Visual/Audio

Nothing particularly special, but I thought these were cute and might make the regular readers who don't actually know us IRL feel like they can envision AJ, M&M and E-Bee a little better.

You even get to hear the silly questions I ask to get the kids to talk, and the rather dimwitted things I stumble around to say when I know I'm on camera. :) Like, "We can't take your shoes off until we take your tights off first." I meant something more like, "You can't be barefoot in the sand very well with tights on." LOL. The conversation about pitch took several minutes, so I edited most of that out.

The video is kind of choppy because it's about 5 bits spliced together. I recorded this on my digital camera, not an actual video recorder. My video-recording and splicing skills aren't that great, but it works.

I'm not sure how long I'll leave the video up . . . I may delete it from YouTube after a while.

Folk Dancing

A snippet of today's breakfast conversation:

E-bee: I don't weawwy dow how to do bowk danding; do you dow how to do bowk danding?

AJ: Not really, but I know a few moves. Clapping is very popular in folk dancing.

M&M: Yes, but in folk dancing they clap NEXT to their face, not in front of their face like AJ just did.

Mommy: I'll bet people clap different ways in different kinds of folk dances. Maybe in some they clap beside their faces and in others they clap in front of their faces.

I think this afternoon we'll have to try to find some good clips of Israeli folk dances on the internet. :) Yesterday we made a list of all the animals we knew of that lived in Israel. Then we read about fennec foxes and found some great video clips of them.

Bonus quote: E-Bee just said, "Oh, doodness, dewe's dowews in wee dadoom."

Bonus points to anyone who can figure out what that means. (Clue: it's not related to folk dancing.)

Sunny Days

Wow, the last few days here have been so summery. The kids and I have been spending a lot of time outside the last couple of days. We even did some of our schoolwork outside today.

My shoulders were still very precarious and painful yesterday, and I couldn't lift my arms much or lift anything that weighed more than a pound or two. It's a good thing caring for small children doesn't involve much that requires reaching high. :) My dear friend Morning came over and helped with some of the things I couldn't do . . . putting my hair into a ponytail, lifting E-bee and pushing her on the swing, cutting up a cabbage for dinner, etc. That was such a help.

Today my shoulders and everything else (particularly one knee) are still very sore, but better. I can do most normal things all right. I lowered the swing for E-bee so she can get onto it herself, which she loves.

The interesting thing is that, besides the actual pain, I'm feeling so much better the last few days. I had read somewhere that a lot of fibromyalgia sufferers feel better when they go grain-free. I know that when I've tried going gluten-free in the past, it seemed to help me feel better, and I know that refined sugars, processed foods and dairy products don't agree with me. So I've been avoiding grains, added sugars and dairy products the last few days. I'm still fixing them for the rest of the family, but I'm just skipping that part of the meal or filling in with other things.

I don't know if it's that, the sunshine, the extra time I've been spending with God, the daily hot epsom salt baths, the combination of things, or something else, but I feel so much better. The brain fog and horrendous dragging fatigue has improved immensely. My mind is clearer, my emotions are more stable, and I'm just generally more functional (even though strictly physically, I'm not really all that functional at the moment). It's so much easier to connect and interact well, and to come up with good ways to handle the situations that come up with the kids and life. I'm not in survival mode.

There are so many more things I want to post about . . . cute things the kids did, progress we're making on finding a workable routine for our family, what we are learning in homeschooling, thoughts about various issues . . . but not right now. DH has the kids out, and they will be getting back fairly soon. I've just finished clearing up from dinner, starting the dishwasher, rebooting the laundry, stripping the bed, and starting a load of bedding in the washer. I still have a long way to go before I get caught up on things that have had to slide the last few days. But for the moment, it's enough.

A hot bath and a book are calling my name.

Adjustment

I went to the chiropractor today. Both shoulders, especially the left one, were pretty badly out of alignment, along with quite a few places in my spine and other joints. The chiropractor had a hard time getting one shoulder to stay in place, because it wanted to pop out again as soon as she had adjusted it.

I'm pretty sure I injured the shoulders carrying some really heavy grocery bags Friday night and then aggravated it more by being too active this weekend (doing things like cleaning off the back porch) and not resting it, which made it a lot worse. By Sunday night it was really forcing me to pay attention. :) Hopefully I caught it and went to the chiropracter soon enough that it will heal relatively quickly.

