Big Chicken Day!

Chickens are such curious animals. They love been cooped up, but then love exploring all new environments that you place them in. In the last few weeks our chicks have grown from adorable to a new awkward stage that Charli Beth calls the "teenage stage." They've become a bit sassy and love to peck pretty well anything they can set their eyes on. 

Christmas Eve was such a beautiful day and the babies loved playing in the barnyard. I wish we could've just left them outside for the weekend. But they enjoyed the warmth of their trough through the cold nights. 

Miss Dolly is still the favorite around here. I also believe that they know she is, as she is always the first one in line for everything. She has grown so much but for a few weeks actually became the smallest chick within the clan. I became a little worried that she wasn't going to make it. But then thankfully Dr. Charli Beth helped mend her back to good health with a few "surgeries."

Bryar made her feel silly with the goofy faces that he is so famously known for. 

Yes, for some reason this hen is in my lap in the house. Which is absolutely crazy, even to my animal loving self. She was just in to give Curtis a good scare. He is hilariously scared of birds, so it's always fun for us to scare him any chance we get. 

Around six weeks we decided it was time to take the Roos to a new home. They were all growing so quickly and with bad weather soon coming, I wanted to be able to give them each enough space within their area as I could. A sweet friend of mine who loves animals, and homesteading welcomed these (hopeful) boys to her home. After much advice from BackYard Chicken, I loaded them up in the Guinea pig cage and headed off. Of course I had to hear about how much they miss their pig the entire way there. 

I'm not sure if Bryar's expressions or the fact that I had five Roos in my car was more funny at the time. At each stoplight I would look back to them all glaring at me with their, "where in the word are we heading" faces. It was quiet the adventure and we are so thankful for Angela taking five of them on. 

Yesterday after school dismissed, wehurried  home and decided it was time for the big move. Most of the twelve inches of snow has melted away and I was to the point of loosing my mind with them in the garage m.

 We had recently moved them into a dog kennel to have more space plus a roost, but with added cedar shavings it just wasn't working the best. They looked the extra space and the large stick to fly onto. But all in all, chickens are made for the outdoors. 

Of course during their move we had to take a photo shoot of the Queen herself. She honestly hasn't been wanting to be held lately so I was utterly surprised when she came in for a snuggle. She is just a beautiful hen. Charli's favorite thing with these chicks are guessing how they will continue to mature in the weeks to come. 

They have all grown so very much over the past five weeks of being home. I am guessing that they will lay their first eggs in April, just right in time for Charli's birthday! Until then... We will just feed, feed, feed them. 

10 Things I Want My Daughter To know.

Ten years ago, I was a very young pregnant woman at only the age of 18. I was single, and literally had no idea what life was about to offer me. What I found through becoming a Mother, wasn't just a new life but a new meaning. This baby was my saving grace, the new path that was the Lords hand in guidance away from destruction. When I look into her blue eyes, it almost baffles me that we have spent nearly a decade together. Becoming a Mother changes you, but being a Mother to a girl brings an entire new meaning.

As my daughter starts to prepare fabulously for her tenth birthday, I cannot help but wonder where the years have flown by. My heart is stuck seeing the little girl in her smoked dress and bow to match. That image will be what I forever see as I think of my little girl.

As she is growing older there are life lessons I would love to prepare her for. Although, some come naturally and will just be a wound to heal as it happens. I want to share things that I want and need her to know before she is another year older. 

1.) We can be friends, but at the end of the day I am your Mother. I will always be here for you. I can only pray that we can talk about what's on your heart as you grow older. Although, if your in a position of wrong doing or swaying toward a path of darkness, I am here to stir you correctly. My number one job in this life is to keep you safe. In doing so, I will have to be Mom first and always. 

2.) You don't have to be friends with everyone. It's true, you really don't have to be friends with all of your classmates. But you must be nice to everyone. We are here in this overwhelmingly large world to shine His light. By doing so, you will make friends and enemies, and that is okay. 

