Growing Up

I've still been working with Baby E on decreasing the frequency and length of her nursing sessions.

By this point I am just so ready for us to be done nursing. I've managed to make it through 4 and 1/2 years of nursing 3 kids even though I've never really enjoyed it, and we're long past the "as long as mutually desired by mother and child" point.

She's been down to nursing 2-4 times per day for quite a while now, but if it was solely up to her she would be nursing more often and wouldn't be thinking about weaning anytime soon.

Today I tried something I'd read about somewhere: I made two "coins" out of lids covered with aluminum foil and put them in a box on the table for her. I told her that those were her nursing coins, and that she could use them to buy milk. Whenever she wanted to nurse, she needed to pay me a coin and when they were gone, that would be all the milk for that day. She could decide when she wanted to spend them.

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She was quite excited about that idea, and happily gave me one of the coins this morning to nurse. Several times during the rest of the day, she asked for milk. But when I reminded her that she would have to give me her second coin and that would be the last milk for today, she changed her mind. I offered to spend some time cuddling with her or reading to her instead and she opted for that.

Tonight, she was again lamenting the fact that she doesn't get to go to AWANA like the older girls. She so badly wants to be able to go. So we stopped on the way out from picking up the big girls to talk to the Cubbies leader. The leader said that, actually, they do encourage the kids around Baby E's age to start visiting the class with a parent. That way when they are 3 and are old enough to be in the class, they'll already be comfortable in the environment and know what to expect.

So I told Baby E that she can start going to Cubbies, but Cubbies is only for big kids. When she is a big girl who doesn't drink milk from Mommy any more, then she can go to Cubbies. When she has gone a week without nursing, Daddy or I will take her to AWANA.

She was so excited about that idea that she decided she wanted to start right away, tonight. So I gave her a bedtime massage with some nice lotion instead of nursing her. That seemed to help a lot.

I'm realizing that in order to smooth the transition away from nursing, we're going to need to find other ways to meet her tactile needs. I think a large part of her difficulty with giving up nursing has been that she just really needs that extra cuddling and skin contact. I think that for her it's more about that than about the milk.

She's also still doing really well with potty training. I did put a Pull-Up on her when we went out to run errands today, and it was a good thing I did. Poor thing--the few blueberries I'd let her have earlier today gave her pretty bad diarrhea. She told me that she needed to go potty, but we weren't where we had access to a restroom and by the time we got home it was a bit too late.

Diarrhea is an exception, though. Most of the time she's doing really great using the potty. Last night she even wore regular underwear to bed ("puhple undew-weaw") and kept it dry all night.

Baby E is really not a baby any more.

Field Trip

Yesterday AJ finished her math book, and I realized that I had the textbook but not the workbook for the Part 2 book for the first grade Singapore math.

I decided that I'd better check and make sure we had M&M's Kindergarten 2B book while I was at it, since she is almost done with her book as well. Then I realized that the book she's almost finished with is the 2B book.

I'd forgotten that she whizzed through the Earlybird Kindergarten 1A and 1B books so quickly last year that we started 2A early, and then ended up starting 2B even earlier. So she's basically almost finished with her entire math curriculum for this school year already.

That leaves me with basically 2 options: I can either let her go ahead and start the book AJ just finished--which is rather advanced even for 1st grade, or I can find something else to fill in with for the rest of the year.

So today we decided to take a field trip to the curriculum store and then grocery shopping. Morning decided to come along and keep us company, which was fun.

I ended up getting the workbooks for both Primary Math 1A and 1B for the first grade math book, and then some supplemental books for both girls also--the "extra practice book" for Primary Math 1 and the "Challenging Word Problems" book to go along with this year's work too. I think I'll have M&M do some of the extra practice book, then start the next book along with that. If she's working through both books it might slow her down a bit. AJ will really enjoy the word problems book, I think.

I also bought a math board game (basically a mathematical version of Scrabble) and a couple of math computer games (Math Blaster 1 and 2) to add some variety. And, I got phonics and vocabulary workbooks for the older 2 kids and a pre-phonics book for Baby E. Adding in the Wild Animals File Folder Facts book and the Draw Right Now! Land Animals Around the World book, I feel that I filled in some gaps in our curriculum quite nicely.