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Thankfully my mom was able to come over and watch the girls while I went to my appointment, and then DH was home to take care of things tonight. I sure wasn't in any shape to be doing much of anything tonight. Poor E-bee desperately wanted me to hold her, but I couldn't manage it. I had to ask DH to take her out of the room because it was just too painful to have her tug on my arms and try to climb on me.

At the moment I'm pretty well not able to lift anything or raise my arms much, but I'm hoping that if I can manage to sleep tonight and avoid using my shoulders too much tomorrow (ha), things will improve. At least typing doesn't involve lifting anything or raising my arms. :)

I've been lying down a lot this evening, but haven't managed to doze off yet. Not being able to roll over makes things interesting since I usually sleep on my side for at least part of the night.

If I can just make it through the next few days, I have hope that once things settle down from the adjustment it might help me feel better overall.

I have an appointment with my naturopath next week, too.

OK, enough typing. I'm going back to bed.

Don't Touch Me

Last week was fun, but way too busy with kids' parties, guests and other activities. We had basically 3 parties and another gathering over 2 days, with several other things going on that week too. It was fun, but it was too much. All three kids are having a rough time now (especially AJ, who doesn't do well with changes in routine) because of getting over-socialized, over-stimulated and over-tired last week. Hopefully we'll get everyone back into routines and feeling more emotionally stable soon.

I have a lot of generalized pain right now. I haven't hurt this much since I was in a car accident last year . . . this FM/CFS flare-up is fluctuating from day to day, but overall it seems to be getting worse instead of better right now. I don't think I've had a flare-up this bad since college, with the possible exception of when I was in those car accidents.

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The worst is that the last few days my shoulders keep slipping out of joint so that I can't really pick up anything without severe pain, so Baby E has been following me around begging to pick me up and carry her and it just hurts too much to pick her up unless it's really urgent.

Friday I was making scrambled eggs for the kids and had to keep stopping to rest my arms--that really made me feel silly, that making scrambled eggs seemed so hard. It's not like they are hard to stir or take long to cook, you know?

I did have a friend come over on Friday and help me make 25-some-odd sandwiches for AJ's birthday party and then watch the kids for an hour while I napped. I'm so grateful; I don't know how I would have made it through the weekend without that. DH made AJ's cake, and I decorated it. She really liked it, so that was nice.

Thankfully, so far my worst days have been on weekends or days DH was able to get off work a bit early. I have been a bit better in the late mornings and early afternoons, so I've been able to manage with taking care of the kids and doing school, and even keeping up ok with household tasks for the most part (with a lot of help from DH in the evenings/weekends).

Tomorrow, though, I may end up having to call around and see if I can get someone to come and help me during the day if I'm feeling anywhere near as bad as I am right now. The kids are napping and having quiet time and I'm counting the minutes until DH gets home.

I have a chiropractor appointment set up tomorrow and left a message to make an appointment with my naturopath, so hopefully that will help. I got on the phone with the chiropracter and started crying on the phone when I was trying to explain what was going on. How embarrassing. At least she was really sweet about it.

I should probably try to find another regular MD since the last two I had both retired or moved to other practices and I don't have a primary care physician any more. But it seems pretty pointless to go see a doctor when I know they're just going to shrug and say, "Of course you're tired and in pain--you have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, what do you expect??" That's what they always do--maybe run a few tests that all come back negative, and then tell me there's nothing they can do.

Part of the problem is that I haven't been getting enough sleep. But I'm in too much pain to sleep much, and then being tired makes the pain worse, and it just starts spiraling.

Can you tell I'm feeling a bit discouraged right now?

7 Years Old

For some reason, turning 7 seems like a big deal. Suddenly my little girl seems not so little any more. Childhood seems to be going by so fast. Sometimes I wish I could catch the moments in my hands and slow them down, at least for a little while. I want to hold them and keep them before they're gone.



AJ, my darling first child, I love you. I love that you enjoy thinking about things and learning and organizing things. I love your flair for art and your love of beauty and order. I love your deep sensitivity to others, to God, and to yourself. You are so honest and transparent.

I love the way you think and analyze ideas and explore different ways of doing things. I love the way you care so deeply about truth, justice, honor, and right and wrong.

But you also care deeply about people, and you strive to make sure everyone is comfortable and included and that everyone is being kind to those around you. You stand up for the weak and downtrodden. You are a strong leader and love to organize games that include everyone.

You are determined and persistent, working at something until you succeed. You don't quickly accept the easy answer, but continue to ask questions and explore ideas.

