The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

{around here} Week 4/52: Week of 1.23.17

A collection of our ordinary days, recorded every week.


Around here, I have been:

feeling a bit beaten up and worn this week.  Some weeks are just rough!  Lots of medical bills are coming in from P’s birth (thank goodness for the timing of this no-spend challenge!), I’ve been working hard on my exercise and diet only to have minimal results (so vain, but true), and we’ve been dealing with some behavioral issues with a few of the kids.  I think I’ll need a little time alone this weekend to recharge and pump up for another week.    

discovering, after a few days of feeling nauseous, that I may have developed a sensitivity to dairy.  I had something similar happen after Sophie’s birth, with eggs being the culprit.  (Apparently, hormonal changes related to pregnancy and child birth are to blame?)  I’m so bummed because I love cheese, ice cream and milk in my coffee and I definitely did my share of pouting, but oh well.  Mark found me some unsweetened coconut milk for my coffee and it’s been a decent substitute.  

changing up my nutrition in an attempt to combat the baby blues.  I was pretty down two weeks ago, feeling very overwhelmed and sensitive to the kids’ bickering.  Thankfully, it was the first (and only) real emotional trigger so far.  Since then, I’ve been researching all about postpartum hormones, which is so interesting!  I’ve added vitamin D to my supplements (since going outside in the winter, especially with a newborn, is difficult), drastically reduced my sugar intake and am diffusing a lot of citrus oils.  So far, so good.

laughing at TJ’s latest “dance move”, which looks a lot like downward dog with some booty shaking.


repeating this quote from Katrina Kenison when I get ahead of myself with dreams and plans: “May I practice with what I’m given, rather than wish for something else.”

reading Yes, Chef and The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living.  I finished Gift from the Sea, which was a quick read with many nuggets of wisdom.  I also listened to my first Modern Mrs. Darcy podcast episode and was furiously jotting down titles…SO good!

loving on my sweet baby, who is almost 2 months old already!  He’s plumping up, smiling and just starting to coo.  The big kids are all so smitten with him.  When a few of them are wound pretty tight and having a hard day, I pass him to their (willing!) arms and immediately, I watch the peace wash over them.  Babies are such blessings.

decluttering like a fool.  At about seven or eight weeks postpartum, I always tend to get a little crazy with our things and go on a huge cleaning spree.  This time’s no exception!

watching Hugo with M after we both read the book.  We also watched A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix and will have to read those next.  It’s so fun to have a big kid to read and share books!

Big White Farmhouse notes:
+ We just got in four varieties of Scatter Garden kits: Songbird Habitat, Butterfly Habitat, Honeybee and Fragrant Flowers.  I think they’d be so fun to do with kids!

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SEE THE GOOD: a happy, positive or funny find
Kindness at the grocery store: I loved this!

RELIGIOUS TRUTH TO PONDER: a piece of my faith to think about or put into practice
“In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle.  With all the warriors of the heavenly army we sing a hymn of glory to the Lord; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until he, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with him in glory.” (CCC 1090)


THIS WEEK’S MENU:
m: pasta and homemade meat sauce
t: taco tuesday
w: Jimbo’s (part of our monthly supporting small business goal)
th: pork tenderloin, potatoes, asparagus
f: homemade pizza

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{year of slow} What’s Saving My Life Right Now: A Peek into my Bullet Journal

I love when Modern Mrs. Darcy shares her lists of things that are saving her life right now.  The comments on those posts are also usually jam-packed with ideas and hacks, which I love.  Sometimes it’s the small, ordinary things that have the greatest impact.  

 Today I thought I’d share a new system I’ve been using (and LOVING) in my bullet journal/planner.  My big goal for 2017 is to significantly slow down, decide what’s most important for me at this time in my life and do those things well.  Most of the things on this list could also be considered “self care”, but I think they benefit my family as a whole too.      

 The things I wanted to focus on are:
+ Consistent exercise, starting with the Mutu System and moving onto running and weights later on
+ Drinking more water
+ Reading everyday, at least 10 minutes but preferably more
+ Working on a yearly scrapbook project, similar to my 100 Day Extraordinary Ordinary Project from last fall
+ Reflecting on a section of the Catholic Catechism everyday
+ Keeping up on household chores instead of always feeling behind

 So in short: exercise, water, reading, creativity, faith and homemaking.  Easy to write on paper, but how exactly could I implement that on a day-to-day basis?

