Okay, it is entirely possible that I’m just a big dork but check out this video. Who am I kidding? I AM a big dork. 
Look at the joy on everyone’s faces. It made me cry. I know, I know I’m pathetic. But I think its cool.
Dancing Matt June 28, 2008
This is what summer is about! June 27, 2008
I am having the best summer in a long time. I’m living it through my children’s eyes. We went swimming yesterday, what a blast! Didn’t even get burned too bad, which is unusual for me.
Aren’t they cute?!
Then, today, we “rescued” a baby bunny in our back yard that had been caught out in a really bad thunderstorm this morning. Now, I know better. I know that wild animals should almost ALWAYS be left alone, that they can fend for themselves better than we think. But my human maternal side came out in a gush of “Aww, I don’t want the neighbors cat to eat him. Poor bunny!”
Then, as I’m researching how to care for a baby bunny, I find that “Thumper” will almost certainly die if kept inside with my feeble attempts at mothering him. So, faced with the decision of traumatizing my children by trying to care for Thumper inside and him dying a painful, messy and undignified death or putting him back outside to let nature decide whether he lived or died, he went back outside. And very happily hopped away to nibble on clover.
We then went to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive center for the kids to take part in the Junior Explorers program. Its free (always a plus) and hands on, and they learn so much! Today they made journals to draw pictures of wildflowers that they liked on our nature walk. Then we walked through the wildflower garden. Most of the plants in the garden are ones that Lewis and Clark discovered on their expedition. I didn’t bring my camera, so sorry, no pictures! But we found baby grasshoppers, bumblebees and a really big cool beetle that met an untimely end by my 4 year old and 21 month old. We learned how to use compasses and will continue learning about them the next time we go, probably the week after next. On our way to the car, I see this odd little animal flopping around in a puddle and suddenly realize it’s a mole! So cool! We watched him make his way over to the grass where he suddenly became very quick and dug himself a tunnel and disappeared.
On to Mamaw’s house, where the boys found a garter snake. Oldest boy touched it and was so proud of himself as he’s usually incapacitated by fear of wild things.
All in all, this has been the best couple of days I’ve had in a long time. I hope we have alot more chances to have experiences like this.
Back on track! June 25, 2008
We are officially back on track. We are doing school consistently again and I’m working on getting our schedule up and running. We use ChorePacks and MOTH from www.titus2.com Very helpful if you’d like to check it out. I “fell of the wagon”, if you will, when littlest caterpillar was still nursing. For those of you who aren’t familiar with us, he’s 21 months now, and hasn’t nursed since he was 5 months old. So it’s taken me a considerable amount of time to get it together. But back together I am getting and I’m excited. What changed my outlook? Well a couple of things.
1) I received a well placed, well deserved (but loving) kick in the pants from my husband.
2) The midwife I’ve been talking to suggested I do an iodine test. I did and discovered that my thyroid was seriously deficient in its functions. So I’ve been taking a couple of different supplements and the difference in how I feel is seriously amazing.
I am rarely needing a nap anymore. I can sleep 7-8 hours at night and make it through the whole day. I’m off of coffee (that is a huge step for me). And I am more motivated than I have been in a very long time. So on the subject of being motivated, one of the things I have been looking at is Ambleside Online. It’s based on Charlotte Mason. Have any of you used this before? I welcome any comments on it. I think the concept sounds great but actually putting it into practice is something else. I have 3 kids that I’ll be schooling next fall so, anyone with experience doing this with multiple grade levels, I would appreciate that input as well.
As I’m sure other veteran homeschoolers can understand, some curriculums look great in theory but in practice are a logistical nightmare. We tried Weaver our first year and it was way too much for me. It was a nice program but circumstances made it impossible to keep up with all the prep work and activities. We ended up not even using the curriculum and just winging it the rest of the year.
Well, that’s what’s new on the schooling front. I’m not sure what’s next, birth stories or devotions that have really hit home. I guess we’ll see what strikes my fancy the next time I’m at the computer.
