My Favorite Baby Carrier

As you can imagine, with 8 children, we've gone through lots of baby carriers. I think at various times I've tried most of them out there. But finally, on my 7th baby I found the BEST baby carrier. It is called an ergo. Here is a photo of Jim wearing Indigo in our ergo:

Before ordering it, I was concerned it wouldn't fit well since I am small (about 5 feet). But this is the first baby carrier that does not hurt my back or my shoulders. I have even carried Indigo and Jade around the house and still have been able to do chores!

There is an insert that is made to go inside so you can carry an infant in front. But my favorite way to use it is when they are big enough to be carried on your back. The baby sits on your back "piggy back style". There is nothing between your back and the baby's front. The ergo just holds the baby in that position and creates a seat for her. It is a bit tricky to get the baby on your back by yourself, but it is doable and becomes easier with practice. I usually have a helper, but if I'm alone I sit on the couch and do it.

Even Brett (who is tinier than me) is able to carry Jade and Indigo around in the ergo. We were at a wrestling match last year and Jade was being fussy. Brett put her in the ergo on her back and walked around. She got quite a few looks from other parents - it was pretty comical.

You can get an ergo over at La Stella Blu. Katie even has a great set of ergo faq and their answers on her blog.

When we ordered our ergo, we had to choose a color. We unanimously decided on - indigo. Of course. :)

PJ

Quick - Get the Tub Ready

Don't you just want to give them a great big hug?

Seriously though, I have a question - and I'd really like some feedback on this one.

Does anyone else's children ever get this dirty? Really? Or is it just mine?

And how often do your children actually bathe? Because no matter how often mine do, they always seem to be covered in dirt. Especially Jade. And Colter usually smells like goat.

Ugh. :)

PJ

Is This a Good or a Bad Thing?

Ever since we started selling soap, I have occasionally received phone calls that go like this:

Caller: "I'd like to buy some soap, can I come over?"

Me: "Absolutely, we'll be home all day."

Caller: "Ok, I'll see you soon."

Click.

Me: "FRONT AND CENTER CHILDREN NOOOOOOOWWWWWW!"

(Children come running from all directions)

Me: "Ok, we have someone coming over to buy soap.
Brett - you clean up the living room.
Cole - you clean off the counters
Emery - you sweep the floor
Fletcher - clean off the front porch
Greyden - finish washing the dishes
Hewitt - finish putting away the dishes"

Indigo: "What me do?"

Me: "You put the shoes away."

Indigo: "I don't want to do that."

Me: "OK, clean your room.

Indigo: "Me don't want to do that."

Me: "What do you want to do?"

Indigo: "Can I eat a cookie?"

Me: "No, now put these shoes away now."

Me: "Let's go people! Move! MOVE! MOVE!"

You get the general idea.

The good news? I'm keeping the house consistently much cleaner.

The bad news? I have to keep the house consistently much cleaner.

Afterall, we're not talking about friends popping over unexpectedly. They know me. They don't judge me if the house is trashed because we're in the middle of canning tomatoes or something like that.

But we're not talking about friends. We're talking about potential customers. And not all of them will understand that homeschooling 8 children on a homestead involves a lot of mess. Not a little mess. A lot of mess.

So, I'm having to adjust. Instead of one big cleanup at the beginning of the day (our normal pattern), we're having lots of smaller cleanups throughout the day.

I've also implemented a new chore system (another post) that is working great.

So overall, I think having in the back of my head that a customer could arrive at any moment is a good thing.

Maybe.

PJ

Lessons Learned from Hurricane Ike

We do a lot to prepare for emergencies of any duration. It's just a part of the way we live. Since I only shop once a month, I'm generally prepared anyway.

When Hurricane Ike knocked out our power for 3 days, I was excited (in a weird kinda way) to see where some of the holes in my plan were.

Brett and I took a lot of notes. Most of the things were mere convenience items. A lot of it had to do with my above the refrigerator freezer space. Our chest freezer was fine (I wrapped it insulation and lots of quilts). We never opened it once, and it had no problem.

But I kept most of my berries and stuff in the fridge freezer space. That was not good. I'm going to start keeping those things in the chest freezer. If the power is out for an extended period of time (over a week), I can start canning the stuff in the chest freezer.

