310. Baby #9 Came Early! Birth Story Surprises & Life as a Family of 11

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 As parents, it's our goal to empower our children to succeed.

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spk_0 K12-powered school near you and to roll out. That's the letter K, the number 12.com slash farmhouse.

spk_0 K12.com slash farmhouse. So many children in and I've never taught anybody colors and they all

spk_0 learn colors. And so all that to say I think when we have toddlers especially we don't have any

spk_0 older kids and we don't have any context for that. We think we have to teach them how to do

spk_0 literally everything in life or they won't learn it. Giving kids an environment where they know how

spk_0 to figure out the things when they need them is more important. My name is Lisa, mother of nine

spk_0 and creator of the blog and YouTube channel FarmhouseOnBoom. On this podcast I like to talk about

spk_0 simplifying your life so you can live out your priorities. I help you learn how to cook from scratch

spk_0 and decorate on a budget through this podcast and my courses SimpleSawardo in the SimpleSowing

spk_0 series. I also help people reach their goals from home through my business courses, Create Your

spk_0 Blog Dream and YouTube Success Academy. I will leave links to these resources in the show notes

spk_0 in description box below. Now let's get into the show.

spk_0 Welcome back to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. This is going to be my first episode that I've

spk_0 recorded since Little Miriam was born. She is already almost a month old. It took me a while

spk_0 this time to get on the internet and make the announcement. I was just laying really low

spk_0 this time around and so I didn't even get on Instagram. I think to announce that she was born for

spk_0 maybe close to two weeks until she was born. So if you didn't catch my birth story over on my

spk_0 main YouTube channel I shared that Miriam was born earlier than any of my other children.

spk_0 So this is going to be a challenge now. Every other year since this podcast started I have a baby

spk_0 in my episodes kind of grunting, possibly crying at some points, nursing. When I first started the show

spk_0 in 2020 I had my sixth baby Daniel and he was he was two months old when I started the show.

spk_0 So he was with me for all the episodes. It takes a while for me to actually get the babies to the

spk_0 point where they can nap down on their own and then it was theodore and then it was Victor and now

spk_0 it is Little Miriam. So this will just be sort of what we're doing for the next several months of

spk_0 this show. Anyways interestingly enough I got over on Instagram when I was 39 weeks pregnant and

spk_0 this is just how stuff goes and showed a little selfie of me 39 weeks pregnant and said that

spk_0 I'm glad I always make it to my due date because I have plenty of things planned. I'm in the middle

spk_0 of shooting this video and that and I have you know this episode to do and I just wanted to get a

spk_0 few more things done before my maternity leave. Now of course as somebody who runs our own business

spk_0 that's all flexible we can either you know get ahead on certain things or just not and it's fine

spk_0 but I really do like to go to my due date because I like when babies are you know just everything seems

spk_0 to to go well when they're born kind of around that due date or after. Not that she was born super

spk_0 early but I was kind of questioning my dates a little bit. Not really based on any hard facts. I

spk_0 didn't keep track too well but I had a 20 week ultrasound and I know that those are not great for

spk_0 dating purposes at all but I noticed on that like the ultrasound technician didn't say anything. She

spk_0 just went with my original due date that I originally said but I noticed that the baby was measuring

spk_0 a little bit smaller. Again that you know two or three days smaller on a 20 week scan isn't significant

spk_0 enough to change a due date. Now on an earlier scan that is a case for just not having the dates

spk_0 correct because babies develop around the same at that point of pregnancy whereas by the 20 week

spk_0 genetic factors can take over people who are a little smaller you know you might have a smaller baby

spk_0 at 20 weeks. Not that any of my babies have really been small. So anyways I kind of had in my head that

spk_0 she probably would be born even a little later than the due date that I was saying. So when I started

spk_0 having prodromal contractions just a few days after making that Instagram post I thought okay I

spk_0 guess I'm going to have prodromal labor a really long time. And then by about 39 weeks and three days

spk_0 I was pretty convinced it was going to turn into labor and my sisters and I that day all met at a

spk_0 pumpkin or an apple orchard apple orchard slash pumpkin patch about an hour away from my home

spk_0 and I was genuinely worried that I was going to suddenly shift into labor and have a child like

spk_0 either at the apple orchard or on the way or on the way back. So I had my older girls go with us

spk_0 too because they had a few things to do at home but my oldest has her driver's license and so I had

spk_0 them go with me because just in case I got to the point where I was out of commission they could throw

spk_0 the other kids in the car and get us all home. Those are the thoughts going through my head which is

spk_0 funny because I think when you're not in that same position you might think like how are you going

spk_0 to get stuck out? Like I have had plenty of pregnancies where I go past 40 weeks and I'll be somewhere

spk_0 and somebody will ask me when are you doing I'll say oh two days ago and they ask like well why are

