Up-Dates and Life Changes (Going Gluten Free)

First things first...

Chester is going to be a big brother!! Coming this November are little two bedroom house is gonna get a little smaller and boy are we excited.  As of today I am about 16 weeks along and feeling great. Thanks for all the prayers that were sent our way as we were trying to get pregnant again, God is good!

In related news Chester has since gotten a big boy hair cut and...

 he has turned into quite the ladies man...sunggled up close with one little girl while holding the hand of another...oh my!


Now for the big news that I have been putting off talking about for oh about 8 months....this new isn't bigger than being pregnant, but it is more life changing.

After a trip to see Caleb's sister last Thanksgiving in Denver we have decided to go gluten free. Yeah I know we grow this beautiful stuff...

 And we can no longer eat it. 

Why you are probably asking?

Well about a year and half ago Caleb's sister was diagnosed with Celias Disease . And celiacs is some thing that actually can run in familes. Well on the way to Denver after eating dinner (lunch) Caleb started feeling yucky and having a spell where he just felt like crap, (headache, nausious, feeling like he was really weak and going to pass out)  nothing fun feeling that's for sure. He had been having these symptoms for a long time now. They would just pop up every once in a while, but he wouldn't ever go to the Doctor about them...until he had an anxiety attack that was related to the symptoms, then he went to the Doc and all the Doc diagnosed was the anxiety attack and didn't look at the symptoms that caused it. That's really annoying!

*On a side note, I had to take over driving while he tried to sleep and I couldn't make a sound and there wasn't allowed to listen to the radio or stop for anything fun...Needless to say when he was feeling a little better I I kinda gave him a ear full about figuring out what is going on with him and going to the Doc till he got an answer, cause 4 hours of having to be silent and drive with no radio kinda pissed me off...I won't lie. My belief on sickness/illness/cronic pain is if you aren't going to go to the Doc and figure out what is wrong with you than suck it up and don't wine about it...I'm all sorts of compassionate aren't I. 

Any way when we got to his sister's house we did some talking with her about things and she was saying that the symptoms very much sound like some of the symptoms of celiacs. So long story short we did some shopping, bought some supplies, came home and cleaned out my pantry and I am now a label reading gluten free hippy....lol 

It's not just Caleb that has to be gluten free it is me too. I have been having digestive issues for a long time and nothing seemed to help with it. I had thought it was more problematic when I ate greasy foods so I just blamed it on the grease...but then it would happen when I ate a turkey sandwich and that got me all sorts of confused. My sister who has had some of the say digestive issues said her Doc though it could be gluten....which got me thinking about that, but I wasn't about to go gluten free all by myself cause that would mean no more pizza....but since we thought it would help Caleb I thought I would do it too.

But since being on it, we both have noticed a big difference and we feel soo much better!! 

Facts about going Gluten Free:

• There is no such thing as good gluten free bread. It's all really dense and hard as a rock! 
• If you don't have to go gluten free but do just for fun, just know that Caleb and I think you are crazy! ;)
•  After making a dozen different Pizza dough's I finally found one that is eatable, but it's still not as good as gluten pizza
• Gluten Free pasta isn't bad
• The gluten free cakes and cookies I have made have all been really good...except I did make a store bought box of browines that weren't eatable, which was really sad!

This has been a huge lifestyle change for us and it means we aren't able to eat out as much or fix stuff near as fast to eat. We are now those people that are high maintenance at family dinners, but oh well we feel better and we are so thankful for that!

I tell you all of this because tomorrow I will be shareing a recipe for Cream of Mushroom soup and it's gluten free and I wanted all of you to know why. I am also sharing the regular gluten version too, for those who don't need the gluten free version.

Lots of Love and Good Bread,

JP
 

A couple of things before you eat too much turkey

So Thanksgiving is almost here, which means....

- I only have a few more days left in my 20's, but that's not till next week so I'm not gonna think about that right now.

- I get to eat all sorts of yummy delicious foods...YES!

- And it's time to get Christmas cards ready...ugg

Well I am happy to say my cards are done and ordered....yippy!!! Here are a couple of the main pictures I used on this year's card.
    

We finally got out and were able to take some pictures...the only problem was Chester was sick so we didn't get to many good ones, but maybe next time.

Chester had a blast taking these pictures, cause he loved playing with the lights.

On another note... 
 

 

 We finally have a walker in our house....or should I say a runner, he really doesn't have a slow speed. :)

I hope you all have a wonder Thanksgiving!!!

Peace, Love, Turkey,

Janet

12 Months of Chester

At the beginning of this month we celebrated Chester's first birthday....

I know I can't believe it's already been a year. Time is sure flying around here!! 

Well back before he was born my friend Carrie over at "Life in the Slow Lane" sent me some onesies and monthly stickers for taking pictures of little man. The onesies ranged from newborn to 12 months...which lasted for about 6 months with my little monster, lol.

Now I won't lie there were months when I hated those stickers, cause we were busy and I just didn't want to take the time to take pictures. When it was all said and one I am so glad I had them, cause it made me take the time and take the pictures. 

And here they are from the beginning to now...

I know he didn't have the onesie and sticker on in this one, but this was one of his newborn shots, and I just love it....and can't believe how "tiny" he was.

Just  Born

1 Month

 

2 Months

 

3 Months

 

4 Months

 

5 Months

 

 

6 Months

This would be one of those months that I wasn't feeling the pictures...

Forget picking up the toys...Onesie, sticker, click and we were good ;)

7 Months

 

8 Months

 

 

9 Months

 

10 Months

Pictures weren't as cool as the once were. It was more fun to go see what could be found. 

 

11 Months

It rained!!! Same grass as the 10 month pictures only difference was we got some rain!!!  

 

12 Months

There is pretty much no stopping him now ;) 

 

Thanks Carrie for the stickers!! They have been so much fun to use and document the first year of my little man's life!

 

JP

 

Little Stinker (aka Baby) Up-Date

First I want to say thank you to all of you who made comments the other day on my post. I'm glad to know that there are other hard workin' mommas out there!

About a week and half ago we had another Doctors appointment where we had an ultrasound so I thought I would give you an up-date on the baby.

First I have to say, they gave us a disk with pics of little stinker on it, but I have no idea where it is so I had to take a picture of the picture we had printed off and here's what we got.

There is our little alien child. This was done when I was 18 weeks and 1 days along. They did a bunch of measuring in which little stinker wouldn't hold still. They actually measured it a week ahead of what my due date is...which would put me at the same time as my friend Steph, but since I was on clomid and had to chart everything we know exactly when everything took place, so my due date is still October 3.

Stinker weighed about 10 oz and was doing great!

I have been feeling the little guy moving around for a long time now, but I've only known it since about Easter.

Here's what I looked like at 18 weeks along. Also I chopped about 10 inches off of my hair cause it was just getting too long!!

At my appointment they said I had gained about 5-6 lbs and I was just fine with that.

I have been feeling great the entire time.

The only food I have had any problems with is milk. It will upset my belly some. What stinks about that is I have want to eat some oreo's and milk. But it has gotten better and usually I just deal with the sour stomach.

I haven't even started working on the babies room yet.  I have thought about it, but that's as far as I have gotten. 

Yesterday in the mail I got my first diapers for little stinker.

Yes, I am going to do cloth ones for a number of different reasons.

1. We don't get trash pick up and diapers don't burn.

2. Even though they cost more up-front they are cheaper over the long haul.

3. It is less diapers going into the landfill.

Will I ever use disposable diapers? YES, I am sure I will.

Do I care if others use disposable diapers? NO, to each their own. If you are a stay at home mom and have the time and the want to do it than that's great, but if you don't that's great too.  I am choosing to mainly cause I don't want to get trash service just for diapers and it is a lot cheaper over the long haul.

Two diapers won't last to long, but ya got to start some where.

* Just because they are blue it doesn't mean anything. I will put a little girl in blue. I don't plan on getting any pink cause I won't put a little boy in pink!

I finished this last night and was soo excited.

I did it all by hand (because I didn't know how to thread my sewing machine). It's not perfect, but I am sure happy with how it came out!

Don't worry color doesn't mean any thing, I have blue to make one for a little boy.

The pink was leftover form a project I had done before so I decided to make a quilt. 

My mom has since been down to my house and shown me how to thread my machine so for the next I will probably do a lot of the sewing with the machine.

My inspiration for this was my baby blanket that my Great-Grandma made me. It's not in too bad of shape for being 28 years old.

I have got a few outfits for stinker, but I didn't get pictures of them. Most of my clothes buying will have to wait till after it's born when we know what we have.

So there you go. As of today we are 19 weeks and 4 days, so almost halfway there.

I hope you all are having a wonderful week and have a great weekend!

Lots of Love,

JP



A New Farm Hand is Comming to the Phillips Farm

About a year ago Caleb and I thought it was time to start a family, the only problem was my body decided that it was time to stop working correctly.

October, 2009 I went off birth control. We weren't sure that we were ready just yet to start a family but the birth control and I weren't getting along, so we decided other means of birth control would be better. After I got off the birth control everything went back to normal....

Well normal for me which means I would cycle every two months. I've been that way since it all started so it was no big deal to me.

Well after two normal cycles, my body decided to stop working...

The ironic thing about this was that Caleb and I had decided to stop all forms of birth control after the next cycle...which never came.

I went six months without cycling at all...

I blame it on the birth control pills I was on, my Doc says they shouldn't have caused that but I have never had any problems like this till taking that crazy stuff!

Anyways, I know some of you are thinking, "Why didn't you go to you Doctor sooner than six months?"

Well for the first three months I kept thinking something would happen and then nothing....

But on top of that I haven't been down in this area all that long and the first Doc I went to I didn't like at all and was gonna go back to. But then the problem is finding a new Doc and when I do find one I still have to wait at least a month because I was a new patient.  There was one local Hospital that was only about 20 min away, but all a couple of my friends who had babies there said that in nine months they had gone through 3 different Doctors. Well I really didn't like the sound of that! Then one of those friends said there was a Doc just north of us about 30 min that had been there a really long time and she really liked her, so finally I found the place I wanted to go.

So after a month or so of waiting I finally get in to see not the Doc but the Nurse Practitioner, which didn't bother me, cause she was great. She started me on some meds to get me to cycling and I was to take a the ovulation tests to see if and when I was ovulating.

Things I learned: If you ever have to take an ovulation test buy the digital one, they are soo worth it, cause there is either a smiley face if you are ovulating or nothing if you are not. The others there is always two lines you have to determine if the second line is dark or if it's not....horrible design!!

Well after three months of cycling and no baby I went back to the Doc and she thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and start me on Clomid (an ovulation drug). I was actually ovulating, but it was really late in my cycle so she thought this would help....

And help it did, after two months of this stuff I was pregnant!! And bot were we ever grateful.

During all of this going on Caleb and I were doing a lot of praying. I had a lot of friends and family who were getting pregnant or who were having babies and there were a few times that I struggled with being jealous. It wasn't so much that I wasn't getting pregnant it was more that my body was all messed up and not acting like it should. But my amazing and wonderful God stayed right there by my side comforting me. I don't know why I had to go through this but what I do know is that when Caleb and I thought we were ready, God knew we weren't...

Maybe it was because we didn't have all the stuff finished in the house and He knew if he gave us a child when we thought we wanted it it probably would have been a big fight and headache for the both of us, or maybe it was some other reason, what ever it was I trust that He knows best.  


So far I have been very blessed to not really get sick, but even if I do get sick or have any problems I am gonna do my best to not complain about it because I have been given a great gift and I have some friends who are able to have children and I know that they would give anything to trade places even if it meant being sick the entire time.

With that being said we will be having our own little Pumpkin this coming October. We actually went to our first Doctor's appointment yesterday and got to see the little one, and as of today the little one is 8 weeks and 3 days along which makes us due on October 3.

You know another small blessing in this is even though we are due in the fall....which everybody knows can be a crazy busy time on the farm....it is actually a great time down this way, because corn should be harvested and it won't be time to put wheat in or harvest beans yet so it works for us! (but seriously any time would have worked for us!

Here's a picture of the little one...

Now remember the little one is only 8 1/2 weeks along so there's not a ton of definition, but you defiantly see the arms and legs and the body and head. Pumpkin is measuring 2 cm long and it little heart was beating 178 beats / minute (for those who don't know that is good)

I was telling a friend of mine from Church last night that I don't know how a woman could go through pregnancy and not believe in God.  I guess I just sit there and think how from the moment that conception takes place the cells are starting to divide and starting to make a precious child. When people say each child is a miracle there is no doubt about that in my mind cause I know it is true!!!

So in thirty-two more weeks we will have a little farm hand and we are soo excited and can't wait. We if it's a boy or a girl, cause we want them both all we care is that it is healthy....ten fingers ten toes! Oh and we aren't going to find out what it is either... Caleb wanted to and I wanted the surprise and guess who won!!!

Well I guess that's all the news I got for now, it's raining here so I'm stuck inside today....o-well!

Catch ya later,

Janet

The New Men in My Life

So back on January 23rd, on the way home from church I got a call from my brother, Keith...

Brothers call their sisters all the time what's the big deal with that...

Well my sister-in-law was about to pop and we were expecting to hear that the little man was here at any time and that's just what I heard this day....

Well kinda, he was telling me that they were at the hospital and that the little man was on his way.

The little guy had played a little too much in mommy's tummy and had the cord wrapped around his neck so they had to do a c-section to get him out but other than that he was just fine. Momma was a little sore but she is doing a lot better now.

Little Mr. Ratliff was 7lbs 10oz and 19 1/2 inches long and just as sweet as ever!

Daddy with his new little man. The little guy actually looked a lot like his daddy, all except for his little nose...

He had his mommas nose.

Keith was practicing his swaddling, and he didn't do to bad of a job at it.

We weren't the only ones visiting them that night.

The little man also got to meet some of his cousins....

Who no doubt will teach him all sorts of rotten things!

Auntie Kim also got some cuddle time with the little guy he was just a sweet little thing.