I woke up Monday morning feeling very stressed and overwhelmed as I thought about the upcoming week. I had spent a lot of time Sunday night trying to work out how I was going to teach AP labs that we don't have the equipment for, and was just feeling very inadequate at dealing with the whole biology thing in general. And when I go to bed thinking about something, then it's hard to turn my brain off, so all those worries roiled around in there the whole night, plus I added on to them my worries about planning this space field trip to the Udvar-Hazy Museum for our elementary co-op in March that for some reason I agreed to be in charge of, as well as minor things like Micah's left tennis shoe was missing, and I need to register the boys for basketball. Whew! Restless night of sleep, to say the least!
But God was good--I usually am reading through Ruth Myers' 31 Days of Praise in the morning, and on October 1st, it was really timely. Here's a short excerpt--
My heart rejoices in You, Lord, for You are my strong shelter in times of trouble and danger and stress, my hiding place to whom I may continually resort . . . I praise you for Your love and Your wisdom . . . You act on my behalf, accomplishing what concerns me and fulfilling your purpose for me as I call on You . . .
It was all really encouraging to me. For our character time in school, we've been reading Created For Work by Bob Shultz (HIGHLY recommend this and his other book, Boyhood and Beyond). Well, the chapter we read on Monday dealt with "difficulty". Here's the quote at the beginning: "First a thing is impossible, then it's difficult, then it's done." That is so true! He talks about accepting the challenge of difficult jobs because those are the jobs that develop our muscles, minds, and spirits. "Without a challenge, there is little or no growth." Definitely timely for someone who is struggling with the seemingly impossible task of teaching AP biology, dredging up rusty knowledge from almost 20 years ago, all while expecting her 9th baby and dealing with gestational diabetes, plus continuing to homeschool everyone else!
And the Lord provided help in other areas this week as well. I worked out a bit at least how lab this week was going to go--I spent the time teaching the boys how to do a chi-squared test for data, and then we did several example problems using experimental data. This seems to be an important area of concentration, since a lot of the AP labs want this kind of data analysis done, so I think it was time well-spent. I've spent time searching for online virtual labs for gel electrophoresis (using actual DNA--we'll do one just using dye on a homemade gel slab, but it won't be quite the same) and other lab techniques for the next 2 weeks, which will be helpful. I still think the lab portion is our weakest link, due to lack of resources, but oh well. Oh, and I found a tremendous AP biology resource online--Cheryl Massengale's Biology Junction. If you scroll down the page a bit and click on the "AP Biology" link, then she has a wealth of helpful information and links! That has already been very helpful, especially some of the past essay questions. The boys will be doing a lot of those for practice when we take our long winter (baby!) break between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I was also able to get in contact with educational people at Udvar-Hazy to ask my questions. One big problem is that for their learning labs, they don't have much at all for the 1st/2nd graders, and none of what they do have involves space. But we'll be finishing up a 5 week unit on space with this field trip, so we definitely need a space-related learning experience for all the levels. The teacher in charge over there emailed me back this morning to say they could bring back one of their old labs for the 1st/2nd graders about satellites, both natural and man-made. Woo-hoo! So I filled out the online form, and hopefully I'll hear back from someone in the next few days to work out the times. We're not out of the woods yet, as far as planning, because with 3 groups of kids doing learning labs, we're going to have to take 2 hours--and what will the K kids and the second half of the older kids do for the second hour? We'll see . . . I really wish I hadn't taken this thing on, LOL. I really don't need anything extra to worry about right now, much less working out a field trip for 100 kids! Difficulties . . . challenges . . they're good . . . that's what I keep telling myself, LOL.
So now we're practically at the end of the week, and I've almost gotten through it. But there are still plenty of challenges in the weeks and months ahead!
Thursday, October 04, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Diabetes "Class"
This morning I left home at 7:30 to get to Bethesda for my 9:00 gestational diabetes orientation class. This time it was a little different than it was back when I was pregnant with Faith. Then I went for an entire afternoon, and a whole class of us were talked to by a nurse first, who explained how the testing worked, and then by a nutritionist, who told us how to meal-plan, and what to eat when.
This morning, there were only 2 of us, and the nurse led us off to a small conference room. She passed out the folders of info, and then started talking about how we would need to make an appointment with the nutritionist as well, since she was just a nurse and couldn't really help us with meal-planning. She gave us the phone number, which I dutifully wrote down, and then she got the bright idea that she could call even today and see if we could get in and talk to the lady. So she asked which we would rather do--try for today, or call ourselves and make a different appointment. The other lady was quiet, so I spoke up, "Umm, well, this is my 9th baby, and my 2nd with gestational diabetes, and I still have all my information from the last time the dietician talked with me. I've already been testing my numbers for a week, and things are fine . . . so I really don't want to have to talk to the dietician at all . . ."
The nurse looked at me, shocked ("Your 9th baby?!"), and asked me a few more questions to make sure I actually had my monitor set up and was doing everything I should be doing. Then she looked at me with a puzzled look and said, "Who on earth made you come here today?! I'll just note that you were here, but you don't have to stay!" Woo-hoo!! That was what I was hoping for!
I did have to go back down to the actual OB clinic. I'm testing my blood sugar 4 times a day, but the nurse-practitioner who put in the prescription wrote it for only a jar of 50 test strips (with 3 refills). You can't get refills until about 10 days before the end of the month, because the provider is supposed to be writing the prescription to last a month. Soo, I'll wait while you all do the math . . . but 50 strips, testing 4 times a day, means that bottle will last me about 12 days since I started testing last Wednesday. And the N-P also didn't give a prescription for a big box of lancets, but rather for a box containing 25 lancets plus an extra poker-thing that the lancets go in (you already get one of those, plus 12 lancets, with the actual meter); So--35 lancets, 4 times a day--that's less than 9 days! I've been reusing the lancets, which is a big no-no.
So I went down to talk to the lady at the desk to see if I could speak to the clinic attending doctor and get a new prescription. She took my ID card and disappeared off in the back with it, eventually poking her head back around to ask if I just needed the strips and lancets, or if I also needed medicine. I never actually talked to a doctor, but she came back and told me the presciption was entered in, and I could go to the pharmacy to pick it up. Yay!
But when I picked up the prescription, I was dismayed to find that once again, I only got 1 box of 50 (but with 6 refills this time, LOL). Can doctors not do simple math?!? Well, that will get me to my next appointment, which is Oct. 12, and then I will have to speak very slowly and clearly and explain that if I am testing 4 times a day for 30 days, then I need 120 test strips at a time! I did get a big box of 200 lancets, so I'm good to go there for awhile.
My numbers in general have been really great (they're supposed to be under 105 when I wake up, and under 120 two hours after a meal). I've had pretty much no troubles keeping them low--until Monday and Tuesday. I think it is the stress of co-op! I did have one odd thing happen. This morning, right after I talked to the OB front desk (which made me nervous), it was time to test, since it was 2 hours after my breakfast. I had eaten my usual breakfast of 1/2 c. bran flakes, milk, and a hard-boiled egg. This pretty much always gives me a blood sugar reading of around 97. I NEVER have problems with breakfast! So I test, and my number comes up as 138!! I was flabber-gasted! But I was still feeling flustered from trying to explain everything to the desk lady, so I decided to just sit for a minute and relax, and then test again. So I sat, breathed deeply, looked around, relaxed--for about a minute. I had tested originally at 9:25, and so at 9:27 I retested. My number this time? 100. What in the world?! There's no way my levels are actually fluctuating 38 points in 2 minutes, but what could it be? Who knows?! It did make me wonder if the high number I got after lunch on Tuesday (right before life science, when I realized I had completely forgotten to email notes to Celia for class, which made me flustered) would have been different if I had relaxed for a minute before testing! Weird.
I've ramped up my exercising again. It's been hard to fit it in, but I've been exercising for about 40 minutes in the morning after breakfast, and Bob and I have been taking a 40 minute walk almost every night after dinner. That maternity support belt I bought from Amazon a few weeks ago has been WONDERFUL. It has made such a difference in how comfortable I am with all the walking! We'll see how long I can keep all that exercise up, though. It's very disruptive to the day, especially the morning time. Anna and Grace are definitely not getting very much time spent on their schooling, although sometimes I do stuff with Anna in the evenings. But I'm so tired by the time evening rolls around (no time for naps in the afternoon--must do more school or run errands/get people to appointments!), and that is also when I have to work on biology prep, which is taking a lot of brain power. Oh well--less than 9 more weeks! We're in single digits!
This morning, there were only 2 of us, and the nurse led us off to a small conference room. She passed out the folders of info, and then started talking about how we would need to make an appointment with the nutritionist as well, since she was just a nurse and couldn't really help us with meal-planning. She gave us the phone number, which I dutifully wrote down, and then she got the bright idea that she could call even today and see if we could get in and talk to the lady. So she asked which we would rather do--try for today, or call ourselves and make a different appointment. The other lady was quiet, so I spoke up, "Umm, well, this is my 9th baby, and my 2nd with gestational diabetes, and I still have all my information from the last time the dietician talked with me. I've already been testing my numbers for a week, and things are fine . . . so I really don't want to have to talk to the dietician at all . . ."
The nurse looked at me, shocked ("Your 9th baby?!"), and asked me a few more questions to make sure I actually had my monitor set up and was doing everything I should be doing. Then she looked at me with a puzzled look and said, "Who on earth made you come here today?! I'll just note that you were here, but you don't have to stay!" Woo-hoo!! That was what I was hoping for!
I did have to go back down to the actual OB clinic. I'm testing my blood sugar 4 times a day, but the nurse-practitioner who put in the prescription wrote it for only a jar of 50 test strips (with 3 refills). You can't get refills until about 10 days before the end of the month, because the provider is supposed to be writing the prescription to last a month. Soo, I'll wait while you all do the math . . . but 50 strips, testing 4 times a day, means that bottle will last me about 12 days since I started testing last Wednesday. And the N-P also didn't give a prescription for a big box of lancets, but rather for a box containing 25 lancets plus an extra poker-thing that the lancets go in (you already get one of those, plus 12 lancets, with the actual meter); So--35 lancets, 4 times a day--that's less than 9 days! I've been reusing the lancets, which is a big no-no.
So I went down to talk to the lady at the desk to see if I could speak to the clinic attending doctor and get a new prescription. She took my ID card and disappeared off in the back with it, eventually poking her head back around to ask if I just needed the strips and lancets, or if I also needed medicine. I never actually talked to a doctor, but she came back and told me the presciption was entered in, and I could go to the pharmacy to pick it up. Yay!
But when I picked up the prescription, I was dismayed to find that once again, I only got 1 box of 50 (but with 6 refills this time, LOL). Can doctors not do simple math?!? Well, that will get me to my next appointment, which is Oct. 12, and then I will have to speak very slowly and clearly and explain that if I am testing 4 times a day for 30 days, then I need 120 test strips at a time! I did get a big box of 200 lancets, so I'm good to go there for awhile.
My numbers in general have been really great (they're supposed to be under 105 when I wake up, and under 120 two hours after a meal). I've had pretty much no troubles keeping them low--until Monday and Tuesday. I think it is the stress of co-op! I did have one odd thing happen. This morning, right after I talked to the OB front desk (which made me nervous), it was time to test, since it was 2 hours after my breakfast. I had eaten my usual breakfast of 1/2 c. bran flakes, milk, and a hard-boiled egg. This pretty much always gives me a blood sugar reading of around 97. I NEVER have problems with breakfast! So I test, and my number comes up as 138!! I was flabber-gasted! But I was still feeling flustered from trying to explain everything to the desk lady, so I decided to just sit for a minute and relax, and then test again. So I sat, breathed deeply, looked around, relaxed--for about a minute. I had tested originally at 9:25, and so at 9:27 I retested. My number this time? 100. What in the world?! There's no way my levels are actually fluctuating 38 points in 2 minutes, but what could it be? Who knows?! It did make me wonder if the high number I got after lunch on Tuesday (right before life science, when I realized I had completely forgotten to email notes to Celia for class, which made me flustered) would have been different if I had relaxed for a minute before testing! Weird.
I've ramped up my exercising again. It's been hard to fit it in, but I've been exercising for about 40 minutes in the morning after breakfast, and Bob and I have been taking a 40 minute walk almost every night after dinner. That maternity support belt I bought from Amazon a few weeks ago has been WONDERFUL. It has made such a difference in how comfortable I am with all the walking! We'll see how long I can keep all that exercise up, though. It's very disruptive to the day, especially the morning time. Anna and Grace are definitely not getting very much time spent on their schooling, although sometimes I do stuff with Anna in the evenings. But I'm so tired by the time evening rolls around (no time for naps in the afternoon--must do more school or run errands/get people to appointments!), and that is also when I have to work on biology prep, which is taking a lot of brain power. Oh well--less than 9 more weeks! We're in single digits!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Cell Phone Saga Update
You may recall that back in the beginning of August, we went to a wedding in St. Louis, and Micah made a name for himself by microwaving our cell phones (nickname of his alter ego, courtesy of his Uncle Terry: "Chef Micah-wave"). So since then Bob's been using the boys' phone, friends of ours gave us their old phone to replace the boys' phone (thanks again, Steve and Jenny!!), and I've kept using mine, which has limped along. It definitely was no longer "smart" in the sense that pretty much all it could easily do was make and receive calls, and even then I never used my contact list, because it was impossible to back out of it. So I kept it on "dialer" and only dialed numbers I knew, LOL. And I never checked messages either! But I could make calls, and the boys and Bob could call me (pretty much the only people who call me on my cell, LOL), so things were good.
The funny thing is that I really wasn't happy with the phone since we got it back in March (it was a Droid Bionic). I had problems from the get-go when it wouldn't access the internet, even on the vaunted "4G network" of Verizon. Also it would randomly turn itself onto airplane mode frequently, and I would have no idea, so I would miss calls because I wouldn't think to check that my phone was actually in the mood to receive calls. Sometimes I would be unable to access my voicemail for weeks at a time. And it would start taking longer and longer to answer. Eventually the delay would be about 10 seconds, so people would hang up, while I was frantically saying, "Hello! Hello . . . hello? . . . HELLO!! . . . " Soooo annoying. I would take it in to Costco, and the nice guy in the cell phone booth would take out stuff and put stuff back in, reset everything to factory settings, etc., and things would be normal for a few days before it would gradually go back to its old tricks. I also dropped it out of the diaper bag while getting out of the big van back in May, and the top left corner of the screen was all cracked--again, the touchscreen kept working, but it certainly looked worse for wear after only a few months!
