A Long Week

So I've been a single mom since Sunday and it's been a looong week.  Chris is in Georgia for work but is coming home tomorrow.  Anna has been super fussy all week but today she finally seems better.  She's been napping and not crying almost all day long.  My poor sweety. 

Regardless, we've somehow managed to get through school this week.  Sometimes I try to take an outside-looking-in view of my days and know that God must be here with us because how else could I do this without going crazy or ruining my kids? 

Christopher is studying about Asia, specifically Saudi Arabia this week and that's been interesting.  I am reading a biography about missionary Amy Carmichael aloud to the kids and really, that's about India, but I imagine that Saudi Arabia is somewhat similar.  I know Christopher doesn't quite grasp the amount of freedom that we have compared to the people there, especially women, but it sure makes me grafeful for the country I live in. 

He is studying the enviroment this week also, and things like pollution, endangered species, recyling, etc.  There was one assignment that wanted us to see what types of things we were throwing away, basically disecting our garbage for one week, but this is not the week to do that.  We will cover this study again in five years and maybe I'll be more into it then.  Or my kids will be old enough to do it on their own.  You can bet I laughed out loud when I read that worksheet, in an "are you kidding me" sort of laugh.

He and I both are so tired of fractions and I can't believe how much there is to learn about them.  We will persevere though, as I suppose they are one part of math that you actually need to know as an adult.  I do like his math though, and it doesn't take long to get through the exercises.

Matthew is about to finish up his reading stories in the Old Testament, as well as finish learning rules for reading.  He's doing great and can read just about anything, but practice is needed as he is still very slow and choppy.  I sit back and look at him sometimes and realize that I taught him to read.  Me!  Reading is one of those things that you either don't know how to do it or you do.  It is something that you can see that is accomplished and it is good to be able to actually see that accomplishment.  Especially this week when things have been more difficult to accomplish than usual.  Christopher learned to read before he started school, but that was more him learning on his own with some of that first born parent ambition thrown in.  Matthew's not like that.

What else did we do this week?

Well, the kids played in the make-shift sand box. I made it for Leah to use and everyone wanted to play. They also rode their bikes.

Anna's cute lil toes got some fresh air.

I love these pudgy fingers.

And these dirty boy-hands.

   

Leah loves wearing the boys' bike helmets.

      

           

      

     

And we went to the zoo.  It was drizzling rain the whole time, but we were out and everyone was happy.  Except Anna.

Whenever we go anywhere, all of the boys want to have a map.

 We are so happy that it is spring so we can be outside so much.  I hope we have an unusually long spring this year.

  

I took the boys to Awana and then shopped at Target before picking them up. Leah was a perfect Angel while we were shopping and loved a croaking Easter frog we found. It kept her happy and laughing the whole trip. I carried Anna in the Bjorn and so she was happy most of the time. When we got to the church to pick up the boys, she realized that she should be at home sleeping and screamed the whole time as I collected each boy from his class.

This morning four of the children had dental cleanings. The boys all did great, no cavities or teeth to pull from their little crowded mouths. This was Leah's first time, and they did the cleaning with a normal tooth brush to get her used to it. She wasn't sure at first and I thought she might fight it, but she was brave and relaxed once she realized they were just going to brush her teeth. And she LOVES brushing her teeth.

In the midst of being a temporary single mom of five, with two of them being cranky little ones, we still made some fun memories this week. And I've started staying up way too late just so I can have some down time once Anna finally falls asleep.

It'll be nice to have my honey home tomorrow.

Bamboo Paradise

We went up to our favorite park in Garden Ridge today. There is a shaded playground and swings (including baby swings), a covered picnic area, restrooms, a huge open field, a little creek that has been filled with water for months now (as opposed to completely dry for the first year we lived here and went to the park), and also a wooded area. Perfect. Oh yah, it's also in a neighborhood that has deer wandering the streets every time we drive through. Did I say it's our favorite park?

We went today with our friends and the kids discovered Bamboo Paradise. Our gang of boys, seven in all, explored the creek and wooded area of the park to their heart's delight. We were there for over two hours, and when we finally tried to reel them in to go home, they were excited to show us this treasure of bamboo plants that they discovered in the wooded area. So us mommas followed them on the path through the trees, much deeper into the woods that we thought they were going, and me with Anna in our stroller (and not a back woods type of stroller!) and were pleasantly surprised at their beautiful find. Bamboo paradise, as they called it, was really neat.

