Well, I had another baby 😆, he's a fantastic distraction from the sh!tstorm... Otherwise, we tend to circle the wagons and focus on stuff at home, good food - soups etc, organising and house projects, gardening. Permission just to rest and *be* grounded in my own life. Conversely, spending time with a select few trusted friends.

Yikes! I've collected most of the books over the years, the last ones I bought were the lens levels and I managed to find most of what I wanted for $US20-30 each on Abe.

We ended up paying between $2000-$3000ish - including bow - for our kids' adult size violins. They are decent and get a nice sound. Our teacher is very good and recommended who to talk to/buy from. She was right, buying from a trustworthy person who loves the instrument is so worth it.

Thank you! Yes all went well, he's just perfect, born at 39 weeks, 8 1/2 pounds. Recovering from my first ever caesar is less fun 😄

Thanks Melissa, he's extraordinarily sweet 💙

1. We said 4-6 2. As of 3 days ago, we have 5! 3. Yes. I was happy with 4. I'm happy with my surprise too. 4. They're all a unique mix. 5. 1 6. Oldest

No, they generally don't have sales Their stuff is worth the price, imo. Though I had issues with them shipping to Australia earlier this year/late last year. You can sometimes find old editions second hand on abebooks, or they also have some items as ibooks too.

Cute! Thanks for sharing! Here is one of our newest hatchlings, about 6 days old. Our male cat, Wesker. He does the best unimpressed/grumpy old man face.

Having this baby 4 more sleeps!

Yes I can't wait! Mainly because he's still very very breech 😄, which, I would normally have still tried for a vb because I'm a good candidate having had 4 already. But, we've been having issues with very low, and dropping, fluid levels with no explanation - no leaks or infection or anything. Which could signal a potential early degradation of the placenta, meaning it's not working as well as it should. Nothing worrying enough to need an emergency or very early caesar, but enough little worries stacking up on the con side (including distance from hospital, and the flooding rains we've just had that make it a more difficult journey, enough that I'd be worried about an ambulance making it here, and our state has had serious issues with ambulance times at the moment anyway, and history of a quick/almost side of the road birth - not something I'm happy to risk with breech...) that I'm more at peace with the safety for baby of a planned caesar. If I was younger or planning more children (this one was a lovely surprise) then I might make a different calculation. As it is I'm SO sore, breech & not much fluid = really sore, and very tired and bed rest hasn't made much difference to anything, I'm just ready to have him here and safe asap! Eta- honestly it's been a really tough year for us for a lot of reasons and I just don't have the fight left in me. I didn't expect any of this, my previous pregnancies were all pretty boring and straightforward!

🙂 I'm 38+2 today, and have my planned caesar (1st caesar after 4 births!) in 5 days...

Oh I'm sorry @Elizabeth86! Please don't be hard on yourself, growing babies is hard on the body. One day at a time, one small step at a time. *hugs* You have the right people in your corner, keeping an eye on things. They caught it, they're being proactive, that’s good. This pregnancy has been unexpectedly harder for me too. You have all my sympathy!

I would never be alone with him, nor would I go anywhere where he was drinking. I wouldn't have buddy buddy chats with him at the club anymore. He blurred those lines, continued it (with the fb request) he needs a clear and cold boundary. If he 'calls you on it' (on what? Having boundaries?) I'd have a couple of lines ready. "If you want buddies to chat to, my husband is over there." "I'm not interested in friends who think alcohol allows them to treat me like you did." "We aren't friends, we were friendly until you disrespected me and my marriage." I wouldn't get into the weeds with explanations, I would just make it extremely clear that you are not a soft target.

We lived in a converted shipping container for a few years, with 4 children, while we built our house. We couldn't afford rent + building costs. We installed a wood stove for heating, solar for refrigeration/lighting. It is our own land though. I agree that you would need to make sure your boundaries & expectations about coming into your house/use of land/paying for electricity etc are clear. But yeah, especially while the baby is young, I'd do it.

😊 The frogs are having a blast, they're SO LOUD at our place right now 😆

Glad you're all good Rosie!

Yes he did, thanks! There was one road closed but he just went through and it was fine. I went in to town and back this afternoon and the roads were all clear again.

Thanks, he's still got a few hours to go!

Glad your son made it home safely Melissa!

Yeah Rosie is up that way I think! We're a bit more south/south west. I just picked up my son from in town and it was a little dicey in some spots with water rushing over the roads! Hoping dh can make it home safely after work tonight, he left me the 4wd (as I'm heavily pregnant and had to pick up ds) so he's going to have to manage with the van! Or I'll be heading out in the dark to collect him! 😬 The fields are rivers out here, I haven't seen it quite this bad before! 🤞 it passes through quickly.

True, of course it's not a guarantee. I just meant it more in the sense that instead of parents of little kids ignoring 'socialization' as a homeschool myth, they should be encouraged to build communities and connections while they have more free time. Like you say, much harder to start from scratch when they're older. Neither guarantees a specific outcome. Covid destroyed a lot of homeschool groups here too, many left the state/country. Some homeschooled highschoolers straight up lost their entire friendship circle in one fell swoop. We have had to build ours back up and it's slow going. But I will still say that the odds increase if the community is built when the kids are younger & the parents support each other through the difficulties.

Yes, I try to advise the parents in my homeschool group to focus on finding 'your tribe' when they're young and school doesn't take all day. Go to all the things, connect with people. Just a couple of like minded families where the kids get along can make such a difference as they grow.

Absolutely this. Plus, the personality of the individual kid. I have one who wanted to go to school, because this one trends towards being a follower and had an extremely 'grass is greener' perspective. We said no, based on quite a few variables, and worked hard to get them involved with more social things. Did it work? 🤷🏻‍♀️ At the moment this kid is putting us through the wringer but I doubt it would have been better at school. I don't think there's such a thing as 'working' any more, especially for the upper high school ages, they have to make their own decisions and grow up A LOT. We'll see how they feel about life at 30 😄

Yay! Congrats! 💙💙💙

How lovely, hope it goes well!