I have to say, microwaving cured all the technical problems!! The phone never ONCE turned itself onto airplane mode during August and September! I guess it considered itself warned, LOL. I do have to add that while I don't really recommend microwaving as a fix for whatever ails your cell phone processor, Micah would be glad to volunteer to do the microwaving, should you choose that route.
Anyhow, the problem was that we still had to pay for a smartphone each month, even though we didn't actually have a "smart" phone. The solution we came up with was to get a new phone and add an extra line. We bought another cheap dump phone off Amazon to actually take the new number, and we decided to get . . . an iphone, since everyone we know with one really loves it.
Bob went to the Verizon store at 6:00 on Friday (second person there--he could have slept even later, although people did start trickling into line after him, and by 8:00 there was a good-sized line). So he walked out with an iphone 5 (Nathan: "YOU got an IPHONE 5?! We never get anything new!!"). The phone wasn't activated until yesterday, and then, in slightly ominous fashion, the activation didn't work right, so I couldn't call anyone or connect to the network . . . We took it back to the Verizon store yesterday afternoon, and the nice lady there reset something and it started working. I'm beginning to think the problem is me!! Cell phones sense that I don't know what I'm doing, like a horse with a new rider, and proceed to cause mischief or something . . .
So far, the phone seems nice. I'm sure I am not the right person to fully appreciate all its so-called wonders, LOL. It makes and receives calls (now, anyway), AND the "home" button works!! So if anyone has any great suggestions for what this phone should be doing for me to make my life easier, please let me know! I did enter a ton of things onto the calendar, so now hopefully I won't again make the mistake of scheduling an OB appointment for 1:00 at Bethesda on the same day where I had previously scheduled dentist appointments for 7 kids starting at 10:00, and an orthodontist appointment for Jonathan at 1:30. Oops! (OB appt. got moved, LOL.)
One thing we are hoping to use a lot is the camera. Our camera broke at WSS, so we've been using our very old digital camera, the one we got before Anna was born. It's kind of a pain to get the pictures off the camera onto the computer, though. We're hoping that is easier with the pictures on the iphone. It will be nice to not have to always remember to take a separate camera everywhere we want to take pictures, especially when the new baby comes (less than 10 weeks!!).
So now we can really say we have joined the 21st century, I guess!
The funny thing is that I really wasn't happy with the phone since we got it back in March (it was a Droid Bionic). I had problems from the get-go when it wouldn't access the internet, even on the vaunted "4G network" of Verizon. Also it would randomly turn itself onto airplane mode frequently, and I would have no idea, so I would miss calls because I wouldn't think to check that my phone was actually in the mood to receive calls. Sometimes I would be unable to access my voicemail for weeks at a time. And it would start taking longer and longer to answer. Eventually the delay would be about 10 seconds, so people would hang up, while I was frantically saying, "Hello! Hello . . . hello? . . . HELLO!! . . . " Soooo annoying. I would take it in to Costco, and the nice guy in the cell phone booth would take out stuff and put stuff back in, reset everything to factory settings, etc., and things would be normal for a few days before it would gradually go back to its old tricks. I also dropped it out of the diaper bag while getting out of the big van back in May, and the top left corner of the screen was all cracked--again, the touchscreen kept working, but it certainly looked worse for wear after only a few months!
I have to say, microwaving cured all the technical problems!! The phone never ONCE turned itself onto airplane mode during August and September! I guess it considered itself warned, LOL. I do have to add that while I don't really recommend microwaving as a fix for whatever ails your cell phone processor, Micah would be glad to volunteer to do the microwaving, should you choose that route.
Anyhow, the problem was that we still had to pay for a smartphone each month, even though we didn't actually have a "smart" phone. The solution we came up with was to get a new phone and add an extra line. We bought another cheap dump phone off Amazon to actually take the new number, and we decided to get . . . an iphone, since everyone we know with one really loves it.
Bob went to the Verizon store at 6:00 on Friday (second person there--he could have slept even later, although people did start trickling into line after him, and by 8:00 there was a good-sized line). So he walked out with an iphone 5 (Nathan: "YOU got an IPHONE 5?! We never get anything new!!"). The phone wasn't activated until yesterday, and then, in slightly ominous fashion, the activation didn't work right, so I couldn't call anyone or connect to the network . . . We took it back to the Verizon store yesterday afternoon, and the nice lady there reset something and it started working. I'm beginning to think the problem is me!! Cell phones sense that I don't know what I'm doing, like a horse with a new rider, and proceed to cause mischief or something . . .
So far, the phone seems nice. I'm sure I am not the right person to fully appreciate all its so-called wonders, LOL. It makes and receives calls (now, anyway), AND the "home" button works!! So if anyone has any great suggestions for what this phone should be doing for me to make my life easier, please let me know! I did enter a ton of things onto the calendar, so now hopefully I won't again make the mistake of scheduling an OB appointment for 1:00 at Bethesda on the same day where I had previously scheduled dentist appointments for 7 kids starting at 10:00, and an orthodontist appointment for Jonathan at 1:30. Oops! (OB appt. got moved, LOL.)
One thing we are hoping to use a lot is the camera. Our camera broke at WSS, so we've been using our very old digital camera, the one we got before Anna was born. It's kind of a pain to get the pictures off the camera onto the computer, though. We're hoping that is easier with the pictures on the iphone. It will be nice to not have to always remember to take a separate camera everywhere we want to take pictures, especially when the new baby comes (less than 10 weeks!!).
So now we can really say we have joined the 21st century, I guess!
Friday, September 14, 2012
Pregnancy Update
Now I'm 29 weeks and a few days. This morning I took my 3-hour glucose test bright and early at Bethesda. I left at 6:40 and was able to start the test at 7:45, so I made good time. One thing that really frustrated me when I took the test with Faith was that I had to have my blood drawn first for a fasting number, then wait until those results got back, and THEN I could drink the nasty glucola stuff and start the test. That took like an extra 40 minutes! But this time they still drew for a fasting number, but I could drink the stuff right away, so that was much nicer. I was back home around 11:40. At least I got some biology done!
They should call Monday, I expect. I have an old glucose monitor, plus some old test strips, and I have been monitoring my levels occasionally after meals. They have been either on the high side of normal (after breakfast and lunch), or just higher than they should be (dinner), even with exercising, so I am sure I have gestational diabetes again. The only thing that could potentially be off is that the monitor/test strips are several years old, and I can't make sure the monitor is calibrated, because the testing solution was way old and gave wayyyyy wonky readings when I tried test strips with it. But still, I'm expecting a call on Monday. And I'm okay with it, I guess. What I really don't want to do is sit through the 3 hour nutritional orientation thing again!! Oh well. I just hope those aren't offered only on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons or something.
I also called and scheduled my follow-up ultrasound today. It's going to be at 10:30 on Oct. 19. I'll be over 34 weeks then, and the doctors wanted it to be around 32 weeks, but oh well. They were actually the ones who messed things up! You may not remember, but when I had my regular ultrasound (which was early--I was only 17 weeks), my placenta was over my cervix some, so the tech told me I need to have a follow-up ultrasound to see if it moved. She told me to call at 26 weeks to schedule the ultrasound for 32 weeks. So I called a few times. They never answered, but the message said to leave your name, sponser's last 4, etc. and they would call right back. But they never did. So I went to my appointment on Monday, where the nurse practitioner I was seeing told me I needed to schedule this ultrasound! I told her I'd been trying, but no one ever called me back. She said that was because there wasn't actually an order in the system. Someone thought they would just do a quick ultrasound in the exam room, instead of an ultrasound over at prenatal assessment, but when they ran that by the head doc, he said, no, she needs to have a formal ultrasound done, down in the regular radiology department! So the lady put in the order after my appointment, but it had to go through Tricare (?), and I couldn't call until now. And Oct. 19 is the first available slot. Originally I was really not terribly concerned--I assumed the placenta would move--but when the doctor said I needed a formal scan, I will admit to being a trifle more concerned now! We'll see what happens, I guess. No sense worrying about what you can't do anything about!
As far as physical symptoms go, I have already started having the pubic pain that is always so bad for me at the end of pregnancy. I just carry so low, and my abdominal muscles are shot after all these pregnancies (and big babies, LOL)! I found this maternity belt on Amazon. It got good reviews and wasn't too expensive, so I ordered it, and it arrived Wednesday. I love it! It's not too big, so it's comfortable to wear. I especially have been wearing it when I stand up a lot, and when I exercise, and it really has been helping suppport my poor low belly. The pubic pain is much less, which gives me hope for the remaining 10 or 11 weeks!
They should call Monday, I expect. I have an old glucose monitor, plus some old test strips, and I have been monitoring my levels occasionally after meals. They have been either on the high side of normal (after breakfast and lunch), or just higher than they should be (dinner), even with exercising, so I am sure I have gestational diabetes again. The only thing that could potentially be off is that the monitor/test strips are several years old, and I can't make sure the monitor is calibrated, because the testing solution was way old and gave wayyyyy wonky readings when I tried test strips with it. But still, I'm expecting a call on Monday. And I'm okay with it, I guess. What I really don't want to do is sit through the 3 hour nutritional orientation thing again!! Oh well. I just hope those aren't offered only on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons or something.
I also called and scheduled my follow-up ultrasound today. It's going to be at 10:30 on Oct. 19. I'll be over 34 weeks then, and the doctors wanted it to be around 32 weeks, but oh well. They were actually the ones who messed things up! You may not remember, but when I had my regular ultrasound (which was early--I was only 17 weeks), my placenta was over my cervix some, so the tech told me I need to have a follow-up ultrasound to see if it moved. She told me to call at 26 weeks to schedule the ultrasound for 32 weeks. So I called a few times. They never answered, but the message said to leave your name, sponser's last 4, etc. and they would call right back. But they never did. So I went to my appointment on Monday, where the nurse practitioner I was seeing told me I needed to schedule this ultrasound! I told her I'd been trying, but no one ever called me back. She said that was because there wasn't actually an order in the system. Someone thought they would just do a quick ultrasound in the exam room, instead of an ultrasound over at prenatal assessment, but when they ran that by the head doc, he said, no, she needs to have a formal ultrasound done, down in the regular radiology department! So the lady put in the order after my appointment, but it had to go through Tricare (?), and I couldn't call until now. And Oct. 19 is the first available slot. Originally I was really not terribly concerned--I assumed the placenta would move--but when the doctor said I needed a formal scan, I will admit to being a trifle more concerned now! We'll see what happens, I guess. No sense worrying about what you can't do anything about!
As far as physical symptoms go, I have already started having the pubic pain that is always so bad for me at the end of pregnancy. I just carry so low, and my abdominal muscles are shot after all these pregnancies (and big babies, LOL)! I found this maternity belt on Amazon. It got good reviews and wasn't too expensive, so I ordered it, and it arrived Wednesday. I love it! It's not too big, so it's comfortable to wear. I especially have been wearing it when I stand up a lot, and when I exercise, and it really has been helping suppport my poor low belly. The pubic pain is much less, which gives me hope for the remaining 10 or 11 weeks!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
"Old" Mom
I was reading a thread on the Well Trained Mind forums a few days ago where someone was talking about how she felt like an "old mom". She meant that since her oldest was in college and her youngest was 7, she couldn't relate to the moms with only young kids anymore, and she felt really old. Well, I'm obviously not there right now--I can relate plenty well to new moms and moms with only young kids! But I am still feeling a difference though.
I got an email Monday morning about something we were supposed to have for all our kids Tuesday monring for our elementary co-op. I missed half the kick-off moms' meeting last Tuesday, since I had to run back here and teach biology, so obviously I missed that announcement. We didn't have that supply (1/4 inch binders for all 4 elementary kids) just lying around, so you know what I did? Nothing. Well, I found folders, but I definitely didn't run to a bunch of stores that may or may not have had school supplies left to see if I could track down small binders. I can no longer organize my life around my elementary kids. I used to, though! TNT was the only thing we had going on some weeks, and I could totally plan my life around it! Now it is pretty much one of the last things on my priority list, LOL. I feel old and jaded.
Another thing I've been thinking about is how I have a totally different frame of mind, as far as how I go about dealing with babies and their stuff, than someone who is just having a new baby. I put my babies to sleep on their tummies if they're happier that way (so far all have been, LOL), I use crib bumpers, and you won't be able to pry my drop-side cribs (yes, cribS--we have 2 of them, plus actually a third, if we could just find the hardware!) out of my hands! I don't rear-face until 2 or 12 or 22 or whatever the new recommendation-du-jour is (rear-facing carseats don't fit well in a big van, especially one where 10 or 11 of the seats are filled!), I don't cut up my baby's food into tiny pieces once they get a bunch of teeth (happens before a year for us, LOL), and I don't have a child-proofed house anymore. I guess what you realize, as you go through wave upon wave of "danger! danger!" articles in magazines like "Parenting", is that life is dangerous. And there is always some new recommendation to throw away/stop/burn/whatever something you've always thought of as just fine, or something that you think your child is well-capable of doing. And you can either live in a constant state of fear, wondering if what you are doing is the next hugely avoidable danger, or you can just live your life, making the best decisions you can that take into account the entire family, realizing that you can never mitigate all possible danger and you will likely make yourself insane if you try to. I'm not saying I'm not careful--I think I am. But I don't obsess. There's no time! In fact, I don't even have time to read all those alarmist parenting magazines, so most of the time I'm out of the loop on what I'm supposed to be worried about in the first place! But thinking about all that makes me feel like a fuddy-duddy. Hardly anyone that grows up with Micah or this new baby will have used a crib bumper! Weird!
One last thing I've been thinking about is playdates. I used to live for these. Adult conversation! New playmates and toys for the kids! Now I have to make a conscious effort to schedule a playdate, and to be honest, if it doesn't happen in the summer, it probably isn't going to happen. I just don't have time most weeks to be able to just sit and chat, much as I would LOVE to. (Big exception: talking to first-time moms about labor/childbirth and the newborn stage. I LOVE doing this, and I definitely make time for those conversations!!) Now, I can babysit your kids, especially if they'll just play with my kids, so I can still get my own stuff done! But I'm also not lacking for adult conversation anymore. I have great chats with Nathan and Luke, and even Caleb and Jonathan! I feel like I'm being stretched and challenged mentally with this AP biology. It's just . . . different now, then when I only had littles. Makes me feel old!
