7.2.2009 - Thinking of Moving...

Posted in Wednesday Hymn

Posted a new Wednesday Hymn over here...

(it will get prettier, I promise )

6.13.2009 - Sweeter & Softer

Oh Lord, help me remember each day to try to live, a little more, a little better, than the day before.

A little-

sweeter
softer
kinder
gentler

Enjoying them,
because of Him,
ali

6.12.2009 - 100 Reasons Why I Love My Husband

Posted in On Being a Wife

A list I should've written long ago-

1. He knows me, really well, and loves me anyway.
2. He wants me to be at home, raising our children.
3. He has always worked a steady, well-paying job, and has picked up extra business on the side to make up anytime we've been short and in a pinch.
4. He has never come down hard on me when it's been my fault if we were in a financial pinch.
5. He loves and respects both of his parents.
6. He loves and respects both of my parents.
7. He always massages my neck, shoulders, and upper back when I have a migraine or tension headaches, and I get a lot of headaches...
8. He has always supported the decision to homeschool.
9. He helps me brainstorm for ideas when the homeschooling gets hard.
10. He is always willing to stop for a gallon of milk on the way home from work.
11. He leads the family in mealtime prayers whenever he is home to eat with us.
12. He carries little ones up to bed on evenings when I'm exhausted and my back hurts.
13. He is always reading/researching ways to stay on top of the cutting edge in his industry.
14. He has a visionary/entrepreneurial mindset that inspires me.
15. He can 'network' like no one else I know.
16. He makes the coffee on Sunday mornings.
17. He is not shy when it comes to talking to people about the Lord.
18. He has a very generous heart.
19. He sings bass (and can follow the baseline in the music!)
20. He grins like a man in love when he holds our little ones. 
21. He can fix almost any computer problem. (1/29/09)
22. When he gets an idea in his head, like yanking out the overgrown shrubbery, he does it, that day.
23. He can cook up a great pan of eggs on Saturday mornings.
24. When he couldn't decide which necklace to buy me, he bought all three! 
25. He loves our big family
26. *He made time to take the boys camping (6/12/09)
27. *He likes to do the grilling
28. *He is far more patient than me
29. *He loves to sit and play the cello
30. *He always stops for a gallon of milk when I ask

*- reasons added to list since post last updated.

Enjoy them,

ali 

1.28.2009 - Wordless Wednesday 4

Posted in General Day to Day

1.21.2009 - Wordless Wednesdays 1, 2, & 3

Posted in General Day to Day

I missed the first 2 Wednesdays, oh well, don't sweat the small stuff, right? This is one of those times to apply flylady's "You are never behind. Jump in where you are." happy thought.

I like, no, love, the idea of Project365, but I'm forgetful, and just plain busy, busier than many, I dare say. I do like to take pictures though, mostly of my kids, and mostly every day, so I think I ought to be able to handle once a week.

Baby boy is 3 months old today- wow, what a whirlwind. He is such a sweet baby, so full of smiles, you know, the contagious kind.

Enough words, the rest should be/may be wordless...

Enjoying them,

because of Him-

ali

12.20.2008 - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Winter

Posted in General Day to Day

Freezing rain is not my friend. I once spun across 3 lanes of I35 trying to drive home in the freezing rain. My neck still suffers the effects of the impact that stopped said spinning. If the words freezing rain are uttered in a forecast, I 'hunker down' and do not emerge from our cozy dwelling until necessary, and until the roads are safely navigable.

Monday's freezing rain, followed by bitter cold, brought the added pleasure of having to chip our way into the vehicles, fun stuff. Mental note- just because the doors finally come open doesn't mean the windows will open, this makes things awkward when attempting to grab some 'fast food', one more reason not to be buying fast food...

But the trees- they were a sight to behold. When the sun shone through it was like living in some magical crystal world, so amazingly beautiful, and so impossible to fully capture on film or video. The neatest thing about this week's freezing rain was the fact that the trees looked like this for days. I don't think ours melted until Thursday afternoon sometime, when it got to a balmy 20 something degrees. (Oh, and it did not make it up to 4 degrees on Monday, in fact it did not make it up to zero. I think we made it to 4 on Tuesday...)