spk_0 you out or how are you out? I'm like well what's the big deal I'm not in labor but I this time

spk_0 and it turned out it could have been a genuine thing to happen felt concern that I would have had

spk_0 the baby at any point and that is what happened it just didn't happen that day but at any point

spk_0 I felt like I could go into labor fast and have the baby fast and that is exactly what happened

spk_0 only it was the day after that apple orchard so on the way to that apple orchard I had a couple

spk_0 contractions that really kind of scared me like should I be leaving but then they completely stopped

spk_0 I had nothing the rest time I was there so we had fun it was totally great but the next day when it

spk_0 did shift it shifted really fast and it was funny because still that morning we were talking about

spk_0 heading out to go thrift shopping and go to a farmer's market my sister and I were thinking about

spk_0 doing that with my older daughters and a few of the younger boys and even my sister was still like

spk_0 so do you want to do that today I'm like I really have this feeling that I should not do that today

spk_0 and I wasn't in hard labor at that point so I'm sure it seemed a little overly cautious but

spk_0 she was born at two in the afternoon that day just kind of out of nowhere so it's a good thing that

spk_0 we didn't try to leave our house and go like an hour away to those places that we usually like to go to

spk_0 on Saturday so if you want to listen to the full-bar story everything went great everything went

spk_0 really well she was my third smallest baby she was definitely my earliest baby she came three days

spk_0 before what I was calling my due date the whole pregnancy but then possibly even a little bit earlier

spk_0 than that based on just like if my dates were a little bit wrong and based on her size because all

spk_0 of my babies the last six have been quite a bit bigger than her so I mean I don't know it could be

spk_0 it could be that it could be other factors I don't know how consistent baby weights are I definitely

spk_0 would have expected her to be a little bit later and to be bigger than eight pounds but she wasn't so

spk_0 maybe she was early and then another factor that ended up coming about later it's something called

spk_0 breast milk jaundice which I have never heard about in my entire life my second born daughter had

spk_0 jaundice but she was my last second and last hospital birth and she was induced for suspected IUGR

spk_0 and I always thought the only reason she had jaundice was because she was early and she was

spk_0 unnaturally early because she was induced but she I think had more regular jaundice because it

spk_0 developed while we were still at the hospital like they mentioned it whereas breast milk jaundice

spk_0 develops later than 24 hours so after they're 24 hours old and beyond I think a lot of times even

spk_0 48 hours old they develop a slight case of jaundice and it doesn't really have to do with a poor

spk_0 functioning liver or anything like that I mean I know babies have immature livers not necessarily

spk_0 they have a poor functioning liver it's just an immature liver which is why it happens more in

spk_0 preemie babies but the breast milk jaundice from my understanding is something that comes from

spk_0 the breast milk and it can last a really long time and I started noticing it I think around day three

spk_0 and I asked my midwife about it and she didn't seem very concerned but then I started doing the

spk_0 thing modern moms do and I started googling jaundice and realized that the consequences for not

spk_0 taking jaundice seriously are not just like oh there might be a little sick it's like lifelong

spk_0 and so I started getting very concerned and I kept checking with the midwife asking her like is

spk_0 this still fine she kept telling me it was fine I ended up not at all that I didn't I should have

spk_0 just taken that opinion but it's one of those things where I'm like I wanted to just get a second

spk_0 opinion just for my piece of mine I am sure it's fine so I took her to the pediatrician and they

spk_0 did this little just like a little wand that tells the jaundice number really quick it was like

spk_0 no problem at all it just stuck her on there and said her number was fantastic so she still stayed

spk_0 yellow not like very yellow but just a slight tint of yellow in her face and in the corners of her

spk_0 eyes for about three weeks so it was it's one of those things where I was googling it and half the

spk_0 people said oh this is no big deal at all and then half people said get to the ER this could be

spk_0 like brain damage for life so I ended up getting peace of mind by taking her in and getting her actual

spk_0 numbers I was convinced it was probably fine just because she was so slightly yellow to the point

spk_0 where you kind of looked her and you're like are you yellow I'm not sure if you're yellow but

spk_0 sometimes as moms it's good just to get peace of mind even if you feel like this is probably

spk_0 something that's going to be fine and then once you have the diagnosis for it treating it however

spk_0 you see fit so you know if if she had severe numbers of course we're gonna do the belly blankets and

spk_0 all of that but because her number was so low we just continued doing what we were already doing

spk_0 which is what the midwife told me to do and that is lots of sunlight lots of nursing poopy diapers

spk_0 is what gets the jaundice out and she would never struggle with that at all so I knew she was good she

spk_0 was growing like crazy she's already at three weeks she was already a pound over her birth weight

spk_0 so all good but that sort of made me think maybe she was a little bit early too because the only