So it's definitely odd to be spanning 2 extremes--dealing with high school stuff (I need to register Nathan to take the PSAT in October, and to figure out driver's ed, since he can get his learner's permit after Christmas) and thinking about giving birth and nursing again, while keeping all my other plates spinning. I'm not an old OR a young mom! I'm just a busy mom, LOL.
I got an email Monday morning about something we were supposed to have for all our kids Tuesday monring for our elementary co-op. I missed half the kick-off moms' meeting last Tuesday, since I had to run back here and teach biology, so obviously I missed that announcement. We didn't have that supply (1/4 inch binders for all 4 elementary kids) just lying around, so you know what I did? Nothing. Well, I found folders, but I definitely didn't run to a bunch of stores that may or may not have had school supplies left to see if I could track down small binders. I can no longer organize my life around my elementary kids. I used to, though! TNT was the only thing we had going on some weeks, and I could totally plan my life around it! Now it is pretty much one of the last things on my priority list, LOL. I feel old and jaded.
Another thing I've been thinking about is how I have a totally different frame of mind, as far as how I go about dealing with babies and their stuff, than someone who is just having a new baby. I put my babies to sleep on their tummies if they're happier that way (so far all have been, LOL), I use crib bumpers, and you won't be able to pry my drop-side cribs (yes, cribS--we have 2 of them, plus actually a third, if we could just find the hardware!) out of my hands! I don't rear-face until 2 or 12 or 22 or whatever the new recommendation-du-jour is (rear-facing carseats don't fit well in a big van, especially one where 10 or 11 of the seats are filled!), I don't cut up my baby's food into tiny pieces once they get a bunch of teeth (happens before a year for us, LOL), and I don't have a child-proofed house anymore. I guess what you realize, as you go through wave upon wave of "danger! danger!" articles in magazines like "Parenting", is that life is dangerous. And there is always some new recommendation to throw away/stop/burn/whatever something you've always thought of as just fine, or something that you think your child is well-capable of doing. And you can either live in a constant state of fear, wondering if what you are doing is the next hugely avoidable danger, or you can just live your life, making the best decisions you can that take into account the entire family, realizing that you can never mitigate all possible danger and you will likely make yourself insane if you try to. I'm not saying I'm not careful--I think I am. But I don't obsess. There's no time! In fact, I don't even have time to read all those alarmist parenting magazines, so most of the time I'm out of the loop on what I'm supposed to be worried about in the first place! But thinking about all that makes me feel like a fuddy-duddy. Hardly anyone that grows up with Micah or this new baby will have used a crib bumper! Weird!
One last thing I've been thinking about is playdates. I used to live for these. Adult conversation! New playmates and toys for the kids! Now I have to make a conscious effort to schedule a playdate, and to be honest, if it doesn't happen in the summer, it probably isn't going to happen. I just don't have time most weeks to be able to just sit and chat, much as I would LOVE to. (Big exception: talking to first-time moms about labor/childbirth and the newborn stage. I LOVE doing this, and I definitely make time for those conversations!!) Now, I can babysit your kids, especially if they'll just play with my kids, so I can still get my own stuff done! But I'm also not lacking for adult conversation anymore. I have great chats with Nathan and Luke, and even Caleb and Jonathan! I feel like I'm being stretched and challenged mentally with this AP biology. It's just . . . different now, then when I only had littles. Makes me feel old!
So it's definitely odd to be spanning 2 extremes--dealing with high school stuff (I need to register Nathan to take the PSAT in October, and to figure out driver's ed, since he can get his learner's permit after Christmas) and thinking about giving birth and nursing again, while keeping all my other plates spinning. I'm not an old OR a young mom! I'm just a busy mom, LOL.
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Catching Up
I know, I know--it's been forever since I posted anything! Several people have commented on it. I truly have been very, very busy. This biology thing is taking up tons of time for me to be prepared! And if on some evening, I am not doing biology (a rarity, for sure), then I am just so tired that I don't feel like I can coherently compose my thoughts to post.
So, what have we been doing, besides biology. Well, for one thing football is once again in full swing for Nathan and Luke. For the month of August, that meant practices for both of them every weeknight from 6:00-8:00 in 2 different locations. Now that school has started, they are down to 3 nights a week, but Tuesday and Wednesday they both have practice, so we have the same time traveling issue we had during August.
Another thing we spent a good week on was attempting to prune back our ginormous willow oak tree in the front yard. Branches were starting to touch our roof and were way overhanging the road, so Bob bought a new loper-thing that reached 16 ft., and we got to work. For 3 consecutive trash days, we filled both big rolling trash containers, plus had a bunch of 4 ft. bundles. The morning after our first big trimming attempt, Nathan and I were bundling branches, and our neighbor across the street came out. He asked if we were cutting down a tree in our back yard, LOL. We told him it was all from the tree in the front yard, and he just said, "Woah . . . that is a big tree . . . " All our work and you couldn't even tell we'd done a thing!
Here are the size of our "bundles". We must have had 20 bundles total. We trimmed a ton of branches! The trimming was kind of fun (and scary, steadying the ladder as Bob reached and reached . . .), but the picking up and bundling was horrible. My poor aching back!! And my legs and arms looked like I had been whipped for a serious offence, LOL. I think we were all quite grateful to be done with that chore for awhile!
Now that is the last picture that will be posted on the blog for awhile, because we discovered this past weekend, while we were at a wonderful retreat at White Sulphur Springs, that our camera is broken! Something is wrong with the lens, and it won't come out when we turn the camera on. We had problems a few weeks ago getting it to go back in, but when it is stuck in, there is no way to pull it out. Oh well. So unfortunately no pictures of the weekend at WSS. It was really, really fun, although again, during pretty much all the free time, I had my nose buried in the biology book. The speaker spoke on reconciliation and peacemaking. I am hopeful that what he shared will bear fruit for the boys and thier relationships, especially. It was really good! And it was so fun to see old friends from Wright-Pat, plus my parents. I think this weekend had the best mix of families/kids. There were a TON of kids of all ages, so all our kids were just running around, doing fun things with friends. It was great!
And then on Tuesday, Rivendell started, so now we're up and going in full swing. That means I am now teaching 3 classes, although life science and memory work don't take up even a fraction of the prep time that biology takes. I think it is going to be a great year for the boys--now if we moms can just get through it too, LOL. I told someone, "If I can just make it to the end of May . . ." Of course, May is a long ways off . . . and I'll be nursing a new baby too by then . . . Yes, I think it's going to be a long year!
Speaking of new babies, I failed my 28 week 1-hour glucose test, so I have to schedule the 3 hour one. I'll probably do that the end of next week. I am seriously panicking at the thought of keeping track of times to check my blood, portion sizes, balanced snacks, etc. I definitely am feeling like I can't handle one more thing, but that is how I felt when I was pregnant with Faith as well, so I am sure I will in fact have gestational diabetes. Somehow I'll deal with that too, but right now I am simply not seeing how I'll be able to control it with diet and exercise, like I did with Faith. I do not have the extra time to exercise after pretty much every meal, like I did with her. It's just not there. It takes too much time to work with Caleb, Jonathan, Anna, and Grace, as well as do the biology. So I am trying to prepare myself that I'll probably have to go on pills.
So now you're all caught up with our busy-yet-not-exciting life!
So, what have we been doing, besides biology. Well, for one thing football is once again in full swing for Nathan and Luke. For the month of August, that meant practices for both of them every weeknight from 6:00-8:00 in 2 different locations. Now that school has started, they are down to 3 nights a week, but Tuesday and Wednesday they both have practice, so we have the same time traveling issue we had during August.
Another thing we spent a good week on was attempting to prune back our ginormous willow oak tree in the front yard. Branches were starting to touch our roof and were way overhanging the road, so Bob bought a new loper-thing that reached 16 ft., and we got to work. For 3 consecutive trash days, we filled both big rolling trash containers, plus had a bunch of 4 ft. bundles. The morning after our first big trimming attempt, Nathan and I were bundling branches, and our neighbor across the street came out. He asked if we were cutting down a tree in our back yard, LOL. We told him it was all from the tree in the front yard, and he just said, "Woah . . . that is a big tree . . . " All our work and you couldn't even tell we'd done a thing!
And then on Tuesday, Rivendell started, so now we're up and going in full swing. That means I am now teaching 3 classes, although life science and memory work don't take up even a fraction of the prep time that biology takes. I think it is going to be a great year for the boys--now if we moms can just get through it too, LOL. I told someone, "If I can just make it to the end of May . . ." Of course, May is a long ways off . . . and I'll be nursing a new baby too by then . . . Yes, I think it's going to be a long year!
Speaking of new babies, I failed my 28 week 1-hour glucose test, so I have to schedule the 3 hour one. I'll probably do that the end of next week. I am seriously panicking at the thought of keeping track of times to check my blood, portion sizes, balanced snacks, etc. I definitely am feeling like I can't handle one more thing, but that is how I felt when I was pregnant with Faith as well, so I am sure I will in fact have gestational diabetes. Somehow I'll deal with that too, but right now I am simply not seeing how I'll be able to control it with diet and exercise, like I did with Faith. I do not have the extra time to exercise after pretty much every meal, like I did with her. It's just not there. It takes too much time to work with Caleb, Jonathan, Anna, and Grace, as well as do the biology. So I am trying to prepare myself that I'll probably have to go on pills.
So now you're all caught up with our busy-yet-not-exciting life!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Memory Work
Last night I finally finished up the memory work for this year for the elementary kids in Rivendell! We're going to be focusing a lot on U.S. history. Before the trip I finished everything but the mapwork, so I finally got the mapwork all divided up and typed up last night. Since we're focusing on the U.S., a lot of the mapwork involves landforms and rivers of the U.S., as well as the states and capitals. There's also some review of Europe, since we spent so much time on that last year, and some time for South America and Africa as well.
For the Bible part, we're memorizing Isaiah 53 first, and then Revelation 5. I love how these 2 passages flow together--the suffering servant/lamb, and then you see the lamb glorified in Revelation! I memorized Rev. 5 back in 4th grade, although in the KJV, which is so very poetic. It will hard to get my brain to memorize it in NIV!
For the timeline part, we're once again reviewing the 32 point timeline with dates that we started with 2 years ago. This time we're taking 4-6 points a week, since the kids do know it pretty well, especially the older ones. It will be a good review. Then we're reviewing the kings and queens of England by house, which we memorized last year. I know those aren't cemented in yet! And then we'll work on memorizing the presidents. I memorized those also back in 4th grade by learning them in groups of 3, so that's how we'll do it here, except we'll do 6 a week. I also have a story-like thing I made up for Classical Conversations to help the kids remember, so we'll use that too.
For science facts, we're back to life science ones. I changed some of them from 2 years ago, and I think the ones I left are ones that it is important to cover again.
For the poems part, we're not doing so many actual poems this year, but rather some other selections dealing with U.S. history that are important to know. We're starting off with the Preamble to the Constitution, then a few stanzas of "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." Then we'll learn 3 stanzas of "The Star-Spangled Banner" (#'s 1, 2, and 4--that qualifies as a poem, right?!). After Christmas break we'll work on a simplified version of the Bill of Rights, and then "The Charge of the Light Brigade". That one is not U.S. history, but we cover it in TOG, and it's such a fun poem, especially for boys! Then we end with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
So that seems like a lot, but it is completely doable, especially since some of it is review from previous years. For recitation last year I had to make copies of the poems from the first year because the kids often wanted to recite those instead of ones we were doing currently! I love that these things are sticking in the their memories; hopefully filling their minds with good selections will bear good fruit later on, as well as helping them learn to memorize new things quickly and effectively, which is such an important skill for college and beyond!
For the Bible part, we're memorizing Isaiah 53 first, and then Revelation 5. I love how these 2 passages flow together--the suffering servant/lamb, and then you see the lamb glorified in Revelation! I memorized Rev. 5 back in 4th grade, although in the KJV, which is so very poetic. It will hard to get my brain to memorize it in NIV!
For the timeline part, we're once again reviewing the 32 point timeline with dates that we started with 2 years ago. This time we're taking 4-6 points a week, since the kids do know it pretty well, especially the older ones. It will be a good review. Then we're reviewing the kings and queens of England by house, which we memorized last year. I know those aren't cemented in yet! And then we'll work on memorizing the presidents. I memorized those also back in 4th grade by learning them in groups of 3, so that's how we'll do it here, except we'll do 6 a week. I also have a story-like thing I made up for Classical Conversations to help the kids remember, so we'll use that too.
For science facts, we're back to life science ones. I changed some of them from 2 years ago, and I think the ones I left are ones that it is important to cover again.
For the poems part, we're not doing so many actual poems this year, but rather some other selections dealing with U.S. history that are important to know. We're starting off with the Preamble to the Constitution, then a few stanzas of "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." Then we'll learn 3 stanzas of "The Star-Spangled Banner" (#'s 1, 2, and 4--that qualifies as a poem, right?!). After Christmas break we'll work on a simplified version of the Bill of Rights, and then "The Charge of the Light Brigade". That one is not U.S. history, but we cover it in TOG, and it's such a fun poem, especially for boys! Then we end with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
So that seems like a lot, but it is completely doable, especially since some of it is review from previous years. For recitation last year I had to make copies of the poems from the first year because the kids often wanted to recite those instead of ones we were doing currently! I love that these things are sticking in the their memories; hopefully filling their minds with good selections will bear good fruit later on, as well as helping them learn to memorize new things quickly and effectively, which is such an important skill for college and beyond!
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Biology
Today we had our first biology class of the year. It's for Rivendell, although we haven't actually started the other Rivendell classes yet. I'm starting early so I can take the whole time between Thanksgiving and New Year off, since, you know, I am having another baby, LOL. I'm getting bigger so I KNOW I'm having another baby, but sometimes it seems like pregnancy sort of gets lost in the madness and chaos of regular life around here!
So, about biology . . . I posted back on June 1 about my biology lab conundrum, and I briefly mentioned that we might prepare for the AP biology test. After a lot of discussion, we decided to go for it, even though, as I said before, this year the test is being reworked. That meant I spent a ton of time this summer on the College Board website, looking at the new requirements, looking at sample syllabi and class pacing guides, and generally familiarizing myself with everything. We decided I would not try to get my syllabus approved by the College Board this year, since that looked like an incredibly laborious process (which was attested to by my friend Katrina, who persevered and did eventually get her syllabus approved!). What that means is that we can't officially call this class "AP Biology" on the syllabus, but we will still take the AP exam in May. It is given at local high school, so one thing I'll do this fall is call around and see which high schools are offering that test, and sign the boys up to take it there. Then on their transcrips we'll call the class something like "Honors Biology with AP Test (Score: whatever)".