The kids were so excited about their new books that they begged to start working on their new math workbooks in the car on the way home.

How can I say no to a request like that? Especially when every time they turn a new page I hear delighted exclamations, giggles, and "this is so much fun!" from the back seat all the way home.

Children's Lit Quiz Answers

Here are the answers to both part 1 and part 2 of the children's lit quiz. I'll put the answers below the fold and leave some space in case someone doesn't want the spoiler.

How many have you read? Feel free to share your opinions and memories of the books in the comments.

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Scroll down for answers:



















1. One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery. --The Boxcar Children, by Gertrude Chandler Warner.

2. From the pleasant village of Mayenfeld a path leads through green fields, richly covered with trees, to the foot of the mountain, which from this side overhangs the valley with grave and solemn aspect. --Heidi, by Johanna Spyri.

3. This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child. --The Magician's Nephew, by C.S. Lewis.

4. Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs. --Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

5. "Where's Papa going with that ax?" --Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White.

6. Keith, the boy in the rumpled shorts and shirt, did not know he was being watched as he entered room 215 of the Mountain View Inn. --The Mouse and the Motorcycle, by Beverly Cleary.

7. This journey took place in a part of Canada which lies in the northwestern part of the great sprawling province of Ontario. --The Incredible Journey, by Sheila Burnford.

8. "That slowpoke Sarah!" --All-Of-A-Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor.

9. THE FIRST place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. --Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell.

10. "Papa, is this the place?" --A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

11. "How white the moonlight is tonight!" --Anne of Ingleside, by L.M. Mongtomery.

12. It was January in northern New York State, sixty-seven years ago. --Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

13. For many days we had been tempest-tossed. --The Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann Wyss.

14. The antique shop is very still now. Theobold and I have it all to ourselves, for the cuckoo clock was sold day before yesterday and Theobold has been so industrious of late there are no more mice to venture out from behind the woodwork. --Hitty: Her First Hundred Years, by Rachel Field.

15. The little old kitchen had quieted down from the bustle and confusion of midday; and now, with its afternoon manners on, presented a holiday aspect that, as the principal room in the brown house, it was eminently proper it should have. --Five Little Peppers, by Margaret Syndey.

16. One morning a little rabbit sat on a bank. He perked his ears and listened to the trit-trot, trit-trot of a pony. --The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, by Beatrix Potter.

17. To start with there was Shora. --The Wheel on the School, by Meindert DeJong.

18. There was this boy, Davie, and he was going to have a rabbit. --Shadrach, by Meindert Dejong. (It hadn't even clicked with me that these two books were by the same author until just now, LOL.)

19. IT seemed like Mother Nature was sure agreeable that day when the little black colt came to the range world and tried to get a foothold with his long wobblety legs on the brown prairie sod. --Smoky the Cow Corse, by Will James.

20. I REMEMBER the day the Aleut ship came to our island. --The Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell.

21. The seat of the old wicker chair on the rock was worn right through. --The Majesty of Grace, by Jane Langton.

22. "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents." --Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott.

More Children's Lit First Lines

Here are the first lines (or two) of several more of my favorite children's books. (Liz, I put one of these in especially for you.)

As before, these are books that were either written for children, or that I read and enjoyed before age 12. I'll post the answers eventually.

I really enjoy this meme. I think I'm going to have to do a picture-book version and a "classic books for grown-ups" version eventually, too. Maybe even a poetry version--wouldn't that be fun?

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11. "How white the moonlight is tonight!"

12. It was January in northern New York State, sixty-seven years ago.

13. For many days we had been tempest-tossed.

14. The antique shop is very still now. Theobold and I have it all to ourselves, for the cuckoo clock was sold day before yesterday and Theobold has been so industrious of late there are no more mice to venture out from behind the woodwork.

15. The little old kitchen had quieted down from the bustle and confusion of midday; and now, with its afternoon manners on, presented a holiday aspect that, as the principal room in the brown house, it was eminently proper it should have.

