Problem Solved

S is back to normal. And by normal I mean this: Thursday, S experience the birth of 80 baby brains in his head. Apparently, they are invisible, but adorable. I can't see them, but I can kiss them before S puts them back into his head. I love it when kids start using their imaginations.

Yesterday I we had a well baby check up for F. I needed to leave the house at 8:00am to be there by our 8:30 appointment. Now, S is very dependable about being up and asking for "powwidge" by 6:00 every morning. But not yesterday. I woke up with a start at 7:20 and realized that this was the one morning S slept in. But we were ready to go, five minutes early!

F is 19 1/2 pounds. She is perfectly healthy, engaging, and social. She got two vaccinations. Doctor's appointments are really boring. Unless you bring all the older siblings with you. Then you have things like this happen (and for the sake of clarity, I have used D***** as our last name):

The D*****'s are at the doctor's office, all sitting on the floor reading a book together while the baby nurses. Doctor comes in.

Doctor: Well, Hi! It looks like we've got a bunch of D*****s in here!
IJ: Yep! D***** Dirties! That's us!

Remember when I took IJ in for his Five Year Old well check up? The one where he said guns will keep him safe around a campfire? Sigh... But they also had their redeeming moments. S asked if he could listen to F's heart with the doctor's stethoscope. He listens for a moment, turns to the doctor, and says, "Hey! It sounds like a pump! It sounds like her heart is pumping blood all over her body!" The doctor looks like he is going to die from happiness. A child who truly appreciates the fine art of medicine!

But I have to say, the best part of my day yesterday was scoring a bunch of children's books (that are scheduled for homeschool) from Value Village for the low low price of 11.04. At 69 cents each, with a buy-three-get-one-free deal, I was stoked. As was IJ, who is now reading Harry Potter, on his own, for fun.

What a Nightmare!

So I mentioned nightmares yesterday. S woke up in the middle of the night, sobbing in his bed. M tried to talk to him, but could make any sense of what he was saying. Later he started crying again. I went to S this time, sent him potty, and tucked him back in. He fell asleep only to wake and cry again. He was talking to me, but not making any sense. This happened for about two hours on Monday night. Tuesday morning he had no memory of what had happened. But he was so tired and had dark circles under his eyes. That afternoon, S put himself down for a nap and slept through Taekwondo. When a child puts himself down for a nap, you know something is wrong!!! Tuesday night, he understandably stayed up past his bedtime and we sent him to bed, wide awake, at ten o'clock. We have no idea what time he finally fell asleep last night. Or what time he woke up. But we do know that he came into our room crying at 6:15 this morning, saying that he had been alone long enough. School today was rough. He cried because I told him how to spell Wednesday. I am so so so glad that he was home with me today. I'm so glad I could keep his lessons very short. I'm glad he could take a time out on the couch to gather himself together before re-spelling Wednesday, this time by himself. He had to take another nap today, this one being three hours long. I'm glad he could take a nap in his own bed instead of a nurse's office. [On a funny note, when he woke up, he was screaming. Not in fear. But in joy. Obnoxious, boyish, happy joy.] I'm glad that we are able to finish his school work now after dinner instead of having the stress of being behind his peers. But, I hope we get to bed at a decent hour tonight!

Confessions

Yeah, I already posted today. But then I did school and funny things happen when we do school. I lazed around on the computer most of the morning thanks to my lack of sleep last night (barking dogs, crying babies, and nightmares in the kids' room). So when I did get around to school the kids were in full swing funniness.

Fun in a Box

Saturday we decided to replace our hot water heater. Luckily for us, not only was our favorite appliance repair man available, he had the exact water heater we needed in stock. And after all the installation the total price was $200 less than Sears! Sunday morning, before anyone could play video games, all walking children were required to go outside and play soccer with their dad. In the sub-zero, biting wind. Each kid took turns kicking goals (while M kept My Pathetic Doberman from eating the ball) until they discovered The Box That The Hot Water Heater Came In. The game was: crawl in the box, have Dad stand it upright, then try to knock the box down by climbing up the inside.

