1st trimester and the last harvest

by Ariana Peters, posted in Uncategorized

I am incredibly thankful that is was so,easy for me to get pregnant both times and I dont take that for granted but I do not enjoy pregnancy. Pregnancy tends to hit me really hard.

I think I am right on the cusp of that hyperemesis gravitarium. WITH anti-nausea meds from my dr I still throw up a few times a day. So far in both pregnancies I have been able to keep hydrated enough to not need IV hydration. I dont worry too much about nutrition in the beginning of my pregnancies, I eat whatever I can keep down the best. My first pregnancy that was a lot of fast food, this pregnancy its been a lot of noodle and rice dishes.  I also take a prenatal vitamin everyday.

Thank goodness for Gerber raviolis and skillet meals so my little man still had a semi balanced diet on the crazy days when all I could get down where mashed potatoes and top ramen. Also, because he is still young formula is a staple in his diet (my milk dried up around 6 months) so I never had to worry too much about him.

Now I got pregnant in August and I threw up for the first time 3 days before my positive pregnancy test…..yea it started that early. Thankfully it took a few weeks to really gear up but by mid September I was miserable…..and we were drowning in tomatoes and had a fair amount of carrots. I have said it every pregnancy, I dont know how the woman of the past did it. Pregnancy knocks me on my a** and I dont have to work even half as hard as they did to put food on my families table and if I miss the harvest my family wont starve this winter.

That being said, no one wants to waste their harvest. Thankfully my mon tries to come up every 3ish months to visit her grandbaby and boy did she earn her keep in September. She cleaned the house and did our laundry and helped me get the bulk of our carrots cut up so I could dehydrate them easily over a few days. We got lots of cherry tomatoes harvest, cleaned and bagged in the freezer. We also made a big vat of homemade chicken soup to eat for the week after she left…….which i ended up throwing almost all of it out because the smell of the cooked chicken made me puke. Couldnt even give it to my little man, just a hint of the smell had me running to the bathroom lol.

But with all that we have made it through the 1st trimester and we are happily settling into the slower winter months.

We have ALSO given away probably 5 or 6 dz eggs at least because guess what?! Eggs havent sounded good to me either! Lol. Ive managed to use a few here and there but man. I am actually begging these chickens to slow their production down now that its gettings darker. We are finally getting them back in our diet a bit but we are still swimming in eggs hahahahahaha

I need to get garlic in the ground this week or it will probably be too late. I am battling a cold which is zapping my energy so we will see………

We are at it again

by Ariana Peters, posted in Uncategorized

I am almost 12 weeks pregnant with baby #2. It is a little earlier than expected but we are thrilled!

We also found out that its a girl!!!

I get really bad morning sickness so that has been hard to deal with while taking care of our little man. However, with the 2nd trimester just around the corner i am starting to have a few easier days here and there. Talk to you soon!!!

my favorite season

by Ariana Peters, posted in baby, kids, mini-farm

Yes, my favorite season in Fall for its beautiful colors and crisp weather.

However, as I now have a baby and and am growing food and raising chickens I find myself looking more and more forward to the end of fall and the beginning of winter.

Don’t get me wrong, I know I am so lucky to be able to grow food and raise chickens and feed my family good, whole food…..but from spring planting through to fall harvesting there aren’t many days where I don’t give up a minimum of 30 minutes to the yard. 30 minutes doesn’t seem like much but when you have a little one 30 minutes out of your day can be a lot.

That 30 minutes doesn’t include the days that I am actually preparing beds, planting, harvesting and preserving; that is just daily maintenance. That takes up a lot more time.

Again, I love pulling out homemade and homegrown food in the middle of winter and early spring when everything in the grocery store is shipped from who knows where and harvested who knows when; so, I am most definitely not complaining, but the slow season of winter is absolutely calling me.

I love watching the rain fall while I drink a cup of coffee before everyone else wakes up. Make it snowfall and I love it even more.

