11 days old

Here are some pictures from last week.....

Mom and Dad and family are heading home tomorrow. It's been a great visit but way too short!
We are still adjusting to our new family dynamics :) The last 2 Sundays we have been quite late for church!! Just trying to get into a new routine as we fit in last-minute feedings before going out the door etc..... Baby is doing very well with feedings and is alot more alert now. She has a period of time throughout the day where she will stay awake for several hours. Unfortunately sometimes it is from 2 - 4:30 am!!!!
Over the weekend she was able to meet 2 sets of great-grandparents. We are hoping in a few months we will be able to travel to Canada and see her other set of great-grandparents and extended family.
I hope to post more pictures soon. Hard to do with baby in my arms (and typing one handed).....

Family

I'm still here :) We have my family visiting from Canada for the next week and a half so I probably won't be posting too much except for some Christmas pictures. Baby is doing wonderful! We go for another checkup tomorrow. She was sleeping ALOT (hard to wake up for feedings) but she is now doing much better and is more alert. Our church family was delighted to finally meet her on Sunday. The kids are having so much fun with her and all her little features. Even our youngest has taken to her very well.....no jealousy issues so far!! All the cousins have been enjoying their time together so far. Eight children in one room can get awfully noisy!!!! It's good to be all together again. We hope the week won't go by too quickly :)

Christmas pictures

Today I attempted some Christmas photos of the kids. I need to get our Christmas cards made up to send out and what a time I had trying to get them all to look at the camera with at least a descent facial expression!! I did get some cute individuals of the kids with their baby sister.

Nursing Theme Song

I apologize to any male readers. I will try not to talk about this subject too much :) I have had a great day today! I pumped all through the night and fed her a bottle. She was actually having difficulty with it. Many times the milk would be coming out both sides of her mouth and she would gag on occassion despite the fact that I was using a small tip. This morning I decided I was not done trying to attempt nursing. It was a rough start but I decided I would have a word of prayer before each session and I tried staying very calm. It worked! I sat there thanking God and started singing 'God is so good' while she nursed. Next session came along and I repeated with a word of prayer....and she did great! We sang again :) I have spent the day nursing my daughter and singing "God is so good'!! I'm hoping this trend will continue, but I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me such a special day with my girl.

Back to the pump

So today has been a rather down day for me. I have so much to be thankful for and yet this one area is really dragging me down. Our girl is just not nursing and I have had to bring out the dreaded pump. I was really, really hoping that I would be able to nurse her after pumping with our son. The first 2 kids had no problem with nursing, but our 3rd just wouldn't cooperate and I ended up pumping for 12 months. I knew that our baby girl was having some difficulties but I was really hoping we'd be able to work out the kinks. Today however she has cried at the top of her lungs every time I try to feed her. So the pump has resurfaced and she has had several bottle feedings today. It has been such a disappointment and I've had to remind myself through the many tears today that we have a beautiful, healthy girl with us.
We do have something to look forward to this week. Grandma and Grandpa from Canada are coming to visit along with an Aunt, Uncle and 2 cousins. The kids are very excited!! They haven't seen them in almost a year so I know there will be big changes seen in the kids. Now to get hubby's to-do-list all made up for the week :)

Pictures

And the picture taking has begun!! I love taking pics of the kids....and now there is a sweet new face to capture :) I know I am bias but she is such a cutie!! I love her cheeks and chin. I'm hoping she will keep her dark hair!! Unfortunately our kids seem to lose all their hair and it comes in thin (except for our middle guy....his is a little thicker).

We are finally getting nursing down pretty good which is a relief. I am so thankful for the lactation consultant that worked with me the last day at the hospital!

We are thankful for the ladies at church who have already called with meals to bring over. I love our church family!!

I'm thankful for hubby's parents who took care of our sick kids for several days and brought us supper last night! Our youngest has a low grade fever right now so all kids are off limits to baby. They are so anxious to be with her and I want to take PICTURES but it will have to wait :)

So....here are just a few pictures from this morning.

Home at last

We finally made it home and are settling in. The kids were able to take a peek at their new sister from a distance....unfortunately they all have colds and bad coughs, so hugs, kisses and embraces will have to wait just a bit. Our youngest keeps telling me 'baby crying' and runs to the bedroom door to listen to her. He is also hugging my leg at lot :) I think he missed me!! He sure grew a few inches after comparing him to his little sister.....wow!! He's not my 'baby' anymore.....such a big boy. The other two just giggled at her and commented on all her features. It's going to be an adjustment over the next little while as we get into a new routine. Hubby still has house chore duty for the next 3 weeks. I'm not to do heavy lifting, bending or housework. Poor guy huh. I'm sure he'll be thankful when I'm back on my feet again :)
There's so much I'd like to talk about and pictures to post, but for now I'm going to put my feet up. I want to thank ALL of you for your constant prayers for us during these past several months and during delivery. You are such an encouragement to me and what a wonderful feeling it is to know that so many care about us and go before the Lord for us. Thank you so much!!!! Our God is so good!

Pics of our girl

Hospital Updates Take #2

Welcome Ksena Abigayle Lawrence! Praise be to God! Born at 2:51 pm Wednesday December 9, 2009. She weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 and 1/2 inches. We just got settled in our room.

