Waiting is More Fun With Friends

It took them quite a while to show this much...both Vanessa and Gret had abs of steel, so they are still carrying much smaller than I am. But here we are at Vanessa's shower.




I'm looking forward to the "After" picture, with the three babies held by the three Daddies.

For our own story, we are packed and ready to go! Andy has packed all the gear we've deemed necessary for the birthing process twice now, in hopes that we would not need it and then in hopes that we would. We went up to Kurt's parents' cabin in Vermont to celebrate the Annual Game Dinner against the advice of all. We had a grand time and are very happy that we didn't miss it. Pictures have yet to be downloaded.

Then, on Thanksgiving day, we stayed close to the hospital and went to dinner at a friend's house in Vernon. Carrie threw down some serious food, and it was a delight to sample her cornbread stuffing -different than my usual but sooooo good! She had four kinds of vegetables, not including the potatoes, and her sister-in-law brought 4 kinds of pie! Matt and Carrie welcomed two co-workers from Vancouver as well. One was originally from Hong Kong, and the other from England. Lots of fun stories.

But we missed our own families' celebrations for nothing, because no contractions were to be had. Wednesday, I spent the day cooking up 20 meals for the freezer, and when that didn't work, I spent Friday baking muffins, biscuits, and cobblers for the freezer. I was rewarded that night with some pre-labor contractions that got regular enough that we started writing them down, but they disappeared as soon as I went to bed. Good thing we decided to get some sleep, even though we hoped to be woken at 3am with more serious labor. We awoke at 8am well-rested, anyway.

House and Homeschool Catchup

Two weekends ago, Mom and Dad Worster came down to paint the nursery for us. It was a huge help. After one of the coats was done, Andy-who-never-takes-breaks set out to install two cabinets near our back door (which was replaced the weekend before). The cabinets are my so-called "launch pad" and this is a place where stuff can be set that has to leave with us. It includes a special place for keys and mittens, and Logan keeps his baseball gloves and a few balls in there, too. Dad consulted and um, encouraged Andy to go ahead with the plan rather than refigure it for the fifth time.


Here is the chart that Logan's been working on for the Month of October. We took a temperature reading every morning before school started to get the data. The blocks show how many days had temps in that 10-degree range.

Then we did it this way:


To show how it got colder and warmer through the month.

Surprise from Grandma

There was a big surprise in the mail today! "Wow, I guess I don't have to wait all the way 'til Christmas!"



Cool! All the flags of the world!



And Ghosty spoons, and Jack-o-lantern straws, and a trick-or-treating in Outer Space story, and a composition book, and...too many things to mention. It's enough to wear you out...



Thank you Grandma! I am a really lucky boy.

Logan DID it!

Logan has just finished his first Reader book! He is rather proud of himself, and did a lot of extra reading to finish it this week. Here is the Certificate of Completion that will proudly hang on Dad's fridge.

We are T-6 weeks now! Only 4 more weeks of work left for me. Andy and I are down to two more classes, then we'll be ready to go.

Logan and I tried a new group this week on Tuesday, and it turned out real well for both of us. Andy's friend, Carey invited me to come to a Mothers of PreSchoolers (MOPS)meeting at a church here in town. Although it's not the church she and her husband attend, it's one of those larger churches that can afford to put on lots of national programs. We went because they not only have childcare for all the 0 - 5's but also a homeschool room. I figured this would be a new opportunity for Logan to meet/hang around with other Christian homeschooling kids while I got some support in being a new mother again.

Logan's group worked on whatever the moms sent the kids in with- mostly their math workbooks and small writing assignments. I had wondered if older kids might help younger kids, but all of them seemed about elementary age. 45 minutes later, they had snack and recess, and then did a short service project for the sponsor church, and a craft project (collected leaves and ironed them into some wax paper). Great time for him.

For me, there were lots of fun women to get to know and plenty of yummy healthy food for us to nosh on. There was a speaker, and usually there's a small group discussion regarding the speaker's talk afterwards. There was craft time for us, which turned out to be fun because of all the brainstorming involved...it reminded me of an Olympics of the Mind exercize. So that'll happen twice a month - 2nd and 4th Tuesdays.

Logan and I struggled with introducing subtraction this week. I thought that the flip-relationship between addition and subtraction was a great concept as introduced in the text, but he says he gets mixed up, and I suspect he'd rather have some clarity before putting it all together. So we abandoned the book, and took out the flashcards. I gave him some bingo dots to use for counting, and then we divided groups of dots to go along with each subtraction sentence. For each, he said not only the full sentence that was originally on the card, but the other three related facts that went with it. We'll do that three of four more times, and I think he'll see it better.

He jumped ahead in his reading this week in part because he likes reading to me. I've taken to knitting so that I don't even look at the page, and this is working so much better. I just stop him to check comprehension (put the sentence together after you sound out all the words) and ask about a word in the sentence if the whole thing doesn't make sense because he's skipped or guessed wrong on one or more of the words. Between that and wanting to know what happens next in the stories, we read 6 lessons this week instead of four.

Science is looking underground at utilities and subways. I'm going to order a little colony of worms to help with composting through the winter, and Logan is totally looking forward to having worms!!

Still no renter as of today. Showing tonight, and I have one who, if he follows up with me over the weekend, looks good.

8 weeks left

This picture is from when Logan and I took a field trip to the Big E a few weeks ago.

