A Blog about my daily antics living life with my family of five! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 20 Nov 2006 08:24:00 -0600 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 08:24:00 -0600 Things are starting to come into balance here lately.  Abel will be 2 months old this week.  He's growing fast!  We are all enjoying him so much.  The only problem is a resistant thrush that we have been treating for almost 2 months now.  It's been frustrating to say the least.   If anyone reading has room on their prayer list for my Pop-Pop, I'd sure appreciate your prayers for him.  We found out earlier this month that he has cancer, stage IV - B.  He's going downhill fast but we are so thankful for his good days.  Everything has happened so fast and we are all very shocked and sad.  While a healing miracle is what we want I know that His ways are not our ways.  My biggest request is that everyone will have peace and comfort during this time no matter what the Lord's will is.    Two months ago my Pop-Pop was here meeting Abel, throwing around a football with Austin and wrestling around with all of my kids.  Later that week he raked up 8 bags of leaves.  Having no clue of the cancer within his body.  Just 3 weeks later he was in the hospital and got the diagnosis.  Now he is unable to walk and gets out of breathe with light conversation.   Take the time this holiday season to really enjoy your family.  Don't get caught up in perfecting Chrstmas decorations and meals.  Focus on your love ones.  You never know what the year holds. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/241884/ Mon, 20 Nov 2006 08:24:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/241884/ this post, not the baby! Abel Bradley was born on September 27th.  He weighed 8 lbs. 1oz and was 20" long.  He was our biggest baby.  Labor went fine.  I don't know if it's because I'm older or just simply out of shape but this one took alot out of me.  It probably took 2 weeks for me to walk the length of the house without feeling exhausted.  And I DON'T have a big house!  But all is well and he is a sweetheart. He has a bit of hair and it was blonde but it is quickly turning brown.  Good thing too because the rest of us have dark hair.  He's a good baby.  His brothers and sisters just love him to pieces.   He is 5 weeks old now and this is the first week that we have gotten school done each day as well as most chores and meals.  Everyone told me when I was pregnant with my third that going from two to three was difficult but for us that was not true at all.  However, three to four has really gotten my head spinning!   Well, because of said "head-spinning" I don't think I will get to update often but I will check in from time to time and I'll want to keep up with my "friends" blogs as well.  Ya'll post some real interesting things for me to read so when I do come on I'll feel like an adult who has been among friends! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/231387/ Thu, 2 Nov 2006 17:23:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/231387/ That's what my 5 year old had been calling it.  Pretty accurate discription, don't ya think?   We're supposed to go to the hospital at 5pm to be induced.  More than likely we won't have a baby until tomorrow sometime.  I'm a little nervous.  I wanted to start  labor naturally but with my placenta previa now being low-lying, and with it possibly taking 2 hours to get to the hospital (hosp. is almost an hour away and hubby works an hour away from home) and the fact that I normally have rapid labors, the doctors would like me to be at the hospital for this.   So hopefully, I'll have an announcement in a few days!  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/209297/ Tue, 26 Sep 2006 09:20:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/209297/ Update is that there is no baby yet.  I'm not due until the 30th.  I am completely released from the Perinatologist as my placenta has corrected itself enough.  Praise the LORD!  The estimated weight is that he's 7.5 lbs already...yikes...my biggest baby was 7lbs, 2oz.    Crazy as it sounds, I'm looking forward to delivery.  I love labor and all that but I'm looking forward of staying at the hospital.  I have been very moody lately.  My kids must hate me right now.  Hate is a strong word but I haven't been as pleasant as I should be.  I know having a newborn in the house comes with it's own issues but I'm praying my attitude will be better when I have my body back to myself.  I'm going to miss all the belly gymnastics I've been able to watch and feel though.  He's incredibly active.   Hopefully within the next couple of weeks I will have an announcement to share! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/202220/ Thu, 14 Sep 2006 12:42:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/202220/ I've switched to cloth diapers, that's what!  Who knew that there is a whole world of cute and more importantly, absorbant cloth diapers out there?   After doing hours of research I decided that I CAN DO THIS.  The hardest thing for me was choosing which kind I would use and not overbuying.  I mean there's some SUPER cute things out there!   I decided on getting a few fitted diapers and all of my covers from MotherEase.  Then I bought lots of Chinese prefolds from Little Lions.  I also bought 2 Kissaluv Newborns for Abel.  This was the cheapest way for me to go.  And with the prefolds, you can pretty much make them fit any baby body type as they change.  I received everything and began using them this week.  We've had no leaks at all!  My 2 year old doesn't seem to mind them.  They are not too bulky.  Of course the most important test was actually changing them.  No big deal at all.  I bought some fleece and made liners out of it.  Keeps moisture away from him and makes um...poopy fall right off (sorry!!) NO dunking in the toilet, just toss in the waterless diaper pail like that.  I figure I will wash every other day.   So far we're very happy with the results.  It's so cool to know I don't have to get diapers at the store this week.  I think diapering the 2 year old was the true test and we've done great.  I can't wait for baby Abel to get here!  If you're interested in checking our cloth for you little one, this website has tons of info and links. Check out the Diaper Pin.   I had an OB appointment yesterday.  I'm at 35 weeks!  Everything is going good.  He said that they do not let you get to 41 weeks so we'll definately have a baby within 6 weeks!  I've never been late.  On time with my first son, my daughter was 7 days early and my son was 11 days early so we'll see!   Prayer Request - Please pray for my friends sister, Kelly.  She has a rare brain tumor.  It is not cancer but it is in a bad place, her brain stem.  They are sending her out of state to have surgery.  I'm not sure when.  We're not sure if they have good insurance.  She's in her early 30's and has a 9 year old daughter.  Please remember their family. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/190173/ Fri, 25 Aug 2006 08:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/190173/ Scripture Meditation   James 1:19 - Wherefore, my beloved brethern, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:   Wow.  I'm slow to hear, swift to speak and swift to wrath.  Especially with my family lately.    Prayer Requests   * Finances   * The Morgan family   * Our former church family   * My upcoming delivery - less than 6 weeks to go!   Things I am thankful for:   * The rain we're having right now   * Aaron - as we celebrate his 2nd birthday today    * That gas prices are down   *  My mother   * That the Lord always provides and loves us no matter how hard-headed we are.   Today's Goal   I am not at church today because Aaron is sick.  I have alot of laundry to do (goes along with my "Thankful" list - the Lord always provides!) and I'd like to get it mostly done because I'm expecting lots of cloth diapers this week.  That'll mean more laundry ;-)   Things that I have learned or observed   Other than the fact that I conduct myself the exact opposite as James 1:19...I've learned that putting a fleece liner in a cloth diaper makes clean up almost as easy as a disposible.     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/187230/ Sun, 20 Aug 2006 16:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/187230/ (If that's even how you spell it!)  Our brain is fried    Can ANYONE solve those B-dazzle Scrambled Squares puzzles?????  We have the Washington, D.C. one and have yet to solve it.  Is there a hint anyone can give us?  What are we missing?  I enjoy a good challange but there's a point where it's absolutely NOT FUN ANYMORE!!!  We're there....HELP!!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/179852/ Mon, 7 Aug 2006 16:33:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/179852/ Well, our first week of school is complete and it went well!  We still have a project to do but we may do that over the weekend.  Now, to plan for next week.  I have the basic plan but there's details I need to figure out.  I'm pleased with how everything turned out this week.   I had an ultrasound yesterday.  We got a neat "face" picture of the baby.  He looks chubby!  I still have what is condidered a low lying placenta but they feel that I will not have to have a c-section because of it.  Praise the Lord!  I go back in 4 weeks to have another one.  Everything else is looking great.  He weighs 3lbs. 4oz. already.  That sounds like a lot to me.  I'm only 31 weeks but they said it was normal.  I can't wait to hold him!   I have a prayer request.  We had a family at our church for a while.  They had been transferred here for a job.  They were a young couple (20's maybe 30) they had a baby girl who had cerebal palsy and then shortly after started expecting their 2nd child.  They moved to be closer to their family.  This morning I got an email that the husband passed away in his sleep this week.  They think it had to do with medication he was taking.  My heart breaks for the wife.  She has maybe a 1-1/2 year old and then a newborn.  Please keep the Morgan family in your prayers. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/174415/ Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/174415/ We started school today!  I had planned to start next week but we had all of our supplies and the kids were anxious, so we started today.  We had a family meeting Sunday afternoon to get everyone familiar with everythng since we are doing things a little differently.   The morning went well.  I had the kids doing their Language Arts and Math first.  My 4th grader does most of that on his own but my kindergartener needs me there with her.  We finished up early and my son did some of his Tapestry of Grace reading and I read aloud to my daughter.   Lunch time came and we breaked.  While we were eating the sun was pouring in just right and the kids we making shadow puppets.  It reminded me of those profile things so traced their profiles on black paper.  While they were having rest time I cut them and glued them to white paper.  They thought that was cool.  We may just do that every "first day" of school.   After rest time we read a cool book, Geography A to Z.  Then we filled in a world map and a map of Ancient Egypt.  We enjoyed that.  My kindergartener impressed me after seeing the Ancient Egypt map she pulled out the World map we had just finished and pointed to the Nile on that map and showed it to me.  I thought that was impressive!   It seemed like a long day but it was fun.  Am I the only one who struggles with doing it all though?  It's hard for me to get school done and enjoy it with everyone and keep the house duties up and plan for dinner and take care of any phone calls, ect that need to be made too.  Something is going to have to slide a bit when the baby comes.    My one year old (well he'll be 2 next month!!) just plays around us all day.  He'll color or play with Play-Doh at the table (when we're at the table too).  Or he'll entertain himself with legos and matchbox cars on the floor.  I realized this summer that he likes Barney so I set the DVR to record it and he watched some of it.  Just when we needed  a laugh or diversion today, he was right there making us laugh.   This week should be a fun week.  I think we're all going to love TOG.   I have another ultrasound on Thurday.  Praying the Previa is corrected and everything continues to look great.  I can't wait to meet this little guy.  He's a bundle of energy, I know that!  Less than 10 weeks to go!!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/172184/ Mon, 24 Jul 2006 18:34:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/172184/ I'm outgrowing all of my borrowed maternity clothes.  Very frustrating.  I really dislike maternity dresses.  They really make me look and feel very, very wide.  I like skirts and shirts better.  I went to 2 different consignment shops yesterday looking for something, anything that would fit around me.  Nothing.   So today I'm off to Kohl's.  I hate spending full price for something I'm probably going to outgrow again before I deliver (I'm 29 weeks) but I'm desparate.  I see a need for full-figured maternity shop in my area.  We have a Motherhood, but there's not much there unless you were a string bean before pregnancy.  If you want real sleeves and decent length anything, you'd be hard pressed to find something there.  I was a size 12/14 and somewhat large "up top".  That's my biggest problem.  Everything is too tight in the chest.  I may need to stay at home in pajama's 'til delivery!   On a better note.  I passed my 3 hour glucose test (failed the 1 hour) and I'm measuring normally.  Last time I had measured 3 weeks ahead but I think he just mis-measured.  I go in 2 weeks to the perinatalogist for another ultrasound to check the placenta previa.  It has gone from complete to marginal so we're praying that it will correct and be able to have natural delivery.  How exciting! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/166871/ Fri, 14 Jul 2006 10:07:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Fimsey/166871/