as it turns out...

I'm horrible at blogging. :) I just find it hard to find time that i'm at the computer not nursing Silas...blogging takes two hands. ;)

So, here I am finally, Silas is taking a nap, Titus and Jeremiah are playing in their toy room, and momma gets a free minute or two-until one of them needs me to intervene. Life seems to be chaotic now that we are a family of 5! Let me say that again, a family of 5!! I can not believe that I have 3 little boys to love and care for. It's a big responsibility and overwhelming at times, but I wouldn't change it for the world!! I love this life that Joel and I have created for ourselves. I still find it hard that i'm married some-days...it just seemed like I would NEVER get married, then, it seemed like I would NEVER get pregnant...and here I am, just gave birth to our 3rd boy in the comforts of our own home, in MAINE! What an amazing experience that was. That's for another post though... I don't have enough time to pour my heart into that right now. So, here's an update of sorts of what is happening around the Gagnon Farm!

Joel is still a supervising manager at Walpole Wood-Workers Inc. in Pittsfield. This is not his dream job, but it pays the bills and it's pretty good money with paid holidays and vacations. He would be so much happier dubbing away in his own woodworking shop making furniture or cabinets for local people around here. But for now, this is where the Lord has him. When Joel isn't working there he comes home and gets right to work around the farm. That guy can't sit still for too long, there's always something that has/needs to be done. Since it's getting warmer and staying light out longer during the day he's working a lot outside around the farm. He has re-built the grape arbor which is lovely and made us some rock garden beds, moved a shed and is getting ready to put up an electrical fence so that our 2 bull calves have more fresh green grass to eat!! They gotta get "beefed" up so that we can butcher them! Joel is always working hard around here and he does it all for us, his family! He loves us and it shows. The Lord sure has blessed me with an amazing man...I feel like I don't deserve him most of the time, and I'm proud to call him my husband.

Speaking of the animals, our two sheep, "Ewe and Ram" are in need of some shearing. We are looking around to see if someone local can do this deed for us, but we might just have to get a book and learn to do it ourselves to save us money. I want to save the wool and get it spun to have my own yarn. One day--far down the road, I will look into doing all of that on my own, but for now, I will pay someone else to do it. Our chickens (we have 2 barred rock hens, 4 buff orpington hens, 5 rhode island red hens and 1 barred rock rooster) have been much happier now that Joel made them a fenced in yard for them to scratch around in. Except, one of the barred rock hens doesn't like it in there and continues to fly out of the yard almost every day! She just doesn't like being "cooped" up I guess. :) I love all the fresh eggs we get from these ladies. I always seem to have an abundance of eggs...just call me the Egg Lady! :) I can't use up eggs fast enough...except yesterday something happened that usually I wouldn't have dealt with...I decided to make an egg dish that called for 12 eggs and then I made Titus his own egg dish with the remainder 3 eggs that I had left in my egg basket. So, using up all my eggs from my basket I didn't think that I would be in need of eggs for the dessert I wanted to make! I only needed 2 eggs...surely my girls had laid a few more. Well, I went out to check and sure enough they had but now 2 of the hens have decided to become broody and wouldn't get up off the eggs. So, this meant I used all my eggs for the day! They weren't getting up and I didn't want to disturb them, I want little chicks!! :) I'm usually begging people to buy my eggs cause I can't use them fast enough, and here I went and used up my whole supply and didn't get a dessert out of it!! Serves me right, I don't need the extra calories anyhow!!

On to the next subject--my needing extra calories. While pregnant with Silas I was doing so well as to eating healthy and not craving junk, like I normally do. I even gave up my ice cream habit---which for those of you who don't know about that, I would/could eat a bowl of ice cream every night as a snack. But, since I was preparing my body to birth my baby naturally and to stay healthy so that I could birth at home, I got into more healthy things. I actually didn't crave ice cream!! I didn't eat a lot of junk. Then, I think it was the day after Silas' arrival I sent my mom and Joel out for some ICECREAM!! I thought it would be a great treat for the marathon I just ran the day before! lol. :) I don't know what has happened but now that i'm nursing Silas I can't get enough to eat, and it's mostly starchy, sugary things that I want to eat! I feel so bad because for so long I was doing really well. Now, instead of dropping those baby pounds, all 20 of them, I'm sure i've gained some!! How depressing is that?! I know I only had about 8 pounds to lose after I had Silas, but i'm pretty sure i've not lost that! It's a viscous cycle. Anyways, enough of that... my baby boy is 3 months old. :( His birth was so amazing that I think about it almost daily! And my heart grows more and more passionate about others experiencing such a birth as mine. I really can't wait to get my Doula Certification and I would really love to apprentice with my midwives to become a home-birth midwife. That is my life's passion...I am slowly working towards it, but first I want to spend time with my kiddos before they grow up and i've been too busy to watch it happen. So, speaking of babies...Silas is such a happy baby. I always thought that Titus was an easy baby and always so content, but I think Silas takes that!! He always has a smile on his face, cries only when he's hungry, and sleeps the rest of the time. I must say I do get adequate sleep with this guy. He does get up every 2-4 hrs, but through the night we nurse/sleep and he sometimes goes 5 hrs. between his night feedings. He's such a blessing to have in our family. I can't wait to see how well he fits in with Titus and Jeremiah.

