Tag Archives: The Kids 2010

Bath Buddies

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Traditionally, bath time belongs to Mark!  He does a wonderful job throwing them all in the bath and getting them pretty clean.  It’s a chance for him to hang out with the kids and teach them silly songs and such.  I’m starting to get in on bath time too, since we now have two girls instead of mostly boys and one very independent girl.  However, last month my services just were not available.  And so, Mark was able to squeeze three boys and a little girl into their bath tub.  Not bad!

Liam enjoyed his quality time with CeiRai.

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The Amazing CeiRai

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By the way, I don’t think I’ve put that CeiRai (pronounced KayRay) is Ceili Rain’s nickname.  And yes, she answers to that.

This afternoon we were trying to extend her wake up time, so I was playing the ever fun, “Ride a Little Horsey” with her.  She loves that game.  A couple of days ago, we were playing it and I told her to say, “more” and showed her how to do it in sign.  She kind of ignored me but we “practiced” a couple more times before she tired of the game.  Yesterday, as we played I said, “Say more if you want to do it again.”  She slapped those hands together like she had been signing all along.  She didn’t just do it once but several times and when she was done she stopped asking for more.  She did it again that night.

And…to top off her already pretty cool day…she CRAWLED while at church Wednesday night!  The cool thing was that Mark got to see her go at it.  Since he works and I stay home, I would say I’ve been able to see a majority of the “firsts” for all the kids…but Mark got to see this one.  Again, she plopped herself on all fours and took three or four paces like she’d been doing it all along.  I knew she was getting close because you could watch her concentrating and working to figure out what to do anytime she wanted to go somewhere.  She’d plop a hand out and then kind of rock on her knees trying to figure out what to do but couldn’t quite get it.  She would then resort to the adorable throw down on the floor and roll.  It got her where she was going but she finally saw her friend Megan taking off and decided to follow in her crawl steps.

Will I have video?  Yes, as soon as I replace the batteries in the camera…stay tuned…

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Our Little Secret

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There’s something you should know about our beautiful littlest princess.  So far, we’ve kept it to ourselves hoping she’d see the error of her ways.  However, we thought now would be a good time to come clean.  We can’t hide it anymore…

Aside from the fact that sudden bright lights make her close her eyes and she still looks cute.

Yeah, she’s innocent enough.  But there’s a secret hiding there.
Behind that adorable little tiny pony tail facade…
There’s a rocker waiting to get out!  I’m thinking she’s inspired by KISS ( you know the lead singer sticks his tongue out and has crazy wig hair…except Ceili Rain doesn’t have a wig.  No, really, she doesn’t.  It’s all natural…I really shouldn’t even have to explain this should I?).
There, I said it!  Our child is a Closet Rocker (No really!  She is a Closet Rocker.  The changing table is in the closet and that’s where she is)!
Phew!  Now that the secret’s out.  I feel much, much better! Thank you!!

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Baby #6 Update-12 Weeks

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Today was a regular ol’ prenatal checkup.  And by regular, I mean nothing unusual happened, oh, except, we were able to hear the heartbeat with the doppler!

That was one of the sweetest sounds after all the issues at the start of the pregnancy.  We are truly grateful for another healthy baby and are praying this pregnancy will be “normal.”

Prenatals were drawn…and we discussed a lot of things with Dr. J.  One of the things was the subchorionic hematoma…because I didn’t have an ultrasound we don’t know if it’s been absorbed or if it’s still there.  However, he stated that with the fact that I have had zero issues that would be connected with a hematoma and the fact that it was really small, I should not have any problems to worry about with it.  The placenta is now strong enough to deal with the hematoma if it’s still there and my body were to pass it.

Because I have an awesome doctor and he knows I’ll let him know if something is wrong, I don’t have to go in for another seven weeks.  Which means, next appointment is ultrasound time and, prayerfully,  we’ll find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl!  Woohoo! 

Stay bundled up.  Zoe’s praying for two inches of snow tonight!  I hope she gets a “yes” on that prayer request!

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Sickly Days

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It seems that illnesses in kids are just popping up all over the place.  I have two high school classmates who have children in the hospital due to illnesses…fevers, croup, unnamed…lots of yuck and praying for them.

Two of our own are down and out with illnesses as well.

Josiah has had a cold for a little over a week, and two nights ago he woke up at 1:30 with a barking cough.  If you’ve had a child with croup you know what I’m talking about.  I called Dr. B in the morning and asked the nurse if I should bring him in since he was not feverish and did not have stridor (a sucking/gasping noise that children make when they are trying to breath in air…related to the croup).  She still wanted to see him. 

