Readers Ask!

So.. Erika, a friend from high school, left a comment on my previous post. She asked:

"I would ALSO like to know how you balance homeschooling the older girls

and have 2 (and hopefully more) under 2?! I can't imagine! I get

overwhelmed taking care of my one dog!! Hahaha."

And here are the strategies that make this possible:

1. First, Brandon's shift at work is three days a week. He does 3 thirteen hour shifts and he is done. All three aren't in a row. He has 2 days off in a row, works one day, off a day, works one day, off a day, works one day... and then it starts over! On the days that Brandon is home, we use what Brandon's calls Zone Defense and Offense. LOL! It's no longer Man on Man! This means that Brandon holds down the fort with the Littles while I do school with the Bigs or vice versa.

I have an incredible husband that insists on us sharing household/childcare responsibilities. I used to feel guilty that I didn't work outside the home but yet I didn't solely do all of the household and childcare duties, but over the years Brandon has convinced me that this is okay. :)

For instance: Brandon loves to cook. So the days that he is home, he usually cooks. I love to clean bathrooms and I'm obsessive about vacuum cleaning. I can fit an amazing amount of dishes in a dishwasher and yet I handwash pots and pans very quickly too. Those things are mine. :) Brandon and I share changing diapers, getting Littles dressed, feeding (except for nursing!), bathtime, playtime, etc.

2. Usually our homeschooling is done in the afternoon.. and coincides with an amazing phenomenon called Naptime. This, of course, only happens when I'm not pregnant, nursing, or sick. If I am pregnant, nursing, or sick, we school in the morning and I nap when the Littles do. *gasp* If we aren't having school that day, the girls are required to have Quiet Time. They can read or look at a book quietly. This assures that the girls are quiet enough for Naptime to occur.

3. Homeschooling doesn't take us near as much time as other schooling. Usually Lainey can knock out her work in about 3-4 hours. On days that she really applies herself, it can be much less.. or if she digs her heels in, it can be longer. Kindergarten took Lainey about 1.5 hours of formal work (max!!!) Of course, we had other "Activities" that tricked her into thinking she was playing and she was really learning. I'm sneaky like that and I'll trick Julianne the same way! Brandon and I believe that keeping school short and to the point, has really given our children a LOVE of learning. And that is one of our long term goals.

4. We also believe in delegation. The girls do their fair share of chores around here (and when the boys are old enough they will too!) We recently gave the girls new tasks after they begged for more chores. I have fabulous laundry folders/hangers now. The girls also take care of things like taking clothes to the laundry, sorting loads, refilling the diaper stacker, refilling the diaper bag with diapers, wipes and clothes, unloading the dishwasher, unloading and helping put up groceries, etc. Many hands make light work. The children don't do their chores at the same level of thoroughness I do, but they are learning!!!

Of course, the social worker got a much more succinct answer.. but I did touch on each of these thoughts. She seemed satisfied.

~Stephanie

PS: Like the new blog header? Anne-Holly surprised me by putting this together after a short Facebook Chat session. :) Thanks, AH!

Monday Musings

Just a little note about where I've been!

Last Thursday, I saw the first rough draft copy of our homestudy. I was thrilled to pieces! I marked it up and placed it in a folder with the medical forms for the boys. (New patient forms for the doctor x 2, 2 physical forms the doctor needed to sign for the homestudy.)

I laid out clothes for all of the children and myself for the next morning.

Friday, I got up eeeearly (6:45am.. craziness I tell you!) to get ready for the homeschool convention. I had a lovely chat at the Heart of Dakota booth and really feel confident about this school year. I was given the reassurance I needed and did some troubleshooting. I also got information on two music programs in the Richmond metro area. Still praying and thinking about those.

Brandon took the children to the doctor's office but there was a problem. I told him the wrong time! (Sorry BABY!) So he had to wait 40 minutes before they could be seen, with four children. Not the smoothest experience for sure!

He got the forms filled out, went by the agency to drop off the folder, and took the kids to get lunch and to pick up steaks for dinner.

I got home and helped finish up the last minute details before our company came. We enjoyed an evening with our friends, Dan and Amy, and their youngest child, Lydia. They were in town for the Homeschool Convention. Lydia is 1 month old and so cute and snuggly! Amy and Dan even shared some snuggle time with me!

Saturday, I was feeling rough. I wasn't sick, just very fatigued and I was reminded that I needed to slow down a bit. I held down the fort and started typing up a planner for Lainey's school this year.

Sunday we laid low. Brandon has a summer cold. (UGH! Can we get a break?) But I did have to go out to Walmart to get some groceries.

Today, I found a second rough draft in my email box! YIPPEE! It should be finalized this week! As soon as it is finalized we can send it to our placement agency!

Spinning Plates...

WOW! I've been walking in quicksand this week! Brandon had a special training he had to attend this week, so he changed shifts. This changed his days off and had him going into the office more than 3 days a week. I was reminded why I love his three day a week schedule. It is ROUGH. (And I've only done 3 of the days, two more to go!)

Tuesday I spent time trying to find a family doctor. We would like to see a family practice that can treat ALL of us. Several offices only see patients over 2. That means we can all be seen except Solomon. Since we've not had any luck finding a pediatrician that we can tolerate, that wasn't going to fly.

I got desperate and called a pediatrician an hour away that came highly recommended. She isn't taking new patients.

And then I remembered that my homeschool email group had recently discussed docs. I found the message about a dad of 6, family practitioner, and his kids are homeschooled. So I called.. and he treats patients from newborn on up. I made two new patient appointments for the girls. We ALL need physicals for the homestudy. I hope his office works out!

The rest of the day was spent filling out homestudy paperwork.. I have an exploding file folder of documents that I've collected so that the social worker can verify the things we've put on the forms. I still have lots of blanks to fill out but I've done a ton. The TO DO LIST is still growing on my white board though.

Tuesday, we will go to the DMV to get a 5 year driving record. Not sure what exactly I need but when I tried the website it was $8 to look at it... and I wasn't sure if I could print it from there or not, so we'll just go pull a number and camp out.

I need to buy some money orders for some of our fees (CPS registry check for VA.) I have some papers that need notarized. Brandon has to write his autobiography. I cheated and found my old one and just added the last 2 years to it. (Ahhh the joys of being organized!)

Wednesday is our homestudy appt and then fingerprinting at the Virginia State Police Office.

For DeLainey's adoption, I have to have a paper notarized with both of our signatures which means bringing The Bunch to the bank. Maybe I can bribe them with lollipops!

Homeschooling: We've been done with the 2nd grade curriculum for a few weeks. We started 3rd grade and kindergarten since we intend to school year round. The only thing Lainey has left for this year is her standardized testing which I'll order when I get a moment to breathe.

Side Job: An amazing side job fell into my lap a few weeks ago. I do my work at night after the children are sleeping/naptime/etc. It's amazing and it is where our adoption fund is coming from. I had a HUGE assignment and it's taken me about a week to finish it. But as of tonight it is DONE!

House: I've ALSO been bitten by the nesting bug. I've done the nursery, the linen closet, the kids' closet, and the basket in the foyer. The nesting will get more furious as the date of our home visit portion of the homestudy comes closer.

The Name Discussion: It's always hard here. Brandon always has some story about the little boy in 3rd grade that picked his nose that had that name, or whatever. It's tough. We were one of thousands of Brandons and Stephanies in the 80's so we like things a bit different. We went back and forth and FINALLY found names. Stay tuned!

Shopping: I've been looking at carseats. Julianne's is about to expire and Solomon needs to move up... especially if we are going to use the carseat for our new wee one. We also will max out the seats in our van with a new addition.

Diet: We've cleaned up our eating ALOT in the last few weeks. It all started when I stopped drinking Pepsi/Sweet Tea. It's getting a little redundant so I really should sit down and write out all the meals that we eat now and so I have a cheat sheet.

Maybe when some of the plates slow down.

~Stephanie

Go, Reader, Go!

I'm pretty sure I've shared in the past how teaching my oldest child phonics almost killed me. It was a painfully slow process. I think I have some secrets up my sleeve for my next child but isn't that how it always works?

Anyway, I started to get concerned about Lainey not reading and several more experienced homeschooling mothers told me to relax and that one day it would click. I tried to remind myself of their advice but I confess I wasn't great at it.

When she really started to read, I was amazed. It wasn't anything in particular I had done. We just kept swimming. Sometimes in life, that is all you have to do. Just keep going!

I watched as her reading levels jumped leaps and bounds and her speed picked up. Then instead of asking me what words meant, she started using context to help her. (I've since taught her to use a dictionary.) Imagine my surprise when new words started popping up in her daily use!

Lainey's book habit has gotten to a point the librarian commented earlier this week. I beamed as I shared the story of a struggling reader that has now a voracious appetite for books. (Like my 50 cent word?) She smiled and said she'd see me in a few days and I giggled to myself as I walked away with a tote bag full of books.

