Jul. 16, 2008 - Pregnancy Fatigue is Taking Over

I am trying to keep up with the pace of life (even at a slower pace) and my pregnant body is just not having it. Guess it's time for me to slow down. I have a schedule (chores and all) put together for the kids. Wonders will be done even if they just keep up with thier tasks. My energies need to be saved for cooking, dishes, and activities with the kids (mostly sitting activities!)

I want so much to start school - I know that sounds crazy, but I'm just so excited about the curriculums we are using!

Well, I have plenty of books here to keep me busy, too!

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Jul. 15, 2008 - New Summer Schedule Woes

Last night I decided to pull together a summer schedule for my kids (and me), so we would have some sort of direction from day to day and I would hear, "Mommy, there's nothing to do" a lot less. Once I finished the schedule, I started planning out which activities we would do for today. It took me until about 11:30pm to finish (I'd been up since 5:30am). I wanted to get up at 5:30am again to pray for our day, because I KNEW that implementing this schedule would be a battle with Ben. Not that he doesn't like to do things, but because I was cutting TV out of our day. So I wanted to pray for wisdom, patience, all that stuff to deal with it all.

About a half an hour after getting into bed, and as I was just drifiting off, Jeremiah started crying. OK, no biggie, maybe he was thirsty or lost his pacifier. So I went in to give him both - he wanted neither. He tried repeatidly to suck on his pacifier, but kept pulling it out and crying. So my first guess was his teeth may be bothering him. But that morning he had also woke with a cough and runny nose....ear infection? I gave him some teething tablets and after trying to pray, cuddle and console with him for an hour, decided to try Ibuprofen - while discussing with myself whether I should take him to the ER. I don't like just running to the ER for anything - not to mention, it's not exactly a quick trip from where we live now.  So I held him a while longer, waiting for the meds. to kick in, but he was still very fussy. At one point I put him down so I could go to the bathroom and he crawled to the bathroom door (which I left open) and pointed to his room (which is the door right across from the bathroom). So I asked him if he wanted to go "Nuh Night" and he complied "Uh" as in "yes". So I took him back to his crib and laid him down. He went without a fuss and slept the rest of the night. This concerns me because should I have given him the meds? What if he didn't need them?

This left me with about 4 hours of sleep - and I skipped my prayer time this morning.  My battle had begun the night before.

I had big plans for today - including making a big batch of blueberry pancakes (even before Jon left for work). Didn't happen - well, I did make blueberry pancakes, but Ben wouldn't touch them and Jeremiah had lost his appetite. (He woke up with green snot ) Ben was whiney almost the entire morning - my best guess is because I wouldn't let him watch tv. This is my own fault for allowing it in the home again so freely. I know I need to deal with the consequences.

Although we are not "on schedule", we have certainly kept busy today and I haven't heard anyone tell me they are bored or there's nothing to do. We did devotions and the two older children did an activity with their devotion. Ben and I created a bird out of a toilet paper tube (his devotion was God cares for us more then the birds). Gabriella did a devotion from Keys for Kids about sowing a seed. She created her own story book on the subject. Then, we went for a nice walk around the block this morning. We enjoyed nature and just being outdoors. Now both boys are napping and Gabriella is having quiet time in her room.

Soon, a friend of mine will be over to do a school (college) reading project with Gabriella. I need to get the kitchen the rest of the way clean before she gets here, but I'm so zonked. I would rather nap. I just don't want to be groggy when she arrives.

So, needless to say, I have a wonderful schedule set up for summer and even if it doesn't wholly work out this summer (because I'm about to have a baby!), it will next summer! Here is an article I used to help guide me: A Summer Schedule and it comes from Titus2.com (excellent resource). I created my schedule in Microsoft Excel, but here it is without the gridlines. I also created a "Summer Schedule Activity List" that I don't think got saved (but I printed an extra copy so I could copy it). But basically I use it daily to write out the activities that we will do for each category (i.e. math, devotions, phonics, Read Alouds, etc.) I hope this will be of use to someone - please feel free to use the same or modify mine. :)

The violet colored font indicates that the activities are constant throughout the week. Anything in different colors are activities that change from day to day. The times are also centered, so after 8am, it looks like I have all these activities crunched into a 30 min. block of time, but the time actually starts at 8:30 and goes to noon. The time is centered with the activities.

