Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sharing the love...
This is what we hear from our precious girl about 70% of the time that she's awake -- she is a wonderful blessing and this time will pass, but I didn't want anyone to miss out on the experience of this six-week-old's crankies. ;-)
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Ack. I'm such a blog slacker. :(
I sincerely apologize. Time goes by so quickly! Yikes.
At this point there's nothing much to report so I'll mostly just post some photos, since that's probably what you really want anyway. :)
At some point I'm pretty sure Evelyn was 4 or 5 days old...and then, all of a sudden she was 4 or 5 weeks old. I don't know how it happens. All I know is you blink, and it's here. She's not a newborn any more, she's an infant. There are some ways in which this is happy, and others in which it is not. I am sure that most of you can relate.
My girls and I had a girls' day out at the markets...nothing exciting, but it was lovely. I love having little girls in my family. They already seem to "get it"...not going to say anything else because those who get it will get it. :-P
My two "big girls" ended our girls' day out like this (above) which made me feel a little less doubt about us having had "so many" children, as I'm pretty sure my children will have lifelong friends in each other, and that is priceless (believe me, I know this. I would do anything for my siblings. They are my best friends.)
Today, Evelyn is 5 weeks old. Her face is growing up. She does smile a bit, but she's had the snuffles and hasn't been as smiley for the past couple of days. :(
Jonathan is about the sweetest kid I've ever met. He loves Evelyn. :)
Seth will be two next month!! He's got all kinds of words and phrases now, it's easy to figure out exactly what he wants, and unless you tick him off, he's as sweet as pie. :-P
Okay, these are radishes. Not just any radishes, though. These are the first ever ever ever vegetables successfully grown by either Larry or myself. They seemed photo-worthy to me. :) Hopefully more photos of garden-related efforts will be forthcoming in the near future.
Homeschooling is going well. Jonathan and Mae are both now enrolled with the distance ed. school (based a few hours south of here) and they're doing a great job. We had a teacher from the school visit us about a week ago, and she was really happy with our family's program and where our kids are at academically. This was very encouraging to Larry and I both, although we're also aware of areas in which we'd like to improve and develop our teaching methods, etc. I don't think we're ever going to feel like we've got it down, and I think that's a good thing.
If anyone has any input, I'm interested in feedback/thoughts relating to homeschooling and a vegetarian/vegan diet specifically (current areas of research in our household)...so leave your thoughts in my comments if you feel up to it. Thanks.
--Love, Deb xox
At this point there's nothing much to report so I'll mostly just post some photos, since that's probably what you really want anyway. :)
At some point I'm pretty sure Evelyn was 4 or 5 days old...and then, all of a sudden she was 4 or 5 weeks old. I don't know how it happens. All I know is you blink, and it's here. She's not a newborn any more, she's an infant. There are some ways in which this is happy, and others in which it is not. I am sure that most of you can relate.
My girls and I had a girls' day out at the markets...nothing exciting, but it was lovely. I love having little girls in my family. They already seem to "get it"...not going to say anything else because those who get it will get it. :-P
My two "big girls" ended our girls' day out like this (above) which made me feel a little less doubt about us having had "so many" children, as I'm pretty sure my children will have lifelong friends in each other, and that is priceless (believe me, I know this. I would do anything for my siblings. They are my best friends.)
Today, Evelyn is 5 weeks old. Her face is growing up. She does smile a bit, but she's had the snuffles and hasn't been as smiley for the past couple of days. :(
Jonathan is about the sweetest kid I've ever met. He loves Evelyn. :)
Seth will be two next month!! He's got all kinds of words and phrases now, it's easy to figure out exactly what he wants, and unless you tick him off, he's as sweet as pie. :-P
Okay, these are radishes. Not just any radishes, though. These are the first ever ever ever vegetables successfully grown by either Larry or myself. They seemed photo-worthy to me. :) Hopefully more photos of garden-related efforts will be forthcoming in the near future.
Homeschooling is going well. Jonathan and Mae are both now enrolled with the distance ed. school (based a few hours south of here) and they're doing a great job. We had a teacher from the school visit us about a week ago, and she was really happy with our family's program and where our kids are at academically. This was very encouraging to Larry and I both, although we're also aware of areas in which we'd like to improve and develop our teaching methods, etc. I don't think we're ever going to feel like we've got it down, and I think that's a good thing.
