Tiptoeing Back in...

I pulled my blogs off the internet a few months ago. I decided I didn't want the internet at large to have access to family life and I just simply do not have time for much of any thing let alone blogging. Child #4 has killed all time for me. Oh yeah, we had another baby! Ziggy Joy arrived September 2015 and life has been a bit crazy every since! Every moment I might have been able to get away is full of shoulds and needs and keeping my head above water. But I'm also losing myself in there.  I enjoy writing. I think I have gotten a little tired of blogs though, they are just a tiny snippet and I feel like they are either too feely, mushy and frankly, silly. Or too perfect. Life is messy.

I want to continue to blog about gentle parenting, school, I think that is grounding and helpful to me. Not because I do it right. Not because I have some picture perfect or even interesting story to share, but because I need it in my life.

So I'm here.

A little update on us...

Roo is eight and a half and heading into third grade. Last school year was full of incredible changes and growth for Roo. She went from (still at age 8) sounding out words like "was" and "and" in January to reading fluently in March! She was still barely (with much anguish on her part, I never pushed it, but she was clearly frustrated) able to get through the Biscuit books to reading 6th grade reading level books by May. She's currently reading Poppy and Rye and I couldn't be more proud at the strides she is making. She loves reading! It happened just like when she learned to crawl or walk: frustration and struggle. And just like the older homeschool Mom's said would happen, CLICK!!
I think what really helped was enjoying books together. As well as the Reading Rainbow Skybrary App, she would curl up for hours reading book after book with the app (it narrates) and she fell in love with the solitary and relaxing activity that reading can be.

It is so validating to have a reader, it was a scary process but I'm glad we're here.

Friendly will be SEVEN in two weeks. I can't believe that she will be heading into second grade. Friendly is still struggling with some sensory processing things, she's always been my MORE kid and nothing has changed. We will be doing Brain Integration Therapy this school year to address some of her auditory processing issues, hopefully reducing her over all life frustrations as the pathways between hemispheres of her brain heals. I am really hopeful.  She is beginning to read, a completely different process from Roo. She is reading early readers and hungry for information and knowledge. She enjoys playing with numbers and seems to be very interested in math concepts, we will be encouraging that this school year.

The older two have told me they want to study The Middle Ages (we just finished up Ancient Civilizations), and are very interested in diving into our studies of space and earth science. :) We will be using Build Your Own Library again, I really really enjoyed our Ancient Civilizations and World Tour Last school year, we will be combining the girls into one grade and adding and subtracting as they need- it's so versatile and inexpensive enough where I don't feel pressure if we skip things that aren't working for us (no guilt at money wasted). It didn't feel like it at the time, we're so scattered and laid back, but when I pulled together all the things from the school year and wrote our subject summary for the school district: WOW! We learned and did so many things together last school year, it was a lot of fun!

Pip is four and a half and she is a pip and a half for sure. Four. Oh my goodness I don't know how I'm going to survive it again, it is grueling. Some thing about "Four"  in our kids- especially for our more easy going personalities- means they took all that they didn't dish out at two and three and saved it to unleash tenfold at four. It is beyond exhausting. I need a vacation. That said, she loves to have jobs, she can unload the dishwasher and fold a load of towels like a little machine and she loves to "babysit" Ziggy (she plays with him and bosses him around :D ). She is bright and inquisitive and full of ideas and wants to learn to read and do school this year. 

Ziggy. Oh my goodness this bub is amazing. I can't believe we didn't know we needed him in our family. He is just amazing. So far I haven't noticed any real difference in having a boy, except I use on average 2-3 more wipes per diaper changes, it's not as straghtforward cleaning all the things down there. :D He's crawling, cruising, pulling up on every thing. He has 6+ teeth and loves to play "so big". He's really really good at throwing, he loves to play "catch" and to throw any thing he can get his hands on, the older kids get a kick out of it. He is the sweetest little squish.

And that's about that. I hope to start blogging weekly about our school year and life again, I need the outlet.

Spring...It's a Real Thing!

Well, spring took it's sweet time trickling in, but we're finally getting to really enjoy it!
We took a few damp and chilly walks...

