Pics

Here's some recent pics....

10 weeks old

2 years old

Toothless

#5 came out tonight. She's so cute!

Capturing a smile

9 weeks old

Good grief....

I have yet ANOTHER cold. This one is full blown too. I usually get mild colds but this one is affecting every part of my head! It is the 4th one in 3 months....very disheartening since I know baby is going to probably get it too. Poor girl has been sick every month of her life so far....what a beginning :) Trying to avoid hubby since he just had his throat surgery. I don't want him coming down with it. He is doing well and breathing so much better.
Well, time to take this weary body to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Circle Time contest

Preschoolers and Peace is offering another free copy to learn about how she uses Circle Time as part of her day with her kids. I love this idea.....homeschooling mom's - enter the contest!

Hubby's surgery is at 11:30am (Tuesday). Please keep him in your prayers and we should be back home by early evening.

Proud Mama

Our 2 year old loves watching the kids do their puzzles. He is always getting in their way (annoying them!) because he wants to 'help'. He doesn't want his wooden puzzles anymore....too easy!!! *grin* But I didn't want him getting into the big kid puzzles and losing pieces....so today, after trying to 'help' big brother with his World Map puzzle, I allowed him to try it on his own. I sat in amazement as I watched this little boys' mind process each piece..... He did a whole 24 piece puzzle on his own. He was so excited and smiled as we all praised his great effort (and he enjoyed his M&M's reward as well). Now onto the 60 piece puzzles huh??!!!

Frustration

I've been trying to post a video all week and for some reason blogger is giving me lots of problems. It is quite frustrating!!
School is going well. We are getting a good amount accomplished throughout the day. I'm still working on my master schedule and our chore chart...but have started implementing some stuff already into our day.
I have also FINALLY sent out my naturalization papers to become a citizen. It will be good to finally have that all complete. Hopefully the process won't take too long....I need to start studying for the big test :)
Other than that, we are doing well. Everyone is over their colds for the most part. Baby is still congested though. Hubby is also going for surgery this Tuesday. He always gets anxious leading up to it. Hopefully his hoarseness will go away too. He has been having trouble talking for awhile now. I don't know if it is related to his condition or not. I guess we'll see if he improves after surgery.
Now off to bed....

Here is a picture taken this morning before church.

2 months

Our girl had her 2 month checkup yesterday and I had to laugh when the doctor said "she's not lacking in nutrition is she?!".....she has gained 3 lbs. since last month making her 12lbs now. Her cheeks are still as chubby as ever and I love squishing them :) I think she is going through a growth spurt right now cause she is feeding alot!! She still has her cold with lots of congestion, poor girl. Hopefully towards the end of the week we will all be finished with it.

I've also received my books from titus2.com. I would highly suggest any homeschooling mom go and look through their resources. I am almost done reading "Homeschooling with a meek and quiet spirit" WOW.....She is so transparent with her emotions and struggles as a homeschooling mom in the early years especially. I am so thankful for her insight and testimony. I already feel like I'm getting on the right path. Right away she made it clear that you need quiet time with the Lord, in His Word, memorizing scripture....something I have been lacking for awhile. She says getting up a little early and spending those few precious moments with the Lord can give you more strength through the day than the extra hour of sleep you think you need to make it through the day. She also said the hardest times for her was when she had a nursing baby (a mother of eight!) She just put my mind at ease about so many struggles and that I'm not the only one feeling the way I do. It was such an encouragement and gave me a renewed drive that I can accomplish this with God's help. I also recieved my chore packs and scheduling materials. I'm just so excited to go through and get this all set up with hubby's help. There are also some great resources for your hubby! Go check out their website!!

Here are a few pictures of baby girl yesterday. 2 months old...

Not again

Here we go again with yet ANOTHER cold!!! This has been the the third or fourth one in about 6 months. Just waiting to see how bad it gets for the baby. So far hubby has had it bad. He always seems to get the worst of it (I think it is because of his throat condition).....the kids sound bad but still have energy to play. It's just at night when they really start to complain. Not sure how bad it will get for baby and me...we are at the beginning stages. Despite all the vitamins and sanitizer we use...I just don't understand how we continually get sick!!
Hubby is going for a throat appointment on Monday. We will set up another surgery date. We don't even count anymore how many surgeries he's had. We stopped after surgery number 11 :) Baby also has her 2 month appointment on Tuesday. Can you believe she's already 2 months old!!
We also got our taxes done this week. It was the first time we had a professional do it since there were so many unknowns this year (self employed, pulling money out of 401K etc....) We came out with a refund though!! Didn't think that was going to happen :) She found sooooo many things that we had no clue about.....that will help towards surgery bills!
Well, baby calls.....

Organization

Ok...all I can say is CRAZY!!! It is sure taking me longer to get adjusted to a new way of scheduling these days. I'm just trying to work out a good school schedule that is 'baby' and 'toddler' friendly allowing me to be flexible when I need to....and without pulling my hair out!! This year I think is extra hard with adding another child full time for homeschooling and a baby. A friend today directed to a great website which I think is going to save my sanity *grin* I've ordered a few of their books - "Managers of their Homes"and "Managers of their schools" ... 2 that I'm really eager to read. I think that is my biggest problem right now .... organization!! If I can get a good schedule down where the kids know what is expected of them and when it is expected, and I know what is required of me that day.....that will cut down on much of the stress. I think it is very true that the more kids you have the more organzied you get.....you need to be organized in order to function properly!! I am often amazed at these big families who seem to have it together for the most part....organization being a key factor. Maybe that will even give me more time to blog...haha!