A Day in my Life Part 2

Well, that didn't last long :) Sleepy time again. Then I worked on the toy situation. Hopefully I got rid of a lot of small pieces that have been traveling throughout the house.

Next I did the dishes, switched laundry, defrosted some chicken and started some banana muffins.

I also planned to bake granola bars, but I don't have honey, so I may try subsituting corn syrup later. My husband called to tell me he wasn't feeling well and was coming home. (He is better now) We ate a quick lunch- corn dogs and sanwiches :) Sarah decided to help Daddy feel better by giving him her Barbies :)



Next it was Sarah's nap time and time for baby to eat again. You'll notice I follow a pattern- eat, wake, sleep over and over again. If she doesn't wake up after three hours from her last feeding, I wake her to eat. This helps set her internal clock to be more awake during the day and sleep longer at night. She is doing wonderfully since I switched her formula to something more substantial.

Then I sat down to work on uploading some pictures. Baby is awake, but sleepy, and I can hear her grunting in her bassinet. I've been watching her sleep cues- yawning, drowsy eyes, slightly fussing...and then I lay her in the bed, give her the pacifier if she wants it and cover her with a loose weave soft baby afghan. She has been putting herself to sleep pretty well lately. As much as I would love to rock or hold her to get her to sleep, it's just not possible for me to do that every time. In the long run, both our lives will be better if I help her to get herself to sleep now :)

Next, I was tired and managed to fall asleep for quite awhile! I hate that feeling of waking up, not expecting to fall asleep, and trying to remember what happened! Time for baby to eat! Leiah was due home then, and soon after Alexa. My husband took a video of that instead of pictures. Then they had snacks and played while I started dinner.

We are having lemon rosemary chicken, a Greek type salad and seasoned yellow rice. Plus we have leftover carrot cake :)
Playing tea party and watching a movie.

A Day in my Life Part 1

Yes, you are going to see a 'typical' day in my life. There is no typical right now- it just is what it is. When I decided to do this all was normal, but all morning things have been going crazy! But I'll do the best I can, probably in parts.

I had a long to do list today. I actually got close to a full night of sleep and felt normal. SoI felt ambitious.

My List:

several piles of laundry to do
straighten the whole house
wipe down bathrooms
empty all trashes
rotate toys
bake muffins and granola bars
plus the daily dishes and meals and baby feeding/care


Samantha woke up at around 5:45 am. She ate and burped and I changed her, then laid her in my spot on the bed. I got up and made school lunches, coffee, and started breakfast. Then I helped the older girls get dressed for school. Baby was awake still so I brought her to the living room and sat her in the swing.


Various craziness happened then, in which I hurriedly threw on a dress and shoes to drive the girls to school, but then I didn't have to. Baby went to sleep while I sat down with some coffee. I decided to turn the computer on but it wouldn't work. My husband came back home after dropping off the girls to hook up this one.

While he did that, I worked on this room.


Then I put some clothes in the washing machine.



Then I worked on tidying up and trying to figure out how to resize a picture on this computer :) By the way, Sarah has been eating breakfast and watching her favorite Tom and Jerry during all of this.

Then my phone started ringing with calls regarding my uncle who passed away this morning. I needed to wake the baby to feed her- approximately 9am now. All done and time to change diaper and clothes. Now she's ready to be awake awhile.

Special post coming

Keep watch- I have a surprise coming. Well, nothing major, just a more involved post than the last several weeks. I am using our old desktop computer from 1997 because our laptop is having issues, so it may take longer.

Check back!

School

My girls have almost completed their first week of school. My oldest, Leiah, is used to the routine of school. Remember she started the special program when she was 3! We are continually amazed at how great this school is. It is obvious that we were directed by the Lord to move here. The attitude towards Leiah and informing me about things is completely the opposite of the other school. I actually know what's going on!

Alexa, the 5 year old, this is her first year. She is doing well. She doesn't talk a lot about it when she gets home, I ask her a few questions, but later when we're eating at the table she shares more about school. So far she can't remember any of the kids' names! She's doing great though and has adapted to the new schedule well.

I know there are a lot of people with very different strong opinions regarding public schools. I would certainly agree that the majority of public schools are not the best place for children to learn good morals and values. Having gone to this school myself, I know that this school is very open with Christians. In fact, I think they say a prayer in the morning over the intercom. There is a church on every street in this town and they even play Christian music in the grocery store. I have no doubt that there are bad things as well, but overall, they are in a great environment.

I think homeschool is great. For me it's not a matter of being able to teach my kids, it's more about controlling them. Honestly, I have been in the dark with how to get my girls to be obedient every time and to coexist peacefully. A lot of it has to do with the fact that the oldest is like the three year old, and in her frustration at not being able to talk, she retaliates by force. (pinching or scratching or biting) The second child is very spirited- extreme in her highs and lows and somewhat strong willed. She has been a challenge for me. After many years of work and much prayer, she is doing much better now.

The three year old has been sort of 'lost in the crowd' and I am now seeing a lot of behaviors I don't like now that she is alone with me. So, homeschooling just seems like a nightmare to me! I just don't get excited about it like other people do. I like school and always wanted to teach, but I never wanted to teach little ones. It's very hard for me to stay on that level for long,lol.

So, I wholeheartedly condone homeschool. I think kids who are homeschooled are generally more adjusted to real life and smarter than others who have been in public school their whole lives. I hope to get there some day. But for this time we will do public school. I do plan to work with Sarah on preschool things as I can. I need for the baby to get on a more predictable schedule! I've never had one that wanted to eat all the time!

Gaining and Losing

What a crazy week! Today I finally get to just be at home. Good thing too, because there are some things needing attention around here. Thanks so much for all the 'recipes' and links to blogs and more recipes. I greatly appreciate it. I've had to pray for my appetite to come back for the sake of my family- nothing sounded good to me, but they're hungry!