16. One morning a little rabbit sat on a bank. He perked his ears and listened to the trit-trot, trit-trot of a pony.

17. To start with there was Shora.

18. There was this boy, Davie, and he was going to have a rabbit.

19. IT seemed like Mother Nature was sure agreeable that day when the little black colt came to the range world and tried to get a foothold with his long wobblety legs on the brown prairie sod.

20. I REMEMBER the day the Aleut ship came to our island.

21. The seat of the old wicker chair on the rock was worn right through.

22. "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents."

Lazy Days

We're all still sick.

M&M and Baby E are congested, coughing, headachy, tired and grumpy. AJ doesn't have a cough--she has a fever and no appetite. AJ seems to have the same bug DH had last week. I appear to have come down with the respiratory virus that M&M and Baby E have, though I'm not coughing as much.

We ended up canceling home group yesterday because 4 of the 6 families were sick (some with an intestinal virus that hasn't showed up here yet). DH went to church, but the rest of us stayed home.

Baby E is still plugging along with the potty training. She's insistent that she is done with diapers, and must wear underwear at all times.

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She's doing great keeping them clean during the day. Not so great at night. Which makes for a lot of wet bedding to change, but hopefully she'll either stop wetting the bed or consent to wear a pull-up to bed soon. At the moment I just want to encourage her with her efforts and am happy she's decided she's finally a "big diwl" and done with diapers.

Last night we all cuddled up on the couch and watched Mary Poppins. DH and I hadn't seen it since we were kids, and the girls had never seen it. It was as good as I remembered it. We talked a bit afterwards about how we can think up all sorts of interesting things by using our imaginations, and about why Mary Poppins came and what she helped the family to realize (that the children needed the parents to be more involved in their lives and day-to-day care).

Today there is about an inch of snow on the grass. The roads are already clear. The kids are enjoying seeing the snow out the window, but none of them have asked to go outside. We're just sort of lazing around being a sick house today.

Right now all three kids are reading--AJ read No Children, No Pets for a while and is now reading Burgess' Danny Meadow Mouse. Baby E has a stack of books that she's "reading" to her baby doll. M&M is lying in bed reading picture books aloud to her doll, too, even though she doesn't have much of a voice. She's finished the series of American Girl Samantha books we picked up a week or two ago, and now is scrounging around for new reading materials.

I'm currently reading a book I picked up at a thrift shop because I'd heard it recommended--Raising Your Spirited Child: a guide for parents whose child is more intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent, energetic. It's good. So good, in fact, that I'm finding myself underlining and writing notes in the margin--something I rarely do. I'll try to write a review of the book when I finish it.

Later today we'll probably do some school-related reading and take naps. I'm ready for a nap now, but I'm hoping that if I wait until afternoon to put the kids down, they'll actually sleep. A girl can hope, right? :)

Children's Lit First Line Quiz

I stole this idea from MysteryMommy.

These are the first lines from several children's books I have lying around. See if you can identify them.

1. One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery.

2. From the pleasant village of Mayenfeld a path leads through green fields, richly covered with trees, to the foot of the mountain, which from this side overhangs the valley with grave and solemn aspect.

3. This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child.

4. Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs.

5. "Where's Papa going with that ax?"

6. Keith, the boy in the rumpled shorts and shirt, did not know he was being watched as he entered room 215 of the Mountain View Inn.

7. This journey took place in a part of Canada which lies in the northwestern part of the great sprawling province of Ontario.

8. "That slowpoke Sarah!"

9. THE FIRST place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it.

10. "Papa, is this the place?"


* As per Liz's definition, these are books that were either written for children or that I read and enjoyed before age 12.

Amy Carmichael

Yesterday we spent most of our school time studying one of my favorite characters from history: Amy Carmichael. Her life and writing has impacted me tremendously. It was great to be able to share a bit of her life story with my girls.

Here are a couple of quotes from her writings:

"One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving."--Amy Carmichael

"It must be Come, never Go. We cannot ask another to do what we have never done or are not willing to do."--Amy Carmichael

Undew-weaw

Today Baby E said, "I need a puww-up."

"No, you don't," I said. "You're a big girl. You don't need a pull-up."

"No, I not a big diwl. I need a puww-up!"

