A New Chapter

Hello folks, how y'all doing??

Once again, I've been MIA, but I'm sure y'all are used to it by now. Honestly, half the time I tell myself I should can this whole blogging thing. But alas, I love it too much and therefore have started ANOTHER blog. Yes, you read correctly. Miss Once-Every-Two-Months-Blogger has started a second blog.

Don't be alarmed, The Hohman Homestead is not getting canned and hopefully will one day (soon!) be running at full-tilt again. But, I had this little (ok, maybe not so little) squishable, kissable, loveable baby about 5 months ago and well, people are demanding photo updates. So I'm here today to announce:

Russell-Mania

The posting style there will be much different than here at the Homestead, hence why I started a whole new she-bang. Each post will consist of a date, Baby H's age at that time, and a slew of photos. But NO WORDS. Making it much easier for me to get some posting done. :)

And now, on to the real new chapter. Cowboy H and I (and well, the whole entire herd) are packing up and moving out. Yup, after all the sweat and dirt (literally) and tears (not really) and hours of improvement we've poured into this home, we're moving on.

While things are going to be a little complicated at first (think 2 adults, 3 cats, 2 dogs, 2 horses and 1 baby moving into my parents' house) eventually we will be moving onto a 2 acre piece of property, complete with horse pens, a chicken coop, a pump house, a brick patio and a GIANT avocado tree just to name a few amenities. (Wow, that was a really long sentence.) The home is a 150+ year old farm house that my family has owned for many, many years. It was originally bought by my grandmother's parents (yep, my great-grandparents). My parents actually lived here when they first got married and so did I until I was about 5 years old.

The first phase of the move has already been completed; Crow and Maria have already been relocated to the back pasture of my parents house, where I'm sure they're getting even fatter. And just in time for Thanksgiving dinner, the rest of the Homestead will be snuggled closely (and tightly) into my parents' house as well.

Wish us (lots and lots and lots) of luck!

A Few Things

1. Baby H is 3 months old now! (Yes, its been 3 months and I've only blogged about him once. Shut your mouth.) He is growing at an exponential rate; he weighs 19 pounds already! All of his clothes are 6 or 9 months and the 6 months I should probably rotate out since they look like little muscle shirts on him. He talks and laughs up a storm, especially when you stick your tongue out at him, or show him a mirror. He is almost sitting up on his own, but still kinda dumps over forward or sideways. He's very close to rolling over, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. He loves water and bathtime and lounging in the backyard naked. He's grabbing anything that gets near him and of course, everything goes in his mouth now. It's all so amazing!

2. My laptop is dead. RIP Macbook Pro. You were only 2 years old. Yep, my precious, beloved computer is dead. It was sitting on the backyard grass after a naked baby session when the sprinklers accidentally came on and soaked it. For a minute solid. Fortunately, all my data (and baby photos!) is undamaged and safe, but the circuit board of the laptop was fried. So, blogging may (still) be slow while I get used to using Cowboy H's computer and get all my data/programs transferred over to it.

3. This mama is now a stay-at-home mama! That's right folks. Cowboy H and I saved and scraped together anything we could from my disability/maternity leave pay to make it possible. I am trying to get something going with my photography, but its slow-going at this point. You would think that would leave me more time for blogging, but no, that just means I get to spend more time with this guy:

All of these photos are OLD; from when he was 6 weeks or younger. He is so much bigger now!! I'm working on getting the more recent photos processed and uploaded now that I have the data from my computer back. (Sniff, sniff)

4. Speaking of my photography, I donated a few photographs to a fundraiser for the ranch where we keep our horses. The facility does a lot of equine rescue and holds fundraisers every so often. They always put my photos in the silent auction and they are always a big hit. This time, Cowboy H made some killer frames for the photos, but I didn't take pictures of the finished products. Here, however, are the photos:

The first four I had printed in 8" x 12" size and framed them with Cowboy H's old wood frames. The last two I had printed as 4" x 6" and put them together in a double frame. They all turned out awesome. If you would like any of the above photos, shoot me an email or drop a comment!

Until next time (whenever that might be)!!

The Nursery

For the past several months, Cowboy H and I have been undertaking a major home improvement project. Okay, who am I kidding, Cowboy H has been doing all the work, since a) I am more trouble than help when I paint, and b) I was pretty pregnant for most of the time. For the most part, we are simply replacing all the flooring and painting all the walls in the entire house. However, there was one extra special room.

WE GOT TO MAKE A NURSERY!!!

Hee hee. Although I haven't taken many pictures of the entire project, I will eventually show you the new and improved Homestead. But for now, my new favorite room in the house…

The idea for the nursery was inspired by this shelf:

which was given to us by the ever generous Desert Rose, as well as a certain red vintage cowboy fabric crib set owned by the same lady. (Hint, hint.)

The combination of the two led me to the idea of a vintage desert cowboy "theme". I wanted muted, calming colors that reminded me of the desert.

We purchased the crib and dresser/changing table set used from one of the veterinarians I work with. The quality of the furniture is amazing; its already been through three kids and hardly has a scratch on it. The rocking chair was used by my mom when my brother and I were babies; my dad and brother refinished/painted it for me. The border was hand painted by me, using stencils that I made after wasting too many hours searching online for just the right stencils to match the image in my head. The wall artwork are Will James (of Smokey the Cow Horse fame) pencil sketch reproductions. The crib set was made for me by an extremely talented aunt after I was unable to sequester the above mentioned set. This crazy (in a good way) aunt of mine made everything: sheets, crib skirt, bumper pad, quilt changing pad covers, towels, washcloths, pillows, window valence using fabric I purchased online.