And here we are with another winter storm in our neck of the woods (along with most of the rest of our state, and several others). We've got wood to keep the homefires burning, soup fixings to keep the crock pots busy, popcorn to pop, and a closet full of games to keep active minds occupied- another round of Set, anyone? Oh, and yarn. We have yarn, there is always something to knit around here.

Baby notes: At 2 months old tomorrow, baby Joseph is growing like a weed and has started aggressively sucking/gnawing on hands- my oldest had 2 teeth at 2 months, this could be the beginning of teething already. He is congested, but holding his own with the cold bug that has hit our home- a definite plus to late and large babies, they're hardy. He is a spoiled little sweetie, who definitely prefers sleeping in my arms to any cradle or criblike bed meant for babies. This has resulted in a further decrease in productivity for myself, as well as more than a few achy muscles, but he's cute, and this time goes by way too fast, so I'll continue to indulge him for a little while longer.

Enjoying the winter wonderland (though I could do without the nasty wind chills). How's the weather where you are?

Enjoying them,

because of Him,

ali

10.29.2008 - One Week Old and an Apple Tart

Posted in Dawilli Cafe

One Week Already

Well that was a quick week; I knew it would be. Not much schooling beyond what they can do self directed and independently, and that's just fine for now.  There will be plenty of time to get through our Tapestry of Grace studies, and for the teenager to work through some Hillsdale Academy stuff as well, during our long Minnesota winter...

So... I will attempt to distract you with baby pics and good eats.

The night before going in for the induction I felt the need to cook my family 'one last real meal' (turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy, etc...) and then I even baked a 'real desert'- a freestyle apple tart.

This recipe is so easy, there's really no excuse not to make one when there are apples on the counter and pie crusts in the fridge and it's fall outside...

Freestyle Apple Tart

Prep: 15 min

Bake: 25 min

Total: 40 min

Makes: 8 servings

You Need:

1 ready to use refrigerated pie crust (it's okay to cheat now and then!)

4 oz (1/2 of 8 oz pkg) Cream Cheese, softened

3 of your favorite baking apples, thinly sliced

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon or 'cinnamon sugar' (I'm personally a hard-core cinnamon fan, so I don't use extra sugar here)

optional whipped cream for topping

(I made mine without the cream cheese this time, to accommodate my non-cream cheese appreciating husband)

To make-

1. Heat oven to 450 F. Line pie plate with crust. Spread cream cheese in 6" circle in center (unless your husband detests cream cheese...)
2. Toss apples with sugar and flour, spoon over cream cheese.
3. Fold crust partially over apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon (or 'cinnamon sugar').
4. Bake 25 min, covering loosely with foil for last 5 min. Cool. Top with whipped cream.
5. Enjoy!

So easy- older kids can slice the apples, younger kids can toss with flour and sugar, any kids can help assemble, and everyone can eat and enjoy!

*Large family tip: Make 2! (Those refrigerated pie crusts come in 2 packs anyway, right?!)

Well, I got a few naps in the 1st three days after having our new little guy, but I haven't gotten a nap in since. My brain was feeling the effects of fatigue last night, according to my eyelids. I think I need to go to bed earlier, it's just so against my nature, or at least my long ingrained bad habits... Adjusting to waking up every 2 hours to nurse at night always takes me a couple weeks. I'm hoping to settle into a decent schedule soon (tomorrow would be nice) as there is so much on my mind to be doing- fall crafts with kids, Thanksgiving unit study, crafting, sewing, decorating, quilting, baking, oh, and some knitting too...

I may try to knit up another Baby Shrug, this time for my little Mercy, who will soon be turning 2! Remember this? Or this? Or this? How 'bout this? Or this? Oh, how time flies... Believe me, I'm soaking this one up, and taking a ton of pictures- yay! for digital cameras!

Off to cuddle and nurse, nurse and cuddle...

Enjoying them,

because of Him-

ali

10.24.2008 - Another Beautiful Blessing

Posted in A Mother's Journal

11 days 'overdue' , he's finally here.  Our newest blessing, Joseph Justice, arrived at 12:31 pm, Tuesday, October 21st (which just happens to be my dad's birthday- no more 'oops, forgot' on that one!)  He weighed in at 8 lbs 14 oz and measured a nice 22".

