Strawberry Picking

 We went to a pick your own place this past weekend for strawberries because 

the weather was beautiful and the hubby had the day off. My older sister and my nieces

went with us. I haven't picked strawberries in at least 20 years.

This time I didn't trip and send my berries flying every which way, so

it was definitely an improvement. 

The kiddos definitely had a great time, even if the youngest wouldn't eat any of the 

strawberries. They didn't even mind the mud in the field from it

raining so much the days before we went. I might have ruined a pair of shoes,

but man did I enjoy watching them in the fields. 

We ended up with almost 10 pounds of fruit, so I decided to make some jam. I used my 

FreshTECH Automatic Jam & Jelly Maker again using the following recipe: http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipes/jam-maker-homemade-stawberry-jam. 

I think I added a bit too much fruit the first batch, so it is more like a syrup

than a jam but it is still yummy! I will take the time to 

measure much more carefully for the next batch I promise!

I am also currently in the middle of making some sweet pickles off a a recipe I 

found on Pinterest. So far everything looks normal, but I guess I'll see how they turned out later

this week. I'll post the recipe and pictures later this week with an update 

on how it went. 

My youngest child

     I gave a bit of background on my youngest in my first post, but now I'm going to go more in depth.
     I had a very healthy and fairly easy pregnancy. I only gained 10 pounds and I was very active throughout. He was a tiny little thing compared to his brother, but unlike his brother my breast milk supply came in faster and better. Breastfeeding went well and I was so happy for that.
     However it slowly became the only way he would fall asleep. He was a great sleeper until a bit after he turned 1. He started waking up every 1.5-2 hours and would take about 20-30 minutes to get back to sleep. Needless to say I quickly was in full zombie mode most days. Thank goodness I didn't have a job, or I would have been useless. After a lot of back and forth with his doctor and having to push and insist that this was in fact not normal she finally agreed to do some bloodwork and refer me to a sleep specialist. His iron was low. For a year we worked on getting him on a schedule, getting his iron up, and getting him to fall asleep on his own. Less than a month after he turned 2 he decided he was done nursing and his iron was back up.
     Another issue with his sleep was that he would only sleep in the living room in his pack and play with me in the room. If we let him fall asleep and then moved him he'd wake up within the hour. We had been able to get him back into his crib and me back in my bed. Unfortunately he doesn't do that anymore, so I'm back on the couch. It's not ideal, but we all need sleep around here so we do what works best. Obviously it is a temporary solution and he is showing signs of wanting to sleep in an actual bed.
     He never really met the timetable for any of his milestones. He was almost a year before he crawled properly and was almost 14 months before he even took even one unassisted step. 3 and a half months after he turned 1 he really started walking. He never started saying anything beyond dada, so I started to worry. He was showing signs of more than just delays. He was doing repetitive behaviors, hitting his head on things when he gets mad/frustrated. At 18 months and 24 months I filled out a questionnaire about his behaviors. He was referred to First Steps. Luckily I was well acquainted with the system, so it was smooth sailing. He qualified for services as most of his development areas he was scoring at 10 months even though he was 2. He started seeing an Occupational Therapist  (OT) who recommended he also see an Applied Behavioral Analysis  (ABA) Therapist. He sees OT one hour a week and ABA 7 hours a week.
     After a few months of ABA really started to see what I'd seen quite some time ago. He needed to be tested to see if he falls on the spectrum. I highly suspect he does. He has an appointment in September.
     This is just the highlights, but whatever challenges he may face I am his mom and I will fight for him every step of the way. And he will keep finding new ways to make his whole family smile and laugh.
   

Mother's Day Blackberry Jam

     So my mom is a big fan of blackberry jam, but even more so when it is made from scratch. I just happen to have the Ball FreshTech Automatic Jam&Jelly Maker. I've had it for almost a year and I LOVE it! I made a bunch for family for Christmas and it went over pretty well, so I decided to make my mom's favorite for Mother's Day.

This machine is seriously my best friend. There is no sitting around babysitting and stirring while cooking the jam. Just a few easy steps and you have yourself some fresh jam.    

First wash your chosen fruit and crush it with a potato masher.

Sprinkle pectin evenly over the bottom of the pot and then add the crushed fruit evenly over the pectin.

Add butter to help reduce foaming.

Press the jam button (which will set the timer to 21 minutes) and then press enter.

Wait 4 minutes for the appliance to sound 4 beeps, which signals the time to add the sugar.
Slowly add the sugar as the stirrer keeps running. Put the lid back on and let it finish the cooking cycle.
Once cooking is complete, press cancel on the front of the machine, unplug the appliance,
and remove the glass lid. Remove the stirrer, using a pot holder.
Skim foam, if necessary, from the top of the jam.

Preserve immediately using one of 3 methods:
1. Enjoy now: Ladle into hot jars and allow to cool to room temperature. Place lids and bands
on jars, then label. This is good for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

2. Freeze: Repeat steps for enjoy now, leaving 1/2" headspace. Good for up to 1 year.

3. Preserve and store: While jam is cooking filler canner/stockpot half full with water.
Place lid on canner and heat to a simmer. Make sure jars, lids, and bands are washed in hot
soapy water and rinsed well. Heat the jars in your canner to avoid breakage when filling.
Ladle jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe jam/jelly from the rims of the jars
and center lids on jars. Twist on the bands until fingertip tight. Place the jars in a canning
rack inside the canner and ensure they are covered by 1-2" of water. Place lid on canner
and bring water to a gentle, steady boil. Process jars in boiling water for 10 minutes,
adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat, remove lid, and let jars stand for 5 minutes.
Remove jars from water and cool. Check for seal after 12-24 hours. 

