Who is going to sleep tonight?

This poor boy of mine still has issues with sleep sometime. Like last night. Ugh!

He has never been a good 'napper" and when people ask if get things done while he naps, I just laugh at him! This little boy does not nap! Ok, well, 15-20 minutes in the morning (if lucky) and maybe another 15-20 minutes in the early evening. Oh, and that is on me or in the front carrier. He will fall asleep while nursing and once we are done, I can lay him on my lap, but once I move even an inch, he will wake up. Sometimes he is just so tired that I can put him in the front carrier and he MAY sleep up to 45 minutes or so. There has been some days when he literally sleeps for no more than 15 minutes.

For the last two days, I could tell he was getting tired and restless about 5-6 pm. When he acts like this, we will nurse and he will take a short nap. Instead of nursing though the last couple of days, he has signed "eat," so I have put him in his chair and gave him some food. (Maybe we are starting to wean?) But the problem is that since he didn't nurse, he also didn't nap! What happens when we don't have a nap? We get overtired and we are up at night!

Last night he skipped his early evening nap because he wanted to "eat" and by 7:45, he was nursing and falling asleep in my lap. He usually goes to bed around 9-9:30, so this was kind of early. By about 9 pm, he was still sound asleep, so I laid him in bed. I was hoping he would sleep all night and I would just see him earlier in the morning. I was WRONG! I went to bed and laid there because I couldn't sleep for the longest time.

Around midnight, I heard him start to cry.  I have been letting him cry lately for at least a little bit to see if he can put himself back to sleep. I let him cry for about 30-45 minutes last night and he wasn't going back to sleep at all! I finally went in there and picked him up. I fed him and I thought he was asleep on my lap. Then all of the sudden, he popped up and started talking and pointing to toys! It is around 1:15 am!!

I know from past experiences with him that it is much easier to let him wake up, play a little bit, and then he usually goes back to sleep. It may take a couple of hours, but it is the best way to do it.

About 1 am, I let him off my lap to go play. I grabbed one of his thicker blankets and made myself a pillow on the floor. (I have done this soooo many times with this kid!)  He played for about 45 minutes and then started signing "milk " again. I told him that he already had his milk and asked him if he wanted a "drink." He smiled, so we both made the trek to the kitchen and I got him some water. I checked my email and Facebook for awhile and he hung out on my lap. I could tell he was getting tired.

About 2:15, we headed back to his room to rock awhile. He finally fell asleep and after holding him only about 5 minutes, I tried to lay him down. That didn't work! He woke right back up! I sat down again and this time, I held him longer to get into a deeper sleep. Around 2:45, I was able to lay him down in bed and he stayed asleep!!!

I finally went back to bed and got some sleep for the first time in the night.

Today he actually slept about an hour in the front carrier while I was shopping. I am sure he will sleep all night tonight!

Officially on school break!

I had hopes of doing schoolwork all this week. We are not as far as I would like to be, and I thought we could just keep plugging along since we don't have any other activities this week.

HA!! I was soooo wrong!! I should have remembered from the last few year's that the week before Christmas is actually the busiest time for me! I have been out every afternoon to get stuff and was out again last night buying last minute presents.

By Tuesday, I had realized we weren't going to be able to have school all day. I thought we would just have school in the morning, and THEN life hit me. I don't even have time for that!

What did we end up doing this week? Math! And that is it! We got Megan to her midyear final and we got Courtney to the end of chapter 7. She is a chapter short of her midyear final. I figure this was a great place to stop.

As for English, writing, reading, science, history, geography, Bible, well, those can all wait!!

We are going to take next week completely off for my sanity. I have a bedroom that has become a dumping ground the last six months and I need to find the floor again. 

I plan on starting school back up on Monday, January 2nd. These kids don't need 2-3 weeks off like their public school counterparts! I tell them that they go to school half as much as their friends and really don't have it so bad!

So here is to a nice holiday break!! And maybe Micah can work on napping in his crib over break :)

Learning to Talk and Communicate!

Micah is at such a fun stage right now. I love to watch his little brain grow and develop. I think the other kids are really enjoying it too. He has learned a couple signs for sign language, such as "milk," "more", and even "please" which is super cute because he can't do it right!! His hands do the same thing at the same time like Megan's, so it doesn't quite work for him! We just giggle at it!

He has also been learning some words. He can't say a lot yet, but he is beginning to understand when we talk. Courtney has taught him the #1 word in her world- "ball." We have a little basketball hoop, so she hooked it onto his crib and now they can play basketball together. Whenever we go into his room, he says "ball" and looks around for the basketball. He always looks under his crib because that is where it usually is! Today he was sitting in his chair eating and Courtney went into the garage and got her basketball. She brought it into the house and right away Micah said, "ball" really clear! Matt had never heard him say it before, so that was fun! He kept saying it over and over and over. I think he wanted it from Courtney!

He also knows when it is time to take a bath." I sometimes say, "Do you want to go splish splash?" and he takes his hands and acts like he is splashing in the water. :) 

He also has the "milk" sign down. Whenever it is time to nurse, he will go get his blanket and bring it to me. While he is coming over, he is usually saying, "this, this" and signing milk. I know he is trying to say something, I just haven't figured out what "this" means yet! He then gets on my lap and lays down. He knows what to do!! Sometimes he signs "milk" when it is not time to nurse.  I just say "no" and redirect him. He doesn't need to nurse whenever he wants! He can nurse when it is time to nurse! We are supposed to be weaning, not picking up feedings!

He also eats three meals a day and has two snacks. We nurse, eat, nurse, eat, nurse, eat, nurse, eat all day long. I swear he is eating about every 1 1/2 hours or so. He is a big boy though! He eats about everything too (except milk, eggs, wheat, and peanut butter!)

Results from Megan's allergy test

We went in on Wednesday and had three big patches removed from Megan's back. The poor thing was in so much pain! The nurse was not very nice about it and every time she pulled on the tape, Megan jumped and cried some more. It was hard to watch! I even asked the nurse if we could take a break at one point and she just kept on yanking. :(  It was honestly like pulling a big bandaid off her back! The poor kid hurt all day.

Anyway, after the patches were taken off, the doctor came in and read the results. There were a few spots that had reacted. One of them was blistering! And amazingly, none of them were the ones the doctor thought. She is not allergy to "M." She IS allergic to caine mix, potassium dichromate (this is the one that was blistering), bronopol, and gold!  The doctor said that if she is allergic to gold, she may be very sensitive to other metals, which just MAY be why we had so much trouble with earrings when she was younger!

The doctor says he rarely sees kids with four allergens, it's usually just one or two! He also usually sees one that sticks out quite a bit more than the others, but Megan's were not so bad.

He couldn't quite equate these four allergens to her aquahives and eczema exactly, ,but he did say they might have a part to play.  He recommended changing her soaps, shampoos, conditioners, etc. to hypoallergic and he thought just that change would help her skin. I hope so!

Now I am going to go back in on Wednesday and see if we can get to the bottom of my trouble. I am pretty sure I am having trouble digesting sugar! Let's get it all done before December 31st!

Allergy test for Megan

Since we are at the end of the year and have hit our deductible, I have decided to get as much done in the medical department as I can!

Megan has been fighting hives whenever she showers for the last year and a half along with eczema in her elbows and behind her knees.  She also had a hard time last spring sleeping at night. This all started in June of 2015 when she had a swollen eye for some odd reason.

We have talked to our chiropractors and pediatrician and neither one had very good answers, so I decided to take her to an allergist.

Guess what? He thinks she is allergic to MERCAPTOBENZOTHIAZOLE!!!

What is that, you may ask?? Well, it's a product they use in sunscreen, shampoo, conditioner, and many rubber products.

I asked him how he came to this conclusion and he said allergies to "M" usually starts with a swollen eye and it triggers other allergic reactions, such as aqua hives and eczema!!

He said the aqua hives will last 5-10 years or even a lifetime. Honestly, I think they are going away. There are a lot less of them than there used to be!

Because he is suspicious of this allergy, he recommended doing a T.R.U.E. test on Megan. Since we have met our deductible, Matt and I agreed to go forth with this test.

