Journal #27

Out My Window:

Rain and mist and clouds.  A touch chilly, but not too bad.  Hopefully enough moisture to make a difference for the farmers!

Clothing Myself In:

Orange MS Walk t-shirt (I seem to have an endless supply of these - must be from doing MS Walks for about 10 years - hah) and Franciscan University Lady Barons gym shorts, with bare feet. ---This is how I roll :)

Around the House:

I recently had another organizational epiphany.  I moved most of the children's clothes and  my own into the laundry/storage room.  Well, let me back-up a minute.  First, my dear hubby decided that it would be ok to store some of our things in the garage.  Keep in mind this is HUGE as when we first started building this garage he made it abundantly clear that it was NOT for things like additional storage, lawn mowers, or bikes.  (Crazy, right?  What exactly was he going to put in there?!?!)  Anyhow, a couple of years have passed now. . . and he has finally gotten his shop area somewhat sorted out and decided that there would be space for some storage.  However, I have always been against storing things in the garage, especially clothes, as I remember bringing boxes in from our garage when we were kids and everything was dusty and dirty and full of spiders and bugs and just gross.  So it took me a bit to come around, too.  Then finally he concluded he would build me some shelves to store "the few things" I thought would be ok in the garage (namely our outdoor Christmas Nativity).  After pricing the cost of wood for said shelves he concluded buying them might be cheaper.  After pricing the cost of purchasing said shelves he got a little stuck in the mudd as either way it was more than he was expecting.  

Fast forward, now we are about a month ago from today when I got this crazy idea in my head and concluded that plastic storage tubs of clothes, WITH ATTACHED LIDS could not be that bad in the garage.  As long as the lids stayed on, the stuff should be fine.  Some of my lids were a bit sketchy, so I taped those boxes.  And bonus, storage bins STACK!!  (Especially if they are mostly the same kind - which several of ours are since I purchased several on sale at once.)  About a million trips later (or so it felt) I moved our small fortress of storage tubs out to the garage in the space allotted for my storage shelves.  I am still seriously in awe that I managed to fit all those tubs somehow in our basement laundry/storage room.  Anyhow, with them in the garage I moved my dresser and one of the kids' dressers into the laundry room.  I already had shelves in there and Rebekah and Samuel's clothes (and some of Jacob's) are now in open boxes on the shelves.  So far that appears to work well - especially for Rebekah who was never very neat with her dresser drawers.  I sold Rebekah's and Samuel's dressers.  I could not part with Jacob's as I just like it too much, so it houses Miriam's clothes and a few for Samuel and Jacob.  

Pardon the MATCHED sock pile on the floor.  I kept putting off taking this picture, thinking I would eventually get it ALL CLEANED UP.  Then I woke-up and realized that was never going to happen, so I snapped the photo.  This is reality.  The dresser on the left is mine.  The smaller one on the right is for the kiddos - and the shelves.  The hanging clothes are not permanent - that is temporary clothes drying and then they go off to the closets.

I was often getting dressed in the laundry room anyhow since I like to get up early and exercise and do not want to be bumbling around our bedroom waking the Grouch my husband in the morning before he is good and ready to get up and/or I am holding coffee for him.  So having my dresser in the laundry room is making things so much smoother for me.

We are still working at sectioning off little parts for gender-specific changing.  (Not as in anyone is changing their gender, but a "boys" changing area and a "girls" changing area.)  Granted we are still a bit young for this to be a major issue, but we need to start thinking in that direction and it is good for me to have an area to change separate from the boys.  I have a few little spots in mind - now it is just a matter of training everyone to do as they are told.  (Or another option is for said child to take their clothes and change in the bathroom or another open room.)

The only clothes not kept in the laundry room now are the hubby's and Zipporah's.  But no more will fit and since their rooms are on the same level as the laundry I do not mind this set-up.  However, in our next house, whether we buy or build, a large "dressing room" for clothes sorting and storage, in the same room, or next to the laundry room, will definitely be a serious consideration.

The Baby:

THANK GOD SHE IS GROWING A LITTLE FASTER!!  She gained 15 oz in the past four weeks.  Although she is still in the third percentile for her age, her growth curve is now curving again, rather than just flat-lining out.  The doctor said she does not need to see her again until her next regular check-up, which will be in a couple months at her yearly visit.

In the mean time we are pumping her full of food, especially protein.  But the funny thing, she LOVES IT ALL!!  Some of her favorites are my homemade taco meat (lots of beans, some tomatoes, and cream cheese!) and my chili (again, lots of beans, but some serious spice - this girl likes things a little spicy!)  Tonight she had calzones and gave them two fists up.  She also enjoys lasagna and pretty-much anything else we cook up.  I just finished a batch of breakfast cookies, made especially for her (with no honey).  She loves those, too.