So -here is a list of what we learned:

1. Keep several loaves of frozen bread in the fridge freezer. Although I can cook bread in the sun oven, you need sunshine - and that doesn't always happen right after a hurricane.
2. Make meals out of what is in the fridge first - before Colter starts cooking baked beans and cornbread on the firepit.
3. When cooking with no power, we need to make smaller meals, because you can't refrigerate the leftovers.
4. If you're planning on watching the conclusion of the four part mini series Scarlett (sequel to Gone with the Wind), you can plug the small tv into the cigarette lighter in Jim's truck and watch all 4 hours of it without draining Jim's truck battery. :D
5. I need to store more saltines.
6. There is just no good alternative to a hot shower.
7. Tape the refrigerator and freezer shut or you will just keep forgetting and continue to open it.
8. You need to make sure you are done miking the goats before it gets dark.
9. Warm milk isn't very good.
10. Chicken eggs will last a week or more if you don't wash them or refrigerate them.

But the best thing I learned was that it takes a natural disaster and no power to get my refrigerator looking sparkling new! :D



PJ

Huh?!

The children play outside a lot. For the most part they play really well together.

The other day I went outside to check on them and discovered this:

Yes, that's Indigo inside a rabbit cage (no there's no rabbit in there). Now, I must clarify. When I went outside, what I initially found was Hewitt, Indigo, and Jade all in the rabbit cage together. It was quite an uncomfortable fit. Which is why when I returned with the camera, only Indigo would go back inside.

I'm still not sure what they were pretending, but they were enjoying it! :D

PJ

Hurricane Ike Damage

I thought I'd share with you a photo of our our Hurricane Ike damage. Most people in our area suffered heavy tree damage. All the trees on our property are young fruit trees that we've planted. Fortunately they all survived.

Unfortunately our sliding glass door didn't.

But there was some good news. First, the door is 2 paned, and it was only the single outside pane that shattered. Second, it didn't actually break until Monday after the wind had died down. And third? Well, the screen door has been broken since we bought the house, and now we have a reason to replace the whole thing... eventually.

I was doing my best to clean up all the glass and I asked Cole to get me the shop vac. There was only one problem with that - we had no power!

The power is now back on. I really must get the shop vac and finish the job!

PJ

Sunflowers

Remember my sunflowers in the garden?

Well, Hurricane Ike finished them off. But that's ok, they were mostly ready to be harvested anyway.

So the children cut them all down:

The good news? The children love them. I find them eating them all the time.

The bad news? The children love them. They eat them all the time and I find the sunflower seed husks everywhere.

I've trained them in the past to spit their watermelon seeds outside. I guess I now have to train them to do the same with their sunflower seed shells. :D

I originally grew the sunflower seeds for the goats. So far, I don't think the goats have gotten a single seed!

PJ

Do You Know What Today is?

Today is the first day of deer hunting season.

If you're against hunting - I'm sorry. But don't worry I won't post any pictures or get graphic on you.

We don't personally hunt. We just don't have the time, money, or energy. Besides, why should we hunt when we have friends who hunt?

We have been blessed with a friend who loves to hunt, but his family doesn't like venison. So he brings the deer to us!

Today is a special day where just the youth are allowed to hunt. Our friend has a son and a niece that both hunt. Last year they brought us 2 deer on this day.

We weren't quite ready then. Today we are.

Our friend brings us the deer already field dressed and we... do the rest (I know, I promised I wouldn't get graphic, and I won't).

But venison is just such a gift. I haven't bought red meat from the grocery store in 2 or 3 years! We have venison to last us the year round. And it is so much healthier than anything I can afford to buy. No antibiotics, no hormones, no grain (unless the deer gets into the corn fields). And you know I am feeding 10 very hungry mouths in this family.

I've got the pressure canner ready. The grinder is ready. Jim is ready for the outside work (see - still not graphic).

Now - we just wait for the phone call!

PJ

Anyone Want Some Free Goat Milk Soap?

I recently updated our goat milk soap website and have decided to run a contest.

Here is how it is going to work:

Visit http://www.goatmilkstuff.com/ and look around.

Pick your top 3 soaps that you like best.

Come back to this blog entry and list your 3 favorite soaps in the comments section of this blog entry.

We will take all the entries and have a drawing for the winner on October 15th. If you win, you will receive your three favorite scents. Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you in the comments section, or check back on October 15th to see if you won.

You can have extra entries in the contest if you find any typos or incorrect links or anything else that needs to be fixed on the website. Just put those in a comment on this blog too and you'll get your name entered for every mistake you find.

PJ

Creative Cooking

The children made tortillas for dinner the other night. They do a great job at it. They make quite a lot because many of them get eaten before they ever make it to the dinner table.