She walked into the exam room and saw Ceili Rain’s still yucky nose (after being on an antibiotic for a little over three days) and said she would check her again.  She got a brief history on what’s been going on with her since she didn’t have her chart and then checked her ears and her chest.  I knew it was rattling when she continued to listen to her for a long time.  Not only rattling but wheezing as well.  She put Ceili Rain on albuterol and said that she most likely had RSV.  Now, don’t freak out.  RSV is a dangerous cold virus in young infants and children with other illnesses.  Ceili Rain is pretty healthy (ear infections aside) and was happy and bouncing.  Dr. B obviously didn’t feel she was wheezing enough to need a nebulizer (which gets the medicine to the kid more quickly than the liquid…I believe)…so we’re in the clear.  We just have to give her the meds every 8 hours…which means we have to wake her up. She’s such a good sleeper that I don’t think it’ll phase her much…we shall see.  I had told Mark when her temp went up on Saturday that I thought it might be RSV, but wasn’t sure.  Dr. B had put her on an antibiotic when I called on, Monday, to let them know she was still running a fever and it got over 101 (I had already talked to Dr. B on Sunday about our requirements for me to bug her again).

Josiah sounded clear, but she went ahead and put him on an antibiotic and told us to call if he got more croupy.  He sounds like he’s been smoking for 20 years!  His voice is all raspy and hoarse.  He’s not acting like he feels 100% either.

I’m very shocked that we have five children and this is the first time any of ours has had RSV.  We are truly blessed to have healthy babies and kids!

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Uggghhhh and Homeschooling in the New Year

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I spent time, gathered and posted two different things for yesterday…all done on Tuesday.   And somehow they disappeared!  I’m so frustrated.  It was pictures of the kids with grandparents for Christmas.  So, look for those posts tomorrow.  However, since we’re starting back to school on Monday, I decided to update what we’ll be doing for the second part of the year!

Zoe:  Character Quality Language Arts Level Pre-A, Green Series.  This is a language arts series that has no frills but is straightforward in teaching grammar, writing, dictation, reviewing phonics, comprehension, reading, etc.  It’s going to be a tough couple of months as adjust from Abeka phonics and reading and spelling to this…however, I think it’s going to be the challenge Zoe’s been lacking.  At the end of this month, for example, she’ll be writing her first book report!  Not only is it great in teaching language arts, it’s also chock-ful of character traits in relationship to the Bible.  Yippee!  That’s more than a two-fer to me!

Ace: Will continue with K5 Phonics with Abeka although I’m struggling to make it more challenging.  He’ll finish it up early this year because of how much he’s taken off!  I can’t wait to see it.

Liam:  Is continuing with gross and fine motor skill building along with cognitive skills.  He’s also going to start K4 Phonics with Abeka again.  We tried it in August and he wasn’t quite ready.  So, we’ll try again and see how it goes.  He really is ready to start writing and we’ll probably work on that “informally” as well.

As for the rest of the subjects for Zoe and Ace:

Math:  Saxon Math 1…Zoe’s already figuring out multiplication facts but we still need to work on basic math such as the addition and subtraction of single and double digits.  As well as the $$ part of math…so, we’ll continue while she continues thinking about multiplication and we help her figure that out.  She’ll fly through the times tables when we get there.

History/Geography:  We’ll spend January covering Georgia history with a neat packet I got at the homeschool conference last year.  Then, because I noticed the kids had no clue how to locate, say, their HOME state, on a map, we are starting Geography.  This is where their group Christmas present will get a workout…a SmartGlobe from Oregon Scientific.  We’ll be using Beginning Geography workbooks from Evan Moor for this study!

Science:  Continuing with the most awesome Answers in Genesis God’s Design for Life.

We’re adding two new things this year.

Music:  My mom gave us a child’s 8 note set of handbells and so, the kids will be learning very simple music theory and music with those…they are thrilled with the gift and can’t wait to learn it.

Spanish:  We have recently befriended a new minister and his family that has come to our area.  They will be starting a Spanish speaking church plant which is much needed…there are few, if any, Protestant Spanish speaking churches in our area…and they are much needed. Their family is precious and they share much of the same values and beliefs we have (as far as family and the church goes)…Mark has remarked that he’d love to attend their church if we could only understand what he was saying!!!  Don’t freak out church friends…their services are in the afternoons and I’m not saying we’re really going to change churches 🙂  However, we’ve offered to help them but our services are pretty limited because of the language barrier…so, if we can overcome that, we’d be a much better help and we’d all be able to particpate in this ministry not just Mark and I.  And so, we are using Teach Them Spanish! to get started and probably something a little more intense once the kids (and us) pick up on it!

Looks pretty packed but it’s not too much.  Our music and Spanish will only be once a week so that should make it a little easier for us.  I’m looking forward to all the challenges that the rest of this school year will bring.  We’ll finish up with school the first part of June, pending any interruptions or family events.

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