Here is the story. Alissa got the epidural. There was a doctor change and the new doctor came in and said she wasn't comfortable delivering the baby in the position it was (her whole hand to the wrist was out). So she went and checked the babies position and while she did that she pushed the hand back. In her past times of doing this it hasn't helped. Well this time it did. She was so amazed that Ksena actually moved her hand back. So we just proceeded with the delivery. Everything went well after that. To God be all the glory!

posted 5:08 pm

The doctor told us to get an epidural for several reasons. Baby's hand was all the way out. They felt Alissa needed to be in a controlled environment for the pushing. The goal is to push her out without injury to the baby's shoulder. Also if an emergency C section is needed then we are already prepared. Alissa was at 7 cm 1/2 hour ago. What a rough morning! Please continue to pray!

posted 1:20 pm

What a little stinker (as Alissa would say). The babies hand is coming out on top of her head. Alissa is now 4cm dilated. The doctor says this does happen and that sometimes the baby will pull the hand back. Please pray toward this end. We have to wait till the pushing stage to see if this happens. If not then we are headed to OR for a C-section. Alissa is rather upset right now by the news. We covet your prayers.

posted 10:20 am

They broke her water. She's now about 3 cm. She's really starting to feel contractions.

posted 7:40 am

Pitocin started. 1/2 cm dilated

posted 6:00 am

Alissa is in the hospital. The Cervidil is in and we wait till morning.

posted 6:40 pm

Next stop please :)

When I was younger I loved rollercoasters :) The ups and downs, the excitement and adrenaline. As I've gotten older, rollercoasters don't entice me like they used to and I would really like to stop the ride I'm on right now *grin*.
So baby is head down! She is facing the wrong way however, but she is definitely head down and low, so this is very good! It will just mean that labour could be a little harder. She is curled in such a tight ball, her chin is touching her behind :) I will go back to the hospital tomorrow night as long as there are beds available, and induction will begin Wednesday morning. I think this is finally it. I'm going to try and stay on my feet alot and let gravity work so she can't get OUT of position again!! I am still on 1/2 cm dilated....bummer. At the hospital last night I was having constant contractions but I guess I'm the type that if they aren't excruciating....they aren't working!!! How lovely :)
Well, please continue to pray. I would really like to have this baby this week. I am having such a hard time moving around and my sciatic nerve is starting to bother me to the point I'm having trouble walking at times. I think she needs to come out!!!!
Thank you for all your prayers and hopefully by this weekend, we will be a happy family of 6 here at home!

Updates from the hospital

Ultrasound showed transverse position (side to side). They are sending us home. We go to the doctors office tomorrow to see what our options are.

posted Sunday 7:30 pm

Ultrasound scheduled for 7 pm. Heartbeat is up high on the belly.
posted Sunday 6:45 pm

Here we go!

So we're off to the hospital. Wouldn't you know it but our boy has a fever and is getting the sniffles and sneezes. Just another thing to add to my anxiety! Induction will begin early tomorrow morning (as long as she is head down of course) and hopefully by late afternoon/evening we'll have our baby girl. Hubby is bringing his computer so we hope to give updates during the day tomorrow if we can. If not, I'll be back to blog by the end of the week.
Please keep us in your prayers....I know many of you are! Please pray not only for the delivery but that the other kids will not get too sick while we are gone. Nana and Grandpa are going to have their hands full for a few days!!
Our God is good!

Front tooth

Our daughters tooth has been wiggly since around September. It started to bother her the last few days when she ate, so last night I got a hold of it for about 10 mins and out it popped!! It would have stayed in there probably another week or so, but I didn't want her to lose it while I was in the hospital :) Here is a picture of our toothless girl. She was not happy last night before bed cause it felt so different but this morning she is much happier and grinning about it (could be the tooth fairy money too that helped!)

Last appointment!

Today we had our last ultrasound (well, at the doctor's office anyway) She was head down!! But none of us are sure she is going to stay that way until Monday. I will go in Sunday night and the induction will begin Monday morning (as long as she is still head down). If they find she has turned AGAIN, it will be a C-section on Monday. They don't want to wait any longer with my blood pressure issues. Please continue to pray with us that this little gal with remain head down and I can have a natural delivery! Hopefully by this time next week I'll be at home blogging about our beautiful new girl!
Oh, and with all the contractions I've been having for the last several weeks, I am a whole.....drum roll please..... 1/2 cm dilated. Only a half centimeter????? Good grief :)

Quilt entry

Blogging about a quilt giveaway so my name will be entered in their draw :) Go and enter for your chance to win as well!! Click on the link to take you there.
Their store link is http://www.mariemadelinestudio.com/

Appointment

Went on the monitor today. Baby was not very active so they gave me juice to drink. Her activity picked up a little. She's been wiggling since the drive home so I think the juice has finally kicked in all the way :) Waiting for Wednesday to find out her position!!! If all goes well, we should have a baby next week (Yay!) The nurse came in and looked at the monitor and said "Wow, did you feel that contraction?" ..... no!!! This pregnancy has been very different with all the false labour and contractions I'm not feeling! I'm wondering if labour will be different too then....faster maybe? Would be nice! They are suppose to do a cervical check on Wednesday as well so I hope these contractions are producing some encouraging results! Just a waiting game right now......oh I can't wait!!

Encouraging week

We had a great Thanksgiving, and a full day today. Off for another appointment tomorrow for monitoring. On Wednesday I have my ultrasound which should tell us if I'm headed for a C-section or just the induction. Still praying and trying to get this little one to turn around. I have no clue what position she is in right now. Sometimes her hiccups are really really low....other times they are at the top. I can't believe she still has enough room to move around so much!!

