Everybody needs good neighbours

I can't let the below whiny post go without this one to balance it. Today was a difficult day, but I'm reminded of how blessed our family is as well. First, we have friends around the corner who have four young children of their own, who have joyfully placed themselves on call to come and watch our children for us when we do finally have this baby. They were here today at a moment's notice, although I know they most likely had a full day planned (they were at Sizzler having lunch when Larry called them), and they were nothing but happy and generous in giving their time to us instead. I am very thankful for them all.

Second, we have a relatively new next-door neighbour who, today, came over and cleaned up our front yard, and moved our van into the carport that he cleared out for us. A few days ago he cut our grass. He has also offered to help fix our van (he is or was a mechanic). I haven't even met him. This generosity boggles my mind and I'm very thankful for it. I'm gonna bake him a pie. :)

Third, my mama has been driving me to my appointments for the past several weeks to save me from traveling in the summer heat. I know it's not always convenient for her but she's always really awesome about it (and under normal circumstances even takes me shopping afterwards). So thank you mom. :)

Adventures in pregnancy

So today I'm 40 weeks and 3 days and had a routine appointment at my birth centre. I was not feeling well at all, the family's been fighting off a virus and in typical fashion it is taking me a bit longer to kick than average. At my appointment the baby's heart rate decelerated to 90bpm while the midwife was listening to it (an acceptable range is somewhere between about 120-150bpm for my baby's gestation) so she sent me up to the hospital for monitoring, commenting that they'd probably want to induce me because I wasn't looking too good anyway, and she thought the baby might just need to come out.

Okay then. I've had a really rough couple of weeks with two separate rounds of yuckiness going through the family, and I was (am) ready to be done with the whole pregnancy thing anyway and begin the task of recovering from pregnancy and from this stupid virus, so I was, let's say, very accepting of what seemed to be a strong possibility of meeting my baby today or tomorrow. Evelyn, however, seemed fine during monitoring. In fact she seemed better than fine. She was having a grand old time. That decel must have been pretty much just a fluke. I'm thankful for that, and that she is healthy and happy in there.

BUT.

I'm still pregnant. I have an appointment next Friday at which time they will discuss an induction date with me in FEBRUARY. This baby was due on January 19 and now we're talking February? Somebody help me.

Please pray for me and Evelyn, that she will decide on her own (and SOON) to get herself born, and that the timing would be convenient (sounds like a luxurious request but it's important given the need to find care for 5 children in a quick hurry, since my labors are short). Prolonged pregnancy really isn't good for anyone in this family at this juncture and I'm personally reaching the end of my ability to cope.

Thanks guys. xox

Somewhere to write stuff down

I haven't blogged anywhere in a long time, let alone here. I don't really have the time to do blogging justice, and I really don't like feeling like I *should* blog when I don't feel like it. It becomes just another thing hanging over my head. However, there are people who would benefit from more updates about our family, and this is as good a place as any to do that. And so, allow me to proceed with the updating.

Since my last post on this blog, we have had another baby boy who is now nearly 2 years old (!!). In addition, I'm due with our 6th baby (a girl) tomorrow. We're in the same house, but maybe crammed in just a little more...more about that later, maybe.

We had a brief foray into pastoral ministry after my husband finished Bible College. The experience didn't really turn out too well, but many lessons were learned nonetheless. We're still kinda figuring out what to do next, but in the meantime my husband has a decent job with a great boss and we are feeling blessed.

I started some work earlier this year with a crisis pregnancy centre, a bit before finding myself pregnant with the baby we're waiting on now. Although I'm currently on "maternity leave", when baby is born I intend to go back to work at least one day a week, and probably work from home one day a week. My husband's current job arrangement allows for this, since he works evenings and can be home with the kids during the day. It's been good for everyone involved I think -- I often take one of the kids with me as well which allows for an extra-curricular experience for them and also some one-on-one time with me.