We went back to the allergist yesterday and they applied three patches on her back. It actually included 36 different chemicals and one of them was "M". Unfortunately, as they were putting the last one on, Megan almost fainted! I think the nurse and I caught her in the nick of time! She doesn't remember us laying her down on the bed!! It was quite a fright!

She has to wear these three patches for 48 hours, so we will go back in tomorrow morning and the doctor will read them. I think he is going to put them back on and we have to go in again Friday morning to have them read again.

He said if she does come up allergic to "M", she will need to avoid any products with this in it, such as shampoo, soaps, conditioner, and sunscreen. I am not sure if she will outgrow it or not.

I am so used to everyone having food allergies, this one might actually be simple to deal with in the long run!

Allergy Results for me!

After four years of dealing with food sensitivities and watching what I eat, I finally decided to see an allergist about it all.  (I had been seeing a chiropractic internist before this.)  I have also been having some hives and some red spots appearing when I eat sugar or fruit, so I thought I would go see what he had to say.

His opinion was opposite of what I have been told for the last four years!! I know this is medical vs. natural, but I just kind of left shaking my head and not knowing what to think about it all!

He didn't have much to say about me breaking out in hives once or twice a month or even about my red spots on the back of my neck when I eat fruit. He did do a skin allergy test on me for milk, eggs, wheat, soy, peanuts, and coconut. Everything came back negative!! (Unlike Micah's test the week before!) His words were, "Well, now that we know you are not going to die from these things, let's get them back in your diet!" He said that sometimes when people go off foods for so long like I have, they tend to build up an allergy to them. Luckily I have not done that yet!

He wants to get me back on milk first, but since I have had a sensitivity to sugar lately, he recommended drinking 2 ounces of Lactaid (milk with no sugar) every day for two weeks. I said, "Two ounces?? Are you crazy? I haven't had milk for 5 years and I am going to drink two ounces everyday!" Let's just say I started with 1/4 teaspoon!! I am going to work it back in slowly, not all of the sudden!

I also kept a food journal this weekend to see if I could figure this out on my own. I realized that every time I eat fruit, I get itchy and break out on the back of my neck within five minutes. I emailed him on Monday and mentioned it. I got a call back from the nurse today and she said to keep a journal of what I was eating and maybe we can figure it out. Seriously?? Isn't that what I just said I was doing??  She said the doctor didn't think it was an allergic reaction and since I wasn't dying from it, I was supposed to go ahead and keep eating fruit. She said if it really bothered me, I could pull it out of my diet. She then wanted me to discuss it with him at my next appointment. I asked her when I was supposed to come back and she responded with, "In six months." Apparently I am supposed to just deal with itchiness for the next six months?? Really?? I just shook my head. I have not had any fruit in the last day and have been fine, but I need to eat fruit!  I may end up back at a functional medicine doctor again!!

He also wanted me to eat from the FODMAP diet. This is food that is easier to digest, so when I go back on milk, I may not have so many gut issues. My only problem is that half of the food on the FODMAP diet is food that I have been reacting to lately! Fruit and sugar! There goes that idea!

I am going to take Megan in to see him on Friday because she breaks out in hives whenever she takes a shower. I don't think it is good for her to break out in hives every two days. I mentioned this to him when I was there last week and he said something had to trigger this and that is what we need to find out. Hopefully we will find an answer!!

I do think he is a really nice guy and really knows what he is talking about. He is probably the first medical doctor I have been to in the last four years (besides having Micah last year!) He knows where the more naturalistic doctors are coming from, and he has his own opinion. He doesn't put them down or anything, he is just medically trained, so he sees things differently than they do. Hopefully I can figure out the best of both worlds and get my body figured out. :)

More Allergy Results for Micah!

Micah has been suffering from "something" ever since he was born. We have been through a lot with this little boy!!

Today I finally took him to an allergist to see if I could get any answers.  He had hives from eggs about a month ago and since we are close to weaning, I wanted to have a better answer of what I could give him.

I explained to the doctor that I had not had milk, eggs, wheat, and peanuts for over four years and Micah has never had those proteins. I told him about our experience with eggs about a month ago and we decided our best route today was to do a skin prick test. I have always done IGG testing with our chiropractor and have never done a skin test before. He explained how it works and we decided to go ahead with it.

Before we did the test though, we also talked about his ER visit in August and how he got diagnosed with a banana and strawberry allergy. His opinion was that his numbers were so low that they should NOT have caused that big of reaction! After looking at his picture, he said he had food induced dermatitis and vasculitis and not hives! He said that nobody really knows what causes vasculitis and that he should be in a medical journal because of its rarity! He said I should go back on strawberries and bananas. :)

Soon the doctor left and the nurse came in to do the skin test. She wrote numbers on Micah's back to determine which allergy she was testing, and then she put some little bits of the food on his back and we sat back for 15 minutes. Within 15 minutes, we had hives in 4 of the 8 places!!! I wish the nurse would have told us which pricks were which!

After 15 minutes, the nurse came back and checked him out. She measured the hives and we found out that Micah is extremely allergic to eggs They measured the hives and his hives for egg white was 9 mm wide! His next biggest was egg yolk and peanut which were both 5 mm. His cow's milk hive was 4 mm and finally his wheat hive was 3 mm. He had no reaction from bananas and strawberries!!! This would definitely explain why he broke out in hives when he had a corn muffin with eggs about a month ago. I had no idea he was allergic to the other ones.

The doctor came back in and went over the results. He mentioned to stay off these foods for at least six months and not to eat them at all until I consulted with him first. I asked him if I could eat them and have them passed through the breastmilk to Micah and he said to not do that either! I think it is funny because I had just started eating a little bit of milk and eggs here and there. I guess I won't be doing that anymore!!

The doctor also mentioned coming in and doing a food trial. This is where they give him a minute piece of the food, such as peanuts, and keep adding to it until he reacts. He said the best place to have an allergic reaction is at the doctor's office! I need to talk to Matt about this.

In the end, he said the allergies came first and then the eczema. His eczema has definitely gotten worse lately and I wonder if that is because I have tried some milk and eggs. He has also been eating cheerios made from oats that are not necessarily gluten free. The area around his mouth has gotten redder and bumpier the last few weeks.

I guess we will keep doing what we have been doing. No eggs, milk, wheat, or peanuts for me!

I go in Monday to solve the problem of my hives! I wonder if I will have an allergy too!!!

How could I resist?

Tonight Micah brought me his blanket and signed "milk." He wanted to nurse. :)

I thought it was sooo cute! We have been working on "milk" for months and he is finally able to sign it back to me!

How could I resist not feeding him??

This shouldn't happen!

There is one thing that should never happen to a mom of four kids. Her dryer should never break!!

Megan had a birthday party yesterday and of course, she had nothing to wear. I wasn't the best this last week of keeping up on laundry, so I washed a load of her clothes and about 8:30 am yesterday, I went to go put them in the dryer. (Her party started at 10 am). I hit the "start" button and my dryer went "click, click" and nothing happened. I turned the power button off and tried it again. It did the same thing. I was stumped and asked Courtney to go get her dad.

In the meantime, I went ahead and threw a load of jeans into the washer.

Matt came in and checked out the situation. We figured out the code and he went online to figure out what went wrong. It was something about a thermostat, but of course, he said to me,"I have two major projects I am already working on today, your dryer will have to wait."

What?? What is Megan supposed to wear?? It was 30 degrees out! She could only really wear jeans because she only had a pair of tennis shoes. (We haven't really gone shopping yet for winter shoes) Well, who says you can't wear sandals and a dress in 30 degree weather?? That is exactly what she ended up wearing!! Sorry Megan!!

After we got her off to her party, I had to focus on how to dry my two loads of clothes. I asked a neighbor and she was very gracious in letting me use her dryer. I got both loads dry and folded!! She also offered her dryer for the rest of the weekend. She said I could continue to wash clothes and bring them over. I thought that was very nice!!

Hopefully Matt can get my dryer fixed today or I may have to take my neighbor up on her offer!

