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I am sorry I didn’t post after the midwife’s visit on Wednesday. I wanted to wait and see how our visit went at the hospital today, so here is the latest. The visit on Wednesday was a little disheartening because Michael had lost weight again. This was most likely because of his cold; he was off his feeds slightly, obviously enough to make a difference to his weight. I think he just felt miserable with the blocked nose and the infected eye. I have had babies with sticky eyes before, but this one was completely different, swollen and an angry red colour. It looked nasty. Victoria (our midwife) knew the doctor would want us to come in straight away and have Michael assessed. We decided to wait until Friday and see how he went after more feeds to help him put the weight back on. If his feeds were down that would also explain the jaundice staying around. I have had jaundiced babies before but never for this long. I have tried all the usual remedies and it still persists. Initially, I was sure he would improve over those extra couple of days, but after a while fears played on my mind and I wondered if perhaps there was something wrong. A test for liver problems was mentioned as a possibility, so after an anxious day on Thursday, I was looking forward to our visit the next day. We were scheduled to see the neonatal doctor after weighing the baby and performing the heel blood test. I wasn’t looking forward to this test. The day Michael was born the hospital staff tried to get blood from his heel for a blood glucose level and he just wouldn’t bleed. He screamed so much I told them to stop the test. Fortunately, this time was different. He bled really well and filled the vial quite quickly with minimal distress. A real answer to prayer if you had seen the first attempt the day he was born. We waited around for the results for a couple of hours and then saw the neonatal doctor to discuss what we needed to do. On Wednesday, I was told to bring in a suitcase just in case we needed to stay for phototherapy. The bilirubin levels were high and in the range they would normally like to give the treatment. However, that would mean Michael being admitted and the doctor said she was in no great rush to do that. What a relief. She said he didn't look like a sick baby even though this is quite late to have jaundice. She thinks it is hanging around because he was premature and because breastfeeding causes higher levels of bilirubin, (she said that is no reason not to breastfeed though). The doctor was happy for me to continue expressing milk and using that to supplement him over the weekend, then on Monday we will go back in for another bilirubin level test. The only problem with the expressed milk is that she wants me to increase the amount. This means expressing 24 hours, not just during the day. It is just so hard to keep up with expressing and get the right amount. The other morning I expressed more than I ever have and then I dropped it. They say there is no use crying over spilt milk, well, I did. From there, I was behind all day. Please pray I will be able to express enough. If he doesn't improve over the weekend, we will have to supplement his feeds with formula as well as the amount I am able to express. This is a compromise we are willing to make; he will be getting mostly breast milk and only a small amount of the formula. Of course, if I can express enough myself, we will not need to give him any formula at all. Our main problem with the formula is the real risk of it causing allergies, especially as we already have allergies in our family. If the bilirubin levels have risen or stayed the same after the next test, they will want to check for problems with the liver. His blood results showed that his liver has only just begun to kick in, so we are hoping it will continue to do what it is supposed to do over the weekend and beyond with the extra fluids he receives. The baby is mostly over his cold and his eye infection has cleared up nicely. Because I tested positive for group B strep they want to watch for any type of eye infection or any infection at all, up to about 6 months of age. We have swapped from the syringes to bottles for feeding the expressed milk. He was just gulping in too much air with the syringe and I hope it will improve now after using the bottle. Baby will be happy not to have all that pain in his tummy. I did try a supply line for his feeds, but it is quite fiddly and takes a long time for him to get all the milk. A supply line is a thin, flexible tube taped to the breast. It goes into the baby’s mouth with the nipple. The other end of the tube goes into a bottle with the expressed milk, and baby sucks at the breast causing a let-down reflex, milk production and the added bonus of getting the expressed milk at the same time. Sounds great in theory, but as I said, very fiddly and time consuming. Overall, it has been a positive day and I now feel reassured and more confident in Michael continuing to progress. I will let you know how the hospital visit goes on Monday. Thanks for your prayers. Love Amanda
