Sick day

So I was up all night vomiting. Still not feeling great. But there is one great thing about being stuck in bed all day: baby hats! And a new scarf for Mary who wants one like mommy's.

Busy Bee

I have been BUSY lately. It turns out being a doula takes a lot of time. I feel like I'm really just getting into the full swing of this business because I've actually been having a full load for me, which means one client a month. That doesn't seem like a ton, but everyday I'm fielding emails (either from clients or potential clients) and lately I've also been spending a lot of time on start up things. Like this website: www.meganthebirthdoula.weebly.com and trying to get all my interview materials streamlined.

Put that together with the fact that Ian takes the computer to school most days...and that equals not much time to update this blog! I've also been working on our church's Equipegration website which should be published soon! So I'm pumped about that. Anyway, this week I attended the LONGEST birth of my life. She was in labor 3.5 days before it ended in c-section. I can honestly say this mom did everything I can think of to get the baby out. And she was also a huge baby (9#12 and 25 inches). It was a crazy week spent on and off with this mom!

My sister in law also had her babies this week!  The pictures for this post come from the shower we had for her the day before the babies came:

It appears Mary has inherited my facial expressions. And the next couple pics are Krystle opening the handmade gifts my mom and I made for the babies!

Making it work...

One thing I like about homeschooling is that we can tailor their education. Mary has been protesting my efforts to sit and have her read...unless there is some sort of incentive. I'm ok with giving incentives sometimes. That's why I love the Now I'm Reading series that comes with stickers! But I decided she's still very young, so we can learn to read in the bathtub. Thanks to an awesome Christmas present from grandma:

Thomas 8 months

Thomas is a growing machine! He is now doing what I like to call the "wounded soldier" crawl. Not quite army crawling where you get your arms bicycling, but where you use both arms simultaneously to drag your body across the ground. That top video was a few weeks ago. He has perfected the wounded soldier crawl and can actually move pretty fast with it. He's still content to just stay where he is most of the time though. He is usually super happy! But the past few days he's been a little cranky. I've given up trying to guess what makes babies have cranky days. Whenever I tell people he's been cranky they always throw out suggestions: teething? growth spurt? phase? Who knows. Those things can all happen at once or it could be something totally different with babies. I do the same thing though with other people. We want to be able to help so we throw out options.

Today I put on his onesie and realized that he is going to be too tall for 9 month clothes soon! His cloth diapers don't help, but he is definitely getting bigger. He still screams whenever he can't see one of us. If one of us is in the room with him he is fine (unless that person is Noah), but when we leave he loses it. It's like he knows that Noah is 2 and will be of no use to him in case of emergency. Plus Noah doesn't pay a whole lot of attention to Thomas at this point. Unless Thomas is trying to grab his toys! As you can see in the second video.

Watch out Mary and Noah, Thomas is mobile and he's coming after you! Oh, and he also got his first tooth last week. Luckily I don't think it bothered him much. The other two were cranky teethers. Thomas has been cranky AFTER his tooth came in...hmmmmm.

Feeling motivated today

So we actually sat down to do some learning with Noah! Organized and all. He is holding up the pretzel that I made him. That play dough mat was printed from homeschoolcreations.com and then laminated with my awesome laminator. Happy Tuesday!

Noah 2.5 years

During the first year of life I usually do a monthly update, since I take monthly photos. I think after that I'm going to start doing updates on the kiddos every 6 months. It will allow me to remember that time and I think it can also help others. As a mom I find myself asking other moms, "did your kid do _______ at this age?" I also find that when moms ask me that question I don't always remember! So I'm going to follow the format scripture lays out for how Jesus grew:
Luke 2:52 (NIV) And Jesus grew in wisdom (education) and stature (physical growth), and in favor with God (spiritual growth) and men (social development).

Let's see how long this lasts! This may be the only post that follows this structure but we'll see. I think I will like having sections because it will remind me of things I want to remember...

Anyway, Noah is 2.5! Here is more about his growth:

Education
I am going to start setting some weekly goals for him. Before this point I haven't done anything strategic with him, just the casual learning as we go. I mostly want to do this so I can figure out what he knows. I will occasionally point to a letter and ask him what it is and sometimes he knows, sometimes not. So this week we are starting with A, 1, and learning to talk on the phone. We also have a cup activity from Slow and Steady that we are doing to teach up and down. He is a smart little cookie and it is fun to work with him because he is so verbal for his age. He will also now sit for a story that has 2-3 sentences on a page! That is some progress for him!

Physical growth
He is starting to lose his toddle. That is so sad to me! I love when they run and toddle along. But I guess he is approaching the age where he won't be considered a toddler anymore too. Sad! He can hold a writing utensil the right way. Hmmm what else... Potty training! This boy is potty trained. Even at night. He just got it so fast. It's crazy, I was expecting it to take so much longer and be so much more stressful. It's amazing what a kid will do for an m&m.

Spiritual growth
Noah will repeat prayers after us...when we tell him to. He loves when we sing him hymns and he can answer the first question from the catechism we got, which is "who made you?" We try to do family devotions once a day, which at this point consists of reading a little book that we think is focused on Jesus. Some days we will sing too and pray. We have been keeping a little basket on the dinner table with all the Christmas cards we got in it and pulling one out each day to pray for them. I also plan to start having a memory verse each week that we learn together. We will probably start with the Seeds Family Worship verses since that will be easy on everyone!

Social development
Noah is quite the charmer and generally does not know a stranger. Sometimes he can put his mean face on and refuse to say hi to someone...which is not ok for us. So we're working on that! But overall he is super friendly and likes to chat people up! He plays very well with his siblings. One thing he is really good at is giving people turns. He struggles with Mary in that they will both want to be first at things or want to do better than the other. My constant refrain is that God only gives you one family and we need to work as a team and stick together! Also mark 9:35, "Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else." They will get it someday.

Little family

This blog is getting a little heavy lately eh? It feels like a good outlet for me. I had a hard time sleeping last night just upset with the weight of things. I kept praying psalm 4:8, "I will both lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone O LORD make me dwell in safety." Just reminding myself that God is still in control! I also tried to remember that I have 3 sweet kids I'm not sure what I would do without. Here is a little update on their lives! Mary and Noah have been taking care of their baby doll lately. Mary asked me to take a picture of their little family:

So when do we have the conversation about how they actually can never be a mommy and daddy to the same baby? Right now it's cute:) And Noah has started to use baby doll to his advantage. Yesterday I was "flying' Mary by holding her up in the air with my feet. You know the move. Well Noah grabs baby doll and brings her over and says (talking like baby doll), "Waaaaaaahhh, I need my mommy!" Mary hops down and grabs baby doll and Noah jumps up on my feet and takes a turn flying. Well played.

I'm just impressed that Mary is letting baby doll out of her sight!

This made me laugh so hard! Yummy floor:

Even better: