Decision Time

Remember how excited I was when I wrote this post? Remember how conflicted I was when I wrote this post? (By the way, thanks to everyone who chimed in, be it though the blog or with a private e-mail. I really did take all of your advice and encouragement to heart.) Well after much prayer and too much debate (with myself, my family, and generally anyone who would listen) we have decided that homeschooling is NOT the best option for us at this time. That is not to say that we will not return to it...but for this year, we feel that this decision is what is best for our family.
After this morning's story time at the library, Noah and I had a very important mission...find a school! My Dad watched Micah and Jonah while Noah and I visited schools, asked questions, and had a good time exploring what Kindergarten would have to offer.
The first school we visited was still partially under construction. When we pulled into the parking lot, Noah looked around at all of the backhoes, bulldozers, tractors, and dump trucks. I watched his eyes light up as he said, "Now this is the kind of school I'm talkin' about!" Turns out it actually wasn't the school for us. I was not impressed with the curriculum or their general approach to learning. Not that there was anything wrong with it, it just was not what I felt would be best for my child.
Our next school was more of what I had in mind. They use the A Beka curriculum, and have a class size limit of twelve students. Noah liked the classroom set-up and was moderately impressed with the playground equipment. I ended up paying the registration fee just to hold his place in the class, but I have a strong feeling that this is where he will end up going for Kindergarten. This school actually only goes up to K-5, so next year we will have to re-group and decide once again what is best for our family.
We still have one more school to visit and I have one more homeschooling option that I want to explore before making our final decision. I have set a deadline of next week for our final, final, final decision. At that point we will start preparing Noah for wherever he will be attending. Generally speaking, he is excited about starting school outside of the home. I just like to have all of the details into place so as not to pull too many surprises on him...or myself. I know, that is the control thing talking again. I really am working on it!

Paging Dr. Jonah

1. Yes, this is exactly what it appears to be.
2. Yes, we have all had colds recently.
3. Yes, Jonah does like to go through my kitchen drawers.
4. Yes, children do try to copy everything we do.
5. Yes, Noah is a great big brother.
6. Yes, they keep me laughing all day.
7. Yes, Micah was his next victim patient.
8. Yes, Noah now calls the turkey baster a big booger getter.
9. Yes, I gave in and let them keep the turkey baster.
10. Yes, I know that I have the greatest job in the world.

VBS Closing

Last night was the closing program for this year's VBS at church. The boys really enjoyed bible school this year and I really enjoyed teaching. I could not have been any prouder of Noah than I was last night. He went up on stage to say his verse and sing his song like a pro. Jonah even walked up to get his certificate all by himself. As you can see, they all brought home lots of VBS goodies. More importantly, they brought home a few bible verses and the knowledge that God loves them. Yeah VBS!

First Foods

Micah had his first taste of food today. He will be five months old on Monday. Babies who are on their Mommy's milk typically do not need solids until six months of age, but really, who follows those parenting books anyway? They were probably written by people who don't even have children. Since Micah is a bit larger than your average baby, we decided to feed him a little bit sooner. It is actually about the same age that I started feeding both Noah and Jonah.
So Micah had about four baby spoons of mashed banana mixed with expressed milk. Yes I am one of those mothers who believes in making her own baby food. I have made my own baby food with all of my children. With Noah, I did it because it was cheaper and we were BROKE! (By the way, that is the same reason I originally breastfed.) When Jonah came along, I had seen the health benefits of extended (until one year of age) breastfeeding and making homemade baby food so I continued. It was also easier to control exactly what Jonah was getting in his food, so we could stay away from anything that was on his extensive (at that time) list of allergens. Since we get the majority of our fruits and veggies out of the garden, I know that they are chemical free and since I put them up myself, I know that they are minimally processed with no artificial preservatives. Tj and Holly gave me a magic bullet the first Christmas after Jonah was born and it made making baby food easier than ever.
Oops, kind of got off topic there for a minute! Micah was not so sure about the taste or texture of banana, but he did okay considering it was the very first time for anything other than milk. We will stick with banana for a few days to make sure he does not have any reaction to it and then move on to something else...maybe peas, or pears, or squash...the possibilities are endless, and I am guessing it will make for some very interesting diaper changes in the near future!

