Monday, November 13, 2017
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Words on Wednesday:Omaha Homeschool Learning Center day!
Posted another update on facebook:
"Figured another homeschooling update was in order...
Well. It's going pretty smoothly so far. Some days are longer than others. 1st grade (Alaina) and K (Matthew) are easy... I see progress all the time. Matthew has all his letter sounds down (he didn't know any a few weeks ago) and I am trying to get him to blend them.. he's getting there! We're just taking it slow. He can easily count to 100... and by 10's and he's getting his 5's. Alaina is reading more and more everyday as well. They both enjoy working on things together, so I let them as much as I can. Johanna (3rd grade) takes a bit longer to get through the day. If we get started on time (8 am, hasn't happened in about a week..) and she stays on task, we can be done by noon. One day she did school All. Day. Long. because she was off task the whole time. So we have those days, but thankfully not everyday! We are now in the full swing of things with art classes and the 5 oldest being in the Learning Center as well.. plus piano lessons, so days are busy and just fly by. So far it is not too overwhelming. We just HAVE to start early enough! I've noticed that Johanna has great reading comprehension (she has to narrate a lot), she's good at Math (just doesn't like it) and her Grammar/English is pretty good as well! I got her a 4th grade English book by mistake and just thought I'd see how it goes... she's flying through it! The teachers at the church school did AWESOME at laying the foundations down with her. So, thank you, Jeanne and Cheri! She apparently was listening even when no one thought she was. Katie and Danielle are still plugging away at their subjects, I still hear about (and smell) Biology the most!"
So, it's going well... overall. The busyness of the week has added a special challenge.. but we're working through it.
I've thought and thought about what we could drop and I don't want to drop anything!!!
Chapel - Katie plays piano once a month, and the three oldest will be speaking or back up singing at least two times over the year... and I think those things are good for them to get comfortable doing. Plus, it's nice to have the little 15 min recess with the friends they made over the years. We probably won't always go to chapel, but mostly.
Piano lessons- Right after recess which is right after chapel. We've been doing them for years. We do two kids a week, rotating. So each kid gets one every other week. Mine is every other Thursday at the house.
Art- We've committed and paid for the year. This lady is a wonderful Christain lady that teaches homeschoolers. She's an excellent artist and has quite the waiting list! We are only in because Jeanne was already taking kids out there from the church school. I *might* consider dropping this next year... but it's not so bad, I only drive every other week and when I do, we can get A LOT of school done while there. Johanna got 3 subjects done yesterday, I think she worked better there than at home! haha!
OHLC- (Learning Center)- Ugh.. I just think it's so fun. To be around so many like minded people is encouraging.. to watch the little ones to tae kwon do. If I have to, this is what will go. I just don't want it to. Alaina and Matthew LOVE it and Steven really wants them to learn self-defense. Next semester I want to put Johanna in something that she'd enjoy too (not that she doesn't enjoy PE, but you know). Katie and Danielle, too. It's just a nice change from normal, a great way to celebrate hump day!
Friday-Katie babysits all day, she can move on from this whenever she feels she needs to, but right now it's working. I've seen SO much character come out of her and I've seen her grow so much. I think she's really helping to make a difference in their little lives.
Teen Serve- One Friday morning a month. It's just nice to have the opportunity to serve, she spends her time in a nursing home. I am am not able to give her the chance to do this kind of thing, so I think it's great. Plus it's one morning a month. Not bad at all!
Anyway, today is Learning Center! Yay!
Everything starts at noon, so we have a short day of school. Well, for Johanna, anyway. It's no problem getting Alaina and Matthew done in the morning. Today in Tae Kwon Do A and M will "buy" a belt with their TKD quarters. :) They are so cute! It's only a half an hour long, but it's long enough!
Well I better get to school.
"Figured another homeschooling update was in order...
Well. It's going pretty smoothly so far. Some days are longer than others. 1st grade (Alaina) and K (Matthew) are easy... I see progress all the time. Matthew has all his letter sounds down (he didn't know any a few weeks ago) and I am trying to get him to blend them.. he's getting there! We're just taking it slow. He can easily count to 100... and by 10's and he's getting his 5's. Alaina is reading more and more everyday as well. They both enjoy working on things together, so I let them as much as I can. Johanna (3rd grade) takes a bit longer to get through the day. If we get started on time (8 am, hasn't happened in about a week..) and she stays on task, we can be done by noon. One day she did school All. Day. Long. because she was off task the whole time. So we have those days, but thankfully not everyday! We are now in the full swing of things with art classes and the 5 oldest being in the Learning Center as well.. plus piano lessons, so days are busy and just fly by. So far it is not too overwhelming. We just HAVE to start early enough! I've noticed that Johanna has great reading comprehension (she has to narrate a lot), she's good at Math (just doesn't like it) and her Grammar/English is pretty good as well! I got her a 4th grade English book by mistake and just thought I'd see how it goes... she's flying through it! The teachers at the church school did AWESOME at laying the foundations down with her. So, thank you, Jeanne and Cheri! She apparently was listening even when no one thought she was. Katie and Danielle are still plugging away at their subjects, I still hear about (and smell) Biology the most!"
So, it's going well... overall. The busyness of the week has added a special challenge.. but we're working through it.
I've thought and thought about what we could drop and I don't want to drop anything!!!
Chapel - Katie plays piano once a month, and the three oldest will be speaking or back up singing at least two times over the year... and I think those things are good for them to get comfortable doing. Plus, it's nice to have the little 15 min recess with the friends they made over the years. We probably won't always go to chapel, but mostly.
Piano lessons- Right after recess which is right after chapel. We've been doing them for years. We do two kids a week, rotating. So each kid gets one every other week. Mine is every other Thursday at the house.
Art- We've committed and paid for the year. This lady is a wonderful Christain lady that teaches homeschoolers. She's an excellent artist and has quite the waiting list! We are only in because Jeanne was already taking kids out there from the church school. I *might* consider dropping this next year... but it's not so bad, I only drive every other week and when I do, we can get A LOT of school done while there. Johanna got 3 subjects done yesterday, I think she worked better there than at home! haha!
OHLC- (Learning Center)- Ugh.. I just think it's so fun. To be around so many like minded people is encouraging.. to watch the little ones to tae kwon do. If I have to, this is what will go. I just don't want it to. Alaina and Matthew LOVE it and Steven really wants them to learn self-defense. Next semester I want to put Johanna in something that she'd enjoy too (not that she doesn't enjoy PE, but you know). Katie and Danielle, too. It's just a nice change from normal, a great way to celebrate hump day!
Friday-Katie babysits all day, she can move on from this whenever she feels she needs to, but right now it's working. I've seen SO much character come out of her and I've seen her grow so much. I think she's really helping to make a difference in their little lives.
Teen Serve- One Friday morning a month. It's just nice to have the opportunity to serve, she spends her time in a nursing home. I am am not able to give her the chance to do this kind of thing, so I think it's great. Plus it's one morning a month. Not bad at all!
Anyway, today is Learning Center! Yay!
Everything starts at noon, so we have a short day of school. Well, for Johanna, anyway. It's no problem getting Alaina and Matthew done in the morning. Today in Tae Kwon Do A and M will "buy" a belt with their TKD quarters. :) They are so cute! It's only a half an hour long, but it's long enough!
Well I better get to school.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Simply Saturday: Accomplishments
I posted this on facebook the other day, thought I'd copy and paste it here..
"Here's an update on our homeschooling journey so far (since a lot of people are asking.. :)).... It's going well, overall! We have completed 7 full days (and probably like 3 or 4 "practice days" haha), and I honestly can't believe how smoothly it has gone! I have had a couple rough days... kids that were not focusing, and we've had our share of whining, but overall even that hasn't been so bad. ...We get started at about 8-8:30am everyday and begin with Bible. We do that all together. After that the older girls go work independently and I teach Johanna, Alaina, and Matthew. My goal is to be done by noon, but usually it's about 2. That is with about an hour and a half break for lunch and cleanup. Danielle is thrilled that she is doing two high school classes with Katie (Biology and History) and she's doing really well! You wouldn't believe all the Biology talk going on around here, haha! Alaina's reading is really picking up, she is flying through her book.. the best part is the cuddles I get while practicing! Matthew went from being able to count to only about 20 to being able to fill in missing numbers in a 1-100 chart, and almost count all the way himself. His handwriting is awesome, too! Katie is loving "planning" all her assignments for the week, and enjoying being home more to work on the projects that she wants to do. Johanna is getting to the point where she can do a lot of her work independently now that we have a week completed, she just knows what to expect. Of course there are some subjects I have to walk her through. Elise likes to "do school" too, so she has a couple little work books and does them if she wants to, or Danielle teaches her the letters from time to time. Joshua... well, he just wants me all the time... so that's interesting... haha. None of us have felt cooped up in the house, but even if we did, we have extracurricular activities a couple days a week to help with that. It's easier than I thought it would be, but we are only a week and a half into it, so I expect rough patches.. I did notice it's easier than Friday homeschool days were, I haven't quite figured out why though... hmmm... Anyway, that is my not-so-short update!"
Yesterday was a good day. We didn't get ALL of our school done, but we got the core classes done, and that is the important thing. We got most of the extras done as well. Plus we had a great playdate with our little friend, Paige, from church, and her Mom, Tammy. Paige is 10 and homeschooled as well. It was good to get to know them a little better.
Yesterdays accomplishments... I got Johanna to understand the difference between cardinal, ordinal, and nominal number... not that it was that hard for her to understand, but more hard for me to explain because I am like, "WHO CARES!" haha! Not a fan of math.. Either way, she got it. I was proud of her. Also proud of myself, because before yesterday even *I* didn't know what they were.. hehe...
The other accomplishment was Matthew counting to 100 all by himself! :) This is huge, because just a couple weeks ago he could maybe make it to 20, but he'd skip 15... So he is doing really well! I think math will come easily to him, though. Maybe he will be a brainiac like Steven.. ;)
I feel discouraged, probably because I look on the negative side, a lot.... I feel bothered by the people that I *feel* are just waiting for me to fail. It's silly, I shouldn't, because the support is overwhelming on the positive side.. and no one has really said anything negative, directly. I just feel it's implied. Mainly that "we won't get out of the house enough" or the kids won't is more like it... I guess no one cares if I do or not, haha.
Our usual school week, starting next week, will look like this:
Monday: chapel at 9 at the church school, and then piano lessons for 2 of the girls alternating every week from 10:30-11:30. We probably wouldn't go to chapel every week, but now that someone will be doing a lesson every week and Katie will be starting to play piano for worship.
Tuesday: Art.. we leave the house at 1:15 and get back at 4. I will be the driver every other week and Alicia will drive the other times. The times I am not driving won't be too bad, because I can come home and get things done. Even when I do drive, it's kid-friendly out there where they get lessons so it's fine.
Wednesday: The homeschool learning center. From noon to one K, D, J, A, and M will have lessons and then Katie will stay alone and work on whatever she needs to for that day and have another lesson at 2. I'll pick her up around 3:30, I think.
Thursday: Every other week I will have my piano lesson at the house, but it also my day that I will take one kid out for icecream for one on one time... just something I thought I'd try out. Except Katie, she's the babysitter, so she'll have to go with me one weekend a month. :) Otherwise it will probably be our "catch up" day for schoolwork..
Friday: We have NO PLANS... so another catch up day for schoolwork. Except Katie she babysits this one day a week for PJ and Micah. :)
If nothing else, I feel this is possibly TOO MUCH... ugh... The only thing that we can give up is The Learning Center after this first semester, which I might do. Idk... I know we don't HAVE to do all these things.. but I don't want to give up music and art and then I guess the rest is extra... but it's fun, so idk.. we'll see!
