The Big White Farmhouse

Around here, I have been:

surviving another round of illness in the house.  We picked up J on Monday after he threw up on the playground (The nurse said that he was the 76th kid that was absent or sent home that day!) and it was pretty much downhill from there.  Mark and I both were hit with a weird virus that had us freezing one minute and sweating the next.  We all were coughing, so I’m sure we have some sort of bronchitis floating around too.  We’ve become obsessed with Purell and I plan on disinfecting every inch of my house this weekend.  Ironic note: In January, I used the Saint Name Generator to pick our family saint of the year and we got…. St Catherine del Ricci, patroness of sick people.  We’ve been asking for her intercession big time this week!

bringing P to his 2 month appointment and am happy to hear what I already know is true: he’s a perfectly healthy little boy.  13 pounds 1oz and super tall.  He’s almost outgrown his 3 month sleepers because his legs are just so long!  I’ve got some shopping to do.

finishing The Little Book of Hygge and now really thinking about the connection between little, everyday experiences and how they in turn help gratitude, life satisfaction and happiness.  I thought this book was such an easy read and really thought-provoking for me as a mother.

receiving an offer on our first house!  It’s been on the market for almost a month and we were not optimistic for a quick turnaround since the market there is so slow.  Unfortunately, the offer was really low, but we’ve been countering back and forth and made our final push last night.  At this writing, we’re crossing our fingers and hoping they accept!

watching the boys fill out their Valentine’s Day cards.  I had pinned a bunch of cute ideas on Pinterest, but then cackled to myself and said NOPE.  Mama’s in survival mode right now.  Storebought Captain America, Star Wars and Scooby Doo boxes at $2.50 each for the win.

reading the ebook version of The Summer Before the War borrowed from the library.  I’ve been reading and reading and wondering why I’m never making significant progress only to discover that the print version is 496 pages!  I’ve got nine days left and am only 57% through, so I’ve got some work to do this weekend!

starting Different: The Story of an Outside-the-Box Kid and the Mom Who Loved Him and sobbing and sobbing through it.  I don’t talk about it much on the blog because it’s his story to tell someday, but this book put a bulls-eye on some of the struggles we’ve been having at home.  I felt like someone finally understands and I don’t feel so alone.   

listening to the Sorta Awesome podcast episode 26: The truth about anxiety.  My anxiety has been up and down since the baby (thank you, hormones) and I appreciated the unfortunate solidarity from people who get it as well as some of their tips.

Big White Farmhouse notes:
+ More items coming in for the Children’s Room!  We received colored pencils made from apple tree twigs that I think are so unique and cool.  We also got in fairy house kits, which come in a beautiful collector’s box.  I’ve hid them from Sophia for now, because she’s going to die when she sees them!  Maybe for Easter?

Around here, I have been:

drinking a lot of water.  Like a lot a lot.  When P was born, I remembered to bring my water jug home from the hospital and am finally using it on a daily basis.  Filling it up four times equals about a gallon, so that’s been my goal.  Right now, I’m at around two and a half.

trying kefir and starting on a probiotic to help my digestion issues.  I’m thinking I may have leaky gut, so I cut out all sugar, dairy and most grains.  It’s crazy how sensitive the dairy is – I had a handful of Goldfish, felt sick to my stomach, only to remember that they were cheddar Goldfish.  Duh.  I also had ranch flavored Veggie Sticks and felt the same.  I’m in uncharted territory and the learning curve is hard!

declaring February to be the month of food!  My new dietary restrictions have me a little overwhelmed, so I want to dig into some new recipes.  I have “complete a green smoothie challenge” on my 100 Little Things list, so this may be a good time to implement it into my morning (and a good way to get down that kefir, hah).  I also pulled out the list for “Cook through the 30 Recipes You Should Know by Age 30“, another 100LT task, and hope to get a good start on that too.  This week, I roasted a chicken and made lemon thyme chicken thighs.

feeling a range of emotions with post-baby weight loss.  The more babies I have (and older I get), the longer it takes for me to lose the pounds.  The days of nursing and “the weight just melts off!!” is over!  I still have half of the pregnancy weight to go and then probably 15 pounds more if I really want to be at fighting weight.  But ahh…I hate having the scale and step counts and food choices dominate all of my thoughts.  Life’s too short!  But I also would like to be a bit more comfortable in my own skin…and fit in some of my favorite clothes again too.  Vicious cycle.

discovering that you can get 3% back on Jet.com orders through ebates!  I depend on Jet for almost all of my pantry staples, so this was awesome to find.  We’ve decided to put all of the “Big Fat Check” (what ebates calls your money back) onto our debt and every little bit helps.

playing Qwixx with Mark and The Scrambled States of America Game with the kids.  We’re trying to collectively lessen our screen time and games are the perfect form of entertainment for our competitive bunch!

helping J with his 100th Day of school project.  He had to fill a heart with 100 items and he chose buttons.  I loved spending that one-on-one time with him, counting (and counting and counting…) and chatting about whatever was in his head.

finishing the first book of the Series of Unfortunate Events series and Yes, Chef, bringing January’s reading total to six.  I’m slowly making my way through The Little Book of Hygge (SO good to read during winter!) and starting The Summer Before the War.  I also listened to a few more episodes on Modern Mrs. Darcy’s podcast and have been filling up my Goodreads to-read list…I think I’m up to more than 360!

watching Hunted.  We don’t have cable, so Mark and I watched online.  We love it and are excited to watch a show “old school” (week-by-week) instead of binge watching on Netflix. 

thinking about these articles and what they may mean for me going forward:
+ Where Do Donated Clothes Really Go?
+ The Link Between Clutter and Depression

Big White Farmhouse notes:
+ So many new products coming in!  We are expanding our children’s section to include more toys that encourage imagination and our first product just arrived: a treasure hunter’s kit!  I love that all of the little pieces fit nicely in the wooden box.  We also have new berry-inspired tea towels that are packaged in berry baskets.  SO cute and would make easy gifts!  We also have apple versions and berry cloth napkins.
+ We just launched a new promotion for February: free heart stickers with every purchase, while supplies last (and then we’ll probably send some other surprise).  They are perfect for that little something special on envelopes, scrapbooks, planners or Valentine’s Day cards.