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happypamama
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Everything posted by happypamama
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Where did you learn how to be nurturing?
happypamama replied to treestarfae's topic in General Education Discussion Board
Honestly? From my own mommy. :) I have a pretty strong nurturing instinct myself; I adore babies and little ones and love love love cuddling them and kissing on them and making everything all better for them. But I watched my mother do it too. All babies, whether they're the first or the tenth, are to be treasured and adored. I watched her hold babies and nurse them and keep them with her, and I watched her hug toddlers and sit down and read to them, and all of that good stuff. I watched her and my dad help us with homework and come to our sports games and listen to us talk for hours about nothing. When she comes to visit, she (and my dad too, actually) reads with my kids, they take them to the playground, they cuddle with my toddlers, they are eager to hold the babies. Baby fusses, and nobody says, "oh, he'll be fine; just let him cry;" they hold him and talk to him if I'm in the bathroom or something, but otherwise, they hand him to me and understand that he wants his mommy, and that's how it's supposed to be. They're pretty awesome. :) -
I use multiple gmail.com addresses myself. One gets a lot of spam (that gmail catches), but it's the one I use for Facebook, signing up for things, etc. The other gets no spam; I only give it to a few people, never for mailing lists (other than our homeschool ones). I got my 10yo DD a gmail account a month ago, and so far, she's gotten no spam at it. I have it set so that one of my addresses receives a copy of anything she gets, and she's never allowed to use her address to sign up for anything, but so far, we've been pleased. IDK if that will work for teens, though, but I have been pretty happy with gmail's spam catching service.
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My current 3 1/2 yo is the only one of mine that I could see actually thriving in a public school setting; my older two are quirky in their own ways and wouldn't fit the mold. My 3yo is an extrovert; he's funny, a born entertainer, and he'd think school was the greatest adventure in the world. But I'm still not going to send him; I want to keep him here. We live in the country as well, so most days, they have me and each other for company, and really, that's plenty for a little guy. Sometimes I don't have time to do a lot with my 3yo, between two older children and an infant, but we manage. I just want to encourage you that you can do it -- it might be overwhelming at first, but you'll find a groove!
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AP Parents - PLS help me with baby naps!
happypamama replied to Tohru's topic in General Education Discussion Board
We have no crib either, and I'm too short to lay a baby down in a pack-n-play, so we don't have one of those either. My current 3yo was a great sling napper; I'd wrap him in the sling, and he'd sleep for several hours that way. Not so much with my current 9mo; he falls asleep in a carrier (front or back) but only sleeps for half an hour or so that way. You'd think he could sleep through anything, being the fourth child in a noisy household, but not so much. He will, however, sleep for a good couple of hours if I lay him down on our bed (which is upstairs, out of the flow of traffic), so that's what I do for his big nap in the afternoon. I got a baby monitor so that the second he starts moving around, I can get him, before he rolls/scoots himself off the bed. I nurse or wear him to sleep and then lay him down. -
DD started a year ago with Nallenart's L'art de Lire and has just about completed the first level, but she says she does not want more of it. I think it is not as strong in grammar as she wants. She loves Getting Started With Latin, and I wish they had a French version. She's not necessarily adverse to learning colors and useful phrases like "what is your name?," but I think what she really wants is to learn to conjugate verbs so she can create her own sentences and such. It sounds odd, but I don't think she cares if what she learns is in context or not; she will probably like taking a list of verbs, conjugating them, and finding her own context. So I am looking for suggestions. She is ten, going into fifth grade, and is a strong reader, but she does not do "fun" or "cutesy," so graphics and stories aren't really a draw. I studied French for several years myself, so I can do pretty well at the pronunciations. I'm looking at this: Practice Makes Perfect and this: Schaum's Outline of French Grammar. Any thoughts on either of these, or a suggestion for something else that is not too terribly expensive?
