I had an appointment today. I have another two weeks until the due date. I have made minimal progress since my last visit. I am losing energy quickly. I'm getting annoying clusters of contractions that average 15 minutes apart. I feel like this baby could come anytime... but it doesn't. Sigh......
I have another appointment next Friday.
Sigh.......
Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Pregnancy news
I promised another post after my doctor's appointment, so here it is.
As of this Thursday, I am eight months pregnant. I am slightly on the big side of that. The doctor said that my abdomen measures at about 37 weeks instead of 35. The doctor doesn't think we will be having a small baby, but he's not huge yet. We have a month yet, if the baby comes on time. A baby can gain another couple of pounds still.
The baby has turned head downward, which is of course a good thing. Especially because the baby was transverse when they last checked. The baby has not yet "dropped," as they say. I have been feeling stronger contractions from time to time, but they are still widely spaced and not a concern. Although the doctor told me I was 1 centimeter dilated and 25% effaced, I take that with a grain of salt. In earlier pregnancies, I have had widely varying measurements from different practitioners this early on, so until I feel the contractions at 5 minutes apart I don't get very concerned.
I'm still in good health, but am much more uncomfortable. My out-of-whack posture is causing sciatic nerve problems. The advice for treating this is ice packs on the lower back and walking around (avoid sitting much if possible). I also had a rambunctious little three-year-old Happy Boy bounce onto my foot Friday night (while I was propping up my feet), which had the effect of breaking my right pinky toe. The advice for treating this is ice packs on the injury, staying off my feet and propping up the foot as much as I can (avoid walking as much as possible). Now, I'm sure you can see just as well as I can, that there is a bit of conflict in what I need to do to treat these problems. I do the best I can. I have to walk around to take care of the kids anyway, so that is exercise for the nerve problem. I use an ice pack on my lower back when I can barely walk anymore from pain. When I don't need to walk I sit to get off my foot, or lay down for a nap. I can't reach my foot to do ice packs there so, there you have it. Tim tells me I'm a trooper.
I am looking forward to my parents' arrival to help out in the near future. However that is still about two weeks away. In the meantime, I'm still managing to do the basic housework, getting the kids to do their schoolwork, and trying to remember that if something is on the floor, the kids can pick it up. Naps are getting to be a necessity again.
Coming up soon, we will be off to our local flu shot clinic this weekend. The kids (and Tim) hate that I insist upon this every year. Although we homeschool, we are not isolated. We get everything that's going around. Having some protection from the worst of it is helpful. Also, if I get the flu shot before the baby is born, he'll have some protection. Babies aren't allowed to have the shot until they are 6 months old. So, anyone who spends time around tiny babies, should have the shot if they can to help protect the little ones (thinking of our brand new baby niece here).
As mentioned in my last post, we need to find time to shop for a sofa, too.
Then we need to plan a birthday party for the Pillowfight Fairy who is approaching age 8 at rapid speed. She is a little worried that the baby might be born on her birthday, and she doesn't want to share her day. I am just trying to figure out how to schedule a party with contigency plans if I need to make a trip to the hospital.
One good thing that has fallen into place in the schedule is that our neighborhood clean-up is going to be early next week. We will be able to set out all of the carpet and other flooring debris from our remodeling projects and the clean-up crews will take it away for us. Just in time for us to clear off the RV pad for my parents arrival. I hope all of the other appointments and needed things will fall into place just as nicely.
We are only three days off our homeschool schedule (courtesy of sick kids a couple of weeks ago), but we should be able to make that up by delaying our next break a little while. We'll be taking a few weeks off when the baby comes anyway. So, that will kind of reset for us what "on schedule" means for us this year. We will probably be finishing the school year at the end of May rather than the end of April. I can live with that.
I think that gets me up to date on most of our news. We are nearly one third of the way through the school year. So my next post will probably be reflecting on how that is going.
As of this Thursday, I am eight months pregnant. I am slightly on the big side of that. The doctor said that my abdomen measures at about 37 weeks instead of 35. The doctor doesn't think we will be having a small baby, but he's not huge yet. We have a month yet, if the baby comes on time. A baby can gain another couple of pounds still.
The baby has turned head downward, which is of course a good thing. Especially because the baby was transverse when they last checked. The baby has not yet "dropped," as they say. I have been feeling stronger contractions from time to time, but they are still widely spaced and not a concern. Although the doctor told me I was 1 centimeter dilated and 25% effaced, I take that with a grain of salt. In earlier pregnancies, I have had widely varying measurements from different practitioners this early on, so until I feel the contractions at 5 minutes apart I don't get very concerned.
