Well, I thought I was home free until the icky blahs hit me at 6.5 weeks or so and now at about 8wks I wish I could feel normal again. I'm thankful that my "morning sickness" doesn't involve throwing up but it does involve a lot of nausea and upset tummy, a LOT of thinking pretty much all food on earth sounds disgusting, and a lot of exhaustion.
I'm figuring out that if I stay fed I feel a little better than if I don't. Also if I get enough sleep I feel better than when I'm not getting enough sleep. Unfortunately "enough" sleep seems to be an amount I'm not able to attain on a daily basis. I slept 8hrs Saturday night, took a 2.5hr nap yesterday afternoon, slept about 9hrs last night and FINALLY felt somewhat awake this morning. I don't usually have the luxury of the nap though.
Having a bit more awakeness this morning it was nice to use some of that energy with Sierra and working on some tot school activities. She's very into numbers and counting, we reviewed capital letters and their sounds, shapes and colors, and she got to put stickers on a do a dot number page I found here. I'm so thankful for these other moms who put stuff together like this. My kids love these things and I don't have the know how to create them myself.
Being able to give a little more energy and attention to the kids' school has been nice this morning. Of course I'm starting to wane, my eyes are beginning to get droopy, my tummy is hungry, and school, thank goodness, is almost over for today.
Oh one more thing, yesterday my oldest son Kayden got baptized. Now that alone is pretty great but even greater was that he asked his Daddy to do the honors. Talk about an emotional mama. We had a really great get together with a few friends and grammy afterwards and that was followed by my amazing nap.
Also it must be said that Jay is being great. He's run to the store more in the past two weeks than probably the past whole year previously. He's been really great about helping get the house cleaned up for yesterday's get together. I really appreciate that he's been so helpful.
And one last word, I don't know how consistent this blog will be for the next few weeks. I have lots of fun things I want to do with the kids and post about but with my icky blahs I'm just not often up to messing with getting a post together.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
A little bit sticks with you
I'm a reader. I've always been a reader. In middle school you'd rarely catch me walking down the hallway from class to class without an open book in my hand. I would stay up late at night with a flashlight and struggle to stay awake in my first class of the following day. Reading allowed me to go into a world that I would never otherwise be able to go into and have adventures that as a normal person in small town MI I would never have otherwise had. I still love reading.
As a parent the function of reading has often been different than before. Now, I often reach for a book hoping to glean that magic piece of parenting wisdom that I feel so desperate for. I don't read too many parenting books, or don't finish them at any rate because I tend to lay them aside to deal with the children I'm seeking help with. Isn't that just always the way? The true irony of parenting books is that you really only have time to read them BEFORE you are a parent. But still I've realized recently that a little bit sticks with you.
I read a great book when my older two were little and I was probably pregnant with my 3rd. The author encouraged allowing the children to do things that conventional parenting said they weren't really old enough for. It talked a lot about gearing the home environment to where the kids could do a lot for themselves without a ton of parental interference. And while I certainly don't do half the stuff the author encouraged in the book, a little bit did stick.
Because of that book the children's dishes are in a low cabinet where they can get them out themselves and put them away out of the dishwasher themselves. Even Sierra at 2 has no trouble doing either of these things. Because of that book I have tried over the past years to encourage my children to do as much for themselves as possible. I suppose some could look at it as me being lazy, but really there are times when I find I have a HUGE advantage that my children can follow some basic directions given from a mom laying on the couch and function on a basic level without my constant interference. If necessary Kayden and Colton could make pb&j without any assistance, even Sierra can peel her own clementines (once I've started it a tiny bit - but again a brother could help with that), Kayd has been known to serve breakfast completely on his own. And I will tell you that since becoming pregnant with our fifth blessing (which the kids share their excitement about nearly every day) there have been several occasions where I have been thankful that I read that book and that a little bit stuck. It's super beneficial to me now in this season and I know that in the future the sense of independence we're giving our kids will be beneficial to them as they continue to grow.