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In my state, WIC gives you a lot more than just milk and cheese -- eggs, peanut butter, cereal (which can be oatmeal depending on the store), beans, bread/rice/tortillas, even several dollars towards fresh or frozen produce. I know the OP said she gets WIC already, but for anyone considering it, the packages are pretty substantial and could provide several days' worth of breakfasts and lunches. (If you have excess milk, you can turn it into yogurt/kefir, and you can get tomato juice to make into soup too.) This is so true. It's really not fair for the husband to complain at the wife -- she's only the messenger about the realities of the budget. I have reminded my husband of this a few times, that it's not me saying we can't do X or Y; it's the reality of the budget.
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Knitting Needle Suggestions
happypamama replied to Hunter's Moon's topic in General Education Discussion Board
If you save by buying the entire range of sizes at once, it isn't much, so I would just buy a few right now. 8 is the biggest that most of the things I want to knit need, though ymmv. I would personally get the 40" cable set now, if for no other reason than waiting could mean paying more shipping on such a small item. It can be tricky to do small circumference things with a 32" cable, and if you do want to do larger things, at least you'll have the longer cable ready. On the other hand, I think KP now offers a connector, so you can make longer cables; that might be an option to get to connect the ones that come in the set, if you get the set. If I was buying totally from scratch right now, I'd probably not bother to get the 24" cables at all, as I rarely use them. I don't like flat knitting very much, so I knit in the round as much as possible and like the larger cables for that. -
Knitting Needle Suggestions
happypamama replied to Hunter's Moon's topic in General Education Discussion Board
I really, really love my KnitPicks interchangeables. I have the Harmony wood ones and love them, but some people really prefer the acrylic or metal ones. I use those needles for all knitting, flat or round, and I much prefer them to my double points or my regular straights. I have cables to make them 24", 32", and 40", though I rarely use the 24" ones. I use the 40" ones all the time, though, because I like magic loop in the round knitting. I most often use sizes 4-8, but I also use sizes 2 and 3 (which are fixed, not interchangeable, but I have them in 40" lengths), which is good for a lot of sock patterns. -
How was Easter dinner?
happypamama replied to Jean in Newcastle's topic in General Education Discussion Board
Our Easter was wonderful! My parents are visiting, and we all went to church together; the children all behaved during the service, and the music was lovely. I put a polo shirt on my baby, and my 3 and 7yo boys insisted upon wearing their ties (and my 10yo DD a fancy dress), and I love the cuteness so much. We even made it on time to church (no small feat). Usually we are very traditional with our holiday meals, but since my birthday is also this week, my parents took us to my favorite restaurant, which has delicious Indian food. Completely not traditional, but yummy! And it was sunny and (mostly) warm, which is always great for Easter. -
Am I unreasonable or MIL?
happypamama replied to sbgrace's topic in General Education Discussion Board
I also think it's unreasonable to expect to see you for every major holiday, especially since you don't live close together, and especially since you spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with them. My parents and ILs live in the same town, three hours away, but we rarely travel to see them; they come to us at different times. My ILs were here for Christmas, for instance, while my parents hosted my other siblings and then visited us at New Year's. My parents are here this week and were with us for Easter; my ILs were here a couple of weeks ago and went to visit their daughter and her family for Easter. It all works out. I think it's very kind that your parents have invited your ILs to Easter in the past, and maybe you could just put in a gentle hint to your parents that your ILs are lonely and would love to be included, even if they're not related to everyone. (If they're used to a large extended family, it might not matter so much who is actually related.) But your MIL should not *expect* that at all. -
Possibly Christian and Missionary Alliance (cmalliance.org, I think). It's going to depend on the individual church, though; some do children's church, and some don't, and some use all traditional music, and some use more contemporary stuff. ETA: I missed the part about liturgical in the OP, so that would probably disqualify the CMA.
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I use workboxes and really like them. They motivate *me* to make sure we get to everything, and they eliminate "where's the X that I need for this lesson" waste of time, because if it's needed for the day's lesson or project, I put it in the workbox the night before (or sometimes that morning before we start). Each of the big kids has several workboxes, plus a small box for pencils/colored pencils/pens/scissors/pencil sharpener/glue (this also gets taken to co-op), and my 3yo has a workbox of his own too, into which I put various art materials and early learning activities. And there are boxes for the subjects we do together. They seem to like the workboxes more than a pile of books, and it really does help me to keep everything together -- a book to read for history, with the accompanying activity sheet next to it, or the math book plus the needed manipulatives, etc. I plan the year in advance, in a general way, at least the order in which we're doing things (though some stuff is obviously "do the next thing") and then each week, I plan out the week's specific stuff, based on what else is going on that week. Some weeks we have more time to do extra projects; some weeks we have a lot going on, and we do more workbook-type stuff (especially if it can go in the car). Planning dates out too far in advance doesn't work for me, because I just don't know what's going to happen. So my plan this year is to start as soon after July 1 as I can and do schoolwork every day unless we have some reason not to, rather than take off days just because I have them scheduled.
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No way can I feed our family of five (#6 doesn't eat solid foods yet, and I don't see an increase in my own caloric needs while breastfeeding) on $100 a week, especially paleo. It's not a super high COL area, but to go completely without grains and legumes, I'd need close to $200 a week, more if I went all grass-fed/organic/pastured. There's no question -- pound for pound, if we need more food at a meal, I can add another pound of veggies for a whole lot less than I can add another pound of meat. We still limit grains, especially for the adults, but we also do bean-based meals a few times a week too, with lots of veggies (skipping the rice/pasta/potatoes). When I know I'm serving something with beans for dinner, I try to make those the days when I don't decide to eat oatmeal for breakfast or a sandwich for lunch.
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No milk = short stature ?
happypamama replied to Ummto4's topic in General Education Discussion Board
Not Asian, but I'm small, and neither of my parents are very tall. My DD was allergic to dairy for her first couple of years, and she's on track to be on the average or slightly tall side of things. My oldest son has not been allergic to dairy and has eaten quite a bit of it, and he's very slender and probably average or just below average in height. I think genes matter more than whether you eat dairy or not. -
Saxon Vs Singapore (Need help deciding)
happypamama replied to bttrflyvld's topic in K-8 Curriculum Board
Saxon is working sooooooo beautifully for my oldest child. The lessons are straight-forward, nothing cutesy, no attempts to dress it up and make it playful (she hates that kind of thing); it's just simple and basic and "here's how you do it." She is the kind of kid who needs to "chew" on something for a while -- have it introduced, work a few examples with me, and then practice it in small increments. Having a large amount of problems on one topic shoved at her at once and then moving on to something else the next day isn't really the best option for her right now, so I prefer the spiral approach. It really just depends on the kid. -
Is using frozen veggies healthy...
happypamama replied to Mommyfaithe's topic in General Education Discussion Board
Not many green veggies in season locally during the winter here in PA, so I use frozen veggies frequently; I stock up when they're on sale. Especially for smoothies, look at it this way: if the alternative is no veggies, you're getting a boost of nutrition that you wouldn't get otherwise. It might not be as big of a boost as if you were using fresh, but it's not like it's poison -- it's a bonus. -
I don't mind being called Mrs. Lastname, but it does seem very formal to me. I am totally okay with being called Miss Firstname, and that's what most of my friends refer to me as when speaking to their kids (who are generally young like mine). I generally refer to my friends/my kids' co-op teachers as Miss or Mrs. Firstname, so that's what my kids call them. I do have one friend, who is a little older than I am, and her kids are teens, and she always refers to me as Mrs. Lastname to her kids, so that's what they call me. I try to refer to her as Mrs. Lastname to my kids, but I often forget. I always called my parents' friends Mr. or Mrs. Lastname growing up, with a few exceptions, and it was really hard for me to switch to calling them by their first names when I became an adult. Generally, I prefer to err on the side of being too formal rather than not formal enough, but I don't have a strong preference on the name thing.
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Congratulations!
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Car insurance question
happypamama replied to zookeeper's topic in General Education Discussion Board
Well, I suppose it depends on what you have available to replace the vehicle, should it be in any kind of accident. Being in a similar position in October 2009, we dropped full coverage on our then 9-year-old, paid-for Ford Expedition. It had 160K miles or so and was in decent shape but not fantastic; it was starting to need a bit of work, and its gas mileage was terrible, but we weren't going to replace it quite yet. And it could seat 8, though we only had 5 at the time. So we dropped comp and collision coverage on it to save a bit on our monthly bills. Well, after never having had an accident, it skidded on some ice THREE months after we dropped the full coverage and ended up rolling over completely and being very badly damaged. (However, because of its size, plus properly installed and properly used carseats, my husband and two children who were in it were completely unharmed, so the vehicle served its purpose.) Because we only had liability insurance, we lost the value of the vehicle completely, and when I got pregnant later that year, we ended up having to buy a van so we could have sufficient seating for all 6 of us. Had we kept full coverage, even with a deductible, the Expedition's payout from the insurance company would have more than paid for the van. So that was a gamble that did not pay out well for us at all. Otoh, years ago, having full coverage on a vehicle that got stolen meant that we received enough from the insurance company to replace that vehicle without having a car payment. We now maintain full coverage on all vehicles. I would really try to cut in other areas first before dropping full coverage, unless you can easily afford to replace a damaged vehicle. -
Do you like the name Owen?
happypamama replied to staceyobu's topic in General Education Discussion Board
Love it! I think it will fit nicely with your other children's names as well. I think a lot of traditional masculine names would work as a middle name, like Michael, as a previous poster suggested. -
What's a good place to buy Rx sunglasses?
happypamama replied to mirth's topic in General Education Discussion Board
My DH has been pretty pleased with both the prescription regular glasses and prescription sunglasses he's gotten from 39dollarglasses.com. They're not quite as high quality as the (regular) glasses he got from LensCrafters, but at $40 a pair vs. $300, he's not too upset about it. I think the sunglasses he got were $50 a pair, though around Christmas, they had coupons for $20 off, which made them really reasonable. It's been very easy to take his prescription paper and order the glasses online. I know other people like Zenni Optical too, though we have no experience with them ourselves. -
To name a few: Messiah College (PA), Nyack (NY), Tocoa Falls (GA), Malone (OH), Letourneau (TX). . . And if a specifically Christian college isn't the right thing for your child, maybe a small college in an area that supports your values and beliefs, and that has a thriving Christian community on campus, would work.
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What is the healthiest way to eat?
happypamama replied to RainbowSprinkles's topic in General Education Discussion Board
Personally, I think the most important thing is to eat real food, whether that means vegetarian or paleo. If it's been modified heavily, it's not real food. So, eat real olive oil and/or butter (and real lard if you like) but not Crisco. If you eat animal products, try to get ones that have been allowed to roam and eat their natural diets. Refined to Real is a good book; it's not too overwhelming. There's also Nina Planck's Real Food and Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions and a whole host of others, but I would start with Refined to Real. -
Yes, I went out the week before my due dates each time. I went about a week past my due date with each of my first three babies; it was hilarious when people would ask when I was due, and I'd say "a week ago." They looked like they thought I would be having the baby on the floor any second. I actually felt pretty good at the end of my pregnancies. With my fourth baby, I was out at the park with friends on Friday, having a great time, and then the baby was born (a couple of weeks early) on Tuesday morning.
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Helping a deaf person enjoy family life
happypamama replied to Laura Corin's topic in General Education Discussion Board
My friend who is blind does not mind if you ask how/if you can help, so you might talk directly with your relative and ask her what makes it easier to participate in the conversation.