Moving and Shaking...

Well boys and girls, it has been a LOOOONG time since my last post, so grab yourself a coffee and get comfy....this one is going to be a doozy!

So just my last post, lots has happened since my last post, so where to start...

I guess most importantly, my baby is seven months old already!!!! Yikes! Where does the time go?It kind of seems like overnight she has gone from little infant to almost toddler! She eats three meals of solids a day (with bottles in between), drinks water from a sippy cup, she yaps away all day long....sadly for me though, she seems to have forgotten how to say mama and everything is now dada....her dad, cows, me, EVERYTHING! Most excitingly however, miss Maddie has mastered crawling and just today, pulled herself up all by herself and was standing in the playpen! I hear other moms talking about their 9 and 10 month olds that are just conquering these feats, so I am very impressed with our little overachiever! 

Look at her go!

Happy 7 Month Birthday Madelyn!!

While all of this is very exciting, at the same time, it has got me in a bit of a panic! Our house is not at all ready for a little one to be turned loose. We have a lot of furniture to strap, sockets to plug, cords to hide, cleaning stuff to lock up....among other things. I was stressing about getting things in order....right now they are still in the middle of barn renovations so Carm is not around a lot to help me out. I was venting to my sister about it and she introduced me to "the FLY LADY." For all you mamas out there torn between house chores and spending time with your kids, you should definitely check out www.flylady.net. It is a website devoted entirely to people who don't like/want to clean, but know it has to be done. It helps you to get organized and develop routines so that your cleaning gets done, but you don't feel like you're spending your entire life doing it. I have it set up so it sends me daily reminders about what needs to be done and the idea is that you are doing some light cleaning of some description everyday, but you only "detail clean" certain rooms each week depending on the "zone" you are in that week. I have only been following this method for a short while and already I am starting to see a difference and I feel a whole lot more organized! Most importantly, I am still able to spend lots of time with the little hooligan. 

As I mentioned, the barn renos are in full swing still at the farm. They were pouring the last row of stalls today already. It's going pretty well and assuming nothing puts them back, they should be milking cows in all three rows by the end of next week!! Check out a few pictures of the progress below.

So, yesterday while cleaning in my living room, I had the TV on and Dr. Phil was on. Now, normally I really can't stand Dr. Phil and quickly change the channel, but the topic yesterday peaked my curiosity...Working Moms vs. Stay At Home Moms....Hmmm. So Maddie and I took a break to hear what they had to say. Quite frankly, the first woman on there infuriated me. Her opinion was that ALL good mothers are stay at home moms and that basically, unless you are going to quit your job and stay home, you should not have children. Working mothers were poor mothers and by going to work and leaving them with caregivers, they were compromising their children's childhood. Seriously? It didn't take long for three of the show's executives (all women) to march out and share their views with the crazy woman. The three Dr. Phil ladies pretty much tore a strip off the woman and by the end of the show, she was sitting there pretty quietly. I don't know what planet this lady was from...a lot of us would love to quit our jobs and stay home full-time with our kids, but it's just NOT an option for most of us. Does that mean we shouldn't have kids? Ouch.

Well, that should give you all a bit to chew on for a few days! Be sure to check back for more updates soon, and also be sure to check out my photography blog at http://jennkylephotography.blogspot.com ! Until next time my friends...