So even if you can't make it through an entire parenting book, be encourage that usually, from whatever you are able to read, a little bit does stick.
As a parent the function of reading has often been different than before. Now, I often reach for a book hoping to glean that magic piece of parenting wisdom that I feel so desperate for. I don't read too many parenting books, or don't finish them at any rate because I tend to lay them aside to deal with the children I'm seeking help with. Isn't that just always the way? The true irony of parenting books is that you really only have time to read them BEFORE you are a parent. But still I've realized recently that a little bit sticks with you.
I read a great book when my older two were little and I was probably pregnant with my 3rd. The author encouraged allowing the children to do things that conventional parenting said they weren't really old enough for. It talked a lot about gearing the home environment to where the kids could do a lot for themselves without a ton of parental interference. And while I certainly don't do half the stuff the author encouraged in the book, a little bit did stick.
Because of that book the children's dishes are in a low cabinet where they can get them out themselves and put them away out of the dishwasher themselves. Even Sierra at 2 has no trouble doing either of these things. Because of that book I have tried over the past years to encourage my children to do as much for themselves as possible. I suppose some could look at it as me being lazy, but really there are times when I find I have a HUGE advantage that my children can follow some basic directions given from a mom laying on the couch and function on a basic level without my constant interference. If necessary Kayden and Colton could make pb&j without any assistance, even Sierra can peel her own clementines (once I've started it a tiny bit - but again a brother could help with that), Kayd has been known to serve breakfast completely on his own. And I will tell you that since becoming pregnant with our fifth blessing (which the kids share their excitement about nearly every day) there have been several occasions where I have been thankful that I read that book and that a little bit stuck. It's super beneficial to me now in this season and I know that in the future the sense of independence we're giving our kids will be beneficial to them as they continue to grow.
So even if you can't make it through an entire parenting book, be encourage that usually, from whatever you are able to read, a little bit does stick.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Letting Go
I won't lie. One of my favorite things about homeschooling my children is that I don't have to let them go as much. I have at least a bit more of a sense of control over things even if the control isn't real. This past summer, at the encouragement of a few friends from church and the excitement from Kayd after reading the brochure, we allowed Kayden to attend a Christian day camp for a week. He had several friends from church in his little group and he had a blast. He went in the morning and came home for dinner at night. The last night the campers had the option to spend the night to get a taste of what overnight camp is like and we let him do that too.
Kayd had a blast. He loved it and is still bummed that not having two vehicles means that he won't be able to go this summer. However, I received a brochure for a one night overnight winter camp. For some reason I thought it was a great idea to let him go. The timing worked out to get him there and pick him up on time and I know he'll have a lot of fun.
But it's so very hard to let go. If his socks get wet will he remember to change them? Will he remember to wear his hat and dry mittens every time they do an outdoor activity? I won't be there to remind him. I won't be there to check on him. And it occurred to me yesterday that I don't actually know any of the adults who will be responsible for my child for a 14hr period of time from tonight until tomorrow night. Panic began to set in.
And then I prayed. Because really even though I feel like I have some sense of control in my home, it's mostly an illusion. God, really, is in control and He is with Kayd whether Kayd is under this roof or the roof of the camp chapel. I think that letting go is one of the hardest parts of parenting but it's also essential. Kayd's confidence grew leaps and bounds when I let go last summer and I trust that he will have a great experience this weekend too that will grow him into what I hope is a strong, independent, and responsible person. So much of our job as parents is to prepare our children for the final letting go. Oh what a heart wrenching job this can be. But for today I will let him go for one overnight and fun filled day tomorrow. One small letting go opportunity at a time will hopefully prepare my heart for the final letting go when he's ready to go out on his own which I know will happen all too soon. God will have to help when it's time to really let go.
Kayd had a blast. He loved it and is still bummed that not having two vehicles means that he won't be able to go this summer. However, I received a brochure for a one night overnight winter camp. For some reason I thought it was a great idea to let him go. The timing worked out to get him there and pick him up on time and I know he'll have a lot of fun.
