Day in the Life- Fall 2014

It appears that I've neglected my blog once again.  Oh well.  At least, I carved away some time to sit down and document what's happening in my life.  It's been busy, but busy is good!

Day: Saturday, November 1st

Brad: 29 (though I never took a picture of him)
Me: 28
Owen: 9 months

8:00 AM--I wake up to the sounds of Owen grunting/chatting/crying.  He's saying, "Mom, come get me out of my crib.  I'm ready to go!".  I'm so thankful he slept in this morning--I needed it!  Last night, we (Brad, Owen, and I) attended a friends' Halloween party.  We went as a family of gnomes.  We didn't get to the party until 9, so once we arrived, Owen was asleep.  He kept sleeping until shortly after 10 and was awake until we left (11:15 or so??).  Poor guy was sleepy.

Not a very happy gnome

Anyways, I pull myself out of bed and head down the hall to Owen's room.  He's just laying on his back looking around now.  I pick him up and change his diaper per the normal routine. We head into the living room to nurse.

8:30 AM--He's done eating and just being calm.  I take advantage of the next 15 minutes to snuggle my baby.  I can't believe how fast he is growing.  If anyone figures out how to slow down time, please, please let me know.

Best buddies!

8:45 AM-- Snuggle time is over.  I hear our dog Rylee hop out of bed and head towards the living room.  Owen hears her tromping over and gets excited.  It's amazing the bond these two have!  I set Owen down on the floor to play.  Rylee immediately showers Owen with at least a dozen kisses.  I guess it makes up for missing his bath last night? While Owen is occupied with his toys and Rylee, I run to my room to get dressed for the day.  My sister-in-law and I are going to our community's annual craft fair later today, so I need to be a little more presentable than my normal sweats and T-shirts. I look at my closet debating what to wear---it's cold, so I should probably wear long sleeves.  I pick out an outfit, get dressed and am joined by my little buddy.

Someone found me (last weekend, I cleaned out my closet--this box needs is what I'm donating)

9:00 AM--Time to eat.  I set Owen in his pack and play while I make eggs. One of his favorite toys is this green shovel.  The kid carries it around all over.  One of his new favorite games is "I will drop this and wait for Mom to pick it up".  I find this game amusing only for about 30 seconds. 

As a kid, I hated eggs.  However, Brad had changed me into an egg eater!  My usual breakfast now includes 1-2 eggs over easy on a slice of toast plus cheese.  Absolutely delish!

Yummy

I finish up breakfast and get Owen ready to head out the door.  I change his diaper, get him dressed, and pack his diaper bag just in case we are gone longer than planned.

Dressed and ready to go!

9:30 AM--I pick up my SIL, and we head over to the craft fair.  There are hundreds of people here--we park at the back of the parking lot.  I opted not to bring my stroller (it's a jogging stroller and is WAY too big for a craft fair), so Owen gets put in the Ergo.  I'm so glad he likes to be carried.  It's a cold day, so we walk extra fast into the show. There are a lot of dealers--apparently over 90. I bought a few Christmas ornaments for myself/gifts, a dish scrubber, and a bowl potholder.

The bowl potholder.  No more burnt fingers!

I wanted to buy a few other things (a Christmas tree pallet wall decoration, some cute baby pants, and more), but I didn't bring enough cash. One thing I noticed, there were a lot of dealers, but a lot of the same merchandise.  My SIL agreed--- Pretty sure we may have a small booth there next year with some stuff for kiddos if we get our craft on. Stay tuned for more!

11:00 AM -- We leave the show and decide to stop by the local coffee shop.  My SIL recently got a new job, so I buy our pumpkin lattes. Owen isn't too impressed with our stop.  He wants to be on the floor moving--siting in the high chair or our laps isn't an option.  We keep him occupied with the mini-pumpkin on our table.  He drops it on the floor, and thinks it's a fun game.  I don't find the hilarity in the situation, so decide that it's time to head back home.

I drop off my SIL and she invites us in to finish our lattes and give Owen his Halloween treat.  Owen got a Halloween book and some treats--Puffs and Yogurt bites--his favorite.  I am certain he knew what the puffs were as soon as he pulled them out of the bag. While we were there, I get a text from my hubby asking if I was available to work on the farm this afternoon.  I asked my SIL if she was willing to watch Owen for a few hours; she said yes, so I said yes.

Noon--We head back home. I let the dog out and find that my second StitchFix arrived!  Happy day! I can't wait to find what surprise is inside the box.

However, I will have to get to it later--Owen needs to eat. He's acting like a monster.  I nurse him--he's a much happier guy!

After he is done, I put him in his high chair so I can eat.  I make myself a sandwich and give O homemade apple and pear sauce.  Once he's done with that, I give him some puffs to keep him occupied.

After I finish, I decide that I should make a roast for this evening.  I pull two roasts from the freezer and my Crock-pot.  I throw the roasts in with a sliced onion, onion soup mix and a can of Dr. Pepper.  Turn on my Crock-pot and walk away. 

I finish tidying (there is no cleaning happening in this household) the kitchen.  I grab Owen, and we head back to the living room to play.

