Leaflet Academy

Thanking God

7:58 AM, Jan. 31, 2009 .. 5 comments .. Link

Well my kids have been ill for the past week. You know how it goes, ONE child gets sick, but by the time they're better their sibling has started getting sick, and it goes on. I think I had five nights of severely broken sleep in a row. I THINK because my brain was severely messed with by the end of it, and couldn't remember when it all started!

Yesterday I prayed and begged God for a night's sleep. I was worried by that point that I'd had so much caffeine to get through the day that even if the kids slept I wouldn't!

God was faithful. I went to bed and could feel the heaviness of a deep sleep falling over me. I barely stirred when Ken came home at midnight. I was woken at 5.30 by Jacob but managed to spend the next hour in bed cuddling him before I gave up and got up.

I feel MUCH BETTER today! Thank you God!

I do not know if we can go to church tomorrow. My middle two are still coughing all over the place and I am worried about spreading it. Also Jasmine just started getting sick yesterday but she seems to have only gotten a mild dose. I mean SOMEONE would go to church tomorrow, but I want the whole family to go. Besides needing that nourishment, it is the first week of Sunday School for the year, and Savannah gets to go up into a new class. SO... I want to go :D

Plus it seems stupid to miss church when I'm feeling so thankful to God for my night's sleep!

Jacob probably got it the worst, but that was because his formula, being dairy (or imitation, anyway), was causing him to vomit and have diarrhoea. Of course I spent four hours up at the hospital before they got a doctor who knew what was going on.

So Jaidyn was on electrolytes all day yesterday instead of formula and he was much better. Hence my sleep at night :D I gave him a formula feed just then, he was crying and he'd had a nappy change, and he'd had electrolytes just two hours before so I reckon'd he was hungry. I gave him half his normal feed and he's sleeping happily. He might have more frequent smaller feeds today, just to see how he goes.

For those who don't know, Jacob is being fed via nasal gastric tube. This means that he can't just refuse the bottle when he's full. So I have to be careful in how much I give him! That's why I only offered him half his formula feed. We'll see how it goes.

I actually took Jacob up to the hospital three times this week. Once was because he was sick, of course. Once was because he pulled his nasal gastric tube out and it needed to be replaced. And once was because he needed some blood taken for testing.

You see, when Jacob was just born and in the neonatal special care unit, one of the nurses fed him another woman's breast milk. Now that woman has been tested for all the nasties and it came back negative, but apparently at three months Jacob was to be tested too.

SO I'm glad they've already tested the mother so I'm expecting negative results. I don't think I could sleep at night knowing that my baby is undergoing testing for HIV and other nasties and I didn't know the results yet!

We ended up taking the week off school. With everyone sick it was just a nightmare. This was actually the first week of school for everyone else in Queensland, but we'd started school during the holidays anyway so I'm not too worried. We'll start back up again on Monday.

Jasmine is highly motivated to learn how to tell time. This is because I promised her a watch when she can tell analogue time. I meant a cheap kids' watch but she saw a beautiful (to her) girls watch at the jewellers yesterday. Should have left her outside with Dad, lol. Oh well. It's under forty dollars and it will last a lot longer than a cheapo watch. It has nice big numbers for children to read too. And it does have her motivated.

Of course my sneakiness is in the fact that the 'reward' is actually continued practice in the skill being learned. Which is the only reason I offered a reward, really. Normally learning is its own reward, in this house.

We are enjoying Sonlight. WOW are we enjoying Sonlight. We're in week four in some areas, more behind in others. We've finished the first read aloud, we couldn't slow down to the schedule SL provided, oh well. It was the first book in 'The Boxcar Children' series, and it was just too exciting for Jasmine! The next Read Aloud was 'the Apple and the Arrow' which is the story of William Tell. During the first chapter Jasmine was complaining of being bored, but now we're halfway through the second and she cries when I'm too busy with sick little ones to read any that day! We'll finish it this week, I'm thinking. She's read some of the read alouds already, so I'll read those ones as bedtime stories just so we can still share them and discuss them, and go ahead in the daytime with the unread stories. I am hoping to finish earlier in the year and read some Australian children's books at the end of the year.

She doesn't mind the history, bible, or quiet reading components either. This will take a little more organisation than last year, but it does seem a good fit for us. A little organisation never killed anyone.

Unfortunately we will have to purchase the next two levels of our math books right away. Prof B died, and the company is in new hands. They will not be printing any more hard cover copies of their books, they will be charging monthly for online access to lessons. This means that we would have to pay for each child as they got to school age, not just buying the set of books and using them for each child. So we have to buy level two and three now. I'm hoping we'll be up to level two by Easter.

Oh well better get Kenny up.
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Thanks!

7:52 AM, Feb. 1, 2009 .. Posted by lovinmomma
Thank you so much for your comments on my blog. It's always nice to talk to another mother who has actually tried out the curriculum that you are looking at. It sounds like you have had a rough time lately. I will be praying for you and your family.

Almost forgot

2:28 PM, Feb. 1, 2009 .. Posted by lovinmomma
Thanks for the idea about ordering a catalog. I went and did that. Also, I found it interesting that I am also picky when it comes to what my children will use to learn to read. Our programs that we use are similar. You use phonics and I use phonograms (or at least I will use). My program (curriculum) is called Spell to Write and Read by Wanda Sanseri. I have seen this stuff work. It's awesome. It is pretty dry, so you have to add your own ideas to it for hands-on stuff if you want it, but I won't teach my kids to read any other way.

Hello from Florida

4:03 PM, Feb. 2, 2009 .. Posted by Lovegrandma
Hi, I used to live in Melbourne VIC. Am back in US now and will be helping my daughter homeschool her three little angels. Patrick almost 4, Casey 2 and Rachel 9 mos. She also has a 16 year old, Drew. Would love to blog with you. New to blogging too.

Untitled Comment

1:05 AM, Feb. 4, 2009 .. Posted by TheMunchkinsMama
Thank you for stopping by my blog!!! :) I enjoy reading yours as well.

Wow!

6:58 AM, Feb. 8, 2009 .. Posted by OldPathsMom
I can't believe the craziness of your life! I've had those weeks/months/years. God is so good to us. I'll have to spend much more time here because your blog looks interesting.

Thank you for your comments on my diet blog. I don't have a dr to call. I have insulin issues and a hard time with wt loss which is why my endo put me on a low carb diet. The one I was just recommended doesn't sound that great to me either but the reasoning behind it appears sound. I don't know what to do any more. I'm bordering on desperate.