Tiny Talk: Prayers for my niece

Every night when David says his bedtime prayers, he includes, "And help Aunt Erin's baby to be healthy."  David loves family and he loves babies.  He loves his little cousin who's almost 2 and he loves our unborn baby and his unborn cousin.

So, I thought I'd ask everyone to join David in praying for his unborn cousin.  Her name will be Chasity and she is being chosen.  Her parents have been given an out and told that it would be ok if they chose not to keep her.  But today she was chosen.  She is wanted.

I don't understand all the details of her condition, but one lung has improved since the first sonogram.  The other lung is still compressed by her heart, which is in the wrong position.  She is given a better than 50% chance of survival now.  And today they chose to go with that.

She will probably require NICU services and maybe surgeries, but she was given the chance.  Pray for her.  Pray for her parents.  Pray for David to see his prayers answered - for another baby for him to love.

Tiny Talk Tuesday Returns

Rebekah was starting to fall asleep on the floor as I changed her diaper before nap time yesterday.  David ran over & excitedly proclaimed:  
Bekah-boo is soooo cute!!!  She's as cute as 101 babies stacked on top of each other!

He thinks all babies are absolutely adorable and has even said that the one inside Mama's tummy is cute!

Vacation Thankfulness

 Well, I tried to load a few pictures from our vacation.  Blogger has messed them up every time I load them.  And I'm too annoyed to try to figure out what's wrong and how to correct it.  This is the only one that loaded correctly.

 The little people found stuff to get into all week!

Annoyed, pregnant, tired, swollen... maybe I'll get the rest of the pictures on Flickr in the next few days.  Let me just say it was wonderful to spend a few days with my best friend and see our kids playing together and beating up on each other like they were all siblings.

Deep breath... My sister is starting her Countdown to Thanksgiving this year on Canadian Thanksgiving, which is today!  I'm gonna tie in my things I'm thankful for this year with the 1000 Gifts I started also, so to tie it all together:

11)  I am thankful that I have a friend I can count on, who loves me and my family like we are her family, who lets us crash their week, who rubs my feet and buys shrimp for us to cook while we're there!

October ONE

Today we took a field trip to the Homeschool Day at a local farm turned pumpkin patch!  What a great way to start October! (Rebekah has a melted marshmallow in her hand!)

 

One...on the playground.

 Two... in the photo op.

 

Three... chowing down on the marshmallows!

 They had a few really huge pumpkins on display.

 The kids jumped on the big air pillow,

 roasted marshmallows, 

 enjoyed a hay ride, 

climbed the 3-story tree house

 

 (all the way to the top!),

 loved the slides,

 

 took lots of pictures,

and saw lots of beautiful pumpkins!

 Yea for October!

Random 1000 Gifts

8)  My new School Shelf!  My niece, Lauren, helped me do the first coat of paint.  Elizabeth helped finish paint it last night.  Now I can get all of our school books off the dining table, and put the markers & such up high enough to be out of Rebekah's reach!

I know that's bad lighting, but you get the gist.  Here's my favorite vignette on the shelf:

I got that mug for free at the big Mardel sale this summer.  The rock is one that David picked up in the Brazos.  And that reminds me that I need to take this year's school photos!


9)  My BOTW (Bargain of the Week):

A new, metal lunch box for Elizabeth, scored at Target for $1.21 because I was in the right place at the right time and asked the right person for the price!

10)  Peep is growing... and peeping.

He will be 3-weeks old on Saturday.  I say "he" because he sure acts cocky.  And there's a reason why cocky means cocky.

Read more about My 1000 Gifts.

Always check on suspicious noises!

You'd think that someone who is pregnant with #4 would have learned a few things... like when you hear a suspicious noise, always check it out.  Even when the other kids say there's nothing going on.

I heard the ting of a spoon on a glass bowl.  I was told Rebekah wasn't doing anything.  I assumed it was a chicken on the back porch.  Yes, as strange as that sounds, I thought that's what I heard.  That's what I get for reading email instead of looking for myself...

 Caught red... er... brown handed!

Notice the coy, "I'm so cute" grin.

Then she started to realize 

maybe this wasn't a good thing...

 But Mom was still taking pictures,

so she decided it was ok after all

and started to ham it up...

 Notice the bystander in the background?

She told me Rebekah wasn't doing anything.

And that...

was a bowl of homemade

chocolate milk powder

which had been on the kitchen counter.

She's getting too tall too fast.

And I will

always

check on suspicious noises

by the time #4 

is tall enough to reach the kitchen counters...

surely...

The Joys of Homeschooling

We had another week of messed up scheduling thanks to appointments, errands and Dad being away from home most of the week for a hazmat class.  In spite of everything, we still got school done.  And that is one of the joys of homeschooling.

