Wednesday, April 26, 2006

4th of July, already?

So, to put off having to start dinner when the house is empty and relatively quiet (the new baby is a sleep grunter), I have decided to blog. The girls are outside with Brian doing fireworks, mostly those little poppers you throw down and only about one-third of them actually pop. I think they are trying to gear up for July 4th, which we is more celebrated than Christmas at our house. Due to the burn ban, I am dropping hints of the possibility of no fireworks this year and I think said hints are falling upon deaf ears. Every year we put on a HUGE fireworks display, compliments of Brian and his friends. All the families get together and buy entirely too many fireworks (hundreds of dollars) and give a show worth charging money for. I am sure that the neighbors appreciate our overspending. The kids are usually falling asleep by the end of the display and are usually jolted awake by the yelling and cheering for the "last big one." Or, they are jolted awake by the blast from the one that gets away and somehow finds it's way to the pile of fireworks awaiting their turn. Every. Year. People. Do we learn our lesson? No. Actually, by this point, if that DID NOT happen, everyone would wonder why not and collectively hold their breath for when it did!

The baby has continued to sleep very well and on a nice schedule. I am trying not to talk about it much, or he might get the idea that he could wake up every hour and demand food. I am actually feeling pretty darn good, due to the number of hours I get to sleep...in a row!! In fact, I would actually sleep more hours in a row if Gwen would quit waking up and getting annoyed at the fact that her nose is stopped up but she won't learn how to blow her nose! Alyssa was blowing her nose, on a tissue, BY age 2, with no help or prodding from me. Gwen, on the other hand, will sneeze and let it sit and dry on her face if no one does or says anything about it. I have tried all methods and she simply could care less if she has a crusty face. However, if this happens in the middle of the night, well, she just can't stand it and must yell "mom" until the neighbors are calling telling me to deal with my child. Is it the middle child? Is it the terrible twos? Is it her stubborn personality? Is it my fault? *Sigh* I am just hoping that her husband likes crusty faces, or, doesn't mind getting her a tissue, because I see no end to this battle.

We have resumed "school situations" (termed thus because I am hesitant to actually call it school work) and Alyssa was ready to get back to bid'ness. We have been reading the Magic Treehouse books that she chose at the library, about 10 so far, and she now wants to read them all. Actually she wants to OWN them all. I think we own 4. The pond tank is now filled with minnows, crawdads and a few swimmy things. Brian and the girls have been watching the giant crawdad catch minnows (better than TV!) and have been adding things to make the environment more "fun" for the creatures that manage to get away from him. It's amazing how long two girls will stand and look at a fishtank filled with pond life. Brian keeps telling me to get a microscope and I am hesitant to buy one yet. I would like to get a good one, but not one that is too complicated for Alyssa to use (and too delicate for Gwen to "look at"). I will be scouring the internet looking for one that will be user friendly.

Well, I have put dinner off long enough and I am sure that everyone will be entering the house soon and wonder why it doesn't smell of something yummy! The refrigerator would suffer the consequences of my lazy actions and cheese and crackers are not a dinner!!

Monday, April 24, 2006

Why we love to homeschool...

Top Ten Reasons We LOVE Homeschooling

1) Jammies...need I say more?

2) Playing IN the rain rather than hiding from it

3) The smell of dinner in the crockpot wafting through the house all day(no cafeteria food here!)

4) The teacher can nurse her baby during lessons without anyone taking a second look

5) No standing in line

6) Terrariums, tanks, boxes and jars filled with various insects and animals

7) Days when daddy is off work

8) Field trips, field trips, field trips!!

9) Learning to learn by living

10) Truly loving your students and watching them grow each year

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Home!!






We're Home!! Okay, so technically we have been home for several days...but with little sleep, it's all been one LONG day! We brought Logan Victor Achilles home on the 9th and he was happy and healthy. Well, happy once he got adjusted to smells and sounds of the house, which took a night of crying. He is now a wonderful sleeper (I really mean it!) and has adopted a schedule that mirrors perfection. Before I get into that, I will start at the beginning...

