September and October Recap

I had intended to be a bit more regular in posting over the last few weeks, but our honey work this time of year has kept us so busy that my downtime was mostly spent unwinding or trying to sort out the mess the house had become. Recapping from the end of September to these first two weeks of October includes the successful event that was our Annual Cider Social, attended by 60+ people this year, our baby shower, gathering honey and lots of extraction, and making over 100 quarts of applesauce. The Cider Social alone was packed with fun and lots of people we know. Its been going on for 6 years or so now, and has grown a little in popularity and variety each year. The big change this year was that it was Adam and I's first year producing the Cider Doughnuts. The 2 weeks previous to the event involved a lot of test batches of doughnuts, resulting in neither of us actually eating any doughnuts at the social. We did hear, however, that the doughnuts were some of the best many people had eaten. :) 

The next day was our long awaited baby shower. So many people put effort into making it such a beautiful, wonderful event for us. We are truly blessed by all of the love shown by those who came, helped, gave, and those who gave even though they couldn't come. Baby Bee sure is loved already!

In the weeks that passed after the shower, we've been busy collecting the last of the fall crop of honey from our various bee yards. We could never process this much honey so quickly without all of the updates to our processing equipment made this year. New equipment has made a tremendous difference in the speed and ability we have to go through more honey than we've previously ever collected. God has blessed us abundantly with the honey we've gotten this fall, as well as many new accounts with local stores. We are really enjoying all that goes into this family-run business. It requires a lot of devotion and hard work by all, but it is a huge blessing as well. 

This last week while Adam and Jim were out gathering honey supers from bee yards, Gail and I began our annual process of making/canning applesauce. In talking to our good friend/neighbor, we discovered a piece of equipment we didn't even know existed: The Squeezo. Roberta was kind enough to let us borrow the Squeezo this past week, and boy were we amazed! The 130 quarts we did two years ago took us around a week of long days making and canning applesauce. This past week using the Squeezo we made 116 quarts in 2 days! Its amazing what can be accomplished with some hard work and a much better piece of equipment! And yes, for those of you who think we're crazy and wonder what we do with all that applesauce....well we eat it of course! And we share it too :) Plus with Baby Bee on the way, it will be a great pre-pureed food for when he's ready for that!

On the Baby home-front, I have begun weekly appointments during this last month of gestation. The countdown is on people! I had reason to believe that Bee had dropped, so after discussing this with my doctor last week and a "lovely" internal exam, she discovered I was right. Bee is getting in position for birth, head down, though no dilation or anything else yet. They tell me this could last several weeks, but I'm still excited! Its getting so real! We even had our tour of the Women's and Children's Ward last Sunday. The nursery is ready, and I spend a half hour or so reading baby-prep books every night. Nesting you say? Well people that know me know I have organizing OCD anyway, so thats nothing new really, but Baby Prep nesting, yes thats happening.

 Its so hard to be patient. Not going to lie that Adam and I would both be thrilled if this baby boy decided to arrive a little early! We're so excited to meet him! Ok enough rambling. Until next time....

  

My Favorite Month

As I sit here in bed, propped up by pillows, listening to the sound of rain on the skylight (a sound we haven't heard in weeks), I can hardly believe its September and that we're at 31 weeks. There really isn't a lot of time left. This month is already flying by because of how busy it is. Last weekend was Labor Day, which meant Garlic Fest in Bennington, as well as meeting my baby cousin for the first time :) This weekend we head to Maine to join in on the fun of Megan and Joe's baby shower. It is just so cool that God worked it out for us to have our first babies so close together: just a week apart in due dates! It has been a huge blessing to go through all the phases with a friend, and share our experiences as we have them.

The four of us as newlyweds :)

Soon to be the 6 of us!

The following weekend is my birthday (just one of many reasons why I love fall, and especially September :), and the last weekend in September will be our annual Cider Social -September 26 at 7:00p.m., followed by my baby shower the day after. So much to look forward to! This is an exciting month for sure.