I'm still in good health, but am much more uncomfortable. My out-of-whack posture is causing sciatic nerve problems. The advice for treating this is ice packs on the lower back and walking around (avoid sitting much if possible). I also had a rambunctious little three-year-old Happy Boy bounce onto my foot Friday night (while I was propping up my feet), which had the effect of breaking my right pinky toe. The advice for treating this is ice packs on the injury, staying off my feet and propping up the foot as much as I can (avoid walking as much as possible). Now, I'm sure you can see just as well as I can, that there is a bit of conflict in what I need to do to treat these problems. I do the best I can. I have to walk around to take care of the kids anyway, so that is exercise for the nerve problem. I use an ice pack on my lower back when I can barely walk anymore from pain. When I don't need to walk I sit to get off my foot, or lay down for a nap. I can't reach my foot to do ice packs there so, there you have it. Tim tells me I'm a trooper.
I am looking forward to my parents' arrival to help out in the near future. However that is still about two weeks away. In the meantime, I'm still managing to do the basic housework, getting the kids to do their schoolwork, and trying to remember that if something is on the floor, the kids can pick it up. Naps are getting to be a necessity again.
Coming up soon, we will be off to our local flu shot clinic this weekend. The kids (and Tim) hate that I insist upon this every year. Although we homeschool, we are not isolated. We get everything that's going around. Having some protection from the worst of it is helpful. Also, if I get the flu shot before the baby is born, he'll have some protection. Babies aren't allowed to have the shot until they are 6 months old. So, anyone who spends time around tiny babies, should have the shot if they can to help protect the little ones (thinking of our brand new baby niece here).
As mentioned in my last post, we need to find time to shop for a sofa, too.
Then we need to plan a birthday party for the Pillowfight Fairy who is approaching age 8 at rapid speed. She is a little worried that the baby might be born on her birthday, and she doesn't want to share her day. I am just trying to figure out how to schedule a party with contigency plans if I need to make a trip to the hospital.
One good thing that has fallen into place in the schedule is that our neighborhood clean-up is going to be early next week. We will be able to set out all of the carpet and other flooring debris from our remodeling projects and the clean-up crews will take it away for us. Just in time for us to clear off the RV pad for my parents arrival. I hope all of the other appointments and needed things will fall into place just as nicely.
We are only three days off our homeschool schedule (courtesy of sick kids a couple of weeks ago), but we should be able to make that up by delaying our next break a little while. We'll be taking a few weeks off when the baby comes anyway. So, that will kind of reset for us what "on schedule" means for us this year. We will probably be finishing the school year at the end of May rather than the end of April. I can live with that.
I think that gets me up to date on most of our news. We are nearly one third of the way through the school year. So my next post will probably be reflecting on how that is going.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Latest Pregnancy News
Since I had a doctor appointment on Tuesday and an ultrasound on Thursday, I should probably give an update on how the pregnancy is going.
I'm at the half-way point, twenty weeks, and all seems to be going well. My doctor says that the baby's growth seems to be on track, and he agrees that I've been more reasonable with my weight gain this time. My second trimester blood test has come back testing negative for problems.
The ultrasound results won't be ready until Monday, but we are fairly experienced with ultrasounds by now. We know that the technician isn't allowed to tell us how the baby looks to them, but we can ask questions like, "are we looking at the stomach?," "Is that the division in the brain?," and "Are we looking at the left side or right side?" According to our own view of the ultrasound, the baby's body parts seem to be in the correct number and positions. The brain is divided and formed properly, the heart is on the left side, and there are two kidneys. We did not see any sign of the problems that baby E had. If I don't hear any results on Monday, I'll email my doctor to get an official report from him (since I'm not scheduled to have another appointment until July).
My doctor was a little peeved that I didn't have an appointment with him until 20 weeks. I had been scheduled with nurse practitioners (and not my usual one at that) since they were having trouble scheduling me. I've had this doctor long enough through enough pregnancies and memorable events that he knows me by name and face. He told me not to let that happen again, if I'm having trouble with appointments, I'm to email him and they will work it out. He's been a good doctor. That's all of the pregnancy news.
