Nov. 11, 2006
Our newest little man
On
Friday, October 13, 2006, Jarel Braddock N. joined our family!
God is truly great. I had a homebirth and he was born in the
water and I was inadvertantly the one to catch him, which was more
amazing than I could've imagined. Don't get me wrong, it was
still hard work to labor/give birth (and there was definitely still
pain involved lol), but it was such an awesome experience for our
family! Little Man was not so little, at least not for me  .
He was 9lb 4oz/22.5 in, w/a 14in. head and 14.5 in. chest. I know
full well that so many mamas have bigger babies than that, but I never
had! My biggest up to that point was dd, at 7lb 14oz. He
was born only a day after his due date, so it wasn't that he had so
much "extra" growing time either hehe. Whatever the cause, it
doesn't matter. He's here and he's deliciously smoochy and
adorable and squishy (sorry for getting a bit gushy). He doesn't
lack for love or attention here. He probably feels he gets a
little too much attention from his older siblings  . Not sure if the picture works or not, but we'll see. |
Aug. 31, 2006
It took the thread/idea of deletion to get me back here lol
It's
been a loooong time since I posted anything, but lots of crazy and busy
stuff started happening at that time, so that's my excuse .
Besides helping dh with the start and growth of launching a new
business, last October, he had a Vas Reversal surgery and in January,
we got our baby :-D. I remember February 1st being the day we
found out and our kids went nuts. They're still really excited
and today, I'm sitting here at exactly 34 weeks and v-e-r-y tired,
since sleep isn't my friend lately  .
In the last 2 months, we also got our house ready to put on the market,
so getting it ready to show and to sell was an, um, adventure.
Especially since that part (getting it ready to show and then leaving
the house several times a day) happened the same weeks we started
school. Now we're only a week and half away from our closing date
and buyer-requested repairs are in progress. And in the next
couple of days, we're moving the rest of our things to an apartment
until Nov/Dec when we *really* move - to VA! LOL We had put our
house on the market when we did because the time on market/time we had
left here in SC was something we needed to at least *try* to
balance. But God is good and our house sold 4 times in a week and
a half  .
First buyer said he wanted it and he wanted to close in 2 weeks (I'm
getting the idea that God wants to keep me on my toes, aren't
you?). Then he said no, he didn't want it. Then he
officially put a contract in and did
want it after all. After almost a week, he vanished into thin
air. His realtor and lender couldn't reach him, neither could our
realtor, etc. So that went away. And 2 days after that, we
got 2 contracts, one on top of the other and eventually went with one
of them. Whew. In the middle of all of that, since we originally had expected to close in 2-2.5 wks, my dad and sister came here from MN and got our kids. We were, at that time, going to be moving to an apt while they were gone and having all of the repair/closing stuff happening. What's ironic and funny is the kids are finally coming back tomorrow night and we're moving this weekend. God has such a sense of humor  .
But I can tell you that it will be exactly 3 weeks they were gone when
they get back and WOW have I missed my babies! They did take
school with them and my sister and my mom took care of that. And
if there's anyone I'd trust to HS my kids temporarily for me, it'd be
my mom, so that made me feel good. She did a great job HSing all
of us and a lot of things I've learned about HSing are because of
her. So here I sit, on the verge of moving and just waiting for TS Ernesto to land here this afternoon and then leave tomorrow "clear and sunny." Praying that God keeps any major (or even minor at this point) damage and flooding at bay right now. If He chooses not to, we'll still be ok, but I'm allowed to at least ask  . Last thing that's hitting my sleep-deprived rambling thoughts is that my best friend that I grew up with in MN just lost her FIL last week. She and her dh were also HSed and they have 5 children and HS, too. It was unexpected, yet not. He was in his early 50s and he died at home with his wife and 3 of his 4 kids with him (they were getting ready to take him to the hospital - he had had a stroke a year and a half ago and struggled with seizures related to a brain tumor that caused the stroke. He had, however, been doing *very* well in the last several months, but had been having a not so good week). I can honestly say I was and still am very happy for him - he suffered physically a lot, esp. that last week and now he's not. For his family, I can't even imagine what this is like. I don't know how I'd tell my kids, like my friend was telling me she had to, that their G'pa had died. My two older ones would understand this, but my 5yo would not (he'd understand "G'pa was very sick, is in heaven, etc" but I know he wouldn't grasp at this point that it means "he's never coming back here."). As a wife, the hole that would be left by my husband dying would be huge and gaping and so I've really been praying for God to give her so much comfort. I will quit my rambling catch-up and just try to come here more than once a year! |
Sep. 29, 2005
My God is so great
|
Tonight,
I have a jumble of songs I learned in childhood going through my
head. Little snippets here and there. "My God is so great,
so strong and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do."
"My Lord knows the way through the wilderness; all I have to do is
follow....Strength for today is mine all the way and all I need for
tomorrow..."
