Crochet

Calling all Grannies!!!

Yep that is what I feel like as I sit in my chair and crochet for hours. I never knew it could be so relaxing. If the kids are going wild and are being extremely loud...If Jacob is crying and I need him to just lie there for ten or fifteen minutes in order to not totally spoil him...If I can't sleep or I am holding Jacob and have free hands but can't get up...I crochet! And I love it.

In the past few months I have just become hat crazy. Jacob has four hats. He has an owl, and elephant, a giraffe and a regular hat. Rachel now has a frog hat. The girls boh have hats I made last year but theya re getting better ones soon. Daniel has requested a monster hat...so I will make him one and make Jacob a matching one.

Ella Cate hasa huge afghan I made that is now falling apart but I am steadily fixing it. Jacob has a newborn jacket and he has a cute hooded blanket. I even made him a turtle.

I strongly recommend this. It is great. Even if I don't make anything, I am now at a point where I can crochet just to gt my mind off the things around me...and sometimes I need that.

Big kids outside playing.
Little Dude in bed.
House almost clean in places.
Taking a break from preplanning.
Started a hat for Little Dude that ended up too big for him but great for my Ray of Sunshine..
What a wonderful day!!

What a beautiful day it is today. I can feel the Fall weather coming along...okay, so it is the hurricane coming but in my mind Fall has sprung..or perhaps, Fall has fallen?

We are stil praparing for the beginning of school!!! I am planning and the kids are getting used to a non-summer schedule. I can't wait. Praying for a delightful year.

Jacob is resting on my bed. This is the first baby we have let use our room. I am hoping that next week I will be able to utilize the playpen more at night but my fear is the other kids going in there. So, who knows!!

This morning Rachel has been dancing and 'juggling' one ball. She is quite a sight! I let her stay up later last night and we had a premidnight snack together..she didn't eat much dinner. She and I sat and talked and I fell more in love with her!

Well, the countdown to school is on. I am going to spend the majority of today preparing for it. I hope to convince my mom to watch some kids this week so I can take the oldest two out into Macon and show them around. Our first unit is on cities. It seems a bit boring and we learn about rocks and things. However, if I can get them out into the city to see how it works, then it might become interesting. We are also going to the local state park to find rocks and view erosion patterns....YAY!!





Little Man is coming along quite nicely. He is sleeping better but still likes for me to hold him non-stop. I have a sling for him but I am not sure it is going to be a great school accessory. We will see.





Buddy is going to begin kindergarten here and so he is excited. I hope I can keep his joy going and not turn him into a school h8tr.





My Little Ray of Sunshine is becoming a handful, more so than usual. She has decided to try to put the potty behind her and regress but I have some tricks up my sleeve. Today I explained to her that if she can't use the potty properly, she can't hold Little Man. She calls him Little Dude. When that wears off, I will use her best friend, C as my hold out. We will see.





EC is becoming more like her old self. This past year has been difficult for her. She is now getting her appetite back. For a while I was worried that she would dwindle to nothing but she is back to normal almost. She used to love school but being around older kids and hearing them moan and groan, she has taken up the habit of it. However, she is eager to read so I think she will love this year of first grade.





Bean...well I just don't know what to say. She is a great helper when she wants to. Problem is..she just doesn't want to anymore. She is content to do nothing. Even when she excels at something, like piano, she bails out. So, praying for this one extra hard because she needs a boost.





The hubby and I are doing great. I am doing an intense workout series trying to gain my strength back. The kids pile into the living room and workout with me. So it is like I have my own class at the gym. Daniel likes to flex his muscles so I usually have him do extra push ups to gain some upper body muscles. I can't wait for him to flex one day and a muscle really pop up!!





So we are doing great!!!

Well, we are settling in here. Jacob is feeding about every four hours...well for the last eight hours anyway. I am hoping this trend continues as I need more time inbetween and he needs to grow. His hair continues to grow more red each day. YIKES!!! And I can tell he is going to be tough...he has to be. Everytime he turns around there is another kid in his face yelling and asking him to play.

