Who knows where this post will go............

I'm just going to start typing.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I've been an on-task kind of woman and I love it.

Nesting is in full swing. Pray for Jason. I have a list of things that I obviously can't lift or do for him to take care of.

I don't know why it happens this way, but once you find out what your next baby is going to be it's almost like you kick into "the baby is coming" mode. I guess its because usually (for those of us who so dare find out the sexes of our babies) we find out the gender about mid-way through our pregnancy. This means we are halfway there to meeting our precious new one.

We are super thrilled about having a third girl. We haven't officially decided on a name, but we've gotten it narrowed down considerably- well actually to just two. Well, three if you throw in the name that I really love, but Jason isn't crazy about. I actually kind of like that he has an opinion about the name of this little girl. He didn't really have one with the other two. But, then again we sort of knew their names before we even found out what we were having.

So back to nesting......

I cornered two older women at church this weekend and begged them to give me insight into organizing girl clothes. One of these women had FIVE girls and the other had FOUR. I guess I feel like that could eventually be my life. I already feel like girl clothes are overtaking my life. And I don't even have sizes 6-12 months in my house right now. My precious niece Ava has those.

I have them arranged right now according to size. But, Laney Rae and KK are both so shady (did I just call my girls shady???) in their sizes that one outfit of one size may work and another not fit at all. So, this is why the clothes that we have out right now range from 24 months to 5T. Laney Rae has been known to wear even a size 3T these days......and so has Kaylyn.

So, as you can see, the dilemma presents itself.

On top of that, I think of adding baby clothes, socks, blankets, burp cloths, towels, and all of the extras. Its sort of caused me to lay in bed at night a draw a diagram of the girls' closet in my head.

It may seem easy to you from the outside looking in, but I can assure its rocket science so don't be a hater.

Any tips out there from mom's who have more than one child of the same gender?

The bonus to all of this clothes non-sense and brainstorming is that it has caused me to become extremely AWESOME at laundry. I'm loving this.

Laundry has always been an area of mine that has need lots of improvement. My house could be completely spotless, but if you decided to wander into the laundry room, you'd see the tornado scene out of The Wizard of Oz.

Along with cornering these moms, I asked them in my questioning process,"How did you keep up with all of the laundry?"

Both of them responded the words I'd dreaded hearing,"I did a load a day."

Deep down inside I've always known this was the answer. I've heard others even say it. But, I didn't really practice it until these past few weeks.

It has changed my laundry life. I just do a load of whatever is the biggest load for that day- whites, jeans, colors, towels. If I don't really have a load that's big enough to wash, I wash the linens......I love saying linens. It makes me feel fancy!

Another thing that I slacked off doing during the beginning of my pregnancy, was making my own detergent. And to be honest with you, I wasn't really digging my old recipe very much. Our clothes over time began to look dingy and the stains weren't coming off.

But, I think the problem was the baking soda in the recipe. The new recipe that I am using doesn't have baking soda in it. I got it off of a friend's blog and I love it! I've been usually it consistently for a while now and I'm happy to report that its cleaning great! I was a little afraid to recommend it without trying it out for a while.

I will say that I add 1/2 cup of OxyClean to mostly every load too. I love that stuff and would be sad if I had to part ways with it. Farm life brings lots of messy clothes! Its really not all that bad. So, I will continue to use it.

Another thing I'm loving are DRYER BALLS!
I picked some up randomly at Wal-Mart. I love them because since I don't add any fabric softener to our clothes, these tend to do the trick. They're amazing!

Just give them a try!

If you end up hating them, they can become an instant toy for you kiddos to play with.

It's almost Valentine's Day....

That means its time for me to take down my Christmas tree.

No joke.

I just took it down last night. I would have left it up longer if it wouldn't have been completely petrified. As I was taking ornaments off yesterday, I was getting stabbed in the the flesh. I have scratches all over my hands to prove it.

It was most definitely time. My house looks bare now.