These are such simple lines, yet they contain big truths. Big promises. And they imply so much more - MY God is so great. Yes, he's MY God. MY Lord knows and if I just follow my personal Lord God, I'll be more than ok. I could just weep thinking about His personal and tender love for every single individual, including me. The times I feel insignificant (far more often than I should), He reminds me that I am who *He* says I am. I am *not* who *I* say I am. HE says I'm blessed, loved, adopted, forgiven, accepted, chosen, redeemed. I have to believe Him. And my belief pleases my Lord. |
Sep. 26, 2005
"Not Yours to Give"
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A
speech from a "legendary" American hero is just as pertinent, if not
more so, today than it was the day he presented it before
Congress. This is long, but oh-so-worth it. http://www.pointsouth.com/csanet/greatmen/crockett/crockett2.htm Today is a day of quoting others, I guess. The following quotes were published in the 05-39 Brief of The Federalist Patriot http://federalistpatriot.us/pub/05-39_Brief.htm "The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." -- Thomas Jefferson "I find no warrent for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and the duty of the general government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. . . The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strenthens the bonds of a common brotherhood." --President Grover Cleveland Personal charity and giving of yourself. These are things I want to impress upon my children. Somehow, in an age where the government is expected to (and expects to) "take care" of everyone from pre-birth to the grave, I will have to find a way to demonstrate this to them. I think they are seeing this in a small way when they do things like help to get supplies off of the list from the church for one of the relief teams we've been sending weekly to 2 different areas. In fact, I almost cried last week at something ds1 said. Our pastor had been on the first team we sent and during the sermon, he was mentioning some of the things that went on while they were there. He was also talking about the team that would be leaving the next morning for a different town and asking for prayer, care kits, supplies, etc. And volunteers for the 3rd team (it left this morning) that was going back to the first town. Toward the end of the service, ds1 pulled on my arm and whispered to me "Mom, how do you get to do that?" I didn't know exactly what he was talking about (him asking wasn't immediately after all this discussion), so he expounded "Go on one of those teams. I need to go. People need help." He said this in such an urgent, almost desperate tone that I wanted to cry. He really has an extremely tender heart and he's not always lost in an egotistical "kid world" (not to say he's never like that lol). The moments when he truly gets it are like a pure balm to my soul  . It's an affirmation in the midst of intermittent doubt, that at the very least, we're doing something
right. When I told him kids just weren't able to go, he was very
disappointed and asked me how he was supposed to be able to help all
these people if kids aren't allowed to help. I reminded him of
all the things we'd brought to the church just that morning and how Dad
and I couldn't go right now, either, but we can send things that the
people need with the ones who can go. So back to the original thought - can I, in this time of "entitlement" for everyone/everything/ every situation impress the "Love your neighbor as yourself" way of life into my children? I think we've already started. |
Sep. 15, 2005
20 years & 20 languages
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Wow.
We just finished studying about Noah Webster in history. I wish I
had the time to make a unit study out of *everything,* because that is
where my heart lies. I'm not sure the kids grasped the magnitude
of what it meant for NW to write the first American dictionary.
The man studied and learned from 20 different languages in order to
complete this task. A task that took him almost 20 years!
Now there's an example of dedication! The kids did think this was an
enormously long time, but I don't know that it'll sink in until later
in life. Today, Edge was supposed to be working on a book report for the book he just finished reading. I don't require pages and pages of reporting from him and I don't even want a "formal" report. I just want him to be able to summarize and highlight main points from what he reads. He visibly drooped when I told him about this book report, since writing (i.e. penmanship, not the words part) is not his favorite thing to do. Then I decided that he could use the computer and he was actually excited about it lol. It's not like he needs even more practice with handwriting. He has HW every day, he writes in his Language book, he write in his "Just Write" book (learning how to write), etc. And seeing his demeanor change from "droopy and depressed" to "excited and animated" was worth it. Plus, I will count that as his typing for the day. He really loves typing and gets a big kick out of Mavis Beacon  . Brynn surprised me today. We had a history test and I usually go through it with her. She had a matching section and she picked the wrong answer for something. I didn't say anything, but she got a couple of questions down and went "Wait a minute. I'm so silly!" She cracked me up when she said that, because she laughed at herself. She realized her mistake and corrected it. I was completely expecting her to just get two things wrong (because of mixing up the matching), because this has happened before with her. If she's already selected something, she won't even consider it as a possibility for the remaining things. So this was a big deal to me that she figured out that it was wrong and went back and fixed it. Yesterday, we had a great time at the library and I found out that there is a 30 minute story time for Nikol's age on Wednesdays! Since Wednesday is the day I've been going every week anyway, I'll just adjust my time of day and go during the story time. If he is occupied w/that, it'll make it easier to keep an eye on the other two while they're getting their books. Plus, I think he'll really like it. Today, Nikol was reenacting the "rope and mark a pig" scene from Old Yeller. He was sitting on one of our kitchen stools and had a long red shoelace that he somehow had a circle tied in (??) and was totally into the whole scene. He is soooo Mr. Drama in more ways than one. When he was 2.5, he was very into the Disney Davy Crockett movie. He had a fake coonskin cap that used to be E's and would wear that all the time. One day, I was in the bathroom and he burst in through the door in his diaper, cowboy boots, t-shirt and coonskin cap (this was shortly before he potty-trained) and marched up to me with a very serious expression. He grabs my hand, shakes it firmly and vigorously a couple of times and says "Good seein' you again Crockett!", wheels around on his boot heel and marches out of the bathroom. Maybe you had to be there, but that was one of the funniest things ever. I hope I never forget that one. |
Sep. 14, 2005
Oops. I haven't written in over a week
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My how
time goes quickly. I just realized that I haven't written
anything in over a week. Let's see what I've missed. Dh is not only working more than full-time hours (Navy - his command has minimum 48 hr work weeks), he's taking Calculus I and College Chemistry II M-Th in the evenings. We don't get to see too much of him lately. This weekend was his long weekend, so he was home more, which was a nice change. Yesterday, afternoon (swing/2nd) shift started and he took T and Th as leave days because of school, but he has to miss class tonight. So he's been around in the mornings this week. Yesterday, he and the kids let me sleep and while he did homework, the kids surprised both of us and did most of their schoolwork alone. I was surprised at what time it was when I woke up and amazed that almost all of school was done - w/no teacher LOL. Today, we're doing our weekly library trip and I have already decided ahead of time that this shall be a "video-less" visit. The last two times, the kids have gotten videos. Nothing bad, but they feel under pressure to watch them as many times as possible before we have to bring them back the next week. Yeah, that's it - pressured. ROTFL. While I'm delighted in my own right that there are "Ramona" videos that are almost 100% true to the stories in the books, how many times do we need to see a 27 min. video? And Peter Pan? Somebody save me. Last week, it was Old Yeller that I gratefully returned. This week, it's Peter Pan who can leave and never come back, as far as I'm concerned  .Today, Nikol and I worked on alphabet things and a little bit of writing. I was bowled over that he actually did it. First, we practiced writing his name. Not the whole thing, just N-i-k, but it's a start. Then we took his wooden alphabet train puzzle and worked on finding those letters a few times. He had a great time and even told dh how to spell his name "N-I-K.'' In case you weren't aware, N-I-K spells "Nikolas Traven Norenberg." He drew me a picture of something that is not an object of this world, but it's colored beautifully with markers and what a stunning variety of colors he used. He told me he was making me something and it was going to be "very bee-ootiful." 