I usually choose most of the books that we check out. My reasoning for this is that I want her reading good books. There is a lot of junk (ahem.. aka twaddle) out there. I also don't want her to pick things that are too over her head. I know my child, and I know she will often get discouraged if things seem too far out of reach. She'll stretch but not leap.

I get book ideas from a variety of places. I read tons of books in my childhood so naturally I remember my favorites. I also check out the 1000 Good Books list and my Sonlight catalog. (We don't use Sonlight to homeschool but I love their catalog for reading suggestions.) I also ask other mothers for recommendations.

Here are some of the 36 books that Lainey has read so far this month:

Stuart Little by EB White
Mystery Ranch by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Mike's Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Woodshed Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
The Light at Tern Rock by Julia L. Sauer
Dolphin Treasure by Wayne Grover
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh

As you can see, Lainey really likes the Boxcar Children. I'm always looking for other suggestions. Do you have any?

Our Solution to the Lunch Rush

About 1 o'clock each day I look up and realize it's lunch time.. and I have nothing ready. Our mornings are busy with getting ready, morning chores and homeschooling... And then suddenly everyone is starving and everything we have seems to take too long to prepare. We can't serve peanut butter due to Lainey's allergies and most of my eating children don't care for lunchmeat sandwiches.

As I was making my game plan for Brandon's new 13 hour, 3 day a week schedule I knew lunch would be an issue. I'm SO much more likely to ask Brandon to bring something home on his lunch break than for dinner. I also thought back to Lainey's brief enrollment at a Montessori Preschool when I was a working mom and remembered that children served their own lunch. It teaches the children real life skills by well.. doing real life. Novel concept, huh?

Then, I remembered that I was much more likely to grab some fruit or veggies to eat if it was prepared and looked appetizing. So, our "pickanicka" lunch trays were born as Julianne calls them.

Each morning, during my chore time, I spend time in the kitchen after breakfast. During this time I think about dinner, serve breakfast, and do various kitchen chores. The little boys are sitting at their highchairs and I usually turn up the praise music. (Side note: I'm SO not a morning person.) I cut, peel, slice, dice, chop, whatever I think we should have on the trays. I use two small restaurant trays that I picked up at a restaurant supply store and our rubbermaid containers. I do everything to make the food easily accessible. I make sure to have a wide variety of items to choose from. And then I put it back in the refrigerator (stacking my trays due to lack of space in our fridge.)

This picture shows: Laughing Cow cheese, clementines, yogurt, lettuce, strawberries, carrots, grapes, and hardboiled eggs. We also grabbed some crackers as well.

The children serve themselves. I don't dole out what I think they should eat. They must choose at least one veggie. Certain things they can only have one of (example, yogurt.)

When we are done, we put the lids back the containers that still have food in them and return the trays to the fridge. The next morning I take stock and see what I should add.

It's been amazing for our family. We are eating so much better. I am sick today but Lainey and Julianne were able to get out lunch out before their Daddy arrived home, all by themselves. They were so proud of being able to help me.

Other things that we have had on the tray or plan to add:

- Cucumbers
- Olives
- Pickles
- Sushi (I will not be indulging.)
- Tuna, egg, or chicken salad
- Deviled eggs
- Sliced cheese
- Lunchmeat roll ups
- Fruit Salad
- Pasta Salad
- Potato Salad
- Carrot Raisin Salad
- Coleslaw
- Hummus with pitas
- Seasonal produce (I really try to keep our produce purchases to less than $1/lb.)

So.. this is how we do lunch. How do you handle the lunch rush?

~Stephanie

It's going to be a crazy week....

This is what our schedule looks like this week:

Monday- Homeschooling and Chiropractor visits for Brandon and I. (Brandon went and there was a sign saying they were closed. I guess we missed the announcement.) Prep chicken for potluck on Tuesday.

Tuesday- Homeschooling and potluck at Brandon's work that our family was invited to. It's a potluck for his team of employees. Solomon turns 3 months old!

Wednesday- Homeschooling, Chiropractor visits for Brandon and I, trip to the library to pick up books for the next two weeks and Brandon's office wide picnic-- families included.

Thursday- Homeschooling and dental appointment for me.

Friday- Solomon's weight check appointment, chiropractor visits for Brandon and I, drop off consignment and Brandon's SECOND interview! Exciting! It's at 12 noon if you'd like to join me in prayer. :)

Soooooooooooooooooooooo.... I shouldn't have scheduled our homeschool to start this week.

