Summer is Almost Here!

I think I'm actually a crazy mom who is looking forward to the summer! We already have one out of school, three more finish today, and our oldest finishes next Wednesday. I've enjoyed having four kids home this week, and I'm working on a tentative "schedule for the summer" which has worked great this week. For example:

• Wake-up/clean rooms/breakfast: 8:00 am
• Play outside until 11:00'ish (until it gets too hot)
• Craft/reading time until lunch (will be 12:30'ish) - this splits up the kids; 4 kids read while 4 kids do their craft/school activity; we switch halfway through.
• Nap/Quiet time: 1'ish - 3:30
• 3:30 - 6:00: Playtime and/or outing time (usually swimming - we are at the YMCA or Swim Center several times a week; we also have a couple awesome parks that we enjoy going to)
• 6:30 - supper time! My volunteers arrive around six to eat with us, and then help with whatever I need help with - bathing toddlers, dishes, laundry, sweeping/mopping, etc. It has been a wonderful help for me, and I'll be leaning on them even more after the baby comes, I'm sure!

The one thing Jonathan and I are still debating is bedtime for the kiddos; the toddlers will still be around 8:00 pm (we have learned that once you miss that first bedtime window, they are nearly impossible to get back into bedtime routine!), but the school-aged kids can stay up later than eight in the summer. About two weeks before school starts, we start backing up the bedtime to the school year time, so the start of school is an easy transition. Anyway, we aren't sure what ages will we have at that time; we have three leaving in the next couple of weeks, and two more in the middle of the summer, so we may just have to play it by ear.

In other news, we are doing really well. Once my medical stuff started clearing up last week, I have felt so, so, so much better! I'm starting to feel very preggers, though; getting the bigger/heavy feeling. The kids are obsessed with my stomach right now; I'm constantly getting touched, patted, listening to, etc, all day long. One of the three year olds has this horrible habit of yanking up my shirt to look at it, no matter who is around (especially if they are asking about the baby!). Six hours of uninterrupted sleep is rare and wonderful, like last night. Of course, I had crashed about nine o'clock, Jonathan came to bed around ten, and I woke up about 3:30 for the bathroom run and nope, could not fall back asleep. Of course, I woke the kitties up when I got up and Egypt loves to snuggle in my hair, but she kept trying to lick my face, which drives me crazy! In some ways I cannot wait until they are big enough to stay outside 24/7; my sleep will approve (our hope is that they will be totally outside before the baby is born). So I'm up - revamped the June budget (just have to show it to Jonathan to get approval), and now I'm blogging! But this means I'll actually get a shower this morning! :-)

Well, I should sign off; we have a big day today! My PreK's finish school today, and get out early, and our six year-old is leaving with his adoptive family today after a big campus-wide party tonight to celebrate/say goodbye to him and his older sister with their new family and friends they've made here. He's excited, but a bit apprehensive, too. Anyway, he and I have to finish packing this morning, and then make cupcakes for tonight. But pray for our other kiddos, especially the other boys. D'ante's been struggling with it, and Logan has been horribly jealous and thus lashes out verbally in cruel ways towards him and some of the other kids. This is one other hard part with these kids; they become siblings, and it is hard when the family dynamic is changed. We've worked really hard with X leaving to work through the adoption with the other kids; for some of the younger ones, adoption is this scary black hole kids fall into and we never hear from them again. We weren't here when Z, the baby, was adopted over Christmas, and when we came back the kids kept going on and on about how somebody just came and took him! I felt bad that no one had worked through that with them, so with these upcoming summer adoptions, we've really tried to prepare them.

Okay, this is getting long - y'all have a wonderful day! :-)

PS It's May 29th! One more month to our due date!

What a week!

Wow - a lot has happened since I last blogged! Let me bring you up to date:

First off, we finished our childbirth class last Saturday; I can breathe with the best of them now. :-D But I think it has been good for Jonathan and I, especially for him. I think he's a lot calmer now about labor and has a better idea what to expect.

Then we got home, and truth be told, I felt awful; I was still really struggling with an upper respiratory infection that had started about three weeks prior, and just could not get over, even with prescription antibiotics and decongestants. I still went and got supper on for the kiddos, but excused myself and laid down during the meal. I was hoping that I was just tired, and a good night of sleep would make me feel better.

Needless to say, I didn't. I got up and ready for church, and got the kids up and ready for church, but holy cow - I was weak and achy all over. Jonathan told me to go back to bed and declared Sunday to be a bedrest day for me; he'd take care of the house. I didn't argue much!

I got worse through the night; I developed a really bad headache, and at about four in the morning, started getting really, really dizzy. At about six I called our OB; something just wasn't right - I don't get sick like this. Unfortunately he was delivering a baby, so I ended up talking with one of the nurses from the office, who told me to immediately go lay down, and then get my blood pressure taken as soon as possible. We took the kids to school and drove up to CVS to check it and it was 138/96. Not a good number, pregnant or not. The nurse told me to go lay down on my left side, drink a ton, and check it again in three hours. Did that, and it was 136/94. Still high, so we went in to spend an afternoon at the doctors office for lab work and fetal monitoring. Their main concern was preeclampsia: pregnancy induced hypertension, which would put me on bedrest until she was born, and often, they end up delivering early via c-section or induced labor for both mom and baby's health. Trust me, that was not a thought that I relished! But I was instructed for bed rest until my lab work came back, and to come in again in the morning for another check-up.

That day did not pass well; I was bored with being in bed and worrying about the baby. Jonathan ran the house like a pro and the kids did really, really well. We went back to the doctor in the morning and thank the Lord, the hypertension test came back negative, which was a huge answer to prayer. However, it did show that I have a bacterial infection that had kind of taken over (on top of the respiratory stuff I was fighting off), and I just could not battle both of them. New antibiotics were prescribed and I was sent back to bed. Within 24 hours I felt 100% better; the weakness and dizziness were gone, and even my respiratory infection seemed to start to improve. Now on Saturday, I feel like me again. I overdid it some on Thursday and was really wiped out yesterday, but this is our weekend off, so I hope by Monday I'll be fully well again.

So it's been a good weekend so far; we are in the apartment just up the way from the house that we are staying in for the first time, and really enjoying it. Jonathan and David (our maintenance guy) have done a lot of work in it over the past two-three weeks, and it feels very homey. We will be staying here for about two weeks after the baby is born, so we moved some nursery essentials in yesterday. Then this morning I had a wonderful baby shower; it was a great time of fellowship and fun, and we got some much needed items, like a car seat and baby swing. And then to top it all off, we have two new little girls; not foster kids, but kittens, which we have named Kenya and Egypt! Our boss called yesterday and asked if we would like one or two (a mommy cat had her babies under their porch), and we jumped on it; we have missed our cat very much over the past year. Of course they will be outside cats when we are on campus, but we are enjoying playing with them this weekend.

I think that is about it for now; I'll blog more next week, which will be another busy week for us as we have two getting ready to be adopted in the next week or so, now that school is getting out. Hope y'all are well!

45 Days to Go!

Woohoo! Baby day is getting closer and closer and I’m getting very excited and ready to meet our little one. Jonathan says I’m being crazy, and maybe I am, but I’m still looking forward to it!

Yesterday was one of the best days we’ve had in a long time. On Tuesday we started a new motivational system with the whole house. It was a bit ironical how that came to be. The past few weeks have been on the frustrating side; we were struggling with the kiddos, and they were struggling with us and we felt that we were constantly harping on them. I think most of it comes from the fact is that we are going off duty a lot more than we used to (every other weekend compared to one weekend a month), and the house is constantly in a state of flux. We are planning after the baby arrives to go back to the once a month reliefs.

