Here is another fruitful vine who has made the news this week.  What a beautiful family!

http://news.aol.com/article/woman-44-gives-birth-to-18th-child/104381?icid=200100397x1206351139x1200336861

Wikipedia Definition: severe form of morning sickness, with unrelenting, excessive pregnancy-related nausea and/or vomiting that prevents adequate intake of food and fluids.

I was just reading about this because I suspect I fall into this category this time around.  It's a little scary to read what can happen if this is not treated.  I am not holding down much, some days nothing at all food wise.  Liquids are difficult, but if I stick with liquids, it goes better for me.  This has probably been the worst my morning sickness has ever been.  I am just about 17 weeks along and it is just getting worse.

I am hoping things improve soon as just yesterday I spent most of the day horizontal.  I get really cranky from lack of nutrition and it is just not good for my other children for me to be so incapacitated.  Thank God I don't feel that bad every day.  But some days I feel I am just pushing myself too hard for my current condition (misery, basically).

I have lost 12pounds as of my last appointment.  I will keep you updated on further weight loss and such.  I have my next appointment next week.  Thanks for reading!

Today I am beat! 

We started our day early by getting our chores done so we could meet friends at the park.  I got the laundry and dishwasher going, packed our lunch and we were off!  Two errands, and then the park by 10:00 AM.  Spent a few hours there. 

Then my friend M said she didn't feel like taking 5 children to the store for what she needed for her Partylite Party tonight (she had two extra children today in addition to her own).  I said I didn't want to go to the store with four children, either, hehehe.  I was joking really.  What choice did I have?  I have to do it while I am in town.

Wonderful friend that she is, M suggested the children stay at her house and I go to the store for both of us.  Hey, that works for me!  Guess what?  This is the first time I have posted a Works for Me on Wednesday.  I am so proud of myself.  Does that mean I am with it, now? LOL

It was so lovely to cruise those aisles without worrying about children hanging off the cart and falling out of the cart, LOL!  I ended up getting everything we needed for the whole weekend in a short amount of time.  WOW!  Maybe this should become a habit?

Good morning!

Today, I have the laundry and dishes going.  I also ordered my son's birthday gift online this morning.  He is getting a set of building Legos for his 8th birthday.  I enjoyed building houses with Legos as a child and I wanted him to have the same experience.  He likes to sit and spend time with projects like that, so I thought he'd really enjoy them.  I don't know what happened to my set.  And we never have bought any.  I have yet to figure out what we're doing to celebrate his birthday.

I am about to head out to the garden to plant a few more plants I picked up (not all of my seeds germinated and there are a few things we just HAVE to have).  My oldest son is going to help with the weeds while I am out there.  My second son is going to hang out with us and my daughter and third son are going to stay in the house.  Maybe I will have them vacuum?

Then we'll come in and do our math work, language arts and lunch.  Then I need to bathe my third son and get him ready to go to the doctor.  He has a buckle fracture in his wrist and this is the day to follow up with the doc on it.  It is hard to see my little guy with a splint on.  He really wants that thing off, too.  He keeps asking me to take it off.  Poor little guy.  He will be a big two year old boy next month!  We're going camping to celebrate his birthday.  Everyone is excited about that!

Then I think we will read a bit and have some free time while I do some more laundry.  Always laundry!

We had VBS last week and my two older children really enjoyed it.  They learned a lot about Creation, what happened after the Tower of Babel, etc.  I learned some things, too.  I didn't know before which grandchildren of Noah ended up where in the world, and that was interesting to learn about.

Well, I have to go get busy before it's too hot to go out to the garden.  I will check back in tomorrow and share what's on our plates then.  You wait for summer to have a break, but there really is too much to do now, too!

Blessings today,

Miss Kris

Wow!  Soccer finally ended and we took a vacation.  Now we are back and things are slowing down a bit for us.  I have been up to a lot in the past few months. 

The most important thing to announce is that we are expecting a baby in December.  God has been so good to us!  He gave us another baby right after the loss of Baby Grace.  He knew what my heart needed and He provided it.  Praise Him!

So much has happened, it's hard to know where to start.  So I think I will list the things I have been up to:

1. Fighting fires.

2. Nursing chickens.

3. Giving away chickens.

4. Planting a garden.

5. Soccer, soccer and more soccer.

6. Morning sickness, ick....

7. R & R

8. Organizing

9. Friends

10. VBS

That's it in a nutshell, er, list.  Intrigued? Bored?  What have you been up to?

Blessings today,

Miss Kris

Soccer season has officially begun!

This season, our two eldest are playing.  This is probably the last time we do that.  We don't like to become involved in too many things outside home.  But we felt we would let them try it this time.  This is P's (son #1 Nickname) third season and Daughter's first.  She probably won't play again.  I think we'll let Tani (Son #2 Nickname) play int he fall in the Kinder League just for fun.  It is really good exercise for them.  But we need to be exercising as a family.

I've been wanting to post for some time, but our lives have been so busy these past few weeks.  It is finally settling down (except for soccer).  But soon we'll need to start working in the garden and finishing our chicken coop.  I will post later about our FREE chicken coop.  You're gonna love this idea.  Especially if you like salvaged items.

Things have been turned upside down around here as we make some changes in our business situation.  I will share more about that later, too.