My sweet boy. So we worked on "schooly" things for about 10-15
minutes before he was off again. That's fine with me, since it's
a start and Rome wasn't built in a day. Tonight, we're also going to try the Mission Friends programs at church. There's a preschool one for Nikol, a girls' Gr 1-5 for dd and a boys' Gr. 1-5 for ds1. I'm kind of excited for them and for me, too. I need to get out more than I do. It's hard to go everywhere with the kids by myself all of the time, but never to a place where I can really try to find friends. I really feel very lonely IRL rather often. I've lived here for almost 3 years and I've had the starts of several friendships, but never anything that has either continued or blossomed. I do have one person I'd consider a good friend here, but we talk about every 3 months LOL. We both apologize for not calling sooner, etc. She's also a homeschool mom with kids the exact same ages as mine. Her 3rd is even named Nicholas ;-). But seriously, I could use a little bit more moral support IRL. My two best friends live in IL and MN. Both the best friends you could ever hope for *and* they both homeschool. But they're not exactly around the corner. I'm very interested in joining the women's Bible study group starting at the end of this month (I LOVE Beth Moore and I've been waiting to see what the Patriarchs study will be like!), but I need to find out if the provided childcare will accept my 8.5yo and almost 7yo. I don't know if they were thinking of those kinds of age groups. It's one morning a week from 9:30-11:30 and dh is only on 2nd shift once every 5 weeks. So I obviously would need childcare. I also need to somehow figure out more babysitting arrangements in general. I used to have a couple of babysitters, but one moved away and the other went to college. I think I should just suck up the increased cost of my local support group and join again, even though I did virtually nothing with/through them last year. There are a couple of moms of teenagers in my local group and I know I'd feel comfortable with their kids as sitters. OK, off to go rest my head for a few minutes before we take off for the library. I have been getting one book a week for myself. Last week's book, which I'm almost done with, was "Ina Mae's Guide to Childbirth." I like these midwifery and homebirth books too much, I think LOL. Hopefully someday soon, I'll be able to actually USE all this accumulated knowledge  . |
Sep. 6, 2005
School stuff
|
We
started our second 6 week stretch yesterday. It's actually good
to "be back" for me. I evaluated how we spent our time off and
have made some decisions - or I'm in the process of making some - about
how to better utilize our time off next time. Yesterday, ds1 had his first "spelling pretest" w/his new spelling curriculum. While it doesn't really call for a pretest, I want a pretest, so I can see from one week to the next how he's progressing. He totally made my day, though, when he informed me that he already knew how to spell 'friend.' "Mm-hmm," I replied, because I wasn't giving an answer one way or the other whenever he said that, since I want to really see how he spells things on his own. So he pressed his point. "No, I really do know how to spell it. I remember how from that song on Mr. Rogers'." ?? I had to pause to think "What song?" Then it hit me "You are my friend, you are special. You are my friend - you're special to me......F-R-I-E-N-D special....." I've had that song running through my head since y'day afternoon now and it makes me smile to think that my boy is remembering how to spell a word like that because of Mr. Rogers (who I just happen to have very fond memories of and a special place in my heart for ).
