Baby Update!!

I'm happy to announce that we are having a boy!  We have decided to to things differently than we did with the first 2 children we had.  One of which is to have only one ultrasound.  Naturally (because I'm not a fan of surprises) we made sure to also find out if the baby was a boy or girl.  I thought for sure it was a girl, my husband thought for sure it was a boy.  I was right with Peanut and Sassy so I was bound to be wrong at least once!  Everyone has a 50/50 chance at being right or wrong I guess.  The ultrasound showed he it on target for weight and everything looked healthy (which obviously made me very happy to hear).  

Peanut is VERY excited to have a baby brother on the way.  Sassy, although happy to have another sibling was a bit disappointed to find out she was not going to get a baby sister.  She has already put in her request for a baby sister the next time around.  I told she would have to wait to see if God chooses to give us another miracle, and even then, it's no guarantee we would have a girl.  

We name all of our children after admirable people in the Bible and so this little munchkin is no different.  Of course, we keep the kids real names under wraps online so I can't really tell you his name.  For the blog, I'm thinking "Munchkin" is a good name for him here.  I can tell you his name means "dove" so I'm hoping for a peaceful baby.

No one has come out and asked me yet, but I'll put it out there for those of you who are wondering.  Am I a little nervous having another boy (because we have 2 children who are diagnosed with Autism and the rate of Autism is higher in males than females)?  Honestly...no.  My husband and I had many talks about the possibility of having another child.  After much discussion we decided to throw caution to the wind and if it were meant to happen it would.  In the mean time I made sure to start eating healthier and eliminated as much environmental toxin exposure as possible.  I researched a bit and planned in the event that I did get pregnant, and we patiently waited.  This baby finally came after many months (about 6 or so) of prayer.  I have faith that what ever God intends to happen, will happen.  Its in God's hands and for me, letting God have control of your life is the best choice to make.  I have faith that our little Munchkin will be a happy and healthy child of God.

Introducing our little Munchkin!!!

" We live by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:7

Planning...

SO I keep posting about how crazy I feel my life is and then stop posting.  To be honest I think I needed a blogging break, but I really do want to get back into it.  I was able to take some time and sit down and try to get things in order to give myself a clear view of what I needed to "see".  I'm now hoping to get back to blogging.

I have been working hard at making lists and preparations for our home and family.  They are all still a work in progress, but the gears are starting to turn.  I have 3 weeks left to work and then I officially go Per Diem.  I'm not so sure how it's going to work out yet.  I'm not completely quitting work, but taking a break for now.  I'm calling it my "extended maternity leave."  I'm not due until the end of August but I'm going Per Diem at work in June to give me more time to spend with my family.  I will not be working at all  until the baby is at least a few months old.  After that I may pick up a shift or two here and there to cover vacations.

We have another trip Down East planned in June which I'm very excited for.  In all the baby planning and prep I realized I haven't sat and planned out the trip to Maine yet.  We've done it before so I'm thinking it will be easier to prep for this time around now that I know what to expect.I'm hoping to post some more updates on how I'm preparing, the baby, the kids etc.

I pray you're all doing well!!

Let the Chaos Begin: Part 2!

So the last time I posted I was 9 weeks pregnant.  I had just posted about how my life was about to get chaotic planning and prepping for a new baby, and then the REAL chaos hit!  

First, morning sickness hit.  It was more like all day sickness and didn't really let up much for about a month or so. I had never experienced nausea like this before in my life, not even with my first 2 pregnancies.  It would worsen the minute I would do anything that involved movement.  It was tough trying to get just the most basic task done let alone anything extra when it came to planning/prepping.  I got some great advice from some awesome homeschool moms about how to continue homeschool with nausea and eventually learned how to manage it and pace myself.  My husband has been such an understanding, man throughout this and has helped as much as he possible could.

One thing we had planned to do was to get both Sassy and Peanut moved into the same room well in advance so they were used to it.  We didn't want to make a huge change in their life (sharing a room) on top of another big change (a new baby).  SO we went out and got the kids "big kid" beds and moved them in together.  So far it's gone pretty good and they are adjusting well.

