Grandfather and Grandmother and the new baby

These were taken right after the birth, but Baby Aiden has lots of proud grandparents!! Grandpa came over on Sunday, but we forgot to take pics. He'll be back over this weekend, so we'll shoot some then. :)

More pics of our new baby

Sissy is changing the baby and everyone finds it completely fascinating! Probably because she was actually doing it.
















Oh, he is just so precious!! I had to get him undressed so that I could keep him awake to nurse. It helped for a little bit. Then he got full and just wanted to veg.
















His eyes are just a bit opened in the photo, but he was really looking around today!!

More baby pics

We had our 2 day visit with the midwives on this day. They came over and gave us both a clean bill of health! Baby Aiden has a little jaundice, so we were letting him bask in the sunlight. :)
















And of course, everyone wanted to be near him! :)
















Isn't he a doll?!! He's giving Mama a kiss!
















Big bubba is helping out a lot!
















While Daddy and Baby Aiden take a little snooze! :) Now you can see where he gets that black hair. :) It most definitely isn't from his blonde mama. Haha

Our baby is 2 days old

His first bath and Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Kimbo visit.

1 day old

And here he is at 1 day old. His puffiness was starting to go down and he was just looking even more adorable! Everyone is in a tizzy over little Aiden here. All the other children just can't get enough of him.
































































And then he decided to try to hold his head up! He looks like a little old man here! heehee!

We have a new baby!

Welcome Aiden Luke!!

He was born at home at 4:14pm on Friday April 25th. He weighed in at 9 lb. and was 20" long!

It was a long labor - 14+ hours and NOTHING like any labor that I have had before, but we are so thankful that he is here. Thinking back on it now, I realize that it is ONLY God's strength and divine hand that got me through safe and sound. It was most definitely the hardest birthing I have done before. The labor itself wasn't bad - at all! Everything kept stalling and before I knew it, I was at an 8 and just sitting there eating chicken with my family and friends and celebrating with Aiden's cake! haha!

Here are some pics of his labor and his arrival:

Colossal Clutter Cleanup: Entrance

We don't really use this door as an entrance because you know they say that "Back door friends are best!", but for too long it has been used for EVERYTHING under the sun - from storage of boxes to an "office" with a school desk for C.12.B. temporarily while we moved things around.

Here's a before:

Mainly we just had a lot of winter coats that needed to come down. Nothing major - so you didn't get to see it at its worst! LOL





















Just lightweight spring coats now and no toys or diapers on the floor! LOL

Colossal Clutter Cleanup: Bedroom Part 2

Okay, so you want to see the results?!

The bed - Big P hung up the picture for me today. The little bonnet hanging on it is my mom's that she wore when she was a baby! I'm waiting for a few "pretties" that should be coming in the mail in a few days to complete this ensemble. They are miniature garden gates.




















Big P reinstalled the shelving and door on that left closet. It is now housing all of our clothes and shoes, in a very neat and orderly fashion!!















This will be Baby A's little area! :) And that picture will be surrounded with a couple of those miniature garden gates as well.
















And from the other side of the room! yes, I am missing one of my curtain tops! I don't know where it is. I think it is hiding with some sheets somewhere. I'll find it! :)

Colossal Clutter Cleanup: Bedroom

If you aren't familiar with Amy Verlinnich's Clean Heart Clean Home, you must get familiar!! It is beautiful for a variety of reasons - but the main one being that we are to serve God in our homes. For too many of us, clutter is just a result of a dirty heart.

When we decided to do the "living in a RV thing" we knew we would have to get rid of 90% of our belongings! When we decided to hold off on that idea, we knew that God was still expecting us to clean out stuff, but also to be content with what we had - so that we could still get out of vehicle debt.

So, while making our 3/2 double wide mobile home and TONS of land (10 acres is a ton to us!) work for our growing family, we've been doing some rearranging and of course I'm nesting like a mama bird!

So, a before of the bedroom, so that you can really get an appreciation for the end result!!

Yes, that is a bed!
That is the closets - one minus a door, because it was being used as a library for the MP room.

That's the remainder of the library! It was missing one of our bookshelves that had already been moved out, but had gained a filing cabinet!

From the opposite side of the room. Also includes the bathroom, which is done!! I didn't take a before picture of it, so you couldn't really appreciate it, but let me just tell you - I'm so excited! It is decluttered and organized now!!

And for the results of the CCC on our bedroom! Oh, you have to go to the next post for that - it won't let me post anymore pics!!!

Modest is Beautiful!!

It was a relatively quick sew! I cut it out today and the big ones watched the little ones while I sewed it up! Actually, they were taking a nap for a while - which is why they are still awake!!

I really love the way that it turned out. It is a very easy pattern! You are basically doing the same thing over and over again. This pattern is from Fashionably Modest Patterns. There are few things that I particularly LOVED about this pattern and the product from it.

• It's very high quality! This isn't my first time to make a swimsuit. But, last time, I was a bit disappointed that there weren't more layers - especially for the women's size. The girls pattern has an optional bodice lining/shelf, that has elastic on the bottom of the lining for growing little girl figures. Extra modesty, also, in case you pick a light colored lycra. For the woman's size, you will insert bra cups into the bodice shelf.
  