Live and learn.

Edited to add: Thursday we also potentially have either rain from the hurricane or rain and wind. So everything on our porch needs moved off, we need to make sure we have water and flashlights. EEEKS!

*SQUEAL!* and a hodge podge

I just got word that Brandon was asked to interview for The Position on Monday at noon!

**************SQUEAL!*****************

Okay... enough of that. In other news, I'm almost done with Lainey's work for the entire year! I did something different this year and I'm so excited to share it soon! *Yay!* *Wahhhhoooo!*

Doing the same thing for Julianne, is well.. going much slower! *Boooooooooo!*

Xander now waves in response to "Hi, Hello, Good Morning, Bye, Goodbye and Good night." Yes, I've tested them all. :) He's been a bit cranky the last few days and we aren't 100% sure why. I'm guessing it's a growth spurt or teeth.

Solomon has been awake more.. and hungrier and hungrier! I've had marathon nursing sessions lasting at least an hour for the last 2 days or so. Growing is such a bittersweet thing though. It is neat to see his personality come out. Those of you that have met Brandon in person, know that well.. his facial expressions tell everything. I often lean in and whisper "Fix your face" when we are in awkward situations (per his request.. of course!) You can read his face from a mile away! Well... guess which one of our children appear to have this characteristic? Yes, my sweet Solomon. He will definitely be an interesting character.

This is his, "Are you done yet, Daddy?" look...

Still no good news on the hives situation. Still hiving.. since February now! They are less intense than they were but they are still here. I'm starting to wonder if I'll have them the rest of my life? Seriously, I do not remember what it feels like to not have hives.

Yesterday I went to the dermatologist to have a four suspicious moles checked out and only had to have one removed. I'll spare you the picture of that! It was easy to have it removed and I seriously didn't feel a thing. Don't hesitate to have any moles that looked at if they are suspicious!

I hope all is going well in your camp!

~Steph

Easter/Anniversary Recap

Sadly, we didn't make it to church since I was up with cramps/braxton hicks/contractions for a few hours in the night. I drank alot of ice water (thinking I was a bit dehydrated thus causing an irritable uterus) and that caused me to need a potty break every hour on the hour afterwards. It was a long, lonely night, but I was SO relieved that things seemed to settle down.

So no church. :( I was greeted by a very romantic anniversary card when I woke up. Brandon and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary today as well as the resurrection of Christ! The kids checked out their buckets and treats.

We slowly got moving and dressed and then headed out to Williamsburg. Brandon found out that the same chain restaurant we ate at on our wedding day, also has a location in Williamsburg so that is what he planned for our Easter/Anniversary meal. It was WONDERFUL!

Before going into the restaurant, we used the beautiful grounds to take some pictures. They turned great!

We ate prime rib, crablegs, peel and eat shrimp, along with various sides and then had quite a few dessert selections to choose from. I had fruit fondue.. YUM!

The girls got a kick out of 'James Madison' coming to talk to our table. Lainey wasn't entirely sure who James Madison was but she still held a little conversation with him and asked him a few questions. She was tickled that he said he owned horses and rode his horse named Virginia to the restaurant.

Afterwards, I showed Brandon a historical resort that I thought he might be interested in. I met my friend, Angie, there the weekend we moved in and thought Brandon would like to see it. Then we drove to Colonial Williamsburg to inquire about the activities there. We are thinking about buying annual passes there (with a sweet discount for being homeschoolers!) sometime soon.

After checking out the information desk and a quick diaper change for Xander, we loaded back into the van and headed home.

Once we got home, the girls did a quick egg hunt with plastic eggs in our yard and a little while after that we colored eggs.

It's been a full day. But I'm SO very blessed to have a wonderful, active family to fill my day.

I hope your Easter was lovely and meaningful.

So loved... by my husband and the King of Kings!

~Steph

A Sermon that Blessed Me

Voddie Baucham is kind of "new" to me. I've only known of him for a little over a year. I missed hearing him at the homeschool convention in 2009 but did manage to catch a sermon when he was a guest speaker at one of our local churches. He even prayed with Brandon and I, when we shared briefly our calling to adopt another child and that I was expecting in June. Ya know what he said? "Ahhh.. just getting started I see." We loved his positive comments and loved that he took the time to pray with us as a long line formed behind us.

