When one begins the foster and/or adoptive home study process, there are many (hundreds, maybe?) questions asked.
One thing that always seemed awkward was family traditions. When you create your home life, most habits & traditions happen so naturally, that you never even think of them as "traditions".
Even so, you have to rack your brain to make it sound like some tasks are traditions... even though it seems odd.
For example, praying before eating a meal can be considered a tradition. Reading a story or having a routine at bedtime can be considered a tradition. Reading the nativity scene on Christmas Eve as a family. Attending the local Pumpkin Festival each fall as a family. You get the picture!
One of the traditions we created after becoming a foster home was Friday Family Fun Night. If you know me, you know I like to have silly and/or obnoxious names for things. But, it sticks, right? About a year ago, my husband & I decided to keep every Friday night a family night for just us three. Sometimes, we are invited to eat dinner or share another activity with someone else & we will modify our FFF Night, but we always try to honor family time whatever we end up doing on Friday evenings.
Recently, a few things made me think that maybe the Family Fun Night wasn't so silly.
Our nephews live in a small town about 1.5hrs away from us. Because they are also home schooled, we get to see them on occasion during the weekdays. A few months ago, we spent a Friday afternoon with them. When the afternoon ended, I was chatting with Little Bit & his Daddy about what we should do that night. It was our first FFF Night since J joined our family so it meant an extra special celebration. That night, the nephews couldn't join us, but we loved spending the time with them earlier. Now, fast forward to just a few weeks ago. We, again, saw them on a Friday afternoon & they had been asking their parents about joining us for Family Fun Night! I thought it was very sweet. So, last week, we were able to visit them in THEIR home & had a crazy evening of all five kids RUNNING around shooting Nerf guns at each other, singing, you name it!
The second "event" was the phone call when I met our daughter. She doesn't speak much on the phone & because I was also a stranger, it became a one-sided conversation! When I'm especially nervous (which I was), I can speak way too fast. And ramble. And, my husband will slightly roll his eyes & point out something that was completely un-related or weird in my tone/action. LOL. There were several adults on the conference call with K, so they prompted me with questions. One thing I felt silly about saying was that we have Friday Family Fun Night & explained that we sometimes watch movies at home, or go for a walk at the park, or whatever. I chatted about swimming in our local Springs, that we loved to hang outside as much as we could, I even mentioned Downtown Getdown. I still chuckle at all the stuff I was mentioning to explain our family life & traditions.
But...
But...
Family Fun Night stuck out to her!
When we met her & then she decided to come live with us not even 48 hours later, we began slowly getting to know each other. It was awkward, but wonderful. Knowing that we had chosen her & that she had chosen us gave us all a sense of comfort. When we returned to our home, she began making comments about Family Fun Night. Excited about what we'd do. Excited about spending time with Dad. She wanted to make sure to remind us that she wanted us to celebrate her entry into the family, too. I thought it was very cute & sweet & made me happy we made this silly-named tradition.
Now, we couldn't break Family Fun Night even if we wanted to! Our eldest son knows it's a scheduled activity so he doesn't complain much about it; our daughter looks forward it; & our youngest just enjoys it. (He doesn't really have the concept down yet about the days of the weeks & all, but I always remind him on Friday.)
Tonight is Family Fun Night. I'm not sure what we are doing, but I do know we'll be together. We will probably rent a movie & buy a few pizzas. But, we can officially add this to our family traditions when we renew our foster license in a few months. ;)
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! We are spending tomorrow afternoon celebrating the birthday of a sweet baby girl we brought home from the hospital last year. She's adopted & thriving with her mama & daddy & I'm so honored to have been a part of their adoption journey.
{I do hope to update throughout the next few days about the challenges & joys we've experienced thus far with the placement of our sibling group J & K. It has been hard. There's been lots of tears, lots of laughs, lots of fear, lots of love. And, we're just starting...}
Friday, August 22, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
Table for Five?
For a little over a month, we have had J living with us for the intention of adopting him.
He has one biological siblinrg, K. We met K yesterday & spent a few hours hanging out with the two kids along with our biological son, E.
Okay, confused yet? :)
More than likely, you are reading this because you know us "IRL" & this serves as the easiest way to update our family & friends. We haven't tracked the progress of this adoption journey yet, but it has been a complete roller coaster of emotions.
J was so excited to see K. They've been separated since November 2013 & have seen each other twice since then. Neither of them care to talk on the phone, so they've not had much contact either. J hugged K for about 5 minutes while he told her he loved her. She brought him a gift: a new wallet & two framed photos. J spent the first 30 minutes or so talking to her about our dogs, our home, our extended family, & so many other things! We ordered our meal & once the conversation died down, we were able to ask K some questions. She was very sweet, but very quiet. She smiled a lot, but it was hard to wonder if she was accepting us or not. When we gave her the choice of going home or heading to the park, she wanted to go to the park. So, I interpreted that as meaning she wanted to continue the visit (for J or us, or both even).
Overall, the visit was pleasant. J remained engaged & active, E was able to speak to K some, & K seemed content. We found out she usually just watches TV on the weekends because her foster parents do not engage in activities with the children. During the week, she attends summer camp. Because we were trying to find out more about her, we asked if she'd ever been to an amusement park. She said no. I'm not sure she's been on any family vacations, either. J has been to Universal Studios once on a school field trip.
I realize amusement parks are a luxury, but... it hurts my heart to know these kids have been in foster homes for nearly 8 years & it seems they've only existed in the foster homes. No family trips. No family involvement in the inner workings of WHO these children are. Just getting by. No concept of unconditional love. No grandmas or grandpas. No cousins to grow up with & form memories. And, no trips to Disney. Even the short times we've had foster babies, we've included them in each activity of our lives.
Each step, or obstacle, of this journey has only emphasized to me the need of good, loving, foster homes. Homes that will love these children, even if they're only in the home for a month. Even if it hurts more than you can imagine. Because, each of these children need LOVE. Need a hug or kiss & someone to be excited about them. Someone to support them & make them feel worthy of love. That these children are not an inconvenience or a bother, but the apple of your eye. There is a serious need for loving parents & siblings. (I'm not sure how we can squeeze more beds in, but I've already told N that we will need to figure out how to take it at least one more foster kid at a time.)
Back to the current situation...
Both kids wants to be together. J feels a tremendous amount of pressure to have this work for his sister. Not pressure placed by anyone but himself. I think he feels this is his last chance to be adopted & also be adopted with his sister. It's his way of taking care of his sister. He has made it clear on several occasions that if this doesn't work with K, he doesn't want to be adopted alone. We respect that. And, after seeing their bond in action yesterday, we think they need to be together, too. We know K wants to be adopted with J, but we do not know how K feels about the visit. I'm sure she's meeting with her therapist to share her perspective & decide what she wants to happen from here.
We have a court hearing in the morning to update the court on our time with J. Both kids will be there so that their voice is heard. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about either child changing their mind about adoption or if anyone else in attendance could cause issues. But, at this point, we've done the best we can do. We have to trust that the outcome of the hearing tomorrow is God's leading. We hope that we will be awarded adoptive placement dates for both children.
I plan to update once the court hearing is done.
Thanks for your prayers, everyone!
He has one biological siblinrg, K. We met K yesterday & spent a few hours hanging out with the two kids along with our biological son, E.
Okay, confused yet? :)
More than likely, you are reading this because you know us "IRL" & this serves as the easiest way to update our family & friends. We haven't tracked the progress of this adoption journey yet, but it has been a complete roller coaster of emotions.
J was so excited to see K. They've been separated since November 2013 & have seen each other twice since then. Neither of them care to talk on the phone, so they've not had much contact either. J hugged K for about 5 minutes while he told her he loved her. She brought him a gift: a new wallet & two framed photos. J spent the first 30 minutes or so talking to her about our dogs, our home, our extended family, & so many other things! We ordered our meal & once the conversation died down, we were able to ask K some questions. She was very sweet, but very quiet. She smiled a lot, but it was hard to wonder if she was accepting us or not. When we gave her the choice of going home or heading to the park, she wanted to go to the park. So, I interpreted that as meaning she wanted to continue the visit (for J or us, or both even).
Overall, the visit was pleasant. J remained engaged & active, E was able to speak to K some, & K seemed content. We found out she usually just watches TV on the weekends because her foster parents do not engage in activities with the children. During the week, she attends summer camp. Because we were trying to find out more about her, we asked if she'd ever been to an amusement park. She said no. I'm not sure she's been on any family vacations, either. J has been to Universal Studios once on a school field trip.
I realize amusement parks are a luxury, but... it hurts my heart to know these kids have been in foster homes for nearly 8 years & it seems they've only existed in the foster homes. No family trips. No family involvement in the inner workings of WHO these children are. Just getting by. No concept of unconditional love. No grandmas or grandpas. No cousins to grow up with & form memories. And, no trips to Disney. Even the short times we've had foster babies, we've included them in each activity of our lives.
Each step, or obstacle, of this journey has only emphasized to me the need of good, loving, foster homes. Homes that will love these children, even if they're only in the home for a month. Even if it hurts more than you can imagine. Because, each of these children need LOVE. Need a hug or kiss & someone to be excited about them. Someone to support them & make them feel worthy of love. That these children are not an inconvenience or a bother, but the apple of your eye. There is a serious need for loving parents & siblings. (I'm not sure how we can squeeze more beds in, but I've already told N that we will need to figure out how to take it at least one more foster kid at a time.)
Back to the current situation...
Both kids wants to be together. J feels a tremendous amount of pressure to have this work for his sister. Not pressure placed by anyone but himself. I think he feels this is his last chance to be adopted & also be adopted with his sister. It's his way of taking care of his sister. He has made it clear on several occasions that if this doesn't work with K, he doesn't want to be adopted alone. We respect that. And, after seeing their bond in action yesterday, we think they need to be together, too. We know K wants to be adopted with J, but we do not know how K feels about the visit. I'm sure she's meeting with her therapist to share her perspective & decide what she wants to happen from here.
We have a court hearing in the morning to update the court on our time with J. Both kids will be there so that their voice is heard. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about either child changing their mind about adoption or if anyone else in attendance could cause issues. But, at this point, we've done the best we can do. We have to trust that the outcome of the hearing tomorrow is God's leading. We hope that we will be awarded adoptive placement dates for both children.
I plan to update once the court hearing is done.
Thanks for your prayers, everyone!
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Update Overdue
I'm taking a bit of a break from Facebook & hoping to rekindle some of my former loves...
Journaling Through Our Blog!
Throughout 2013, we experienced a lot of change. A lot of upheavals in the inner workings of our home through foster care. We brought in & out 5 foster children. We learned a lot through the process. We have cried a lot through the process. And laughed. And loved. And hurt.
We did renew our foster license, but haven't received any placement calls/requests since our last foster child went to her adoptive home right before Christmas. Although I'm not sure we would accept a placement right now, I still feel a little eager knowing they could call anytime. It would be hard to say "no", but hard to say "yes", too. Hmm... Does that make sense?
We have defined our strengths & weaknesses regarding foster children during this past year. I'm sure this will vary placement to placement or even month to month. We seem to have a difficult time getting placement calls because we request that the children NOT be forced to go to daycare. As a stay at home mom, we prefer the foster child/ren stay at home with me & little E to facilitate a sense of normalcy as our family unit operates.
This seems to be an issue, because most children seem to be required to be in daycare. (One aspect of this makes sense: If the child is local to our area & is already established in a daycare facility, it would be best to keep the child in the same daycare to keep at least one aspect stable. This has not been the case in our placements.)
And, in theory, that is best. I'm sure it is in reality, also, but can functionally be difficult.
Because we participate in a Classical Conversations community that has completely full childcare, it makes our meeting time more difficult. One week, towards the end of our semester, I had both our sweet 2mth baby girl (we'll call her TAB) & a short-term placement of a 20mth boy. I had to take both of them along with little E into the 3hr teaching portion of our coop meeting. Talk about stressful. With advanced notice (like months & months), I would've been able to get the toddler into the host church's childcare. With fostercare, I don't know literally day-to-day sometimes if I will need childcare or not. With the baby, it is understandable that most moms of teeny littles would take their child into the coop time. But, again, with planning this is much easier. The knowledge of a child coming into a family allows better preparation for the arrangements.
I felt like I spent the first semester of little E's "official" home schooling experience just getting used to all of the many home visits & additional appointments TAB required. Not her fault, certainly, & still worth caring for that sweet girl... But, stressful. Discouraging. Overwhelming.
In our normal lives, I like to be able to plan a bit in advance. This is difficult to do in our experiences thus far with fostercare. These children still need a loving home, no doubt, but it is definitely an aspect I hadn't been forewarned about or thought about until we were in the mix. And we have been honored & humbled to care for these children. We don't regret any of the placements we were given & accepted!!
Like the first foster placement we had of 18mth twins that were court-ordered to attend daycare. At no time during our MA.PP courses or home study visits was this mentioned as a possibility. At nearly midnight, when the children were dropped off, that was the only concern the case manager had... For me to get them in daycare. I was able to find a wonderful facility that was amazing & I would recommend in a heart beat, but driving 300 miles a week solely for daycare was draining!
I could describe our experiences further, but truly... the negative aspects pale in comparison to the impact these children have had on our lives. I am not sure what fostercare will look like for us this year... Will we go more than half of the year without a placement? Will we simply help other foster parents by watching their foster children during a hospital stay or trip? Will we become a permanent home for a foster child waiting?
We just received notice, yesterday, that our adoptive home study has been approved. This is a different home study than our foster home study, but lots of the same questions & visits.
We've already expressed interested in several sibling groups & a few single children available in the State. Now that we have our adoptive home study, we send it out, receive information from our agency & the children's agency, & see if we may be a match for each other. We could have nothing come from any of the cases we emailed about or we could potentially be matched & meet a child in the next few months.
We are both excited & anxious at the thought of adopting. We've grown to be tender towards the children that are more difficult to place in adoptive homes... older children & sibling groups, specifically. It is heart wrenching to hear children asking for a home with no more requirements of the family than to "take both of us" or "be loving, be good". Wow.
We are praying & remaining as open as we can to what the Lord may have in store for us. Adoption will make our lives messier, more inconvenient, crazier... But, if He wants us doing that, we will. We will love another's child as our own, we will take them in with open hearts, & trust that His plan is amazing for us & for the child or children.
Our one & only, for now, little E has been amazing. He's taking workshop classes with his Nana J & has already made a bird house, a name plate, & several car projects. He loves using his personal, sized-for-little-hands, hand drill, saw, sand paper, scr.ewdriver, hammer, & saw to create things. He can recite his safety rules & loves going over to spend time "working like Daddy". He is a sponge full of knowledge & loves going to our CC meetings each Monday; his tutor, Ms. Natalie is like a rock star. He participates in the classroom recitations & does a presentation (aka speech) each meeting. But, really, he mostly is looking forward to going to the playground afterwards to play. :)
As far as goals go for 2014, we are hoping to go camping more. I'd like to complete a half-marathon (in April). We will be heading out of town for trips (another perk of home schooling). I'd like to journal a lot more. I am ashamed of the things I've already forgot that little E did a year or two ago... I want to write these things down so that I can remember. And he can. Other than that, I'd like to enjoy our lives each day. I want to say yes anytime my child asks me if I can help him or read to him or see the beautiful watercolor creations he made. I want to invest each day. Because, even though in foster care, we know we may only impact that child for a day... it is true of our child, too. Any day could be our last day with him & I want to cherish each day for the miracle it is. The miracle of a son that we weren't sure we'd ever have. And God has given us an opportunity to teach him & love him each day we spend together.
Love to you all!
Journaling Through Our Blog!
Throughout 2013, we experienced a lot of change. A lot of upheavals in the inner workings of our home through foster care. We brought in & out 5 foster children. We learned a lot through the process. We have cried a lot through the process. And laughed. And loved. And hurt.
We did renew our foster license, but haven't received any placement calls/requests since our last foster child went to her adoptive home right before Christmas. Although I'm not sure we would accept a placement right now, I still feel a little eager knowing they could call anytime. It would be hard to say "no", but hard to say "yes", too. Hmm... Does that make sense?
We have defined our strengths & weaknesses regarding foster children during this past year. I'm sure this will vary placement to placement or even month to month. We seem to have a difficult time getting placement calls because we request that the children NOT be forced to go to daycare. As a stay at home mom, we prefer the foster child/ren stay at home with me & little E to facilitate a sense of normalcy as our family unit operates.
This seems to be an issue, because most children seem to be required to be in daycare. (One aspect of this makes sense: If the child is local to our area & is already established in a daycare facility, it would be best to keep the child in the same daycare to keep at least one aspect stable. This has not been the case in our placements.)
And, in theory, that is best. I'm sure it is in reality, also, but can functionally be difficult.
Because we participate in a Classical Conversations community that has completely full childcare, it makes our meeting time more difficult. One week, towards the end of our semester, I had both our sweet 2mth baby girl (we'll call her TAB) & a short-term placement of a 20mth boy. I had to take both of them along with little E into the 3hr teaching portion of our coop meeting. Talk about stressful. With advanced notice (like months & months), I would've been able to get the toddler into the host church's childcare. With fostercare, I don't know literally day-to-day sometimes if I will need childcare or not. With the baby, it is understandable that most moms of teeny littles would take their child into the coop time. But, again, with planning this is much easier. The knowledge of a child coming into a family allows better preparation for the arrangements.
I felt like I spent the first semester of little E's "official" home schooling experience just getting used to all of the many home visits & additional appointments TAB required. Not her fault, certainly, & still worth caring for that sweet girl... But, stressful. Discouraging. Overwhelming.
In our normal lives, I like to be able to plan a bit in advance. This is difficult to do in our experiences thus far with fostercare. These children still need a loving home, no doubt, but it is definitely an aspect I hadn't been forewarned about or thought about until we were in the mix. And we have been honored & humbled to care for these children. We don't regret any of the placements we were given & accepted!!
Like the first foster placement we had of 18mth twins that were court-ordered to attend daycare. At no time during our MA.PP courses or home study visits was this mentioned as a possibility. At nearly midnight, when the children were dropped off, that was the only concern the case manager had... For me to get them in daycare. I was able to find a wonderful facility that was amazing & I would recommend in a heart beat, but driving 300 miles a week solely for daycare was draining!
I could describe our experiences further, but truly... the negative aspects pale in comparison to the impact these children have had on our lives. I am not sure what fostercare will look like for us this year... Will we go more than half of the year without a placement? Will we simply help other foster parents by watching their foster children during a hospital stay or trip? Will we become a permanent home for a foster child waiting?
We just received notice, yesterday, that our adoptive home study has been approved. This is a different home study than our foster home study, but lots of the same questions & visits.
We've already expressed interested in several sibling groups & a few single children available in the State. Now that we have our adoptive home study, we send it out, receive information from our agency & the children's agency, & see if we may be a match for each other. We could have nothing come from any of the cases we emailed about or we could potentially be matched & meet a child in the next few months.
We are both excited & anxious at the thought of adopting. We've grown to be tender towards the children that are more difficult to place in adoptive homes... older children & sibling groups, specifically. It is heart wrenching to hear children asking for a home with no more requirements of the family than to "take both of us" or "be loving, be good". Wow.
We are praying & remaining as open as we can to what the Lord may have in store for us. Adoption will make our lives messier, more inconvenient, crazier... But, if He wants us doing that, we will. We will love another's child as our own, we will take them in with open hearts, & trust that His plan is amazing for us & for the child or children.