Always Hungry!

Since I believe Micah is nursing more, I am more hungry!

It is 10:22 pm and I just ate a bowl of cereal. It is my favorite bedtime snack. :)

We had dinner tonight about 5:30 because Megan had youth group, so I haven't ate in awhile.

I would have loved to have had a snack earlier, but Micah just went to bed at 10. He has learned that if mom is eating, then he gets to eat too. I share almost everything with him these days. I didn't want to share my bedtime snack tonight!

I also knew that if I would go to bed hungry, I would be sooo hungry in the morning. Sometimes I get low blood sugar problems if I don't eat. I just think its easier to have a bowl of cereal at bedtime, as long as it doesn't keep me up! Hopefully it won't because I am really tired...

I had trouble!

Last night before I went to bed, I woke Micah up. I really wanted him to eat one more time before I went to bed. I really didn't want to pump! He nursed and went back to sleep, just like I thought he would!

Since he went to sleep at 5:30 pm, I figured I would hear from him during the night and I did.

I heard him start to cry about 2:30 am. He would cry for awhile and then he would be quiet awhile. He did this for almost an hour. I didn't go in there because I was trying to convince myself that he was going to put himself back to sleep! By 3:30, I was wide awake and just went in there myself to see if I could get him back to sleep.

I fed him and he went back to sleep almost immediately. I laid him back down around 4:15 am and went back to bed myself. I could tell that I am not used to getting up in the middle of the night anymore!

I got back to bed and around 4:30, Matt's alarm went off. He has been getting to work by 6 am lately, so he has to get up extra early.

After Matt left for work, I continued to sleep. I heard Micah crying around 7:30 and pulled myself back out of bed. Micah slept about 14 hours, kind of!

I wonder if he is growing again. I can't seem to keep him satisfied during the day; he always seems hungry. He has almost picked up nursing more! And he eats three meals and snacks! He didn't gain as much as the doctor would have liked at his 12 month appointment last week, so maybe he is making up for lack of weight gain! He also only grew a 1/2 of an inch in the last three months, so he needs to grow a little bit more there too.

I may be in for some trouble...

Micah has been whining all day long. Seriously. I tried wearing him in the front carrier, I fed him, I nursed him and this afternoon, I even took him to the park for awhile to try to see if that would settle him down.

I think it settled him down too much. We got home about 5:30 and I sat down to nurse him again. He fell asleep almost instantly. I held him for awhile, but about 6:15, I laid him on the floor and amazingly, he stayed asleep. He ALWAYS wakes up when I move him, hence why he doesn't nap during the day!

It is 9:15 pm and he is STILL sleeping. He didn't eat supper and he does not have his pajamas or a dry diaper on for the night. He also hasn't nursed the final time for the day.

I am kind of scared as to when this kid is going to wake up!!!
(His wake up call has usually been between 6-6:30 am lately. I am sure it will be sooner than that tomorrow just because he will probably be hungry!!)

Happy Birthday Micah!!!

At 9:21 tonight, Micah officially turned one!!

He has grown so much this last year and fits in with our family PERFECTLY!! He is such a blessing to all of us!!

Here is my 10 lbs. 1 1/2 oz baby from last November. Megan loves this picture because he is sticking his tongue out and has his fingers in his ears.

This was about a month ago at his aunt's wedding. He has grown sooo much!! And is pretty cute, I do say!!

(He now weights 21 lbs. 5 oz and is 30 inches long.)

Pantry shopping!

 Is that what we are doing, Micah? Shopping in the pantry??

Cheap ER visit!!!

Last Sunday night, Micah hit his head pretty bad and we ended up taking him to the ER. He pulled himself to standing on a dining room chair at Matt's brother's house and he fell backwards. Unfortunately he didn't let go of the chair when he fell, and the chair fell on top of him and he had a nice dent in his forehead from where the chair hit him. Matt was concerned he had a skull fracture, so we took him in. He was pretty inconsolable and it hurt when we touched the dent. It was also turning black and blue pretty quickly.

After sitting in the waiting room at Children's for about an hour, he had turned the corner and was back to his normal self.

At this point, Matt and I actually considered taking him back home because he was fine.

In the end, we decided to see a doctor. We didn't want to worry about him overnight and have a concussion. He said we would know within the first 2-3 hours if he had a concussion and by the time we saw a doctor, we were already 2 1/2 hours past the time that he fell. Micah was acting like his usual self, so she said there wasn't much to worry about.

Do you know how much this ER visit is going to cost us?? $73!!!

That is ONE advantage to hitting your deductible! You can take your kid to the ER for super cheap!!

(I have been in the ER way too much lately. This is Micah's second trip and Matt was there last month for his kidney stone. Hopefully this is the end! If not, it better happen this year!!)

Camping in the fall!

I think I have discovered a new camping season- fall!!!

This last weekend, Megan had a junior high youth retreat over in Iowa, and Matt and I were not too comfortable with her on the bus. First of all, there were not many adults riding the bus plus the kids were allowed to take their phones. We felt this could lead to some unwanted behaviors or conversations and we just felt better if we took her ourselves.

After coming to this conclusion, we decided that we just didn't want to drive three hours to drop her off and come back home for two days, so we made arrangements to camp over the weekend while she was at her retreat. We found a local state park about twenty miles away and made that our home away from home for three days.

This park was amazing!! It was Ledges State Park and it was soooo beautiful in the fall colors. Our campsite was covered in leaves about six inches deep, so we had a lot of fun making piles of leaves and jumping in them. Micah LOVED the leaves! There were also quite a few hiking trails, so we did a lot of hiking (with Micah on me in the front carrier).  These trails were among some canyons in the park. Below these canyons, there were tributaries or streams coming off the Des Moines River. These streams actually went over the road that you drove on through the park! That was super fun! We saw some people drive super slow through the water and others went super fast! Christian always wanted Matt to drive fast, but he never did. If you wanted to walk through the water, they actually had cement blocks that you could walk on to get to the other side. Luckily the water was no more than a foot or so, so if you fell, you weren't going to drown! I walked over them once or twice with Micah on my front. Matt did help me balance though, he didn't want me going down with Micah on me!

We also spent some time Saturday in Boone. Here we road the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad. This ride was about two hours and it was again very beautiful! It took us through the Des Moines River Valley and actually over a trestle bridge that was 150 feet high! That was kind of freaky, but yet fun at the same time!

Matt and I want to camp some more in the fall! For a few years in a row, we took longer trips in the fall, but the last few years, we haven't due to Micah. I think we need to start that again!

As long as the weather is as beautiful as it has been, let's keep camping!

Unfortunately, Christian did bring home bronchitis from the trip, so now we are trying to get him better!

This is what I get!!

Isn't it always true that the later a baby (or kid) goes to bed, the earlier they are up in the morning??

That was true last night for Micah!!

Megan had youth group and Matt was busy, so I was in charge of Micah. I dropped Megan off at youth group at 6:15, and then Micah and I went and got groceries for the next two hours.

By 7:30, he was already whining like he was tired. But youth group didn't get out until 8:15, so I kept shopping. :)  Once we got back to church, I stood and talked to some other adults for a little bit and he was just dealing with it.

We got home about 9, and he was sound asleep in his car seat. Thanks to Christian, he woke up! This was actually fine because he needed to nurse again before he went to bed.

I sat down about 9:30 to nurse him and turned on the presidential debate. He fell asleep, but I sat there until 10:45 watching TV. ( I like politics!!) I put him in bed when it was all over.

Guess who was awake at 5:45 this morning?? Mr. Micah!!!

It's going to be one long day if he refuses to nap, like he does every other day!!

Another Monday!

Wow, I am not very good at blogging lately! There must not be much going on, but in reality, there is probably too much going on!

We are just finishing our schoolwork up at the Ruwe house.  Mondays are the only days when I get a "full" day of school. By this I mean that we start about 9 and end about 3-3:30.  I guess Fridays are a "full" day too. Last week, we had half days every.single. day. I should have just taken the whole week off!! When we were doing Megan's English today, I looked at the date and the last time we did a lesson, it was October 10th!  A week ago!!We aren't going to finish our books by next fall at that rate!! I will be glad when the homeschool learning classes are over and we can have Wednesday afternoon back!

