to go back and see Miss Emily.

Sunday was pretty normal with church in the morning, dinner with Jacob's family, home for naps, then back to church in the evening and supper at church.

I'm hoping for a pretty low-key week this week...but we'll see how it turns out. You never know what fun things might pop up!

18 months

My little man is a year and half! How can that be?

He is such a busy boy - always moving, getting into things and being a little helper.

He loves helping empty the dishwasher. Seriously, when he hears me open it, he drops whatever he's doing and runs to help. Love that boy!

He is a daredevil. Climbing, standing in rocking chairs, you name it, he'll be found doing it.

He burned a little finger on the stove top a couple weeks ago. He wasn't even in the kitchen when I went to get Lily off the potty and when I came back, he had a chair pulled up to the stove and was saying "hot, hot" while holding a little red finger up to me to blow on.

His stubborn streak is coming to the surface very quickly. He has just learned to say "no" and it seems to be his favorite word. 

He will try to repeat anything you tell him, but sometimes they come out like grunts. He has some trouble putting some different sounds together too. Like, he can say "ba" and "ll" but he can't say "ball." I think a lot of it has to do with his abnormal palate. We go back to Children's this month or next month...I've got to remember to call and make an appointment. We are praying that he just needs speech therapy and not surgery.

He is looking more and more like his Daddy did when he was little.

He and Lily get along really well most of the time, but Levi sure does know how to push his sister's buttons.

He is cutting two molars right now.

He weighs about 20lbs, wears size 3 shoes and wears size 12 month clothes.

Eating is really touch and go with him right now. He'll eat something and love it one day, and hate it the next. Cheesy eggs are his favorite right now. 

He loves water...to play in and to drink. I rarely give Lily and Levi juice, so on the 4th when it was super hot and we were playing outside, I gave them juice, and they took one sip and started begging for me to dump it out and give them water. It was funny!

I'm so thankful for my first-born boy. God has used him to bless our family immensely!

My Breastfeeding Journey

Several of you have asked about my personal issues with breastfeeding as well as the goat milk formula that I use for my babies. Instead of emailing everyone individually, I thought I would just do a post about it.

Back three years ago when I was pregnant with my first baby, Lily, I read all the books I could about labor, delivery, unmedicated births, and of course breastfeeding. I fully believed that I would breastfeed my new baby, and never really gave a second thought to having issues with it. 

When Lily was born, she had some trouble latching and sucking. My midwife helped and encouraged me and my sister came over several times in the first week to help. I was drinking tons of water and mother's milk tea and taking handfuls of fenugreek. Lily was a happy baby and gained almost back up to her birth weight. I had a little milk come in, but I never felt a let down.

Around the second week, I started feeling like Lily wasn't getting enough to eat. I voiced my concerns to several people, and everyone assured me that she would let me know if she was hungry. I kept on working at it. I began noticing that Lily didn't seem to be growing, in fact, she looked like she was losing weight.

This poor sleep-deprived, brand new mom, was an emotional wreck. I went to see a lactation consultant. When she weighed Lily, she was barely 5lbs (she was 6lbs 4oz at birth). I knew something was terribly wrong. The lady had me nurse Lily and then she weighed her again. There was no change in her weight. We rented an electric pump and a baby scale. The consultant told me to pump as much as possible, supplement through a syringe, and make sure Lily gained 1oz each day.

When I pumped, I got less than an ounce, but still I kept on pumping. That did more damage than good.  I still tried nursing Lily before pumping and before supplementing, but she just wasn't interested...there was nothing there. We started supplementing goat's milk in the syringe. After about a week of excruciating pumping with only a few drips, I stopped. We started Lily on bottles full time around 3-4 weeks. 

It was hard for me. I felt like a huge failure. Never did I expect that I would have any trouble producing milk. After awhile I was able to work through it and truly accept that it was ok, that I was not a failure because I couldn't nurse my baby girl, that this was part of God's plan.

When Levi was born, I was determined to try breastfeeding him, but I was also determined to not have the same experience I'd been through with Lily. Even with Levi's cleft lip and abnormal palate, he was able to latch on and nurse well. I did all the same things I'd done with Lily to help produce milk...but the same thing happened. I had some milk come in, but then it was gone, just that fast. 

