Watching these two little gals become friends just fills my heart with joy. Lucy is completely smitten with her baby sister and likes to narrate her cooking exploits to her captive audience. She's also very serious about nursing her "doll-doll," although she could use some help on the positioning. On the Homestead: I think Daniel is brewing about 10 gallons of alcohol on our counter. The … [Read more...]

Be still my heart. My little Gwen Stella is such a ray of sunshine. I have been swooning over her smiles all week. And in the midst of that joy, my heart is so heavy for the sorrows of sweet friends who have lost babies, mothers, and husbands this week. Please say a special prayer for Dwija's family and for their precious little son, Nicholas who passed away at 21 weeks gestation after 7 weeks … [Read more...]

This little gal has settled in big sisterhood so beautifully. I am just gobbling her up these days. On the Homestead: It's been rainy and muggy, but we've gotten some great produce from our garden: Prep for an Italian meal in honor of St. Maria Goretti. Tomatoes, herbs, and peppers all from our front yard! And this guy harvested our first watermelon of the summer and won an 8k for his … [Read more...]

We are falling more in love with our little Gwen Stellamaris each day. If I didn't make her mad by choking her with milk due to the overactive letdown, she would be happy all day every day. (Thanks for your breastfeeding advice, folks, I'm reclining back to nurse and block feeding for 12 hours and then switching to the other side and that seems to help somewhat. I'm hoping it will be more under … [Read more...]

On June 15th, Baby Gwen was baptized and we were thrilled to have another little Catholic under our roof. The smell of the holy oil on a newborn's head has to be the best smell in creation. Gwen and Father. And she doesn't know it yet, but Gwen has the world's sweetest most wonderful Godmother ever! On the Homestead: It's a good thing we like peppers because they're coming out of our … [Read more...]

It's been forever since I've done a This Week's Miscellany so feel free to skip this if you don't want some long-windedness! And if you haven't switched over to Bloglovin' or Feedly from Google Reader, be sure to add Carrots to your new reader so you don't miss any posts (or subscribe via email on the left sidebar). Life at the Stewart household is slowly transitioning from the chaos of adding … [Read more...]

I imagine that seeing a 40+ weeks pregnant woman chasing escaped chickens around her yard has to be one of the funnier things in life. You're welcome, neighbors! Hope you enjoyed that! Those little stinkers got out of the coop while Daniel was at work and I felt both ridiculous and slightly awesome that I managed to get everybody back inside. Pregnancy Update: 41 weeks tomorrow! Baby Gwen is … [Read more...]

Three things jump out at me when I see this picture from Sunday: 1. I look tired. (Accurate portrayal. At 39+ weeks, I'm exhausted.) 2. My son's face! Goofiest smile ever! 3. Daniel's beard is OUT OF CONTROL. Pregnancy Update: Nothing exciting to report. Well, being this close to having a new beautiful baby is certainly exciting! But nothing dramatic to report. Baby Gwen seems … [Read more...]

Things I learned this week: bathroom remodels take twice as long as you think they will. And my in-laws are saintly folk. We were displaced from our little urban homestead for 11 days while our one bathroom got demoldyfied/ventilated/re-tiled and installed with a new bathtub, sink, and toilet. It was a moldy dungeon and now I feel like I'm bathing at a fancy hotel! Yay! The downside was just … [Read more...]