One of the reasons the doctor was so concerned about Zipporah's weight is because she is not meeting her physical milestones.  She does not sit up well.  

She often topples over and even hurts herself - her head fell unexpectedly to the ground the other day - she was sitting on the ground in front of me (with her back to my front) and I was jiggling a toy for her to reach - she just got off-balance and her head went straight for the concrete in front of her and I could not get my hands there fast enough - poor kiddo got a bloody nose and a small scrape.  I only felt like the worst mom ever.

She also does not tolerate tummy time - immediately rolls over and does not roll from back to tummy yet.  Obviously she does not crawl or anything like that either.

At our doctors suggestion we did an evaluation with our local Children's Center and she just started some physical therapy last week.  I keep expecting her to just "figure it out" but in case she does not, I am grateful for some support on the matter and suggestions to encourage her along the way!

The Kids:

Even though we homeschool, the kids can sense that the end of the school year is near!  Samuel and Jacob have already finished a few of their school subjects and we are closing in on the rest.  Rebekah is a bit further behind, but we are hopeful that she will not be schooling ALL SUMMER (although she is prepared to go into June - her goal is to be done by her birthday in the beginning of July).  Since this is our first time with this program (the online virtual school) I'm not exactly sure what to expect.  I don't think she has to complete all of her coursework, but a certain percentage that I cannot remember now.  Perhaps she is closer than I realize.

As for the younger children, Paul and Miriam are curious as ever.  I have been doing reading lessons with Paul because he is incredibly ready.  He knows all his letters and all their sounds.  I have been using Jacob's little readers (that Jacob did not start until about 2/3 through the school year) for Paul and Paul is blowing through them. . . as a preschooler.  Paul is enrolled with the virtual school for kindergarten next year.  Either it will be incredibly easy for him or they will bump him up.  I am open to whatever.  If they want to challenge him, fine, but if they want to just let him coast, I'm cool with that, too - no rush.  Plus I will be adapting to four in school, so that might give me a corner to cut while I figure things out!

In the Kitchen:

Tonight we had calzones.  They were delicious.  For lunch we had potato soup and homemade rye bread.  That was a hit, too!

I've made up a bunch of taco meat and keep an open jar in the fridge all the time now since the baby loves it.  I'm planning some more chili tomorrow and calzone left-overs (as I make two breadmakers worth of calzones - four large ones - at a time).

Crafting:

Rebekah has been doing some sewing.  She sewed some clothes for her dolls and some patches on her stuffed rabbit's feet (actually it was my rabbit from when I was little).  I am hoping to sit down and knit some with her soon.  I printed off some directions for a dishcloth and for a bookmark - both good simple projects that I think she might enjoy  - and me, too!  But we have to get that school work figured out first!

If you look closely at the rabbit's feet in this picture you will see the "cast" that Rebekah sewed on her, over the torn feet poor "Boonie" had from a run-in with a cat in her previous life.

Thinking About:

*Our future.  My hubby keeps talking about wanting to move in the country and although I would like to live in the country (I think) I am often fearful of change and I am not sure how to make it work as living in the country is EXPENSIVE!!  The land around our town is expensive and then there is the driving to and from town, etc.  And as much as I like to be out in nature and such, I honestly think I could live in the same house I do now for the rest of my life (and even 15 more kids) and be totally content.

*Family Chores.  I am the QUEEN of making chore charts, but I am so horrible about following through with them! Here check these out:

Are those not the most awesome graphic routine/chore charts ever?!?!  Unfortunately, when push comes to shove I would much rather just have the kids go keep busy in another room so I can get the cleaning done!  Ugh.  But that is not realistic, I know, and doing all the chores is just not possible for one person. (although I certainly give it a valiant effort!!  As I was cleaning up the other morning, Rebekah commented, "Mom, when we are all grown up, your house will be very clean.")  My new resolution is to work at following through with training my children to obey and do their chores.

*Family Meetings.  I think we are in need of beginning family meetings (maybe once a month or every two weeks).  I am still trying to decide how these need to run and who needs to be there (as I think the younger three would just get in the way).  I'll let you know when we figure this out.

Bringing Me Joy:

*Family night!  We have been trying to have a weekly family night.  It has been pushed around and skipped and such all too often, but we had one last night and it was really special.  It was so simple - we just played shoots and ladders  and a made-up dice game, but the kids all loved it.

*Good friends.  God has really blessed me with some wonderful supportive friends and I am so grateful!!  I could probably live without them, but they certainly make life so much more bearable!

Pictures To Share:

Paul, Rebekah, Miriam, and Zipporah

Daddy and Zipporah