We are mainly doing the class for Nathan for validation of Mommy grades, since if he does go to USAFA, he wouldn't be able to get credit for any classes already taken. But it would enable him to have an easy time in biology, which is always a bonus at a stressful place like a service academy!
We're using a college biology text (called Biology--where do they come up with these crazy names?!) by Campbell and Reece, which is one of the ones recommended on the College Board website. I also have purchased a study guide that goes along with it, which gives me extra questions for quizzes and discussion, and also a book of investigative cases also put out by the same company to go along with the book, which I will use for extra experience with analyzing experiments and thinking through real world situations.
One of the big changes in the new bio exam is that there is less of a focus on tons of minute facts and details, and more of a focus on connections and practical applications. It remains to be seen if I can help the boys make all the connections they are supposed to make! It's going to be a challenging year--I highly doubt many other teachers attempting the AP exam are expecting their 9th baby, LOL--but hopefully it will be rewarding. At any rate, it will give the boys a lot of exposure to an evolutionary world view, so they can better understand exactly what they believe and discuss it intelligently. That certainly will make the class worthwhile!
So, about biology . . . I posted back on June 1 about my biology lab conundrum, and I briefly mentioned that we might prepare for the AP biology test. After a lot of discussion, we decided to go for it, even though, as I said before, this year the test is being reworked. That meant I spent a ton of time this summer on the College Board website, looking at the new requirements, looking at sample syllabi and class pacing guides, and generally familiarizing myself with everything. We decided I would not try to get my syllabus approved by the College Board this year, since that looked like an incredibly laborious process (which was attested to by my friend Katrina, who persevered and did eventually get her syllabus approved!). What that means is that we can't officially call this class "AP Biology" on the syllabus, but we will still take the AP exam in May. It is given at local high school, so one thing I'll do this fall is call around and see which high schools are offering that test, and sign the boys up to take it there. Then on their transcrips we'll call the class something like "Honors Biology with AP Test (Score: whatever)".
We are mainly doing the class for Nathan for validation of Mommy grades, since if he does go to USAFA, he wouldn't be able to get credit for any classes already taken. But it would enable him to have an easy time in biology, which is always a bonus at a stressful place like a service academy!
We're using a college biology text (called Biology--where do they come up with these crazy names?!) by Campbell and Reece, which is one of the ones recommended on the College Board website. I also have purchased a study guide that goes along with it, which gives me extra questions for quizzes and discussion, and also a book of investigative cases also put out by the same company to go along with the book, which I will use for extra experience with analyzing experiments and thinking through real world situations.
One of the big changes in the new bio exam is that there is less of a focus on tons of minute facts and details, and more of a focus on connections and practical applications. It remains to be seen if I can help the boys make all the connections they are supposed to make! It's going to be a challenging year--I highly doubt many other teachers attempting the AP exam are expecting their 9th baby, LOL--but hopefully it will be rewarding. At any rate, it will give the boys a lot of exposure to an evolutionary world view, so they can better understand exactly what they believe and discuss it intelligently. That certainly will make the class worthwhile!
Monday, August 06, 2012
Home Again, Home Again . . .
Well, we are back home, and what a week it's been! The kids and I left last Friday to drive to WSS to pick up Nathan, who had finished up his 2 weeks of support staff there (he had a blast). After lunch at WSS, we drove on to my parents' house in Ohio, which was a trip that wouldn't end, due to nasty construction traffic in eastern Ohio. We finally got to my parents' house at 10:15, having left our house at 9:30. A long day of driving for sure. I am looking forward to when Nathan can help me on these drives--just another year and a few months!
We stayed with my parents for a few days, which was very relaxing. Then on Wednesday, Bob arrived in town, having driven with the L's who were continuing on their way to St. Louis for the wedding of their son Zachary. We picked up Bob and then spent a few nights with my best friend Amy and her family. I hardly got to see her when we were home over Christmas, so it was sooo nice to spend some time catching up with her! And the boys were so thrilled to play with Zach and Jacob. We tried something new and left the 3 girls over with my parents. They had a fun time playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house with all their toys, and I enjoyed not having to worry about keeping them entertained, LOL.
Friday morning we picked the girls up and then caravaned with my parents out to St. Louis so we could also go to Zachary and Karynn's wedding. We stayed at a SpringHill Suites, along with a ton of other guests and family members of Ed and Elizabeth, so it was like a fun party!
We really enjoyed the pool at the hotel--it was so refreshing after all the heat, humidity, and driving. Friday afternoon, after we arrived, we all went swimming, and then when we were back in the room getting ready to go to the rehearsal dinner, Micah microwaved our cell phones in the conveniently-located-right-at-his-eye-level hotel microwave. That probably would have started a fire, except that Caleb happened to notice and mention, "Ummm . . . the stuff in the microwave is burning . . ." What stuff?!? Ohhhh . . . Bob's phone is totally and completely dead. We thought mine was as well, but after recharging it, it will receive calls and the touchscreen does work. The buttons at the bottom don't work, so once I select anything on the screen, I can't actually go back to anything else, so it is definitely not a long-term solution. Don't leave me a message on there--I probably won't ever get it! Tonight we went to Costco and transferred Bob's number to the "extra" third phone we have for the boys, but tomorrow we are planning to visit the Verizon store. Micah--doing his best to star in unique stories that none of other children even thought of. Sigh.
Anyhow, after all that Friday afternoon excitement, we headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory for the rehearsal dinner, which was absolutely delicious. It was nice because all the kids except Micah sat at one long table with Amanda and Jessica L, among others, but Bob, Micah, and I sat at a different long table, so we got to have nice conversations with other couples, including the bride's parents, who we had never met before. And Amanda was a total life-saver, because she let us borrow her cell phone for the rest of the weekend, so at least we could coordinate stuff with my parents! Thank you, Amanda!!
Saturday we ate a delicious breakfast, went swimming, and the headed downtown to the St. Louis Arch. We toured the Museum of Westward Expansion and tried to not lose any kids in the crushing crowds. Some people were disappointed that we could not go up to the top of the Arch, due to time constraints, so we started making plans to come back on Sunday. We rushed back to the hotel, grabbing Taco Bell for lunch, changed into our wedding finery in record time, and headed over to the church, which was fortunately only a few minutes away, for the 2:00 wedding! Whew!
The wedding was absolutely beautiful. The dresses were lovely, the church was just the right size (and it was an actual church, with stained glass windows and everything!), and the decorations were lovely too. The service was God-honoring, but not-too-long, which was a huge blessing because the wedding was right at naptime, and Micah hadn't really slept all that well the night before, LOL. The reception was right downstairs, and Karynn's aunt did an amazing job with the favors and all the decorations. I told everyone not to have such high expectations when any of our girls get married, LOL. We had a lot of fun--I'll have to post pictures when I'm not so tired!
Sunday morning we had to get checked out, which is no easy feat with this big of a family! But finally we got all loaded up and left around 9:30. We drove back to the Arch, got in line, and bought tickets for Bob, Nathan, Luke, Jonathan, and Grace to go up to the top of the Arch, and for Caleb, Anna, Faith, and me to go to the documentary about the building of the Arch. Bob and I went through St. Louis on our honeymoon 19 years ago, and I went up in the Arch then. I am not a fan of heights or of small enclosed spaces, so I felt no need to repeat the experience, LOL. The absolutely wonderful thing was that Micah could go up in the Arch for free and riding on Bob's lap (there are only 5 seats in the little cars). He didn't sleep well either night in the hotel, and he was an absolute crab. I was dreading trying to keep him occupied and quiet during a movie, which would have probably been an impossible feat. So Bob took him, and he was entranced by the view, from all reports. The only problem was that we couldn't get tickets until 11:55, and then it took them until 1:15 to go up, spend 10 minutes up there, and come back down again. Our movie was only 30 minutes, so eventually I had to break down and buy a big bag of kettle corn to keep the natives from getting restless, LOL. But we finally got back on the road, with a 6 hour drive ahead of us, and the loss of an hour due to changing time zones.
Fortunately we were only driving back to Amy's, and we were all so very relieved to get back there. But first we had to meet my parents at a gas station and hand off Anna and Grace to them. They are going to stay for a week at "Grandma and Grandpa Camp", and my Aunt Claire is coming out too, as an honorary Grandma, and she is bringing their cousin Emily up from Texas. I'm sure you can imagine how excited the girls have been about this upcoming week!! Faith was quite upset that she is not old enough to go to "Grandma and Grandpa Camp", which was part of the reason we let her stay over at their house with Anna and Grace before we left for St. Louis--a mini-camp! She's fine now, and is enjoying having all the toys to herself here at home, LOL.
This morning we got up and got packed up from Amy's house at 9:30. We had to rush because Nathan and Luke had their first football practice of the season tonight at 6:00. We pulled into our driveway at 5:35, the boys raced inside to grab cleats and water bottles, and then Bob turned around and dropped them off. What a long day! Nothing like running around in the heat after a long day of snacking in the car, LOL. The rest of us headed over to Costco to deal with cell phones.
So it was a great trip--we wouldn't have missed the wedding for anything!--but I'm quite glad to be home now, with everyone sleeping in their own beds. It was nice to only have to give baths to Faith and Micah and put them down! This will be a quiet week without Anna and Grace! Hopefully it will be a quiet week for Micah too, LOL.
We stayed with my parents for a few days, which was very relaxing. Then on Wednesday, Bob arrived in town, having driven with the L's who were continuing on their way to St. Louis for the wedding of their son Zachary. We picked up Bob and then spent a few nights with my best friend Amy and her family. I hardly got to see her when we were home over Christmas, so it was sooo nice to spend some time catching up with her! And the boys were so thrilled to play with Zach and Jacob. We tried something new and left the 3 girls over with my parents. They had a fun time playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house with all their toys, and I enjoyed not having to worry about keeping them entertained, LOL.
Friday morning we picked the girls up and then caravaned with my parents out to St. Louis so we could also go to Zachary and Karynn's wedding. We stayed at a SpringHill Suites, along with a ton of other guests and family members of Ed and Elizabeth, so it was like a fun party!
We really enjoyed the pool at the hotel--it was so refreshing after all the heat, humidity, and driving. Friday afternoon, after we arrived, we all went swimming, and then when we were back in the room getting ready to go to the rehearsal dinner, Micah microwaved our cell phones in the conveniently-located-right-at-his-eye-level hotel microwave. That probably would have started a fire, except that Caleb happened to notice and mention, "Ummm . . . the stuff in the microwave is burning . . ." What stuff?!? Ohhhh . . . Bob's phone is totally and completely dead. We thought mine was as well, but after recharging it, it will receive calls and the touchscreen does work. The buttons at the bottom don't work, so once I select anything on the screen, I can't actually go back to anything else, so it is definitely not a long-term solution. Don't leave me a message on there--I probably won't ever get it! Tonight we went to Costco and transferred Bob's number to the "extra" third phone we have for the boys, but tomorrow we are planning to visit the Verizon store. Micah--doing his best to star in unique stories that none of other children even thought of. Sigh.
Anyhow, after all that Friday afternoon excitement, we headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory for the rehearsal dinner, which was absolutely delicious. It was nice because all the kids except Micah sat at one long table with Amanda and Jessica L, among others, but Bob, Micah, and I sat at a different long table, so we got to have nice conversations with other couples, including the bride's parents, who we had never met before. And Amanda was a total life-saver, because she let us borrow her cell phone for the rest of the weekend, so at least we could coordinate stuff with my parents! Thank you, Amanda!!
Saturday we ate a delicious breakfast, went swimming, and the headed downtown to the St. Louis Arch. We toured the Museum of Westward Expansion and tried to not lose any kids in the crushing crowds. Some people were disappointed that we could not go up to the top of the Arch, due to time constraints, so we started making plans to come back on Sunday. We rushed back to the hotel, grabbing Taco Bell for lunch, changed into our wedding finery in record time, and headed over to the church, which was fortunately only a few minutes away, for the 2:00 wedding! Whew!
The wedding was absolutely beautiful. The dresses were lovely, the church was just the right size (and it was an actual church, with stained glass windows and everything!), and the decorations were lovely too. The service was God-honoring, but not-too-long, which was a huge blessing because the wedding was right at naptime, and Micah hadn't really slept all that well the night before, LOL. The reception was right downstairs, and Karynn's aunt did an amazing job with the favors and all the decorations. I told everyone not to have such high expectations when any of our girls get married, LOL. We had a lot of fun--I'll have to post pictures when I'm not so tired!
Sunday morning we had to get checked out, which is no easy feat with this big of a family! But finally we got all loaded up and left around 9:30. We drove back to the Arch, got in line, and bought tickets for Bob, Nathan, Luke, Jonathan, and Grace to go up to the top of the Arch, and for Caleb, Anna, Faith, and me to go to the documentary about the building of the Arch. Bob and I went through St. Louis on our honeymoon 19 years ago, and I went up in the Arch then. I am not a fan of heights or of small enclosed spaces, so I felt no need to repeat the experience, LOL. The absolutely wonderful thing was that Micah could go up in the Arch for free and riding on Bob's lap (there are only 5 seats in the little cars). He didn't sleep well either night in the hotel, and he was an absolute crab. I was dreading trying to keep him occupied and quiet during a movie, which would have probably been an impossible feat. So Bob took him, and he was entranced by the view, from all reports. The only problem was that we couldn't get tickets until 11:55, and then it took them until 1:15 to go up, spend 10 minutes up there, and come back down again. Our movie was only 30 minutes, so eventually I had to break down and buy a big bag of kettle corn to keep the natives from getting restless, LOL. But we finally got back on the road, with a 6 hour drive ahead of us, and the loss of an hour due to changing time zones.
Fortunately we were only driving back to Amy's, and we were all so very relieved to get back there. But first we had to meet my parents at a gas station and hand off Anna and Grace to them. They are going to stay for a week at "Grandma and Grandpa Camp", and my Aunt Claire is coming out too, as an honorary Grandma, and she is bringing their cousin Emily up from Texas. I'm sure you can imagine how excited the girls have been about this upcoming week!! Faith was quite upset that she is not old enough to go to "Grandma and Grandpa Camp", which was part of the reason we let her stay over at their house with Anna and Grace before we left for St. Louis--a mini-camp! She's fine now, and is enjoying having all the toys to herself here at home, LOL.
