Last OB Appointment

Hey, I made it into the "twenties" part of the month, so I should be able to have this baby any day now!  I had my last OB appointment AND last non-stress test this morning.  Yay!  I'm 4 cm dilated, and the baby is definitely lower than she was last week, so that is good.  Maybe the exam will start something, but I doubt it.  Nothing so far, as far as contractions go!  But hopefully the induction Thursday evening will go better than the one with Drew, where he was so high and wouldn't move down.  The doctor said maybe they wouldn't even give me pitocin, but just break my water.  That would be nice, but I doubt that too!  I was 5 cm when I went in with Micah, and I still was put on pitocin before they broke my water.  And I was 6 cm dilated with Anna, and still, pitocin!

So we're just waiting around in the meantime.  I'll go ahead and teach my Rivendell classes tomorrow, but I did decide not to have the Latin class meet on Wednesday.  Nathan has an interview with his blue and gold officer (that's what UNSA calls their admissions liaison officers) Wednesday evening, but he should be able to drive himself to that.  Everything else just pretty much goes on as always!

Poor Grace

Sometimes I think I blog because I no longer have time to scrapbook, but I really need to remember things.  This is the only way!  Grace has been feeling fine, continuing to take her antibiotics.  Tuesday when she came in from the morning co-op, she showed me some "bug bites" on her arms.  I glanced at them and clucked sympathetically, but didn't pay too much attention because she ran right out the door to play on the trampoline with her Rivendell friends, and I was getting ready for memory work.  But when we actually we doing memory work about an hour later, she was really scratching her arms.  I looked more closely, and there were really a lot of bumps.  On both arms.  And then I pulled up her shirt, and there were bumps all over her torso!  And legs!  Ack!  She definitely looked like she had the chicken pox or something (although I knew that wasn't it, since she's been vaccinated).

One of the other Rivendell moms, Michele, and I quizzed Grace about anything new she might have eaten, and so on, but there didn't seem to be any red flags.  I went upstairs to get a bottle of liquid children's benedryl, and as I was coming back down, it hit me--this looked very much like Drew's dreadful rash last summer . . . after he had been on amoxicillin for almost 10 days, while we were at White Sulphur Springs.  Hmmm . . .  So of course I stopped giving Grace her last 3 doses on medicine, and by tonight, the rash is going away.  I guess she is also allergic to amoxicillin, and I really need to remember to mention these reactions to a doctor whenever it looks like someone else might need antibiotics.

Nathan and Luke are better too--no more fevers--although they are still coughing a lot.  Everyone else seems to be just fine.

And just to see who actually reads these things, I lost my mucous plug tonight, so hopefully that means things will start on their own this time, and sooner rather than later!

The Last Days

 . . . of pregnancy, that is.  None of my clothes fit, I've eaten my weight in protein bars, hard-boiled eggs, cheese sticks, almonds, peanut butter, and other protein snacks, I'm uncomfortable no matter what position I'm in, I have used every public restroom within 10 miles multiple times, and I'm irritable!  We're in the home stretch though--my due date (and induction date) is 10 days away.

I had another OB appointment this morning.  As soon as the doctor walked in, I realized I was seeing the one who beats the "shoulder dystocia" drum.  He's really nice--I've seen him before in a few different pregnancies--but that is his big issue, and he didn't disappoint!  He asked if I'd had an ultrasound to see how big the baby was, and then he recommended I get one.  If it showed the baby was running 10 or 11 pounds, then I could get a c-section, since as he likes to say, the only way to guarantee you won't have shoulder dystoia is to have a section.  I said I really didn't feel like this was a 10 pound baby--probably another 9 pounder, but that will make my 4th 9 pounder, and I haven't ever had any problems delivering them.  I didn't really even have any problems delivering Micah at 10 pounds, 8 ounces, other than really having to push hard, which you don't really expect with #8!  Anyhow, I had an ultrasound like that with Anna, and it was off by like 2 pounds, so I am in no hurry to speculate this time!  I told him I was going to just try to go ahead and deliver vaginally.  I mean, I've got all this other homeschooling/college stuff going on, and I am hoping to bounce back quickly, so I don't think signing up for elective major abdominal surgery really fits with that plan, LOL.  I mean, if it happens, it happens, but I'm not planning on signing myself up for it!

I asked the doctor if he would try to strip my membranes, in hopes that maybe I would dilate a little more and avoid a super-long induction, even though I could tell the baby was still up fairly high.  I was right in that she is still high, but he was able to get a finger in and do a very thorough job of stripping the membranes, not that it seems to have done a single thing, as far as any meaningful contractions go.  Ah well.  I have another appointment next Monday, so that will be one more chance to try membrane stripping.  I definitely prefer to be induced when I'm already 5-6 cm, so I'm hoping that will happen, unlike with Drew, where I never really dilated more than 2-3 cm before starting the pitocin.

After the appointment, I headed upstairs for another non-stress test.  The baby surprised me by having moved over to lie on my left side, instead of my right, like most of my last babies have been.  She was again cooperative, so it didn't take too long.  Yay!

So now we wait.  While waiting, I ponder number patterns.  This baby is already being different by being born in September, when we haven't had anyone born from July-October before.  Also, all 9 of my babies have been born on different days of the month--but only in the beginning and the end of the month.  No baby has been born in the teens!  I have kids born on the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 9th, and then also on the 24th, 27th, 28th, and 30th, but no one in the middle.  Isn't it funny how they are clustered at the beginning and the end?!  So if I get induced on Sept. 25, I would most realistically deliver on Sept. 26--but regardless, both of those days are open and fit in my birthing day scheme at the end of the month!  But maybe this baby will break with tradition a second way, and be born early--on a day in the teens!  That would be really different!  I can hope anyway, LOL.

Weird Week of Sickness

Last Saturday Grace started running a fever of about 101.7.  It kept coming right back up as soon as the Motrin wore off, and Sunday she started complaining about her throat hurting, so I started thinking strep.  She basically just laid around Saturday and Sunday, taking a bunch of naps and generally looking dull and sick.  I made an appointment for her Monday for right after my non-stress test, so we hung out at Bethesda together for the morning.  The tech did a rapid throat culture, although I'm not really sure how thorough of a job she did on the swab itself.  The doctor saw how red her throat was, with little white spots on it which even I had been able to see on Sunday, and she agreed it definitely looked like strep.  But the rapid test came back negative.  So the doctor did her own swab (much more thorough), and we waited for the rapid test for that one too--also negative.  They were going to culture the first swab for 24 hours, but the doctor did something practically unheard of in military medicine--she started Grace on antibiotics anyway!  She looked back at her records and saw that the last time Grace had actually been on antibiotics was when she was 20 months old and had an ear infection, where her eardrum ruptured, while we were at my parents' house for Christmas.  So yeah, she's not really in danger of having too much unnecessary antibiotics or anything.  Still, I was so surprised!  So we got the meds and started her on them right away, and by Tuesday morning, she was feeling tons better, and her throat wasn't hurting anymore.  She still had to miss co-op, but hey, she was at least feeling better!  Oh, the 24 hour culture was negative too--so who knows if it was actually strep?  She certainly responded to the medicine though, so I'm not sorry about giving it to her.

I was definitely concerned when Faith, Micah, and Drew all started running fevers Tuesday afternoon as Rivendell was winding down.  Ummm . . . how was I going to get all of them in for appointments??  My week was pretty packed!  But then I realized that they were all just sick in a different way than Grace was.  Drew definitely had some kind of head cold thing, with a runny nose.  I wasn't concerned about that, although it did make him exceptionally crabby.  Faith and Micah didn't really have that, but their fevers weren't as high, and they just didn't act as sick as Grace did.  So I decided to just wait it out, and I was glad.  They were both fine by Thursday, which was good, since Faith had her first little art/science co-op that afternoon.  She definitely didn't want to miss that, and I didn't want to either, since I was teaching the science part that day.  We walked around the church, identifying the different trees and talking about leaves and so on.  It was fun, although very hot and humid.  I was melting!

Nathan started running a fever Wednesday night, which really worried me, since he took the ACT for the last time this morning.  But he went to bed early that night, slept for 12 hours, and was much better Thursday.  He was able to go to calculus as well as cross-country practice.  Bob, Luke, Caleb, and Anna have also been dealing with the head cold thing/allergy thing, with lots of sniffles and sneezing.  No fever though, and Caleb and Anna were well enough to come with me to the commissary on Friday, and Luke ran in a cross-country meet this morning.  I guess Jonathan is the one completely healthy kid!

