Caroline Elizabeth

Caroline Elizabeth was born Nov. 29th at 8:36pm. She is 11lbs. 10 oz. and 22 1/2 inches long. She was born naturally with no tears and no stitches needed, Praise GOD! We are doing wonderful.

Two post in one day...WOW

It's been awhile, and now I am posting twice in one day. I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, just busy and tired. Shane's been in and out, 1 week here, 2 weeks gone, and the like. He is now home for good but working long hours.

I am 39 weeks now and dilated 3-4 cm. I've gained way more weight than I wanted too (19lbs since my last Dr.'s visit which was 2 weeks ago). I am now 187, still under the 198 I got to with both of my other babies though.

Soon we'll have a baby...well hopefully. I've never made it this far with the others and surprisingly I still feel pretty good.

Well, enough of my rambling. Who knows maybe the next post will contain lots of baby pictures....one can hope right?!?!

You know...

You know you haven't blogged in a while when you forgot the name of your blog. Yep, I couldn't remember the web address. I suppose it happens to the best of us some day. ;)

Fall is here!

Fall is here and I love it! Soon, we'll have a new baby too. I've been super tired and trying to get the house in order , not easy with two toddler's though. Shane's been in and out which leaves me with all the work. He has done more than his fair share though when he is here, which makes for a happy momma.

The kitchen has been busy with lots of baking for Levi's Gluten free experiment. And lots of pumpkin pies, I seem to not be able to get enough.

I wish blessing upon all of you and your family's as we welcome this cooler weather.

Levi's two week experiment...

Levi still isn't fully better after being off dairy and soy. While we have slipped and sometimes he has gotten dairy or soy (you can tell when he's had either, it isn't pretty) he still hasn't gotten 100% "normal".

We are going to do a 2 week experiment of taken out all gluten, dairy, and soy from his diet.
I'll be tracking his progress or lack there of at his blog, http://glutendairysoyfreetoddler.blogspot.com/.
You'll be able to see what he ate, his activity level, and of course his bowels daily.

We hope this helps him some while we wait for him to see a ped. GI.

Another update

Tuesday we dropped off the kids and made a trip to the hospital. I started having contractions about 11 am and I decided we better go and see what was going on at 1pm and see if they would stop my labor. Once we got there I was having contractions about a three mins. apart. They hooked me all up and checked me, I was 2 cm dilated. They waited an hour and checked again...still 2cm. So we waited another hour, still 2 cm. Finally they decided to let us go home a little after 6pm. At that point I was having contractions about a minute apart but since I wasn't dilating anymore they decided I wasn't in labor and we could go. Around 10pm that night the contractions stopped.

I've had some contractions since then but nothing like Tuesday. I will be 35 wks Sunday so I am hoping she holds out just a little longer. Here are some pictures of the past week.

Me at 34 wks.
Annabelle and Shane watching the goats.

Annabelle and Levi looking at the chickens.

Levi on a hayride to get a pumpkin

The whole family on a hayride to get a pumpkin

Annabelle in fleece pj's

Levi in fleece pj's

Being goofy. Looks just like his daddy!

Look at his shoes...so cute

Being Silly

Belly pic and more

It's been a very busy week here. So much to get ready for and not enough time if you ask me.

For those of you who wanted a belly pic, here you go...self portrait. I had to turn the flash off so it's a little yellow.


Me and my new glasses. The husband liked the red, I'm still trying to get used to it.

Baby Caroline's baby blanket. I've made one for each child so far. Hers is made with a cotton fabric from Japan, and fleece on the other side. Hoping it will be warm for this winter baby.

Finally...

After missing my camera for a week, I found it yesterday while searching the house for the check book. So now, an update.

Today we went to Raleigh to pick up some raw milk (not all pictured) and other dairy items. Since we were there we stopped into Whole Foods and got a little over 2 weeks worth of groceries. Almost everything we bought was organic and I was really surprised at how cheap everything was. Some things even cheaper than the commissary.

My "baby" in the Moby.

They were playing "catch" although neither one of them actually caught the ball.

See the ball in the top left corner?

Updates....

We've been busy lately and I am trying to enjoy these last few weeks with the kids before we get a new baby! We've been talking a lot about a new baby in mommy's tummy and Annabelle is getting really excited. She's been caring around her babies a lot more lately and got into Levi's closet and found a few leftover Born Free bottles from Levi. She now sits down to feed her baby several times a day. It's really precious, especially since she has done it all on her own without our prompting.