Our one & only, for now, little E has been amazing. He's taking workshop classes with his Nana J & has already made a bird house, a name plate, & several car projects. He loves using his personal, sized-for-little-hands, hand drill, saw, sand paper, scr.ewdriver, hammer, & saw to create things. He can recite his safety rules & loves going over to spend time "working like Daddy". He is a sponge full of knowledge & loves going to our CC meetings each Monday; his tutor, Ms. Natalie is like a rock star. He participates in the classroom recitations & does a presentation (aka speech) each meeting. But, really, he mostly is looking forward to going to the playground afterwards to play. :)
As far as goals go for 2014, we are hoping to go camping more. I'd like to complete a half-marathon (in April). We will be heading out of town for trips (another perk of home schooling). I'd like to journal a lot more. I am ashamed of the things I've already forgot that little E did a year or two ago... I want to write these things down so that I can remember. And he can. Other than that, I'd like to enjoy our lives each day. I want to say yes anytime my child asks me if I can help him or read to him or see the beautiful watercolor creations he made. I want to invest each day. Because, even though in foster care, we know we may only impact that child for a day... it is true of our child, too. Any day could be our last day with him & I want to cherish each day for the miracle it is. The miracle of a son that we weren't sure we'd ever have. And God has given us an opportunity to teach him & love him each day we spend together.
Love to you all!
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Announcing to the World...
That we are planning to homeschool our son.
This may not seem to be that big of a deal, but it is.
And I've been so worried about other people knowing because I don't want them to treat our son differently. I think homeschooling has become more mainstream than when we were growing up, but it is still not common. We have been so thrilled to have found such a large, local, community of support!
E will not legally have to be in education until he turns 6 years (entering 1st grade) which will be 2015-2016 school year. But, here in Florida, most kids head to preschool for free (aka VPK) for K4. We had decided to send E to our local Christian school for the VPK portion & then decide from there about further education.
Then we decided to homeschool him for this year. I am still nervous about him learning to read & all jazz, but I am so excited, too! We are looking forward to taking trips as often as possible to provide as much hands-on learning as possible, we are thrilled to have both a flexible AND structured environment for him to learn, we are happy to be able to focus on his strengths & his weaknesses, & so many other aspects.
{I feel as though I need to add some disclaimers here... We made a completely informed, individual, decision. We have thoroughly researched the benefits of homeschooling our child & are more than happy to share those resources with anyone genuinely interested in learning more about it. We aren't saying this will work forever, but for this year... it's the plan! There is no person, governmental entity, or program/school that will ever be as invested or motivated for E to learn all that he has the potential to learn than his father & I. Period. We are very honored to have family & friend support for this journey. Also, I plan to share our homeschooling journey here so that others may be encouraged to make- or not make- the decision to educate their child at home; this will never be a condemnation for those that decide to educate their child in a school setting & comments of the such will be deleted.}
I thought I could share what we are currently planning for this first semester/year; I'm sure it will evolve as we move along!
We are using Classical Conversations as a portion of our experience. If you're not familiar with "CC", you should check it out! CC uses the classical model of education. We will meet every Monday morning for 3 hours of guided education by a private tutor. During this meeting, E will review his memory work (Biblical passages, science, Latin, math, history, art, among others), have a science experiment + art project, & have opportunities to make "presentations" (small speeches) EACH week. He will have a small class of other children his age & I will be with him the whole time. After the session is over, many families stay & enjoy the playground along with a picnic lunch. They also schedule related field trips every month for us to take!
I am looking forward to utilizing Classical Conversations not only for the educational pathway it provides, but for the social support for E & myself. Even though we feel this is the right decision for our son, it doesn't make it easy to feel isolated & different. CC will provide friends for E that are also homeschooled & will provide mama friends for me, too. They have already been so helpful to guide us into curriculum & resources & our school year hasn't even started!!
In addition to the CC portion of our home education, we will be working lots of phonics + reading + writing. E already knows all of the sounds of the alphabet & can write nearly every letter. We are beginning BOB books to help him meld all those sounds into letters forming words. Pretty exciting! We have some Preschool Prep Series DVD + workbook sets for sight words. We are also probably going to be using Phonics Pathways, too.
We will be doing lots of letter recognition worksheets, coloring, writing, drawing, art, & more. We are already planning a trip to the Kennedy Space Center (two of the science subjects focused this year at CC are physics & astronomy... PERFECT for the Kennedy Space Center!) in the next few months. We are planning to start/plant/harvest a garden. We will be adding chickens to our property which E will help care for.
One aspect I am very excited about is E's woodworking classes. My MIL is a master crafts(wo)man & has agreed to teach our little one once a week! He already has his own safety glasses, screwdrivers, hammers, hand-powered-drill, saw, & tape measurer! They will be working on building various projects at her discretion. She said initially they will be working on him sanding the wood pieces down, then sawing & nailing/screwing together. How awesome to be learning these skills at 4 years old!? And, he gets to spend time with his grandmother at the same time!!
For math, we will be concentrating on counting, multiplication/skip counting, clock/time recognition, money counting/recognition, & anything else we find! We will cook to practice math & reading. We will garden to learn math, we will use any opportunity we can to learn math & reading.
We will read a lot together. Most of this year will probably consist of me reading to E, but I'm sure the transition will slowly occur to him reading much of the books. We will get a membership to the much larger county library in the town near us so that we can access as many DVDs, books, & classes as possible.
We have a membership to a local museum that has several animals, an old homestead with buildings, a train caboose, a playground, & weekly homeschool lessons. We hope to attend as many of these classes for homeschoolers as possible (one or two hours per lesson). This a very hands-on museum & has been wonderful to visit. E already has learned the difference between cold-blooded & warm-blooded animals (among other lessons) because of walking around & talking about the animals.
I'm sure I'm forgetting lots, but we have lots of plans. I am a little overwhelmed at some of the tasks I need to finish before starting our CC in September, but I have a Mentor Mom that has been helping me & I think once we are doing it... it'll be easier & flow better. I'm trying to take it day by day & have been working on our homeschool cubbies. I'll plan out lessons & leave room for spontaneity & flexibility. There is also a weekly local homeschool group that meets at a playground each week & has a very active Facebook group. Lots of people to interact with & ask questions to... I hope we can jump right into that community meeting, too!
I plan to be sharing photos & details about our journey. And his little uniform?! Adorable... ;)
Much love to you all! Have a wonderful Tuesday!!
This may not seem to be that big of a deal, but it is.
And I've been so worried about other people knowing because I don't want them to treat our son differently. I think homeschooling has become more mainstream than when we were growing up, but it is still not common. We have been so thrilled to have found such a large, local, community of support!
E will not legally have to be in education until he turns 6 years (entering 1st grade) which will be 2015-2016 school year. But, here in Florida, most kids head to preschool for free (aka VPK) for K4. We had decided to send E to our local Christian school for the VPK portion & then decide from there about further education.
Then we decided to homeschool him for this year. I am still nervous about him learning to read & all jazz, but I am so excited, too! We are looking forward to taking trips as often as possible to provide as much hands-on learning as possible, we are thrilled to have both a flexible AND structured environment for him to learn, we are happy to be able to focus on his strengths & his weaknesses, & so many other aspects.
{I feel as though I need to add some disclaimers here... We made a completely informed, individual, decision. We have thoroughly researched the benefits of homeschooling our child & are more than happy to share those resources with anyone genuinely interested in learning more about it. We aren't saying this will work forever, but for this year... it's the plan! There is no person, governmental entity, or program/school that will ever be as invested or motivated for E to learn all that he has the potential to learn than his father & I. Period. We are very honored to have family & friend support for this journey. Also, I plan to share our homeschooling journey here so that others may be encouraged to make- or not make- the decision to educate their child at home; this will never be a condemnation for those that decide to educate their child in a school setting & comments of the such will be deleted.}
I thought I could share what we are currently planning for this first semester/year; I'm sure it will evolve as we move along!
We are using Classical Conversations as a portion of our experience. If you're not familiar with "CC", you should check it out! CC uses the classical model of education. We will meet every Monday morning for 3 hours of guided education by a private tutor. During this meeting, E will review his memory work (Biblical passages, science, Latin, math, history, art, among others), have a science experiment + art project, & have opportunities to make "presentations" (small speeches) EACH week. He will have a small class of other children his age & I will be with him the whole time. After the session is over, many families stay & enjoy the playground along with a picnic lunch. They also schedule related field trips every month for us to take!
I am looking forward to utilizing Classical Conversations not only for the educational pathway it provides, but for the social support for E & myself. Even though we feel this is the right decision for our son, it doesn't make it easy to feel isolated & different. CC will provide friends for E that are also homeschooled & will provide mama friends for me, too. They have already been so helpful to guide us into curriculum & resources & our school year hasn't even started!!
In addition to the CC portion of our home education, we will be working lots of phonics + reading + writing. E already knows all of the sounds of the alphabet & can write nearly every letter. We are beginning BOB books to help him meld all those sounds into letters forming words. Pretty exciting! We have some Preschool Prep Series DVD + workbook sets for sight words. We are also probably going to be using Phonics Pathways, too.
We will be doing lots of letter recognition worksheets, coloring, writing, drawing, art, & more. We are already planning a trip to the Kennedy Space Center (two of the science subjects focused this year at CC are physics & astronomy... PERFECT for the Kennedy Space Center!) in the next few months. We are planning to start/plant/harvest a garden. We will be adding chickens to our property which E will help care for.
One aspect I am very excited about is E's woodworking classes. My MIL is a master crafts(wo)man & has agreed to teach our little one once a week! He already has his own safety glasses, screwdrivers, hammers, hand-powered-drill, saw, & tape measurer! They will be working on building various projects at her discretion. She said initially they will be working on him sanding the wood pieces down, then sawing & nailing/screwing together. How awesome to be learning these skills at 4 years old!? And, he gets to spend time with his grandmother at the same time!!
