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.

Ziggy

Ziggy...it's fun, and it's a little silly, like all our other waiting-for-baby-nicknames. Roo was Lampshade, Friendly was Goobie/Goober, and Pip was Newby...And now Ziggy.

Ziggy comes from the name Siegfried which means "Victorious Peace". Siegfried also happens to be one of my favorite literary characters of all time (think, James Herriot).

Anyway, Victorious Peace has definitely been a theme of this pregnancy...Just learning to go with the flow, hold onto peace, even when it's a bit of a battle to do that!

We had the big ultrasound today, after having a few friends have babies with unexpected health concerns we felt quite strongly about being sure every thing was really well checked out.

As far as science can say, Ziggy is perfect.We concur, isn't he beautiful?

Yes, HE! Pip was very much right when she made this picture of our family...

 It definitely is, a baby brudder!

 We were really content with our 3 girls, I've said it many times..."I never knew three could feel so complete."

Four feels fantastic too. Our bonus baby, boy. We feel so very very blessed. We can't wait for September!

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!!

WInter's End

March came in like a Lion this year dumping another 8-10inches of snow on us in the first week!

It was a real snow, and the first weekday storm of the season that kept Daddy Joy home from work!

There was some snow play, but it was pretty bitter cold and every one was fighting off yet another cold virus...

A common sight the last month...

 This not so much...I just find her sleep habit of folding her hands completely adorable...

 We've also been doing a lot of crafting (well 1 of these is from February as are the flowers from Valentines Day from Ryan).

THinking SPRING! Nothing says spring like marker painted Coffee Filter Suncatchers! :)

We made these heart decorations the week after Valentine's Day.

Goomba playing her silly games.

Tea Parties are the best part of winter. Making cake or cookies, making a  pot of tea...setting the table...settling in to enjoy the slow quiet time of year.

I snuck out after the snow storm to the paint shop down the street and painted some SPRING inspiration! A Cherry Blossom Tree, always pink and cheerful any day I want it to be!

Pip also draws great Cheerful people...frame...grass...sun and all

I mean, Happiest people ever!

 

Today was lovely!!! 40+ degrees and we took advantage with a walk at the park, our first trip to a park this year!!!

Traditional shot of the 3 of them together...

At least I know 4 kids will fit in the shot in a year or two! :) That's M our bonus kiddo who is with us M-F during the school year.

And yesterday...Yesterday I had my first OB appointment. I kind of put off making the appointment... 4th time going through morning sickness, I was in no rush to go feel sick some where besides home. I scheduled it for 14+ weeks.

The appointment went really well! And we were surprised to be able to get in for an ultrasound and see our baby.

Baby profile little hands rubbing the face, sweet little torso that looks so much like Roo and Daddy Joy. Measuring a few days ahead (I'll be 15 weeks on Thursday), and doing fantastic! Since we were there and the girls have been dying to know what we're having (and arguing about it quite a bit, truth be told), and technically the gender could be detected as early as 13 weeks (and baby was measuring right around 15) we decided to take a peek between the legs and see what we could see. It was a 3D ultrasound and we could have been wrong, it *very* much looked like a baby boy.
Maybe Pip was right with her little "baby brudder" story after all! I Either way, girl or boy, that little baby has all of our hearts. Watching the girls oooh and awww over him (her?) was just the best. Roo has curled up with the print outs they gave us several times today just grinning over the pictures. She is so excited! I mean it's hard not to grin at that picture (above) in particular. This is the sweetest baby, I've felt it from the start. And getting to watch him (her?) on the screen yesterday, with all the magic of 3D technology, it made it feel so REAL! Another true little JOY to add to our bunch (and if it is a HE, you can bet he's going to have a Joy name that can't be beat! :D And if it's a she, we can't wait to add to our bunch of sisters as well!).  

Surprises.

I love having 3 daughters. I have said it many times, I never knew an odd number could feel so complete.
It has been the greatest gift of my life to love these three and to watch them grow...

And then one day in early December Pip made a picture of our family...

"1...2...3...4...5...6...? Who is the extra person, Pip. Is it Nana?"

"Itsa Baby Brudder!"

I thanked her for the beautiful picture (it was her first attempt at multiple people, and her first time ever to draw our family). We laughed and brushed it off. So silly! A baby? Where'd she get that idea? Maybe Daniel Tiger, he just had a baby...sister...Margaret, so cute!
Hmmm...Where'd she get the idea of a baby brother? We ticked through all her favorite TV shows.  Ciallou while generally forbidden in our home, is highly appealing to Pip and Ciallou does have a baby... sister.
Super Why...Sister.
Baby Bear from Sesame Street...Sister.
 Nobody she watches on TV has baby brother. We don't know any one who has baby brothers- every one we know recently has had girls.  Oh well, it's so funny we are NOT having a baby. We love having our three. And really, there is NO way it could happen any time soon. We have been 100% perfectly sticking to our plan and really, there is no way!

And we giggled over it for days. "Haha, so cute! Cute Cute Cute!'

Looking back I am wondering if we felt some...well, foreboding is the wrong word, but we sure laughed about this an awful lot.
 When Ryan and I went out for our Birthdays I was complaining of feeling bloated and weird. When Friendly and Pip went to take a picture of us before we left for our date, Hubby Joy popped his hand on my tummy to freak me out.

haha

Honestly, even with the joking, it really wasn't even on my radar. In the past when I've wondered if I could be I've obsessed about it until I got hold of a pregnancy test and got a definitive answer.  This time I was completely oblivious. Seriously, wasn't even a consideration in my mind. I was extra tired and feeling sick, it was stress! November and December are a crazy months and I'd had a particularly high dose of "extra" that season. The days went by and the Holiday passed.
My clothing was fitting differently- too many cookies...I'm a week late...no I'm not!

Yes I am!

And there we have it. Apparently 3 is a wonderful number, but 4 is even better! Some time in late summer, around the time of the Fair, we'll be adding a new person to our family!

Starting the Second Trimester!

We don't know if it will be a baby brudder or a baby sister- we don't plan to find out before the birth. Now that the shock has worn off we're all so excited either way and we cannot believe we'll soon be stretching to a family of 6! So many changes in the air and so many new things to look forward to! What I am most excited about is a new squishy love to know and hold and watch grow...Whoever is coming is in for a lot of Joy with lots of loving from three big sisters! Sisters who are over the moon excited to welcome another sibling, they are so full of ideas and plans- it's been almost as fun to watch them as the knowledge of new baby coming!

It's funny, we think we know what we want, and what is best for us, until we're surprised with a gift. We are so looking forward to have this person become part of our world.

Overwhelmed with gratitude and impatiently waiting for all the new things coming our way!