We were able to share tonight at church how God worked out our insurance issues. It was such an encouragement not only to us, but I believe to so many at church, to see how God worked! Many ladies came to me with tears in their eyes at our news. So many have been praying about this situation, and many people's faith was increased through God's working on our behalf. It is such a wonderful feeling to have so many people invested in our life, who get on their knees for us, who are concerned for us. We have so much love and support and I thank you all for your Christ-like love for our family!

This past week I also had my Christian birthday :) The Lord has continually made Himself more and more real to me throughout the years. He has shown me such a great love and has blessed me all throughout my life. I am so thankful that He died for me on the cross. How hard life would be to face all these struggles and situations without the knowledge that God is in control and cares for me!

Contractions go away :)

Woke up to lots of contractions this morning. I was having aches through the night but this morning I had several strong contractions. I don't think baby turned into position overnight so hopefully the contractions will back off with walking around. It feels like false labour right now....nothing to get excited about yet (in fact they have gone away since getting out of bed). We've had so many people praying for an early delivery because of our insurance issues.....you never know!! We may have a November baby after all.

Hope all our American family and friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to getting together with family today. We have MUCH to be thankful for!!!

Prayer request

After the wonderful praise entry below I have a prayer request :) Baby girl has decided to flip and is now positioned head up instead of head down. It is pretty late in the game for her to do this so we could be headed for a C-section. I have had 3 natural births and would really like to continue that trend!! I have to say I am very nervous about the thoughts of an epidural and C-section. It is something I don't want to have to go through. I am scheduled to be induced a week early so I have less than 2 weeks to 'pray' her into position!!! Everything else looked really great on the ultrasound and I was even having contractions during my visit.
Above all I want the Lord's will for her delivery. No matter what the birthing style I have to go through, I would ask that you pray for health and safety for baby and me, and peace of mind as I head into labour. We're getting closer to her arrival!

All praise to our God!

I want to start by saying My God is amazing! Why He loves a wretched sinner like me I will never know. Why He continues to bless someone so undeserving....it is only because of His unconditional love for me. I sit here in awe....it's a wonderful, crazy, exciting feeling.

I want to recap a little....Hubby was laid off back in May. State continuance allows our medical insurance to continue for an extra 6 months. The end of the 6 month extension goes until the end of November. The problem is that baby is due 14 days after insurance ends!! We went down every road we could think of to try and get insurance to cover the delivery and hospital stay. Nothing worked out no matter what we did. We talked to 3 different insurance brokers and there was no option available to cover this delivery. It looked as though, unless the Lord decided to bring this precious one into the world at least 2 weeks early, we were going to have a very big financial burden ahead.
I could tell this burden was really starting to weigh heavily on hubby. We have seen the Lord continually meet our needs, especially since the layoff in May....but how was He going to meet this HUGE need ahead? We didn't know how, but we knew God was in control.
One evening we headed out to get a new infant car seat. The one we had went through 3 babies and was falling apart. We had found the car seat we wanted and was waiting until we had a little extra room in the paycheck to buy it. Hubby headed into the store to purchase it and on his way in he quickly muttered a prayer that "it would really be nice if there was a sale on that car seat Lord" Well, out of all the car seats in the store, our particular one was out of stock. The employee checked the back room and 2 trucks that had just pulled in. None. The employee tried to encourage him to purchase the next more expensive seat but hubby said no...this is the one in our budget. The employee said they would order one for him BUT couldn't get the computer program to work. Finally they offered the car seat on display for 20% off the price. Hubby walks back to the car with our new seat and looks at me (who was waiting in the car) and said "I think the Lord is trying to show me that He IS in control and knows our situation....He will provide"
So now we get to the good part!! Hubby talked to his former employer who laid him off. He has been doing some side work for them for the past couple months. Was there any possibility that they could re-hire him for the month of December??? We waited........
Today the email has come back. Hubby has been rehired, our insurance picks up from where it left off and we will have insurance for the month of December!! Not only that BUT
...because insurance picks up from where it left off - we have already reached our deductible and out-of-pocket expenses - so delivery and hospital stay are completely covered!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am still in awe.
Hubby and I have grown so much since May. We have been learning about complete dependency on our Lord for all our needs. We knew God was going to supply no matter if we got insurance, or if we received a very big bill!! For this to take place, it can only be of the Lord. Our God is so good!!!! ....our God knows, our God loves us, our God will provide and take care of us no matter the situation.

Monitoring

On the monitor again today. Baby wasn't too active....I think she's getting pretty cramped in there! They recorded 3 contractions and seemed a little concerned about it today (I had a different nurse) She told me if I have 5 or more contractions in an hour, I need to head to the hospital. I had to laugh to myself!! If they are recording 3 contractions in 20 minutes, I would think I'm having about 5 an hour!!! The thing is I don't feel them. I feel the strong ones, but not these weak ones they continually pick up on the monitor every Monday. I think I will just have to rely on strong labour pains or my water breaking as to when to head to the hospital. I have an ultrasound on Wednesday and they will measure her for weight. I always get nervous when baby's activity decreases. It has happened with all of them, but it is still nerve wracking! We are headed into our last week with medical insurance. This should be interesting! I don't know what the Lord has in store but I know He is in control :)

Kids Choir and socks

The kids sang again tonight in the children's choir and recited a verse. Unfortunately I recorded it in Standard version (which is much clearer) instead of Compact version, so I can't post the video on here because it is too big.

I did want to post these really cute socks the kids got from the baby shower I had. A couple ladies had gifts for the other kids as well which was very thoughtful. They absolutely love these socks!!! Our youngest gets upset if his come off :) This is the 3rd day straight he has worn them. This lady also knows him very well because he, of course, got the zebra socks!

