So, I was checking my calendar for something, and saw that I didn't turn 11 weeks pregnant today. I'm only turning 10 weeks! Not sure if that is good or bad :-) Well, bad because I thought I was one week closer to being done with the nausea. Ugh. Granted the magnesium really, really does help (especially when I compare it to the week when the magnesium wasn't cutting it...due to being sick), but by golly I feel like an oil slick by the end of the day, or if I am using the Epsom salts as a mag source my skin feels on the dry side.
Today I had a very productive day!!! We will see if I have any consequences tomorrow (fatigue). But for today I was able to turn 3 gallons of milk into ricotta cheese, and yogurt. (I just made 2 gallons of yogurt two days ago). We had a LOT of milk building up in our fridge since I was too sick to deal with it. We still have 3/4 of a gallon left. But, we will now have to conserve it as one of our goats just came down with mastitis. Bummer. I am not capable of treating that naturally right now (takes more time and energy than I have right now), so an antibiotic it is, which means that we have to dump the milk for the next 12-14 days.
On top of that we got a handle on the kitchen. Moira really went to town cleaning it up. And we actually made a dent in the laundry! OOOooohhh. After not being able to stand up for longer than 10 minutes last week, all of this work is just glorious!
That is all, just editing my mistake of which week I am in.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Forget about twins, I'm having a dinosaur
Ha! Ok, first let me say, in all seriousness, that I do NOT believe I am having twins. I would be more willing to think so if I was growing larger than normal, but at a more steady rate. This growing by leaps and bounds in two weeks is a bit much, but exactly what happened when I was preggers with Saoirse. But of course, we can't discount the idea entirely :-) Hence my post yesterday.
But last night I remembered something really cute that Jonah said. It was soon after telling the kiddos that mommy has a baby in her tummy. We have a book that shows (in drawings) the stages of growth that a fetus goes through (week 4, 8, 12, 16, etc.). Jonah brought the book to me and asked me which one (which picture) was our baby. I was just about 8 weeks, so I pointed to the 8 week fetus picture. And Jonah comes out with, "You're having a dinosaur?" WHA!!!???? Ha, ha!! No, honey, I'm having a baby, and right now that is what the baby looks like. He asked me if I was joking. Nope, no joke. So he goes back to the drawings and picks a picture that more resembles a real baby, and says, "No, mommy, this is the baby." I tried to explain that in the very beginning babies really look like the first couple of pictures. So he points to one of those and says, "This is a dinosaur, (and pointing to a baby looking picture) and this is a baby."
So I guess, for the time being...I am having a dinosaur :-)
But last night I remembered something really cute that Jonah said. It was soon after telling the kiddos that mommy has a baby in her tummy. We have a book that shows (in drawings) the stages of growth that a fetus goes through (week 4, 8, 12, 16, etc.). Jonah brought the book to me and asked me which one (which picture) was our baby. I was just about 8 weeks, so I pointed to the 8 week fetus picture. And Jonah comes out with, "You're having a dinosaur?" WHA!!!???? Ha, ha!! No, honey, I'm having a baby, and right now that is what the baby looks like. He asked me if I was joking. Nope, no joke. So he goes back to the drawings and picks a picture that more resembles a real baby, and says, "No, mommy, this is the baby." I tried to explain that in the very beginning babies really look like the first couple of pictures. So he points to one of those and says, "This is a dinosaur, (and pointing to a baby looking picture) and this is a baby."
So I guess, for the time being...I am having a dinosaur :-)
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Always a guessing game
Pregnancy that is. Well, for me anyways, at least some of it :-) For example, besides one pregnancy, I do not find out if we are expecting a girl or boy. Although, for safety reasons, I do prefer to have an ultrasound, to make sure all is well with the baby (there are some surprises I do NOT wish to find out in the end). Then, for a bit there is the..."Did I just feel the baby kick for the first time?" Or, my not so favorite...."WHEN will this all day nausea go away!?!" Lot's of guessing.
But we get to have a wee bit more guessing than normal this time around, at least for the next few weeks. Now, this new twist has happened to me before, when I was expecting Saoirse (our 4th daughter). It would kind of seem fitting, if this was to be our 4th son, and we are just going through the same deal. Time (or an ultrasound) will tell! About a week and a half ago I started to experience round ligament pain. Odd, I am WAY too early to be having that. Then a handful of days later it felt like my uterus was popping up over the pubic bone and getting 'squeezed' if I bent over. That feeling lasted about 3 days and just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. But the past few days when Aubrey lays across my tummy, it's felt very uncomfortable.
So this morning, I decided to check my suspicions. I felt for my uterus, which, at one day short of being 11 weeks pregnant, should not even be able to be felt. And lo and behold, I felt it...big time. My uterus is 3 finger widths below my belly button! That is BIG.
Now, that being said, this happened with Saoirse, and an ultrasound revealed that I just had a big uterus. Ha! But there are a couple of other things that I am experiencing that I wasn't the last time. BUT, all of those other things have other possible reasons for happening. For example, the extreme need my body has for magnesium. Lots of it. When I was sick last week, I had all my pregnancy symptoms back, with a vengeance, worse than any other pregnancy (especially the fatigue, and the fact that my nausea was actually 24/7 a few days). But, you know, those could be explained away.
The only other odd thing is that the past two days I have felt some things that made me think I felt the baby moving. But I am WAY too early for that, at least if I only have one in there! But, again, that could be explained by the fact that my uterus had a tremendous growth spurt this past week, and it could just be muscle twitches. The uterus being a bag of muscle, I can imagine with it stretching so fast may have a few twitches to be had.
Time will tell. Jeremiah would prefer to know, like right NOW. Ha, ha. But, even though I do want to have an ultrasound done, I like for it to be when they can check my placenta, the baby's heart/lungs/kidneys/etc. Too early for those in depth checks. So if I went now, just to see if there is more than one in there, well, that means at least two ultrasounds, and I like to keep those at the very bare minimum.
I just think it's fun to try to 'figure' out. Hey, with all the yuckiness I've had, let something be fun! Being older does put me at a higher chance for twins (by golly I will be 42 when this baby is born), but I also think with this being number 8....chances are likely that I just have a really BIG uterus! Ha, ha!
But for the record, my sister pegged this pregnancy (she just *knew* I was pregnant before I did), and last week, when I felt so horrid, she said, "Um, I'm thinking this is twins...that would explain your body's high need for magnesium." So there you have it. But, also for the record, she swore I was having a girl last time around...and well, we know how that turned out :-) So anyone want to take a wager?
But we get to have a wee bit more guessing than normal this time around, at least for the next few weeks. Now, this new twist has happened to me before, when I was expecting Saoirse (our 4th daughter). It would kind of seem fitting, if this was to be our 4th son, and we are just going through the same deal. Time (or an ultrasound) will tell! About a week and a half ago I started to experience round ligament pain. Odd, I am WAY too early to be having that. Then a handful of days later it felt like my uterus was popping up over the pubic bone and getting 'squeezed' if I bent over. That feeling lasted about 3 days and just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. But the past few days when Aubrey lays across my tummy, it's felt very uncomfortable.
So this morning, I decided to check my suspicions. I felt for my uterus, which, at one day short of being 11 weeks pregnant, should not even be able to be felt. And lo and behold, I felt it...big time. My uterus is 3 finger widths below my belly button! That is BIG.
Now, that being said, this happened with Saoirse, and an ultrasound revealed that I just had a big uterus. Ha! But there are a couple of other things that I am experiencing that I wasn't the last time. BUT, all of those other things have other possible reasons for happening. For example, the extreme need my body has for magnesium. Lots of it. When I was sick last week, I had all my pregnancy symptoms back, with a vengeance, worse than any other pregnancy (especially the fatigue, and the fact that my nausea was actually 24/7 a few days). But, you know, those could be explained away.
The only other odd thing is that the past two days I have felt some things that made me think I felt the baby moving. But I am WAY too early for that, at least if I only have one in there! But, again, that could be explained by the fact that my uterus had a tremendous growth spurt this past week, and it could just be muscle twitches. The uterus being a bag of muscle, I can imagine with it stretching so fast may have a few twitches to be had.
Time will tell. Jeremiah would prefer to know, like right NOW. Ha, ha. But, even though I do want to have an ultrasound done, I like for it to be when they can check my placenta, the baby's heart/lungs/kidneys/etc. Too early for those in depth checks. So if I went now, just to see if there is more than one in there, well, that means at least two ultrasounds, and I like to keep those at the very bare minimum.
I just think it's fun to try to 'figure' out. Hey, with all the yuckiness I've had, let something be fun! Being older does put me at a higher chance for twins (by golly I will be 42 when this baby is born), but I also think with this being number 8....chances are likely that I just have a really BIG uterus! Ha, ha!
But for the record, my sister pegged this pregnancy (she just *knew* I was pregnant before I did), and last week, when I felt so horrid, she said, "Um, I'm thinking this is twins...that would explain your body's high need for magnesium." So there you have it. But, also for the record, she swore I was having a girl last time around...and well, we know how that turned out :-) So anyone want to take a wager?
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Bumps in the road
Wow, what a slack blogger I have been! It's certainly not because there is nothing to write about, but that I just haven't had the energy to write. It seems I am hitting yet another bump in the road, which is putting me behind in all areas of life. This bump came during the same week that my older two were volunteering at Runner's Camp. Two oldest out + mom out of commission = disaster.
This started last week when we had to make a detour on our GAPS diet. Finances have grown tight, too tight to keep fully on GAPS. I had some extra food that I try to keep on hand, but I had to use those up, and when those were gone and the reality that my shopping budget was not going to handle our regular food, well something had to give. So for the time being we have added in rice, potatoes, and oats. We are still sticking with all the other GAPS regulations, except those three. This has really helped to stretch our food! BUT, since I had run out of my probiotic two weeks ago, AND with raging pregnancy hormones, these foods have induced a fungal (yeast) sinus infection. From my experience with the short viral we had a few weeks ago, when I am sick the magnesium I am using no longer goes to fight my nausea and heart racing issue...oh, and the fatigue issue.
This meant that everyday this week I have taken a 2.5 to 3 hour nap, and am STILL falling on my face. I have been feeling so, so, so nauseous, which is not a feeling that remains only in my tummy, but where my head even feels like it is nauseous (how is that possible?). It has taken all my effort to just get up and make some food so that the kiddos don't starve :-) My house is a wreck. And I do mean it is a WRECK!!! Laundry? What's that? Dishes?...have to be washed every time we need something because every dish in the house is dirty. Don't get me wrong, I've been making the kids to dishes, but they can't stay on top of them. This has been very discouraging. It was discouraging because at first I didn't know why I was feeling this way (my sinus infections do not present themselves like a normal sinus infection would). But a few days in I started getting clues. By the time I realized what was going on I didn't have a lick of energy to do anything about it. Totally catch 22.
Thankfully, I got a small break, that being Jeremiah being home! So today I made up a sinus wash with a bit of hydrogen peroxide in it. Ah! In just one day I am getting somewhere. All week long my 24 hour allergy relief (yes, I have to take an allergy pill, which I HATE, but at this point it can not be avoided) would stop working early afternoon (around 11 or noon) when it should have lasted until 9 PM. This morning I used the sinus wash and this afternoon, no exploding head!! Yay! I've done another wash this afternoon and was actually able to stand up for about 15 minutes to clean off the stove top. I had to sit down afterwards, BUT at least I didn't fall asleep! Now it's almost 8 pm and most of my nausea has subsided (it has been going ALL day even when I am trying to go to bed at night!).
