I had a startling revelation this week.  I don't drink as much water as I thought I did!  I assumed I was doing really well in this department, but an odd circumstance showed me I'm not getting as much as I thought I was!

 

We lost our water service on Monday morning.  Some construction workers broke a water main while doing work near our housing addition.  As I am pregnant, and thirsty, I figured I better go out and get some bottled water.    So.....the kids and I picked up a case, and the bottled water was our water source for that day.  I FELT like I was drinking a lot.  I carried a glass around with me and was sipping throughout the day like I always do.  I rarely have any pop, or other drinks, so figured I must be doing all right. 

 

Much to my shock, at the end of the day, I realized I had only consumed 2 bottles at 16.9 oz. each.  That's only half of what we are supposed to get during the day!  Whoops!  Yesterday, even while conscious of it, I would say I did about the same - maybe a little more.  Getting that water in is not as easy as I thought it was!

 

So, a water main break proved to be very enlightening!  It provided me with a tangible means of seeing just how much, or little, water I am drinking.  I'm going to try for 3 bottles today!  

No, I haven't had that baby yet, but we are definitely in the home stretch now!  Just a couple of weeks to go!    Thanks for all of the comments on the shared birthday.  In the end, my decision didn't matter at all!   After all of the stewing, the whole event was determined by the doctor's schedule!   Hmmm...... I do recall a verse or two about not worrying about tomorrow ..........  

 

 I had decided to schedule for 2 days before my birthday to at least let her have her own day.  The doctor said the date worked for her, and all was good .........until the scheduler called!  She told me that my doctor was already doing a c-section at another hospital that morning, so couldn't possible do mine at another location.  She said the best option was for.............of course...........my birthday!  So, unless I go into labor before we hit that date, we will be having a baby on my birthday.

 

Even though I had been planning to do something different, I must admit that I felt a little bit excited when that was presented to me as the best option.  It does seem like a special thing to be able to share.  Again, I can go into labor before then - the c-section date is only 4 days ahead of my due date.  That would be fine, too.  But if that doesn't happen, I think it will be neat to have her on my birthday.

 

In the meantime, I have been trying to get some school days under our belt.  I haven't done as much as I thought I would, but that is o.k.   I hadn't factored in the fatigue/discomfort factor into the equation when envisioning how the summer would go!  But, we have 12 days completed so far, which is nice.  I won't feel rushed about starting school up after the baby, and it allows for some flexibility.

 

Thank you to those who check in on me from time to time.   I haven't forgotten about the blog - just haven't felt a blazing desire to sit down and write.  Although, sometimes, just sitting down and DOING it causes me to realize just how much really is going on, and how much there is to write about.

O.k., now the wheels are turning again.  We'll see!

I can't believe it's summer already.  We have been busy with so much here, lately.  I just hadn't felt up to blogging.

 

We finished up the school year.  I have some specific things I want to work with them on this summer, but that hasn't gotten done the last few weeks.  Last week was VBS.  I helped with crafts for the first and second grades.  Fun, but exhausting for a pregnant mom! 

 

The week before that, I think I was in nesting mode, wanting to clean and organize everything in the house.  Ha.  Didn't quite make it, but it's good to make the attempt once in a while.

 

This week, I've done little bits on getting the house decluttered/cleaned/organized.  I've also been printing out my planner for next year (especially considering we've already done a couple of days that I will count as next year's schoool.)  I've also been scanning and printing pages that I will use with the phonics program I purchased.  I'm waiting for part of that program to arrive still.  One portion of it was at the printers when I ordered it in May.  This is to use with my 3 oldest kids.  My 10 year old needs the focus on phonics as she is very weak in phonemic awareness.  She needs the help, but I think my 8 year old daughter is dyslexic as well, so the two of them will start at the same point in the program and work together.  I'll start my 6 year old son from the beginning, as a good foundation can't hurt him!

 

On top of this, we have been in a decision mode regarding some health treatment issues for our 8 year old.  We have been tossing this decision around for a couple of months now, praying, and asking for prayer.  It has been a tough thing to figure out.  I think we are both finally starting to feel comfortable with which direction to take.  

 

That's all that's been happening.  Not much, huh?  :-)   Oh, and I did some garage saling for new clothes for the baby.  I had given away/sold all of our baby things.  But, it was actually fun to shop for some 'new' things this time around anyway.  The clothes I found at garage sales were like new, and I was able to get so many things for very little money.    Fun to have something different - especially since this will be yet another girl!  (I keep telling ds6 that it will just make him extra special.  He really wanted a brother.)  After 3 sisters have used the same clothes, it is fun to pick out different things.