I have been enjoying my time off of work. I know I put in a lot of time to a part time job(like I have said before, there is no such thing as part time ministry) but I never realized how much time I was taking away from my kids. I did zero camps this summer but I spent everyday with my kids. I liked it. I have been calm on Sundays and Wednesdays because they aren't "work days" right now. However, I can't wait to get back to work...clarify - I can wait, but I will be happy to get back to work and take some responsibility from Layne.

I have been thinking alot about last words today. I watched a show last night that dealt with a father's last words to his son. It hit me, I am one of just a handful of my friends who can even contemplate what that means. Most of my friends have both parents, all their aunts and uncles and even all four grandparents still living. When I graduated from high school I had one parent and one grandparent. I still have all five uncles and six aunts. It blows my mind when someone my age looses a grandparent and they act as if the world is over. I understand the loss is difficult. But I see things with different eyes. I see that we are blessed to have them here for just a little while...this goes for anyone in our lives. I see that the longer we have loved ones around, the more blessed we seem to be. But at some point the idea must cross your mind that they won't live forever. They will die one day, and we can't let that fact or that event ruin our lives. Our purpose here is not to sit around and love each other. It is to create more disciples. I know, my veiw of things is warped because I have dealt with death a lot, mainly in my younger years. My Sweet Granny died when I was 7. My grandmother when I was 8, my dad when I was 9. Several young people from my school died over the years which taught me that death doesn't just take those who have lived a long life. My grandfather when I was 12-13 and my granny when I was 18. We burried my grandfather on my little cousin's birthday and my granny died the day before I began my first job. That taught me that death is truly inconvinent, it is never part of our plans.
Last words are important. The last conversation I had with my dad is in my head. The exact words have disappeared over the years but I know what we said. I told him about my signed papers and that he owed me money. He told me he would pay when he got out of the hospital. I told him how much I loved him and wanted him home. He told me he loved me and that he missed me. Two days later he was gone forever.
My last words to all my grandparents were love-filled. In fact, I called my grandmother back one night the weekend before she died just to tell her I loved her and talk. I had never done that before. I know God was in charge.
So, when your spouse, child, parent, friend leaves you next time, what will your potential last words be? Will they be filled with contempt, hate, sarcasm? Will they be poking fun or condenscending? Or will they be filled with love from you and from the Father? Will you take that step of faith to make sure they know the Lord? Will you make sure they know your stance with God? Your love for them?

Another week has gone by. Not much new is happening here. I am simply tryng to get the house on a schedule and get school planned for this year. I will be homeschooling the kids again but this year Ella Cate will be in first grade so she must do 180 days just like her big sister, Lilly, a third grader. Daniel will aslo be joining us most everyday as he begins kindergarden. Rachel will be in and out doing preschool work and learning basic concepts.

I am very excited. We are using the WEAVER Curriculum and I have planned out the firts two weeks but I am still unsure as to how it works. I hope that after a few months I will understand it totally and this will work with all of my kids through high school.

We will be doing the Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading. I read several reveiws that implicated this curriculum would be great for a child like Lilly who has Dyslexia but then I read a few that disagreed. I checked this material out and I think it will be benficial. If not for Lilly, the others will get a lot out of it.

I plan to purchase Math U See today. It will be our math. I am just not sure which items to buy.

We are using othr resources as well. We have some extra science, handwriting, drawing...things to make learning fun.

We will not be starting school until September so I have time to get ready...I hope!

