Jun. 27, 2006 Had a scare yesterday...
| We had quite a scare yesterday afternoon. We had Sean and Sandra for the day and the kids were down at the creek trying to beat the heat in the cool water when Addy came up to the house crying. She had been stung at least 3 times, twice on the head and once on the hand. I slapped some baking soda paste on them right away and she sat down on the couch to rest. Within a couple of minutes her ears and eyes were starting to itch so I gave her some benydryl which took her awhile to drink as she hates it. Before she got all the medicine down I could see hives spreading over her face and neck so I called the dr. While talking with the nurse the hives spread over almost her whole body and her face started swelling and she said it felt like her toungue was getting bigger and their was a lump in her throat. The nurse told me to hang up and call 911 which I did. I was getting really worried by this time as severe bee allergies run in my family. I was worried it was going to take too long for the medics from Tumwater to get her. Thank the Lord there is a medic in Grand Mound which is only a few minutes away. Addy was looking really bad by this point but the paramedics got here within 10 minutes or less, got her hooked up to all their machines and gave her a shot of Epinepherine. The Epi started to help her but they still wanted to take her into the hospital in the medic unit. In the mean time I am trying to stave off and anxiety attack. I had one last Saturday (I have not had real big one since last August) and I had to take Ativan so as they were getting Addy loaded up in the ambulance I ran and took and Ativan and made a couple of phone calls. I had to keep it together for her sake but it was hard! I called Boo and asked her to come over right away and then we left. The kids were on their own for a little while but they were fine. My Dad came to relieve Boo as soon as he could and Chris met us at the hospital. At the hospital they gave Addy more Benedryl and a steroid and then wanted to keep for observation for an hour or so. She was doing fine other than feeling really dopy from all the meds so then we got to go. She has to take the steroid for 3 days and benydryl as needed. She also now has 2 Epi pens that she will need to keep with her at all times in case she gets stung again. I am just so thankful the paramedics in Grand Mound are so close, I would hate to think what might have happened if we had to wait for the Tumwater medics or drive in ourselves. I always keep and eye on all the kids when they get stung because of the history in my family but it was still really scary seeing her swelling up and not being able to do anything about it. None of the my other kids have ever reacted before and Addy hasn't either except for once last summer she got stung on her thigh and it did swell up a lot in that area but she has been stung several times since then with only usual swelling and redness. She seems to be doing fine today. I gave her benedryl this morning but she does not seem to need it this afternoon, so we'll just continue on with the prednisone. The dr. says he does not need to see her unless she gets worse again. Now I just have to go see my doc about these anxiety attacks. I'm thinking I may need my meds upped for the summer at least. |
•
Comments (2)
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
|
May. 26, 2006 Jasmina, goats etc.
| Well Zach and I finally got around to doing the goat chores we have needed to do for a couple of weeks now this morning. We needed to trim hooves, give shots and worm everybody. We got 7 of our 8 goats done and then we ran out of wormer so Miricle gets a reprieve until I can get to the feed store. When it was Jasmina's turn we noticed that she is really thin! She has such a fluffy coat we had not noticed but she is way to thin so we have moved her in with Sabbath and Huck and will be feeding her calf manna to try to get her weight up. She is almost a year old and the bigger goats in the other pen really enjoy bossing her and Finn around and not letting them get enough to eat. Finn is on the thin side too so we added another feeding station in the big pen and I think that will be enough for him. It is funny how the goats all have their own distinct personality. You can really tell who is in charge and who is low goat on the totem pole. Miricle and Eve are definately top goats (both have horns, hmmm.), Huck, Walker, and Rachel all hold their own in the middle and then Finn and Jasmina are the outcasts. Sabbath is on his own except we moved Huck in to keep him company since they get along and now Jasmina is in there too but she is not as nice to baby Sabbath as Huck is. I have noticed that for the most part our boy goats are the really lovey and friendly ones and the does are more bossy, to people and other goats. So we have 2 months to get Jasmina's weight up before fair, hopefully that is enough time. Besides being underweight she is also just tiny. She's so fluffy it is not really noticable until you start handeling her. Even her hooves are small and dainty. I don't think she's ever going to be a very big goat. The hardest part about having goats is the selling of them. The children know we have to sell all the babies this year so while that is hard it is not the worst. The worst is deciding to sell a goat we've had for a long time and are