 

That's all for now.  Thanks for checking in on me from time to time.  Just didn't have the mental energy to write.

 

 

 

 

Wow, it has been a long time since I've popped into homeschool blogger.  I feel as though I want to sit down tonight and catch up on everyone else's goings on.  It's been quite a week for us.  We've just had a lot going on.

 

Mamatc posted a 'how are you'.  I saw her comment notice in my inbox, and realized I hadn't checked in in quite a while.  Thanks for the wake-up Traci!

 

DD9 had her testing done last week.  The woman administering the test was very good with dd.  She got to know her a bit before doing the testing, and was very encouraging to her during the process, not letting on when she didn't get things right.  I could tell, though.  I was allowed to observe, as long as I stayed out of the way.   So, I could see when she wasn't doing well on certain portions.

 

In any event, I lost it a bit when the testing was done.  It had lasted 3 1/2 hours, and when dd had gone to the basement, the woman told me that dd had MAJOR issues with written expression, among other things.  She said it pretty severely, and I felt a bit shook up.  I know she is struggling, which is why we had the testing done.  I just wish the tester could have been more gentle/supportive toward me when tellling me that.

 

That, combined with an overwhelming feeling of HOW to help dd over these hurdles sent me upstairs once the kids had lunch in front of them.  I couldn't stop crying.  Although, things did seem a bit brighter the next day.  We already have some possibilities to explore as to ways to help her with this, even without the test results.

 

She comes tomorrow night to share her report with my husband and I.  I'm just trying to be relaxed and know that this is information to help us help dd, it's not a permanent label by any means.

 

In addition to this, we've been in the process of selling our mini-van, buying a new one, job stress/busyness for hubby, and a string of sick children.  It's a season, that's for sure. 

 

 I sure am glad God gives us little moments of levity/joy in the midst of all the hard things.   He has surely blessed me this past week by sending me bits of encouragement/reassurance just when I needed it the most.

 

O.k, I have to run to the next event.  I'll be sure to not go so long before posting again.

We piled into the van earlier this afternoon and headed out for a quick trip to the library and a much-needed stop at the grocery store.  As soon as my kids opened the van doors, there were excited oooh's and aaah's and repeated echoes of "I DON'T NEED MY COAT!" coming from the little people.  It was as if one whiff of warm, fresh air had infused them with enthusiasm.  And not only them.  I stepped out of the van and breathed a deep breath of air and felt life returning again.

I know it won't last.  Temperatures are supposed to drop again this weekend.  But, it is a little taste of what is to come.  A little reminder that spring will one day surface once again. 

I sent the kids out to play when we got home.  I unloaded the groceries and then took a nice, slow walk out to the mailbox, savoring the feel of going without a coat and breathing air that smelled like spring.

I came down Friday morning to turn on the computer.  I switched on the monitor and then pushed the power button and.......................nothing.........happened!     Aack!   After describing the situation to my husband over the phone and letting him listen to the sound (or lack thereof) coming from the computer, he diagnosed it as a power supply failure.  He said this was something easy to fix, but could not get to it until Saturday night.

I had worksheets to scan and print, e-mail to return, (solitaire to play?) .... and a blog to update!  We did manage to survive without doing these things, though.  I actually found that I had more time to catch up on things around the house.  And two days with no computer made me realize just how much time I spend in front of one on a given day.   Maybe too much? 

It is good, as a homeschooling mom, to have a computer connection with the outside world.  It helps me keep in touch with other homeschooling moms, and helps me feel less isolated.  It also is a great tool for making copies of things for the kids.  But, maybe I will wait until a bit later in the day to turn it on, after I've covered more of the essentials in the house.  I think I'll try that this week and see how it goes.

I want to be a good steward of the time I have - and it is too easy to slip into a mindless solitaire game while waiting for the computer to finish some task!  :-)

I was completely unfamiliar with blogging when I read all the articles on blogging in the latest issue of "The Old Schoolhouse".  I jumped in, and have been trying to figure things out since I first set up my page! 

One tip I picked up on someone's blog was how to view a brief snippet from each of the last blog entries made on homeschool blogger.  The link is www.homeschoolblogger.com/last100.php .  I like this better than the random blog feature because you can skim the first few sentences of an entry, and then choose the ones that really interest you.  As I am trying to limit my computer time a bit, this allows me to check out blogs with content I'm interested in and spend less time randomly looking.

I figured out how to add sidebar titles last week.  Now, I need to finish adding items onto my lists.  One step at a time!  HTML was something I had no experience with, so it has been interesting to see how that works.  Blogging is certainly giving me an education.

Any favorite tips you've discovered along the way?