• It has a sleeves option, as opposed to no option at all. There were not instructions on the other pattern for no sleeves - and I really was still learning how to sew - so I didn't dare venture out and try something new. I like that the top of this is similar to other swimsuits and I think that this one feature really makes it "blend" in a bit better at the swimming pool or water park. Yes, we are called to be set apart, and that she will still be - in a modest swimsuit that doesn't look frumpy. I really like the no sleeves part.
  
• It is not hard to lengthen any part of this suit!
• It is easy to go to the bathroom in.
• It will be easy to nurse in (for the woman's size of course). This is different than the other one that I made in that the skirt was attached to the top and thus made it very difficult to wad everything up and lift to nurse. This is more like a "tankini" in that it is a tank top along with a skirt/short/panties combo - yes, all three pieces.
• It has a high neckline!!!
  

What I may do differently the next time (or when I make mine):

• lengthen the bodice a bit more so that it doesn't raise up when you lift your arms.
• on a girl's size, I would consider eliminating the panty part and just doing the shorts and skirt. I had to use self-fabric lining (in other words I used the same material for the lining that the outside is made from) and it just a bit too thick. A regular swimsuit lining would have probably been better, but I couldn't find any!!
  

And here is a picture of the back, so that you can see that the back is also high. I'd love to know what you think!! :)


Dressing my daughter as a princess of the King,
Christine

Baby Rats in the House!!!!!

Yes, we have 5 field mice - or rats - or call them what you may - in the house! My daughter is nursing them back to health after their mama left them. She probably got eaten by one of our dogs.

This week we had 9 acres of our property mowed down in the process of getting a cow. You may wonder why we would mow if we are getting a cow, but this was yucky, weedy grass that has been growing for 2 1/2 years!! It had to come down before we could put anything on it to eat the good stuff that is going to come up.

In the process we have hacked down the home of tons of field mice and snakes. Our dogs have not had quite the compassion that our daughter has had on these creatures.

The other day, she caught one of our dogs taking care of a mama rat and found the baby off a ways. She was horrified and mad at our dog. We had to explain to her that Titan thinks he is doing us a favor - AND HE IS!!! She quickly ran to the house and got a pair of gloves and tried to get this baby to drink some milk! It died and she cried. It was so awful. She wanted to bury it and the next thing you know - she starts telling me that the thing came back to life!!! Come to find out, it was playing dead and quickly ran out of that little grave site that she had dug for it.

I'm pretty sure it isn't one of this litter of FIVE (yes, 5) mice that she found today. They were probably born today or last night. So, we have a Tupperware container with 5 baby mice on top of the dryer. She covered it with a towel and they are squealing every now and then. They are huddled together. I warned her they may not make it through the night.

I have to admit, they are really cute little things. But, you know that only lasts for a little while! Haha!

This is the life - the country life - with at least one child who loves animals. Although the little boys (2 & 4) LOVED looking at these little things, too! C.12.B. wanted nothing to do with them. He spent the day mowing the other part of our property! Did a great job and only got stuck in the mud 3 times (one time was while he was joy riding! LOL).

Blessed,
Christine

A New Dress!

Here is a dress that I just finished up. The pattern is from BakerLane.com - Catherine's Choice. I've used this pattern one other time, but never finished the dress for a couple of reasons.

1. I was trying to get way too creative and mix some fabrics together for the top and bottom. What it looked like when I was done was that I had been cut in 1/2 by one of those illusionist guys. Blah!
2. While I was sewing it, some neighbor's dogs came and attacked all of our chickens. Hubby had to put the rest of them down because they were injured so badly. Then in the process of all of that - we got locked out of our own home - hence the bad taste in my mouth for the whole thing.
3. I had also picked a pretty heavy cotton fabric and it felt like I was wearing a pile of bricks.

So, needless to say, I was a bit hesitant to even try again - but I'm so glad that I did!! I love the results.

One reason that I really love this pattern is because of the variety of seasons of life that you can wear it through - maternity, nursing, and beyond! I pray that I'm not to the beyond part for a long time, but in the meantime, I'll get plenty of use out of it.

I'm now almost 37 weeks pregnant, so the hemline is hiked up in the front, but I didn't want to have to redo the hemline in a few weeks, so I just did it even all the way around. I added a pretty butterfly trim to the neck and sleeves and then an eyelet lace to the bottom - almost making it look as though a slip is poking from underneath.

I have material to make this same dress in a really pretty green. But have to make P.8.G.s swimsuit first.

Another great thing about this pattern is that it will look becoming even while trying to get back to a normal post-baby size. It's one reason I love the slightly gathered front.

It also has 2 different neck options. I used the scoop neck on this one, but will probably use the jewel neck on the green dress. It's a pretty easy pattern to sew up and the results are timeless, so I'll be making more of them as I get back to The Lord's Table and lose the extra poundage that I have put on.

I'd love to know what you think.