attached to. For instance, Addy will need to sell Sabbath and if it were up to me and I was being perfectly rational I would also sell Jasmina, Walker, Miricle and maybe Finn. Jasmina being so small may not make the best breeder, Walker is very lovey but does not do well in shows, Miricle is just a pet and does nothing but eat, and Finn is supposedly Teagues but Teague is not really old enough for a packgoat yet and we would have been better off to wait until the year he turns 8 to let him pick a baby to keep. Walker and Finn would be the hardest for me to sell, but I could sell Jasmina and Miricle pretty easy but Addy would not be able to. We have got to cut back on our animal feed costs though so we will probably have to sell some as well as find a cheaper sorce of hay. Ugghh! Hard choices to be made. |
•
Comments (0)
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
|
| My brother-in-law and sister-in-law have been in the process of adopting a baby boy from Guatamala since he was born last November and they got to go get him last Friday! Max is now officially a Vaughn! They travelled to Guatamala on Friday, got Max on Saturday, finished all the paperwork for his visa and birth certificate on Monday and came back on Tuesday. The whole family went to Greg and Paola's on Wednesday to meet Max and then Jeff, Ellie and Max flew home to Alaska on Thursday. Little Max is 5 1/2 months old now and just adorable. He has the biggest brown eyes with long long lashes and he is so happy! He looks very healthy and he weighs 14 pounds now. He was 5 pounds when he was born so he's doing good! He is just so mellow and happy almost all the time. I never heard him cry the whole time we were there and Ellie said he had only slept for an hour that day. Addy and Bethany had a good time holding their new cousin, as did I! This was the first time that the whole Vaughn family has been together in a really long time, a couple years at least so it was really nice. The cousins had a great time playing together, all 10 of them! Liam and Claudio had a blast wrestling in the grass with each other. The weather was beautiful and the whole evening was just lovely. Jeff and Ellie are hoping to come down again with Max this summer sometime so that will be nice. I am hoping that we can have a family camp out at our place, maybe over the 4th of July. I am just so happy for Jeff and Ellie, they are going to be great parents and they look so happy to have Max home at last. |
•
Comments (2)
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
|
| I have not written for a really long time but we were still dealing with sickness, including a bout of the stomach flu, yuck! Some of the children still have colds but other than that we are doing better. We have been incredibly busy around here though. My parents have been helping me to clean out/de-clutter/organize my home and it is really starting to look good around here! I have always struggled with keeping things neat and organized and it had really gotten out of hand the past few years as I got busier and busier with homeschooling and what not so this place was more than ready for a major overhaul. My parents offered to help and it has been such a blessing! It started out when they picked up a set of shelves at a garage sale for our homeschooling stuff in the dining room. It has made a world of difference! The next thing we tackled was to clean out a room that had been the playroom originally but had turned into a storage pit with no rhyme or reason to it. It was a huge undertaking and it took about 5 days but we got it all done and were able to turn it into a room for our oldest son. He just loves having his own room and he helped a lot to get it done. I got rid of so much stuff, it felt so good! Clothes were a major issue becuase I hang on to everything for the next child to use, which is good but we had way too much so I was able to pare it down to one large bin per child which is way way way more manageable. Next Chris built some floor to ceiling shelves so now I have a place to store things like the clothes bins, holiday decorations, grain buckets and toy bins. My Dad is going to build some more floor to ceiling shelves to make a wall for Zach's new room and to give us more storage space and book space. Books are another thing we have too much of but how can I get rid of books?! Once those shelves get built I will have to go through them again and weed out some more so they will all fit but it won't be easy! Yesterday my parents came over and my Dad and Zach built some trellis' out front for the clematis plants my Dad bought me last fall. They look really great! While they were doing that my Mom and I tackeled my "sewing area" which had become another catch all storage area. I was able to get rid of lots of stuff again and now I can actually sew in there again! My parents had found a great computer table for free and we were going to use it for the kids' computers but it did not fit so now it is my sewing table and it is great, I've got my sewing machine at one end and my serger at the other and when they are pushed back I can do scrapbooking at that table too. So now I just need to get all my fabric organized and get Chris to build some more shelves in that area and I'll be all set there. Yesterday morning Zach got all motivated to clean up the little boys' room so we did that and got rid of lots of