But it's so very hard to let go. If his socks get wet will he remember to change them? Will he remember to wear his hat and dry mittens every time they do an outdoor activity? I won't be there to remind him. I won't be there to check on him. And it occurred to me yesterday that I don't actually know any of the adults who will be responsible for my child for a 14hr period of time from tonight until tomorrow night. Panic began to set in.
And then I prayed. Because really even though I feel like I have some sense of control in my home, it's mostly an illusion. God, really, is in control and He is with Kayd whether Kayd is under this roof or the roof of the camp chapel. I think that letting go is one of the hardest parts of parenting but it's also essential. Kayd's confidence grew leaps and bounds when I let go last summer and I trust that he will have a great experience this weekend too that will grow him into what I hope is a strong, independent, and responsible person. So much of our job as parents is to prepare our children for the final letting go. Oh what a heart wrenching job this can be. But for today I will let him go for one overnight and fun filled day tomorrow. One small letting go opportunity at a time will hopefully prepare my heart for the final letting go when he's ready to go out on his own which I know will happen all too soon. God will have to help when it's time to really let go.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
A story about a bat
Bat.
Flying bat.
There was a flying bat in my house last night.
About ten minutes after KOJ pulled out of the driveway with all three boys, leaving me alone with Sierra, a bat came swooping out of my kitchen into the dining room.
Sierra was obliviously watching Dora. She was also nekid. Yeah, that's right. Nekid. I wasn't in any suitable shape for leaving the house either.
It has been a VERY long time since I've encountered a bat in my living space. My poor throat was so sore from screaming at the bat. What few brain cells I may have had left flew away with the bat.
A few fun facts. We only have one vehicle. It was at church with Jay. It was pouring rain outside. Jay does not have a cell phone and I had NO way to get a hold of him to come rescue us. My own phone was three rooms away on the kitchen counter.
Now all I could recall from being a child and having a bat in our house was my mom insisting that we put underwear on our heads. As an adult I didn't really think that was a sane idea. So instead I grabbed the fleece tie blanket my mom made me for my birthday, jumped onto the couch next to Sierra and threw the blanket over us. When I peeked out and could no longer see the bat flying around I asked Sierra to go in the kitchen and get my phone. Do you know that this child looked straight at me and said "No, scared." and went back to watching Dora?? Finally, after a few minutes of no bat activity I did a slumped over tip toe to the kitchen to retrieve my phone.
I called my mom first and got her voice mail. I left rather a desperate message. I called several of Jay's friends hoping they were also at church and could get my message to him but I got no help there.
While waiting for Dora to finish I grabbed the clothes Sierra got out for herself earlier but never bothered to put on and got her dressed in case we had opportunity to leave our bat infested house.
Finally, Dora got over and Sierra was then willing to come upstairs with me so that we could lock ourselves in my bedroom. Shortly after getting up there my mom called me back. She came over with her broom, turned on EVERY light, looked in every nook and cranny and could not find the bat. She did leave the front door open while looking though so it's possible the bat flew back outside while she was in another room. We did not have another sighting of the bat again so we are fairly sure that's what happened.
The end.
Flying bat.
There was a flying bat in my house last night.
About ten minutes after KOJ pulled out of the driveway with all three boys, leaving me alone with Sierra, a bat came swooping out of my kitchen into the dining room.
Sierra was obliviously watching Dora. She was also nekid. Yeah, that's right. Nekid. I wasn't in any suitable shape for leaving the house either.
It has been a VERY long time since I've encountered a bat in my living space. My poor throat was so sore from screaming at the bat. What few brain cells I may have had left flew away with the bat.
A few fun facts. We only have one vehicle. It was at church with Jay. It was pouring rain outside. Jay does not have a cell phone and I had NO way to get a hold of him to come rescue us. My own phone was three rooms away on the kitchen counter.