For math, we will be concentrating on counting, multiplication/skip counting, clock/time recognition, money counting/recognition, & anything else we find! We will cook to practice math & reading. We will garden to learn math, we will use any opportunity we can to learn math & reading.
We will read a lot together. Most of this year will probably consist of me reading to E, but I'm sure the transition will slowly occur to him reading much of the books. We will get a membership to the much larger county library in the town near us so that we can access as many DVDs, books, & classes as possible.
We have a membership to a local museum that has several animals, an old homestead with buildings, a train caboose, a playground, & weekly homeschool lessons. We hope to attend as many of these classes for homeschoolers as possible (one or two hours per lesson). This a very hands-on museum & has been wonderful to visit. E already has learned the difference between cold-blooded & warm-blooded animals (among other lessons) because of walking around & talking about the animals.
I'm sure I'm forgetting lots, but we have lots of plans. I am a little overwhelmed at some of the tasks I need to finish before starting our CC in September, but I have a Mentor Mom that has been helping me & I think once we are doing it... it'll be easier & flow better. I'm trying to take it day by day & have been working on our homeschool cubbies. I'll plan out lessons & leave room for spontaneity & flexibility. There is also a weekly local homeschool group that meets at a playground each week & has a very active Facebook group. Lots of people to interact with & ask questions to... I hope we can jump right into that community meeting, too!
I plan to be sharing photos & details about our journey. And his little uniform?! Adorable... ;)
Much love to you all! Have a wonderful Tuesday!!
Friday, June 14, 2013
Blueberry Season!
This afternoon, in nearly 100* heat, Little Guy & I went blueberry picking. We went this afternoon for two reasons... I obligated myself to bring some to the Ladies Luncheon at our church tomorrow AND we'd been talking about for over a week. We've had swim lessons this week, so no morning pickin' was possible. :) {More on those swim lessons later.}
We've been going to this particular blueberry farm for over 5 years off & on. The last three summers we have taken Little Guy. I'm sure the progression of pictures would be cute to see together! The owners are wonderful & the blueberries are organically raised, priced cheap, & super yummy.
We've been going to this particular blueberry farm for over 5 years off & on. The last three summers we have taken Little Guy. I'm sure the progression of pictures would be cute to see together! The owners are wonderful & the blueberries are organically raised, priced cheap, & super yummy.
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| "Momma!" |
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| Can you consider this an action shot? :) |
We had a somewhat traumatic experience during this visit. Well, traumatic for Momma... Not so much for Little Guy. I may write about it later & just wait to publish... One of those experiences that you think you may laugh about in the future, vow to embarrass your child later for it, & cry for a while about, too!
We ended up picking 4 pounds of blueberries that will be eaten at the Ladies Luncheon, given to my parents, & baked into some sweet treats. I'm hoping we can knock out one or two recipes with our first "harvest" of blueberries. Little Guy LOVES to help in the kitchen, so I'm sure I'll have some photos to share of our prep & product.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! We have a few events at church, but plan to head to the beach on Sunday to relax & celebrate Father's Day. Very excited about that!
Thursday, January 3, 2013
The Little One's Closet
I have decided to follow the Home Organization 101 Project from the blog A Bowl Full of Lemons. Basically, it is a 14 week schedule of organizing 14 areas of your home. Since we have been purging & working on each room since last summer (when I officially became a full time stay-at-home-mama)... I am revamping the way I follow the schedule to hopefully cover several areas each week.
One Tuesday, New Years Day, we worked on the shed. Since we don't have a garage, I am still considering this my "garage" area. So, week 2 is done! :) Maybe I will post pictures of that later!
Today, I wanted to go through my son's closet. It had become a dumping grounds for stuff when I wanted to do a quick clean up, or go clothes given to us in the next size & I was too lazy to open the storage tubs to place them in, & was just chaotic.
Really, chaotic. See for yourselves...
So, with less than an hour & using materials I already had, we have a cleared out, decluttered, open closet for the toddler! (This also means Week #8 can be crossed off!)
Hope this helped to inspire you to set a goal of an area, or 14 areas, & knock them out! I would love to hear about any of your projects &, although I'm no expert, I love to encourage others to meet their goals! Speaking of goals, I'm working on my January post of the 10 goals I made. Hopefully I can accomplish all 10 by the end of the month! :)
One Tuesday, New Years Day, we worked on the shed. Since we don't have a garage, I am still considering this my "garage" area. So, week 2 is done! :) Maybe I will post pictures of that later!
Today, I wanted to go through my son's closet. It had become a dumping grounds for stuff when I wanted to do a quick clean up, or go clothes given to us in the next size & I was too lazy to open the storage tubs to place them in, & was just chaotic.
Really, chaotic. See for yourselves...
Basically, to start with, I ran upstairs while the boy was watching a bit of TV. I cleared out EVERYTHING from the closet. I didn't take a picture of this because it's pretty self-explanatory! In fact, I'd even taken some stuff out of the closet before I thought to take the before pictures... so there was even more clothing in the closet when I opened it up! Yikes! While I was clearing everything out, I sorted into basic piles: items I knew were too small or I didn't love, items that didn't belong in the closet, clothing pile, & trash. Then, I went downstairs to be with the boy. This clearing out didn't take but 5 minutes or so. Not too long, but it was a start.
Then, we ate lunch & headed back upstairs together. It was nearing his naptime, so I wanted to work quickly. He was even able to "help" me with some tasks. First, I re-sorted the clothing pile & made sure to grab anything under size 3t or above 4t. Then, with the remaining pile of 3t clothing, I hung them all on the same hangers & just hung them in the closet. (I purchased little green hangers for this closet after our last consignment sale. I bought them from Target & love that his hangers are all matching now. The pants, unfortunately, are all from the stores when the pants were purchased, so even though they aren't green... all of his non-soft pants are hanging in the closet.) When I finished, I thought I wouldn't need the extra hanging rod, but after reviewing some piles of laundry... I added the second rod.
Next, I sorted the 4t clothing pieces into like piles & folded them all after I removed any hangers. I placed them into green baskets/bins. (My mother & I purchased these before E was born. Their uses have evolved into many areas & I love them. Four of them store his toys in a shelf & now the remaining four store clothes in the next size up. I left one empty because I know my mother already has some clothes to fill it up!) They were also labeled using some cardstock & twine.
Then, I threw them on the top shelf! :) Next, I had E help me with his hats; we tried each one on & set aside the ones that are too small. I threw the hats & beanies, along with any gloves, into a small green bucket. At this point, the closet was almost done. I pulled out any shoes that were too small out & then placed shoes in the next size up at the top of the shoe hanger. (I will admit that my son has more shoes than what is shown here; we have a great IKEA shoe cabinet in our entryway that most of our shoes tuck into. Makes it super easy when coming or going!)
Then, I used the tub already in the closet to fill up the stuff that was too small. And found another tub (already cleared out prior to today) & filled it mostly up, too. Since I usually participate in our local consignment semi-annual sales, I threw in any hangers that weren't green... I will use those to hang the shirts I will list to sell at said consignment sales. I gathered up the trash. I added the hamper, overnight luggage, & the extra hangers we had. I also hung his jacket, 4t, for next year in the closet because it was too puffy to throw in the baskets.
Here's a couple of pictures of the finished product:
And the pile of stuff leaving the closet... Two tubs of clothing, two sets of adult-sized hangers, & a bag full of trash!
Hope this helped to inspire you to set a goal of an area, or 14 areas, & knock them out! I would love to hear about any of your projects &, although I'm no expert, I love to encourage others to meet their goals! Speaking of goals, I'm working on my January post of the 10 goals I made. Hopefully I can accomplish all 10 by the end of the month! :)
Have a wonderful Thursday!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Operation Christmas Child: Shoeboxes!
Since last year, I have been saving up little things for our shoeboxes. An extra toy from the Chick-Fil-A kids meal, a free toothbrush given out at a festival, some donated fabric to create a tote or pillowcase dress... Washcloths on clearance, boxes of crayons that were only a quarter each in August, soap, & toothbrushes. My mother & friend had donated NIP beanie babies that went, yep, you guessed it... in my shoebox tub! It sat in the closet all year long slowly getting filled.
Since I was feeling overwhelmed anyways trying to figure out how to complete our boxes, it was perfect that a good friend in the small group mentioned getting together with the idea of packing together. Amazing how God puts those people in your life, right?! So, with Melissa's help & encouragement, we started planning.
Our small group met up several weeks ago for our own packing party. It was kind of a last minute thing with only a week for people to sign up for items to bring. We used a website that allows the administrator to create a list of items needs & then allows others to sign up. It sends a reminder email & worked wonderfully. I input different things I could think of, then added what we had already purchased throughout the year, then others in the small group added their ideas & what they had already purchased! We even asked others outside of our small group to donate or help pack or both!
At a minimum, each box contained:
** Toothbrush & Toothpaste
** Soap & Washcloth
** Crayons & Notebook or Coloring Books
** Soft Toy Animal
** Lots of Other Toys
** Pencil, Pencil Sharpener, & Extra Eraser
** Candy
** Water Bottle
We ended up packing over 50 boxes! 53 to be exact! I am so proud of our small group in donated time & money to bless kids overseas. It is amazing what we take for granted & how over-indulged our own children can be when a toothbrush is a prized gift to another little boy or girl. How often do we take our resources for granted? How difficult is it for us to take $10 out of our pocket to fill a shoebox for a child? If you don't have the time to fill a shoebox, you can donate money to apply to shipping these shoeboxes ($7/shoebox ships it around the world) OR pack-a-box on their website...