Baby shower

Tonight we had a Ladies Fellowship with our church group and they surprised me with a baby shower. I did not expect one at all since it's the fourth child but I think the ladies knew I needed to update my 'girl' apparel and items since it's been close to 7 years since our first baby girl was born :) It was such a blessing to see how God has been providing for us in every area!! We are loaded up with diapers and beautiful soft new pj's and clothes.....in girlie colors! After 2 boys in a row, it's fun having pink again :) Although you can't really see all the beautiful items we got, here is how the Lord blessed us tonight! Thank you Lord and thank you ladies.

Ultrasound

Baby finally cooperated today and decided to show her face. We were able to get some really neat pictures!! This is the first time I've had 4D ultrasound shots....so amazing!! Click on the picture to see a bigger version :)

One of the best videos so far I've seen talking about vaccines for kids and the flu vaccine.

This and that

I had a quick appointment today on the monitor. She was very active and I had several contractions recorded again. I sure hope these contractions are doing something!!! It would be nice to be several centimeters dilated when I go into labor :)

Our boy had a low grade fever last night and this morning. He seems to be doing well right now with a normal temperature. He complained of a sore throat as well. Hopefully it is just a passing thing. I have a bit of a sore throat myself so I'm hoping we are not coming down with anything.

Hubby was officially made deacon on Sunday. It is neat to see us as a family moving into these type of positions that we grew up with our parents serving in. Hubby and I both grew up with our parents in serving positions at church. Please pray for us during this new aspect of our life that we will have the servant's heart God desires to see and that we will be good and faithful servants for Him.

And that's about it for now. Off to rest :)

My baby's growing up

I just had to post this sweet picture of our girl from last Sunday. I made this hat last year and we can change the colored rose by just pinning on a new one. She looked so cute!!...and she's looking so grown up!

As far as my appointment today, my blood pressure was the highest it has ever been.... 163/94. They did some more blood work and told me to keep my feet up and rest. Everything still looks very good with the baby and all my tests so they are not concerned at the moment. Only 4 more weeks to go!!!

Haircuts and more

I did get something accomplished today which felt good. All 3 boys (including Daddy) got their haircut and are looking much better! Our daughter felt left out and wanted a trim but that will have to be put off for another day....too tired!!

I go for another ultrasound tomorrow. Just a quick check on the blood flow and fluid etc. I think I've been so tired lately because I'm growing! Seems like I've gotten bigger over the past few days. The last ultrasound showed her head down but she gets the hiccups alot lately and they are all over the place. Sometimes top right, sometime bottom left...I think she is still trying to do somersaults in there.

This Sunday hubby is officially becoming a deacon at church along with another gentleman. It's an interesting time in our lives right now. I think the Lord is definitely going to be revealing himself to us as a couple much more as we look to Him through these new changes that are coming. Our family is growing, our responsibilities are increasing, our finances will be tested.... each requiring ultimate dependency on our Lord! Isn't growing up fun :)

I still have the need for more nesting around the house. Just don't have the energy right now....little by little! Our daughter has been really putting forth an effort to help out around the house without being asked. It's taking patience on my part when the cinnamon container is spilled all over the floor, or a dish breaks, or she uses dishsoap on the floor to clean the kitchen and diningroom!! She wants to surprise me so much so I grin and thank her as Daddy comes behind her to clean up :) I'm thankful for her willing spirit. I can see that the baby or at least the lack of Mommy's availability to do things right now is starting to have an affect on the boy's especially. Our 4 year old is getting very clingy to me and our 2 year old doesn't want to nap unless Mommy is beside him ....but I do sense their excitement. So with almost a month to go we wait!!

Sleep

I have slept ALL DAY! I don't know what's up but I guess my body is just slowing down :) I literally got up to eat breakfast and laid back down, up at lunch to help with schoolwork and have a shower then laid back down, up at 5pm to help with supper and still just feel like I have little energy. I hope I can sleep tonight!! All I can say is thank goodness hubby is home during the day.

I've been really enjoying the "Say good bye to whining..." book. It is biblically based and talks alot about teaching honor to your children. It is more than just having them obey but going that extra step to show honor. It is really interesting!! Parents can fall short by teaching kids how to outwardly do as they are told....follow the motions (be obedient, be polite, be respectful)...but we really need to concentrate on their heart attitude which is what they will take with them when they are grown. Showing honor is going above and beyond what has been asked because they WANT to show love, they want to honor you and God. I think as a parent one of my biggest fears is when they reach the age where they start making their own decisions....have I done my best to teach them?....have I done my best as their example? Scary!!! We only get so many years to train them up in the way they should go....Have I been doing my best so far? The years are going by so quickly!!!

Another appointment

35 weeks! Today I went for the 20 min monitoring. She was very active and they recorded 2 contractions. I've been having false labor quite a bit. I usually experience at least a few contractions a day. They just advised to drink plenty of water....we need to keep her in there a little longer :) I'm finding it difficult to get around. My outings are basically church and appointments. No news about an early delivery date or anything. We will just wait on the Lord's timing unless doctors advise otherwise for health reasons. So off to the chair I go to put my feet up! I have 2 more books from the library...'Shepherding a Child's Heart' and 'Say goodbye to whining, complaining and bad attitudes'...THAT should be a good read huh!! Not sure if that one is written from a biblical stand point or not but it may have some good ideas in it :)

One year blogging!

It was my one year blogging birthday yesterday! A lot has happened over the course of this year!! It's been fun skimming back through all the posts and videos. What great memories!!