Besides, going to school to "get out of the house" isn't my idea of a fantastic time, anyway!
Signing off!
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Take on Tuesday: One week later
One week into this homeschool thing.
Today was a good day. I really appreciate good days!
Johanna was on task today.. Alaina's whining was minimal. Katie and Danielle got their studies done before lunch! Today was also our first day going to art. I was the driver... I hate the freeways.. especially in The Big White Van.. but I did it, and it wasn't too bad.
Joshie (14m) was naughty at Sharon, the art teacher's house. All he wants to do is nurse. All. The. Time. I don't want to quit nursing him, I figure since he is completely unvaccinated (except for the Vit. K shot at birth) he needs the extra antibodies that he can get from breastmilk. At the same time, I really do want to quit nursing him because I feel he is always pulling on me, and thrashing himself around because if I am near, he wants to nurse. Ugh. So, Idk. I am going to CO to visit my sweet Grandma Marie, with out kids, so maybe I'll stop nursing then. I really don't know what I am going to do. Right now he is on my back in a carrier, messing with the bun in my hair. It's the only way I can get anything done. He is satisfied, because I am holding him, yet I am not.. my arms are free. Stinker baby. :) I love him. He's such a sweet, chunky, naughty boy! :)
Back to homeschooling.
So far I am loving Heart of Dakota. It's easy to use. Almost no lesson planning is needed. Lessons are quick at to the point, and the best part, very Biblical! Bible is incorporated into all the lessons. I love that, it's great! Also, if I am short for time, if I cut out a part of it, they are not missing out on Bible.. ever.. :)
Tomorrow we will go over to The Homeschool Learning Center for their "Aren't you glad you are not going back to school" get together.. haha.. they will have free eye and hearing tests and school pics I guess. Also the kids can check out where their new classrooms will be. Katie will be doing Adv. Ballroom dancing.. last year she was in beginners and did really well, they didn't even require her to take a full year like they usually do. :) She will also be taking a Drama class with Danielle. They are both excited about that, plus they are both taking Art on Tuesdays like I mentioned before. Their art teacher is a wonderful Christian lady that teaches homeschooled kids. :) Back to The Homeschool Learning Center, Johanna will be taking P.E., mostly because that was the only thing available for her age group in that time period (I wanted them to all be there taking a class at the same time so I am not out all day, Katie will be there longer, but I will just leave her there and pick her up when she's done), but also because the exercise and team work will do her well... she needs it, she's active! Alaina and Matthew will be taking Tae Kwon Do for 5-7 year olds. They do have one for older kids, which I wanted JOhanna in, but it's not til later in the day. Oh well... So, we'll see how it goes this semester and decide from that point if we want to do another semester.
Well, I have reached my limit with Joshie.. he's protesting...
Gotta go!
Today was a good day. I really appreciate good days!
Johanna was on task today.. Alaina's whining was minimal. Katie and Danielle got their studies done before lunch! Today was also our first day going to art. I was the driver... I hate the freeways.. especially in The Big White Van.. but I did it, and it wasn't too bad.
Joshie (14m) was naughty at Sharon, the art teacher's house. All he wants to do is nurse. All. The. Time. I don't want to quit nursing him, I figure since he is completely unvaccinated (except for the Vit. K shot at birth) he needs the extra antibodies that he can get from breastmilk. At the same time, I really do want to quit nursing him because I feel he is always pulling on me, and thrashing himself around because if I am near, he wants to nurse. Ugh. So, Idk. I am going to CO to visit my sweet Grandma Marie, with out kids, so maybe I'll stop nursing then. I really don't know what I am going to do. Right now he is on my back in a carrier, messing with the bun in my hair. It's the only way I can get anything done. He is satisfied, because I am holding him, yet I am not.. my arms are free. Stinker baby. :) I love him. He's such a sweet, chunky, naughty boy! :)
Back to homeschooling.
So far I am loving Heart of Dakota. It's easy to use. Almost no lesson planning is needed. Lessons are quick at to the point, and the best part, very Biblical! Bible is incorporated into all the lessons. I love that, it's great! Also, if I am short for time, if I cut out a part of it, they are not missing out on Bible.. ever.. :)
Tomorrow we will go over to The Homeschool Learning Center for their "Aren't you glad you are not going back to school" get together.. haha.. they will have free eye and hearing tests and school pics I guess. Also the kids can check out where their new classrooms will be. Katie will be doing Adv. Ballroom dancing.. last year she was in beginners and did really well, they didn't even require her to take a full year like they usually do. :) She will also be taking a Drama class with Danielle. They are both excited about that, plus they are both taking Art on Tuesdays like I mentioned before. Their art teacher is a wonderful Christian lady that teaches homeschooled kids. :) Back to The Homeschool Learning Center, Johanna will be taking P.E., mostly because that was the only thing available for her age group in that time period (I wanted them to all be there taking a class at the same time so I am not out all day, Katie will be there longer, but I will just leave her there and pick her up when she's done), but also because the exercise and team work will do her well... she needs it, she's active! Alaina and Matthew will be taking Tae Kwon Do for 5-7 year olds. They do have one for older kids, which I wanted JOhanna in, but it's not til later in the day. Oh well... So, we'll see how it goes this semester and decide from that point if we want to do another semester.
Well, I have reached my limit with Joshie.. he's protesting...
Gotta go!
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Take on Tuesday: Take on Homeschooling
Well, I have two days of homeschooling, complete days, that is, under my belt.
I did it!
It wasn't too bad.
Although I worry, are they learning enough? In some ways it seems too easy, but then again I am really only responsible for 3 grades... 3rd, K and 1st. That's easy, I guess. Not sure about the Math. We have A+ Math, they can do it on the computer. While I like just sending someone off to "do math" I am not sure they are learning as well that way. Time will tell, I guess.
Another thing is writing, I hope I can teach them to write well. I just don't want to fail at this.
So, that's my update.
I am cautiously optimistic.
I did it!
It wasn't too bad.
Although I worry, are they learning enough? In some ways it seems too easy, but then again I am really only responsible for 3 grades... 3rd, K and 1st. That's easy, I guess. Not sure about the Math. We have A+ Math, they can do it on the computer. While I like just sending someone off to "do math" I am not sure they are learning as well that way. Time will tell, I guess.
Another thing is writing, I hope I can teach them to write well. I just don't want to fail at this.
So, that's my update.
I am cautiously optimistic.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Mundane Monday: Not so mundane, a new journey
I am honestly shocked that it has been SEVEN months since I last blogged! That is awful, actually! It really is a testament to how busy and crazy life was over this last year. So much has changed.
One year ago I began my teaching journey. I was the elementary Science teacher at The Study, the homeschool co-op the kids attended. I got the privilege because Jeanne knew of my plan to homeschool the following year. This year.
Let's back up some more.
A couple years back, I was the Mom that said, "I will never homeschool", "I would not be able to homeschool", "I don't have the patience", and "my kids would drive me crazy!"
Slowly it transformed because I did feel God tugging at my heart.. I knew it was in our future at some point. At that point, if you asked me, you'd most likely hear the words, "well, I'd love to be able to homeschool, but I just don't know how to start", "but I LOVE the church school", "I wish (or I feel guilty) that I just don't have ANY desire to homeschool", "I do think homeschool is the best option for children, but I am just so afraid to fail"..
Skip to May 2012. Steven had been asking me to consider homeschooling because of his workload. His taking on extra jobs was really taking a toll on him, and our family. The tuition for the church school went up, and it seemed that we were adding kids every year! They were very gracious with us and were willing to work with us to help keep costs manageable, but reality is, we have A LOT of kids and there is only so much we can do to keep it low cost.
SO.. I started contacting my friends and family that homeschool.. I got nothing but encouraging words and my confidence really started to build. We didn't really tell a lot of people our plans, but somehow word got out (it wasn't really a secret either) and Jeanne challenged me with the job of Science teacher (and teacher aid for a couple other classes). To be honest, I was terrified at first. Lesson planning? It was foreign. Jeanne walked me through it and by the first day of school in Aug 2012, I was cautiously ready. So, with a 4 year old Matthew, 2 year old Elise and 2 month old Joshua in tow, my teaching experience began.
In the beginning I was there M, T, W from 9-12, but over the year it did get less.
I won't go into my experience a whole lot, just want to cover the basics here, but I will say that it was a very positive experience overall. I LOVE those girls in that elementary classroom, spending so much time with them is irreplaceable. Danielle and Johanna were two that were in there, so of course that in itself was rewarding, but the other girls were wonderful as well.
I gained experience, confidence, I learned what it was like to juggle teaching with babies, and teaching multiple grade levels.
It was exhausting. Joshua, in the beginning, would nap at the church school, but as time went on the only naps he got were in the car on the way home from school at noon and the way to school to pick up the girls at 3:30. I had to cram in everything that needed to be done in the 12:30-3 time frame, it was very challenging to drag the kids out so much.
Half way through the year, my desire to just homeschool already really started to grow. Friends that homeschool large families would tell me that what I was doing sounded harder than actually homeschooling. I was actually told that by more than one family, so it must be true. I probably heard it from about 4 or 5 different homeschool families.
We kept on going though. By the end of the year, although, fully rewarding, I was burned out. My cranky level had reached all time highs and my depression was getting more intense. I was also sleep derived due to Joshua not sleeping well at night.
This summer began and as the reality of homeschooling set in, I grew more and more terrified that I wouldn't have the ability to do this. I wasn't getting the rest I had hoped to get over the summer. Thanks to the furlough, Steven had to work a lot, and just due to his not being around over the last 3 years the behavior of the children had really started to go downhill. When we started realizing that we had many heart and character issues to work on with our kids (sometime last school year), we knew that homeschooling had become more about getting their hearts, training them, and just generally getting closer to them, then about the money it cost to send them to the church school. We knew that even if they could go for free, that homeschooling was still what we were being called to do. We also were seeing more and more that Katie was spending her entire day working on school (between the regular school day and homework) and that I was unable to spend any time working with her and training her to do the basics around the house. She just didn't have the time and got pretty burned out. We knew homeschooling would take maybe 6 hours a day, tops, but mostly likely less.
Over the summer I felt, everyday, that I wanted to homeschool less and less, because I was just plain worn out. I do attribute this to my level of participation at the church school WITH so many little ones in tow. Not that it was bad, it was just challenging. I was overwhelmed. The four oldest girls went to CO for 3 weeks and during that time, only having 3 little ones at home I was able to be refreshed. I re-focused.
So, here I am. They've been home for about a month and I am a different Mommy.
Today, we start homeschooling. For real. We did do a few practice days, already. :)
So, today, I try and fit in our new schedule of getting all the housework done as well as all the school. I didn't sleep well last night and we are all up earlier today than usual so we shall see!
Katie is making cinnamon rolls for "first day of school" breakfast and I am getting ready to get the kids going with the morning chores which consist of cleaning bedrooms and making beds, mostly. A couple of them have bathrooms to do as well.
Here we go!
One year ago I began my teaching journey. I was the elementary Science teacher at The Study, the homeschool co-op the kids attended. I got the privilege because Jeanne knew of my plan to homeschool the following year. This year.
Let's back up some more.
A couple years back, I was the Mom that said, "I will never homeschool", "I would not be able to homeschool", "I don't have the patience", and "my kids would drive me crazy!"
Slowly it transformed because I did feel God tugging at my heart.. I knew it was in our future at some point. At that point, if you asked me, you'd most likely hear the words, "well, I'd love to be able to homeschool, but I just don't know how to start", "but I LOVE the church school", "I wish (or I feel guilty) that I just don't have ANY desire to homeschool", "I do think homeschool is the best option for children, but I am just so afraid to fail"..
