New additions to our family coming in April!

I wanted to post this shortly after my UPDATE post since I know some of you may be itching to know about our new additions to the family coming the last week in April. My husband and I had discussed the possibility a couple of years ago. We had bought the books and did the research. We even talked about where they were going to live once they grew up. But then I got sick and plans got put on the back burner. And then Emily came.

But now we are in full planning and designing mode. We had to ask the Town's permission (permission?) and applied for a permit (permit?!).  We also, out of respect for our closet neighbor, informed her of our soon to arrive additions.  Steve's been planning and designing a modification to our property as a result and broke ground a couple days ago on the construction of it.  This coop is going to be awesome!

COOP!? Yup, thats right! We are getting chickens!!! Chicks to be exact. I plan on hatching a coworkers fertilized chick eggs at school as part of an embryology lab and then raising the chicks in our basement. Once they are 5-6weeks old they will be moved out the coop that my husband is planing on building. We will keep you updated of our progress.

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13 Months at Ashton Farms

Last week I was down at my moms. She was helping me take care of Liam and giving me a break from cooking and cleaning. On Saturday, Liams 13 month birthday, we decided to visit a close family friend, Wendy, who owns a 40 acre farm. I have been going to the farm since I was a little girl, and I was excited to bring my son there. He had a blast. He went in a pool for the first time (I was able to be in the shade in the pool for most of the time) and he got to see puppies, horses, donkeys and chickens. He was a bit unsure of the dogs but wasn't phased by the horses, donkeys or chickens. Below are some photos from the day.

First time in the pool. Stuart (husband of Wendy and one of the owners of the Farm) was holding him.

Liam thought that my hat was hilarious and kept trying to take it off.

A walk down by the pond.

Liam with Grandma

And below are some photos of when I was a little girl at the farm. They are taken in 1995 and 1996. I would have been between 11 and 12.

Me brushing a little Shetland pony that belonged to the farm.

My Cousins and I fishing down by the pond. I was very much into horses and fishing. I am the one holding the little sunny.

Me doing a flip into the pool.

Me and a little horse named Chas that I took care of over the summer. He was a great horse.

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32 weeks old! bronchiolitis, ear infection, teething and sleep regression

This past week my little man turned 32 weeks old! Unfortunately he has been sick for a little over 1 week now. He was running a fever last Thursday of 102. Tylenol would bring it down but it would go back up every time the Tylenol would wear off. He developed a cough and by Saturday he was very sick. The over-the-phone on-call doctor wanted me to bring him to the ER but Steve and I decided to wait, and scheduled an appointment for that Sunday. Turns out my little man was battling an ear infection, bronchiolitis and his top two teeth coming in (not in yet though).   

I week later and hes doing better (and now both Steve and I are the ones sick). He's on antibiotics which are giving him horrible diarrhea. I was putting him in disposable at night due to the diarrhea but they were horrible. He would wake up covered the next morning. Last night I put him in a cloth diaper and no blowout (another reason for cloth). 

Sleep: Sleep has not been going well. He used to go down great at night. Now that hes been sick, hes not been wanting to go to sleep on his own. I have been giving him extra cuddles. He was refusing to nap and he had cut back alot on nursing (we also had stopped solids completely until his tummy felt better). Due to him not nursing much during the day, I took to allowing him up multiple times at night to nurse. This may come back to bite me in the butt later but I do believe that besides the antibiotics, nursing is the best cure for a cold. Once he is 100%, I will get him back on more of a routine.

Milestones: This past week he has reached a new milestone. He has grown tall enough to be able to move around his exersaucer. It's one that has a seat that swivels around a center play station. He can now go in circles and chose what he wants to play with. 

Mommy and Me Class: Last week the topic of the infant play class was PPD. We talked about whether we are happy with our babies and how it is more accepting to talk about PPD. We also talked about the flu and ways to sooth a sick child (which came in handy that following week). We played with the parachute and sang songs. This past Wednesday we discussed solids, when to give your baby what and how much. Steve was working nights and decided to come with me to the class. It was nice except that because Liam was sick, he was not himself. He decided he wanted to nurse 30 minutes into the class and then he passed right out. 

Other news: Nothing else to report except Tuesday was my birthday. It wasn't especially exciting since I had to work during the day, Steve had to work at night, Liam was sick and there was some work drama that I was dealing with. It wasn't until Wednesday that we could really celebrate. Being dairy-free, I wasn't able to get a cake but I did make blueberry apple cinnamon pancakes for breakfast, lemon pepper chicken sandwiches for lunch and ribs and sweet potato fries for dinner. Our oven had caught on fire last Saturday and by Tuesday my husband had it fixed. For the longest time I have been cooking on a three burner stove. He fixed both the oven and range, which saved us from having to buy a brand new stove. My mother-in-law bought me a book on raising chickens which is our next endeavor. This coming weekend we have Blizzard Nemo hitting our area. They are estimating 12-18" of snow, with Boston getting upwards of 3'. Both Steve and I have off today so it will be a nice three day weekend for the family. I plan to curl up with my chicken book and try to get some "fun" and non work-related reading in.

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Raising Chickens

Ever since I was a little girl, I have wanted to raise chickens. My mom even drove me out to a farmers market when I was little to see if we could get a couple of chicks. We ended up in a small little town for lunch and asked a waitress if she knew of anyone who was selling baby chicks. She directed us to a farm up the road. My mother, determined to make her little girl happy, drove up to the farm, up the long tree covered driveway and knocked on the door of a complete stranger. This stranger happened to be English (as is my entire family) and they hit it off. Unfortunately we never did get those chickens. My mom, however, did become close friends with them and I spent many of my summers on their farm. They had chickens, horses, a pond and 40 acres of land. I really think it shaped who I am today.

Our backyard when we first moved in

Fast-forward 15+ years and my husband and I have decided that we want to raise chickens. We don't own a farm or anything even close to a farm. But we do have 1/2 an acre of mostly open land. We plan to fence in the back yard, and build a coup. I am doing my part and reading up on what we need, what breeds are best and how to take care of them. We have a lot of work ahead of us but I am excited. I think that Liam is going to love raising chickens. We will let him help us feed them and gather eggs but we do NOT plan on eating the chickens.

So a rough time frame:

Spring: Look into different breeds. Start getting everything ready for the fence. Once the ground thaws, we plan to put up the fence.

Summer: We hope to have the coup built by summer to put our chickens in. I think for the first year we will get young chickens but not chicks. From my understanding, chicks take a lot of time and care which I would not have time for until after May (by which it may be too late to raise chicks).

I will keep you all updated on our plans as they develop.

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