I've been re-writing a curriculum for the crisis pregnancy centre's "Earn While You Learn" program -- transitioning it from Americanese into more Aussie-friendly language, and making the information more relevant to our Australian clients. This endeavour has been going well and I'm about two-thirds of the way through the main portion of the curriculum, however I've hit a bit of a wall because my brain feels like it's going to fall out at any moment (third trimester brain-melt). I really feel strongly about getting it finished, though...and I will...later.......

We are homeschooling -- kind of. What we actually do is technically distance education. My kids are enrolled in a government approved school but they do their work from home. We were really pleased to happen upon this relatively new (to this area) option because we feel it offers the best of both worlds: we have a strong, approved framework from which to build, we know all our bases are covered academically, yet we still have our kids with us every day and have the freedom to give their education the emphases that we find necessary and good. Works for us. :)

These are the major changes that have occurred since last posting here. Many, many minor changes and events have happened as well, of course. I may or may not mention some of those if I choose to continue blogging (which I may or may not -- I just can't commit to it right now, you understand). But I'll bring you up to date on today. :-)

Today, I have 2 sick little boys and 2 recovering girls. My oldest doesn't appear to be ill -- yet. I'm not gonna hold my breath though. {Update: his appetite is shaky and I'm suspicious} The girls got sick about 5 days ago, with fevers and headaches and lethargy and a little bit of barf. They *seem* better at this point but their appetites aren't quite recovered yet and they keep surprising me with MORE BARF. Then they'll get up and run around like nothing ever happened. It's confusing me, and believe me, I'm already confused (in general). Little boys so far have had fevers, aches, and crankiness, but so far no barf. I am guessing that will happen after they've been asleep for a while.

I hate it when the kids are sick and I really struggle with it. It's very difficult, too, when I'm nine months pregnant. I mean, EVERYTHING is difficult when I'm nine months pregnant. Add this to the fact that they were just sick, like, last week or something, with a tummy bug. I have to remind myself that I'm so blessed to have these children to nurse back to health, and so blessed that I can be reasonably sure they will in fact recover and be none-the-worse for the wear. There are so many mothers in this world of ours that must be terribly scared when their children become ill, because they very well may not survive it. :(

As I mentioned, I'm one day (well, less than three hours now) from my due date. I'm anticipating a late arrival, though, and have been since the beginning, so I'm not freaking out too much about the possibility of my due date coming and going without Evelyn's arrival. At any rate, I think that I most likely have about 11 days left of this pregnancy -- I can handle that, right? Honestly, compared to my most recent pregnancies with bigger-sized babies than this little girl seems to be, I'm still pretty comfortable. I have my moments and I sure complain sometimes but it's been a pretty smooth pregnancy (well, sorta kinda -- we have had some issues but all is well now).

Our budget right now is shot. With being hugely pregnant, and it being so so hot (43C yesterday, or 109F), we've been eating what's easy and not necessarily what's cheap. With the kids being ill recently, I've personally needed more comfort foods as well. :P Right now we're in a whatever-works pattern. We also hired some domestic help, a lovely lady who comes to help me clean once a week. She is very genuine, very caring about our little family, and we are becoming good friends. Probably not good enough that she'll clean my house for free though. :P (I'd never want her to.) Anyway it really helps to know that she'll be here on a Monday to help us get caught up, and it makes it easier to stay caught up for the rest of the week. :)

I'm looking forward to tightening down the budget again once we settle in with the baby and all. There's always been a bit of an adjustment period for us financially when we have a new baby, and this is mainly due to a lack of organisation (of what we're going to eat, etc.) and just trying to get a handle on the new normal. I'd love to have the motivation to put meals into the freezer but for several reasons (did I mention the temperature today?) I just can't get it done. Once baby is here and we're used to her, I can start nailing things down again. I used to have a good system going, once upon a time...