Reality vs. fantasy: Fantasy (or should I say my pre-baby reality) in the slow winter months I read more, slept in more, relaxed more and sort of hibernated. My new reality: I am guessing winter will also have its challenges such as where do I put the baby when it is raining out and I need to change the chickens food and water? What do I do when the baby is grumpy and its raining and this is when we normally go for a walk to settle him down? We live in the Pacific Northwest so rain is a big factor for us in the winter hahahahaha.

We will see how reality and fantasy hammer out this winter.

Our first week homeschooling

by Ariana Peters, posted in Uncategorized

This week we are focusing on the Ocean

Monday

We started off with this documentary while we did his bottle and played a little.
Then we read one BOB book (we have already been doing this for a few weeks) and we read this book about ocean animals
On our walk we (and by we I mean I talked and pointed things out to him hahahah) talked about seeds (each of those brown things are the seed from a tree) and how they grt knocked off the tree and can fly away and make new trees

I also pointed our blackberries and talked about how they also have seeds that help them grow after they drop to the ground. 

Lastly, we read a poem from a book called Songs of the seasons which has about 60 poems going through the seasons of the year.

Tuesday

We had the same basic morning. Finished the oceans documentary and read the ocean life book and the next in our BOB book set.

In the afternoon I tried a simple sensory bin with things around the house……he hated it hahahahahahaha. He was angry that I wouldn’t let him eat the beads.

We also looked at this weeks suggested painting from our exploring nature course.

Wednesday

We started drain the seas on national geographic and read the next BOB book. In the afternoon we practiced our ABCs

Thursday

Same morning routine. Then in the afternoon we went to a new park for a playdate.

We were also supposed to read a Magic Treehouse book about Pirates but Amazon had delayed it indefinitely.

Friday

We watched drain the seas and took 2 walks and practiced counting from 1-10.

Our public library was closed for renovations and was supposed to reopen on Tuesday but due to the increase in the delta varient they did not. They just announced that they will be starting curbside pickup again so i am going to try and get that set up for us to do.

Saturday

We are finishing the week by reading the poem from our exploring nature course.

On a side note i started the movie Finding Nemo and turned it off within 15 min. I HATED it. First the mom and all the siblings die then Nemo gets kidnapped!!! Sorry if that was a spoiler. I know I watched this movie years ago but clearly that was before I was a mother.

So that was our very basic first week. We haven’t perfected this by any means. I’ll bring you along for another week next month.

Home school prep

by Ariana Peters, posted in baby, kids, school/studying

Ok first off, yes, my baby is only 8.5 months old. I fully understand I am not REALLY starting homeschooling him. However, I am lucky enough to be a stay at home mom right now so I want to make the most of it. I simply want to make sure that I am giving him opportunities to learn as much as possible. Most of it will all be through play and exploration.

I have done a very rough layout of the next 3 years. Basically I picked a theme each week of the year, with a few no theme more relaxed ‘off weeks’ thrown in. I had a weekly calendar page that i spilt each day into 3 parts. The first section is year 1, its a lot of reading (me to him hahahaha) ABCs, sensory bins, fun on topic movie nights, learning to color things like that. Year 2 builds on that by adding in tracing and more emphasis on counting and matching small adjustments like that. And year 3 we add in more counting/math a few fun basic age appropriate science experiments etc. Here is a basic example

I also purchased ‘Exploring Nature with Children‘ which I am very excited about. Again the first year or two will just be me pointing things out and talking a little more and each year we can build on it. There is also a weekly poem and art piece to look at and study.

I love the BrainQuest workbooks and other items so as he advances we will add some of that in.

I am also looking at The Good and Beautiful curriculum and will slowly order some of that and as he advances ncorporate that. I also want to slowly incorporate lots of farm study material. Those kind of things will be very relevant as he is feeding our chickens and gathering eggs one day. And asking how plants make a lot of the food we eat and things like that.

Tomorrow we start our first week of ‘official’ not official homeschooling hahahah. Our theme is the ocean as well as totally different theme of seeds from the exploring nature curriculum. I am going to document this week and I will update you next weekend with how it went!!

A day in the life on an 8 month old

by Ariana Peters, posted in baby, kids

My baby boy turned 8 months yesterday!!! So crazy!

This is how are days generally go currently.