As far as kids go--Titus is going to be 5 on June 11th. That's only 3 weeks away!!!!!! I can't believe that i'm going to be a mom to a 5 yr. old. That just seems unreal to me. I mean, I remember being 5...I just never could imagine that I would have a 5 yr. old of my own. Titus is our little Joel. He's so much like Joel, it's scary sometimes! But then again, he does get moody which is sooo much like me! Anyways, Titus is a thinker. Always has been and will continue to be. He is becoming more lively these days. He loves anything to do with working. He loves his tractors, his shovel, wheelbarrow, dump trucks and tools. Anything that looks like anything that Daddy has is his favorite thing to work with! Right now he's loving the use of his dump truck and wheelbarrow...he's begging me right this minute to go outside in the pouring rain to work on the gravel for the driveway. He needs to steam roll it he keeps telling me. I'm sure as soon as daddy gets home they will both be out there and Titus will be working just as hard as Joel will be to flatten/spread out the gravel. Titus is such a big helper. He loves to be busy like his daddy and loves difficult tasks. I mentioned earlier that he's turning 5 in three weeks. He has asked me for a pirate birthday, but then changed his mind and now wants a firefighters birthday party. I hope that I can get real creative to make this happen for the little guy. He asked for an orange cake...so, I found a great, healthy recipe that is just that. It uses coconut oil for the frosting and in the batter as well. I'm eager to try it, not only because it's a healthier choice for all of us, but it's dairy free and coconut oil is supposed to be really good for those struggling with thyroid problems, like myself--(mine is low). For those of you who might not know this, Titus is deathly allergic to milk protein, casein. So, this little guy can't have any dairy products what so ever! It's been a challenge for me to do this. The rest of us still eat dairy, but not nearly as often as say the normal American family does. And we have to be very careful not to touch him after dealing with dairy--cheese is the very worst. He's even showed signs of it while cooking to have an asthma attack. :( *sigh.* He's so used to it now though, that he's started to look at any box that a food product comes in and asks me what ingredients are in it and if it has milk in it and if he could have it or not. He doesn't get too bummed out when he can't have something. I'm thankful that he's becoming mindful of his own allergy though. I just wish I didn't have to worry about him going to someone elses house and not knowing if there is milk products in things. So many people are not in the habit of reading their food labels, and so many things have milk added to it that you normally would not think had it in it. But despite that allergy, Titus is a thriving little boy and a pretty happy one!

Jeremiah is my more typical little boy--he's the one who will bring me worms and touch any animal that he comes into contact with. He loves animals! He marches to the beat of his own drum! If he doesn't want to do something, by golly, he's not going to do it, with a little force he will! But boy does it take some forcing to get that boy to move sometimes. What a stubborn little guy. He is so different than Titus, from his looks to personality. So many people ask me if Jeremiah is even mine cause he looks so different. I have to admit I feel a little offended when asked such a thing. Yes, that blond hair, blue eyed, hefty little tyke is mine, ALL MINE!! If you look closely while he's in his daddies arms you can see a similar resemblance. I think i'm the only one who thinks he looks like Joel more than Titus does. Titus behaves just like his daddy but Jeremiah looks like his daddy. Now, I think as far as behavior goes, he's more like his sassy momma! :) (i'm not afraid to admit it). But, honestly he's got such a soft heart. He can be such a sweetie too. I love this kid! He's got the gruffest laugh i've ever heard a 2 yr. old have. He loves loves, loves Silas!! He gets very upset if I don't allow him to be right in his face to talk to him. This means literally him touching his head to Silas' head. :) He always wants to talk to him or hold him. I love that all of them are so close in age and I pray that we can raise them to love each other and have a close relationship as adults. Jeremiah is my people person for sure, he loves to be in the social things that go on. But he also likes his own space as well. He is very bright and such a happy boy as well.

So, that's my life in a nutshell...there are so many more things that I can keep going on and on about...but I need to give you readers a reason to come back for more!! I think next I will blog about what's happening on the Farm, literally, with gardening, building, friends...ect......to be continued! Our little Commune that is taking place....