We also had a discussion about there/their/they're when he was doing
his LA things. It was fun, because he comes up with things that
are sort of related, but not totally, yet he has the right answer to
what he's talking about. DD informed me that she is not happy that school had to start again. Said with crossed arms and in a "Hmmph." kind of way. However, she can't help herself when she gets going on something she's enjoying. Today it was her Write About Me pages. When she realizes that she knows things, she gets excited and that is exciting to me. Ds2 was actually interested in looking at some pages in the HWT book. He colored a bit and we talked about some of the things on the pages. We also read some of our library books again and did it in what I think of in my head as the FIAR style lol. I really enjoyed it and he is enjoying listening to stories more. |
Sep. 6, 2005
The Truth - some links to eye-opening facts
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EnterStageRight.com
Nagin's Failure Reading the comments posted to the second one is very enlightening, as well, if you read far enough. I will add only one more link and I truly hope if anyone sees this, that you take the time to click on them and read through them. Everyone keeps asking "Why?" and "What took so long?" and if you're not asking who's to blame, then you probably have your mind made up who you think is to blame. Well, I am getting very angry at the mainstream media going on and on and on with the same garbage over and over. Talk talk talk talk about how the federal government is at fault. How the federal government has failed. How many people are not getting help. It's all a bunch of lies! And I'm beyond sick of it. Whether you like or agree with our President in general, this is not his fault and I think it's just all too convenient to blame everything on him. Look at the facts and then tell me who really should be at fault. It's getting ridiculous the things he's being accused of, such as having some sort of hand in the Chief Justice passing away when he did, so he could direct attention away from his "awful mishandling of this disaster." Anyway, I could (and am lol) get very fired up about this and continue on, but it's better if I just post my links and sign off. So here is the last link. The Un-Missing National Guard |
Sep. 5, 2005
Blame games
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From the fine printing presses at the Federalist Patriot: The Culture of Blame - on assigning blame for Hurricane Katrina "Let me make this clear: Everything which has happened as the result of Hurricane Katrina is my fault. Mine. Alone. No one else's. Stop wasting energy pointing fingers and put your hands to work helping out. It was me. Got it? I was a United States Senator from Louisiana in 2001 when the levee at Lake Pontchartrain was declared unsafe and I didn't have enough clout with my Senatorial brethren to get sufficient money appropriated to fix it. It was my fault. Oh. I almost forgot. I was the Commander-in-Chief of all United States Armed Forces in the 1960s which includes the Corps of Engineers. The cost-benefit analysis? My fault. It is my fault that, as the Governor of Louisiana, I didn't foresee the need to have enough Louisiana National Guard troops - the vast majority of whom are NOT currently in Iraq, or Afghanistan or, for that matter, Indiana -- pre-positioned and read to preserve order. I frankly, forgot that there is a portion of the population which will steal anything from anyone given any opportunity and then will blame it on me because I didn't -- in spite of ample warnings by sociologists from large Eastern Universities -- foresee the need to have 27" flat-screen television sets available to every family in the New Orleans city limits as soon as the electricity went out. That one WAS my bad. It is my fault that, as Mayor of New Orleans, I was boogying down Bourbon Street the night before the hurricane hit rather than being where I should have been -- on the roof of the Superdome pouding in extra nails to hold the roof on. As the architect of the Superdome, it was my fault for claiming that the Dome could survive 200 mile-per-hour winds. It couldn't even handle a relatively gentle 160 mile-per-hour zephyr. Strap me to my drafting table and set me adrift. Global warming? My fault. Despite the fact that nearly every serious climatologist in America has stated over and over again that there is no clear evidence tying human-generated greenhouse gasses to global warming, and even if there were, there is no evidence tying global warming to hurricanes in the Atlantic basin, I was opposed to the Kyoto treaty and so it is my fault. It is also my fault that during the administration of Bill Clinton, the U.S. Senate rejected the terms of the Kyoto protocols by a vote of 95-0. That would be zero, zilch, nada, nil, bupkis. As the Grand Poohbah in Charge of all TV Coverage, it is my fault that there is constant video of looters and almost none of humanitarian activities. I am the person who issued the statement: 'No more rescue footage UNLESS the person rescued complains about how long they had to wait or, if he shoots at the rescuers.' And finally, as Chairman of the National Association of Gasoline Producers it is my fault that I had the bad judgment to put so much of my drilling, refining and transportation assets in a hurricane-prone area like the Carribean basin. What...was...I...thinking? If I could re-do that whole thing, I would have put all that equipment in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. There may not be any oil there, but hurricanes are very rare. So. There you have it. Everything that has happened is my fault. Now. Shut up and help." -- Rich Galen Editors Note: And...one more person yet to claim blame...http://federalistpatriot.us/news/depot.asp The Federalist Patriot (FederalistPatriot.US) |
Sep. 1, 2005
I just want to cry
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I
just heard earlier today from my dear sweet friend that she and her
family are all safe. The second I saw that she'd e-mailed me, I
could feel my whole self just sag with relief. I didn't realize
just how tense I was feeling about the "unknowns" with that until I saw
that they really were ok. They are blessed in that they still
have their home and it's not flooded, although they're not *at* home
currently. It is beyond sobering how many people do not
either have a home to go back to or just don't know. And the
people who have died. This is almost as crushing of a feeling as
9/11, but not in the exact same way. Terrorism isn't the same
thing as a huge hurricane. One is people and their twisted
ideals. The other is an enormous natural act allowed and
controlled by a God Who really does love His creation. You might
ask how I could say that in the face of all this. I have no solid
answer for you except to say that I know He loves me. And I know
He loves you, whoever you are and where ever you're reading this
from. The world used to be perfect. He made it
perfect. He even said, after looking over all that He'd made, "It
is good." But we messed that all up. WE brought death into
the world. Along w/death came destruction, disease and
decay. With sin comes consequences. Just like our bodies
decay, so does this world. My Father speaks of natural disasters
in His Words to me and I know that while they may continue to happen
and while they may get worse and more numerous, He is there. HE
is my eye in the storm. The place of calm in the midst of an
angry, swirling mass of destruction that is life here apart from
Him. I understand a little bit better each day what it means when
it says that all creation is groaning and awaiting His return to set
things right again. I
am waiting and groaning with them in my spirit. There is so much
death and destruction just from "natural disasters" in the past year
that it's almost not comprehendable. This particular thing
strikes so much closer to home in my heart than even the tsunami.
