Life as Onduli

Aug. 6, 2008 - A Good Quote

Read a good quote ...

"In the public school system, children are socialized horizontally, and temporarily, into conformity with their immediate peers. Home educators seek to socialize their children vertically, toward responsibility, service, and adulthood, with an eye on eternity."
- Thomas C. Smedley, M.S., “Socialization of Home Schooled Children: A Communication Approach”

I especially like the "eye on eternity" part. Well said.

Jul. 2, 2008 - Update - June

Since I didn't take many pics with baby actually in them on vacation.... had to post a few from this last month so you can see how much he has grown! He's growing up sooo fast! I'll remember June as the month of sweet smiles and cooing....even though I can't seem to get a picture or a video of either.

or at least not of him talking with ME...... here's one with is daddy:

major event of the month LOL.... family Lego building party..... ds7 saw the idea in his Lego magazine and was so excited when we put it on the calendar and took the time out to play legos all together....

my creation is the lovely red dinosaur in case you were wondering... :)

One day ds7 asked if baby could spend his 'wake time' in his room .... I realized a bit later that ds7 was reading to baby - it was sooo sweet. One of those moments that just brings me so much joy! One of those kinds of moments I dreamed about when I was praying for years for another baby.

sweet baby starting to play a little....

and it's official..... he sucks his 2 fingers......

I'll end with a pic of my two guys at an outdoor concert...

so I am thereby officially caught up LOL....... well at least with posting photos of baby that have been requested :)

Jul. 2, 2008 - Update - Vacation

We took a trip.... starting off with my niece's wedding. ds7 was the ring bearer. He had to stand up front right next to the groom for the entire ceremony - I was so proud of him - was just bursting with emotion as I watching him walking in - he's just growing up so fast!

and just in case you thought differently....... though he behaved perfectly for the ceremony and the millions of photos afterwards, my silly guy was still under all those fancy clothes...... :)

random vacation tidbits.... we were with a large part of my family for 10 days ..... grandma, grandpa, brother and wife with their 3 kids, sister and husband with 6 of their kids... so ds7 had great fun with his cousins - which for me was the whole reason for the extended trip after the wedding - I mean let's be honest, traveling all over the place with a 9 week old was never going to be a 'vacation' for me :)

baby did great though, really rolled with the punches pretty well - by the end of trip he was even nursing like a pro and latching on so much better etc which was such an answer to prayer since I needed to nurse in public so much of the time for the trip. We joked that I was breastfeeding at all the major attractions.... Navy Pier, The "bean" in millenium park in Chicago, St. Louis Arch etc......LOL. I figured that once I nursed on a trolley car in downtown Chicago that really I had figured out the whole 'nursing in public' thing that I had such difficulty with before. And baby kept up with his sleeping at night too :)

anyhow, here's a couple pics:
ds7 with a couple cousins at submarine inside Museum of Science and Industry:

family pic - a reflection in the bean (can you believe silly me - this is the only family pic from our whole 10 day vacation and it's a reflection of us! oh well)

Nice pic of the bean itself... really cool how it reflected the skyline

and ds7's favorite part of the whole trip...... visiting an actual Lego store - we don't have one anywhere near where we live....

and later on in the trip....... stayed by a lake in Arkansas....... here's a pic of ds7 with his cousins hunting for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park

my favorite shot of him from the trip.....ds7 lost more teeth :)

and here's my boys hanging out at a hotel

Jun. 30, 2008 - Update - May

During May was baby's baptism :)

the family pic...

One of my favorites of sweet baby talking with me...

I LOVE this photo because it was just such a sweet moment to see ds7 finally completely comfortable holding his baby brother - and he was so sweet and nurturing etc...

My mother's day present - ds7 and daddy planted flowers in our front yard for me...

and the beginning of summer heat and summer fun :)

the beginning of the sweet smiles...

and closing with another one of my favorites...