Okay so I'm sure this is all very exciting. Next time I post (?) I will try to break things up with some photos. Posts I'd like to make in the future:

• Things I have made for the new baby
  
• Pictures and stories of the kids doing various things
• Details of some of the activities we're involved in (various martial arts and dance classes, for example)
• Food we like to make and eat
• Budget rescue plans
  
• Meh. I dunno. I'll think of something. Maybe if I'm really cranky one day I'll take it out on someone on my blog. :P
  

If you don't feel like checking back here to see if I've (finally) updated, there should be a way to receive notifications of my posts in your email inbox. I don't know *how* this is done but I'm pretty sure it's done. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

To all of our geographically distant relatives and friends, we love you all and miss you. Grandma and Grandpa T, Grandma C., Grandma R., Mom and Dad T., Chris and Lindsay, Greg, Moey and family, and so many others, we think of you often and miss you terribly.

Much love,
Deb, Larry and kids xox

It was inevitable, really...

...that this blog would be forgotten. I am sorry for that. I can't promise that I will be any better about posting here, but I will try to try. Really. :-)

I am just going to post a few photos of our most recent birthday girl, Mae. She turned four!! It is hard to believe -- not long ago I was holding a princess of a baby that would cry if you weren't oh-so-careful about supporting her head, even past the point where she could support it herself! She is still a princess, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Here are the photos.

A new picture of our fabulous four!

I am still feeling guilty about making you all wait so long for pictures, so I took some more today of all four kids. I think this one turned out well, and I couldn't wait for a better excuse to post it! Just as a reminder, Benjamin is now nearly 7 months old, Jonathan is 5 years old, Mae is 3 1/2 years old, and Grace is just-about-two. Enjoy!

My bad

It has been a month since my last post! Sorry everyone!! I post mainly on my homemaking blog these days, because what I spend most of my time doing is homemaking, naturally. And then remaking, and remaking, and remaking, and undoing what the kids did, and remaking some more. Yeah. It's like that.

So, anyway, I got to thinking today about how I really should post *something* on this blog, but there really hasn't been much of interest going on here (other than homemaking, obviously). Larry is back at school (sob sob) and I am busy moving furniture around, decluttering the house, painting, etc. Trying to stay sane, or get sane, one of the two. So we haven't been going out much, or having any raging parties, or things of that nature.

I decided just to go around my house and take a photo of each child, doing whatever they were doing at that moment. Here is the result:


Grace and Mae were playing in their room. Probably jumping on the bed at some point there, but smart enough by now to stop when they hear me coming! So, while I may *know* they were jumping on the bed, I can't *prove* it. Joke's on me, I guess...

It strikes me, looking at the photo, that my girls have unusually long hair for their ages. Grace is not even two yet! She kind of looks like a chimp with a wig on, but don't tell her I said that! (Of COURSE, I don't mean it!!! Come on now, what kind of mama do you take me for??)


Jonathan was taking it easy, watching Transformers. He is getting over a cold. I know he didn't sleep very well last night, so he is relaxing today. What a sweetie! And such a boy!


Benjamin is sleeping in a fairly typical Benny-pose. Oh, how I wish I could crawl in there and sleep for a while, too! Or, better yet, in my own bed...


Yes, this baby is exactly as sweet as he looks! He really, really is. I can't wait for him to meet his Grandparents!!! They are gonna love this little guy.

So that, basically, is what they have been doing for the past few days...jumping on the bed, watching Transformers and sleeping. :) Happy days! They are good kids. I love 'em, and I *think* I'll keep 'em. :)

He's mobile...

Benjamin (at not quite 6 months old) has been really working on crawling over the past couple of weeks. He has the commando crawl pretty much down now, and is already causing trouble with his newfound mobility. He is also up on hands and knees throughout the day, although he hasn't figured out how to coordinate the arm and leg movements, yet. It won't be long, though. I imagine we'll have a full-fledged crawler by the time he's six months. I hope he's not too precocious, though. His Grandpa R. was reportedly walking by eight months of age -- I don't know if my brain could handle that.