This morning we got up and got packed up from Amy's house at 9:30. We had to rush because Nathan and Luke had their first football practice of the season tonight at 6:00. We pulled into our driveway at 5:35, the boys raced inside to grab cleats and water bottles, and then Bob turned around and dropped them off. What a long day! Nothing like running around in the heat after a long day of snacking in the car, LOL. The rest of us headed over to Costco to deal with cell phones.
So it was a great trip--we wouldn't have missed the wedding for anything!--but I'm quite glad to be home now, with everyone sleeping in their own beds. It was nice to only have to give baths to Faith and Micah and put them down! This will be a quiet week without Anna and Grace! Hopefully it will be a quiet week for Micah too, LOL.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Summer Memories
Another thing I've been doing these past few weeks has been scrapbooking (okay, mainly the week Luke and Caleb were gone). I have an 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbook for each child (except Micah, LOL). The first page is about their birth, the next 2 pages are pictures of their extended family/good friends who are like family, and then there are 2 pages for their first year and 2 pages for the year they are one. After that, there are 4 pages for each year. It used to be a great way to use up pictures from a roll of film that didn't get into the big family scrapbook, but of course now we don't have rolls of film! This means that I have to actually go on snapfish and pick out pictures for each child and order them, and I'm just not always that good about doing that. The last time I put any new pages in the boys' scrapbooks was *cough* 2008. Yeah . . . a little behind, LOL.
I kept up a little better with the girls, but I was still behind. Now I can say I am totally caught up on the girls' scrapbooks!! (Waiting for a rousing round of applause . . .) I also did 2 more years in Jonathan's book, so instead of being stuck back at age 4, he is all the way up to age 6! I'm working on Caleb's, but I actually had to order some pictures for him, so I haven't finished another year for him--he still stuck at age 6. It's been so fun for me to actually do something hobby-like again. There is so much for me to do during the school year, and I always feel slightly guilty for doing something just for fun, because that means I am not doing something that really NEEDS to be done. So I never take the time to get involved in something like scrapbooking. I'm glad I took a break from school-related things for a few weeks so I could actually finish some pages!
Anyhow, as I was working on the girls' book, I was struck by how much traveling we used to do. All the time! Back to Ohio for sure, but a lot of other places as well. In 2009 from June to September, we went to Busch Gardens with Ann and Wally, visited Philadelphia with my college friend Phil and Sandra, went to Ohio and saw my brother's family, who were visiting from TX, went to Bob's family reunion in PA, went back to Ohio since my aunt was visiting from Utah, went to White Sulphur Springs for a weekend retreat, spent the next weekend up at Camp Greentop in MD, and then visited Williamsburg with Ann and Wally. Whoa! Were we crazy?! We only had one less child than we do now, but now that seems ridiculously impossible to even attempt so many trips! I guess our days of wild galivanting about are over--for awhile anyway. Bob and I were just talking a few days ago about how we'll have to travel all over the country to visit all our kids and their families! Maybe we'll get an RV. Driving the big van will be a small stepping stone of preparation, LOL.
But right now it seems that we are starting the phase of life where our kids do the traveling, and we ferry them, but then we come back home and hold down the fort while they are gone. I love planning trips, but I am getting too old and tired to do the packing! Also, even though we aren't tied to a traditional school schedule, homeschooling high school is definitely taking up so much more of my time, even during the summer. I never could have imagined! But I keep telling myself--eventually this will get easier, as I reteach the same classes, instead of having to always prep new classes. Next year I will teach chemistry, and that might be my last new class, except for some possible electives (I'm definitely going to teach a one-semester astronomy class, and I may teach a year long anatomy and physiology class sometime). By the time the girls are coming up on high school, I'll be an expert, Lord willing! Maybe we'll be able to plan and take some actual vacations then, LOL.
I kept up a little better with the girls, but I was still behind. Now I can say I am totally caught up on the girls' scrapbooks!! (Waiting for a rousing round of applause . . .) I also did 2 more years in Jonathan's book, so instead of being stuck back at age 4, he is all the way up to age 6! I'm working on Caleb's, but I actually had to order some pictures for him, so I haven't finished another year for him--he still stuck at age 6. It's been so fun for me to actually do something hobby-like again. There is so much for me to do during the school year, and I always feel slightly guilty for doing something just for fun, because that means I am not doing something that really NEEDS to be done. So I never take the time to get involved in something like scrapbooking. I'm glad I took a break from school-related things for a few weeks so I could actually finish some pages!
Anyhow, as I was working on the girls' book, I was struck by how much traveling we used to do. All the time! Back to Ohio for sure, but a lot of other places as well. In 2009 from June to September, we went to Busch Gardens with Ann and Wally, visited Philadelphia with my college friend Phil and Sandra, went to Ohio and saw my brother's family, who were visiting from TX, went to Bob's family reunion in PA, went back to Ohio since my aunt was visiting from Utah, went to White Sulphur Springs for a weekend retreat, spent the next weekend up at Camp Greentop in MD, and then visited Williamsburg with Ann and Wally. Whoa! Were we crazy?! We only had one less child than we do now, but now that seems ridiculously impossible to even attempt so many trips! I guess our days of wild galivanting about are over--for awhile anyway. Bob and I were just talking a few days ago about how we'll have to travel all over the country to visit all our kids and their families! Maybe we'll get an RV. Driving the big van will be a small stepping stone of preparation, LOL.
But right now it seems that we are starting the phase of life where our kids do the traveling, and we ferry them, but then we come back home and hold down the fort while they are gone. I love planning trips, but I am getting too old and tired to do the packing! Also, even though we aren't tied to a traditional school schedule, homeschooling high school is definitely taking up so much more of my time, even during the summer. I never could have imagined! But I keep telling myself--eventually this will get easier, as I reteach the same classes, instead of having to always prep new classes. Next year I will teach chemistry, and that might be my last new class, except for some possible electives (I'm definitely going to teach a one-semester astronomy class, and I may teach a year long anatomy and physiology class sometime). By the time the girls are coming up on high school, I'll be an expert, Lord willing! Maybe we'll be able to plan and take some actual vacations then, LOL.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
More Art
This actually might be Caleb's only picture, at least for a long while. Their art teacher was pregnant and due in September, so we thought we would have art lessons until the end of August at least. But unexpectedly, she developed preeclampsia last week, and the baby was born at 32 weeks on Wednesday. We are praising the Lord that she seems to have recovered now, and hopefully the little baby boy will not have to spend too much time in the hospital either. He was tiny--2 pounds, 1 ounce!
Monday, July 16, 2012
Different Pictures
Last week I resolved to not work on biology or memory work at all, and we also did no school whatsoever. Instead, I worked on a few things of my own! One thing I actually got accomplished was the Rivendell yearbook for this past year. I had grand ideas of using Photoshop for a few pictures, and indeed I started playing around with it. But then I realized that was actually stressing me out, since it was taking forever, and I wasn't quite getting the effect I was looking for. And I definitely didn't have forever to finish this little project, so . . . I put all those creative thoughts out of my brain, and just tried to get it done.
Last year I used blurb.com, which I was happy with, once I got it all figured out. The only downside is that when you are dealing with a lot of pictures, you can't do the book online. You have to download their software and just work on one computer. That is fine when it's just me, but the plan is that next year I pass this off to the boys, so they can put "yearbook staff" or whatever down for extracurricular activities! So we need something where people can work from different computers. That led me to Shutterfly. It was . . . okay. Blurb was a better fit for yearbooks, I think. Or maybe I just didn't spend enough time on Shutterfly. I finally was able to manipulate the sizes of pictures and text boxes, but it wasn't that easy or intuitive, and it was often not exactly what I wanted. It was okay, though. And some of the layouts looked fine there on the side, but when I picked them for my page, the layout would have weird elements show up, like a giant brown picture frame around one picture that totally distracted from everything else, or a piece of "scotch tape" at the top of pictures. Weird! There was no way I could figure out to get rid of the extra stuff, so I never picked those layouts, even though they were good ones. My biggest issue with Shutterfly is that loading my book one time made my desk top freeze up, and after that, I could never load the crazy thing on there! It was really inconvenient because that's where all my pictures are. I had to put them all on a portable hard drive (yes, yes, something I would have done at some point anyway--I just didn't want to have to do it right then!) and use a laptop.
But the book is done, thanks to some last-minute help with the verbiage from Isaac and Caleb McC. I totally should have done thing back in June, when Nathan and Luke were around! It's hard to write captions about events where you were not present, LOL. But Isaac and Caleb came through, and now we're just waiting to see the final product. I love having all the memories of the co-op year in a book! It's so fun to look back through last year's book, and we didn't even really know we were going to do a yearbook, so there weren't as many pictures to choose from!
Last year I used blurb.com, which I was happy with, once I got it all figured out. The only downside is that when you are dealing with a lot of pictures, you can't do the book online. You have to download their software and just work on one computer. That is fine when it's just me, but the plan is that next year I pass this off to the boys, so they can put "yearbook staff" or whatever down for extracurricular activities! So we need something where people can work from different computers. That led me to Shutterfly. It was . . . okay. Blurb was a better fit for yearbooks, I think. Or maybe I just didn't spend enough time on Shutterfly. I finally was able to manipulate the sizes of pictures and text boxes, but it wasn't that easy or intuitive, and it was often not exactly what I wanted. It was okay, though. And some of the layouts looked fine there on the side, but when I picked them for my page, the layout would have weird elements show up, like a giant brown picture frame around one picture that totally distracted from everything else, or a piece of "scotch tape" at the top of pictures. Weird! There was no way I could figure out to get rid of the extra stuff, so I never picked those layouts, even though they were good ones. My biggest issue with Shutterfly is that loading my book one time made my desk top freeze up, and after that, I could never load the crazy thing on there! It was really inconvenient because that's where all my pictures are. I had to put them all on a portable hard drive (yes, yes, something I would have done at some point anyway--I just didn't want to have to do it right then!) and use a laptop.
But the book is done, thanks to some last-minute help with the verbiage from Isaac and Caleb McC. I totally should have done thing back in June, when Nathan and Luke were around! It's hard to write captions about events where you were not present, LOL. But Isaac and Caleb came through, and now we're just waiting to see the final product. I love having all the memories of the co-op year in a book! It's so fun to look back through last year's book, and we didn't even really know we were going to do a yearbook, so there weren't as many pictures to choose from!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Pictures!
I usually get (professional) pictures taken of my babies around their 1 year birthday. Micah's birthday was back in April, so that obviously came and went, LOL. I wanted to get the girls' pictures taken as well, and one thing that was really holding me back was that I could not figure out what to have them all wear that would be somewhat matching. And I didn't want to go out and buy white shirts for everyone, for example. But then I remembered that my friend Lynnea had pictures taken of her girls in all patriotic clothes (hers matched though, LOL), so I dug through their tubs and found these things. Grace did not like her dress, but I told her she only had to wear it until after the pictures!
Oh well, it's over. Next summer I am planning on bringing in the new baby, plus everyone else for a group shot. Yippee--can't wait. Ha!
Back Up to 7!
We saw Nathan as well, since we stayed for lunch. He is done with the outdoors camping week (AO), but now he is staying at WSS for 2 more weeks to work on boys' support staff. I was worried about how and when he'd do his laundry, since all the stuff he wore for the week of AO is desperately in need of washing. But then I decided he is 15 years old, and I'm sure he'll figure it out! Nathan reported having a great time on AO, and the older guy (who worked on staff the years I did, although not on my particular staffs) said he was a great servant-leader and a lot of fun to have along. There was some story that was evidently hilarious about Nathan, who got dehydrated on a hike and did or said something funny relating to a tent. But alas, we don't yet have the full story on that, since Nathan ushered us quickly out onto the porch so we could take the above picture (funny--he wasn't so interested in the picture until Dale started telling the story . . .).
I'm driving back up to WSS tomorrow to take Jonathan for his week of Camp Caleb, so hopefully I'll see Nathan again and get more of the story! And that means we'll be back down to 6 kids here at home, although at least I won't have all 3 of my older boys gone! Yeah--not making that scheduling mistake again, LOL.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
And Then There Were Five . . .
We're down to just 5 kids this week--the younger 5. Nathan is away at AO, and after that is done, he'll be working on support staff at WSS for 2 more weeks, so he won't be home for awhile. Luke and Caleb are at different Camp Calebs, and we'll pick them up Friday. We'll at least get to see Nathan for lunch when we pick up Luke and Caleb, so that will be nice.
It's definitely a step back to not have any older kids at home to help! I have gotten so used to being able to leave Micah at home napping when I drop off other kids! It is easy to forget that stage of life, when you are needed by so many people without bigger kids to help with the burden, so this is a good reminder.
Another thing that is different this week is that we are eating less food. A lot less. Wow--leftovers. A blast from the past!
One more thing that is different is that house is a lot more peaceful. I don't want anyone to get the false impression from my last post that we live in some happyland where all is loving and peaceful! Luke and Caleb have always been my ones that butt heads the most, but it has really reached a breaking point the last several weeks. I don't know if it's the heat, the lack of structure of the regular schoolyear, too many computer games, or what, but they have been at each other constantly. There's pleny of blame to go around! Both parties take offense too easily, poke at each other's known weak spots, are too interested in the other's business and not their own, and are just generally annoying to each other. Add in Nathan's occasional irritable and tempermental teenage attitude, and you can get an idea of what it's been like around here lately! I am not sure exactly what I need to do differently, but I know heart attitudes need to change. I have been praying that the Lord will speak to each of them during this week away at camp, in particular about their relationships with each other. I have told them many times that they can only control their actions and their responses, and in fact they are accountable to God for those things. I've been trying to think of some kind o project that Luke and Caleb would need to do together, but I've drawn a blank. Anyone have any other ideas? In general, though, people need to focus on honoring others, and that's just not been happening lately.
So that's where we're at right now. I have a long list of things to (hopefully) do this week, and I am slowly making some progress. It's cooler (and we have electricity--not taking that for granted!!), so that has made life a lot more pleasant!
It's definitely a step back to not have any older kids at home to help! I have gotten so used to being able to leave Micah at home napping when I drop off other kids! It is easy to forget that stage of life, when you are needed by so many people without bigger kids to help with the burden, so this is a good reminder.
Another thing that is different this week is that we are eating less food. A lot less. Wow--leftovers. A blast from the past!