Today, Logan and I went again to the OB doctor's office. This time, he had a new logic game, the Zoombinis, (from the makers of Carmen Sandiego) to which he has gotten totally addicted in the last three days. I grabbed it from the library on a homeschooling knitterly friend's advice (and her daughter, who said the game is totally awesome). So Logan played his game in another room while I had a chat with the doctor. We came to some better agreements this week than the last time I had met with her.

I also had an interview over at the hospital to see if I could participate in a grant-funded program where they supply qualified moms with a doula for the birth (for free!) A doula is an advocate and support to the process that I want for the birth. I want her to be the one to think of other options if what I'm doing in labor isn't working, and be a go-between if the medical team has a concern so I don't feel defensive. She can advocate for (or at least list out) other options when intervention becomes necessary. I am so excited about this prospect! It really relieves me of self-advocacy during labor and takes substantial pressure off of Andy for coming up with solutions. Now we can both just be ourselves and enjoy/do what's best for whatever comes of this delivery. We would meet with the doula before labor to create the plan and the best practices list. Working with a doula has been shown to substantially increase the success rate of a natural birth after a c-section.
PS my glucose test came back well within normal range (surprise!) and baby has been consistantly measuring (fundus height) just right.

At the end of this week, we will be a quarter of the way through our school year! With the early start that we took, we're about to finish week 9.

We missed Geography club this week because of my doctor's appointment. In our history section, Logan and I have been exploring ancient Egypt, and today we finished a book about "King Tut" and how his tomb was found by an English explorer. Later in the week, he'll have a project about hieroglyphics and a temple. Our Saturday Night Movie Night tradition of opening the hide-a-bed and having way too much popcorn in the dark featured "Prince of Egypt" this week.

We're almost finished with Charlotte's Web. Wilbur has just been packed up for the fair, with Charlotte and Templeton hiding in the crate with him.

In math, Logan is working on sums up to 10, units of measurement, and we've graphed the temperature readings at 8am daily.

Scientist Logan is sprouting alphalfa seeds, both in a jar and in soil. He's also looking at leaves, measuring precipitation, checking for dew in the morning, and reading about the earth in a new unit on earth science. He has a science scrap book to show you!

Logan's reading has jumped ahead, and he's really getting somewhere now! I consulted with my friend Maria, who was a reading specialist before she opted to stay home with her kids. Changes in me have made a huge difference in Logan.

We are still searching for a renter. I've got an appointment to show it tomorrow morning to a person who sounded great over the phone. The "other" house next door to us finally sold last month, and I see that they closed on it this past week, but did not move in during the weekend. We are wondering what keeps them, and so we're waiting on the cookies and introductions for now.

All he needs for Christmas is...

Two front teeth!

After two weeks of snaggletooth, it finally came out. The second front tooth took to hanging diagonally in the extra space provided by the first tooth coming out.

We went for my glucose test this morning. Logan finished his handwriting and math before we went, and then we packed up his math game, letter and word cards, and all the reading we had to do for the day and off we went. He did math while we waited to register. We read a book about measuring time while we waited for the nasty orange drink. He watched as a vile of blood was drawn. He read to me while we waited for an hour to go by, and we read a chapter in Charlotte's Web. Then a surprise! Mommy needed a shot to counteract the Rh- issue, so upstairs to the birthing center we went (I knew I needed it, but I didn't realize it would be today). Logan figured at this time that he was having a much better day than I was, with two needles so far and one more to go. He made words with his letter cards and got a Curious George story, and then finally we were done.

We tried LL Bean for slippers for him, but the small "outlet" store only has the back to school stuff out, not the winter stuff, except for a few snow-pants and parkas. We measured his feet (size 13, but boots will have to be a 1), and then came home.

Yesterday, we went to Geography club for 6 - 8 year old home-schoolers. I was disappointed to find all girls there, but we'll try it for another few meetings. They won't have any meetings in January, which is perfect for us!

I'm having a terrible time getting photos in today. I have a little card full of pictures, but my computer is ignoring it, and won't acknowledge its presence. ugh, later, then. The peaches are calling. Must process before fruit flies hear of the bounty.

A New Routine

Hello to everyone!

From within our homeschooling routines, I'm hoping I can use this blog to communicate with you all regularly this fall. It's exciting stuff: We've got Bun Watch as well as homeschool adventures, and our new house. Plenty of pictures to share.

I'm now 27 weeks in the pregnancy. The glucose test will be next week Wednesday. My weight and blood pressure have been just fine, and my rings still fit. The number of pillows used to sleep comfortably varies night to night.

Tuesday, Logan and I went to IKEA to get a cabinet to add to the kitchen. It'll become part of our "launch pad" which is where you keep keys, boots, stuff you need to take on the next trip, etc. Right now, that stuff is on the end of the kitchen counter, and that's got to stop if I'm going to attempt to keep counters cleared between uses. I hope to assemble the cabinet today and set it in place, but it will be without a counter-top until Andy can cut one from the left-over counter-top from what used to be my office. We already cut into that one for the top of the new dishwasher in the apartment. Turned out pretty well!

Yesterday, Logan and I went out to the farm stands and the co-op. We do all of the school work in the mornings (with recess!)and then we've got the afternoons to take care of business or go do something fun or MORE educational stuff. This afternoon we're planning to hike Case Mountain, because you can see Hartford from the top...and because it's 5 minutes away. It's also not very big. Logan hiked it once before, when he was 2 or 3.

I have pears to can from our farmstand trip yesterday, and made a deal with the farmer that I'd be back on Monday afternoon for peaches seconds for canning. This past saturday, I came upon tomato seconds at the farmers' market, perfect for diced tomato canning, and did up 12 quarts.