From time to time (well, okay, daily) we put Ben in his walker, and he is now quite the accomplished walker-walker. Here are a couple of pics -- he started out two rooms away and got all the way to here, and BOY is he happy with himself!!

*Edited to add:* Sometimes it takes a photo to really highlight the chubbiness of my babies. This guy is still 100% breastfed, and I just gotta say it: I must be doing a GREAT job!! Click on the photos to get a closer look at that squishy little guy!! :D

The awesome foursome

I am pretty sure there should be some grandparents needing a fix of baby pics by now... so here are just a couple! Sorry it's been a while. Larry and I have been busy again, with the beginning of the new semester and also with preaching engagements.

The kids are doing very well. All healthy, happy and full of energy, just like they should be. Boy oh boy, I can't wait to have another one! (Did I say that out loud??!) It won't be for a while, though, so nobody panic. ;)

As you can see, Benjamin is growing. And growing. And growing. He is starting to really move around, too. I call it a pre-commando crawl. He's still not sitting up too well by himself yet, but he's a big boy. It must be hard to manage a head of that size. :o) Oh, and you should see the boy eat. He's not eating solids yet, but if we do happen to give him a taste of something, he knows exactly what's going on. He's the first baby of mine that doesn't spit out at least half of what you spoon into his mouth. Nope, down the hatch!!

The others are doing well, too. Jonathan is reading now -- very basic words still, but he understands how to sound words out and he can spell lots of words by thinking about the sounds. Jonathan looooves school -- we tried to have a couple weeks off over the holidays, but he kept asking for it! :o) He's already got some basic math concepts down and he has an impressive list of memory verses under his belt.

Mae is going to be starting Pre-K this year -- she'll be joining in with Jonathan, with a few simplifications to the curriculum. She's only three, after all. Jonathan will wrap up his Pre-K curriculum about mid-year (we started at an odd time, I think) and then I'll go over it again with Mae. I don't think she'll notice if we repeat a few.

Grace is still nursing about four or five times a day. It seems to agree with her. We have eliminated gluten from Grace's diet, due to some digestive issues. We have seen a great improvement since doing so, and now are trying her with rye bread and other non-wheat breads and such, to see whether her sensitivity is to gluten, or just to wheat.

We can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa T.!!! We've been trying not to talk about it TOO much with the kids, because then it will be "When are Grandma and Grandpa going to be here??" all day, every day, for the next few months!! But Jonathan, especially, remembers last time they were here, so he is one very excited little boy. :o)

These little monkeys, oh how we love them!

A pink one and a blue one...

Larry was just asking me today, "When did Gracie grow up??". I don't think she has yet -- she's still my baby girl. It's hard to remember that, though, when she's screaming at me or stamping her feet, hot-headed, tempestuous little thing that she is. But, every once in a while, you can catch a glimpse of baby-ness in her still.

This was a moment when Ben and Grace were saying goodnight to one another. Grace loves Ben, and although sometimes she appears to be intensely jealous of him (generally when I'm nursing him and not her, naturally) she's always gentle towards him (because she takes it out on me, but anyway...). She obviously adores him. Sometimes he gives indications that he finds her interesting, and sometimes he smiles at her or pulls her hair, so I'd say Ben kinda likes his big sister, too. :o)

Benjamin at 16 weeks

We went on a mini-vacation this weekend, to the tiny and beautiful beach town of Binningup (http://www.harvey.wa.gov.au/binningup). Larry preached at the Binningup Church of Christ (http://www.binningup.org.au/).

Now, this was our first family vacation since Jonathan was three months old, so, in almost five years. We had a wonderful time of relaxation and I think Larry and I both feel refreshed. We didn't have a TV or a phone, just a few books and our four babies, the beach, and some very good, new friends.

While in Binningup without many of the distractions of our everyday lives, we were able to focus a little more on just being with our children. What a blessing they are! Here are some photos I took of Benjamin. I was struck by his lovely coloring and the smoothness of his skin and tried to capture it, although the lighting wasn't ideal in that room. Oh well, he's still adorable...