One more thing that is different is that house is a lot more peaceful. I don't want anyone to get the false impression from my last post that we live in some happyland where all is loving and peaceful! Luke and Caleb have always been my ones that butt heads the most, but it has really reached a breaking point the last several weeks. I don't know if it's the heat, the lack of structure of the regular schoolyear, too many computer games, or what, but they have been at each other constantly. There's pleny of blame to go around! Both parties take offense too easily, poke at each other's known weak spots, are too interested in the other's business and not their own, and are just generally annoying to each other. Add in Nathan's occasional irritable and tempermental teenage attitude, and you can get an idea of what it's been like around here lately! I am not sure exactly what I need to do differently, but I know heart attitudes need to change. I have been praying that the Lord will speak to each of them during this week away at camp, in particular about their relationships with each other. I have told them many times that they can only control their actions and their responses, and in fact they are accountable to God for those things. I've been trying to think of some kind o project that Luke and Caleb would need to do together, but I've drawn a blank. Anyone have any other ideas? In general, though, people need to focus on honoring others, and that's just not been happening lately.
So that's where we're at right now. I have a long list of things to (hopefully) do this week, and I am slowly making some progress. It's cooler (and we have electricity--not taking that for granted!!), so that has made life a lot more pleasant!
Thursday, July 05, 2012
Walmart Kindness
Nathan and Luke had orthodontic appointments this afternoon, so we all went there, and then we all headed over to Walmart to get some last-minute needed items for AO/Camp Caleb, since Nathan, Luke, and Caleb all leave for their week of camp at WSS this weekend. We were in line at a "20 items or less" checkout behind an older woman who kept looking back at us. One time she even looked intently at our cart, and I thought she was counting to make sure we were under 20 items! But as she was checking out, she turned back to me, handed me a $20 bill and told me to go buy the kids a treat at McDonalds (there's one right past the checkout in our Walmart), since they were all so well-behaved! That was an unexpected surprise!
I was tempted to just go on home, LOL, since I really didn't want to deal with waiting in line at McDonalds, but I decided to stop anyway. Hey--a special memory! We never do stuff like that! So I stopped the cart right outside, told everyone to wait there, and I stood in line for awhile. I got 7 ice cream cones, a dollar fry thing for milk-allergic Micah, and a chocolate milkshake for me (and the baby, of course, LOL). This took forever, but everyone was patient. When I finally got the last ice cream cone out to the last person, a grandma who was there with her daughter and 2 granddaughters (twins!) came up to tell me how well-behaved the kids were! She said they all listened so well, and that no one started eating their cones until all the kids had gotten theirs. That was not actually my instruction, as I am not a fan of ice cream dripping all over, LOL, but hey, that is polite. Then the daughter started talking, and she said she had 5 kids (the twins were the youngest), and she always had so many stares, etc. when she had everyone with her at stores. I told her that the only reason we were even at McDonalds was because of a kind lady who had given us money for a treat, and she was astounded! I think it encouraged her--I know it encouraged me! I have to remember all these little things, so I can do them when I am a grandma, out shopping all by myself, and I see moms with big families!
I was tempted to just go on home, LOL, since I really didn't want to deal with waiting in line at McDonalds, but I decided to stop anyway. Hey--a special memory! We never do stuff like that! So I stopped the cart right outside, told everyone to wait there, and I stood in line for awhile. I got 7 ice cream cones, a dollar fry thing for milk-allergic Micah, and a chocolate milkshake for me (and the baby, of course, LOL). This took forever, but everyone was patient. When I finally got the last ice cream cone out to the last person, a grandma who was there with her daughter and 2 granddaughters (twins!) came up to tell me how well-behaved the kids were! She said they all listened so well, and that no one started eating their cones until all the kids had gotten theirs. That was not actually my instruction, as I am not a fan of ice cream dripping all over, LOL, but hey, that is polite. Then the daughter started talking, and she said she had 5 kids (the twins were the youngest), and she always had so many stares, etc. when she had everyone with her at stores. I told her that the only reason we were even at McDonalds was because of a kind lady who had given us money for a treat, and she was astounded! I think it encouraged her--I know it encouraged me! I have to remember all these little things, so I can do them when I am a grandma, out shopping all by myself, and I see moms with big families!
Monday, July 02, 2012
Long, Hot Weekend
So Friday night I was on the computer, looking through a zillion pictures of a zillion kids wearing uniforms on the VA CAP encampment website. I found one lone picture where I could identify Nathan, posted it on Facebook, and read some updates. A friend of mine from church posted that her husband was laughing at her for taking all the plants off the deck, and she also posted a weather map picture of a line of storms heading our way. I vaguely remembered Tim P. saying something about severe thunderstorms at Bible study, and Bob had indeed gone out on the deck and closed our patio umbrella when we got home.
Then the storm struck. It was a doozy! Wind, lightening, rain. Bob went out again to take down our tomato plants, and in the moment he was outside, he got absolutely drenched. And then the power went out, around 10:30 Friday night. We had been at Bible study late, so the girls and Micah were all down, but none of the boys were. They rustled up flashlights, and we headed off to bed.
We've lived here for almost 8 years (seriously?!), and the longest the power has been out was about 4 hours. I went to sleep annoyed that whenever the power kicked back on in the middle of the night, our crazy family room ceiling light and fan always turn on (with the fan on high), and so I would have to get up to turn them off. No problems, however, because when we woke up Saturday morning, a bit sweaty, the power was still off. Hmmmm. Our phone/internet was also out, and even our cell phones didn't work at our house.
Bob went out to get bags of ice for our freezers and refrigerators. We ate breakfast, I worked on some biology, we played a rousing game of Scrabble, we ate sandwiches for lunch, and the kids played outside in the sprinklers. Our pool was closed, since a huge swath of area was without power. We ran some errands and went out to Ci-Ci's pizza for dinner, fully expecting the power would be back on when we got home.
But it wasn't. The C's had moved over to her dad's house, freeing up the basement for us to sleep in, which was good since the temperature up on the second floor was 90 degrees, LOL. We moved pillows downstairs and set up camp down in the basement--the 4 boys in one room, and the 3 girls and Bob and me in the other. I read books outloud by flashlight for awhile, and then we settled in for a second night of restless sleep, punctuated by all the noise of 9 family members with no other sounds to mask it.
Sunday morning we again woke up to no power, but since power had been restored Saturday night at 5:00 to our church building, at least we could escape there for a few hours. It was still a little warm in the building, though, and I found myself dozing off several times. Lots of other church members were also still without power, and I felt really sorry for the people out west on wells--no electricity AND no water! We could certainly be worse off!
We went to Taco Bell for lunch, and then home so tired, crabby Micah could attempt to take a nap. He actually slept a good long time in the basement, while everyone else played games and legos. We were delighted to discover that our cell phones once again worked at our house, so we didn't feel so cut off from the entire world anymore, LOL. Bob went out and got some more bags of ice to replenish our freezers and fridges. I was pleasantly surprised to see how cold things still were. The ice cream in the (big) freezer was melted, but the meat was still frozen solid. Saturday morning we took out 7 loaves of bread to make room for 2 big bags of ice in the freezer, and that seemed to do the trick in there. Stuff in the fridge stayed cold enough too. It may spoil a little faster, but we were still able to have milk for cereal, and lunch meat for sandwiches.
We left around 6:00 to go pick up Nathan, who had taken the CAP van back from encampment. It turned out they didn't get in until 7:00, as opposed to 6:30, so we ran over to Walmart and bought 2 more big flashlights. It was so good to see Nathan again, but he has the cold I've been struggling with, as well as a very hoarse voice from all the sounding off. Then we headed off to Golden Corral for a late dinner. While we were driving, Christine called to say their power came on around 5:00! This was very encouraging, although Bob cautioned us not to get our hopes up, LOL.
After dinner, we were again encouraged because a few more stoplights were working on the main road near our house. But as we drove north, we noticed big dark tracts of houses, which was not encouraging. And indeed, when we turned onto our street, everything was still pitch black. Sigh. At this point, we were all tired, crabby, and sick of the heat. It was 92 degrees on the top floor, 85 degrees on the main floor, and in the high 70s in the basement. We trooped downstairs, at least having our 2 new flashlights as well as all the little ones, and prepared for a 3rd night without air conditioning. Poor Nathan--home from encampment, but camping out in the basement!
It was really hard to sleep last night. It was just muggy, and I so wished for some moving air! We all restlessly slept, and at 2:30, one of the girls got up to go to the bathroom. As I laid there, awake, I heard something outside the basement window. Could it be?! I woke Bob up to tell him I thought the air conditioner compresser was running, a sound more beautiful to my ears than anything else could possibly have been! He ran upstairs to shut windows, and I ran upstairs to grab a fan. Ahhhh . . . cool air blowing over me . . . heaven!
So from our clocks, it looks like the power was finally restored around 2:20 a.m. I tell you, we have never been more grateful for electricity, or more thankful for the line workers out there working around the clock to restore power! We are taking it easy today, trying to get the house cleaned up and organized. I think we are all looking forward to a good, cool night's sleep in our own beds. Bedtime can't come fast enough! Maybe a nap will be in order this afternoon, even for me.
Then the storm struck. It was a doozy! Wind, lightening, rain. Bob went out again to take down our tomato plants, and in the moment he was outside, he got absolutely drenched. And then the power went out, around 10:30 Friday night. We had been at Bible study late, so the girls and Micah were all down, but none of the boys were. They rustled up flashlights, and we headed off to bed.
We've lived here for almost 8 years (seriously?!), and the longest the power has been out was about 4 hours. I went to sleep annoyed that whenever the power kicked back on in the middle of the night, our crazy family room ceiling light and fan always turn on (with the fan on high), and so I would have to get up to turn them off. No problems, however, because when we woke up Saturday morning, a bit sweaty, the power was still off. Hmmmm. Our phone/internet was also out, and even our cell phones didn't work at our house.
Bob went out to get bags of ice for our freezers and refrigerators. We ate breakfast, I worked on some biology, we played a rousing game of Scrabble, we ate sandwiches for lunch, and the kids played outside in the sprinklers. Our pool was closed, since a huge swath of area was without power. We ran some errands and went out to Ci-Ci's pizza for dinner, fully expecting the power would be back on when we got home.
But it wasn't. The C's had moved over to her dad's house, freeing up the basement for us to sleep in, which was good since the temperature up on the second floor was 90 degrees, LOL. We moved pillows downstairs and set up camp down in the basement--the 4 boys in one room, and the 3 girls and Bob and me in the other. I read books outloud by flashlight for awhile, and then we settled in for a second night of restless sleep, punctuated by all the noise of 9 family members with no other sounds to mask it.
Sunday morning we again woke up to no power, but since power had been restored Saturday night at 5:00 to our church building, at least we could escape there for a few hours. It was still a little warm in the building, though, and I found myself dozing off several times. Lots of other church members were also still without power, and I felt really sorry for the people out west on wells--no electricity AND no water! We could certainly be worse off!
We went to Taco Bell for lunch, and then home so tired, crabby Micah could attempt to take a nap. He actually slept a good long time in the basement, while everyone else played games and legos. We were delighted to discover that our cell phones once again worked at our house, so we didn't feel so cut off from the entire world anymore, LOL. Bob went out and got some more bags of ice to replenish our freezers and fridges. I was pleasantly surprised to see how cold things still were. The ice cream in the (big) freezer was melted, but the meat was still frozen solid. Saturday morning we took out 7 loaves of bread to make room for 2 big bags of ice in the freezer, and that seemed to do the trick in there. Stuff in the fridge stayed cold enough too. It may spoil a little faster, but we were still able to have milk for cereal, and lunch meat for sandwiches.
We left around 6:00 to go pick up Nathan, who had taken the CAP van back from encampment. It turned out they didn't get in until 7:00, as opposed to 6:30, so we ran over to Walmart and bought 2 more big flashlights. It was so good to see Nathan again, but he has the cold I've been struggling with, as well as a very hoarse voice from all the sounding off. Then we headed off to Golden Corral for a late dinner. While we were driving, Christine called to say their power came on around 5:00! This was very encouraging, although Bob cautioned us not to get our hopes up, LOL.
After dinner, we were again encouraged because a few more stoplights were working on the main road near our house. But as we drove north, we noticed big dark tracts of houses, which was not encouraging. And indeed, when we turned onto our street, everything was still pitch black. Sigh. At this point, we were all tired, crabby, and sick of the heat. It was 92 degrees on the top floor, 85 degrees on the main floor, and in the high 70s in the basement. We trooped downstairs, at least having our 2 new flashlights as well as all the little ones, and prepared for a 3rd night without air conditioning. Poor Nathan--home from encampment, but camping out in the basement!
It was really hard to sleep last night. It was just muggy, and I so wished for some moving air! We all restlessly slept, and at 2:30, one of the girls got up to go to the bathroom. As I laid there, awake, I heard something outside the basement window. Could it be?! I woke Bob up to tell him I thought the air conditioner compresser was running, a sound more beautiful to my ears than anything else could possibly have been! He ran upstairs to shut windows, and I ran upstairs to grab a fan. Ahhhh . . . cool air blowing over me . . . heaven!
So from our clocks, it looks like the power was finally restored around 2:20 a.m. I tell you, we have never been more grateful for electricity, or more thankful for the line workers out there working around the clock to restore power! We are taking it easy today, trying to get the house cleaned up and organized. I think we are all looking forward to a good, cool night's sleep in our own beds. Bedtime can't come fast enough! Maybe a nap will be in order this afternoon, even for me.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
18 Week Update
So I was 18 weeks along on Wednesday, if anyone is keeping track. I've had this cold since Friday night which I am valiently trying to overcome, with limited success. I'm sure my lack of success has been in part to staying up too late several night in a row trying to find all the news I can on the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs. We were stationed in the Springs for 5 1/2 years, and that is where both Nathan and Luke were born. My grandparents retired there, so even while I was growing up, we would visit there. It is definitely a city near and dear to my heart, so it has just been so hard to watch it burn.
Several years ago (6 or so maybe?) there was a big wildfire around Deckers, CO, and a ton of NFS land was burned, including a bunch of campgrounds that we used to camp at with the L's back in the day. I remember reading that it would take like 200 years for the area to look like it used to. That was hard enough to imagine, with places we saw not so regularly. This fire is affecting stuff we looked at every day out our back windows, and so many people have been so affected that it is just hard to fathom. I mean, the Flying W Ranch gone?! Unbelieveable.