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Update on Michael Our midwife came today and Michael has put on weight since she was here on Friday. Enough weight to keep everyone happy. His nappies seem to be more normal now, and he has almost lost the concentrated wee. Last week he had one day where I only changed his nappy a couple of times because he was constantly dry. So, it is nice to know that the expressing and supplementing is helping. His jaundice is gradually going. His face looks almost normal now, though his tummy is still yellow. Apparently, it is usually the last part to change colour. The midwife will come again on Wednesday and from there we will try exclusive breastfeeding (no expressed supplements) until Friday, just to see how he does. I must admit, this is all new territory for me, and I have been a little worried. I am sure if Michael keeps progressing as he has over the weekend, I will feel more reassured. He is so sweet, and when awake, quite alert. A good sign, I am sure. I wrote the above just this afternoon, and since then Michael has come down with a cold. I had noticed him sneezing quite a bit, but I was hoping he wouldn’t get a cold this early in the piece. I have never had a baby this young become sick, he is even coughing, the poor little thing. Now, before a feed I need to clear his nose with cooled, boiled water. I have a vaporizer machine to keep the air moist and I am watching to make sure he doesn’t go off his feeds. Otherwise, it will be a trip back into hospital. Please pray he gets over this quickly. |
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Saturday, the 28th of June, we celebrated Jessica's eighteenth birthday. We started the day out with a very special breakfast, tea poured from our special Pooh Bear teapot. The little boys are much appreciative of Sundays and special occasions as they are privileged with having sugar in their cups of teaJ
Jess insisted on making the birthday cake herself – cherry-ripe mud cake – with strict instructions not to pick at the chocolate bits. Later in the morning mum took her out on a date to Bungendore, Jess left the house with strict instructions of, ‘don’t eat my stuff!’
The warning fell on deaf ears and various persons – mute it seems also – on walking by stuck their fingers in the bowl for a nibble. The much-needed two hundred grams of cooking chocolate, turned into a shrinking one hundred. On arriving home, the birthday girl was unimpressed, resulting in another trip to B’dore (the guilty then realising it was the ‘last of its kind’ in the house). However, but for this small mishap the cake turned out a great success and all satisfied went to bed.
This photo doesn't do the cake justice. All the other shots were blurry. No matter what it looked like, it sure tasted great. Love Rebekah
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An Update Just a short post to let you know I need to have a break from blogging the story of my hospital stay and Michael’s birth. Now my days are taken up with feeding the baby, expressing breast milk and then feeding him the extra. The reason for the managed breastfeeding is that he is not putting on any weight and gets dehydrated quite quickly, which is why I need to supplement his feeds. He has trouble increasing my milk supply because he is an early baby and still jaundiced. Jaundice makes baby sleepy, so he doesn’t want to wake for a feed and then he doesn’t have enough energy to suck vigorously. If I don’t keep up his fluid intake, he becomes more jaundiced, which causes him to become more sleepy. A vicious cycle. Right now, my routine consists of waking baby for a feed, sometimes I have to use cold face cloths (doesn’t always work), feed from one side, change nappy, feed from the other side, give the baby the expressed milk. I do this by placing my little finger in his mouth, while he is sucking my finger, I place a syringe full of breast milk into the side of his mouth and plunge when he sucks, stopping when he stops. Afterwards, someone takes Michael while I express more milk, store it in the fridge, wash the expressing equipment and sterilise it for ten minutes on the stove ready for the next use. By this stage, the baby is almost ready for another feed. |