stuff in there. Zach set up a bed for Liam and got him all excited about sleeping in it. He even offered to sleep on the floor in his sleeping bag next to Liam's bed for a couple of nights till he got used to it. Liam loves it and slept in his bed all night last night! The only rooms left to de-clutter are my room and the sunroom which are not that bad. Oh and my desk but that's not bad either. Once we have a place for everything and everything in it's place it is going to be so much easier to keep the house tidy. It is already much easier. My mom also came up with an idea to help the kids keep their stuff picked up, it's called toy jail. We have a little basket in a central area of the house and it is the police car. When I find toys or things on the floor during the day I put them in the police car. The children have to be sure to check the police care before they go to bed becuase anything left in there after they go to bed goes to toy jail. Then every Saturday I let them see what is in toy jail and if they want any of it they have to do extra chores or pay a fine to bail it out. If after 2 weeks an item has not be bailed out it will go in the GoodWill bag to be gotten rid of. So far it has been working really well. There is not much in toy jail, tommorow is the first Saturday we will have bail so we will see if they want the stuff in there or not. We have not been getting all of our school done during this overhaul of the house but that's ok, I think it is more important to get this done now when we are all motivated to do it and then life will be so much easier. I am caught up on laundry for the first time since before the holidays, it is so nice! Once all the de-cluttering and cleaning is done I want to paint the inside of the house. I think if I just take a small area or room each week I could have it done in a month or so. That would really freshen things up and then maybe Chris would be motivated to get the trim work done and remodel the bathrooms. We'll see. My parents have been so wonderful with all of this, I could never have done it without them. They have been so encouraging and helpful. They have even bought quite a few things to help organize like bins and drawers and what not. I am so blessed to have such great parents! |
•
Comments (0)
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
|
Apr. 12, 2006 Ughh! Now I'm Sick!
| Now I have come down with whatever it is that Zach and Bethany had and so has Addy. Yesterday was really bad. Thank goodness for Zach! If it had not been for him Chris would have had to stay home from work but Zach was able to take care of the other children, make food for everybody, take care of all the barn chores and even do a little laundry! Not bad for a 10 year old boy! So Addy and I slept almost all day only getting up for very short periods of time, because of all that rest I am doing much better today and so is Addy. My throat is still a little sore but I am no longer weak and achy and exhausted like yesterday. I just can't wait for us all to be well though and to get back to a more normal routine. Tomorrow is our last dog training class and we have not done anything with the dogs this last week. We will definately keep training after the class. I have really enjoyed the class and it has been very helpful but it needs to be longer! There is so much info crammed into the 6 weeks that I can't hardly process it all. Thankfully we get handouts every week with the lessons on them so I will probably just take one behavior per week to focus on and work our way through it all slowly. The class could be double the length easy and it would be better that way. It has been good for the dogs too to be out in "public" and to meet other dogs. If it was not so expensive I would sign up for another session but at 95.00 per dog that is just not do-able right now. At least now we have the knowledge to be able to work with Piper and Thunder whereas before I really did not know what I was doing. I am going to go finish up lunch and then we are going to try to get some school done. I had thought we would do at least a little yesterday but that didn't happen so we really need to today. |
•
Comments (2)
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
|
Apr. 7, 2006 Sick of Sickness
| Well I did end up taking Zach and Liam to the dr. on Tuesday. He tested Zach for strep and he does not have that so now he needs to be tested for mono but the lab was closed that day so we have to go back on Monday if he is not better. He is not better yet and it has been a week and a half. Liam's throat looked ok but the dr. said he still has lots of fluid in his ears and it is very thick, he called it glue ear. So Liam has to go back in 6 weeks to see if it is any better. The dr. was surprised that Liam can hear us at all. I tried to talk to him about selective mutism but he blew me off although he still wants Liam to see a speech pathologist. That should be interesting. On top of all that Bethany came down with pink eye yesterday. While we were at a friends house her eyes just started running yellow gunk and by the time we got home that evening her eyes were puffy and light hurt her so she was shading her eyes all the time and they were still running gunk. I thought for sure I would have to take her to the dr. today but I put some breastmilk in her eyes last night and again this morning and even though her