Baby Quatre: 17 Weeks

Baby Quatre is coming along nicely, he or she is moving all the time. In fact, at my 16 week appointment, the NP had a hard time keeping the baby on the doppler long enough to get a good heart beat reading, so she had to guesstimate 155. She said this baby moved more than any baby has in a long time. I'm taking that as a good sign for a healthy baby. We find out the sex on January 7, but at this point, have decided to keep the sex a secret until birth. However, I suck at keeping secrets, so that may or may not happen.

As for me, I'm starting to feel a little better. I'm only having morning sickness about every other day. I'm still exhausted all the time. I'm hoping within a few weeks, I will feel better and have an energy burst, but I've been saying that for a few weeks now.

 

Homeschooling: What I Have Learned

Now that I am a bit more seasoned in homeschooling, I thought I would share what I have learned and what I have changed.

First, homeschooling is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Not the teaching aspect, but the finding time and forcing yourself to get to it. It is so easy to say, "We will do it tomorrow." Then tomorrow comes, and something comes up, and you don't get to it, then you find yourself piling 3 days into 1.

The next thing I learned was, having a school room is dumb. Maybe it works for some people. But it wasn't for us, it was much easier to do school work at the dining room table, or living room floor, or even the kitchen table while I washed dishes. Not only that, but baby quatre will be needing the school room soon.

I also learned you don't need a lot of stuff. The posters, the big colorful calendar, none of that was needed. All you need is your curriculum, or books, paper, pencils, and you and your children.

A two year old is easier to handle while teaching your older children if you include her, give her a piece of paper, a coloring book and crayons, and she sits and listens, and learns. She sits right along with Parker saying "B says buh".

You also don't need to do everything all at once. In the beginning, I would do math, then language and phonics, then social studies/science/health, then spelling, then any extras. By the time we were done for the day, both boys were spent, I was spent, and we were tired of being around each other. Yes it got it all done and out of the way early. But then I changed it up, we still do math first because it is the most hated subject, but then we take a break, have a snack, play outside, play a game, watch TV, or whatever else. Then we move on to something else, take a break, then something else, take a break, and so on. Yes it can take all day, but there is no burnout, and the kids are learning quicker, there is no whining, no "Are we done yet?" Some days we do still knock it all out in the morning if we have somewhere to be or if the kids want to keep going. Some days we take one or two breaks, some days we take a break between everything. We take it day by day. The kids take the lead, and I am fine with that as long as it gets done. Yep, we might be practicing spelling at 6 at night, but it works for us.


One of the most important things I have noticed, is Landon is not as mouthy, he is not as colorful in his choice of words, and he isn't so into popular items. For example, this time last year, I heard Oh my God! several times a day. Now I hear, Oh my goodness gracious! instead. Last year he was saying crap, even though he knew that was a no no in our home, I would still catch him saying it. I haven't heard it in a while now.

All in all, I would say homeschool has been a success for our family. Is it right for every family? No. Is it right for your family? Maybe, that is a choice that every family has to make for themselves.

Baby Quatre: Week 13

I had my 12 week check up last week, and we got our first ultrasound. There is only one baby in there and he or she looks fantastic. Baby was moving so much that the tech had a really hard time getting pictures and our print outs are not great. Baby has really long skinny legs.

With every pregnancy, I always forget how easy it is to love someone so small and that you don't really know yet.

As far as how I have been feeling, I have been so sick this entire pregnancy, I am 13 weeks now, so I am hoping it goes away soon. I have also been extremely tired. Yawn. I am ready for some energy again.

In the end, it will be so worth it and I am so glad there is a healthy baby growing.

There was a bit of bad news. I have one very large 6cm x 7cm fibroid at the top of my uterus. I also have several hanging around my uterus, but they are all less than 2cm. Doctor said he isn't very concerned about it, but he is going to watch it. It has been what is causing me problems and pain, so while it really sucks to have pain and a little bleeding, it is nice to know that it isn't hurting or caused from my baby. He said he was a little concerned about preterm labor, but with the location, it would be rare, so he thinks this pregnancy will be easy and a relatively easy delivery. I will be having a repeat c-section, probably May 19 or 20.

My Thoughts: Gay Marriage Legal in Illinois

As a Christian, I feel pressured to be against gay marriage. I am told everyday by the news, Facebook friends, articles, that it is wrong. Marriage should only be between a man and woman. Period. No other options.  The Bible and God say gay marriage is wrong. 

However, the Bible tells us that all sin is forgivable with the exception of blasphemy. To me, that means that every other sin is forgivable, and thank God for that. 

Mark 3:28-29

Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter,  but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.