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Part Two We decided that John should go home and try to keep some sort of normal night routine with the younger children. He also had to go to work the next day and I wanted him to get a good night’s sleep in his own bed. My sister came in to keep me company and we chatted until the end of visiting hours. It helped to talk to someone about anything and everything. John phoned to say he had the children in bed and he would come and stay the night with me. The nurse gave us a mattress for him to use on the floor, and he could go to work from the hospital and come back in after work. My parents were at home helping the older ones with the littlies. It is funny how it all worked out; they were staying with our family for the first week of their two-week stay so they wouldn’t be with us too close to my due date. The best laid plans… God had other ideas. Day two: My day consisted of the midwives performing the necessary checks every couple of hours. Blood pressure, temperature, monitoring baby. I needed a CTG each day, but if the reading was poor then another one was ordered for the afternoon. The reading was usually not what the medical staff wanted to see, so it usually went on for an hour and then a repeat one in the afternoon. Except when the doctors were kind enough to intervene and say we didn’t need one. I am not sure if it was the shape of my abdomen, but the heartbeat would disappear if I didn’t hold the attachment for the machine in a particular way. The other part that read the contractions never seemed to work either, and on top of that, I had another button to press each time I felt the baby move. While all of this was going on the phone would invariably ring and I wasn’t sure which button to attend to first. I found that after listening to the staff enough I took on board their concerns. Whether their concerns were real or imagined, I cannot say. I guess they don’t see normal pregnancy often, so each new woman is a complication waiting to happen. This sounds a bit negative I know. It took me a couple of days to get used to the routine, to get used to what was expected of me. It was hard to take in all of the information, process it and then make an informed decision. Add to that the problem of everyone with a different opinion, and I was ready to pack my bags and go home. I needed an ultrasound that afternoon. No one told me why, just “you are having an ultrasound at 2pm.” At this stage of pregnancy, you feel sure that you don’t need to drink all that water that accompanies an early pregnancy ultrasound. Not the place I was going. I had to drink a substantial amount of water and hold. That would have been okay if they hadn’t forgotten to send the wards man to come and get me. At 2.30pm, the ultrasound people phoned to find out why I was late. I suggested I just jog on down there, but they thought it best to go in a wheel chair. I wasn’t allowed to leave the ward at any time, except for this test. The wards man came and we had a lovely chat on the way down to the imagery rooms. His work sounded very interesting, and at times, very sad. Because I was late, they said I would have to wait for another time slot. Didn’t they know it wasn’t safe for a heavily pregnant woman to be in public with a full bladder? I thought of different escape routes to the toilet if the situation grew desperate. The only toilet I could see was in a room with no door and it was the size of a child’s toilet with no seat on it. Fortunately, my name was called and I was whisked in to the room. On the way down, the wards man drove slowly, even stopping over joins in the floor as if they were speed bumps. I loved his driving. But this sonographer was in a hurry. She drove like we were in the Indy 500. The doors we passed were a blur to me. At least she was good at what she did. I have never had such a quick ultrasound. I am grateful for that. It is hard lying on your back that late into a pregnancy. According to her calculations, the baby was 6lbs exactly with a head circumference of 31cm. I loved that woman. This baby was going to be small. Healthy and small. A new wards man came to take me back to the ward. When my midwife came in later in the day, she interpreted the whys of the ultrasound. It is standard procedure to see how mature the baby is and whether all organs and systems are functioning well. They also need to know the amniotic fluid level. Good is a range of 10 – 15, obviously, before your waters have broken. After the membranes rupture, anything above six is acceptable. They don’t say good, just acceptable. Mine was 6.1. I continued to lose fluid over the day, but now it was a pinkish tinge. I wondered if this meant the cervix was changing. John came in after work and stayed until he needed to go home and put the boys to bed. Andrea (my sister) came for a visit bearing lots of goodies to keep me occupied during my stay. When I had time, I read books, knitted and listened to lullaby CDs. The staff always commented on the beautiful music, and I found it a lovely way to stay focused on the importance of being there. The T.V rental lady came in to see if I wanted to hire the T.V. I preferred to spend the time reading, so I declined. When I said “No thanks,” she just stood there looking at me. I guess she was surprised; most people want to watch it. I felt like it would take away the special time of just being with my baby. One of the presents Andrea gave me was a gorgeous little book from Hallmark called, So Little, So Loved— the happiness that babies bring.