Alphabet

Our little guy just turned 2 and has surprised me at how quickly he is picking up the alphabet! We alternate between flashcards, books and puzzles so I know he is not memorizing letters associated with pictures. Although he can't say his alphabet yet...he is recognizing the letters :) Here is a little sample of him today.

Appointment

I went for another appointment today....34 weeks. Everything looked really good. My blood pressure was o.k. I had an ultrasound and we are still having a girl *grin*. She is just over 5 pounds and all measurements looked great. They do want me in twice a week for monitoring because of my blood pressure. I have to go for monitoring once a week (20 mins recording her activity) and an ultrasound once a week where they measure the blood flow through the cord and her breathing and such to make sure she is doing alright.
So all looks well right now....I have a little boy tugging on my arm to watch 'twinkle star' on the computer. Every time I sit down here he thinks it's time to watch his singing video :)

Railroad tracks, spicy food, any ideas??

Not too much going on here. Kids are getting pretty antsy as is Mommy. Daddy has been out of the house all day with work appointments and such so the kids are 'bored!!'. We are having insurance woes (what else is new right?) Seems like no matter what avenue we take, we are going to pay for this delivery out of pocket. We've talked with 2 insurance brokers so far and unless the Lord decides to see fit to bring this little girl into the world 15 days early....she's gonna be an expensive little cookie (but oh- so- precious *smile*) The most important thing is that she is healthy. God knew what our circumstances were going to be before she was even conceived, so for us it is going to be a walk of faith!! I know we don't need to doubt His provision because we have seen Him do so time and time again.
Our organizing over the weekend went well....but not nearly done!! We put a good dent into it though, so hopefully this coming weekend we will be able to finish it up. I will be happy when everything is in place and all is prepared for baby's arrival.
Now to think about something quick and easy for supper......can't wait till hubby is home tonight!

Resting....

I'm resting alot and taking naps :) No more regular contractions like the other day....just some pains here and there. I'm anxious for my ultrasound next Wednesday to hopefully get an idea of how much she weighs.
With only a little over 4 weeks left of schooling, we have tapered off...I think I crammed about a year and a half's work into our daughters schedule this past year!! She needs a well deserved break. I do odds and ends with our 4 year old right now....keeping up with his reading mostly and reviewing numbers and spelling. They are getting in a lot of coloring lately :) Something they do while I have my feet up in the air. I've also been getting in alot of reading since I have to rest. I've gone through the book Creative Correction by Lisa Welchel and I'm going through Grace-based Parenting right now by Dr. Tim Kimmel. I've had my eyes opened to a few things that I do which I am eager to adjust.
We are also preparing to do some major organizing to clear up some space in the bedrooms. (or should I say I will be directing while hubby organizes!) Hopefully our ideas will work out well....I guess we'll see this weekend :)

Contractions

For the past hour and a half I've been recording contractions....yikes! Hopefully this is just false labor pains. They are very light, not lasting too long, but have been coming anywhere from 3-5 mins. I'm now up walking around to see if I can shake them. I think it is probably a good time to think about packing the overnight bags etc. and getting things organzied for the hospital. I've been hoping for an early delivery but this is just a tad too early :) I'd like to get to the end of November!

Appointment

Went for another appoinment today. Blood pressure still very high!! I was put on the monitor for 20 minutes to check baby and she was very active and I even had a contraction recorded :) All my blood work from last week came back fine. He just said REST!! I need to put my feet up and lay on my left side during the day. I also went from measuring 32 weeks to measuring 35 weeks ( I am currently 33 weeks) He said blood pressure problems were suppose to decrease rate of growth...not increase :) So I get an ultrasound next week to measure growth and see how baby is doing. I always love getting a 'peak' at who is growing in there :)

So funny

Last night at supper I sat down and asked for someone to bring the utensils. Our 4 year old went and got everyone pencils! Oh we had a good laugh :) I guess they sound similar enough huh?

Improvement!

I get so excited when I see big improvements in the kids schooling! For the past several days our son has grown leaps and bounds in reading!! So far our reading has consisted of sounding out each individual word and then repeating the word as a whole word (m -a - p map). I started getting him to sound out the words in his head and then say the word aloud. But recently I have had him look at a word and just say what he sees altogether....no sounding it out. WOW! He really caught on and there is very little pausing to sound out a word. We are going through the book Succeeding at Reading by Keepers of the Faith. We do timed drills as well and today he was up to 14 words a minute!
It is so neat to watch him out in public sounding out words. We went grocery shopping the other day and after a couple days of learning about the phonics sound 'sh', he was standing at the meat section and said "Mommy, that says 'FRESH'. Daddy and Mommy we both excited to see his excitement at reading such a big word!
What a gift it is to be able to watch these little minds grow and provide the enthusiasm and encouragement to help them along!! I just love it!

Next year's schedule

I've been working on our next years school schedule...wow! I thought it was hard scheduling one child but 2 is a whole other story :) I think I finally have something I am happy with. I may change it the more I think about it but so far I have our daughter doing most of her independant seatwork in the morning while I work with our son and then in the afternoon I concentrate on our daughter.
Our new subjects added this year are
*bible memorization class (with sticker chart),
*character studies (we will cover respectfulness, obedience, truthfulness, cheerfulness, and kindness....see how many we get through!),
*reading/book report for our daughter (so far reading has been aloud to mommy but now I will have her do silent reading and book reports on her own)
*homemaking class for our daughter...looking forward to this! It is a 6 year course filled with some great ideas so for next year I have chosen Needlepoint, Scrapbooking, Letter writing, household cleaning, and sign language.
Now I just need to work on getting charts and booklets all put together and planning the individual subject material. No sweat! *smile*
Now to go relax for a bit....and give my brain a rest.