I am now 30weeks. I have been put on light bed rest due to contractions. I am still able to move about, just no lifting, cleaning, or moderate activity. I failed the glucose test, so I will be taking another one this time three hours though :( I am really praying I pass. I am not a candidate for gestational diabetes. I am not overweight, I'm active, and I don't eat too terrible bad. It's upsetting for sure.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of our last few weeks.

Feeding her baby
Getting her baby all tucked in

Watching the rain

My two favorite men

Watching Levi and Daddy play

Running back to mommy after daddy put him in the water

My favorite little boy digging away

The beautiful Beach

The kids yummy bento

The Man's Bento

And my candida diet friendly bento

Questions to the Readers...

Has anyone done the GAPS Diet? If so let me know how it went in the comments.

The candida diet....

My grocery trip today lots of veggies for the "diet"

Some of you know about my yeast "issues". For those that don't I'll sum it up. Basically, every time I breastfeed a child I get yeast infections on my breasts (aka thrush) that DO NOT go away until I fully stop breastfeeding. Having been to many a Dr. and taken many, many, rounds of anti-fungals (like 3months of diflucan and others) it still seems to not go away.

What the Dr's tell me, stop breast feeding, or you can go on this "candida diet". Having discussed this with my midwife very early in this pregnancy (cause I really want to breastfeed this baby a whole year) she recommended that I start the candida diet 6 weeks before my due date. I have about 11 weeks before I reach my due date, but I've been sick for weeks. So, after talking to my husband I decided to go ahead and start the diet earlier than planned. I had planned on starting in early Oct.

So, what are symptoms for yeast? It can be a wide variety of things. For me, I get nauseated and feel like I have the flu, only it's my bones that ache, not my skin. For some it's actual yeast infections but can range to constant headaches and much more.

This kinda kills my no spending challange as I was trying only to spend $50 this month in groceries.....I've almost spent that already and we just started! But, my health is way more important.

When you see some funky food combo's these next few weeks you'll know why. After three weeks I can start adding some more regular foods in like grains and fruits. Yep, no fruit for 3 weeks, except green apples and blueberries, and even then only one serving a day!

To read more about the "diet" and yeast in general go here.

The Sept Challenge 30 days of nothing...

Life has been busy these past few days. The hubby came home, we got a new bike trailer (which means we've been riding a lot more) and the start of this whole Sept. Challenge!

While we won't be going without "nothing" we will be cutting back. My goal is to spend much less this month and eat up all the yucky food that's been sitting in my cupboards for a while now. What I mean by "yucky" is all the processed junk I have got free with coupons. In Oct. I have to start my "diet". It's not a real "diet" but a change in eating habits to prevent yeast, so hopefully by God's grace I can breastfeed this little baby without pain. But, more on that later.

This weeks menu:

Thursday:
English muffins, eggs, strawberries, milk
Leftovers, water
Corn chowder, bread, fresh veggie platter with homemade ranch, tea

Friday:
Waffles, strawberries, milk
fish sticks, corn, salad, water
Pot luck dinner at bible study (make cake)

Sat:
Pancakes, bacon, eggs, milk
Chicken pot pie, water
Steak, rice, corn on cob, tea

Sun:
Oatmeal/cereal, milk
Potluck after church
leftovers

Monday:
waffles, sausage, milk
grill cheese, soup, water
hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, yogurt pie, watermelon, tea

Tues:
Biscuits, eggs, milk
leftovers, water
sausage and peppers, tea

Wed:
cereal, milk, bananas
leftovers, water
tuna casserole, tea

Farmer's Market and more

The little boy and I had a date and went to the Farmer's Market while daddy and Annabelle slept in. We had fun and bought several handmade items for gift's for this upcoming Christmas.

Organic and Local peaches, apples, and pears. Organic Bell peppers and Potatoes.

A quick trip to Food Lion with Annabelle ended up looking like this....

Kashi Cereal free after coupon

2) loaves Sprouted bread

banana chips

organic walnuts

organic figs (these are so YUMMY)

organic green beans

organic carrots

bananas

kale

grapes

mango

squash

zucchini

watermelon

Saved $15.50 after coupons!

A Summer Picnic

Today we soaked up some of these last summer days and rode off into the hot sun for a picnic. The man was home relaxing so it was just me and the kids. It was HOT so we only stayed about an hour before this pregnant momma needed some A/C!

Pizza, local watermelon and apples

Playing on the bridge

Talking to herself about the "chicken birds" or birds as most people call them

Coffee??

I seriously want this cup. It almost looks bigger than my head! WOW.

In the trailer, on the bike

We've been biking almost daily. The kids love it and I love the cool air blowing against my skin.
Tonight after bath time I loaded them up and we went riding with a friend. As I was airing up the tires before we left, she snapped a few photos.