It was full of photos of newborn babies with accompanying verses.
The second her tiny hand grasps your finger, you’re wrapped around hers and you never see the world in quite the same way again.
Life is a miracle If you don’t believe it, hold a baby for just five minutes.
One day, I’ll hold you for the very first time… |
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Pre-term Rupture of Membranes Thank you to everyone for your well wishes, prayers, and congratulations while I was in hospital. God was so good to surround us with such a witness of faithful believers who upheld us in prayer during that time. Those prayers were answered with a safe outcome for our baby, and me. I am very thankful. I know that an answer to prayer doesn’t always come in a form we expect or want, and at times it is scary to pray “Lord, Your will be done, not mine.” Thankfully, the Lord spared us an unwanted outcome. I know people have been waiting for the full account of our hospital stay, so I will try to post it in stages, as I am able. Right now, baby is sleeping peacefully, so I have a moment to start the keyboard rolling. At thirty-five (plus three days) weeks, my waters broke. I awoke at 3.45am, just to turn over in bed, or so I thought, when I felt some sort of a leak. My first thought was the baby must have jumped on my bladder and I hadn’t been doing effective pelvic floor exercises, thus the leak. I managed to jump out of bed before I wet the mattress — a not-so-easy-feat so late in pregnancy. The floor didn’t get out of it so lightly. After a shower and an intermittent feeling of gushing, I decided maybe my bladder wasn’t so weak after all. My waters had ruptured. Rupture of membranes is a good sign— if you are full term. I phoned my midwife and we decided to meet in Delivery Suite at 5.00am. Jessica was sleeping in the bedroom next to ours while we had my Mum and Dad staying, so she jumped out of bed to pack a few last minute things in my suitcase. We tried to keep it quiet so as not to wake anyone. I didn’t want any of the little children overtired while we were gone. The girls would have enough on their plate managing the household without adding grumpy boys into the bargain. I was nervous and had to calm myself with a few deep breaths before we left. The adrenaline was pumping. I didn’t have any contractions at this stage but they came soon enough once we were in the car and moving. I felt totally dehydrated and had to drink, drink, drink. When the waters that surround your baby break, your body keeps replenishing them, which is why I felt so thirsty, and why I felt so wet. I must have changed my outfit three times before I could leave the house. I used a newborn disposable nappy, but it couldn’t keep up with the flow. While driving we realised the significance of the date. Four years ago, on this day, we travelled into the same hospital to give birth to our stillborn daughter, Grace. Last time it was an emergency with an unexpected and unwanted outcome. We prayed constantly that it would be a different outcome this time. It seemed likely we could have this baby on Grace’s birthday. God had a plan; we just didn’t know what it was. On arrival at the hospital, we were shown into a small room to have all the necessary observations performed. My blood pressure was up but that was due to all the adrenaline I was pumping, because I was worried. This showed up on the monitor with baby’s heartbeat excited as well. Contractions were about two and a half minutes apart. An obstetrician did an ultrasound to check on baby’s position. Head down— good. I started this pregnancy with the same We were moved into a delivery room with a lounge and I was hooked up to the monitor again. John and I tried to sleep, but sleep evaded me. Later on, a neonatal doctor came to speak with us about what we could expect from a thirty-five week old baby. Complications really depend on the baby’s size and lung maturity. Given that I have a history of big babies, it seemed unlikely that this little one would be overly small, which meant less problems after the birth. A pre-term baby is usually admitted to the special care nursery, placed on a drip with formula or glucose water and oxygen is used to help establish regular breathing patterns. The doctors decided not to induce labour if the contractions stopped; they wanted to wait until baby was ready to come, hopefully at thirty-seven weeks. The doctors were worried I wasn’t taking the antibiotics, so we compromised and decided on the oral ones. I was concerned that such large doses of intravenous drugs couldn’t be good for an early baby. There just haven’t been enough studies done to show the effect on pre-term babies, some studies even question their safety. At this stage the contractions had slowed right down and a bed became available in the antenatal/gynaecology ward, so we moved again. I was given a single room, for which I am thankful. The staff thought that a mother of so many children deserved a bit of peace and quiet. I don’t know how they imagine a hospital to be peaceful or quiet, but I did appreciate their kind intentions. And, I was pleased to have somewhere private for the few good cries I needed. It was in this room that we waited it out. At first I thought I would be there for a day or two, but it soon became clear I could be there ten days or more. To Be Continued… |
