Adorable Baby Bunnies & Blog Business

These cuties will give you your daily "awwww" quota for sure. These little chunkies are the only litter for the 2012 year. If I am right we have two boys and a girl. While I won't have room for both boys, the black and white little boy will definitely stay. The brown boy will most likely find a home as someone's little pet. The little brown girl will stay and make additional babies for our tiny backyard rabbitry.  

As always I have lots and lots planned for the blog but I lack the time actually do something about it! That doesn't mean though you can't stay in touch. I frequently post to our facebook page updates about what is going on behind the scenes, interesting news, photos, recipes, and things I learn. Please take a moment to "like" our page and keep in touch won't you?

Never a dull moment as Jackie and I discuss and move forward on a creative business and I get ready to apply for a twelve week market garden course to start in January. The 2013 growing season will find me at a local farmers market or two and working my way towards being a full time farmer.

Also, don't forget to follow us on Pinterest (using the links to the left). You never know what creative and beautiful things we will pin there! Thanks for following along. We really appreciate you. 

Look What the Stork Brought Us: Announcing Ethan's Arrival

Welcome Ethan Robert. Born three weeks ago. So blessed you have arrived. 

Now you know what is keeping me from blogging. Don't worry I have lots and lots to say. Much of which is on the topic of birth, home birth, water birth, nursing, struggling with nursing, dealing with lip ties & tongue ties, etc. A bunch of the regular stuff thrown in to. 

Friendly Reminder: Ways to Follow Us

OK. You like to read our blog. Maybe not everyday (especially since we don't post everyday)... but often. We love our readers and we want to get to know you and it feels great knowing you are out there. Well, Jackie and I want to remind you of ways to can stay in touch with our Two Blue Houses and not miss a post.

• First, "Like" us on Facebook. We share pictures and comments on Facebook that we don't share here. Facebook not your thing? I completely understand. There are other ways to keep up.
• Second, join us on Networked Blogs. Networked Blogs is what publishes our posts to the TBH Facebook page and in the last couple weeks some posts haven't published correctly to Facebook. In order to not miss ap post. Follow us on Networked Blogs. 
• Third, follow us on Pinterest. 
• Fourth, not into the whole social/online networking thing but like to read our blog. Sign up for emails. Daily or weekly. You will get the latest and greatest sent directly to your email inbox. All you have to do is scroll to the bottom of the blog and submit your email address. It is that simple and trust me we aren't using your email address for anything.
• Fifth, at the top of the blog is the "blogger bar". You can search our blog from that bar, as well as, follow & share. 
• Sixth, leave us a comment. If you have suggestions for ways you would like to stay in touch with us,  types of posts you just love and would like to see more of,  just want to wish us a happy day, or tell us about something you are working on... we would LOVE to hear from you. Really and truly. 

It is that simple to stay in touch and let us know you are out there.

P.S. We are thinking about doing giveaways this year. How would you like that?!?

Stork Is Coming!

We are extremely excited to announce that February 27 (give or take a few days) Gary and I will be welcoming our second son into this world. In addition, we also finally settled on a name for our new bundle of joy. I am simply in love with the name and after months of feeling like we couldn't settle on the right and perfect one (as we did very early on with Wade's name) I can now think of my growing baby as his name and not baby boy.

I have hesitated to talk about the pregnancy on the blog before this because I know that there are readers out there struggling with infertility and longing for a baby. I feel for you. I know of deep heart pains and hurts that don't go away and just can't be explained. The reasons why this is what you have to suffer through I can't explain. I was very surprised to have gotten pregnant so soon after we began trying for the second baby. I was worried that they would be father apart then I had hoped for. It took us over a year to conceive Wade and it wasn't without help. I spent several hundred dollars seeing a doctor that specialized in human replacement hormones that my insurance didn't cover.