Colter makes awesome fajita filling to go with the tortillas. It was Emery's job to go pick peppers from the garden and cut them up. He was quite pleased with the results:

In case you couldn't tell from the first photo, he decided to get a little creative:

That's one of my favorite parts about growing so much of our own food. The children really enjoy cooking with our stuff and get excited when a meal is mostly ours. Although they do like to point out to me that we haven't started growing our own salt yet. :D

PJ

I'm Back!

Sorry for the absence.

Hurricane Ike hit our area hard and we were without power for three days. Other than a shattered sliding glass door, we had no damage.

I'm still trying to catch up, just wanted to let you know that we're ok!

PJ

MY Jonas Brothers

I'm not a big follower of pop culture. I don't listen to the radio or watch much television or read magazines. So I'm not very familiar with the newest "stars" on the scene.

But I am aware of the Jonas Brothers. People have been telling me about them for years.

I recently watched a song from them. We have Disney's The Little Mermaid on DVD. Jim found that if you put the DVD in the computer, you can watch the Jonas Brothers sing "Poor Unfortunate Soul."

I'm probably about to offend millions, but I wasn't all that impressed. Sorry!

Anyway, apparently they are really popular. So popular that I recently received the following phone call:

Riiiiiinnnnnnnggggggg

Me: "Hello"

Un-named teenie bopper: "Hi. Are you related to the Jonas Brothers?"

Me: "Excuse me?"

Un-named teenie bopper: "The Jonas Brothers. I'm a REAAALLLYYYY big fan of theirs and I was wondering if you're related to them?"

Me: "No."

Un-named teenie bopper: "Oh. Are you sure?"

Me: "Yes, I'm sure."

Un-named teenier bopper: "Oh, that stinks."

Me: "Good-bye"

Click.

When I told Jim about the conversation, he told me the next time I get a phone call like that I need to say, "Yeah, we have lots of Jonas Brothers here!" :D

PJ

Sample Girl

When we cut our soap into bars, there are small pieces left over that we cut into samples. We place the individual bars of soap on the curing racks, and the samples on a separate rack.

Indigo has decided that it is her job to carry all the samples to their shelf. She calls herself "sample girl".

The other week I was cutting soap and handing her the samples. After a little while, I noticed that she was scraping the samples with her fingernails and putting grooves in them. I told her she needed to stop and if she didn't that I wouldn't let her be sample girl anymore. She was fine with that and stopped scraping them.

But... apparently Hewitt overheard a portion of our conversation.

When I was done cutting the soap and we were preparing to place them on the drying racks, Hewitt started to pick up all the samples. This immediately brought forth squeals and protests from our dear sample girl.

Hewitt haughtily informed Indigo that she was no longer sample girl.

To which Indigo started screaming, "I AM SAMPLE GIRL! I AM SAMPLE GIRL!!!!"

Over and over... and over!

I finally managed to calm her down and informed both Indi and Hewitt that she was still sample girl.

So - when I was cleaning up the other day and found a sticker - I just couldn't resist.

Introducing... SAMPLE GIRL!

In case you can't make it out - the sticker reads "sample". :D

PJ

A Happy Anniversary

Today is the 18th anniversary of my first date with Jim. :D

Jim and I met during my first weekend at college - the University of Virginia. September 8th was the football game against Clemson. UVa had not beaten Clemson in a ridiculous number of years (over 30 if I remember - Jim would know).

For our first date, he took me to the game. We sat on the hill with his fraternity. Side note - I recently found out that the hill is no longer there and now has stadium seating. :(

It was a fairly normal first date... except for the fact that my date was painted blue and orange! At the time I wasn't sure whether or not he was trying to impress me with the paint. Actually, I'm still not sure whether or not he was trying to impress me with the paint. :D

It was an incredibly exciting game - and quite remarkable in that UVa actually won!

A month later, Jim gave me a card. It had Ziggy (remember Ziggy?) on the front staring off into a sunset. Jim had printed off and taped to the front: "One month ago, as if it were destiny..."

I opened it up and it read: "UVa beat Clemson." It also had a newspaper photo of Jim cheering the victory.

What a romatic, huh?!

PJ

Workout Partners?

I'm getting old. There is just no denying it.

My age is manifesting itself in many ways, not the least of which is my weight. In the past, my "baby weight" has disappeared before each baby was 6 months old, without much extra effort on my part. But not so after Jade's birth. She's 14 months old and these last 5 pounds just do not want to leave me!