It was also time for me to update the look of this blog. Some may say it was long overdue. If you have an rss feed, you can rest assured that that the header no longer says "Merry Christmas".

Are you seriously not loving this weather today???? Its absolutely perfect.

If you live around these parts, its going to be an open your windows kind of day, so get outside and enjoy the fresh air!

We're keeping the pink!

It's official! We are having a GIRL.........a third precious girl. I'm officially a mom of THREE girls.

Jason and I had a long moment of laughter when the sonographer announced the news. It was an extremely GOOD and CLEAR picture. I believe the clarity in photo and the cooperative baby was a blessing from the Lord because I was 99% sure we were having a boy. I would have still had some doubts if it weren't so obvious.

I only had a boy name picked out.........a very cool boy name that Jason chose. But, we'll just have to keep it in case number FOUR is a boy. And I'll beat down whoever steals it. Believe that!

We need a girl name. I'm having a hard time with this one.

We are excited! I walked out of the room into the Lobby where the girls were waiting with my mom. I looked at my two beautifully wonderful girls and thought,"Who wouldn't want another one of these? They're so great."

Jason is thrilled. He loves his girls beyond belief. Its beautiful to watch them together. I know this little girl will have him wrapped around her little finger just like the others do.

Kaylyn is ecstatic. She wanted another sister badly.

So, that's the exciting news of the day.

We're having a GIRL!

We celebrated by eating at Chedder's.

Life is good.

Whatchathink?

Time has completely flown by. I don't even know how far along I am until I go into the doctor for my appointment. My doctor said this is completely normal with your third. Good thing!

I'm officially 19 weeks or so........I think.

I have my big ultrasound on Tuesday. We are finding out what we are having so we are hoping the baby will cooperate.

It was brought to my attention that we need to have a good old fashioned poll (thanks Kyle!!!). I love a poll. But, I'm not very literate on the blog poll thingy, so if you will leave your answer in the comments section, that would be super!

Okay, so do you think we are having a boy or a girl? Any guesses out there?

I'll let you know on Tuesday......hooray!

I love my Shark!

If you've been reading this blog long, you know that I'm always looking for ways to simplify cleaning. More importantly, a clean floor is top priority to me in the home cleaning department. I can deal with other things being out of order for a while, but if my floor is dirty and grit finds its way between my toes, I cannot stand it.

Living out on a farm opens the door to lots of "things" making their way into your home and onto your floor. This is a battle that I will continue to fight the good fight.

I won the Shark VX3 at my family's White Elephant gift exchange over Christmas. When I saw this thing, I knew I had to give it a try.

I'm happy to report nothing but wonderful things about the Shark VX3!

Its rechargeable- so its cordless when you are using it.

It vacuums under things that normal vacuums cannot.

Its bag-less.

It doesn't require a dust pan- for this pregnant lady, not bending over every time I want to sweep my floor is a major plus!

You can vacuum both carpet and hard surfaces with the flick of a button.

The suction appears to be pretty good- mainly because you can see all the junk in your trunk when you are done.

Children can use it and enjoy doing so! I didn't get mad when KK spilled her snack bag all over the floor yesterday. I told her to go the Shark and clean it up. She happily obliged.

Did I mention to you that I love the Shark VX3??? Yesterday I counted how many times I used it and the grand total came in at 4 times. With a baby eating in a highchair, the Shark makes for easy floor clean-up after Laney Rae eats. But, you must not forget to empty it regularly if you are vacuuming up food. You don't want a science project growing in your Shark.

There is a Shark Floor steamer that disinfects your floor with steam and doesn't require harsh chemicals or soap. My sister got this for Christmas and LOVES hers. So, this is next on my list if I find a good deal on one.

I just wanted to throwout a review to you guys in case you are in the market for a new vacuum, mop, or broom. Just buy the Shark VX3. You won't regret it!

Northern Farmers Amaze Me!

Brrrrr......it's cold around here. On top of it being cold, its also raining. This has to be one of the worst weather combinations ever.