eyes were glued shut this morning once I got them cleaned up they looked much better! They are still a bit red and puffy but they are not producing that pus that they were yesterday. So I am going to keep on with the breastmilk several times a day and she how she does. Breastmilk is miraculous stuff! Whenever one of the children gets a bit of a goopy eye that is what I always do, a few drops of breastmilk once or twice clears it right up but Bethany's were so bad I was sure I would have to take her in but looks like she'll be fine. Thank the Lord she is still nursing! I am also giving her a Trilight Herb formula that has Echinacea, Elderflower and Thyme in it. Zach is taking the Trilight formula Scout Out so hopefully that will help him. I am so tired of my children being sick! This has just been a terrible late winter/early spring for us. |
•
Comments (0)
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
|
Apr. 4, 2006 Dyslexia rant
| What is it about Spring that makes it sooo hard to do school! I guess it is mainly the sunny days but even on the rainy ones we are having a hard time. I hate keeping them in when it is sunny like today but as soon as I am done here we have got to get started. I finally called Association for Child Behavior and Development today to see what they have to offer in the way of Learning Disablity Evaluations. It sounds like they have an excellent program but way way way out of our price range. It is 1600$ for four appointments which would cover the testing and everything but that is just way too much for us to even consider. I also put a call into a local reading tutor to see what she has to say so hopefully she'll call me back soon. I really do not want to go the school district route but it looks like we will probably have to. Apparently insurance does not even cover learning disablity stuff any how so whatever we did privately we would have to pay for. I am not sure why I am so resistent to using the school district. I really need to think about it and discover just why I am feeling this way. On one hand I don't feel like they will give Zach as good of an evaluation as a private place would but I guess I am also a little nervous about getting involved with the schools and afraid they will give me a hard time about homeschooling. I really do need to make sure that we do all we can for Zach though, even if it means putting my personal discomfort aside and if the school district is the best we can do then we need to do it. I guess. I feel so all alone in this. If Zach were in public school they would have long ago taken over and taken care of placing him in whatever classes he needed to be in (whether those classes would be of any real value is debatable) but as homeschoolers it is up to me to do it all. I know that by homeschooling I made the choice to be 100% responsible for my children's education and I am fine with that I just wish there was more support for kids like Zach that did not cost and arm and a leg. Zach is so funny, he does not see the point of going for testing/evaluating becuase in his mind mom has already researched it and that should be enough but I was trying to explain to him this morning that although I have done a lot of reading on dyslexia I am by no means an expert and I really want to make sure that we are not missing anything. I want to be sure we are doing all that can be done for him. The frustrating thing is that we may not be able to afford to do all that can be done and to me that is very sad. I feel like going to the school district for help is a second best type of option but I don't see any other choice at this point. He is almost 11 and in 4th grade, it is only going to get harder for him and for me as time goes on. I can't continue to read all his school work to him. He does read some but as far as reading a section of a book (at his grade level) and then outlining it for instance would be impossible for him. I don't want to hold him back in his subject material just becuase he can't read well enough to keep up with what he can understand. I just don't know what to do anymore. When he was younger it was not as big a deal but now he needs to be able to read for information and he can't. If we had a diagnoses of dyslexia we could join the Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic and then he could get his reading material on CD and listen to it which would be great so I think we need to get some kind of diagnoses done. I need to ask the dr. today if he would sign the school districts evaluation so we could join RFBD. Ok, I am done ranting for today, it just breaks my heart though to see such a smart boy struggling so much, it overwhelms me at times and I wish I could put the responsibility of "fixing" him on someone else. There was a light bulb moment! That is part of my problem, I feel like I have to "fix" him and I can't and therefore I feel like I am failing my son and by taking him to the school district it feels like I am admitting that homeschooling does not work and that I have failed and now need them to take over. Hmmm, is that a realistic feeling? Probably not but I still feel that way so how do I overcome that? Ok, Lord, what do you want me to do now? I need to go pray about this and then we really do have to start school! |
•
Comments (0)
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
|
Apr. 2, 2006 Sabbath Report and Misc.