Skip to May 2012. Steven had been asking me to consider homeschooling because of his workload. His taking on extra jobs was really taking a toll on him, and our family. The tuition for the church school went up, and it seemed that we were adding kids every year! They were very gracious with us and were willing to work with us to help keep costs manageable, but reality is, we have A LOT of kids and there is only so much we can do to keep it low cost.
SO.. I started contacting my friends and family that homeschool.. I got nothing but encouraging words and my confidence really started to build. We didn't really tell a lot of people our plans, but somehow word got out (it wasn't really a secret either) and Jeanne challenged me with the job of Science teacher (and teacher aid for a couple other classes). To be honest, I was terrified at first. Lesson planning? It was foreign. Jeanne walked me through it and by the first day of school in Aug 2012, I was cautiously ready. So, with a 4 year old Matthew, 2 year old Elise and 2 month old Joshua in tow, my teaching experience began.
In the beginning I was there M, T, W from 9-12, but over the year it did get less.
I won't go into my experience a whole lot, just want to cover the basics here, but I will say that it was a very positive experience overall. I LOVE those girls in that elementary classroom, spending so much time with them is irreplaceable. Danielle and Johanna were two that were in there, so of course that in itself was rewarding, but the other girls were wonderful as well.
I gained experience, confidence, I learned what it was like to juggle teaching with babies, and teaching multiple grade levels.
It was exhausting. Joshua, in the beginning, would nap at the church school, but as time went on the only naps he got were in the car on the way home from school at noon and the way to school to pick up the girls at 3:30. I had to cram in everything that needed to be done in the 12:30-3 time frame, it was very challenging to drag the kids out so much.
Half way through the year, my desire to just homeschool already really started to grow. Friends that homeschool large families would tell me that what I was doing sounded harder than actually homeschooling. I was actually told that by more than one family, so it must be true. I probably heard it from about 4 or 5 different homeschool families.
We kept on going though. By the end of the year, although, fully rewarding, I was burned out. My cranky level had reached all time highs and my depression was getting more intense. I was also sleep derived due to Joshua not sleeping well at night.
This summer began and as the reality of homeschooling set in, I grew more and more terrified that I wouldn't have the ability to do this. I wasn't getting the rest I had hoped to get over the summer. Thanks to the furlough, Steven had to work a lot, and just due to his not being around over the last 3 years the behavior of the children had really started to go downhill. When we started realizing that we had many heart and character issues to work on with our kids (sometime last school year), we knew that homeschooling had become more about getting their hearts, training them, and just generally getting closer to them, then about the money it cost to send them to the church school. We knew that even if they could go for free, that homeschooling was still what we were being called to do. We also were seeing more and more that Katie was spending her entire day working on school (between the regular school day and homework) and that I was unable to spend any time working with her and training her to do the basics around the house. She just didn't have the time and got pretty burned out. We knew homeschooling would take maybe 6 hours a day, tops, but mostly likely less.
Over the summer I felt, everyday, that I wanted to homeschool less and less, because I was just plain worn out. I do attribute this to my level of participation at the church school WITH so many little ones in tow. Not that it was bad, it was just challenging. I was overwhelmed. The four oldest girls went to CO for 3 weeks and during that time, only having 3 little ones at home I was able to be refreshed. I re-focused.
So, here I am. They've been home for about a month and I am a different Mommy.
Today, we start homeschooling. For real. We did do a few practice days, already. :)
So, today, I try and fit in our new schedule of getting all the housework done as well as all the school. I didn't sleep well last night and we are all up earlier today than usual so we shall see!
Katie is making cinnamon rolls for "first day of school" breakfast and I am getting ready to get the kids going with the morning chores which consist of cleaning bedrooms and making beds, mostly. A couple of them have bathrooms to do as well.
Here we go!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Words on Wednesday: A sick day
Today I kept Alaina home from school... right now she, Matthew and Elise are sick. Well, Lisey is getting better. They have fevers, bad coughs, sore throats.
It started with Steven. He was watching those three for me while I took the other 4 to see Becca and meet Ezekiel. (he's soooo sweet!) Anyway, Steven got really sick the Friday I left and didn't start getting better until today (Wed.) I got back on Monday. Poor guy. It's really awful to take care of kids feeling that way. Thankfully he's doing better now and the kids will be soon. The silver lining? I got to stay home today! Take a much needed sick day. Because Alaina is sick I didn't have to leave in the middle of the day to pick her up. Steven was so nice and brought the kids to school this morning for me. I am supposed to be getting things done.. but it's hard to do when I just want to rest!!! I did get some laundry done and shirts ironed though.
On the other hand, I had a GREAT birthday... the day I left, Friday, was my birthday. I traveled most of the day, but that was okay, it was relaxing. No screaming kids! Then I got to see Becca... and Ezekiel! He's 2 months now. It's crazy, one year ago I was writing about her losing her first baby, that was so sad. Today I am writing about meeting her new one. What a difference a year brings.
That night we went and got Mexican food, I got my meal for free. :)
The next day we took the girls swimming and just sat and talked for 3 hours. Sooo nice! We had homemade pizza that day. Yum! The next day was Sunday, we ended up not going to church because of how cold it was outside. We just hung out and later in the day Adrielle came over. She and her new husband Clay live near Becca. That was fun. I got to also briefly see Ezra.. .he's sooo cute!!! Monday morning we just took our time getting ready to go and left about 12:30. We got home and took off running when we got here, it hasn't slowed down since. So... I am thankful for this sick day, but sad that my little kiddos have to be sick.
Time to get back to cleaning. I still have ironing, the living room needs to be cleaned, dishes need to be done.
It started with Steven. He was watching those three for me while I took the other 4 to see Becca and meet Ezekiel. (he's soooo sweet!) Anyway, Steven got really sick the Friday I left and didn't start getting better until today (Wed.) I got back on Monday. Poor guy. It's really awful to take care of kids feeling that way. Thankfully he's doing better now and the kids will be soon. The silver lining? I got to stay home today! Take a much needed sick day. Because Alaina is sick I didn't have to leave in the middle of the day to pick her up. Steven was so nice and brought the kids to school this morning for me. I am supposed to be getting things done.. but it's hard to do when I just want to rest!!! I did get some laundry done and shirts ironed though.
On the other hand, I had a GREAT birthday... the day I left, Friday, was my birthday. I traveled most of the day, but that was okay, it was relaxing. No screaming kids! Then I got to see Becca... and Ezekiel! He's 2 months now. It's crazy, one year ago I was writing about her losing her first baby, that was so sad. Today I am writing about meeting her new one. What a difference a year brings.
That night we went and got Mexican food, I got my meal for free. :)
The next day we took the girls swimming and just sat and talked for 3 hours. Sooo nice! We had homemade pizza that day. Yum! The next day was Sunday, we ended up not going to church because of how cold it was outside. We just hung out and later in the day Adrielle came over. She and her new husband Clay live near Becca. That was fun. I got to also briefly see Ezra.. .he's sooo cute!!! Monday morning we just took our time getting ready to go and left about 12:30. We got home and took off running when we got here, it hasn't slowed down since. So... I am thankful for this sick day, but sad that my little kiddos have to be sick.
Time to get back to cleaning. I still have ironing, the living room needs to be cleaned, dishes need to be done.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Mundane Monday: A New Year
Here I am, already two weeks into the new year and this is my first blog post. :) Realistically, I'd be happy if I made just ONE post a month, but one a week would be even better.
School is back in session, which means I am busy again. Running back and forth to the school and doing my other motherly and wifely duties.
I really should be doing laundry, or supervising Alaina (6) and Matthew (4) with their chores, but I am not. I am here. I just put Lisey (2) down for a nap, and I can hear her singing Frosty the Snowman to herself. I love it. She has the CUTEST little voice! She's almost done taking naps even though she's just a little over 2 1/2. It's just at that point, all my kids do this, where if they nap they won't sleep at night. So, I am trying to just lie her down a few times a week and for only an hour even though she'd sleep longer if I let her.
Anyway to get to the point. I don't really do New Years resolutions because I am a perfectionist and it's VERY discouraging to not keep them, but just like everyone else, there are things I'd like to change. Blogging more, keeping up with laundry, not getting so cranky. Patience. You know, all those things. Being more nice to Steven. My one word for the year is Patience. It's something our church is doing. You just pick one word and try and focus on that. This is the jist of it:
"One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live. One word that you can focus on every day, all year long.
It will take intentionality and commitment, but if you let it, your word will shape you and your year. It will guide your decisions and help you grow."
So, I am giving that a try.
I am doing something different with laundry, too. I split our families into 3 groups of 3... Katie, Danielle and Elise (because they share a room), Steven, Joshua, and me (because I usually change his clothes in our room even if they are actually kept in the boys' room) and finally, Johanna, Alaina and Matthew (J and A share a room, but M is in the same area)... anyway, I am just doing loads of one of the groups at a time and then instead of having piles and piles and piles of clothes on the couch, I just have to take out that group's clothes out of the dryer and hand them the laundry basket... or Danielle, because she is the official-laundry-put-awayer....
On that note.. I better go start my load... Joshie (6mos) is screaming and Matthew and Alaina are obviously not cleaning up their areas... the phone just rang and I realize that we still need to change our answering machine message... it's the kids singing, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"...
...Okay, off I go!
See ya next month!
School is back in session, which means I am busy again. Running back and forth to the school and doing my other motherly and wifely duties.
I really should be doing laundry, or supervising Alaina (6) and Matthew (4) with their chores, but I am not. I am here. I just put Lisey (2) down for a nap, and I can hear her singing Frosty the Snowman to herself. I love it. She has the CUTEST little voice! She's almost done taking naps even though she's just a little over 2 1/2. It's just at that point, all my kids do this, where if they nap they won't sleep at night. So, I am trying to just lie her down a few times a week and for only an hour even though she'd sleep longer if I let her.
Anyway to get to the point. I don't really do New Years resolutions because I am a perfectionist and it's VERY discouraging to not keep them, but just like everyone else, there are things I'd like to change. Blogging more, keeping up with laundry, not getting so cranky. Patience. You know, all those things. Being more nice to Steven. My one word for the year is Patience. It's something our church is doing. You just pick one word and try and focus on that. This is the jist of it:
"One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live. One word that you can focus on every day, all year long.
It will take intentionality and commitment, but if you let it, your word will shape you and your year. It will guide your decisions and help you grow."
So, I am giving that a try.
I am doing something different with laundry, too. I split our families into 3 groups of 3... Katie, Danielle and Elise (because they share a room), Steven, Joshua, and me (because I usually change his clothes in our room even if they are actually kept in the boys' room) and finally, Johanna, Alaina and Matthew (J and A share a room, but M is in the same area)... anyway, I am just doing loads of one of the groups at a time and then instead of having piles and piles and piles of clothes on the couch, I just have to take out that group's clothes out of the dryer and hand them the laundry basket... or Danielle, because she is the official-laundry-put-awayer....
On that note.. I better go start my load... Joshie (6mos) is screaming and Matthew and Alaina are obviously not cleaning up their areas... the phone just rang and I realize that we still need to change our answering machine message... it's the kids singing, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"...
...Okay, off I go!
See ya next month!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Take on Tuesday: 2012 Memories
Wow... Where to begin. It's been a good year, busy, but good.