This has been such a roller coaster of a ride! I am praying for a break from any illness so that I can try to get on top of the magnesium deficiency. It takes 1 to 3 months of constant use for the body to catch up. I just received my order for my probiotics. They are almost 3 times stronger than the ones I was taking, and I am taking 2 of them right now. I don't know if they are helping. Too much going on with my body to tell. All I know is that I am REALLY done with the excessive bloating in my tummy! There is no reason to look 4 months pregnant when I'm not! But it is all bloat! Oy.
BUT despite ALL of this, I still hold to my firm belief that children are a gift from God. There are soooo many things in life that are wonderful and good, BUT that are hard work. I've gotten a couple of comments that have kind of sounded that possibly this should be the last since this has been so hard on me. But I got to thinking how hard homeschooling can be. I mean by golly, do you realize how many hours I give up to homeschool my children? Or how many tears I've faced during my teaching (theirs AND mine). But regardless of how hard it can be, I still believe it is in the best interest of my children, and I persevere. And homesteading? Are you kidding? Chickens tearing up the garden, bratty goats to deal with, foxes or vermin coming in and killing or stealing, the list goes on! BUT, it is good for us to gain these lost arts and to pass them on to our children. It is good to be working hard on the land, and to realize how much we really truly need the Lord in these endeavors! Of course we need Him no matter what we are or are not doing, but it becomes even more evident when you are faced with drought, or vermin, or your own bratty goats tipping over the milking pail so that all 3/4 gallon of milk is wasted. Phew. And so it is with raising children. I mean, talk about time consuming :-) Hard work, tears, sweat, worry, time, sacrifice. And we do it all to the glory of the Lord. Well, we try to! I fail miserably....every. day. And so it is with this pregnancy. It is hard. Many times I ask myself...why? Will I ever feel normal again? Will I get in shape enough, and eat healthy enough, and pray hard for as long as I need to so that I might be successful with another homebirth? But in the end, we will be blessed. Blessed with what GOD has determined is a blessing, a child made in His image. And that makes all the hard work, all the nausea, all the fatigue, worth it.
Just don't bring this up while I'm on the couch ready to puke ;-) Ha, ha!
So, if I go missing for a stretch please do send up a prayer, because chances are I'm stuck in a funk.
Praying for some normal days to catch up on work around here. All in time for next week when the oldest 5 will be at runners camp!
This started last week when we had to make a detour on our GAPS diet. Finances have grown tight, too tight to keep fully on GAPS. I had some extra food that I try to keep on hand, but I had to use those up, and when those were gone and the reality that my shopping budget was not going to handle our regular food, well something had to give. So for the time being we have added in rice, potatoes, and oats. We are still sticking with all the other GAPS regulations, except those three. This has really helped to stretch our food! BUT, since I had run out of my probiotic two weeks ago, AND with raging pregnancy hormones, these foods have induced a fungal (yeast) sinus infection. From my experience with the short viral we had a few weeks ago, when I am sick the magnesium I am using no longer goes to fight my nausea and heart racing issue...oh, and the fatigue issue.
This meant that everyday this week I have taken a 2.5 to 3 hour nap, and am STILL falling on my face. I have been feeling so, so, so nauseous, which is not a feeling that remains only in my tummy, but where my head even feels like it is nauseous (how is that possible?). It has taken all my effort to just get up and make some food so that the kiddos don't starve :-) My house is a wreck. And I do mean it is a WRECK!!! Laundry? What's that? Dishes?...have to be washed every time we need something because every dish in the house is dirty. Don't get me wrong, I've been making the kids to dishes, but they can't stay on top of them. This has been very discouraging. It was discouraging because at first I didn't know why I was feeling this way (my sinus infections do not present themselves like a normal sinus infection would). But a few days in I started getting clues. By the time I realized what was going on I didn't have a lick of energy to do anything about it. Totally catch 22.
Thankfully, I got a small break, that being Jeremiah being home! So today I made up a sinus wash with a bit of hydrogen peroxide in it. Ah! In just one day I am getting somewhere. All week long my 24 hour allergy relief (yes, I have to take an allergy pill, which I HATE, but at this point it can not be avoided) would stop working early afternoon (around 11 or noon) when it should have lasted until 9 PM. This morning I used the sinus wash and this afternoon, no exploding head!! Yay! I've done another wash this afternoon and was actually able to stand up for about 15 minutes to clean off the stove top. I had to sit down afterwards, BUT at least I didn't fall asleep! Now it's almost 8 pm and most of my nausea has subsided (it has been going ALL day even when I am trying to go to bed at night!).
This has been such a roller coaster of a ride! I am praying for a break from any illness so that I can try to get on top of the magnesium deficiency. It takes 1 to 3 months of constant use for the body to catch up. I just received my order for my probiotics. They are almost 3 times stronger than the ones I was taking, and I am taking 2 of them right now. I don't know if they are helping. Too much going on with my body to tell. All I know is that I am REALLY done with the excessive bloating in my tummy! There is no reason to look 4 months pregnant when I'm not! But it is all bloat! Oy.
BUT despite ALL of this, I still hold to my firm belief that children are a gift from God. There are soooo many things in life that are wonderful and good, BUT that are hard work. I've gotten a couple of comments that have kind of sounded that possibly this should be the last since this has been so hard on me. But I got to thinking how hard homeschooling can be. I mean by golly, do you realize how many hours I give up to homeschool my children? Or how many tears I've faced during my teaching (theirs AND mine). But regardless of how hard it can be, I still believe it is in the best interest of my children, and I persevere. And homesteading? Are you kidding? Chickens tearing up the garden, bratty goats to deal with, foxes or vermin coming in and killing or stealing, the list goes on! BUT, it is good for us to gain these lost arts and to pass them on to our children. It is good to be working hard on the land, and to realize how much we really truly need the Lord in these endeavors! Of course we need Him no matter what we are or are not doing, but it becomes even more evident when you are faced with drought, or vermin, or your own bratty goats tipping over the milking pail so that all 3/4 gallon of milk is wasted. Phew. And so it is with raising children. I mean, talk about time consuming :-) Hard work, tears, sweat, worry, time, sacrifice. And we do it all to the glory of the Lord. Well, we try to! I fail miserably....every. day. And so it is with this pregnancy. It is hard. Many times I ask myself...why? Will I ever feel normal again? Will I get in shape enough, and eat healthy enough, and pray hard for as long as I need to so that I might be successful with another homebirth? But in the end, we will be blessed. Blessed with what GOD has determined is a blessing, a child made in His image. And that makes all the hard work, all the nausea, all the fatigue, worth it.
Just don't bring this up while I'm on the couch ready to puke ;-) Ha, ha!
So, if I go missing for a stretch please do send up a prayer, because chances are I'm stuck in a funk.
Praying for some normal days to catch up on work around here. All in time for next week when the oldest 5 will be at runners camp!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Airplanes
Airplanes, not a subject I write about much :-) Unless it has to do with making a visit to the big airport to watch the planes come and go....something we really need to do soon. But today I am not talking about that sort of adventure.
We live close by to a county airport. This means we are used to seeing lots of small planes come and go. On the weekend, if we are heading toward the airport we can sometimes catch sight of people parachuting! Very cool. And, not sure if they take off at the airport or not, but we see lots of hot air balloons as well.
Jeremiah and I have had plenty of conversations about the military type aircrafts that have passed by this way. A few months ago we saw some carrier jets. They are HUGE, and they fly so slowly. Everytime I see one I am watching and waiting for it to fall from the sky as it doesn't seem possible for something so big to be able to fly through the sky! We've seen our share of helicopters as well. The kids all go running outside when you hear a whole slew of them coming. Always impressive, if not a wee bit scary.
So aircraft passing our house is nothing new. But I had two separate experiences the past couple of days that were a wee bit out of the norm.
The first one was a few days ago, I was out milking the goats. I brought the boys out with me so they could get some play time in. I could hear a small plane approaching. I was filling a watering bucket, so I was out from under the tree cover. As the plane was getting closer I thought, "Wow, that must be one low flying plane." So I called to the boys to come and see. And as it came over the tree line (our house is surrounded by trees on all sides, with only so many feet cleared around our actual house. I knew right away that this plane was flying much lower than any other plane I've seen since we've lived here, 6 years. I could clearly see this plane had a blue stripe, and from the sound of it there was something not right with it's right engine. It was making a noise I didn't think a plane should be making! I immediately thought..."Um, if I didn't know any better I would say this plane was going to crash." I wasn't worried it was going to crash next door or anything like that, but for a while I kept my ears opened.
Fast forward to that same evening, I went online to check the weather (storms were rolling in). Off to the side, where they have small thumbnails and a tag line of recent stories, imagine my surprise when I saw a tiny picture of a downed plane, with a tag of "Small plane crashes in a field". Yup, you got it, it was the SAME plane that had flown over head that morning. It crashed in the next county over, about 10 to 15 minutes after I had last seen it. Thankfully, no one was injured. But, wow, that was amazing!
And then today. Oh. My. Goodness. Now, there have been plenty of aircraft that get our attention first by their loud approach, BUT THIS thing beat all!!! Again, I was out milking goats. I could hear a plane coming, and coming FAST and LOUD. I have NEVER heard anything like this. I RAN out from under the milking shelter, but I was still under trees. Now, granted, with my heart issue still in the midst of getting control of ( if I don't stay on top of the magnesium I will get a racing heart, though nothing as bad as in the past) it doesn't take a lot to push it over the edge into fast beating. But I swear my heart stopped with fear as this plane approached. At first I was worried that it was going to literally crash into my house. That is how loud it was! But as it passed over our house, there was a loud screeching. And then just a lot of loud noise after it passed. I couldn't actually see the plane, BUT I was thinking, "That thing had to be skimming the tops of our trees!" I was shaking for a few minutes afterwards (though, again, easy to do with my heart issue).
As soon as I got in the house that was the first thing all the kids were raving about...Mom, oh my goodness, did you hear that plane? Jonah said, "Mommy, that plane was right over our trees." I didn't really believe he could see it, though he said it was white, green and blue (I think). Seriously, as fast as that plane was going, I don't see how you could see any colors at all!! But then Saoirse came out of her room to tell me her experience. She heard the plane coming and was freaked out (all the kids were freaked out, like I said it was LOUD), she ran to her window and told me, "I only saw a small part of the plane, I think it was the wing, but mom it flew right over the tops of our trees!" So, I guess I wasn't so wrong with my thoughts, that this thing was brushing the tops of our trees. Though, I find it hard to believe any plane is allowed to fly so low!!!! When I was outside I had waited to hear an explosion after the plane passed, but nothing happened.
I am assuming it was military in nature? I have no idea, as I didn't get a glimpse of the plane, but I am guessing they are the only ones with planes that go THAT fast. Note to the military: Please fly somewhere else :-) Or at least fly higher than our trees!
We live close by to a county airport. This means we are used to seeing lots of small planes come and go. On the weekend, if we are heading toward the airport we can sometimes catch sight of people parachuting! Very cool. And, not sure if they take off at the airport or not, but we see lots of hot air balloons as well.
