Our family of 8

Since we were all getting dressed up for the Christmas Eve service, we decided to set up the tripod and take a family picture. We took 2 and they both were pretty good. Doesn't get much easier than that! Here we are...

Dinner menu

After a lot of frustrating in menu planning, I finally asked Dan if it would be OK if I made a weekly menu and just repeated it. He said that was perfectly fine and mentioned he wouldn't mind eating spaghetti every night! So I made a menu for a week and plan to repeat it until we move in about 2 months. This is nice because I can double the meal, freeze it and have it ready with no prep the next week. It also saves money. At first I was worried this meant I was a bad homemaker and not creative, but having a nice dinner on the table every night is more important than creativity/oops I didn't' make dinner or don't have the ingredients and we have to go out...again.
So here it is...

Sunday-Spaghetti
Monday-Chicken noodle soup
Tuesday-Porcupine meatballs
Wednesday-Fried Rice or Lo Mein (switch each week)
Thursday- Vegetable, beef barley soup/Mrs. Doughman's soup
Friday-Homemade pizza
Saturday-Roast

There you go. I make a veggie tray and salad each night and we have fresh fruit for dessert.

Thoughts on school and play

I guess I thought I knew myself pretty well, but apparently there's more to learn.

This week we have been taking a break from school. Basically this means a break from "seat work" like math, phonics, spelling and reading. During the time we would normally be doing school we have been doing fun, spontaneous projects together. I love it. Making play doh, reading books and painting is so much more rewarding to me than spelling, making sure dinner is done and vacuuming. I realized why I get so upset when we're doing lots of seatwork and housework, but no creative work. One day we made play doh, played play doh, made soaps, made cookies, sewed a baby blanket and read aloud together. I felt so productive! I couldn't believe the sense of accomplishment I felt that day. Memories were made, tangible objects were in front of me to show Dan when he got home and I'd had so much fun! I'm going to guess that we did no chores that day and dinner was either thrown together or Dan brought home something, but I still felt so much satisfaction. When we go through seasons where all we do is chores, cooking and seat work I feel so empty. Not to mention I feel like I'm pulling my children through the day...are your chores done? sit back down and finish that page! no we can't do x,y,z you need to finish your math.

I don't really know what to do with this realization. Obviously chores and meals need to be taken care of, as does school. So how do I find that middle ground? How do I fit in fun, productive activities into our schedule? Something to think about as this new year approaches and we start a new schooling schedule. It has made me purpose to add a quiet "independant" time during our morning schedule where I can sew. I love being able to bless my family and friends through things I make. Even if I just have a little time each day, it will add up to enough time to finish more projects than I would if I had never made time.

Gideon's first bath

This was a week ago, but I wanted to get the pictures up before I forgot! After all these kids we don't have a baby bath! Dan went to the consignment store and got one the next day and now Gid bathes in style!

We could not wake him for anything! We decided to bathe him in hopes he would wake up and then actually go to bed at a decent hour. (didn't work, but we tried!)

Lying in the tub...liked this fine. Did NOT like having the water poured on him.

Fuzzy and clean

not happy. Mom, get me dressed already!

Christmas is coming!

Melt and pour soaps the kids made. These are waiting to be wrapped in fabric to gift to their Sunday school teachers. Cookies are being baked today for them also!

Home made play doh for some of our family friends.

Mareea played water while the big kids painted a ceramic nativity.

I am thrilled to still be sewing a little! Here's a small quilt I made for a friend. The backing is dot minkee.

We've been enjoying our winter break!

6 kids in a mini van

So we took our first car ride with the whole fam. It's crowded, but it works! I have to admit we've used the DVD player for more than just road trips. When Dan took me to the Goodwill to find some jeans that fit the kids all waited in the car with him and it was nice to have something to keep them from beating each other up...they are pretty close to each other!!

Our new love

Snow fun!

Our first serious snow of the year. The kids loved it. We loved that it didn't stick to the roads!

Fun at home

Today was a fun day! The principal officially declared Christmas break as starting today and we've been lazy, productive and creative! First, Thea and I made play doh courtesy of the recipe we found at Angel Navy Wife. It turned out so well and was super easy. We couldn't find our food coloring, but we located it this evening and plan to make some colorful play-doh tomorrow!

Next we baked sugar cookies. The kids had a blast rolling out the dough and using the cookie cutters. I read to put wax paper between the rolling pin and dough to keep it from sticking. It helped so much! Before I dreaded making anything with a rolling pin, but this made it so easy.

After we finished the cookies, the kids took turns playing the Wii. We don't have one, but we rented one from the Family Video for 2 days. While I'm not a big fan of video games in general, it's nice to have something fun on a cold day like today. Not being able to get outside much really makes everyone stir crazy!

I have pictures,but not on this computer. Will have to upload them later!

Discouragment

I am so discouraged. Being a mother is hard. Homeschooling is hard. These are things I want to do, but sometimes I just feel so ill-equpit. I'm afraid my children are going to grow up stupid because I don't have the ability or time to educate them properly. I'm afraid they're all going to grow up to be yellers because I lose my patience so easily lately. My husband comes home and asks me, "How is Ashton's writing doing?" or "What reading lesson is Landon on?". Not because he really cares what reading lesson Landon is on, but because he wants to know if I'm actually doing the reading lessons. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. It's hard to do everything. It's so hard to plan every night for the next day when I'm exhausted from no sleep. I know he has no confidence in me and i don't blame him. I've given him no reason to think that I can do this well. Yesterday I looked at Montessori schools. Not because I want my babies to leave me and each other during the day, but because I want them to have a good education and to enjoy learning. And maybe, just maybe I want some quiet and rest. Today we decided that I would have to do school during naptime. My precious Mareea is so active and gets into so much that I just can't devote the time I need to the older ones when she is awake. While this may sound like a great solution, it's just not. Naptime has always been my recharge time. I'd make sure school and chores were done before lunch and during naptime the littles rest and the olders get to have quiet freetime in their rooms or in the den. And I would sew, or plan or sleep or catch up on Facebook. Aren't I so selfish?
Then i find myself letting my mind wander to places it's not supposed to...like how I've wanted to be a nurse since before I even had any kids...how that will never happen and how I'll never do anything but be here and cook and clean and teach. I am so selfish. I obviously have some serious dying to self to do. It's so hard. This is a hard day. I wish it was a day where I loved to teach, loved to stay home all day and loved to organize and where my apron around. but it's not.
I hate feeling like a failure. I hate being a failure. I hate not being what I'm supposed to be and I hate not remembering that HE is still working on me. Oh my...there is so much work to do.

A few of my favorite (baby) things...

1. My post-natal/nursing mama vitamins. I use Pure Essence Labs Mother and Child vitamins and love them! They are more expensive than getting the ones from the doctor, but they are so worth it to me. I have so much more energy and they are specially formulated to help mama produce more and better milk. But I'd have to say that extra energy I get from them is what really keeps me coming back for the $35 bottle at iherb.com!

2. My coming home/car seat quilt. Before I made these cute quilts for my babies I was always having trouble keeping the big blankets from falling out of the swing, carseat, stroller and bouncer. Now I can put this blanket on and not worry it will be too heavy and fall off!

3. My wrap. This is simply 6 yards of gauze material ripped in half horizontally. It cost me $6 to make and it's been such a lifesaver. Gideon really likes to be held close all the time. Without my wrap I would be so frustrated trying to get anything done and take care of all my other children. He seems happier in the wrap than in my arms even.

4. My ring sling. Faster to get baby in than the wrap, this carrier makes him just as happy. I was so blessed to receive a maya wrap ring sling from a friend who didn't need it. I can't wait to use this at the store and church. Thank you, Shannon!


5. My aquarium swing. Something about the side to side motion seems to really soothe the babies!

6. My God-given milk makers. Thank you Lord that I've had such an easy time with nursing these little ones! It is such a blessing to have "free" food for the first year.

Eat, Play, Sleep routine

I heard about this when Mareea was little. It helps me get the baby sleeping better at night and awake more during the day. Here's how we do it at our house (or try to at least).

Baby wakes up in the morning...say 8 am. I feed him and change him and then keep him awake and play with him until he starts to get fussy. This is usually around 9:30. Then I either hold him and let him fall asleep on me or I put him in the baby carrier and let him sleep on me for awhile. After he is good and asleep (and I am getting sore from wearing him) I put him in the swing to sleep.
At 11am I wake him again to eat. I try to put the babies on a 3 hour eating schedule. Any more than that and they don't eat enough during the day and any less than that I get sore and the baby doesn't eat enough to hold him off very long. After he eats I again keep him awake until he gets fussy, wear him to sleep and then let him sleep in the swing until 2pm. get it???
So basically...nurse, play for an hour or so, then sleep.