I don’t want to go to school! June 14, 2008
I feel so bad for my caterpillars. We are doing school all summer long. Okay, maybe, I feel more sorry for myself than I do for them. They actually enjoy school and learning so they aren’t all that upset about schooling all summer. And while I’m happy for their attitude, love of learning is one of our goals in homeschooling, I really wanted to spend the summer sewing and hanging out with friends drinking iced coffee and chatting while our kids ran amuck in the yard.
And I am procrastinating right now…I’m sitting here writing a post instead of gathering the troops for school. Its sunny out and it isn’t raining and the ground is semi-dry. That hasn’t happened a whole lot yet this summer. The kids are outside running around playing and having a blast. I don’t want to interrupt their fun. They aren’t fighting at all just having a good time with each other. Those of you who have more than one child know that those moments are rare and fleeting.
Too many interests, not enough time June 13, 2008
We all have to prioritize, right? But it’s so hard… I want to do it all. I’m incredibly fascinated (obsessed?) with homebirth/midwifery. I’d love to apprentice to be a midwife but with 4 caterpillars at home 7 and under and probably (hopefully) more to come, I couldn’t devote the time in order to really be what I would need to be or what the women I served would need of me. My kids and hubby would suffer from neglect, my home would not be the haven it is right now. So that cannot be pursued in a manner that will lead to a career right now. Thanks to a wonderful, passionate-about-homebirth friend, though, I am still learning all I can about it all. She has so graciously allowed me to attend her prenatal appointments and her birth. I am in awe. I only pray that I will someday be able to let my body do what it was meant to do without “help”.
All four of our caterpillars were hospital births. It is only by the grace of God that there were no major complications. I was induced with all but one and still ended up on pitocin with that one. I had epidurals with all of them. My first, I was induced 2 weeks “late”, made it 9 out of 11 hours of labor without drugs and then begged for an epidural b/c I had lost control and couldn’t breathe. I had nightmares for months afterwards. My second, I was induced 2 weeks early because he was so big. I had an epidural right away because I thought “Why suffer?”. I thought it was great but realize that we (hubby and I) lost something in that process. I didn’t have to lean on him, I didn’t “need” him, which I’m only realizing now, really affected our relationship with each other. He felt like a third wheel. Sad, huh? My third sweetie, I went into labor on my own, went to the hospital where they broke my water. He promptly went back up north and I was told I had 8 hours to have him or I would have to have a c-section. They put me on pit, and sat me in a rocking chair where I proceeded to rock/pray this child out. Contractions had been very tolerable before the pit but after the pit, I again couldn’t deal, so got yet another epidural. Now we come to baby #4. I’ve learned alot, learning how to work with contractions and not against them. How to relax instead of tensing up. How to disappear into myself so it wasn’t overwhelming. Practiced alot because of lots of premature labor. But then, my water broke and no signs of labor anywhere. My doctor said “Well, we can wait awhile but your chances of infection go up every hour that labor doesn’t start. If you get an infection, you will have to have a c-section.” Sign me up, doc. Induce me please. I was resigned to never have a natural labor and birth. I have a MAJOR fear of any type of surgery, particularly one that they would want to keep me conscious for. Just the mention of a cesarean breaks me out in a cold sweat.
All of my babies have been very healthy and in the 8 lb range. And now, I’ve learned so much that I can see God’s hand on them and I as we labored and delivered. By all accounts, I picked one of the most dangerous places to give birth. I used to trust my doctor and the medical community implicitly. Not so much anymore. I’m continually amazed as I discover the distance between what the “establishment” tells us as mothers and the reality that God created our bodies with the incredible ability to birth babies and not just be “delivered”. I am looking forward to my next pregancy and the opportunity to tie strings with my husband as we learn to work together to birth our next little caterpillar.
Other interests are homeschooling (kind of a priority), homesteading (self sufficient living), knitting, cooking, baking, sewing and gardening. Maybe I can learn to better manage my time so I can do it all. We’ll see.
Hello world! June 12, 2008
I have high hopes for this blog! Friends and family, come on by to see what’s new in our lives! New friends, stop on by, I’d love to meet you.