You are very smart, but you don't ride on your intelligence and expect everything to be easy, and I love that about you. You are willing to work to make things happen. You know what's important to you and you come up with ways to achieve it. You read and learn and then use what you've learned in practical life.

You think deeply, you feel deeply, and you care deeply. You often talk about going into a profession helping people when you grow up. You look for ways to help people even now, and you succeed at doing it.

You are an artist and you enjoy music and dance. You create beautiful things. You love books and learning, and you learn quickly and retain what you learn. You are a loyal and true friend. You are kind and tender with others. You are so spiritually sensitive, and you think about deep truths. You are often wise beyond your years. You are beautiful in face and form, but even more so in spirit. You care more about internal beauty than external beauty, and that is a wonderful thing.

You are wonderful in so many, many ways. I've only touched on a few here.

You are precious to God and to your friends and family.

I love you.

I'm so glad you're my daughter. I look forward to walking beside you as you grow. You are growing up into an awesome young lady.

Happy Birthday.

May I just say

That I really, really like having the housecleaners come. Now that I've gotten over the embarrassment and am getting into the swing of getting ready, it's a wonderful thing. They are here for 3-4 hours and when they leave every surface in the house is shining. They even take apart the stovetop to clean the drip pans and burner rings.

With my lower energy levels and higher pain levels the last several weeks, the timing of having them come couldn't be better.

Best. Birthday gift. Ever. Thank you, DH.

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OH, also, Baby E wanted me to know this evening (again) that she is definitely A "big dwown-up, not a widdow dwon-up. A big dwown-up who dwinks miwk fwom hew mommy."

I think I'm going to start calling her E-bee. We still call her something similar to that as a nickname, because she's such a busy little bee. Do you think that will work as a good bloggy name for her?

Definitely Not a Baby

Baby E: "But I'm a dwown-up. Not a widdow dwown-up; I'm a BIG dwown-up."

Eating Well

I'm finally feeling a bit better. This was probably the worst FM/CFS flare-up I've had that wasn't triggered by something like a car accident since we got married.

I've been enjoying cooking again lately. For a while I felt like I was getting tired of cooking from scratch all the time. When we found out Baby E's allergies were gone I had a harder time making myself do it, since alternatives were available.

Last night the older kids had an activity we had to take them to, so DH and I couldn't go out for Valentine's Day. So, while DH dropped them off, I cooked a special meal at home.

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I simmered some boneless skinless chicken thighs and a handful of baby carrots in a mixture of water and mango-papaya salsa, with a little orange juice and a drizzle of honey, a splash of white wine and a sprinkling of salt for flavor.

I made a delicious salad out of mixed baby lettuces and micro-greens (things like tiny kale, cabbage, bok choy and broccoli leaves), garnished with raw sunflower seeds, grape tomatoes, tangerine slices and shredded raw milk sharp provolone cheese. (For some reason--probably because of the living enzymes--I'm able to tolerate a small amount of raw or cultured dairy products.) With a little lemon-chive dressing, the salad was extraordinarily tasty. I'm going to make more for lunch with the kids today.

I served the chicken and sauce over rice with a little more of the salsa spooned over the top, and a side of broccoli. DH and I really enjoyed our dinner. Since Baby E had already eaten dinner earlier, she was mostly content to play or watch a video while we ate.

Right now I have beef bones roasting in the oven to make bone broth, and a large beef roast thawed in the refrigerator. I'm going to put the roast in the crock pot to cook ahead for meals this weekend.

Tonight we will be preparing an Indian meal to finish off our study of India, and my parents and sister will be joining us. That will be fun. I haven't decided for sure what all I'm going to make yet--something with chicken. We did buy some whole wheat Naan yesterday, and I have Garam Masala in my cupboard. If anyone has any great (not-too-terribly-spicy) Indian recipes to recommend, let me know.

As for school, it's going well. I was going to let M&M go ahead and start the next math book, but as we started learning to count by 5s I realized that she needed some remedial work on counting over 20. She understands things like addition, subtraction, comparisons, weights and measures but she gets a bit mixed up in her counting after she gets to 29. So we're taking a break from the math book to just work with her daily on counting to 100 by ones, tens and fives. That's one of the wonderful things about homeschooling: if she were in regular school she wouldn't be able to take a week out and work on filling in a gap instead of continuing to move ahead when she was being hampered by needing more work on a foundational concept.