Woke up at 6am, diaper change.

Today is…. we do the month, date, year, day of the week, season and weather…I made this so it is not perfect ahahahah but it gets the job done.

Bottle time!!!!

Play time with some reading basics….and coffee for me

Breakfast!!! Or if you are a hobbit, 2nd breakfast……did i get that reference right? Hahaha

Eggs, avocado and peanut butter toast

Little man hangs out on a blanket while I water the backyard and take care of the chicken coop. During this time he loves watching the dog and the chickens as they waddle all over the yard. It usually takes about 20-25 min to get it all done and he usually lasts that long just watching the dog and chickens but not always.

She is getting more and more used to him

After yard work he runs around in his walker while I try and clean as much as possible. Sometimes he chases the dog, sometimes he chases the robot vacuum hahahahaah how long he lasts varies some days its 15 min and some days its 30+ min.

Once he gets sick of his walker we head into his room to play before his first nap.

Last 30 min before nap is a struggle to keep him happy and entertained hahahah
if he isnt too grumpy we will read a few pages from the chapter book we are reading. currently it is The Hobbit.
I am slowly introducing him to trying to hold writing intraments

Nap time is about 3 hours after he wakes up. We do a diaper change, put him in his sleep sack, drink a bottle and into the crib he goes. Today he was asleep by 8:55ish

During this time I clean or food prep or workout or shower or anything on my list that I need to do that day.

today it was all cleaning and laundry

When he wakes up its another diaper change. Activity for a few minutes then lunch.

It was nice and cool out today so we went for a walk
Lunch was chicken nuggets, broccoli, tomato, pesto pasta and some cheese
Daddy got to say hi during lunch!
Bottle time!
A little independent play time while I hung some pictures
Then more walker time to tire him out before his nap. this kid just wants to be moving around all the time
Afternoon nap on mama.
Another walk because it was sooo nice out
Quesadilla and avocado for dinner
Bath time!

Then daddy does bedtime. He was asleep by 7pm. I relaxed for about 20 min then I head back outside to check the chickens food and water before bed. Currently i do a little bit of homeschool research at night as well and I prep his bottles for the next day before i head to bed. My goal is to be in bed before 10.

To show you the full 24 hours I woke up today at 610 to him chatting to himself. he was content so i got up, warmed his bottle and started my coffee. he was still content so i sat down to enjoy my coffee for a few minutes and he fell back asleep! i will let him sleep until about 730 if he doesn’t wake up on his own. Any later than that and we would have to move his bedtime later.

August Garden Update

by Ariana Peters, posted in baby, food, healthy lifestyle, mini-farm
Jalapenos
Tomatoes
Serrano peppers
Peas not doing so good this year
Thyme
My helper
Chickens eating the last corn that the dog didnt destroy
Cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin and watermelon all torn out by the dog. But volunteer tomatoes are here
Bell peppers are doing great
2nd carrot planting……and somehow tomatoes
1st carrots and leeks. I am pulling these as we need them. I need to devote a day to Dehyrating and freezing them soon
Celery going to seed
Lima beans
Some kind of beans, don’t remember what I planted lol
Cherry tomatoes
Baby eggplants
Sweet potatoes
2nd onion planting
Cabbage and Brussels sprouts totally bug infested so chickens will get them
Aloe
Dill, smells sooooo good
Raspberries
Chives
Eggs from our chickens!!

7.5 month baby update

by Ariana Peters, posted in kids
Cannot believe he is 7.5 months already!!! Time is starting to fly. A little over 4 months to his 1st birthday
We are fully into the baby led weaning world which a little bit of purees mixed in when hes having a hard day. I LOVE watching him eat, it is one of the cutest things ever.
His laugh is so precious

He SOMETIMES holds his own bottle but most of the time he does not.

I love being his mom so much but no lie I do miss being able to have a schedule. We have a basic layout of the day but naps still depend on when he wakes up and how long his first nap is.

We are down to 2 naps a day and bedtime is between 630-730pm depending on the last nap of the day and how our plans have gone that day.