Anyway, Jonathan started a star chart system with one of the boys to help them with some struggles at school to keep him motivated, and I was reading “Raising Great Kids” by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. I don’t agree with all of their philosophies, but both Jonathan and I really felt that we need something more positive for these kiddos. So know we have a star chart system for everyone in the house. Their goal is to get 2-3 stars a day, for a total of 15 a week. However, each child earns stars for different things. For our oldest who is struggling in school, he gets stars based on daily reports from his teacher. For our almost four year-old who is struggling with wetting her pants, she gets a star when she goes to the bathroom without me having to remind her. For two of the boys, it is eating their dinner (especially the veggies!) without complaining. The little girls and our toddler boy earn stickers for potty-training, helping clean-up their rooms and bathrooms in the morning, or little extra things that they do throughout the day. And oh my goodness, in the two days we’ve been doing this, it has completely changed the whole atmosphere of the house! We’re happier, they’re happier, and as all the kids work for their weekly stars (if the whole house can get 15 a week, then we’ll go do a special event on the weekend, such as going swimming or to the park, etc), it’s not a competition and they encourage each other. So for right now, we’re sticking to it, because it seems to be working! We may not need it in the future, but I think it will be a good thing for the summer, especially as we will probably have four kids going out with four new ones coming in.

So yes, yesterday was a good day. We had a lot of fun with the three toddlers in the morning (as we aren’t having them at Mom’s Morning Out for the next couple of weeks due to germ exposure and getting X adjusted we are doing some school activities here), and after school and homework, Jonathan and I played in the backyard with the kids until 5:30. So yep, supper was late, but we sure did have a lot of fun and good bonding time with them. And then Jonathan and I got to spend some good quality time with each other after the kids went to bed, and we enjoyed that; with a house of eight, we don’t always get to focus on each other!

Well, I’ve got laundry to fold, and Cheyeanne just had an accident, so I’m off to go clean that up! :-)

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired...

I don't know what it is lately, but I've been fighting one thing or another this past month. Ugh! Jonathan made me go see the doctor today (I had a check-up scheduled on Thursday, but he thought I was going to be dead by then). I'm glad I did - I have an upper respiratory infection, so I'm on antibiotics and a super-duper decongestant/expectorant.

And once again, my wonderful hubby saved the day! I had made supper at lunch time (chicken lasagna to throw into the over for a bit before supper), salad, and then just a loaf of garlic bread to heat up, so he served dinner and let me lay down. The only condition? That I bathe the three toddlers in the morning, and I said I could handle that! :-) But he even started a new motivation star/chart system with them, something we'd been talking about with them, but I hadn't had the time to put into motion yet.

Good news of the day is that baby is doing fine - 152 heartbeats a minute, and everything that is going on with my body is totally normal (minus the above mentioned infection). So yea there! I'll just be happy when I can talk again - I haven't had a voice in almost 3 days, and I have a list of people to call, be it for volunteers, Premier contacts, family catching-up, etc. I'm hoping to be better soon!

Our new little boy is adjusting well, and now that he has started eating (only took him 2 1/2 days!), is a bundle of joy. Laughs all the time, and is Jonathan's little puppy dog; follows him around everywhere, literally. He babbles constantly, but has a very small vocabulary for someone three months shy of turning three. Hopefully we'll see an improvement there in the next few months.

My thoughts are very scatter-brained at the moment (probably the medication!), so pardon the random post. Y'all have a great night!

A New Day For Me!

I've never gotten to celebrate Mother's Day for myself before, but this year is special. :-) It's funny - a year ago today we interviewed at Calvary Home; it's been a good year, but a full and busy year!

So Jonathan made me the coolest present that I got earlier in the week. As many of you know, we are addicted to a board game named "Settlers of Catan" and the various additional games that go with it ("Cities & Knights of Catan", and we are desperately trying to find a 3rd edition "Seafarers of Catan" to match the other two we have). Anyway, the boxes they come in are falling apart, so this is what Jonathan made for me:

It's a really cool antique-looking chest; I love being married to a guy who is very handy!

