My blog has been neglected...my childen however have not. I want to keep the blog active and have hopes that soon I will be able to post again. Thank you for visiting. I will post about the State Fair and Share the Fun soon.
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I was listening to a podcast tonight and heard a few lines that really hit home...
1) I told God I was willing to do whatever he called me to do and He said good I want you to be a mom. (paraphrased)
the speaker went on to explain how she expected to be called to something more challenging and was disappointed by the limited call. She later discovered that the job she had been given was one of them most challenging and rewarding she had ever faced.
2) "I kept feeling I needed to have more kids so I could get it right."
I still need to finish the podcast but that line was just such an affirmation for me :)
I looked up the podcast and it's Sally Clarkson on WATCH talk. You can download or listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/WATCHTalk/2009/02/03/I-Take-Joy-with-Sally-Clarkson
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It's time for my high school reunion. 20 years later and everyone begins to question what they have done with their life. Most people have a point where depression sets in: for some it's their "big" birthday 3-0 or 4-0, for some it's the reunion 10 year or 20. I am happy to say that the same thing that made me "odd" during school remains. I have more than my family had, by the family standards I am a "success!" I did have an advantage of not having anything expecte of me. lol It's hard to be a failure when nothing is expected of you. I didn't fail to ___________ anything. I have actually accomplished much, and nothing was expected so it's all bonus. As a result I have decided that I want to start a reasons I am happy list. I don't want to be greedy about it either, I want everyone to add to it. Think about what you have done that makes you happy with your life. Think about what you have been given that makes you happy. Think of your blessings and be happy. If you are inclined add to the list here, if not add to the list in your head and use the list for those times when you start to think of what is not. Be grateful for what you have, have done and most importantly for the love in your life that you don't deserve.
1. I served my country for 8 years, honorably.
2. I married a man that I love and that loves me.
3. I have a 12 year old son that is very intelligent and kind.
4. I have a 9 year old son that is very sensitive and defensive of the rights of all.
5. I have a 4.5 year old son that loves his family and gives great hugs.
6. I have a 2 year old son that likes to help with the chores and still is a baby in many ways.
7. I have a newborn son that is healthy and growing well.
8. I have a home that is over full with things we both need and want.
9. I have the freedom to educate my children at home.
10. My children are happy to embrace our beliefs and values.
11. My children are friends with each other.
12. The other children on the block know that my children will treat them fairly and will play with them regardless of their age.
13. My children are learning to do chores so that they can maintain their own home someday.
14. We have all we need to eat, and enough extra that my children have never had to go to bed hungry.
I will be adding to this list, but for now the children need me to interact with them instead of the computer. :)
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I made it to the planned c/s and even had to wait a bit due to an emergency that bumped us back some. Baby boy #5 was born at 1:08pm on April 30. He weighed in at 7lb 13 oz and 19.5 inches. We were able to leave the hospital after only 2 nights (the c/s recovery was going very well) and have been home for 1 week. He had a check up yesterday and has gained 1lb and 1 inch already!
I lost 21 lbs in 1 week! of course the next 26 that I need to loose will take most of the next year (if I'm lucky) but that is a great jump start :). 146 and counting.
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I'm having contractions about 15 minutes apart, fairly strong but not too bad. AJ woke up from a nap with a fever of 102.1, the power went out (but is back now). Odds that today will be the day? Any bets?
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All is well. BH contractions are becomming more frequent, but that's normal. Little bit wouldn't move around for the doctor so I had to do my first NST of this pregnancy, which he passed. I don't have another office visit. Next week I go in for pre-op instead and will just see the dr for the surgery.
IF I have 6 contractions in 1 hour or the kick count becomes a problem then I'll see her sooner, but otherwise it's just waiting out the BH contractions now.
wt 166 (eeeK)
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All is well for another week. Head measuring right on track, femur right on track, stomach measuring "a little big but it's not a problem."
weight 164
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My appointments fell close together so there's really not much to report. All is still as it should be. The doctor did have to "poke" the baby a few times to get a response, but the response was given so no NST at this appointment.
Weight back to 161, so not an issue with loosing.
Passed the protein test.
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My oldest son took a class at the local chapter of Amearican Red Cross this weekend on babysitting. He is legally old enough that we can leave the other children with him but he has never really expressed an interest in caring for them. I wanted him to be "certified" so that if I ever needed him to actually stay with his siblings I would feel comfortable. He is now wanting to get a job babysitting. I've told him that he will need to do some practice sitting for me (as a means of paying of the class) before I will let him take any outside jobs. Some of our friends have been considering sending their children to the class so I asked him to do a review for them. It's not refined but we did spell check it before sending it. I'm going to post it here, just incase anyone else wants to know about it.
FYI, the class ended 30 minutes early and the instructor did not contact parents to pick the children up. I arrived 15 minutes early and my son was waiting in the lobby for me. He wasn't upset and didn't complain of being bored, but you may want to leave a cell phone with your children if you have them attend the class. I guess that if they are old enough to care for other children unsupervised, they are old enough to be left alone in a building for 30 minutes.
American Red Cross Babysitter Training Class by JP
I learned how to babysit today. I also learned leadership, respect, controlling the child and how to enforce proper time outs. I learned a skill called “Check-Call-Care.” That is when you check the area and child, call 911, and care for the child to make sure they are safe. You would use that if the child is unconscious or bleeding. If there is no pulse or breathing you perform CPR. We learned child and infant CPR. I learned how to help someone that is choking both if they are conscious or unconscious. I learned 1st aid for bee stings, burns, cuts, broken bones, muscles that disconnect from bones, and nose bleeds.
I recommend the class because it is very useful if you are thinking about babysitting. They taught us to follow the family rules, to only let the child do what they are normally allowed to do, and how to incorporate all other items into babysitting if the proper scenario should occur.
The class also included instruction to join a sitter organization or to post signs in an area that is used a lot. You are always suppose to interview with the parents about the rules and what the child is and is not allowed to do.
I received a babysitter backpack which includes: 2 first aid kits, a handbook on babysitting, an emergency reference guide, a babysitting cd, a red cross event calendar, a parent interview form, an emergency numbers and family information form and a contact form. I also received 2 certification cards one for babysitting which does not expire and one for 1st aid which is good for 3 years.
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35 weeks, everything seems fine. I have to do a 24 hour protein test, which requires collecting urine for 24 hours. My husband thinks it's a great opprotunity to tease me, so at least there is some fun from it. I turn in the sample tommrow and give blood on the way to DS#3's OT appointment. I did some research and it seems that my diabetes could hide the symptoms for preeclampsia so the test is a way to watch for that. I hope that does not mean I will be doing this every week!
weight has gone down 2 lbs to 159...back under 160 whoo hoo. The doctor is working on getting my nexium approved and gave me 15 days supply to hold me over. Not waking up sick is a big help.
c/s is planned for April 30th at 12pm. My DH is betting 1 week before. I figure it will be a Wednesday since DS#3 has appointments for every Wed. this month. I'm praying things go "as planned" this time because the stress would be so much less. BUT I know that plans are only made to be guidelines that are ever changing where babies are concerned.
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3/28/09 about 1pm the snow had stopped falling
3/29/09 about 6pm the snow had mostly disappeared
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I went today for my first weekly appointment. I got the next 5 appointments on the calendar (one Thursday the rest Tuesday) and will be having my c/s on April 30, if all goes well. One benifit of having an ultrasound machine in almost every room, I did not need to spend 20 minutes hooked up to a monitor to ensure all is well with the baby. The doctor was able to see breathing motion and movements in less than 5 minutes and I was able to wonder away. I got a new prescription for the indigestion, pepcid is not doing the trick anymore. It seems the insurance companies don't want to approve the new medicine, but I'll fight for it if it means I won't need to get up in the middle of the night for tums.
weight up to 161...I hope to never be over 130 again after this pregnancy, I feel like a whale!
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I had my last regular endo appointment today. I still will be faxing her my numbers weekly and making adjustments as needed but since my due date is 7 weeks away and I'll be having a c/s in 6 weeks or less she said she will see me again 6 weeks post op. My DH seemed surprised that she truely expects me to become a "regular" diabetic after delivery instead of everything going away.
My body still has not adjusted to the morning insulin. At 1 hour after I fail the test, 2 hours after I pass, 3 hours after I am at a dangerously low number. I adjusted how I have been doing this today and it worked, although it should not have because it is not the proper way to do it. I explained what I did and why and we are going to continue to try it this way for a couple days. If it works well then I just have to accept that I truely am odd...if not then we will have to find a diffrent adjustment. Either way I only have 6 weeks of injections left to deal with. If all goes well that will only be 126 more times that I need to poke myself.
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I didn't post about the last visit because there really isn't much to say. I start weekly visits after the next visit. With the kids doctor visits and my weekly ones I'm going about 2 times a week to doctors for the next 2 months.
My #3 son is starting speech therapy and occupational therapy (for sensory issues) until the end of April. I'm hoping son #5 will wait to be born until after the appointments are over, or at least not weekly anymore.
All is well here. We are keeping up with our school work but also keeping very busy. I'll try and post at least bi-weekly for anyone that follows my notes. I will definately post after son #5 is born either way.
Hope all is well with you as well. Here's a round picture, I'm starting to get uncomfortable, but in 7 weeks (or less but lets hope for 7 weeks) I'll be having a c/s.