Life with 5ive

Well, the transition from four kids to five has been very easy so far. Jacob sleeps a LOT!!! That makes it easier to get things done. He likes to be held and I like to hold him. So that does cause some issues. I am waiting for a free(well $11.00 s/h) sling to come in that is supposed to work great for small babies. That way I can work and hold him. I think I may be completely smitten with him. Last night i cold not put him down. I mean, I did for a while then I just sat and waited for him to cry. Then he woke up to have a bottle and I could no put him back down. I cried and cried trying to make myself just lay hm down. I finally just laid down with him on the couch until I got my fill. Then I got up and laid him down. So obvioulsy the hormones are still in effect.
He is cute as a button and his hair gets a wee bit more red each day...I am getting used to it. If he gets the least bit upset, he turns bright red...so we have our work cut out for us.
The others love him. Each day they run in to see him. They 'ohh' and 'ahh' over him and kiss him all over. Rachel can't leave him alone. It is crazy.
But I like it. I think five completes us. I feel so alive...so fresh---after a rough time being pregnant(bc i like control) I finally feel as if i can get started with the rest of my life. The holding pattern is complete.

Jacob has arrived

Well, after a very long and strenuous pregnancy, Jacob Martin joined our family on July 25 at exactly 3:00. He weighed 7 pounds 4.5 ounces. He was 20 inches long and his head was a tiny 14.5.
I can still remember back in Novemeber, feeling as if I was pregnant again. It wasn't quite in the plans but I was happy. I took one test on a Wednesday and it was negative. I decided to wait for about two weeks before I took another one but I could not wait that long. I took it that weekend...it was positive. However, telling Layne wasn't going to be easy. So I knew for a few weeks. Then after we left his sister's house for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, once the kids were all in bed for a nap and he was utterly exhausted...I told him. He was shocked but he was smiling. And really, who can't smile at that point? A new baby was already growing. The Lord has already begun to form Jacob in my womb.
With this pregnancy came a lot of pain in my hips and I struggled with my usual iron deficiencies. That made me very tired but I tried to save up my energy for VBS and things. I did pretty good. I had some issues with my moods and how irritated I get with people. I didn't have a large threshold for dealing with people so I cut down on how much time I spent with others. It worked out.
Then July came. I was ready any moment. I wanted to wait untl Jacob was ready to come but my doctor insisted on inducing so I went along. I didn't get an epidural...so if you are contemplating that route...it is rough but worth it. Call me!:)
Of course those who know me understand that pain meds have never worked well on me. In fact it was pain meds that caused me to say mean things to a man named Travis Tritt one time in an elevator..Sorry about that Mr. Tritt!
Anyway, the Stadol they gave me caused me to have a pretty bad reaction. The nurse said she had never seen or heard of anyone having such an odd reaction. I kept forgetting to breathe(bad sign)and I kept falling asleep. If it weren't for the contractions I think I wold have slept through it all. I mean I was having severe contrations, Jacob was in position to be pushed out any second and I would fall asleep for brief moments. But he came out...almost falling to the floor but my doctor is pretty fast and caught him. I got the shakes which apparently is common with those who do not get epidurals but they should at least tell you that before you begin to think there is an earthquake happening only to realize you are the only one moving sparadically around. Then I fell asleep. I didn't hold or really see Jacob until I was in the postpardum room. The doctor even spoke to a friend and the other doctors in his practice about me because after I had Jacob I didn't speak to anyone, I didn't answer his questions, I just rolled over and didn't even look at Jacob. I guess he thought I was going into depression. It was quit funny when I told his co-worker that I had been asleep. She laughed.
But Jacob is perfect. He sleeps great. He prefers his bottles. He needed the extra iron. I had been warned by the doctors that nursing him would be near impossible due to my iron issues this time. I am fine with that. He is adorable.
Daniel loves to admire him and kiss him and talk to him. Rachel loves to hold him for a few seconds, claims he poots on her and then says "Get him offa me!"
Lilly and Ella Cate have been great. They each have fed him one bottle. Ella Cate loves to take his clothes off and pick out new ones but she doesn't put them on. Lilly loves to snuggle his face next to hers.
I am content to hold him forever. He is beautiful. I am so thankful to God for these little blessings that He gives to me. I know I dont' deserve to watch over His children, not even for one second. Now, my job is to raise these future Gopsel spreaders with love and compassion, discipline and direction and with Godly truths that this world can not tear down.