MrsRobinson
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Posts posted by MrsRobinson
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For myself, I had had two very rapid labors and I was more afraid of expecting to have an epidural and being too late for one (unintentional unmedicated birth) than I was afraid to have a planned unmedicated birth. My first two births, I had the epidural, but they debated it with Baby #2 because I was progressing so fast. Also, I thought being catheterized to pee after Baby#2 because my epidural had not worn off yet was revolting. These were reasons I thought it would be good for me to plan an unmedicated birth with hypnosis. :)
I was given a Foley cath after the epidural with number 1 and I was like, "what the he*l are you doing?! I didn't read about THIS in any of the books!" Lol! With the next, the (really awesome) nurse asked if I wanted an epidural. I said no way. Not doing the Foley again. She laughed and said that is the most disturbing part for a lot of women.
OP, I don't really have advice, just sympathy. As my pregnancies progressed, I felt major claustrophobia, which is very anxiety inducing, just for a different reason. I was actually looking forward to labor and delivery to relieve the claustrophobia!
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Now I want to try all your favorites, Greta! I've been hunting for a sunscreen that doesn't smell like sunscreen, I have acne that is hard to keep "at bay," as you put it, and I hate the texture of lipstick but love the texture of lip balm and I like a little color on my lips. I'm sold!
My 3 favorites are:
1. Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Lavender Mint Shampoo
2. St. Ives Timeless Skin Collagen Elastin Moisturizer
3. Lush bath bombs
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Don't ask me how this move has gone for us.
I realy, really want to but, ok, I won't ask! ;)
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so we spend our time traveling while living here.
See, I think we should move to a city just an hour away. That puts us halfway between his family and mine, no huge culture shock, but we'd have our own "space." Then, we prioritize travel for the adventure/exploration itch. He thinks, if we're leaving, might as well go somewhere awesome (which, for him means day trip distance to an ocean.)
And I get what you're saying about a hometown for your kids. That's a worry too. Will they hate us for leaving their family? No way to know, I guess.
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Dh and I have tossed around the idea of relocating for years. I have lived here my whole life. I'd love to have a new region to explore. I'd love to make our own way without family intervening regularly.
But when dh has a job interview 2 states away, I completely panic! Not at the logistics of the actual move. Panic at the idea of living so far from everyone and everything I've known my entire life! (And, yes, I see the irony.)
I feel like a big baby. Please tell me I'm not the only one! And if you feel the same and moved anyway, how did it work out for you?
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My kind of girl! I hate reading introductions. Especially if there's a preface, then an introduction to the first edition, introduction to the second edition, introduction to the revised second edition, etc.
Me too. Come on, I just want read the story already!
Years ago dh was shocked to learn I'd never read Watership Down. He gave me a copy and said, "you HAVE to read the preface or you won't get it." Darn, he knows me too well! :D
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I had a good (internal) laugh with my 10 yo ds when he asked if we live in South or North America. I gave him our globe and waited patiently while he tried to track down Canada - the second largest country in the world. It took a while. :laugh: We need to do some more geography work, it seems.
There is something about the large countries. They are so big they don't see them or something. After vacationing in Puerto Rico, we showed ds where it was on the beach ball globe. Now everyone that comes to the house says "cool beach ball" or something similar, which prompts ds to say "let me show you where Puerto Rico is." He finds that tiny island no problem. So the impressed guest says "wow! You're smart! Where's the United States?" Ds says, "the what?" I've shown him numerous times, it just doesn't stick. :)
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This made me laugh out loud. :) Isn't that how it goes, though?
Have fun being ring master of your Regular Three-Ring Circus, :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly: :willy_nilly: plus the occasional rambunctious two year old! ---> :willy_nilly:
I love this! A Three - Ring Circus, exactly!
5 minutes later: as I was typing "three-ring circus" 2 kids started whining and tattling on each other, the 3rd spilled cereal and milk everywhere, and the 4th dropped a box on my foot! It's still tingling!
On to homeschooling/scheduling things:
-Babysit again today
-allergy shots for ds
-grocery shopping
-piano practice for dd
-reading, spelling, grammar, writing, and math for dd
-phonics and math for ds
-Circle time, memory work, music appreciation, science, and personal finance all together.
Now that I think about it, that last section will not get done since we will be out of the house with allergy shots and grocery shopping. That's the fun stuff that motivates them to do the required subjects.
Uggh. I need a whole day at home. A baby that takes 2 naps means we are squeezing and errand or 2 in between naps every day. Oh, well. I'll just keep adjusting the schedule until we get a good routine going.
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I was able to get in today to see one of our area's top gyns, and it turns out I'm okay. The uterus is where it should be, in little to no danger of falling out. :) She said I just need to exercise the PF muscles, and that should be sufficient.
Because I didn't know if I would even get an appointment this week, let alone today, I told the girls last night that we would get up and "do the day." Roll with it. They were great! They worked on their independent work while I was making phone calls, they each did one or two lessons of math, did their assigned reading, their chores, their rabbits, and then they "organized." The girls sound like my mother when they say that: "We are organizing." :laugh:
So, no real "school news," but good news all the same. Tomorrow = a full school day. :thumbup:
Glad you got good news!
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Well, the first day went pretty well. Dd did reading, spelling, grammar, math, and memory work.
Ds did phonics, 2 math lessons, circle time, and memory work.
We went to the library and that went really well. The library always ends in a battle because they want huge arm loads of books, they don't want to carry them but I can't carry them all and wrangle the 1 year old that likes to run off. So, yesterday I presented them each with a backpack for library books. Ds was given a 5 book limit, all free choice. Dd was given a printed checklist:
-a picture book
-a nonfiction
-a chapter book
-an audio book
-a book with a science topic
-a book with an exciting cover
-a book recommended by your teacher ;)
-free choice book
So she gets 8 books and there is no arguing. If she fusses, I refer her back to the list. I chose our read aloud and some picture books for the boys and we were done! No battles! We got ice cream to celebrate! Ha! I guess that was mostly 1st day of school tradition but, still... :)
Today will be interesting. I'm babysitting the rambunctious 2 year old again at the last minute for ridiculous reasons, Dd has an orthodontic appointment, piano lesson, and I have to take dh to get a ct scan.
We will see what gets done school - wise but I really want to get a few things done because it's just wrong to get derailed on the 2nd day! I mean, come on!
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First day of school for us today! I'm currently nursing the baby for his morning nap. Dd has been decorating binder covers all morning, and ds did a phonics lesson and immediately needed a snack. :)
So, not going very fast but that's okay, my goal today (and for this whole week, really) is to build enthusiasm. They haven't been very excited about school. They'd rather summer and swimming kept going.
So, we made a blueberry pancake breakfast and ds decorated his clip board with stickers. He wanted to write "1st day of school" on the chalkboard, which was a little tedious and time consuming, but other than the snack meltdown, he's been pretty compliant. I surprised him with mylar helium balloons tied to his chair for his 1st day of kindergarten. He really loved that.
We'll see what else we get done today. I think things will speed up while the baby naps. I hope.
Sahamamama- so sorry you are having more health issues. :( Take care of yourself!
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Sahamamama- glad you got it figured out and are feeling better. Sounds like it's time for a shopping spree!
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It was Springfield, MO. First at Evangel University, then at AGTS. :) I enjoyed my MO days, but since I was on my own out there, it was kind of lonely. If I had had a family there, that would have made a difference. I always think that perhaps, someday, I may end up back out in MO, perhaps a bit further north, but you never know. My husband (California Boy) has no interest in living in the Midwest. Of course, he's never lived there. Then again, I have never lived in California, and I can say with certainty that I have zero interest in living there!
I hiked a lot in Missouri, absolutely all over the place. Miles and miles and miles of country out there, LOL, and cows, llamas, and emus as far as the eye can see. ;) But we finally made it up to what, in New Jersey, is considered "country." ;) Not the same, but still pretty. Again, I have cows on the hills behind my house, horses on the property behind our backyard (free for me!), roosters and peacocks and guinea fowl across the road, and a very crazy donkey two houses away. He is the most cantankerous critter on the street. Ee-haw, ee-haw, ee-haw, all day and half the night. We hear the cows and calves on the dairy farm behind our house, especially in the spring when the farmer separates the mamas from their babies. They bawl all night, too. LOL. I love it!
The first night I heard the peacocks, I was coming from the mailbox, up the driveway in the dark (with a little flashlight). I nearly jumped out of my skin! :scared: I came inside and my husband said, "Was that a howler monkey?" LOL. "No, Honey, it's a peacock." He didn't believe me, so I googled "peacock," then put the computer speaker in the open window. We had that peacock across the street answering "our" peacock for at least an hour. Country fun. :) That, and the 9,563 baby peeper frogs we had in our pool last spring. Hands-on Science at its finest.
The guinea hens are my favorites, though. If you crossed a turkey with a chicken, that would be a guinea hen.
Yep. We live in the rurals on the edge of a small town. City limits is the back edge of our yard. There is a farm across the road from us with lots of cows and chickens. It's very noisy! :) We coo and aww over the baby cows. When I refer to trips to the "big city" on this thread, I'm usually talking about Springfield. Sometimes we go to St. Louis but Springfield is closer.
There are a LOT of CA transplants here. I can think of 4 good friends' entire families that relocated here from CA right off the bat. There are more I'm not remembering, I'm sure. I wish we lived closer to St. Louis. A lot closer. So we could be part of the hs community there and take advantage of all the free/cheap things for families to do. Maybe someday but dh's family is local to us so maybe not. :/
Babysat the 2 year old all last week and again this week. No school to account for. Dd is on break until September 6th. Then it's 3rd grade and Kindergarten!
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I lived in Missouri for six years (two years in MO, then five years back East, then four years in MO). I found these fascinating. Have you seen these?
http://www.missourilife.com/life/thong-trees/
https://showmeoz.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/indian-bent-trees-history-or-legend/
I've hiked a lot in the East, and have never seen these here, but in Missouri, they were all over the place.
This is so weird. I saw you mention living in New Jersey and I said to dh, "oh! Sahamamama is all the way in New Jersey! Why did I think she lived near us?" Turns out, you did at one time!!! Then, I read your linked articles. This is right where we live! And if that's not enough, Ross Malone, quoted in the 2nd linked article, was my 4th grade teacher!!!!
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I sound a little more California valley girl than I sound in my head, but my tone quality and enunciation is quite nice. I used to hate the sound of myself recorded but then I realized it wasn't bad, just different than the resonance inside my skull when I'm speaking :)
Another Valley Girl here. I cringe when I hear my voice. I've told dh more than once that I wish he could hear my voice the way I hear it. I'd sound much more intelligent. :)
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To answer a few of your follow up questions for the Whirlpool Duet:
I am happy with the capacity. I can wash a week's worth of clothes for 3 kids in one load. I can easily wash my queen comforter. I can wash a twin comforter and sheet set together in the same load easily.
I've never had to un-ball laundry in the dryer and restart in the Duet.
My son has severe allergies also. I wash his bedding twice weekly minimum on the "Sanitize with Oxy" cycle. It's a looooong cycle but worth it. I also use that cycle for all towels and for everyone else's bedding if anyone in the house gets sick. My Duet is the basic model and doesn't have a steam feature.
As far as I am aware, there is a door reversal kit available for purchase for the Duet washer and dryer.
I probably sound like a cheesy TV ad for this product but my previous set was a top loader no name because my then fiance went to the appliance store and said "I want your cheapest set." It was one problem after another. It went through four timers, several belts and some sort of gear box. Half of the loads wouldn't rinse and spin. There was rust. I put up with that set for 11 years. So I big puffy heart my Duets. Laundry is no longer my least favorite chore.
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Another vote for Whirlpool Duet!!!! I love mine and don't hesitate to recommend it to anyone that asks.
I was hesitant to get front loaders because people complain about the smell and not enough water with front loaders in general but I've never had a problem. Dh comes home with very dirty/ stinky work clothes and they come out clean and fresh after the 1 hour 19 min heavy duty cycle. I do leave the door open to dry after loads but that's it. I've never had to use those machine cleaning packets.
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Dislikes:
lots of blurbs and extra margin reading, the word "twaddle" sounds snobby and seems subjective to me, Math U See and Real Science 4 Kids because of the U and the 4 in the names, and difficult to navigate websites. All mentioned already but I agree with you all.
I seem to be the only one confused by Bravewriter so maybe I'm not as smart as I'd like to think. And it took me forever to figure out that if you do the IEW SWI-A, you then proceed to Continuation Course-B and never have to do another SWI again. I haven't convinced myself to purchase anything from these websites yet because my confusion has made me grouchy towards them.
I also really liked what I was seeing of McRuffy Phonics and Reading but ran for the hills when I saw the words "finger puppets."
Things I like:
My Father's World. The company is regional to where we live and it gives me the warm fuzzies for some reason.
A curriculum with a dvd teacher or audio cd to listen to. I can hear the ka- chinging $$$ in my head racking up minutes of resting my voice. $$$
Math Mammoth. I finally am "getting" how math works and wish I had learned it this way as a kid. I love that it's just the one book at a time and we are not juggling 3.
A science curriculum that comes with the activity supplies.
Edited because it's McRuffy not McGuffey. I'd like to say my phone's auto correct is to blame, but I really don't remember what I typed. :/
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Stupid question!!! Is the point that when you publicize plans, you are more likely to follow through? Is it what you hope to do or what you did do? I know I need "less forum time" and no more wasting time reading posts and "going to bed 30 mins ago" on my accountability checklist pronto!
I post when I can. Sometimes to think through what I need to get done that day, other times it's to recap what we did that day (or relate how the day fell apart, lol!)
Everyone that homescools locally uses Switched on Schoolhouse so our kids play together but they think I'm crazy for tailoring my kids' educations and deliberating over curriculum, classes, read alouds, etc. I don't say anything about our days anymore. This is my happy place where people understand why I do what I do.
Thanks for all the comments and hugs. Things are looking brighter today than they were a few days ago. We will just keep on keepin' on until we get to the other side of these hits. :)
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I had this experience as a 12 year old. Relatives of ours, a mom and 4 kids in crisis lived with us for 3 months while they got on their feet. This is what I remember:
-the first few days were hard to adjust to all the noise.
-they definitely qualified for food stamps, free day care, and Medicaid (which would cover the cost of counseling). These were hugely helpful to having enough food in the house for everyone and the day care gave them amazing consistency and us a break.
-the mom got a job and my parents encouraged her to save every penny. She had enough to rent an apartment in 3 months.
-I remember the bathroom being gross and putting on rubber gloves and cleaning it again a few days after my mom did because I couldn't take it! Lol! That then became my official job. I wasn't too happy about that but I wanted to use a clean bathroom so I did it.
-this experience is also what taught me that discipline is a good thing because I was witnessing firsthand the chaotic life that resulted from a lack of discipline.
-I became grateful for my parents and the way they raised me and my sister and the stable home life they gave us.
-the kids did get on my nerves and I would hide in my parents' room. But I never once thought to send them back! I knew this had to be done for their health and safety.
-I just texted my sister who was 7 at the time. All she remembers is extra play mates, squeezing everyone around the kitchen table for dinner, and a few fights with the kids. She doesn't feel permanently scarred.
I hope hearing possible kid perspectives helps a little. You are doing a good thing.:)
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3 phone calls Tuesday that were sad news, bad news, and extremely stressful news. All completely unrelated to one another but imediately one affected by the other. What is that? The cascade effect? Or something?
Whatever. Not sure how much I'll be around here the next few weeks as we get things sorted and put one foot in front of the other. :(
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Hello everyone!! I was MIA last week due to out of state family visiting at the last minute. It worked out for the best because, when I know ahead of time I am going to have house guests, I bend over backwards deep cleaning and finishing projects so the house is nice and fresh. This time, all I had time to do was the regular daily kitchen clean, dust, vac, and put toys away. I wasn't exhausted when they arrived, we all had a great 5 days and they were none the wiser about the new wall prints for the boys' room that I haven't hung up yet.
Another great thing about their last minute visit, is it forced me to break our daily routine and get some things checked off our summer bucket list before its over! Kayaking trip? Check! Outlet mall shopping trip? Check! Backyard fire for roasting hot dogs, and marshmallows? Check! Once per summer family trip to the movies? Check! Host extended family bbq complete with burgers, homemade pies, sprinklers, water guns, and water balloons? Check!
This week, its back to business as usual. Summer school schedule, allergy shots for ds, laundry and housework today. Some more planning for this coming school year, too.
Have a great Monday!
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This thread is so encouraging. We are trying to save for big changes in the next year. It's so hard on an already tight budget.
-dh took his lunch to work this week.
-I resisted the Starbucks I really wanted on my way to the grocery store.
-I stuck to the list which was pretty small so we are forced to eat out of the pantry/freezer this week.
-I resisted the half price hibiscus at Lowes on my way home from the store. They are beautiful and I really wanted it. :(
-I am planning for this upcoming school year with free resources or resources we already own. Very challenging. But I'm doing it!
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Change of plans for today. Ds got his 2nd round of allergy shots yesterday and now has a rash all over his arm and his back. So now we have to drive an hour to have the allergist look at it and decide what to do going forward. And here I thought things we going smoothly with these shots. :glare:
It will probably eat up the whole afternoon so who knows when we will get the groceries or summer school done. I was all about getting the summer math lesson over and done with this morning when dd came into the kitchen with her nature study supplies, fully dressed and ready to go outside and explore. I couldn't say no to that. She was out there for nearly 2 hours!!!
The baby is napping and the big kids are reading an old children's picture book version of The Phantom of the Opera together while I am getting some planning done for this upcoming school year. We have to leave after lunch. Uggh. I am getting super grumpy that we have to interrupt the laid back rhythm of this lovely summer day. :cursing: Don't get me wrong. I feel terrible for him that he has sooooo many allergies. He truly is allergic to EVERYthing. My heart goes out to him. That is why we are doing the shots in the first place. To give him a better quality of life. Its just... frustrating. I better stop before I get really worked up.
Have a great weekend everyone!! :seeya:
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Accountability Thread: 9/4-9/10
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Just got back from our trip to another medical test for dh. Guess what? We met our deductible! First time ever since we've been married! I think I'm going to make an appointment with a dermatologist. ..
I am patting myself on the back for being diligent and packing food, drinks, and schoolwork. After the hour long drive, we dropped dh off (he can't drive right now) and went to the park. Baby ran around and collected rocks and the big kids took turns playing while the other did lessons with me. It went really well! We came home with world famous treats from a little hole-in-the-wall place near the medical building. Yum.
At least we have delicious goodies to distract us this weekend while waiting for dh's test results. :) :(