So did the bombing of the USS Cole. My blood really felt like it
ran cold when that happened. And it happened right before my dh
was about to deploy. On a ship. To the Persian Gulf.
I wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out and see any news
again. And that was *before* 9/11. He deployed and I
obviously stayed home. We had 2 very small children at the time
and while I wanted more, I wanted to start trying for that when he got
home. That didn't happen. I found out less than two weeks
after my husband left to spend 6 months across the world that I was
pregnant. Surprise! God's thoughts are not my thoughts, His
plans are not my plans and His ways are not my ways. This has
been made abundantly clear over and over to me. And you know
what? I am so much better for it every time. I have my
precious Nikolas because God's plans were better than MY plans.
There are lots of other things I could say about that, but I know that
in all of this awful tragedy that's occurring because of this
hurricane, God has a bigger purpose. Whatever that is is not for
me to say. I just have learned - at least a teeny bit lol - that
I can trust my God. He really does have it all in His
hands.
|
Aug. 29, 2005
Well I'm a dork
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Blueberry
season has been done for a month here :-(. I knew strawberry
season was different (i.e. way early), but for some reason, I had it in
my head that blueberries *weren't* that much different here.
Sigh. Oh well. So much for that.
|
Aug. 29, 2005
Random ramblings this morning
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Today,
if the weather stays ok, we may go to a U-Pick blueberry farm.
The kids think this sounds cool. Bwahahaha - I hope they still
like it once they're there. I worked every spring/summer/early
fall for 3 (or was it 4?) years at a strawberry farm. It was
cool, because the majority of their employees were homeschooled
teens. It started that way because in the spring, we were
available, but PS kids weren't (obviously). Eventually, they
started hiring HS kids just because they liked us :-D. We helped
w/planting in the spring and then we had a section of the field to be
responsible for weeding and tending. Once it was strawberry
season (late June - end of July in northern MN), it was different, but
still fun. We were responsible for labeling people's buckets (our
farm had buckets that were then dumped into flats that the people took
home), showing people where to start, bringing bug spray to people,
carrying buckets up out of the field, etc. Plus, we picked
berries for "Custom picked" lol. After the season was over, we
all picked jam berries like crazy and did more weed work. I've
wished I could take my kids there to pick when we visit, but they sold
their place and moved somewhere. :-( They were cool.
They always had an end of the year outdoor party for us w/games, great
food and lots of fun. I have great memories of working there,
even though it was not *easy* work. Part of that may be because I
worked w/my best friends, too ;-). Wow, did I ever get
off-track a little lol. Anyway, I hope my kids, who have a
completely different lifestyle than dh or I, will have a good time and
actually *work* while doing it :-D. Dh & I both wish we could
give the kids some sort of taste of our growing-up lives. We both
grew up in the middle of nowhere, but not near each other (about 40
miles apart). He was on a farm and while I wasn't, I was
surrounded by farms. We both had fields, tons of woods and dirt
roads. While I was working on a strawberry farm, he started hard
labor (no joke) at a local dairy farm when he was 14.5. The work
part isn't what I'm meaning when I wish we could show them how our
lives were. It's the country part. When my kids don't know
that it's ok to "go outside" WHILE it's snowing, that makes me
sad. Of course, we've lived in the south for all their lives, so
it snows once in a blue moon. They don't even get to play outside
much, because they have to play in our yard, which can be boring and
they can't be out alone (not safe here to do that and I'm not being
paranoid). So it was a big deal to them a couple of weeks ago
that dh took them to a local state park for bike-riding.
:-( Maybe I'm just too full of nostalgia, but when I visit my
best friend in MN, her kids are doing exactly what my siblings and I
were doing growing up. OK, enough of this particular ramble LOL!
At the grocery store on Friday, I bought a quart of Lact-Aid milk to try w/Nik. I thought I'd maybe use it here and there in cooking some things for him and also let him try a little drink. I am not trying to be dangerous, since his dairy problem is one of those fast-response massive puking reactions. I think it's mainly the lactose he has a problem with, which is why I bought the Lact-Aid milk. *However,* he took a little sip and refused to drink more. He said it was yucky. I put a little splash in his scrambled eggs to see how he'd do (since he wouldn't do the test for me by drinking the tiny bit I gave him) and he seemed ok, but I think I may just give up on that. Geez - that stuff is more expensive than his rice milk. I may look for the potato milk Michelle mentioned, too. For now, I can get enriched rice milk at Super WM, but haven't found it anywhere else, strangely. For my own benefit, I wanted to write down what he mainly eats in substitution of what he *can't* eat and since this is a ramble, I guess that's ok. Instead of cow's milk, he has enriched rice milk. He didn't like goat's milk the one time I tried it, but I may try again sometime w/fresh. He does like hard goat cheese and tolerates it well. In place of wheat, that's the big one. He has apple cinnamon rice cakes and corn tortillas for "sandwich-type" purposes; grits & oatmeal for hot cereals; rice snacks, cashews, occasionally potato chips, raisins, etc. for snacks. For pasta, I just bought the rice flour shells, but he's had sweet potato starch noodles in place of things like spaghetti and he likes those. It was suggested that I could try Asian rice noodles (not the kind I just bought), but those have wheat starch in them darnit. He can have the Walmart brand of Rice or Corn Chex (the General Mills kind now have wheat in them), Rice Krispies (his new cereal love lol) and Cap'n Crunch. He doesn't eat a lot of cold cereals. He loves eggs, which I've been keeping my eye on, because he would eat them all the time if I'd let him. There are a lot of things I make for all of us that he can eat and I'm always glad when I find even something else. I often make him a separate part of what we're eating, like his own little meatloaf or his own mashed potatoes and gravy. Things like that. Dh has recently been pushing for allowing him to have things with wheat a bit again. This makes me so mad and frustrated! Dh wasn't on board w/the allergies at all for a while, until we sat down one night after a huge incident (in the Denny's parking lot no less) and I read out loud to him portions from the Is This Your Child? book. The lightbulb lit up above his head - almost literally lol. He still wasn't as convinced about the wheat once the book influence wore off, but Nik ended up accidentally having a bunch of wheat at my mom's (my aunt was visiting and made some stuff) when he and I weren't there. He had numerous things that had wheat, including several large meatballs w/wheat germ in them. He ended up w/burning hot cheeks and puking a ton. :-( Poor little man. That isn't his usual problem w/wheat, but I think it was because he'd recently "detoxed" the wheat from his system and then had massive amounts (he's a teeny little guy). Usually what happens is his behavior and sleep patterns become atrocious. For a while, I'd let him have some things here and there - like regular spaghetti noodles one week and a few crackers the next. I could tell that it would build up, because he'd get horribly volatile, would barely sleep. Dh thinks part of this is in my head and that sometimes, he's just worse than other times. He *is* a somewhat volatile kind of person - so is dh. Either hot or cold, not much in between lol. And he - well both dh and Nik - are not the kind of people who sit around much. They go go go and either their mind is always whirring or their body or both. But I can tell the difference between that and the "wheat thing," kwim? OK. Now I *must* stop rambling. I realized I have to call this blueberry place and I have to also call the chiropractor. Every one of us needs to see him :-D. Dh does, too, but he probably will never have time again, the way his schedule is lately. Here's hoping for a great day for me and the kids (and dh at work and school, too)! |
Aug. 28, 2005
Sick kiddos
|
So
here we are on Sunday morning. At home. Dh is at work, but
I have 1 almost recovered kiddo and 2 sick ones. E got it first
and even had a weird rash on his throat and chest. Plugged up
sinuses, sore throat and mild fever. He woke up w/it a few
mornings ago and the rash developed later that day. It's
certainly not shingles, so I'm not worried about that. It's gone
now, anyway. Friday night, the other two got all plugged up,
almost instantaneously. They were fine and then voila - plugged
up. Here's hoping this mama avoids it!
The grocery store trip was pretty ok. A few minor moments and a little bit of squabbling here and there, but otherwise, all was ok. Gentle reminders (or firm reminders in a soft tone lol) are a good thing, I believe. Since church had to be scratched off the agenda for this morning, I need & want to go do my Bible reading. It really does soothe my soul almost every time. After that, dishes are glaring at me and wish to be washed - bleh. I'm trying to keep two FlyLady mantras in my head, though. First - I can do anything for 15 minutes, even greasy cast-iron pans lol  .
And secondly, although this doesn't have as much to do w/dishes as it
does housework in general - Housework done incorrectly still blesses my
family. Oh, I guess I should've just said three things - Baby
steps, baby steps, baby steps. |
Aug. 26, 2005
To the grocery store for me, with all the kids
|
I
need to get ready to go, but I'm putting it off lol. I *think*
the kids will probably behave fine, but lately, it's been a nightmare
when I take them to the store w/me and I don't know why. Either
the older two are bickering or they're acting like complete idiots
 . And Nikol is sentenced to the front of the cart until he doesn't fit there anymore ,
because I'm the mom and I can do that. *He* gets mad if one of the
other kids touches the cart anywhere near him. Or he wants to get
out. Read my lips (or my blog): N-O. Last time I had to go,
I threatened all of them mightily about the consequences and they were
all pretty good. Nobody really wanted to be spanked, eat their
dinner and go right to bed at like 6pm, so I had a pretty good trip  , all things considered. Maybe I shouldn't think so negatively about it before it even happens. It sounds like I have terrible kids who don't know how to behave AT ALL. This is not the case. On one of my homeschool tapes, the speaker says he has a theory about grocery stores - it's the automatic doors. Something in those sensors causes something to happen in the children's brains and they forget everything they were ever taught about behavior or *anything.* I like to include places like Walmart and Target, since their doors are similiar  .OK, off to truly get ready. I am going to try to think positively about this. I remind them frequently that we are examples of homeschoolers and we're examples of Christians (they know a Bible verse about being an example) and I ask them what kind of example they want people to see. This sometimes has an effect, but not as much as I'd like  . I guess we'll see. |
Aug. 24, 2005
I've been tagged by the dictionary lol
|
I actually got this one from KarenW at "Wired Wisdom" Here goes. Now introducing the: "All New 5 WORDS You Learned Today" theme. I am picking up my dictionary and choosing 5 words I don't know, defining them here, and encouraging each of you to LEARN 5 NEW WORDS this day (or this week if you are really busy lol). Think of what a great example this will be for your kiddos! In fact, if they blog, tag them! RULES 1. Open a dictionary (English please!) at random. 2. Pick 5 words off the page. 3. Type in the definitions. 4. Try to use them in a sentence, either on your blog or in your life! Here are mine: felicitous: 1) suitably expressed; 2) pleasant, delightful feldspar: any of a group of crystalline minerals consisting of silicates of aluminum with another element (as potassium or sodium) fellah: a peasant or agricultural laborer in Arab countries (as Egypt or Syria) fenestration: the arrangement and design of windows and doors in a building Fenian: a member of a secret 19th century Irish and Irish-American organization dedicated to overthrowing British rule in Ireland. The woman I met at my first support group meeting was absolutely felicitous. Tag! You're it! |
Aug. 23, 2005
My little reader!