I have also created a Pinterest board to bookmark ideas & blog posts throughout the year, if you'd like to check that out: Operation Christmas Child 2012 Board
Looking forward to sharing more ideas soon! Next week, I plan to post some ideas to planning a shoebox party... We definitely did a great job, but I have thought of several things to make sure we do next year when our goal will be at least 120 packed shoeboxes for our small group!
Be Blessed!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Been a While, Ehh?
Well, obviously it's been a while since I updated. I could describe all of the reasons/excuses why I haven't been updating, but I will just catch ya up on what's been going on.
Firstly, we are in a different stage of "expecting"! This week, our homestudy will be sent to the State for licensure to become foster parents. I'm sure our situation will change over time, but as of right now we are requesting a child under the age of 3. More specifically & initially, an infant under 12mths. We aren't sure exactly where this will lead, but we can no longer deny the calling for us to open our home, our hearts, to a foster child. I could go on & on about how this has developed, but I imagine I will do that later. And I'm sure God will intricately weave an even more beautiful journey than I can imagine.
{Just to hit some high notes... Yes, I'm anxious about having to give the child back up when family reunification occurs. I have to trust that God is bigger than my fears. I have to trust that there is some sort of purpose for the pain my heart has felt from a 7 year struggle with infertility; I feel that God is using the pain & unending heart-ache for His purpose & He will use this in me as a foster mother. For now, that is all!}
Since I was snapping a picture anyways, I thought I'd take a quick couple of the craft room. I was totally thrilled to be able to purchase this craft table from a friend & it is the center of attention in the craft room! :) There is still plenty I plan to add to this room, but it will be a slow moving process. Which is great, cuz it's always fun to add stuff while you find it!
Here's a corner in the craft room... Filled with Operation Christmas Child shoebox goodies! I've been saving some stuff up all year & our small group will be having a packing party this weekend, so I will update with more about that after it! I'm looking forward to filling them all up & getting them to the church.
We are anticipating to be licensed as early as the middle of November! That is a bit earlier than I expected, so I will be packing a last-minute diaper bag with bottles, a bit of formula, & some gender-neutral outfits in various sizes to accommodate any child we may get called to take in.
We definitely would appreciate your prayers & support as we begin this foster parenting journey!
Firstly, we are in a different stage of "expecting"! This week, our homestudy will be sent to the State for licensure to become foster parents. I'm sure our situation will change over time, but as of right now we are requesting a child under the age of 3. More specifically & initially, an infant under 12mths. We aren't sure exactly where this will lead, but we can no longer deny the calling for us to open our home, our hearts, to a foster child. I could go on & on about how this has developed, but I imagine I will do that later. And I'm sure God will intricately weave an even more beautiful journey than I can imagine.
{Just to hit some high notes... Yes, I'm anxious about having to give the child back up when family reunification occurs. I have to trust that God is bigger than my fears. I have to trust that there is some sort of purpose for the pain my heart has felt from a 7 year struggle with infertility; I feel that God is using the pain & unending heart-ache for His purpose & He will use this in me as a foster mother. For now, that is all!}
Since I was snapping a picture anyways, I thought I'd take a quick couple of the craft room. I was totally thrilled to be able to purchase this craft table from a friend & it is the center of attention in the craft room! :) There is still plenty I plan to add to this room, but it will be a slow moving process. Which is great, cuz it's always fun to add stuff while you find it!
Here's a corner in the craft room... Filled with Operation Christmas Child shoebox goodies! I've been saving some stuff up all year & our small group will be having a packing party this weekend, so I will update with more about that after it! I'm looking forward to filling them all up & getting them to the church.
We are anticipating to be licensed as early as the middle of November! That is a bit earlier than I expected, so I will be packing a last-minute diaper bag with bottles, a bit of formula, & some gender-neutral outfits in various sizes to accommodate any child we may get called to take in.
We definitely would appreciate your prayers & support as we begin this foster parenting journey!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
A Quick Craft
It took me 2.5 years and several scoops of Spark to discover the joy of naptime.
I mean, naptime was also nice when I was sleeping with Little Bit, but this having an hour or two to myself AND feeling good enough to do something during it?
Pretty sweet!
I didn't have any pre-set plans to accomplish during naptime. Except to go through a hamper of stuff I am purging... pulling out the "save for the consignment sale", "throw away", or "give back to someone" piles.
Then, just as the snoring began, it hit me!
A new wreath! Several years ago, I scored some wreath door hangers on clearance & this past winter, I actually hung a wreath. Which I crafted & loved. But, I was ready for something new & was hoping to sort through some stuff in my (messy) craft corner.
I had already worked on the felt flowers, so I plugged the hot glue gun in & went to town.
Here's our before wreath:
{Please ignore the slant! Yikes. And, yes, thank-you-for-asking, I HAVE lost some weight! FIFTEEN pounds to be exact, WOoHoo!}
And our after wreath:
For much less than $5 [Probably less than $3 if I break the calculator out & really figure it out], I have a brand new door wreath! I am trying to not let things like the width of the wreath not being perfectly symmetric or the bumps of the vines or flower I had to move three times bother me, because I am pretty happy I got a little crafting done today!
Now if I could only convince my husband to let me paint the door the color I want!! ;)
I still have nearly an hour of naptime left; think I will tackle that hamper now!
I mean, naptime was also nice when I was sleeping with Little Bit, but this having an hour or two to myself AND feeling good enough to do something during it?
Pretty sweet!
I didn't have any pre-set plans to accomplish during naptime. Except to go through a hamper of stuff I am purging... pulling out the "save for the consignment sale", "throw away", or "give back to someone" piles.
Then, just as the snoring began, it hit me!
A new wreath! Several years ago, I scored some wreath door hangers on clearance & this past winter, I actually hung a wreath. Which I crafted & loved. But, I was ready for something new & was hoping to sort through some stuff in my (messy) craft corner.
I had already worked on the felt flowers, so I plugged the hot glue gun in & went to town.
Here's our before wreath:
{Please ignore the slant! Yikes. And, yes, thank-you-for-asking, I HAVE lost some weight! FIFTEEN pounds to be exact, WOoHoo!}
And our after wreath:
For much less than $5 [Probably less than $3 if I break the calculator out & really figure it out], I have a brand new door wreath! I am trying to not let things like the width of the wreath not being perfectly symmetric or the bumps of the vines or flower I had to move three times bother me, because I am pretty happy I got a little crafting done today!Now if I could only convince my husband to let me paint the door the color I want!! ;)
I still have nearly an hour of naptime left; think I will tackle that hamper now!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Recap of January
I thought I'd do some recaps of each month to share how we are prepaing, primarily, for Christmas next year! I figure doing something slowly throughout the year will avoid that stress at the end of the year! :)
Swagbucks earned me $10 in Amazon giftcards.
Participation in a Hugg.ies mommy community earned me $15 in Amazon giftcards.
A rebate from using our Mastercard during Christmas time earned me a $20 giftcard.
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD:
** Purchased 6 bars of Ivory soap (money spent $1.28)
** Purchased 18 mittens, on clearance at Target (money spent $4.50)
** Various kids meal toys collected from buying Little Bit food (free! Was going to buy the meals anyways & I just save up the books or toys every other meal!)
This month, February, I hope to make some pillowcase dresses to add to the shoeboxes & possibly some Valentine clearance items (pencils, erasers, possibly?)
This is also a reminder to be on the look-out for item to add to your shoeboxes. We can provide more gifts for those sweet children if we shop ahead, buy the deals, & plan! Just like in all of the areas of our spending! :)
Swagbucks earned me $10 in Amazon giftcards.
Participation in a Hugg.ies mommy community earned me $15 in Amazon giftcards.
A rebate from using our Mastercard during Christmas time earned me a $20 giftcard.
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD:
** Purchased 6 bars of Ivory soap (money spent $1.28)
** Purchased 18 mittens, on clearance at Target (money spent $4.50)
** Various kids meal toys collected from buying Little Bit food (free! Was going to buy the meals anyways & I just save up the books or toys every other meal!)
This month, February, I hope to make some pillowcase dresses to add to the shoeboxes & possibly some Valentine clearance items (pencils, erasers, possibly?)
This is also a reminder to be on the look-out for item to add to your shoeboxes. We can provide more gifts for those sweet children if we shop ahead, buy the deals, & plan! Just like in all of the areas of our spending! :)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Painting at Library
Our local library (although still a 30 minute drive from our house) has weekly storytime meeting for the little ones. I am attempting getting out of the house more often & these meetings are perfect opportunities for me to let Elias get messy (with crafts & toys) without me having to clean it all up! :)
Unless he has painted at his Puggles/Awanas classes, this is the first time my little guy has painted. I thought he did a pretty good job & we enjoyed the outing.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
He Is the Light of My Life
We were at one of E's friend's pool party (in Janaury! His mama rocked it!) & this was just too cute to not show off.
Now, how could you look at that & not smile! :)
Now, how could you look at that & not smile! :)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
A New Month: November
We primed & painted the room this weekend. The mural is done! Little Bit's room has been transformed & after our trip to IKEA next weekend + Daddy setting the hutch up... it will be all done! :)
If I can get Blogger to cooperate, I will post pictures! It worked, here goes!
Otherwise, I have been hanging out with other mamas in the area walking between 2-4 miles on several mornings each week! So nice... If only I could kick the cherry coke addiction...
We continue to purge the extra junk in the house & have sold three items in the last few days on Craigslist. Which is thrilling! We are getting more space in our house AND adding money to our Christmas Jar. Double whammy!
Our church participates in Samaritan's Purse Operation: Christmas Child shoeboxes. We purged some baby stuff & used the money to fund the mural cost & then had plenty left over for shoeboxes! It can be exhilarating! I asked Hubby if we could provide even more shoeboxes & he obliged happily! So, we have even more shoeboxes headed to sweet little toddler boys & girls. Pretty awesome.