In January we found out we were having another boy... that was sooo wonderful and a great way to start off the year and celebrate my birthday. In July, we welcomed Joshua into the world. He's about to turn six months already. Joshua Mark is sooo wonderful! I love him! He is so very loved by all of us. He is such a happy baby. He will smile at anyone that will look his way or talk to him, which is all the time because he's so cute that people just can't resist! He sleeps pretty well, overall. He sleeps through the night about every other night, lol. For some reason he just does that. Even when he has a rough night it's still not all that bad. He'll sleep from like 11-3am instead of his big stretch of 10pm - 5 or 6am. We haven't started him on any solids, except for the little bit of applesauce he got in the car on our long trip to CO a couple weeks ago. He liked it. :) Here's a picture of him, he's seems to be more fair skinned than Matthew, and his hair is lighter as well. :)
Knitting. Let's see... I've been doing a lot of it. Especially since fall. Even before that, though, I made a bunch of little hats for Joshua's newborn photo shoot. I am hoping to get through my orders (which are slowing down now that Christmas is over) to make him a bunch of new ones and also do another photo shoot with him. Not only that, but he actually needs some hats since it's cold outside.
I've learned some new things. I am getting better at following a pattern and I learned to make bobbles and how to make a curve by knitting short rows. This is the hat, a Viking, that forced me to step outside of my comfort zone...
I also just learned to knit booties last night... very simple ones... but I did it nonetheless!
I got a new camera! A Nikon D5100. I took pictures for Adrielle's wedding. Yep.. my baby sister got married on 12-12-12, which was also our 14th wedding anniversary. That was a lot of fun, to see everyone again. Adrielle's new husband, Clay, seems nice, although I haven't gotten to know him at all yet. Hopefully I will more in the future.
Okay, so let's talk about the other six kids!!! Starting with Katie. My Katheryn Rebekah Laurel. She turned 13 this year. THIRTEEN. I have a teenager. And a freshman in highschool. I am not old enough for that!!! Well, I am, but it doesn't feel like it. Katie has grown a lot this year in responsibility. She has started babysitting, we've left her a number of times alone with our kids and she does an awesome job... the house is clean and the kids are in bed and well taken care of when we get home. She also recently babysat at a friends house with Danielle. That was her first time being away from home, alone. She did very well!!! :)She also has gotten really good at writing poems and her piano playing has improved tremendously! She is also taking an art class again this year and is doing really well, I am very impressed with the work she brings home. :) I've also noticed leadership qualities coming out in her, she put together and led a small vacation Bible school at the church and then the Fall festival for Halloween. I was proud to see her standing in front of so many people, showing such boldness and confidence when she talked.
Then there's Danielle Elizabethe Marie, my 11 year old. She has also grown a lot this year. She has improved a ton with the amount of housework she has been doing. She helps clean the kitchen every night, with out hardly a complaint! She has recently taken over the "job" of putting away everyone's laundry. That is a big job, let me tell you! She's doing great at it. Her artwork is amazing, she is just a natural at it. She is constantly drawing cartoon characters that look just like the original with hardly any effort, it seems. Her piano playing has also improved this year, my favorite song she learned was "Here I Come to Worship" It made my heart melt to hear her play and sing along with it. She's got a pretty voice, maybe it will become like Grandma Laurel's one day. I've noticed an improvement in her diligence with practicing. Danielle is so funny, she is always coming up with the wittiest things. I really enjoy spending time with her. :)
Johanna Alexandra Lynn turned 8 this year. She is so good with babies, Joshua can hardly make a fuss with out her running to him. :) She almost always has him in her arms, and if we are anywhere else where there is another baby, she is wanting to hold them too! :) Johanna is good at cleaning, when she wants to be.. ;) She is our bathroom cleaner... she is very detailed in the way she cleans and she doesn't mind getting messy... haha. Her artwork is showing great potential too, it seems she has a bit of natural talent too... I am usually very surprised when she shows me something she drew. She loves to create... we find "Johanna creations" all over the house. These are usually a combination of yarn, tape, cardboard and hot glue. And anything else she can find around the house. Mostly she is just funloving and full of energy! :)
Then there's Alaina Julianna Grace! She is 6 and started kindergarten this year. She loves Ms. Lollie, her teacher. She also really enjoys her buddy, Luke. She says she is going to marry him one day. haha! Alaina has shown a ton of responsibility with her job this year. Every day, Monday - Thursday, after lunch she cleans the kitchen and dining room with the exception of the dishes. There are days she goes above and beyond and even sweeps and takes out the trash without being asked. She is doing very well at school, picking up on reading very fast. Mostly what I notice about her is how affectionate she is. She very regularly comes up to me and kisses my hand or my face and says, "I love you mommy". That is so sweet and I love it!
baby brother! I can't wait to see their relationship grow and develop over the years. He is such a protector but at the same time shows such gentleness with Joshua. He is very happy to have his brother move in the room with him. He always wants to be just like Daddy and do whatever Daddy is doing! Like in the picture, his sleeves are rolled up, because Daddy does that. We even had to shave his head this year to be like Daddy. :) He loves trains and legos. Most of the fun is building the tracks and building with legos. He got a battery operated train engine for christmas and loves to watch it go around the tracks. Matthew does a good job cleaning the living room, especially organizing the shoes. He's also very responsible with making sure that his train tracks and legos get put away and does an excellent job cleaning his room when told. :)
Then there's our sweet, spunky, Elise Josephine Claire aka: Lisey. She's 2... and full of life! She talks endlessly, has a huge vocabulary and loves Dora! She's a bit stubborn and knows what she wants out of life! She brings so much joy to our family... we just laugh and laugh at her. She recently started sleeping in a big girl bed and shares a room with Katie and Danielle. She may be small but she's certain she's one of the big kids. Her personality is much much bigger than she is, and quirky as can be! We have been trying to get her potty trained, but she has other ideas and apparently is more stubborn than I am, at least with that. So, we are waiting. :)
This year hasn't been all joyful, but we still have so much to be thankful for. Last month I got some pretty bad news. Grandma Marie had a stroke. She's okay, but losing her has been one of my worst fears so you can imagine how terrifying that was. She is very much still with us, but a part of her is gone and it breaks my heart. I went to visit her just days after her stroke and it was very very hard. I miss my Grandma. Her short term memory isn't doing well. She doesn't recognize her house as her home and just simply isn't able to care for herself, at all. :( She just moved in with my Mom a couple days ago and she will stay there for the rest of her life, or until she gets better, which is my prayer. Her personality was still there in a lot of ways, she could joke with us.. and she did remember the people closest to her. Some things were gone though, like her need to clean. Maybe that's a good thing, but it was hard to see that part gone. She LOVED Joshua though and still to this day talks about "THAT BABY" :) I miss her.
In January we found out we were having another boy... that was sooo wonderful and a great way to start off the year and celebrate my birthday. In July, we welcomed Joshua into the world. He's about to turn six months already. Joshua Mark is sooo wonderful! I love him! He is so very loved by all of us. He is such a happy baby. He will smile at anyone that will look his way or talk to him, which is all the time because he's so cute that people just can't resist! He sleeps pretty well, overall. He sleeps through the night about every other night, lol. For some reason he just does that. Even when he has a rough night it's still not all that bad. He'll sleep from like 11-3am instead of his big stretch of 10pm - 5 or 6am. We haven't started him on any solids, except for the little bit of applesauce he got in the car on our long trip to CO a couple weeks ago. He liked it. :) Here's a picture of him, he's seems to be more fair skinned than Matthew, and his hair is lighter as well. :)
Knitting. Let's see... I've been doing a lot of it. Especially since fall. Even before that, though, I made a bunch of little hats for Joshua's newborn photo shoot. I am hoping to get through my orders (which are slowing down now that Christmas is over) to make him a bunch of new ones and also do another photo shoot with him. Not only that, but he actually needs some hats since it's cold outside.I've learned some new things. I am getting better at following a pattern and I learned to make bobbles and how to make a curve by knitting short rows. This is the hat, a Viking, that forced me to step outside of my comfort zone...
I also just learned to knit booties last night... very simple ones... but I did it nonetheless!
I got a new camera! A Nikon D5100. I took pictures for Adrielle's wedding. Yep.. my baby sister got married on 12-12-12, which was also our 14th wedding anniversary. That was a lot of fun, to see everyone again. Adrielle's new husband, Clay, seems nice, although I haven't gotten to know him at all yet. Hopefully I will more in the future.
I also got to see Amariah, which is rare.. here is a picture of us five kids together :)
Okay, so let's talk about the other six kids!!! Starting with Katie. My Katheryn Rebekah Laurel. She turned 13 this year. THIRTEEN. I have a teenager. And a freshman in highschool. I am not old enough for that!!! Well, I am, but it doesn't feel like it. Katie has grown a lot this year in responsibility. She has started babysitting, we've left her a number of times alone with our kids and she does an awesome job... the house is clean and the kids are in bed and well taken care of when we get home. She also recently babysat at a friends house with Danielle. That was her first time being away from home, alone. She did very well!!! :)She also has gotten really good at writing poems and her piano playing has improved tremendously! She is also taking an art class again this year and is doing really well, I am very impressed with the work she brings home. :) I've also noticed leadership qualities coming out in her, she put together and led a small vacation Bible school at the church and then the Fall festival for Halloween. I was proud to see her standing in front of so many people, showing such boldness and confidence when she talked.
Then there's Danielle Elizabethe Marie, my 11 year old. She has also grown a lot this year. She has improved a ton with the amount of housework she has been doing. She helps clean the kitchen every night, with out hardly a complaint! She has recently taken over the "job" of putting away everyone's laundry. That is a big job, let me tell you! She's doing great at it. Her artwork is amazing, she is just a natural at it. She is constantly drawing cartoon characters that look just like the original with hardly any effort, it seems. Her piano playing has also improved this year, my favorite song she learned was "Here I Come to Worship" It made my heart melt to hear her play and sing along with it. She's got a pretty voice, maybe it will become like Grandma Laurel's one day. I've noticed an improvement in her diligence with practicing. Danielle is so funny, she is always coming up with the wittiest things. I really enjoy spending time with her. :)
Johanna Alexandra Lynn turned 8 this year. She is so good with babies, Joshua can hardly make a fuss with out her running to him. :) She almost always has him in her arms, and if we are anywhere else where there is another baby, she is wanting to hold them too! :) Johanna is good at cleaning, when she wants to be.. ;) She is our bathroom cleaner... she is very detailed in the way she cleans and she doesn't mind getting messy... haha. Her artwork is showing great potential too, it seems she has a bit of natural talent too... I am usually very surprised when she shows me something she drew. She loves to create... we find "Johanna creations" all over the house. These are usually a combination of yarn, tape, cardboard and hot glue. And anything else she can find around the house. Mostly she is just funloving and full of energy! :)
Then there's Alaina Julianna Grace! She is 6 and started kindergarten this year. She loves Ms. Lollie, her teacher. She also really enjoys her buddy, Luke. She says she is going to marry him one day. haha! Alaina has shown a ton of responsibility with her job this year. Every day, Monday - Thursday, after lunch she cleans the kitchen and dining room with the exception of the dishes. There are days she goes above and beyond and even sweeps and takes out the trash without being asked. She is doing very well at school, picking up on reading very fast. Mostly what I notice about her is how affectionate she is. She very regularly comes up to me and kisses my hand or my face and says, "I love you mommy". That is so sweet and I love it!