She does this chewing-on-her-finger all of the time now...maybe some new chompers will be here soon?

I tried to get some good pictures of this sweet one outside so you can see how pretty her eyes are...I still didn't get them good enough. We did have fun up at the school riding bikes though. This beautiful spring weather is wonderful and we are out enjoying it every day. I'm hoping for a long spring before the hot summer gets here.

Yah, Anna had had enough by the time I thought to get some pictures of Leah with her!


This little guy had a hard day up at the school, trying to get better at riding his bike. He screeched whenever his brothers came zooming at him with their bikes (even though they were at least ten feet away per our instructions). He ended up falling over even with training wheels, scraping his elbow, and gave up for the day. He'll get there one day...

Go enjoy your kiddos!

School is in Session

Two days of school in a row...we're on a roll!

Matthew has finished all of his phonics lessons and learned about alphabetical order today. He was a pro at it. I love it when kids pretty much teach themselves. Ultimatley, that is what I want to be doing...teaching my children to know how to learn on their own.

Gabriel worked on his coloring (he's awesome!) and his numbers. He loves school and is so excited to be starting kindergarten work next year. He's very serious about his 'school work'.

Speaking of learning, little miss Leah wants to do some of her own. She thought she was marvelous and clapped for herself (and of course I did as well) whenever she filled all of the pegs.

She's beginning to learn her colors as well. I have two spring hand towels hanging in the kitchen and let her choose the yellow or green one to dry her hands on them after we wash them. "yeh-yoh or been"

On another note, she's been hijacking these lately.

And I caught her in the act this morning. She's sure to have clean teeth at her first dental cleaning coming up soon.


After we got a call from Chris saying his plane broke down in Tucson and he wouldn't be home until tomorrow, we all took a drive up to Target. Tonight is bath night and we ran out of baby bath this weekend, or else I would have waited and gone another day. Plus, the kids aren't quite as crazy at Target as they are at other stores. Or maybe I am just more relaxed there.

We bought and tried out Burt's Bee Baby Bee Buttermilk Bath Soak with the kids tonight. I'll let you know tomorrow if the rumored delicious smell is worth the price.

We got a lot of looks at Target with all five kids riding on this.

I loved when the cashier saw that Ihad five kids and said, "That's great!" I usually get told that my hands are full, or that I have a lot of kids, or I must be kept busy, which are all fine even though they seem to have, "You're crazy" undertones, and I am not offended by any of that. But very seldom do I get a comment that having a large family is great. And it is.

a loooong walk

so i know that walking from my house to the end of cibolo valley drive and back is four miles. i've driven it to see when i ran it last year. what i didn't know, was that it would take two hours to bike/stroller/walk it with five kids. including a short trip to a neighborhood park that we 'borrowed' since it really is for people who live in that neighborhood only. we know someone who lives there, so i counted that. and i held my breath when my 'rule-follower' nine year old read the sign, hoping he wouldn't question me about it. i ended up calling my friend who lives there to join us to justify our law breaking, but she was out of town. that was good enough for Christopher.

this is how we roll...our big caboose

best buds/brothers waiting for momma

i can't run on my treadmill right now, as my knee ligaments are still recovering from two weeks ago when i started my exercise routine back up, eight weeks post partum (so you'd think i'd be okay), so that's where the long walk came from. i keep myself motrined up and thought walking should be okay. it didn't help the older boys enjoyment of our walk that they had to stop at every street before they crossed and wait for the rest of us, walking with the stroller, to catch up. once Gabe learns to ride well, we can use the bike trailer for the girls. that will be a while i'm thinking, since he screeched in fear yesterday when Chris tried to get him riding with the training wheels even. he was rolling down the barely there hill that our sidewalk is. we'll have to go up to the school parking lot to practice with him i think.


and we did start school today...not until Chris got home from work, but it got done. and without too much opposition from the troops.

back to blogging

this is not acceptable. nine posts in 3 1/2 months? i want to vividly remember so many more days than that and i promise to myself to write on this blog more often to help me do that.

remember things like...

*sleeping with my sweet Anna snuggled in my bed with Chris and me everynight. hearing her sweet sighs as she drifts off to sleep. that's my favorite sound right now.

*that, and Leah calling for her mommy in the morning to get her out of her crib. she'll wake up and sit quietly playing with her pacies and her blankets for an hour or so, but once she hears Anna waking up, she wants up too.

*watching Leah try to put a shirt on all by herself this morning. can i help you? nuooo, in her emphasised way that she says no when she really means it. otherwise, just a simple no actually means yes usually. she just doesn't say yes yet for some reason. so she tried with her shirt for about five minutes before she asked for help...from her big brother Gabriel, who actually couldn't get her head into the hole of her shirt either and then she allowed me to help. and less than 30 minutes later that shirt is covered in milk from her sneaking up on the kitchen chair to finish Gabe's cereal that he left there...after she downed a bowl of cereal herself.

*waking up to hear the big boys riding their bikes in the backyard. they aren't allowed to ride them in the front unless Chris or i are there with them, so they improvised. 9am and they were already sweaty.

we have school to do today. we started back last week with Christopher and finished up Africa. this week we move in to Asia, specifically Saudi Arabia. we'll also start back up with Matthew's first grade work again. we should still finish sometime this summer, but it was worth it to have ample cuddle time with my sweetness of a newborn.

a few photos of the past few weeks or so...

my mom visited and we did the tourist thing at the Alamo

my sweet oldest turned nine years old in february

sweet Anna loving her big brother Gabe

Leah toting around one of her "guys", which she sneaks from her brothers' lego piles all of the time

me and my sweet newborn. i love her!

Preschoolers and Peace

One of my favorite blogs to read www.preschoolersandpeace.com is having a giveaway of a copy of how she used Circle Time as part of her day with her children. Check it out!

Mommy Anniversary

Today marks the anniversary of a very sweet day...the day that my first child, my son Christopher, was born nine years ago today.

As I write this, I look out the window and see him and Matthew playing in the backyard with a bungee cord. Christopher has it hooked on the front of his shorts and Matthew has it hooked on the back of his pants and they are trying to pull apart from each other. That's their life. And I love it.

I love that boy so much. He's so sweet and smart and loving and sensitive and handsome and cuddly. We know when he's happy and he has a great laugh to show it. We know when he's had his feelings hurt because has a sweet crack in his voice as he tries not to cry. We definatley know when he's mad (and we're trying to work on that!) He's the most honest child I've met. He's so smart and has a ginormous imagination. He doesn't try to fit in with others, which I love, but he's also shy unless he's with his best bud. Or with his brothers. He hates talking on the phone. He loves playing outside and riding his bike and doing (what he thinks are) cool tricks on it. He's growing up to be a great kid and I love him so much.

A Snuggly Afternoon

I am snuggling with Anna on one couch and my four other children are sitting in a row on the couch next to me watching "Fetch" on television, each with an airplane in their hand (yes, even Leah). The only thing that would make this moment more perfect would be if Chris were home from work. And if Leah hadn't taken all of the DVDs out of the movie case a minute ago. But they are happy and laughing and Anna is sleeping on my chest and I am so blessed by God by this moment.

We are taking the week off of school again and two of the kids and I are still in our pajamas this afternoon, but that's okay. I'm comfortable with that. The house is a mess and a friend from church just dropped off a dinner for us. I'm becoming okay with the house being a mess all of the time. Really, I've never been the tidiest person, but it's pretty ridiculous this week. I would rather it be a little tidier when friends see it, and just in general I guess, but I can clean and impress friends when my babies grow up. For now, I'm okay with my messy house if it means I can cuddle with my last newborn all day.

I recently heard a new mom say how she could not believe how much love she can feel for her new son, born just before Anna was, when she thought she gave all of her love to her first son. I wonder the same thing with every single one of my five children. How can I have room in my heart for each child? So much love that my heart aches thinking about it. And then I think about how my God loves them more than that and I can't even imagine how that's possible, but I know it's true.

