~~August 2011~~

Okay, we promise this isn't turning into a pregnancy blog. With that said, one more week and we can kiss the 1st trimester good-bye. Seriously, where did the time go?
We've been a little busy in August to say the least, here's what we've been up to:

 My brother, Brandon & 3 month old puppy, Stitch came to visit. Brandon is puppy sister for our sister Trish while she is traveling in Europe and everywhere else.

 With the hot Idaho weather we spent a lot of time down at the creek.

 All the kiddos and Uncle Brandon. (and Stitch)

 Uncle Brandon heading up north to see family and Stitch is staying with us. So now we are puppy sitting until December. The kids are really enjoying having a puppy around. (Don't tell anyone but I'm kinda enjoying it to.)

Then we bought a *new to us* van after a couple months of looking. It's a 15 passenger, 1 ton so we can pull a trailer or haul firewood. Now we need to sell the Toyota Sienna mini-van. (It's weird to think that we will soon outgrown the mini-van)

 Then my cousin got married and Alanah was the flower girl. It was a 2-day event up at Bogus Basin here in Idaho. These pictures are just from the rehearsal, not the actual wedding.

                                                                          Emily & Justin

Next was Family Camp in McCall, Id. with our church. This is an annual event and our 2nd year attending.

 Miss Kaianah on the beach. She had so much fun playing with all her friends in the sand and water.

                                                                      Kids got buried.
                                               This is Riley on the left and Alanah on the right.

 I've gotta say, it was reallllly nice for me when kids were buried. I didn't have to keep looking around to make sure that everyone was okay and not getting to far into the water. :) It was like a mommy break! LOL

 The highlight of the trip!

Noah got baptised. He had told us that he wanted to a few weeks before the trip. We asked him lots of questions to make sure that he was ready. He was ready!

 Dusty is on the left and Kelly Miller on the right.

 Austin & Stitch at the campsite.

And again around the camp fire in the early morning hours. 

 Lots of kids at Family Camp, this is only a small part of them.

This was "The Big Race" as Noah described it to me.

 1st Place Winner!!

Josiah Davis

 2nd Place Winner!!

Noah Davis

 A random picture from the drive home.

Our first potato harvest.

Other things that took place in August was Dusty got the roof planted for the cob structure. So, now we have a living roof coming in. Pics to follow later. We are still raising 7 pigs, 52 chickens & 1 cow. Plus some garden items such as melons, tomatoes, berries, fruit trees, basil, rosemary, potatoes & peppers.



Pregnancy Update

I've been receiving a few emails & Facebook messages from friends wanting to know what's going on with the pregnancy. I guess I did leave all you hanging. Honestly, I was a little bummed out after my last appointment and I haven't felt like blogging about it.
Here's the scoop. I had my 3rd ultrasound last Thursday. The doctor said I was measuring 6 weeks (I have me at 7 weeks) and she found my tubes clear. She was able to rule out a tubal pregnancy, she did find an ovarian cyst and said that was probably the source of my pain. Then she found the gestational sac and the yoke sac but she was unable to see a fetal pole or a heartbeat. She looked long and hard, I think she wanted to see the heartbeat as bad as I did. Sigh....
Sooooo, we wait AGAIN. She wants me to come back on Tuesday for another ultrasound. I can't imagine 4 transverse ultrasounds can be healthy for anyone but we do need to find out if we have a living baby or not. The doctor said "maybe this baby is just getting off to a slow start." She also said "keep positive thoughts" and "call me if you start bleeding." She also advised me to limit my physical activity. Well, that's the scoop.

Til Tuesday....sigh

This isn't my ultrasound picture but mine looked very similar to this one.

You've Gotta Be Kitten Me!

You've gotta be kidding me, the kids were playing hide & go seek in the weeds and found a pile of 4 baby kittens. We see the mama cat all the time but didn't know where she stashed her babies. I guess she thought some weeds next to our grape vine looked like a good spot.

 The kids are getting attached, we've gotta get these kittens outta here.

 Can we keep 'em? Can we, pleassssse!

(Kaianah was just playing in the creek when she stopped by for a quick kitty visit)

 No, no, no they are way to little to go on the slide!

If these kittens survive the kids they will be some tough cats.

~~OH BABY!!~~

Since we shut our blog down a few months ago so much has taken place! I can't wait to update this outdated blog. It's nice to be back up and running again.

So, the BIG announcement is that we are expecting baby number 6. Due March 2012. We've been so thrilled with the idea of another baby on the way. The kids are very excited as well, each one has stated which gender they would prefer. This does mean that we've outgrown our mini-van and we will have to purchase a larger vehicle. (Not excited about that part! :) Anyone have a 15 passenger van for sale?? Just thought I would ask...

