Back home for ONE day!

Last week, somebody said to me, "Sheesh, you guys are busy!"  It does seem like we have been busier than usual lately! We have been out of town a lot and after this weekend, we are going to stay home for awhile!

We spent this last weekend in Kansas City at the Maker Faire at Union Station.  The easiest way to describe this is that it is a big conference on creativity. If you make something, you can have a booth there! It is mostly geared towards the techy type like Matt with 3d printers and computers stuff, but there is definitely a lot more there! This would include cars, jewelry, food, robots, lego clubs, etc.  It is so much fun to walk around and see what everybody has made.  Like Matt said, he wants to make everything now!

We pulled back into town about 2 pm yesterday and tomorrow we are leaving to go camping again! That means I have one day to wash everything and repack the camper. I left a bunch of stuff in the camper when we unloaded yesterday, so hopefully it won't be as much work to pack it up again.  We are going to be gone until Sunday. We are just going to Fremont, so not far at all!

After this weekend, our next camping trip is not until the first weekend in August and we are just going locally again. We figure by that time, I should not be travelling anywhere far because of this baby coming in November.  We might actually be around for Labor Day this year!

After baby comes though, we are kind of limited to where we go because we will not be able to fit four kids in the backseat of our truck and no, we do not have a bench seat in the front.  We are trying to decide what would be out best option so we can continue to travel.  But until we find something affordable and that would work, we might just be going locally where we can take the van with all the children. :)

20 Week Midwife Appointment

We left the house at 8:45 this morning and pulled in at 5 pm tonight! Long, but fun day!

I had an appointment right away this morning with the midwife.  We went over my ultrasound results and of course, she said, "Wow, you have a big baby in there!" Everything on the report was normal.  She also saw that the placenta was anterior, which means it is in the front. She said that the baby's movements may be muffled because of it, but then she added, "not your baby though, he's crazy!" I know!!!

We also talked about my poor round ligament pain that has already started. :(  I told her what has been going on in water aerobics and she does not think it is Braxton hicks contractions, but just a tendon (round ligament) that is hitting cold water without stretching out and it is not liking it.  She told me to stretch a little bit before starting class and warm up a little.  She also said to stand up slowly from a sitting position. Hopefully these little tips will help. We also talked about getting a maternity belt to wear, this helped tremendously when I was pregnant with Christian, so I may try that again! I still have 4 1/2 months left and this baby is already big for his size!

The best part of it was though that my favorite nurse was back! Ever since my midwife went out on her own, she has been trying to get her old nurse to come over from her old office. She finally got her and I was thrilled to see her today!! She said she just started Monday and was super excited to be working with my midwife again!

After my very constructive appointment, we headed to the library, Aldi's, and then to swimming lessons.  After we were done there, we walked with some friends over to Pepperjax for lunch.  Why not? Kids eat free on Wednesdays. :)

We walked back to the gym and spent the last 2 1/2 hours at the pool! Luckily the sun came out after the thunderstorms this morning and we were able to swim.  It was actually hot! I love getting in the pool and cooling off and having the baby weightless!

Tomorrow we will be packing to head off to the Maker Faire in Kansas City for the weekend.  It should be a GREAT time!!

Water Aerobics and a big baby?

One of the main reasons I joined the gym for the summer was that I could do water aerobics. :)  Ok, and so the kids could swim all summer!

I have gone to water aerobics three times now and each time, I get more tense and my poor pregnant stomach is not liking it. :( 

When I was at my ultrasound on Friday, the tech said she could not get a measurement of something because I was having a Braxton hicks contractions and that needed to stop first.  Up until this point, I didn't think I was having these at all, but now that she has said that, I feel them all the time! And especially during water aerobics!

I had many, many Braxton hicks contractions with Christian and they get really old, really fast!  I know drinking water helps, but if I drink water, then I have to use the restroom all the time. This is not fun in the middle of an exercise class!

I am going to see my midwife tomorrow for my 20 week checkup. She will go over my ultrasound results and I am going to ask her if I should continue to do water aerobics and just deal with the tension or stop.  I don't even feel like I am getting a good workout because my stomach is so tight almost the whole hour and then it makes the rest of myself tighten up.

I also wonder what my midwife is going to say about the size of my baby. He is measuring a week ahead of where he is supposed to be.  His feet and his femur were both three centimeters long last week! Every body part they measured was a week ahead. He was already 13 ounces and that is the size of a baby who is 21 weeks gestation, not 20! I know there is a variance in babies and I could just be having a big baby! This may explain why I eat all the time. :)

I have also grown out of many more regular clothes and am having to transition to more maternity clothes! I had to go shopping again yesterday because I only have a few things that fit. I don't want to spend a lot of money on baby #4!

Maker Faire coming up!