Now for my homeschool update:
The book I picked up this past week wasn't as useful, but I was distracted at the library with a misbehaving three-year-old. I picked up "Making the Grade: Everything Your 3rd Grader Needs to Know." I thought it was one of those guides that covers what subjects are usually covered in third grade. It is not. It is a set of supplemental lessons to be used to reinforce the traditional curriculum (though it doesn't spend much time covering what that curriculum includes). I thought that the most useful part of it was the introductory material. It has a section describing how the book should be used, a note for homeschoolers, a section talking about ideal communication between home and school, and finally a section describing what a third grader is like. Perhaps if a parent was not happy with their child's current schooling, a book like this might be helpful to supplement the regular school day. If a homeschooler is trying to scrounge up more lessons to teach their kids, this might be helpful. However, we are pleased with the lessons we already have planned and don't see this type of supplementary lessons as a helpful thing. I did find the section describing a typical third grader to be helpful. I haven't come across descriptions like this for my kids since they were preschoolers. I had noticed various ways my oldest was growing and changing, but I had no idea how typical some of this was. Now I know that she's actually acting normal (for her). Who knew! I'll try to find a better book next time.
Combining pregnancy and homeschooling, my husband tells me that I'm already nesting. That's because we discovered that our baby is a boy and now I can sort through all our baby things to give away the girl stuff. I'm also getting the "Boys" room reorganized to house two kids and revamping the "Girls" room to have room for desks. Four and a half months early is only early if you don't realize that we will be starting our new school year in only three more weeks. Once school is in session for us, I will not have nearly this much time to organize and move furniture. I will be doing third grade for the Pillowfight Fairy, kindergarten for the Adrenaline Junkie, and keeping track of a preschool Happy Boy who will soon not be taking afternoon naps. Desks for the girls are so they can have a quiet place to write, color and do lessons when they need the quiet. We are going to have four kids ages eight and younger, quiet places are getting harder to find.
I'm at the half-way point, twenty weeks, and all seems to be going well. My doctor says that the baby's growth seems to be on track, and he agrees that I've been more reasonable with my weight gain this time. My second trimester blood test has come back testing negative for problems.
The ultrasound results won't be ready until Monday, but we are fairly experienced with ultrasounds by now. We know that the technician isn't allowed to tell us how the baby looks to them, but we can ask questions like, "are we looking at the stomach?," "Is that the division in the brain?," and "Are we looking at the left side or right side?" According to our own view of the ultrasound, the baby's body parts seem to be in the correct number and positions. The brain is divided and formed properly, the heart is on the left side, and there are two kidneys. We did not see any sign of the problems that baby E had. If I don't hear any results on Monday, I'll email my doctor to get an official report from him (since I'm not scheduled to have another appointment until July).
My doctor was a little peeved that I didn't have an appointment with him until 20 weeks. I had been scheduled with nurse practitioners (and not my usual one at that) since they were having trouble scheduling me. I've had this doctor long enough through enough pregnancies and memorable events that he knows me by name and face. He told me not to let that happen again, if I'm having trouble with appointments, I'm to email him and they will work it out. He's been a good doctor. That's all of the pregnancy news.
Now for my homeschool update:
The book I picked up this past week wasn't as useful, but I was distracted at the library with a misbehaving three-year-old. I picked up "Making the Grade: Everything Your 3rd Grader Needs to Know." I thought it was one of those guides that covers what subjects are usually covered in third grade. It is not. It is a set of supplemental lessons to be used to reinforce the traditional curriculum (though it doesn't spend much time covering what that curriculum includes). I thought that the most useful part of it was the introductory material. It has a section describing how the book should be used, a note for homeschoolers, a section talking about ideal communication between home and school, and finally a section describing what a third grader is like. Perhaps if a parent was not happy with their child's current schooling, a book like this might be helpful to supplement the regular school day. If a homeschooler is trying to scrounge up more lessons to teach their kids, this might be helpful. However, we are pleased with the lessons we already have planned and don't see this type of supplementary lessons as a helpful thing. I did find the section describing a typical third grader to be helpful. I haven't come across descriptions like this for my kids since they were preschoolers. I had noticed various ways my oldest was growing and changing, but I had no idea how typical some of this was. Now I know that she's actually acting normal (for her). Who knew! I'll try to find a better book next time.
Combining pregnancy and homeschooling, my husband tells me that I'm already nesting. That's because we discovered that our baby is a boy and now I can sort through all our baby things to give away the girl stuff. I'm also getting the "Boys" room reorganized to house two kids and revamping the "Girls" room to have room for desks. Four and a half months early is only early if you don't realize that we will be starting our new school year in only three more weeks. Once school is in session for us, I will not have nearly this much time to organize and move furniture. I will be doing third grade for the Pillowfight Fairy, kindergarten for the Adrenaline Junkie, and keeping track of a preschool Happy Boy who will soon not be taking afternoon naps. Desks for the girls are so they can have a quiet place to write, color and do lessons when they need the quiet. We are going to have four kids ages eight and younger, quiet places are getting harder to find.