So far the Lord has protected me--may He continue to do so!  I've actually been knocking things off my to-do-before-baby-comes list, and I hope I can stay healthy!  Today was a surprisingly productive day.  I (and Anna, my helper who loves to organize) put away all the groceries from the commissary (no small feat--$800 worth!), cut up several cuts of meat to freeze to use in various recipes, made a much wider and cleaner path through the garage (did not "clean the garage", however, lol--that was a bridge too far), cleaned out the big van (which hadn't been cleaned since before out big trip to Boston the end of July, and I was worried people were going to start sticking to the floor or something since it was so dirty and crumbly), washed all the newborn girl laundry including carseat covers, cleaned Bruno's cage, and got the guest bedroom and bathroom in the basement in order, in preparation for my parents, who are coming on Thursday!  Yay!  Of course the main floor looks like a tornado ran through it . . . I can't get all 3 floors looking nice at the same time, due to the concentrated efforts of the girls, Micah, and Drew.  That can be tomorrow's list, along with all my Rivendell prep for Tuesday!

No Rest For the Pregnant!

I remember when I was pregnant with Nathan, back in Colorado.  He was due on July 2.  I had been tutoring my neighbor in chemistry and college algebra, but I was done with that.  I had also been volunteering with "Right to Read", an adult literacy program, but I had stopped tutoring there as well.  My weeks during my last trimester centered around my wonderful moms walking group, which met Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.  That left Tuesday and Thursday mornings for doctor appointments and trips to the library and commissary.  I also had to cook (measly amounts of) food for Bob and me, and do our (measly amount of) laundry.  Afternoons I spent down in our basement, eating Dole Fruit N Juice bars, since it was warm in Colorado in June (although not humid!), and we of course didn't have air conditioning.  I played with our big dogs, read books, and did the crossword puzzles my mother-in-law would send me.  What a life!

My last few weeks of pregnancy no longer look like that ideal, especially this pregnancy, LOL.  Right now I have a to-do list a mile long, and I am desperately trying to get everything done before this baby comes!  Thursday, after some school with the girls, my morning exercise, and a quick, early (low-carb, of course) lunch, I took the girls to get haircuts at Great Clips.  Anna started mentioning wanting a haircut after Lily C. got 27 inches (!!) cut a few weeks ago, and now she looks adorable with a little bob.  After we received our elementary yearbooks from last year on Tuesday, Anna fixated on a little girl in Jonathan's class, who also had a cute little bob, and from then on she mentioned haircuts approximately once an hour.  The girls all did need at least trims, but hadn't wanted any for awhile, so I figured I needed to strike while the iron was hot.

After haircuts all around, we had to stop at both Target and Office Depot, since I failed to get enough dividers and 1 1/2" binders for the 4 boys when I was getting school supplies at Walmart a few weeks ago.  And now Walmart looks like a plague of school-supply-eating locusts went through that section, so all you can get is spiral notebooks with weird covers and folders.  Target was the same, but fortunately Office Depot came through.  I bought 7 packages of dividers, so hopefully that will do, LOL.

We went rushing home because Luke and I needed to sign on to a virtual class orientation for a writing class we signed him up for back in March, when it sounded like a good idea.  Now he is just auditing it, since he has so much on his plate, but we needed to know how to access the recorded lectures, since the live class meeting is during his Spanish class.  While coming home, Luke called to ask if we were in fact going to be home to log on, and also to let me know that the USAFA admissions department had called with a "question about Nathan's transcript".  This led to much slightly panicked wondering on my part, as I tried to figure out what they could possibly be questioning, and if I would even be able to answer their question, whatever it might be.  I hope and pray they won't blame Nathan if I totally screwed something up!  Yeah--that was stressful.

After getting onto the orientation, I called the admissions department.  The question was where we took the classes we had listed as "AP" on our syllabus--at a school?  I was able to tell them that the classes were taken at Rivendell, and that all the teachers had approved syllabi with the College Board, and that I had listed each teacher in my course descriptions, so they could search the teacher's names to make sure they were listed as approved AP teachers (because you can't call a class "AP" unless you have the official College Board approval for your syllabus).  So that was actually an easy question to answer, but I was SOOO glad that I had gone back and listed every teacher and where the course was taken on the course description document for Nathan.  I need to go back and do that on the official Rivendell document too.  USAFA admissions is apparently on the ball with this stuff.  Whew!

Then Anna and I had to leap off again, this time to an eye doctor appointment for her.  I thought she had last been seen a year ago in April, but (whoops!) it turns out it was 2 years ago!  Her farsightedness is all gone, but she does have some astigmatism, so she is getting a different pair of glasses.  She has been complaining of some letters blurring together when she reads, especially small print, so hopefully the new glasses will be just the ticket to help her be able to spent more time reading.  The eye doctor did say something interesting.  She said that kids who play outside a lot tend to have less decline in their vision, maybe because they are focusing far away more, or maybe because of the effect of the sun's rays on their optic nerve.  So she recommended lots of outside play time for Anna.  Sounds good to me!

After we were done picking out new glasses at Walmart, we rushed home again.  I grabbed a quick bite of left-overs, and then Nathan and I drove off to first drop Luke off at cross-country practice, and then to continue on to Ft. Myer, where there was a West Point admissions briefing at the Officers Club.  That turned out to be interesting.  The briefer was an Army major assigned to West Point, but in charge of admissions for the southeast region.  He was a really good speaker--funny, self-deprecating, had good stories, etc.--so he was very easy to listen to.  Plus, he looked a lot like my cousin Pilot!  We knew a lot of what he had to say, but he did bring out some interesting differences.  West Point mainly bases their decisions on essays and ACT/SAT scores, even for public school students.   We went up and talked with him afterward to ask him a question about letters of recommendation, and I told him about how USAFA wanted the course descriptions, called me this afternoon, etc.  He laughed and said that USAFA had 6 people doing his job, and he didn't really look at any of that extra stuff.  We were also able to talk to someone who works with our Congressional representative on his nomination committee, and he had some good info about that process.  Nathan also got to meet his military admissions liaison officer, and it was good to put a face to that name/voice.  He was very nice and helpful.  So just meeting and talking with these men was very useful, so we were glad we went.  I will say that I stuck out (ha!  I'm so punny!) like a sore thumb as I waddled around, getting up to pee several times.  Definitely no other pregnant moms were there!  Nathan and I didn't get back home until around 10:15, and then we worked on some stuff for his nomination packages.  He's getting ready to send all that in on Monday, so we are coming down to the wire!

Friday morning I had to drive to Bethesda for both an OB appointment and a non-stress test.  On Wednesday it took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to get there at 10:00, so this time I left a little before 8:00 for a 9:20 appointment--and of course there was very little unusual traffic, so I was there in plenty of time.  You just can't predict!  The appointment went fine.  The doctor scheduled me for an induction starting Thursday night, Sept. 25, although she did say that if my glucose numbers weren't "tightly controlled", then they would still induce me a week early.  She checked my cervix, but I'm just 1 cm and still high, which is probably how I've been the whole time, LOL.  I couldn't get another appointment next week, so I won't see someone until next Monday, Sept. 15.  Hopefully my numbers will stay fine.  They've been good ever since we got back from White Sulphur Springs.

Then I headed up to the prenatal assessment clinic for the non-stress test.  Baby was not quite as cooperative as she was on Wednesday, but it didn't take too terribly long.  She is hard to keep on the monitor , though, as it seems all of mine are.  That alone makes me dread an induction, where there has to be continuous monitoring.  I have hold the sensor thing at a certain angle to keep her on, and whenever she moves around, it's all lost.  So the tests are not all that relaxing for me!

I had to go up to the pharmacy then and pick up more glucose test strips.  I ended up waiting over an hour before I went up and asked a tech who had a minute before he called the next person to his window.  It turned out they had totally skipped over my number, so I waited way longer than I should have had to!  I did finish my book though.  I didn't get home until after 1:00 (and I was STARVING), so it was a long morning.   And I still had a chiropractor appointment at 2:45, so I wasn't even home very long, just long enough to eat lunch and do memory work with Jonathan and the girls!  After my chiro appointment, I stopped by the library to pick up some more books for me to read during the non-stress tests.  I got some murder mysteries, which hopefully won't take up too much of my ever-diminishing brain power.  Then it was home for a quick dinner, then off to Bible study, where Nathan picked up the last of his letters of recommendation (thanks, Tim!).  Afterwards, we came home and worked on the last of his essays and got him ready for this morning, where CAP had set up a time to practice interviewing and to give feedback on essays for cadets applying to academies or ROTC.