We've picked a wonderful birthing center to have this new baby which will be a complete 180 from our previous hospital experiences. Some concerns have come up already.
We have a possible heterotopic pregnancy. What that means is that we possibly have twins but one is ectopic. The doctor has ran HCG tests and progesterone tests. The progesterone test level came back at 21.3, the nurse stated to me that this is not quite the number the doctor had hoped for, she wanted to see that number higher than 25. The HCG levels are doubling at 1.68 days which is a little higher than normal. Typically doubling of HCG happens every 48-72 hours (2-3 days). Because both babies produce HCG these findings don't help us rule out an ectopic pregnancy. We've had 2 ultrasounds this week but it's just to early to know for sure what's going on.
The doctor wanted to order an MRI to confirm or rule out an ectopic pregnancy. The funny thing is that I'm allergic to ONE thing in this world and it happens to be the contrasting agent used during MRIs.  In order for me to have an MRI and not have a huge allergic reaction I have to take lots of prescription drugs just prior to an MRI, none of which are safe during pregnancy.
Should we have a heterotopic pregnancy the ectopic pregnancy will have to be surgically removed and in most cases the other pregnancy can be saved without any harm to the baby.
So we wait. We go back for another ultrasound this Thursday. The doctor has emphasized that we are to head to the nearest ER if I have "any pains that drop me to my knees."
We've got a great group of friends up here in Idaho and all of them are praying for us, that's all we can do right now.
I'll be getting this blog up-to-date SOON!! :)

~~Growing Firewood~~

Beechwood fires are bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year,

Chestnut's only good they say,

If for logs 'tis laid away.

Make a fire of Elder tree,

Death within your house will be;

But ash new or ash old,

Is fit for a queen with crown of gold

Birch and fir logs burn too fast

Blaze up bright and do not last,

it is by the Irish said

Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.

Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,

E'en the very flames are cold

But ash green or ash brown

Is fit for a queen with golden crown

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke,

Apple wood will scent your room

Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom

Oaken logs, if dry and old

keep away the winter's cold

But ash wet or ash dry

a king shall warm his slippers by.

The firewood poem was written by Celia Congreve, is believed to be first published in THE TIMES newspaper on March 2nd 1930.

 

We scored some Ash trees for $10 each. We are now growing our own firewood!! (just a little excited about that, I get excited easily) We picked the ash tree based on the poem, no not really. :)  We picked the ash tree for our woodlot because we've read that they grow pretty fast and that they are excellent to burn. The poem just confirmed what we had read.

 Dusty and Austin are out in the rain planting them right now. We picked up 10 trees to start but hope to get a few more in the future.

 The trees are 7-10 feet tall. We will be staking each tree for added security. To keep costs down we picked out some wood scraps from our scrap pile and will use them as stakes.

 We picked an area of the property that isn't currently being utilized. Dusty installed irrigation piping in that area last year so watering shouldn't be to hard.  We hope that each tree will grow big enough that we will be able to harvest at least a cord of wood per tree.

Cost breakdown: 
$10 per tree
Irrigation water $1-$2 per tree per year (approx)
Electricity to pump the water. (I really don't know, probably a few bucks a year as we only water in the summer)
Total cost per tree for the first year:  $15
Total cost per tree each year after: $5 or less
If we grew each tree for 5 years and then harvested, assume we got a cord of wood from each tree that would make the total cost per cord $40 or so, plus we wouldn't have to spend the gas money driving to Timbuktu for firewood. We would be able to harvest in our own backyard.

We have some unused space between some fencing and the lawn, while I was out running errands today the boys planted some snow peas. Great use of space!!  

~~Spring Is Here~~

If there comes a little thaw,

Still the air is chill and raw,

Here and there a patch of snow,

Dirtier than the ground below,

Dribbles down a marshy flood;

Ankle-deep you stick in mud In the meadows while you sing,

This is Spring.

~~Christopher Pearce Cranch

 Growing green onions

 We started growing some heirloom zucchini, cucumber & lettuce.

 Hopefully by planting heirlooms we might actually save our seeds this year.  

 We've got lettuce growing outside right now.

The baby chicks are growing FAST!

 We've got a growing light attached to one of our bar stools.

 Kaianah wants to help.

Who doesn't wanna play with dirt in the house??!!

March Birthdays

We celebrated a few birthdays this month. Grandpa Fitzpatrick, Dustin, Noah & Josiah all have birthdays within days of each other. We had one small family party and celebrated!

 Noah & Josiah opening gifts. Noah turned 8 and Josiah turned 7

 Dustin turned 30 something...

 Gift opening is always soooo much fun.

Dusty and I scored all of the boys birthday gifts on the day after Christmas sales.

 Dusty got a pitch fork which he's really needed and wanted for some time now.

Thank you Fitzpatricks!

 He's dancing with his new friend, Ms. Pitch

 US

The girls helping Grandpa open his gifts. Such helpers! :)