A few people have asked how this pregnancy is going. So far, it’s going fairly well.

I’m 14 weeks now – and thankful to be in the second trimester. The morning sickness has abated some, but unfortunately, the food aversions and gagging have taken its place with a vengeance. I was really concerned about weight gain at the beginning, but after weighing myself the other day, I don’t think I have to worry for a while. I’ve really struggled to find foods that sound and taste good that are still healthy. Protein has been my biggest aversion.

Despite only gaining a little bit of weight (somewhere between 5 and 8 pounds – not too bad), I’m pretty big already. Many people have asked me if I’m expecting twins, but after 3 ultrasounds, I doubt we’ll see a second baby by now. I guess God just made me to get big early on in my pregnancies.

Stephen and I still haven’t decided whether or not to find out the gender of this baby. I have two more ultrasounds – one next week (at 15.5 weeks) and then the “big one” at 18 or so weeks. We’d love to have the surprise at delivery, but the planning side of me really wants to know. I guess if baby really isn’t modest, we might get a look next week, but I’m not planning on being able to find out. We’ll see.

Here’s a picture that Samuel took yesterday morning of me.

Sunday – chicken strips, curly fries, and egg rolls
Monday – waffles, and orange jello with pineapple in it
Tuesday – chicken and broccoli stir fry, brown rice
Wednesday – grilled hamburger patties, sweet potato fries
Thursday – chicken and artichoke casserole, brown rice
Friday – homemade pizza
Saturday – still not sure yet :O) I’ll be going to a baby shower at church and will eat there, but I’m not sure what the guys will eat here

Breakfasts – cereal, eggs, oatmeal, muffins, grits, biscuits and gravy

Lunches – bbq pork, egg salad sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, etc.

You can read more menu plans over at Organizing Junkie.

Dana asked if I could post pictures of our newest batch of chicks, so here they are.

The Rhode Island Reds are the lighter colored chicks. The Aracauna/Americana cross aren’t purebred chicks (this was an interesting discovery!) so they have a variety of color patterns.

After reading about the Aracauna/Americana chicks, I learned that what I bought is bred just for egg color. They lay a variety of colored shells – blue, green, and pink. A true Aracauna lays only blue eggs, and is much more expensive. I told Stephen that someday I’d love to buy a few of the purebred Aracauana, but I have a feeling that that would get addictive.

And a video:

Several months ago, Stephen gave me some money to be able to make my own mother’s bracelet. It was a lot of fun picking out everything for it. There was some money left over, so I picked out supplies for a new watch. It’s my dressiest watch, and it gets worn quite often.

Today I just finished uploading the information to sell it in my store. I realize I’m partial to it, but isn’t it pretty?

Mercy : Gold Pearl and Crystal Watch

Today the boys and I drove up toward Statesville to pick up some new chicks. It was a fairly long drive, but we actually made it home by lunchtime.

Some of Stephen’s work days he drives over an hour and a half one way. Today’s drive for me was like that, and I have no idea how Stephen handles it so well on a regular basis. The boys and I were VERY glad to get home today!

It was hilarious listening to the chicks chirp on the ride home. I don’t think they like my driving. :O) But then again, if I were a day old and closed in a box with just some vent holes to see out of – I’d probably be scared too feeling the constant movement of a vehicle.

When we got them home and into the brood box where we keep them the first few days, we discovered they had put one extra of each breed in the box. Works for me!

It’s kind of funny actually. We just put the other chicks outside a couple days ago, and now we have 32 more in the house. This brings us to somewhere around 80 chickens (wow – sounds insane to actually type that out!). Carolyn, did you ever think you’d see me say something like that? Me, the only member of a 4-H poultry club who DIDN’T have poultry in high school?

Our main layers are getting just old enough that it was time to buy babies to replace them. These should start laying right around the time the older ones start to slow down. In theory, it should work out quite well.

Now I’m just hoping that hearing the little “beep, beep, beep” x 32 won’t keep us awake at night. They can get pretty loud sometimes, but so far they haven’t been too bad.

Sunday – hamburgers and chips
Monday – crockpot beef roast ($1.89 a pound this week!), mashed sweet potatoes
Tuesday – baked chicken, yellow squash
Wednesday – beef wraps using leftover beef from Monday
Thursday – still not sure yet :O)
Friday – homemade pizza
Saturday – youth meeting at church – we’ll eat pizza there

Breakfasts – oatmeal, eggs, biscuits, etc.

Lunches – sandwiches, soup, leftovers, etc.

You can read more menu plans over at Organizing Junkie.

I came home from a ladies’ meeting Saturday afternoon and was greeted by the newest member of our little farm.

Meet the mighty Samson. He is one week old.

He is a full-blooded Saanen – a breed we’ve been wanting due to their high milk production. Stephen found a local farm that was selling the males at an amazing price, so while I was gone, he went and bought this little guy. The two dark spots on his head are where they disbudded his horns (I believe the process is similar to cauterizing).

He is the friendliest little goat, and absolutely loves people. He follows Stephen around like a little puppy. I teased Stephen, telling him that Samson thinks he’s “Maaaaaammy” LOL! He really does though, but that’s because Stephen’s been the one to bottlefeed him every time.

Isn’t he a cutie?

Now we just need to find a female Saanen. . .

Caleb is absolutely cruising everywhere now! He just decided one day that he was going to walk more than the 3-4 steps he’d been taking. It is SO cute to watch his little walk, especially since he still walks with his hands up for balance.

It sure is fun around here. My boys sure do keep me on my toes!

Oh wow – I am SO thankful right now!!!!

Almost a week ago, our heat and a/c unit quit working. I didn’t notice it right away – it wasn’t until it was almost 80 in the house on Wednesday that I realized that the air conditioning hadn’t been kicking on. I mentioned it to Stephen when he got home and decided to be thankful that it was going to be a cooler weekend.

Then the weekend came, and along with it, the cooler weather. When we got home from Stephen’s parents’ house Friday night, it was 57 in the house. I don’t mind it too much, but I was really worried about the boys being warm enough. That night, Stephen got up every hour to make sure the fire in the fireplace didn’t go out. I’m thankful for the fireplace – and for all the wood we have outside!

Mom and Dad loaned us a space heater the next day, and between that and keeping the fire going, we stayed warm enough. Saturday night and Sunday night Stephen repeated his get-up-every-hour routine. We stayed warm.

Sure, it was cooler in here than we would’ve liked. But it wasn’t freezing (we live in the Carolinas, after all), and we survived. Nothing a sweatshirt, and extra blanket, and a cup of hot coffee wouldn’t fix. ;O)

Today we called the repairman. It was an easy fix (it was just a blown fuse, Praise the Lord!), and didn’t cost much at all. We had both been praying that it wouldn’t cost much. Our furnace unit is old enough that we were concerned it would have to be replaced, but it didn’t.

I am so thankful! Thankful that it didn’t cost much to fix, and especially thankful for the wonderful husband I have that sacrificed his sleep for three nights so that the rest of us could stay warm. God is too good to me!

This afternoon, we came home from church and discovered that one of our quail chicks had escaped their little box home. It seemed that it was nowhere to be found.

We looked under the couch and chairs in the living room. We really hoped we wouldn’t find it dead somewhere. Stephen went into our room to grab one of the flashlights that he keeps by the bed and saw something moving. It was the chick.

It amazes me how a creature that’s barely two inches high can fall a good three feet, go across the living room, through the kitchen, and around to our room. I’m just glad that we found it. It was cuddled up with a stuffed animal that was laying on the floor.

Needless to say, their box now has a mesh cover over the top!