spk_0 other time I dealt with jaundice was with a baby that was a couple weeks early another thing

spk_0 that my midwife and I reason we think she might be a little earlier is because she came out with more

spk_0 vernic than I have ever seen in my life so a lot of my babies come out with very little of it she

spk_0 was just so covered and then her nails weren't very long so all of those clues maybe think maybe

spk_0 maybe she was more like 39 weeks which you know I'm saying she's 39 and 4 or 39 not significant

spk_0 difference but for sure my earliest baby and probably my easiest birth I'm gonna say might be tied

spk_0 with victor but probably even easier than victor so such a blessing there just such an easy delivery

spk_0 her size was great her health was fantastic the midwife didn't make it but she cried so quickly

spk_0 that we weren't concerned at all she pinked up just so fast so her scores were all like she passed

spk_0 with flying colors so so grateful that at nearly 40 just such a easy healthy pregnancy birth great baby

spk_0 everything seems to be going really well there so I'm very thankful right I'm gonna jump into

spk_0 some of your questions I get tons of questions about baby sleep and likely in about let's see about

spk_0 sevenish months I'm gonna be complaining about it I'm going to be saying I don't know what I'm doing

spk_0 because always when I'm trying to transition a baby from rap naps to naps on their own it's always

spk_0 like a new learning career but I don't feel super confident in that area but we always get it done

spk_0 and we figure out how to go from rap naps to naps down and then eventually to overnight down

spk_0 and in their inner crib but so far that's not something we're doing and it won't be for a while

spk_0 and I find newborns to be fairly easy she does want to nurse most of the night but

spk_0 as long as I have her on my chest it seems to be okay and that's how it's been with with all my babies

spk_0 and so it's really not too bad of a struggle at this time but when she gets when my babies get a

spk_0 little bit older they don't go sleep as well and so we'll be we'll be talking about that and what

spk_0 we're doing but I feel like it's always new each time I always can tell when they're ready for

spk_0 a certain milestone whether it is you know one of their physical milestones or eating or sleeping I

spk_0 can always tell with the baby and it comes back to me but it's not something I always remember like

spk_0 exactly when it happens and it can be a little bit different for each one.

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spk_0 okay i love all your con to lease and i gain wisdom from your videos and podcast often my question

spk_0 is do you worry about cancer or high cholesterol eating such a red meat and dairy heavy diet as those

spk_0 have been linked to higher risk of cancer my question is what studies what studies on that i think

spk_0 that's debatable i don't think that's settled science necessarily kind of depends on who you ask

spk_0 i feel like but i would love to hear your thoughts on this is i used to be a vegan for health

spk_0 now i'm more like you focusing on whole foods and meals made from scratch um again i feel like you can

spk_0 find uh research supporting the case for veganism just as fast as you can find research supporting the

spk_0 case for the opposite i will say anecdotally that i have heard so many stories of people who really

spk_0 struggle to live a healthy lifestyle with uh with being on strictly vegan diet and then they find

spk_0 such health after switching to a diet that includes more of these foods that maybe and and this is

spk_0 you know do your own research find your own studies because a lot of things that i do now

spk_0 i read about and became convinced of some 15 years ago and so i don't really have like

spk_0 case studies for you anymore i can't tell you what i read i just know that i'm convinced of it now

spk_0 which isn't a very great thing for a podcast host to say which is why i often have experts on the show

spk_0 because i i just say well this is now at this point just my opinion because i don't even remember

spk_0 what i read but i know i was convinced when i read it and i also know again this is an a scientific

spk_0 study this is just like a one-off thing where i'm like well i can tell you that i and my family have

spk_0 felt great for the last uh what have we been doing raw milk for 16 years meet from local sources for

spk_0 as long as that and i think a lot of the studies possibly that are done they're not usually done

spk_0 on raw milk or on grass fed locally raised beef and pork they're done on the work conventional

spk_0 things which maybe those do actually lead to poor outcomes and if that's the only thing you can get

spk_0 avoiding them would be possibly better which kind of doubt that as well but i think sourcing is really

spk_0 important quality of the the product is really important so milk from the store milk from a local

spk_0 farm that is raw is not the same thing so it's not just uh you know you're you're not comparing apples

spk_0 to apples it's not just like altogether this food is bad there might be more to it based on

spk_0 um for those of you who aren't watching on youtube and are just listening and you hear all the

spk_0 sounds of the baby just know there's a baby in my arms right now so if you hear little grunts and

spk_0 tuts uh it's it's her that's an important piece of the puzzle or important thing that we're not

spk_0 necessarily discussing in that question is what meet what dairy what's the sourcing how's it prepared

spk_0 um what are other factors in the diet that we might not be considering as well

spk_0 again i'm not an expert so if something like cancer were to happen how we'd approach that