Anna's RSV Adventure...so far

Day One: Tuesday evening Anna started throwing up. Throughout the night she threw up six times. Throwing up is different than spitting up. Spit up does not shoot at least two feet out of a baby's mouth like throw up does.

Day Two: By Wednesday morning Anna had a 100.8 degree fever. I made an appointment for her at the BAMC Pediatric Clinic because the Randolph Clinic did not have any available. The appointment was for 8:20 AM. I left at 7:40 AM because it was raining and I wanted to give myself extra time to get there. It normally is a 20 minute drive. It took an hour to get there because of traffic and the rain, so I was 20 minutes late for the appointment. Thankfully, they still saw her.
The doctor we saw, Dr. Gonzalez, had read Anna's chart already and knew about my Group B Strep infection at birth and Anna's unresponsiveness at birth and her one week stay in the NICU for antibiotics. She was worried that Anna may be experiencing late onset Group B Strep, which is pretty bad, and said she'd have to take an ambulance over to Wilford Hall at Lackland Air Force Base for another week of antibiotics. She had Anna's blood drawn and her urine collected and tested. Of course, her veins are so tiny and the nurse had to move the needle aroung once it was in her wrist, which Anna hated and screamed through. The nurse needed to use a catheter to collect Anna's urine. That took a while as well because getting a tube in her tiny urethra was not easy. More screaming from Anna and crying from her mama.
A half hour later, she had to collect more blood because some of it had clotted and couldn't be used for testing. Luckily, only a small amount was needed so they could prick her heel and squeeze it out.
I had asked about taking her myself and going to North Central Baptist since it was closer to my house and was told no, but I could probably take her myself to Wilford Hall. Dr. Gonzalez ended up talking to the Infectious Disease doctor at Wilford Hall and they decided since all of the blood and urine tests came back normal, and she was eating well, I could take Anna home and come back the next day to see how she was doing. I also learned that Anna had only gained an average of 8 grams a day over the last week or so and babies her age are supposed to gain an average of 30 grams a day. So, four hours later, we went home with instructions to go the ER if her temperature went above 100.4 again.
So that evening at 5:30, it was up to 100.7 and I took her the ER at North Central Baptist. We were seen right away and her temperature was down to 100.0, which is not considered a fever in a baby. They suctioned her nose, did some chest x-rays, called BAMC for the blood and urine test results and the results of the mucus from her nose showed that she had RSV. The chest x-rays were clear and her oxygen level was good, so they sent us home and said if she started having trouble breathing, to bring her back to the ER. Otherwise, have her see her doctor everyday to check her until she is better. She scheduled us to come to the weekend clinic at BAMC for Saturday.

Day 3: We had her doctor appointment still scheduled with Dr. Gonzalez at BAMC for 1PM. I called Randolph AFB to see if her regular pediatrician was available that day and he was not, so I kept the appointment at BAMC. Anna had a sad, squeaky cough by then, but no fever and not really too much mucus in her nose. She could breathe fine while she ate, but she still wasn't eating as much as usual. The doctor said she'd likely get worse and to watch her breathing.

Day 4: After a sleepless night by me because I was trying to watch Anna's every breath, I over reacted at four in the morning and took her back to the ER. She was taking a lot of pauses in her breathing and I wasn't comfortable with it. Well, she was fine and we went home.

Day 5: I slept with Anna in a reclining rocking chair in our room all night. She did well but it wasn't easy for me to actually sleep that way. Chris took a short shift to help out. Anna's nose has more mucus in it, but she can still breathe when she eats, even if she eats for only about two minutes at a time. We went to her appointment at the BAMC clinic and she has an ear infection now. Her cough is more wet and actually sounds better. She lost two ounces since three days ago, which is not good, but she was vomiting again last night. We are going in again for another check-up tomorrow. I think she's doing well compared to stories of other babies being hospitalized with RSV or having breathing treatments at home. Her oxygen saturation level was down from 100% to 96% today, but as long as it stays in the 90's, they are happy.

Hopefully there won't be very many days left of this. She's supposed to be at the worst part today and tomorrow.