Yes, it was hard not to feel like a failure again (I think a lot of that had to do with postpartum hormones), but I really was ok with putting Levi on bottles around 2 weeks. 

In the weeks leading up to Asher's birth, I started making Lactation Cookies to try to give my body a head start. I also ordered MotherLove More Milk Blend to have on hand to take right after Asher's birth. I was really hopeful that I would be able to produce enough. Immediately after Asher was born, I took the More Milk Blend, Fenugreek capsules, and drank cups of mother's milk tea. Asher was my best nurser. Everything seemed to be going really well for a couple weeks, then he was getting fussy, and I felt like I didn't have enough. I would nurse him as much as he would and then give him a bottle of pumped breast milk from a dear friend. Around 3 weeks, he was fully on bottles of breast milk and goat's milk. 

I didn't struggle too much with feelings of inadequacy this time around. I'm really thankful for that. God has used this trial for good to help me trust Him more, and realize even more that He is in control of everything in my life.

From what I've read and heard from friends, I believe that my food allergies play a big role in the lack of milk production. 

With each child I've learned more about what to put in the goat's milk to help them get the best nutrients. This is the basic recipe I've been using for Asher - 

2 cups raw goat or cow's milk

2 cups filtered water

2 capsules acidophilus 

2 drops 1000iu vitamin D

1/2 tsp. melted coconut oil

1/2 tsp. cod liver oil

5 drops liquid Folic Acid & B12 

3 T. prune juice (my babies have always gotten constipated on goat's milk)

2 drops of an iron supplement

If you have any questions for more specific info, please email me!

Our Busy Week

Last week was a crazy busy week...but really, all weeks seem like that these days! Ha. On Monday I took Levi to order the new prescription in his glasses. We got the lenses put in on Wednesday. He seems to be doing well with them, but I think he is still adjusting. They are a lot stronger than what he had.

Monday was my "little" brother's 14th birthday! How did he get to be 14? We went out to my family's for supper. It was so good to see Memaw! We haven't been out to visit her much lately with Jacob's car in the shop and just the busyness of having three little ones.

Love this little man!

Tuesday evening we made a spontaneous trip to Earth Fare (about a 30 minute drive) and went to a splash pad. Lily and Levi had the best time!

I made bubble jars for the kids on Wednesday. It's just old plastic jars (I used a pb jar and a mayo jar) filled half way up with water with a squirt of dish soap and a couple drops of food coloring. Lily and Levi enjoyed shaking them and watching them for like 10 minutes, but then they were done. Oh well.

Levi has been doing so well lately feeding himself with a spoon!

It's way too hot during the day for walks, so Asher and I have been out several times to walk after his morning bottle.

Thursday was our 4th anniversary! In some ways it seems like it should be a lot longer than four years and then sometimes it seems like just yesterday. We took Lily and Levi to Parent's Night Out at our church Thursday night and we went out for an romantic dinner at...5 Guys! LOL We went to a yogurt shop (yum!) and then stopped by the grocery store to get diapers before going back to pick up Lily and Levi. After we got the children in bed, Jacob popped some yummy popcorn and we watched a movie together. Yes, a picture of the popcorn is the only picture I got the entire day. Sad.

Jacob was off Friday morning so he mowed the grass and cleaned up outside. He found that big frog while he was mowing. I hate frogs. When I was little, my sister would chase me with frogs and throw them on me. Terrified me to say the least! Oh, she would also swing dead snakes around her head while chasing me too. Such a sweet big sister. LOL Lily and Levi were intrigued with the frog. They sat and watched it for the longest time.

Lily stayed with Jacob's mom while I ran an errand. She didn't take a nap, so I assumed she would go to bed early. I was making supper and came into the living room to find her asleep on the couch. She slept for an hour and a half through all the noise of Levi and Asher, and even Levi going up to her and patting her (kind of roughly) on the head!

Friday evening we took the kids outside to play in the kiddie pool. They had such a good time!

Mr. Saggy Pants. LOL

Sweet little man!

Saturday we had some friend's over for lunch, then I ran to the grocery store during nap time. I loved how the children were so sweet to play together in the afternoon! 

Sunday was a normal busy day with church, naps, and family time.