So finally I fell into bed around 11:30.  This is definitely not the relaxing time of my first pregnancy!  No fruit n juice bars either, which is a bummer.  Those are really good!

New School Year

So most things have started up now, so I thought it would be good to document what we're doing for school this year.

• Nathan is taking calculus at the community college.  It seems that he has a good teacher, so hopefully that will continue going well.  His class is the same time and days, and is right next door, to Isaac's math class, so that has been really nice.  They can even carpool and only get one parking pass!  Nathan is taking AP literature, AP world history, and AP macroeconomics at Rivendell, as well as anatomy & physiology.  He's doing an Intro to Java course through homeschoolprogramming.com, and he is really enjoying that so far.  He is also going to take physics from derekowens.com, so we'll see how that goes.  All he has to do now is actually start the course!  Right now he is pushing to get everything all together to mail in all the nomination packages next Monday.  He also is hoping to take the CFA (fitness test for the academies) next Sunday, which is the last big thing for his academy application.  Then it will be on to ROTC applications . . .  Hopefully he will be less busy after Christmas!
• Luke has an incredibly busy year for a sophomore.  He'll be taking the 3 AP courses at Rivendell like Nathan, and he's also taking AP Spanish through pottersschool.org.  That was not something we were really planning on at all, but then Christine found out about the "AP International Diploma program", where you have to take AP classes from all these different areas and score a 3 or higher on all of them.  By taking AP Spanish this year, he'll only lack AP biology, which he should be taking next year.  So that is going to be crazy, because the AP language tests are really weird.  Luke is also taking A & P from me, as well as an Intro to Computing class at Potters, and Algebra 2 at home (although Christine is going to help keep accountable by giving him dates to turn in tests!).  He's not looking forward to this year!
• Caleb has hit the big time--he is now at Rivendell on Tuesdays as well!  He has life science with me, as well as logic, literature, and history.  He'll also take Latin with me on Wednesdays, and he's doing Algebra 1 with Christine and Daniel McC.  This year will be a lot busier for Caleb than ever before, but I know he can do it!  
• Jonathan has one more year left at TNT, but he is also taking lit and history at Rivendell on Tuesday afternoons. Since we're restarting the 4 year cycle with the ancients this year, it made sense to go ahead and include him and Lily C., both of whom are 6th graders.  He'll also be in the Latin class on Wednesdays.  He's doing CLE math, language arts, and science this year, so we'll see how that goes.  So far I like it, and it's nice to have the smaller "light units" to work through, instead of a bunch of big texts.  He and Caleb are both going to take an art class over at Christine's house this semester once a week, and they both are really looking forward to that starting up.  I'm so glad we live close together!
• Anna and Grace are also using CLE this year, but just for math and language arts.  I started them back in July, which turned out to be good, since we're not getting much formal stuff done together during the week, with all my appointments.  They can both work independently, though, and they are zipping right along through the light units.  We haven't done much memory work, character stuff, or even Story of the World, like we usually do during our school days so far though.  That should get better after the baby comes. Three more weeks . . . They are starting up gymnastics again on Monday, which makes them both very happy!
• Faith is definitely getting the short end of the stick, as far as dedicated school time, right now before the baby comes.  She needs the most hand-holding, since she isn't reading incredibly fluently or anything, and I just haven't had the time.  She's got a good head for math and phonics, so I am sure she will leap ahead once I have the baby and don't have to spend so much time exercising and driving to and from Bethesda.  In the meantime, she helps keep Micah and Drew occupied, as they fuss over duplos or whatever the other person is playing with, LOL.  She is going to do a special little co-op Thursday afternoons with some other 4 and 5 year olds, focusing on science and art.  I'm leading the first science lesson next Thursday afternoon, on trees.  I think she is really going to enjoy the time socializing--she is such a little social butterfly! 

So that's an overview of school for us this year.  It definitely gets busier and busier as the kids get older!  We'll see how the juggling goes, especially once I add a nursing newborn to the mix.  That's the thing about having a baby in September--you have the baby, and you still have practically the whole school year starting down at you!  What terrible timing!  Thankfully I don't have to do it on my own--the Lord is my strength, and he has also provided wonderful friends to walk this path alongside us!

Weekend Retreat

We spent the weekend at White Sulphur Springs.  My parents' OCF/chapel group had their annual retreat, so we joined them.  It was a lovely weekend, as usual.

Saturday was a beautiful day, weather-wise, and the kids ran around all over the place.  The girls and little boys did some bowling, and then Anna, Micah, and I had to use the bathroom, so we headed over to the old hotel.  Afterward, Anna and Micah were playing on the wagon in front, and I got to thinking how we always used to get a family picture taken on the wagon.  I think the last one we have is when Grace was a baby.  At that point, I was determined to get a family wagon picture this year.

Of course, the weather was not so cooperative on Sunday.  It rained right after lunch, and then Drew was really crabby, so I put him down for a nap.  Then I walked the girls and Micah down to the rock-climbing wall in the barn.  Eventually all the other boys showed up at the climbing wall, so after the rock-climbing was over, I hiked back up to the new hotel to wake up Drew and track down Bob.  We drove back down because I was dripping with sweat, lol.  It was still humid up in the mountains!  I was very happy to get my family wagon picture.

After the picture, we poked around the old hotel some.  The boys remember staying there, but the girls don't really remember it much.  I of course have fantastic memories from my summers working up there, so it has a very special place in my heart!

One of the other couples from the retreat was looking around too, and the husband was flipping through an old scrapbook out on the coffee table.  On the very first page, he was surprised to recognize Bob!  And then we were both surprised to see that a picture of me was right below it, from a different year!  So fun!  My friend Emily (the one on the left in the picture) said she put the scrapbook together, so we'll just say she was inspired to include our pictures like that!

When we got done, Nathan and Luke were involved in a game of horseshoes, but during a break, I was able to take a picture of all the boys (not that I could get them all to look at the same time).  I have to treasure times when everyone is all together, because I know those times are going to be rarer and rarer!

So we had a wonderful weekend, which made it all the harder to come back today and jump right back into our 2 co-ops, which kicked off today.  I'm sure heaven will be like White Sulphur Springs, just with no looming threat of school!

Week of Appointments and a Ceremony

I had the best of intentions of taking some pictures to put in this post . . . but it didn't happen.

• Monday Micah and Drew had well-baby appointments.  Technically Micah turned 3 on April 9, and Drew turned 18 months on May 30, so let's just say I wasn't early with these, LOL.  They were another thing I had all summer to do, just like the tea party!  Fortunately I was able to get 2 appointments together before September.  It was very good to get that out of the way!  Both boys are healthy.  Micah is really big for someone in our family--84th percentile for height and weight.  We NEVER see those numbers!  Micah is also still remarkably uncooperative.  He started fussing as soon as we went back to get weighed and whatnot.  The tech said, "I haven't even done anything yet!"  Yes, well . . . that's our charming Micah.  He did NOT get a lollipop at the end, LOL.  Drew was in contrast very cooperative, so that was good.  He's also bigger than average for us--the 44th percentile.  Fortunately, Drew was the only one who needed shots.  He wasn't happy about getting them, but it was a lot less stressful than if it had been Micah, I'm sure.  Grace tagged along as the designated big person helper, and she did a great job.
• Wednesday I had another OB appointment, followed by my first non-stress test.  The appointment went well.  I saw yet a different doctor, and this one was quite unconcerned about how my fasting numbers are once again hovering right over the cut-off of 95.  It just underscores how different each doctor's assessment of "reasonable risk" is, because I think the doctor I saw last week would have already put me on pills at night.  I'm expecting that at next week's appointment, though.  The non-stress test was fine, although it took longer than it could have, since the baby always sleeps in the morning (after being wide awake all night long, dancing on my bladder).  Finally it was time for my mid-morning snack, and she eventually woke up enough for her to move and have her heartrate go up and do what it needed to do.  The only bad thing is that I have to go back not once, but TWICE a week for these crazy things.  I do not envision having a very productive month of schooling with the girls, with all these trips to Bethesda looming each week.  Less than 4 weeks to go . . .
• Yesterday I had another chiropractor appointment, and then Nathan and I drove out to a centrally-located high school for our county for his driver's licensing ceremony.  Virginia is apparently the only state which does not just give the teens their actual driver's licence once they finish all the requirements.  Instead, they get a piece of paper saying they can drive, which is valid along with their learner's permit, until they go to this ceremony and get their actual license.  Nathan got the letter back in the end of May, but he was scheduled for a ceremony in June, while he was at PJOC.  So I had to call to get him a different date.  We had sort of assumed there would maybe be 50 people there or something, but when we drove up to the high school, the parking lot was full like there was a home football game or something, and there was a solid mass of people lined up starting at the door and wrapping around the building.  We joined the throng of teens and parents, and waited outside for 15 minutes to file inside.  I was melting, but really it could have been hotter.  Thankfully I didn't have to desperately pee or anything!  Inside the auditorium, a judge talked for a bit, and then the county prosecutor, and then the judge came back up for awhile.  What they said was actually quite good and sobering, about the privilege of driving, and how devastating it is if you are the one who harms or kills someone else because of bad decisions.  It was more than just the standard "you're going to die because you are a risky teenage driver" spiel.  Also the judge really stressed how the parent is the one who determines who can drive, and if they ever feel like the teen is not living up to whatever standards they have decided on, even attitude-wise or chore-wise, then it is the responsibility of the parents to take away the license.  After about 45 minutes of talking, the deputies started dismissing the auditorium 2 rows at a time to go to the back, where there were 4 tables set up, divided alphabetically.  There you waited in line, and eventually the clerk handed the parent the license after the teen turned in their learner's permit and piece of paper.  It all took approximately forever, and then we had to wait for awhile to be able to get out of the parking lot!  It was good and all, but the thought of having to do that 9 more times is rather unsettling.  We saw several families we knew, and we sat behind one lady.  Her youngest (out of 8, I believe)  is the same age as Nathan, and he and Jake were in TNT together.  So now she is all done, whereas I am just starting . . .
• And speaking of starting, this morning, Bob took Luke to the DMV at the Pentagon to take his learner's permit test, which he passed with flying colors, not missing any questions.  So it all begins again--first the parking lot, then the neighborhood, then the rest of D.C.! 

Tea Party!

Anna, Grace, and Faith hosted a tea party this afternoon for 9 of their friends!  They have been wanting to do this for approximately forever.  Two summers ago during Grandma/Grandpa camp, Anna, Grace, and their cousin Emily had a tea party at a little tea room in Ohio with Grandma and Aunt Claire.  They had an absolutely wonderful time, but I think the place closed, since they haven't been back.

Well, sometime this winter, Anna and Grace started talking about having a tea party here.  I told them we'd have plenty of time to do it during the summer.  The girls made the guest list and planned various food delicacies to make, while I kept waiting for all the time we'd have in the summer.

About 2 weeks ago I realized that the summer was almost over, I'd be having the baby soon, and if we didn't get this tea party going, it would be hanging over my head for another year!  So I sent out invitations right then to make sure it actually happened, LOL.

The girls were over-the-moon excited!  We made a trip to Party City to buy plates, napkins, cups, and decorations!  I glanced at a few pinterest-inspired blogs, but I was simply not up to trawling thrift stores to buy real tea cups and saucers for each girl, making my own decorations, figuring out elaborate crafts and creative games, etc.

We did, however, make all of our own food!  Anna really wanted strawberry tarts, so I found a recipe on Taste of Home that sounded good.  It was for one big tart, but I knew we wanted individual ones.  It also used a pie crust, but I found these little phyllo cups in the frozen section at Wegmans, and hey, that was just a lot easier than me making a ton of little pie crust tarts.  I made a test batch of 12 on Sunday, and they were a big hit, so I made 36 for the party (and for the boys to have some down in the basement, where they were banished).  There is a thin layer of chocolate on the crust, then a custard-y layer, then the strawberries, which are brushed with current jelly.  Delicious!

I also made little turkey/cheese sandwiches, in an attempt to have a tiny bit of protein in the middle of all these carbs.  You can't see very well, but they are in the shapes of crowns and castles.  I had these cookie cutters in those shapes that I had bought several years ago because I was going to do something with them for one of the girl's birthdays.  I never used them then, but they were perfect for the sandwiches today!

We also made chocolate-covered strawberries, and chocolate-covered pretzels (to use up the remaining chocolate after we finished with the strawberries).  Those were very popular!  I dipped 2 pounds of strawberries, and we only had a few left.  And therein lies the difference between boy parties and girl parties--a boy party would have most certainly had no chocolate-covered strawberries left!  Probably nothing else either, LOL.

I also made some little loaves of banana bread, and lemon bars.  I overcooked the lemon bars a bit--I totally didn't trust the recipe when it said they would firm up after cooling!

We bought little tiara combs for all the girls, as well as rings and lip gloss.  When the girls came, they decorated these door hangers with stickers and foam markers because, well, it was a non-messy craft that didn't require any help or prep from me.  What can I say?  I am not crafty on a good day, much less at 35 weeks pregnant!

The girls also decorated their plastic "tea" cups with stickers and sharpies.  Then they ate.  We had a choice of raspberry iced tea or lemonade--I just couldn't stomach the thought of a hot beverage the end of August!  Everyone was so polite and quiet--another difference between a boy and girl party.  Then they went off and played.  I got Bruno the Bunny out so everyone could see and pet him (consensus:  softest bunny ever!).  Some girls played in the playroom with the dollhouse.  Others dressed up.  Some went outside. Eventually everyone ended up outside bouncing on the trampoline.  I had told the boys beforehand, "Oh, no one will go on the trampoline because they'll all be in their pretty party dresses", but that didn't stop anyone!

And all-too-soon, the parents were coming back.  The girls had a good time, and it was not too hard of a party, so I'm sure we'll have another one sometime!  We don't do individual birthday parties because we would just have too many.  A few years ago, we used to have one big non-birthday party a year in the summer for all our friends.  We had a medieval feast, a Revolutionary War party, and an Olympic party.  But then . . . we just had too many little kids, and I couldn't do it anymore.  Now we still have a ton of littles, but maybe we'll start up the yearly tradition again for the girls.  We'll see how I feel next summer . . . LOL.

Pregnancy Update

Tomorrow I'll be 35 weeks along.  I had another OB appointment on Monday, and things are going fine.  This was with a different doctor than I had seen the past 2 times, although she looked familiar, so I'm sure I have seen her, probably during Drew's pregnancy.  She was pleased that I have only gained 26 pounds, which made me laugh, since that is what I had gained back on July 3, when I had that appointment with the weird doctor who was so concerned about my weight!

The only possibly concerning thing is that my fasting glucose readings have once again started being over 95.  Not much higher, but definitely over, like 96 or 97.  So frustrating!  This only started happening 2 mornings before my appointment, so I'm coming back in one week from today so they can check them again.  If the readings are still high, then I'll be put on a pill in the evenings only to keep those fasting numbers under control.  So in the meantime, I have once again upped my protein at my evening snack, and I have added a second fiber pill.  My reading was fine this morning--we'll see if that holds.

I am not really hopeful that I will be able to make it through this pregnancy without going on some medication, though.  It seems that my numbers will be fine for a few weeks, and then they will just all of a sudden start being higher.  I have noticed that my numbers are getting higher even after meals like breakfast, where I have never ever had any high readings at all, and even after I exercise.  For dinner tonight I had salmon, steamed broccoli, and a few strawberries, and then I walked for 45 minutes afterwards.  My reading?  115, which is just 5 points below too high.  Even just a week ago, that would have been below 109, for sure.

The only problem with being on medicine, the doctor explained to me, is that instead of being induced at 40 weeks, like I was with Drew, I'll be induced at 39 weeks.  That is definitely not something to look forward to, as I have no doubt it would be a fairly long induction.  Not because my cervix isn't ready or anything, but because the baby will be way up high, with a lot of amniotic fluid, and she won't move down and engage, so they won't break my water for fear of cord prolapse, so they'll just keep upping the pitocin . . .  and when the baby is eventually born, my uterus will be really tired, and not clamp up, leading to excessive bleeding, which leads to manual uterine sweeps, which with Drew led to a uterine infection . . .  So yeah, not looking forward to an earlier induction.  Interestingly, my friend Siri (the real person, not the voice that lives in my phone!) told me she learned that having a lot of amniotic fluid was a side-effect of gestational diabetes.  That makes sense with my experiences!  At least I know now that if they have to do those horrible manual sweeps, to insist on me being put on antibiotics proactively.  My sister-in-law Melinda, who has been a labor and delivery nurse for many years, couldn't believe they didn't do that as routine protocol last time!