We also don't get a lot done because of Micah (still!!). This boy refuses to take a nap during the day. Actually his schedule has been pretty consistent lately, and today was pretty typical. He was up around 7-7:30 am. I nursed him and he ate breakfast with all of us. I got him dressed and around 9, we were in the living room starting school. He was in a pretty good mood and was willing to play on the floor for awhile while I taught the older kids. About 9:45-10 am, he started fussing, so I nursed him again. He usually goes one of two directions here. He will either fall asleep and won't let me put him down OR he will stay awake and just continue to be fussy. He chose the later option today.  The problem with this option is that I cannot teach when he is so fussy, so today I put him upstairs in his bed. I always hope that he will somehow go back to sleep, but that has NEVER happened! I let him fuss up there today while I finished up with Megan.

By about 11, he was still not happy and wide awake, so after I was finished with Megan, I went up and got him. I needed to teach Courtney, so we got him quieted down and he kind of snapped out of it. He spent the next hour either playing on the floor or in his walker. He did pretty well. Courtney gets very distracted with him though, so sometimes she has a hard time concentrating on school. 

He ate lunch with us and was happy for awhile. Around mid-afternoon, he was ready to nurse again. This is usually in the middle of school! (I am getting really good at nursing a baby AND checking homework and/or teaching a lesson!) By 3-3:30, we were done with school and he was pretty happy.

We went to the park today after school, which was good for everybody! Christian always needs to run around a little bit, Megan always wants some fresh air, and Courtney usually brings her basketball or her grasshoppers along. I put Micah in his stroller and we walked the six blocks to the park. It was great to get out and stretch a little. I feel like I sit around all day and teach school, which I really do!

When we got back from the park at 5:30, Micah was ready to nurse again and he fell asleep at this time. I sat in the chair and held him for awhile. If I move, he will wake up. And yes, I sometimes try to put him down and most of the time, he will wake up. Tonight the phone rang and woke him up.

After he woke up tonight, I was able to put him down, so I could make dinner. He ate with us again and by about 8 pm, he was fussing again and was ready for bed. Tonight he was sound asleep by 9 pm!  Honestly, he goes to bed early when he does not have a nap. For a couple days, I held him for over an hour and let him sleep. We were up until 10 pm! Honestly, I don't know what I would rather have. Would I rather have an hour or two during the day when he sleeps or have him go to bed earlier at night?? Hmmm.

I know this whole schedule will probably change within the next couple of months. He turns a year in a couple of weeks and my other three kids were weaned by 13 months. I wonder how long he will want to nurse. I will let him take the lead like I did the other kids. We have been trying some new foods lately, so he is ready to eat food full time when he is done nursing. He does a great job with it now. The boy loves to eat!! He will actually hunt you down and whine at you until you share! We are still being careful with some foods, so he can't have everything yet.

New Crown for ME!

I have had quite the time with one certain molar. And I am having trouble again.

When I was pregnant with Christian, I cracked a molar and my dentist refused to fix it until my third trimester, which was fine. I got it fixed and we were all well for about six months later.  At that point, it was causing me trouble again, and it needed a root canal. I got that done and we were good for awhile.

Fast forward about 2-3 years and I was having trouble again with that same tooth. My regular dentist looked at me and couldn't find anything wrong, so he sent me to a root canal specialist. It ended up that I had an extra canal in that root, so I had to have ANTOHER root canal. (Actually I had it cleaned out twice and those appointments were a week apart, so I count that as TWO root canals). Now I have had three root canals and a crown on that tooth.

Fast forward to about a month ago and I feel a sharp edge on my crown. After going back to the dentist, they found that a chunk had broken off of my crown!!

Today, I visited the dentist yet again and they took off my old crown (good bye $500!!!) and set another temporary crown in its place.  I will get another new crown in two weeks. And they also took another $200 of my money.  Two crowns and three root canals. Awesome.

This is EXACTLY why I want to get my teeth fixed.  This damage is coming from the fact that my teeth do not line up straight and I am putting extra pressure on them. I have a cross bite and an open bite, and my teeth do not fit together like they should. Maybe someday I will get them fixed, but until then, I hope I don't crack anymore teeth!!

No Braces for awhile...

I think Megan is actually looking forward to getting some braces. I think she is tired of her crooked teeth! She keeps telling me they are getting worse too. :(

Unfortunately, braces won't be happening for awhile.  Matt had a kidney stone last Monday and we had to take him to the ER.  There they gave him some mega-pain killers and did a CT scan.  Luckily it was only 1-2 mm and they said it should pass in the next day or two.

After a terrible afternoon, the stone passed Tuesday morning.  Last Friday, he visited his family doctor to get rechecked and to evaluate the stone.  Thank goodness his kidneys are back to normal!

I had been checking our insurance claims online for about a week. I didn't want to see that ER bill! I finally came through last night. The total bill was $6665!!! But thanks to negotiated rates and insurance, we are going to have to pay about 1/4 of that!!!

That money was supposed to go towards Megan's braces.

At least her braces are not an emergency and we can continue to push them off for a little bit.

Now we have Micah's AND Matt's ER bills to pay!! Who is next??

Washer is up and running!!

Matt finally got my washer fixed! And wow, do we have a lot of clothes to wash!!

I thought my washer would be running today nonstop just to get it all done. But I was wrong, like usual.

I got two loads done today. Only TWO!!! And the girls did one of the loads because I was busy feeding Micah.

I guess I am just out of practice!! Haha!!

Broken Washer. :(

I know I haven't blogged for over a week. Trust me, exciting things have been happening, but apparently not so exciting to blog about!!

As many of you know, laundry is a never ending problem at my house. With four kids and a husband, I need to keep up on laundry.  Last Thursday, I brought all the laundry downstairs and was starting to get ahead.  I noticed a little bit of the floor was wet, but didn't really think anything about it. I just kept washing clothes.

Fast forward to Saturday and Matt asked me if I had noticed any water on the laundry room floor. I said I did, but thought it was ok. He said that the water had actually leaked through the floor and there was water in his office! OOPS!!

After taking the back of my washer apart, he figured out the problem, but needed it all to be dry before he could fix it.

Here I am Tuesday and my washer is still not fixed.  The floor is dry, Matt has figured out the problem, but time has been our enemy. He also needed to go get a new part, which he went out tonight, but the store didn't have the part he needed. Now he thinks he can put the old part back on and it should be fine.

I don't really care how he fixes it, but if he doesn't soon, we are going to have trouble! I have already noticed Christian picking up dirty pajamas off his floor and wearing them to bed!!! (Honestly though, I don't know what is clean or dirty on his floor anymore!)

Braces for Megan :)

I know very well that Megan needs a full set of braces AND another palette expander.

She had a palette expander about a year and a half ago, and it did it's job, but since she has grown so much, she needs another one.

We got an estimate from our current orthodontist over the summer for the price of braces.  Our estimate AFTER insurance was about $3100. Matt and I think this is crazy for braces!!! (The original price was $5400.)

I found out about a month ago that our current one is not "in-network," so I thought I would take her to one that is on our list and see if it would be any cheaper.

This last week, I took her to a different orthodontist. The estimate for this "in network" orthodontist was $2600. His original price was $4800.

That is a $500 difference between the two estimates. They both had the same plan for treatment.

Do I automatically go with the cheaper plan? Or stay with the orthodontist that we know and already did her last palette expander?? And the one who did Courtney's braces?

Matt and I are thinking we got with the cheaper plan!

By the way, a couple of weeks ago, I had taken her to another "in-network" orthodontist and her estimate was $4100 AFTER insurance! NO WAY! Her original price was $6100!!!

On another side note, I asked the place where I took Megan to this week how much it would be for me. I know I need either full braces or invisalign and their estimate was $1800. I would need a consultation to know for sure, but this was their thought. When can I start?? :)

Who is taking all these selfies??

