Hi friend, hope you’re doing alright! I did that thing again, the thing where I started writing this a few weeks ago. It’s been 2.5 weeks since I wrote this out, so anything I write today, I’ll put in italics! ❤️ 

There are lots of little things I want to share today, so let’s just get straight into it.

WE HAVE A BABY!

Meet Beatrix Daisy King.

She was born one week ago today, on Sunday June 30. I was 41 weeks + 3 days, my longest pregnancy! Contractions started around 5pm on Saturday, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up in case they weren’t the real deal. Finally we headed to the hospital around 8pm. Our friend Crystal came over to watch the kids while my mama started the drive in (she lives 2 hours away).

Yet another long labor (and I won’t get into the whole story)… she was born at about 4:30am. I assumed since it was my 4th, she’d be born in the car on the way there, or right when we got there, or surely within an hour or two.

Alexander’s labor was 22 hours. Annabelle, 7 hours. Charlie, 9 hours. And this one, 11 hours! It’s interesting that some folks have very quick ones and others have longer - I wonder if it’s biology or anatomy. Or is it a mental thing, like, I have been stressed lately, so could that have affected it?

Anyway, she was right at 7lbs. The others were 7.5, 7.5, and 6.5! Don’t ask me about length because I can’t ever remember. 😄 She saw the hospital pediatrician, passed all her tests, and was cleared to go home the next day; I was cleared the next day as well. We took her to our own ped who said her color is great, weight is good, everything’s great. Praise the Lord for that ❤️

The big two kids are adjusting just fine. Alexander helps when asked but mostly has carried on with his life as if nothing has changed. Annabelle pops her little self in wherever the baby is and just says “Aww babies are sooo cute”. She loves baby Beatrix. Charlie likes to point out how the baby (he calls her “it”) has little hands, and he has big hands, or “its nose is little, my nose is big” and so on.

Okay that’s my baby update! 🙂 

She’s getting chunky! She’s 3.5 weeks today. She’s been sleeping 5-6 hour stretches every night, followed by a 2-3 hour stretch. I know it won’t necessarily last, but I’ll take what I can get!

Baking Basics / Pantry Staples

Someone recently requested that I put together a list of pantry staples. She pointed out that I can bake basically anything at a moment’s notice because I always have the ingredients on hand. And that is true! Just about any baked good, I’m able to make on a whim (which is a blessing and a curse haha).

So here’s what I’ll share:

• What I always have in the house

• What I don’t usually have

• What I do when a recipe calls for something I don’t have

Dried Goods (in no particular order):

• Unbleached all purpose flour

• Almond flour (this keeps for a long time)

• Coconut flour (this also keeps for a long time)

• White sugar

• Brown sugar (I prefer dark brown)

• Powdered sugar

• Baking soda

• Baking powder

• Salt

• Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice

• Dark cocoa powder (or regular… I just prefer the dark)

• Corn starch

• Quick oats

• Cornmeal

• Graham cracker crumbs

• Chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet, and dark!)

• Active dry yeast (this should stay in the fridge)

Wet Ingredients:

• Salted butter (technically, unsalted is best for baking, but I don’t typically buy it; I just use what we have)

• Vanilla extract

• Eggs

• Milk

• Heavy cream

• Lemon juice

• Light corn syrup (if I’m out, honey usually works! This is basically just for marshmallow fluff, so it lasts me a while.)

• Molasses (lasts forever!)

• Vegetable shortening (for biscuits and pie crusts)

• Neutral oil (although I’ll use olive oil if that’s all I have)

Special Stuff I Don’t Often Have:

• Cream cheese - I might have a block of it, but if I want to make a cheesecake, I’d need 3-4 blocks. That’s not something I keep on hand.

• Whole wheat flour - I buy it if I need it, like for making homemade graham crackers.

• Coconut milk

• Sweetened condensed milk - by the way, this is one of those you can make if you need to!

• Baking chocolate

Uh Oh! I Don’t Have That Ingredient!:

This does happen sometimes. MOST recipes can be made anyway. As I mentioned above, if you’re trying to make cheesecake but have no cream cheese, you’re probably out of luck (you CAN make cream cheese, but I never have).

Buttermilk - I literally never buy this. If you need 1 cup of buttermilk, squeeze 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar into a 1 cup measuring cup, then fill the rest of the way with your milk. Let it sit for a few minutes then it’s ready to go.

Brown sugar - You can use your fingers or a fork to mix molasses into white sugar. The more molasses you add, the darker the brown sugar.

Powdered sugar - In a high powered blender or food processor, add the same amount of white sugar plus a spoonful of cornstarch (that’s optional, really, but it keeps it from getting clumpy). Then just blitz it until it becomes powder.

Cornstarch - Tapioca starch works the same.

Chocolate chips - YES it has happened. I want to make chocolate chip cookies but don’t have any chips! I just use whatever candy or baking chocolate I happen to have. And if I don’t have any, I will chop up some Oreos or something else to mix in.

Baking powder/soda - You can use a little bit of one or the other if you don’t have both.

For most things, just Google it! “Baking substitute for ____” - There’s most likely going to be an option for you that you DO have. 🙂 Happy baking!

Most Used Kitchen Tools

To keep going with the baking theme… the first section is stuff I use for baking, followed by other stuff I use a lot. I’ll put some links to things, and anything that goes to Amazon is an affiliate link. I’m not really brand loyal for most of this, though!

• MY FAV SPATULA. This isn’t just for baking, of course.

• Rubber spatula

• Baking sheet (I really should get a proper cookie sheet, but I’ve survived this long without one so….)