He's here, we're home, and I'm a wee bit tired.

By Monday's midwife appointment I had progressed to 4 cm dilated (with no 'real' contractions, and no braxton-hicks contractions either, just a couple crampy moments). She had reviewed my ultrasound and let me know that my fluid levels were a bit beyond fine, they were about twice as much as is 'normal' for that late stage of pregnancy. Add to that the fact that baby's head was very high and not at all engaged, and we had the makings of a slightly concerned midwife, the risk being that if my water were to break there was a definite cord prolapse possibility, being so 'open' and all... so we discussed inducing.

My options were Tuesday or Thursday, and my husband's work schedule made Tuesday the day (he has a crazy early and long day on Saturday this week, and that wouldn't give me much recovery time if I had a Thursday baby.) That was probably a good thing, because when I went in Tuesday morning I had progressed to 5 cm (again with no noticeable contracting) and baby's head was still high and bobbing around, refusing to engage. In went the pitocin, and I went to lounging around in a rocking chair, waiting for something to happen. It took about an hour to start contracting, mildly and infrequently; another hour until the contractions were a bit firmer; another hour until I started to grimace and said, um, that one was worse than the last one, um that one lasted longer, and there's not so much down time in between anymore. I was at 6 cm.

The midwife mentioned that if I was gonna want to have the ITN that 'now would be a good time' because it could get fast and furious pretty soon. I had already decided that would be my painkiller route, if I felt I needed to have something, and I had expected to want something as I have never made it naturally with pitocin coursing through my veins. He was paged, I had my shot, crawled into bed, and groaned through the next couple contractions while waiting for meds to kick in.

The next contraction brought a marked decrease in baby's heart rate, after which the midwife said 'let's check you again to see where things are at'- she was checking to see if there was cord in front of baby's head. No cord in the way, but I was already at a 9! She had me push a bit to see if we could bring baby's head down some. She let me know that she thought baby was wrapped in the cord a bit and said she would have me push a bit more consistently to try to bring baby out quickly- he'll be okay, try not to worry. (She doesn't know my neurotic family history...)

I was a bit nervous, but was reassured after every contraction by listening to baby's heart rate bounce back- one good thing about the continuous monitoring of inductions. So there I was at 9 cm, I pushed a little to engage the head and then she asked "ready to have a baby?". I shrugged, "Sure, I guess so", she ruptured the membranes and then baby, uterus, and I pushed a handful of times and he was here, all 8 lbs 14 oz of him. I thought for sure he'd be over 9 lbs...

In retrospect, I probably could have made it without painkillers, had I known I only had about 30 or 40 minutes to go... but all in all, it ended up being a beautifully calm and easy birth, even with the pitocin. No crazy bleeding, no tearing, not a stitch needed. The only recovery issue I have is a great need for sleep, sleep, and more sleep, which is okay because that gives me lots of close cuddling time.

Knitting has slowed down, but not for too long, I'm sure. Thanks to everyone for the sweet well wishes, your thoughts and prayers are truly appreciated. I'll update more soon, but for now I've got some more cuddling to do.

Happy knitting-

ali

7.26.2008 - School Planning 08-09, part 1

Posted in Homeschool, How We Do It

Planning is well underway here at Springvale Academy.  Springvale is the name of our little township, and, well, I think it makes a nice name.  We've got a 'fight song', ("I'm a Soldier", #406 in our "Great Hymns of the Faith" hymnal...) and we're working on deciding our school colors.  Then, since we have no less than 3 graphic designers in our family, we'll come up with a logo, get some fun t-shirts made, and have some official looking letterhead printed for any and all correspondence with the school district and any and all official type things, like transcripts and such.

This fall we will pretty 'officially' have a 9th grader, a 4th grader, a 2nd grader, a Kindergartener, and a preschooler.  There will also be an almost 2 year old and a newborn, so this could get interesting.  Not like it hasn't been interesting so far, eh?