Jun. 30, 2008 - Update - April

Thought I would break my updates up by doing one month at a time :)

Mainly it was a joy this month to see ds7 really getting used to the idea of having a baby brother. He went through some transition time where he really didn't want to hold him or anything - but then one day when I was in the shower he decided to "comfort" baby LOL.... he had taken him out of the pack-n-play, swaddled him in a blanket, and put him back in ("Mommy, I almost couldn't get him back in" - glad I wasn't there to see it!) The point being that it was a breakthrough. He always wanted to swaddle him etc... and seeing them together brought such joy to my heart. Here's a few pics of them from April...

Apr. 18, 2008 - God's Gift to us

Figured it was about time I shared the news of our little gift from God! Sorry - just haven't been spending any time at the computer lately LOL!

Let's see - on March 25th I had a dr. appt and was 80% effaced and dialated to 4.5. A "time bomb" according to my doctor. I had tons of contractions the next 2 days - went mental trying to time them to see if they were 5 min apart for 1 hour etc.... but of course usually it would be 5min, 5min, 5min, 5min (I'm thinking "this is it") then 10min, 12, min, 5min etc.... in other words, never stayed consistent. Finally on the 26th at 11pm or so my water broke and I went to the hospital. Was dialated to between a 6 and a 7 when I got there. they said, rest as best I can etc... that it would be a while..... 3 hours later he was born LOL. I'm quite proud to say I went "natural" :) which was what I had wanted to do.

So, here are some pics of our new bundle of joy born on March 27th!

He looks exactly like his brother did! I mean exactly - except for baby has a bit longer side burns :)

things have been a bit rough with breastfeeding and no sleep and all - but despite all MY issues - he's growing and doing well! Pray for us when you think of it. Thanks!

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Mar. 24, 2008 - Any day now

Well, I'm 38 weeks now. At my dr. appt a week ago on Monday I was dialated to a 3 and she said, "Wow, you're moving fast....I might see you back here tomorrow." Of course that was a week ago :) I had a nerve-wrecking weekend because I knew my doctor was going out of town for Easter and I really wanted her and not the doctor on call... and I had contractions like crazy all weekend long. Closest they ever got consistently was 7 minutes apart I think.... but in the end - here I am, still waiting. So, praise God, we made it through the weekend :) now I'm READY! LOL and will be going walking and pressing all the "forbidden during pregnancy" accupressure points etc tomorrow after I clean the house up one more time. I have a doctor appt. tomorrow too, so we'll see what she says. Can't believe the time is so close :) So, here I am at 38 weeks - although I'm not sure that outfit shows that I'm definitely bigger than the previous picture, but oh well.

Mar. 13, 2008 - Not much longer

Here's me at 36 weeks...... starting to get really excited :) and a little overwhelmed sometimes too LOL! Still feeling very healthy - just tired.

Feb. 26, 2008 - Baby Update

Realized I hadn't blogged a 7 month tummy pic yet... This was actually taken at 33 weeks :) things are still going very well! I can't believe how quickly time is passing!

Jan. 15, 2008 - Yesterday's Successes

I hadn't scheduled it in, but my ds6 kept saying, "We need to go outside and do a page on the fossil I found." So since for whatever reason it was actually nice enough outside - we set up a blanket and headed out to the front yard. It seems he thinks that you have to be outside to add anything to your nature notebook - even if you are recording about an event that happened this weekend LOL. After much explaining that he can put whatever he wants in his Science notebook - that it does not have to be a poem - he still said he wanted to dictate poems. I decided to go ahead and let him dictate and me do the writing for now and to deal with the writing/spelling battle in other arenas. So here are the 2 pages he did yesterday out front....

And then I was quite proud of him after we had a little incident when he was being too silly to focus on schoolwork and went to his room for a bit - when he came back out he did this spelling page (proof by the way that I need a different spelling program since this is way too easy but in any other writing he still feels like he can't spell anything). At any rate I was sooo pleased with his handwriting and all the effort he put into drawing a simple picture - adding in details etc.... may not seem worthy of pointing out for others but for me I can see that he's come a long way!