Other than worrying about my glucose readings, I'm feeling okay.  Big, bulky, not sleeping well, but not too bad overall.  I've been seeing the chiropractor more regularly this pregnancy, so that has helped my hips (although I think I'm at the point where nothing really helps them for too long anymore, lol).  I have been faithfully doing my pregnancy workout DVDs in the morning after breakfast, and walking every night after dinner, which I am sure is why I have stopped gaining weight.  That regimen does take up a ton of time and really cuts into school in the morning, so we shall see how things go once co-ops start up after Labor Day.  At least Anna and Grace can work fairly independently now too.  Faith is the one who is not getting much school done right now.

I'm not sleeping well in part because I always wake up absolutely roasting, although the ceiling fan is on, and the AC is pretty low.  I think I'm getting a foretaste of menopause, LOL.  I still have round ligament pain, although I would say not as badly with this pregnancy, and the pains are only on the right side.  But this means I have to sleep a lot more on my right side, since I get the round ligament pain when I'm lying on my left side.  I used to only rarely sleep on my right side, so that feels weird too.  Of course, not sleeping well also means higher numbers in the morning, so I'm sure that is part of my problem.  Just a few more weeks . . .  

Pregnancy Dreams

The morning got off on a bad foot.  Bob rushed out the door at 6:30 to catch the 6:40 bus.  The free parking lot has been getting more and more crowded since the powers-that-be built the new parking garage, and it's been harder and harder to find parking places.  I heard him leave, and then I went back to sleep.  But then a little while later he came back!  He sat on the edge of the bed and told me he couldn't find a parking place, even at 6:30, so he was going to have to drive in.  Contractors can't get parking permits at the Pentagon, so he can only drive in 5 times a month, and he had already driven in once this month.  I worried about the rest of the month, and also next month, as we will have the "perfect storm" of Nathan needing a minivan to drive to the community college 3 days a week, I'll be driving a minivan to Bethesda once or twice for appointments and non-stress tests, due to my geriatric age, lol, and so Bob will have to drive the big van.  But if he can't even find a parking place on a Friday in August, what's going to happen??

So when I actually woke back up and got out of bed (which was 8:30, since Micah and Drew both cooperated beautifully and slept in as a nice little present for me), I was just feeling down.  We went about our day, and eventually Bob called to check in.  I told him I was glad he had made it in, but I just couldn't believe there were no parking places at 6:30, and what was he going to do?  He was confused.

Bob:  "Ummm, there were parking places at 6:30.  I parked there."

Me:  "You rode the bus in?!?  But you came back home, and we talked about your not getting a parking place!"

Bob:  "Noooo . . . "

It was SO vivid and real, though!  And what a totally bizarre thing to dream about--a mundane conversation, where I used the words "perfect storm", relating to parking issues!  Ha!  I still can't believe it didn't actually happen.

The first 3 nights after we got back home from Boston, I had dreams about losing one of the kids or the diaper bag,or wrecking the van, and they were quite vivid and realistic as well.  I didn't have any of those sorts of dream while we were actually in Boston (I was probably too tired to remember my dreams, lol), but once we got back somewhere safe, my mind went crazy while I was sleeping.  But still, I woke up realizing they were just dreams!  This whole thing this morning was so . . .  normal . . . It definitely didn't seem like a dream!  So Bob can drive in 4 more times this month if he has to.  Whew!

ALO Interview

Nathan got home from White Sulphur Springs Friday night, bringing with him a terrible cold that actually some of the rest of us already had as well.  So we're just one happy hacking, sniffling family right now!  He had Saturday to recover, and then bright and early this morning he and I left to drive up to Ft. Meade, MD, where he met his admission liaison officer to have an interview, as part of his Air Force Academy application.

The ALO is usually an officer who lives locally and assists candidates in their pursuit of an Academy appointment.  Navy and Army have them too (BGOs and MALOs).  If Nathan was at our local high school, then there is an ALO for that school, and he would even be able to talk to teachers, coaches, etc. to try to get a feel for Nathan as a candidate.  Every candidate has to have an interview with the ALO to advance in the process, and the ALO fills out a form with their impressions from the interview to send to the Academy.  The saying goes, "An ALO can't get you an appointment, but they could keep you from an appointment", if they thought you weren't serious or whatever.  But the interview is supposed to be more low-key than the ones with the congressional representatives, who are making decisions for nominations!  Somehow, since Nathan is homeschooled, he got an ALO that is regional, not local, which was weird, because other VA candidates we have known had local ones.

Nathan (and I!) were both nervous.  I had stayed up late trying to update Nathan's transcript with his classes for next year.  The transcript is in Excel, which I have a hard time working with.  A lady on the Well-Trained Mind boards sent me her daughter's transcript as a template, and it is the only one I've seen that really works, since I need to include all Nathan's test scores for APs and SAT IIs to validate his grades, as well as a box explaining the different fonts used to denote classes taken at home, at Rivendell, online, and at the community college. But the borders were getting all messed up, and I had run out of room in the area for science classes--it was frustrating!  Bob had been up in PA all day with the girls, visiting an amusement park with his family, and he didn't get home until a little after 11:00.  He was able to help get it all straightened out, however.  *Whew*  We printed that off to bring with him, as well as the resume Nathan had prepared for his nomination packets, listing sports, extra-curricular activities, leadership positions, employment, and community service.

They were to meet at the Ft. Meade PX, which is over an hour away, so Nathan and I had plenty of time to talk in the car.  I had typed up a list of potential questions I had found from various threads on the service academy forums as well as college confidential, just to get him thinking about things.  We had good discussions and were able to come up with examples and stories for the questions I had, so that was good.

The interview was really long--one hour, 10 minutes.  Nathan came out of it thinking it went okay, but it could have gone better.  He felt like for the first 30 minutes he had good answers for all the questions.  The first ones were the no-brainer ones, like "What made you interested in the Academy?", and ones about leadership and the advantages/disadvantages of homeschooling.  We totally predicted those!  The last part was harder though, and Nathan felt like he said, "Ummm . . ." too much and moved his hands nervously.  Also, the questions were more situational (like "When was a time you disagreed with your leadership, and how did you handle it?").  We had (obviously, lol) not been able to predict all these questions, and it is hard to think of relative examples for weird situations on the fly, so Nathan felt like he wasn't as confidant/prepared here.  Also, for some questions we had discussed a situation that would fit . . . but then the ALO wanted a second example as well!  Ack!  Nathan felt like he had used up all his good stories in the first 30 minutes, lol.  But from what Nathan told me, I thought he did as well as could be expected, and that the ALO got a good sense of his character/experiences/personality.  It was definitely good to have the practice before nomination interviews!

For anyone who might be curious, here is the list of questions I had typed up, along with the ones Nathan had trouble with that weren't on my original list.  Hopefully it will be helpful to someone else!  I grouped the situational questions at the end.

• What sparked your interest in the Academy?
• What is motivating you to go, other than being a pilot?
• What do your parents think of you pursuing an Academy appointment/military career?
• What do you think the advantages.disadvantages of homeschooling have been for you?
• What are your strengths/weaknesses?
• Should we provide military support for the current situation in Iraq (or insert some other current news event)?
• What do you do in your spare time?
• What is a book you have read lately/one that has impacted your life?
• Do you think the honor code is reasonable?
• How have you demonstrated leadership?
• How have you confronted adversity?
• Share an ethical dilemma you have dealt with--how did you handle it?
• Have you ever had a time when you failed at something?  How did you respond?
• Have you had a time when you were really stressed out, had many things to get done, and couldn't possibly complete them all?  What did you do?
• Share a time when you have watched a peer succumb to peer pressure.  How do you feel like you respond to peer pressure?
• What is something you have regretted in the past, or that you would do over, if you could?
• What is example of a situation where you disagreed with your leadership, and how did you handle it?

