Welcome Rhys Athanasius!!

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We welcomed Rhys Athanasius to our home September 27 at 5:05am. He is 6lbs 14oz, 19.5in long, 14in head (takes after mama!) and a great nurser. Labor was fast, 3.5 hours. Mama is doing wonderfully! I feel great! Home birth is wonderful. Just feels so much more relaxed. For your viewing pleasure, my boy.

Rhys is the welsh variant of Reese or Reece, it means passionate. Which the way he moved in the womb is very fitting. Athanasius is a 3rd Century Church father who refuted Arianism. Andrew was very effected by studying his life. You can find more about Athanasius here. His name means immortal.

I Love Your Blog Baby!!

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It's always nice to be loved. *sigh* Today of all days I needed this.

I have been honored with the I Love Your Blog award from Kim. She states "Just Me is a blog about her life … she’s quite thrify and crafty, and I envy her mad skillz =) (lol … I really just wanted to write mad skillz … although I truly do admire her!)" Thank you Kim!! Now I have to nominate 7 other blogs.

1. Tammy's Recipes - I check this blog daily for foodie inspiration. I have actually used a lot of the recipes. I like it that we are on the same page as far as frugality, nutrition and tastes. It's like homecooking revamped. It's what I look for in recipes.
   
2. The Cappuccino Life - I love following Maggie's posts as she has a way with words I admire. She gets me thinking in a different direction, but not in a bad way. She inspires me in loving my husband and my child (soon to be 'ren') better. She also likes lentils and I am partial to those as well!
3. Song of my Soul - This woman has such a talent for words it's not funny. Actually it is, she can get me laughing no matter what. She also has a great talent for jewlery and has made me some earrings that I love. In fact I'm wearing the ones I won right now!
4. Life as I see it - A blog that is updated a lot, and I like that, about her life with her boys. She posts some really great recipes and I really want to try that falafel. I love reading about contemporaries.
   
5. JavaMama - This is a very good online friend of mine who mirrors my thoughts and sentiments on a lot of issues. We also happen to be very close in due dates! It's nice to have someone who is 'there' with you on certain things. I never feel like I have to explain myself.
   
6. A Glimpse of Pink - I have enjoyed following this blog. I have grown to admire this woman's faith in situations I don't know I could handle. And her little boy is so cute!
   
7. The Daily Poop - This is another like minded mama I love to read about. She is the wife of a deployed Army man. I cannot imagine the faith it takes.

And you all thought I was going to post something about the pregnancy, or hopefully about the baby. Well, GOTCHA!!

All jokes aside I am very close, like the first part of early labor is done for me, I just keep having labor every night. Then it fizzles out. Pray for my daughter though, she came down with a cold and I'm concerned about her (really her germs) and a newborn. I was up just about all night last night. I was so tired I ran right into the end of an open door stubbing two toes. I promptly went to the potty to pee and ended up crying on the toilet. Ever do that? Cry on the toilet I mean. Sounds like something only a pregnant woman would do. I still so want this baby to come!!

39 Weeks and 4 Days

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Me at 36 Weeks

This is how 'pregnant' I am. I am posting a picture for posterity's sake. And I will say:

• Yes, I am still here.
• No I haven't had the baby yet.
• No I don't know when the baby will be here.
  
• No I'm not 'due' yet.
  

If I had a dollar for everytime I heard one of those phrases today I'd be rich. I'm rather sick of it. I'm beginning to get performance anxiety. Like for some reason I have to have this baby to satisfy the desires of others. It's making me anxious.

For what it's worth, I had someone tell me they were happy to see me today and that I looked beautiful. If you want to get on a pregnant woman's good side, those are the types of things to say.

I am eager for him to get here, but hearing all of that stuff is not helping. Really it's not. It just makes it worse.

He'll get here. Sooner or later, he'll get here. No woman has been pregnant forever. *sigh* It just feels like it.

Apples and Tomatoes

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There is a gentleman at our church who has one consistent comment throughout the end of my pregnancy. Most of the time when men make pregnancy comments I don't listen. They haven't been there, they don't know and they are trying to be funny. But this time I'm listening. He's been saying "When the apple is ripe it will fall from the tree." At first I was peeved that he would say something like that or just that he would say anything at all, but you know what, he's right.

I constantly am picking tomatoes too early. Then I have to wait for them to ripen on their own. If I would wait until they get completely ripe on the vine the produce would be so much better. The same is true with this child. God knows when this babe is done and ready to come out. I don't. If it were up to me I would have had him three weeks ago. Who knows what other sorts of development is happening at this late stage? I sure don't, but the Lord does. He knows the best time. At our wedding one of the songs sang was In His Time. We had that sang as a tribute that this was the beautiful thing the Lord had been working on all along. I had not dated at all, Andrew had had some less than ideal girlfriends and we both came into our dating relationship thinking we'd never get married. When all along God had something beautiful in mind. We just had to wait. And it is beautiful. God has something beautiful in mind with this child, I/we just have to wait. Besides it's all for His glory anyway, isn't it? This child is for His purpose and glory and a blessing to us, I cannot demand a blessing. Demands never get anywhere anyway. I can ask. I can always ask, and trust me I have! So I can either wait patiently, without grumbling or complaining, or I can wait moaning and groaning, making life more difficult for me and everyone else around me. Hmm, I think I know what I should do.

The Lord is good, gracious and understanding. He knows the swirl of hormones in my body that made dealing with emotions worse. Not only am I impatient, but I am negative. I get sarcastic. That doesn't put anyone in a good mood. About a month or so ago, my dear hubby preached from Philippians. It is such a good reminder of our behavior in Christ. It is so hard some days to have the right additude, especially when you are constantly reminded of something not having happened yet. Sometimes it is every moment I have to catch my thoughts and turn them over. I am resolving to think positively and to speak positively. Negativity begets negativity. I am looking to reverse that.

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:6-9

This is the way to peace! Prayer, discipline and meditation in the word. The Lord was just telling me all along I needed to be more in the word, He was again using a different way to draw me to Himself. And all of this so I can be one of His shining stars.

One day at a time...

Pear-Apple Butter

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Shannon had requested the recipe for the Pear-Apple Butter I made last week or was it this week? I can't remember, oh well. Here is that recipe:


Pear-Apple Butter

4lbs tart apples
4lbs pears
1 cup orange juice (I used a non-pulp, non calcimated version)
.25-.5 cup water, if needed
2 tbsp grated orange peel
2/3 cup sugar
.5 tsp nutmeg
.25 tsp cinnamon (if you want)

1. Prepare your pints/quarts as needed for canning along with the caps and rings. Keep hot.
2. Wash apples and pears, quarter and place in a 6 quart pot. Pour orange juice over fruit, cover. Stirring occasionally, cook over low heat until fruit is soft. If mixture gets too dry (mine didn't, in fact I had a lot of liquid from the fruit) add .25 cup to .5 cup of water, if needed.
3. Press through food mill or sieve, discard seeds and skins. Put puree back into pot, bring to a boil. (you do need to do this, otherwise it takes the puree a long time to get up to heat in the crock pot)
   
4. Place puree in crock pot along with orange peel, sugar and spices. Mix well, turn crock pot to high and place lid on crooked, so that most of the heat stays in and helps to cook it down, but yet most of the steam can get out. Cook till sauce mounds up on a spoon, or till you like it. Stir occasionally.
   
5. Pack into hot jars, remove air bubbles, wipe rim of jar with a clean damp cloth, adjust caps and rings. Place in canner.
6. Process in a boiling water bath canner; pints 20 mins, quarts 30 mins.
7. Recipe yeilds about 8 pints.
8. Enjoy!

I also wanted to include a wonderful soup recipe that I think I've posted before, but it's really good for those who want to watch their wastelines, their money, their time and their health. It's also really good for pregnant women. As it's high in protien, 20% daily needs of iron and 12g of fiber. It's a great all around recipe. It's my Lentil-Veggie Soup. You can throw all of this into the crock pot in the morning, cook on low, or you can put it in soup pot and in about an hour have really great soup. Very suitable for fall.