Today we go use our Book-It coupons.  We haven't done that since January when we all got the flu/colds thing.  We also need to go buy diapers and milk -the story of my life!  Hehehe.  I might take the boys for haircuts, we'll see how I feel.  And then back home to get ready for Tani's Pirate Adventure Birthday Party of Sunday.  He turns four years old on Monday.

It's hard to believe he is the same baby boy I struggled so hard to feed and keep alive when he was born.  He is now our biggest child (age comparatively speaking) and very strong!

I'm off to crack the whip!

Blessings today,

Kris

We lost a baby on February 25.  I had started having problems before I even knew I was pregnant. I was in the ER on one Monday, and by the following Monday, I was sent into emergency surgery.  I had an ectopic pregnancy and was bleeding into my abdominal cavity.  If it had not been caught in time, I would have died.

Up until yesterday, I thought the pregnancy was an ovarian ectopic pregnancy and did not involve my tube.  But at my followup appointment I found out that the placenta was in the middle of my tube and my tube had to be cut open to remove it.  The baby was, indeed, on my ovary.  My tube is still there.  But the way the tube heals and the possibility of scar tissue may affect my fertility.

This was a tough thing to go through and there are so many stages of emotion that follow something like this.  The first few days after the surgery, I felt happy to be alive and I felt so much better physically.  By Thursday, the grief hit.  I think in some ways it was easier because I didn't know I was pregnant until after I started having problems.  I never allowed myself to feel the joy I normally feel when I find out we're expecting another bundle.  I hoped that everything would be okay, but I didn't know. 

The grief comes and goes, now.  But God has been faithful and very gracious to me through it all.  Beloved and I are praying that my fertility will not have been affected.  And, we hope to be blessed again soon.

I call the baby Grace, because number five represents grace, and this would have been our fifth child.  We don't know the gender, of course, but I feel it is appropriate nonetheless.  And we know Baby Grace is in Jesus' arms, waiting for us to join him or her one day.  Especially on November first, when I would have been due, I will remind myself that the Lord wanted our little one to join Him sooner than the rest of us.  And I will not second guess His plan.

We got 12 baby chicks yesterday.  They are darling!  They are messy.  Right now, they are in a large tub on my pantry counter with a heat light above them.  They seem to be happy.  Daughter is writing a list with their names on them as I write you.  They all look pretty much the same, except for two.  One is very blond (Blondie) and the other is reddish (Delaina).

I thought I would get to choose my breeds and I did so much research on them.  But when you go to the Grange Coop and they are only a few days old, all they know is that they are all pullets (hens).  But the breeds I ended up with are desirable.  Rhode Island Red, Barred Rock, and my favorite, Buff Orpington.  I'm not sure yet which are which or how many of what, yet.  You get what you get.  When you buy a 50 lb. bag of feed, you get five chicks free.  So I only paid for the seven.  I got organic feed, which I have read can be as much as double.  But it was only $5.00 more than the standard, and it is really important to me. 

When you order from breeders through the mail, you can choose your breeds.  But there is a minimum order of 25 chicks, as they need that many in a box to keep each other warm enough during shipping.  Also, you have to allow that you might lose a few during shipping.  I am not in a position to house that many hens at this time.  They will be in a 100 square foot shed and 12 is probably pushing it.

Later, we'd like to raise some of the Cornish Rocks for meat.  They are ready in 4-6 weeks.  I think I would hoop house them in the field until they are ready to butcher.  We can process and freeze them and not worry about chicken meat for the year.  And, you know what you're eating.

Later, when my older children are 12 and 13, we will find more land to build a green/solar/ecological home, where we can raise more animals.  Here we cannot have a cow or goats.  We can have horses here, however.  Our neighborhood has Covenants, Codes and Regulations governing what types of animals we can have on our land.

Well, I have several chicken books and I am learning as I go along.  I hope I don't lose anybody.

Blessings today,

Miss Kris

So sorry I haven't checked in for a while.  We keep getting colds around here.  Something else happened, too.  I will share about that later.

Today I wanted to tell you about my grocery savings at Albertsons yesterday.

I bought 40 items.  The total before coupons was 163.50.  The total after coupons was 85.75.

How cool is that?

How do you save money on groceries?  I am challenging myself to save as much money as possible at the store, while still trying to eat in a healthful way.  I would love to hear how other homeschool moms keep food in their houses on a budget.  It seems like all my children do is eat!

Miss Kris

Sorry it's been a while since I wrote.  We have been down for several weeks with the flu and colds.  It was actually a nightmare!  Especially with Baby throwing up!  One thing I have a hard time with is vomit.  Baby isn't so bad, but the older children, uhhh!

Anyway, we are finally all healthy again and I will try to post more regularly.  I would like to talk about some homeschooling subjects, how I teach my children, etc.  We are finally getting into a routine that works for us with curriculum that works, too.  It is such a relief.

I am attending our monthly local homeschool meeting tonight and am looking forward to it.  It is the only time I go out without my children and last month was very educational.  It's so encouraging to listen to experienced homeschool mothers and what has worked for them.  No two families are alike, but it is always helpful to glean ideas from others and use them however they work for your own family.  I learn a lot from them and it is truly a Titus 2 ministry for me, anyway, to have them share with us.

Have a blessed day,

Miss Kris