For our 9th grader, we have decided to model our high school course curriculum after the Curriculum used at Hillsdale Academy, the K-12 academy associated with Hillsdale College in Michigan.  We've never formally studied American History because we haven't needed anything formal in that area yet- our family has always just included such history 'study' in our lifestyle.  We listen to political talk radio & we discuss the historical issues brought up.  Our youngsters enjoy watching "Liberty's Kids", and can quote Patrick Henry at 3 and 4 year of age, when I imagine many of their peers remain blissfully unaware of who he even is/was.  Our boys read history books, not because they've been assigned reading, but for the fun of it, because they find them fascinating.  So when our sons were lamenting one day that is was too bad there weren't any real patriots like there were in Revolutionary times, I told them that there were indeed, just not enough of them on Capitol Hill.  There are some good patriots scattered aound this country, and one of the finest colleges I can think of for a conservative & patriotic kid to head off to is Hillsdale College.  Some reading of the web site was enough to light a wee bit of a fire under our almost 15 yr old, who up until recently has been rather hard to motivate.  He has always been a boy who would rather play a video game or play with army guys or watch a war movie... Anyway- I was very excited to find Hillsdale Academy posts their curriculum free on-line (their course outlines anyway, we still have to buy all the books and come up with assignments, etc... Tapestry of Grace will help a bunch with that.)

The youngers will be following along with Tapestry of Grace's Year 1 for ancient History, and also following much of Ambleside Online's plans for good literature, nature study, composer study, artist study, etc...  Our 4th grader will be working on Ambleside's Year 3 and the 2 grader and Kindergartener will be working together on Year 1.  I have made up some handy checklists and record keeping forms for our Ambleside stuff and will hopefully figure out a nice way to make them available here to anyone who would like some copies.

My days are flying by, time to get back to the list making...

Enjoying them,

because of Him,

ali 

6.14.2008 - Spring Piano Recital- May 2008

Posted in General Day to Day

She's only had a couple lessons a month this past school year- but with more practicing at home, she's really coming along... 

He's only had a couple lessons a month as well, but he's really starting to enjoy playing...

And this one was so much fun for them- and fun for us to see them playing together and enjoying it!

With half of my children playing both piano and violin, it is rarely quiet in this house!  Make a joyful noise...

Enjoying them,

because of Him-

ali

6.4.2008 - Oh, By the Way...

Posted in A Mother's Journal

Got this pic yesterday morning...

I guess a little more blue knitting is in store...

 

Enjoying them all-

ali

6.3.2008 - An Interesting Poll

Posted in Homeschooling in the News

I don't know anything about Parade magazine, and I'm not about to go clicking around on a bunch of links to find out (nor do I recommend blindly doing so), but I've got a Google alert set up to tip me off to homeschooling items in the news, and today's list happened to include this little article and poll about wether or not parents should be required to have teaching credentials to homeschool their own children.  

I have to admit, I thought the numbers would be a little closer.  I voted no, of course - and no, I didn't vote anywhere near 40,000 times (just once, I promise!)  When I voted, the "no"s were at 94% and those that thought parents should be required to have teaching credentials rang in at a resounding 6% (many of them probably card carrying members of the NEA...)

I don't think Parade magazine is a conservative christian periodical... I'll call this today's 'RAY OF HOPE' (A noteworthy event that defies the mystery).

That's it for today-

Enjoying them,

because of Him-

ali

5.13.2008 - A Little Health Drama, Anyone?

Posted in General Day to Day

5.13.2008 - Pneumonia Update

Posted in General Day to Day

Just a quick note- Grace's followup appointment went well.  Her lungs sounded clear, praise the Lord, another episode passed and now a thing of the past.

Her pediatrician was none-too-pleased with the fact that the ER nurse told me I could keep her home with O2 stats in the 80's, low 80's even.  It's not good for a body to be deprived of oxygen for so many hours so many nights in a row... every organ in our bodies needs that oxygen... sigh... my poor sweetie. 

She made it through just fine, but I'll be bringing her in every time she dips and lingers in the 80's from now on.  If they send us back home, so be it.  If she gets oxygen for 2 or 3 hours, well that's more than she would've had laying at home with low stats all night... If she ends up admitted, we'll just have to deal with the inconvenience of it all- nothing we haven't done before.