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HI all, The baby was born this morning.......IT IS A BOY !!!!! At the moment we have no particulars, but I will keep you posted. Thank you for all of your prayers. God is good. |
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HI there, this is Karli (Amanda's daughter) posting the information about Mum's recent hospital admission:
At three am Thursday morning Mum’s waters broke, so she and Dad went to the hospital. At first, she had regular contractions at three minutes apart, but these soon slowed down, and apart from the odd contraction here and there, nothing more has been happening. Mum’s body will keep producing amniotic fluid, so the baby will be safe, but, especially in hospital, there is increased risk for infection and bacteria, so Mum is on oral antibiotics. This was a compromise, as Mum did not want to have them IV, and the hospital was adamant that she took some form of the antibiotics. She has now been moved to the antenatal unit, waiting….. She is missing her children, so the kids are going to visit her today and probably tomorrow for an hour or so each time. Then the plan is that the children will take turns each day, two at a time, to go and spend a chunk of time with Mum. Lily, Daniel and Robert will especially like this, as they have been suffering without their mother, something that even learning to knit (for Rob and Dan), movies and chocolate will not appease.
We are looking forward to when she comes home with the baby, but we have no idea when that may be. We would appreciate your prayers. Thank you. |
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The End of an Era — or, The Turkey is Dead
Lennard is dead. Lennard was our turkey. He came with the farm when we moved in over 5 ½ years ago, so I am not sure how old he really was. Whatever his age, he kept it well. He always looked the same to me. Some thought he was a magnificent creature, others, just plain ugly and scary looking.
His many fine attributes made up for his misfortune in the looks department. He was always a gentleman. At feed time he would stand back and let the chickens eat first, always waiting until the last one was finished before he started on his own dinner. Though there were a couple of times when this didn’t happen, usually after someone had forgotten to feed them. Then poor old Lennard would shoo the chickens away from the food and peck any chicken brave enough to venture too close before he had finished.
When he ate, his snood (the thing hanging down over his beak) would roll up and store neatly on top of his nose until he had finished eating. His head was interesting too, because it looked as though his brains (small as they were) were on the outside of his head. To watch him run was very funny. He had ample opportunity to practise his running style after we bought a golden retriever dog. The dog only wanted to play retrieve with him, but Lennard didn’t understand. I have never seen a turkey tuck up his wings and run as fast as he did. It didn’t even look like a real run. He kind of wobbled like Mr Wobbly man (the roly poly guy from Noddy). If you can imagine Mr Wobbly man with bird like feet attached to him. He didn’t like the dog, but he was a real people person. If we sat on the ground reading and he was nearby, he would always come over and circle us to see what we were doing. If we didn’t spend enough time with him outdoors, he would come to our windows, look in, and see what we were doing. On meeting Lennard for the first time, the first question most people asked was “Is he your Christmas dinner?” Our answer was always the same. We could never eat Lennard, he was our pet. Besides, can you imagine plucking that many feathers? It is easier to go to the freezer section at the shops and choose one of his relatives. |
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Spiritual Depression in the Psalms By John Piper, Desiring God Blog I haven’t yet read part one of this series on the Psalms, but part two is worth a look. It is long but do persevere to the end, it has some great insights into how people respond to the dark times in their life.