On top of all the fun we have planned, we've been extracting honey straight for the past week, with another several weeks ahead of us. This is a busy time of year for sure. Lots to do in preparation for winter and for the arrival of BaBee Howe. On the upside, the nursery is pretty close to set. There are just a few more pieces that need to arrive to complete it, the most important of course being Baby Bee!

As its now 10:30 I better wrap this up. This mama needs her sleep!

28 Weeks and Counting

Today begins the last trimester of pregnancy for me. Its hard to believe 28 weeks have gone by already with this amazing little life growing inside me. Summer has made the time fly by even quicker, because this season brings with it various activities that can only happen this time of year. July passed with a lot of hot days, made hotter by the fact that I spent the majority of them canning food from the garden. I can't complain though. We have a lot of yummy things to look forward to this winter, including pickles, homemade red and black raspberry jams, collards, green beans, and garden stew.

I was very grateful that my parents are close by and have a pool, because it is quite amazing how well a pool cools one's entire body temperature down, especially on those 90+ degree days. We also bit the bullet and bought a window air conditioner for our bedroom at the beginning of the summer, knowing it would be difficult to go through this summer pregnant and still be able to sleep without one. It has been quite a life-preserver on those unbearably hot nights, allowing me to sleep, when we would normally take a hiatus from all nightly rest for approximately 2 weeks until the heatwave passed. 

While buying a bigger bed and softer mattress made it possible for me to sleep without added pillows for the entirety of the second trimester, I have now entered the phase where my knees and belly need a little extra support. I go to sleep surrounded by what appears to be a fortress of pillows, much to Winston's comfort, as he cuddles up right beside me most nights. 

Last week taught me an important lesson: no woman, no matter how "unemotional" she might think she is, is exempt from the effects of pregnancy hormones. I went through the routine 1-hour glucose screening test to check for gestational diabetes last week. Since I had not seen my primary OBGYN before taking this test (I had last seen one of the other 3 docs in the office), I was not told what the parameters were for passing and failing. I wasn't too worried about the outcome, as I have been blissfully exempt from a lot of the sweet cravings that so often come with pregnancy. I have made a point to exercise just about every day, and eat healthier than I normally would do in the summer (since I normally eat ice cream multiple times a week during any given summer). I was even more careful about eating healthy the week before the test, so when I checked the patient portal and discovered my blood glucose was 133mg/dl after drinking the nasty orange drink and fasting since supper the night before, it didn't sound too bad. I even googled normal standards which said that 140 and under were considered "fine." I was completely caught off guard the next day, however, when the first thing out of the nurse's mouth was that I had failed the 1-hour glucose test and would need to take the 3-hour test. Keep in mind that the night before this was spent discussing how awful the 3-hour test was with 2 of my cousins. Upon hearing that I had failed, it was like a tidal wave of emotion hit me. I was instantly upset, weepy, and struggling to keep myself together (not like me). Even after hearing my doctor explain that 130 is the cutoff for pregnant women just to get a wider screening of potential gestational diabetes candidates, and that I really shouldn't worry too much, I was still very upset. Aren't I a healthy person? Do I exercise daily and eat healthy for nothing? I was given the alternative to test my blood sugar 4 times a day for week, to see if my levels actually are within normal range, which I chose to do after a little consideration. 

It took talking to multiple people telling me that I was likely fine and completely healthy, and not to worry about it, keeping myself busy with cleaning the house all evening, and a good nights rest before I was finally able to let the stress of it go, and accept that God would take care of me through this, no matter what the outcome may be. Since my office wasn't able to get the prescription for my reader in to my pharmacy before we left for campmeeting on Thursday, I was able to spend a relaxing weekend in Maine without worrying about my blood sugar, which I think God knew I needed. Upon getting back from Maine and starting my week of testing this morning, so far my 2 times checking it have been normal to low. 

God has been teaching me a lot of lessons throughout pregnancy, first and foremost that I have to trust Him in everything. So much of life is out of my direct control, but luckily for me He is bigger than all of it, and more than capable of taking care of me and BaBee Howe.