|
I'm
so proud of dd! She used to resist reading so hard and now here
she is reading chapter books and going through them like they're
candy! What's even cuter is that the "series" she's fallen in
love with is the Carolyn Haywood "Betsy" books. Could I get any
more nostalgic? She read "B is For Betsy" in less than 2 days and
started immediately on "Betsy's Little Star." That took her 2
days and last night, she started "Betsy and Mr. Kilpatrick."
Those are the only Betsy books I have, so I ordered some off of Amazon
and boy is she ever excited! Me too, actually ;-). I have
other Carolyn Haywood books, but she doesn't want to read those right
now. Just Betsy. I know she's reading, too, and not just paging through, because she's been telling me all about what's going on. I
was cracking up y'day at her, after getting over a couple of
double-takes. The first thing that made me just grin was I walked
by the bathroom and there she was, perched on the "throne" with her
book on her lap. And reading intently. If you know me,
that's me completely. I feel lost if there is no reading material
in the bathroom, even if I'm only there for a minute LOL. Later,
I walked by her room and she was laying on her bed on her side, head
resting on one hand. One leg was propped high in the air with the
foot from the other leg. ROTFL because I used to do that ALL the
time as a kid! It was not a conscious thing, either. I'd be
watching TV or reading or whatever and my leg would be propped in the
air. My mom used to, too. So funny. Maybe you had to
be there, though ;-).
Since we're on our break from school, I have let her read "just one chapter" at bedtime for the last few nights and she's been very diligent about putting the book away and turning the light off after that particular chapter is done. I can't believe she's going to be 7 so soon. Yikes, but time flies. Edge is just itching to be able to get his military ID when he turns 10. He's so excited that it's now "less than 1.5 yrs away!" ACK! What the heck? That's not that much time and I'll have a 10yo?! Whoo-ee is that ever a weird feeling. |
Aug. 19, 2005
It's hot outside!
So it's about 94/95
degrees out right now - at 5:30pm. I just took the kids to the
store to grab a few things that will be for tomorrow's lunch (trying a
new recipe, here's hoping it works lol) and when we got home and I shut
the van off, immediately it felt hot in there. There wasn't
really even time for it to cool off all the way  .
Now I'm sitting here trying to stay awake. I am super sleepy and
I don't know why. I got plenty of sleep last night, but all
afternoon, I've been feeling like I could fall asleep and just stay
that way . We have a couple of things to do tomorrow for school - yes, I procrastinated them from today until tomorrow, but whatever. Aside from those things, we've just finished 6 weeks of school already! 
Whoo hoo! Now we have 2 weeks off for me to put my house back
together, gather my thoughts and begin another 6 week stretch.
Even though it's sort of a drop in the bucket compared to the whole
year, it's 1/6 of the school year and it's only the 3rd week of
August. I love when I feel like something's been
accomplished. |
Aug. 18, 2005
Up too late
|
So
I'm up too late right now and I'm heading to bed. This evening we kind
of figured out that the herpes problem in dh's eye is probably not
herpes simplex/cold sore type, but the shingles kind - herpes
zoster. I think he's getting it under his upper arm, too. I
got some things at the health store that are supposed to help and so
far, the one he's taking already seems to be working. I hope it
does, because shingles is so painful! Took Nikol w/me to the health store today while the other two stayed w/Dad and worked on math. Nik was so funny and excited once we were in the store. It was the first time we'd ever been there, but he knows I'd been meaning to go to "the health store" to get him some special foods and was he ever excited about that! I sometimes feel so bad for him, yet I'm so proud of him at the same time. He's been dealing w/this for almost a year now and he does so well. Not having any dairy or wheat is a tough one and as his chief "food distributor" (for lack of a better term), it's hard for *me* sometimes, too, to figure out how to incorporate his dietary needs w/the rest of our meals w/out going insane eventually. When he asks about something and is told no, he's very good about it and (this is why it's so sad sometimes, because he takes it in stride and is such a little man about it) says "Because it will make me sick? Ok." So at the store today, we got rice flour bread, "Neopolitan" soy ice cream, goat cheese and mini-shell rice pasta. Soy cheese hasn't worked well for us and he doesn't really like it (I don't blame him). Plus, it has casein in it, which I don't want to mess w/too much w/him. I asked about rice cheese, but they didn't have it there. I might look at a few other places for it, but for now, he was delighted and asked for mac n cheese for lunch :-D. And tonight he had toast w/his dinner. I really (and I mean really) need to find a recipe that works for bread, because I found out tonight how much he really misses it. I think I'd get tired of having my peanut butter and jelly on rice cakes or corn tortillas, too. And hamburgers w/no buns and all that lovely stuff. That's the other thing he's great about - places like McD's. He gets to have a hamburger (or 2) w/no bun, no cheese, no nothing. And call it "hamburger nuggets." He never complains about it and he does adore his fries ;-). Ok, dh just came and asked if I'm coming to bed. Yes, I am, since I'm trying to readjust my internal "clock." :-D. Off to bed now. |
Aug. 16, 2005
Indecent exposure - I guess that's me
|
So
I read this article today that was posted on a group I'm a part
of. Un-bee-leeeee-vuh-bull. I'm going to try to put the
link in and I hope it works. It was about a law in Chandler, AZ where
breast-feeding moms must breast-feed in private or risk citation for
indecent exposure. I am dumb-founded that this warrents a
law. I personally have never exposed anything while BFing in
public and all the people I know who breastfeed (or have BF in the
past) are equally as discreet. Nobody I know of makes a big deal
out of it or a huge display. But according to this new city law,
it's a very big deal and it will be determined by a supervisor if the
person is "unreasonably disturbing others." ???!!! Man, do
I ever wish there was a law about indecent exposure for all the people
in public places (where there are children no less) who expose most of
their cleavage, much of their belly and leave not much to the
imagination on the lower half either, what with pants cut down to
"there" and shorts/skirts cut *up* to "there."
 That's all for now, but I may have more later. Geesh. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0809cr-nursing09-ON.html |
Aug. 15, 2005
God is good
|
I
really am blessed to be homeschooling. I don't always think so,
and yet I know it. Today was a day when I was shown again how
great my God is. Simple things like teaching my children their
science lesson and having them be amazed at how cool God made them
(we're studying the brain this week).
Last Friday, I got to go back in time myself while going over division w/ds1. Divide, multiply, subtract, compare, bring down. WOW did that make me feel like a kid again. The strangest things can take you back sometimes :-). Watching my children write and illustrate their own books together is very inspiring and reminds me to not squelch certain things just because I am being thoughtless. Now, not to say that I can't say "time to stop drawing and get ready for dinner." or whatever, but if I'm asked "Mom, can I do Mountains of Green with Edge?" and I have no real reason to say no, then I shouldn't. BTW, if anyone ever sees a children's series or collection called "Mountains of Green," you'll know it was written by my oldest son and illustrated by my surprisingly artistically gifted daughter :-). I'm also seeing that where I've given good things to my older kids, I've neglected my youngest. More because I see him as a "baby" still when I didn't the others, but it's not really an excuse. While I know that each of them is different, it makes me sad to note that my youngest does not have the same concept of spiritual things that my oldest did at this age. Not at all. And he doesn't wish to know, either. Edge did wish to know and he would ask. I realize that has a lot to do w/the fact that we cultivated it. So even though we've done Bible verses w/Nikol and continue to do so, I'm trying to make it a point to talk to him more about things and I've been reading him a story from the Beginner's Bible every night. Just me and Nik. Edge used to and still does blow my mind w/his discernment and/or understanding of various concepts. Nikol sends my eyebrows shooting towards the ceiling w/his interpretations of spiritual things :-D. He has, for some time, been utterly convinced that God lives on the moon. It is almost a superstitious thing for him, because he'll get very distraught if he can't see the moon, thus, in his mind meaning he can't "see God." He has been completely not open to any other idea of where God is. Last night, however, he mentioned the moon thing to me again and I said that God doesn't live on the moon. I've been telling him more recently that God the Father lives in heaven and so does Jesus, who is God the Son (I know this is a huge concept, but the more I repeat it....), but God's Spirit, Who we call the Holy Spirit, lives in our hearts, so He is always with us. So he asks me "So is God sleeping?" and I told him that no, God never has to sleep. His reply was "Ohhhh, cuz He doesn't have any bed or any house? That's why He's not sleeping?" Sigh. Big Sigh. LOL. He did hear on a video dh and I were watching (because he got up and came into the living room, which is why we were having the whole discussion in the first place) that "God hates sin" and that everybody sins. So he was talking about that w/me and saying that God hates sin, but Jesus doesn't. Now my thoughts have skipped back to school stuff again and since I'm only writing for me, I guess it doesn't matter. About halfway through last school year, I researched and chose a spelling program for Edge that I was happy about. I tried to get into w/him last year and we didn't get very far. This year, I was going to do it better. Well, I've done it with him (not as much as I wanted, but more than before) and looked ahead in the teacher book and I just hate doing it. I totally agree w/their method and I actually chose it because it was based on the same rules we teach the kids phonics with, but it's not helping me teach my son how to spell. So I did what I felt was caving and ordered A Beka Spelling & Poetry 3. I am beating myself up mentally over it, because I feel like a cop-out in this area now. But I also don't really see huge improvement in my son's spelling because the other program is *not* teaching him how to spell. It's reinforcing and building on the phonics rules he already knows. Not a bad thing, but not what I was looking for right now. Oh well. So half of me feels relief that I will be just doing something that is traditionally "spelling," while the other half of me is frustrated w/myself that I didn't make this other program work. I'm keeping it for now, because I think I might like to use it w/Brynna when she's done learning the phonograms. It might be a better place to start for her than where Edge did. But it is almost 11pm now and my thoughts have meandered for long enough lol. I need to try to go to bed at a decent time for a change. And then maybe I can get up early enough to have a Bible reading/prayer time that's quiet and not when anyone else is up to distract me from it ;-). |