Battled a few spring colds...

Pippy fighting an ear infection: a lot of cuddles!

A lot of falling asleep on Mommy because she, "didn't need a nap."

 the end of March and early April have been full of sniffles and snuggles for sure...

And parties when the sweet baby finally falls asleep!

But there has also been tons of this...Our "field trip" to the "Fish Factory" (AKA the Hatchery, thank you Pip!)

 Swings and slides!

 Science Center!!!

 And getting the yard ready for spring!! We built our bean teepee and the kids have been picnicking in it every chance they get!

 And our favorite, the Rose Garden..Always in for a good show there!

And lot of this with colds and fevers happening...

Netflix had new episodes of Rescue Bots, so exciting!!!

And this little girl...

 Pretty much any time I am sitting or resting she is snuggled up right next to me. She knows her days as "the baby" are numbered and she has been soaking up Mommy Time for all it's worth. Pretty much every hour of every day is a potential "Mommy Date" and she is taking all she can get. I can't say I mind!! :D

 

Because Ziggy (baby's nickname) is growing...

17............................18..............and.................19 weeks.

We're 20 weeks through- half way (hopefully!) there! Every thing seems fine. Feeling lots of pops and kicks and he seems to love any time music comes on, he wakes right up and starts playing. He Also seems to respond when it's been quiet an one of big sisters starts talking to me. I don't feel as much movement as I did with some of the others, I think I have an anterior placenta again and the movements feel very different than the other times (even Pip- who I also had an anterior placenta with). 

It still hasn't sunk in that all these changes are really coming. After being out of baby mode for longer than the other times, it feels a bit strange. I do like that our spacing will end up being 1.5 years between Roo and Friendly, 2.5 years between Friendly and Pip, and 3.5 years between Pip and Ziggy. We couldn't have planned that if we tried, but I like nice tidy sequences like that. :D

We have our "big" ultrasound this week. Checking all the parts, making sure Ziggy is growing well, and confirming gender! We are pretty sure we saw "boy parts" at the 15 week scan, it very much looked like it. Prayers that everything goes well with the anatomy scan and that Ziggy is healthy and well would be appreciated!

 So far this has been my easiest pregnancy, except for a few weeks of "uuuuugh", I have felt pretty good. But the more babies we have the more I worry about them. I am so thankful for our 3 healthy children so far and I just can't wait to hold this one in my arms and know he's here safe and sound too!

Next Post EASTER!!

Glimpses of Spring

It's officially the last week of winter and we're anxiously waiting and looking for signs of spring...

Shivering in jackets and mittens, burning cheeks and numb noses, we have felt relief in the upper 30's (and 40's! And even 50's!) and wandered the local parks celebrating in the green patches between grey and white.

Wet slushy side walks on 40 degree days feel like summer after weeks (months!) of being frozen and walking carefully across crusted ice.

Roo apparently finds 40 degrees perfectly acceptable jacket-free weather!

While the cuddle bugs shiver in winter jackets and keep blankets close...

But we're still celebrating! Spring is coming! 

 

From today...The snow is losing!

From our trip to the park today...

This was all buried in about 2 feet of snow not 6 days ago! 

Spring is a glorious thing! We're so excited! I think my favorite part of raising people and being around kids is their ability to bring us back to really appreciating the seasons. I am so glad we live where there are 4 seasons. Winter is hard, but in a way it teaches me to rest, to appreciate the shorter darker days. This winter especially I embraced the rest of winter in a way I haven't really allowed myself to ...ever. I needed the rest, we need the seasons of waiting and rest. But there comes a point where the long dark days drag on, it feels like a terrible transition- stuck in between knowing things have their proper seasons- and desperately ready to move on! Winter, there is some discomfort in the long darkness, there are lessons and joys as well. 

Because...When spring finally does arrive, you wish you could kiss it in welcome! You're so happy n a way you never could have remembered if you didn't know the winter so well. And the thrill of seeing buds on the trees, the smell of the ground waking up after a long sleep. You remember it hasn't always been cold silence. The days are longer and it feels delicious to be tucking little ones in bed and knowing that the day is not really ending. I could wax poetic about this way longer than I will. We're so happy, SO happy to welcome spring this year.