Jeremiah and I have had plenty of conversations about the military type aircrafts that have passed by this way. A few months ago we saw some carrier jets. They are HUGE, and they fly so slowly. Everytime I see one I am watching and waiting for it to fall from the sky as it doesn't seem possible for something so big to be able to fly through the sky! We've seen our share of helicopters as well. The kids all go running outside when you hear a whole slew of them coming. Always impressive, if not a wee bit scary.
So aircraft passing our house is nothing new. But I had two separate experiences the past couple of days that were a wee bit out of the norm.
The first one was a few days ago, I was out milking the goats. I brought the boys out with me so they could get some play time in. I could hear a small plane approaching. I was filling a watering bucket, so I was out from under the tree cover. As the plane was getting closer I thought, "Wow, that must be one low flying plane." So I called to the boys to come and see. And as it came over the tree line (our house is surrounded by trees on all sides, with only so many feet cleared around our actual house. I knew right away that this plane was flying much lower than any other plane I've seen since we've lived here, 6 years. I could clearly see this plane had a blue stripe, and from the sound of it there was something not right with it's right engine. It was making a noise I didn't think a plane should be making! I immediately thought..."Um, if I didn't know any better I would say this plane was going to crash." I wasn't worried it was going to crash next door or anything like that, but for a while I kept my ears opened.
Fast forward to that same evening, I went online to check the weather (storms were rolling in). Off to the side, where they have small thumbnails and a tag line of recent stories, imagine my surprise when I saw a tiny picture of a downed plane, with a tag of "Small plane crashes in a field". Yup, you got it, it was the SAME plane that had flown over head that morning. It crashed in the next county over, about 10 to 15 minutes after I had last seen it. Thankfully, no one was injured. But, wow, that was amazing!
And then today. Oh. My. Goodness. Now, there have been plenty of aircraft that get our attention first by their loud approach, BUT THIS thing beat all!!! Again, I was out milking goats. I could hear a plane coming, and coming FAST and LOUD. I have NEVER heard anything like this. I RAN out from under the milking shelter, but I was still under trees. Now, granted, with my heart issue still in the midst of getting control of ( if I don't stay on top of the magnesium I will get a racing heart, though nothing as bad as in the past) it doesn't take a lot to push it over the edge into fast beating. But I swear my heart stopped with fear as this plane approached. At first I was worried that it was going to literally crash into my house. That is how loud it was! But as it passed over our house, there was a loud screeching. And then just a lot of loud noise after it passed. I couldn't actually see the plane, BUT I was thinking, "That thing had to be skimming the tops of our trees!" I was shaking for a few minutes afterwards (though, again, easy to do with my heart issue).
As soon as I got in the house that was the first thing all the kids were raving about...Mom, oh my goodness, did you hear that plane? Jonah said, "Mommy, that plane was right over our trees." I didn't really believe he could see it, though he said it was white, green and blue (I think). Seriously, as fast as that plane was going, I don't see how you could see any colors at all!! But then Saoirse came out of her room to tell me her experience. She heard the plane coming and was freaked out (all the kids were freaked out, like I said it was LOUD), she ran to her window and told me, "I only saw a small part of the plane, I think it was the wing, but mom it flew right over the tops of our trees!" So, I guess I wasn't so wrong with my thoughts, that this thing was brushing the tops of our trees. Though, I find it hard to believe any plane is allowed to fly so low!!!! When I was outside I had waited to hear an explosion after the plane passed, but nothing happened.
I am assuming it was military in nature? I have no idea, as I didn't get a glimpse of the plane, but I am guessing they are the only ones with planes that go THAT fast. Note to the military: Please fly somewhere else :-) Or at least fly higher than our trees!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
The dangers of centipedes and avocado seeds
I'm not sure if it is a good thing to feel like you've had a full day, and it is only 10 AM. Hmmm. After a horrible day yesterday (I was sick), I wanted to get on the ball and get things done. It appears that no one else moves unless I give directive....must work on that. As such we have a wee bit of catching up to do. The good news is that I was still able to accomplish school yesterday, we just need to get on top of chores.
Knowing that today is supposed to be a scorcher, I got the boys outside fist thing this morning. We are also expecting strong storms later this afternoon/evening, so I must get those wiggles out :-) Jonah enjoys riding his bike, and Jed and Aubrey enjoy searching for bugs. Aubrey's other delight is intorturing holding the kittens. All the boys took a break from their playing to help me paint our fruit trees. We are supposed to paint their trunks to protect them from sun scald. They did a great job helping.
As we headed back inside, Jed brought up his box of bugs. He put them down on top of another box to save to play with later. However, his little brother came over and dumped over the box. Jed reached out to 'save' his bugs, all the while I screamed, "NO!" Too late. Earlier, right before going out I spotted a centipede on a couch cushion. Jed had added that to his bug box. Normally the boys catch the wee small centipedes by hand (the ones that are only about 1/2- 3/4 inches big), but this was one of big ones, with the obvious pinchers. Well, Jed got bit. Thankfully it isn't serious. I put some baking soda paste on it to help with the pain. Hopefully he learns to be more careful.
After we were inside I sat down for a break. Although I feel a TON better than yesterday, I'm still recovering. The boys were soooo sweet. They each brought in some dandelions to put in a vase for me. Then they each brought me a snack. Bananas with chocolate. While they were coming and going Aubrey came in and exclaimed, "A ball!" This ball was an avocado seed. He threw it in the air (just about touching the ceiling). I told him not to do that, but too late....up in the air and smack in my eye! I wasn't looking up all the way, so I didn't see it coming. Ouch. So beware of those avocado seeds, dangerous little things :-).
Below are some pictures of the boys playing in the rain, when the tropical storm passed through, and then the damage it did to our creek. I had never, NEVER seen our creek so high. At the height it was at it was more of a raging river! Everyone wanted to take a look at the high water. (Before we headed out I had no idea it was so bad) We could see from our window that our neighbors dock was totally submerged. As we went out the girls wanted to see the creek. I told them they could, but to not go in the water. Up till this point the highest the water has been was almost to the bottom of our small bridge. I took the boys to the end of the driveway to see the water covering the neighbors pond. I had no intention of going down to the creek (this was on Friday when I started to go into my magnesium deficient tailspin). As I got closer to our neighbors property I see that the water isn't just covering the dock, but is RUSHING over his dock, and road! His road was in danger of being totally washed out! I looked off to the side, where the water was coming from. Normally, if you look close (due to trees and such) you can see our neighbors bridge from where I was standing. Although you may get a glimpse of his bridge the creek is too shallow to see from where I was standing. Well, to say that I TOTALLY FREAKED OUT would be an understatement. Instead of our neighbors bridge, I see this RIVER of RAGING water!!! It was incredible....in a scary way. I knew that if any one of my girls stepped foot (on purpose, or by accident) in that water they would instantly be carried away and be drowned. NO JOKE. I couldn't leave the boys there, nor did I feel I had the time to get them inside. The noise of the rushing water was too loud for the girls to hear me. So I told the boys to follow me, and I started going as fast as the boys could go to get to the creek to make sure the girls were NO WHERE NEAR the creek. My heart was pounding so hard. On the way down one of the girls was running up. So I yelled out to her, "STAY AWAY FROM THE WATER!!" She told me that they were no where near the edge (she was running up to get her camera). I got down there, and they were all being safe, staying far from the creek. Phew!
Our bridge would have been washed away had it not been tied to trees! It was totally submerged, and six feet further down the creek. I am guessing the water was a good three feet deep (normally it is only ankle to mid calf deep!). I measured it the next day, and the water had come 17 feet from it's banks, just on the one side!
Jonah trying to catch the rain. We had a lot of laundry do to that day (all the kids love playing in a downpour).
I took this photo for two reasons. One, because I was trying to get shots of all the boys playing in the rain. But two, I had noticed that Jed seemed to be thinning out. And this photo definitely shows that. Looking back over the years you can see Jed filling out (in very small ways) and then thinning down. I can only hope that this is because he grew taller. I am not allowing myself to measure him until he's been on the higher dose of growth hormones for about 3 months. I don't want to get discouraged seeing him thin out, and it's not because he's grown taller. Sigh. Now a few weeks ago he was chowing down all his meals and getting seconds. I thought I started to notice him filling out, but just as quickly he seemed to loose it all, and now he isn't eating as much. For any of my other kids I *know* this is normal. I just wish Jed would fill out a bit more, so that when he does thin out it isn't so bad. He just looks painfully thin to me in the above picture. His appetite has been improving a bit, so hopefully he will start to fill back out. (Excuse his messed up pants, I fixed them right after the photo...he was in a rush to get dressed to play in the downpour. Never mind he was in no danger of missing out...it downpoured for hours!)
Aubrey having fun in the rain.
I was going to edit these to put arrows to point out where the water rose to, but...that would take too long ;-) If you look on the trunk of the tree with the swing, you can see a bunch of leaves...that would be deposits left from the raging river. The branch where the swing is tied to was under water.
Jeremiah surveying the damage. Notice the sand he is standing on. That sand belongs *in* the creek. I took this picture so that the bottom edge of the photo is where the water had come to, which is 17 feet!
The now messed up bridge.
You can see one of the ropes that is being stretched to the max. The ropes held the bridge from landing in our neighbor's pond. Although, the dock was displaced by about 6 feet.
Sorry for the blur, must figure out my new camera! It's driving me crazy trying to get the focus points on my subject. Anyways, the rock Saoirse is standing next to, which sits half in the creek and half out, was totally submerged in the raging river.
Boys checking out the creek. And yes, I know it is silly to be taking so many pictures of our messed up creek. I realize that many people have been devastated by *real* flooding. But in our neck of the woods this is amazing stuff.
Normally, where the girls are standing is just a sand bar. Jonah was shocked by how deep the water was.
If you look closely you can see the greens all lying flat and off to the right from the water. Also, if you look towards the top of the pic, right above that leaning trunk off to the left, you can see a bunch of sand. That is sand displaced from the raging river!
Jonah showing off their picked flowers. In his right hand are the ones he picked, and in the other, the ones Jed picked.
Jed showing off in the water. That rope he is holding on to was under water. The creek was definitely as high as how tall Jed is.
Sunshine for the soul :-)
Knowing that today is supposed to be a scorcher, I got the boys outside fist thing this morning. We are also expecting strong storms later this afternoon/evening, so I must get those wiggles out :-) Jonah enjoys riding his bike, and Jed and Aubrey enjoy searching for bugs. Aubrey's other delight is in
As we headed back inside, Jed brought up his box of bugs. He put them down on top of another box to save to play with later. However, his little brother came over and dumped over the box. Jed reached out to 'save' his bugs, all the while I screamed, "NO!" Too late. Earlier, right before going out I spotted a centipede on a couch cushion. Jed had added that to his bug box. Normally the boys catch the wee small centipedes by hand (the ones that are only about 1/2- 3/4 inches big), but this was one of big ones, with the obvious pinchers. Well, Jed got bit. Thankfully it isn't serious. I put some baking soda paste on it to help with the pain. Hopefully he learns to be more careful.
After we were inside I sat down for a break. Although I feel a TON better than yesterday, I'm still recovering. The boys were soooo sweet. They each brought in some dandelions to put in a vase for me. Then they each brought me a snack. Bananas with chocolate. While they were coming and going Aubrey came in and exclaimed, "A ball!" This ball was an avocado seed. He threw it in the air (just about touching the ceiling). I told him not to do that, but too late....up in the air and smack in my eye! I wasn't looking up all the way, so I didn't see it coming. Ouch. So beware of those avocado seeds, dangerous little things :-).
