{this moment}

A Friday ritual Inspired by SouleMama

A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

 

 

If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see      

34

Yesterday I turned 34, my birthday was celebrated quietly just like I wanted. It's my last birthday without kids and all my presents revolved around presents for the twins (just as I had hoped).

{this moment}

A Friday ritual Inspired by SouleMama

A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

 

 

Baby A 25 weeks 3 days

Baby B 25 weeks 3 days

If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see      

Choice Mom

For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a mom and there was never a doubt in my mind that one day I would be a mom. I just never really found the right guy, who would be the dad and who I could spend the rest of my life with.

From very early on, I figured that I would not mind raising a child alone if I didn't find the right guy and I put my early 30s, down as my own deadline. 

It was in 2007 when I first found out about using sperm donation to become a parent and I have done reasearch on this topic ever since. In later years I also looked into the possibilities of adoption and IVF. The deadline that I gave my self was that when I turned 30 and had no partner, I would go and become a single mom by choice (SMC). 

I started my first round of ttc (trying to conceive) in January 2012. It took 3 different donors and several unsuccessful attempts before I fell pregnant on the first try with my 3^rd donor. 

Insemination happened on September 7^th and ovulation was on September 8^th, so as before the timing was perfect. My period was due on Septemebr 22^nd but I had no real symptoms that shouted out pregnancy to me. I had resigned my self to the fact that it was another negative, even when I tested on the 23^rd I was sure it was a negative, so when within minutes of me peeing on the stick the test turned positive, I was positively shocked. I hugged my dogs and told them that we are pregnant and could not believe it. It took a while to sink in,in fact, a week later I tested again, just to be sure that I was still pregnant. 

My first doctors appointment was on October 17^th and it was nerve wracking to wait that long. 

I had no symptoms that said ‘pregnant’ so I  was scared that there was no heartbeat but I also had no bleeding, so things should have been OK but all I wanted was to hear the doctor say, all is well. And he did tell me all is well with both babies… that’s how I found out that I was not only pregnant but also expecting fraternal twins. Was I shocked, yes, for a nano-second I was shocked, I always joked around that I would like to have twins, but never expected to be blessed with twins, as they don’t run in the family. I was more happy then shocked to be honest but once I got home and settled down, the reality of twins settled in and for an hour or so I panicked about how I would manage twins financially and figured I would just make it work, like I make anything else work when I set my mind to it.

I told my mom that I was pregnant on her birthday (by that time I was just a day or so short of being 10 weeks pregnant) and she is so happy to becoming an ‘Omi’ (German for grandma), I was not able to stop her from telling everyone. 

The pregnancy so far is going well, I have had no issues and the twins development is right on track. In fact they have consistently been a week ahead of schedule, so that we have no changed the due date to end of May, instead of early June. 

Bedroom

2015

"Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with the dream" - Josephine Nuese

2015 will be a different year on my urban homestead then 2013 and 2014. With the soon to be birth of the twins (right during planting season), things will be out of sync. Even during the fall of last year I could not prepare the land as much as I wanted and now I don’t know how much I am able to do before the twins are born (or what I am able to do after the birth).

My goals for this year have been cut right back, I have reduced the rabbits to zero for the time being, as it’s too much work for one pregnant person to muck out the rabbits weekly but I hope that come fall I find a young doe to re-start raising meat rabbits. And to be fair, due to last years success with the meat rabbits I still have 12 rabbits in the freezer, which will last me for the next 12 month. 

The berry bushes will tend to themselves, so other then making sure they are weed free, there is not much to do. As the berries (raspberries, currants, gooseberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries) will be ready for harvest well after the babies are born, I don’t see much of a problem there. I have planted many raspberries along the fence line last summer/fall and so far they look good, so here is to hoping I will get many raspberries. I am currently using up the last of the frozen berries from last year and will most likely finish them by mid March (at the latest). That was a nice and decent harvest last year.

Planting the tomatoes is not an issue either, as I grow them close to the house in pods, so again they are easy to maintain. Biggest cut back this year will be in the main garden. I only plan on my favorites for this year and what I think I can easily handle. So far I plan on peas (early and late), onions (some have already been planted), salad, radish, cucumbers and possibly carrots. 

That’s way less then in others years and leaves a lot of space that my mom will use but she already thought that she will add potatoes to her usual harvest of beans.

There is also some work that needs to be done around the garden. There is a small plot of grass and weeds where I started to work on putting raised beds but at the moment I am stuck to do anything else and I guess, the work will have to wait until summer, so that I end up with raised beds for next year.

I hope that the main work will only start after the twins and that come end of June I am able to spend an hour or two per day in the garden to look after things.But again, I see how it works and if it doesn’t work out then it doesn’t, I won’t stress about it.

Also I do look forward to spend the weekend looking at seeds an maybe do some indoor planting on several seeds in the very near future.