After a very busy weekend, life just keeps on going. :)  I swear we are busier now than we were when we were doing school everyday!!! We leave this house everyday and are constantly moving. I almost wish we had a couple days of downtime!

This week is no different. We are taking a trip to Kansas City this weekend to attend the Maker Faire.

http://www.makerfairekc.com/

We attended the faire last year and the whole family had a lot of fun! We can't wait to go again! But honestly, our camper is not cleaned out yet from our Illinois trip.  (Everything is taken out, it just needs to be wiped out and vacuumed and swept.) We haven't even taken it back to the storage area yet.

We are leaving for this trip on Thursday and won't be home again until Monday. The Maker Faire is Saturday and Sunday, so we are going to go a little bit earlier and come back a little later. We are camping at Worlds of Fun, so that's always fun. We don't go to Worlds of Fun because it is too expensive for all five of us, but it is sure fun to camp right by the roller coasters and hear the people screaming all day!

But before we head to Kansas City on Thursday, we an have eye appointment for Megan, midwife appointment for me, and dentist appointments for the girls.  We also have tennis lessons, swimming lessons, gymnastics and dance lessons at the gym.  We also need to get some groceries, find some more maternity clothes, and write Christian's birthday thank-you cards.  I need to get to the post office and mail our homeschooling papers for next year and a box for Matt.  I should not fail to mention the usual dishes, laundry, and taking care of the children. :)

I think life will continue to be busy for us!

Gender of our New Baby

We had our ultrasound yesterday and everything went well.

We found out that....

We are going to be welcoming another BOY into our family in November!!!  And this baby boy is bigger than he is supposed to be and would not stay still for anything during the ultrasound! Am I in for some trouble or what??

Everybody is thrilled! The girls didn't really care what we had, and Christian was "too happy" about it (in his own words)!! He really wanted a brother and I wanted one for him!

Our tech got a little picture happy, so we have about 10 pictures of our little guy. They are anything from his spine to his feet to his head and even his boy parts. :) I wanted  to make sure we were 100% on that one!!  And we are!

Every time Matt and I have a baby, we are just in the awe of the miracle that it is! How can one little human being grow and develop so many intricate parts in the womb? Have you ever thought about it?  Life is such a miracle!!!

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you. Psalm 139: 13-18

Boy or Girl??

What will be joining our family in November? A baby boy or a baby girl?

Today is the day we find out!!! Everybody is pretty excited around here!!

Wierd Pregnancy Dreams

Can I just say I have the weirdest dreams when I am pregnant?

Last night...
1.  I was with a family who left their baby alone for 8 days and she was near death when they got back home. She was still in the same position on the couch of when they left her, but she was completely dehydrated. They forgot her at home....
2.  Another friend's mom was dying in the other room while the son of the mom was giving me organ lessons in the other room.

My dreams are SOOOO weird and they seem to be all about death.   Can I just say that when I was pregnant with Megan, I think I had a dream when I actually was not very nice to Matt! Like I think I was killing him somehow...yikes!! (Good thing I don't remember this dream, but Matt keeps reminding me about it!)

Only 20 more weeks to go of crazy dreams!!

Eye appointments and insurance!

Megan has been having trouble with her eye and even though I pretty much know what is going on, I think it is about time I take her in anyway to get her eyes checked.  I know I took her in last summer, so it has been about a year. I think she sees great, but I just want to get her in every year anyway! I also need to get Courtney and myself in!

I got a recommendation for a local optometrist from another homeschooling mom (it's her husband!), so I called his business and asked if they were in-network for us, which he was.  I then proceeded to ask what our insurance would cover and she sent me to call my insurance.  I then found out that if our kids get their eyes checked at their yearly physical with their pediatrician, then it is covered 100% because it is preventative, BUT if I want to take them to an optometrist or an ophthalmologist for a more in-depth exam, it will go towards our deductible!!  I know we are going to meet our deductible this year, but we still want to keep costs low. 

After I found this out, I called back the place I had called earlier and explained the situation. I then asked how much it was for a eye exam, she told me $126!!! WHAT?? If I wanted to order new contacts, it would be another $59 for me! That is almost $200!!

I was so shocked because last year I paid $20 for an eye exam a Visionworks at the mall!!

I then called around to a local Walmart because I figured it would be cheaper. It was $69 for an eye exam and an additional $32 for contacts. That is more like it! This doctor is in-network, so it would be applied to our deductible, but I have no idea who she is!

I got a recommendation from another friend and called her place. Their eye exams were $144 and another $60 for a contact exam!! This would be another $200, but they were also in-network.

I then called back Visionworks from last year.  They do not take our insurance, but are running a special now which is $29 for an eye exam and then another $58 if I wanted to order contacts.

So here is my dilemma?
Do I...
1.  Go where it is cheap (Walmart, Visionworks) and just take any doctor who is available? I did this last year and was not too happy.
2. Continue to get recommendations until I find a reasonable priced doctor?
3. Pay an arm and a leg for a eye exam with somebody who was recommended?? I could build my deductible up now, so it's less to pay at the end of the year when we will have a nice expensive hospital bill??

