Little Okie Homestead

So this time around I have fears about giving birth. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I have time to really think about it unlike  last time .  Early in my pregnancy I had a feeling that this would be a hard one but couldn't figure out why. Then I started to have a very strong feeling that I would end up having a C-section. This is the farthest thing that I want. I want to have an all natural birth just like I did with Monkey. Monkey's birth was so easy and truthfully I don't remember being in pain at all. Now, I would describe birth as being uncomfortable for sure but not painful. My midwife then told me that I was made for child birth because of how well I did. I also found out that I have something called 'silent labor' which means that I don't feel contractions until it's almost time to push. Good for me but also scary because I won't have time to sit in traffic to make it to the hospital. Here I am at 8 centimeters right after...

What is more cute than watching your child model after someone like their Popa. Rex loves when Popa mows the grass. He runs and gets his lawn mower and follows along.  He knows he has to stay a certain distance from Popa so he is safe.  Then when he finally gets bored of following Popa around he sits on his slide and watches him finish. He loves just hanging out with Popa.

So I finally downloaded pictures and I thought I'd share the cute pictures of my little boy after his surgery he had in April. No one should have surgery at 3 years old but poor little Monkey had to have his gallbladder removed due to his blood disorder called spherecytosis.  I had to stay in bed with him afterwards. He didn't want me to go anywhere. However, being pregnant made it so I had to use the bathroom quite often so luckily he was OK with Aunt Tiffany or Grandma holding his hand while I went. He hadn't been aloud to eat for almost 48 hours. He was starving! He ate almost the whole plate of pancakes and the nurses were shocked he could eat so much. They kept encouraging us to get him up and out of the room later in the afternoon after the surgery. So we headed out in the wagon first. He wasn't to happy about being moved and we made him walk a little bit in the room but he was glad to be out.  Granny and Great Po...

Dear My Pre-Parent Self, You could never have imagined what it would be like to be a parent. I know how much you wanted it and how excited you were when you found out that you were pregnant but I have to say looking back that you had no idea what you were in for. The love that you experience as parent is indescribable! You can never anticipate the emotions that come from having a baby. Monkey has been such a blessing in our lives and has changed it in ways that I would never want to reverse.  Then there is the part of being a homemaker. It was your dream from a little girl. Wanting to stay home and raise a family was what you always wanted. It hasn't been easy and we have made some not so good choices along the way but once again I'm so glad that we get to experience everything we have been through as a family.  You would be so proud to know how things are if you could see the future from where you are at. God has fulfilled so many promises for not only us but for...

This is the only belly bump photo I have to post today.  Week 36! Today I have exactly one month until my due date. And the last few days of week 35 were eventful! This Saturday I lost my mucus plug and it freaked me out! I didn't know that it happened with Monkey so I have no experience with it. So when it happened this time just a few hours before my sprinkle, I freaked out thinking that I might go into labor at any time.  Lucky for me I have a really good friend that is studying to be a midwife and has 3 kids of her own that I was able to call and ask questions about in hopes to calm my nerves. She was awesome! She let me know that it still could be a month before I gave birth (thank goodness, so not ready!) and gave me some other signs to watch for. So Saturday evening I got everything I could done. I unpacked and put away everything I could from my sprinkle. I got the stroller put together with some help from Hubby and got it in the car. I was pleased with what...

35 Weeks! That means only 5 left!!!! Holy cow!!! I think I'm starting to freak out just a little!!! How far along? 35 Weeks! Yea! How big is baby?  He's about 18 inches and just over 5 pounds. Weight gain? I gained a pound last week. Maternity Clothes?  Of course. I'm living in tanks right now because of the heat. Just wish I had more shorts to wear. Stretch Marks?  Nothing new. Just the ones from before and Monkey. Sleep? With this cold I'm not sleeping much. I'm getting a little better and able to sleep about 4 to 6 hours at night and then at nap time I'm able to get 1 or 2 more hours of sleep. However, I'm still exhausted especially because of the heat. It just drains all my energy. Even when I'm sitting in the shade under a fan. Of course it's only June so I'm not sure how this heat thing will effect me in July :/ Best Moment this Week?  Monkey kissing my belly before he went down for a nap. It was so cute. He ...

I don't know why but I feel much smaller with Goose than I did with Monkey. So I'm asking for your opinion on what you think. Which picture looks bigger? This is with Goose at 35 weeks. Just taken yesterday.  Now looking at it maybe I'm not as small as I thought! This is with Monkey at 34 weeks.  We are on the side of the highway taking a photo in front of the Welcome to Colorado sign because we were moving back from Oklahoma.

This currently is Monkey's favorite book. We have to read it every day before naptime and bedtime. I have tried to convince him to read something else and it's just not happening. I'm about ready to return it to the library just to stop reading it.  Don't get me wrong...it's a great book. Really, it's super cute and is one that will help teach Monkey about imaginary things. Obviously, the fact that there are aliens flying space ships here to steal our underwear is fictitious. Then to add that they saved our world by sewing all the underwear together to stop a meteorite from destroying our planet, which would be there underwear supply, is also fictitious.  These things are the things that make this book so fun for Monkey. At three he enjoys reading many books that are about real things that interest him such as bugs and animals. I try to always pick books from the library that he can learn from but I also go through and pick out books s...

So we are trying to teach Rex how to ride his 3 year old bike. He has never liked to pedal but he wants to ride his bike.  He got the hang of coasting down the driveway but just couldn't get the pedaling down. This was our first attempt so we are just going to keep working one it. We are trying to get him to learn before 4th of July because the park by our house has a bike parade for the kids every year and we would like him to be able to pedal by the judges and maybe even win.  Either way he was having fun for a little bit but since he couldn't figure it out he decided he wanted to ride his  scooter instead. That he knows how to do and loves using it. I guess if all else fails he can just use that for the parade since he likes it.  Anyone have any tips on how to teach a child to use the pedals? I just really don't know what else to do than what we are trying.