Appointment woes

Today I had a check up and all seems well with baby but not mommy :) I'm measuring right on schedule and she has a good heartbeat, but my blood pressure was HIGH! The end of my last pregnancy resulted in an early induction because of blood pressure. Today, I had to go have some blood work done and they want to see me next week again. With 8 weeks to go I'm not sure what my options are just yet if my blood pressure doesn't come down. I've been put on chair-rest (as opposed to bed rest) I am to sit with my feet up for much of the day. Over the next couple days, I'm going to try and get the last 6 weeks of schooling all organized for the kids so there will be little for me to do and there will be no more grocery shopping or outings for me :) Did I mention I'm soooooo thankful hubby is home during the day.....the Lord worked that out well!

I got home from my appointment and our little one had finally gone down for his nap. I went to check on him (before going to put my feet up!) and what a character....always something! He fell asleep coloring in bed...drool on his paper and crayon in hand. What a boy!

Homecoming Sunday

Today was our Homecoming or Old Fashioned Sunday at church. We have our morning service followed by lunch and activities. This year the horses returned and as always, the kids have a ball riding and petting them. (A couple in our church owns them and takes the kids around the field) Thank you to Nana for bringing her camera because I did it again.....got half way to church and realized I didn't bring mine. It was a cold day today, so much of the time was spent inside. I think Fall has finally arrived for us!! It's been so warm up until now :) Hopefully, if mommy's car sickness isn't too bad we will go for a ride up through the mountains to see the changing colors soon.

Hubby's birthday

Today is hubby's birthday. He has been working from the house pretty steadily for the last 2 weeks but today he has been out of the house all day. The kids are busy making cards for him, we are not having a cake or party since he is seriously dieting, so we are just going to hang around the house tonight and spend some time with the kids and just relax for the evening.
I did want to give him a big birthday wish though....

My dearest love,
I'm so thankful for you. I don't praise God or thank Him enough for you. Life can get so busy and many things I take for granted, including you. You are such a dedicated and loving husband and father. I'm thankful for what you do for us, without complaint, and with determination. I'm thankful for your love for me and the children and how you look forward to our growing family. I'm thankful for your desire to serve the Lord and your desire for our family to faithfully serve the Lord. We have had a wonderful 11 years together, growing together, loving one another, experiencing life together. God has blessed me tremendously with such a faithful and loving man and friend. You have made life such a joy, filled with wonderful memories, and such an anticipation for the future. I love you with every bit of my heart. I hope you enjoy your special day!
All my love,
your wife

Advice

Homeschooling one child can be a lot of work and I often wondered what I was going to do when it was time to do several at a time. How do these mom's do it?? Well, you do get the hang of it and it will come in time....just takes a little while to get into the groove, but there was some very sound advice I got about a year ago which I have definitely taken to heart and have seen the rewards from it. One of the best things you can teach your kids is how to work independently...how to be self-taught. Our daughter who is 6 does very well at this and it frees up alot of time for me to teach our 4 year old. There are some concepts that need to be taught of course....but I am training her how to thoroughly read through instruction, how to approach questions she doesn't understand...etc. Today I gave work to our 4 year old to have him complete all on his own. I went through the instructions with him and he finished all 3 pages and was so excited when he had completed them by himself (he had to show it off to daddy too!) Thankfully I have another year before I add child #3 to the mix....that will take independent work AND much organization!!!!!

Homemade diaper bag

Yesterday and today I worked on and completed my first diaper bag. There are a few things I will do differently next time, but overall I'm happy with it. I like the colors and pattern but want to do just a little something extra on the front....just not sure what yet. It has 2 bottle pockets on the outside and I made 4 pockets on the inside. Here are a few pics :)

Weekend pictures

Looks like we are going to have lots of rain for awhile. I can always tell when a front is coming through because I get headaches now. But the weekend was nice and the kids were able to get out and play. Daddy was teaching our girl how to jump rope, our boy is learning how to ride a bike using brakes and not his feet! (He got a nice warning, if I saw him use his feet anymore to stop, I'd take his shoes.....barefoot breaking isn't pleasant :) Our little guy was just enjoying running around. Here are some pics from the weekend.

I love statistics :)

Research proves again the success of homeschooling! Here are just a few statistics just published about a 2008 study done across all 50 states, Guam and Puerto Rico.

Academic achievement from grades K - 12
National Percentile for Public School in ALL subject areas - 50%
National Percentile for Homeschooling Students in all subject areas - 86%

Percentile scores based on Money spent on education per child
National Percentile for Public School ($9,963 spent per child) - 50%
National Percentile for Homeschooling (over $600 spent " " ) - 89%
National Percentile for Homeschooling (under $600 spent " ") - 86%

Does a teacher certification make a difference?
National percentile of homeschool parent WITH certification - 87%
National percentile of homeschool parent WITHOUT certification - 88%

Is there a correlation between student scores and parent education?
National percentile for public school students - 50%
National percentile for homeschool/no parent has college degree - 83%
National percentile for homeschool/one parent has college degree - 86%
National percentile for homeschool/both parents have college degree - 90%

Critics have for a long time insisted that parents must need to be teacher certified in order to teach their children.....proven wrong!
Homeschoolers are still achieving higher than their public school peers, scoring 34-39% higher than the norm on achievement tests.
It's not the amount of money you spend on a child's education....it is how and what they are being taught.
You CAN teach your children successfully!! This only touches on the performance part of schooling....there are so many other reasons to consider homechooling based on God's design for our children's education to start with.....
I hope all parents will prayerfully consider homeschooling their kids.....no matter if it may be a few years down the road, or you already have school age children.

