This is our fifth year of official homeschooling - I cannot believe it! What a way we've come. We've learned so much about each other, about our teaching methods, about our children's methods, about how to work even better together. It has been SUCH a beautiful journey.
As with any journey, we have our ups and downs. Some weeks are just wonderful - everyone is in a good mood, the lessons go well, we have lots of fun with our special units and crafts, the house is clean (mostly), we aren't exhausted - I LOVE those weeks. Then we have those nasty little weeks that creep in where someone's not feeling well, or we're unusually tired, or school becomes more of a chore than a joy. I do not love those weeks. But hey, they make the better weeks even more sweet don't they? Plus, it's through those 'blah' weeks where we become refined, refocused, and redisciplined. Count it all joy when you encounter various trials. Count it all joy.
We're beginning the 7 weeks of 4 birthdays this weekend. Doodle turns 9!! I can't believe it! It seems like just yesterday I was holding my beautiful, cheesy baby girl and seeing her eyes just bore into my soul. It's been such a joy to watch her grow up. I thank the Lord for the years we've had and pray we have many more to come.
Buddy turns 3 the following week. A few weeks ago I was mentally going over my pregancy with him - all of the ups and all of the very many downs. From April 1 to his birthday, September 4, we had many emotional struggles - almost every appointment in fact. It started with my blood work coming back abnormally and having to be rushed into the doctor - they were afraid either he had died, there were two of him, we were much further along, or I had gestational diabetes. After a tearfilled ultra sound it was confirmed he was alive, there was just one, and the due date was fine - but he wasn't large enough to rule out down syndrome or spina bifida (two other things that could result in the abnormal blood work). I would have to have monthly ultra sounds to determine if there were any errors. After the sixth month of pregnancy, we were 90% sure he would be fine. There was an appointment where they couldn't find his heartbeat and I just laid on the table, with little five year old Lulu at my side, and just prayed and prayed. After an exhausting five minutes, they found it. Then at 7 months they discovered a cyst on his brain. These cysts usually disolve without any complications (in fact Lulu had the vary same cyst on her brain at 7 months). At about this same time I started measuring very large. Turns out I had too much amniotic fluid, which puts the baby at risk for cord strangulation, heart problems, and lung problems. Great, just bring it on - I'm emotionally exhausted at this point. This now requires ultrasounds every two weeks. This continues to be monitored until I deliver the little guy. When I just entered my final month of pregnancy, an ultra sound revealed a very lethargic baby - no movement, not much activity. I had to be hooked up to a monitor for over an hour in an attempt to pick up some activity. The doctor was VERY concerned. Which completely freaked me out. I was also alone at the appiontment - Ryan at home with our brood, my parents away in Hawaii (it was actually my mom's birthday). The doctor said that if he doesn't start moving in five minutes, he's sending me over to the hospital (right next door) for monitoring and possible delivery. Then he left the room and I prayed/cried and voila - he started moving!! But, this brought on even more constant monitoring. I was now prescribed soda before every appointment and ultra sound - yes.. The doctor actually prescribed me a can or two of soda to drink before every appointment (which were weekly and twice/weekly now.. I'm not a soda person - so this wasn't exactly pleasant).
Ok, wow.. LONG story short - four weeks and many ultra sounds later, he was delivered via c-section and weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces. They thought he'd be 10-12 pounds - he fooled us all! I had complciations from the delivery and guess what I was prescribed - caffeine, in the form of soda. So my affair with soda didn't end until he was a few weeks old. Boy was I glad to finish drinking those things! Now I'm exhausted from writing all of that out - wow! But it's amazingly theraputic.
Now he's a vibrant, normal, and typical almost three-year-old boy and he brings SUCH joy to our chaotic family.
So school has started, the birthday extravaganza begins, and we're ready for whatever comes our way (I think..).