The Bible also tells us that homosexuality is wrong.  I cannot deny it, it does tell us it is wrong.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor the nor the drunkards nor the slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Wait. What? Nor drunkards, adulterers, and all the rest mentioned will not inherit the kingdom of God either? But I don't see any laws against being an alcoholic, or being a cheater. Yes, there are laws against stealing, but even stealing doesn't have the stigma or the anger from the public that gay marriage does.  My biggest thought on being gay, is that being unfaithful in a marriage is much more common, and it hurts people and can tear a marriage(s) apart. Whereas, two same sex people falling in love is hurting no one. In fact, depending on where they live, may create a marriage. Alcoholics are the same, they can destroy themselves and their families, or if they drive under the influence, they can take the live or lives of innocent people. And again, gay people are the bad guys? If we want to condemn gay people for loving, then we should condemn the unmarried couple who are intimate, the alcoholic at the corner bar, the thief who is stealing food, the man cheating on his wife for the first, second, third time. But we don't. We turn a blind eye to most and stare directly at gay couples who just want the right to marry who they love. The right to make medical decisions when their loved cannot make the decision for their self. The ability to share insurance and collect benefits.

One more thing, the Bible tells us that we should love our neighbor. And that we should not judge others.

Matthew 7:1

Do not judge others or you too will be judged.

Why do we feel the need to judge how other people live their lives? Why can we not live and let live.

My thoughts are that we have no right to judge against gay people. None. None of us are sinless. We all sin. Think about that. We. All. Sin. We all do things that keep us farther away from God. I can't say that gay people will or will not go to Heaven. I can't even say that I know that my neighbor, my friends, my family will go to Heaven. I can hope everyone will. I can pray that everyone will. But in the end, the only person I have control over is myself.

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween to my readers!

Today we had an easy day with school so that we could have our own little party after lunch.

I made the kids dirt cups. Chocolate pudding with crushed up Oreos and gummy worms.

I also made them the pretzel, kiss, and candy corn treats. 

And the surprising big hit, was pumpkin slime. It is really easy to make, I wanted to make regular slime, but our grocery store didn't have any lemon-lime kool-aid today, so I went with orange instead, and changed it to pumpkin slime. First you jello according to the package, while you are waiting for the water to boil, mix together a half gallon of water with two kool-aid packages, then fill up the rest of the gallon with a white soda. After the jello is made, add that to the drink, stir and add sugar to taste. After it sits for a while, it will become thicker and very slimy. If you want it to be slimier, you can add less water/kool aid/soda OR add another package of jello. I put it in clear cups that I had used a marker to draw pumpkin faces on.

After our snacks, we danced to the Hokey Pokey, Chicken Dance, Monster Mash, and a few others. No pictures of that since I was getting in on the fun too. 

We then headed to my step dad's for Trick or Treat, then to my Dad and Nanoo's. We then came home and picked up Sam and headed into town for a rainy Trick or Treat. We only went to the fire station and to Trunk or Treat at the church before we got to cold and wet. The kids had a good time and we came home wet and happy, they got to eat a few pieces of candy and then headed to bed. 

Why Don't You Use Your Degree???

In May of 2011, I graduated college with my nursing degree. Since then, I haven't even looked for a job.

But wait, let's back up. At the age of 20, I went to school and got my CNA. In fact, Sam did as well. As soon as that class finished, I enrolled full time, working toward my nursing degree. During my first "real" semester of college, I became pregnant with Parker. No big deal, I continued on with school. That fall I turned in my application for the nursing program. I also switched to all online classes since Parker was scheduled to be born during the semester.

Sometime in early spring of 2009, I got a phone call that I was accepted. Yay! Cheers were shouted, tears were cried. I was going to be a nurse. With a 7 month old and a soon to be 3 year old, I started nursing school. It was long hours and very hard.  Landon had only been in daycare for a few months when he was younger and only a few days a week. Sam at this point had gotten a job with the state, and between my mom and Sam, they were able to care for the boys while I was in school.

The first year passed, and I began my second year. We decided we wanted to expand our family, so we started trying for Alta, and sure enough, I trudged through my second year pregnant the entire time except the first month.

I had Alta exactly 4 weeks after I graduated. Time for a job, right?!

Not quite. My mom's health had steady began to decline. She had a terrible ulcer on her leg that needed dressed every day, someone had to do it. She was only eligible for home health 3 times a week, and sometimes only 2. Not only did she need her leg dressed, she needed someone to take her to appointments, go shopping for her, help her around the house, sometimes helping her get dressed, and to be a companion for her. Between Mom, my kids, my husband, and my home, we decided that I would continue to stay home until Mom got better. For over a year I was her nurse.

When she died, I thought I would get a job then. I pretty much had one guaranteed at the wound center she went to.  Again we talked and decided the kids and Sam needed me at home more than we needed the money. Sam is an awesome provider and while we don't have everything, we have what we need and some of what we want.

Now that we have made the decision to homeschool, I am home indefinitely. I am keeping up with health news. And eventually I would like to get my bachelor's degree. Maybe when the kids are out of the house, although that doesn't seem like it will happen anytime soon. Or maybe by that time I will be watching my grandchildren while their parents work. Who knows. What I do know is, I do not regret going to school and getting my nursing degree. I was able to prove to myself I could do it. And I did it.