Schooling

A big discussion in our house for the past year has been about schooling for Caroline. Did we want to send her to a Mother's Morning Out program or keep her home with me? Did we want to look into private preschool that would feed her into a private Elementary school? Did we want to home school her? Did we want to unschool her? (Have y'all heard of this? It's a new approach to schooling...basically you don't send your child to school or home school, you just teach them from everyday experiences. We didn't actually consider it. :) ) She's still very young, and in our state you don't legally have to have your child enrolled in school until they're 7. So, we have time. However, we want to plan ahead and have plenty of time for prayer on the subject, so we've been doing just that.



We still haven't decided what we're going to do for the long haul, but for now, she's home with me and we're beginning some preschooling. We're working with the Letter of the Week curriculum. Right now we're doing the Preparatory Curriculum. It's going well. The first week our subject was cows. We read books about cows, colored pictures of cows, found cows in our community, looked for them as we drove around, (Chick-fil-a has a huge blow-up cow on their roof. She LOVES this.) and pretended to be cows. She knows where a cow lives, what it looks like, what it eats, what it gives us, what a baby cow is called, and the noise a cow makes. She really loved the material we covered. We also learned about squares and searched a magazine for them. We cut them out and glued them onto construction paper. We learned about the letter "A" and colored one and talked about words that begin with "A."



I figure, if nothing else, I'm setting aside specific time for just Caroline and me. Time like that is never a waste. We're moving on to Jungle next week.



In other news, life is joyous. Landon is doing great. I've begun to cluster feed him in the evenings. That means I feed him every hour for several hours leading up to bedtime. We also started swaddling him. He did not like to be swaddled at first, but we gave it another try and it's wonderful. Between the cluster feeding and swaddling, he's sleeping a lot better at night. I feed him for the last time around 10, then he goes down and is sleeping until 3. Woohoo! I feed him again at 3 and then he's down until between 6-7. We're loving all the rest!



Life is good.





War Eagle!

Provisions

We had a good weekend. We didn't do too much, just watched football and worked around the house. Nothing too spectacular, but it was good nonetheless. Time spent with the family is always good!



There is a little country church about an hour and a half from here. It's a very small community and they only have about 10 members. Summer of 2009, when Aaron was laid off from his job, the Lord provided for us using that group. Their preacher had a stroke and had to be out for several weeks. They called our church to see if any of the men would be willing to come preach. Aaron, never having preached before, went one Sunday. I was teaching Sunday School, so I wasn't able to go with him. Anyway, he returned and I was surprised to learn they had paid him a small amount for coming. We weren't expecting that. He said that he also mentioned the loss of his job in his sermon as an illustration (I believe he preached on not worrying about tomorrow). After services, they offered Aaron the job until their regular preacher could return. What an unexpected way for the Lord to provide for us! That small check every week made it possible for us to survive while Aaron was without a job.


(4 weeks old)

So he went. I got a substitute for one Sunday and Caroline and I went with him. I was pregnant at the time, and the church there was so happy and excited for us. When I miscarried, it was a comfort to know they were also praying for us. We had extended our church family.



On Wednesday of this past week, their preacher called Aaron. He had to be out of town Sunday and needed some help. He's called a few other times during the year. So we went out there yesterday morning and Aaron preached. I was, unfortunately, not able to catch much of the sermon. Like I said, this is a small church. The building is adequate, but tiny. There are no Bible classes for Caroline's age. There is no nursery to take Landon to when it's time to nurse. It was difficult. Landon was fussy. Even after eating, I still had a hard time calming him down. We sat on the very back row. Caroline had a bag of books with her. I needed to change his diaper. No changing table or station. I had my changing pad with me, so I went out into the lobby and closed the door. Caroline didn't want to come, and instead of causing a scene by making her get up, I let her stay on the bench. She was coloring. I could see her through the glass on the door. She was an angel. Sat there the entire time I was changing him (on the floor), and didn't make a peep. When I came back in, I pulled her close and whispered how proud I was of her and gave her a hug and kiss. The grin she gave me said it all. She needs my praise, love, and affection. Probably a bit more now than she needed before Landon arrived. I wish I could have caught her smile. She was proud of herself, and she should be! We were so proud of her.



We're having our gospel meeting this week with Paul Sheehan. He is hands down one of the.best.speakers.I've.ever.heard. Last night he spoke of not being ashamed of the gospel of Christ. After his lesson, we sang "I'm not Ashamed to Own my Lord." The last verse of that song always gets me choked up.

"Then will He own my worthless name before His Father's face? And in the new Jerusalem, appoint for me a place."

I've got chills just writing it out. Will my name be there? Am I living a life that is pleasing to my heavenly Father and His Son? It's something to think about an act on.

If you're in our area, I highly recommend coming to hear him. We're meeting every morning at 10 and every evening at 7. You will be uplifted.


(4 weeks old)

I hope you all have a great week! I know mine will be wonderful and exhausting, but so worth it!

Life Well Spent

As I'm typing, my children are "playing" together in Landon's room. Caroline pulled her pink wagon full of blocks in there and while he lays on the floor, she's building a tower up around him. I love that she loves to be with him. She was playing upstairs a bit ago while I was feeding him downstairs. I coughed twice and both times heard her little voice, "Are you ok?" I love how she loves me and looks after ME. When he cries, she checks on him. I had to run get something and left them in the room for a moment and he cried. I heard her telling him, "It's ok Landon, don't be afraid." PRECIOUS.



Life is fun and tiring, and while I love every minute, I have to say, it's hard. I haven't had any time for myself, which I think will continue for the next, oh, 18 years or so. I'm praying that I will always cherish the times I have with my children, but there are times I am selfish and just want to sleep or eat without noise. Without crying. Without whining. Without someone needing to go potty the moment I pour myself some tea. I pray for love and patience.



We waited the recommended 4 weeks, but Landon now has a paci. It's nice, but not the miracle worker I had hoped it would be. We haven't given him a bottle yet of expressed milk, but I think that will be coming this week. He'll be 6 weeks on Wednesday and I think it's safe to do so now. I need help with the nightime feedings. He still wakes every 2 1/2-3 hours and it's taking a toll on me. Aaron is happy and more than willing to help, so we're going to try it. I hope it works! Having help with one feeding will be joyous!



I hope this post has not come off as me complaining. I do not mean it that way at all. In addition to friends, grandparents, great-grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins read this and they like to know all the ends and outs of our life. Even the bad parts. This way, I only have to say it all once and then we can chat about it later over the phone without having to go into everything all over again. I also find it somewhat cathargic to get it all out there. I always kept diaries when I was growing up and this has become a sort of diary for me.



My sweet husband made coffee for me this morning. I was overjoyed when I smelled it brewing. Aaron is so thoughful in many, many ways, but this isn't something he does on a regular basis. I was so touched by the gesture.



At night Landon is still in our room, but for naps this week, I'm trying him out in his crib. I think Caroline and I are keeping him awake in our room. Our daily life revolves around the kitchen, living room, and bathroom, all which are close to our bedroom. I'm hoping him being a little farther from all the hustle and bustle will help him rest. He definitely gets overtired easily.



Right now we're using a sound machine for white noise while Landon sleeps. Caroline just uses a fan, and we might end up going that route with him too, but right now he's liking the sound machine. The one we have will only go for up to 60 minutes at a time before cutting off. We'd like one that will go constantly. Anyone have one they love that you could recommend?

Family of Four

My last pregnancy shot!

Brand new boy!

Big sister meets little brother.

Our family.
(Please excuse my Rudolph nose...a side effect from the spinal.)

Life for us is, in a word, BLESSED. It's not always easy, and I've felt some stress, but I love my husband and my children more than I can express in words. I've been worried and stressed a lot about how clean my home is and how well things seem to be running. I complained the other day to a friend who had one child with a stomach virus, one with croup, and one she is homeschooling about how Landon always wants to be held and if he's not eating, he's fussing. Thinking about the conversation later, I realized that I have no reason or room for complaints. Soon enough my son won't want to be in my arms any more. He'll be too busy crawling and exploring and following his sister around. So, if you stop by my house and there is dirt on the floor, crumbs on the rug, and dishes in the sink...you'll know I've been cuddling my newborn and kissing my toddler, and relishing in the moments that make up a family.