Summer Schedule
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
6:00-7:00am	Mom: Coffee, personal devotions
7:00-8am	Breakfast, morning chores, dress, devotions with children
8:00am	Devotional Activity
8:30am-12pm	Phonics w/Ben/Free Time
	Story Time	Math Lesson	Story Time	Math Lesson	Story Time
	Tidy Time/Free Play
	Fine Motor Skills:    Or work on current project
	Gross Motor Skills: Playing with ball, gardening, outdoor play, riding bikes, praise music/movement
	Free Play
12pm	Lunch, clean up, afternoon chores
1pm	Quiet Time: read, nap, quiet play in bedroom, movie (rarely)
2pm	Time with Gabriella	Mommy/Child-ren Activity	Time with Benjamin	Mommy/Child-ren Activity	Time with Jeremiah
3pm	Read Aloud/Free Play
4pm	Table Time: Coloring, drawing, puzzles, simple arts & crafts, manipulatives, etc.
*During the children's free time, work from flylady schedule and work on "to-do" list.

 *Also, just as an FYI: this schedule is very flexible. For example, on the schedule it shows quiet time at 1pm - after lunch. However, this morning we all had a late snack and pushed lunch back. Right now we are having our quiet/nap time which start about noon. Gabriella will eat lunch here soon, and the boys will eat once they wake up (b/w 2-3pm). You can rearrange things on the schedule any day. This is just a guide - an idea. We have only done about 1/4 of this today - but it's kept us busy. There may be other days we'll fly through it faster, but there is plenty here to continue to keep us busy.

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Jul. 14, 2008 - Subway Writing Contest Now Open to Homeschoolers

http://www.subwayfreshbuzz.com/kids/contest.aspx

The Subway "Every Sandwich Tells a Story" Contest is now open to homeschoolers. I am going to allow my daughter to enter - not for the sake of "winning" the contest, but to get her creativity flowing and give her something significant to do. I am certain there were protests when Subway discluded children who are homeschooled from the earlier contest. I want to be sure that those protests didn't go to waste. I want to encourage you to allow your child/children to enter the contest. Allow them to rise to the challenge and let the creativity flow this summer! And HAVE FUN with it! Click the link above for details on the contest and how to enter.

*After someone left a comment stating they were rather upset with my "endorsing" this contest, I realize not everyone would agree to allow themselves to be involved in this contest for whatever personal reasons. That is totally your perogative - but since this is my blog, I hold the right to write as I see fit (not to be rude). I deleted the comment to prevent further comments of debate. My blog is not created for that. My intent was solely to bring it to the attention of those interested. If you are not interested, kindly move on to the next blog. That is your perogative. Thank you.*

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Jul. 10, 2008 - Ramblings On Our Home Front

I have stayed rather busy this week doing things for the upcoming school year and finding fun activities to take up our summer. Apparently being outside isn't as appealing to my kids anymore.  What's up with that??? Actually, having Jeremiah outside, who's still a crawler, is a big enough challenge to keep me indoors.  Being a curious toddler, he likes to play on the cement steps in the back and it makes me so nervous and I get really tired (and sore) from getting up and down to remove him. He thinks it's a big game. I suppose our best time outdoors (w/mommy) is while he is napping. I'll have to remember that for tomorrow. 

We've done lots of activities over the last two days. I'll have to show pictures once things get more underway. But we went for a walk just down the block and back and I took pictures of several different kinds of trees and we are going to look them up and learn about them. I got that idea here: Backyard Nature Dot Net. We are also creating a wall in the dining room for our reading progress. Everytime Ben has a book read to him, we will add a circle to his caterpillar/worm. Every time Gabriella completes a chapter book, whether she reads it herself or has it read to her, she gets to hang a butterfly on her wall. I was thinking of even including myself and Jeremiah in somehow. Maybe paint a tree on butcher paper, cut it out and hang it up and add apples to it whenever I finish a book, and for Jeremiah add leaves every time he is read to. Something like that. Hey, I like that idea!  Jon can join in if he wants, but he hasn't been doing much reading lately except for textbook reading for school. Come the fall he will be starting a master's program in engineering, if all goes well. 

