Comment by Delanie Trusty on August 4, 2012 at 7:45pm

Congratulations and so glad you are back!

Comment by Susan Isla on August 5, 2012 at 4:38am

Congratulations!!! I am so very happy for you guys!!! :)

Comment by Your Family Homestead on August 5, 2012 at 2:53pm

Congratulations! I am so glad to hear the happy news. Treasure every moment with your baby, they grow way too fast. It was good to hear you both again on the show. Thank you for taking the time to give us a new podcast.

Comment by Steve Kemp on August 7, 2012 at 11:25am

Congratulations to you both on the birth of your daughter.

Finally I feel like I can provide some of my experiences to the two of you, instead of it always being vice versa. Having had three children, (all of them well adjusted) I would like to offer you three pieces of  information that I found to be the most valuable.

1.  Desitin - They tell you to use it for diaper rashes and it works great, what they often fail to tell you is that a thinly spread layer applied everytime you change a diaper PREVENTS any diaper rash from happening. Diaper rash is caused by the baby's poop in contact with their sensitive skin, the desitin prevents this, especially if you are out in a field and unable to change the poopy diaper instantly. It will save you some heartache and the baby some serious discomfort.

The next two are not immediatly useful, but are worth remembering:

2. Distract, distract, distract - Never underestimate what a great tool distraction is. Young children have a lazer focus on what makes them mad or upset, but if you distract them ("look a bunny!") you can instantly switch that focus to the positive and frequently it's like the bad thing never happened. Anything you can do to reduce the trauma in a young childs day is a good thing (they'll get enough of that in high school) 

3. Avoid the terrible twos - Sometime between age 1 and 2 you will get to defiance and the natural and instinctive response is to quell the defiance. "No wanna go to beddy!" - "Oh yes you will young lady!" was my initial reaction. Fortunatly I'm married to a very smart lady who patiently explained to me that kids at that age are starting to build an identity of their own and have an instinctive need to express it.  Unfortunatly for many parents, suppressing it just makes it worse (usually expressing itself as meltdowns in a public places!) So when you hear "No wanna go beddy" try "OK, do you want Daddy to read you a story in bed, or Mommy?" "I want DADDY to read me in beddy". 

You get the point, offering two or three choices that all end up where you want her to go, gives her the feeling of power, while getting her to the place you need her to be and though I cannot guarantee it always works, I can say that not one of my three have ever thrown a tantrum...ever. 

There are lots of other tips and hints I'd be happy to share, but I hope you find these three as useful as I did.

Comment by Cynthia C. Taylor on August 8, 2012 at 11:54am

Congratulations guys!!!   Rick and I are so happy for you!!

Comment by NHF on August 9, 2012 at 9:26am

Thank you very much everyone!  We feel a bit guilty for being away from the podcast and Farm Dreams lately, but we appreciate you understanding.  Those adorable little eyes just pull us in each time we see them!  I swear we could spend all day looking into them without a care about what the animals are doing outside!!!  Hopefully they'll all behave themselves during this transition. 

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