The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

{brave} A Review of October’s Goals


With a newborn in the house, I needed a handful of goals to keep me on track, while being “easy” enough not to feel overwhelming.  These did the job.

 1. Finish one book. 
Done. I finished Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys and recommend it.  Now I’m on to Let’s All Be Brave: Living Life with Everything You Have.  

2. Go apple picking and/or the pumpkin patch.
We made it to the pumpkin patch and it was hilarious to watch the kids find their favorite pumpkin.  The big boys each wanted the heaviest one they could find, while J was perfectly content with his “little one”.  We tried to convince him to pick something a little bigger, but nope.  Sophie and TJ got little pumpkins too.

3. Get a haircut.
Didn’t happen this month, but I will definitely get there in November.  My split ends are out of control.

4. Walk at least one mile four times a week.  Try for 10,000+ steps everyday.
Done. Out of all the goals this month, I’m the most proud of this one.  I’m only five weeks postpartum, but it felt good to get moving everyday and feel like I was doing something to get this baby weight off.  Now I’m ready to implement the plan!

 5. Catch up on all thank you notes.
I’m still way behind on these.  I managed to send out a couple, but haven’t put a dent in my list.  Making this a priority to knock it out!

6. Get purchase orders in for Big White Farmhouse Christmas product.
Done!  We made our first order for the Holiday Collection and have already launched the Gather Dish Towel, which is perfect for Thanksgiving.  Hopefully we can order a few more things soon.

 All in all, a successful month and a great way to ease into everyday life after TJ’s birth.  I’m looking forward to more good things in November!  What did you accomplish this month?  I’d love to hear your stories, big or small.






P.S. There are just about two weeks left to participate in the BWF Pajama Drive!  Right now, we are only at a quarter of our goal.  Would you consider helping us clothe some kids in need in my community?  Find all of the details in the original post and then send me an e-mail for the address.  I’d appreciate your help!

{health} Body After Baby #5: The Plan

I recently came across a photo of myself from my wedding almost 10 years ago.  I was 21 years old, not a wrinkle or gray hair…and um wow, I was SO thin!  As I sit here now, a month postpartum with my fifth baby, it would be too easy to beat myself up with criticism and comparisons: “I’ll never lose this weight.  I’m too fat for my ‘fat’ pants.”  “Look how skinny that new mom is..why didn’t I work out more while I was pregnant?”  “Will I ever look like that again?”  In the past, I’ve been more belittling to myself than I would like to admit.  This time around, I’m giving myself a lot of grace.  

The truth is, I don’t want to be skinny like I was at 21.  I want to be a 30-year-old mother of five who is challenging herself to be the best she can be.  In the upcoming months, I hope to lose the baby weight, gain lots of muscle, run races and try lots of new exercises.  I want to be an athlete.  

So with those goals in mind, this is my plan:

NUTRITION
+ Track my food.
I found a few calculators online to help me determine how many calories I should be consuming while nursing.  Using that number, I plan to track my food for about a week.  (I don’t like to track for very long because I think it can easily become an obsessive behavior.)  That will give me an idea about how much food I should be eating and help me to make a few go-to menu plans.   
+ Reduce my sugar intake.
I’ll be taking tips from the No Sugar January challenge from earlier this year.
+ Drink lots of water.
I’m notoriously bad at this.  I have this plastic mason jar and I’m going to be more conscious of keeping it filled up and available throughout the day.
+ Plan and prep my meals.
I need a plan.  Without it, I scrounge around, looking for anything easily ingested with one hand.  So along with my weekly meal planning (using my favorite notepad!) for the entire family, I will also be making a list of healthy choices for me.  Sunday nights will be prep time: breakfast burritos for the freezer, veggies and cheese chopped for snacking, etc.

FITNESS
+ 10,000+ steps daily.
I use a Fitbit One to track my steps and it’s so helpful. I want to get in 10,000 steps minimum, but hopefully work up to more like 15,000.
+ Do a combination of walking and running.
From two weeks postpartum, I made an effort to walk almost everyday.  Now I am starting the Couch25K program, which will hopefully help ease me back into running.  
+ Add in the weights.
I love weight training, but for some reason, struggle with consistency.  I’m going to research some programs and see what sticks.  
+ Try new exercises.  
I am going through this postpartum workout DVD, but can’t wait to try a few new things.  A few exercises I’ve been considering: Jillian’s 30 Day Shred, pilates, Kickboxing Bootcamp, or maybe another round of Insanity.  
+ Include the kids sometimes.
Exercise is good for all of us!

SELF CARE
+ Take 30 minutes everyday to do something just for me.

What are your favorite ways to stay healthy?  Do you have a great workout website or DVD you can recommend to me?  I’m up for trying anything!