The idea is that by letting the baby sleep BEFORE eating they will be awake enough to nurse well and get more milk in. Playing keeps them awake more during the day so they will get their days and nights right. Waking them every 3 hours to eat also helps them get enough during the day.

At night, I usually nurse him one last time around 10 or 11 and let him fall asleep. We then sleep until he wakes up (I never wake him to nurse at night). When he does wake up to eat, I quietly nurse him and we go right back to sleep.

Does this make sense?? Hope this can help someone else with a newborn!

Thea had her Christmas recital this past Saturday. It was so cute! The theme was princess and she was Belle. She's so excited about the "princess tea party" at her last class tomorrow. We're sad that this will be her last class here before we move. I can hardly believe this was her third recital!


Before the performance

Kisses for Daddy

The finale. They were supposed to just dance to the music, but she didn't get too into it! She did wonderful during her dances though!

And a picture of Thea's personality. A princess dress and spiderman boots! She actually said, "I'm a princess and princesses don't like pretty!" as we were getting ready for the recital! LOL

Being thankful..

for the beautiful snow falling outside decorating the trees, grass, deck...but not the street!
for my sweet sleeping baby who slept 5 hours strait last night
for my mom's visit and help
for Ashton and landon getting better and Gideon staying healthy so far
for the birth of Christ which we will celebrate so soon
for my husband's kindness and understanding of my need to sit and heal
for my big green wrap which comforts my baby 90% of the time
for a quiet house during naptime
for fun websites that tell me great shopping deals (even though I don't usually buy them)
for member's of my church sharing Christ's love by bringing dinners to us
for Christmas music
and i am thankful the God is sovereign.

Baby Life

Gideon is now 10 days old. I can't believe it! We went to the doctor yesterday and he weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. We're thankful that he has surpassed his birth weight and is eating and sleeping well. This time I have done some things differently and it seems to work out well for Gid. I've started giving him baby probiotics before his 4 or 5 o'clock feeding and he seems to skip that fussy period in the evenings. This is really nice! Normally my babies act generally uncomfortable in the evenings and I'm praying it will continue. But even if it does not, I'm thankful for it now. We've also been nursing a little differently. Gideon seemed to be getting gassy after eating and I wondered if he was getting too much milk or not enough of the fatty hind milk. So instead of switching sides I nurse on one side, change him and nurse him on the same side again. He seems quite content when he's done and much less gassy. I was really nervous about this at first, but it seems to be working quite well. I don't feel lopsided like I thought I would originally and Gid seems happy to wait 3 hours between feedings.
One thing we're doing that's the same is the eat, play, sleep schedule. I feed him, do my best to keep him awake for about an hour and then let him take a nap. This way he is rested and awake to eat a good amount when it's time to nurse again. He seems to wake up on the dot of the three hour schedule! I love that I know what time he will need to eat again so that I can plan around it. For instance, I don't plan to be making lunch or doing school with kids when I will need to feed the baby.

Last night was a great night. He slept 4 hours in between each feeding and went right back to sleep. Grandma is here and got up with my red-headed alarm clock so I was able to sleep until 8. I felt great when i woke up!

It's been hard to sit down and recover. There's just so much to do around here with so many other little people to care for. Unfortunately, I seem to have begun to bleed a lot more recently and not be healing as quickly as I was in the beginning. I'm thankful my mom is here to help and that Dan is doing his best to be here and help me out. Right now I here all three of the kids upstairs being noisy instead of napping (and grandma is trying to sleep) and I can't do anything about it because I'm sitting in my chair in pain :( Very frustrating. I'm praying Dan gets here soon to take care of it.

That's about all that's going on here. We're trying to continue with school. I was trying to let the kids have a break, but they were obviously getting bored and causing LOTS of trouble so I started school back up real quickly. I could not believe how entitled they felt by being given a little freedom! But they're children and I'm thankful they are here to learn with me.

Pictures to come soon. The camera cord is in the basement and it's hard for me to use the stairs right now!