At any rate- today is a good day!

ali

5.3.2008 - No Naps Yet...

Posted in General Day to Day

Yesterday (Friday) was actually a pretty good day for Gracie.  She coughed a bit, but not very often (which, can actually be a bad sign sometimes, she needs to cough it up to clear it up), she did get easily winded when running around the house playing with her siblings, but her stats stayed up in the low to mid 90's for the day. 

She kept running up to me, breathing fast and loud, to tell me that she feels fine and isn't sick anymore... I can hear otherwise...

She has been on the oral steroids and antibiotic since Tuesday morning, and the inhaled steroids and bronchodilators since Monday, when she first complained of pain when she breathes, one would think that would be enough medication to nip this thing in the bud, yet this saga continues.

I came very, very close to bringing her back in to the ER last night (which would have made 3 times in one week).   By the time I got the other girls down to bed and was ready to give Grace her neb, it was 9:30.  She was still doing just fine and I told her she was doing well enough and had been on her meds long enough to be able to go sleep in her own bed after her neb (she's been sleeping on the floor next to me, I've been sleeping on the couch next to her).  I put the pulse oximeter on her finger and sat with her during her neb. 

She started out at a whopping 97%, for a minute, then 96, then 95... I started to wonder how far it would dip.  By the time the neb was done she had dipped down to 90%, which seemed odd after doing so well all day.  I didn't feel comfortable sending her up to bed, so I had her lay down right where she was on the living room floor.  She was very sleepy and drifted right off, as her O2 stat drifted right down to the mid 80's again.  Then all the way down to 81%- that's too low.  I was starting to panic, and dreading another late night run to the ER (it was now 10 pm) when she coughed a bit and changed position a bit and her O2 came up to 86%, still not good, but not quite panic level. 

After about 15 more minutes and no improvement I decided to try the wonderdug Duoneb, which did great Wed night/Thurs morning.  I had only been about 45 mintes since her last neb, but they've told me if she's not responding that it is okay to 'stack nebs' and do one right after another, if need be.  Well, I figured close to an hour with O2 stats in the 80's called for more meds.  It did nothing.  No change, zip, nada, nothing.  I thought (hoped) maybe the Duoneb takes a while to kick in.

I decided to call the ER and talk to a triage nurse before running in, especially after being sent back home twice already this week.  Her stats always seem to come up into the safe zone after waking up and walking about... I thought, do I wake her up every hour all night long? to get her stats back up every hour?  It took a while for the nurse to call me back, by the time we chatted Grace's O2 level had been in the 80's for about 2 hours...

I explained our week, and our current evening's issues.  She said the Duoneb should have some effect right away.  So why didn't it?  No one knows.  She also said that as long as she was sleeping and not waking up and/or sitting up gasping for air that she really didn't need to be on oxygen... I'm not so sure how I feel about that.  I've had 2 doctors say she needs O2 whenever she spends any amount of time below 92% and I've had another doctor say that it's okay to dip to 88 or 89%, as long as she's sleeping comfortably.  But now I'm being told that even mid to low 80's is okay?  She conceded that it obviously wasn't ideal, that Grace was obviously sick, but said she didn't think she was in any danger.  She added that if she dipped into the 70's at all, get her to the ER.  How much better is 81 stinking percent than 79??!!

We need to get back in to see the pulmonologist or respiratory therapist, where I will ask many questions, including where to draw the line.  I think I am wanting to get some marching orders from the specialists, so I'll just know yes, take her in, or no, she's okay for now, from someone who specializes in pediatric respiratory issues rather than a triage nurse who seemed to think that mid 80's was an okay oxygen level for a child to be at for the night...

After another hour her O2 came up to 90%.  It slowly climbed though the night, and was at 95% by 6 am.  I got some sleep the second half of the night, but not enough for optimal functioning, if you know what I mean...

She's been acting pretty normal today, for a child on steroids- rambunctious, kinda rude and whiny, and not exactly the easiest child to get along with...  This too, shall pass, I know... I'm hoping it passes quickly!  And permanently wouldn't be too bad, either...

Trying to enjoy each and every one of them, wheezes, crackles, and all, 

only by the grace of God,

ali