Oh, we also have a girl's craft day. I didn't have too much planned, but brought a huge tub of stuff to play with. I started with painting letters & frames, then moved onto learning how to roll fabric rosettes, & making felt flowers. Was so much fun & refreshing to just hang out & be a bit creative for a while. We are hoping to do it once a month from now on. Here's a shot of the rosettes & flower I made for a baby girl's headband.
Cute, right?! :) I thought so.
Another picture to end the post. Our church had a Family Fun Day to celebrate 15 years. Little Bit loved jumping in the bouncy house. Here's the clearest & best picture I could snap of him:
If I can get Blogger to cooperate, I will post pictures! It worked, here goes!
Otherwise, I have been hanging out with other mamas in the area walking between 2-4 miles on several mornings each week! So nice... If only I could kick the cherry coke addiction...
We continue to purge the extra junk in the house & have sold three items in the last few days on Craigslist. Which is thrilling! We are getting more space in our house AND adding money to our Christmas Jar. Double whammy!
Our church participates in Samaritan's Purse Operation: Christmas Child shoeboxes. We purged some baby stuff & used the money to fund the mural cost & then had plenty left over for shoeboxes! It can be exhilarating! I asked Hubby if we could provide even more shoeboxes & he obliged happily! So, we have even more shoeboxes headed to sweet little toddler boys & girls. Pretty awesome.
Oh, we also have a girl's craft day. I didn't have too much planned, but brought a huge tub of stuff to play with. I started with painting letters & frames, then moved onto learning how to roll fabric rosettes, & making felt flowers. Was so much fun & refreshing to just hang out & be a bit creative for a while. We are hoping to do it once a month from now on. Here's a shot of the rosettes & flower I made for a baby girl's headband.
Cute, right?! :) I thought so.
Another picture to end the post. Our church had a Family Fun Day to celebrate 15 years. Little Bit loved jumping in the bouncy house. Here's the clearest & best picture I could snap of him:
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Ooops!
Missed posting regularly... Sorry!
I have been good, though, about meal planning. In fact, we haven't gone out to eat for an unplanned meal since then! And we seem to have plenty of leftovers, too. I have several new recipes I want to try & even froze a couple of meals in advance for future meals! Alright, huh? I'd love to do the Once A Month Cooking, but my sweet friend Melissa encouraged me to just make a meal or two at a time to start with. So, I made a double batch of chicken enchiladas; we ate one then froze the other. Yesterday, I chopped chicken, onion, carrots, broccoli, & sweet potatoes then I added Italian dressing, threw it all in a freezer bag, & into the freezer it went!
Little Bit's room will be painted this weekend in preparation for the mural my amazing friend Anna will be creating next week. Tuesday & Wednesday are the special days! Then, we will add some ledges for books, a framed baby picture, a cubby shelf for toys/books, & the hutch on top of his dresser. I'm pretty excited about getting his room all set up. Then, we can move onto his bathroom & our bedroom! Seems like it is all starting to be real! :)
I have been good, though, about meal planning. In fact, we haven't gone out to eat for an unplanned meal since then! And we seem to have plenty of leftovers, too. I have several new recipes I want to try & even froze a couple of meals in advance for future meals! Alright, huh? I'd love to do the Once A Month Cooking, but my sweet friend Melissa encouraged me to just make a meal or two at a time to start with. So, I made a double batch of chicken enchiladas; we ate one then froze the other. Yesterday, I chopped chicken, onion, carrots, broccoli, & sweet potatoes then I added Italian dressing, threw it all in a freezer bag, & into the freezer it went!
Little Bit's room will be painted this weekend in preparation for the mural my amazing friend Anna will be creating next week. Tuesday & Wednesday are the special days! Then, we will add some ledges for books, a framed baby picture, a cubby shelf for toys/books, & the hutch on top of his dresser. I'm pretty excited about getting his room all set up. Then, we can move onto his bathroom & our bedroom! Seems like it is all starting to be real! :)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
A Meal Plan... Hopefully
With Christmas coming up & past medical bills coming out of our short term savings account, I'm feeling the pressure to save more money. As much as we can. And since I know meal planning can help & have had it on my to do list for, well, months... I'm determined to do it.
Here's some considerations for MY family. Hope this helps encourage you or give you some ideas!
1.) We only buy greenwise or organic meats when we shop. (For some reason, we still eat the non-organic meats from the restaurant?) To reduce cost & receive a greater variation, we are purchasing 1/8th of a cow from a local, organic farmer. This means approximately 50-55lbs of beef will be coming our way tomorrow. Which leads to the second point, as I need more freezer space...
2.) Nick's company gave us a turkey last holiday season. I am going out on a limb here & guessing it'll still be okay as it's been frozen. I moved it to the fridge Monday afternoon to begin the thawing process. This is a 13+lb bird, so we have way more than we'll eat in one meal. So, I've researched a couple of freezer recipes & also some of my favorites (pot pie, for example) for leftovers. Nick also loves turkey sammiches, so his lunch next week is taken care of there.
3.) I get great deals on cereal, but for some reason Nick doesn't want to eat cereal every day for, umm, three years. (And ends up grabbing something from Publix or McD or Burger King which can be more expensive!) And my child likes to eat breakfast, too. Usually little one gets fruit, granola or cereal, & almond milk for breakfast. I'm becoming daring & stepping out. I decided I can either wake up & prepare breakfast for Nick before he heads to work or I can prepare something for the fridge or freezer that he can grab & go. I get stressed thinking that money is coming out of the bank account every other day, so this will help. (I think I am also going to add $20 into the budget every two weeks or so for Nick to have quick grab money just in case.)
4.) We have a teensy stockpile of pasta, sauces, dried/canned beans, & pasta. I'm using as much as I can from our pantry to plan the future meals in accordance with sale prices.
I've found some ideas for breakfast casseroles & egg muffins (like mini-quiches or mini-frittatas) that will freeze well. I can also make Nick some with peppers & mushrooms, others with spinach & cheese for all of us, or mix it up each week. This will provide a hot, non-cereal, breakfast for Nick on the go.
I am using the turkey for at least two meals made with leftover pieces of turkey PLUS Nick's lunches next week. I am using the pasta + spaghetti sauce for macaroni + meat sauce for little one. He will eat this three times a day if I let him. I plan to add in diced/sauteed zucchini with the beef for the pasta. (This means we'll use less beef & get more veggies in our diet. Also, zucchini even not on sale costs less per pound that beef!)
I also plan to make doubles of meals I create in the next week. It's not huge as far as "Once A Month Cooking" goes, but an extra two or three meals will go a long way when I am not feeling up to cooking. It will be less tempting to go out to eat, too! And eat more calories & spend more (unbudgeted) money.
Did I mention I want to lose approximately 25lbs, too? Yeah, so lots of water glasses to consumee everyday. Cutting out the soda to save money & calories.
Here goes...
October 5: dinner at church, $8 for all three of us
October 6: dinner- roast turkey, mashed taters, veggies
October 7: dinner- leftovers (don't wanna through out any food)
October 8: dinner- grilled steak, corn on the cob, salad, & mac&chz
October 9: dinner- turkey chili (crockpot), extra for freezer
October 10: dinner- turkey pot pie + salad, extra for freezer
October 11: dinner- chicken enchiladas w/ chips, extra for freezer
October 12: dinner at church, $8 for all three of us
October 13: dinner- pot roast (crock pot) w/ rice + veggies
October 14: dinner- triple cheese veggie pizza
Breakfast will consist of cereals, granola, fruit, or egg muffins.
Lunches will be leftovers from the previous nights!
I am hoping we will not be throwing ANY food away & use it up before it spoils.
My brother also gave us several pounds of home grown jalapenos & sweet potatoes, so I'm hoping to find some freezer meals to use them up. If not, we'll dice & freeze them for later use anyways! :)
I will update tomorrow with how much I'll have to spend to prepare these after my trip to Publix! Wish me luck! Any excess over our food cash envelope will go in our Christmas jar!
Here's some considerations for MY family. Hope this helps encourage you or give you some ideas!
1.) We only buy greenwise or organic meats when we shop. (For some reason, we still eat the non-organic meats from the restaurant?) To reduce cost & receive a greater variation, we are purchasing 1/8th of a cow from a local, organic farmer. This means approximately 50-55lbs of beef will be coming our way tomorrow. Which leads to the second point, as I need more freezer space...
2.) Nick's company gave us a turkey last holiday season. I am going out on a limb here & guessing it'll still be okay as it's been frozen. I moved it to the fridge Monday afternoon to begin the thawing process. This is a 13+lb bird, so we have way more than we'll eat in one meal. So, I've researched a couple of freezer recipes & also some of my favorites (pot pie, for example) for leftovers. Nick also loves turkey sammiches, so his lunch next week is taken care of there.
3.) I get great deals on cereal, but for some reason Nick doesn't want to eat cereal every day for, umm, three years. (And ends up grabbing something from Publix or McD or Burger King which can be more expensive!) And my child likes to eat breakfast, too. Usually little one gets fruit, granola or cereal, & almond milk for breakfast. I'm becoming daring & stepping out. I decided I can either wake up & prepare breakfast for Nick before he heads to work or I can prepare something for the fridge or freezer that he can grab & go. I get stressed thinking that money is coming out of the bank account every other day, so this will help. (I think I am also going to add $20 into the budget every two weeks or so for Nick to have quick grab money just in case.)
4.) We have a teensy stockpile of pasta, sauces, dried/canned beans, & pasta. I'm using as much as I can from our pantry to plan the future meals in accordance with sale prices.
I've found some ideas for breakfast casseroles & egg muffins (like mini-quiches or mini-frittatas) that will freeze well. I can also make Nick some with peppers & mushrooms, others with spinach & cheese for all of us, or mix it up each week. This will provide a hot, non-cereal, breakfast for Nick on the go.
