Homeschooling a Houseful

Happy Birthday Hollie!!

2:58 PM, Nov. 14, 2006 .. Posted in Birthdays .. 0 comments .. Link

My second born daughter is 18 years old. I cannot believe how quickly time does fly. Hollie has grown to be a beautiful young lady.

Here is Heather meeting her baby sister within the first hour of her birth.

Hollie is about 6 weeks old here and enjoying some mommy time.

Age 3, at the zoo with mom.

The arboretum is a fun place to take photos. Here Hollie is 4.

The whole crew, Heather, Hollie, Heide, Joseph, and new baby sister Haylee.

Here is Hollie age 13 and baby brother Jacob.

Heide, Jacob and Hollie

Hollie on her 17th birthday.

Happy 18th Birthday Hollie, your mommy loves you.

Happy Birthday Joshua!!

10:31 AM, Nov. 7, 2006 .. Posted in Birthdays .. 0 comments .. Link

Joshua was born in November 7, 1999. He was my first home birth and it was the most incredible birth experience. It was so wonderful to be home, to be surrounded by people I love, and to stay home after he was born. WOW. Joshua was 8 lbs 3 ozs at birth and 21 3/4 inches long.

Here is a photo chronicle of Joshua's life.

Joshua at 1 day old.

16 months old and Joshua loves books.

19 months old and loves to help daddy.

Joshua is fixing the vacuum cleaner.

Silly, silly boy. Here is Joshua with his Jacob and Jonathan.

4years old.

Joshua's 6th birthday.

Today Joshua is a charming little boy who loves anything to do with electricity. He can tell everything about batteries and amperage. He is very loved by his entire family.

Happy Birthday Joshua.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDE

9:30 PM, Oct. 15, 2006 .. Posted in Birthdays .. 2 comments .. Link

Our sweet Precioni is 14 today. 14, I am amazed. My children are all getting so big.

Heide was born on a Tuesday. She was only 8 days late. I went into labor during the night and things moved along very, very slowly. My friend Jackie came over the spend time with Heather and Hollie while we waited for Heide to arrive. The hospital experience was not a great one. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. The nurse we had, didn't like her to much. Heide was 7 lbs 11 ozs when she was born. Heide is the only baby in which we knew ahead of time that she was a girl. It was fun being able to call the baby by name, but we have not found out with any of our other children. I really do like the suspense of waiting to find out.

Here are some photos of Heide through the years.

1 week old 7 months old...look at all the hair

20 months old 2 years old

8 years old Heide age 9 and her Grannie Annie

12 years old September of this year 13 yrs old

Happy, Happy Birthday Heide. I love you very much!!

Happy Birthday Jacob!!

2:00 PM, Jul. 25, 2006 .. Posted in Birthdays .. 4 comments .. Link

He is 5. How did this happen so fast.

His birth is a bit hard for me to reflect on. He was to be our second home birth and he ended up being my second c-section.

During the course of my pregnancy we had insurance battles. I will never do that again. When the insurance company says they won't cover my home birth because I am high risk then I will leave it alone. With Jacob, we appealed and appealed and appealed. All the way to the point where we are sitting in a room with 5 other professionals telling me how dangerous it is for me to deliver at home. My high risk factors listed are AGE, and the number of children I have had and my premature delivery of baby #6. Good grief, baby #6 was born at 37 weeks 1 day and not because I was in labor, but because he had heart issues and was dieing. Anyway, I think it all took a toll on me, mentally.

I went into labor and I would have wonderful contractions and they would stop. This went on for 24 hours and I just gave up. I was seven centimeters dialated and just didn't want to do anymore. We went to the hospital and the doctor gave me no options..he just did a c-section. Did I mention that before I left the house I was seven centimeters. Anyway, all went well and Jacob was born healthy and happy.

He was 8 lbs 15 ozx.

He now has the brightest blue eyes and is a very charming little boy. He has the cutest way of saying things.

Here he is at 18 hours...

And here is Jacob at 6 months old taking a bath in the sink.

Getting ready for his first haircut...this will be just a little trim (June 2002)

Jacob turns 1 in July 2002

Jacob loves trucks and dirt...

Grannie always calls to sing happy birthday. This is 2005

And today, with Yahoo IM, this is Jacob receiving his phone call on the computer...

(he came in from playing in the pool).

Today Jacob is a very sweet blue-eyed little boy. He has the cutest way of doing and saying things. His favorite color is Orange. He has amazing energy and is very rarely sitting school. He is most excited about getting to join us for co-op this fall since he is now a kindergartner.

Happy Birthday Haylee!!!

9:50 AM, Jun. 1, 2006 .. Posted in Birthdays .. 0 comments .. Link

Honey Bunny, Funny Bunny turns 11 years old on June 6, 2006.

Her birth was fast, and she has been fast moving every day of her life.

I was 9 days late and had woke up with a good contraction. I told my husband that it looked like today was the day. I jokingly said we would have a baby by noon. It really was a joke. The labors for baby number 3 and 4 had been my longest labors and I figured we were in for another long one. Boy was I wrong.

Contractions were close and intense. I was on the phone with a friend who suggested that I was making some sounds that made her think I should be in the hospital. At that point I actually decided to pay attention and realized that yeah, I should not be home. I paged my husband and proceeded to get things ready.

I had arranged for my friend Renee' to come and be with the children when it was time. Well, it is Tuesday and when I spoke to her earlier she had mentioned that it was the last day for Bible study. I assured her that we would not be leaving for the hospital before noon so she should go to Bible study and call me when she gets home. HAHAHA.

Dan was home and of course Joseph who is almost 15 months old has a poopy diaper. Dan takes care of that and we head out the door leaving our 10 year old in charge of the 6 year old, the 2 1/2 year old and the 15 month old.

The drive to the hospital was stressful, because I was in TRANSITION. We arrive at the hospital, and I am 8 cm with a bulging bag of waters. They say don't push, we will wait for the doctor. Let me tell you, never again will I wait for the doctor. The hospital doc was there with us the whole time. Makes no sense to me. My first baby was delivered by the nurse because the doc didn't make it in time.

Anyway, Haylee was born 23 minutes after we got to the hospital. Could have been sooner. Get this, the doc came in a BROKE MY WATER. I have since wondered why she didn't just let me push. There was miconium, personally I think it was because they were making me wait to do what my body new it needed to do. They took her immediately to do the suctioning and then brought her to me.

Dan didn't stay very long, remember we have 4 children 10 and under at home. He left I think about 1/2 hour after Haylee was born. Here is a funny, my friend Renee, I told her to call after Bible study assuring her we wouldn't leave before noon. Well, she called at noon and Dan was already back home and got to tell her we had to leave a bit early and we had the baby and he was back home. I don't think she found that to be too funny. I have since asked Renee' why on earth she would listen to a woman in labor.