Traffic Court

Life lessons learned from traffic court...

1. Don't speed.
2. Don't speed in a school zone.
3. If you do speed, don't get caught.

Joe ended up with over $800 in fines, mandatory driving school, and has to be back in court August 18th to find out if the judge is going to suspend his license for six months. Obviously not the news we were hoping to hear.

Noah's take on it all? "Well Daddy, accidents happen and everyone makes mistakes sometimes, but if you don't take your punishment, you won't learn not to do it again." Who on earth has been raising this child?!

VBS

Tonight was the first night of VBS at our church. Our theme is Veggie Tales: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. I really don't get the whole Veggie Tales thing, but the kids seem to love it.
Noah had a blast with the other kids in his class. He soaked up every minute of the lesson, games, crafts, and music. He came home and told Joe all about Moses in the river, the palace, the desert, and the burning bush.
Because I am teaching, Jonah and Micah went to the nursery. Jonah was the oldest in the nursery and of course Micah was the cutest (no offense intended to the other kids, I may be a bit prejudiced) so they both got spoiled by the nursery workers.
Everyone is excited to go back again tomorrow night. That is of course after our trip to traffic court! Please pray for Joe tomorrow that the Judge will be merciful and reduce the points and fine. As of right now it looks like 6 points and an $800 fine. YIKES!

Another First

Yesterday, Joe and I took the boys to meet Grammy and Pa at the Beaufort Water Festival Parade. After the Parade, Grammy asked who wanted to go back to the river to spend the night with her and Pa. Noah and Jonah jumped at the chance. Other than the night that I thought I was going into labor and when I was in the hospital, my kids have never spent the night away from home. Since I am determined to work out some of my crazy control issues, I agreed to let them stay the night without me.
From all accounts I got when they came home this afternoon, they had a great time. They visited with friends, played in the sand, and went to church down at the water before coming home this afternoon.
Amazingly enough, I had a great time as well. I spent a lot of time hanging out with Micah and treating him like an only child. However, I must admit I was more than ready to see my other two by this afternoon. Hard to believe that I actually MISSED the noise!!

Back To Normal

Today I am happy to report that my family seems to be back to normal after yesterday's shenanigans.
Not once today did we have a lost diaper, a lake in the kitchen, artwork drawn on the bay windows, a child getting his toes stuck under the refrigerator, a toy "accidentally" flushed down the toilet, or a child swinging (and hitting) another in the head with a fireplace tool.
Today we made about 7 million airplanes, built a fort in the living room out of couch cushions, and pretended to go mud bogging. Noah talked incessantly, Jonah continued to try and defeat the law of gravity, and Micah practiced falling over sitting up on his own.
It was a very calm and normal day indeed, appreciated all the more because of days like yesterday!

HELP!!!

I can't find the duct tape and have resorted to regular underwear. Maybe it is time for potty training??? Please God, no diarrhea in the underwear! Exactly why did I stay home today?

Uh-oh, No Diapy!

The rainbow suspenders aren't working...wonder where Joe keeps the duct tape?

A Little Better?

I am feeling much much better and it is a good thing, because now two of my children are sick. Jonah and Noah both have diarrhea. Today was supposed to be my work day, but I decided to stay home since I did not feel it was fair to saddle a babysitter with two sick kids and a house full of germs. Since Jonah is still in diapers, he developed quite the nasty diaper rash. By yesterday his poor little butt was red, blistered, and bleeding. I mixed up some of the miracle butt paste we used when Noah was a baby and by this morning you can barely tell that Jonah even had a rash.
We let him run around for a little while last night sans diaper hoping that the air would help heal his bottom. I don't know that it did any good since it was for such a short time, (as he was still having occasional bouts of diarrhea) but he obviously liked the way it felt. He has already come to me three times this morning saying, "Uh-oh, no diapy." We then search for the discarded diaper and put it back on. If he does it again, I think I am going to attach a pair of Noah's rainbow suspenders to the diaper to keep it on!
For those of you who are wondering...here is the recipe for the miracle butt paste that the Dr. gave me when Noah was a baby. I gave it to my brother-in-law when his father was ill and suffering from bedsores. His father would not use anything else after discovering how well this stuff works.