Bumper pad


Crib pillow


Window valence

And yes, those were baby chinks you saw:

Don't worry, he already has the Wranglers to go with them.

First Father's Day

I apologize in advance to those of you who want to be updated on Homestead projects (which there are PLENTY, including one happening right now), or the doggies, or our equine children, or the rest of the wedding, or the honeymoon we took last year, or anything else I've alluded to but never posted about. We kinda have baby fever over here, and well, its gonna spill over into this blog.

But at least I'm blogging!

For the first time, Cowboy H celebrated Father's Day with a fur-less, two-legged being this year. And it just kills me dead.

Too bad Baby H has such a sad face in this photo

And lest you think Hank has been kicked to the curb…

Hope y'all had a wonderful Father's Day as well!

Look Who's Here!!

That's right, the newest member of our family has arrived!

Born May 23, 2011 at 3:04 am, Baby H weighed in at 8 pounds, 15 ounces and measured 21 inches. And that was after passing his first poops while still in my belly. Just a small fry, ya know.

I promise that I will update y'all with more baby pics, labor/delivery details (or not), the finished nursery and just life in general with a newborn. It may take a while however, since I am resigned to typing with one hand while the other holds Baby H who, after 3 weeks, will no longer sleep unless held.

Until then, here's a few more photos to hold you over.

Two Cities, Two Trails

Since most of us are either under 2 feet of snow or 8 inches of rain, I have some trail eye-candy to share with you. (Nevermind that these photos were taken last month…)

First up, Cowboy H and I rode out from our ranch into the local State Park with a few other residents boarders. It was a gorgeous day!

From January 16:

Love the snow-capped mountains nearby!






Here I am on my mount (Maria was lame). Isn't he handsome? I am five and a half months pregnant here.

A week or so later, Cowboy H and I headed out to the desert for a little ride with the Desert Rose. We lucked out and landed another gorgeous day!

From January 25:

Cheers! Of course.


Isn't she fabulous!


Cowboy H and I borrowed horses instead of hauling ours all the way out there. I am nearly six months pregnant here. Photo courtesy of the Desert Rose.




There was water everywhere; it was so refreshing!

Hope y'all enjoyed a glimpse of what all this stormy weather will give way to in a few months. Stay safe and warm!

The Deets On Baby H

Due: Middle Of May. May 21 if you're one of those specific dates people. However, I am the Maid of Honor in a wedding on that exact day, so I'm (wishfully) going with "middle of May".

Gestational Age: (So you don't have to calculate it yourselves.) 6 months, 1 week. Or 25 weeks.

Gender: Yes, Baby H is a confirmed boy. My use of "he" in my previous post was not accidental.

The Day We Found Out: Sept. 14. In fact, it was the day before the photo of us in the previous post was taken.

First Time I Felt The Punk Kick: Dec. 11. I was 17 weeks exactly.

Yes, I was very very sick. The nausea (and vomiting) lasted well past my first trimester. I lost 5 pounds before I bottomed out.

Yes, I'm still wearing normal jeans (unbuttoned of course). The only maternity clothes I have purchased so far are a few tops. (We're cheap-asses.)

Yes, I am still working. I hopefully will be able to work until about the week before Baby H debuts. And yes, I will go back to work shortly after his birth, as much as I will hate it.

Yes, I am still working out, although I had to take an extended break when I was sick. At this point, I'm back to 3 times a week. I treadmill one day, strength-train (weights) another day and swim the last day. Although, I need to upgrade from my high school water polo swimsuit soon…

And lastly, yes, I am still riding. In fact, Cowboy H and I went on two longish rides (4-5 hours) in the last few weeks, and I have photos! I'll share them with you soon; the rides were just beautiful.

I can share all the gory (and precious) details with you if you want. Ask away!

Tap Tap… Is This Thing On?

The most recent photo I have of Cowboy H and I, taken in September of last year.

Hello? Anybody out there?

Anybody?

As I begin to write my first post in, oh, seven months, I wonder if I will even show up on anybody's feed anymore. Heh heh, that's okay, we'll all gotta start (over) somewhere.

This is seriously the first time I have even logged into my blogger account in about 6 months. It took me approximately 7 tries to get my user name and password combination correct. Then I couldn't remember how to navigate my account once logged in. Lastly, I can't remember how to write html format anymore!!!

I'm surprised my account is still active…

I never, ever intended to stop blogging, but once I had been MIA for so long, I felt weird coming back. I didn't know where to start, what to say.

Then, I lost all motivation. My schedule calmed down and I actually had some time to blog, but I just couldn't talk myself into logging in. I didn't feel like a blogger anymore.

Not sure if I even can call myself a blogger anymore…

Moving on. I miss y'all!! (Seriously, is anyone still there?)

I'm not sure if I'm back for good, but I really really really want to be back. So much has happened that I haven't documented (you know, its been almost a year) that I'm starting to forget it all. And really, while establishing wonderful connections with all my readers/commenters has been a big plus, the main reason I started this blog was to record and remember the story and adventures of The Homestead.

Speaking of The Homestead…

Its still standing. It didn't get washed away or flooded out during the Southern California Christmas-time Downpours.

But that's about all that's stayed the same.

Well, the number of family members has stayed the same.

But, that too will be changing soon.

Oh yes, we are doing it again.

Only this time, the newest member won't be here till May.

And he'll have 2 legs instead of 4.

And (hopefully) he won't be covered in fur.