spk_0 you know it's not something i've ever dealt with and so i've i don't i can't say with confidence

spk_0 what we do but also as far as the cholesterol there's some studies that you know there's not just

spk_0 one kind of cholesterol again i feel like i'm not going to do this topic justice at all but i

spk_0 there i've had people on this show who have done it justice and cholesterol it's debatable on whether

spk_0 or not it's really eating those types of foods actually win themselves to poor health outcomes we'll

spk_0 just say that so all that to say i am super confident in our dietary choices we feel great on it

spk_0 and i will not be switching to veganism anytime soon at what age do your kids start helping in the

spk_0 kitchen you mentioned that you don't have a learning tower for toddlers but all your kids need to be

spk_0 so capable once they get older okay so when i had toddlers i felt like i had to teach her

spk_0 or a toddler let's just go with my firstborn when she was a baby i thought i had to teach her

spk_0 everything so this is a really funny story when our baby was a baby we had some missionaries

spk_0 that live with us and i remember them making fun of me so bad because i had words around the house

spk_0 should i even share the story this is embarrassing on all of our household items because i saw

spk_0 an advertisement for a program called teacher baby to read and i thought well we got to get on

spk_0 this i have a baby she needs to read and so i would put words on things all over the house and i

spk_0 remember getting made fun of so bad for that and i would make fun of you too now okay i'm just

spk_0 gonna say it because i thought there was no way she'd learn to read unless we started really young

spk_0 and she did learn to read young but looking back now with her that kind of makes sense

spk_0 and if i didn't teacher so another thing that i started really stressing about when she was about

spk_0 two i was so stressed that she didn't know all her colors which is so funny now because

spk_0 my two-year-old i don't even know if he knows the concept of a color but what i've learned

spk_0 over many many children is that they learn things no matter not i mean not saying like you shouldn't

spk_0 teach your kids things but they learn the things that they're interested in whether you push it or

spk_0 show them every little thing or not they figure out things all on their own so all my other kids

spk_0 after probably about my second or third child when i started to realize this learned colors

spk_0 without me ever saying okay blue blue this is blue this is red this is pink i remember thinking

spk_0 so often i was so stressed about it thinking how will i teach this child colors because if i point

spk_0 to this item here and say yellow how does she know that i'm not saying the name of the item and not

spk_0 the color i'm just telling you how much i worried about the whole color thing and now i currently

spk_0 have a two-year-old i currently have a baby i currently have a three-year-old who definitely knows

spk_0 all his colors and i've never taught him so many children in and i've never taught anybody colors

spk_0 and they all learn colors and so all that to say i think when we have toddlers especially we don't

spk_0 have any older kids and we don't have any context for that we think we have to teach them how to do

spk_0 literally everything in life or they won't learn it and so with the whole cooking thing they're around

spk_0 i cook it's some of my kids have an interest in cooking some of them do not and so to say all of

spk_0 my kids are super capable in the kitchen wouldn't would not be quite true but i do think that when

spk_0 they have to cook if you know if they're not super interested in it now they will figure it out at

spk_0 that point when it becomes necessary and i think that with with all things that giving kids

spk_0 an environment where they know how to figure out the things when they need them is more important

spk_0 so i don't worry about the toddlers and specifically teaching them how to cook i think if they show

spk_0 an interest in it and i can make a space available when they're ready for it i will do that now i

spk_0 will say in order to keep kids busy while i'm cooking one of my most favorite things to do with kids

spk_0 i really it's my seven-year-old my five-year-old and my three-year-old that currently love doing this

spk_0 i give them all cutting boards carrots and potatoes and butter knives or fruit we do fruit sometimes

spk_0 like strawberries as well and put them over at a table that's kind of out of the way in our kitchen

spk_0 we have like a breakfast table out of the way of where i'm working and they just sit over there

spk_0 and cut stuff up and the other day i made a stew just with all the little vegetables and they were

spk_0 all they weren't cut right some were big some were too tiny but that's something that keeps them

spk_0 very busy so they're exposed to it and i i will say that they're around me and then when they become

spk_0 a certain age giving them the freedom in the kitchen and not worrying too much about the mess and

spk_0 all of that is important but that time will come and you don't have to worry about it when they're a

spk_0 toddler you can you know it's some it's fun it's neat to have them there with you and especially if

spk_0 you only have a toddler you can't be watching them and have them you know in the kitchen they can't

spk_0 be running all around the house and so you have to have some way to keep them busy in the kitchen and

spk_0 having them up on a toddler tower is a great way to do that my sister my younger sister has one baby

spk_0 right now one toddler and she has the tower and that keeps her daughter around her when she's cooking

spk_0 so it's not a bad thing i'm just always trying to encourage moms because i wish somebody had told