My health problems and the fact that I had taken birth control since I was sixteen for cramp control (without knowing the side effects of birth control) truly affected my ability to get pregnant the first time. Without seeing that doctor it could have taken years more to get pregnant.  Within a month of starting the replacement hormones my blood work showed I needed I was pregnant with Wade. It wasn't an easy pregnancy though. It was horrible actually. Severe "morning sickness", followed by the worst heart burn constantly of my life, I was extremely emotional, couldn't sleep and would sit upright in bed or a chair to combat the heart burn. Then the swelling started with high blood pressure. By the time Wade came three weeks early I was exhausted.

Labor was long and disheartening. Thirty-two hours of labor, exhausted and hungry, I couldn't have the birth experience I had so wanted and researched. The doctors put me on Pitocin after I had refused for as many hours as possible. The contractions were major with no progress. I had to get rest and I knew it. Crying, shaking, and scared I agreed to the epidural. If I didn't rest my body I wouldn't be able to push. Above all else I HAD to avoid the C-section I knew the doctors would jump at if I said I wanted it. I also knew the epidural would really mess me up and it did. They gave me hours and hours of medication into my spine. It took eight weeks to leave the fog behind. Trying to nurse my epidural drugged baby was more than a challenge. It ended up not working for us and I was heart broken. My body was still sick and didn't produce the milk Wade needed.

This time around though will be different. I have made very determined strides to heal myself. Of course I know I have a long way to heal but via diet, limiting stress, and getting proper rest things are already different this time. The pregnancy, not without it's minor inconveniences, has been a breeze so far. As I said, getting pregnant was easy this time. I haven't had any swelling. My blood pressure is normal. I feel great honestly. Tired of course but great. People comment about how healthy my hair looks, how I barely have put on weight, how I look healthier with the second baby. No one said that with my first. I wasn't any of those things.

I have a lot more to say about how I am feeling better and about how this time my pregnancy is different and better. I have been doing even more reading and research. I attribute the finding of traditional foods (real food) as having had a lot to do with it. I have focused on eating proper protein and fat and getting significant rest. I am convinced that diet plays a huge roll in the making and having of babies. While I am no expert I will share what I know and have learned before the arrival of baby boy number two. Who knows. Maybe it is something that someday will help you as well.

Jesus has RISEN

HAPPY EASTER
I pray your families are blessed as you celebrate Easter 2011.

The families of Two Blue Houses are celebrating our Risen Lord who defeated death!
Praise God. He has Risen. He has Risen Indeed!

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." ~ Romans 6:23

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."  ~ Isaiah 43:19

Saturday Open House

Welcome to our houses! We are excited about the changes happening on the blog as our vision unfolds. Just wanted to take a moment to walk you around and share all the changes.

We have added a button for you to grab and use on your blog or site. Hopefully you will love what we do here so much you won't mind sharing us with everyone you know.

Don't forget to grab your own
TBH Button!

Our Facebook profile image has a new, fresh look. We add images, updates, and other surprises occasionally on on our Facebook page that we don't post on the blog and would love for you to be apart of our Facebook community. Please take a moment to "like" us, won't you?

Like us on Facebook

Our cloud of labels went away but don't worry ALL the content is still there. We have simplified our labels under 8 categories. Looking for posts about chickens? Check out our Barnyards. Looking for posts about our gardens? Check out our Backyards. Below is a list of some of what can be found under our new categories.

• Backyard - Garden and all things out our back doors, etc.
• Barnyard - Animals, fencing, generally all things farm.
• Days... - Life.
• Homemade - DIY, projects, crafts, decoration, re-purposing, etc.
• House News - Announcements, open houses, giveaways, sponsors, general blog information, etc.
• Snap Shots - Photos. Moments in our lives.
• Soap Box - A place to share our view on current events we care about, along with some social responsibility, health, etc. 
• Yummy - Food (enough said).

Please be patient with us as we go through our 100 + posts and re-label them all. We promise to have that done really soon.
Our inspiration has moved! The links we love are now on their own page and we will be placing them in categories. And last but not least, to make your browsing experience easier we have added links under each post of other reads we recommend. Feel free to hop around the blog and let us know what you think!