I am using the turkey for at least two meals made with leftover pieces of turkey PLUS Nick's lunches next week. I am using the pasta + spaghetti sauce for macaroni + meat sauce for little one. He will eat this three times a day if I let him. I plan to add in diced/sauteed zucchini with the beef for the pasta. (This means we'll use less beef & get more veggies in our diet. Also, zucchini even not on sale costs less per pound that beef!)
I also plan to make doubles of meals I create in the next week. It's not huge as far as "Once A Month Cooking" goes, but an extra two or three meals will go a long way when I am not feeling up to cooking. It will be less tempting to go out to eat, too! And eat more calories & spend more (unbudgeted) money.
Did I mention I want to lose approximately 25lbs, too? Yeah, so lots of water glasses to consumee everyday. Cutting out the soda to save money & calories.
Here goes...
October 5: dinner at church, $8 for all three of us
October 6: dinner- roast turkey, mashed taters, veggies
October 7: dinner- leftovers (don't wanna through out any food)
October 8: dinner- grilled steak, corn on the cob, salad, & mac&chz
October 9: dinner- turkey chili (crockpot), extra for freezer
October 10: dinner- turkey pot pie + salad, extra for freezer
October 11: dinner- chicken enchiladas w/ chips, extra for freezer
October 12: dinner at church, $8 for all three of us
October 13: dinner- pot roast (crock pot) w/ rice + veggies
October 14: dinner- triple cheese veggie pizza
Breakfast will consist of cereals, granola, fruit, or egg muffins.
Lunches will be leftovers from the previous nights!
I am hoping we will not be throwing ANY food away & use it up before it spoils.
My brother also gave us several pounds of home grown jalapenos & sweet potatoes, so I'm hoping to find some freezer meals to use them up. If not, we'll dice & freeze them for later use anyways! :)
I will update tomorrow with how much I'll have to spend to prepare these after my trip to Publix! Wish me luck! Any excess over our food cash envelope will go in our Christmas jar!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Been A While, Ehhh?
Well, I have thought of all these posts in my head... but they have never made it to "paper". ;)
Since the end of June, we've experienced some of the roughest moments of our lives, but also some very rewarding & inspiring moments. God has been good to us.
I mentioned impending fertility treatments in the last post. We were thrilled to find out we were expecting our second child only to be crushed two weeks later when we found our little baby had stopped developing. We are still mourning this amazing miracle, but hold tight to the other awesome blessings God has given us.
The miscarriage has brought a myriad of emotions to the surface.
I felt embarrassed to have prayed for these little babies God gave us. The night before, I begged for God to have given us both of the little embryos He provided to us. I asked that He might somehow allow us to meet both of those children.
I feel so hopeless & angry even as to why it has to be so stinkin' hard. I am aware some women can skip over a miscarriage & some are saddened, but I still feel crushed. To go through so much to GET pregnant, then lose that baby? I just feel like I'm not going to "get over it" anytime soon. I am hesitant to endure another cycle of treatments to go through this again.
I am almost ready to accept we will be blessed with only child. I feel so much of my life has been consumed with whether or not we'll get pregnant. It's so hard & frustrating & I'm ready to end the our journery through infertility. I guess if we do one more cycle (mostly covered by insurance), I feel I will have closure either way.
I feel like so many areas of my life have been neglected. I plan to take at least the next three months to change that. Staying busy helps keep my thoughts from getting bad. Since losing the baby, I have completely cleared out the room that will be known as the Health & Vitality Room (AKA workout room) but looked more like the Junk Room. The floor was completely covered in unpacked boxes, books, crafting products, everything!! It is now cleared out... only a table we are selling & some items that need to be returned to their rightful owners! I have gone in that room several times in the last week when I need to decompress a bit. That room was so overwhelming; I felt like even though I'd spend hours in there, I wasn't make a dent! But, it's done!
In addition to the house, I feel many parts of my life are disorganized. I love to coupon & they end up all over the place hiding from me. And I have extra, unnecessary, items in the kitchen/pantry/laundry closet/bedroom/HOUSE! ;) So, I've begun clearing out the junk. Parting with many items to clear out the space to "breathe" in my home. Just getting sick of the "One day I will..." mentality & just doing it. Grocery & meal planning instead of ending up at the restuarant every other night!
My weight has slowing crept up prior to pregnancy & just hasn't gone completely down to baseline since! So, we have begun a DVD workout series (Insanity, yikes!) & I'm committed to losing the weight. My goal by the end of the year is 20lbs. Hopefully more!
Well, there's a decent intro on the future posts I'll be sharing soon. Clearing the Clutter, Scheduling My Chores, Getting Healthy, & Budgeting! ;) Maybe a picture or two will make it onto the blog posts, too!
Have a wonderful week everyone!
Since the end of June, we've experienced some of the roughest moments of our lives, but also some very rewarding & inspiring moments. God has been good to us.
I mentioned impending fertility treatments in the last post. We were thrilled to find out we were expecting our second child only to be crushed two weeks later when we found our little baby had stopped developing. We are still mourning this amazing miracle, but hold tight to the other awesome blessings God has given us.
The miscarriage has brought a myriad of emotions to the surface.
I felt embarrassed to have prayed for these little babies God gave us. The night before, I begged for God to have given us both of the little embryos He provided to us. I asked that He might somehow allow us to meet both of those children.
I feel so hopeless & angry even as to why it has to be so stinkin' hard. I am aware some women can skip over a miscarriage & some are saddened, but I still feel crushed. To go through so much to GET pregnant, then lose that baby? I just feel like I'm not going to "get over it" anytime soon. I am hesitant to endure another cycle of treatments to go through this again.
I am almost ready to accept we will be blessed with only child. I feel so much of my life has been consumed with whether or not we'll get pregnant. It's so hard & frustrating & I'm ready to end the our journery through infertility. I guess if we do one more cycle (mostly covered by insurance), I feel I will have closure either way.
I feel like so many areas of my life have been neglected. I plan to take at least the next three months to change that. Staying busy helps keep my thoughts from getting bad. Since losing the baby, I have completely cleared out the room that will be known as the Health & Vitality Room (AKA workout room) but looked more like the Junk Room. The floor was completely covered in unpacked boxes, books, crafting products, everything!! It is now cleared out... only a table we are selling & some items that need to be returned to their rightful owners! I have gone in that room several times in the last week when I need to decompress a bit. That room was so overwhelming; I felt like even though I'd spend hours in there, I wasn't make a dent! But, it's done!
In addition to the house, I feel many parts of my life are disorganized. I love to coupon & they end up all over the place hiding from me. And I have extra, unnecessary, items in the kitchen/pantry/laundry closet/bedroom/HOUSE! ;) So, I've begun clearing out the junk. Parting with many items to clear out the space to "breathe" in my home. Just getting sick of the "One day I will..." mentality & just doing it. Grocery & meal planning instead of ending up at the restuarant every other night!
My weight has slowing crept up prior to pregnancy & just hasn't gone completely down to baseline since! So, we have begun a DVD workout series (Insanity, yikes!) & I'm committed to losing the weight. My goal by the end of the year is 20lbs. Hopefully more!
Well, there's a decent intro on the future posts I'll be sharing soon. Clearing the Clutter, Scheduling My Chores, Getting Healthy, & Budgeting! ;) Maybe a picture or two will make it onto the blog posts, too!
Have a wonderful week everyone!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Quick Catch-Up!
Since the last blog post, I have become a full time stay at home Momma... only. No more night shifts at the hospital. I miss my coworkers and I miss our extra income and I miss my job as a Labor & Delivery nurse... but I missed so much more of Elias... I feel like a new person since making the decision to only be a Momma.
Since then, we have been doing lots of fun stuff. For two of the three weeks I have stopped working at the hospital, our nieces stayed with us. I didn't get much done at all in the way of cleaning, organizing, or unpacking. But we have had lots of water playtime & E and I have had lots of snuggle time.
I have a wiggle worm in my lap right now, so I will just resort to bullet points...
** At nearly 22 months old, the little one is weaned. We weren't able to self-wean as I'd hoped due to impending fertility treatments. But, we have been able to snuggle a lot to make up for it & he is loving his almond milk.
** I had a "minor" surgery to remove a uterine polyp prior to moving on with IVF. That was not fun.
** I have made small accomplishments in the playroom. Hope to do more in the next weekends.
** Our first home had become a rental property when we purchased our current home. The tenants broke their 12mth lease & we are sort of scrambling to find new tenants. We have lots of yard work to do there to prepare for new tenants, but praying we can get someone in by July 1. Yes, we know it's only 4 days away...
** Our IVF #2 start date is July 19th. Two days after our anniversary. By my calculations, we should know by mid August if we are pregnant or not.
** E has become enamored with trucks and matchbox cars. He lines them all up. Real life tractors, golfcarts, tires, anything to do with outside stuff. He loves to wear his Daddy's work gloves. He loves to give kisses & goofy smiles.
** E still signs for us. Mostly: please, drink, water, bath, sleep. He SAYS: Momma, please, dog, Sydney, Dadda, bath, one-two-three, cookie, fish, turtle, & more that I can't think of...
** He loves cheddar cheese, almond milk, goldfish, peanuts, strawberries, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce/salad, hummus, ranch dressing, PB&Js, cookies, spaghetti, Mexican beans & rice. And the junk food his Momma might have... ;)
** We are back to cloth diapers & lots of diaper free time. We have little potty-s on both levels of the house & he frequently sits on them. We are still working on USING the potty! No pressure, just introduction.
Well, I think it is nap time for my little buddy, so we will head upstairs. I have plenty of towels to fold & another load of laundry to start! Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!
Since then, we have been doing lots of fun stuff. For two of the three weeks I have stopped working at the hospital, our nieces stayed with us. I didn't get much done at all in the way of cleaning, organizing, or unpacking. But we have had lots of water playtime & E and I have had lots of snuggle time.