Jan. 14, 2008 - Here I am

Ok, so I've been gone from the blog world for too long! Wanted to give a quick update. Yes, everything is going great physically with the pregnancy. Baby Boy is kicking away nice and strong to constantly reassure me that he is ok in there. Things have been a bit rough emotionally. I was so very excited to be sharing this time of pregnancy with my sister and my sis-in-law. But, for whatever reason, God had other plans. My sister lost her baby at 14weeks and then at the beginning of this month my dear sis-in-law delivered her still-born baby at 20-21 weeks. Please pray for her especially as she deals with all the pain/grief.

More than ever I know that God is in control of it all and that every child here on earth is here for a special reason - that this baby and my precious ds6 are miracles - gifts from God!

So please continue to rejoice with me in the miracle of this pregnancy - I know that's what my sister and my sis-in-law would want, even when it brings tears to my eyes to say so. They along with many others have prayed long and hard for me to be able to have another baby - so this baby is very much so an answer to prayer!

Here I am - excited to be getting such a big tummy :) Here I am with ds6 at 28 weeks - a week over the 6 month mark.

Nov. 12, 2007 - Baby Update

Things are going very well here! The nauseousness is gone.... Yipee!!!! We had our sono and everything was beautifully healthy!!!!!! Praise God!

and it's a ...........BOY! ds6 is all smiles!

thanks for all the prayers!

baby tummy growing a bit - still depends on what I wear. Here's a 4 month pic:

Nov. 6, 2007 - Nature Study

I have been meaning to blog about this for a while, but just haven't kept up with blogging as much as I'd like to. At any rate - given my 'research' into homeschooling methods, I found I love the Charlotte Mason approach. I have wanted so much to include nature study in our schooling but for whatever reason just hadn't taken the plunge. well, one day while doing our written work in the schoolroom, we opened the window blinds to see some very large crows in the front yard - time for a nature break! I had avoided actually getting out paper etc. in the past partly because I knew what would happen - which did. Perfectionism and my ds6!!!!! "I can't do it" etc etc..... but then, a breakthrough! After the 10th time of reminding him that he could dictate to me and I would do the writing for him, he suddenly says, "Ok, write - Poems" and proceeds to dictate some excellent poetry. Below are his pages and my page (no laughing!) and a squirrel pic too.

I'm so proud of him!!!

one of Mommy's pages...

Oct. 11, 2007 - Mommy - some numbers have middles

ds6 came to me one day after playing/building with his MathUSee blocks and says, "Mommy, did you know that some numbers have middles and some don't?" He tried to explain a bit but I wasn't catching on until I had him show me with the blocks. Sure enough, by just playing around he figured out the whole Odd and Even numbers thing LOL. I love that his mind is always working even when he's playing. And that discovering math concepts like this on your own is so much better than trying to learn it from some random workbook page. The pictures are from when I had him explain it to his daddy a few days later.

here's to Math discoveries!!! I think playing around like this will help him learn alot more in the coming weeks - like which numbers are in fact families adding up to 10 etc...

Oct. 11, 2007 - Update

sorry that I haven't been "homeschool blogging' - I do have some things I want to show you all, but I just haven't taken them time to do it! I did want to give a quick update....

saw my dr. and heard baby's heartbeat so everything is A OK :) praise God! I am starting to feel better - I still have my 'moments' but the in-between times are much better than before. Thanks for all the prayers. I have a tiny tummy that the public eye would never know was baby, but I still feel much cuter if I put on some maternity clothes LOL (and of course actually look pg in maternity clothes vs. not at all in regular clothes - besides, my regular pants don't fit.) anyhow, getting into the fun, feeling cute and pregnant part of pregnancy and am very happy and feel very blessed to be here! Special thanks to my hubby for cooking and cleaning the kitchen through all these weeks of 'morning' sickness!