3.) Being young is okay. You have the biggest heart of any child that I've ever met. If you want to pretend you are a horse. Do so. Gallop, neigh, run those pretend barrels as much as you wish. The fun and imagination in playing wears off too quickly. Listen to the beat of your own drum, be unique, but most of all just be you. 

4.) Reading is important. Wether it's your devotional, school work or library book , it is a must that we keep our mind moving. I honestly do not love to read but I can always find a moment where I find myself lost in pages of a book. 

5.) Follow your heart. The days in church families our filled with children asking the Lord into hearts at such young ages. Although, I do not know their hearts and could never say if I agree or disagree with this. I want your heart to be set on the Lord. Never take on a responsibility for your enternity until you know how your heart truly feels. Follow your heart and seek the Lord.

6.) Dream. You call me a "dreamer" every chance that you get. But what fun would the world be, if we ever stop dreaming? My heart is full of things I want to see, bucket lists I want to accomplish and even if it may not happen, I will always strive to check each item off. Dream on... 

7.) Live in the moment. We are given one life to live to the fullest. Our society has become one so focused on phone, Internet and even the blogs that I spent time wasting away on. Although, I may not be leading by example very well, I want you to know its okay. It's simply okay to put your phone down, to cherish memories in your heart rather than storage. When you do get a cell phone in ten more years, look up from it smile and take in every moment. 

While you are very technology innocent at this age, I just want you to know its okay to not worry. As females, we tend to over worry and have old souls that want to change the world. It isn't possible. We cannot change everything, and as the good book states, worrying will only take the joys from tomorrow. 

8.) Your friends are going to change. You will not stay friends with the same people forever. I know this is hard and you're probably not going to believe me. But life changes people. Sometimes we take the paths that are more troubled, others take paths that are just simply busy. You will bond with new girls over the next few years, and that is okay. As long as you remember just how each person touched your life and the memories you made is all that counts. No matter if middle school takes you elsewhere from your best friend at this very moment, I can promise both of you will never forget the time you caught a baby bunny together and begged me to keep it. As much as I long to reconnect to my absolute "best friend of all times" I will never stop laughing at the times we had together. Cherish each friendship, and if they don't last be sure to help them remember that if you ever reconnect you can pick up your friendship exactly where you left it. 

8.) We are going to change. You will soon stop seeing me as the greatest thing since Flicka. I will become the overly nosy, prying into your business "un-cool" Mom. I promise you this isn't all because your Dad is a police officer, and I have this small desire to be a detective but because we love you. 

It's going to be agonizing for you to realize this, and see our reasonings in being too protective. I can just only hope that you understand better than I did. My Mom spent a lot of nights with a broken heart due to a disrespectful child, that didn't realize the love my parents were sharing. When we ask questions, it's for your safety. If we ask who is around, it's so we know incase of emergencies. We will never pry for our own self worth. Our hearts and number one priority is to keep you and your brother safe. In saying that, I pray you will always understand that we will do this at all costs. 

10.) Love. It practically makes me pyshically ill knowing that you will one day have a crush on a boy. A crush that is even more important to you than the time your face turned red every time that certain bull fighter would come around, when you were only four. 

One day you are going to have your heart broken. You may even break a few hearts too. But in all of my years of loving, I learned that the most important rule to follow is that you can never love someone until you love yourself. With loving yourself, also comes with the full responsibility of loving the Lord. Once we know our heart, and are able to accept Him into our own, a boy will never be able to get to you without loving Him first.

Thankfully, with a heart of grace and emotion I will fully be okay with the day that I find you tear burried in a pillow. It will be hard, no matter what. But when you love yourself enough to know that you deserve better, God will provide. 