spk_0 me that i was stressing out about too many things and kind of making it not fun and i was taking a time

spk_0 of life where i look back now and think oh that should have honestly been easy and i made it hard

spk_0 by worrying about so many things and maybe you're not even worried about it i might have read way too far

spk_0 into that question like man i wasn't worried i wasn't that worried about it wow i just tell this to my

spk_0 younger sister all the time because she says certain things and i'm like oh that's not something you

spk_0 have to worry about that's going to be okay that'll that'll come later and it takes context to kind

spk_0 of realize that okay highly some curious of your experiences with mold after living in so many old

spk_0 houses and if you have had to do any remediation if so what did it look like for you we live in a

spk_0 1923 farmhouse in Tennessee and are dealing with some mold issues also are you doing anything in your

spk_0 new build to make it more resistant to mold i can tell you that people are mold is something you hear

spk_0 about a lot more today that's not something i worried about at all at my first house but then we did

spk_0 have an issue in our second house now we didn't have any symptoms so i know a lot of times people

spk_0 will have symptoms we didn't we just had a my cousin was over i forget why i had him up there

spk_0 in the attic but he's a home inspector he saw our attic and he's like you've got to do something

spk_0 about this because it wasn't properly ventilated of course when we sold we disclosed all of that but we

spk_0 had it remediated this was very early on when we bought our house so we lived you know there five

spk_0 years after it was remediated never had an issue again because we put in the proper ventilation

spk_0 and we had it remediated so it really wasn't an issue because it was isolated to the attic so it was

spk_0 easy i mean it wasn't cheap by any stretch to have a mold company come in fix it and then put

spk_0 in the proper ventilation in the attic it wasn't a cheap process but it was taken care of properly

spk_0 we never experienced any more issues i have had so many comments in our new build process

spk_0 from dm's from youtube commenters who are telling me all the things about like they're very very

spk_0 very concerned about mold and so i've done some research and realized that mold is something that

spk_0 can happen in a new build pretty easily too which i wouldn't have thought partially i want to

spk_0 bury my head in the sand and just not worry about it because i get so many dm's and comments and

spk_0 people who are well-meaning but i get so many that i'm like uh another thing to worry about now

spk_0 but one thing that i think is that we're going to do is when everything is finally all sealed up we're

spk_0 working on siding this week and we'll you know soon have insulation all that we're going to run

spk_0 what i read online was to run a dehumidifier in on every level so basement first floor second floor

spk_0 than we even have an attic so for dehumidifiers going i was asking my builder about it and he said since

spk_0 we have two chimneys that one of the things we should do is we should quickly get a wood stove

spk_0 in there even if it's not like the final configuration for everything and start burning wood

spk_0 fires because that really dries out the air so i don't know if we'll do that or if we'll just

spk_0 that you should run a dehumidifier on every level in a new build for minimum of a year after

spk_0 the bills and i'm not really sure why new homes are so susceptible to mold but apparently they are

spk_0 and then of course ventilation is really really important if you have a contractor or a builder

spk_0 they should know that already but still like i'm kind of a micromanager when it comes all of this

spk_0 i will be asking lots of questions when it comes to that part as well making sure that

spk_0 we're not going to have any issues but that's about all i know and i'm sure i'll get a lot of

spk_0 you who know more about it and i do appreciate the feedback but i had somebody tell me the dehumidifier

spk_0 and told me that we need to redo all of the sheathing on our house because if you have the type of

spk_0 sheathing we have you'll for sure have mold which i'm skeptical of that claim because

spk_0 every single person in in my state uses the same type of sheathing so i'm skeptical that it

spk_0 would that every single house i've ever seen or been in all have mold if they're a new build

spk_0 but again i appreciate the feedback but then sometimes people say things that are like okay well

spk_0 are we really going to redo all of the sheathing on our our entire house based on an instagram

spk_0 and all it really ends up doing for me is just making me like oh i'm so stressed there's

spk_0 with a home build there's always some new thing to worry about and some new thing to stress about

spk_0 which i'm trying to not let happen but it's hard and i'll be really happy when we're all

spk_0 completely on the other side of it even though it's quite a long haul especially with the type of

spk_0 house we're building but and i don't want to ignore things i don't just want to say you know

spk_0 lala lala that's not a problem but it's it can be a little bit overwhelming let's put it that way

spk_0 okay should i touch this topic i don't know it's not that controversial it's just a couch question

spk_0 somebody says i'm looking for a good couch for our living room that will hold up to my four kids

spk_0 jumping all over it i know you've mentioned that your couch is completely washable and i'm curious

spk_0 what brand it is also do you absolutely love it is it holding up well or is it just okay

spk_0 so i do not like calling out brands specifically i do not so if you know the modular sofa

spk_0 that's been floating around the internet okay actually let me say this let me say this