The Good & The Bad

So poor little Anna has RSV. She is four weeks old. None of my other kids have gotten this and I knew it was bad, but I'm freaking out a little bit and praying a LOT for her to get through this without getting worse. I took her in to the doctor on Wednesday morning because she had been projectile vomiting all night (six times to be exact). She also had a fever. The doctor we saw (never saw before) at BAMC (Army hospital) was worried it had to do with late onset Group B Strep infection since we both had issues with it at Anna's birth. She wanted to admit her to the hospital that day for another week of antibiotics. They tortured her with a needle (I mean, drew her blood) and tortured her with a tube (I mean, used a catheter to get her urine) and those test results did not show an infection. I really did not want to spend a week in the hospital with her for something she probably did not have, although there is always that thought, what if? What if she did have it? I've been doubting my mothering decisions lately (gotta love these post pregnancy hormones) and this isn't helping.

Anyways, after four hours in the doctor's office, we were sent home with what to look for to have to take her to the ER. Basically, a fever of 100.4 or higher. We also had an appointment to take her back the next day. So that evening, she had a fever of 100.7 and I took her to North Central Baptist Hospital ER. They were great, tested her for RSV and the flu right away (they never tested her for that at the doctor's office). She tested positive for RSV and the doctor said that she'd likely get a lot worse before she got better and sent us on our way. We were there for about an hour and a half. They called BAMC to get the lab results (awesome that they did not torture her again for those...the doctor's hubby worked at BAMC so they could break the military barrier to get the results). They also did x-rays of her lungs, bringing an x-ray machine in HER ROOM! That is high tech baby, not military type health care! Anyways, we went home with instructions to see a doctor everyday and take her to the ER if she had trouble breathing. We went back to the BAMC doctor yesterday and she looked a little sicker, but still could breathe through her nose...yay! She has a horrible, croaking/squeaking cough and wasn't eating quite normally, but still breathing well. This morning (Friday), at about 4AM, she was breathing funny, taking very long breaks from breathing (5-8 seconds) and then struggling a little bit to get her next breath, so I took her back to the ER. Once we got there, she was breathing better of course and her oxygen saturation level was 100%. So, with instructions to stop watching her every breath and to get some sleep (I was sleeping on the floor next to her in the bouncy seat for part of the night with my hand on her belly), we were sent home with me feeling like an over reacting mom. The doctor said I'd be able to hear her struggle for breath from across the room if she was really having trouble breathing, and be able to see her ribs from the effort her body would be making. So here we are, Friday afternoon and she's been sleeping all day, with small bursts of painful crying and not eating so well, but still eating well enough I think.

I have been praying that she not get worse, and really, the anticipation of how bad I've heard it can get is really making me crazy. She's on Day 4 and I've been told days 4-6 are when it is the worst, so hopefully we just need to get through the weekend. She has another doctor appointment tomorrow (Saturday) at BAMC (weekend clinic hours!). For now, I'll just keep holding my sweet baby girl and praying that this is as bad as she'll get.

The other kids likely have RSV as well (the doctor said), which basically means a mild cold in them since they are not babies. Cough and runny nose. No decrease in energy level with them at all. In fact, because I have even less energy, it seems like they have more! Actually, they seem to be over it now, just a lingering runny nose with Leah.

We've missed both MOPS and co-op this week and that is important adult time for me :o( I certainly don't want to spread the germs to the other babies out there though.



Okay, now onto the good news...while I was at the ER with Anna on Wednesday night, Chris' new squadron commander and his wife stopped by our house with this...


My wonderfully awesome husband will soon be a MAJOR in the Air Force. Well, soon is an overstatement. His line number is 886 so he'll be able to actually wear that rank (and get the pay raise) in about year. One guy in his squadron has the line number of 2977, so 886 doesn't look too far away compared to that. It's based on when he got commissioned and his number is lower than he thought it would be, so yay!

Five is Hard!

Yes, five children is proving to be more difficult than four. I think adding a newborn to any mix is harder than what you're used to though. Especially when you are adding a newborn to a mix of children that includes a toddler. A toddler that is getting to that special age where she wants to test her independance and she knows that you can't jump up to correct her while you are feeding or holding a newborn and she just looks at you and continues to push every magazine and other pieces of clutter off of the table while you sternly tell her to stop. Or will not come to you when she has a glob of snot running down her face that you want to wipe away.

But then Leah wants to hold sweet Anna and I would not change anything at all (except the snot glob).

Back in the Swing of Things

So I haven't posted in over a month. Lots of big things happened since then!

Christmas was great. I didn't get all of the crafts/activities done that I wanted to, but being big and pregnant does that to me. Not to mention we did not take a break from homeschooling, except for actual Christmas day. We all had a great time and really, what needs to be done except for praising and celebrating the birth of our Saviour?

My sister Crystal came to visit for two weeks for Christmas and we always enjoy that. She did have the flu almost the whole visit, so that part stunk, but we still had a good time with her on the few days she felt well. She gave the kids a trip to the top of the Tower of the Americas in downtown San Antonio as their Christmas gift and they LOVED that. We made an evening of it and had dinner on the Riverwalk as well. We also took a fun visit to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens before she left, as we have an under-used annual pass and we found a beautiful day to go.

Gingerbread house making

With Aunt Crystal at the top of the Tower of Americas
My sweet kiddos
With Santa at the 563rd Kids' Christmas party

Christmas morning

We spent New Years Eve afternoon/evening at Sea World, using those annual passes one last time before they expired that day. That was fun, with fireworks at 8PM to celebrate the new year with. Christopher and I stayed up until midnight watching tv (at his request!) and then it was 2010!

Then my favorite day of 2010 happened...January 4th, our sweet Anna Leella was born! She was three weeks early and the labor/delivery was not routine (it sucked!) and she spent a week in the NICU but it doing great now. She is 3 1/2 weeks old today and just as sweet as can be. I can't cuddle with her enough. Her brothers and sister adore her and love to hold her and give her kisses. It is nice to have so many helpers, especially Christopher who is almost nine years old and can hold and carry her around well.

We took two weeks off of schooling when Anna arrived and we have finished two weeks and are back on track. We have "traveled" to Africa, which in my opinion, is the most interesting continent to study, probably because it seems the least like our own. Christopher is in the process of making a giant African scene using a giant map of Africa he drew as well as painted, clay African animals that he has to make. We have great library books that we have been reading as well. He has started two digit times two digit multiplication, which seems like a big step up. We have fifteen weeks left of this school year for him.


Matthew is reading very well now and I think even surprises himself with how much he can read. He has started learning how to tell time, which will be useful because he's always asking how much longer until his next meal!


Gabriel is still tagging along with everything. He's so funny how he sits at the table and watches us do school. He found a Soduko book that he claimed so he can "practice his numbers". I'm not sure how he does that, except by randomly writing numbers in the blank squares. He also tries to jump in and read Matthew's words or answer Matthew's math problems.


Leah says a lot of words now and is slowly starting to put them together. She just got a new tooth (her 11th) and I'm not sure if it was hard for it to come out or what, but she's been pretty ornery for a week or so. She was saying for a couple of days that her ear hurt, and then I noticed a small amount of drainage, so I think it was infected, even with the tubes in. I think she's also looking for extra attention with Anna getting so much.


We've also started a new semester of our homeschool co-op. I help in the nursery for my teaching hours so that I don't have to leave Anna so young. Otherwise I would not have been able to do co-op this semester. The boys are enjoying their classes. Christopher got to choose three more classes this semester and he/I chose Math Games, Drawing, and Engineering.


So we found out that it is highly likely we will be going back to Offutt AFB in Nebraska instead of moving to Pensacola this fall. That is pretty disappointing, but we did like living in Nebraska, so we'll be okay :o)


So I've been cuddling with Anna through this whole blog today and she is still sleeping sweetly on my chest. I love this little girl. I think this is the most I've enjoyed the newborn phase. It makes me so sad that we won't be going through it again, but I am also excited about the next chapter in our lives.

Week 14

Bonjour! We flew to France this week, leaving Norway behind. Actually, I'm not sure if we've actually landed, but we are learning about France anyways. We've all had colds except Christopher and so I asked him to "fly" by himself there while I just sat at the table instead of running around the house with our arms out airplane style. He got his toy airplane and flew it around our globe the long way and I'm not sure if he ever actually said it landed. We are however, on day 3 of France. Still not feeling 100%, but I really don't want to take a break before the baby gets here. And the boys don't seem to be lacking energy, just have an excess of snot coming out of their noses, yuck. And lots of coughing.

I'm 33 1/2 weeks along now, and we are hoping for 2 1/2 more weeks, but it will probably be more like 5 1/2, with her getting evicted via Pitocin! Are we ready? I am so ready to not be pregnant anymore! We really have nothing to actually get ready. Wait, two things...the bassinet can come out of Leah's closet and into our bedroom, but I already told Chris he can just do that when I'm at the hospital so it won't be in the way in the meantime. Also, we need to get Leah switched over to her big girl car seat and out of the infant car seat! Speaking of which, she had her 18 months check-up and is now 22lbs 12oz, which is at the 25%! Three months ago she was still well below the chart so she's had a huge growth spurt! Whoo-hoo Leah! So technically, she is now 12 oz too big for her infant carseat and will be switching to her new one the next time I drive somewhere.



Okay, back to the whole school subject...I wrote about bad attitudes I believe, in my last post. Well, over a week without computer games and things are so much better! The boys have not complained about school for the past two days...or complained about much else for that matter. I'll do a test next week to see if things get bad again but really, it's so much nicer to see my kids PLAYING with each other all of the time rather than watching each other or fighting with each other in front of the computer. I've read blogs of families who allow no computer time, even for educational stuff (which really, anything can be called educational these days!) and I've secretly thought it was a great idea. We'll see how things go.



So Christopher looked ahead and is excited about the French food we will be making for our French celebration. So am I! Truffles, yummy! He also started a new cursive handwriting curriculum from http://www.queenhomeschool.com/ that combines art and cursive copywork and he did not like it at all at first because it was review, but now he enjoys looking at the paintings and finding the words he has to write. He's enjoying math more now as he's done with fractions for a while and is doing math that deals with converting days and weeks, hours and minutes, etc. He's about to finish up his Singapore Math 3b workbooks and when he starts the 4a workbook, he'll be starting 5th grade level math! I do not ever have him do more than one lesson a day now, even if it only takes five minutes to do. So I'm not sure why he continues to get more and more ahead, but as long as he understands it, I'll let him continue. I still rarely have to actually "teach" him math, which is nice, but I'm sure I will have to in the future. It's so exciting to see how well we both are learning the countries of Europe. We still review the previous continents we have studied so hopefully they'll stick in our brains. I've always been used to asking my husband, "Where's that?" when I heard about a country on the news or wherever. Now I'll probably know, as will Christopher.

Christopher has started more with writing things that are not school related, such as stories about his handguys, dialogue from movies that he's memorized and today he showed me a full page report that he wrote about the Concorde airplane using a book that he has. When we do english and he has to write or finish a story from his english book, I've been letting him change the names or write what he wants as long as it follows the grammar teaching that the book is trying to get across. He writes very silly things, but I figure that he's still learning what the english book is trying to teach him. He also likes to read his stories aloud that way, which helps with his public speaking I think. He needs all the help he can get with that!

Matthew is getting better with his reading. He still sounds words out rather than read them 'smoothly'. For example..."c-a-ca-t-cat" with all the sounds seperated at the dashes. He doesn't do it for every word, but one I can always expect is the word "said". This is how it goes, "s-a-i-d-sid-said". I think along with it in my head each time and find it funny/cute how it's a word he reads all the time and still sounds it out. It might be just from habit, I'm not sure. But he is improving a lot still. He seems to be getting lazy (messy) with his handwriting lately but I'm more focused on his spelling and putting things like capital letters and periods where they belong. It's still very readable, so it might just be his normal. Hmmm.

Gabriel is still his same sweet self. He wants copies of all the flags, and whatever else he can get copies of. He is great at cutting and pasting, as well as coloring, and gets compliments quite a bit from his teachers at church. He's so excited about starting kindergarten work when we start up the new school year. He tries to sound out words and is pretty good at it, but he makes his sounds so hard and emphasized that he can't always figure out how to blend them together. It's actually amuzing to listen to.

Alrighty, I'll try to keep up with updates. It's a busy time of year, but I have a big belly to slow me down a little bit!