14 weeks and counting :) grow, baby, grow!

adding some pics...... see, if I didn't put my hands there and didn't wear maternity top, then you couldn't tell - but sure enough there is a baby belly there...pics are at 3months or 14weeks I guess

Sep. 19, 2007 - baby update

had my OB visit and things are going well. She was able to hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler, so she said I could wean off of the progesterone! Yipee! That's what I wanted to hear. She's so funny - when I explain how horrible/nauseous I feel she just says, "That's so great!"

although, when i went to the appointment i could say, "I usually don't actually throw up - just gag." But since then I have started actually throwing up and it hasn't been good :( so, I'm not sure what changed since I started throwing up that afternoon - before any of the progesterone stuff was changing. I'm so bummed since I thought I would feel better off the progesterone. Please pray that this all balances out soon!

11 weeks and counting... baby due April 6, 2008

Sep. 1, 2007 - baby update

sono showed baby doing A-OK! :) strong heartbeat, right size etc. It definitely gave me peace since the only other baby I have seen growing strong at 8 weeks was my ds6, so -though I know there are always possible problems - I also know that MY main problem is getting to this point and so it comforts me.

if the extent of my nauseousness is any sign of how well the baby is doing, then Praise God that the baby is growing strong because I feel horrible! from when i wake up in morning til when i'm in bed at night I am feeling sick - I am definitely learning to offer up my sufferings LOL but am still a bit concerned that I won't be able to do school the way i want to etc... also I just keep praying that the baby is unphased by my inability to always swallow my vitamins etc. I know ds6 turned out healthy as could be despite my losing 10 pounds at the beginning of that pregnancy, so I'm sure everything is fine.

I'm 9 weeks now - I think with ds6 i was nauseous til 16 weeks or so, so I'm hoping that maybe this time it will end sooner. I have an appointment for Sept 14, so am hoping to be able to start going off the progesterone then because it is really a bummer! but certainly worth the end result if it helps hold baby in there!

thanks for all your prayers.... doctor has never given me an official due date, but I think I'm due April 4, 2008.

Aug. 31, 2007 - First Grade Plans

Here are the different books/programs that we are planning on using this year:

Catholic Heritage Curriculum (CHC) First Grade which includes:
-Faith and Life 1, Bible History using Children's Bible, Catholic Children's Treasure Box and other Faith based activities
-Memory Gems for each week
-Social Studies: Character Building / Virtue cards for each week
-Random Science Suggestions that we may do
-Read Aloud Suggestions for us to possibly follow
-Art with a Purpose: Art Pac 1
-Handwriting: Writing Can Help Book 1 and later book B
-Spelling

-Math-U-See: Alpha (to start with) and also MCP Book A (some pages) (they use this in our CHC plans so I thought I'd just get the book and do pages to present math in a different way now and then)

-Phonics: Explode the code and Reading AtoZ stuff along with using WinterPromise's phonics cards since he used those to learn the sounds

-Reading and Writing etc: pulled together by me, yikes - might end up getting "English for the Thoughtful Child" or something at some point

-WinterPromise Animal Worlds (and may go ahead and get World Around Me Science stuff too and spread the 2 out together since that is what ds is interested in at this point are more science experiment type things)

-History for Little Pilgrims (to use loosely to give a simple intro to history to ds - I plan on leaving out some stuff) along with Bible Story books and library books if I see ones that fit appropriately - might start some sort of timeline or timeline notebook

-The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

-Various Picture study resources from Library (like the Come Look with Me books)

-Map Skills book

Aug. 25, 2007 - The Power of Accountability

There are several like-minded families that we know and we call our little group our sharegroup. At any rate, one of the ladies in my sharegroup put forth a bit of a challenge to join her in attempting a 54 day rosary novena. This began on the feast of the Assumption on the 15th. So after so many attempts to begin saying the rosary daily I figured why not give it a try. And wow - I've done it every night! That is the most number of days in a row that I have ever been able to keep to a daily rosary, EVER! Something about thinking about emailing the ladies and being able to say, "I'm still doing it." gives me the extra push I need to not neglect my prayertime! What a testament to the power of being accountable to others. I figure I need to apply this to more areas of my life. Being accountable to a friend can apply in so many ways - prayertime, homeschooling, housework, working on virtues, etc... So think about it - and call a friend and share what you are working towards! :)

Aug. 24, 2007 - Slow and steady

I liked what I had seen others doing..... starting out school slowly and adding more each week. So, my plan was to start this week by doing our morning routines (getting dressed etc) and then having devotions together (read devotional story or 2 and then pray a decade of the rosary together) and then do one small school subject.

I am needing to start out slow given that I have all-day-long morning sickness and am not functioning at too high of a level right now. (I am not surprised by the illness btw.. I lost 10 lbs in the first trimester with my ds6.... guess it runs in my family or something.... but it has been emotionally harder this time to feel sick all the time.... maybe taking the progesterone???.. who knows)

At any rate, my plan was to next week add on phonics and math and then start all the CHC stuff the first week of Sept. (which is when those lesson plans are scheduled to start given their tie-in to the holidays and liturgical calendar etc) I am feeling a bit overwhelmed now though, wondering how I'm going to get up earlier etc.... which I will need to to do make all this happen. I have always been inconsistent with routines and i know that until I figure out a good school routine then I will keep struggling, but given the feeling sick it's really hard to judge how hard to push myself etc to make things happen. Guess I still need lots of prayer!

We have another sono on Monday - at first I had thought, why another so soon - but now that it is approaching I find myself glad for the chance to see again that the baby is ok etc.... needing some reassurance I suppose - need to know all this sickness is working towards the goal!

Aug. 13, 2007 - Beautiful heartbeat!

Praise God! Got to see the baby's beautiful heartbeat today!!!!! It's really happening - after 6 years of trying I'm having a baby!!!!!! Thanks for all your prayers! They want to do another sono in 2 weeks (at 8 weeks) and the first dr. appt is at 10 weeks .... other than that I know nothing LOL..... but that heartbeat was all I needed to see :)

Aug. 12, 2007 - Do I trust You Lord...

Well, tomorrow is the sonogram....and I do not know what to think/feel at this point. As I was praying tonight I thought of a song from my past. And so I go to bed tonight with these lyrics in my heart and mind - knowing that whatever tomorrow brings that God is near and that I do trust in His plan for my life...

Do I Trust You Lord by Twila Paris

Sometimes my little heart can't understand
What's in Your will, what's in Your plan.
So many times I'm tempted to ask You why,
But I can never forget it for long.
Lord, what You do could not be wrong.
So I believe You, even when I must cry.
Do I trust You, Lord?
Does the river flow?
Do I trust You, Lord?
Does the north wind blow?
You can see my heart,
You can read my mind,
And You got to know
That I would rather die
Than to lose my faith
In the One I love.
Do I trust You, Lord?
Do I trust You?

I know the answers, I've given them all.
But suddenly now, I feel so small.
Shaken down to the cavity in my soul.
I know the doctrine and theology,
But right now they don't mean much to me.
This time there's only one thing I've got to know.

Do I trust You, Lord?
Does the robin sing?
Do I trust You, Lord?
Does it rain in spring?
You can see my heart,
You can read my mind,
And You got to know
That I would rather die
Than to lose my faith
In the One I love.
Do I trust You, Lord?
Do I trust You?

I will trust You, Lord, when I don't know why.
I will trust You, Lord, till the day I die.
I will trust You, Lord, when I'm blind with pain!
You were God before, and You'll never change.
I will trust You.
I will trust You.
I will trust You, Lord.
I will trust You.

Aug. 8, 2007 - update

Things are going alright here...... the second round of numbers were higher like they're supposed to be.... the progesterone is no fun, but that's ok..... I feel not-so-great so I'll take that as a good sign too. The great part is that they are doing an early sono on Monday the 13th, so we don't have to wait very long to find out that everything is ok.....so pray that they can see the heart beat! I'll update on Monday after sono :)

and noahsmom, I really have no idea why I started ovulating so much..... especially since I had just had hormone tests done that seemed way off...... :) been thinking of/praying for you!

Aug. 1, 2007 - Baby Update

Finally got my phone call.......

hcg level was 2268 - so there's definitely a baby in there :)

progesterone level was 10.3 which is low - they want it to be at least 15. So I will have to take progesterone.

I go back tomorrow morning to give more blood to see that hcg level grow.

From that point you guys just need to pray me through to the first sonogram to see that heartbeat!!!! They usually schedule that for 8 weeks - but I'm going to try to get them to do it a bit early like maybe at 7 weeks....... we saw ds6's heartbeat in an early sono at 6.5 weeks, so I think they can see things by then. I think I would be like 4.5 weeks now, so we'll see what they say.

thanks for all your prayers!

Jul. 31, 2007 - Prayer Changes Us

For some reason I saw the phrase, "Prayer Changes Things" and remembered that I actually had it on the side of my blog too. I started thinking that maybe prayer doesn't change THINGS, but rather that prayer changes US. That God has a plan and it isn't changing based on the quality/quantity of my prayers - but that my heart does change with every prayer - growing closer to God, finding His peace, etc...

So I guess my new clipart should read, "Prayer changes Us."

I would love to hear other's thoughts on this. :)

Jul. 30, 2007 - Update - prayers needed

Long time no blog.....
Lots going on right now. Friday night on a whim to get myself to think about something else I decided to take a pg test. Boy was I floored when 30 seconds later a bright pink line appeared! Another pregnancy this close to the last one is amazing! I feel so much confidence that everything is good because of that bright line. Usually I am holding the test up in the light to see if that faint line is a part of my imagination etc! I feel like God had my find out on a Friday night for a reason..... no running off to doctor's office for blood tests and progesterone pills. That this time it was ok to just BE. That I could just wait out the weekend like a NORMAL person. Now it's Monday and I did call my dr. but they aren't having me come in til tomorrow to give blood... usually they say "can you come right now" ..... so the wait continues. God has a plan! And He wants me to just BE and to BE at peace!

Please pray for my precious baby. After 4 losses it is so hard not to imagine the worst.... to know whether it's ok to think farther into the future. But for whatever reason, I am letting myself be happy this time... I have so much faith that this time is different.

Here are a couple of verses that are the source of my strength right now. If you know me, then you know I had to waste some time at the computer to make them all pretty to print out :)
Click here for pdf file.

thank you so much for your prayers!

Jun. 26, 2007 - What's my approach?

I have realized that what I really need to do is to take a step back and figure out - what is my approach to homeschooling? I have decided to start by looking into Charlotte Mason's approach more deeply since I never really knew exactly what people meant when they said it was a CM thing :) I'm open to any book suggestions, websites, etc... to help me learn more. I'll let you know more as I discover more.

Jun. 12, 2007 - Let's Be Silly

How's this for a little silliness this morning with ds6....

Jun. 5, 2007 - Call from the Dr.'s office

Well FINALLY got the phone call from the doctor's office at 5:15 today - and waiting was way worse than actually getting the call. My hcg level was back down to 0 - so this time was not THE time for me. I find myself glad to have the closure - I did most of my crying back on Friday when I heard the first numbers and on Saturday when I started bleeding and on Sunday when the bleeding was out of control - so the closure feels better - especially since the number was 0 and not 15 or 6 or 25 or whatever where I would have had to go back in for more bloodwork etc... Thank you all for your prayers and support. I find it funny to think how much I feel connected with some online people who I've never met - how I value their opinion and how it's a bit like in highschool where I want others to like me LOL - I wonder if others find themselves thinking the same things when they make some blog posts.

This is miscarriage number 4 for us - but Keep praying - I know that God has a little one out there for us someday! My plan is now to probably find a new OB and/or an infertility specialist - although my OB has mentioned that she could do a 'cocktail' using Clomid at the start and then Estradoil and then Progesterone - I honestly don't know why she didn't suggest that years ago - but oh well - I know a possible next step - though I will probably be finding a new OB as well. I also want to go to more of a Chiropractor/Nutritionist type of person to get the rest of me as healthy as possible too.