spk_0 if you are planning to get a modular sofa like the one i have in my living room with all of the

spk_0 washable covers make sure that it one hooks together like each modular piece

spk_0 fastens together in a very secure way that cannot be undone easily with like you said for kids

spk_0 jumping all over it make sure also that the cushions have some kind of velcro on the back

spk_0 so that they don't sag down the second somebody jumps all over it and make sure that the bottom

spk_0 cushions have that as well so if they don't have all of those things it is the worst couch

spk_0 you've ever had will regret spending a dime on it because every time you go in your living room

spk_0 it will look terrible if you freshly pull down all of the this and other thing the covers okay so

spk_0 make sure that the covers stay securely over the frame so if it's an ugly frame but it has a nice

spk_0 cover over it great but if a kid jumps on it and that cover pulls up and you see the ugly frame

spk_0 underneath pretty much nine times out of 10 on every single piece then i would walk away from that

spk_0 sofa so this is what happens with ours if i go in and i pull first remove all the cushions which

spk_0 we have a massive one because i thought this will be great we have kind of an open concept living

spk_0 room in the current house that we're in it'll be nice to kind of section off the rooms because there's

spk_0 two actually there's basically three sides to it so it kind of creates like a visual barrier from

spk_0 the other spaces in the home and our entire family can sit on this which we have a big family

spk_0 which we also never also on the couch at the same time so i don't know why i thought i needed it

spk_0 thought maybe we would if we had such a thing so when it's looking to shoveled which is literally

spk_0 every moment of every day i go in the living room i first remove all of the cushions pull down the

spk_0 cover that covers the little like tent-like berry you know just ugly base let's say that pull

spk_0 down every single cover make sure they're perfectly covering the feet of the ugly base then put

spk_0 all the cushions on really nice so the seat cushions the back cushions prop them up so they're

spk_0 actually upright not sag down or pulled forward this all takes about 10 minutes and then i

spk_0 readjust all of the pieces that are modular to fit together re-vell chrome because they come apart

spk_0 and i walk and i step back and it looks beautiful and then if one kid jumps on it they push the

spk_0 modular piece out of place they sag they they it it pushes up the seat cushion pulls up the covers

spk_0 so now we're exposing the ugly frame of the couch and then the back sags down so if any of those

spk_0 things can happen no matter what modular removable brand you're looking for i recommend getting

spk_0 something else so i will not be putting this in our new house i'm trying to sell Luke on it going

spk_0 out in the barn loft because that's where the boys are going to hang out and i'm not going to

spk_0 really worry about how it looks and to be nice and comfy so i think that we'll either we'll probably

spk_0 keep it and put it out there or at least part of it it's it's pretty big and i don't want to be a

spk_0 complainer i just letting you know that if any of those things happen with the sofa the modular

spk_0 sofa the removable cover sofa you're looking at i would just go in a different direction with it

spk_0 so that's all say about that someone asked how do you keep mice out of your pantry so we have

spk_0 definitely had mice in our homes before i don't think we currently have any in this house

spk_0 and we just use the classic well of course they can be dangerous with toddlers but we use the

spk_0 classic traps you know with just the wooden ones with that snapback we have to make sure we

spk_0 put them out at night when kids are in bed and then remove them in the morning but they usually

spk_0 overnight will catch them out if you have one they're pretty reliable when it comes to that i'd say

spk_0 the biggest key is to make sure your grains are stored properly so we use five gallon buckets with

spk_0 gamilids for our whole grains that really helps it also helps with the little moths that get in there

spk_0 but even still you know you're getting some grains in some any ingredients out of your bags or your

spk_0 canisters or your buckets and you get a little bit on the floor there's always something to feast on

spk_0 for a mouse especially when you have a lot of kids you're not going to keep your house perfectly clean

spk_0 with bits of food not on the ground and so just trapping them is kind of the only thing and then also

spk_0 possibly a cat but we don't really love having indoor cats because we have definitely had hardwood

spk_0 floors damaged with cats peeing on them before and so we don't even like having cats in for any

spk_0 amount of time because we're afraid that's what's going to happen now when i have my windows open a

spk_0 cat will kind of jump in but we mostly try to keep them outside so just the traps is the only thing I can

spk_0 say and then trying to keep as much food off the ground as possible which i know is only so easy

spk_0 it's not easy okay highly said i've been following you for a few years and love your content thank

spk_0 you very much i'm wondering how all this started for you when and why did you decide to start your

spk_0 blog and how did that evolve into all you do today at what point did you realize that you were

spk_0 influencing and start considering content creation as your family's main income was that always the

spk_0 goal or is it all bigger than you would imagine so first of all it was always the goal to earn a

spk_0 little income with it that was the goal from the beginning and about a year in luke and i made a