Well thanks for visiting. We hope you come back again soon and keep a watchful eye for more new things to come. Happy Saturday!

P.S. We added a subscribe by email option at the very bottom of our blog. If you are interested, and we hope you are, in getting the latest and greatest from Two Blue Houses now you can right in your inbox. 

Making New Friends

Jackie made a surprise visit into my little suburb so we got to spend a good portion of the night (Thursday) and day (Friday) together! We have LOTS of changes happening on the blog and our time together was both refreshing and productive. I would say that this visit very much meets the criteria of one of my 2011 words to live life by "accomplished". However, I will talk more about that and the many exciting changes tomorrow.

Right now there are more important matters at hand. Jackie and I have a solid direction for the blog and we are excited to find new ways to make friends via the wonderful online world. We have frequented many blogs over the last several years and honestly you start to think of those lovely bloggers as friends in faraway places. We have never spoken directly with any of them but somehow you feel connected as if you did know them personally. We sincerely hope that via Two Blue Houses you will come to feel the same.

Well we are busy making new friends! We have already told you how much we love the Homegrown community and through that wonderful online place I stumbled upon a sweet farm blog called Verde Farm and have just fallen in love with it's vintage charm and beautiful animals. It sure seems like Amy & Richie have an exciting year ahead of them with their adorable Kunekune pigs and cute piglets (to come in 2011) and as they start to host weddings (I would have gone with the rustic barn venue for sure). Won't you stop over and check them out?

Speaking of Verde Farm we have jumped in and joined up with their Farm Friend Friday. Please stop over and check out all the other wonderful farm blogs linking up.

While enjoying Verde Farm I noticed a cute button for the Blog Guidebook. It was the bee that pulled me in...

My dear Jackie was no stranger to the treasures this site held. Tutorials, giveaways, linkies love, resources, and  last but not least blog listings. We I can assure you; you will find us listed in the not so distant future under the category Country Life/Homesteading. The founders of the Blog Guidebook, Lyndsey and Sarah, created the site to provide a safe place for bloggers to learn and gather. I think the concept of the Blog Guidebook is best summed up in the following statement from their about us page:

"Blogging is a new form of journalism. It is a way to self-publish your dreams, hopes and stories of your world. The Guidebook offers a way for others to find you, in a friendly, happy, easy to navigate, safe environment."

For Jackie and I, Two Blue Houses is very much away to share our dreams, hopes, and ideas for our present and future. I am glad we can make new friends to share that with. 

Thanks for joining us! We are so glad you are here.

Day Off

Two Blue Houses is taking the day off...

We deserve it, don't ya think?

How about you?

Take it easy on yourselves if everything on your list does not get crossed off...

Or if you are running a bit late...

Or if you want to finish the last couple chapters of the book you have been working on instead of folding another basket of laundry...

Or if the kids are eating cereal and fruit for supper... again...

Or if you want to drown your sorrows a second cup of hot cocoa...

Or if you have honestly contemplated calling the kids off from school just so you don't have to get them ready in the morning...

Or if you cry when you see snow because you can't stand the thought of winter one. moment. longer...

(This list may or may not be related to my week...)

Things don't go as planned and that's alright.

Maybe it will be even better...

So come back tomorrow for Good Food Friday, even though it will be Saturday.

Heck, you may just get a two for one...

P.S. Lauren and I have been exploring a great site!

HomeGrown.org

And we are super excited to have been featured as TOP CONTENT this week!

P.P.S. Finally posted a (terrible) picture of Lauren and I on the "About Us" page... what can I say, we both have serious photo phobia issues...

Name the Ways

"Best friends are the siblings God forgot to give us." - Unknown Author

Do you have someone who is "closer than a friend" in your life? Maybe or maybe not. Maybe you are lucky and have many brothers and sisters. I don't have a sister. I was always in awe of the amazing and often volatile relationship that sisters share. Secretly, I always longed for a bigger family with more brothers and sisters. Don't get me wrong. My family is WONDERFUL but I would spend time with friends in high school that came from very, very large families and I enjoyed their closeness and interactions. I would imagine having more family to share life with.