I chased too many mistakes in my years because I didn't love myself enough. I didn't believe that I deserved better and I didn't trust in Him to provide. Once I realized that my worth was more than I could ever imagine, I slowly began loving myself again. My heartache became content, and I felt new again. You are special and more unique than you could ever image. Your heart of gold could literally take over Mount Rushmore to shine to the entire world. It's just so simply stated that you must love yourself. You are worth it and I will always be here to remind you of that. 

There is more that I would love to tell you. Or words that I feel that I should remind you of. Like how to show grace and mercy. Or how we should always live within the moment. That we should always have a heart of gratitude. But you my sweet daughter with the soul an wise elderly women, you practically have this life figured out more than I. 

I hope that this next decade brings happiness, and memories worth making. I cannot wait to do what we do best, party. It pray it's one for the books, and one that helps you remember how truly special you are to us. 

Thank you for giving me a new life and meaning. You are more special than you know, never forget that. 

Allergy test touturing children since 1860

I wasn't prepared. He defiantly wasn't prepared. It was the epitome of a Motherly fail moment, as I had so gently warned my four year old that it wasn't going to hurt. He cried, we could've. But all in all everyone survived, and the tears subsided...after minutes of telling us he was never taking his shirt off again.

I possibly couldn't have blamed him. 

After twenty minutes, the mystery of Bryar's allergies were told. He is allergic to grass, mold and dogs. Gasp. 

We were totally not prepared for the last one. Actually we had even joke around with Bryar while he was all snuggled up to Gunner man recently, saying that he was probably allergic to him. Obviously, our large fur babe isn't the cause of the hives that seem to visit every few months, so our precautionary steps there will be mild. Although, we do plan to take actions on different cleaning methods. Thankfully none of his allergies are severe and his doctor prescribed a medicine to try once a day. 

I'm a slacker lately, so we will be doing this soon. Then waiting to see if another hive comes up at a random time or season. 

After the not-so-very fun allergy skin test, we went in for a sleep study. I was honestly a nervous wreck, and had been trying to prep up how cool it was would be to sleep as a robot for the night. Bryar's sleeping methods are terrible. They're probably the most whacked up case known to child life. It typically takes anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours to get him asleep soundly. This is with the same routine each night:

- brush teeth

- read 3 books

- pray

- lay down until you get sleepy

-sleep like "big boy" or yell at Mom to lay with you because you just need someone to "lay wif." 

Each night he wakes up at least once, if not three times,  course during the study he went to sleep in less than thirty minutes. I swear kids have a way of showing their parents up. He was overly ecstatic to have worms, wires, robots, and even a laser toe. At one point during the night while settling back in, his laser toe even, "shot through a wall," so who wouldn't love that. The sleep tech was overly amazing and literally had the best bed side manner of anyone I've ever met. She is the first person I've ever written several recommendations of rewards and recognitions for. Single handily she made our night wonderful. 

 He has gratefully slept through the night {maybe} 15 times. He snores while sleeping occasionally, especially if his head is in a certain position. Then in the morning waking him up, is like trying to wake a 1,000 lb bear from hibernation. It's scary, angry, and even sad. I've been concerned for sometime that he possibly is dealing with some sleep apnea issues. But of course, I could be seriously wrong. He could just be incredibly spoiled. 

Although, after speaking with a friend who is also an ENT nurse, she felt the same way. We were able to make an ENT appointment very quickly and went the morning before the allergy test. His tonsils are only a two at a large range being size four. So, they really wanting to check for sleep apnea because his adenoids could be large and holding in his allergens. Of course, we hope to not do surgery but most of all we want our son safe, and breathing to the best of his ability. I honestly never realized the effects sleep apnea could have on children or one their behavior. 

It will take up to two weeks for us to receive the results from his study. Until, then we are not-so patiently waiting, all while I go back and forth to a bedroom trying to make him fall asleep with a cuddle buddy.

 One day I will miss these late night yellings for, "mama mama mama mama mama!!!" 

But some nights it's just exhausting, and I may even shed tears over the lack of patience and sleep that my body functions on.