Another is sharing the excitement of learning.  Sure, any parent could have gone out to witness the Super Harvest Moon and Jupiter this week with their kids.  But it's something else to know that in a few months we'll be studying Jupiter and I can say, "Remember that night when we stayed up late and saw the moons of Jupiter? or when we saw it right under the big full moon?"

We're currently on Mercury.  It's an interesting planet.  We've gone outside before sunrise several times in the last week to try to spot it, but there have been too many low clouds on the horizon.  Still, it's bonding to be on a quest together.

David's favorite new word of the week is ziggurat, which we've been learning about in Ancient Civilizations.

While we've been schooling since August, we just started our math curriculum.  Those manipulatives are almost as fun as Legos!  And I have to admit that I was amazed (and grateful!) that the explanation of place value in Math-U-See was so easy for the kids to grasp.  I read it straight out of the teacher's manual & drew it on the board.  Later in the day, Elizabeth walked by the board and asked, "Mama, why is there only one hundred in the castle?"  I didn't even realize she was listening while I was doing math with David!

(Looking back at this photo makes me realize how right-handed our world is and how challenging it must be to be left-handed.)

I've already been able to incorporate some of the tips I got out of The Homeschooler's Guide to Attentional Difficulties.  I love how practical this booklet is.  And I love that I can at least try - do my best - to keep David interested in learning by altering the presentation, the subject matter, the environment, and even the time of day we have school.

And all this is where I found joy in homeschooling this week.

Super Harvest Moon Photos

So facebook is good for something... some times!  Texas Parks & Wildlife posted a link to an article about tonight's Super Harvest Moon, so I was on guard to watch!  David & I went outside and enjoyed the eerie twilight light with the full moon light on the opposite horizon and in the 9 o'clock hour, we enjoyed the magnificent view of the full moon high in the sky with Jupiter just below.  Here are my best shots with my simple, old, point & shoot camera, night setting, flash off.  Enjoy!

Our first glimpse after the clouds thinned 

with Jupiter not really visible in the photo.

Now Jupiter shows up as a little speck.

Boy, it was hard to hold that camera still for the long exposure!

Then I backed off.  This is with no zoom.

Then I zoomed in as far as I could 

with both objects still in the frame.

Jupiter looks faint, but you can tell it's a sphere!

This is one of the reasons I love homeschooling so much!  Now when we get to our Jupiter chapter in Astronomy, I'll be able to say, "And remember when we looked at Jupiter a few months ago?"  Last night, we viewed it though our cheap-o telescope and saw 2 of it's moons.

Speaking of homeschool, today David slept until 10am.  And I let him - because his body is still recovering from the insomnia that was caused by his first medication.  Then we had to go to the pharmacy to pick up a refill on the other medication, to the health food store to get more melatonin to help him fall asleep, to the hardware store for nails, and to the grocery store for milk.  We had school today after dark.  And that is perfectly OK when you're doing it at home.  (There were also less distractions!)

1000 Gifts: Relief, Books, Prayer

(Counting my way to 1000 Gifts from God.)  I haven't gotten many pictures of David smiling lately.  Sunday we had the best day that we've had in weeks.  A new doctor (psychiatrist) thought David was reacting to the stimulant medication and pulled him off of it, effective on Friday.  She replaced it with a mood stabilizer and left him on the non-stimulant ADHD medication.  I am beginning to see my child back.

 

5)  Aaahhhh... relief.  

 

So far we've been two days without any major blow-ups, angry fits, or physical attacks from him.  More of the attention-span problems and hyperactivity are back, but I'd rather have ADHD than anger.  And I am thankful that all that anger was medicine-induced. 

 

He's also been sleeping for the last 2 nights, so the insomnia was also induced by the same medication, as was the loss in appetite.  We will continue working on the authority issues, social skills, and the separation anxiety with the counselor. 

 

 

I read recently, ironically, that when you have a child with ADHD you should continually be reading and learning more.  Two of my latest reads have been a wonderful addition to my ADHD library and I highly suggest them to any other parent going through this.

 

6)  Books:

 

- The Power of God with an AD/HD Child by Krista Hain

- The Homeschooler's Guide to Attentional Difficulties: Practical Tips for Daily Success by Jill J. Dixon

 

Both of these have provided encouragement and practical help beyond my expectations, leaving me in tears that these women understand and are sharing their help with me!  I found both at ChristianBook.com.  If you want more information on either book, I would be happy to share more about them!

 

7)  Prayer

 

David's great-grandmother said to me the other day, "I don't know what else I can do but pray."  What an understatement.  I am so thankful for the people who have been keeping us in their prayers and there have been so many people who have told me they've been praying for us.  I am blessed!

Late Summer Blooms

Over 7" of rain brought in by Hurricane whatever a couple of weeks ago sent the late summer blooms into exhibition mode!