I am blessed to have several close and long term girlfriends that I cherish everyday. Friends I have known for **gulp** 18+ years! One of those dear, long term friends introduced me to Jacqueline (you know who you are!!). Pretty quickly she and I became nearly inseparable. We had a saying, "I am you and you are me." That pretty much sums up our friendship. It has become something else over the years. Despite our lack of "blood" connection we are most definitely sisters.

Our friendship is strangely and wonderfully parallel. I won't bore you with all the years of similarities but I thought it would be fitting to share just a few from the last week. An insight into our friendship as well as the personalities behind this blog.

Do you remember the February 22 posts? Jackie and I both posted that day and we both posted our garden vegetable list. (Jackie's post and my post.) We had to call each other immediately laughing because we hadn't discussed that or planned that. It just happened. Not convinced? We often have the same thoughts; on the same day. Jackie just made a great post about the Test of a Fresh Egg. She and I hadn't talked about it but I was planning on posting an article about chicken coops on the same day. Thankfully she wrote and published before I did and I will save my planned chicken coop post for another days enjoyment.

It just makes me smile knowing someone is thinking as I am. Sharing thoughts, finishing sentences. Isn't that what sisters do? I will leave you with one final example. Several years ago I had come across the wonders of "whitewash". The kind that Tom Sawyer used to paint Aunt Polly's fence. OK well he had others whitewash Aunt Polly's fence but that isn't the point. I had wanted Gary to whitewash our chicken coop when it was first built for its affordability and anti-bacterial qualities. He kinda ignored me but that didn't change my mind that it was a good idea. Milk based paints are making a come back as people are becoming more environmentally aware.

Anyway, I had never mentioned that to Jackie and when we talked this last weekend she mentioned how she wanted to use a milk based paint in her kitchen! Of course I was thinking of whitewashing our fence this summer. I know that seems like no big deal, right? Countless number of other people are probably thinking about milk based paints right now. However, I was planning on telling her that I wanted to whitewash my fence in that very same conversation but she beat me to it! Strangely enough our blue houses are just one small similarity that we share.

Best friends are the siblings God forgot to give us. Or maybe best friends really are siblings after all and God didn't forget a thing...

ANNOUNCEMENT

Announcing: Two Blue Houses now has a Facebook page!

Just when you thought life couldn't get better. You found us. You read us. Now you want a better way to keep up with Two Blue Houses. Well we would LOVE that! Please. Seriously. Show us the love.

We welcome and appreciate your time and are forever curious about our readers. You will know when we post and perhaps a bit extra (such as some never seen before pictures, projects and who knows what else) right from YOUR Facebook page. So go ahead. Click on the cute little Facebook button in the far right column. We will be glad that you did. I mean you will be glad you did! **Wink**

To my sister...

"However rare true love maybe, it is less so than true friendship." --

Francois Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Happy Valentine's Day, Friend...

Good is the Enemy of Great

"It's never too late to be who you might have been." - George Eliot

It is ironic how Jackie and my life is parallel to each other. But at exactly the same time she and I realized that while we enjoy our blog and are excited about the possibilities... it is just "good". We don't want to settle for "good". We want "GREAT"!

So we will be sitting down and creating a direction and mission statement for our blog. I know that both Jackie and I want to start living more intentional lives. And this blog is one avenue of doing just that. In addition, we are actively exploring ways to "open shop" and offer some of our creative ideas for sale. This is an exciting and long talked about time in our lives.

We can't wait to share with you our vision and hope you join us for the ride! In the mean time we will be making some posts. Possibly not at the same volume as before but we will get back there once our planning is done.

So until next time ...