If anyone has any input, I'm interested in feedback/thoughts relating to homeschooling and a vegetarian/vegan diet specifically (current areas of research in our household)...so leave your thoughts in my comments if you feel up to it. Thanks.
--Love, Deb xox
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Just some photos :)
Evelyn Pearl, 4 days old. I'm so in love.
I'm still getting used to what this looks like! :-)Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Evelyn Pearl
Our beautiful girl is finally here! I guess she got scared out by the thought of the looming induction and she decided she'd rather come on her own. :-) It was an interesting labor experience but I'll spare you the details, since it's probably less interesting to you than it is to me. Suffice it to say, officially the labor was two hours and 16 minutes long with about 5 minutes of pushing and it was what I'd consider to be my easiest labor of the six. That doesn't mean I want to do it again though. :-P
Evelyn and I are both doing well. I lost a lot of blood, which is fairly typical for someone having their sixth baby. Initially I also had issues with very low blood pressure and couldn't get up without passing out, which was a bit of a concern. I don't feel too bad now, but we'll see what the next few days hold. I'd appreciate prayers for me over the next two weeks as historically the first two weeks postpartum have been very difficult for me.
Evelyn is a sweet, sweet baby. She's still very sleepy, of course, so it's hard to tell you much about her personality just yet. Did you see the hair?? What a surprise that was. We've never had a baby with so much, and such dark, hair. She's gorgeous though, I'm so proud of her. :-)
The other kiddos are doing really well. They had a lot of fun at their friends' house and with various cousins and their Mammam while we were away. In fact, at first I think they were more excited about visiting their friends than they were the new baby. :-) Now that we're home, they are all in love with Evelyn. Our next youngest, Seth, is coping well with the transition from baby to older brother. He has shown very little evidence of jealousy and he's warming up to Evelyn very well.
Now let me tell you about Larry. You all should be so proud of him. He's been really wonderful to me throughout this whole pregnancy, birth and recovery thing. He takes really good care of me and is always aware of how I'm doing emotionally and physically. I feel very safe and secure knowing that he is keeping a close eye on me. I'm so grateful for him. He's also a really great Dad and it makes me so happy to see the joy in his eyes when he holds his newborn daughter. It's really a beautiful thing.
I'll leave you with just a couple of pics, although you've probably seen these ones already. We're just not that good at the photo-taking thing. I'll try harder though, I promise. ;-)
We love you all and thank you for your prayers and thoughts. :-)
Evelyn and I are both doing well. I lost a lot of blood, which is fairly typical for someone having their sixth baby. Initially I also had issues with very low blood pressure and couldn't get up without passing out, which was a bit of a concern. I don't feel too bad now, but we'll see what the next few days hold. I'd appreciate prayers for me over the next two weeks as historically the first two weeks postpartum have been very difficult for me.
Evelyn is a sweet, sweet baby. She's still very sleepy, of course, so it's hard to tell you much about her personality just yet. Did you see the hair?? What a surprise that was. We've never had a baby with so much, and such dark, hair. She's gorgeous though, I'm so proud of her. :-)
The other kiddos are doing really well. They had a lot of fun at their friends' house and with various cousins and their Mammam while we were away. In fact, at first I think they were more excited about visiting their friends than they were the new baby. :-) Now that we're home, they are all in love with Evelyn. Our next youngest, Seth, is coping well with the transition from baby to older brother. He has shown very little evidence of jealousy and he's warming up to Evelyn very well.
Now let me tell you about Larry. You all should be so proud of him. He's been really wonderful to me throughout this whole pregnancy, birth and recovery thing. He takes really good care of me and is always aware of how I'm doing emotionally and physically. I feel very safe and secure knowing that he is keeping a close eye on me. I'm so grateful for him. He's also a really great Dad and it makes me so happy to see the joy in his eyes when he holds his newborn daughter. It's really a beautiful thing.
I'll leave you with just a couple of pics, although you've probably seen these ones already. We're just not that good at the photo-taking thing. I'll try harder though, I promise. ;-)
We love you all and thank you for your prayers and thoughts. :-)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Still waiting...
Of course if anything does happen, we'll let you all know. Just thought I'd record the fact that I am STILL waiting and now a full week "overdue" and quite proud of myself because so far all of my children, husband and myself are still alive. :-P
Friday, January 22, 2010
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. :)
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
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
Monday, January 18, 2010
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:
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
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
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
Saturday, September 08, 2007
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.
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.
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