As I was trying to figure out my camera on my phone, I soon came to realize that some little children already figured it out! And it was full of selfies!! Geez, children these days...

New Phone!

I have a new phone already. Matt didn't want me driving four children around town and not have a phone, so we went out Thursday afternoon and got me a new one. I now have an Android.  Spint no longer carries Microsoft phones and Microsoft does not even support them, so I really didn't have a choice!

I now have to learn everything completely over and Microsoft and Android phones are nothing alike! The good thing is that many people have Androids and can share all the secrets. :)

I purchased a case for my phone, so hopefully if Micah gets ahold of this one, he won't break it.

That's the end of my phone. :(

I took Micah to Wal.Mart tonight while Megan was at youth group.  We were both shopping happily, and then my phone notified me that I had received a message. I took it out of my pocket, and Micah decided he wanted to see too, so he knocked it out of my hand, and it fell to the floor.

My phone falls all the time, so I reached down to pick my phone AND the battery up off the floor, and when I turned my phone right side up, I saw that my screen was completely cracked!! I went to move the screen and it wouldn't' work. :( 

So that is the official end of my cell phone.

Matt was not too happy either because he just took insurance off of them about a week ago.

The good part of it all is that our two year contract is up, and we are eligible to get new phones. He said he was thinking about getting a new one anyway.

The bad part of the deal is that we both had Microsoft phones, which Sprint does not even carry anymore. Matt refuses to get an Apple phone, so it looks like we will be getting Androids. I am not looking forward to the change!!

Thank you Micah!!

This happened!

When did this boy get big enough to stand up in his crib??

Now he can add his set of teeth marks to the bed. Just like his brother and sisters!!

No Sleep, not even on Vacation!

We have been gone the last five days on a mini-vacation to Niobrara State Park. This was the only park with spots still reservable a couple of weeks ago, so we jumped on the chance to get away for a few days. We had never been in northern Nebraska, so we thought we would go explore somewhere new for once!

We had a great time! The area up there is BEAUTIFUL and the park was very isolated and quiet.  We went to Gavins Point Dam one day and explored that area.

We also went to Ashfall Fossil Beds and saw all the work they are doing there. It was so neat. I loved it that Christian wanted to learn everything he could about every picture and fossil there. Courtney kept saying, "I thought this was vacation. Why do we have to learn something??" Quite the difference!

Yesterday we thought we would let the kids go swimming at the pool at the campground, but it was cold and chilly and we ended up just sitting around all day. It seemed like it was going to rain at any moment, so we stayed close to the camper. I really wish it would have rained during the day because it rained ALL NIGHT!!

Since we were just sitting around all day, we ended up getting the kids to bed earlier than usual. I actually turned my light off around 10, which is early for me. At 11:09 pm, I woke up because I was having a very weird dream! I also heard some noise outside and when I looked out the window, I could see lightning off in the distance. I woke Matt up and we checked out the radar. There were bright red areas coming out way! I didn't like the looks of the radar! And here we were in a camper with four kids!

Luckily for us, it was just pretty intense wind, very heavy rain, lighting and thunder. There was no tornado watch or warning! But when you sleep in a slide out, every thing is twice as loud.

This rain started shortly after 11 and kept going until about 2:30!! I was awake almost the entire time and I kept looking at the radar, hoping that it would be over soon. At one point, we were in the clear and there was nothing else coming out way. But unfortunately, another storm popped up and we were getting rained on again.

Thankfully, everybody but Megan slept through it all.

By about 2:30-2:45, it was done and I tried to get to sleep. I think I achieved my goal until Megan got up to go to the bathroom around 3:15. She had been awake since 12 and couldn't sleep. When she opened the bathroom door to go back to bed, it squeaked and she woke Micah up! NOOOO!!!  I got up right away and tried to nurse him back to sleep, but that didn't work. I was losing my patience fast (remember, not much sleep at this point), so I put him back in his bed to scream while I woke Matt up to help me.

Matt took care of him for a little bit and Micah ended up laying beside me in bed.  He was awake until 5:45!!! I was also awake. I had pretty much been up since 11 with about a half an hour nap!

I got Micah back to sleep and tried to get some sleep myself. It is always depressing when I am trying to go to sleep and the sun is coming up.

Around 7:15 am, Micah was back awake and crying again!! That was only 1 1/2 hours! I really didn't want to get up, but I knew he would continue to cry until I picked him up.  I got him up and eventually the other kids got up too. I was really hoping we could all sleep until 9 or so!!

So in all, I think I got 2-3 hours of sleep last night.

Seriously! Even on vacation, I cannot get enough sleep!!!

Results!

I received a phone call today from Micah's doctor. They had the results of his allergy tests.

We tested five things last week and the results were very interesting.

Strawberries- reaction was very low. I can eat these all I want. :)  

Rice- reaction was very low. Again, I can eat them and not worry.

Bananas- reaction was HIGH. DO NOT EAT!! Surprisingly, this is what caused the hives last week!

Soy- reaction was moderately high. The doctor recommended that I keep avoiding soy.

Dogs- reaction was very high. Higher than any of the foods! They told me to be very careful around dogs and if he breaks out in hives or has trouble beathing, I should get him to the hospital right away!

This totally explains why we ran to the hospital last week. I had just been getting back on bananas myself and had started to feed them to Micah. On Tuesday, I had fed him some as a snack and then we had them in smoothies on Wednesday. I usually don't eat the same food two days in a row, but I did that day!  In a way, I am sort of glad he broke out so bad, so now I can figure this out!

Even though we have these results, it still doesn't explain why he's been so bad these last couple of days. He was on Claritin until Sunday and I haven't given him any since. He is a complete wreck!! His cheeks are all flared up again and he has his eczema back under his chin and behind his knees. He has been having screaming fits and kicking and flaring his legs. It's like it came back worse than before!!

I will definitely be giving him some more Claritin tomorrow. I also want to do a full allergy panel now and see if anything else is going on. I personally think there is more to the whole story than just bananas and dogs! The doctor said we could do a full panel when he is a year old. I guess we can continue to treat the symptoms until then.

Sleep is messed up!

My poor baby does not know what is good for him or for his mother anymore!!

After last week's breakout of hives, we put him on Claritin to see if his eczema would clear up and it did! Along with this, he slept a whole lot better!! For the couple weeks before his major flare up, he was up in the middle of the night again. (I have been up soooo much more with this kid in the middle of the night than I did with any other kid! It's kind of a routine anymore. I hear Micah, I get up, shut the girls' door, shut my bedroom door, flip the hall light on, pick Micah up out of bed, and then deal with him. Usually I am up at least an hour with him and sometimes it's 3-4 hours. In the middle of the night.)

I am so glad this is my 4th kid and I have realized that sleep is not so precious anymore.

Anyway, I stopped giving Micah Claritin a couple of days ago and his eczema is back ALONG with him being up in the middle of the night.  Last night I laid him down around 9:30 pm and said to Matt, "I hope I don't get a 2 am wakeup call tonight." He was up at 2 am the night before.

Well, I had an 11:10 pm wakeup call. I was ok with going in this time because he didn't fully nurse like he should have at 9. I finished nursing him and I was back in bed by 11:30. I thought SURELY he would sleep all night.

Wrong!! 3:30 am. Micah was wide awake and crying. I went in there and he was sitting up in his bed wide awake. I picked him up and he just sat on my lap and looked around. I tried to rock him back to sleep, but this never works! I don't even know why I try anymore! I have learned the easiest thing to do is to put him on the floor and let him play a little bit. Usually within an hour, he is ready to go back to bed. I put him on the floor and grabbed some of his blankets and made myself a pillow to lay down as he played. He played for about an hour and then got fussy again, so I picked him up and nursed him. Usually this puts him back to sleep. (And no, this boy should not be hungry at 4:30 in the morning!)

After he was done, he was not asleep. GRRR!! Now it was about 5 am.  He was still wide awake, and I was tired of looking at the same four walls, so I took him downstairs. I checked my Facebook and email and he played in his walker. It was about 5:30 am at this time. I heard Matt get up upstairs and start to get ready for work.  Finally at about 5:45 am, I could tell he was starting to get tired, so I turned the TV on and sat down in the rocking chair. Finally, he snuggled up to his blankets and went back to sleep. 2 1/2 hours later!