"But you know how to use the toilet. You don't need a pull-up, because you know how to go potty in the toilet."

"Nes, I do. I need a puww-up. I need one! Wew, actuawwy, no. I don't need a puww-up. I need undew-weaw."

She kept her underwear dry all day, even when she took a nap.

New Year's Resolutions

These are the things I want to work on this year:


• Talking less and listening more.


• Thinking less about myself and more about other people.


• Keeping up better with family and friends, correspondence, and remembering people's special occasions.


• Going to bed by 11PM unless there is something really urgent going on.


• Continuing to build better routines for keeping up with chores, etc.


• Spending more time with God.

Seems like there was something else, but I can't remember what it was at the moment . . .

Enjoying My Kids

Wow . . . toward the end of the year I was feeling like parenting was just really difficult. It seemed like all of the kids were going through difficult stages at once, and our routine was really disrupted, and I could see so many ways I was failing as a parent and in everything else, it seemed.

But the last few weeks I find myself amazed over and over again at how much more fun and how much easier parenting has suddenly become again. I think it helps a lot for all of us to have a bit more predictable life, fewer activities going on, and more sleep happening. :)

We've dealt with one illness after another the last few weeks, it seems . . . right now we're passing around another winter respiratory illness thingy--more severe than most colds, but more mild than the flu, I guess. I'm still not feeling well anyway, but am getting through each week one day at a time, and trying to nap with the girls when I can. God gives strength for each day as it's needed, I find.

DH had a toenail removed recently that ended up more complicated than the doctor expected. It took longer than normal to heal, but it seems to be healing nicely now.

Yesterday was a great milestone at our house . . . Baby E didn't take a nap, but she stayed in her bed for her entire "quiet time" without getting up once!

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I had not too long before started playing a CD for her so that she would know that when the music stopped, she could get up. She would get up and I would gently tell her that it wasn't time to get up until the music was all done, and help her get back into bed . . . over, and over, and over the first few days. But the method worked! Within just a few days she was getting up only once or twice, or just yelling to me from her room, "Is it time to det up yet, Mommy?"

Yesterday she just sat quietly in bed reading books and playing with her toys until the music stopped, and I didn't hear a peep out of her the whole time! I peeked in on her a few times and she was so absorbed in her books that she didn't even notice me. (I say she was "reading", but she isn't actually READING yet. She is learning more of her letters and numbers and remembers quite a bit of what she hears, though, so she'll go through picture books counting things and telling herself or her dolls what she remembers of the story.)

When the music stopped, she happily came out of her room to tell me that it was time to get up. Of course I gave her a big hug and thanked her for staying in her room until the music was all done. She was proud of herself, too!

She is still nursing, but we're gradually tapering that off and she seems to be ok with that. Potty training is coming along . . . I think she's getting pretty close to losing the diapers completely, at least during the day.

M&M is her sweet energetic, cheerful self. We've started having weekly family meetings, and one of the things we discuss is what chores each family member will be responsible for that week. Enthusiastic little M&M always seems to want to take on every chore mentioned, and we keep having to tell her that she needs to leave some jobs for someone else to do. She really loves to help and loves to be busy--especially since we decided that she was old enough to use the spray bottle herself (for one or two selected gentle cleaning solutions, with supervision).

AJ is still really enjoying her "special play time with Mommy" (a.k.a. play therapy) at home. She doesn't seem to miss the therapist too much. Between that and the other changes we've made, she seems to be doing really well. We've seen so much improvement in her mood and general demeanor, and most of the behaviors we had been concerned about are virtually gone. She seems generally much happier and more even-keel.

I had special play time with AJ yesterday, and DH took the other two girls out for an outing while AJ and I had lactose-free pizza and chatted, then did play therapy.

We had an interesting conversation over dinner. I asked AJ what was the most important thing in the world to her. I was thinking she would probably mention a toy or a friend, or maybe an activity. But she smiled and said, "God."

We talked about that for quite a while. I was really interested to hear her thoughts. Among other things I found that she thinks "God might look like light" when He's not taking on human form. I thought that was very insightful of her.