Boston

We drove up to Boston last Friday, which was a really long day.  We left at 9:15 and got into the hotel at 9:45, after traffic, construction, and many, many potty breaks after lunch due to Micah, Drew, and Faith.  It was stressful!  I had stayed up until 1:00 the previous night finishing the packing, and my glucose numbers were high both the travel day, as well as the next day.  I think it was due to stress, since I had all sorts of healthy snacks, like a ziploc bag of rotisserie chicken I had shredded, cheese sticks, almonds, etc.  I've never eaten so healthily on a trip!

Saturday we stayed closer to the hotel, and we visited the Minuteman National Historic Park, Concord, and Lexington.  MNHP has a really nice video presentation about the events leading up to "the shot heard 'round the world", and it even kept the attention of the younger kids!  Above you can see Anna on the Old North Bridge in Concord, with a beautiful field of wildflowers in the background.

Past the bridge, on the way to the visitors' center, there were some really great climbing trees that my friend Allison had alerted me to.  The kids could have stayed there all day--Bob too!

Sunday we headed downtown to the USS Constitution area.  Instead of actually touring the ship, however, we spontaneously decided to spring for a tour of the harbor on a duck boat.  The tickets also included 2 days on their hop on/hop off trolleys, and well as one other "free" excursion.  The kids really enjoyed the duck tour, even though Micah looks less than enthused in the picture.  There was a lot of rain that day, so it was nice to be doing something other than walking.  The trolley ride was really great, I thought.  Our driver was really funny, and we got to see all the sites in downtown Boston I had wanted to see, without Bob having to drive, and me having to navigate!  With all the little kids, it wasn't like we were going to be able to stop and tour every thing anyway (plus, it is almost impossible to find parking for the big van), so this was a really low-stress way to see the city.  Micah and Drew both fell asleep, so it was a win all around!

After our super-successful day on Sunday, we were all ready to actually tour the Constitution, as well as do a few other things.  We headed for a parking lot in the North End, by a trolley stop, that we had seen the day before--but they didn't want our van to park there.  After wandering around a bit, we headed back over to the USS Constitution area, where again we couldn't find a place to park for more than 2 hours.  Hmmm.  We parked there, and then we discovered that the Constitution is closed on Mondays.  Of course it is!  We just hadn't paid enough attention to the signs on Sunday, and our hotel didn't have free wifi, so I couldn't look it up the night before (grrrr--that was a huge source of frustration during the week).  We ate our lunch on the sidewalk by the van while we tried to figure out what to do.  We decided we would try to take a short cruise down the Charles River for our "free" excursion, but that meant navigating downtown and trying to find parking.  Amazingly, we found what must be the only parking garage in Boston with a 7'6" height (our van is 7'2"), so we parked there.  We walked through a mall to the back, where the tickets were sold, and we managed to get seats on the last cruise of the day, at 4:15. Of course, it was only 2:45, so we had to burn some time.  The younger kids went up and down the escalators a few times with Bob, and everyone who didn't have gestational diabetes ate dollar freezees from the Burger King in the food court.  Eventually we got on the boat, and that was a really nice time too!  Most of the time, Bob and the kids hung out at the front of the boat.  It was relaxing, and we again saw a lot of Boston.  I feel pretty familiar with the landmarks now!

We ate dinner at the mall, since we knew we would be stuck in traffic otherwise, and when we got back closer to our hotel, we had to make a grocery stop.  Since Bob would be working the next several days, the reservation for those days was at the government rate--which did not include breakfast.  (This hotel definitely was all about nickel-and-diming you!)  So we had to stock up on breakfast things like instant oatmeal that you could make using the coffee pot.  At least we had little fridges in the 2 rooms!

Tuesday morning, Bob got up to meet his new boss in the lobby and ride over to the meetings with him. On the way out the door, he realized that we had never actually parked our van the night before.  We had left it out front after dropping everyone and all our groceries off!  So he called me to come down and move it.  As soon as I got outside, I realized it was dead, since I knew we had left the hazard lights on, and they were no longer flashing.  Oh no!  Bob and the new boss were kind enough to turn around, the hotel had a jumper thing, and they were able to get it started.  Still--a very stressful start to the day!

We did not plan any sightseeing that day.  Instead, we arranged to meet Allison and her 4 boys at a playground on base.  It was another beautiful day, not too hot, and the kids had such a great time running around.  Then we went over to their house for lunch, and the kids really enjoyed having actual toys to play with again!  It was fun to catch up with her, and it was a really relaxing morning, which we all really needed.

As we were leaving, we were all feeling pretty good, so we decided we would again attempt to tour the USS Constitution (it's going into dry dock for repairs after the summer).  We couldn't find parking right by it, but we did find a space by the Bunker Hill Monument (which looks just like a smaller Washington Monument).  Even though Anna does not look happy in the picture above, it actually was interesting to tour the ship, and I was glad we made the effort.  Drew is also not happy in the picture, but he was just done with sightseeing all around, by that point, LOL.  

After we walked back over to Bunker Hill, Luke, Caleb, Jonathan, and Anna decided to climb all 294 steps to the top. While they were doing that, the rest of us went to the van and got some cookies so we could all have a snack when they were finished.  It didn't take them too long.  Luke took my phone so we could see the view with no effort, LOL.  Above is a view of the Naval Yard, with the Constitution there on the right.

Here are the intrepid stair-climbers!  Faith and Micah were very disappointed that I didn't let them go too, but . . .yeah.  They're not our stoic ones.  When Faith started complaining almost immediately after the others left about pushing the stroller up a small hill, I knew I had made the right decision!

One thing that was hard for me was realizing that we were making family memories--without Nathan.  And after this year, that will be the new normal!  It was sobering to think about.  I was again so glad we could take the space-a trip to Hawaii in February, where we could all be together for 2 weeks!  That was a really special time, and I'm really grateful for it.  Of course, even with just the 8 kids, we got plenty of long looks and whispers, especially from the foreign tourists!

Wednesday we met up with the McC's, who had just gotten in to town the day before.  They were visiting Christine's mom, who lives in a lovely old house south of town.  We met up there, then caravaned over to Plymouth.  There we went on a  walking tour guided by Leo from the Jenney Museum.  It was fantastic!  Leo was really informative and a wonderful story-teller.  Also, he really focuses on how the Pilgrims built their society on the structure of the family, and how the way they practiced their faith was the foundation for our government and our freedoms.  It was so interesting, especially from a Christian perspective, which I really wasn't expecting!  

After the tour we walked back down to the harbor so the kids could see the replica of the Mayflower.  It's so small!  Crossing the ocean in that thing would not be my choice.  I really admire the courage of those who did!

After wards, we drove down to White Horse beach. The water was cold, but that didn't stop anyone!  Everyone happily played for several hours, then we went back to Christine's mom's house to eat pizza before driving back to the hotel.  It was a long day, but really fun!

Our last day of sightseeing was Thursday, and we met the McC's in Quincy at the visitors center for the Adams National Historic Park.  There are 3 houses on the tour, and a trolley takes you around to them.  There is the one John Adams grew up in, the one right next door where he and Abigail lived (and John Quincy Adams was born in), both of which are fairly small, and then there is Peacefield, which is a large house, more along the lines of Mount Vernon or something, where John Adams and Abigail moved into after they came back from several years in England.  They had become accustomed to a higher standard of living and wanted to move up a notch back here in the States!  That was really a lovely house, and several more generations of Adams had lived in it, so it had electricity and even some plumbing.  The nicest thing about the house was the library, which was built as a separate room from the rest of the house, as you can see in the picture above.  Christine and I were both coveting such a nice building for our libraries/homeschooling!

Friday we left to drive back home.  It was another long day, although only 11 1/2 hours this time.  We went a different way, so we didn't really get stuck in any traffic, which was nice.  My poor hips and back will never be the same after all the driving in the big van though.  We had a lovely time, and all the older kids said they felt like we really "did" Boston, and they learned a lot, but it was so exhausting.  I don't think I could have done one more day, and I was so glad this trip for Bob wasn't scheduled one week later in my pregnancy, or I don't think I could have done it at all!  It about did me in!  Now we're trying to get ourselves unpacked and organized again, and the younger kids caught up on sleep.  They have been very, very crabby!  I think it will take me a good week to recover as well, LOL.  And I still have a ton of planning stuff to finish before Rivendell starts back up again, and I have this baby.  Just one step at a time . . .

July is Over??

Wow, this summer is flying by, and unfortunately I have not been very efficient at getting things, especially homeschool prep, done!  So, what have we been up to lately?