 Here’s my solution:

Everyday, I write the same five/six (depending on the Mutu exercise) tasks down.  I also make a little water tracker to keep track of intake.  On the other half of that day’s block, I’ll add extra to-dos, like bills to pay or emails to write.  I can’t tell you how much this has helped jump start habits, just by writing down the tasks.  The pull of checking items off the list is strong!  While I don’t always complete ALL of the things everyday (mostly my Mutu Core…oops!), I have done much more than had I not kept myself accountable.  Big win!  

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but on the homekeeping front, these weekly printables from the Confident Mom are awesome.  I’ve been printing a month at a time and clipping them to the opposite side of my weekly planning layout.  I’m still figuring out how to accomplish all the things with a newborn (current status: not well), but I’m doing so much more than had I not had the help and direction.  Baby steps!

 Last thing!  We always seem to be out of something around here, but our no-spending challenge has shown me that we don’t always need to purchase a replacement right.this.second.  So I’ve gotten in the habit of adding the items to the Jet app, but keeping them in my cart for awhile.  So, for example, if we’re out of Corn Chex but still have Cheerios in the pantry, I’ll add the Chex to Jet, but wait to buy until later.  It’s really helpful for curbing impulse buys too.  

 What’s saving your life right now?  How are you creating habits to get your yearly goals going?  I’d love to learn what’s working for you!

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P.S. I use a big Leuchtturm1917 notebook for my bullet journal/planner.  It’s great and seems to last forever!  I’ve had mine since last March and I’m only about halfway through the pages.


{around here} Week 3/52: Week of 1.16.17

A collection of our ordinary days, recorded every week.



Around here, I have been:

enjoying having the boys home twice this week.    


discovering a rodent problem in the living room.  I was nursing the baby on the couch late Wednesday night and heard a weird scratching sound, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.  The next morning, I checked behind the couch and sure enough, found the droppings.  ICK!  Thankfully, we think we caught it right away and the pest control people were able to come out the same day.  I think we all had major heebie-jeebies, hah!   


finishing The Awakening of Miss Prim.  Next book on the list: Gift from the Sea and from the library, I borrowed Yes, Chef to read on my phone during nursing sessions.  


reading a handful of great articles online that have given me a lot to think about:
+ Get Organized: Things To Throw Away  –> I’m in the middle of that overwhelmed “we have too much stuff!” craziness and ready to give away all the things!
+ My New Hobby? Making Creative Custom Flooring with FLOR Squares!  –> I don’t really have a space for these, but I think the creativity aspect is so cool.  Maybe another house someday.
+ The candy diet  –> This was SO good.  


smiling at Sophie as she talks to the sun after dropping the boys off at school.  “The sun is following me, mama.  I think the sun likes me.” “Oh hello sun.  I see you!”


listening to an awesome podcast episode called Cultivating your Mother Culture with Brandy Vencel.  I loved it so much and feel like I have already unconsciously been incorporating it in my own life.  (Starting my book list a few years ago is proof.)  I’m anxious to start reading more classics and maybe some philosophy?  I think I’m ready to push my reading boundaries a bit.

thinking about this quote from Charlotte Mason: “If mothers could learn to do for themselves what they do for their children when these are overdone, we should have happier households. Let the mother go out to play!” 


loving my new boyfriend jeans!  I finally used a Stitch Fix gift card from my birthday (thank you A & S!) and these fit perfectly.  Feels so good to be in pants that button again.  #goodbyematernityjeans

completing the first week of Intensive workouts with the Mutu System.  They are essentially low-impact HIIT workouts, one circuit repeated three times, but oh man.  I’m so out of shape.  The squats!  The lunges!  I could barely walk up the stairs, haha!    

Big White Farmhouse notes:
+ We celebrated our third birthday with a big sale (20% off with the code MAKEAWISH – code works until Sunday night!) and are so excited to see how our business grows in 2017. 
+ I finally finished the shelving in the office! 
+ This week, I worked on ordering new products.  Always so fun, but nerve-wracking!  We’ve had spring-like weather lately, so my finds are all veering in that direction: tea towels, scatter garden kits and an awesome product for kids – all coming soon!


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SEE THE GOOD: a happy, positive or funny find
POSTPARTUM PRESSURE TO NOT LOOK LIKE YOU HAD A BABY, JUST AFTER HAVING A BABY
“I felt it after my first baby, when I felt like I had to prove to myself that motherhood was not going to ‘change me’. (hahahaha) I felt it after my second baby, when I felt I had to prove that I could control two boys and still retain my girly self. (hahahhaha) I felt it after my third baby, because clearly I just had my third baby and people expect you to go downhill from there. (hahahaha) But, by my 4th baby, I didn’t feel it. I felt the most secure in my motherhood, my marriage, my life– I felt like I didn’t have anything more to prove with my body. At this point, I made the purposeful decision that postpartum body shaming was not going to influence my thoughts and decisions this time around.”