Especially this year it feels like the waiting time has passed, now it's just one fun leap to prepare for all that's next. Spring! To make the yard beautiful.  Spring! To grow our garden. Summer! To eat our fruits and veggies and listen to the buzz of the the cicadas and the sound of the sprinkler. The hum of the air conditioners and the cool family room during rest time on hot July days. To know that soon we'll be  welcoming some one new. That our autumn will be full of just as many changes as the trees, and our winter will come again, well won rest. 

To spring! Yes, we're so excited we would kiss it! 3 more days!

Slow Winter Days...

I haven't been feeling well the last few weeks and the days have been very low key and cozy. We don't tend to go out much in January and February, between the bitter cold and lack of things to do, and the the flu raging about, we prefer to be a bit sick of each other and cozy at home, then a bit sick of each other and sick and miserable as well! We've been enjoying long cozy days of reading, listening to Adventures in Oddysey, playing with toys and watching movies. School has been pretty low key as well, lots of Reading Rainbow, books, youtube videos, coloring painting, and very little book work. It is our last year of not having to log school days and we're living it up! :)

Lots of fun and sweet moments to enjoy...Because I haven't been feeling very well Pip has been my sidekick...She snuggles right up and keeps me company and I have so been enjoying all her sweet little toddler ways.

She created this superhero get up...A cape, a winter hat, pearls, and a wand! Suuuuuper Pip!

We've been trying out some new movies too...We recently all watched Tarzan together for the first time and the kids LOVED it!!

 And while I rest Daddy Joy holds down the fort... He and Roo have lots of fun together...Roo set up her transformers helping them bake bread. :) That child LOVES Transformers, she carries them around the house transforming and playing out some serious adventures. These 2 are her newest ones she received for her Birthday a few weeks ago...

This kid LOVES to build and design things.

 

And snuggle. She's been shortening her nap down to about 30-40 minutes a day, she comes down half asleep and upset and falls back to sleep...some times with me...Some times alone..

and she falls back to sleep for the rest of her normal nap time...

I can't believe this baby will be THREE in a few days! We've been joking that it feels like she should have had her Birthday several weeks ago already, and we think of her as three...But now it is actually happening and it is hard to believe!

The First Snow...2014

It was right before Thanksgiving when we got a lovely mucky snow!

The kids were so excited!

They insisted I take them out for a very chilly, very wet walk...

They had fun! I mostly froze.

Then the big ones went out to play for quite some time...They soaked through several pairs of mittens but they came in the proud parents of a Snowman they named Stinky...

Childhood is sweet.

Autumn Recap: Around Home Randomly!

Oh goodness here we go!!! Just when I think "Well I've sectioned out this blogging subject thing really well and I a catching up from nearly a year of not blogging pretty well."

Yeah....No! So much more to share!

Here we go Autumn Recap round a million! At Home Randomly!

A date with this sweet beautiful child.

She came downstairs and fell back to sleep next to me during her nap.

Asleep in the car, such a baby.

Whenever she wore those pants (sadly too small) she would sit above me on the couch and crow "I yourw WAINBOW!!!!"

Pippy was sporting a major mullet, and she got her first hair cut in late August. She was NOT happy that I allowed that strange woman to TOUCH her. She pouted like this all the way home. She did great for the hair cut. She sat quietly and held my hand..

No more mullet!!!

 One of the best things that Autumn brought was the leap to invest in a new family vehicle. My goodness it was so desperately needed. Between cramming the kid 3-across in the back of a 5 passneger car for over a year and not being able to run errands or go any where with little M with us Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. until 4p.m. every day...Well it was time.  We got a 2009 Toyota Sienne with only 64,000 Miles on it! It has been such an incredible blessing! We have room to give people rides, to take more than 3 kids places, and to fit more comfortably! :)

 This little girl is growing so fast...Too fast! She loves to be read to...

 He's hilarious. This is a scene a few times a month he comes home from work and passes out. This time he had sound control implemented as well. :)

 Where is Friendly?

 And Pipsqueak?

And how was that for random??