Matthew Scott... he's so fun. :) He turned 4 this year. He loves his
baby brother! I can't wait to see their relationship grow and develop over the years. He is such a protector but at the same time shows such gentleness with Joshua. He is very happy to have his brother move in the room with him. He always wants to be just like Daddy and do whatever Daddy is doing! Like in the picture, his sleeves are rolled up, because Daddy does that. We even had to shave his head this year to be like Daddy. :) He loves trains and legos. Most of the fun is building the tracks and building with legos. He got a battery operated train engine for christmas and loves to watch it go around the tracks. Matthew does a good job cleaning the living room, especially organizing the shoes. He's also very responsible with making sure that his train tracks and legos get put away and does an excellent job cleaning his room when told. :)
Then there's our sweet, spunky, Elise Josephine Claire aka: Lisey. She's 2... and full of life! She talks endlessly, has a huge vocabulary and loves Dora! She's a bit stubborn and knows what she wants out of life! She brings so much joy to our family... we just laugh and laugh at her. She recently started sleeping in a big girl bed and shares a room with Katie and Danielle. She may be small but she's certain she's one of the big kids. Her personality is much much bigger than she is, and quirky as can be! We have been trying to get her potty trained, but she has other ideas and apparently is more stubborn than I am, at least with that. So, we are waiting. :)
This year hasn't been all joyful, but we still have so much to be thankful for. Last month I got some pretty bad news. Grandma Marie had a stroke. She's okay, but losing her has been one of my worst fears so you can imagine how terrifying that was. She is very much still with us, but a part of her is gone and it breaks my heart. I went to visit her just days after her stroke and it was very very hard. I miss my Grandma. Her short term memory isn't doing well. She doesn't recognize her house as her home and just simply isn't able to care for herself, at all. :( She just moved in with my Mom a couple days ago and she will stay there for the rest of her life, or until she gets better, which is my prayer. Her personality was still there in a lot of ways, she could joke with us.. and she did remember the people closest to her. Some things were gone though, like her need to clean. Maybe that's a good thing, but it was hard to see that part gone. She LOVED Joshua though and still to this day talks about "THAT BABY" :) I miss her.
In other "bad news", this month the kids' guinea pig, Oliver died. That was very hard. Our first pet funeral... there were many tears. They did get two new piggies though, Chewbacca (Chewby) and Simba. We decided to let Danielle get one too. Katie was 11 when she got Oliver so it just made sense. So far they have been so responsible. Both guinea pigs got sick and since they were within the two week period since we bought them they got to see the vet for free. Both are on medication and Katie and Danielle have been doing great giving it them, every day.
Can't forget, Steven and me... well not much to say... we are just busy. All the time busy. Steven works 3 jobs, goes to school... takes care of us. I am with the kids, work at the church school, and managing my little knitting business. Busy busy busy!!! :)
Oh. And Benny. He isn't forgotten, we love him very much... he's our fat sweet boy. Turned seven years old this month! He's been a stinker though... ran away not too long ago. We left the door open all night and sure enough, there he was in our kitchen, limping and muddy. Naughty boy. Since then he's been trying to get out more and more... and actually did get out again, but we realized it soon enough and Katie found him by the side of our house.
That pretty much concludes our year. I am sure I am leaving out a ton of stuff, but the important stuff is covered. :)
Goals for next year.... help our family draw nearer to God. I feel that is the biggest disappointment over the last year. Somehow Bible studies stopped happening, we haven't done character qualities like we should, or at all. That needs to change....
See ya next year... in 2013!
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Words on Wednesday: homeschooling...
It's been forever since I have been consistant about writing in here, and that makes me sad.
However, there are many wonderful reasons that I have been too busy to get on here. I can name seven of them right of the top of my head.. hehe... but besides the children, there has been teaching.
Let me just say one thing... I love teaching. The girls I have in my class, 2nd - 5th grade, are so awesome. Although I feel like I am crazy busy, I wouldn't want to do anything else right now. I feel so blessed to get to be apart of all of their little lives.
The experience I am gaining from lesson planning (even if it's only one class) has helped build some confidence for future homeschooling.
The way I see it is, homeschooling will be easier, and harder than what I am doing now. At least I think so. Can't say from experience. The part I'd imagine that would be harder would be lesson planning for every class... and managing many grade levels... and doing it with my own kids might be a tad more difficult than someone elses. Being "stuck in the house" will be a bit challenging, because I seem to fall in that rut when we are all home, I don't get us out like I should. I will have to be organized and have a schedule... eek... and follow it! That will be hard.
The good thing, is the hard part isn't impossible and I feel that through the experience I will gain character, I'll have to! We'll grow as a family. Excited about that.
Now for the easier part.... there's a small little thing called "getting seven children out the door, fully dressed, fed, hair fixed, lunches packed, behavior sheets signed, hats-gloves-scarves (in the winter), shoes, backpacks, jackets... with out tears and earlier in the morning than I want to be rushing out the door" that I don't particularly enjoy. Not having to do that... well, that'd be easier. Before anyone says, you can get most of that stuff ready the night before... I do. It's still stressful. Worth it, but stressful.
Another easier thing. Since I do have smaller children, it would be nice to schedule school around nap and quiet times, or just during parts of the day that would make more sense. We will school year around, so if we don't get everything done in a day (although I will always try) it's ok. And *if* I have another baby, although that is not the plan at this point... then I won't be having to do (see above) with eight children, one being a newborn every morning.. haha... we could take a break for a bit. Also, having them in the classroom with me while I teach can be a tad overwhelming at times. I love having them with me, but the hard part would be that we are on a rigid schedule, I can't just stop teaching to deal with a kid and resume at a better time. I could do that at home.
My children will get a chance to learn about taking care of a home... right now with the hectic schedule there is not much time for them to do chores. Surprisingly, Katie is actually looking forward to that part. Although she does not like chores, she sees the significance of them and wants to make that part of life a habit. Right now it's hard.
The best best best part... family unity. I just feel we need this. As a family. With Steven working so much and I doing a lot of the taking care of the kids by myself it's caused some behavior issues to come up. Sometimes I feel it's the influence of friends, and other things, not just Steven being gone, just a lot of things... but I feel we have a very small window of time to shape their little lives. I can't wait to focus on that 100%.
The icing on the cake is Steven won't have to work so much!!! He can be around more.
We'll miss the church school soooo much and I know I'll miss teaching there, but we'll be around a lot. Who knows, we may only homeschool a couple years. We just know it's right for us right now.
I really do see God's hand in this. A few years ago if you asked me about homeschooling I'd look at you and say "NO WAY! I need a break from my kids, i couldn't handle it!!" Things started transforming in me a couple years ago. It started after I read I book called Family Driven Faith. It totally changed how I thought and did things. We started having family Bible studies together (I need to start doing that again!!!!) and praying together as a family.
My next thought on homeschooling was, that I felt it was one of the best options for our kids, but had no desire whatsoever. I was terrified of the possibility. Then the kids started asking to homeschool. We didn't feel that their reasons for wanting to homeschool were the right reasons and didn't feel it was time to pull them out yet. Steven started feeling the weight of working extra to pay for the school and asked me if I'd ever consider homeschooling. I still didn't want to even though I thought it might be best. I felt really guilty about that. In fact I thought about blogging about how guilty I felt that I didn't want to homeschool... I wanted to want to so bad. I didn't blog about it, though, because I was so ashamed that I couldn't say it.
It was May, this year. Something switched in me. I just said... Okay. We're going to do it. Steven got super excited. He really wants to be a big part of it. Having a high schooler, I'll need him to be a big part! I was still scared, but thought I'd start talking to people that are doing it successfully WITH a large family. I have many friends that are doing it and loving it at this very moment. Friends with 5, 6, and 7 children. If they can do it, and do it well... I can too! That's where it took off. I am now SO excited! I do have some healthy fear though.. haha... it will be a new experience and I know it won't be all sunshine and rainbows. The first year will be the hardest. We'll make mistakes with curriculum... some days things iwll just not work out. Overall though, from what I've heard, it will be very rewarding. Not only that, but a number of my homeschooling friends say they'd never want to (see above) every morning, haha!
It was just like God gave me what I needed when the time was right to be able to make this decision. It is well thought out, we've literally been discussing it for a few years and are not even rushing into it this year. With having Joshua being born in the summer and Steven still having to go to school a ton this year we just didn't feel it was the right time. Luckily the church school is an awesome place for our kids. :)
On a side note.... hat business is going great! It's like the first year, again! Last year was slow. I hardly have time to knit, but I am plugging away, slowly.
I started taking piano lessons with Wendy... I LOVE piano lessons. I really look forward to Fridays. :)
Oh and one more thing... instead of Thoughts on Thursday I am going to do Thankful Thursday, I got the idea from Bri, Shelby's daughter... it's such an awesome thing to do and I am totally doing it! It'll probably only happen like once every couple months, but so worth it!
Well, I better sign off for now... hoping I can get on here more often!
However, there are many wonderful reasons that I have been too busy to get on here. I can name seven of them right of the top of my head.. hehe... but besides the children, there has been teaching.
Let me just say one thing... I love teaching. The girls I have in my class, 2nd - 5th grade, are so awesome. Although I feel like I am crazy busy, I wouldn't want to do anything else right now. I feel so blessed to get to be apart of all of their little lives.
The experience I am gaining from lesson planning (even if it's only one class) has helped build some confidence for future homeschooling.
The way I see it is, homeschooling will be easier, and harder than what I am doing now. At least I think so. Can't say from experience. The part I'd imagine that would be harder would be lesson planning for every class... and managing many grade levels... and doing it with my own kids might be a tad more difficult than someone elses. Being "stuck in the house" will be a bit challenging, because I seem to fall in that rut when we are all home, I don't get us out like I should. I will have to be organized and have a schedule... eek... and follow it! That will be hard.
The good thing, is the hard part isn't impossible and I feel that through the experience I will gain character, I'll have to! We'll grow as a family. Excited about that.
Now for the easier part.... there's a small little thing called "getting seven children out the door, fully dressed, fed, hair fixed, lunches packed, behavior sheets signed, hats-gloves-scarves (in the winter), shoes, backpacks, jackets... with out tears and earlier in the morning than I want to be rushing out the door" that I don't particularly enjoy. Not having to do that... well, that'd be easier. Before anyone says, you can get most of that stuff ready the night before... I do. It's still stressful. Worth it, but stressful.
Another easier thing. Since I do have smaller children, it would be nice to schedule school around nap and quiet times, or just during parts of the day that would make more sense. We will school year around, so if we don't get everything done in a day (although I will always try) it's ok. And *if* I have another baby, although that is not the plan at this point... then I won't be having to do (see above) with eight children, one being a newborn every morning.. haha... we could take a break for a bit. Also, having them in the classroom with me while I teach can be a tad overwhelming at times. I love having them with me, but the hard part would be that we are on a rigid schedule, I can't just stop teaching to deal with a kid and resume at a better time. I could do that at home.
My children will get a chance to learn about taking care of a home... right now with the hectic schedule there is not much time for them to do chores. Surprisingly, Katie is actually looking forward to that part. Although she does not like chores, she sees the significance of them and wants to make that part of life a habit. Right now it's hard.
The best best best part... family unity. I just feel we need this. As a family. With Steven working so much and I doing a lot of the taking care of the kids by myself it's caused some behavior issues to come up. Sometimes I feel it's the influence of friends, and other things, not just Steven being gone, just a lot of things... but I feel we have a very small window of time to shape their little lives. I can't wait to focus on that 100%.
The icing on the cake is Steven won't have to work so much!!! He can be around more.
We'll miss the church school soooo much and I know I'll miss teaching there, but we'll be around a lot. Who knows, we may only homeschool a couple years. We just know it's right for us right now.
I really do see God's hand in this. A few years ago if you asked me about homeschooling I'd look at you and say "NO WAY! I need a break from my kids, i couldn't handle it!!" Things started transforming in me a couple years ago. It started after I read I book called Family Driven Faith. It totally changed how I thought and did things. We started having family Bible studies together (I need to start doing that again!!!!) and praying together as a family.