Friday, May 14, 2010
End of school! Yea!
The Pillowfight Fairy is quite pleased to know that we finished her second grade year today. She has some very unrealistic ideas about doing whatever she pleases for the foreseeable future. What she doesn't realize is that her Mommy is at least as excited as she is. No more prep. work. No more being the bad guy by making her get back to her studies. It is a well deserved break.
Unfortunately, I tend to look ahead and know that the break isn't really all that long. A mere month and a half. But, I have nearly completed next year's lesson plans for both girls, so I can spend that free time doing other things. I think my general priorities are getting financial information in order again (it's amazing how fast I get behind on that when my attention is elsewhere), cleaning, organizing, discarding, and one craft project promised to be done in August. All that cleaning, organizing, and discarding is my normal personality but it tends to go into overdrive when I'm pregnant. You could say that I have a perpetual nesting instinct.
So, now that school is over again, I can look back on the year with satisfaction. The day to day schoolwork didn't always go smoothly, but it went anyway and with fewer bumps than in the previous year. I think that I am getting better at the teaching side of things. I also think that the Fairy is appreciating her schoolwork more (even though she still complains). I will probably be spending a fair amount of my free thinking time to mull over the best ways to work with the Adrenaline Junkie. I need to cover the same material as I did with her sister, but now I need to present it differently to a very different girl. I have noticed signs that the Junkie is making a mental transition that comes between preschool and grade school. That gives me hope that she'll be a little bit more able to learn academic subjects. The trick will be how to incorporate ideas that she relates to in order to retain her attention.
I also don't know how far along the Happy Boy will be in the next year. He will still be a preschooler of course. But, he is beginning to be able to draw semi-recognizable things and likes to have people write words for him. I suspect that I will be encouraging him to do lots of drawing this year. He will probably want to participate when I'm reviewing phonics with the Junkie. I would not be surprised if he ends up being another early reader. He will probably stop having afternoon naps this year too. So, I'll probably need to break out the playdough and paints again (much to everyone's joy).
I don't know if you have noticed, but I talk a lot about what I see or plan for the future. I like to think about it. I think it just helps me prepare myself for the real thing if I can visualize it in my head first. Then I end up writing it in this blog. That gives me a chance to put it outside of myself and look at it from a different angle. Sometimes I'm simply planning what I need to do tomorrow. Sometimes, I'm wondering how the next year's schooling will progress. Other times, I'm trying to glimpse a distant time yet ahead (like when I no longer have to change diapers or potty train). I have learned that my looking ahead can be both good and bad. I have been known to plan something too far in advance and had to redo all of my work to get it right. But, when I plan ahead, I do accomplish so much more than if I didn't.
Besides school, there have been a few other things going on. I've finally been making jelly from last year's pomegranate harvest that has been taking up way too much room in my freezer. I bought myself a new food dehydrator to prepare for this year's fruit harvest. I've been making plans for summer camps, swim lessons and road trips. I've been potty training the Happy Boy for about a month now (with mixed results).
I'm now into my second trimester. My visit to my health provider last week was uneventful. It was mainly checking the heart beat of the baby (in the 140-150 range for those who follow such things) and scheduling my next blood test to look for abnormalities. The blood test I took care of today. I won't have the results back right away. I'll probably have them by my next appointment in June. I will also have my ultrasound in June. We are looking forward to it because we are curious about whether we are having a boy or girl. But, we are also dreading it, because we have already had bad news from ultrasounds twice in previous pregnancies. I am forcing myself to assume the best until told otherwise.
We also took a cat in for surgery today. One of our three cats has had a nasty growth or abscess on her tail for a while. After several vet visits, we finally had to have them remove most of her tail. I'm not sure what the recovery time is on tail amputations, but we'll have to be keeping an extra close eye on her for a while. So far she seems to be doing well, but she is a bit wobbly from the medication she is on.
That's all of my news for now.
Unfortunately, I tend to look ahead and know that the break isn't really all that long. A mere month and a half. But, I have nearly completed next year's lesson plans for both girls, so I can spend that free time doing other things. I think my general priorities are getting financial information in order again (it's amazing how fast I get behind on that when my attention is elsewhere), cleaning, organizing, discarding, and one craft project promised to be done in August. All that cleaning, organizing, and discarding is my normal personality but it tends to go into overdrive when I'm pregnant. You could say that I have a perpetual nesting instinct.
So, now that school is over again, I can look back on the year with satisfaction. The day to day schoolwork didn't always go smoothly, but it went anyway and with fewer bumps than in the previous year. I think that I am getting better at the teaching side of things. I also think that the Fairy is appreciating her schoolwork more (even though she still complains). I will probably be spending a fair amount of my free thinking time to mull over the best ways to work with the Adrenaline Junkie. I need to cover the same material as I did with her sister, but now I need to present it differently to a very different girl. I have noticed signs that the Junkie is making a mental transition that comes between preschool and grade school. That gives me hope that she'll be a little bit more able to learn academic subjects. The trick will be how to incorporate ideas that she relates to in order to retain her attention.
I also don't know how far along the Happy Boy will be in the next year. He will still be a preschooler of course. But, he is beginning to be able to draw semi-recognizable things and likes to have people write words for him. I suspect that I will be encouraging him to do lots of drawing this year. He will probably want to participate when I'm reviewing phonics with the Junkie. I would not be surprised if he ends up being another early reader. He will probably stop having afternoon naps this year too. So, I'll probably need to break out the playdough and paints again (much to everyone's joy).
I don't know if you have noticed, but I talk a lot about what I see or plan for the future. I like to think about it. I think it just helps me prepare myself for the real thing if I can visualize it in my head first. Then I end up writing it in this blog. That gives me a chance to put it outside of myself and look at it from a different angle. Sometimes I'm simply planning what I need to do tomorrow. Sometimes, I'm wondering how the next year's schooling will progress. Other times, I'm trying to glimpse a distant time yet ahead (like when I no longer have to change diapers or potty train). I have learned that my looking ahead can be both good and bad. I have been known to plan something too far in advance and had to redo all of my work to get it right. But, when I plan ahead, I do accomplish so much more than if I didn't.
Besides school, there have been a few other things going on. I've finally been making jelly from last year's pomegranate harvest that has been taking up way too much room in my freezer. I bought myself a new food dehydrator to prepare for this year's fruit harvest. I've been making plans for summer camps, swim lessons and road trips. I've been potty training the Happy Boy for about a month now (with mixed results).
I'm now into my second trimester. My visit to my health provider last week was uneventful. It was mainly checking the heart beat of the baby (in the 140-150 range for those who follow such things) and scheduling my next blood test to look for abnormalities. The blood test I took care of today. I won't have the results back right away. I'll probably have them by my next appointment in June. I will also have my ultrasound in June. We are looking forward to it because we are curious about whether we are having a boy or girl. But, we are also dreading it, because we have already had bad news from ultrasounds twice in previous pregnancies. I am forcing myself to assume the best until told otherwise.
We also took a cat in for surgery today. One of our three cats has had a nasty growth or abscess on her tail for a while. After several vet visits, we finally had to have them remove most of her tail. I'm not sure what the recovery time is on tail amputations, but we'll have to be keeping an extra close eye on her for a while. So far she seems to be doing well, but she is a bit wobbly from the medication she is on.
That's all of my news for now.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Pregnancy update
I saw a nurse practitioner today, so I have a small update on the pregnancy. I'm at 12 weeks so the first trimester is ending. I heard the baby's heartbeat, which is reassuring. In the last month I've been poked with needles several times to determine whether or not I have diabetes. The multiple pokes are a result of failing the one hour glucose test (1st poke), then I had to take the 3 hour fasting glucose test (4 more pokes), and finally a final fasting test minus the glucose (6th poke). I only had one number off on my 3 hour test. My fasting blood sugar seems to run a bit higher than normal. My reasoning is that it was caused because they wanted me to have a half sandwich and milk snack at a time when I would normally be going to bed instead of eating. Of course my level was slightly high. So I tried to counteract the effects of the late snack by taking a brisk walk around the neighborhood the morning of my final test. It worked. Now I only have to get exercise and healthful meals to keep myself as healthy as I appear to be now.
I am happy to say that I've been better about the healthful meals this pregnancy. I have only gained about five or six pounds so far and haven't got out the maternity clothes yet (although I am in a size larger pair of pants). In my former pregnancies I would have gained about 15 pounds by now. I've decided that my body reacts to hunger differently when I'm pregnant. It just skips the "hmm... I'm starting to get a little hungry" phase and jumps straight to "I'm starving." As a result, I would tend to eat much more than usual since I listened to what my body was telling me. This time around I'm wise to the problem. I consciously eat normal portions and then wait a few minutes to give my body time to realize that it's had some food before I start to decide if I should have seconds or dessert. I also have been snacking on protein or veggies instead of sweets and breads (I love my carbs!). As a result my weight gain has been moderate. Though I think about food a lot more. Tim says that he eats better when I'm pregnant.