spk_0 hard goal and deadline for when we could do it full time and within two years that was the case

spk_0 however is it bigger than i'd imagine oh man just leaps and leaps and bounds bigger than i

spk_0 imagine but i couldn't also imagine all the things that would come along after so when i started my

spk_0 blog maybe instagram was the thing but if it was it was brand new and i probably didn't know about it

spk_0 so instagram wasn't really on the radar i don't i didn't know about any podcasts i'm sure

spk_0 there were podcasts i just didn't know about them and only i feel like at that time youtube was like

spk_0 cat videos and memes and stuff like that little viral things and so i don't think i understood

spk_0 how many avenues one could take online at that time or different avenues for revenue so it's way

spk_0 bigger than i thought just can't even believe how many people it reaches at this point it started with

spk_0 a blog i had an Etsy shop at that time where i sold little handmade things that i made things sold

spk_0 pretty well and i thought oh if i have a blog then people will i will get traffic to the blog and

spk_0 then people will find out about my Etsy shop because i'll link it on there so i was thinking oh this

spk_0 will be a good way to like promote a business but then i learned after i'd say a few months of

spk_0 doing that that there was potential in just the content creation alone again i could never see

spk_0 that content creation would be what it is today with plays like short videos and all of these

spk_0 different ways of of doing affiliate income and in courses and ads and all this kind of stuff i

spk_0 don't think i would have understood that at all i definitely did it i didn't really know how it would

spk_0 you know how it would actually happen but it's just been kind of one foot in front of the other

spk_0 started with the blog i did a facebook account which i still have today a far more so i moved

spk_0 facebook account i moved on to instagram shortly after and then three or after that i did youtube i

spk_0 started the podcast a few years after that so i've been at this for well almost exactly 10 years

spk_0 ago now so it's been a while my son that was a baby when i started it is now 10 so it's just been

spk_0 a little bit of effort every single day for the past 10 years is what it's been did you go to college

spk_0 if so what did you study so i did go to college i graduated in 2007 and i did business marketing but

spk_0 it's funny because now that degree is was so outdated because in oh seven i mean i'm sure

spk_0 there were blogs there were blogs but it wasn't a big thing there was no i think i'd heard about

spk_0 facebook around 2007 but the world of marketing is just a completely different world at this point

spk_0 so i i don't know i don't really feel like it necessarily helped me i think i already had a mindset

spk_0 towards entrepreneurship and i went to college because it was the next step and i picked business

spk_0 because it was the most generic side no idea what i wanted to do i ended up getting married within

spk_0 just months of graduating so i never actually went and got an official job with like a corporation

spk_0 i got married in oh seven had my daughter in oh eight so i never even ended up going to work at all

spk_0 ooh guilty pleasure food hmm so i hesitate to tell you this because i told my sister

spk_0 and since we live in the same town where there's only one grocery store i told her about a food that

spk_0 was so delicious that she needed to try it while she did and then she got all of the rest of them

spk_0 and for like two or three days i couldn't go get it because i told somebody that lives in my own

spk_0 town so what i'm saying is if you want to make sure that they have this at your local grocery store

spk_0 don't tell somebody who lives close to you unless there's another place to get it within a

spk_0 reasonable driving distance so all that to say hog and dots peanut butter it comes in a little

spk_0 half pint or what's the measurement pint no i think that's half pint it comes in the small

spk_0 containers like a sort of like the bin and jerry's hog and dots peanut butter it is the best ice cream

spk_0 i really was selling my sister on i was like you have to try this it's the best ice cream known to

spk_0 man and i really oversolded but the next time i saw her she was like i tried the ice cream and she

spk_0 completely agreed so if you like peanut butter and chocolate um i would say that i don't even know

spk_0 if it's too guilty pleasure because it's actually pretty clean ingredients hog and dots is however

spk_0 it would be better if we made our own ice cream from raw milk which we do but it's just not that good

spk_0 i mean it's good but it's just not that good okay at what age are you able to leave your baby to

spk_0 go on vacation my husband and i are tentatively planning a trip next spring my baby will be 14

spk_0 months old but i'm not sure she will be able to nap and sleep without me okay hold on how

spk_0 far away is this okay next spring so right now your baby's probably only like eight months so

spk_0 okay you say um currently she nurses sleep co-sleeps and nurses throughout the night i can tell you

spk_0 only from my experience because there is going to be so many moms in the audience who are like oh no

spk_0 no no like 14 months wouldn't have worked for me i can tell you that i'm exactly where you are at eight

spk_0 sleeping with me all night um contact napping in the wrap nursing the sleep co-sleeping all that kind

spk_0 of stuff but by 14 months uh ever all of that has changed now i'm not sure i'd go on a long trip

