Leading Up To The End...And The Beginning!

My OB told me lots of things on Monday that I wanted to hear. Not the part about measuring beyond 40 weeks...no Mommy wants to hear that. It just sounds ominous. But the parts about dilation and effacement that we won't go into further detail over, those parts were good. Those parts made this Mama's heart sing with anticipation.

The part about being surprised that I made it another week, we won't rehash that. Nobody can believe I made it another week. The part about me probably having a baby by noon today, given the signs my body was showing, we won't revisit that. The part about going just a few more days to see if I went naturally, fine. We can talk about that if you want.

But let's get to the nitty-gritty, make this Mama happy, super-sweet, I can't wait part.

If Babe doesn't make his or her appearance in the next 33 hours, my wonderful doctor, who knows my impatience and discomfort and anxiousness to meet this child, is going to get involved to help speed things up. 6AM Thursday morning. Can I get a Hallelujah?

I don't relish the idea of the possibility of pitocin, but I can totally get excited about breathing again. And holding this precious little someone in my arms. About kissing my baby's soft little baby head. Soft skin and little toes. Baby cries and baby sighs. Tiny fists. Wonderfully made by a God who has a perfect plan for His child.

Yes, Little One, I am anxious. I can't wait to hold you and sing to your sweet face and whisper in your teensy ear. I can't wait to see you in your Daddy's arms. I can't wait to introduce your brother and sisters to you. You are much loved and we are all ready to pour out into you.

Week In Pictorial Review

I've been contracting for an entire week. At very evenly spaced ten minute intervals. My OB says my body is progressing and not to worry.

I'm not worried. I'm cranky.

So in an effort to not relive some of my crankiness, let's just look at pictures. Doesn't that sound more relaxing and inviting?

We buried our fish. His was a short but tough life, what with all the kids tapping at the bowl and spinning it around. Thomas was heartbroken, as it was his fish. He carefully selected a rock, cleaned it thoroughly, and printed Raindrop's name on it and the year of his death. It was a short graveside service, though I have seen Thomas sneak back under that tree and look upon his beloved fish's' grave several times since.


The kids didn't have a bad mitten net (and nobody was all that great at hitting the birdie anyway) so they just laid down a plastic pipe and batted the birdie around. It was entertaining for everyone, perhaps more so for the onlookers!


Spring has all the flowering bushes in our yard looking lovely and the kids can't resist picking and bringing the color inside. I love their gifts and I love the way they arranged this particular spray of color! All by themselves!


They also enjoy making rings of fallen pine needles (which we have in abundance!) into nests and decorating them with the flowers. They hope to attract the attention of a bird who will choose to nest in one of these beautiful nests!


We are wrapping up the school year! Thomas and Sarah Grace made a masterful leap from one math curriculum to another and are nearly done. I can't sing the praises of Math U See enough for freeing up so much of our time every day! We all enjoy it so much more!

What's your week been like?

The Belly & The Babe

Here we are at 37 weeks.

The Big Meeting will be happening any day now!

Another Weekend Wrap-Up

It was a long one, folks. Not a bad one, mind you, but long.

For me, anyway.

This is completely due to the fact that I have been contracting regularly and with increasing intensity since Thursday evening. So, um, if you don't have your guess lodged, now would be the time.

The weekend's discomfort was pleasurably broken up, though, by snippets from our charming and witty children.

Elizabeth never fails to inform me of my 'great big tummy'. And all three girls are prone to stuffing something up their shirts and wandering around talking to each other about their 'pregnancy' woes. Sarah Grace even had an elephant recently.

I was humored and maybe a little scared.

Anna takes her role as family comedian very seriously. As I was getting her up from nap the other day, an 'aroma' assaulted my nostrils.

'Anna, are you funky?' I queried.

'I smell wike you, Mama!' she exclaimed.

Agh! I hope not! I may be pregnant but I can assure you I am bathed extremely regularly. Something calming and soothing about all that hot water...

We had a yard sale over the weekend. It wasn't exactly comfortable for me and the weather wasn't the greatest (kind of chilly and windy), but I was determined to get the stuff out of my house. The kids were quite industrious and set up a stand to sell water and cookies and did really well! Thomas was quite the little sales man, asking everyone who drove up if they would like a snack. He even sold to some of our regular neighborhood walkers/joggers.

But really, who can resist a cute kid?

And in a frenzy of energy and nesting, I painted the guest bedroom. Pictures of the finished product to follow.

One day.

Maybe.

And that about covers it. It was quiet and uneventful, despite my desperately trying to put myself in labor.