Vroom!

This remote is so tasty!

1:15ish PM-- I nurse Owen again.  I need to be at the farm in 30 minutes. 

1:30 PM--My SIL comes over to watch Owen. I finish nursing him while our dog gets some major attention. I give my SIL the rundown of Owen.  She hasn't babysat him for months, so I remind her how our cloth diaper system works, where extra clothes are, bottles if he needs to eat before I get back, etc. I leave O with his auntie and head out the door.

1:45 PM-- I arrive at the farm and call my husband to find out where I need to be.  He tells me to start walking out back and he will pick me up on the 4-wheeler.  I walk about 30 feet before he comes roaring around the corner.  My chariot awaits. He brings me out to the field.  As we drive, I realize how under-dressed I am.  I didn't wear a coat. I only have a sweatshirt.  I didn't bring a stocking cap.  I left my gloves at home.  Needless to say, I'm cold! I figured I'd be in a warm tractor--not outside in this cold and windy day!  We finally catch up with Brad's brother.  I will be taking over raking* duties for the day.

*For all of you non-farm folks: my husband farms with his family.  He is a third generation dairy farmer.  In addition to milking cows, we raise corn, alfalfa, and soybeans.  We used the corn and alfalfa as ingredients in the ration--or recipe--for our cows.  They eat a balanced diet of corn silage, haylage, corn, soybean meal, cottonseed, vitamins and minerals.  In the early fall, we harvest most of our corn as corn silage--the entire plant is chopped and ensiled (or fermented).  We harvest the rest of the corn with a combine.  The combine separates the corn from the cob.  The stalks remain in the field.  We use the corn stalks for bedding for our dairy cows.  We typically make 1,000 bales to last for the entire year.  In order to bale the corn stalks, it's a 3-rig job.  First, someone needs to chop the corn stalks with a stalk chopper; next, some one needs to rake them into windrows; and finally, someone comes along and bales them.  Combing-->chop-->rake-->bale.  As I write this, I realize I should just do a blog post on what we do in the fall.  Maybe I will get out and tackle that project this week!

I can feel the adrenaline flowing.  I haven't been in a tractor since last fall!  I have a mini-panic attack and ask my brother-in-law a million questions: what gear are you in, how many rows does the rake cover, how fast were you driving, where's the seat adjustor lever.  Luckily, it's just raking. You can't mess it up too much (unless you can't drive straight--then there might be a problem). I think I can handle it.  For the next 4 hours, I rake two fields. I enjoy this nice, quite alone time.  It's a beautiful sunny day, and I love it!  As I rake, I reflect on how blessed we are.

6:00 PM  I'm finally done raking.  I drive the tractor and rake back to the farm.  I head back home and get cleaned up.  As soon as I came in the house, I can hear Owen screaming: he's pissed about something.  He just woke up from a 90 minute nap and was getting his diaper changed.  Apparently, he was not cooperating. Oh well. Once I'm upstairs, everything is A-OK in his world.  He must have missed me! While I was gone, Owen and his auntie read a bunch of books, played with his truck, and walked, and walked, and walked some more.  I think he will be walking on his own soon!  No wonder he slept for 90 minutes.  (normally, he only takes a 30 minute nap--this is a HUGE win).  My SIL heads home. I nurse Owen.  The roast I have in the crockpot smells divine. I can't wait to eat later tonight.

6:30 PM-- Owen finishes nursing, and I call my husband and find out what he's up to.  He's moving to another field.  Since I've barely seen him all week day, I decide we should catch a ride with him in the combine.  I get Owen changed, and we head out to ride along in the combine for the evening.

7:00 PM-- We climb up in the combine.  Owen is in awe of all the moving parts.  I'm certain that next year, he will want to ride ALL DAY LONG!

8:00 PMish-- We are done combining the for the night. Brad finished the field and needs to do a bit of work at the farm before he will be home for the evening. Owen and I head back home. I decide to give Owen a quick bath.  Brad's brother opened the door while unloading--in other words, we got full of corn chaff and dust.  Bath time it is! Owen loves taking baths--he is a total water baby.  He has recently started  splashing so much that water gets EVERYWHERE.  He thinks it is rather funny when he gets himself and mommy wet.  Silly boy.  While Owen is in the tub, Brad comes home.  Since Owen is still in the bath, I tell Brad to shower before we eat.

8:30 PM--We get Owen out of the tub.  Owen enjoys his naked time and screams when we put his diaper and PJ's on.  After jammies are on, it's time to start nursing him before bed.  He's had a busy day, so he nurses for maybe 20 minutes before he starts getting drowsy. 

9:00 PM-- the baby's in bed.  Brad started eating a bit earlier because he is tired and wants to get to bed.  I head over to the kitchen to finally enjoy that delicious roast.  It was fantastic.  Brad and I finish cleaning up the kitchen and he heads off to bed--he doesn't have the luxury of gaining an hour of sleep tonight unlike the rest of us.  I stay up do a bit of laundry.  While folding, I find a good TV show and end up watching that for awhile.  At 10, I decide I should probably go to bed.