But let's see, this was not a post about Colorado . . . it was a post about this pregnancy. I never did hear anything back from the doctors, and it's been over a week now, so I am assuming I passed my 1 hour glucose test. That's not a huge shock--I've never failed one at 16 weeks before--it's always the 28 week one that gets me. With that in mind, I decided to start tracking my blood sugar numbers. I dug my old testing kit that I used when I was pregnant with Faith out of the closet, and a friend from Bible study loaned me her poker-thing, since mine wasn't working (but in a miraculous event, mine decided to start working again!). The only fly in this grand plan is that all my testing strips are from early 2009. After getting ridiculous readings from the opened bottle of test strips, I threw those away and opened a new bottle (with an expiration date of Dec. 09, LOL). I'm still getting odd readings, though, so I'm not trusting these either. I think if I was seriously having problems then my 1 hour test would have caught it. I don't want to obsess, and I'm not really worried now, but as I get farther along I would like to be able to monitor this accurately. More likely, though, I'll just fail my 1 hour and 3 hour tests at 28 weeks, and then I will be gifted a brand new set of testing stuff and a new prescription for testing strips! Whee and yippee!
Several years ago (6 or so maybe?) there was a big wildfire around Deckers, CO, and a ton of NFS land was burned, including a bunch of campgrounds that we used to camp at with the L's back in the day. I remember reading that it would take like 200 years for the area to look like it used to. That was hard enough to imagine, with places we saw not so regularly. This fire is affecting stuff we looked at every day out our back windows, and so many people have been so affected that it is just hard to fathom. I mean, the Flying W Ranch gone?! Unbelieveable.
But let's see, this was not a post about Colorado . . . it was a post about this pregnancy. I never did hear anything back from the doctors, and it's been over a week now, so I am assuming I passed my 1 hour glucose test. That's not a huge shock--I've never failed one at 16 weeks before--it's always the 28 week one that gets me. With that in mind, I decided to start tracking my blood sugar numbers. I dug my old testing kit that I used when I was pregnant with Faith out of the closet, and a friend from Bible study loaned me her poker-thing, since mine wasn't working (but in a miraculous event, mine decided to start working again!). The only fly in this grand plan is that all my testing strips are from early 2009. After getting ridiculous readings from the opened bottle of test strips, I threw those away and opened a new bottle (with an expiration date of Dec. 09, LOL). I'm still getting odd readings, though, so I'm not trusting these either. I think if I was seriously having problems then my 1 hour test would have caught it. I don't want to obsess, and I'm not really worried now, but as I get farther along I would like to be able to monitor this accurately. More likely, though, I'll just fail my 1 hour and 3 hour tests at 28 weeks, and then I will be gifted a brand new set of testing stuff and a new prescription for testing strips! Whee and yippee!
Monday, June 25, 2012
It's a . . .
I had my ultrasound this morning! It was really different from the last 2 I've had at Bethesda. With Faith, we were down in the bowels of the basement, and by the time I was pregnant with Micah, the radiology department had moved up to the main floor. But with both of these ultrasounds, they were done in the radiology department, which does all the ultrasounds on everyone for everything, not just OB ones. So they had rules--the first part of the ultrasound, your (one) support person couldn't be watching, so Bob had to wait in the waiting room until he was called back. Meanwhile the ultrasound was conducted in perfect silence (I usually dozed off), until all the images were captured. Then Bob would come back, we both would get a quick run-down ("Here's the face . . . heart . . . hands . . . it's a boy, etc.").
BUT now Bethesda has a nice "prenatal assessment clinic" where they do the OB ultrasounds, along with other prenatal testing, and the experience was totally different--more like my civilian ultrasounds. Bob was there the whole time, the lady chattered through it, telling us what she was looking for, measuring, etc. Much nicer! So the baby looks perfectly healthy and is measuring just right (17 w, 3 d, and I am technically 17 w, 5 d), and the baby was not shy about sharing that he is another boy! I knew it! With my boy pregnancies, I don't even feel pregnant in the beginning--no nausea or anything--and that's how this one was! So yay--Micah will have a buddy and a roommate, and I won't have to worry about always have to set up playdates for Micah, since he won't be the lone boy hanging out in the middle of a bunch of girls!
The only potential issue is that my placenta is low right now, over the cervix. Hopefully it will move up though as I get bigger. I don't usually have ultrasounds this early, so that's probably the problem, but I have to go back at 32 weeks for another one to make sure the placenta is out of the way.
While I was waiting to start the ultrasound, I was contemplating how much more pleasant ultrasounds are now. No one ever talks about this, but they used to be very painful. Ask someone who has high school age kids! They used to tell you to drink an enormous amount of water--64 oz.?--and you had to finish 1 hour before your ultrasound started. And then--you weren't. allowed. to. pee. At all! They wanted you to have the all-important "full bladder" so they could get a good picture. Oh my goodness. The pain! The incredible discomfort!! So you had to wait for an hour while your bladder filled up like a balloon, and then you had to lie on your back while the technician pushed around on your super-full bladder with her ultrasound wand! I would about be in tears. By the time I was having Caleb and Jonathan, I just didn't drink as much water, and I would pee a little bit right before so I wasn't in excruciating pain, but for Nathan especially, I followed the directions to. the. LETTER, and it was so awful! Now they don't say a thing about having a full bladder or drinking insane amounts of water and then waiting an hour without peeing. I just want all you newer moms to know how incredibly fortunate you are that you will only know ultrasounds as fun times, and not as mini torture sessions!
BUT now Bethesda has a nice "prenatal assessment clinic" where they do the OB ultrasounds, along with other prenatal testing, and the experience was totally different--more like my civilian ultrasounds. Bob was there the whole time, the lady chattered through it, telling us what she was looking for, measuring, etc. Much nicer! So the baby looks perfectly healthy and is measuring just right (17 w, 3 d, and I am technically 17 w, 5 d), and the baby was not shy about sharing that he is another boy! I knew it! With my boy pregnancies, I don't even feel pregnant in the beginning--no nausea or anything--and that's how this one was! So yay--Micah will have a buddy and a roommate, and I won't have to worry about always have to set up playdates for Micah, since he won't be the lone boy hanging out in the middle of a bunch of girls!
The only potential issue is that my placenta is low right now, over the cervix. Hopefully it will move up though as I get bigger. I don't usually have ultrasounds this early, so that's probably the problem, but I have to go back at 32 weeks for another one to make sure the placenta is out of the way.
While I was waiting to start the ultrasound, I was contemplating how much more pleasant ultrasounds are now. No one ever talks about this, but they used to be very painful. Ask someone who has high school age kids! They used to tell you to drink an enormous amount of water--64 oz.?--and you had to finish 1 hour before your ultrasound started. And then--you weren't. allowed. to. pee. At all! They wanted you to have the all-important "full bladder" so they could get a good picture. Oh my goodness. The pain! The incredible discomfort!! So you had to wait for an hour while your bladder filled up like a balloon, and then you had to lie on your back while the technician pushed around on your super-full bladder with her ultrasound wand! I would about be in tears. By the time I was having Caleb and Jonathan, I just didn't drink as much water, and I would pee a little bit right before so I wasn't in excruciating pain, but for Nathan especially, I followed the directions to. the. LETTER, and it was so awful! Now they don't say a thing about having a full bladder or drinking insane amounts of water and then waiting an hour without peeing. I just want all you newer moms to know how incredibly fortunate you are that you will only know ultrasounds as fun times, and not as mini torture sessions!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Happy Birthday, Nathan!
Tuesday night we all went to an awards banquet at the squadron (Anna's take on the evening: too long, and she didn't get enough dessert), and Nathan was promoted to cadet staff sergeant. This was a bigger promotion than his previous ones, as he had to pass some special tests. He is really enjoying CAP.
What a change from 15 years ago, when I was in my (shared) room at the Air Force Academy hospital, wondering how I could ever possibly take are of this new baby I had just delivered! Bob couldn't even stay with me, so I felt very alone (although I could not just dwell on my thoughts in solitude and silence because my roommate, who had just had her 3rd baby, told me she didn't sleep well in hospitals, so she just kept the TV on all night. Okay . . .) We are looking forward to seeing what the Lord has planned for Nathan's life! He is such a blessing to our family!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Other Random Happenings
And in other news:
--Bob fixed our crazy cooktop last night! We thought we would have to order a new one, and we actually did order an induction one, which was really on sale at Lowes. At Bible study last Friday, however, Tim P. said he thought it was a switch, so when we got home, Bob googled our cooktop model number to find out parts numbers, and he found the squirrelly part online and ordered it. He replaced it last night, using Luke's eagle eyes to make sure the numbers on the wires on the new part matched the ones on the old part (way at the top of a dark cabinet), and now we are back in business! When we turn the burner off, it goes off! The things you take for granted . . . Siri and I have been creatively using crockpots (plural because we had to dig my old one out of retirement and use both to have enough to feed our combined crews!) and the electric skillet, as well as this single electric burner we've had for ages that has come in very handy. But now we are very glad to have 4 burners to use once again!
--We got our Stanford test scores back online today! This is a new thing, but it is so much quicker than just waiting for them to be mailed to us. You will be pleased to know that everyone did fine, although I think Jonathan is a little over-confident of his math skills. When we were working through his test review book, I noticed that he was loathe to actually write problems out on his scratch paper, preferring to just figure them out in his head. Predictably, this strategy was not as successful as he might have thought, so I kept telling him he needed to write every problem down. But I don't think he really did, LOL. Oh well.
--Bob celebrated the Army's birthday at the Pentagon today. They had a tank sculpture thing surrounded by 2600 Georgetown cupcakes frosted a camo color. Expensive!
--Jonathan has learned how to knit, thanks to Celia's patient teaching. He's using 2 bamboo skewers as knitting needles. Who knew he had such talents?!
--Micah no longer goes down stairs on his tummy. Now he sits down and bumps down the stairs on his bottom, with his tummy sticking way out. It's so cute! We have Anna to thank for teaching him that.
And now you are all caught up with our not-so-interesting lives!
--Bob fixed our crazy cooktop last night! We thought we would have to order a new one, and we actually did order an induction one, which was really on sale at Lowes. At Bible study last Friday, however, Tim P. said he thought it was a switch, so when we got home, Bob googled our cooktop model number to find out parts numbers, and he found the squirrelly part online and ordered it. He replaced it last night, using Luke's eagle eyes to make sure the numbers on the wires on the new part matched the ones on the old part (way at the top of a dark cabinet), and now we are back in business! When we turn the burner off, it goes off! The things you take for granted . . . Siri and I have been creatively using crockpots (plural because we had to dig my old one out of retirement and use both to have enough to feed our combined crews!) and the electric skillet, as well as this single electric burner we've had for ages that has come in very handy. But now we are very glad to have 4 burners to use once again!
--We got our Stanford test scores back online today! This is a new thing, but it is so much quicker than just waiting for them to be mailed to us. You will be pleased to know that everyone did fine, although I think Jonathan is a little over-confident of his math skills. When we were working through his test review book, I noticed that he was loathe to actually write problems out on his scratch paper, preferring to just figure them out in his head. Predictably, this strategy was not as successful as he might have thought, so I kept telling him he needed to write every problem down. But I don't think he really did, LOL. Oh well.
--Bob celebrated the Army's birthday at the Pentagon today. They had a tank sculpture thing surrounded by 2600 Georgetown cupcakes frosted a camo color. Expensive!
--Jonathan has learned how to knit, thanks to Celia's patient teaching. He's using 2 bamboo skewers as knitting needles. Who knew he had such talents?!
--Micah no longer goes down stairs on his tummy. Now he sits down and bumps down the stairs on his bottom, with his tummy sticking way out. It's so cute! We have Anna to thank for teaching him that.
And now you are all caught up with our not-so-interesting lives!
16 Week Appointment
Today was my 16 week OB appointment. Everything looks good--baby's heartrate is in the 150s, although s/he was moving around the whole time, so it was hard to get a consistent reading. I have been feeling a lot of movement, so I wasn't too surprised the little one was all wiggly today. I'm measuring right at 16 weeks, which is good, because I look like I could easily be 25 weeks at least, LOL. My ultrasound is scheduled for Monday, June 25.
I did have to take the one hour glucose screening test, which I expected, so I brought plenty of reading material. I'm almost done with a really fascinating book called The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World From the Periodic Table of the Elements. So interesting! A very fun read! My friend Rabia recommended it to me, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who has a passing interest in chemistry, or just likes knowing cool facts about interesting people and things. I am going to require the Rivendell boys to read it next summer before we do chemistry. Actually, Nathan picked it up after I got it out of the library and read through it pretty quickly already, so even teenage boys find it interesting!
This was actually my second trip to Bethesda in 2 days. I had to take Nathan in yesterday because he has a wart on his foot that we want off before he goes to CAP encampment. While we were there yesterday, I noticed a big posterboard sign talking about a "code white" exercise that would be taking place . . . today. Ack! The sign said that no one would be permitted to move around the hospital while the exercise was going on, and patients would be taken to a safe place. Great! Since I knew I would most likely be there for awhile today, I was certain I would be caught up in the fun. Instead, I think I barely missed all the excitement! I was driving up to the gate to leave, and there were MPs all over the place. One of them was by the active barrier thing, and as soon as I drove over it, he motioned for the car behind me to stop. Then they put the barrier up, preventing cars from leaving or entering the base. But I was out of there! Woo-hoo!
I did have to take the one hour glucose screening test, which I expected, so I brought plenty of reading material. I'm almost done with a really fascinating book called The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World From the Periodic Table of the Elements. So interesting! A very fun read! My friend Rabia recommended it to me, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who has a passing interest in chemistry, or just likes knowing cool facts about interesting people and things. I am going to require the Rivendell boys to read it next summer before we do chemistry. Actually, Nathan picked it up after I got it out of the library and read through it pretty quickly already, so even teenage boys find it interesting!
This was actually my second trip to Bethesda in 2 days. I had to take Nathan in yesterday because he has a wart on his foot that we want off before he goes to CAP encampment. While we were there yesterday, I noticed a big posterboard sign talking about a "code white" exercise that would be taking place . . . today. Ack! The sign said that no one would be permitted to move around the hospital while the exercise was going on, and patients would be taken to a safe place. Great! Since I knew I would most likely be there for awhile today, I was certain I would be caught up in the fun. Instead, I think I barely missed all the excitement! I was driving up to the gate to leave, and there were MPs all over the place. One of them was by the active barrier thing, and as soon as I drove over it, he motioned for the car behind me to stop. Then they put the barrier up, preventing cars from leaving or entering the base. But I was out of there! Woo-hoo!
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Hershey Park!