2 year photo

I've seen so many changes in our boy recently since turning 2 years old. He is saying alot more phrases now, he is completely self-feeding, drinking from a cup (or juice box) on his own and doing really well!!! We finally got his 2 year photos back and he is looking so grown up...aaahhh. It's hard to believe he's not going to be the baby in another 2 months.

Spelling

Our boy did great with his spelling words today. We are reviewing short vowel words a, e, i, o and tomorrow is u. He is almost to the point where I don't have to constantly remind him to LEAVE A SPACE BETWEEN YOUR WORDS!! *smile* I had to let that out....it must have been my 100th time saying it to him :) I only had to remind him a few times this spelling test. I gave him a lot of new 4 letters words to write and he did wonderful sounding them out. We are down to the last 7 weeks of school. Our daughter has already advanced to grade 3 math. I didn't want to wait until our next school year since she was ready. She is almost through the first half of Horizons 3 Math and doing so well!! The toughest part for her is word problems. It's just something we will have to keep working on until it clicks :) I'm excited about starting written book reports with her next school year. I have a few good books in mind for her Christmas presents :)
Here is our boys spelling work and a picture of him. Notice his special holding place for his eraser....typical boy!!! (I didn't even notice when I was taking the picture)

Children's Choir

Here's a video of the Children's choir. Our daughter is in the back row, far right and our son is the front row, far left. Their cousin is in the front, far right.
It was such a sweet thing to watch. They all did a great job!
(Thanks to my sister-in-law for the video....my pregnant mind is so foggy I forgot our camera)

Chores that teach

I've been needing alot of help around the house lately since bending and standing for long periods of time are too difficult. Our daughter who is 6 can do alot around the house on her own which I am thankful for, and I'm even more thankful when she does it willingly without being asked. She helps alot with laundry, dishes, and clean-up and our 4 year old has been getting more involved as well. There are certain chores I like him to do because they are very teachable ways to involve schooling with housework.

One of my favorites for him is shoe organization. If you were to see our pile of shoes, you would think 10 people lived in the house. Everyone has Sunday shoes, running shoes, and sandles which is at least 15 pair of shoes always on the go. By the end of the week, our organized lined-up shoe mat is one big heap! I get our 4 year old to organize the shoes (teaching matching pairs) and I can change it up to have him order them from biggest to smallest, smallest to biggest, organize in groups (all Sunday shoes, all sandles, all running shoes)...etc...teaching how to sort.

Another favorite is tidying up the bookshelf of kids' books. Again by the end of the week, our organized vertically stacked books are thrown in one on top of the other. This teaches more problem solving than anything. Watching him yesterday was quite funny. He has to figure out how to keep the books standing upright while he reaches for more. Usually the books he has already stacked fall over when he lets go. I allow him time to figure out methods of keeping the books stacked upright on his own ......until sometimes the tears start flowing cause it's just not working!!! Yesterday he was talking to the books telling them how frustrated he was getting that they were not co-operating. Many times he would tilt the last book to keep the rest from falling but yesterday he was having a tough time. When I saw he was getting too frustrated I showed him a heavy toy that was near him and how he could use that to help keep the books in place while he was stacking.
He also helps with folding the laundry into each person's pile and other little things around the house. I'm trying to get them more involved around the house. I am the type that likes to do things myself because it will get done the way I like the first time! But I know they need to learn things so it's just a matter of patience and time on my part :)

Weekend

Schoolwork is done, some organizing going on, I really need to clean the house but just too pooped at the moment :) Just one of those lazy days. Already had a nap before noon! Not too much excitement over here today....

Hubby is going to be having a birthday in a couple weeks. I was excited about making a cake but he doesn't want one. He is FINALLY motivated to lose some weight and I don't want to tempt him!!!! He is down 11 pounds so far and I'm so proud of him. I on the other hand I have been gaining what he is losing...oh I don't know how I'm going to make it another 10 weeks. So I think we'll skip the party this year.

I never got a call back about my gestational diabetes test, so I am assuming all was well! Thank you Lord :) Well, off to put my feet up and order, eerr...I mean guide my kiddies through some household chores to help Mommy *grin*

I am Mommy

Our son turned 2 a couple of weeks ago and since then both da-da and ma-ma have gone through a name change. Our two older kids were coaching him on how to say Daddy and Mommy and right away he made the switch to Daddy. It was funny hearing him say it but the ma-ma still stuck around. Now for the past several days I have been Mommy... no coaching. I actually miss the ma-ma but now I am Mommy to all 3 :)

Pirates

Our son is into pirates right now. He loves reading about them and pretending he is one. We even saw a pirate suit at the store (meant for Halloween) but since we don't celebrate Halloween - just dress up at home - I told him to write it on his Christmas list. (That being the first Christmas gift I have bought :) So we went to the store yesterday to pick up some groceries and all of the sudden he just stopped and started getting really excited. Pulling on my shirt he says "Mommy LOOK!!!! A real pirate!!!!" I turned around to see what he was talking about and I just about died laughing!! It was 2 people dressed up in motorcycle gear (all black leather) and bandana's around their heads. It was quite funny. I tried to explain the situation to him, but he is very convinced he saw a pirate yesterday :)

Answering machine

I got a good laugh from hearing this answering machine message at a high school in Australia.
Thought you might enjoy a good laugh too :)