She also said, "You know, I've discovered lately that I really quite enjoy reading the Bible. It's very interesting. Not all of it, though. I mostly like reading the stories in it." [Yes, she talks like a book. Not a book for 6-year-olds, either.]

Tonight DH is taking Baby E out for a "date" with Daddy, and sometime in the next few days one of us will have some special one-on-one time with M&M. The kids really seem to be thriving with our trying to make sure to have more individual time with each of them, and more "family fun times" with all of us playing games or doing fun things together, too.

School is going well. Even when we weren't technically "doing school", the girls were doing so much reading and learning that I don't think we fell behind at all, really. The days we don't do a lesson in their math books we almost always play some kind of math game, tell math stories, or talk about and practice utilizing math in our daily lives.

It's the same with other subjects--just providing good books, sparking topics of conversation, and being willing to help them find out more on the subjects that interest them really keeps their minds quite busy. We have a big map of the world spread on the wall, and the kids sometimes just like to pick a country to talk about and ask a few questions about. They read ravenously, and are constantly telling us things they've learned from their books.

This week we've been studying India. I think M&M has especially enjoyed learning about the various animals that live there, but AJ is enthralled with the character of Gandhi.

DH had picked up the library books for this unit this weekend. Monday morning I came downstairs to find that AJ had picked up Gandhi: The Father of Modern India (Oxford Press) and read it before breakfast. It's geared toward "upper primary" age group, but she loved it. She told me and DH all about Gandhi's life, and his philosophy of using peaceful resistance to bring about change. Today she was reading the book again. I'm going to try to get her on video telling about it.

A typical school day lately looks like this: The girls read books on the topic we're studying on their own. Basically DH and I just put the books into the library bin or leave them lying around, and the kids pick them up and read them on their own. We ask them about what they're reading and sometimes have them do various activities that fit with whatever we're studying, but mostly they're independent with this. We do have them either write a sentence or two or dictate a paragraph to us about some of the books after they've read them.

I've been having them do various worksheets that fit with the topic we're studying . . . map activities, reading about and coloring pictures of various people and animals, learning about the colors and symbols on each country's flag and coloring a picture of it, finding and writing answers to a set of questions, etc.

Several times this week I came upstairs to find and print off worksheets from Enchanted Learning. I told the computer to print to the printer downstairs, and by the time I got back downstairs the kids had already noticed the printer working, collected and divided up the worksheets, read the directions, and started in on the activities. They seem to really enjoy being mostly self-directed.

Then at some point during the day I usually read at least one Bible story to them. We read from other books off and on, during the day and/or at bedtime. Right now at bedtime we're reading The All-Of-A-Kind Family and a book of animal Bible stories. On their own, the kids are reading books like Five Little Peppers, the Magic Attic and Boxcar Children books, and other short novels in addition to the books on whatever topic we're studying for school.

Most days AJ and M&M also do a lesson in their math books. They usually need quite a bit of help with that, so it's more teacher-intensive. Both girls are getting ready to start the second of their two math volumes for the year, so we seem to be pretty much on track.

I kept feeling guilty that we weren't being more structured and intensive, but the girls seem to be thriving and learning a ton, so I think this is working fine for the time being.

At the moment, I've decided that for a kindergartner and first-grader, we just don't really need tons of structure. They're enjoying the way we're doing it, so am I, and they're learning a lot and coming along well in the skills that are important for them to learn. Most of all, they're cultivating a love of learning. That's what's most important at this age, I think.

Epiphany

This morning Baby E woke up at 6 a.m. and DH went to see to her. I thought, "Wow, she slept a lot longer than she has any other night this week."

That's when I had my little epiphany.

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You see, Baby E has been waking up sometime between 3 and 4 every night this week. And then sometimes waking up a few more times after that, or not really going back to sleep at all.

DH usually gets up with her at least the first time, but that doesn't necessarily mean I go right back to sleep. I've been up with her quite a few times this week too, and more than once she has ended up in our bed, tossing and turning and lying on me and generally keeping me from dropping back into a sound sleep. (DH, on the other hand, can sleep through almost anything and falls asleep again immediately after being up.)

Last night was the first time in at least a week I've had anywhere close to 6 hours of solid sleep.