So those are the projects we're working on now. Gabriella is going to be doing a "stepping stone" project that her grandpa got her for her bday and we'll place it in her garden area - kind of show ownership to it. We're going to carve her name into it and she'll decorate it to her liking. That's another project I'll post pics of. It will be included in our Unplugged Project post next week. (The theme is stone)

Saturday we are moving forward with our housewarming party. I know, I think it's crazy to have it, too, but Jon really wants to do it. He doesn't want me doing anything for it, but it's really hard not to!  We're looking to have like 40-50 people coming and still need to finish shopping for all the food.  Plus, we as a family need food, too, lol. Thankfully we have a 24 hour shopping center. Maybe Jon can take the list tonight and get it all. I know I can't do it with 3 kids and being 9 months preggo - nor can I once he gets home because I'm so wiped.

Ok, I didn't want to turn this into a gripe session. All these preggo things are completely normal - plus I tire out quicker with more children to care for. I don't mind being preggo (except for the morning sickness) - I just wish it didn't come with so much discomfort and fatigue, lol. Speaking of which, this baby has moved around in my belly in ways none of my other ones have. IT'S PAINFUL. It's like she has LESS room then the others because the way she stretches causes her to literally stick out one side of my belly and she looks as if she is trying to escape. She will pretrude a perfect oval out of my belly and it surely hurts. It's kind of neat to watch (at least for me, other's get weirded out by it, lol), but it's still rather painful. It's like she is trying to push her self out the wrong way - through my stomach instead of the normal way, lol.

Anyhoo - tonight I plan to try to relax and work on our "reading wall" (by sitting down and cutting out letters and shapes). Jon is going to be cooking dinner and cleaning for the party. The summer sure has been a challenging one with trying to get the boys to sleep lately - with the time change. Esp. my younger one. He just thinks he can play in bed because it's still light out! We really need some room darkening shades. Late sleepers still wake up early bloomers and are fussy the whole day. That's been hard to cope with. But, we'll figure it all out! Those are just some of our current challenges.

OH! We are weaning Ben from the pacifier. Actually, weaning probably isn't even the word, because we just stopped giving it to him and told him they went bu-bye. He had a little bit of a  hard time the first two nights and I have to lay with him for naps (great, let's exchange one habit for another!) But he falls asleep at nap time within like 5 mins. So it's no biggie at the moment. It allows me to take a five minute break. It's harder just trying to "convince" him to take a nap. Last night he hardly fussed at all about the paci. He even said, "Paci is bu-bye", so he knows. We still have two hidden, but do plan to throw them away. I don't know why we haven't yet. Jon said he wanted them on hand for emergencies, but we've come this far (3 nights), there's no way I'm turning back now!  After he is comfortable without it, it's Jeremiah's turn. I am already trying to keep it away from him during the day. That's been hard because he's teething and he likes to chew on it. Don't know if I can convince him to chew on something else.

Ok, I think that's it for now. More to come and pictures to follow!

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Jul. 8, 2008 - Bored Children?

I admit, this hasn't been our "usual" summer. With me being on bedrest, it's really thrown some things off. Now that we don't have friends coming and going in the house everyday, the art of entertaining my children has fallen on me. I don't know what to do! I need to create some type of [flexible] summer schedule of activities to help keep them busy. I almost thought about starting school early, but I don't want there to be gaps from having the baby in between it all. Ugh! I don't know what to do! We have a wonderful sized yard - lots of toys, activities, art supplies, a basement, etc., etc. Plus, Gabriella got tons of new art projects for her bday (like string art, origami, etc.) How can anybody be bored around here?!?!?

Solution?

Time to go back to the "Mommy I'm Bored" box! My oldest created one and now I am going to help my 3 year old create one of his own and create one for my 15 month old toddler (yes, even he gets bored!)

I checked out a few books from the library today to give me more cool ideas. They are all by Trish Kuffner:

The Toddler's Busy Book
The Preschooler's Busy Book
The Children's Busy Book

That way I have activities at all my children's stages! I really want to buy these books, they are excellent resources and ones I would refer to again and again!

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Jul. 6, 2008 - An Amazing Pre-K Curriculm ~ Absolutely FREE

One of my reasons for keeping this blog is to share things with others. One of my best friends shared a link with me for a pre-K curriclum and told me it was free. As I was looking through the pre-k curriculum I had on hand for my soon to be 3 year old son, I just was not satisfied that it was the right fit for him. My daughter, now 6, did that same curriculum in a matter of 3 months. She plowed through the pages and learned to write that quickly. She enjoyed the workbooks at that time. But I know without doubt, my son will not sit down and fill out these worksheets. He likes hands on learning; puzzles, art work, gross and fine motor learning, etc. 