Unfortunately, I haven't been doing as well on exercise. This has been a very wet, dreary winter and spring keeps turning wet and cold. I haven't gone walking much. Then those times that I put it in the schedule, I have to deal with either three kids competing to be first or pull two of them in a wagon behind me. If the Pillowfight Fairy is walking, she tends to walk at a decent pace and I'm only pulling about 70 pounds of kids in the wagon. If the Adrenaline Junkie is walking, she tends to walk right in front of me and too slowly, talks so much that she isn't paying attention to where she is going and I'm pulling about 80 pounds of kids in the wagon. If the Happy Boy is walking (well... actually running) he has to be watched like a hawk to make sure he stops before crossing streets and stops to wait for us and stops when a neighbor wants to talk and no he may not pick the neighbor's flowers, all the while I'm pulling about 90 pounds of kids in the wagon. Under such circumstances, it is no wonder I haven't been all that enthused about going for walks. As the school year winds down, I am going to make it more of a priority.
In the meantime, we've finally started potty training with the Happy Boy. We know we should have started much earlier with all of our kids, but every time the timing seemed right to do it, I was having another baby and was beat. So all of our kids have been late potty-trainers. With the Happy Boy, we used cloth diapers at first, and he seemed to have the concept of being wet and not liking it. But when he was too big for a changing table, we switched to pull ups and we were lazy, so he learned a bad habit. Now we are trying to change the bad habit and we know it will probably take a long time. I will say it now, to commit myself to an audience who can keep me accountable, that I have no intention of using pull-ups with my next child. I intend to follow a majority cloth diaper regimen straight into potty-training.
Oh yes... our girls have decided that we don't have enough girls in the family and they are lobbying for this new baby to be a girl and keep trying to get us to agree to their favorite girl names. I know that they can count, so I'm considering them just a bit biased on this issue. Though to be fair, the Happy Boy could probably hold his own just fine either way.
So that's our latest news, such as it is.
I am happy to say that I've been better about the healthful meals this pregnancy. I have only gained about five or six pounds so far and haven't got out the maternity clothes yet (although I am in a size larger pair of pants). In my former pregnancies I would have gained about 15 pounds by now. I've decided that my body reacts to hunger differently when I'm pregnant. It just skips the "hmm... I'm starting to get a little hungry" phase and jumps straight to "I'm starving." As a result, I would tend to eat much more than usual since I listened to what my body was telling me. This time around I'm wise to the problem. I consciously eat normal portions and then wait a few minutes to give my body time to realize that it's had some food before I start to decide if I should have seconds or dessert. I also have been snacking on protein or veggies instead of sweets and breads (I love my carbs!). As a result my weight gain has been moderate. Though I think about food a lot more. Tim says that he eats better when I'm pregnant.
Unfortunately, I haven't been doing as well on exercise. This has been a very wet, dreary winter and spring keeps turning wet and cold. I haven't gone walking much. Then those times that I put it in the schedule, I have to deal with either three kids competing to be first or pull two of them in a wagon behind me. If the Pillowfight Fairy is walking, she tends to walk at a decent pace and I'm only pulling about 70 pounds of kids in the wagon. If the Adrenaline Junkie is walking, she tends to walk right in front of me and too slowly, talks so much that she isn't paying attention to where she is going and I'm pulling about 80 pounds of kids in the wagon. If the Happy Boy is walking (well... actually running) he has to be watched like a hawk to make sure he stops before crossing streets and stops to wait for us and stops when a neighbor wants to talk and no he may not pick the neighbor's flowers, all the while I'm pulling about 90 pounds of kids in the wagon. Under such circumstances, it is no wonder I haven't been all that enthused about going for walks. As the school year winds down, I am going to make it more of a priority.
In the meantime, we've finally started potty training with the Happy Boy. We know we should have started much earlier with all of our kids, but every time the timing seemed right to do it, I was having another baby and was beat. So all of our kids have been late potty-trainers. With the Happy Boy, we used cloth diapers at first, and he seemed to have the concept of being wet and not liking it. But when he was too big for a changing table, we switched to pull ups and we were lazy, so he learned a bad habit. Now we are trying to change the bad habit and we know it will probably take a long time. I will say it now, to commit myself to an audience who can keep me accountable, that I have no intention of using pull-ups with my next child. I intend to follow a majority cloth diaper regimen straight into potty-training.
Oh yes... our girls have decided that we don't have enough girls in the family and they are lobbying for this new baby to be a girl and keep trying to get us to agree to their favorite girl names. I know that they can count, so I'm considering them just a bit biased on this issue. Though to be fair, the Happy Boy could probably hold his own just fine either way.
So that's our latest news, such as it is.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Doctor's appointment
For my faithful readers (mostly family), I have an update on the pregnancy. It was confirmed at my doctor's appointment today that the baby has a heartbeat and is appropriately sized for 9 weeks. That means that we are looking at a due date very close to the Pillowfight Fairy's birthday. We won't have more substantial news for a while now.
In the meantime we have both our daughters suggesting girl names and telling us that we don't have enough girls in the family. Our son has not given his opinion of all this, probably because he is still under the impression that he is the baby.
In the meantime we have both our daughters suggesting girl names and telling us that we don't have enough girls in the family. Our son has not given his opinion of all this, probably because he is still under the impression that he is the baby.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
A Scattered and Miscellaneous Update
So much has been going on lately, I feel like I need to do several posts on different topics to keep from having a horrendously long post updating things. But it is difficult to decide what to start with. I'll start in and see where it takes me. I might be able to do an all-encompassing update after all.
Tim and the Pillowfight Fairy have completed practices and performances of the Mikado. They thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably do more play productions in the future. The Fairy is apparently just as much a ham as her Daddy. Tonight she told us that her favorite actress is herself.
I have managed to get our taxes prepared, but need to sit down with Tim so he can check my work. That's been hard to manage. Partly because, after all, who really wants to do taxes? But we also seem to be taking turns being absolutely beat soon after the kids go to bed.
We are very close to the end of the school year. About seven weeks left to do. As a result, I have a pretty good idea what the Fairy needs to do for next year. There is a part of me that relishes the planning stage of a new school year. But, It is a lot of work the way I plan it. I do a complete year lesson plan in detail down to what lessons on what day. I've bought curricula for spelling, grammar, writing, history, math, and latin (that's right... latin). I've gone through and planned out the flow of the lessons and what pages will be on what days. In addition, I have some lessons I plan on my own (literature, religion, art, and science), which takes a good deal of time to plan. Then Tim plans out the music lessons. Seeing as we typically start our school year in early July and spread it out over 10 months (breaks every six weeks), I like to start my planning in the spring to have time to get ready for the new school year. I really like how the new year is shaping up. For literature we will be reading classic literature from the time period covered in her history in the form of chapter books adapted for elementary age readers. She will be reading Robinson Crusoe, The Three Musketeers, Alice in Wonderland, and many other wonderful books. The Latin lessons are very basic and not too onerous. I think I have discovered a way to balance out her spelling, grammar, and writing lessons so that they aren't all heaped on top of each other, but instead spread out a little bit more. She also gets to learn some chemistry in the coming year and kitchen/backyard science experiments are way cool.
As for the Adrenaline Junkie, she will be continuing Kindergarten until she gets a little better with the reading, writing and math. She actually can read a decent amount when she tries, she just doesn't like to do it. She loves writing, she just isn't very consistent with her letter formation. She is getting better and doesn't write her letters and numbers backwards as much as she used to. She also doesn't like to sound out words while spelling. It's the same issue as reading. With consistent practice she will get more comfortable with it. The biggest challenge with her is slowing down her overly active body and brain to be able to think through a complete thought at a time. If any of my kids is a kinetic learner, she is probably it. That means I need to be a little more creative in how to approach her lessons. That is something else I need to put into a lesson plan.
The Happy Boy is all about play. But his schoolwork will be art (drawing and writing practice in disquise), having books read to him and when he is ready, phonics (he is already wanting to sound out some of Hop on Pop).
Changing topic again: We planted a spring garden last weekend. This year we are doing snow peas, cabbage, radishes, carrots, lettuce, spinach and cantaloupe. I'm going to try to stagger plantings for a more prolonged harvest. The kids also planted some flower seeds. Tim replanted our strawberry patch, too. Too early to say how it is going, but we are watering every day. The kids love that part.
My craft binge has slowed down tremendously the last few weeks. Partly because of all of the previous items in this update. I am still working on a needlepoint and a quilt. I'm just taking my time. I've been very tired. Even though the weather has turned nice again, I haven't wanted to go for walks much either. I let the kids play in the backyard for exercise (keeping track of them and checking the garden is my exercise). I've also been very, very hungry. Tim keeps telling me that he's eating better these days. I've been spending more time thinking about and cooking food. These are some clues for you. This type of behavior is not normal for me. I usually like to get out for walks in nice weather. I usually couldn't care much about food as long as I'm fed three times a day. I usually hate cooking. What has gotten into me lately?
....