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I don’t know what it is about being heavily pregnant and feeling overwhelmed – hormones I guess. It couldn’t have anything to do with the lifestyle I lead – homeschooling, lots of children, living on a farm, lots of pets. I like to think I can manage almost anything (though I am fast changing my thoughts on that one). Simple and slow is my motto right now. Some days I think we don’t get enough done in the homeschool department. Especially after talking to someone whose children do rocket science at age ten. My ten year old struggles with math so much (math workbooks mainly) that I have decided during the last weeks of pregnancy, I am not going to push math at all. I would rather have a peaceful home than a stressful one. You know the verse, “But seek first the When everything is normal and I am in my right mind, the above problems don’t seem so big. Right now though, most issues are easily blown out of proportion. The baby’s birth day is only a matter of weeks away, and so far, I am not panicking. I can’t say I won’t panic as the time draws nearer. I don’t know. This is now our second pregnancy after loss and I have managed a lot better than I did with the first subsequent pregnancy. The hospital has helped by not requiring me to give birth in the Delivery Suite. I can actually go to the Birth Centre. I haven’t had to see an obstetrician this time either. I love obstetricians, when you need them. But they have a way of making you feel that anything that can go wrong will go wrong - not conducive to a peaceful frame of mind. So right now in my peaceful frame of mind, I look forward to the weeks flying by and I can hold a precious bundle in my arms. Before our baby died in 2004, I always thought of pregnancy as straight forward. Pregnancy equals live baby. Now, I am not so presumptuous. The possibility that something could go wrong is at the back of my mind. My prayers in the past have consisted of a plea for strength to get through labour and birth. My prayers now are for a live, healthy baby. |
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In 1797, William Wilberforce wrote A Practical View of Christianity in which he addressed the defective nature of the Christianity many middle and upper class people in Wilberforce on the Wasted Life |
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Fortunately, I don't have a waistline to worry about. Now I can eat the yummy things I received, guilt free. Almost.
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Happy Mother's Day: Woman pregnant with 18th childHow exciting to be expecting your 18th child. I imagine their home life is never dull.Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mums out there.I love being a Mother. It is such a privilege. Is there any other career that can compare with motherhood?These are a few of my favourite things:Little voices greeting me in the morning.Smiling faces.Colourful drawings that hang on my fridge.A tiny voice telling me she “loves me so much.”Friendly chats with my older girls.Boys who love to show me their ‘huge’ muscles.Little feet touching my legs in the middle of the night.I am so spoiled. So far, today, I have had a beautiful cooked breakfast, and lots of lovely presents. A gourmet dinner will top it off tonight. I will try to post some photos soon.Until then, enjoy every moment you have with your children. They are such precious gifts. |
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At the moment, our trees look beautiful in all their autumn splendour. Rebekah took a couple of the boys with her to rake the leaves and place them on our gardens for mulch. Here is her rendition of the memorable time they had. The Claret Ash and Golden Ash trees were covered with red and gold leaves until a few days ago. They looked so pretty when the sun was shining through them in the late afternoon. When their leaves did at last fall, the job gave itself to Jordan, Rob and I to gather them up and scatter them on as many gardens as was possible. It turned out to be quite a lot of fun. The boys had turns sitting on the pile of leaves in the wheelbarrow to keep them from blowing away, and when they least expected it I tipped them and the whole load out. It was a bit of a worry though, when one started screaming and I thought I’d cracked his neck. You don’t know how comfortable it is lying on a heap of raked up leaves. Apart from an occasional twig or two, it’s almost as nice as sleeping on a normal bed.
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Hard yakka!
Yes, sir!
The twosome before a tipping.
“Let’s do that again!”|
The Piper’s have written another article on how to help your grieving friend.
10 Tips for Bringing Meals to a Grieving Friend
May 7, 2008 How to Help Your Grieving Friend, Part 10
When we lost Felicity, we had a lot of meal help from friends and family. I learned a few things from the people serving me about how to serve others—with food. 1. BRING MEALS! It is essential, really. Bringing meals is a profound ministry to the hurting. Your friend’s mind is otherwise engaged and simply cannot sequence the steps for making a meal. 2. Organize the meals so she doesn’t have to. Ideally, one person (not the griever) is coordinating meals immediately after the loss. If the grieving person has to coordinate what days they’re going to get a meal, who it’s coming from, what time it’s arriving, etc., that’s just as much work as trying to make meals herself. If there is no meal coordinator, volunteer! 3. Stagger the times that you bring meals. Depending on the size of the family, meals may only be necessary every other day or even every third day. Because of leftovers, one meal often provides for two days of eating. 4. Bring a frozen meal. As many of you know after a death, there’s often no shortage of food. A frozen meal can be set aside for when it’s most convenient. You can even organize your small group to bring a whole batch of frozen meals if they have an extra freezer (make sure first!). These come in handy a couple months down the road when the organized meals are over, and a particularly hard day/week comes. 5. Make sure everyone doesn’t bring the same thing. Soup and lasagna are the most common meals to bring because they taste so good, they’re the easiest to make, and they travel well. But make sure they haven’t received a bunch of those already (talk to the meal organizer about that). 6. Should I stay or should I go? Yes. When you bring a meal, feel the situation out for whether or not you should linger. They might want you to stick around and talk, but if you think not, it’s perfectly acceptable to drop it off and get going. 7. Don’t count on commiserating. You’re bringing a meal because of their loss, but they might not want to feel that loss with you right then. Just before dinner might not be a good time for “a moment.” 8. Deliver dinner in dishes you don’t need back. Always provide a meal in containers that don’t need to be returned to you. Having to keep track of 9×13’s and serving bowls is too much work. It requires the organizational effort that we’re trying to avoid. 9. Tell them not to thank you. Make sure they know that you don’t need a thank you note. You can even go as far as telling them that you’ll actually be bothered if they take the time to write you a note. 10. It’s never too late to bring a meal. Most of you probably don’t know anyone who lost a loved one so recently that meals are still being organized for them. But you do probably know someone who endured a loss six, seven, twelve months ago. I can almost guarantee that if you called and asked to bring dinner this week, you’d bless their oven mitts off. It’s never too late. Maybe some of you have been meal organizers or have had meals brought to you–what things have you found helpful? Any other tips you want to share?
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Here are the Ball photos that some of you have been eagerly awaiting. They are not very good shots but they will give you an idea of the night.
The hair had to be curled. Four girls (actually, five girls, our friend came over to have her hair done) with long hair and curlers is a nightmare.
Well, that's all folks.
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Even Lily had to help. Sam's hair was easy to do though. So we left it up to her.
Sam helping Jamie polish his shoes.
Rebekah looking on.
Jamie scrubbed up okay.
Jess, Rebekah and Rachael. I made the two dresses on the right (can't you tell) and Jessica had her dress made by a professional (can't you tell).
A group shot of the dancers on the night.
Our friend, Amy.
In this photo you can just see Karli, Jamie, Rebekah and Jess and Sam are the ones in the middle.|
What does the word “art,” mean to you? Art can be many different things to many different people. It might be a favorite painting, sculpture, or drawing. It might be a favorite building, photograph, or craft. It could be a favorite dance move, play, or favorite song. Discovering art with the Art Appreciation Project Pack will give your student an introduction and understanding to the world of art. This 51-page Project Pack includes a 16-page Research Guide about the different types of art, elements of art, famous artists, principles of design, styles of art, and appreciating art. After reading the guide, your student will use the information found to complete 15 hands-on activities to make a lapbook on Art Appreciation. We just downloaded this for free. Click on this link for your copy. Art Appreciation
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We celebrated Jordan's tenth birthday on April 4th. Ten years passes by so quickly. With so many people to buy presents for it can be a challenge to find something interesting each time. But not with boys. Boys always love Lego. This Lego set kept Jordan occupied all day and he was very happy with the end-product.
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I was going to blog about the lovely wedding we went to on Saturday. But my niece, Bethany, at Be Thou My Vision, beat me to it. She has taken some beautiful photos. |