Lentil-Veggie Soup - Obtained from The Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes by BHG

1C dry lentils
1C chopped onions
1C chopped celery
1C chopped carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
.5 tsp dried basil
.5 tsp dried oregano
.5 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 14oz cans of vegetable or chicken broth (3.5 C) (I buy the bouillon, or use my homemade, the stuff in a box or a can is expensive)
1.5C water
1 14.5oz can italian-style stewed tomatoes (or just diced, stewed, crushed, whole chopped, whatever you have on hand)
.25c snipped fresh parsley (I've never used the fresh, just used dried added with the other dried herbs)

1.Place everything in a crock-pot. Stir. Cook on low for 12 hours or high for 5-6. Discard bay leaf. Stir in parsley if using fresh.

Oh, this is really good with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

165 Calories (0g sat. fat), 0mg Cholesterol, 713 mg Sodium (you could reduce this by using a homemade stock or finding a reduced sodium stock), 30g Carbo, 12g Fiber, 11g Protien, 126% vita A, 20% vita C, 7% Calcium, 20% Iron.

I'm Nuts

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But I'm also pregnant, so that means it's normal, right? At least normal for this stage in the game, right?Our tomatoes have decided to come in. More than we can eat, but just enough to put up. So that means I've been canning. And canning. And canning. Truthfully I am thankful that baby hasn't come just yet, I wanted to be able to put up some of our produce before he came, because I knew that afterwards there would be no canning in this house at all. So I've canned whole tomatoes for use in soups, stews and what not. Hot peppers, because hubby loves them in his egg sandwiches in the morning. Herbed tomato juice, again makes a very nice stock in soups. Tomato sauce, which I need to do more of. Spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce. I also got a nice batch of pears given to us. They were very ripe and there was a lot. I knew I wouldn't be able to eat them all in time, so I made Pear-Apple Butter, which is divine! It's a lot different than Apple Butter. It has orange juice and zest in it, I added a little cinnamon and nutmeg, which makes it very Christmasy. We also got a bunch of blueberries and having already made a ton of things with fresh blueberries in the beginning of summer and having frozen some, I decided to dry them. Do you think I can still use the tiny little pebbles I found in my dehydrator a few days later? Maybe?
And the creme de la creme, is my sweet potatoes!! We dug them last night and they are beautiful! I wasn't too sure what they'd do but they are just georgeous! I am so stoked!! They have a beautiful red blush on the skin and the inside flesh is a creamy orange color. I love it. And taste? Oh the taste! Hubby wants me to make my sweet potato fries. I must say I am wanting them too. I am just so surprised they did so well. We dug up our Yukons last week and they also did very well. I had nothing to put them in for proper storage so I made a potato sack out of some muslin. I'm pretty proud of myself.
Hubby is away tonight for a new pastors orientation about 2 hours away. I miss him. This is the first night in our new home that I am alone. Oh I'm not alone, Nadia is here and she's a gem, but still it's weird. I have trouble sleeping when he's not here. Today was a busy day, Nadia had her 3 yr checkup today and got an unexpected shot. Then I was off to the city to pick up orders from the co-op and Sam's. And then I stopped by my midwife's office and she said that it was ok for Andrew to go, she doesn't think I'll have the baby tonight or tomorrow. And then I came home. By that time it was 6, Andrew helped me unload the car and then he was off. It's been a very stressful week for him, pray for him, if you don't mind. He needs rest. I hope he goes to bed early tonight and gets the sleep he needs. He'll be home tomorrow evening and if baby decides to start coming tomorrow, my mother in law will come up with hubby tomorrow evening. That would work out really well, then she wouldn't have to worry about driving. But hey, at this point I don't care. Today was a big day I wanted/needed to happen. We are well stocked on stuff, Nadia has had her dr's appt and so I feel like I am really ready at this point. I don't know if mental lists of things to do can keep a baby from coming, but at this point, I really don't have much more to do. I mean, every night I try to get the house in order so that if I go into labor that night or the following day I won't have to look at a mess. Which reminds me....
No belly pics today, I'm in my PJ's which isn't a pretty sight and hubby is gone, unless you want another self shot. I don't, so you aren't getting it. I'm smaller anyway because most of baby is in my pelvis!! It hurts, to say the least. Lets just say he is knocking on his door. Careful kid, you might get out sooner than you expected with that behavior!!
Gotta get to the dishes and wait for hubby's call. Will keep you updated on, well, me!