If you haven't guessed yet, I'm pregnant. Yep. That's another one of those big things that is happening lately. If you have followed mine or my husband's blogs over the last year, you know that this is momentous for us and a little scary. Having a baby die not quite a year ago, we know that so many things can go wrong. But, we would rather hope than live in fear. So if you can spare a prayer for us on this journey, it is much appreciated. I am still in the first trimester. My first doctor's appointment to check the baby is going to be at the end of next week. We are a bit nervous to say the least.
So that is the latest news from our family. I think I did manage to give an update on all of the main things without making the post too horribly long. Life is sure to stay interesting for a while. I'm sure I'll have more to post soon.
Tim and the Pillowfight Fairy have completed practices and performances of the Mikado. They thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably do more play productions in the future. The Fairy is apparently just as much a ham as her Daddy. Tonight she told us that her favorite actress is herself.
I have managed to get our taxes prepared, but need to sit down with Tim so he can check my work. That's been hard to manage. Partly because, after all, who really wants to do taxes? But we also seem to be taking turns being absolutely beat soon after the kids go to bed.
We are very close to the end of the school year. About seven weeks left to do. As a result, I have a pretty good idea what the Fairy needs to do for next year. There is a part of me that relishes the planning stage of a new school year. But, It is a lot of work the way I plan it. I do a complete year lesson plan in detail down to what lessons on what day. I've bought curricula for spelling, grammar, writing, history, math, and latin (that's right... latin). I've gone through and planned out the flow of the lessons and what pages will be on what days. In addition, I have some lessons I plan on my own (literature, religion, art, and science), which takes a good deal of time to plan. Then Tim plans out the music lessons. Seeing as we typically start our school year in early July and spread it out over 10 months (breaks every six weeks), I like to start my planning in the spring to have time to get ready for the new school year. I really like how the new year is shaping up. For literature we will be reading classic literature from the time period covered in her history in the form of chapter books adapted for elementary age readers. She will be reading Robinson Crusoe, The Three Musketeers, Alice in Wonderland, and many other wonderful books. The Latin lessons are very basic and not too onerous. I think I have discovered a way to balance out her spelling, grammar, and writing lessons so that they aren't all heaped on top of each other, but instead spread out a little bit more. She also gets to learn some chemistry in the coming year and kitchen/backyard science experiments are way cool.
As for the Adrenaline Junkie, she will be continuing Kindergarten until she gets a little better with the reading, writing and math. She actually can read a decent amount when she tries, she just doesn't like to do it. She loves writing, she just isn't very consistent with her letter formation. She is getting better and doesn't write her letters and numbers backwards as much as she used to. She also doesn't like to sound out words while spelling. It's the same issue as reading. With consistent practice she will get more comfortable with it. The biggest challenge with her is slowing down her overly active body and brain to be able to think through a complete thought at a time. If any of my kids is a kinetic learner, she is probably it. That means I need to be a little more creative in how to approach her lessons. That is something else I need to put into a lesson plan.
The Happy Boy is all about play. But his schoolwork will be art (drawing and writing practice in disquise), having books read to him and when he is ready, phonics (he is already wanting to sound out some of Hop on Pop).
Changing topic again: We planted a spring garden last weekend. This year we are doing snow peas, cabbage, radishes, carrots, lettuce, spinach and cantaloupe. I'm going to try to stagger plantings for a more prolonged harvest. The kids also planted some flower seeds. Tim replanted our strawberry patch, too. Too early to say how it is going, but we are watering every day. The kids love that part.
My craft binge has slowed down tremendously the last few weeks. Partly because of all of the previous items in this update. I am still working on a needlepoint and a quilt. I'm just taking my time. I've been very tired. Even though the weather has turned nice again, I haven't wanted to go for walks much either. I let the kids play in the backyard for exercise (keeping track of them and checking the garden is my exercise). I've also been very, very hungry. Tim keeps telling me that he's eating better these days. I've been spending more time thinking about and cooking food. These are some clues for you. This type of behavior is not normal for me. I usually like to get out for walks in nice weather. I usually couldn't care much about food as long as I'm fed three times a day. I usually hate cooking. What has gotten into me lately?
....
If you haven't guessed yet, I'm pregnant. Yep. That's another one of those big things that is happening lately. If you have followed mine or my husband's blogs over the last year, you know that this is momentous for us and a little scary. Having a baby die not quite a year ago, we know that so many things can go wrong. But, we would rather hope than live in fear. So if you can spare a prayer for us on this journey, it is much appreciated. I am still in the first trimester. My first doctor's appointment to check the baby is going to be at the end of next week. We are a bit nervous to say the least.
So that is the latest news from our family. I think I did manage to give an update on all of the main things without making the post too horribly long. Life is sure to stay interesting for a while. I'm sure I'll have more to post soon.
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