Voddie is very "cut to the chase." A friend and I have a joke that when you listen to Voddie, you either AMEN or OUCH. I've done both listening to his sermons. He's a pastor at Grace Family Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. He's a homeschooling father and an outspoken adoption advocate. The Bauchams are blessed with 6 children so far (wink), including four adopted children.

I'm currently reading his book titled "Family Driven Faith," but was sent this link by a friend. I've heard this particular recording a few times, but today it really hit home.

Hopefully, it will bless and challenge you too.

The Centrality of the Home in the Evangelism and Discipleship of the Next Generation

NOTE: This was actually spoken at a Evangelism Conference just for a frame of reference.

(There was a problem with my link before, but it should work now.)

~Steph

It's been busy around here!

Well.. more busy than usual. *grin*

Brandon and I have always seemed to have a very fast paced life. So what we consider a "slow time" still receives comments from friends and family like "Don't you EVER slow down?" Oh and we got lots of "Number 2 will slow you down." And that was followed by "Number three will slow you down." Well.. now we are starting to get "Number 4 will slow you down." HA! I think each one adds a little bit more speed to our "busy." But we do slow down.. in our own way.

So let me catch you up.

1. I've been busy thinking about revamping our homeschool for the 2010-2011 school year. Our homeschool is an ever evolving process and I'm okay with that. After 20+ years of watching my mom change her thoughts and plans as a public school teacher, I see this as a normal and good thing and it doesn't freak me out. January starts what I call "Homeschool Season" with new catalogs arriving and conventions. I've been keeping a working document on my computer with my thoughts and what I'm looking for for each subject so that will help me decide. This next year will add the challenge of adding another "little" as I teach Lainey who will be in 2nd grade this coming fall. 3 littles, 1 student and 1 teacher/mom. Some days it feels frazzled but Lainey gave me the best compliment that I could ever receive as a homeschool mom. We were at a restaurant and someone asked her what grade she is in. She said 1st. Next they asked about her teacher.. do you like your teacher? She said "Oh she's great.. and she's my mom. We homeschool." This big blob of hormones had to fight back tears.

Sooo.. we are keeping Math-U-See. As a visual learner this is a definitely a plus in my book (and Lainey's.) She loves the video lesson that she watches once a week and loves playing with (ahem.. manipulating) the blocks as she does the work each day. Thumbs up!

For science and history/social studies we'll be using a unit study approach by Christian Cottage. Unit studies will be new for us but I love the way the curriculum is laid out and compared to other unit studies, this is a steal of a bargain!

Bible, phonics, reading and grammar are still up for discussion although the field is narrowing quickly. I'm also looking at more "fun" elective type things for Lainey to explore this coming school year. One of the huge advantages of homeschooling is that you can really tailor your child's learning to the way that they learn best and what they are passionate about or interested in. The flip side of that, is that the choices are numerous so you really have to pick and choose what works best for your family.

2. We are going to a convention! HEAV has their convention in Richmond in June.. but it is pushing it due date/delivery wise, especially if I follow my past pattern. I've not seen a due date yet without holding a baby in my arms (for successful pregnancies.) Walking a convention either hugely pregnant or newly delivered is not my idea of fun. So we branched out. We'll be attending the Midwest Homeschool Convention in April! It's in Cincinnati, Ohio which is exciting for Brandon and I since we've never been. Brandon actually has never been to a homeschooling convention and I only attended one day of the HEAV convention last year.

3. We are taking a detour to the Creation Museum the day before the convention starts. Brandon and I have wanted to go for quite some time and we are finally going to be near enough for a little detour. I can't wait to report back!

4. There is a tiny rumor that we are expecting snow on Friday and Saturday. Saturday is my new shopping day after being moved for Brandon's schedule. Normally that would not worry me but since we've been doing the Pantry Challenge, things were looking pretty bare. So we went shopping to replenish things.

5. Xander is highly mobile! We've had to put the Bee House on lockdown with babygates. Not only is now a speed crawler he is also pulling up on things and taking steps to reach for things. He also has a new found love for touching things that are not his. He is by far my youngest mobile child in the history of Bee children at 9 months old. For example: Lainey was barely pulling up and walking holding onto both of my hands at 13 months. We have a record breaker on our hands folks!

6. Lainey's 7th birthday is coming up and we've been busy preparing for that celebration. Since moving so far from family, we've greatly toned down birthdays. But they are still fun and she'll still feel special on her special day. I'm trying not to think about how much my first baby has grown and blossomed because I do not want to get mushy. I'm usually fighting back tears around 4:48pm on her birthday which is when my first princess made her appearance now almost 7 (goodness is that really right?) years ago.