My next thought on homeschooling was, that I felt it was one of the best options for our kids, but had no desire whatsoever. I was terrified of the possibility. Then the kids started asking to homeschool. We didn't feel that their reasons for wanting to homeschool were the right reasons and didn't feel it was time to pull them out yet. Steven started feeling the weight of working extra to pay for the school and asked me if I'd ever consider homeschooling. I still didn't want to even though I thought it might be best. I felt really guilty about that. In fact I thought about blogging about how guilty I felt that I didn't want to homeschool... I wanted to want to so bad. I didn't blog about it, though, because I was so ashamed that I couldn't say it.
It was May, this year. Something switched in me. I just said... Okay. We're going to do it. Steven got super excited. He really wants to be a big part of it. Having a high schooler, I'll need him to be a big part! I was still scared, but thought I'd start talking to people that are doing it successfully WITH a large family. I have many friends that are doing it and loving it at this very moment. Friends with 5, 6, and 7 children. If they can do it, and do it well... I can too! That's where it took off. I am now SO excited! I do have some healthy fear though.. haha... it will be a new experience and I know it won't be all sunshine and rainbows. The first year will be the hardest. We'll make mistakes with curriculum... some days things iwll just not work out. Overall though, from what I've heard, it will be very rewarding. Not only that, but a number of my homeschooling friends say they'd never want to (see above) every morning, haha!
It was just like God gave me what I needed when the time was right to be able to make this decision. It is well thought out, we've literally been discussing it for a few years and are not even rushing into it this year. With having Joshua being born in the summer and Steven still having to go to school a ton this year we just didn't feel it was the right time. Luckily the church school is an awesome place for our kids. :)
On a side note.... hat business is going great! It's like the first year, again! Last year was slow. I hardly have time to knit, but I am plugging away, slowly.
I started taking piano lessons with Wendy... I LOVE piano lessons. I really look forward to Fridays. :)
Oh and one more thing... instead of Thoughts on Thursday I am going to do Thankful Thursday, I got the idea from Bri, Shelby's daughter... it's such an awesome thing to do and I am totally doing it! It'll probably only happen like once every couple months, but so worth it!
Well, I better sign off for now... hoping I can get on here more often!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Joshua's Birth Story
This has taken me forever to write... but here's the best I can do!
Anyway, So.... on July 5, we went into the hospital for the induction.
I was dilated to 4cm when we got to the hospital. I might have been in early labor already, I was cramping and contracting all day on the 4th it just wasn't too regular. When I got to the hospital I was having some contractions but they weren't real consistant. They were just stronger than before.
The nurse asked me about my birth plan and I told her about the cord clamping thing (I wanted to not clamp the cord for 3 minutes so he could get as much of his cord blood as possible) and that I want the pitocin set real low. She set it on a 2.
It didn't really seem to affect my contractions a whole lot, they were not really more frequent but a little more regular. I probably sat that way for about 2 hours.
Next the anestesiologist (sp?) showed up for my epidural... I so wanted to try it natural, but I was SO worried about doing with pitocin AND I could tell with the little contractions i was having that it was back labor. They weren't real painful at all... just crampy, but my back was hurting pretty bad.
The epi went fine, at first, but then when I laid down my heartrate shot up to 120 and my bp dropped to 80 over something... um scary... and AWFUL. So they had to give me meds to make my bp go up... how ironic. It was awful. Steven and the kids said I lost all the color from my face, I felt nautious... and dizzy.. ick.
Then I felt GUILTY! Like such a wimp for needing the epi that I just put myself and poor Joshua through that! I have never had a reaction like that before.
At the same time my Dr showed up to break my water.. he said I was 5-6cm (with no pain up until that point!). After that the contractions sped up and were on top of each other. Then I was thankful for the epi. I don't know if I could have done it! I mean I know I could have, but they were constant! So they lowered my pit down to a 1 and that slowed them down. They were still pretty close together though... I think it was probably 3 hours before I was a 10... but right about that time Joshua's heartrate dropped down to a 60 which was scary. My Dr wasn't there yet, but I told the nurse that if things didn't change fast I was pushing the baby out!! Luckily she was a nurse experienced with delivering babies. Also, his heartrate went back to normal pretty fast. It just freaked me out for a second there. I felt so helpless!
Then the Dr got there and I pushed through 2 contractions and Joshua came out sunny side up! Little stinker... but it wasn't as hard as pushing Elise out so I was glad. I bet that is why my back was hurting.
The Dr put him on my chest... that was my first experience with that and it's SO wonderful! I can't believe I had 6 babies whisked away from me right after birth and didn't even know what I was missing! :(
He was slimy and gooey, but I didn't care. He screamed and screamed and screamed. He was NOT happy! LOL
He waited over 3 minutes and asked me if I was ready for him to clamp the cord... I felt happy with that (I don't think it was done pulsating at that point though) so I told him it was okay. Then I just held him for the longest time. He SCREAMED! Eventually the nurses took him from me to get him somewhat cleaned up and weighed and then gave him right back! He weighed 7lbs 5oz... same as his bday 7-5! :)
It was overall such a great experience and I felt a lot more in control of it... they asked ME what i wanted before they did everything compared to the past where they just ran the show. All it took was just speaking up and telling them what I wanted.
Also Katie and Danielle were in there the whole time... this is the 3rd sibling they have seen delivered. They did great. Katie had a moment of not feeling very well, but after some rest and food in her tummy she felt better. She was the photographer. Danielle was hilarious, had all kinds of funny stuff to say. Stinker. :)
My regrets of course were having to use the pitocin (probably breaking my water would have been enough) and of course the epi. Don't know what I'll do in the future if there's any more babies.... At this point I still think I'd get the epidural, but who knows, if I actually went into labor on my own mabye I coudl do it.
I really enjoyed the time in hospital, the food -- YUMMY!, the nurses... I just love them.... the time alone with baby, sleeping... It was all great. I miss it, haha!
I think that's it, in a nutshell!
Anyway, So.... on July 5, we went into the hospital for the induction.
I was dilated to 4cm when we got to the hospital. I might have been in early labor already, I was cramping and contracting all day on the 4th it just wasn't too regular. When I got to the hospital I was having some contractions but they weren't real consistant. They were just stronger than before.
The nurse asked me about my birth plan and I told her about the cord clamping thing (I wanted to not clamp the cord for 3 minutes so he could get as much of his cord blood as possible) and that I want the pitocin set real low. She set it on a 2.
It didn't really seem to affect my contractions a whole lot, they were not really more frequent but a little more regular. I probably sat that way for about 2 hours.
Next the anestesiologist (sp?) showed up for my epidural... I so wanted to try it natural, but I was SO worried about doing with pitocin AND I could tell with the little contractions i was having that it was back labor. They weren't real painful at all... just crampy, but my back was hurting pretty bad.
The epi went fine, at first, but then when I laid down my heartrate shot up to 120 and my bp dropped to 80 over something... um scary... and AWFUL. So they had to give me meds to make my bp go up... how ironic. It was awful. Steven and the kids said I lost all the color from my face, I felt nautious... and dizzy.. ick.
Then I felt GUILTY! Like such a wimp for needing the epi that I just put myself and poor Joshua through that! I have never had a reaction like that before.
At the same time my Dr showed up to break my water.. he said I was 5-6cm (with no pain up until that point!). After that the contractions sped up and were on top of each other. Then I was thankful for the epi. I don't know if I could have done it! I mean I know I could have, but they were constant! So they lowered my pit down to a 1 and that slowed them down. They were still pretty close together though... I think it was probably 3 hours before I was a 10... but right about that time Joshua's heartrate dropped down to a 60 which was scary. My Dr wasn't there yet, but I told the nurse that if things didn't change fast I was pushing the baby out!! Luckily she was a nurse experienced with delivering babies. Also, his heartrate went back to normal pretty fast. It just freaked me out for a second there. I felt so helpless!
Then the Dr got there and I pushed through 2 contractions and Joshua came out sunny side up! Little stinker... but it wasn't as hard as pushing Elise out so I was glad. I bet that is why my back was hurting.
The Dr put him on my chest... that was my first experience with that and it's SO wonderful! I can't believe I had 6 babies whisked away from me right after birth and didn't even know what I was missing! :(
He was slimy and gooey, but I didn't care. He screamed and screamed and screamed. He was NOT happy! LOL
He waited over 3 minutes and asked me if I was ready for him to clamp the cord... I felt happy with that (I don't think it was done pulsating at that point though) so I told him it was okay. Then I just held him for the longest time. He SCREAMED! Eventually the nurses took him from me to get him somewhat cleaned up and weighed and then gave him right back! He weighed 7lbs 5oz... same as his bday 7-5! :)
It was overall such a great experience and I felt a lot more in control of it... they asked ME what i wanted before they did everything compared to the past where they just ran the show. All it took was just speaking up and telling them what I wanted.
Also Katie and Danielle were in there the whole time... this is the 3rd sibling they have seen delivered. They did great. Katie had a moment of not feeling very well, but after some rest and food in her tummy she felt better. She was the photographer. Danielle was hilarious, had all kinds of funny stuff to say. Stinker. :)
My regrets of course were having to use the pitocin (probably breaking my water would have been enough) and of course the epi. Don't know what I'll do in the future if there's any more babies.... At this point I still think I'd get the epidural, but who knows, if I actually went into labor on my own mabye I coudl do it.
I really enjoyed the time in hospital, the food -- YUMMY!, the nurses... I just love them.... the time alone with baby, sleeping... It was all great. I miss it, haha!
I think that's it, in a nutshell!
Beautiful Baby!
Friday, August 17, 2012
Friday's Facts: Summer is almost over
It's been forever since I have blogged!!
Joshua, our sweet baby boy, is six weeks old already! I promise I will blog his birth story here soon!
Summer is almost over. It's been fun and eventful.
Let's see...
We started the summer off with a trip to North Dakota to see Grandma Marie. That was fun! Then the kids had swimming lessons and went to vacation Bible school.
We had a big fourth of July party and TONS of fireworks and the very next day our wonderful Joshua Mark came into this world!
My seven wonderful kids!
Then Gary and Cathy came for a visit to help out with the baby and during that time we celebrated Matthew's 4th Birthday!
At the end of the week, they left and brought Katie, Danielle and Johanna with them to CO. They were gone two weeks. I missed them sooo much!!!!
We went and picked them up when Joshua was only 3 1/2 weeks old and spent a few days in CO. It was wonderful seeing my Mom, Adrielle, Ezra, Asa and Dean. Also I got some time with my seester Amber and got to see her kids, Poppy, Zeke, Fiona and Vivian. We also briefly saw Kayla and Cayden. He's getting so big!
Here are all the Grandkids on my Mom's side. :)
The girls got to go swimming, a lot, while visiting Grandma and Grandpa, and fishing with Daddy and Grandpa. Fun times. :) Here are Katie and Danielle in the lake on their fishing trip!
After we got home, Katie, Danielle and Juliette ran a little vacation Bible school for the little kids at our church. It was so great watching them teach! Danielle was in charge of the 2, 3 and 4 year olds with the help of Claire, Ada, and Jesse White. She did such a great job. She was so responsible.
Katie and Juliette taught the 5 and 7 year olds. Katie taught them Jesus Loves Me in sign language. What a great teacher she is!!! I was so proud of them, to see what servant's hearts they had. They put so much work into this and it turned out very successful!
This last week we've been just running errands and selling coupon books mostly. We have beat our record for previous years. I think we are at like 39 books sold now. So, if we win again we'll be getting a $50 gift card to anywhere we choose in the book.
Today I took the kids to Runza. There is an outside playground there that I never really noticed before. It was perfect weather-wise and the kids were able to burn off some energy.