• Back on Friday, July 11, the kids (except Nathan) and I got up early and drove up to White Sulphur Springs to pick up Luke from staff, and Caleb and Jonathan from Camp Caleb.  It was so good to see them again!  They all had wonderful times.  Caleb and Jonathan were excited that there were kids from another big family there at the same time as they were (the mom is also expecting #10), so they didn't feel weird about having so many siblings!
• The reason Nathan wasn't there was because he drove himself to the Civil Air Patrol place to meet the other people from his squadron who were on encampment staff, so they could all drive down to encampment together.  He originally didn't have a slot on staff, but someone else had to drop out, and the encampment commander was from our squadron, so he asked Nathan to take the empty spot.  Nathan was happy to oblige!  He was on the standards and evaluations team, so his job was to be intimidating, quiz everyone to see if they had learned their required knowledge, and conduct inspections to make sure their drill and uniforms were in order.
• Luke had about 12 hours at home, and the next morning he met up with the rest of his squadron mates who were also attending encampment as basics so they could all drive down together.  Another week with 2 kids gone! 
• Monday, July 14, we were delivered a 20 pound box of fresh blueberries by Elizabeth.  Each summer she puts in an order with a friend of hers, who drives up to Maryland to pick them all up.  Yummy!!!  We spent the rest of the week gobbling blueberries, as well as making blueberry bread, blueberry kuchen, and other blueberry-related yumminess.  I did manage to freeze one gallon bag, but we ate the rest of them in short order--they are sooooo good!  Next year, we're definitely getting at least a box and a half, if not 2!
• Thursday, July 17, Bob and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary.  Bob bought tickets awhile ago to a Straight No Chaser concert at Wolf Trap, which has outdoor seating.  I was a bit worried about it being unbearably hot, but instead the weather was absolutely perfect!  We had such a good time.  They are an acapella group, so it wasn't too loud, and they just seemed like such a fun group of guys.  When Bob first got the tickets, we had thought Nathan would be at home that week, but he and Luke were both gone, so it was Caleb's first time to get all the younger kids down to bed.  He did great!
• Sunday, July 20, encampment was over.  We had not planned on actually going down to pick up the boys, since Lynnea and her family were going, and she said they would bring the boys back.  But again, the weather was unseasonably pleasant, even overcast for the most part, and I mentioned to Bob that this was really the year we ought to go down to see the ending parade.  All the other years, it's been broiling hot, and next year we'll have a baby too!  So we spontaneously decided at 7:30 in the morning that we should drive the 4 hours.  We roused the troops and were on the road not long after.  It was fun to surprise the boys!  Luke actually saw our big van in the parking lot while he was waiting to march in.  At first he assumed it was someone else's, but when he noticed the USAFA bumper sticker, and the parental rights.org bumper sticker, and the half-peeled off bumper sticker with the Mother Theresa quote, "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you can live as you wish" . . . well, that was just too much coincidence, and he realized we must actually be there!  We enjoyed the parade, and we ate lunch at a not-highly-recommended place with a bunch of other staff and cadets, which was fun for Nathan and Luke, LOL.  We did hit tons of beach traffic on the way home, so it was a much longer drive back, but it was good to hear stories.  Luke had a really hoarse voice, and Nathan was really tired--it turns out staff is hard work! 
• Monday, July 21, I had another OB appointment, although I had made sure it was with a different doctor than then previous one!  This appointment was 1000x better.  The doctor was so nice.  She said my weight looked great, and she looked at my little booklet where I had been recording my glucose readings for the past week.  She thought those looked good too.  I actually have had troubles with my fasting number in the morning--it's supposed to be under 95, but the numbers had been averaging closer to 100.  She said that was not too bad, and that while I may need to eventually take a pill at bedtime to help regulate my numbers through the night, I wasn't there yet, and she wanted to give it more time.  I told her I had done some research and had some things I wanted to try--like more protein and fiber with my nighttime snack--and she thought that sounded great.  And since then my numbers in the morning have indeed been lower (although not as low as in other pregnancies, but lower than 95), so those things are working.  My other numbers I really have had no problems controlling, so she was very pleased with those.  She was so nice, I made my next appointment with her, even though it meant I had to move a chiropractor appointment I had scheduled in August!
• Wednesday, July 23, we finally celebrated Nathan's 17th birthday!  Bob grilled steaks, and we had corn on the cob and broccoli for dinner.  I made another blueberry kuchen for dessert, and Nathan opened his presents.  We got him a book about pararescuemen called Guardian Angel by William Sine, and another one called One Bullet Away:  The Making of a Marine Officer by Nathaniel Fick.  We also got him a rugby ball and a shirt that says "Scrum Down". 
• Friday, July 25, all of us (except Nathan again) got up early and got in the van.  This time we were driving to Boston, where Bob had a TDY to Hanscom last week!  Nathan also got up, and he got picked up by Elizabeth, Amanda, and Theodore L. to ride with them up to White Sulphur Springs for his weeks on support staff there.  He and Amanda will both be on staff, as well as a bunch of other guys from previous staffs of his, so he was excited about seeing everyone again.  Our trip to Boston will definitely be a separate post!

Needles, Bunnies, Wait Lists, etc.

Today was a busy day!  I had to take my 3 hour glucose test this morning.  I am very hopeful that this is the very last time I have to drink that incredibly nasty stuff!  I had 4 successful blood draws--and 9 total sticks, so it wasn't a great day for the veins, LOL.  One tech just wouldn't admit she needed help!  I had wanted to bring a sweatshirt or something to make sure my arms were warm, but I totally forgot when I walked out the door.  Oh well, it's over now!  I read half of Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell.  I'm only years behind the rest of America, including Bob and Nathan!  What a fascinating book, though.  I am really enjoying it!  I love, love, love making connections and seeing patterns, so this book is right up my alley.  Reading it definitely made the time pass quickly.

While I was happily reading my book, Nathan was holding down the fort back at home with the 5 younger ones.  This morning, that entailed chasing down Bruno "Houdini" Bunny, which was not something Nathan had put down on his agenda for the day!  He was at the kitchen table when Anna and Grace came down.  They noticed Bruno sitting in the middle of the family room floor and mentioned it to Nathan, who was quite surprised, and wondered who had let him out!  Nathan had to corral Bruno after a merry chase around the main floor.  Bruno ended up in the study hiding behind our old printer, which now sits on the floor, on the bottom shelf of one of the bookcases in the study.  It was quite a trick to get him out, but Nathan eventually did, plopping him back in his pen--where Bruno promptly hopped over to his little house, hopped on top of the roof, and right back out again.  So after another merry chase, Bruno was recaptured and put into his little house, not just in his pen, to think about his transgressions while Nathan worked on a temporary solution to keep him in.  What he came up with has worked so far, and Bruno took a nice, long rest for much of the day, after all his exercise!  He is really missing Caleb, who has been gone this week.  Caleb has been taking him out the yard regularly for him to hop around.  I, on the other hand, have talked a lot to him, and petted him, but not done so much outside (sooooo hot this week . . . ).  So I guess he took matters into his own paws!  Silly bunny.

As soon as I got home, we got everyone into the car and ran them over to the L's house so that just Nathan and I could head over to our local community college to enroll in classes.  Nathan and I had gone over yesterday, but of course everything takes tons longer than you expect, so Nathan just took the math placement test.  Then we were late for his orthodontic appointment, so we had to get out of there before meeting with the dual-enrollment lady and actually enrolling (although we did register--that's different).  So today we went back to meet with her.  Nathan was able to enroll in calculus, but the only physics section was closed, so he's 11th on the waiting list there.  I'm thinking there are not going to be 11 people dropping the class, so I need to research the different online programs I've heard about.  Still plenty of moving parts in next year's schedule, that's for sure!

After getting everyone back home, I ran over to a chiropractor appointment.  A month or 2 ago, my chiropractic office sent out a notice that they had a new doctor on staff.  She was wanting to focus on pregnant women!  I've seen her now twice, and I like her just as much as my regular chiropractor there.  Hopefully keeping up with adjustments as I get closer to my due date will help the baby be in a good position.  She noticed a lot of knots in my back and shoulders.  NO idea why of course--my life is stress-free!  Ha!