{around here} Week of 10.20.14

What a difference this week was compared to the last!  Our life is still full to the brim, but it’s good and I’ve been able to take it all in stride.  TJ is largely to thank, as he has still been sleeping well at night and that has really helped my productivity during the day.  Here’s a peek at our week:

HOMESCHOOLING.  Week 13 was pretty low-key.  We didn’t really do any “exciting” activities, but I appreciated the week off and the boys didn’t seem to really notice.  Part of the reason may be because of the two Usborne books shown above.  We gave D this one for his birthday and M was so interested, I gave him this book early!  They both have a combination of activities (like, “Find all the snowmen with scarves and color them blue”) and coloring pages with lots of different themes.  I highly recommend them! 

 EXERCISE. This was the first week that I scheduled out my workouts.  I mixed walking (2-3 miles each time) with the first stage of this postpartum workout DVD.  I wouldn’t exactly call Progression 1 a “workout”; it was definitely heavy on stretching, but it felt good to get back into the routine.  

 ON THE BLOG.

  • What Homeschooling Looks Like Here: A recap on our homeschool weeks 7-12
  • The Second Annual BWF Pajama Drive: There are just a few weeks left to donate jammies to help needy children in my community!  This year, we’d like to collect 30 pairs and are currently about a fourth of the way to our goal.  I’d love your help!  E-mail me for more information.


BIG WHITE FARMHOUSE SHOP.  Exciting things are happening in the shop!  I photographed and started the behind the scenes work for our Holiday Collection!  We just released a “Gather” dish towel, which would be perfect for Thanksgiving and makes a great hostess gift.  I really love the metallic gold lettering – so fun!   

 ON MY NIGHTSTAND. I just started Let’s All Be Brave: Living Life with Everything You Have and it’s good so far.  One quote I’ve underlined: “To believe in yourself means to believe that God made you and there is no one like you, that you have a unique call to courage, and that you can do the thing that is staring you in the face.”

P.S. Have you taken this personality test?  I seem to recall taking something similar in college, but I can’t remember the results.  I’m ISFJ and the summary was so true for me!  What are you?


Have a great weekend, friends!

{learning} What Homeschooling Looks Like Here: Weeks 7-12

We just finished up Week 12 of our homeschool year, so it’s time for another update!  (You can find the post about our first six weeks here.)  This time around, I became really brave about making the curriculum work for us.  During weeks 1-6, I stuck close to the program, letting the prepared lesson plans lead me.  I was thankful for the guidance and it definitely gave me confidence as a teacher.  But for weeks 7-12, I started to assess what was working and what was not.  We ventured away from the plan a bit and I think the boys are really enjoying the changes.

A Few of the School Subjects We Replaced

  • M was unhappy with the curriculum’s writing activities, so we worked together to create a “Writing Journal”.  He uses it in a variety of ways: some days, I give him a question or list idea.  Other days, he makes up his own theme.  What matters most to me is that he is writing and using his imagination.
  • M also disliked the spelling program and I felt like he wasn’t recalling anything.  We now use his weekly words in lots of fun ways.  I try to vary the games and activities every week, so he’s using the words in different ways.  He has his final spelling test on Fridays and there has been a HUGE difference in his performance.  
  • The curriculum we use has provided a lot of wonderful read alouds, but we veered off the timeline a bit with a few choices of our own.  So far, we’ve added in Ginger Pye and Thomas and the Dragon Queen.  I hope to get back to a few of the “official” choices, but I like the ability to be spontaneous if we come across a good book.


Lessons Learned During Weeks 7-12
1. Pinterest is your friend!  
I get so many of our crafts, worksheets and recipes from searches on Pinterest.  I am SO thankful for the hard work and creativity of other bloggers!

 2. The Need for Breaks
It is my personality to really dig in and get ‘er done.  Unfortunately, that is not the personality of my boys!  Our new routine is to finish a few subjects and then take a break. The boys take that time to play, run around and have a snack.  It’s the perfect time for them to get their wiggles out while I get a few chores accomplished.  Then we meet back up to finish out the day.


3. Be flexible.
With a new baby in the house, this has been an essential lesson to learn.  Sometimes school will start a little later in the day.  Sometimes we only complete half of our subjects before calling it quits.  It’s all okay and part of the season we are in.         

The Boys’ Homeschool Favorites from the First Third of the School Year

Favorite Subject
M: history  //  D: “my favorite book!” (translation: Developing the Early Learner: Level 2)
Favorite Project or Activity
M: mummifying the action figure and making papyrus  //  D: tiger mask
Favorite Read Aloud
M: Ginger Pye  //  D: Ginger Pye
What is one thing you’d like to do more of in the next few weeks?
M: use clay to “make wonderful creations”  //  D: more crafts!

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