Ella Grey

Eleven weeks ago today my life changed forever.

After 18 hours of (unmedicated!) labor, Ella Grey made her way into the world. There is no way to adequately explain motherhood because it surpasses anything I've ever felt before. I have felt the worst pain, the deepest pride, the most immense joy, the most intense fear, and everything in between. Basically I have felt all the feelings!

But most of all, what I feel is that I am doing exactly what I was always meant to do. Being a mother just feels right and is my absolute favorite thing in the world.

I thought I knew what kind of parent I was going to be and thought I knew how I would feel, but nothing can prepare you for when you actually become a mother. I always rolled my eyes a bit when someone would tell me that having a baby changes everything, but it is completely true.

It has been the great joy of our lives to watch her grow and change over these past couple months and we feel so blessed, honored, and excited to be her parents. She truly is the light of our lives!

~Tammy

Surprise Announcement!

We have some very exciting news to share...

We're having a baby!!! And we just found out last week that it is a little girl. I am the happiest I've ever been and sometimes I have to pinch myself because I still feel like it's a dream. 

This morning I was standing in her room and looking outside the window. I saw beautiful flowers right in front of me, a field of cows to my right, and a coop full of happy chickens to my left. I am so thrilled that our baby will be growing up in this environment with nature all around. We can't wait to teach her about this homesteading life and I hope that she will grow to love it as much as we do. 

~Tammy

Waking up to spring on the Homestead

It was so beautiful out this morning that I had to grab my camera and go for a walk with Emma kitty. Here are a few shots of what spring looks like on the homestead.

I have a busy weekend ahead, but I'm so glad I was able to carve out a little time to be creative. I feel like it is so important to have unstructured "play" time to recharge. And for me, there's no better way to recharge than this. Nature, animals, photography...give me those three things and I'm a happy girl!

~Tammy

Mother Nature

Here in Missouri, it's not uncommon to have wild swings in temperatures. Case in point - just ten short days ago, David and I snuck away to the Lake of the Ozarks with some friends and were enjoying 70 degree weather.

Our private dock on the Lake.

We caught up around a bonfire at the lake's edge at night, feeling comfortable in light clothing.

Today, this is the reality in our part of Missouri.

That's me, under about twenty layers of clothing. We ended up with 11 inches of snow, and this morning when I woke up the temperature was -10. That's not the wind chill, that's the actual temperature!

The chickens and Emma kitty are not coming out of the coop, and who could blame them. I have been refreshing their water every several hours and taking the chickens hot oatmeal and scrambled eggs to warm their crops. Baby is hanging out in the garage and the indoor cats are watching all the action from the warm house.

Duchess is built for this weather, so she is having a blast running around in the snow. I do put her in the coop at night as well since it's getting so cold, but during the day she is out and about.

The guineas, hardy as ever, are just fine as long as they have a perch to rest on. Some of them have found their way to the coop, but others are still outside like this old timer.

We're all hanging in there, but not exactly happy! It seems the snow is here to stay as the forecast does not show us getting above freezing at all, so we'll just have to get used to it for now. As I say nearly each year, spring can't come soon enough!

Have you been buried in snow this winter?

~Tammy