The front 4 were preserved, while the back 2 were prepared using method number 1.

     My mom really enjoyed the jam and it is so simple to make. It leads to such a feeling of accomplishment that I made something myself, even if I could just go to a store and pick it up. I can't wait until I have my own homegrown fruit to make the jam with! I think I am going to make strawberry next month for my dad. 

    Here is a link to the full recipe for the jam I made: http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipes/jam-maker/berry-jam. 

Excited for next spring

     The hubby has decided on a design for our garden and we've picked out a tumbling composter. We're going to grow all the veggies we eat on a regular basis and some fruits too. I'm going to canning and freezing stuff that we grow but can't eat right away. That we can have home grown food as much of the year as possible.
     I'm still deciding on a final design for our coop, but I've got a basic idea. I'm working on getting things I'll need for the chickens like the feeder, the waterer, and the dust baths. Trying to decide on the best way to keep out pests. We have a groundhog living in our backyard, so I doubt we have many big predators. I'm most worried about snakes, mostly because of my fear of them.
     Hubby thinks we won't end of going through with all of this, but I keep telling him we will. I'm going to have 4 hours a day Monday-Thursday. I can easily get little brother on the bus, check the garden and the chickens, head off to the gym, come back and start dinner, then doing whatever else needs done before I have to get both kids off the bus at 4 and 430. Doing this will be my way of contributing to the house and keep me busy and active. During summer the kiddos can help me with the gardening and collecting eggs.
     I can't wait until we gather supplies and start building so I can out some pictures on here. I'll put pictures up of meals I cook with the food too.
     If anybody out there is reading this and has any tips, suggestions, or cautions feel free to share in the comment section!!

Our Story Begins

     My husband and I met in April of 2006. It was a love at first sight situation. Exactly one year later we were married.
     In keeping with the speed of everything, 2 months into our marriage we found out I was pregnant. My due date was Valentine's Day 2008. Unfortunately just as I was really getting used to the idea of being a mom, at just shy of 13 weeks (08-08-2007) I found out I'd miscarried. I hate that word, it seems so inept at describing what you go through. But how can you begin to find a word that gets to the heart of that loss. The loss of life, the loss of expectations, of everything you were planning for.
     Luckily the story gets better from there. On May 1st 2008, I found out I was pregnant again. We thought things were going wrong again. At my 12 week appointment the did an ultrasound and couldn't find anything. So I went to the hospital the next day and they did bloodwork and another ultrasound. I got a call a few hours later saying everything was great and the heartbeat was 171. Best phone call of my life! Fast forward to September when we find out we will be blessed with a boy. Fairly easy pregnancy actually. Labor was a different story though. I was induced at 41 weeks with no sign of dilation or being effaced. 48 hours of attempting a natural birth and I gave in. My son was born on 01-13-2009 at 9 lbs 1 oz and 21" long with a 16" head. He's still built like a linebacker.
     We decided to try to get pregnant again. Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as the first two. After a year and a half I still wasn't pregnant. I stopped trying and opted to seek weightloss surgery. Of course that couldn't possibly go smoothly. I went through a medically supervised diet and got approved for February 2012. Life had other plans though. After going under one of the drugs they gave me sent me into anaphylactic shock. After some allergy tests, we discovered the culprit was Anacef and Morphine. Luckily I was able to try again and got the Realize band in April 2012.
     Fast forward again to Thanksgiving of 2012 and I noticed things that made me think I might be pregnant again. I didn't think it was possible, but before I was even late I took a test and sure enough there was a faint second line. The things I'd been in denial about seeing my very first pregnancy made me so happy. Of course this pregnancy had bumps in the beginning too. I wasn't paying much attention to my cycle because I didn't think it mattered. I went in around what I thought was 6 weeks so they could get a date to go by. They didn't see what they were supposed to and I was forced to wait a week imagining the worst. Of course the next week my little peanut was there with a healthy heartbeat. I was very active with this pregnancy and in March I found out I was having another boy. This time I was a scheduled c-section which is much less stressful. He was born on 08-03-2013 at 7 lbs 12 oz, 20&1/4".
     I'm a stay at home mom, which I love. But it is also part of the reason I've started writing. I don't have a lot of exposure to the outside world and this is my chance to use the voice I was given. My youngest will be starting a preschool program in August at which point I will have 4 hours a day Monday to Thursday all to myself. I'm finally getting back to the gym. I'm also going to start a garden and raise chickens. I'm doing all my research, so I know what I'm getting myself into and anybody who wants to can come along for the ride.
     I'll probably talk a lot about my kiddos. My oldest is just the smartest and my youngest is really smart too. He will likely have a different set of challenges as he has been referred to be tested for Autism.
     I may talk a bit about my experience with essential oils as well, who knows!
     I know this was a long read and thank you to anybody who took the time to read it all.