apologies

I have not been on here in so long. 2 main reasons: my camera has broke due to some slamming and dropping by my dear son and I have not had my computer for about a month ( a friend is borrowing it and I am using hers, therefore I don't have any pics of ours anyway ). Everything is good here after the settling down after the holidays. We had a weekend packed full of birthday and christmas celebrations which were wonderful and very tiring all at once. 32.5 weeks pregnant and counting. Lil baby is in proper position and growing steadily, kicking my ribs, hips and bladder all the while. The second time around is more exhausting as I am having to chase after and cart around a 30+ lb toddler. ( Just guessin at Royal's weight). Naps are necessary as is good nutrition and exercise. I am doing best at the former. We go to see our family in Wisconsin next week. Always looking forward to that. Happy New Year!

Royal and Izaak hung out the other day: eating eachothers snacks, watching a cartoon.

Royal playing in our recently emptied compost pile.

He was there for quite awhile, I found him with a slug in his mouth eventually.

Something that my pre-mom self would probably cringe at:

Trick-or-Treating!

It was so cute and fun. Royal, a pumpkin, Izaak, a lamb.

We celebrated 5 years of marriage this past weekend. Instead of doing something crazy like leaving town for 10 days to go on a 12 hr road trip, we decided to stay in Louisville and get a sitter for Royal. We were baby free for four days and did things that we used to do. Not saying that it was better, or worse than pre-baby life. It was good to have the experience for perspective. I was excited to get back to mommy-ing at the end of it all. I like our schedule, I sleep better, feel better knowing what to expect. One night we drank coffee at like 5:30pm (an old habit) as one of our acts of celebrating. I was up until 4am as a result! It was nice laying in bed until 9:30 or so, going to a cafe to eat breakfast, read, play scrabble for as long as we wished.

I love our son. This morning we slow danced to Tony Bennett, Royal's head resting upon my shoulder....melting. We also "carved" our two small pie pumpkins together, pulling out the guts and throwing them in a bowl. He did well.

on my insides

on our way to a beautiful wisconsin wedding

at cherokee triangle park this very morning

yep, the one inside o' me: teeny, tiny foot

little skeleton face

my favorite, curled up, head being the same size as body

We had our ultra-sound, the true test to see if we could stand our ground in not finding out the sex. It wasn't difficult as you might have thought. The wee-one distracted us enough with doing things like scratching its head with its little finger and moving its mouth open and closed. The technician was even laughing, and she does these things all day. The strangest part was seeing the shape of an eyeball and watching it move around. SERIOUSLY, a miracle this baby growing thing is.

Personally been more tired than the usual these past few days. This, unfortunately has led to some boredom, lack of motivation and depression. My midwife told me my hemoglobin levels are a bit low, of course. I know that this is attributing to how I feel. So Royal and I went to get some B-complex and kombucha. I will say that I feel better this morning. I started to think through the reasons why this morning/day has been better, listing things in my head: coffee, being outside, having more productive bm's...BUT I stopped myself, and was reminded of the prayers that my husband, as well as myself have muttered. The Lord always hears 'em. We are so good at making ourselves feel/look good with reasons, am I right?

the end of summer

smashin/eatin tomatoes and peppers

got this carrot flower

made these with cornmeal raspberry muffins with our very own raspberries

one of these guys got a hair cut, can you guess?

learnin what to do in front of a camera

lacto rainbow salsa, excited to crack this open come winter

Once again another summer passes, once again I don't do as much as I had anticipated. We put up a good amount of tomato sauce for winter pizzas, made some fermented cukes, froze a bit of snap peas and kale but that's about it.
I blame it on the pregnancy. 14 weeks now and we have decided to NOT find out the sex of this one. Many guesses on a girl because of how I have felt physically, but, who really knows. We won't be able to have a homebirth, which I had finally felt good about after much deliberating (in my head). The midwife that would do it, can't do it. She isn't seeing anybody when I am do. Oh well.
As the summer heat wears off, so does our laziness. We find ourselves once again walking Cherokee, only now Royal walks along side of us. He much prefers this over being in his stroller.
We will be in Wisconsin this month, briefly, for a much anticipated wedding. And next month we are planning a bigger trip to celebrate 5 years of great memories together!

Royal

Just sayin' Hi!

stuck inside

I went grocery shopping yesterday and was very surprised at myself. As I walked through the aisles of foodstuffs, I found myself grabbing things like can ravioli, frozen waffles, cheese crackers, mac and cheese, pizza and SODA! I remember just doing it and shaking my head, thinking, this has got to stop at some point. It seems like the babe inside takes control of my brain when I am around food, wanting the diet of a college bachelor. Is there a college bachelor living inside of me? Playing X-box and dipping his cheese crackers in black cherry soda pop? Must be. 

One thing that I finally did after a long hiatus, was make bread. I was able to purchase a 50lb bag of organic whole wheat flour for a stellar price. "Looks like bread is back on the menu boys." ( Said like the orc in Lord of the Rings ).  

I have had a few weeks of naseau but thank the Lord that it is gone. This morning was a bit rough because my wonderful husband has the idea for Royal and I to go on a walk. This, a very foreign concept seeing as it has been, like the rest of the country, hot. One step outside for me and all hope of having energy for the day is gone. Well, I thought, heck it isn't AS hot as it has been, sure, we will give it a try. I had to put Royal down for an early nap, because I needed one. Now I sip on Tyler's left over coffee from this morning and I am feeling good. 

Speaking of Tyler, he has been the best at taking care of me and Royal during these times. Getting up extra early, making great breakfasts; eggs, toast, potatoes, french toast. Really a life saver. 

What Royal is up to: 

alternating shaking his head yes and no when you ask him something

blabbing about things that get him excited

walking so much!

throwing fits, not cool

saying papa (sounds more like baba)

also saying ball ( ba!)

climbing up on dinner table from chair that adult forgot to push in

drinking out of normal cups when we aren't looking

giving hi-fives

pointing at his belly-button and making a grunt sound

pointing at my belly-button and doing the same

sticking out his tongue, especially when there is food on it

Staying busy

June has past us already. We enjoyed trips and visitors alike. One of my old bunkmates came through with her husband to see us and meet Royal for the first time. It was short and sweet. I made butter from real milk cream and lacto-fermented ketchup ( which was great on grilled-cheeses).  As always, sharing great meals with my husband. The best one last month I would have to say was PIZZA SUBS on homemade, pretty awesome bread, with canadian bacon, sweet and spicy peppers, mozzarella and crispy, salty kale. They were so good!

Unfortunately my appetite has changed drastically this past month. I find myself craving Fazoli's and pizza and mac n cheese. Keep vegetables away from me, gross. Maybe you can guess why? Royal is gonna be a big brother! As of right now I am 7 weeks pregnant and I feel exhausted.