Apparently the fact that we raise most of our own food, eat very healthy, and stay very active running the homestead is no longer enough. :(

I've had my treadmill for a decade, and quite frankly, I'm bored with it. It also doesn't get us any weight training. Friends of ours have a total gym (no, I've never seen an info-mercial for one), and we tested it out. We all liked it, so Jim found a cheap one and we got it. (And no, it did not come from the garbage!)

So far we've been very happy with it. We all use it. The favorite exercise amongst the children are pull-ups. I caught Brett getting some help tonight in getting a more challenging work out:

Apparently, the added weight to her workout is working:

Too bad her workout doesn't help me rid myself of these extra 5 pounds! :D

PJ

1-2-3 Jump!

Here's a fun photo of the boys that a friend took.

I love it when the children have fun together. It is one of my main goals that the children would be best friends with each other.

Some days I think that's never going to happen. (Especially at the end of a long, hot summer!)

Then I see pictures like this, and I get so encouraged.

PJ

Pawpaws

Somebody gave us some pawpaws the other day.

Never heard of a pawpaw? Remember Disney's Jungle Book movie? Where Baloo is trying to teach Mowgli how to be a bear? Here I copied some of the lyrics for you:

Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life

Now when you pick a pawpaw
Or a prickly pear
And you prick a raw paw
Next time beware
Don't pick the prickly pear by the paw
When you pick a pear
Try to use the claw
But you don't need to use the claw
When you pick a pear of the big pawpaw

Have I given you a clue?
The bare necessities of life will come to you
They'll come to you!

I assume that Mowgli knew what a pawpaw was. My children didn't have a clue. I myself had only ever tasted one once before.

Pawpaws grow on a tree and are actually considered large berries. They ripen in September and October and are fairly high in protein. Pawpaws have a smooth skin that you don't eat (at least we didn't). They have fairly large seeds inside. The fruit has a custard-like consistency. Some people say it reminds them of bananas or mangos or papayas. But not really.

I personally like them. Jim likes them. Brett likes them. And here is a photo of Greyden eating one. He really likes them.

I don't know if there is a proper way to eat pawpaws. I cut them in half and we scooped out the inside fruit with a spoon and discarded the seeds.

Pawpaw trees grow really well here in Indiana and require little care. Jim and I are talking about planting a few of them. I always love it when we add new healthy things to our diet. Especially when it is something that we can grow ourselves. :D

PJ

Self Serve

I was lying on my floor resting when Hewitt came in wanting to know if he and Indigo could have some peanut butter and jelly. I told him, "Sure."

A while later I was walking through the kitchen and discovered this:

Further investigation found jelly all over Hewitt, Indigo, AND Jade. I had thought Hewitt would be getting help making peanut better for himself and Indigo.

Apparently not.

He made sandwiches for the three of them all by himself. What a good brother!

But he did manage to ask for help when it came to cleaning up. :D

PJ

That's Just Two Families?!?

Yep! Just two families!

We had a super visit with friends of ours from New Jersey. They dragged themselves and 8 of their 9 children all the way out to Indiana just to see us! Isn't that awesome?

I'm not used to being around people with more children than me. It is so wonderful! It's nice to share things with other large families. They can understand, because they're living it.

They did stay with us. Our girls gave up their room for the adults and their youngest. All the girls slept in the boys room and all the boys slept outside in a tent. At least they did the first night. After that they slept in the living room.

Despite just having 2 bathrooms, everything went great! And we can't wait for their next visit. :D

PJ

Future Mommy

I just had to share this photo of Indigo hugging her baby doll.

She's at that stage where she's really sweet with them. She'll love on them one moment and throw them across the room the next moment. It's a good thing she still has lots of time to practice before she's a mom!

PJ

My Labor Day Really Was...

... a day of labor!

I woke up this morning disgusted with the cleanliness of my house.

I am a very organized person and I HATE clutter. I simply have too many children to have too many things. So I spend the majority of my cleaning time organizing and putting things away. (And throwing out stuff that Jim brings home :D). The children do most of the scrubbing and although they do it well, they're still children.

So I started my day scrubbing my bathroom. I spent about three hours in there dealing with every little nook and cranny. It now sparkles! I even got out some paint and touched up the baseboards. They had gotten stained from mold when we had a leak months ago.

Then I tackled the rest of the house. I spent all day cleaning (with the children's help). And we still didn't finish! But the parts that we did look great!

I am really tired now. It truly was a LABOR day. :D

PJ