Below are some pictures of the boys playing in the rain, when the tropical storm passed through, and then the damage it did to our creek. I had never, NEVER seen our creek so high. At the height it was at it was more of a raging river! Everyone wanted to take a look at the high water. (Before we headed out I had no idea it was so bad) We could see from our window that our neighbors dock was totally submerged. As we went out the girls wanted to see the creek. I told them they could, but to not go in the water. Up till this point the highest the water has been was almost to the bottom of our small bridge. I took the boys to the end of the driveway to see the water covering the neighbors pond. I had no intention of going down to the creek (this was on Friday when I started to go into my magnesium deficient tailspin). As I got closer to our neighbors property I see that the water isn't just covering the dock, but is RUSHING over his dock, and road! His road was in danger of being totally washed out! I looked off to the side, where the water was coming from. Normally, if you look close (due to trees and such) you can see our neighbors bridge from where I was standing. Although you may get a glimpse of his bridge the creek is too shallow to see from where I was standing. Well, to say that I TOTALLY FREAKED OUT would be an understatement. Instead of our neighbors bridge, I see this RIVER of RAGING water!!! It was incredible....in a scary way. I knew that if any one of my girls stepped foot (on purpose, or by accident) in that water they would instantly be carried away and be drowned. NO JOKE. I couldn't leave the boys there, nor did I feel I had the time to get them inside. The noise of the rushing water was too loud for the girls to hear me. So I told the boys to follow me, and I started going as fast as the boys could go to get to the creek to make sure the girls were NO WHERE NEAR the creek. My heart was pounding so hard. On the way down one of the girls was running up. So I yelled out to her, "STAY AWAY FROM THE WATER!!" She told me that they were no where near the edge (she was running up to get her camera). I got down there, and they were all being safe, staying far from the creek. Phew!
Our bridge would have been washed away had it not been tied to trees! It was totally submerged, and six feet further down the creek. I am guessing the water was a good three feet deep (normally it is only ankle to mid calf deep!). I measured it the next day, and the water had come 17 feet from it's banks, just on the one side!
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
The creepy crawlies that live in the woods
I'm sure most of you are shaking your head and thinking....Um, Kerri, what did you expect? You live in the South. Ha, ha! Yes, I realize this. But sometimes I have to write about it :-) The funny thing? Just the day before I was wishing that I only had to deal with my childhood fear....the spider! I laugh about it now. Goodness, if all I had to worry about (I'm talking about creepy crawlies, and not the more important things in life!) were some spiders, I would be doing a jig!
The following day was Sunday. After our fellowship lunch I usually take the boys outside to play. This Sunday Jeremiah took them out. We meet in the back of a warehouse of sorts, so the only thing outside is a big gravel parking lot and a very small perimeter of woods. I think the woods are only 8 feet thick or so. All the kiddos at church play in these woods. This day Aubrey had fallen down. Jeremiah went to help him up. After he brushed him off and sent him on his way he noticed something move on the ground. This 'something' had only been about 12 inches from the baby. And that something was a copper head! Yikes!!! Jeremiah cleared the area, and then grabbed a stick to try to deal with the snake. However, the snake got away.
I guess there won't be any playing in the woods for a while. Thankfully I've read up on copper heads. And though, their first line of defense is to strike with an initial bite, that first bite does not give off enough venom to do serious harm. Don't get me wrong, it will hurt like the dickens, swell, and bruise and such, but generally speaking it doesn't kill. I would be more worried about a black widow bite, as from what I've read that has more of a chance to go systemic, as opposed to the copper head's more local reaction. Please note, this is based on what I've read, I've not experienced a bite from a snake, nor a black widow, and I'm sure every one's mileage varies :-)
Now, if only I had to just worry about those horrid house spiders that I would check under my bed, in my closet, behind the dresser each night as a child. Sigh.
The following day was Sunday. After our fellowship lunch I usually take the boys outside to play. This Sunday Jeremiah took them out. We meet in the back of a warehouse of sorts, so the only thing outside is a big gravel parking lot and a very small perimeter of woods. I think the woods are only 8 feet thick or so. All the kiddos at church play in these woods. This day Aubrey had fallen down. Jeremiah went to help him up. After he brushed him off and sent him on his way he noticed something move on the ground. This 'something' had only been about 12 inches from the baby. And that something was a copper head! Yikes!!! Jeremiah cleared the area, and then grabbed a stick to try to deal with the snake. However, the snake got away.
I guess there won't be any playing in the woods for a while. Thankfully I've read up on copper heads. And though, their first line of defense is to strike with an initial bite, that first bite does not give off enough venom to do serious harm. Don't get me wrong, it will hurt like the dickens, swell, and bruise and such, but generally speaking it doesn't kill. I would be more worried about a black widow bite, as from what I've read that has more of a chance to go systemic, as opposed to the copper head's more local reaction. Please note, this is based on what I've read, I've not experienced a bite from a snake, nor a black widow, and I'm sure every one's mileage varies :-)
Now, if only I had to just worry about those horrid house spiders that I would check under my bed, in my closet, behind the dresser each night as a child. Sigh.
8 is Great.....Magnesium deficiency
You may be wondering why I would have a post dedicated to magnesium deficiency in my pregnacy series. Well, maybe some of you have heard that it is believed morning sickness is due to magnesium deficiency. I first read about this issue over at Mommypotamus. Do check out her amazing post on magnesium deficiency during pregnancy.
I'm basically going to give you some of the tid bits I've read about and my experience with supplementation. Magnesium is needed for many functions in our bodies. You can do a quick google search to find the lists out there. Of course everyone is an individual, and how one person presents their defiency will be different from another. Magnesium is used for our muscular functions, including our heart. Magnesium has a very important role in our brain's going on's. I remember when we had Jedidiah tested (through alternative means) the practitioner told us he was *super* depleted in magnesium, which was (only) one cause of his failure to thrive/ apraxia issue.
In reading the article about magnesium, it states that you should supplement *before* you get pregnant. But I didn't....so now what? Well, I didn't read what she had recommended, but I figured that a topical magnesium would be more beneficial since once you are pregnant your body has a harder time digesting magnesium in pill form. It made sense to me to skip the digestive tract all together and get my mag through my skin! So how is it working? Well, let me give you a bit of background first, just so you know the severity of my "issues".
With all of my pregnancies I had the all day nausea. This usually lasted until 14 weeks pregnant. But with my last pregnancy, things totally got weird! My all day sickness was at it's worst. It didn't subside until about 18 weeks. On top of that I started experiencing my heart racing over the smallest of things. Also, I had a hard time breathing (not allergy releated). It got so bad that I was couch ridden. I would get up and unload the top rack of the dishwasher and be out of breath, my heart racing and totally fatigued! If I was just sitting down and raised my arm to shoulder length it would make my heart race! It was totally overwhelming and made my life stop. I made a call to my homeopath, and through homeopathy, I was able to over come this unfortunate "illness".
Fast forward to this pregnancy. I was praying that I would not have repeat of Aubrey's pregnancy. I did have little tiny waves of my heart feeling funny. Nothing horrible, but it did worry me. In the beginning few weeks I was using a magnesium oil, once a day. There were days when I woke up and all of my muscles felt like they were moving through mud. There wasn't any cramping, but just this horrid feeling of not being able to move without much effort. My all day nausea had settled in. Most days it wasn't too bad, but there were a few that life was put on hold. I was trying a couple of things at a time, not being able to determine if anything was working or not.
And then this past weekend happened. Leading up to this I have been faithfully working out 6 days a week. (this is only important because with a magnesium deficiency any small activity makes things worse, you become fatigued much easier and much more quickly) I got busy on Friday and forgot to use my magnesium oil. When I woke up Saturday I felt HORRID!!! My heart was racing, I was so sick to my stomach, plus my muscles couldn't move....At least with my last pregnancy things built up from minor issues to eventually being couch bound. But over night I went from minor to couch bound. All morning I couldn't get off the couch. Just walking to the bathroom left me breathing hard and my heart racing. I happened to remember I needed to put on my magnesium spray. I noticed about 30 minutes later I felt a wee bit better. Hmmm, coincidence? So 2 hours later I put some more on. And again, 30 minutes or so later I was feeling even better. Better enough to go out to take a look at the damage the tropical storm did to our stream. But trekking back is all up hill. That wore me out! So I applied some more magnesium. I continued this every 2 hours or so. By the evening, I felt a ton better, my muscles were working, my nausea was gone and I only had a wee bit of racing heart going on.
So today, I started taking the mag right off the bat and kept applying every couple of hours or after any hard work. Basically from what I read today, all of my symptoms line up with a magnesium deficiency. The lack of magnesium makes it difficult for your blood cells to carry oxygen, which leads to fatigue. It can also cause your heart to race, and your muscles to cramp up. I was able to exercise without ANY problems today. I did have a wee bit of heart racing, but nothing that interfered with my ability to exercise. From what I read, once you are magnesium deficient, just the smallest activity will lead to fatigue. AND I have been nausea free all day!!! I didn't have that heavy chest feeling that made it difficult to breath. I also had NO fatigue.
Obviously two days doesn't exactly count as having the cause of my misery bagged, BUT this is the ONLY promising thing so far. Right now, a homeopathic consultation isn't going to fit on the budget. I told Jeremiah that I was going to schedule a visit with our family physician this week to determine the cause of my issues and see if there isn't anything natural I could to do solve it. Looks like that appointment will be put on hold for the time being.
Please make sure you do your own research, and talk with your own health care provider to see what is best for you and your baby. What I have written here is what I have read about and what I decide to try. Your health is in YOUR hands.
Friday, May 31, 2013
A menu...finally!
I finally made up a menu! It has been months since I last wrote a menu. It was too depressing to make one up since we were just eating the same foods again and again. I couldn't take it anymore! On top of just going bonkers eating the same things again and again, I wanted to have some mock recipes, knowing that when my pregnancy cravings kicked in I will need to have more options. Granted I won't know what I will be craving in particular, but at least I may have a few more recipes under my belt.
I've said before that there are PLENTY of GAPS recipes out there. The problem with a lot of them is that they are too time consuming. I already spend the majority of my day in the kitchen between cooking and cleaning up, I don't have any more time to put towards food prep than what I am already giving. The past few days I've spent searching for something new, but familiar. And I found some yummy looking options. I actually wrote out a menu. Along with that, I wrote up a prep list that I shared with the girls. I told them that we would be spending Friday evening and whatever time it took on Saturday to do some prep work, which will help immensely come dinner time in the middle of the week.
This time around I did not assign a meal to a particular day. Instead I chose 7 dinners and 7 lunches for the week, which will then be repeated the following week. I am also trying something a bit new to us, having multiple foods with each meal. I used to do this years ago when I only had a few children. But lately for lunch we might just have leftovers from dinner, let's say chili for example. But that is *all* we ate at lunch, just chili. This pay cycle will be tight and I thought by adding in side dishes with our lunches and dinners we may see (HOPING TO SEE) a decrease in the never ending munchies. I'll let you know how it goes. So here is my menu. I will try to link to the recipes when I have the time. Right now I have a couple of these recipes bookmarked on one computer, another couple of recipes on a different computer, and still a few more on the third. My head is spinning just thinking about finding them :-)
Breakfast:
(these are not scheduled, just a list of choices to have on hand)
eggs and their variations (ex. omelets)
yogurt and fruit
granola, fruit with coconut milk
smoothies
banana with toppings
Snack options:
kefir smoothie (will try to make this daily)
veggies with dip
fruit (banana with toppings, or with yogurt dip, or with peanut butter)
Lunches:
mini pizzas with salad
"mac and cheese" with baked beans, and veggies with ranch dip
chicken nuggets with squash fries, and cut fruit
squash chips with guacamole dip, cut fruit, and trail mix
soup with broccoli salad
cheeseburger broccoli with fruit, and yogurt dip
'potato' salad, baked bean, and veggies and dip
Dinner:
hamburgers (on lettuce 'buns'), potato salad, and squash fries
soup and salad
'pasta' with meat sauce, veggies and dip (pasta is made of spaghetti squash)
chicken enchiladas, either over cauliflower rice or wrapped in coconut flour tortillas
soup with cilantro lime beans
roast chicken with veggies (peas or garlic beans)
BLT's with soup (blt's will be on lettuce, with homemade mayo, and a slice of avocado)
taco's with toppings in coconut flour tortillas, side to be determined :-)
This looks like a promising menu. It's success will be determined by how much prep work we get done. My prep list is as follows:
make pickle brine (before shopping day)
start soaking beans (staggering batches-this will take multiple days from start to finish)
-after soaking start the sprouting process
-cook beans
-dehydrate beans
dehydrate summer squash for the squash chips
mix up ground beef for hamburger patties and freeze
cook some plain ground beef, to be used in the cheeseburger broc. and tacos
make and freeze pasta sauce
cook a few chickens
-start broth
-use some chicken to make chicken nuggets, freeze
-freeze the rest as cubes
make granola
That is what I hope to accomplish over the weekend. After that I plan on making some of the veggie dips and mayo. The mayo will be used plain and in the ranch dressing dip. I plan on making a guacamole, dahl, and possibly a white bean hummus. The girls will be in charge of cutting up our dipping veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers and bell peppers).
If all goes well, some of these dishes will lend well to freezing for future meals. I may be only 6 weeks pregnant, but a big concern of mine already is what will I be able to make for freezer meals for when the baby comes. I am anticipating still being on GAPS, and having foods that I can freeze for easy meals will be essential. With my last three babies, I had made a bunch of freezer meals. With Aubrey (my last one), I literally had enough meals frozen for an entire month. Our freezer was stocked to the limit! This makes a HUGE difference in how peaceful the postpartum period is.
I've said before that there are PLENTY of GAPS recipes out there. The problem with a lot of them is that they are too time consuming. I already spend the majority of my day in the kitchen between cooking and cleaning up, I don't have any more time to put towards food prep than what I am already giving. The past few days I've spent searching for something new, but familiar. And I found some yummy looking options. I actually wrote out a menu. Along with that, I wrote up a prep list that I shared with the girls. I told them that we would be spending Friday evening and whatever time it took on Saturday to do some prep work, which will help immensely come dinner time in the middle of the week.
This time around I did not assign a meal to a particular day. Instead I chose 7 dinners and 7 lunches for the week, which will then be repeated the following week. I am also trying something a bit new to us, having multiple foods with each meal. I used to do this years ago when I only had a few children. But lately for lunch we might just have leftovers from dinner, let's say chili for example. But that is *all* we ate at lunch, just chili. This pay cycle will be tight and I thought by adding in side dishes with our lunches and dinners we may see (HOPING TO SEE) a decrease in the never ending munchies. I'll let you know how it goes. So here is my menu. I will try to link to the recipes when I have the time. Right now I have a couple of these recipes bookmarked on one computer, another couple of recipes on a different computer, and still a few more on the third. My head is spinning just thinking about finding them :-)
Breakfast:
(these are not scheduled, just a list of choices to have on hand)
eggs and their variations (ex. omelets)
yogurt and fruit
granola, fruit with coconut milk
smoothies
banana with toppings
Snack options:
kefir smoothie (will try to make this daily)
veggies with dip
fruit (banana with toppings, or with yogurt dip, or with peanut butter)
Lunches:
mini pizzas with salad
"mac and cheese" with baked beans, and veggies with ranch dip
chicken nuggets with squash fries, and cut fruit
squash chips with guacamole dip, cut fruit, and trail mix
soup with broccoli salad
cheeseburger broccoli with fruit, and yogurt dip
'potato' salad, baked bean, and veggies and dip
Dinner:
hamburgers (on lettuce 'buns'), potato salad, and squash fries
soup and salad
'pasta' with meat sauce, veggies and dip (pasta is made of spaghetti squash)
chicken enchiladas, either over cauliflower rice or wrapped in coconut flour tortillas
soup with cilantro lime beans
roast chicken with veggies (peas or garlic beans)
BLT's with soup (blt's will be on lettuce, with homemade mayo, and a slice of avocado)
taco's with toppings in coconut flour tortillas, side to be determined :-)
This looks like a promising menu. It's success will be determined by how much prep work we get done. My prep list is as follows:
make pickle brine (before shopping day)
start soaking beans (staggering batches-this will take multiple days from start to finish)
-after soaking start the sprouting process
-cook beans
-dehydrate beans
dehydrate summer squash for the squash chips
mix up ground beef for hamburger patties and freeze
cook some plain ground beef, to be used in the cheeseburger broc. and tacos
make and freeze pasta sauce
cook a few chickens
-start broth
-use some chicken to make chicken nuggets, freeze
-freeze the rest as cubes
make granola
That is what I hope to accomplish over the weekend. After that I plan on making some of the veggie dips and mayo. The mayo will be used plain and in the ranch dressing dip. I plan on making a guacamole, dahl, and possibly a white bean hummus. The girls will be in charge of cutting up our dipping veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers and bell peppers).
If all goes well, some of these dishes will lend well to freezing for future meals. I may be only 6 weeks pregnant, but a big concern of mine already is what will I be able to make for freezer meals for when the baby comes. I am anticipating still being on GAPS, and having foods that I can freeze for easy meals will be essential. With my last three babies, I had made a bunch of freezer meals. With Aubrey (my last one), I literally had enough meals frozen for an entire month. Our freezer was stocked to the limit! This makes a HUGE difference in how peaceful the postpartum period is.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
8 is great....pregnancy tea
Welcome to my pregnancy series. I suppose if I was a more organized person I would have topics in an organized manner. But, you are out of luck, because organized I am not. Instead, the topics will be on issues I may be encountering at the moment, or moments that I may soon encounter, or they may just be on things I've learned from past pregnancies. When dealing with any type of "health" issue, please be responsible and consult your health care provider to find what is right for *you*. In this series I will be sharing what I have done, or will be doing, and the results. I am not an expert, even with seven children and an eighth on the way. It seems the more I learn, the more I realize I do not know! But I hope you will find some things useful in this series. And, please, share what has worked for you. Let's get started!
A Super Duper Pregancy Tea
Tea is a wonderful way of getting essential nutrients that are easily absorbed/digested. The base of any pregancy tea I have come across is red raspberry leaf. Usually alfalfa and nettle are added, along with peppermint for flavoring. Above you will see what I put into my pregancy tea: red raspberry leaf, alfalfa, dandilion root, dandilion leaf, nettle, oat straw and red clover. I do not add bulk peppermint to my mix as I had read that peppermint should not be consumed on a daily basis. I don't remember the exact reasons, but I think it may be that it inhibits the absorption of some nutrients if drunk on a daily basis. I thought I would play it safe and I only put peppermint in my tea on occasion.
Until I came accross this wonderful "Pregnancy Notes" series, I had been just mixing up the bulk herbs as needed, with varying amounts. A bit of this, a little of that, maybe more of this one over here. It was nice to come across a 'recipe' to work with. I found other recipes online, but none used the same herbs as I did, except for the above site that I am linking to. Like I said in my previous post, why reinvent the wheel? I do not have a good herbal book on hand to list all the qualities of each herb listed above, but found all that information in the pregancy tea post at "Just Making Noise". I hope you enjoy the information she has provided!
There is conflicting advice on how much of the tea you should drink. The usual guidelines are to drink one cup daily during the first trimester, two cups daily during the second trimester, and three cups daily during the third.
My dreaded all day sickness has taken hold...already. Ugh. I felt a small bit of it coming on yesterday. We went to a Memorial Day picnic where I ate a GAPS no-no. That evening I felt horrid! However, I found myself feeling really yucky all day. Just like that, no building up, just two feet jumping in. I am hoping this will be short lived as I can not deal with being sick to my stomach. Broken knee? No problem. Slipped disk (after some healing time), no problem. The flu? Besides the two extremely fall on my face exhausted days, no problem. Not fun to be sure, but I can work around those types of issues. But an upset tummy? My. World. Stops. Yeah, seems silly. Soooooo, I think I may try adding some ginger root to my tea to see if I notice any difference in my tummy. Fingers crossed :-)
I ran out out of my the pre-mixed tea, and had most of the herbs from my local herbal store, so I just went and purchased the red raspberry leaf to make up my own. I also recently purchased a few herbs from Herbalcom.com. The prices are half of those I've seen elsewhere online. Their service is quick and, from the couple of items I've purchased, seem very fresh. I think I may try to buy a few bulk herbs from there again when my current stash of pregancy tea herbs runs out.
This is the 'recipe' I used to make my current batch, taken from "Just Making Noise":
4 parts Red Raspberry Leaf
4 parts Nettle Leaf
3 parts Red Clover Blossoms
3 parts Alfalfa
2-3 parts Peppermint
1 part Dandelion Leaf (optional)
1 part Dandelion Root (optional)
1 part Oatstraw (optional)
If you plan on making an order for herbs may I suggest that you do so through "Just Making Noise's" affiliate link? They are a missionary family and I am sure they would welcome your purchase.
And as a side note, can I just say that I am drooling over her "Making Ice Cream" e-book? Oh. My. Goodness.
Do any of you have a favorite pregnancy tea? Do share in the comments below!
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Lunch Help to the Rescue!
I HAD to share this site with anyone who may be stuggling with lunch ideas for their kiddos. Around here, breakfast is easy-peasy. Dinner, although more work, and usually monotonous, is taken care of. But....LUNCH? What does one eat for lunch while on the GAPS diet. I really wanted to get away from all the meat we were consuming. Lunches were usually put off until the kiddos, one by one, would come to me saying they were "starving!". Hmmm, something needed to change.
Don't get me wrong, I thought hard about lunch options. But I am one of those people who would have never, ever, in a million years, invented the wheel. Inventor I am NOT. I was just having a conversation with my sister over the dread of meal planning and prepping that has been going on over here. I haven't had any real menu planned for a few months now. We just keep eating the same staples. Over, and over, and over again. Not fun.
So imagine my utter delight in finding a site that has some 200 lunch meals posted. I am assuming there are repeats, but with just the first 5 lunches I looked at, I am doing a happy dance (ok, mentally at least, physically....not so much). This is the inspiration that I have been looking for. The site is dedicated to paleo, but paleo and gaps are very similar. Now, I need to somehow come up with the energy to put together said lunches. I have a feeling, though, that if I showed my girls these ideas that I would be able to get each one to make a lunch one day of the week at least. I think we need to not only reinstate family fun night here at our home, but we need to make a family food prep night. This would be a great time to wash and chop the coming week's veggies, hard boiling eggs, or cooking up any needed meats.
I hope you can find some new inspiration for lunch time as well!
Primal Kitchen
Don't get me wrong, I thought hard about lunch options. But I am one of those people who would have never, ever, in a million years, invented the wheel. Inventor I am NOT. I was just having a conversation with my sister over the dread of meal planning and prepping that has been going on over here. I haven't had any real menu planned for a few months now. We just keep eating the same staples. Over, and over, and over again. Not fun.
So imagine my utter delight in finding a site that has some 200 lunch meals posted. I am assuming there are repeats, but with just the first 5 lunches I looked at, I am doing a happy dance (ok, mentally at least, physically....not so much). This is the inspiration that I have been looking for. The site is dedicated to paleo, but paleo and gaps are very similar. Now, I need to somehow come up with the energy to put together said lunches. I have a feeling, though, that if I showed my girls these ideas that I would be able to get each one to make a lunch one day of the week at least. I think we need to not only reinstate family fun night here at our home, but we need to make a family food prep night. This would be a great time to wash and chop the coming week's veggies, hard boiling eggs, or cooking up any needed meats.
I hope you can find some new inspiration for lunch time as well!
Primal Kitchen
Up coming pregnancy updates and information
It seems that life happens faster than I can write about it! I'll give a bit of a summary in a bit. First I want to say that I plan on trying to make pregnancy updates, along with pregnancy and post partum information. Each Wednesday I turn a new week, so I thought I would take the opportunity then to share what I've learned, or am continuing to learn during this pregnancy. I will probably have links to other people's posts as well.
A case in point, my first post is going to be on making your own pregnancy tea. I had all my herbs out on my table ready to make into a tea. I had planned on photographing things as well. However, two things, we were trying to get things done so we could have a family outing and I didn't have time for photos; and as I went online to see if maybe there is a better tea, or some other herbs to add or subtract, there was a lovely blog that had the exact tea I was going to post! The amazing part? Her blog is so much nicer than mine :-) So, I will write about my tea, but link to her blog, where she has all the health benefits of each herb used in the tea.
I guess I would like to see if a whole foods diet will make a difference with this pregnancy. This may be my 8th pregnancy, but there is always something new to learn with each one! Not to mention that our diet has changed from past pregnancies. And, I am hoping to give a little bit a reassurance for those who are pregnant and may not be spring chickens anymore :-) When this baby is born I will be forty-two years old. In the medical books that would mean I am ancient! A few years ago when I had an ultrasound, while pregnant with Jonah, I was only 37 at the time. I was about to strangle the doctor if he brought up my "advanced maternal" age one more time during my appointment! I can only imagine how much worse it would be now, after 40.
As for life being busy? Well, I have a host of pictures I took at the park and arboretum last week. Two days trekking into the city has worn me out. I tried to make the most of it, so we took advantage of going to the park and flower gardens. In between we had the normal things and the girls going off to horse stuff. This coming week is proving busy as well. We plan on spending Memorial Day at a community picnic that a past church of ours puts on. It always proves to be a wonderful day. Then the oldest two girls have the informational meeting for the runners camp that they volunteer for that takes place in the summer.
On top of that I had a very disheartening phone call from a friend. After introducing me to the Charlotte Mason method, and being a mentor of sorts these past 4 years, she told me she was putting her eldest in public school next year. Her oldest is the same age as our oldest. It really shook me up. I started writing a post on it, but never got to finishing it. I may or may not at some point.
And on top of all that...I find myself sick. Sick? Really? I already alluded to the fact that I know my gut is still way off. This was evident before getting pregnant, but now, with those raging hormones even MORE so!! Pregnancy hormones tend to make any yeast related issues worse. An increase in my probiotic has seen a noticeable difference, but I have a long ways to go. I'm trying to put together an action plan and will let you know what I come up with. I can not re-do intro, as it is not suggested while pregnant.
At first I thought this illness was a result of an increase in my allergies. If my sinuses get "wet", from crying or a runny nose from allergies, you can be sure to find me with an "infection" just a day or so later. Of course, this is really not an infection (though I've had some that eventually do turn into a true infection), but a fungal attack (aka: yeast). However, I feel yucky all over. Very tired, sick eye feeling (anyone else get that?), etc. For now I am trying a homeopathic remedy and drinking a bunch of immune boosting tea.
A case in point, my first post is going to be on making your own pregnancy tea. I had all my herbs out on my table ready to make into a tea. I had planned on photographing things as well. However, two things, we were trying to get things done so we could have a family outing and I didn't have time for photos; and as I went online to see if maybe there is a better tea, or some other herbs to add or subtract, there was a lovely blog that had the exact tea I was going to post! The amazing part? Her blog is so much nicer than mine :-) So, I will write about my tea, but link to her blog, where she has all the health benefits of each herb used in the tea.
I guess I would like to see if a whole foods diet will make a difference with this pregnancy. This may be my 8th pregnancy, but there is always something new to learn with each one! Not to mention that our diet has changed from past pregnancies. And, I am hoping to give a little bit a reassurance for those who are pregnant and may not be spring chickens anymore :-) When this baby is born I will be forty-two years old. In the medical books that would mean I am ancient! A few years ago when I had an ultrasound, while pregnant with Jonah, I was only 37 at the time. I was about to strangle the doctor if he brought up my "advanced maternal" age one more time during my appointment! I can only imagine how much worse it would be now, after 40.
As for life being busy? Well, I have a host of pictures I took at the park and arboretum last week. Two days trekking into the city has worn me out. I tried to make the most of it, so we took advantage of going to the park and flower gardens. In between we had the normal things and the girls going off to horse stuff. This coming week is proving busy as well. We plan on spending Memorial Day at a community picnic that a past church of ours puts on. It always proves to be a wonderful day. Then the oldest two girls have the informational meeting for the runners camp that they volunteer for that takes place in the summer.
On top of that I had a very disheartening phone call from a friend. After introducing me to the Charlotte Mason method, and being a mentor of sorts these past 4 years, she told me she was putting her eldest in public school next year. Her oldest is the same age as our oldest. It really shook me up. I started writing a post on it, but never got to finishing it. I may or may not at some point.
And on top of all that...I find myself sick. Sick? Really? I already alluded to the fact that I know my gut is still way off. This was evident before getting pregnant, but now, with those raging hormones even MORE so!! Pregnancy hormones tend to make any yeast related issues worse. An increase in my probiotic has seen a noticeable difference, but I have a long ways to go. I'm trying to put together an action plan and will let you know what I come up with. I can not re-do intro, as it is not suggested while pregnant.
At first I thought this illness was a result of an increase in my allergies. If my sinuses get "wet", from crying or a runny nose from allergies, you can be sure to find me with an "infection" just a day or so later. Of course, this is really not an infection (though I've had some that eventually do turn into a true infection), but a fungal attack (aka: yeast). However, I feel yucky all over. Very tired, sick eye feeling (anyone else get that?), etc. For now I am trying a homeopathic remedy and drinking a bunch of immune boosting tea.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Riddle answered
I had a few brave souls answer my riddle below :-) All those who answered were correct! We are expecting blessing number 8 come January. With some of our hottish days we've had here January seems light years away. This baby will break our ongoing seasonal pattern. We've had babies in the following order: summer, summer, winter, spring, summer, summer, winter. But no spring this time :-) Hmmm, I am wondering what other patterns this one will break? Four girls in a row, will this make four boys in a row? All my girly babes were born on even days, and my boy babes were all born on odd numbered days. Let's just hope that this one will NOT break any weight records! (Neither too small, nor too big. By golly all my 8 pounders--all at 8 pounds even, were very difficult deliveries.)
This was very exciting news here at home! The girls are all rooting for a girl, and the boys, well....they just kind of look at me funny when I talk about it :-) Actually, Jonah is most interested in how big the baby is at the given moment. And he has some opinions on what the baby's name should be. So far he's suggested: Spiderman and Fire Truck. I think we'll leave the baby naming up to Dad and Mom :-)
I'm still very early along. I've been applying magnesium oil daily in hopes of avoiding the dreaded day and night nausea that I've had with all 7 pregnancies. You are supposed to start taking the magnesium before you become pregnant to be effective, and I only started about a week ago. Well, I am hoping some will be better than none!
We've had a few very busy days over here. I have a lot to catch up on. I am hoping to get the dishes back under control and really make an effort at having meals prepped in advanced. I have to say the most difficult part of GAPS is the food prep. Without having things thawed out in advance, or a clear plan, things get a wee bit crazy come meal time! Hopefully it will only take a day or two this long weekend to catch up.
This was very exciting news here at home! The girls are all rooting for a girl, and the boys, well....they just kind of look at me funny when I talk about it :-) Actually, Jonah is most interested in how big the baby is at the given moment. And he has some opinions on what the baby's name should be. So far he's suggested: Spiderman and Fire Truck. I think we'll leave the baby naming up to Dad and Mom :-)
I'm still very early along. I've been applying magnesium oil daily in hopes of avoiding the dreaded day and night nausea that I've had with all 7 pregnancies. You are supposed to start taking the magnesium before you become pregnant to be effective, and I only started about a week ago. Well, I am hoping some will be better than none!
We've had a few very busy days over here. I have a lot to catch up on. I am hoping to get the dishes back under control and really make an effort at having meals prepped in advanced. I have to say the most difficult part of GAPS is the food prep. Without having things thawed out in advance, or a clear plan, things get a wee bit crazy come meal time! Hopefully it will only take a day or two this long weekend to catch up.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
My horrifying bug saga
Ok, so I suppose the use of "horrifying" may be a bit overboard, BUT non the less....I'm using it :-) A few things before I start my story. One, I'm afraid of bugs. I've gotten better over the years, but they still totally creep me out. Second, we live in the South. Bugs in the South are bigger, and yuckier, and meaner, and...well you get the idea. We have these horrid bugs, called....(trying to drum up the drama here)....roaches. Yes, I realize those things live pretty much every where, but they are gross, gross, gross.
So we had a situation one day when we were outside and saw a slew of ants climbing up the outside foundation of the house, in the direction of our living quarters. Suspicious of fire ants, Jeremiah decided to spray them. He figured he should just spray the whole foundation, all around the house. This poses a problem if you are not using an odorless spray....the bugs want to get away from the toxin, but can't get out, so they come IN. This is bad, very bad. We haven't seen a roach in months and months, and then we have 3 in 3 days. Too many. When my "too many" stands at Zero, anything above that is bad :-)
One night I was hanging out, chatting with Isabella when I spot that familiar shape of the dreaded roach beastie across the way in the kitchen. It is crawling above the cupboards. I have Isabella go wake Jeremiah (we were up late, chatting) to kill the horrid critter. If it was in an easier space to access I would have vacuumed it up. But alas it was not so. Jeremiah comes out, but by then the critter moved behind some stuff we have hanging out on top of the cupboards. Jeremiah couldn't find it. So to make sure we would 'get' him, he sprayed some odorless lethal toxic spray on each side of the wall where the disgusting beastie would have to crawl. I waited for some time to see if he would come out of hiding. I waited, and waited. But it was late, and I was tired. I went to brush my teeth, came back, looked around...nothing. I went to bed. However, I realized I forgot to take my allergy pill. I was almost going to ask Jeremiah get up to get me one. That creepy crawly was still out there, somewhere. But he had already gotten up to try to kill it, and I'm the one who forgot to take my pill, not him. So I crawled out of bed. I slowly walk up to the kitchen, looking up down and all around. I was more afraid of it being on the ceiling or on the floor at this point. No sign of him. I go to unlock the medicine cabinet, and as I was doing so gave a quick glance down since I am standing in an area where a creepy crawly could come out and I wouldn't have too many places to go to. But then, THEN, ***SOMETHING***hit my arm. MY ARM. The horrid, creepy crawly, all too big, roach dude had been on the medicine cabinet door, and fell on MY arm. It TOUCHED me. Not only that, but the creepy dude was in a state of neuro death, so he could move but wasn't too with it. So in it's stupor, instead of scooting away from me and taking to the safety of the lower cupboard, it starts running TOWARDS ME! I almost fell over backwards trying to get away. Yeah, go ahead, laugh. After a few feet of coming "after" me, it gets a clue and turns around and runs the other way.