spk_0 because i think i'd be a little afraid that i would lose my milk supply or the baby would forget

spk_0 to nurse even though any experience i have with that is babies don't really forget to nurse

spk_0 but i think it's slightly a risk at that age and if so it only if you're comfortable with that

spk_0 possibly happening so i would still be nervous for more than like two or three days at 14 months

spk_0 but i can tell you that i have officially they do sleep through the night around that age and they

spk_0 nap and it's everything about that whole situation those six months make such a massive difference

spk_0 at least for me in my children so for me 14 months i'd be comfortable planning maybe like a three

spk_0 night trip or two or three night trip if i could get someone to watch all the kids i would be

spk_0 comfortable with that all right i will take one more this will be a converting recipes to sourdough

spk_0 question hardly so maybe you've answered this before but can you talk about how to convert your

spk_0 favorite recipe into a sourdough recipe we have so many family favorite bread cookie and cake

spk_0 recipes i want to keep making them but with the benefits of sourdough knowing that of course

spk_0 they'll taste somewhat different my family will rebel if they never get their favorites anywhere but

spk_0 i'm not sure how to convert them to you sourdough starter so this is super simple and i do have

spk_0 a tutorial on my blog and and in my book but at that time i was doing where i was removing so to make

spk_0 it precise you can remove same amount of liquid and flour from the recipe as you're adding in for

spk_0 the sourdough starter but to make it not that precise but also perfectly delicious you can just add

spk_0 in a little bit of sourdough starter and with it being equal parts ish flour and water it works

spk_0 just fine so for an example with a bread recipe i would in place of the yeast probably add about a

spk_0 half cup of sourdough starter and then allow for longer rice times during the first rise and the

spk_0 second rise after shaping for a cookie recipe i would after creaming the butter and sugar adding

spk_0 the eggs in vanilla adding in a sourdough starter then adding in all the dry ingredients and then

spk_0 putting it in the refrigerator for about three days to cold ferment so scones and cookies i would do

spk_0 it that way for cake i would take all of the flour from a recipe add the liquids and the sourdough

spk_0 starter and let just that portion sit on the counter and ferment and then the next day add in the

spk_0 leaveners and the eggs or anything else like that now you could add all of the ingredients together

spk_0 by finding the leaveners are a bit more active when you add them at the end and then with cookies the

spk_0 reason that i'm not doing it that way is because we want to keep the butter cold so that's kind of

spk_0 my typical rule of thumb so something like muffins cakes would just be starter liquid and flour

spk_0 letting that sit out then adding in the rest of the ingredients cookies adding in the starter

spk_0 after the eggs and vanilla and then mixing all the dough up putting it in the fridge for three days

spk_0 to ferment with the liquid batters i would say just about 12 hours at room temperature and then for

spk_0 breads following the exact recipe except substituting out a little bit of starter in place of the

spk_0 yeast and doing longer rice times that pretty much covers all of the basics and it's really simple

spk_0 it's kind of the same with whole grains once you get the hang of how much whole grain you use

spk_0 per cup of flour and then which whole grains are best for which types of recipes are just a few

spk_0 key things to know and then it's easy to swap whole grains for all purpose in nearly any application

spk_0 now i do this on my youtube channel constantly so over on my main channel farmas on boon i am always

spk_0 showing how i substitute whole grains out for regular flour in breads and cookies and cakes i

spk_0 almost exclusively use whole grains now and i feel like i have the hang of it and i would have

spk_0 reliable results on it turning out like it's not just experiment anymore now i do have a course called

spk_0 freshly milled grains we'll leave that link in the description box below if you want to see that

spk_0 all packaged up in a course format but it also is over on my youtube channel just in my everyday

spk_0 vlogs i'm always kind of showing that over there all right well thank you so much for listening to

spk_0 this episode of the simple farmas life podcast if you want to submit questions we have a google

spk_0 over at b it dot l y forward slash capital s capital f capital l overcase questions will also

spk_0 leave that link down below so that you could submit your questions for the next solo episode and i

spk_0 will see you in the next one thanks as always for listening to the simple farmas life podcast my

spk_0 husband luke and i and our eight kids worked together side by side on our little homestead and

spk_0 use our blog podcast and youtube channel to reach other home makers home cooks and home centers with

spk_0 practical recipes and daily family life for everyday sourdough recipes make sure to check out our

spk_0 blog farmhouse on boon.com and to dig deeper we do also offer a course called simple sourdough

spk_0 over at bit b it dot l y forward slash farmhouse sourdough course that's all one word bit.ly forward

spk_0 slash farmhouse sourdough course if you're looking to learn how we earn it in come online check out

spk_0 my youtube course at bit dot l y forward slash farmhouse youtube course all one word

310. Baby #9 Came Early! Birth Story Surprises & Life as a Family of 11

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