It was now 6 am and I debated Should I just stay up or go back to bed? Going back to bed was the obvious answer! I laid him back down in his bed and went back to bed myself. I thought, I cannot survive on four hours of sleep.  I fell asleep shortly after going back to bed.

I heard Micah talking to himself around 8:45 am, and Megan went in and got him. It took me a little bit to wake up since I was so tired. Obviously I had let the kids sleep in, and they were just waking up themselves.

It is now 5 pm and he hasn't napped ALL DAY!! He is obviously tired, but will not give in.  I sure hope we are not up again tonight!!!

Adding more stress to the week

As if having a flood in the basement wasn't enough, we also made a trip to the ER on Wednesday!!

I fed Micah a strawberry, banana smoothie (using rice milk) and almost right away, the area around his mouth starting turning red and he was starting to get hives on his forehead.

This all kind of went away, so I let it be, but I noticed that his eyes were also red and a little swollen.

I went on with my day, but he would not settle down. He was up at 4:45 that morning, so I assumed he was just tired and fighting it. He hadn't been taking very good naps, so I thought it was just something we had to get through until he finally fell asleep.

About 10, I finally decided that I could not teach school and deal with such a fussy baby, so I put him in the stroller and took him outside. Sometimes a nice walk helps him to get to sleep.

This worked for a little bit, but after awhile, he just kept screaming! I didn't know what to do anymore with this boy!

I stopped pushing him and went around to pick him up. I noticed right away that his cheeks were bright red and there were hives on the back of his neck. I then noticed that his chin was swollen. I ran him back to the house and told the kids that we were going to the ER!! I know that swelling around the neck causes kids to stop breathing and I did NOT want that to happen.

I have never seen my kids get into the car so fast AND without any fighting! I buckled Micah into his carseat and headed down Dodge Street towards Children's Hospital.  Micah was full force screaming at this point and every time he quieted down, I told the kids to irritate him to keep him screaming. I figure if he was screaming, I knew he was breathing!

Once we got to Children's, I set him on the desk and said, "My baby is having an allergic reaction!!" A nurse came out right away and listened to his lungs. I think she weanted to know if he needed an epi pen. His lungs sounded fine, but they still got us back to a room right away. (I have never gotten taken back so quickly before!!) The doctor came in shortly after and ordered some Benadryl to take it down.  The nurse said his lungs were clear and he was not wheezing, so we didn't have to worry about that anymore.

About twenty minutes later, they brought him some Benadryl and he CRASHED hard!

He slept in my lap for over an hour.

During this time, Matt took the kids over to Pepperjax to get lunch. (I called him at work and he came to Children's too). He then brought me back some too. :)

The doctor kept coming in to check on him. The hives were getting darker the longer we sat there. When Matt and the kids came back from lunch, they actually said he looked worse.

 His rash was where his eczema always breaks out, near his sweat glands. They were around his diaper line, belly button, armpits, even on his hands and feet.

Eventually the doctor came in and said it was atopic dermatitis and insisted that he touched something. I said, "Um, ok" and let it be. I knew very well that he did not touch anything and that it was probably from the banana strawberry smoothie I made for breakfast.

We were home by about 2:15 pm. I think we arrived at the hospital around 11 am.

Here we are wake and ready to go home.

I took him to see his pediatrician yet that night and she said that yes, they were definitely hives (even thought he ER doctor said they weren't) and to keep him on antihistamines for a couple of days. She said it was definitely an allergic reaction to something and we ended up taking blood for an allergy test.  She was more helpful than the ER doctor! By about 5 that night, they hives had faded quite a bit.

She also told me to go back off of all the foods that I had reintroduced into my diet in the last two months. She said it was probably just a combination of everything.

Here we are the next morning, not so red and happy!

Those anti-histamines work great! It is totally clearing up his eczema!

Flood!

This is what happens with a pipe breaks that connects your main water line to the water softener...

And the water came from the other side of the wall that is to the right of the picture. :(

And of course, if I would have listened to Matt right away, there wouldn't have been near as much water on the floor! He told me exactly which valve to turn off when I called him, but I was too stressed out and he wasn't making much sense to me! I eventually got the right one though!

Hopefully the floor to Matt's office is not ruined.

Matt and I are soooo glad we were home when this happened. Could you imagine if we were gone?? We would have had MUCH MORE damage!!!

I should've known!

Micah sleeps a maximum of eight hours a night.

Last night, he was asleep and in his bed by 9 pm. I thought it was wonderful!! I had an hour to do NOTHING and not talk to ANYBODY! It was very nice! (For the record, he is usually in bed by about 9:30, sometimes 10-10:30.)

But I knew there was a price to pay. He was awake at 4:45 am this morning.

I went in there at this time because he cannot stand to be alone and fed him. Otherwise he would just keep screaming.

While I was feeding him, I felt my shirt get warm. Yes, he was peeing on me! I then smelled something a little fishy. Yep, his poopy diaper was leaking too. 5 am and I had already gotten peed and pooped on!!

Once we got everything changed, we were wide awake and ready to play.

Now it's almost time for the big kids to get up and Micah is ready to go back to bed.

Staff development days anyone?

When you are a homeschool teacher, you need to manage a little bit of everything at a time.

My goal for this weekend is to not only manage a very fussy and clingy Micah, but also get EVERYTHING ready for school!

Can I just have a few hours where I can do nothing but prepare for school?? Is that even possible around here??

I feel that my thoughts are all over the place with three different grades, new\different curriculums, and how we are just going to make this all work tomorrow.

I guess if things don't go smoothly tomorrow, I always have the next day. And really, I am on my own schedule and can make it work how I feel it should go.

There will certainly be some trials and tribulations this week as we get this all sorted out!

DONE!!

We are officially DONE with school!!

Megan decided to take her chapter test AND her final in English today, so she did and scored very well!

Courtney also finished her English.

Time to put away those books and get out the next set!

7th grade and 4th grade, here we come!

Who did this??

These are my favorite chocolate chips in the entire world and I have been able to eat them because they do not have ANY milk products in them. 

Yummy!!

Except just lately, somebody decided to add "milk powder" to them and now they are not dairy free anymore!!!

I can even tell a difference in how they taste and I am not happy.  :(

Who did this ??

So Close!!

Courtney is officially done with 4th grade math and Megan finished up 6th grade math today!!

Tomorrow, Courtney will be taking her final test in 3rd grade English and that is DONE!

We went through the last three lessons of Megan's English today and tomorrow, we will go over the review together, and then she will do her test. How is that for efficiency?? Unfortunately, she has a final over the entire book, so that will have to wait until Monday.  Megan did say today though that she is willing to go to school on Saturday just to get everything done before Monday!

I am getting everything ready to start afresh on Monday, which will be our first day of school. I actually ordered Courtney a desk today from Wal.Mart. Since our basement isn't done yet, I decided to put the girls in my office for now. Megan already does all her homework on my desk, so I thought I would just buy Courtney a desk, and put her in there too. They will be doing some history assignments together. The computer is in there too, and they will need to do research on it for history.  Courtney is also going to learn to type this year. They may be spending quite bit of time in my office!

As I was looking forward in next year's math book for Megan, I was kind of shocked.  Almost every lesson is a repeat of something she learned in 6th grade. I did not find one new concept until the second half of the book. There were three chapters of completely new information (out of 12). I know that most kids have a three month break over the summer, so they need the review, but we JUST learned a lot of this information! I talked to Matt, and I am contemplating trying to finish the 7th grade book by December.  I would then start the 8th grade book in January.  If I was able to finish the 8th grade book by next fall, I would go ahead and start Megan in Algebra I as an 8th grader. This would give her another year of math before college.  She catches onto math very easily, so this just may work! I just need to figure out HOW to make it work.

I think we are also going to skip the first chapter of Courtney's math, but we are going to do a lesson a day like we usually do. She will be starting 5th grade math (as a 4th grader), so she is already a year ahead.