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Are really boring. I had to take the 4 1/2 year old with me because he had an appointment soon after. He wasn't excited to see the ultrasound picture, but he was pretty well behaved. Nothing new and exciting to report. I go back in 2 weeks then start weekly visits. I was warned that I will be starting the "monitoring" (NST) at the next appointment if everything can't be seen (like if he's sleeping) as needed on the ultrasound. That means an extra about 20 minutes...and that I should eat lunch about 30 minutes before my appointment ;)
weight 156, I don't remember if that was a weight gain or if I was wearing lighter clothes.
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Mardi Gras is past and Lent has begun. As usual my family will be trying to learn a new prayer that we feel is important. Each of us has selected something to try and "give up" to improve our time with Jesus. I have chosen to "fast" from the computer. I will be checking in one time daily to my groups that are not very active (I have 3) and I will be checking my email 2-3 times daily maximum. I will be using 1 hour or less per day to check the freebies that I usually try and get if the are good for my family. (If I run out of time then I will just miss out on checking that days freebies.) I will also continue my beta test of Write Shop C, which is done online. Otherwise I will only be posting updates on my doctors visits for those in the family that don't get to hear otherwise. If you don't see much on my blog until Easter please assume all is well with us.
May God bless each of you during this season of Lent and help you to prepare for Easter!
Y
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I had my first bi-weekly appointment today. I understand the reasons, but it just seems so overkill. I took my now 12 year old along and he got to see the ultrasound images. He was happy but not really thrilled. The thrilling part came after the appointment really, he got to meet the doctor that pulled him into this world. His whole life he's been hearing about this gigantic man that came in and helped to avoid a c/s by helping to deliver him in the final push. Even with 12 years age added Dr. Aikman is still a very large man. He's not nearly as scary looking (he's lost quite a bit of weight) but his hands are still quite large and JP had to look up more to him then he's use to looking up. That was a pretty neat moment.
weight 156.9, up 4 pounds from 2 weeks ago 12 overall according to their records.
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I went to the Endo again today. I got a much better explination of how I am suppose to be doing my new insulin. I had been told over the phone a straight dose to do with breakfast, which was a good start. Now I've been told how to adjust the amount to what I am eating and hope to see better numbers come from the extra poke. If I continue with 3 injections a day I will have 210 or less injections until the baby is born. At least I have a number that is the max, unless I start needing it with lunch or dinner. I am active enough in the afternoons/evenings that it is not anticipated. Drat those mornings with kids and my lazy hide (lol).
weight was 152.8, I've been seeing the Endo longest so that is my most accurate weight record. I'll need to go back and see what I've weighed each month when I went to see her...for now AJ is about to pull my arm off so I'd better go without spell check.
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My preschooler has started to show some interest in coloring and counting in the last few months. I went on a search for resources to make an alphabet book with him. I ran across a FREE "Chicka Chicka ABC" lapbook CHickaBoomTotBook. I wanted to share with any of you that might enjoy it as well.
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There is a wonderful resource out there that started in the last year. According to the owner of the site they still need to spread the word. I don't personally know any homeschoolers that haven't heard of it yet so I'll post this weeks list of freebies here and if you haven't visited it before you can visit this week and see just how nice it is.
Monday, Feb 16th:
Great President's Day Resource Links! (links)
Want to make the most of President's Day? Check out these
Lesson Plans, virtual tours, poetry & the actual papers
of presidents Washington & Lincoln!
Tuesday, Feb 17th:
A Chinese Wonder Book (PDF ebook)
This fascinating collection of Chinese stories and legends,
edited by Maggie Hogan of Bright Ideas Press, is a great
literature-based introduction to the rich history and
culture of China. Includes a read-aloud guide.
Wednesday, Feb 18th:
"Harriet Tubman & the Railway to Freedom" (MP3 audio)
A classic old time radio dramatization of the story of
Harriet Tubman and the activities of
the "underground railroad" during slave years.
Thursday, Feb 19th:
Blessed Is The Man: High School Unit Study Sampler (PDF ebook)
"Blessed is the Man" is a wonderful High School Unit Study
geared to Christian young men, and based on Psalm 1.
Today's resource is this extensive 74 page preview
of the complete four year curriculum - normally $10 on the
publisher's website - but yours to download today!
If you have growing boys in your household, DON'T MISS THIS!
Friday, Feb 20th:
Creatively Simple: How to Make Butter in the Blender (PDF ebook)
Learning to make butter is something everyone should do at least once.
This simple ebook by Penny Raine can teach you how, using items you
probably already have in your kitchen. Detailed instructions and lots of
pictures.
You can get all of these on their respective days at
www.HomeschoolFreebieOfTheDay.com
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