OK, I've been giving some thought to separating out my farm stuff into it's own blog.

Since I'm no longer preggers (for now!) and not tired and pukey or huge and awkward, I have been able to work out in my barnyard more and return to being more hands-on with the farm. Subsequently, all that farm stuff has crept into this blog. It's a big part of my life and a key to my thriftiness since we produce not only extra income but our own eggs, milk, cheese, and meat.

I also want to, when money and time permit, begin serious restoration on my house (a victorian farm house built in 1886), and will certainly blog excitedly about it, lol.

But while I find all of this thrilling (who wouldn't get pumped at building and mounting a drive-through gate for goodness' sake?!) I don't want to bore the average mommy / reader who might be totally uninterested.

What do you think?

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So, on to some baby stuff!

Is it incredibly telling that my Bitty Girl's first 'words' were "Oww" and "Uh-oh"? I'm not kidding. There is nothing in this world more chilling than having your three-and-a-half-year-old, your two-and-a-half-year-old, and your 18-month-old playing in another room and hear a CRASH, a cry (Tall Girl), garbled words (Boy), then a sinister silence followed by Bitty girl singing out happily:"UH-oh!".

It's these sorts of scenarios that cause your brain to whisper: Run! Just run! Out the back door and far, far away. Go! Save yourself for pity's sake!

And howcome this always happens just when you've gotten comfortable with your 2-month-old on your lap and latched on to the boobie? Jeez.

My youngest daughter, Bitty Girl, has only 3 speeds: Grinningly Happy, Briefly Outraged, and Asleep. This is the happiest baby I know. Hell, she's the happiest baby I've ever heard of.

She does, however, have a stunning Sibling Proximity Alert in the form of an excruciatingly ear-splitting scream. Now I'm not talking some common, loud, girly scream. I mean a shrill, glass-shattering screech that sounds like a special effect sound out of some Sci-Fi film at the point where the good guys break into the room where the evil computer's mainframe is housed.

This is a new thing with her (the proximity alert, not the scream - she's been practicing that one for awhile) and falls under the above Breifly Outraged category. You can tell that she's a Third Child. As far as she's concerned her sibs only approach her to 1) steal her lovey, 2) shove her down, or 3) eat her brain. OK, that last one's not likely, but don't try to tell her that.

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Speaking of thrift, I wanted to (finally) share some cool email lists that I get. I will try to put them up as links on my sidebar soon. I only subscribe to free ones (Natch!) and you can really glean some good tips, recipes, and ideas from them.

I'm on quite a few - probably 4 or 5 but I have two faves: The Dollar Stretcher and Everyday Cheapskate.

The last one I just adore. It's written by Mary Hunt of Cheapskate Monthly and it's easy to follow, well written, and full of humour. I really recommend it for any of you tightwads out there!