It has been quite a time since I last wrote on my blog. I will do my best to quickly review what has happened since Simeon's birthday in March. :)
We have purchased a farm with 80 acres and a 100+ year old home....and the best part...a beautiful, huge barn! :) YAY! The whole transaction took a while to finally come to a close but all in all I am excited about raising our family there. We hope to teach them many good values, including a good work ethic as we all care for the farm and animals together as a family. -- We are already getting started on getting animals. We have purchased a miniature pony for Simeon from my sister's daughters and bought a puppy a few days ago too. :) Also, 3 horses came along with the farm. Two of them are old and un-rideable (which we are giving away soon) and the other we will be keeping who is very old... but rideable. :) Next year and the coming years we hope to add other animals! We are also hoping to buy our own haying equipment in the coming year or two because most all of our land is hay land which is currently being hayed buy a neighborhood fella who splits the hay with us. --Works nice for us for now!
The house itself is a little different story. It needs lots of updating and TLC. The more we take it apart, the more we see needs to be done. We just hope and pray that it comes together again OK and somewhat quickly. -But saying as Chad and I will be doing most of the work as we find the time, it may take a long time to get the 'old house' looking good.
There's a newer addition on the house that is in pretty good shape though and we've hired my brothers to do some work on that part so that we can get half of the house 'livable' quickly so that we can move in to the newer part before the summer is gone. I am hoping that all works out as planned and on schedule!! (fingers crossed) :)
We are working on our house in town here as well. We are completely finishing the basement for that added 'selling perk'. --Hopefully it works.-- After all is said and done, this house will have gone from 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths and about 1100 sq. ft. to a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 baths and about 2200 sq. ft.! We are adding an office and family room besides the 2 bedrooms and bathroom. Lots of work and time! We are on the home stretch to completing it though. Just some sheetrock, mud and taping, painting and carpeting to do. Its hard to be this close and have no time to do things. :( Frustrating cause we need to get it up for sale soon! -- Maybe you could keep this all in prayer..? :)
Besides keeping up the 2 yards and gardens at both houses and working on things here and there when we can, Chad is busy (as usual) with work and I with 'wife and mother life'...and now Houston, our puppy. Betwixt all that, its hard to find a lot of extra time to get things done. Perhaps we need to learn to budget time better...? After we sell this house in town, we won't be quite as busy and should have a little extra time each day to work on the farm house. --Besides, it'll be much nicer and easier when we don't have to drive the hour round trip to do stuff at the farm.
Anyway, enough with the busyness. We are all doing well. Simeon is growing SO FAST!! He is still quite partial to crawling rather than walking but I think that is just fine with me when it comes to keeping up with him. :) He knows HOW to walk, but just doesn't see that its a better way to get around quite yet. :) In his own time....
He seems to be constantly teething ever since he's been 3 or 4 months old! He doesn't do very well with it either. He and pain are definitely NOT friends in the least! I'm kinda hoping that this next baby will be a better sleeper and teether than Simeon! :)
Simeon LOVES to be outside. As long as he is outside, he is a happy lil man! (He gets that from me!) :) He LOVES water! Drinking it, bathing in it, swimming in it, splashing in it....you name it. I'm definitely thankful that he drinks it so well. He's probably only had juice (diluted) a handful of times in his life. I decided early on not to introduce him to the sweetness of juice till he was older than a year or ever.....I think it has paid off! :) -- Although he likes water so much that he tries to drink it whenever he can, whether its in puddles, his bath or the puppy's water! (YUCK!) So, I have to keep a close eye on him when it comes to water. :)
Example: There's a tiny little hole in our concrete step outside. Its about the size of my finger tip; but whenever it rains and water collects in there, Simeon HAS to play in it and then he bends his body over, sticks out his tongue and tries to drink it! HAHA....I've been able to stop him every time so far but I think it is so funny that he tries to lap it up from that tiny little hole! :) ---That's just one of many such like stories I could tell you about his love for water. :)
Chad is, like I said, keeping busy with work and working on our 2 places when possible. He's been able to cut down on his work travel - which is a real answer to prayer!- He's enjoying being a father to Simeon and is looking forward to our new little one expected in October. He also seems to really enjoy Houston as well! :) I think Chad is pretty excited about getting to experience farm life too! I think we are both pretty eager to get out there and settle into our new life.
I feel fat and tired! HAHA I usually feel much bigger than I am but Chad says that I'm still in that "is she pregnant, or does she just have a gut?" stage. HAHA...that's the worst stage! I'm guessing that within the next month you will definitely be able to tell I'm preggo without a doubt.
Things are going well with it. Other than feeling tired a lot and having the normal aches and pains and having to wear these hot compressions socks all day, I feel pretty good. Early on I was nauseated all day long and had to eat all the time. I had the appetite of 3 grown men combined and craved nothing good....all junk food or fast food! This was not a good thing cause I ended up gaining MUCH more than I should've. But I guess I can try to comfort myself with the fact that I started out 20 lbs under my normal weight. :) Does that justify it all?? :) HAHA I like to think so.
Anyway, I should sign off now and give your aching eyeballs a rest. If I would write more often, I wouldn't have to write so much at a time and scare you all away with the novels! :)
I hope you all are well and would really like to hear from any of you!
Greetings from the Stewarts!