Gastroenternologist

Our daughter went for her appointment today for her stomach pains. It's been 3 months now. I have to say September has been much better than the past 2 months. He looked over all her tests, bloodwork, etc and he really doesn't think there is anything bad going on right at the moment. He felt around her abdomen and he could feel gas and fluid. I'm sure glad we have met our medical deductible because that would have been frustrating to pay out a couple hundred dollars to hear she has gas!!! *smile* The doctor said we can try any of the gas aids out there and stuff to see if that helps. He did want us to try taking her off dairy for week or so. Because she has been having bowel issues as well for a couple months, this could be the beginning of a lactose problem. So I guess we just wait and see if things improve with these few changes. If not, he said to come back and we'll look more into it.
While we were out, I also picked up my first Christmas gift :) I've spotted it for weeks now and knew it wasn't going to be around for long. Hard to believe it is less than 3 months away!!!

Colds, colds go away!

All 3 kids are now sick with a cold. I'm staying home with them today so no singing in the children's choir tonight :( They don't seem to mind it during the day but at night, when they lay down, I think the congestion really sets in and all 3 were crying or whining at some point throughout the night. Hopefully it's one of those childhood colds that hubby and I have already had so we won't get it :)
I've also been really tired lately!! It seems like I just run out of energy way too quickly. After my shower in the morning I have to lay down for awhile because I feel so exhausted. I set out schoolwork for our daughter (all her seatwork done on her own) and do some school with our son, then go and lay in the recliner for awhile.....etc, etc... I'm so thankful hubby is working alot from home cause I sure rely on him alot throughout the day!! I'm finding it really hard now to go out and even grocery shop for awhile...I just get so worn out! I think these last 2 months will find me laying around the house alot conserving energy :)

Cloth diapers

There is a giveaway at Life in a Shoe's blog for some cloth diaper accessories! All cloth-diapering mommies will want to go check it out. I'm hoping to win *smile*.

Just updates

The van is in the shop till about Monday and we are enjoying a tiny rental car with 3 car seats crammed in the back :) The compressor went out for the air conditioning, so it's going to be a big job. We've been having air conditioning issues over the summer. It just wasnt' cooling like it should but since they found no leaks or anything, it wasn't covered under our warranty. Now that the compressor is kaput, warranty kicks in!! Yay :) We have already gone above what we paid for our warranty so it was well worth getting it this time around.

Our daughter has been hit with a nasty cold. Today I hear the barking cough. I don't know if she will make it to church on Sunday or not. The kids are all suppose to sing in the Children's choir. I may also have to cancel her appointment on Monday with the pediatric gastroentronologist (sp?) - for her stomach pains. She doesn't complain nearly as much as she used to which was daily, but she does still complain about it while she eats sometimes. I'd like to find out if it is some kind of wheat allergy or something. Hopefully she won't have to wait another couple months before getting in.

We are also thankful for the work that came in this month for hubby. The first couple weeks in Sept. were really slow, and it was going to be a struggle to get what we needed for our end of the month bills, BUT as always...God has provided and we even paid off 3 more medical bills :) Our God is good!!!

Today's news

Today hubby is taking the van into the repair shop....again. Our air conditioner completely died yesterday. No cool air at all. I sure hope they fix it right this time!! What a fiasco the last time we took the van in for repairs.
Our daughter is also having a rough day today. I don't know if it is her allergies or she is getting a cold. She was sitting on the deck yesterday for some sunshine, but our back yard is full of trees (some of which she is allergic to) so I'll keep an eye on her today to see what it develops into. Last week I don't know what got up her nose, but her day was full of sneezing. Same thing today....all in her nose....poor girl.
I'm still waiting on the results of my gestational diabetes test I had on Monday. They said no news is good news, so I'm hoping NOT to get a phone call!! Our baby counter is almost in the 70's!!!! Woohoo.
Hubby opened the door this morning to go clean out the van and we had another friendly visitor on our doorstep. He slithered off into the grass....I'm looking forward to the fall and winter!! Speaking of visitors, we have had several dogs dropped off in our neighborhood lately. I guess people can't afford to feed them anymore or something.....but this is the 5th stray that has wandered our subdivision. It's getting annoying and they scare the kids when they come running up barking at them (gets me annoyed when they are all dirty and want to jump up on the kids clothes!!)
Hopefully the rest of our day will go smoothly.

Tooth #3

Just as we were about to head out the door for a cousin's birthday party, our daughter was really annoyed with her loose tooth. I had been checking it for the past couple weeks and it still hadn't reached the point of being yanked.....but as we were all putting on our shoes, she was complaining about the discomfort. I grabbed a kleenex, took hold of the tooth...and presto!!! After a few ooowww's and ouches, out popped #3. When she went for her dentist appointment last week, the hygenist said her top 2 teeth were wiggly and will probably be out by Christmas. She was so excited to show off her new space :)

Brothers

I've been trying to catch up with the photo albums again. I'm still over a year behind....takes a lot of work to sort through and choose the ones for printing!!! I had just printed off some pics of our older son in a cute Sunday outfit and realized this past Sunday our youngest was dressed in the same outfit.....so I had to take pictures to compare. Here they both are....at 2 1/2 yrs and 2 yrs.




And here's one of all 3. Do you think someone is getting tired of having their picture taken??!!

Great Grandma and Granddad

A few pictures from our trip to see Great Grandma and Granddad.

In the golf cart with Grandpa

Watching the chickens

Watching the ducks

Sitting with Great Granddad

Great Grandma reading a book