RELIGIOUS TRUTH TO PONDER: a piece of my faith to think about or put into practice
In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength, for she welcomes it not as a human word, “but as what it really is, the word of God.”  “In the sacred books, the Father who is in heaven comes lovingly to meet his children, and talks with them.” (CCC 104)


THIS WEEK’S MENU:
m: white chicken chili
t: mini shepherd’s pies (used homemade pie crust and fresh mashed potatoes)
w: creamy chicken and asparagus pasta 
th: Pepperoni Pizza Rollups & Mozzarella Bites that we tried through BzzAgent #GotItFree
f: chicken fried rice


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{family} Patrick’s Birth Story

I’ve never written a birth story before!  The births of my first five were far from exciting: a few inductions, always an epidural, a few pushes and a healthy baby at the end.  But Patrick…oh boy.  His birth was an adventure and after reflecting on it for a few weeks now, I’m writing it down so I don’t forget.

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A little back story… Throughout the entire pregnancy, I had consistently “slightly higher than normal” blood pressure.  I Googled myself into a scared stupor, but my doctors were very vigilant and assured me that there was nothing to worry about yet.  As I began my weekly visits at the end, my blood pressure fluctuated a bit higher and there was more talk of possible preeclampsia.  I had a blood screening done and thankfully, all of the preeclampsia markers were normal.  The only factor that concerned my doctors was my declining platelet counts, so we decided that the best course of action would be to induce right after I hit 39 weeks.  She also put me on as much bed rest as I could manage, which really put a damper on my crazy lady last minute nesting spree, hah!  It was a good lesson on surrender.  My prayer during that week was one that St. Gianna Molla said: “Whatever God wants.”  


On induction day, we arrived at the hospital right at 7:30.  I was excited and nervous and all the feelings you have on labor and delivery day.  I changed into my gown and got in bed.  The first snag of the day was the nurse’s inability to find a good vein to put my IV in.  I have never had a problem with this in the past!  She actually blew a vessel on my right hand (resulting in a HUGE bruise lasting for weeks) but finally was able to find a good one on the opposite hand. 

At 8:30, I was started on just an itty bit of Pitocin and contractions started right
away.  When I was checked a few days earlier, I was already 4cm and 75% effaced, so my doctor knew it wouldn’t take much to get things going.  She broke my water around 9:30 and
contractions quickly picked up in intensity.  I labored for about 45 minutes to make sure things were steady before asking for an epidural.  And 30 minutes
later…

Probably the scariest experience of my life!  I should preface this by saying that I’m a big fan of epidurals and have a five for five track record.  But this time around, nothing seemed to go according to plan.  The anesthesiologist had trouble placing it in my back, audibly mumbling, “Hmmm” multiple times.  Not words you want to hear, haha!  I was sweating profusely and my pulse and blood pressure were through the roof.  When she finally finished, I expected the instant feeling of relief and…it wasn’t there.  The anesthesiologist asked if I felt the tingling in my legs and when I said I didn’t, all she could say was, “Interesting.”  


The rest of the morning is one big blur.  Short story: the epidural did not work.  They continually upped my dosage and even put me in the princess position (??) to help push the medicine to my legs, but nothing helped.  In hindsight, they think I was
progressing so quickly that the epidural couldn’t keep up.  So essentially, I had
my first sort-of natural birth!  It was disconcerting, especially when I was expecting that epidural, but I kept praying “Whatever God wants” through each contraction…and then quickly adding, “But God, if you want to get that epidural to work, I’m totally good with that too.”  A saint I am not, haha.) 

Thankfully, I progressed quickly.  I felt pressure, pushed three times (holy ring of fire!!) and he was out!

But the fun didn’t stop there!  Immediately after delivery, he was very quiet.  They discovered
that he had had the cord wrapped around his neck as well as two fairly tight knots.  The nurses quickly whisked him away to the warming bed and I was in a weird haze of relief and confusion.   (His 1 minute APGAR score was 4/10)  After what felt like forever, he finally cried, pinked up and was able to nurse.  We left the hospital with a perfectly healthy baby 24 hours later.  


As I reflected on the entire pregnancy and the adventure-filled birth, I came to believe that my blood pressure problems were all part of a plan to save my son’s life.  We had so many doctors and nurses tell us how critical it was to have him arrive just at that time and because of the cord knots, how quickly we could have lost him.  We don’t always see past the next step but this experience has shown me how critical it is to trust.  I mean, REALLY trust in Him who loves me and sees the entire picture when I only see a sliver.  Patrick is, without a doubt, my proof.  

Pitocin started 8:30am, birth at 1:18pm

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