I feel we've grown a lot this summer. As a family and as individuals. I am sad it's almost over. The school year opens a new chapter in our lives. I will be at the school 3 mornings a week teaching the primary students. I will have 6 girls between 2nd and 5th grade. I am the primary teacher for Science, but I will also be helping with Bible, spelling, handwriting, and in the kindergarten classroom where Alaina will be! :)
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Words on Wednesday:39wks
39 wks tomorrow that is.
Tomorrow is the BIG day. I will be induced if Joshua does not make his appearance before then!
So, in other news... my last two OB appts were eventful! First, last Friday I went in and asked to be checked. Dr Stearnes couldn't find my cervix... then said baby's head was to the side. That freaked me out a bit because a tranverse baby could mean a C-section. I then asked if having a full bladder mattered... and it does! LOL! So I went pee... got a quick u/s and yep, baby is head down. Thank goodness. Then Dr checked me. He said I was a "good" 3cm but I asked him to stretch me if possible. He wouldn't sweep (or strip) my membranes. He did stretch me to a tight 4cm though. :) I also found out at this appt that I am GBS+ so I'll need antibiotics during labor. Most likely I really don't, but in the slight chance that I have the "bad form" of GBS they like to play it safe. Err...
Then I went in again on Tuesday (yesterday). I was a "good" 4cm and I asked again if he'd sweep the membranes since I'd be getting induced in less than 48 hours. He did agree to it... it hurt a little but wasnt' awful by any means. I really don't want pitocin, but Dr insists that it's best because of my hbp spikes. I asked if he'd just break my water, but he doesn't think that will be enough to jump start things. He did agree to only give me the lowest dose of pit and not increase it until after my water is broken if I am not progressing, which I doubt will happen. They call it a "whiff" of pitocin. Let's hope that works. I am TRYING to do things as natural as I can.
While he was checking me and sweeiping my membranes he realized that baby has a limb (probably a hand) right up there by his head. He said that it COULD be dangerous and increase the risk of cord prolapse (which is an automatic C-section) because the head being there prevents the head from totally plugging the space where my cervix is opening leaving a small space for the cord to squeeze though. So he is going to try and manipulate things to get baby to move before he breaks my water. Otherwise I"ll be giving birth to a head AND a limb at the same time and that really makes me want an epidural! I was thinking about maybe not getting one if I go into labor on my own. If I am induced I probably will.
Today is the 4th of July and Steven has a HUGE party planned for the people at the church. It's going to be a great time, but I could have the baby instead! Poor Steven. Although it would make for great memories. A 4th of July baby. Time will tell!
Tomorrow is the BIG day. I will be induced if Joshua does not make his appearance before then!
So, in other news... my last two OB appts were eventful! First, last Friday I went in and asked to be checked. Dr Stearnes couldn't find my cervix... then said baby's head was to the side. That freaked me out a bit because a tranverse baby could mean a C-section. I then asked if having a full bladder mattered... and it does! LOL! So I went pee... got a quick u/s and yep, baby is head down. Thank goodness. Then Dr checked me. He said I was a "good" 3cm but I asked him to stretch me if possible. He wouldn't sweep (or strip) my membranes. He did stretch me to a tight 4cm though. :) I also found out at this appt that I am GBS+ so I'll need antibiotics during labor. Most likely I really don't, but in the slight chance that I have the "bad form" of GBS they like to play it safe. Err...
Then I went in again on Tuesday (yesterday). I was a "good" 4cm and I asked again if he'd sweep the membranes since I'd be getting induced in less than 48 hours. He did agree to it... it hurt a little but wasnt' awful by any means. I really don't want pitocin, but Dr insists that it's best because of my hbp spikes. I asked if he'd just break my water, but he doesn't think that will be enough to jump start things. He did agree to only give me the lowest dose of pit and not increase it until after my water is broken if I am not progressing, which I doubt will happen. They call it a "whiff" of pitocin. Let's hope that works. I am TRYING to do things as natural as I can.
While he was checking me and sweeiping my membranes he realized that baby has a limb (probably a hand) right up there by his head. He said that it COULD be dangerous and increase the risk of cord prolapse (which is an automatic C-section) because the head being there prevents the head from totally plugging the space where my cervix is opening leaving a small space for the cord to squeeze though. So he is going to try and manipulate things to get baby to move before he breaks my water. Otherwise I"ll be giving birth to a head AND a limb at the same time and that really makes me want an epidural! I was thinking about maybe not getting one if I go into labor on my own. If I am induced I probably will.
Today is the 4th of July and Steven has a HUGE party planned for the people at the church. It's going to be a great time, but I could have the baby instead! Poor Steven. Although it would make for great memories. A 4th of July baby. Time will tell!
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Take on Tuesday: 37w5d "acupuncture"
Today I went to the chiropractor and got acupuncture, the kind designed to help induce labor. Of course it's not going to do anything if my body and baby are not ready... but here's to hoping, right?! Yesterday I had my 37wk check. I was 3cm dilated. A tight 3 he said. I go in again on Friday and I've asked him to check me again that day, hoping something will happen and I'll have baby Joshua by Saturday June 30.
My blood pressure has been fluctuating quite a bit. With a range of like 120's over 70's and 150's over 90's. Usually it just sits in the 130 over 80 ish range though... so a safe number. It's crazy when it spikes though. Not sure if it's just our blood pressure machine we have at home because it's always been super good at the Dr office. Who knows! I got a few more things done on my list too. My goal is to finish all those things by Friday - just in case! :) Hoping still! Then if i don't have baby I'll have a whole new list of things to get done before July 6th.... which is the day Dr Stearnes wants to induce if I haven't had baby yet. He's worried about my medical history, the pre-eclampsia, hypertenstion and hypothyroidism. Wow, I am a hot mess. lol. I think it would be fine to wait it out assuming my bp doesn't spike by then, but he doesn't. I think it's more for convenience really.. but I really don't want to fight it. I feel I got what I wanted with having the cord not clamped and cut for 3 minutes (a whole other story) and honestly... thinking I'll be holding Joshua in my arms in 10 days is soooooooo wonderful right now I can't even imagine arguing. One day I might kick myself though. Anyway here's the new and improved list.
2) Clean out the bassinette and decide if I can use it still - I can!! :)
3) Put newborn and up to 3mos clothes in his dresser
4) Before that I need to completely empty it out, some of Elise's things are still in there
5) Make "BOY" curtains
6) find a pattern and make a red bumper for the crib
7) maybe even make a wall hanging with remaining fabric ((tomorrow!!))
8) Clean carpets, even if with just water
9) organize medicine cabinet
10) Clean out fridge
11) Make more hats and diaper covers ((on going))
12) Organize Matthew's closet
12) organize Johanna and Alaina's closet
13) wipe down walls and baseboards
14) windex windows
16) organize laundry room
17) hang pictures in basement
18) get all kids newest pics done
a. Katie b. Danielle c. Johanna d. Alaina e. Matthew f. Elise
19) get maternity pictures done
20) pack hospital bag
21) organize garage the best I can
22) organize my craft and clothes closet
23) clean out van
24) buy newborn diapers and pads
25) organize pantry
26) install carseats, including infant
27) pre-register at hospital
28) get all the kids pics in envelopes and addressed to the people they need to go to ((on going))
29) organize top of fridge
30) Vaccuum stairs
31) clean out couch and wash couch cushions
32) give kids haircuts or trims
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Thursday's Thoughts: updated list
1) Buy him a carseat
2) Clean out the bassinette and decide if I can use it still - I can!! :)
3) Put newborn and up to 3mos clothes in his dresser
4) Before that I need to completely empty it out, some of Elise's things are still in there
5) Make "BOY" curtains
6) find a pattern and make a red bumper for the crib
7) maybe even make a wall hanging with remaining fabric
8) Clean carpets, even if with just water
9) organize medicine cabinet
10) Clean out fridge
11) Make more hats and diaper covers ((on going))
12) Organize Matthew's closet
12) organize Johanna and Alaina's closet
13) wipe down walls and baseboards
14) windex windows
16) organize laundry room
17) hang pictures in basement
18) get all kids newest pics done ((on going))
a. Katie b. Danielle c. Johanna d. Alaina e. Matthew f. Elise
19) get maternity pictures done
20) pack hospital bag
21) organize garage the best I can
22) organize my craft and clothes closet
23) clean out van
24) buy newborn diapers and pads
25) organize pantry
26) install carseats, including infant
27) pre-register at hospital
28) get all the kids pics in envelopes and addressed to the people they need to go to ((on going))
29) organize top of fridge
30) Vaccuum stairs
31) clean out couch and wash couch cushions
32) give kids haircuts or trims
2) Clean out the bassinette and decide if I can use it still - I can!! :)
3) Put newborn and up to 3mos clothes in his dresser
4) Before that I need to completely empty it out, some of Elise's things are still in there
5) Make "BOY" curtains
6) find a pattern and make a red bumper for the crib
7) maybe even make a wall hanging with remaining fabric
8) Clean carpets, even if with just water
9) organize medicine cabinet
10) Clean out fridge
11) Make more hats and diaper covers ((on going))
12) Organize Matthew's closet
12) organize Johanna and Alaina's closet
13) wipe down walls and baseboards
14) windex windows
16) organize laundry room
17) hang pictures in basement
18) get all kids newest pics done ((on going))
a. Katie b. Danielle c. Johanna d. Alaina e. Matthew f. Elise
19) get maternity pictures done
20) pack hospital bag
21) organize garage the best I can
22) organize my craft and clothes closet
23) clean out van
24) buy newborn diapers and pads
25) organize pantry
26) install carseats, including infant
27) pre-register at hospital
28) get all the kids pics in envelopes and addressed to the people they need to go to ((on going))
29) organize top of fridge
30) Vaccuum stairs
31) clean out couch and wash couch cushions
32) give kids haircuts or trims
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Words on Wednesday: 37wks
So close, yet so far away still! :)
I had an appt yesterday and I was only 2cm (barely) dilated and 50% effaced. At 36 1/2 wks, that's about right for me I guess, but I thought FOR SURE that things would be a little further along! I have had more contractions with more discomfort than previous pregnancies at this point. At least as far as I can remember. I even had one contraction wake me up because it was on the verge of being a painful one. That has NEVER happened before.
Oh well....
Other signs would be, more pressure on my tailbone, especially during contractions. Also the need to go to the bathroom constantly, lol.... I am still hoping for a June 30 baby, but the way things look it probably won't happen. For one, the earliest I have ever gone into labor on my own was 39wks and 2 days. I have had two pregnancies make it to almost 41 weeks (one of those was induced so who knows how long I would have been pregnant) and 2 pregnancies that were induced at 39ish weeks (so I know I didn't have them early, obviously... and 1 pregnancy induced at 38wks and 2 days... I am sure I would have gone at least another week with her as well.... so my hopes are shattered of a natural delivery on that day. I'd be 38wks and 2 days.
As far as an induction, I am not hoping for something to go wrong, but the only thing that probably would, would be my blood pressure and that's been surprisingly low (normal for me when I am not pregnant) lately. So... IDK! Time will tell! Meanwhile, I might just try and bounce on the trampoline in the evenings (after dark, lol) to help things along. Hopefully next Tues I have better news! I'll be almost 38 wks at that point so I better be more dilated!!!
In the meantime... just keep checking things off the list!
1) Buy him a carseat
2) Clean out the bassinette and decide if I can use it still - I can!! :)
3) Put newborn and up to 3mos clothes in his dresser
4) Before that I need to completely empty it out, some of Elise's things are still in there
5) Make "BOY" curtains
6) find a pattern and make a red bumper for the crib
7) maybe even make a wall hanging with remaining fabric
8) Clean carpets, even if with just water
9) organize medicine cabinet
10) Clean out fridge
11) Make more hats and diaper covers
12) Organize Matthew's closet
12) organize Johanna and Alaina's closet
13) wipe down walls and baseboards
14) windex windows
16) organize laundry room
17) hang pictures in basement
18) get all kids newest pics done
a. Katie b. Danielle c. Johanna d. Alaina e. Matthew f. Elise
19) get maternity pictures done
20) pack hospital bag
21) organize garage the best I can
22) organize my craft and clothes closet
23) clean out van
24) buy newborn diapers and nursing pads
25) organize pantry
26) install carseats, including infant
27) preregister at hospital
28) get all the kids pics in envelopes and addressed to the people they need to go to
(when baby is born, all I have to do is add his in there and send them off!)
29) organize top of fridge
30) Vaccuum stairs
31) clean out couch and wash couch cushions
32) give kids haircuts or trims
a. Katie b. Danielle c. Johanna d. Alaina e. Matthew
I had an appt yesterday and I was only 2cm (barely) dilated and 50% effaced. At 36 1/2 wks, that's about right for me I guess, but I thought FOR SURE that things would be a little further along! I have had more contractions with more discomfort than previous pregnancies at this point. At least as far as I can remember. I even had one contraction wake me up because it was on the verge of being a painful one. That has NEVER happened before.
Oh well....
Other signs would be, more pressure on my tailbone, especially during contractions. Also the need to go to the bathroom constantly, lol.... I am still hoping for a June 30 baby, but the way things look it probably won't happen. For one, the earliest I have ever gone into labor on my own was 39wks and 2 days. I have had two pregnancies make it to almost 41 weeks (one of those was induced so who knows how long I would have been pregnant) and 2 pregnancies that were induced at 39ish weeks (so I know I didn't have them early, obviously... and 1 pregnancy induced at 38wks and 2 days... I am sure I would have gone at least another week with her as well.... so my hopes are shattered of a natural delivery on that day. I'd be 38wks and 2 days.
As far as an induction, I am not hoping for something to go wrong, but the only thing that probably would, would be my blood pressure and that's been surprisingly low (normal for me when I am not pregnant) lately. So... IDK! Time will tell! Meanwhile, I might just try and bounce on the trampoline in the evenings (after dark, lol) to help things along. Hopefully next Tues I have better news! I'll be almost 38 wks at that point so I better be more dilated!!!
In the meantime... just keep checking things off the list!
1) Buy him a carseat
2) Clean out the bassinette and decide if I can use it still - I can!! :)
3) Put newborn and up to 3mos clothes in his dresser
4) Before that I need to completely empty it out, some of Elise's things are still in there
5) Make "BOY" curtains
6) find a pattern and make a red bumper for the crib
7) maybe even make a wall hanging with remaining fabric
8) Clean carpets, even if with just water
9) organize medicine cabinet
10) Clean out fridge
11) Make more hats and diaper covers
12) Organize Matthew's closet
12) organize Johanna and Alaina's closet
13) wipe down walls and baseboards
14) windex windows
16) organize laundry room
17) hang pictures in basement
18) get all kids newest pics done
a. Katie b. Danielle c. Johanna d. Alaina e. Matthew f. Elise
19) get maternity pictures done
20) pack hospital bag
21) organize garage the best I can
22) organize my craft and clothes closet
23) clean out van
24) buy newborn diapers and nursing pads
25) organize pantry
26) install carseats, including infant
27) preregister at hospital
28) get all the kids pics in envelopes and addressed to the people they need to go to
(when baby is born, all I have to do is add his in there and send them off!)
29) organize top of fridge
30) Vaccuum stairs
31) clean out couch and wash couch cushions
32) give kids haircuts or trims
a. Katie b. Danielle c. Johanna d. Alaina e. Matthew
Monday, June 18, 2012
Mundane Monday: Curtains
I feel like everytime I check something off, I add a couple more things though... I guess that's part of life with 6 kids... organizing just never ends!
Here's my list now.....
1) Buy him a carseat
2) Clean out the bassinette and decide if I can use it still - I can!! :)
3) Put newborn and up to 3mos clothes in his dresser
4) Before that I need to completely empty it out, some of Elise's things are still in there
5) Make "BOY" curtains
6) find a pattern and make a red bumper for the crib
7) maybe even make a wall hanging with remaining fabric
8) Clean carpets, even if with just water
9) organize medicine cabinet
10) Clean out fridge
11) Make more hats and diaper covers
12) Organize Matthew's closet
12) organize Johanna and Alaina's closet
13) wipe down walls and baseboards
14) windex windows
16) organize laundry room
17) hang pictures in basement
18) get all kids newest pics done
a. Katie
b. Danielle
c. Johanna
d. Alaina
e. Matthew
f. Elise
19) get maternity pictures done
20) pack hospital bag
21) organize garage the best I can
22) organize my craft and clothes closet
23) clean out van
24) buy newborn diapers and nursing pads
25) organize pantry
26) install carseats, including infant
27) preregister at hospital
28) get all the kids pics in envelopes and addressed to the people they need to go to
(when baby is born, all I have to do is add his in there and send them off!)
29) organize top of fridge
30) Vaccuum stairs
31) clean out couch and wash couch cushions
32) give kids haircuts
a. Katie
b. Danielle
c. Johanna
d. Alaina
e. Matthew
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Simply Saturday: Pictures today!
We went to JCPenney's and got "maternity" pics done and I also got Johanna and Alaina's pics done while were there! The kids were SUPER good... we got ALL the pics done, picked out, ordered and outta there in less than an hour! :)
I also ordered baby Joshua's carseat! It's gray, like pretty much all of the other carseats (and the interior of the van) and has blue trim. Super cute.
A few more things to check off my list! YAY! :) (a few more to add as well)
1) Buy him a carseat
2) Clean out the bassinette and decide if I can use it still - I can!! :)
3) Put newborn and up to 3mos clothes in his dresser
4) Before that I need to completely empty it out, some of Elise's things are still in there
5) Make "BOY" curtains
6) find a pattern and make a red bumper for the crib
7) maybe even make a wall hanging with remaining fabric
8) Clean carpets, even if with just water
9) organize medicine cabinet
10) Clean out fridge
11) Make more hats and diaper covers
12) Organize Matthew's closet
12) organize Johanna and Alaina's closet
13) wipe down walls and baseboards
14) windex windows
16) organize laundry room
17) hang pictures in basement
18) get all kids newest pics done
a. Katie
b. Danielle
c. Johanna
d. Alaina
e. Matthew
f. Elise
19) get maternity pictures done
20) pack hospital bag
21) organize garage the best I can
22) organize my craft and clothes closet
23) clean out van
24) buy newborn diapers and nursing pads
25) organize pantry
26) install carseats, including infant
27) preregister at hospital
28) get all the kids pics in envelopes and addressed to the people they need to go to
(when baby is born, all I have to do is add his in there and send them off!)
29) organize top of fridge
30) Vaccuum stairs
I also ordered baby Joshua's carseat! It's gray, like pretty much all of the other carseats (and the interior of the van) and has blue trim. Super cute.
A few more things to check off my list! YAY! :) (a few more to add as well)
1) Buy him a carseat
2) Clean out the bassinette and decide if I can use it still - I can!! :)
3) Put newborn and up to 3mos clothes in his dresser
4) Before that I need to completely empty it out, some of Elise's things are still in there
5) Make "BOY" curtains
6) find a pattern and make a red bumper for the crib
7) maybe even make a wall hanging with remaining fabric
8) Clean carpets, even if with just water
9) organize medicine cabinet
10) Clean out fridge
11) Make more hats and diaper covers
12) Organize Matthew's closet
12) organize Johanna and Alaina's closet
13) wipe down walls and baseboards
14) windex windows
16) organize laundry room
17) hang pictures in basement
18) get all kids newest pics done
a. Katie
b. Danielle
c. Johanna
d. Alaina
e. Matthew
f. Elise
19) get maternity pictures done
20) pack hospital bag
21) organize garage the best I can
22) organize my craft and clothes closet
23) clean out van
24) buy newborn diapers and nursing pads
25) organize pantry
26) install carseats, including infant
27) preregister at hospital
28) get all the kids pics in envelopes and addressed to the people they need to go to
(when baby is born, all I have to do is add his in there and send them off!)
29) organize top of fridge
30) Vaccuum stairs
Friday, June 15, 2012
Friday's Facts: The List
Well, since my post about nesting with my to-do list we have been working at it non-stop. Of course, there's regular things that have to be done that always get in the way of doing the "extra things". So, I am copying and pasting my original list, plus adding some. I will bold the ones I have already done...
1) Buy him a carseat
2) Clean out the bassinette and decide if I can use it still3) Put newborn and up to 3mos clothes in his dresser
4) Before that I need to completely empty it out, some of Elise's things are still in there
5) Make "BOY" curtains
6) find a pattern and make a red bumper for the crib
7) maybe even make a wall hanging with remaining fabric
8) Clean carpets, even if with just water
9) organize medicine cabinet
10) Clean out fridge
11) Make more hats and diaper covers
12) Organize Matthew's closet
12) organize Johanna and Alaina's closet
13) wipe down walls and baseboards
14) windex windows
16) organize laundry room
17) hang pictures in basement
18) get all kids newest pics done
a. Katie
b. Danielle
c. Johanna
d. Alaina
e. Matthew
f. Elise
19) get maternity pictures done
20) pack hospital bag
21) organize garage the best I can
22) organize my craft and clothes closet
23) clean out van
24) buy newborn diapers and nursing pads
25) organize pantry
Thankfully I have helpers... Danielle organized the fridge and pantry for me, Johanna organized the cupboards with cups and the ones with plates and bowls. Matthew and Alaina organized the cabinet with color books and crayons. Johanna mostly did the medicine cabinet, she needed my help with just knowing which meds to throw away and how to organize them. All of the kids pitched in and helped clean the garage. It was about the best we could do considering I am so very pregnant, and we had Elise to watch closely... in the rain, haha.
All I know is I am running out of steam and my "list" is getting longer! I am adding to it more than taking away from it. Also some of these things are ongoing... like making hats... that will continue til baby is born most likely and some of those "organized" areas need to be organized again already!
1) Buy him a carseat
2) Clean out the bassinette and decide if I can use it still3) Put newborn and up to 3mos clothes in his dresser
4) Before that I need to completely empty it out, some of Elise's things are still in there
5) Make "BOY" curtains
6) find a pattern and make a red bumper for the crib
7) maybe even make a wall hanging with remaining fabric
8) Clean carpets, even if with just water
9) organize medicine cabinet
10) Clean out fridge
11) Make more hats and diaper covers
12) Organize Matthew's closet
12) organize Johanna and Alaina's closet
13) wipe down walls and baseboards
14) windex windows
16) organize laundry room
17) hang pictures in basement
18) get all kids newest pics done
a. Katie
b. Danielle
c. Johanna
d. Alaina
e. Matthew
f. Elise
19) get maternity pictures done
20) pack hospital bag
21) organize garage the best I can
22) organize my craft and clothes closet
23) clean out van
24) buy newborn diapers and nursing pads
25) organize pantry
Thankfully I have helpers... Danielle organized the fridge and pantry for me, Johanna organized the cupboards with cups and the ones with plates and bowls. Matthew and Alaina organized the cabinet with color books and crayons. Johanna mostly did the medicine cabinet, she needed my help with just knowing which meds to throw away and how to organize them. All of the kids pitched in and helped clean the garage. It was about the best we could do considering I am so very pregnant, and we had Elise to watch closely... in the rain, haha.
All I know is I am running out of steam and my "list" is getting longer! I am adding to it more than taking away from it. Also some of these things are ongoing... like making hats... that will continue til baby is born most likely and some of those "organized" areas need to be organized again already!
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