| Well, Sabbath is doing great, growing and getting more active every day. Addy still lets him in the house occasionally which is ok with me as long as she is right with him and paying attention to him. However this morning she had him inside and she was not watching him and before I knew it he was hopping up on everything he could. I think his indoor visiting days are numbered! I really like for Addy to be able to spend lots of time with him as that will help him become even more bonded with her and since we don't have any other kids (goats, not human!) right now he does get pretty lonely out by himself but if she can't keep a closer eye on him it just will not work. Zach and Addy have taken over the milking of Eve, they are doing a great job except that Addy always "forgets" to wash the pail when she's done! I may have to start fining her if she does not wash the pail and Zach ends up having to wash it before he can milk in the evenings. I always reserve the first week ( after a doe kids) of milking for myself so I can keep an eye on the doe and make sure she is recovering well then the Zach and Addy take over. I really enjoy milking, it is very relaxing and just being with the goats is fun for me but it really takes up a lot of my time when I need to be fixing breakfast and dinner so I don't get to do it much. I suppose that will change in time when Addy and Zach can cook a little more then we can trade off, that will be nice. Poor Zach still has a sore throat so I am going to have to call the dr. tomorrow. I feel so sorry for him, he can hardly swallow sometimes. It is kind of a strange sore throat, it lessens up sometimes and then if he tries to do too much it gets really bad again. I have him taking Viramune which is an herbal formula and gargling with xylitol water but have not been real consistent since we have been so busy and he only complains off and on. I hope it's not strep. My dad bought me a new printer/scanner/copier the other day. He is so sweet! He researched out which would be the best options for me and the best prices. I'm so glad he did cause I never would have had the time or know how to do that. I ended up with the HP1510 All-In-One and it was cheaper than buying a toner cartridge for my old black and white copier! I was able to set it up by myself, wonder of wonders, with only one phone call to my mom! I was amazed! So far it works great and I am very happy with it. I guess I had better get going and get some stuff done around here, the time change has me very tired today so I want to go to bed early! Ha Ha Ha! We'll see. |
•
Comments (0)
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
|
Mar. 28, 2006 It's Kidding Season!