The kids are enjoying their new phonics and vocabulary workbooks. They are buzzing through multipe lessons at a time, but seem to be retaining what they learn.

Baby E is fully potty trained now, even at night, though we still have her wear a Pull-Up when we're going out somewhere and might not be near a restroom. She was weaned for about a week, but was still so miserable at that point that I decided to go back to the coin system and let her nurse about twice a day, while still offering incentives for her to choose not to nurse.

I've finally discovered something Baby E will drink that's not thickened juice: kefir. She really likes kefir, and it's even already thickened. So she's getting that 2-3 times a day. M&M likes it, too. AJ is still avoiding dairy products (although she does eat sheep's milk cheese), so I make her "kefir" out of rice milk with probiotics added.

I really think that getting so much good bacteria in things like kefir, yogurt, kombucha, etc. has been instumental in her growing out of her allergies and her current growing tolerance for sugars in things like fruits. We're still trying to avoid refined sugars and other highly-refined/processed foods as much as possible for the whole family, just because they're so unhealthy.

We all went to the dentist yesterday, and the news was not so good. Baby E's teeth looked good, thankfully, but I had 5 cavities, AJ had 3, and M&M had one. I don't know if DH had any or not--I forgot to ask him.

We are going to continue working with the kids on good flossing and brushing habits, and I'm also trying to add more mineral-dense foods like bone broth, organ meats, microgreens, etc. to our diet.

It's a good thing that healthy food tastes good!

Picture Book Answers

Here are the answers to the picture book first lines quiz--click on "read more" and then scroll down to see them.


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1. One berry / Two berry / Pick me a blueberry. --Jamberry, by Bruce Degen.

2. In this book/ With your little eye / Take a look / And play 'I spy' --Each Peach Pear Plum, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.

3. Five little puppies dug a hole under the fence and went for a walk in the wide, wide world. --The Poky Little Puppy, by Janette Sebring Lowrey.

4. The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. --The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss.

5. Granddaddy says when he was little and the world was young, and only a few people had cars . . . --The Rolling Store, by Angela Johnson. (This book isn't a "classic", but I really like it . . . the pictures and words are lovely.)

6. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were looking for a place to live --Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey.

7. Way up in the hayloft of an old barn live a mother cat and her new baby kittens. --The Shy Little Kitten, by Cathleen Schurr.

8. "Come inside, Mr. Bird," said the mouse. --In a People House, by Dr. Seuss.

9. A happy little elephant was dancing through the jungle. --The Saggy Baggy Elephant, by K. & B. Jackson.

10. In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf. --The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.

11. In the great green room / There was a telephone / And a red balloon . . . --Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown.

12. This is George. --Curious George, by H. A. Rey

13. Chug, chug, chug. Puff, puff, puff. Ding-dong, ding-dong. --The Little Engine that Could, by Watty Piper.

14. One evening, after thinking it over for some time, Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight. --Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson.

Status Report

I'm still not feeling well. A couple of the kids are still coughing occasionally, but they seem to be doing ok overall. Baby E is very grumpy and clingy because she's not as eager to wean as I am.

DH was so sweet to let me sleep a lot this weekend while he took care of the kids and things around the house. I'm so thankful for him.

After resting most of the weekend, I feel a little more functional today. Hopefully my body will be able to kick the last of this virus or whatever it is and I can get some energy back.

Meanwhile, I'll probably continue posting some things (like the answers to the book meme) that I had written earlier and saved as drafts for posting later. I try to keep a few posts in store for when I don't have energy to actually come up with something new.

Picture Book First Lines

These are first lines from books geared toward the younger set. How many can you recognize?

[ETA: I added the second sentence to #4. I think most people who grew up in the USA should know this one.]

1. One berry / Two berry / Pick me a blueberry.

2. In this book/ With your little eye / Take a look / And play 'I spy'

3. Five little puppies dug a hole under the fence and went for a walk in the wide, wide world.

4. The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play.

5. Granddaddy says when he was little and the world was young, and only a few people had cars . . .

6. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were looking for a place to live

7. Way up in the hayloft of an old barn live a mother cat and her new baby kittens.

8. "Come inside, Mr. Bird," said the mouse.

9. A happy little elephant was dancing through the jungle.

10. In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf.

11. In the great green room / There was a telephone / And a red balloon . . .

12. This is George.

13. Chug, chug, chug. Puff, puff, puff. Ding-dong, ding-dong.

14. One evening, after thinking it over for some time, Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight.