I am also an introvert and cats are the ultimate introvert. When Proeun and I were first dating he said that one of the things he loved about me is that I didn’t “need” him, I “wanted” him. Anyone who has had a cat know they don’t need us. But when they want us it feels pretty good.

In this post I write about how cats joined our family again. That was about 6 years ago. Then when we moved to our farm 5 cats came with the property, these were outdoor cats, and unfortunately a year later there was only one left. 2 died, one hit by a car and one just died, one got chased away and one just left and never came back.

In the fall we were starting to see more rodents around, getting ready for winter and we only had one outdoor cat. I was beginning to see how useful they were in addition to fun. So 2 kittens joined our farm from a neighboring farm.

This spring though we have 4 very different additions. We were contacted by a feral cat rescue in St. Paul, they were looking to rehome some cats that were not particularly social and thought a farm might be a good fit. I thought so also so for 4 weeks ago tomorrow 4 cats joined our family. They are not sure what to think about us yet and rehoming adult cats can be tricky. But these four have been doing quite well.

These 2, a male and a female came from a home with a lot of cats. The owner died and they needed a new home, Julie and Leo. 

This little guy was living in a culvert outside a McDonald’s on the Eastside of St. Paul. Somewhere along the way he lost a paw. But he is adjusting just fine to life on the farm. Lord Byron is his name.

This guy lived in a shelter and needed a new home, desperately. Now he is part of the farm family. Salmon is his name.

The children were a little disappointed they don’t like to cuddle but we have our indoor cats for that. I am just happy that they seem to be settling in and enjoying a little freedom. For the first couple of weeks they lived in carriers from the rescue. Now they are roaming the workroom getting more used to us and the freedom. Next week they will be released into our pole building.

I have to admit it has been very rewarding bringing them here. This is one of the things that I wanted to do when we had more space, provide a home for animals in need of one. So welcome to our farm.

You know how it is as a mom. With each baby you add 5-10 pounds maybe more. You are so busy loving on the new beauty in your life that you don’t even notice or care that you haven’t gotten back down to your pre-pregnancy weight. It is just life and the pounds are adding up.

I didn’t care until my fourth pregnancy. When I went into labor early at 33 weeks and then on bedrest for 5 weeks that was when things really started going downhill for me. Confined to bed and trying to eat as much as possible to bulk that baby up should she still come early, things started going down hill fast. She didn’t come early, not until 42 weeks to be exact. She was a big baby and I lost a lot of blood and had to have a blood transfusion, but even with that I was very very weak after her birth. I had the extra weight from trying to bulk up and the weakness from bedrest an now even more weak after childbirth. I never lost any weight from that pregnancy and before I knew it was pregnant with my 5th.

After he was born I decided I was tired of feeling weak and tired all the time. Getting in shape was more about being healthy then loosing weight for me.

Here I am at Gooseberry Falls with my fourth baby on my back. I was looking for a picture of how big I had gotten but apparently censored many of them.

That was when I stumbled across Beth Learn at Fit 2 B Us–an online “gym” offering “tummy safe” exercise videos. As you can imagine after 5 pregnancies my tummy was feeling pretty weak, stretched out and flabby. I discovered that there are relatively simple and painless exercises to get those muscles back in shape. Actually I found out exercise could be painless. I was hooked.

Still a year later after loosing 35+ pounds and now feeling strong and capable I am using her videos a minimum of 3 times weekly (though I try for everyday but life happens you know). What I really love about her videos are they are painless and fun, I don’t have to get myself siked up for exercise, I look forward to it and how it makes me feel. During one yoga video, “Warrior I” my daughter Mavis said, “oh mommy you look so beautiful.” I don’t think I have to tell you how that made me feel.

She also has videos that focus on “little” muscles life the pelvic floor (mommas you need to work this out) and the neck. Overall I have just found her approach so different and refreshing. It is all about quality of life and health.

Me this morning

Beth Learn is also available for consultations, they have an active facebook page and is just and overall great resource and community.

It is also very affordable $10 a month with a discount if you purchase a year at a time. But another great thing about Fit 2 B is that you know you are supporting a great online family business (there are 2 families that work together to produce each video and run the web page) and if you sign up and use the code amydoeun you get a further discount and we get credit for referring you. Isn’t that great? You get healthy and support 3 families working for the same goals.

www.fit2b.us
discount code: amydoeun

Things were starting to get to a head as they sometimes do last week. I had a baby goat in my living room that wasn’t doing well (luckily she is thriving now), children going crazy from nearly 4 months indoors, a home to keep, the pending growing season, it all seemed like a lot, and “just do the next thing” wasn’t cutting it. I was feeling overwhelmed and crazy. Then one afternoon things changed.

The children were starting to act tired and in need of a rest. The baby was sleeping more and more, though still eating and with a mild fever he wanted to go back to bed after only 2 hours awake. I lay down with him and felt his fever rising fast. He was asleep, I didn’t want to wake him but knew I needed to get his temperature down. Then he had a seizure. We have experience febrile seizures. Though it was scary it wasn’t a panic situation. I had neighbors come a stay with the children until my parents could arrive and called an ambulance.

I was just a fever related seizure. We were home 4 hours later after numerous tests and we went into hibernation. For one week we didn’t leave the house as the sickness worked its way through. I had a mild case, moms don’t have time to get sick. I had children and animals to tend.

I have a new perspective now–saying yes. For the past couple of days I have tried to look at my days as not a list of tasks to finish, or something to get through, but an opportunity to connect. My oldest is 9, half way to 18 and things are flying too fast, “do the next thing,” doesn’t cut it when you have lots of loving and cuddling to do (I have been known to write those on my to-do list).

So now we are moving into new territory for us. For the past several years our falls have been pretty busy. Our last 3 children were born in the fall. Then there was the big move a few years ago. But now we are relatively settled. No babies are expected and the farming is done for the season. Our season will not be one of idleness but rather relaxation.

To kick off this new season we went to Ely, Minnesota, on the borders of the Boundary Waters for a little family getaway to recharge and remind ourselves we are moving to a new season.

Canoeing was a hit. At first the older ones weren’t sure if they would like it but they were pros by the end of the trip.

Bear Head Lake in the morning.

Fishing was a big part of the weekend though we didn’t catch much.

Two kissing the one catch of the weekend.

Back in the beginning of the year when my sister and my new brother-in-law announced their engagement and started talking about venues I had another realization–family traditions are real and multigenerational. I always loved the family trips to the North Shore of Lake Superior growing up. We went other places to, but I have many many really fond memories of Duluth and points north. I just didn’t realize how much my sister loved it to. So when she said she was planning a fall wedding at a resort on the North Shore I couldn’t wait.

So this last weekend we headed north to celebrate with my sister and a host of combined family and just have some good old fun.

Proeun and the older children prepare for a bike trip to Gooseberry Falls using the resort’s bikes.

Later we all went to the falls for some preliminary pictures. We clean up pretty good. I was hoping to get some really amazing pictures at the falls but it was raining so we took the children back to wait for the ceremony.

Even though we had to work around the rain we had a beautiful and intensely personal ceremony on the shores of the lake. When the new bride and groom kissed for the first time as husband and wife the sun broke through and shone on them. The girls were the flower girls, Proeun and Two ushers and I did a reading. What a blessing to be able to be part of the day for my baby sister!

The next day was beautiful and perfect for exploring.

And playing.

We stopped in Duluth and saw a ship leaving harbor. That never gets old. I love when they blow their horns to the lift bridge and it answers back! We took a bike ride that all of us fit in but unfortunately the pictures all turned out blurry. The memory I will have of that is Pray and Effie sitting in the front basket and as we started up turning and looking at each other and getting big old grins on their faces. Love how they love each other and communicate.