As for everything else, we are just going to start from the beginning and work our way through everything. It will be nice getting back to more schoolwork and moving through the curriculum.

I just hope Micah cooperates!!! If he is not cooperating, the girls have plenty of independent work to keep them busy while I deal with him. :)

Finally a plan for next school year!

For the last month or so, I have been trying to get everything I need for the next school year, but I didn't quite know when we were going to start. We are still working on stuff from last year, and I really want that all done before we move forward.  I think the girls are tired of working on these subjects. Honestly, I wish we could just get it done too! They keep wanting to know if we can skip something!

Today I gave myself a deadline to finish it all. The deadline is Friday, August 19th.  We must have 3rd and 6th grade English DONE along with 4th and 6th grade math. I think this is a very manageable goal. We will definitely have both math programs done by then, but will have to push English a little bit for Megan. I guess I will just have to figure something out! We should be able to finish Courtney's English without a problem by then too.

My goal then is to start everything new on Monday, August 22nd. This will be our first day of school for the 2016-2017 school year. This will also begin my 6th year of homeschooling. :)

Comparison trap!

I have a neighbor who has a girl the same age as Megan, and they are both entering 7th grade. I have learned to stop talking to this neighbor about homeschooling, especially math. If it does come up, it usually turns into a "my daughter is further ahead of your daughter and if you don't put your daughter back into public school, your daughter will just get further behind and she won't be able to get into college."

A couple of months ago, we got on the subject of math and I walked away double guessing our decision on a math curriculum. Her daughter, in 6th grade, did pre-algebra and now for 7th grade, she will be doing Algebra I.  Megan will be going into "6th grade Math." I even came home that day and looked to see what you learn in pre-algebra and looked to see what Megan was learning in 6th grade math. It was almost identical. My conclucions was that even thought my book wasn't titled "Pre-algebra", we were still covering it. That made me feel better.

Today I was talking to this mom today and I purposefully did not bring up school. Her daughter mentioned that she was going into Algebra I and it kind of hit a nerve again, but I refuse to get into that comparion trap.

Both of us are striving for a good education for our children and what we are using works for us! Maybe Megan can do Alegebra I in 7th grade, but why? Why do I need to push her way ahead? I would rather take our time and cover all the other itmes that she is probably missing in Algebra I, like balancing a checkbook, interest, percentages, etc. 

Don't we all have the same goal with our children? To foster the love of learning and to provide them with a good education??

Don't even get me started on what she thinks about the fact that my kids don't play a musical instrument!!!

The "M" Box

When I started teaching Christian how to read, I found these fun books at the library.  In these books, the author takes one specific letter and  centers the book around that letter. The main character has a box called his "sound box" and anything that starts with that particular letter goes into that sound box.

Here are a few examples of the books.

?

Here is a page from inside the book. Everything that starts with that certain letter goes in the sound box.

They are really fun to read and the kids love them!!

Today, Megan made her own "sound box" and the letter was M.

Can you guess WHO she put in her sound box??

Yes, Micah!!!

Do you see what else is in there? A microphone, a monkey, money, a book about Meriwether Lewis, "Mercy Me" CD, and another music CD.

Pretty funny, huh?? I certainly laughed!!

Sick mama!

Do you know what happens when you are up with your 8 month old TWO nights in a row for 2-3 hours each night? (Wednesday night, we were up from 2:30-5:15 am and Thursday night, we were up from 1:30-3:45) AND mama gets NO nap during the day to catch up on sleep unlike the baby?
And then gets up early Saturday morning to go to a conference in town all day?

Mama gets sick. :( 

I had been battling a sore throat for awhile, but when I don't get any sleep and get run down, it just culminates! Last night after I got home from the conference and from the car dealership (Matt bought a new car!), I could barely talk and my throat hurt so bad! I knew I needed sleep, so I took some Advil, put the kids to bed, and went to bed myself.

Thankfully Micah slept again all night, but we had to wake up early again this morning because we were supposed to serve in the church nursery at 9 am.  I had no energy! My throat hurt so bad again that it still hurt to talk. I could feel it into my ears and up my neck.

I decided to stay home from church. I didn't even have enough energy to take a shower. I told Matt that I usually feel better by about 10 am and if we didn't have nursery, I probably could have gone. (And now it is 10:15 am and I do feel a lot better!) I also didn't want to infect all the kids that I would be taking care of at church.

I am home with Micah and trying to rest. I know that is what my poor body needs.

I know I am getting run down on a few fronts. We are in a couple weeks of transition here at our house, so I have more stress going on than just not getting enough sleep at night. Our gym classes finished last week and I let our gym membership expire, so now we are in school mode. I have almost all the books I need to teach three children next year, but I have to admit, it is kind of stressful thinking about going back to school full time in a week or two. I haven't done full time school since before Micah was born, but we need to get back to it. My mind is in so many different directions with all the curriculum, notebooks, children, etc. I almost feel like I am starting my homeschooling journey all over again! We are switching curriculums too, so I need to pre-read all the books and figure out how everything is going to work for the school year.

But before we start school, we need to finish last year's curriculum. Yes, we are still plowing through 4th and 6th grade Math and 3rd and 6th grade English. We have been working lately on these and I am trying to figure out if I can skip anything just to be done! I think we are going to skim the last five lessons or so in math since they are all review and be done there, but I really think we need to do the English lessons. We have about twelve left for Megan and about 8 for Courtney. I may go ahead and start history and science while we are still finishing these books up. I want to start a little bit at a time and add a subject every couple days or so until we are doing all our subjects in one day. When we are done with math and English, we will just start the next grade the next day. This is what we get for taking a two month break in November and December!! It was definitely be a juggling act for me this fall. And we can't forget about Micah in there and his needs!!!

I would also LOVE it if Matt could get the basement finished before we started school. Megan and Courtney are going to be doing more things independently this year, and they need space to work away from the kitchen. I was hoping we could get some desks set up down there for all the kids.  All we need to do down there is finish putting up the woodwork and put some flooring down. That is it! Matt worked on it last weekend, but it doesn't look like he will have time this weekend or next.  This has been a project over six years in the making! Can we just finish it??? (hint, hint Matt!!)

Courtney's birthday is also next weekend and we have two small parties planned for her. We also have another birthday party and a bridal shower next weekend. YIKES!  Lots to do!!

Ok, back to the couch I go to keep resting and drinking water. :)

UP Again!

Micah has been doing sooooo well at night lately. He has sometimes slept up to 10 hours at a time and it has been wonderful! I thought our visits of 2-3 hours at 2 or 3 in the morning were over.

I was wrong.

Last night, we were up for awhile. He woke up at 2:45 and I let him cry a little bit. Around 3:15, I went in there because the other kids were starting to stir.  After nursing, watching Olympic videos on the computer, lots of rocking, some more crying, and some sweet talking him into going back to sleep, he finally fell back to sleep about 5:15 this morning. Matt actually came into his room about 4:45 and was wondering what was going on. I refused to nurse him for a 2nd time to get him to sleep, so he was having quite a fit.  He eventually fell asleep on my chest.

I went back to bed after he went back to sleep. Guess who was back up by 7:15? Micah!! What??  I got up, nursed him, and of course, he went back to sleep. I wish I could go back to bed!! But now I have the bigger kids to get up with!

After I got thinking about why we were up half the night when we had been doing so well, I thought about what I had to eat yesterday. I had been putting some of his foods back in my diet, and I had about five things off his list yesterday! (Three things at the same time for lunch) I probably just overloaded his body. I guess I won't do that again!!

Blog anytime soon?

You know you haven't blogged in awhile when google requires you to remember your password to log back in....I guess I have been too busy keeping my 8 month old occupied. Why can he not occupy himself these days??

Speaking of the eight month old, he is now crawling!

Not far, but he is finally figuring it out.  His poor knees get so rough from the carpet and his face is a little bit redder too. I think we need to get the carpet cleaned and get all the allergens out. We will get to the bottom of his eczema some day! He also loves to walk when somebody helps him, so I bet he will be walking sometime soon too!