I was out talking to my neighbor last night and we were talking about this. She said she had used the doctor that I called at Walmart and was very pleased with her.  She said she would highly recommend her, so I think I am going to call out there and get an appointment for Megan. If I like her, I will have Courtney and myself see her. If I don't like her, I guess we will continue searching!

Why can't Dr. Cole at Target have my insurance? She was covered by our old insurance and she was great!!

We are Back!!

We are back from another fun-filled camping trip! This one led us to Ottawa, Illinois to visit some friends that we haven't seen since last September! It was very nice! We even spent a day in Chicago, which was an added bonus.

But now we are home and things need to get back to normal.  The kids (plus a neighbor boy) helped unpack the camper last night, so that was done with the first two hours that we were home. Most of the things got put away right away, but some are still on the counter or on the kitchen floor. 

I also had to get laundry going. I did some while we were at our friend's house last Wednesday, but we still have the last five days worth of clothes to wash.  Before we left  a week ago, Matt turned the water off to my washer, just in case it would flood, but he did not tell me he did this. Last night when I went to do laundry, I could not figure out why my washer was not working! Today, I tried a couple more times and finally realized that the clothes were not even getting wet.  I texted Matt at work and asked if he shut the water off and sure enough, he said he did! GRRR! I turned the valve back on and we were in business! I wish I would have known that sooner!

We also had to make a trip to the store today to restock on a few groceries plus a new white board for school! Our poor white board that we use for school finally bit the dust! We were pretty sad when it broke, Megan even said, "Do you know how much we have learned on this white board?" Yes, Megan, I do!!! We will start with our new white board tomorrow!

We also need to get Megan some new goggles. Her current ones are irritating the area below her eye and the longer she swims, the redder it gets.  I found out today from my chiropractor, whose brother is an optometrist, that the pressure from her goggles plus the chlorine is causing the problem. So now we hunt for some new goggles. We saw some at Wal.Mart today, but I think we really need to get some speedo goggles.

I also had to check in with my doctor today.  The day that we left, I found out that I am anemic and need to be on a B supplement.  I am not short of iron, but rather hemoglobin.  I went in today and talked to her for awhile and figured out what I am going to do.  We also talked about how great I feel with this pregnancy and how things are just going well. :)  We have our 20 week ultrasound on Friday and should be able to find out what we are having!!

We are back to the gym tomorrow for tennis lessons and water aerobics.  The weather is supposed to be warm all week, so we might be swimming quite a bit.  Hopefully we can fit a math lesson or two in our week too! (Megan only has 38 more to go!!)

Packing Day!

We are leaving for another trip tomorrow and today is packing day!! I am such a last-minute person!!


Before I pack though, there were a few things that need to happen ahead of time.

1. I have to clean off my counters in my kitchen.  I usually pile all the stuff from my kitchen that needs to go into the camper onto the kitchen counter and then take it all out.

2.  Megan and I went and got groceries at 8 pm last night! This needed to be done and if I was going to pack today, this had to be done yesterday.

3.  I had to buy some maternity clothes! I can't believe I don't have any maternity clothes from the other three children that fit for this stage and season of the year! I spent $25 on a pair of shorts last night from Target, but I had to get some shorts! I also went to a consignment store on Tuesday and spent some money on a couple of shirts and some cute jean skirts. They didn't have any shorts that fit or that fit right. I still need a swimming suit yet. :)  Hopefully these new clothing items will make it through the next couple of months.

4.  Hire some help!! Packing the camper is such a huge job and lately, I run out of energy pretty quickly!! When we went to the Grand Canyon, I hired the neighbor boy and Courtney to pack the camper. I paid them one nickel for every item they took out! It was wonderful and helped tremendously!!! We were having lunch with some friends yesterday and her girls were begging to come over for a playdate.  I said they could come over, but we're packing.  I then threw the idea out to them that I would pay them for helping me pack. They took me up on my offer! I will have five kids helping me today!!! This should go petty quickly!

5.  I still need to get some laundry done. I like to have everything in the house washed and ready to pack before we leave.

6.  I finally got a new cell phone, so I can take that on our trip. :)

7.  We still need to find a solution for our fish. We usually take them to our friend's house, but Matt is thinking about getting a self-feeder for this trip.  We are only going to be gone for a week or so.

8.  We have talked to our neighbors about mowing our lawn, I guess we should ask them if they can pick up our mail too!

9.  We also need to finish up this week's schoolwork.  Both girls need to finish their spelling lessons today and take a test.  We didn't get to school yesterday, so they are going to do the last lesson and their test today. :)  I am going to check Courtney's math lesson, but not give her another one to do. Megan is also at the end of her math chapter.  Her next lesson is a chapter review and then the test should be the next day, but we are out of days.  I looked at her last night when I was thinking about this and said, "Do you REALLY need to do the chapter review? Do you think we could just skip it and do your test?"  She responded with, "MOM, of course!" I think she will be fine! Then we will be ready to start the next chapter when we get home. 