| It's spring and the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and the kids are coming! Our first baby goat of the year was born on Sunday the 26th. Addy's goat Eve is the mama and the baby was a little buckling who wasn't so little....a whopping 12 pounds! This was Eve's first time and having such a big baby was a bit hard for her but she managed just fine without my help. I was expecting Eve to kid sometime on Sunday so some friends of the children came home from church with us in hopes of seeing the birth. It was just about time to leave for evening church when she started pushing so the 3 friends plus our neighbor girl all got to see a baby goat be born. Addy was very glad it was a boy because she wants a packgoat, so now she has her pack goat and she named him Sabbath. He is 3/4 Oberhasli and 1/4 Nubian and cute as can be! He is the most vigorous kid we've had yet, he was up and walking right away and wants to nurse off everything! We have to limit him on how much he drinks because he is a little hog! Addy is bottlefeeding him and she is doing a great job. I got him started with his first two feedings and she has taken it from there. He loves to follow her around the house, they are so cute together! We usually keep the babies in the house for 4 days or so until they are eating well and are nice and strong but I told Addy he has to go out tomorrow, he is so strong and bouncy! We have at least 2 more kids coming in June and we will sell them. Including new little Sabbath we have 8 goats and that is plenty! Zach has 2 packgoats and 1 dairy goat, Addy has 2 dairy goats and 1 packgoat, Teague has 1 packgoat and Liam has a Pygora just for fun. It is hard to sell the cute little babies but the money they bring in is nice too and the children can use it for more goat expenses and fair. |
•
Comments (1)
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
|
| Well, I have never had a blog before but I am going to give it a try. I am not a terribly consistent person so I don't know if I will keep it up but I hope to! To start off with I guess I will describe myself and my life. I have been married for 11 years and I have 5 children ages 2 to 10, 3 boys and 2 girls. We live on 7 acres in Washington State where we raise goats for milk and for pack animals. We also have chickens, 3 cats, 2 dogs, 2 rabbits and some fish. We have been homeschooling since our oldest was 5 years old. I follow a Classical/Charlotte Mason type of style which gets easier every year. I started out way too early and way to structured with my oldest. Then I swung the other way and was too unstructured. Now the past couple of years have been really good. We seem to have really found our stride and a good balance between structure and freedom. Since we live on a farm there is lots of opportunity for nature study so we spend lots of time on science. In fact science and history are everyone's favorite subjects from the oldest down to the youngest. I teach all the children together as much as possible, the only things they do at their own pace is math and reading/language arts. We start our days out with breakfast, then the 2 oldest children do barn chores and milking while the 2 middle children feed and water the dogs and I prepare for school. Then we spend a half hour doing "family chores". After that we start school. We begin with Bible (pray, sing hymns, do lesson). I use various resorces for bible, we just finished Little Pilgrims Progress and are going to be starting Hinds Feet on High Places for Children next week. Then my 9 and 10 year olds (Zach and Addy) start on their independent work while I work with the 6 year old (Teague). Zach and Addy do their copywork (StartWrite), math (Math-U-See), silent reading, Latin (Prima Latina), computer time and piano practice independently. Teague and I do math (Math-U-See), reading (Reading Reflex/Pathways Readers) and on a good day piano practice. The 2 year old (Bethany) and 4 year old (Liam) play together, join in, or play with their school time toys. Teague also does his copywork in there somewhere. Then it's time for lunch. After lunch we have a little rest time while I put the Bethany down for her nap. Then I help Zach and Addy with their Learning Language Arts Through Literature and we do History (The Story of the World) all together. On Wednesdays another family comes over and we spend the whole day doing science (using living books), health (Prudence and Your Health), and fellowshipping together. Of course it all only happens like that on a good day with no major interuptions! Often times real life interrupts our carefully planned routine and demands to be dealt with so there are many times where I must stop and administer discipline or clean up a disaster or in the spring when we have baby goats being born take care of them. But even on the worst of days I still try to be done with school by around 3 pm at which point the children are free to play until evening chore time. While they play I try to get a little housework done but that seems to be a never ending battle that the house is usually winning! Then the children start their evening chores while I start dinner, daddy gets home, and we eat and then have a couple hours before bed. On different days we have other activities such as 4-H, dog obedience class, piano lessons, horseback riding lessons, church and various appointments. Over all I really love my life and feel that God has blessed me abundantly. There are rough spots of course but I know that He is working in me to grow me and make me more like Him. |
•
Comments (0)
• Post A Comment!
• Permanent Link
|
|
|
|
|
About Me
My name is Jennifer. I have been married for 11 years and have 5 wonderful children. We have been homeschooling since our oldest was born and it gets better every year. We live on a small farm in Washington State where we raise children and goats! This blog will be a journal of my efforts to homeschool my children, to be a godly wife to my dear husband, and to manage our small farm, all to the glory God.
Links
• Home
• View my profile
• Archives
• Email Me
• My Blog's RSS
Friends
|
Page 1
of 1
Last Page | Next Page
|
|