Because Micah is getting around now, I have a rule that no Legos are to be in the living room anymore. They have all been moved into the piano room for now, but once he gets super fast, they will have to be picked up too. When this happens, I think we have two options at that point. Our first option is to put up baby gates and gate off the piano room. Yes, put the big kids in the baby gates! Our second option is to move the Legos somewhere. This "somewhere" would probably be the basement, which is not finished yet.

Speaking of basement, I finally convinced Matt to finish it! I need some school space! My kids are going to be doing a lot more independently this year, and I really want them to have desks. Matt has not worked on the basement in over three years, even though everything we need is down there.  All we have left is to put the woodwork up and get carpet. Matt started putting the woodwork up last weekend, so maybe this weekend, he can finish it. Then it is off to a store to purchase some good, cheap basement carpet and we can move our stuff down there! We have decided that he can still have his couch and big screen, but the kids get desks. It will work!

The kids are super anxious to get going on school. That is a post for another time. :)

My cherry pie :)

I did it today. I baked my own cherry pie from scratch!

We had extra dough, so we added hearts and balls on the top of it!

It was sooo good! I may need to make another pie in my near future!

Cherry pie anyone??

When we were in Illinois a couple of weeks ago, our friend had a whole bowl of cherries from one of her friends. She thought cherry pie would be something fun to make, so she pulled out her cherry pitter and sat for about an hour and pitted all the cherries.  When she was done, she made a cherry pie! It was scrumptious!

The other day when we were at Walmart, the girls saw a bag of cherries. They begged and begged for me to buy them. I was hesitant to get them because in the past, nobody has ate them, and we have ended up throwing them all away. Well, I ended up buying them, and then came home ordered myself a cherry pitter off of Amazon!

It came yesterday, so I think we are going to attempt our own cherry pie today!

That is if Megan doesn't eat all the cherries first!!

New Curriculum

I almost have all my books for this coming school year! This last week, I ordered Megan's science book and a friend is letting me borrow one for Courtney and Christian. I have to order Megan's journal yet, but I already have one for Courtney. I plan on the kids doing science independently this year.

I have about six chapter books to order yet for our history curriculum, and then I am set with that!

Fourth and seventh grade English are ready to go along with fifth and seventh grade math. (Courtney is a year ahead in math.)

We will just pick up in spelling from where we left off last May.

I will just keep moving ahead with phonics and math with Christian, so I don't need any new books there. I may get him a book on sight words though.

Speaking of Christian, this boy sat down today and we read "Hop on Pop" together. He read almost all the words in the book. I really thought he was going to give up half way through, but we made it all the way. I love watching him learn how to read!!! It's one of my favorite parts of homeschooling. :)

Crash!!

I learned a lesson last night.

Never give your 8 month old a glass bowl and then close your eyes to pray.

I bet you can you guess what happened.

The 8 month old pushed the bowl to the floor and the bowl broke right in the middle of Matt's prayer!! We had glass pieces all over the floor.


Thank you very much Micah! I guess I didn't need that bowl anymore...

Who wants computer time?

For the last six months or so, Christian was constantly asking me to play computer, especially when he was bored. I tried to encourage him to find something else to do at these times, but it didn't always work. I needed to find a balance between letting him get on the computer once in awhile and learning how to entertain himself away from electronics.  This finally got to me one day last week and I came up with a solution! (Ok, I saw it on Facebook!).

Before Christian gets to play computer or any video games, he has a list of chores he must accomplish.

1. Get ready for the day (get dressed, brush teeth, make bed, clean bedroom)
2. He must help do the dishes in the morning. His job is to put the soap in the dishwasher!
3. He needs to spend 20 minutes either coloring, reading, or writing. He also needs to read through his phonics words.
4.  He needs to make or build something creative.
5. He needs to help somebody in the family do something.

This little list has helped tremendously!! Whenever Christian asks if he can play computer, I ask him what he has accomplished.  Some days he doesn't get to play computer because he does not have them all done, but today, he accomplished them ALL!!

I helped him clean his room, but he did most of the work. He even made his bed all by himself! He helped entertain Micah while I was teaching school, and he spent about 20 minute reading and working on his letters. He was creative with some friends we had over and read his phonics words,

He was so excited when I told him that he had accomplished everything on his list and that he could play some video games. He ran right down to Matt and told him!

About ten minutes later, the entire family was in the living room playing Mario Kart!!

I am glad this is working! It was just the motivation we needed for him!

New Curriculum!!

After not getting much schoolwork done last year (except math and English) due to Micah, I have decided to reset everything this fall and start over.

We are not switching math, English, or spelling. I am very pleased with what we are using and it is working.

We are cutting out Sonlight completely, which actually makes me sad. I have done Sonlight for five years and have loved it, but I have come to realize that there is only one of me and now three children that need to be educated in this house. I can't forget that baby who needs attention too!

Now that summer is here, I have had a chance to think about what we want to do next fall. Even though Micah is older and is doing MUCH better, I think it is still crazy for me to think that I can get all that reading done in one day! I could always make the girls do it independently, but honestly, I don't think they want to be in their rooms reading all day. They want to be down with the family and helping out.

I figured out that if I switch from Sonlight, I need to find a new history, geography, reading, writing, read-aloud, and science curriculums. Sonlight was not just one subject, but many! I also have three grade levels to cover.

For many years now, I have had my eye on Heart of Dakota curriculum. I always looked at it, but always came back to Sonlight. Well, we are switching to Heart of Dakota next year and I am super-excited!! I am able to switch history, geography, reading, writing, and science too!

One of the main reasons that Heart of Dakota was appealing to me was because there is a program written for 9-11 year olds with an extension pack for the older kids. Most of the time, I picked the curriculum to fit the oldest kid and the others just listen in and pick up what they can. Heart of Dakota is actually aimed for the younger group and the older kids get more books to read!

I also like it because it is more hands on than Sonlight. With Sonlight, we read books and the kids answered questions. That was about it. Everyday now, the kids will have a little hands on project to do. I think Courtney and Christian will really like this aspect of the curriculum.

There are about a third of the books to read as Sonlight and it has sections that the kids do INDEPENDENTLY! This may be listening to a section on a CD or reading a passage in a book, but they want them to do it by themselves. This is exactly what I need for my kids!  I think if I would have had them more independent last year, we would have gotten through much more school work. There are still read alouds, so I still get to read to them, but the passages are much shorter for each day. AHHHH! I feel like we will actually be moving along in our curriculum this year.

http://www.heartofdakota.com/index.php

We are going to be doing the "Creation to Christ" package and hopefully this will get Megan into a high school. What? High School? That's just crazy! :)

Teeth are disappearing and coming in!

We have had quite the time with teeth at our house this week.

This baby of mine got two new top teeth in the last couple of days.

He now has his two bottom teeth AND his two top teeth. Now he has to be really careful when he is nursing. :)

The other young man in the house LOST his front tooth last night.  It had been loose for awhile and yesterday it was hanging crooked in his mouth- it was driving me crazy! Last night I was making dinner and Christian came over to me and said, "Here is my tooth mom, I just pulled it out!" Great! Thank you!!

My big boy is losing his teeth and my baby is getting them! I guess this is what I get for having children five years apart!!

Groceries?

I have not made it to the grocery store since we have gotten home from Illinois. We are finally starting to run out on things. Matt told me the other day that his milk expired, and that he couldn't eat his cereal in the morning without milk.  I kind of told him I was going to wait until we needed more groceries, I wasn't going to haul four children to the store just to get him a gallon of milk!

Last night, I went to make supper and realized I needed some more almond milk! I kind of made due with what I had, but then I thought I need to go to the store and get some milk. I need to go as soon as I have time.

I don't really think Matt running out of milk is an emergency, but it kind of is for me!

I guess we are making a trip to the store today!! I should start making that grocery list! It's going to be a big trip!

My crazy husband!

If you know Matt, you know he loves to throw our children in the air. While we were hanging out at park one day in Illinois, we tried to get action shots. This is probably the best one we got!

Matt and Micah both have smiles on their faces!!!