Sassy's new bed

Peanut's new bed

Then, I got the flu.  Yup, the flu.  It lasted over a week and I spend that entire week in bed.  My husband had to take the entire week off of work to take the kids and I spent a week in bed trying to keep my body temperature at a safe level for the pregnancy.  I'll be honest, I was a bit scared that it could effect the pregnancy but took comfort in knowing it was all in God's plan and we were in His hands.  I slowly recovered and started to try to get things done around the house.

Snowing!

 Then we had a snow storm (Nemo).  I spent alot of time prepping food in case we lost power.  I wanted to make sure we had plenty of snacks for the kids.  It lasted about 36 hours and then took a good amount of time to clean up.  

Working on clearing the snow.

 The wind continued after the snow had stopped and it was tough for the kids because they wanted SO badly to go out in the snow.  That weekend we were able to get some time to take the kids sledding at Nana and Papa's house.

                        

  

During all of this craziness my husband was working on a BIG project at church.  We had the opportunity to have Trevor Morgan play at our church, and so we were having our very first worship concert.  My husband was the event coordinator so he was pretty busy getting everything done.  I am so proud of how the church rallied together to volunteer for every needed job, and that night was absolutely perfect!  All I can say is, what an awesome night!

Trevor Morgan!!

The the following night we had tickets to a Third Day concert.  I was exhausted from the concert the night before, and Sassy had been up all night with a fever.  I was able to get some rest and get to the concert.  We had such a great time with all our close friends.

Third Day concert

This morning I awoke feeling amazing and Sassy's fever is gone.  Unfortunately, Peanut now has a fever and is a sad little man.  I spent the day getting alot done around the house (finally!) and taking care of my little sick monkey, and entertaining my little Sassy princess.

Sad sick little Peanut

Despite being sick he's a tough little trooper.  I don't think we'll be making it to his therapy tomorrow, but my fingers are crossed and prayers are said.  I have my 15 week midwife appointment tomorrow morning, which I'm really excited for.  Now that I'm more functional, I'm hoping to be able to post more often.

God Bless!

Let the chaos begin!

I'm not happy unless I'm busy.  I have no idea what I'm going to do when my children are all grown up and move out on to their own.  What I do know is that I'm definitely happy because we are busy!  

photo credit: kevin dooley via photopin cc 

Christmas was great but, as usual, chaotic.  We stressed until the last minute and then everything went great.  We had planned to have people over for New Years Eve as we always do, but then Sassy came down with the stomach bug that has been going around and we stayed home to try to prevent our friends and family from catching it.  Thankfully Sassy was the only one who got sick and it only lasted about 36 hours.  I think this was a little blessing.  My husband and I were exhausted and were able to get some much needed rest.

New Years Day we went out with the kids to look for beds.  Peanut has out grown his toddler bed (his crib with the front removed) and he is in need of a new bed.  We live in a 3 bedroom home and the newest addition to our family needs a room to sleep in, so Sassy and Peanut are going to need to become room mates.  Sassy has the bigger room, so Peanut is moving in to her room.  We decided it wouldn't be fair for Peanut to get a new bed and not Sassy, so we got her one too.  We actually found a bunk bed set.  We then ran down the street and ordered their mattresses (we decided on a Naturepedic, it is definitely more expensive, but also ALOT healthier a choice and in our opinion worth the investment).  We are going to use the beds separate  not as bunks at least for now.  We didn't feel it was safe for either of our kids to be sleeping up so high.  I am now trying to come up with ways to save space and make this all work.  I'll share pictures as soon as the room is finished.  I'm glad they are moving in to the same room now.  I think one big life change at a time is good.  By the time the baby comes, sharing a room will feel like the norm for them.

My best friend had her twins (yippie!)

We started back to school this week.  The kids were excited to get started back up (they love school!).  I finished roughly planning out our schedule up to the summer and it looks like (with plenty of breaks) we will finish Kindergarten by the end of May!  I'm already starting to research and plan for first grade.  I'll have to have that all done in advance because I am due around the end of August or beginning of September.   This is the first year I have to file  our intentions to homeschool with the state so I want to make sure I have everything in order a head of time.  We may start 1st grade late next year.

We finally had our old unused oil tank removed from our basement last week and we plan to do some mini renovations downstairs so I get a nice little laundry room complete with laundry sink (score!), as well as extra storage.

And I thought we would relax a little after Christmas!

And baby makes 5!

Yeah, you read that right.  In all the insanity that was our Christmas we discovered that we got a Christmas gift from God this year...we're expecting!  I was a bit in disbelief but so excited at the same time!!

The insanity began the week before Christmas.  We didn't have ANY Christmas preparations done this year and we weren't even done shopping for the kids let alone friend and family.  The idea of home made Christmas gifts went out the window and we took a deep breath and started shopping.  By the evening of the 22rd we had finally finished our shopping (thank GOD my husband took the week off!) and the wrap-a-polooza began!  I was EXHAUSTED!  That morning (December 23rd) around 2am Sassy had an accident in her bed.  After cleaning things up my husband went back to bed, but I couldn't sleep.  I had planned to take a test that morning anyway so I decided I might as well just take it.  So at 2:30 am I discovered that we were going to grow our family even more!  

That night I came across this verse:

"Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him." 

Psalm 127:3

I don't feel very worthy but the same time so thankful the Lord chose to reward us with the miracle of life.  We are feeling truly blessed and this verse just warms my heart, reminding me how precious this gift truly is.  We are so thankful that God chose to give us this gift!

Favorites Friday: Life Factory Glass Bottles

My favorite for this week that I'd like to share is Life Factory glass bottles.  This is something I don't feel I could really live without.  I Love these bottles.  With so many issues with plastics (BPA, BPS, PVC etc etc) it's difficult to find a non-toxic way to bring filtered water with you when you are on the go.  Stainless steel is an option but I find after a while the water has a metal taste and the containers can rust.  I discovered the Life Factory company about a year ago when I was looking for non-toxic sippy cup options for the kids.  I wish I had found them sooner.  Their baby bottles can convert to a "sippy" cup with a quick change in the top. 

 We now use these every morning to give the kids their juice and supplements.  I found that our homemade juice was sticking to the plastic of the kids sippy cups and would clog up the tops quickly making them unusable.  The glass bottles work perfect and clean well in the dishwasher.  They are also durable.  If my kids haven't broken them, then they HAVE to be tough!

I had purchased one for myself and really liked it but wished the lid had a spout to make drinking a bit easier in the car (which we are in quite a bit).  Then I was at the dentist one day and discovered the 20 oz version of what I had with a spout!  I now use this bottle almost every day.  It's nice to have a brand I know and trust to be safe for my family.  Check them out today! http://www.lifefactory.com/

Our plans for the month of December.

Last year (our first year homeschooling), we attempted to continue school up until the week of Christmas.  This plan quickly became a failure and it just didn't happen.  I soon began to feel like a failure myself and proceeded to beat myself up about it. It soon turned a season of joy into a stressful time of regret.  This year we are trying something different and so far so good. 
I know that December is busy...no...crazy.  Instead of  following a lesson plan like I have been, for the month of December we are focusing the majority of our activities around advent and Christmas.  I am giving the kids a couple of daily worksheets to work on as well as a craft.






The focus this month is Christmas, more specifically, the birth of Jesus.  To keep us on track and REALLY get into learning the meaning of Christmas, we are using The Truth is in the Tinsel.

Some of the ornaments we have made so far

My children LOVE this and to honest, I'm also learning a lot! I love knowing that my children are learning all of this early.  We also created a substitute for our Calender for December.  I had the kids color ornament pictures that have the different names of Jesus.  We are using the pictures to cover up each day that has passed.  The tree is helping to keep track of how many days until Christmas and it teaches the kids the many different names of Jesus.

Our "calender" for the month of December

I sat and came up with a few concepts I wanted to focus on as well such as adding and subtracting, money, counting by 10s, and handwriting skills.  I have a ton of workbooks, so I've been able to use these to reinforce theses concepts.  I also have found so many wonderful resources for Christmas theme printables.

Here are some great places to find Christmas printables:
Living Life Intentionally
Spell Outloud
Bible Story Printables
Jennifer A Janes