On siblings

The last couple weeks have been rough for the kids.  They are learning how to share and play together and it is a constant struggle - one of them always ends up crying.

However, this morning, I have been sitting here peacefully sipping my coffee and listening to the adorable sounds of imagination play from both kids.  They went fishing in the shoebox, played hide-and-seek, shared bad guy costumes and snuck around the house getting into trouble.

While I was working on a different blogpost, I found these photos and instantly was reminded that this past month wasn't really ALL that bad.  They had their moments and, although these moments are increasing in frequency, they really do have a lot of fun together.

A fellow blogger posted a question to other moms out there about the possibility of Baby #2: "It makes me feel all giddy, and yet...completely & utterly terrified.".  And I didn't respond yet because everyone's experience is different and it is such an extremely personal decision.  I have posted before on the Case for Siblings.  But, after looking through these photos just from the last month, 

Camille - here is my reply:









Oh cue waterfall effect...I am definitely pregnant and hormonal.  

And OH SO EXCITED to be giving these two another sibling in the next month :)  

7 Quick Takes (#18)

7 quick takes sm1 Your 7 Quick Takes Toolkit!

*This 7 Quick Takes brought to you by Baby #3 who gave me a 4:30 am wake-up call.  I put my early morning to good use and blogged :)

1) Pity Party Entrance: I have hit a new low in my pregnancy physically and mentally.  I have been entertaining all sorts of different thoughts about how women back in the day had it easier.  Either you were rich enough to have servants do all the work while you rested your aching hips on a fainting couch, or you were poor enough that your house didn't have stairs.  And when the sun descended, your work finished for the day.  You didn't have toys all over the floor to pick up.  Your children could be sent outside all day every day without fear of CPS.  You can't sweep a dirt floor.  And your husband didn't commute an hour to work because there were no cars.  I do all the other stuff they do anyway (grind wheat, cloth diaper, make my own food/cleaning supplies, etc.) but I'm pretty sure they had it easier.  Seriously, I play Castleville.  I know what goes into living in the olden days.


I might also just be going on a week without decent sleep from aches and pains too.  That might be taking its toll on me mentally.  You know - causing delusions and whatnot.  Or I have been watching entirely too much Downton Abbey...

Thank God he installed the "pain" mechanism the last 2 weeks or I would be a reluctant laborer/deliverer come baby-having day.  I wasn't ready to have this baby until about 2 or 3 days ago.  Now?  BRING IT ON!!!!

See how the woman in the photo has her mouth open?  That's because her lungs are the size of pancakes and she can't breathe without utilizing all airways simultaneously.  And where is her tail?  Why haven't we evolved to grow tails to support the weight of the belly??

2) My children seem to forget that there is a child in my womb.  Elena is always running for safety from the "Cary Monster!!!" (scary).  She's pretty fast now and can scale the couch in a single leap.  She always lands on the belly.  The baby is just fine, surrounded by insulating layers of water and fat.  But me?  I'm DYYYIIIINNNNGGGG!!  And Elena has never heard me yell so much.  Every time she jumps on the baby I have to loudly tell her to get off.  Then she looks at me to see if I'm mad.  I'm not mad.  Just in pain...And then I snuggle her cute little face :)


3) We have hit a new season in the lives of my children.  They fight...a lot...They play hard all day around here.  But usually, play involves the same toy.

Elena used to get the brunt of Leo's bullying.  Now she has it ALL figured out!


I, as the keeper of the peace, try to help them work on conflict resolution.  And I try to think of ways to blog about their angelic faces.  But until the peace is restored, I am not pulling out my camera as often as I did in the past.  Aside from that, I can't move across the room to get the darn camera...

4) But in their defense, they are pretty nice to each other the other 20% of the day.  (I kid - it's more like 20.2%.  They really are good kids!)

(I caught them holding hands on the couch the other day - but I couldn't stand up fast enough to take a better shot!!)


(Sharing their pet Hexbug)
5) One thing about having children who play with each other and entertain each other is that it takes the pressure off of my hugely pregnant body to do a lot of the physical playtime activities.  We either save those for Dad...


This free script provided by
Dynamic Drive



6) Or we just let the kids find their own fun game to play...






7) A few months ago, I posted about a few inspirational women who inspired me to start knitting/sewing.  One of these women is my cousin-in-law Charla.  When she heard I was pregnant with Leo and again when I was pregnant with Elena, she handmade a quilt for each of them!!  I assumed that since I had one of each - a boy and a girl quilt, that would be it.  And, since she is currently expecting her first baby (due in June), I thought she would be otherwise occupied.


But then this little wonder arrives in our mail the other day!!!


How gorgeous is that?!?!  We don't know if it is a boy or a girl and I am so pumped about the color choices she used (instead of the traditional "unisex" green and yellow). 


The kids love it so much I had to hide it from them.  Elena pulled it out of the box and tried taking a nap in it right away!


Genius that she is, she grabbed a potholder pillow :)



I cannot believe how much work you put into this for our little one!!  Thank you so much Charla!!!!  

Have a great weekend!!!!!


Check out conversiondiary.com for the rest of the Quick Takes!

Baked Donut Hole Fail

I test-drove a recipe today that I wanted to make for Mom's Group being hosted at my house tomorrow.  The recipe is pretty basic and the title held the word "Donut".  I was sold.

Servings: 1 dozen donut holes
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
  • 1/4 cup Coconut Sap Sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 5 tablespoons coconut flour
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar or cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a glass baking dish.
In a medium bowl, cream sugar, salt, butter and vanilla extract together with an electric hand mixer. Add egg and mix thoroughly.
Sift in coconut flour and stir to combine. Let dough sit for one minute. Shape dough into 12 1-inch balls. Place evenly on baking dish and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden.
Let cool and roll in powdered sugar or cocoa powder


I actually don't have any coconut flour on hand and I'm too cheap to buy it, so I started by taking a cup of my unsweetened organic coconut and grinding it in my food processor...and then the coffee grinder for good measure.

 Looks like flour to me?????

I followed the directions, rolled the donuts, baked them in a glass dish and...

VOILA!!!!!


I was able to salvage them somewhat but won't be serving them tomorrow morning :)


Filed Under: Things I'll never do again...

The last time I bought a 1/4 cow, I asked the butcher for some of the fat.  My friend told me that beef tallow makes the BEST homemade french fries.  And we have completely stopped using vegetable oils so I needed a new substitute.  Tallow is cheap and easy - right?!

So - in a fit of nesting (at 37 weeks pregnant, I say better late than never, right??), I made a huge batch of homemade laundry detergent (with Fels Naptha soap this time) and chopped up the beef fat to "render"....

What??  You don't chop up 4 lbs of beef fat when you hit the nesting stage??  I don't understand...


One of my favorite bloggers: City Wife Country Life, posted a detailed review of How to Render and Can Tallow.  So, I followed her advice and threw my fat in the crockpot to heat up.


I got out all my canning supplies and prepared the kitchen to can the fat...


Within minutes, both Jason and I were throwing each other sideways glances.  I immediately googled "Can I put my crockpot outside?" and decided I didn't really care about the answers.  The odor was all-consuming!!!


The smell was more than we could bear.  The crockpot was going outside.  Period.


A couple hours later, I put the kids down to nap and decided to muscle my way through the canning process.  I was thanking God I have a deviated septum.  The smell could only enter my nose through one nostril instead of both.  


We quickly boiled water, poured fat, disposed of "cracklins" and water-bathed our jars.


And I was also thankful that the same friend who suggested rendering tallow for those "amazing french fries" gave me this delicious candle for Christmas.  Because holy rancid smell from the underworld....


Here are my jars of tallow.  And I am too scared to open any of them and cook with them...


The amount of money we saved in rendering our own lard, we LOST in heating bills by airing our house out all day in late January...

I decided to render my tallow on a day when my husband was home.  By default, he had to assist me.  The comments about the odor were rolling off his tongue faster than I could process them and I almost went into labor I was laughing so hard!
- At least we can cover our tracks if zombies ever attack
- It smells like a one year old diaper left in a hot car in Texas next to a dead tuna...covered in chili
Me: Wait Jason - we need to can it next
Jason: Oh no you don't - YOU'RE not bringing this in the house!
- This stuff smells like leprosy looks
- I don't care how poor we are.  Just put the lard on the credit card...
- I'd rather compost someone else's s#!* than do this again


Sorry honey...

At least I gave him extra brewing supplies for Christmas and he has almost 100 beers in his "Beer Store" downstairs...



I promised him that if I ever break into one of these bad boys, I'll do it when he is away on a youth retreat with the youth group.  And why does no one else mention the odor on their blogs about rendering tallow??  Perhaps our cow got into an onion patch or something...

*Click here to read why I would rather render my own tallow/lard than ever cook with vegetable oil, canola oil or eat any butter that is in a "tub"
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