Of course I was screaming, and jumping up and down by now. I managed to wake up half the household. No joke. Isabella and Jeremiah said they knew what had happened when they heard me screaming :-) Not the specifics, but they knew it was the bug. Hmmm, imagine that!
So there you have it. My creepy crawly story. Now, to see if I can find that spider the kids were talking about spotting in my closet this afternoon. I don't exactly treasure the idea of cozying up to a spider come bed time. No thank you, I'll pass. Though I think it is funny that I would take a spider over a roach any day! And to think, when I was growing up, I used to look under my bed, in my closet, behind my drawers, etc. for spiders before going to bed. Every. Single. Night. I was terrified of spiders when I was young. Oh, to wish that spiders were all I had to worry about!
So we had a situation one day when we were outside and saw a slew of ants climbing up the outside foundation of the house, in the direction of our living quarters. Suspicious of fire ants, Jeremiah decided to spray them. He figured he should just spray the whole foundation, all around the house. This poses a problem if you are not using an odorless spray....the bugs want to get away from the toxin, but can't get out, so they come IN. This is bad, very bad. We haven't seen a roach in months and months, and then we have 3 in 3 days. Too many. When my "too many" stands at Zero, anything above that is bad :-)
One night I was hanging out, chatting with Isabella when I spot that familiar shape of the dreaded roach beastie across the way in the kitchen. It is crawling above the cupboards. I have Isabella go wake Jeremiah (we were up late, chatting) to kill the horrid critter. If it was in an easier space to access I would have vacuumed it up. But alas it was not so. Jeremiah comes out, but by then the critter moved behind some stuff we have hanging out on top of the cupboards. Jeremiah couldn't find it. So to make sure we would 'get' him, he sprayed some odorless lethal toxic spray on each side of the wall where the disgusting beastie would have to crawl. I waited for some time to see if he would come out of hiding. I waited, and waited. But it was late, and I was tired. I went to brush my teeth, came back, looked around...nothing. I went to bed. However, I realized I forgot to take my allergy pill. I was almost going to ask Jeremiah get up to get me one. That creepy crawly was still out there, somewhere. But he had already gotten up to try to kill it, and I'm the one who forgot to take my pill, not him. So I crawled out of bed. I slowly walk up to the kitchen, looking up down and all around. I was more afraid of it being on the ceiling or on the floor at this point. No sign of him. I go to unlock the medicine cabinet, and as I was doing so gave a quick glance down since I am standing in an area where a creepy crawly could come out and I wouldn't have too many places to go to. But then, THEN, ***SOMETHING***hit my arm. MY ARM. The horrid, creepy crawly, all too big, roach dude had been on the medicine cabinet door, and fell on MY arm. It TOUCHED me. Not only that, but the creepy dude was in a state of neuro death, so he could move but wasn't too with it. So in it's stupor, instead of scooting away from me and taking to the safety of the lower cupboard, it starts running TOWARDS ME! I almost fell over backwards trying to get away. Yeah, go ahead, laugh. After a few feet of coming "after" me, it gets a clue and turns around and runs the other way.
Of course I was screaming, and jumping up and down by now. I managed to wake up half the household. No joke. Isabella and Jeremiah said they knew what had happened when they heard me screaming :-) Not the specifics, but they knew it was the bug. Hmmm, imagine that!
So there you have it. My creepy crawly story. Now, to see if I can find that spider the kids were talking about spotting in my closet this afternoon. I don't exactly treasure the idea of cozying up to a spider come bed time. No thank you, I'll pass. Though I think it is funny that I would take a spider over a roach any day! And to think, when I was growing up, I used to look under my bed, in my closet, behind my drawers, etc. for spiders before going to bed. Every. Single. Night. I was terrified of spiders when I was young. Oh, to wish that spiders were all I had to worry about!
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Teacher Work Day
The day before Mother's Day, and I am finally getting around to a much needed "teacher work day". I envy those who take the unschooling approach and feel that their children will learn what they need to, when they need to. Although I am laid back, it's only in the area of organization! Ha, ha. There has been much reflection of late. Our children are first generation homeschoolers (in our families). This means that we are winging it as we go :-) Ok, not really. With all the available resources, conventions, online groups, local homeschool groups, no one really needs to wing it. But, it is still uncharted territory, as far as how I grew up.
We've taken a longer than anticipated spring break. We started falling behind on doing everything we really need to be doing on a regular basis (as far as the Charlotte Mason method goes). So, it was time for me to sit down and evaluate where we are, and who needs to be doing what, and how are we going to make this all happen. I was able to get a lot done, but more time will still be needed to really make this all come together as smoothly as possible.
I had some time to contemplate where we've been and where all the kiddos need to be. This year found Saoirse needing to take the extra (3.5) year with Ambleside. I was trying to have two children in the same year. One child behind a year, the other advanced a year. This has worked fine for Isabella and Moira so far, but has failed to work for Flannery and Saoirse. The 3.5 year in AO is kind of thrown together, the premise is you are waiting for your child to mature enough to handle year 4's advanced reading list. I've had time to re-evaluate Higher Up and Further In's (HUFI) schedules. There are a few books we've read on AO that do not show up on HUFI that I wouldn't want the kids to miss out on. It has been a time consuming process of figuring out where the 'missing' books would fit in on the HUFI schedules. The one thing I really like about HUFI is that they start with ancient history and work up, BUT they also do American history at the same time, working chronologically. Jeremiah wasn't a fan of carrying two lines of history throughout their schooling. But I realized that AO takes the same approach, but it isn't as noticeable until year 3 or 4. However AO does not cover ancient history (not that I have seen, yet). So what does this mean?
I will keep Isabella, Moira and Flannery on the AO schedules. I will also be separating Isabella and Moira by years as well. With graduation closing in on Isabella in the next 2.5 years she will need to skip year 8 and move into year 9. I have not seen how this will work for her, as I am only going on recommendations at this time. I may keep her in year 8 if there are things in there that I don't want her to miss out on. I was going to switch Flannery over to HUFI, but I think there would be too much history that would get lost if I did so. So she will continue on in her current level with AO. I've decided to start Saoirse in year 3, term 1 with HUFI. She will be a bit behind, but will eventually catch up in the coming years. This still leaves Flannery and Saoirse with a gap, missing out on ancient history. My solution is for them to get those readings in by reading it to their brothers. Jedidiah should have, age wise, started in year 1 this past September. There was just no way that he was ready for that kind of structure. I may start him on year 1 when the girls move on to their 3rd term for the year. This way he won't have to wait till next September and therefore will only be half a year behind. For his ancient history readings I will have Flannery read it to him, killing two birds with one stone. When it comes time for Jonah to start year 1 I will have Saoirse do his ancient history readings. This way both girls will get what they missed out on.
It certainly isn't perfect. I have to stop myself form wishing, wishing, wishing, that I had started CM at the get go. But I am where I am and I can't turn back the hands of time. It helps that one of our goals is to convey to our children that learning is a life long endeavor. There shouldn't be a time when their education is "done". If we manage to convey that, then I think we should be fine :-)
Right now, as I write this, my bed is a mess of scattered papers, binders, books and such. I have made a book list for what Saoirse will need to get started with year 3. Now I need to figure out what notebooks are needed. The girls really, REALLY need to be doing the small everyday things in CM. The wonderful thing with CM is that the lessons are short. You really do build little by little. But if you are not doing the "little" things....it shows! Not at first, since these skills build on each other, but give it a couple of years and oh, my! That is where I find myself. When we first started CM over two years ago it seemed so overwhelming. So I just stuck with the "basics". I left out what I thought were all the 'extras'. Come to find out that those little extras are pretty darn important. It is time to just put one foot in front of the other. Just pick up where we are and GO.
Now to try to convince my family how important diligence and consistency are going to be, now more than ever. I don't think any of us in our family has even a lick of a consistency bone in our body :-) Or diligence, for that matter. Between our mess of a 'school' and our mess of a house (lack of structure, good habits, etc.), well....things are pretty chaotic. I get one area cleaned up and the rest of the place is a disaster. I have a plan for that as well. I won't write out what it is yet, but will share when we actually put it into place. All I can say is that it is going to take MAJOR discipline on my part to see through with the plan. I don't see how I can continue on with the chaos that I live in now, so I don't have much of a choice, should I wish to stay out of the insane asylum ;-)
It is getting late and I need to get kiddos off to bed.
We've taken a longer than anticipated spring break. We started falling behind on doing everything we really need to be doing on a regular basis (as far as the Charlotte Mason method goes). So, it was time for me to sit down and evaluate where we are, and who needs to be doing what, and how are we going to make this all happen. I was able to get a lot done, but more time will still be needed to really make this all come together as smoothly as possible.
I had some time to contemplate where we've been and where all the kiddos need to be. This year found Saoirse needing to take the extra (3.5) year with Ambleside. I was trying to have two children in the same year. One child behind a year, the other advanced a year. This has worked fine for Isabella and Moira so far, but has failed to work for Flannery and Saoirse. The 3.5 year in AO is kind of thrown together, the premise is you are waiting for your child to mature enough to handle year 4's advanced reading list. I've had time to re-evaluate Higher Up and Further In's (HUFI) schedules. There are a few books we've read on AO that do not show up on HUFI that I wouldn't want the kids to miss out on. It has been a time consuming process of figuring out where the 'missing' books would fit in on the HUFI schedules. The one thing I really like about HUFI is that they start with ancient history and work up, BUT they also do American history at the same time, working chronologically. Jeremiah wasn't a fan of carrying two lines of history throughout their schooling. But I realized that AO takes the same approach, but it isn't as noticeable until year 3 or 4. However AO does not cover ancient history (not that I have seen, yet). So what does this mean?
I will keep Isabella, Moira and Flannery on the AO schedules. I will also be separating Isabella and Moira by years as well. With graduation closing in on Isabella in the next 2.5 years she will need to skip year 8 and move into year 9. I have not seen how this will work for her, as I am only going on recommendations at this time. I may keep her in year 8 if there are things in there that I don't want her to miss out on. I was going to switch Flannery over to HUFI, but I think there would be too much history that would get lost if I did so. So she will continue on in her current level with AO. I've decided to start Saoirse in year 3, term 1 with HUFI. She will be a bit behind, but will eventually catch up in the coming years. This still leaves Flannery and Saoirse with a gap, missing out on ancient history. My solution is for them to get those readings in by reading it to their brothers. Jedidiah should have, age wise, started in year 1 this past September. There was just no way that he was ready for that kind of structure. I may start him on year 1 when the girls move on to their 3rd term for the year. This way he won't have to wait till next September and therefore will only be half a year behind. For his ancient history readings I will have Flannery read it to him, killing two birds with one stone. When it comes time for Jonah to start year 1 I will have Saoirse do his ancient history readings. This way both girls will get what they missed out on.