Now all I could recall from being a child and having a bat in our house was my mom insisting that we put underwear on our heads. As an adult I didn't really think that was a sane idea. So instead I grabbed the fleece tie blanket my mom made me for my birthday, jumped onto the couch next to Sierra and threw the blanket over us. When I peeked out and could no longer see the bat flying around I asked Sierra to go in the kitchen and get my phone. Do you know that this child looked straight at me and said "No, scared." and went back to watching Dora?? Finally, after a few minutes of no bat activity I did a slumped over tip toe to the kitchen to retrieve my phone.
I called my mom first and got her voice mail. I left rather a desperate message. I called several of Jay's friends hoping they were also at church and could get my message to him but I got no help there.
While waiting for Dora to finish I grabbed the clothes Sierra got out for herself earlier but never bothered to put on and got her dressed in case we had opportunity to leave our bat infested house.
Finally, Dora got over and Sierra was then willing to come upstairs with me so that we could lock ourselves in my bedroom. Shortly after getting up there my mom called me back. She came over with her broom, turned on EVERY light, looked in every nook and cranny and could not find the bat. She did leave the front door open while looking though so it's possible the bat flew back outside while she was in another room. We did not have another sighting of the bat again so we are fairly sure that's what happened.
The end.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Kindergarten has evolved
I do a very informal kindergarten. I did it with Kayd and I've done it with Colton. I have felt a bit more pressure with Colton though because with him I have had the task of teaching reading. Kayd played on starfall and watched the original leap frog videos and mostly taught himself to read.
Colton though was a bit tougher. Part of it I think is just that I had never taught anyone to read before so we were both inexperienced in this journey. I tried ordinary parents guide to teaching reading - which I like and I suspect will work great with Sierra when the time comes. But poor Colton just had a block when it came to blending. So we tried just reading together with BOB books. But again he just had a block. I think part of it was confidence honestly.
A couple of months ago I happened upon a recommendation for Easy Peasy - all in one curriculum. It's right online and it's all inclusive. I began at the lesson they suggested for learning to read. It was a system that honestly never occurred to me. My brain thinks learning to read should be phonetic, but this system uses memorization. Each day the child would look at digital flashcards of the few words their short three or four sentence story would include. They see and hear the words three times a day and then read the story at the end of the third time. This WORKED! He was able to memorize the words by looking at them three times a day and thereby able to read the short stories each day. His confidence grew and now he's able to read books outside of this computer curriculum.
We recently got him the first book in the Explode the Code series and he's begun working through that excitedly. I'm thrilled with the progress he's made and excited that he's really starting to enjoy being able to read.
I really encourage you, esp in these early years, if something isn't clicking with your child seek out something else. Each of our children just learns so differently and I have to remind myself that it's the one size fits all approach in our public school systems that annoys me so much and therefore it's silly for me to think it should work in our home.
So now Colton's kindergarten day looks like this:
two or three pages of explode the code
reading a short story aloud to/with me
math notebooking and living math activities
Short, simple, sweet and we're covering the three R's.
Colton though was a bit tougher. Part of it I think is just that I had never taught anyone to read before so we were both inexperienced in this journey. I tried ordinary parents guide to teaching reading - which I like and I suspect will work great with Sierra when the time comes. But poor Colton just had a block when it came to blending. So we tried just reading together with BOB books. But again he just had a block. I think part of it was confidence honestly.
A couple of months ago I happened upon a recommendation for Easy Peasy - all in one curriculum. It's right online and it's all inclusive. I began at the lesson they suggested for learning to read. It was a system that honestly never occurred to me. My brain thinks learning to read should be phonetic, but this system uses memorization. Each day the child would look at digital flashcards of the few words their short three or four sentence story would include. They see and hear the words three times a day and then read the story at the end of the third time. This WORKED! He was able to memorize the words by looking at them three times a day and thereby able to read the short stories each day. His confidence grew and now he's able to read books outside of this computer curriculum.
We recently got him the first book in the Explode the Code series and he's begun working through that excitedly. I'm thrilled with the progress he's made and excited that he's really starting to enjoy being able to read.