• Pie dish

• Tart dish

• Loaf pan

• Square pan

• Wire cooling rack

• Mixing bowl set

• Whisk

• Handheld mixer

• Stand mixer (NOT necessary of course, but I love mine)

• Parchment paper

• French rolling pin

• Measuring cup set

• Cookie scoop

• Piping bags and basic tips

• Kitchen scale

• Candy thermometer (if you ever wanna make marshmallow fluff or caramel or other things in the candy family!)

• Small metal pot (I don’t have a double boiler, so I’ll put a metal bowl on top of a pot of simmering water)

• Oven mitts

• Cookie cutters

• Pastry blender

• Chef’s knife

• Chopping board

• Vegetable peeler

• Can opener

• Kitchen tweezers

• Potato masher

• Lodge cast iron skillet (I’ve got a dozen of these in different styles/sizes)

Okay I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but that’s plenty. And I’m guessing MOST of those are things you already have! ❤️ 

Hormones

I mentioned on IG about having some skin issues that have popped up since having the baby. And a lot of folks mentioned how this is for sure related to all the hormone shifts that have happened because of delivery. Out of curiosity, I Googled “hormone imbalance after having a baby”, which gave me so much good info. There are a lot of hormones that go up and down during pregnancy and then after delivery.

I did get a lot of messages saying not to worry about, you just had a baby, just relax, and so on. And I totally get that - my body just went through something major; of course there are changes, and those things are normal. But I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to make small changes that might help clear up my skin, increase my energy, those sorts of things.

This little info sheet is just what I gathered from digging around on a few different websites. Before next newsletter, I plan to put together a meal plan for myself that’s based off of this, and I’ll share that if I do!

I found this recipe on TikTok for a hormone smoothie (it randomly popped up on my FYP from a creator I like!). She blended ice, frozen banana, cocoa powder, flax seeds, Brewers yeast, dates, and cashew milk. Here’s a link to the video, in which she describes WHY she uses each ingredient.

Greenlight and Skylight

You may remember a while back I asked about the Greenlight app. It’s a way to pay your kids an allowance, or pay them for specific chores, to help them learn about money management.

Well, we got it. And so far I love it. I can put tasks in the app for each of the big kids, and they check them off when completed. And each week, they automatically get a small allowance - some of the allowance money goes straight to savings, a little bit is invested, and they keep the rest. They each have a debit card that they can use anywhere. So far, they have not used it, but we keep it with us all the time, just in case.

Now, another thing we are considering is the Skylight Calendar. Have you seen it? It’s pretty pricy, and Cam and I dug around a lot yesterday trying to find an app that would work similarly. And we came up empty. We tried a few out, and nothing was what we wanted. So we may end up getting the Skylight. The reviews online are excellent, but if any of you have it, please let me know what you think!

All this talk of chores and responsibilities brings me to my next point: The book I read for June’s book club, The Gift of Failure (it’s free on Hoopla, at least for me!), talks a lot about this stuff. I want to give my kids the ability to take responsibility for their own tasks rather than relying on mom and dad to remind them, nag them, or hold their hand through everything. Anyway, that’s what got me thinking about the Skylight Calendar!

The Add-On

Have you ever had an add-on done to your house? Or even a big construction project? Or a totally new build?

I’m wondering if I’m overreacting, but this was supposed to take 6 weeks to 2 months - that’s what our contractor told us at the start. I knew there would be delays, so let’s say 3 months. But it’s been 3.5 months, and there are still so many things to do, it seems. The biggest problem I have is that, some weeks, no one shows up to get any work done. Last week, the A/C guy came for about 2 hours one day. That’s it, for the week.

What’s left is to finish the A/C, finish putting in the electrical stuff (wiring is done, I’m talking actual light switches and fixtures), paint the rooms, install flooring. Additionally though, the bathroom is still in its infancy. The walls are framed in there, the plumbing is mostly set up, but it’s a mess.

I’m just wondering if this is to be expected. If you’ve had a big project done at your house, what was the initial, expected timeline, and then how long did it actually take to be completed?

They delivered the bathroom cabinets today. And when Cam asked “Will this be done by the end of the month?”, he said “That’s the plan!” Surely in the next 3 weeks. 😄 

THANK YOUs

Okay I have so many thank you’s, so I’ll do my best to remember them all!!

• Anna, thank you for the baby outfit!

• Amy, thank you for the coffees!

• Paola, thank you for the coffees!

• Erica, thank you for the coffees!

• Taylor, thank you for alllll the baby clothes!

• Danica, thank you for the bouncer!

• Lilian, thank you for the sound machine!

And for all the kind messages over the last weeks. You are the best. ❤️ 

Til next time…

If you’d like to support me and my content, then here are three ways:

• Send along an encouraging note, here or on IG or even snail mail!

• You can “Buy Me a Coffee” - it’s a virtual tip jar!

• And finally, here is a link to my Amazon wish list! There are some baby-related items on there too. 🙂 Also, my PO Box is still open!

  • Bethany King

  • PO Box 8152

  • Shreveport LA 71148

Much love,
Bethany

PS If you want to see old emails, here’s a link to all of them!

PPS I have not been posting to IG stories in the last 2 weeks, BUT I’ve been posting a bit on my subscriber story. Not as actively as I usually do on stories, but you’re welcome to check that out. I think it’s 2.99 per month? I don’t know if that’s USD only or how it works outside of the USA. Anyway, I’ll be back soon - I still feel like the days are running together, and I’m scattered. Love youuuuu.