I have a wiggle worm in my lap right now, so I will just resort to bullet points...
** At nearly 22 months old, the little one is weaned. We weren't able to self-wean as I'd hoped due to impending fertility treatments. But, we have been able to snuggle a lot to make up for it & he is loving his almond milk.
** I had a "minor" surgery to remove a uterine polyp prior to moving on with IVF. That was not fun.
** I have made small accomplishments in the playroom. Hope to do more in the next weekends.
** Our first home had become a rental property when we purchased our current home. The tenants broke their 12mth lease & we are sort of scrambling to find new tenants. We have lots of yard work to do there to prepare for new tenants, but praying we can get someone in by July 1. Yes, we know it's only 4 days away...
** Our IVF #2 start date is July 19th. Two days after our anniversary. By my calculations, we should know by mid August if we are pregnant or not.
** E has become enamored with trucks and matchbox cars. He lines them all up. Real life tractors, golfcarts, tires, anything to do with outside stuff. He loves to wear his Daddy's work gloves. He loves to give kisses & goofy smiles.
** E still signs for us. Mostly: please, drink, water, bath, sleep. He SAYS: Momma, please, dog, Sydney, Dadda, bath, one-two-three, cookie, fish, turtle, & more that I can't think of...
** He loves cheddar cheese, almond milk, goldfish, peanuts, strawberries, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce/salad, hummus, ranch dressing, PB&Js, cookies, spaghetti, Mexican beans & rice. And the junk food his Momma might have... ;)
** We are back to cloth diapers & lots of diaper free time. We have little potty-s on both levels of the house & he frequently sits on them. We are still working on USING the potty! No pressure, just introduction.
Well, I think it is nap time for my little buddy, so we will head upstairs. I have plenty of towels to fold & another load of laundry to start! Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
I Have Dreams
Of finally feeling "caught up".
Of seeing another "+" sign on a pregnancy test.
Of enjoying my sweet son for the rest of my life.
Of becoming who God wants me to be.
Of loving the amazing husband I have been blessed.
Of encouraging & supporting my friends.
Of providing hope to anyone I can.
Of feeling like my house is in order.
Of having my house set up how I want it.
Of making a home-cooked meal every night.
Whew. I feel that at this exact moment I am just barely staying afloat. I have several things in the works to alleviate this pressure as much as I possibly can. In less than two weeks, it will be better.
It will be better.
I will begin working on all those dreams & hope to continue sharing them through blog-land because I love looking back at old posts. Through nursing school & pregnancy... I never would have those memories set without my blogs!
Hope you all have a wonderful Monday. I will be resting in preparation for working Monday night!! And doing some housework. Start working on those dreams early!! :)
Of seeing another "+" sign on a pregnancy test.
Of enjoying my sweet son for the rest of my life.
Of becoming who God wants me to be.
Of loving the amazing husband I have been blessed.
Of encouraging & supporting my friends.
Of providing hope to anyone I can.
Of feeling like my house is in order.
Of having my house set up how I want it.
Of making a home-cooked meal every night.
Whew. I feel that at this exact moment I am just barely staying afloat. I have several things in the works to alleviate this pressure as much as I possibly can. In less than two weeks, it will be better.
It will be better.
I will begin working on all those dreams & hope to continue sharing them through blog-land because I love looking back at old posts. Through nursing school & pregnancy... I never would have those memories set without my blogs!
Hope you all have a wonderful Monday. I will be resting in preparation for working Monday night!! And doing some housework. Start working on those dreams early!! :)
Friday, January 14, 2011
14/365: Hmm...
Did I say I'd post every day? Maybe I meant like a post for each day that may be posted AFTER the fact...
;)
Working nights has kind of hindered the posting thing, but it is still on my mind!!
Working night shifts hasn't been as hard as I was worried about. Squishy has been awesome with allowing me to nap at least 5 hours (between several catnaps & one afternoon nap); even 7hrs yesterday! He has handled sleeping with Momma very well, too. No fussing or anything... just lays down & goes right to sleep! Such a contrast to how it is when I am home!! He fusses & cries & screams until I lay down with him & snuggle & nurse!
Today, we stayed in town & napped @ my brother & sister-in-law's house so that we could hang out with my Mom this afternoon. I slept through my alarm & the lunch date we had planned, but met later @ the mall. Got some awesome clearance deals @ Sears (my Mom, that is) & Old Navy (finally got my skinny jeans & some cute stuff for Squishy, too). A great dinner @ the Mexican restaurant & then we came home!
Have some chores planned for tomorrow through the afternoon & then we are heading into town to hang out with some friends from church. Looking forward to it!!
Wish I had a picture to share tonight, but glad to have some stuff to update about.
PS: In case you are wondering... I am nearing the end of my 13wk orientation period. I have learned a lot but still have SO MUCH to learn. My preceptors have been awesome & very encouraging. I know that once I am on my own, I will have support from the other nurses to help me through. There are nights I wonder if I should have returned to work & there are nights that I am proud to be a working nurse AND stay at home Momma. I will have to figure out the correct schedule of shifts, but once that happens I think it will be easier. So far, I have worked 3days/nights in a row most weeks, but will be trying to work 2nights in a row, then a weekend night. We will see how it works out! :)
OH, here's a picture... this little tube sure helps me get through the night w/out soda or coffee...
It really helps!
Tomorrow, I will post more about the signs Squishy has been using! He has made up a couple of his own & learned many from us! So nice to have a bit of insight as to what he wants!! :)
;)
Working nights has kind of hindered the posting thing, but it is still on my mind!!
Working night shifts hasn't been as hard as I was worried about. Squishy has been awesome with allowing me to nap at least 5 hours (between several catnaps & one afternoon nap); even 7hrs yesterday! He has handled sleeping with Momma very well, too. No fussing or anything... just lays down & goes right to sleep! Such a contrast to how it is when I am home!! He fusses & cries & screams until I lay down with him & snuggle & nurse!
Today, we stayed in town & napped @ my brother & sister-in-law's house so that we could hang out with my Mom this afternoon. I slept through my alarm & the lunch date we had planned, but met later @ the mall. Got some awesome clearance deals @ Sears (my Mom, that is) & Old Navy (finally got my skinny jeans & some cute stuff for Squishy, too). A great dinner @ the Mexican restaurant & then we came home!
Have some chores planned for tomorrow through the afternoon & then we are heading into town to hang out with some friends from church. Looking forward to it!!
Wish I had a picture to share tonight, but glad to have some stuff to update about.
PS: In case you are wondering... I am nearing the end of my 13wk orientation period. I have learned a lot but still have SO MUCH to learn. My preceptors have been awesome & very encouraging. I know that once I am on my own, I will have support from the other nurses to help me through. There are nights I wonder if I should have returned to work & there are nights that I am proud to be a working nurse AND stay at home Momma. I will have to figure out the correct schedule of shifts, but once that happens I think it will be easier. So far, I have worked 3days/nights in a row most weeks, but will be trying to work 2nights in a row, then a weekend night. We will see how it works out! :)
OH, here's a picture... this little tube sure helps me get through the night w/out soda or coffee...
It really helps!
Tomorrow, I will post more about the signs Squishy has been using! He has made up a couple of his own & learned many from us! So nice to have a bit of insight as to what he wants!! :)
Thursday, January 6, 2011
6/365: Missing Me Some Soda...
I haven't had Cherry Coke for over a week... no soda of any kind since last Saturday. Yes, I'm addicted. I have been good with water & my vitamin/energy drink, but I'm seriously craving one of these...
Not too much more to say about today. Squishy allowed me to sleep well this morning, we played a lot, & then he told his Daddy all about it when he got home from work. We met my parent for a quick dinner of yummy black bean soup & biscuits, then came home! I am working a bit on budgeting for this month & then going to bed. Both boys are already asleep.
Finished out my first week of nights. Not too bad, but definitely will take some getting used to. There is a self-scheduling set up for the floor... it's not guaranteed that you will get the schedule you request, but I set mine for 2 nights in a row, then 1 night on the weekends. I figured this will allow me more time to see the boys during the week nights & not have such exhaustion with staying at home with the baby during the days. On the weekend, I can prepare with a short nap & recoup with a short nap after church on Sunday mornings! Since it's scheduling 6+ weeks in advance, I won't know how this schedule will work for me until then, but I will learn what works for us in time. I am also still pretty overwhelmed with all the details that entail the job, but have great teachers so I'm trusting it will slowly come more naturally to me.
That said, finishing up my budget... then to sleep! Have a wonderful Friday! I look forward to spending some time with a great friend that I haven't hung out with since October! I miss her! :) We will partake of queso, chips, & Cherry coke!
Not too much more to say about today. Squishy allowed me to sleep well this morning, we played a lot, & then he told his Daddy all about it when he got home from work. We met my parent for a quick dinner of yummy black bean soup & biscuits, then came home! I am working a bit on budgeting for this month & then going to bed. Both boys are already asleep.
Finished out my first week of nights. Not too bad, but definitely will take some getting used to. There is a self-scheduling set up for the floor... it's not guaranteed that you will get the schedule you request, but I set mine for 2 nights in a row, then 1 night on the weekends. I figured this will allow me more time to see the boys during the week nights & not have such exhaustion with staying at home with the baby during the days. On the weekend, I can prepare with a short nap & recoup with a short nap after church on Sunday mornings! Since it's scheduling 6+ weeks in advance, I won't know how this schedule will work for me until then, but I will learn what works for us in time. I am also still pretty overwhelmed with all the details that entail the job, but have great teachers so I'm trusting it will slowly come more naturally to me.
That said, finishing up my budget... then to sleep! Have a wonderful Friday! I look forward to spending some time with a great friend that I haven't hung out with since October! I miss her! :) We will partake of queso, chips, & Cherry coke!
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