And I wonder why I'm tired. LOL.

Lack of sleep can send me into a full-blown FMS/CFS flare-up faster than just about anything else.

I felt quite a bit better today, though still not great by any means.

DH and I talked about it this morning, and decided that the best thing would be for me to sleep in the playroom/guest room tonight, wearing earplugs. Hopefully we'll be able to get the kids down early enough so that both DH and I can go to bed early. He's tired too, but it doesn't affect him as much.

Hopefully a night or two of unbroken, solid sleep will help me to get back on my feet.

I really hope Baby E will start sleeping better soon, too.

Resting

The cleaning crew (two men) on Tuesday was great. They were friendly, hardworking, and set me at ease even though they could tell I was a bit embarrassed to be needing help cleaning my house.

I spent most of the day going ahead of them to pick up floors so they could vaccuum, declutter countertops, get out linens for them to put on the beds, etc.

I ended up overdoing it, so I've been struggling with pain and fatigue, and just generally not feeling well since then. Somehow I need to get it through my head that the week or so it takes me to recover just isn't worth pushing myself that hard to get things done.

My house looks good, though.

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It took two professional men (who never stopped to take a breath, it seemed) over 4 hours to clean 2/3 of the house. The rooms that are still full of clutter I just had them ignore. So they cleaned the kitchen and nook, family room, entry, staircase, hallway, master bedroom, kids' room, playroom, and all 3 bathrooms.

I don't know whether it makes me feel better or worse that it took more than 8 man-hours to clean just part of my house. In a way, it makes me feel a bit better about not being able to keep up on my own. That didn't even include any of the daily maintenance things like dishes and laundry, decluttering, meal prep, etc--it was just vaccuuming, mopping floors, cleaning bathtubs, dusting and stuff like that.

I made it through the week, although I barely managed to do the minimum necessary to take care of the kids, do a little bit of school with them, and feed them. DH helped a lot, taking over and letting me rest when he got home from work. He's such a sweet guy.

I keep wondering if I have some kind of low-grade virus, but it's so hard to tell whether I'm actually sick or it's just a flare-up. Either one has about the same results.

I'm trying to take care of myself. I've cleaned up my diet (no sugar or refined carbs--I had let that slide a bit over the holidays), am taking some extra vitamins and supplements, am back to limiting gluten and completely avoiding all dairy products (just for myself since that seemed to help in the past, not for the rest of the family), have upped my water intake, and am going to bed earlier and resting during the day as much as I can, but so far nothing seems to be making much of a difference. Hopefully something will kick in soon.

Today DH is home from work and is taking care of the kids and running errands. Tomorrow we'll have church (I'm supposed to work in Baby E's class) and home group. I would have really liked to get out of the house and do something fun, either with DH and the kids or by myself today. Or catch up on dishes and laundry that have gotten a bit behind, or make some more progress on the decluttering. But it takes too much energy.

It's annoying, because when I'm feeling okay I'm the type of person that has to be on the go or doing something all the time. I hate getting up in the morning and feeling like all I want to do is crawl back into bed. When getting dressed and taking a shower makes me feel I've run a marathon, and I ache so much and have such a fuzzy brain that I can hardly process what people are saying to me.

Today I'm just resting.

We're OK

A little while ago we had a sudden storm that was really intense. It started out with pouring down rain and very loud thunder and lightning, progressing to huge hailstones hammering the roof and intense winds. It lasted quite a bit longer than hailstorms usually do here.

I thought, "Wow, it almost sounds like that wind is trying to rip off the roof." When the storm got intense and the power started flockering, I made sure we were all downstairs and encouraged the kids to come and look at the hail from a safe distance.

A while later, a friend called to ask if we were okay. It turns out that it was quite possibly a tornado (it looks like it, but apparently National Weather Service has to confirm that, which will take a day or so).*

The worst of it was at one of the stores we often shop at, about 5 minutes away. There were cars and a semi trailer flipped over, roofs ripped off, billboards destroyed, trees downed, and buildings damaged. Lots of downed power lines and trees, of course.