Then it was over to Christine's to pray about some of those stressful situations, then finally home.  Oh, while we were waiting at the community college, the doctor called to tell me that I did indeed fail my glucose test, so I need to pick up my testing stuff and make my appointment to see the counselor person.  Well, this would be the 3rd time for that nutrition/how to test yourself session, so I'm thinking "no" on that, LOL.  Just one more stressful thing to add to my plate right now, not that failing was a big surprise or anything.  Oh well--12 weeks to go.

PJOC Wrap-Up

Nathan got home very early Wednesday morning from 9 days in New Mexico where he graduated from the National Cadet Special Activity called "PJOC", which is a pararescue orientation course run by actual Air Force pararescuemen and SERE (survival) specialists.  These are part of the "Guardian Angel" weapon system, which is a large part of the Air Force special forces.  Nathan was very impressed with all the pararescuemen he was involved with.  He can't give a totally detailed breakdown of the course because part of the idea of it is pushing you beyond your physical and mental limits, and they don't want anyone going into it with too much outside knowledge about the specifics of what they are going to have you do.  For example, the cadets had to do a run of unknown distance.  Now Nathan knows about how long it was, but the idea was no one knew at the time, so they didn't know how to budget their strength.  And not everyone made it, either.  If you stopped running, you got picked up by the van and didn't have a chance to finish.

Nathan felt like he was well-prepared, physically.  They did a ton of push-ups, lots of running, some swimming, and various other (painful) exercises.  They also hiked all over the place.  They weren't actually on Kirtland AFB--they were in the national forest a few hours away.  Nathan lost 5 pounds over the course of the week.  They were given 2 MREs a day--one for breakfast at 5:00 AM, and another for dinner at 10:00 PM.  The rest of the day, they subsisted on the snackier parts of the MREs that they saved and carried in their packs.   Nathan had always wanted to try MREs, and now he's had his fill of them this summer, LOL.  They weren't allowed to heat them up, so they ate them all as they were, which definitely made some of the entrees better than others!

In the months leading up to the start of the course, they sent Nathan a fitness plan to complete, and Nathan was faithful to do that.  Like I said, Nathan felt prepared physically, but he felt the most important thing was to prepare mentally to challenge himself and go beyond what he thought he was capable of.

Another thing that was tested during the course was an ability to tie different knots.  Again, the PJOC people had sent out some links before the course so you could start working on them.  They said in the email that one reason people could potentially not graduate was not passing the knots portion.

A lot of the course was survival training.  They slept in shelters they made themselves, and learned other survival skills.  Teamwork was also really emphasized.  Nathan felt like he really bonded with all the other cadets.  There were 65 cadets there total.  The instructors were "squared-away", Nathan said.  They really helped everyone complete the challenges and go beyond what they thought they could do.  They were not "nice, fun people" until the end, but you could understand why they were so intense.  They have so much on the line in their profession.

So Nathan had a really great time.  He came back totally exhausted, but having learned a lot that will definitely help him deal with life.

He did have a bit of an adventure on the way home though.  He was woken up early Tuesday morning (4:00 AM!) by a recorded phone call from the airlines saying his flight, which was supposed to leave at 9:00 AM, had been delayed until 1:00 PM.  There were several other cadets on that flight to Dallas, and after waiting at the airport for awhile, many of them got put on other flights, but not Nathan and one other buddy.  They became very familiar with the Albuquerque airport!  Eventually Nathan flew out at 7:24 to Dallas.  When he arrived there, he had to get from the A terminal over to the C terminal for his connection to home.  My brother was also coincidentally flying out of the Dallas airport that night, to meet the rest of his family who were visiting other family in CA.  His gate happened to be right next to Nathan's gate!!  Isn't that amazing?!  So Nathan got to catch up for a few minutes with Uncle Dan before boarding the plane for home!  He eventually made it here at 12:30 AM.  We were really thankful his suitcase made it too--it was the absolute last one onto the conveyer belt, so we were getting worried!  Nathan slept in Wednesday morning, had a very informative lunch meeting with Christine's brother, who gave him, Isaac, and Caleb some career planning advice, and then fell asleep on the couch once he got back home for another 5 hours.  I think he has finally recovered, now that it has been several days!
 

OB Appointment

I had another OB appointment today, and it was interesting.  I had to wait in the exam room for about 20 minutes before the doctor showed up, although that was just fine with me--it was so nice and quiet, and I read!  When the doctor walked in (she was an older, civilian doctor whom I had never seen before), she asked what we were doing today, and then answered herself by saying it was time for my 28 week labs and for my Rho-Gam shot.  Ummmm . . . I have never had one of those before, I told her??  She totally did not believe me, asking where I had had my babies ("Last 3 right here, Doctor!"), and launching off into a condescending lecture about why I needed the shot--"You see, your BODY makes ANTIBODIES . . ."  I told her I quite understood the physiology of the shot, but I had never needed one before, and this was my 10th baby, so I was not sure why I would need one now.  She said doubtfully that maybe my husband was Rh negative as well, but I knew that both Nathan and Luke have positive blood types, so I kept saying there must be some mistake.  She took down Bob's name and stomped off down the hall to check on his blood type.  She came back fairly quickly to say that someone had just marked my blood type down incorrectly, and that I was in fact, positive.  Yes.  Just as I thought.   So--no Rho-Gam shot for me after all.

After that bit of weirdness, she looked at my chart closely, and mentioned rather negatively my propensity to have big babies (as if I was unaware, LOL).  "We have GOT to get your weight under control!  You need to only gain 1 pound a week!  Once your glucose results are back, we'll get you on the GD diet, and NO MORE CARBS!"  I just said okay meekly, but when I got home, I checked my paperwork from last visit--so, my last appointment was 5 weeks ago today, and in those 5 weeks, I gained a total of 5 pounds, which appears to me to be (and I do have a degree in math, remember), an average of 1 pound a week.  So, that was weird too, but whatever.  I did gain more weight in the first trimester than usual, like I have said before, but I felt like I was doing okay lately.  I'm 27 weeks along, and I've gained about 25 pounds.  That is a little higher than I'd like to be, but it doesn't seem like obesity raging wildly out of control or anything.

Her next point was my "history of babies with shoulder dystocia", and that was why it was so important for me not to keep having these big babies.  Well, the one baby of mine that did have mild shoulder dystocia was Grace--who was by no means my biggest baby.  I told the doctor her story briefly, saying that I felt that the dystocia there was a result of the early induction and Grace not being in a good position, rather than her size.  She looked pretty dismissive of that, but again, whatever.  Hey--I am not interested in having huge babies or babies with shoulder dystocia either!  But it seems like I will keep having big babies, because, well, except for my 2 early Colorado babies, I've had big babies, gestational diabetes or not.

I asked what she thought of me flying at 33 weeks, and she looked absolutely aghast--"I would NEVER approve that for you!"  We had planned to drive down to TX in August to visit my brother and his family, but it turns out that I totally had the wrong date for when the community college starts classes (and we're hoping Nathan can dual-enroll for a few classes next year).  With the right start date, we don't have time to drive there and back, so we were looking into flying.  I was actually talking to my brother on the phone when it dawned on me that there might be an issue with me flying in my 3rd trimester.  I looked at the airplane regs, and it seemed like they all wanted at least a doctor's okay for travel after 28 weeks.  The doctor couldn't believe I had even ever considered it, and she said that was about the time they were going to start the non-stress tests because of my "advanced maternal age".  So now I am bummed about not being able to see Dan and Melinda and their girls, which we were all really looking forward to.  Maybe next May/early June, once testing is done?  I really want to get there before Nathan goes off to college.

So I walked into the appointment relaxed and feeling like everything was going well, and after a 15 minute appointment, I walked back out feeling old and obese, like a big pregnancy fail, LOL.  I made a note of her name, so hopefully I won't have to see her again.  Unfortunately, she is the one putting in the order for my 3 hour glucose test, which I'll take next week, hopefully, so she'll be the one to call me to tell me I failed.  Sigh.  I'm sure she will be encouraging about that!  Ha!  I've been trying to plan for the 3 classes I'm teaching next year, as well as memory work (and trying to figure out maternity leave for all the classes), I've got my guidance counselor hat on as I help Nathan with all the nomination/application forms for college, especially the service academies, we've got the same issues with our church that have become increasingly stressful, and I still don't feel like anything is really nailed down, as far as the schedule for the older boys for next year!  Let's add pregnancy concerns to all that too!  I thought summer was supposed to be relaxing . . . sigh.