Maybe by next weekend, we will have some news about Babe to share...

Here's hoping!

On Distance

The Gypsy-Mama, Lisa-Jo, is hosting her Five Minute Friday writing prompt again. I kind of enjoy these, even if my writing isn't as cohesive as it should be. But hey, give it a try! Get those creative juices flowing!!!

Time and space go along way towards healing old wounds.

I am fifteen years away from a broken heart that I thought would never heal. A heart that can now reflect on life from that era and recognize the sweetness of first love.

I am 14 years into my relationship with Christ. The brokenness of my heart and the emptiness that had never truly been filled and a friend with a passion for sharing Christ with me, the real Jesus Christ, conspired together to bring me to my knees. The road has been long (but not as long as I hope it stretches) and sweet, though not without it's bumps and falls.

The space between this Life in Christ and the life I just lived is vast. The old and meaningless has fallen to the wayside. The real and the Light have taken over, guiding me towards the Father and His precious promise of Life Everlasting.

I am eight years into marriage that is a gift beyond my comprehension, and six and a half years into the path of parenthood. It's good, it's crazy, and it is His plan.

Despite the distance from who I was, the time I have spent being recreated by and learning of my Savior, there are past hurts, past stumbling blocks that creep up along the way. However, the Grace that abounds, the Mercy that is rained down, they help to heal, to gently direct.

~~~~~~Time's Up~~~~~~

My Happy Thought In The Dining Room

We spoke of my techie karma last week. It was a bitter few hours in my life, but I have finally recovered. I am now prepared to tell you the story I wanted to tell then. Just remember that I have no pictures, do to pregnancy glitches.

We have lived here for just a smidgen less than a year. I came in with battle plans and a small budget to whip this house into a home. If the crayon marks on the rug I bought and the dirty hand-prints trailing up the wall of the staircase are any indication of hominess, we're golden. However, if your looking for proof of decorating, your barking up the wrong tree.

I have tons of ideas of things I want to do, thanks to all of you lovely home-bloggers in the blogosphere. I just need more time to implement them. A year seems like a long time, but I've been pregnant for 3/4 of it!

That's what I tell myself for consolation, anyway.

Soanyway...I finally put up The Very First Set of Curtains!!!

Again, thanks to all you home-bloggers, I have a very lovely and inexpensive set of curtains in my dining room.

Drop cloths. They are all over the place! Throw pillows, furniture coverings, curtains, table cloths...you name it, people are using drop cloths to do it with.

It's a fever I quickly caught.

When I decided what my first project would be, I ran out and bought my drop cloth. From Wally World because I had to go there anyway.

Drop Cloth Buyers Hint: Don't get your drop cloths from this store. While there are imperfections in the fabric of drop cloths that should be embraced, seams running at odd angles and in weird places are not acceptable.

I suggest Home Depot. Same price, no seams.

I bought two 6x9 drop cloths for about $10 each. Brought them home, laughed at the sticker on them that warned of their flammability (Hello?! It's fabric!) and tossed them in the washer and then the dryer. One of the corners on one of them came an itsy-bit undone and frayed. Being the perfectionist I am, I ignored it.

I then ironed the 'drapes'. Not the many shirts that I should have ironed to make my husband's wardrobe selection grow. Because I am a better nester than I am a wife at present.

Next, I mounted the drapery rod to the wall, measured out how long I wanted the 'drapes' to be, and folded the fabric over so that the extra not-quite a foot hung behind the curtain. Then I used drapery rings and clipped those babies into place!


Voila!! Curtains. For a fraction of drapery costs. And they complement my burlap runner on my side board.

The dining room is now the most complete room in the house. Decorated walls, curtains up, fully functional. I would love to have a rug in there, but it is simply not practical. We've previously discussed sound reasoning as to why I don't bother with rugs at this point in my family's life. I hope to post a 'tour' of our dining rooms soon.

But we all know how absentee my brain is these days, so don't hold your breath...

You Got To Know When To Hold 'Em...

Remember way back when I posted about our curriculum choices for the year?

...know when to fold 'em...

Remember how I started out talking about the beauty of homeschooling and punting one thing in favor of another to accommodate the needs of your students?

Well, though I would have never guessed it, I punted the one curriculum that I love and adore and had never even considered would be an ill fit for our family.

It is a curriculum I grew up using in the public school systems. It's straight forward and incremental and all of that wonderful stuff that lends itself to making for a strong choice.

And though the kids were absolutely getting the foundation they needed in order to build on this all-important subject, it just didn't fit into our family's schooling lifestyle.

...know when to walk away...

Taking into account that I am currently working with only two of my eventual five students, I began to recognize that the amount of time I spent on this subject (per the requirements of the set up of the curriculum) was simply not scalable. An hour or more just presenting the material and fiddling with the manipulative set with both Thomas and Sarah Grace wasn't horrid. However, knowing that it is so teacher intensive for the first several years and that I would soon be adding first Elizabeth - and soon after, Anna - I knew that we couldn't continue spending that kind of time on just one little subject per day.

I began to weigh the options.

...and know when to run!

In November, I shed not a tear as I laid aside Saxon Math and picked up Math-U-See.

Despite the fact that Thomas and Sarah Grace were half-way through their second year of Saxon (we had used it in Kindergarten, too), we started off with the Primer in Math-U-See. The concepts are presented a little differently and the manipulative sets are worlds apart.

For the first two weeks or so, we just did one lesson a week. This was just a chance to acclimate to the changes in approach. Soon, though, we started doing two lessons a week. Although they could handle more and are zipping along with nary a hiccup, the two lessons a week put us on track to finish 'on time'.

And the amount of time we spend daily? Puh. They watch the video instruction on Monday morning and then work on their papers at their own speed through out the week. It is rare that they call on me for any kind of help.

We love this math system. The kids enjoy working through the worksheets and building the numbers to get a visual of whatever concept is at hand. I adore that I am not strapped to the table with them and use the time to read to the younger two or do something in the kitchen.

Technically, this switch will put us 'a year behind'. I suspect we will work pretty quickly through the Alpha book, but not quickly enough to do two years within the boundaries of the next 'school year' even though we essentially school year round. We may eventually catch up, but what's more important is the Big Picture: I have more time to spend with children as needed on potential problem areas.

And this is a good thing, considering my classroom isn't getting any smaller!

Elizabeth - 4 Years Old!

Four years ago, I held this precious baby in my arms and marveled again at God's goodness to me.


Since that day, He has shown His faithfulness as He has grown her into the Sunshine of our family. Her sweetness and her consideration for others knows no bounds. Today, for instance, we are baking cupcakes. As you sit there and think that activity would be a no-brainer, let me fill you in on a detail: Our Elizabeth doesn't like cake and cookies and brownies and breads of most any sort. The sole purpose behind baking these cupcakes is so she can deliver them to her friends. She herself will be partaking of an ice cream cake, which we get to share with a friend of the family tomorrow night.


She is a beautiful little girl, inside and out. I look forward with anticipation to the woman that our Lord is growing her into, but hold on to the girl that she is.

Happy Birthday, Sunshine!! We love you so much!

Pfffffffssssshhhhh...

I took pictures of my productive, yet not-productive, project. I carefully documented the large pile of laundry that needs to be ironed, then took a photo of what I was actually ironing. I was going to remind you that a woman who is nesting has priorities.

Very specific priorities.

I took pictures of the whole process. Why? I don't know. I'm not a home-blogger, a how-to blogger, or a tip-giver. But I had in my head that I wanted to document this momentous occasion in the life of our family's home.

So I took pictures. Probably a dozen or so, just because I could.

When I was trying to find just the right angle from which to take the last picture, I noticed a short line of words at the top of my digital camera's screen.

NO MEMORY CARD

Apparently it doesn't matter if I know where the camera is or not. I still don't know how to handle it properly.

I heaved a rather large sigh, padded my way into the what-will-become-hobby-room, and sat down at the computer. I wanted to advertise my ailment on Twitter and Facebook. Why? I don't know. Misery loves company? Small discouragements when aired bring about laughter and encouraging words from friends?

But my TweetDeck is in all out rebellion. I tapped in the update and it showed on my screen, but that little update is the last move my TweetDeck has bothered with. So here I sit, in all my bad tech-karma, whining to you about things that really don't matter.

I did jerk the memory card out of the computer and gently jam it back into the camera. Without too much grumbling, I might add. I did line up a shot of my afternoon's project.

And then I called my husband and groused because I couldn't remember how to force the flash to stay on. I am grateful to him, and you should be too, for stepping me through the oh-so-simple process. Otherwise this would be more of my picture-less blather.

Thanks to him, though, you get a picture of the very first curtains to find their way up in our home. Not quite a year after we moved in. Lucky you!


But all the nice, fuzzy-feeling thoughts and witty remarks I had dreamed up in my head will not be accompanying this shot.

Perhaps tomorrow...