By cold, I mean its around 36 degrees. For a Texas gal who has been here all of my life, this is cold. I try and avoid being outside if the temperature reaches below 40 degrees. But, farm life isn't always conducive to these rule I've made up for my life.

Another rule that I had made up before becoming a farmer's wife was- STEPPING IN POOP IS ALWAYS A SIN! SHOES MUST BE THROWN AWAY IMMEDIATELY!

We all know that if I followed this rule, I wouldn't have any shoes left and I would be confessing my "poo stepping" to the all day long!

Jason just rolled his eyes reading that one- he thinks I'm really dramatic about the poo that's invading my life. Can one be too dramatic about avoiding poo? I think not!

This post isn't about poo. Although, I could write a novel about it.

Laney Rae and I had to move the cows a bit ago. Our herd of cows still has to be moved no matter what the weather is like if we are to maintain our rotational grazing practices for our delicious grass-fed beef.

My baby girl bundle! So sweet and so pink!
Yes, she is wearing a seatbelt.

While we were out and about freezing our hineys off, I thought about the farmer's up north. God bless them! I am a frequent reader of some farm blogs from families that live in the north. Their photos of farm chores are covered in 4 ft of snow and take place with temperatures in the teens. Can you imagine what the teens feel like?

Setting my mind upon things in the freezing north is what got me through moving the cows today. This post is in honor of all of the farmer's in the northern states of our great country who endure blistering winds, insane temperatures, walls of snow, and chip away at frozen water troughs.

You guys amaze me!

This is our lead cow, #1. That's her name. I love the perm on the top of her head.

Number one, I'd like to thank you on behalf of myself and Laney Rae for a job well done today. You lead those cows over to the next paddock beautifully and efficiently to ensure a smooth and easy move for me today. I'm so grateful and so is my frozen hiney.

Christmas 2008

(Our official Christmas 2008 photo....ha! That about sums it up, doesn't it?)

My heart's cry this Christmas was NOT to make it about perfection. And after the last post that you see below, it wasn't very difficult avoiding perfection. Imperfection trickled into our lives and we just went with it.

Note to self: When vocalizing a conviction, be ready for a test or trial of some sort to see if you are going to back-up what you are saying:).

Jason became extremely ill the day before Christmas Eve and remains pretty ill to this day. We think something is up with his colon. He is going to a specialist next week so if you could, please keep him in your prayers. I don't like seeing him hurting or sick for this long. We are treating him as best we know how until we get a diagnosis.

With Jason being ill, we just decided to let a lot of last minute projects slide so that we could still show up at all of our family's houses with smiles on our faces and peace in our family unit.

Overall, we had such a sweet Christmas.

We always spend Christmas Eve at Grandma & Pop's house (my mom and dad) and Christmas Day at G-Paw & Gigi's house (Jason's dad and Cindy). We are so very fortunate that we don't have to do much driving. The farthest we drive is a little over an hour.

Here are some photos at my mom & dad's house this year:

Papa (KK's great grandpa) & KK

Papa & Laney Rae- He loves these girls with every ounce of his heart. So sweet!

My family- top from left; Jason, Me, Papa, Aunt Terri, Kayla (my sis), David
bottom from left; KK, Tanner (my bro), Pops (my dad), Laney Rae, Grandma (my mom), Ava (my niece)

Every year my mom likes to have a photo with them and the grandkids. This was our attempt this year with TWO one year olds in the picture. Its the best we could do!

My sister's family!

Finally.....a decent family photo of us!

Jason & Laney Rae- bless his heart. You can tell he doesn't feel good.

KK!

Mommy and KK

Laney Rae trying on her new rubber boots

Here are some photos at Jason's dad's house. Pics courtesy of Jason's sis, Heather. Thanks!

Aunt Debbie & Uncle Durward- The best neighbors in the entire world! We live on the farm with them.

Jason and his bro-in-law, Aaron

Me and my sweet nephew Hudson, Isn't he precious?

KK and a few of her cousins

G-Paw and Gigi!

All of the cousins!