Yesterday we spent the day at Hershey Park with Rivendell and a few other friends. It was such a great day! To start off, we left our house at 7:30 AM, a feat never to be repeated I am sure. We got to the park right around 10:00, when it opened, and we got good parking spaces. I was a bit worried about going through the gate to get in. The website says "No outside food" several times, but hey--I'm pregnant, Micah's 1--we need our snacks, LOL. We had all eaten some jerky and cheese sticks on our way in from the parking lot, but I had some more jerky plus some graham crackers and fruity snacks for Micah in the diaper bag. Well, I shouldn't have worried. The guards just gave the opened diaper bag a perfunctory glance and didn't even root around in it at all. So I guess they weren't really all that concerned about graham crackers.
Once inside, we split into groups, although we hadn't met up with everyone yet. But eventually we all met up (there were 32 of us plus Micah), and we split into 3 groups.
There was the older group who rode all the big roller coasters. They got to ride all of them, and the lines weren't very bad at all. The longest line was about 15 minutes. We hardly even saw this group at all, although they did deign to meet us so we could all go back to the parking lot for our late picnic lunch, since they were all "starving" by that point. We had parked by a line of trees, so we just had our picnic there, which worked out really well. I never could figure out where the "picnic area" the Hershey Park website talks about even is!
The middle group didn't ride as many roller coasters but did most of the other rides. I thought Hershey Park had a really good selection of "medium" rides Bob was with this group the most, along with 2 of the other dads, so they had a lot of adult coverage.
And then there was the "little kids + moms" group, which included 6 kids who actually rode the kiddie rides, as well as Micah, who rode the carousel and the "pony cart" ride, but was not a fan of either. Marie was a part of this group too, but she rode the stroller most of the day. There are a ton of kiddie rides all throughout the park, and the little kids had a grand time on them, especially since there were no lines! We moms had a really nice time visiting. The weather was absolutely gorgeous--low 70s, not humid, with scattered clouds--so we were not uncomfortable, and a lot of the benches by the kiddie rides were in the shade. I can't imagine a more pleasant day, weather-wise, which was such a blessing from the Lord!
So all the groups had a wonderful time, and we didn't end up actually leaving until around 7:30, meaning we got home after 10:00. Everyone was exhausted, and it's taken most of today to recover, LOL. This was the last official thing of the school year that I was in charge of, so I am now feeling a great sense of relief! No more responsibilities! Well . . . not entirely, LOL.
The only fly in the ointment was Jonathan, who was sporting an angry poison ivy rash on the right side of his face.
He apparently got it on Sunday. He was picking up sticks in the backyard after dinner, while everyone else were all preparing for a campfire. I didn't notice any sort of rash until Monday morning though, when he came down to breakfast. By Wednesday it had spread and looked like this picture. I've been giving him Benedryl and putting hydrocortizone cream on it, but it's still itchy and red. He was worried his face would scare the ride attendants, but that didn't seem to be the case, LOL. Hopefully it will go away soon!
Once inside, we split into groups, although we hadn't met up with everyone yet. But eventually we all met up (there were 32 of us plus Micah), and we split into 3 groups.
So all the groups had a wonderful time, and we didn't end up actually leaving until around 7:30, meaning we got home after 10:00. Everyone was exhausted, and it's taken most of today to recover, LOL. This was the last official thing of the school year that I was in charge of, so I am now feeling a great sense of relief! No more responsibilities! Well . . . not entirely, LOL.
The only fly in the ointment was Jonathan, who was sporting an angry poison ivy rash on the right side of his face.
He apparently got it on Sunday. He was picking up sticks in the backyard after dinner, while everyone else were all preparing for a campfire. I didn't notice any sort of rash until Monday morning though, when he came down to breakfast. By Wednesday it had spread and looked like this picture. I've been giving him Benedryl and putting hydrocortizone cream on it, but it's still itchy and red. He was worried his face would scare the ride attendants, but that didn't seem to be the case, LOL. Hopefully it will go away soon!
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
A Bit of Afternoon Excitement
Siri was cooking soup for dinner this afternoon. (We've been alternating who cooks dinner each night, and it has been WONDERFUL!!) It was almost ready, and she ran downstairs to do something. She was only gone for a minute, but when she got back up, the soup was burning on the bottom! "Weird", we both thought. She rushed to get it poured into another pot, but then she noticed that the burner wasn't off. Except it WAS off. The burner kept cycling from very, very hot (glowing deep red) down to like a simmer every several seconds, and nothing we did to the switch made any difference whatsoever!
This actually happened to me a few weeks ago, but Luke came over and fiddled with the knob, which made the burner turn off, so I completely forgot about it. I don't think I ever even mentioned it to Bob. It just made me look like I don't know how to work my own cooktop, LOL.
But this time nothing at all worked, and the burner was pumping out incredible amounts of heat while cycling on. I called Bob, who was on his way home, and he said just to flip the circuit breaker off. Fortunately it didn't take too many tries to figure out the right switch, and our crazy burner finally had to admit at least a temporary defeat. But with tonight being CAP and Bob's Bible study, he's not going to get a chance to look at it anytime soon. I hope it's an easy fix . . . we got this cooktop (a Frigidaire ceramic cooktop, for those taking notes on which cooktops to avoid, LOL) almost 4 years ago, so way too soon to think about replacing it.
I'm beginning to feel like all our appliances are revolting, to be honest! I just posted on Facebook about how all our refrigerator shelves and drawers are breaking--well, not the shelves themselves, which are glass, but all the cheap plastic parts that hold them in. They clearly are not made for the amount of food and big containers we put on them (although the 25 year old Montgomery Ward fridge I got from my Nana and Papa, which is out in the garage and has metal connecting pieces, is still going strong, no matter how many gallons of milk/giant watermelons/brining turkeys in huge pots, etc we put on those shelves . . .).
And our fridge down in the basement (another one from my Nana and Papa, one with the freezer on the bottom and the fridge on top) is slowly giving up the ghost as well. I had the best of intentions of running down there with a thermometer and testing it before Siri came, but I never did--until her gallon of milk spoiled after only about 2 days. Then I realized that the top fridge part was actually a balmy 52 degrees. The freezer, which we knew was not actually "freezing" things, was about 34 degrees, so she started using that as a fridge. But now random things ARE freezing down there. I'm telling you--it's an appliance plot! Hopefully the ovens and the dishwasher are still on our side.
This actually happened to me a few weeks ago, but Luke came over and fiddled with the knob, which made the burner turn off, so I completely forgot about it. I don't think I ever even mentioned it to Bob. It just made me look like I don't know how to work my own cooktop, LOL.
But this time nothing at all worked, and the burner was pumping out incredible amounts of heat while cycling on. I called Bob, who was on his way home, and he said just to flip the circuit breaker off. Fortunately it didn't take too many tries to figure out the right switch, and our crazy burner finally had to admit at least a temporary defeat. But with tonight being CAP and Bob's Bible study, he's not going to get a chance to look at it anytime soon. I hope it's an easy fix . . . we got this cooktop (a Frigidaire ceramic cooktop, for those taking notes on which cooktops to avoid, LOL) almost 4 years ago, so way too soon to think about replacing it.
I'm beginning to feel like all our appliances are revolting, to be honest! I just posted on Facebook about how all our refrigerator shelves and drawers are breaking--well, not the shelves themselves, which are glass, but all the cheap plastic parts that hold them in. They clearly are not made for the amount of food and big containers we put on them (although the 25 year old Montgomery Ward fridge I got from my Nana and Papa, which is out in the garage and has metal connecting pieces, is still going strong, no matter how many gallons of milk/giant watermelons/brining turkeys in huge pots, etc we put on those shelves . . .).
And our fridge down in the basement (another one from my Nana and Papa, one with the freezer on the bottom and the fridge on top) is slowly giving up the ghost as well. I had the best of intentions of running down there with a thermometer and testing it before Siri came, but I never did--until her gallon of milk spoiled after only about 2 days. Then I realized that the top fridge part was actually a balmy 52 degrees. The freezer, which we knew was not actually "freezing" things, was about 34 degrees, so she started using that as a fridge. But now random things ARE freezing down there. I'm telling you--it's an appliance plot! Hopefully the ovens and the dishwasher are still on our side.
Monday, June 04, 2012
Happy Birthday, Jonathan!
For his cake, Jonathan wanted an eagle, like the one he drew in his art class (which he is holding). I had some troubles with the proportions of the head and the beak. In fact, I had to perform some "rhinoplasty" and cut out a hunk of beak after I had frosted the whole thing because it was just too big. But it tasted good, and now it's almost gone!
Jonathan had an art birthday too--he got some watercolor pencils and a sketch pad from the C's, as well as a drawing DVD and kit from Grandma and Grandpa G. Then he also got a headlight that is white light and red light with the money from Grandma and Grandpa B., which he has been asking and asking for--he wants to be ready for Camp Caleb next month at White Sulphur Springs! He also got a Lego set.
So all in all, a very fun birthday, and Jonathan is looking forward to drawing many more pictures!
Friday, June 01, 2012
Biology Conundrum
I've been doing a lot of planning for this coming year's biology class, especially in the lab department, since I'll have to make a big order, plus tell Siri what she'll need to get over in Hawaii. Also, I'm going to start teaching biology in August, so I can take the whole month of December off between Thanksgiving and New Year when I have the baby, so that's another reason to get a jump on the class. It's such a relief to have already taught the junior high life science class, and to know exactly what I need to order!
So for the labs--I have 3 different options to choose from. We're using the BJU biology book for our main text, and I aleady have the teacher manual, pus the lab teacher manual, for that. Unfortunately, many of the labs are fairly similar to ones we did in life science, and they just didn't seem that exciting to me. So on to option number 2. We are going to use the DIVE biology cd to help me with the lecture load this year, so the kids will watch the appropriate lectures, and we will meet on Tuesday at our regular Rivendell for the lab, and then we'll meet again on Thursday for a little while so I can discuss things in more depth with them. We are definitely planning on having them take the SAT II biology test, but depending on how I think things are going, probably they will also go ahead and take the AP exam. So having another session each wekk will help me better prepare them for those exams. The only tricky part is that the AP bio exam is being reworked for this year, so there aren't any old exams to use for practice. Test prep books for the 2013 exam are being published in September, so at least we'll have that.
Anyway--the DIVE cd has labs on it that the kid can watch, complete with data, and they can fill in the lab reports in the workbook. Some of the labs even fulfill AP lab requirements! But that's not really *doing* a lab, and doesn't give any good hands-on lab experience. I was thrilled, however, when I realized that Home Training Tools has a lab kit specifically for DIVE biology! And I was less-than-thrilled when I realized that it only includes for materials for about half the labs, and some of those are just the dissections. Also, there is not a real lab "manual" with DIVE. It lists materials, has places to write data, and asks good questions to help formulate conclusions, but there are not written-out procedures. You are supposed to watch the lab on the cd and then do it yourself. That would be really hard, especially with the added complication of skyping. I would have had to watch all the labs and then manually type up procedures, and that just seemed like a tremendous added hassle. So the DIVE labs weren't a good alternative, although I probably will have the boys watch the AP ones, just to gain the added knowledge.
That leaves a book I discovered through the Well-Trained Mind high school forum. It's called the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments, by Robert Bruce Thompson. This book was just published in late April, but the author also has a book for chemistry (with almost the same title) that has gotten rave reviews, so I was pretty confidant this book would be exactly what I was looking for. And it is! The website even has a page which matches up the labs to the BJU chapters! They sell a lab kit to go along with the book ($170), but we are not going to be doing all the labs, plus we already have a lot of glassware, goggles, etc. I've gone through and made a list of what we need, and I've found those items on various scientific supply websites. The labs all have clear, explicit instructions, and they look so interesting! The author has a big emphasis on building stuff yourself, really DIY lab science, so that should be fun. Definitely different from the BJU labs! I'm excited about them, and I think the boys will enjoy them too.
We have our first Rivendell planning meeting soon. Should be a fun, challenging year, as usual!
So for the labs--I have 3 different options to choose from. We're using the BJU biology book for our main text, and I aleady have the teacher manual, pus the lab teacher manual, for that. Unfortunately, many of the labs are fairly similar to ones we did in life science, and they just didn't seem that exciting to me. So on to option number 2. We are going to use the DIVE biology cd to help me with the lecture load this year, so the kids will watch the appropriate lectures, and we will meet on Tuesday at our regular Rivendell for the lab, and then we'll meet again on Thursday for a little while so I can discuss things in more depth with them. We are definitely planning on having them take the SAT II biology test, but depending on how I think things are going, probably they will also go ahead and take the AP exam. So having another session each wekk will help me better prepare them for those exams. The only tricky part is that the AP bio exam is being reworked for this year, so there aren't any old exams to use for practice. Test prep books for the 2013 exam are being published in September, so at least we'll have that.
Anyway--the DIVE cd has labs on it that the kid can watch, complete with data, and they can fill in the lab reports in the workbook. Some of the labs even fulfill AP lab requirements! But that's not really *doing* a lab, and doesn't give any good hands-on lab experience. I was thrilled, however, when I realized that Home Training Tools has a lab kit specifically for DIVE biology! And I was less-than-thrilled when I realized that it only includes for materials for about half the labs, and some of those are just the dissections. Also, there is not a real lab "manual" with DIVE. It lists materials, has places to write data, and asks good questions to help formulate conclusions, but there are not written-out procedures. You are supposed to watch the lab on the cd and then do it yourself. That would be really hard, especially with the added complication of skyping. I would have had to watch all the labs and then manually type up procedures, and that just seemed like a tremendous added hassle. So the DIVE labs weren't a good alternative, although I probably will have the boys watch the AP ones, just to gain the added knowledge.
That leaves a book I discovered through the Well-Trained Mind high school forum. It's called the Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments, by Robert Bruce Thompson. This book was just published in late April, but the author also has a book for chemistry (with almost the same title) that has gotten rave reviews, so I was pretty confidant this book would be exactly what I was looking for. And it is! The website even has a page which matches up the labs to the BJU chapters! They sell a lab kit to go along with the book ($170), but we are not going to be doing all the labs, plus we already have a lot of glassware, goggles, etc. I've gone through and made a list of what we need, and I've found those items on various scientific supply websites. The labs all have clear, explicit instructions, and they look so interesting! The author has a big emphasis on building stuff yourself, really DIY lab science, so that should be fun. Definitely different from the BJU labs! I'm excited about them, and I think the boys will enjoy them too.
We have our first Rivendell planning meeting soon. Should be a fun, challenging year, as usual!
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