Speaking of which, I went for a quick check of my incision yesterday and I've lost over 20lbs in two weeks! I didn't even gain 20lbs during the pregnancy. That's what a lack of appetite will do for ya I guess. I'm exploring various weightloss options right now. I'd like to do it on my own rather than pay for a program or something. I'll have to wait the full 6 weeks before I can start walking very far, but I hope to work on the eating soon.

Baby girl however is gaining. At her appointment she had gained a full pound since she went home from the hospital and grew two inches. She's already getting too long for the newborn sleepers. She is a chow hound though :)

I am so thankful and blessed for the weather we've been having. Generally at this point, us Texans are just SICK of the heat. August is in the 100s daily with loads of humidity. However, it has been cool and breezy in the mornings, and slowly warms up. By the afternoon it is HOT, but at least it's sort of like fall.

We're so ready for fall too. I can't wait to get all the pretty fall decorations out and light up the spicy candles. That is if I can find it all, LOL. Moving sure does misplace stuff. I look forward to fall as well because then it will be cooler and we can work on getting the outside of our home looking nice. We have lots of trees to clear out and I've been planning what plants to put where. We've never had the opportunity to do this before because we rented. Now it's our own place.

Oh and I just wanted to say that I have not forgotten about my herbal medicine making videos. I have all the herbs and jars ready, I just have to make a trip to a, ahem, 'wet' county to get the needed 80 proof alcohol to make the stuff. And, we just haven't had time for that yet. I do think about it a lot though and am looking forward to getting to a point to where I can do it! I need to get it going soon huh? I just have to slowly work into being able to do things I used to do, like sewing and bread baking, which I miss a lot! Right now it's all about covering the basics and holding that baby!

Rambled enough here...time to get the coffee!

I'm still here!

I guess from now on my life will be somewhat chaotic. I have to admit, I sure do wish August was over! We've done so much in such a short time, I'm ready to get things into a rhythm :)

Today was the first day of school for my older two girls. They will be arriving home in the next hour and I'm very interested to see how it went for Alexa since this her first time going to school. I can tell you what, I can't believe how tired I am. Baby will have some good nights and not so good ones. Naturally last night wasn't too good. She wasn't crying or anything, just hungry and not settling back down to sleep. My eyes were literally red around the rims! I had to plaster on some makeup so I didn't look so bad...

My husband and I took the girls to their classes and it is so neat. This is such a great school- they make it seem like Disney World with their enthusiasm. I am in the process of creating a good schedule for the family so things run smoothly. This will be an experimental week. Of course, nothing is set in stone with the baby. She is still unpredictable, but soon we'll get into a more definite schedule.

I have no idea when I'll be blogging. I will be around of course, but I hadn't been online since Saturday as things are quite busy. I'm sure you all understand :)

I want to ask you all, since you're such lovely readers, to please give me your favorite crockpot meal or quick meal recipes. I need to come up with a menu for us and I'm totally and completely blank! I would greatly appreciate help :)

Also, I was wondering if you could put some links of your favorite blogs. I've gotten kind of limited on what blogs I read because many of them stopped blogging and I haven't really found new places to 'go' yet :) Thanks in advance for the ideas, recipes and links. You're all wonderful and I wish I could give real hugs and smiles to you all.

Time to go...be back soon!

No looking back

There hasn't been much time for blogging lately. My second daughter became ill the other night, and our new baby kept me up for most of that night too just being cute and awake :) My head is definitely spinning with everything that is happening right now. I don't feel like myself yet.

My mind keeps going back to what my 'old self' was, like before I was pregnant and we lived in that rent house by the swimming pool. (there are pictures of that house somewhere on the blog) I was super lady! Strong, healthy, in control, juggled many projects like making quilts etc. I tend to want that back.

But God has been reminding me not to look back. That was a good time- a faith building season of our lives that He used us in other people's lives directly. But that time is over and we are in a new place. We have literally started over.

We live in a new town, in a new house that is our own now. We have a new baby, our oldest children will be attending school, and little Sarah is really growing up too. Nothing is the same as it was and won't be. We're like a new family now. For awhile my main focus will be just trying to keep up with basics- meals, cleaning, laundry, getting everyone to the right places, baby care, not to mention continuing on with unpacking things that I haven't gotten to yet and organizing it all.

I had to be extremely frugal in my super lady days- everything from scratch. Now I don't, and frankly, not a lot I cook these days is from scratch. I will do better, and I really really miss cooking right. I look forward to sourdough bread again and homemade sauerkraut and raw milk :) We will be getting chickens in the future, and you can be sure we'll have a big garden next year.

I can look back fondly and wish I could be that person again, but that's not what God wants for me. He wants me to embrace the new and allow Him to take me through whatever process to grow more. It's better to not be Martha, serving the Lord but needing everything to be perfect. It's better to have a little dirt on the floor and some sticky surfaces and some overflowing dishes and laundry, so you can spend time in the presence of God.

For someone seriously sleep deprived, I still have some good thoughts huh? LOL! It's all God- in times that I feel really stretched and stressed, He puts new songs in my head of praise to Him and victory and that He's taking care of us. Or bring someone by that can uplift and encourage me, or I'll find something on the Christian channels that perfectly speak to me.

Baby Samantha is getting pudgy! She has lost that newborn wrinkled look and is filling out. I guess if I were eating a full meal every two hours and sleeping all day I'd get chubby too! She is so sweet and so cute. When she's awake she just looks around and tries to eat whatever is close to her mouth. Yesterday I had her resting on my shoulder while I was getting her bottle, and she started sucking on my cheek! Funny girl...new pictures to come.