We went to the hospital on Saturday, the 8th for the scheduled induction. We got there at 7:30am and we were ON TIME...something we, as a family, rarely accomplish. The fact that I woke up at 3:30am and could not go back to sleep helped quite a bit. Gwen got up at 5:00am (she must have felt the energy) and so she was ready to go by 5:30am. Next was Alyssa and Brian, who are NOT morning people, but they managed to get up and get ready so that we could leave at 6:00am. Everything was going extrememly well...I was waiting for something to happen. The hospital got me right in and started my drip around 8:30am. Everyone was sleepy but relatively calm. My in-laws and my mother were there to take care of the girls during delivery. Everyone came in and out and visited and progress was not uncomfortable. About 1:00pm the doctor came in and broke my water and told me things should begin to progress quickly now. The screaming woman next door remined me that after my first two deliveries, I wanted to experience a calmer delivery this time. I asked for the epidural, knowing that waiting might not be a good idea. Epidural in place, just in time, it was about 2:00pm and I was feeling quite good. The nurse came in to check me at 2:30pm and said I was between a 7 and 8 and asked how I was feeling. Considering the pain of my first two deliveries, I felt GREAT. About 2:45pm I was feeling pretty uncomfortable and had a lot of pressure happening. Now, not having an epidural (that worked) before, I was not sure what that meant...should I dose myself with more medicine (I had a button) or is this a sign of something happening? I called the nurse and she came to check. When she lifted the sheet she realized there was a head coming out and that she needed to call the doctor immediately. History shows that I deliver quite quickly and the nurse had been made privvy to this information early on. Once she called the doctor she came and prepped the room and told me she was afraid to turn me to my back because she felt like she would then have to deliver the baby since he was in a hurry to join us! The doctor got there just in time (and I mean JUST.IN.TIME.). After a few pushes and about 20 minutes later, Logan Victor was born at 3:24pm. Now, let me just say that this delivery was easy, dare I say, pleasant, and I felt pretty good afterwards. The two women who delivered before me, both screamers (which under non-epidural circumstances, so am I) had babies that were 9lb 10oz and 9lb 11oz...I(bucking the bets of all labor and delivery nurses) did not deliver a 9lb 12oz baby and am happy to say that Victor was 7lb 2oz!!

He is extremely mild mannered and quite the sleeper. I have yet to have a baby that did not wake up every 1 to 1 1/2 hours to nurse and this one sleeps 3-4 hours at a time. He does tend to "cluster" feed towards the end of the day...but, hey, I am NOT complaining about that!!! He is sleeping in his crib (he hates his bassinet) and has peed out of his clothes about 100 times already!! I am going to have to get used to diapering a boy. This experience has been much easier than the other two and the girls are just so excited to have a baby around, he will never be lonely. In fact, I am concerned about the female attention he may crave as an adult due to his hovering sisters!!

For those of you not aware, there has been a name struggle happening for several months. Hence the three names, Logan Victor Achilles. Yes, that's Achilles, as in achilles heel, although not named for the body part, but named from Homer's The Iliad. My choice was Logan and Brian's choice was Achilles. Victor was thrown in by Brian in the middle of pregnancy because, after 12 years of marriage, he feels as though he has not tortured me enough with his eccentricities. So, after several months of simply not discussing it (my choice), I agreed to use all names to give him room to "choose" a name. However, for many months, Brian has rallied his troops (the girls) and they have chosen to call the baby Victor (Vi-er in the case of Gwen). So, defeated, I have found myself calling him Victor and, surprisingly, not cringing everytime I do so. Time will tell if "Victor" will love or hate his name, I can only offer as a consolation that I, his loving mother, gave him the choice of Logan. To spite us all, he will promptly choose the nickname Bubba and we will all pay a price!! Until then, we are happy to have baby Victor home and we all feel that our family is complete...for now!!

Friday, April 07, 2006

Tomorrow?

Well, a lot has happened in two weeks. I am scheduled to go to the hospital for induction tomorrow! The doctor says I am ready, and boy is he right!! Everyone is very excited and since this is earlier than we thought, it makes it even more exciting. I have stocked up on groceries and toiletries so that I will not have to enter a Wal-mart for weeks and, for the most part, the house is clean and ready to go. I am hoping to be home Monday or Tuesday so we can get settled in and back to normal! I will post when we get home.