I am starting to look at some very simple homeschool lessons. I am a stay at home mom so obviously we have lost my income from working (not that it was that significant of an income hahaha) but I am trying to look at staying at home as a job and not just a privilege and grest experience. There are days where all I get done is taking care of my son but there are days where everything goes right and we do flashcards and count eggs from the chickens and go for a walk and look at trees and I get to clean. Its all a balance but on the days where I don’t feel like doing anything I think, if this was a job what would you do? And that helps me try and get at least one thing done.

We are smackdab in the middle of his first tooth so this mama is having some long days and nights but I definitely wouldn’t change it for the world.

I miss the freedom of my prebaby life but I couldn’t imagine my life without him. My life is better with my little man in it. If you are in the trenches of baby life it will get better. My post partum anxiety is so much better. I am starting to wean off the medication which is awesome but I am also keeping a close eye on myself in case I need to start them back up.

On that note, my sweet little man just woke up. Talk to you later.

Comment what the best part of being a parent is for you…..and the hardest.

A name for our “farm”

by Ariana Peters, posted in Uncategorized

Hello!

When I first started this blog I asked for help naming it. I believe it was my friend Aimee who came up with Trailing the Blonde. Now I need help coming up with a name for our “farm”. Well I call it a farm, its only a quarter acre right hahahaha but I want the name to be something that represents where we are now but will also be carried with us as we hopefully move to a large plot of land one day.

Comment with your ideas!! And feel free to ask questions about us and our “land” to come up with ideas.

5 month baby update

by Ariana Peters, posted in Uncategorized

I feel like the past 5 months have gone in leaps and jumps. In the beginning when I had such bad post partum depression and anxiety I looked forward to marking each day off the calendar because it meant I had made it and was one step closer to being done breastfeed and him being more independent and now suddenly I look at the calendar and I haven’t marked a day off in 3 days. The saying the days go slow and the years go fast is 100% true……though even some days go fast.

This last month we moved the little guy to his crib in his room. He had definitely outgrown his bassinet and was waking up all turned around in there and even sideways with his head and feet pushing against the mesh. I had been doing at least one of his naps in his crib everyday so the transition was pretty smooth….for him…..for me it was a little rough. I slept in there on an air mattress for 2 days and could have totally stayed longer. It is so bittersweet to hit these milestones.

We have also just switched him from a swaddle to a sleep sack at night. He is close to rolling over so we started leaving one arm out of the swaddle to ease his transition. He also started getting out of the swaddle and waking himself up and half turning over in his sleep getting stuck so it was time. I ordered a Nested Bean sleep sack for him. It has a little pouch over the chest that has about 3-4oz of weight in it, just enough to mimic mamas hand comforting him. So far that has also gone off without a hitch….🤞🤞🤞🤞 during the day we still use the swaddle for now because we are awake and can keep an eye on him via the camera.

This was him still in the swadddle and in the bassinet

The 4-5 month time frame is a weird time. You are starting to to get a loose schedule but are fluctuating between the old time and new time. We are in between 3 and 4 naps. Some days we have 3 great naps and its all smooth sailing some days we have 4 and its a struggle. Some nights we do the dream feed then make it through till morning and some nights we still wake once or twice but we are getting there and most nights I get at least 7 total hours of sleep so its all good. Of course after I wrote this we had a rough night and 2 nights in a row I got less sleep lol.

We started solids!! Well purees. Right now its mostly about getting him used to eating and trying to feed himself but I can already see that his appetite has increased a bit and its so fun seeing him eat new things. As of right I am using store bought baby food because it takes him 2-3 days to get through 1 jar, but as he starts eating more and more I will start making more of his food. We were doing some at lunch and dinner but he was getting constipated so we only do lunch for now as his body gets used to it. We will try increasing again in a few weeks.

He is actually starting to do pretty well getting the spoon to his mouth.

Some friends have offered us their old baby hiking backpack holder thing (that is the official name of it) we need to go pick it up so that we can start doing some hiking with him. I am super excited for that.

We are also in the middle of teething I do believe, so lots of cuddles and crying and waking during the night and extra sleep during the day. Another bittersweet milestone.