10.  I have a few bills to pay before we leave. :(

11.  I ended up getting my platelets and iron checked again yesterday. I have been out of breath a lot lately and a little dizzy, so I think those are pretty low again. Hence why I hired children to pack the camper!

12.  Courtney starts her jazz and hip hop class tonight and Christian starts gymnastics, so hopefully the camper will be packed by then!

13.  Matt needs to pack his section of the camper.  He had to take everything out when we put it in storage, so now he needs to put everything back in! That is quite a job too.

We are pulling out as soon as we can tomorrow and have reservations in Davenport, Iowa tomorrow night.  We are going to drive the last 100 miles to our friends house in Illinois on Saturday on Saturday morning and will be there for the next week. It should be a good time!!

"I got it, mom!!!"

This is what I heard yesterday from Courtney, "Mom, I think I got it!" She was referring to long division!! We had been working on simple long division problems (such as 13 divided by 2) for a couple of days and she wasn't really struggling, but she wasn't quite getting it 100% either.  Yesterday, the light bulb went on and she got it!! After she got it, she said, "Give me some more problems mom, these are fun!" So I did and she got every single one right!

One of many reasons why I love homeschooling- I get to see the light bulb come on and get excited right along with my kids!!

 



Gym Membership

I decided to join a local gym this summer for myself and the three kids. I have joined gyms in the past and I have been at different ones, but I decided to go back to this certain one this summer.  They have great kids programming and great classes for adults. :)  It is also relatively close and we know quite a few people who are members there.

A couple of weeks ago, I had to sign the kids up for the classes they wanted to take this summer.  The gym offers little classes (playdoh time, craft time, rock wall, etc.) for the kids during the childcare time, but they also offer other classes that are a little bit extra.  I decided that all three kids were going to take swimming lessons and I would like it if they found another class to take.  There were plenty to chose from and we don't mind paying a little bit for a quality class.  Megan got word that her best friend was taking tennis, so she decided to take tennis too! She has never played it before, but I think it will be a good experience for her!  Courtney couldn't decide on a class, but eventually ended up with jazz and hop-hop.  There weren't many for Christian, but Matt and I decided that gymnastics would be good for him!

The kids start their new classes this week. Today was the first day of tennis for Megan and she LOVED it! We went a little bit early so I could take a water aerobics class and Megan could startennis about 45 minutes later.  The other two children went to childcare.  Courtney did not have so much fun, but we can put her in a different area next time.  Christian had a blast! There was a train table and legos in his room!

Tomorrow we start swimming lessons, so hopefully that will go well too! Christian is starting in level 1 and he is convinced that he does NOT need to take lessons because he already knows how to swim! He thinks that he is swimming when he has his life jacket on! Courtney will be in level 4 with a friend and Megan will be in level 5 by herself.  Her friend is in level 6!

Christian will start his gymnastics and Courtney will start her dance class on Thursday nights. Courtney does not like to take classes by herself, but I think this will be good for her.  Christian does not want to take gymnastics either, but again, once he gets there and participates, I think he will like it.

On top of these classes, I plan on doing as many water aerobic classes as I can. I would also like to do yoga. I like the easy classes. :)  I did water aerobics this morning and I am sore this afternoon! A good sore, of course! It's good for me (and the baby!). :)

The kids want to go back this afternoon and go swimming with our neighbors (who are also members there.)  I told them we need to get schoolwork done first and then we will see! We will probably be spending many hours there this summer!!

Busy Weekend!

We had a very busy weekend and as much as I love being busy, I am glad it is Monday!

We had Christian's birthday party early because we are going on vacation this coming week. This was Saturday evening, so I spend a good part of last week getting ready. It's a lot of work to get groceries and clean the house, I am glad I have some good helpers around here!

Today we are not doing much, except getting more school work accomplished.  I have plenty of errands to do, but we might not go anywhere! Megan starts tennis lessons tomorrow morning at 10 am and all the kids start swimming lessons Wednesday at 10 am.  I can always do my errands when I am out with these things.  I really like doing all my errands on one day or at least when I am out doing something else.

I also need to get this house put back in order from the party.  Christian has piles of trash everywhere from opening his new presents and sometimes, he has opened presents that have instructions, which we need! I try to stop him, but sometimes he beats me to the presents.  He loves everything he got the other night!  I think we are going to go to Chicago the day of his birthday because we will be in Illinois with some friends that week, so that will be fun.

Ok, off to cover one more lesson in math for Megan. We are getting closer to the end of her book!