The next box we had fun in was the swimming pool! Monday morning we told the kids if they had all their chores and schoolwork done by 11:45 we would go to the pool. Poor S was so bored during math! He already knows that 20 - 10 = 10, 18 - 9 = 9, 16 - 8 = 8, etc. He figured it out before he was born! I really struggled with the balance between training S that sometimes he has to sit and listen (like a public school environment) even though one of the (many) reasons I decided to homeschool was so that he could go farther in math without having to sit and listen. But even with our morning of, "S, please turn around. S please get off the floor and sit in your chair. IJ, the white board is that thing that I write math problems on," we still made it to the pool. Here is F in her new swim diaperless bathing suit that I scored at a junk shop for 99 cents! The kids had so much fun in the pool. IJ can swim on his own now and just needs to refine his strokes. S and F are getting braver about going under water and floating on their backs. And F just wanted to swim on her own. If she would have had her own floatie, she probably would have swum all over the pool by herself. I was tired just from holding her by the time we were done swimming. And this is how conditioned my kids are when Dad takes them somewhere: as soon as we started heading out, E says, "Daddy! I want some hot chocolate ice cream!"It wasn't hot, but it was chocolate ice cream. And it disappeared by the time we got home.

The last thing we had to do yesterday was go to a Cub Scout meeting. M teaches Taekwondo on Monday nights, so I left E with A and took S and F with me to the meeting. I thought S should practice sitting and listening since he will be a Cub Scout next year too. Ugh... S and F are not a good combination. They both want to wiggle and make loud noises. By the end of the meeting I had to stand in the back with the two of them so they could crawl around on the floor. But IJ had fun! He earned his Computers Belt Loop and a patch for going to the nursing home in December. The boys also got to shoot marshmellows out of pipes: IJ is the one with the orange kercheif getting ready to shoot. We got to bring our marshmellow shooter home with us. Oh Joy. I think that one is going to go in a box on the top shelf of the playroom!

More Diapers and Amazing Babies

This is not the greatest picture, but I wanted to show off this cute diaper I sewed this weekend...I made it from a rainbow sheet that I found under our stairs (inside layer) and a baby blanket I got at Value Village for 99 cents.

I read a review in Science News on the latest Desmond Morris's book, Amazing Baby, and how newborn babies can swim if placed tummy down in warm water. This of course piqued my interest and now while I wait for the library to buy this particular book, I'm perusing his others. I've learned all about hand gestures in many cultures, their history, and what they mean in Body Talk. And I've learned all sorts of things about babies, some I believe and some that sound like a bunch of you-know-what, in Baby Watching. The best part of Baby Watching was watching my baby try to talk to the baby on the cover of the book. It's fun to read a "serious" book written by a zoologist and laugh at it.

I read a blog written by a mom who is exploring photography. She recently posted about light reflections in eyes. This is my atempt to experiement with lighting and eyes... This kid looks like he just did something naughty, and enjoyed every second of it... And this one looks like her brother just showed her a worm. But no daughter of mine is scared of worms. In fact, this very same girl has a worm in the house right this second so she can feed it to her older sister's fish.

Here are the nice pictures:

The Real Reason We Cloth Diaper

The cloth diapers one can get today are soooooooooo SOOOOOOOOO CUTE! This turquoise leopard print AIO (all in one) is just too cute. I sewed six diapers this weekend too that are simply adorable.

And check out this pair of bean counters: We had counting pairs on the schedule this week. I had the brilliant idea of having them match all the pairs of shoes by the front door and putting them away on our shoe rack (thus eliminating one more chore). Then they counted by 2's to find out how many shoes we had. We had 18 pairs of shoes, not counting the shoes that had no pairs. After shoe counting we moved on to beans and pennies. They learned that an even number can be split into pairs and an odd number has one left over.

E noticed, as I was writing this, that there were no pictures of her. So I took this picture of her after F walked to her. E says, "I'm as boo as a booberry!"