7. I'm 19 weeks today! Given my above mentioned history of delivering early, I'm over halfway through this pregnancy! It seems to be flying by! Maybe the distraction of my three little blessings are helping that right along. I'm still feeling good. I do have some back pain but after three surgeries on it, I think I'm holding up okay. I'm still losing weight and don't have much appetite. My love for chicken has returned.. so that is nice! Every now and then I do experience nausea but it's nothing my little friend Zofran can't handle. Sleeping isn't going so well lately but I'm just dealing with it at this point. I'm craving protein A LOT and carbs just aren't doing it for this former carb junkie. Brandon is a little concerned about my lack of appetite and he doesn't think I'm eating enough. We'll see. My next appointment is February 2nd and hopefully we will see a beautiful, healthy baby and know the sex. I can't wait to announce the name we've chosen! This was the easiest name decision we've had so far, although actually finding names is quite difficult for us.

8. Speaking of craving protein, Brandon and I realized that Q Barbeque is here in Richmond! Brandon has been watching TLC's BBQ Pitmasters and I put two and two together when we saw the logo after my dentist appointment. So we stumbled in yesterday. And guess who was standing behind the counter? Tuffy Stone himself. He is a very nice, friendly, humble gentleman and he chatted it up with Brandon. Brandon asked if he could take a picture with the pit and Tuffy said sure.. and even took pictures with us! It was BY FAR the best BBQ I've ever had... although that may get me disowned by some of the in laws since I married into BBQ Royalty. Oh well.. I'm honest.. right? Oh and this Georgia girl approves their sweet tea and banana pudding! (It's very hard to find good tea here and the pudding tastes just like mine.. so maybe I'm a touch biased?)



9. The Church hunt is back on. We actually have a few candidates on our list. They are a bit of a drive (25 miles) but we are thirsty and hungry and NEED a church home!

10. Taxes are prepared but not filed. We are waiting on Xander's birthcertificate to arrive and then we can apply for a social security card. I'm SO excited and can't wait to call Dave Ramsey with our debt free scream! It's coming soon folks!

PS: I finally figured out how to hyperlink! Thanks Google!

WOW.. it's been a while...

It's been a while. I haven't done a good job of keeping this blog updated. Of course I have had plenty of time to read blogs... Sigh....

So I have quite a bit to catch up on.

1. #4 is on the way! We found out in October that what I thought was bad Chinese food was actually a little one creating hormones that cause morning sickness. After what is now years of heartache in the fertility department I was in denial. Brandon is the one that begged me to pretty please test late one night and two lines popped up quickly. I was speechless. He said "I told you so!" Okay, honey. You were right. *smile*

I was only 3 weeks and a few days... I knew it would make for a long pregnancy but I was able to get in and get some bloodwork drawn and find out that my HCG numbers were great but my progesterone was iffy. Since I've lost 2 pregnancies of my 4, the doctor seems to think that low progesterone might be the culprit. So I started progesterone supplements. I'm due June 23rd and so far everything is going well. I love the practice that I blindly picked here. LOL I've never made it to a due date before and have had issues with preterm labor so they will be following my case closely. I'm thrilled there is a peri in the office just in case!

I've had to actively battle my fear. Part of me believed that I'd just lose this baby too. Afterall, I had lost half of my pregnancies and I am ONE miscarriage away from having the most hurtful words written on my chart. "Habitual Aborter." It makes me nauseated to type that! What a terrible label for a woman that loves her children deeply and has never done anything to harm them! Even in my first pregnancy which was a complete surprise and the news came at an interesting time (like uh.. right after my ex- husband and I separated...) I NEVER considered abortion. NEVER!

But each day, I'm SO very thankful that I've been allowed to carry the baby yet another day. And here I am 11 weeks today!

2. Xander is now crawling...



and holding his bottle, except for Mama...




He is also pulling up on the edge of the couch and in his crib... and the other night attempted to stand up on his own without pulling up on anything, but well, that didn't go so well.

3. Homeschooling is going well. I'm getting a little frustrated with our particular curriculum and I've started making a list of things to change next year. I hope that I can make it to the Homeschooling Convention. I think it is June 10-13 and as mentioned above I'm due with #4 on June 23rd but haven't made it to my due date yet. We are still doing written schooling four days a week but now we have school Wednesday-Saturday so it coincides with Brandon's work week.

I promise I'll try to do a better job of keeping this up. I might make this my homepage so I see it every day. Maybe that will help. LOL

~Steph