Low Country Boil

The house was beautiful, the company was wonderful, the weather awesome and surprisingly warm, and the food was good. Our Low Country Boil was a HUGE success. I have to give credit where credit is due and Jackie deserves a HUGE pat on the back. In her excitement to host an all adult party that wasn't just "ordinary" she really went above and beyond. One of her many talents is hospitality for sure.

Every guest was asked to bring a food item.
1. sausage
2. old bay spice
3. grapes & cheese & crackers (for an appetizer)
4. corn bread
5. potatoes
6. shrimp
7. onions, garlic, lemons

But our party was decorated on the cheap. Old Christmas lights, candles I had in my drawers for 7 or 8 years, a bag of baby pumpkins for $3.99 that I sprayed gold with paint I already had, a table cloth of old packing paper, torn pieces of kale from the fall garden, candle holders from old wine bottles, and lovely napkins from a sheet and scrap material (the last two were all Jackie!).

Guest who were connected to me or Jackie were invited and I would say all had a lovely time. Even our men who don't "enjoy" that sort of thing had a nice time. We are already daydreaming of our next adult only party. Perhaps a murder mystery dinner or a ugly Christmas sweater party. Who knows.

Inspirational Quote

For you sister.

"Everything unrelated to elephants is irrelephant."
-Oriana Bardinelli

Quote is courtesy of www.getalifethatdoesntsuck.com

Why We Do, What We Do

Stuff. Yes, STUFF. Stuff has literally been on my mind. Try to follow my train of thought if you will. I wanted to share all the trash picked and used items we have received in the last week.

• 8 - 4"x8" Plexiglass windows
• 2 - mostly wood nightstands I hope to re-purpose to suite my needs
• 1 - broken dresser
• 1 - van full of baby clothing and toys from a cousin visiting out of state

While I love free stuff and depend on it actually. There is a point of no return. Do I really need to trash pick a broken dresser? Is it worth the time to fix it? Will I use it? Do I "NEED" it? I might for all the children's clothing I have. But as I sorted through the clothing, I realized that I have more than my new baby could ever possibly use or need or WEAR! Why do I keep this STUFF?

Re-purposing and recycling stuff is part of what is "green", "sustainable", "eco-friendly", and shall I say it? "Trendy". I hate being "trendy". But I do believe in the concepts mentioned. I believe that we are called to be good stewards of the Earth and everything in it. It is our responsibility and duty to others and ourselves. In addition, it is a necessity for our family pocket book. For example, if we want a fence around our yard we do the work to salvage two old and discarded decks.

At some point though I have become a bit obsessive. I force myself to not take home kitchen scraps from my parent's house because they don't compost & cringe over every container, no matter what kind, I throw out thinking about what I could possibly use it for rather than pitching it. Never mind that I have zero place to store them in the meantime. Our house is small. Under 1000 square feet and lacks good storage.

But becoming a pack rat is not practical or responsible. I don't want to keep "STUFF" just to have it. The dresser will probably end up back in the trash after the drawer tracks have been removed to be reused (just remember it was someone else's trash first) & much of the baby clothing and toys donated to a non-profit after my other cousins have a look at them. I will continue to weed through my stuff and keep what I need and find new homes/purposes for the rest but the truth is that our family has much work to do to continue to be "sustainable", "green", and "eco-friendly".

To help keep me focused I have visited some helpful websites and close this post by sharing them with you.

The Story of Stuff - The title is self explanatory.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

A Throw Away Culture - A UK site but my Graphic Designer self really enjoyed the icons and layout of this site.
http://www.recycle.co.uk/throw-away.html

Ecological Footprint Quiz - My footprint is misleading but I couldn't find the original carbon foot print quiz I took years ago and liked much better. According to this quiz if all people lived as I do we would need 3.54 Earths. However, I would dispute those results (to be discussed on a later post - maybe).
http://www.myfootprint.org/en/

Please feel free to share how you deal with "STUFF". What motives you to live with less? What ideas do you have for re-purposing old stuff.