Right now they're showing on the news a picture of a building with 2/3 of the building literally ripped off and vehicles with broken windows that were lifted into the air and dumped in different places. Another picture was of a pickup truck on top of a wall ripped off a nearby building.

They're showing eyewitnesses that saw a funnel and/or swirling clouds. Now there's a picture of debris like pine needles and a piece of wood embedded in the side of a house. I haven't been out to check the outside of our house yet.

What's amazing is that so far there have been no reports of injuries.

We almost never get tornadoes here. The last tornado in this area was before I was born.

I'm actually sort of glad I didn't know it was a tornado when it was happening. I would have been a little more scared.

I wish I'd gotten some video or pictures of it, though. :)

* The National Weather Service just confirmed that it was indeed a tornado.

A Tough Road

I discovered a blog yesterday by the husband of a lady with Cystic Fibrosis. This family has had to make some of the hardest decisions I can imagine.

Tricia had become quite ill with her CF. She was getting close to receiving a double lung tranplant that would hopefully save her life, when they discovered she was pregnant. As her father-in-law so eloquently pointed out in this post, it truly was a case where, for very good reason, the doctors were recommending abortion to preserve the life of the mother. There was virtually no chance that the mother would be able to carry the baby to term with both of them surviving the experience.

They chose to keep the baby. They believed that God had a plan, and that He gave them that child at that time for a reason.

Now, at 24 weeks into the pregnancy, the baby has had to be delivered by emergency C-section. They were attempting to intubate Tricia to buy a few more days or weeks for both her and the baby, but ended up needing to deliver the baby in the process.

Before Tricia went into the surgery, she and her husband were asked to make a heart-wrenching decision: If it came down to a choice between saving the baby or saving the mother, what did they want the doctors to do?

I don't know--I don't think any of us know--what choice I would have made in that circumstance. I don't know what choice Nathan and Tricia made. Thankfully, it didn't come down to that.

At this point both Tricia and the baby, Gwyneth Rose, are in ICU in critical condition. I'm checking in often to see how they are doing. I'm praying for them. Most of all, I'm inspired by this family's strength and faith. I'm glad I found their blogs.

The Spoon Story

My sister Sparrow sent me this link (PDF) about what it's like to live with chronic illness. It's so true.

I'm just thankful that these days I usually start out with more spoons than I used to.

Trying to find the routine

Sunday afternoon one of the ladies in our home group brought "energy drinks" from a product line she sells, for everyone to try. It was a powder you add to water, a bunch of vitamins and minerals in it along with some dyes and flavorings, dextrose, sucralose and caffeine. It was supposed to be "healthy." It made me dizzy after a few sips--I don't generally tolerate artificial sugars well.

I made the mistake of letting my kids try just a little of it, since the other kids were having some. All of us had a hard time going to sleep even hours later. The kids were finally all asleep shortly before 11, and I dozed off somewhere between 2 and 3.

Baby E was up for the day, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at 4 a.m.

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I had put in earplugs because of DH's snoring, so I didn't know it until a bleary-eyed DH woke me at 5:30 saying, "I've been up with E for an hour and a half and she's showing no signs of going back to sleep. Could you take her for a while, please?"

She finally dozed off for about 20 minutes around 7 a.m. Then she didn't even take a nap yesterday. DH let me nap for a few minutes before he left for work, while he fed the kids breakfast, but we were certainly all tired.

I had fully intended to be up early and ready to do school with the kids that morning, but I had a really hard time getting going. Morning came over in the afternoon with her dog, and we visited for a while while the kids rode bikes/trikes.

AJ has her first two-wheeler and is having a great time trying to learn how to ride it. She was so excited when she finally managed to get the pedals through half a rotation before she fell over.

I bought training wheels to put on the bike, but I'm debating a bit whether it's better to have her learn with training wheels or without. They are the type that can be moved up out of the way easily, so that makes it possible to practice both with and without them. I haven't put them on the bike yet.

I've never taught someone to ride a bike before, so I'm not sure exactly the best way to go about it. We're having fun, though.

Last night I visited with a friend who was widowed this past May. It was the first time I'd seen her since the memorial service, though I've left phone messages for her and we've talked on the phone a few times.