James and the Giant Peach

Yep, he read it. On his own. After hours. With a reading light. In five days (or nights I should say). He is a chip off the old block. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I remember hiding under the blankets with a flashlight after my mom told me to go to bed. So when I started catching him reading in the dark I just bought him a nice reading lamp so he wouldn't ruin his eyes. As for his choice in reading material, I'm impressed that my six year old is reading so well. I think he is reading better than even I did in first grade!

I know, I know...

... I haven't posted anything for awhile. The girls have colds that have left them feverish, fussy, and inconsolable. M took the boys to Twin Firs for the weekend (but they are home now). I spent the weekend junk shopping with A and L and sewing up my finds. In Twin Firs, while the menfolk were watching The Alamo with John Wayne, IJ asked if, "that was the war that Grandad was in. Or was it before that?" His "it" sounded like he was asking if Grandad's war was before the Alamo... Grandad must be really old!

Instinct in the Jungle

Does this fuzzy face scare you?
Shere Khan here scared F today in the kitchen. She wanted me, but couldn't muster up the courage to crawl past the beast. She would start to crawl, look at the tiger, and stop. Then she would try to get to me again and stop again. Until she started to cry. How could she possibly know that tigers eat babies? She has never witnessed any baby-eating. And no one has ever played eat-the-baby with the stuffed tiger either. (Notice the ear on the tiger has been chewed off. Aparantly, My Pathetic Doberman thought it was real too.)

Yesterday we had a pile-up in the living room, in honor of my birthday. Can you see me at the bottom of the stack? I turned 32, so now I can say I am in my early-to-mid-thirties. But I still get looks when I mention I have a daughter in college. When will I look old enough to have old kids? M made my coffee, breakfast, lunch, and watched the kids while I went fabric shopping. A made a gourmet meal for dinner (with her dad's help): Blackened Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon with a hollandaise sauce made from scratch, steamed asparagus, roasted potatoes, and breadsticks. For dessert she made a chocolate brownie pistachio torte. Delicious! L came over to help us eat all the good food. It was the best birthday I've had in a long time.

My favorite present was from F. She took her first two steps! She's on her way to becoming a Walkie-Talkie!

Bat Man

Meet the boy behind the mask... ...who will do anything for a turn on the video games. Including a whole day's worth of schoolwork at 6:00 in the morning!

Flooded

No, I haven't been washed away by the flood. Our road is closed (as is our backup road) so if we need to get to town, we have to take the loooong way around... It took us about 40 minutes to take a 15 minute trip into Taekwondo today, thanks to all the flooding. As we were crossing the bridge with the river all the way up and spilling over the levies, S shouted out from the backseat, "Which is worse? Being killed by a train or drowning in a flood?" At that moment I decided that coming into town was a dumb idea and I should have just stayed home. What if the flood washed the bridge away with me on it? Ugh...Here is a picture (courtesy of a friend of A) of the train bridge that runs parallel to the car bridge. Normally the water much, much lower. The McDonalds, trailer park, and golf course are flooded. The schools are closed. But homeschoolers don't get flood days anymore than they get snow days :)

I'm not feeling too inspired to write anything today... I just got my end of the year statement for my IRA... I lost ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS this year. Half of my entire IRA. Why I even put money in that darn thing, I'll never know...

But I don't want to be too blue... F is crawling so fast now and putting lots of little things in her mouth. When we make the "yuck" sound, she crawls to us as fast as she can and opens her mouth. I've also started teaching her sign language (more and milk), just like I did with E. She already knows that when I say, "Want some nursie?" she is going to get fed. She also loves a good game of peek-a-boo, especially with her big sister, A. A says F likes her more than any of the other babies we have had around here. She is the most social so far...

Happy New Year!

I'm not one for resolutions, but I do like to do a big project before M goes back to work after the holidays. Last year we set up the school room. This year we added more shelving to the playroom. Here is the before picture... And here is the after picture... We are once again experiencing technical difficulties, so if I don't post for a few days (or check my email) that is why...

We're Baack!

It's good to be home.