In the meantime, I'm not feeling so hot this weekend, which I hate, as this is our weekend off and our last weekend to go out of town, as my OB has "grounded" me after May 18th. So we are at the family farm in Georgia, relaxing, and just getting a chance to spend some quality time together. Jonathan's been very patient with me feeling yucky, which is great. We drove into Augusta last night to this really good Indian restaurant, the Taj of India. It was very authentic, and really good. I've been craving Indian for months now, and baby and I enjoyed vegetable samosa, chicken curry with balsamic rice, and lots of fresh naan very much! :-)

Right now we are both fighting a yucky cold that won't go away, and on top of that, my upper back has really been causing me problems for the past week (really bad since Friday), so I'm going to try and see if I can go in on Monday to see my chiropractor. For my pregnant friends, I highly recommend chiropractic care during pregnancy; it has helped so much! Over the past week, though, I've had the Webster Technique done, so my hip/tailbone problems have all but gone away, thanks to having a fantastic chiropractor. Hopefully, Dr. Clay can help with my upper back that has been acting up this weekend; I'd love to be able sleep well again!

I think that is about it for now - arrivederci!

A Bit Bummed Today...

*sigh*

It feels like one of those days today.

Or I should say, it is a good day with some of those moments in them.

For example, one of the older boys decided to gouge all over the very nice and polished dining room table while I was in the bathroom after lunch. It looks awful now. Needless to say, he's in a bit of trouble!!!

Or then there is the fact that we thought we'd be getting our tax stimulus via direct deposit here in the very nearby future. Nope. If you used your refund to pay your tax preparer, it will come by a paper check. So we wait for July. Not that we needed it for our budget this month (it is all earmarked to making a deeper dent in paying off our debt), but I'm bummed that I won't totally pay off another two or three accounts this month. I shouldn't complain - I have one ready to be destroyed and half of another one. Still a bit bummed, though.

But other than that, it has been a pretty good day. We have a new two year-old, Z. He's a cutie, but a handful! He can climb over everything, refuses to eat (though he did eat lunch today without throwing a tantrum at the table), no is his favorite word, and constantly chatters, but he's a good kid. On the great side, he is potty-trained and goes to bed and nap without a single problem (and stays dry!). X is incredible jealous, so she's been a bit cranky today.

Well, this is looking like another blog-and-run - I'm off to go do carpool.

Adios!

Pregnancy Perks

Had my first big perk in Walmart today, and yes, I know to never go to Walmart on a Saturday, but Jonathan really needed razor refills and I wanted to get the white border yarn for the baby blanket I'm making for our little one. Lines were horrid, and of course, I had to go to aisle 17, as they are where the razor refills are now (along with the cigarettes and tobacco). But as much as I felt embarrassed being the in cigarette line with 3 burly men buying beer and wings, but they were very sweet to eight-month pregnant woman and told me I could go the head of the line (one guy even told the guy in front of him to let me go first).

I guess it is another lesson in don't judge a book by its cover.

--Debbie

PS Unfortunately, Jonathan doesn't use Mach3 razors; he uses Mach3 Turbo razors. *sigh* I tried.

A Day of Rest

This post is dedicated to my awesome and wonderful husband, though I initially wasn't happy with him last night when he informed me that today would be a bed rest day for me. Truth be told, I needed it. I had a horrible weekend when it came to sleeping, due to a yucky head cold as well as bad allergies. Then we came home to two sick toddlers and if any of you have had toddlers, they are miserable little monsters when they don't feel. So it has gotten to the point where I hit the exhaustion wall and because of that, was pregnant-hurting, and that is when dear husband told me I was stuck to bed rest tomorrow so I would feel better.

So I rested today. And Jonathan cleaned. Did laundry. Took care of cranky X and Z. Brought me lunch in bed. Brought me a movie to watch in bed this afternoon between naps. Made fantastic southern BBQ and hash for supper (which he again, brought to me in bed). Got all the kids' to do their chores and into their baths. They are currently watching their Friday night movie (I told him I'd put them to bed), and he's outside working on the bobcat with Dexter.

I am much more rested, though will still sleep well tonight.

I have such a great husband - I am blessed more and more every day being married to him.