She seems to be doing ok. I mostly just listened while she processed and talked about what's going on in her life. It felt right. I enjoyed spending time with her, and hope to do it again soon.

Today the cleaning crew DH hired is coming for the first time. I'm going to try to do some prep work on the house (picking up, getting out clean linens for them to put on the beds, etc) between doing some school with the kids this morning. I'm excited about having them come.

No Bids?

The Cavalli auction is ending in about 4 hours 40 minutes. No bids so far. 26 watchers, 243 views, but no bids. Hopefully someone will bid at the last minute.

If it doesn't sell, I'll have to decide whether to reslist it, send it to Christie's (they had given an estimate of 400 to 600 British pounds sterling, which is quite a bit more than my starting bid) or keep it and wear it. :)

Partied Out

Whew! Talk about a busy week! It was great, but I'm glad it's over.

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Last Friday we had the family Christmas party/white elephant gift exchange with DH's family. That was a lot of fun, and I got to teach one of my newer niece-in-laws (DH's nephew's wife) how to crochet. A lot of family from out of state and out of the country were there, so it was good to see them.

Saturday I can't remember what we did--we may have just rested, cleaned house and done errands. Saturday night I picked up Dr. A from the airport and took her home.

Sunday we had no obligations at our church, so we went to DH's parents' church and heard one of DH's brothers (the one currently living in Texas) preach. Then we went out to a restaurant with DH's family. After lunch, DH's parents and his TX pastor BIL and SIL from Australia came over to our house for a brief visit so BIL/SIL could see our house. Just after they left, the 6 families (12 adults and 13 kids) in our Home Group/Bible Study arrived for a potluck.

Monday was New Year's Eve and we had a game night here. We all hung out, played board/card games, ate snacks and visited until 2am. It was really nice hanging out with family and friends. When midnight arrived, we toasted the New Year with sparkling cider and prayed together.

There happened to be TEN little girls at the game night, and they had a ball playing princess and dress-up. They all played so well together. My dad got in on the fun, too. In the photo below a bunch of little girls are inside the toy castle. They said it was "the castle with legs that eats grandpas!"



The Miraclebaby family drove quite a distance to come, so we had planned ahead for them to stay all night. On Tuesday Becci and I went shopping while the guys stayed home with the kids, watched sports, and played more games. Then we had dinner before they left for home.

It was fun hanging out with Becci. Even though we don't really wear the same styles for the most part, our tastes are similar enough that we were both liked a lot of the same things. It was fun shopping together. We even bought matching blouses.



Their daughter Dorothy sure is a cutie. My girls enjoyed playing with her.



On Wednesday we had the "goodbye party" at AJ's therapist's place. I've done her play therapy at home twice now, and the therapist and I feel we're ready to just do it at home. So all three kids, DH and I went and had treats and a special play time together at the therapist's house one last time.

Here's a picture of the scene the kids set up in the sand table:



Wednesday evening was the big 60th anniversary for DH's parents. Congratulations, MIL and FIL! Aren't they a sweet couple?



Of course, there were a lot of out-of-towners here for that, too. After the celebration Adventurous BIL and Artistic SIL came with their three kids to stay the night at our house.

Baby G is just a few weeks old and is quite a cutie. I got to take some pictures of her wearing the little sweater I crocheted for her.



We had a nice time visiting with BIL, SIL and the kids before they left Thursday afternoon. On Thursday night DH had worship team rehearsal, so I attempted to put the kids to bed early. It didn't work all that well since they are now used to staying up all hours of the night and had a hard time settling down, but they all fell asleep shortly before DH got home.

Yesterday (Friday), I took the kids shopping and then we went to dinner with a bunch of MY family. Then DH took the kids home while I went to my cousin's house with some of the family for dessert. It was really nice to see some of the family from out of town on my side of the family, too. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures. :)

Today we're all tired. We're doing some needed errands and then I think tonight we'll all cuddle up on the sofa and watch a movie, and hopefully go to bed early. DH has to be at both church services tomorrow, and we have home group here in the afternoon.

I hope the next few weeks will allow us a little bit of down time. It was nice to spend a lot of time with family and friends, but it will be good to get back into a somewhat normal routine.