Life as Onduli - Homeschool Blogger

update

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 11:32:00 -0500

I have updated my other blog....

A Good Quote

Wed, 6 Aug 2008 18:28:00 -0500

Read a good quote ...

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

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

Update - June

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 10:37:00 -0500

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

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

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

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

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

sweet baby starting to play a little....

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

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

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

Update - Vacation

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 10:12:00 -0500

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

and here's my boys hanging out at a hotel

Update - May

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:37:00 -0500

During May was baby's baptism :)

the family pic...

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

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

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

and the beginning of summer heat and summer fun :)

the beginning of the sweet smiles...

and closing with another one of my favorites...

Update - April

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:27:00 -0500

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

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

God's Gift to us

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:29:00 -0500

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

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

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

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

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

Any day now

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:47:00 -0500

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

Not much longer

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:12:00 -0500

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

Baby Update

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:11:00 -0600

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