It certainly isn't perfect. I have to stop myself form wishing, wishing, wishing, that I had started CM at the get go. But I am where I am and I can't turn back the hands of time. It helps that one of our goals is to convey to our children that learning is a life long endeavor. There shouldn't be a time when their education is "done". If we manage to convey that, then I think we should be fine :-)
Right now, as I write this, my bed is a mess of scattered papers, binders, books and such. I have made a book list for what Saoirse will need to get started with year 3. Now I need to figure out what notebooks are needed. The girls really, REALLY need to be doing the small everyday things in CM. The wonderful thing with CM is that the lessons are short. You really do build little by little. But if you are not doing the "little" things....it shows! Not at first, since these skills build on each other, but give it a couple of years and oh, my! That is where I find myself. When we first started CM over two years ago it seemed so overwhelming. So I just stuck with the "basics". I left out what I thought were all the 'extras'. Come to find out that those little extras are pretty darn important. It is time to just put one foot in front of the other. Just pick up where we are and GO.
Now to try to convince my family how important diligence and consistency are going to be, now more than ever. I don't think any of us in our family has even a lick of a consistency bone in our body :-) Or diligence, for that matter. Between our mess of a 'school' and our mess of a house (lack of structure, good habits, etc.), well....things are pretty chaotic. I get one area cleaned up and the rest of the place is a disaster. I have a plan for that as well. I won't write out what it is yet, but will share when we actually put it into place. All I can say is that it is going to take MAJOR discipline on my part to see through with the plan. I don't see how I can continue on with the chaos that I live in now, so I don't have much of a choice, should I wish to stay out of the insane asylum ;-)
It is getting late and I need to get kiddos off to bed.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Jedidiah's Endo appointment
Today we had a follow up endocrinology appointment for Jedidiah. When the doctor asked me how things were going I told her that I was rather disappointed in Jed's progress. Ready to hear the 'great' stats? In six months Jedidiah has gained 2.4 pounds, and grew a whopping 1 inch. ONE inch. That would be *bad*. We had a great afternoon visiting a park and eating a yummy snack, so I was in a really good mood at that moment, but had I not been? I am sure I would have started to cry. I then asked, thank the LORD I asked, one of my silly/nagging questions. I told her that the home nurse seemed to have a wee bit of trouble figuring out what Jed's dosage should be. The instructions for how much medicine is given is in milligrams, but the units on the syringe are in milliliters. Or something like that! As it was his doctor had him on a smaller dosage due to his past history of increased cranial pressure. Well, come to find out that on top of the already reduced amount, I was told to give was even HALF of that smaller dosage!! No wonder the poor boy hasn't grown any faster than pre-meds!!! What the meds have done is stop his sugar crashes. I do believe that all the medicine he was getting was going to his pancreas! Or wherever it is needed to help control his sugar.
So the plan is to start him on the original smaller dosage and keep him there for two weeks, and then increase it to where she had told me to in today's appointment. As it was it has taken us literally years to figure out Jed's lack of growth and weight gain, and to top it off, once we do figure it out I feel like we've wasted another 6 months. Six months! Thankfully she replied to my email question about my fears (of being totally behind) and explained that as long as we have 5 years to work with that he will be ok. And seeing as how he is almost 7, but should still be growing until 17, we have ten years to work with. Phew!
That was how our later afternoon went. But, before that, we had spent time at a park I used to take the older girls to. There is a rose garden in the city and we went there to check it out. I think there may have been a total of 12 roses in bloom. Ok, there was more, but seriously, we clearly did not come at the right time. But that is ok, fun was still had. In the rose garden is an outdoor theater, with built in stone benches on the side of a hill. Very neat. The kids had a blast, except for the two kiddos who took their shoes off and found out the hard way that the grassy areas between the benches harbored some horrid stinging plant. I've seen plenty of pictures of nettles, but this did NOT look anything at all like it. This was a totally, totally different plant. The good news is that the plantain that was growing everywhere took care of the stinging. And the cool part? Isabella was the one to spot the plantain and suggest we use it! I totally wasn't even thinking about that! That took care of the stinging in a minute or two.
Next to the park is a new playground. Well, I'm not sure how new as the last time I was at the rose garden was some 10 years ago! All I can say is that it wasn't there when I was last there. It was small, but the kids had a lot of fun. My main goal was to get in some 'nature study' and get the wiggles out before our appointment. I only took a few pictures while we were there, but here they are:
The rose garden has some lovely stone trails and stone work all around. It is such a serene place....well when WE are not there it is. Ahem. I can only hope that the few people that were there were not there to relax in the quietness of the beautiful surroundings. My children are not perfect but I usually get compliments from others at how well they behave (clearly those same people have never visited my house!). But today? Oh, my! They were like little monkeys on a sugar high! All over the place. A few reprimands and threats of having to sit in the van while the rest of us enjoyed ourselves did help to settle them. Phew.
The stone benches in the theater. The kids ran up and down and all around this area.
The stage area. You can see Jonah in full running mode off to the side there. The stage is slanted at an angle, with the back being higher up.
Ok, so there were more than 12 roses, but these were the small ones, and all the larger roses were not in bloom, save twelve.
There was this gorgeous tree, as seen above, that had these 5 or 6 large trunks coming out of one base. Here Saoirse is standing in the middle of them.
Jonah was insisting on me taking his picture and every time I would go to snap it he would get all serious looking. Apparently that was the look he was going for! I kept saying I'm trying to take your picture, look at me and smile. He would say, I know, take my picture (all while smiling). Then I would hold up my camera and he would get all serious looking. He did this multiple times throughout our visit. Pretty funny.
The bug net and bug guides go everywhere with Jed. Every. Where. (Yes, I know that is supposed to be one word, I'm going for the dramatic effect, so work with me :-)) Jed insisted I take pictures of him catching bugs. I only got this one since every time he would "pose" for his bug finding picture one of his brothers thought he had actually caught a bug and got in the way. Oh well, I have a feeling there will be plenty of other opportunities.
Moira in the majestic tree.
I had called all the kiddos over in an attempt (silly mommy) to get a group shot. I have yet this year to take a decent group shot of all the kiddos together. These guys were waiting for the slow pokes to get there ;-) I think the other two were taking pictures of their own, you know, of the 12 roses that were in bloom. Anyways, in order for these guys not to run off I had to start taking pictures. Aubrey was in some funky mood. Not bad, but really odd. He was clearly, clearly enjoying himself and the new surroundings, but anytime I had to make him stand still I got the above serious/deep thought look. This morning I noticed his nose was all stuffy, and he feels ever, ever so slightly warm. So maybe when he had to stand and he wasn't in the 'middle' of exploring or climbing he was just feeling yucky? Poor little guy.
This was the best picture out of the handful I took. Jonah wanted to be dramatic and serious, and Jed couldn't stand still to save his life. The girls kept trying to get someone next to them to look at the camera, all the while not looking themselves. I do believe I understand why professional photo shoots cost so much!
Lots of rose bushes....not in bloom. Still very beautiful.
Now we are at the playground. There were two diggers there, and three boys. Um, you do the math :-)
I finally convinced Jonah to smile. I should do a collage of all the dramatic/serious pictures I got!
Aubrey had a blast in the sand pit. There was a dump truck left behind, and once he figured out he was too small to work the diggers he spent most of his time playing with it.
The slide was perfect. Fast, but not too fast. No one went flying off the end. And all the boys could climb up on their own.
I wanted to get portraits of each child individually. I had the cooperation of only a few :-) Isabella was up for it. She just recently got this hat and has been wearing it ever since. She took it off for a little bit in the van to get cooled off. But then...then we 'hit' some speed bumps. She was driving, we are all telling her to go slow, and she's there saying, "Where's my hat when I need it?! Yee-haw!" Disclaimer: No one was driving dangerously, and no one got their brains rattled. End disclaimer.
We were discussing that Isabella was born in the wrong time period, or at least in the wrong part of the country. I think one of her favorite quotes from a movie is of a little boy who wears a cowboy hat all the time and is being asked by a little girl why he always wears a cowboy hat. The boy's response: 'Cause it fits my head. But you MUST imagine that being said with a southern twang. Otherwise it just doesn't have the same effect.
We must not neglect to get pictures of children on the swing. Not that Flannery would let me forget :-)
Saoirse's turn.
There was a climbing rock there. Surprise, surprise, Flannery was the first one up there!
Some kiddos taking a break in the shade of the climbing rock. This was the challenging side of the rock. Isabella scaled this side and made it to the top.
So the plan is to start him on the original smaller dosage and keep him there for two weeks, and then increase it to where she had told me to in today's appointment. As it was it has taken us literally years to figure out Jed's lack of growth and weight gain, and to top it off, once we do figure it out I feel like we've wasted another 6 months. Six months! Thankfully she replied to my email question about my fears (of being totally behind) and explained that as long as we have 5 years to work with that he will be ok. And seeing as how he is almost 7, but should still be growing until 17, we have ten years to work with. Phew!
That was how our later afternoon went. But, before that, we had spent time at a park I used to take the older girls to. There is a rose garden in the city and we went there to check it out. I think there may have been a total of 12 roses in bloom. Ok, there was more, but seriously, we clearly did not come at the right time. But that is ok, fun was still had. In the rose garden is an outdoor theater, with built in stone benches on the side of a hill. Very neat. The kids had a blast, except for the two kiddos who took their shoes off and found out the hard way that the grassy areas between the benches harbored some horrid stinging plant. I've seen plenty of pictures of nettles, but this did NOT look anything at all like it. This was a totally, totally different plant. The good news is that the plantain that was growing everywhere took care of the stinging. And the cool part? Isabella was the one to spot the plantain and suggest we use it! I totally wasn't even thinking about that! That took care of the stinging in a minute or two.
Next to the park is a new playground. Well, I'm not sure how new as the last time I was at the rose garden was some 10 years ago! All I can say is that it wasn't there when I was last there. It was small, but the kids had a lot of fun. My main goal was to get in some 'nature study' and get the wiggles out before our appointment. I only took a few pictures while we were there, but here they are:
We were discussing that Isabella was born in the wrong time period, or at least in the wrong part of the country. I think one of her favorite quotes from a movie is of a little boy who wears a cowboy hat all the time and is being asked by a little girl why he always wears a cowboy hat. The boy's response: 'Cause it fits my head. But you MUST imagine that being said with a southern twang. Otherwise it just doesn't have the same effect.
You have to love the safer sew-saw alternatives. I must say that although I miss the more thrilling stomach butterflies, I do NOT miss the slammed jaws from someone dismounting before you are ready. But, anyways, these girls had a blast, pretending they were on bucking broncos.
After some climbing time it was time to take off to our appointment. Everyone is excited to go back to the garden and playground in the future. I was thinking it may be really fun for our homeschool co-op to practice a play and preform it on the outside stage. Afterwards we can have our nature study and a picnic. Must get some plans going!
I have a lot of other pictures from our two week break that I will upload as either just a photo post, or in a slideshow. I also must share my hair raising bug experience. Shiver. Stay tuned.
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