Sunday, May 22, 2011

my baby

Time sure goes by quick. My baby is 5 years old today! I know she is not a baby anymore but she is my youngest and therefore my baby still. Emma was a surprise and we thought we were done after Cameron but apparently God had other plans. 
I was so young when I had Lexi I had missed out on so much of her early years due to my selfish nature. When I had Cameron now almost 9 years ago I was still clueless but she was mine and my husbands first child together and we learned a lot. When I found out I was pregnant with Emma I cried. Not tears of joy but tears of," Wait I was done!" I have to admit the first few months were a roller coaster ride. My husband had been gone in a school and I couldn't talk to him so I had to wait a few weeks before I could finally tell him. He got a chance to call me and originally wanted to tell him in some special sort of way. But, I couldn't control my self and blurted it out on the phone. I had also been in and out of the hospital getting ultrasounds because I had been bleeding a lot. After hubby got back everything seemed to be okay and the rest of the time I had a normal pregnancy. 
On May 22nd at 12:19 am I gave birth to a beautiful 6lb 8 oz 18 inch little girl
We fell in love with her immediately! She was a great nurser and a great sleeper that first night, lol.
She spent the first 2 years seeing a Pediatric dietitian because she was failure to thrive when I took her in at 6 months. This was a shocker because I had no problems with nursing Cameron and Lexi drank formula. I continued to nurse her and when she was old enough Emma was on a full fat wonderful diet! We went to Mc Donald's weekly sometimes daily, ate heavy cream in our food, tons of mac and cheese and loved it!
Notice I say, "We ate". Yes, I ate everything she ate! The problem with my milk supply being so low was because I was hyperthyroid and didn't find out until a few years later when it puttered out and I became hypothyroid. 
This is a pic of Emma's hungry caterpillar chart. It help encourage her to eat and we would add a new green circle when she ate a meal.
Life with Emma has always been interesting! She is growing up to be quite a handful! She is smart, beautiful, hard headed, creative, independent, and mommies little girl!
I know that there were tears and fear in the beginning of my pregnancy but when I saw her sweet face that all disappeared. God knows exactly what's best for me, for my marriage and for our family! I love my sweet little Emma.




Monday, May 9, 2011

One busy mama! Understand?

I am one busy mama and you know what it's ok. My day is busy with things I do for my family and things that can better our lives. Through the years I have gotten to try out so many things that steal my attention from others.. My husband has mentioned my OCD in this area and the need to find a balance. I feel I am in a pretty comfortable routine right now and there will always be things I wished I could of gotten to or never wasted my time with on a particular day but who doesn't?
I home school, I research curriculum, drive my kids around, go on walks with them, relax with them, talk to a friend or two on the phone but sometimes that is a luxury in my day. Since hubby has been working all the time I have been pretty much a single parent. I am not always in the mood to talk on the phone when I finally get a chance to sit down, sometimes I want to veg out on Facebook with out some one instant messaging me.
We have had a busy April and May is not looking any lighter. My husband had a good friend pass away and that stopped us in our tracks recently. We had family in town, we had Stanford testing, and sometimes Sundays is a catch up day so entering the actual church building is not an option. But being in the church building doesn't make me a "better" Christian just as standing in my garage makes me a car!
I am OK with my routine right now. My friends understand me and you know what they are Like me! I don't take it personally when I haven't gotten a daily phone call or even a weekly phone call. I don't take it personally if a text is not answered right away. My friends love me an I love them I don't need constant reassurance.
Of course I want to see them, spend time with them, talk an hour on the phone with them but I have a realty and that's a life! I have 3 kids who keep me busy especially during soccer season. I have a 4 year old that is a overflowing handful.
I love you my dear friends and family! PLEASE understand I care about our relationships, and I would hope that I you get just an occasional text message saying hi or the quick FB hello that it was really the best I could do at the time.
My schedule and quite frankly hermitness won't be forever. This too shall pass!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Update 2

our tadpoles

But of course like I said we decided on lizards....
And I think we got the crazy ones!
We were also able to serve our community! Doesn't my 16 year old look ecstatic about her 8 year old sister hugging her....

Then there was my beautiful niece I got to finally meet! I fell in love with her! 
 Then Easter came! We went to church and spent the rest of the day with family. We also enjoyed a Easter egg hunt.This is a picture of their baskets filled with nature stuff. I was preparing for our trip to Virgina the next day...

LOVED the cabin! The kids had a blast even with out tv! 
At the end of that week we got home and we were able to enjoy or home school co-op field day! Our kids were very proud of their ribbons. 
I feel like it has been a while since I last blogged. I have been so busy! The past fee weeks we have had family fly out to visit with us and I was able to meet my niece for the very first time! We of course celebrated Easter and had a really nice day with family and friends. My last blog I mentioned that we went to a rv resort and did a nature study on birds. There we collected tadpoles. We brought these little critters home in water bottles and stopped by the dollar store and picked up Tupperware that we punched holes in so they can breath through the top and kept them in a little home made habitat. We added some dirt and grass to make it feel more like home.
They were doing very well and only had one casualty. But we decided that they had to go and we traded them up for lizards! So yes now we are the proud owner of two lizards name Pickle and Pepper. We went from free tadpoles and a dollar store habitat to two $6 lizards and a very expensive habitat. But the kids love them and when I'm at home on my computer I will post pictures and information.
The day after Easter our family including extended family drove up to Virginia to stay at Sunrise Cabin and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Well, maybe not so much quiet there were 9 kids and 4 adults! But peaceful I'm the sense that we had no cellular phone coverage, no tv, no wifi. It was nice to sit there and read, play board games, go outside and watch the kids collect bugs an ticks we had to pull off them (yuck). Plus there were no complaints from the kids they had a blast! Once I get home I will post pics! I'm currently writing this on my iPhone.
This week has started off with Stanford testing. Cameron and Aidan spent yesterday testing and will continue today. I'm just praying that there is no stress and trying to remember testing is not determining who my child really is an who I am as a home school mom. We are testing because we have to legally not because it determines anything about who my child is.
I will write more later! I have more to add to my last few weeks!