I really encourage you, esp in these early years, if something isn't clicking with your child seek out something else. Each of our children just learns so differently and I have to remind myself that it's the one size fits all approach in our public school systems that annoys me so much and therefore it's silly for me to think it should work in our home.
So now Colton's kindergarten day looks like this:
two or three pages of explode the code
reading a short story aloud to/with me
math notebooking and living math activities
Short, simple, sweet and we're covering the three R's.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
a new plan
I love homeschooling. I know I mentioned that recently. But I have more reasons I love homeschooling right now than I posted about then.
Homeschooling can be flexible. It can be easily changed when it needs to be.
For example I have planned to finish this school year in mid June and start back up in mid August. That's going to change.
Kayd is going to finish his 2nd grade math curriculum by the end of February - and that is if we really draw it out. He's going to finish his 2nd grade spelling by the end of March. This is actually really great for our family right now.
We're going to move into math notebooking and living math activities until I can get his third grade math curriculum in May or June. I think that he'll enjoy the break from the formal math and honestly the ideas I'm coming across for living math and math notebooking look fun!
We will continue on with our planned social studies/history schedule of Magic Tree House books and various topics. This we will finish in June. We will probably take a week or two off in July but we're not going to take a big summer break this year.
We're going to want to get started on our next school year early because come the end of September we're going to want to take a bit of a break from formal school work. We will want to spend time loving on and getting to know the newest member of our family who will be arriving about then. That's right, this jungle is getting a new monkey. We're all very excited. The kids are beyond thrilled and that alone makes me beyond thrilled - though I was pretty happy anyway.
For science the next several months I plan to have the kids learn about the weekly developments of our newest family member. I love that we homeschool and that affords ALL of the kids to spend time in the babies first weeks with the baby and welcoming him or her into our home and family and daily life.
And so here I sit making a new plan. And for once I'm not frustrated at all at the need for a new plan. It's such a great reason to need a new plan.
Homeschooling can be flexible. It can be easily changed when it needs to be.
For example I have planned to finish this school year in mid June and start back up in mid August. That's going to change.
Kayd is going to finish his 2nd grade math curriculum by the end of February - and that is if we really draw it out. He's going to finish his 2nd grade spelling by the end of March. This is actually really great for our family right now.
We're going to move into math notebooking and living math activities until I can get his third grade math curriculum in May or June. I think that he'll enjoy the break from the formal math and honestly the ideas I'm coming across for living math and math notebooking look fun!
We will continue on with our planned social studies/history schedule of Magic Tree House books and various topics. This we will finish in June. We will probably take a week or two off in July but we're not going to take a big summer break this year.
We're going to want to get started on our next school year early because come the end of September we're going to want to take a bit of a break from formal school work. We will want to spend time loving on and getting to know the newest member of our family who will be arriving about then. That's right, this jungle is getting a new monkey. We're all very excited. The kids are beyond thrilled and that alone makes me beyond thrilled - though I was pretty happy anyway.
For science the next several months I plan to have the kids learn about the weekly developments of our newest family member. I love that we homeschool and that affords ALL of the kids to spend time in the babies first weeks with the baby and welcoming him or her into our home and family and daily life.
And so here I sit making a new plan. And for once I'm not frustrated at all at the need for a new plan. It's such a great reason to need a new plan.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Today is 8 years
Today is eight years.
Eight years since I turned 23 (yes that means I'm 31 today) eek!!
Eight years since my bonus mom made our beautiful bouquets.
Eight years since I walked down the aisle on my father's arm.
Eight years ago our parents were there.
Eight years since I married the love of my life.
In the past eight years we've moved a few times. Had four babies together. Yelled at each other. Loved each other. Supported each other. I've spent the past eight years with the same man. Day in and day out, and I've loved him more and more over those eight years. And I plan to spend many many many more years with him.
Thanks darling for being the King of our jungle!
Eight years since I turned 23 (yes that means I'm 31 today) eek!!
Eight years since I woke up in a hotel room with my sisters and little brother.
Thanks darling for being the King of our jungle!
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