So much has happened since i left the face of the blogger world. Best of all the morning sickness, crazy tired part of my pregnancy is over! We now face the tired leg, heartburn faze.
I am taking a few courses via distance ed from SIAST. Hopefully it will lead somewhere but i have promised myself that i will take the courses one unit at a time and one exam at a time.
The children... well there were the measles.... that was a fun one... then there was the vomiting and diarrhea for no reason that they all had.. But all in all sicknesses aside the kids have been well.
Big Dog attended a Winter Camp with his Scout Troop which he thoroughly enjoyed. He has spent his days rigging traps for winter animals and building things outside when he can. Other than that he is absorbed in reading and is progressing well in his studies. He is struggling a little in Math but in all other subjects he is doing very well.
Ms. Proper just had a birthday. She turned nine, and we all went swimming to celebrate the occasion. She has "grown up" a bit in the past few months. She has been more diligent in her studies and seems happier to be part of our family now. I'm not sure what clicked but she is actually playing with her siblings rather than brow beating them for a change, so whatever happened there i hope keeps up. She has got the reading bug now too. Gramma bought her a whole series of books for her birthday (the warrior series, by Erin Hunter) So i am sure she will be much more fluent by the summers end. She has started helping out around the house a lot more. Almost everyday she asks me "Is there anything i can help you with mom?" Its nice to see her stepping out of the little kid role and becoming a lady.
Monkey is thin... He had the measles and the vomiting flu back to back and was turned off food for a few days, unfortunately the boy doesn't have much reserve so he has wasted a way to a stick. He is improving now but i think it will take him a month or two to pack on a little weight. He has finished his math curriculum for the year, and has only a little more language arts before he finishes for the year. He has figured out how to navigate the computer pretty well and can type his own name and passwords. He has progressed in his reading with the promise of a new bike. Now, i know bribery is not for things like this but... It was Supermans deal with him and in their defense, the boy is 7 and reads nothing. He writes HIS name and that's about it. He has been seeing a speech therapist, has figured out the SH sound and taught himself to whistle. He is on lesson 15 in the 100 easy lessons to teach your child to read, and he is GETTING IT! I am so thankful for that. Perhaps he is like some of our other children, with enough incentive they can move mountains.
The Prim received a makeup kit for her birthday in December and since has had a hot pink mustache or hives from the layers of eyeshadow she has layered on (thanks Gramma). She is still the prim. She still changes into a clean dress every time we play music, so she can spin and feel pretty. She is on lesson 25 in our reading book and is progressing well. She has finished all the curriculum that i bought for grade one (so i had to buy more) and she is flying through what i bought! She is ready to move on but i want to make sure her reading is concrete before she moves on to anything else. She is still my maternal mama. She is fantasising about this baby just as much as me. She is starting to babysit for me too. While i put Birdie down for her nap her job is to keep J Bear out of trouble, and when i have a shower she watches the two of them. Delightful! We put her and Monkey in swimming lessons and she still just isn't ready, she gets very dramatic and flails herself around, its a bit much. She tried when she was four and now at six, Perhaps she will be better at 8?
J Bear is a tornado. He talks all day long, he spins, he yells, he runs, he colours, he talks some more, he IS A BOY and HE IS THREE! He terrorizes his siblings and makes a mess wherever he goes. But my oh my does that boy laugh! He is a great helper if you can keep up with him. He is LEARNING. I cant wait for good weather so that they can go outside. Poor boy gets all dressed up in his snow gear with his mitts and can barely walk through the snow. If there is a wind there is no fun to be had out there for a little guy! He colours a lot but there is only so much a little guy can do alone. I know hard to believe that anyone is EVER alone in our house (i rarely feel alone) but i think hes lonely, he causes trouble so the others will pay attention. Any attention is good attention right?
Birdie aww the weee one. She talks all day long!! Only two years old with the "blessings" of older siblings and the determination to be understood. She honestly speaks just as well as James, only not quite as loudly. She is making progress. She SLEEPS IN HER OWN BED!!! Its in my room and we hold hand until she falls asleep but hey I'm good with that. Being prego and sharing a bed with a kicking toddler is not so much fun. I like my bed all to myself thanks. She is off the boob and the bottle. She drinks out of a sippy cup before bed and when we travel and a normal cup during the day. She is growing like a week. She has hit the stage where you buy her clothes she wears them and the laundry somehow piles up for a few days, you get it all done and POOF the clothes wont fit her anymore... What the?? She repeats her self and is convinced that anytime she feels an itch or gets a bump it is the cats fault (i don't know what the girl has against cats but it is what it is).
and the bump.... Ahhh we are 21 weeks along. HE is growing beautifully. YUP HE!! So to recap out children are as follows.. Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, and BOY. Isn't that balanced? Its lovely. I have gone through our basement and manage to pare down to one tote of baby clothes. I got rid of anything girly, anything i wouldn't use the first year, and anything that i was brutally honestly not going to use. I got rid of three large garbage bags! I have EVERYTHING for a baby so i bought some material and made receiving blankets and wipes, knitted a blanket, crochet a blanket, knitted a few hats, and attempted some socks (bad scene, not even going there!) So now i am waiting.... at this point in child rearing I realize that July will be here before I know it. We are half way through March and it was just Christmas a few weeks ago I swear! I'm not uncomfortable yet. My VV are tolerable. I am taking it easy for sure. No heavy lifting no demolition, etc... but all in all other than being scared something was wrong (the ultrasound put all my worries to rest), and utter exhaustion it has been a rather uneventful pregnancy. I like uneventful... uneventful is good. I have a few new habits that i never did before. I watch movies on my laptop a few nights a week after the kids go to bed, I have never been a TV person but as of late i am a person that likes to lie down. I eat at night (usually healthy stuff), and i seem to be completing things before i move on to something else.... THAT'S NEW!! How many dresses did i make to never put the zipper in? How many needle points never completed? How many meal plans never stuck too? But as of late I have craved the organization and it FEELS GOOD to complete things.
More to come... We started a kitchen redo!! It is seriously Superman's best work (next to the children, of course) I am so pleased with it...