So in the midst of being discouraged of having nothing exciting to offer my son this coming fall, I decided to go ahead and check out the site. I could not have asked for anything better.  This is EXACTLY the curriculum he needs. The wonderful thing about it is - it is set up and works MUCH the same way as the curriculum I bought for Gabriella going into first grade - or lower grammar level (Tapestry of Grace). It is very hands on with lots of living books.

So Ben's curriculum starts off the first year doing 2 days a week, the second year is 3 days a week, and the third year is 4 days a week. By the time he has completed the third year, he will be starting Tapestry which is 4-5 days per week. So he will ease into the schedule beautifully over the next several years. I am just completely tickled pink about this curriculum. It is also bible based. Please, check it out. It is for children 2-4, with lessons to prep them for Kindergarten. I will keep the link on the side panel under "links" as well, incase you forget it or need it later. But the link is: www.hubbardscupboard.org . In addition, I have added Michelle's (the woman who runs the site) blog link to my list of links. If you decide to use this curriculum in whole or as supplement, be sure to drop by and thank her for her FREE resources and encourage her with how well your child does with it.

I will most definately be recording the fun of our learning once we begin. So be sure to come back for pictures of our activities! I hope this will be of use to others!

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Jul. 2, 2008 - Just need somewhere to vent

I know bedrest is for the good of the baby, but I have to tell you, I'm so over it. It's gotten old and I'm getting, I don't want to say "depressed" because usually that is something that happens over a good amount of time. I just sad. Jeremiah doesn't even want me. He'd rather be held by whoever is caring for him. :( It really breaks my heart and I just want this to be done.

I am so grateful for all the help I've received, yet I'm having a really hard time with some of the kids who come over with their moms and are allowed to just destroy my house. Kids are purposely busting up my kids toys. I just think that is really unfair to us - we don't have a whole lot of money and a lot of times, Jon's parents pay for the kids to have nice things - even some things are handmade by my mom. We can't replace them.

I am just tired of sitting on my bum and not managing my home. I can't wait for tomorrow's appt. Everyday I can't wait for the day to be over. Having everyone's kids over, too, makes our food go 3-4x as fast. I know God will provide for us - it's just that right now, we have like nothing to eat. Certainly nothing quick. I've been left alone for the last two days - all day. I can't sit at the stove and cook myself something. It has to be quick and there just isn't anything. It's all been eaten.

I'm just ready to take over my duties again - the whole "enjoy it while you can" isn't for me. I feel handicapped. I was created to be a homemaker and to have my hands tied and not be able to is like denying my very exisistence. It's nearly torturous. It's hard to explain. I just don't like it. I want to get back to caring for my own kids again.

Jon's wore out - he just started a new job this week, too. Lots of changes. He gets home and just wants/needs to crash and we go yet another whole day before connecting again.

Tomorrow is my next dr's appt. and they should tell me I get more freedom from the bedrest. I just can't wait.

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Jun. 30, 2008 - July 4th Spells FREEDOM - in more ways then one!

Besides the fact that we celebrate our freedom here in America, I will be celebrating my freedom from bedrest! Woo hoo!! I'm sooo ready to have this baby, though a couple more weeks inside wouldn't hurt. But being able to move around again and be a mother to my children again will be such a blessing!

Thank you everyone for all your prayers! They certainly have been heard. GOD IS GOOD!!

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Jun. 24, 2008 - Update

Just wanted to give those passing through an update on what's going on.

I have been on strict bedrest for about 2 weeks now. I am still dialated to 4cm, PTL! They would really like me to last to 36 weeks, but every week, everyday is another blessing. The baby has dropped which puts added pressure on my cervix so makes bedrest even more crucial. I have an OB appt. tomorrow - I don't know whether she will check me or not. I really would feel more comfortable if she did just so we know where we stand. I am currently 33 weeks, 1 day along.

I have an AWESOME support system through my church. I have different people coming over everyday to care for my children and the house while I basically lay and watch. Boy has that been hard, but it is a huge blessing. I have another set of people making us meals so Jon doesn't have to worry about cooking after working all day.

That's basically the jist of things as of now. Please pray for us. Thanks everyone and I hope to be up and blogging in a month or so! :)

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Jun. 11, 2008 - New to Gardening Book Recommendations?

I am looking for a good, or a couple of good gardening books for beginners (like me!). Do you know of any you can recommend?? :) PLEASE! Thank you!

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