2oz. Hydrocortisone 1% Cream (I use Equate brand from Wal-Mart)
2oz. Antifungal 1% Cream (I use Equate brand from Wal-Mart)
2oz. Balmex diaper rash cream with Zinc Oxide

1. Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container.
2. Label container and keep it on the changing table.
3. Smear miracle butt paste all over rash at every diaper change.

Same Song, Second Verse

Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. I absolutely HATE being sick. I woke up in the middle of the night last night feeling nauseated, freezing, and shaking uncontrollably. Thinking it was blood sugar problems, I asked Joe to go get me a glass of milk. He thought that since I was freezing, he would put the glass of milk in the microwave and "knock the chill off of it" without telling me. **Side note here - A gulp of lukewarm milk is not the best thing when you are already feeling sick to your stomach.** Anyway, he brought back the thermometer and my temperature was 102.9. It stayed that way most of the night finally peaking at 104 early this morning.
Many thanks to my Mom, Granny, Dad, and Joe for pitching in to take care of me and the family. Mom took me to the Dr. this morning while Dad watched the kids. Granny came this afternoon to take care of us and poor Joe is pulling double duty at work and coming home to care for a sick wife and three grumpy kids.
The Dr. isn't really sure what it is, but he has put me on the same antibiotics I was on when I had MRSA, an antibiotic that Micah can not have. That means pumping and dumping for the duration of the medicine. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

Mobility

And now he rolls! It may seem insignificant but is actually an important milestone. Micah has taken his first "step" towards independent mobility.
He experimented with mobility last week but I have a sneaking suspicion it was not so independent. I left Micah in the swing for just a minute while I ran to the bathroom. When I emerged (to the sounds of Jonah saying uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh) I found Jonah laying on his back on the floor in front of the swing with Micah laying face down on top of him. Upon shrieking "What on earth happened" calmly asking what happened, Jonah replied, "Him jumped".....Yeah, I didn't think so either.

Photos Of The Fourth

Thanks to Mom, I have a few pictures of our fourth celebration to post here. The first few are just of the beautiful sunset. I always think watching the sunset is better than watching the fireworks!

Going....

...Going...

...Nearly gone!

Micah enjoyed Aunt Rita's attention while waiting for the fireworks.

Noah, Dee, 'Lil Deebo, Sol, and Dea...looking for fiddler crabs.

Jonah digging for "treasure".

Noah was a little disappointed when the first float had no candy!

He gathered all he could when they did throw candy!

And was very excited when he saw even more candy coming his way.

July 4th

Some of you already know that Joe's Dad has been experiencing some health problems. I won't go into detail since we do not yet know the cause, extent, or solution to the problem, but the past couple of weeks have been a scary mixture of emergency room visits, doctor's appointments, and hospital stays. Needless to say, Joe's stress level has been stretched far beyond its 'normal' limits. He really needed a break from everything. That is exactly what our fourth was...a break for all of us.
We left out on Friday afternoon headed down to the river with golf cart in tow. We arrived just in time for some supper, unpacking, and then we were off to bed.
Saturday was a fun, full, busy, yet relaxing day with my immediate and extended family. We got up early for the parade (We were just observers this year...stress free for Mommy!) and the boys collected more candy than they did at Halloween. Micah did not get to see the parade as he fell asleep just as the first float came by and woke up just as the last float came by. Joe loaded the golf cart down with chairs, umbrellas, towels, sunscreen and a cooler and we went to the beach to play in the sand and surf. Jonah has NO FEAR! That was a little stressful, but oh so fun to watch him have a good time. After we had our fill of salt water, we went back to the house for lots of good food and a LONG nap. Saturday evening we were back at the beach for the fireworks show, more swimming, and fiddler crab gathering.
Sunday morning we went to church on the water (How great is that?!!), had lunch, packed up and came home. It was exactly what we all needed, but was way too short.
When we got home and were unpacking, I discovered that Noah had brought home the pail full of fiddler crabs that he had collected at the beach Saturday evening. There was no way those things were going to stay in my house, so Joe and Noah took them down to the creek so that they could "swim" home. Oh the lovely adventures of raising boys...even on a relaxing weekend.

Say It Ain't So!

Micah had his four month check up today. As I sat there in the exam room waiting on the doctor to come in, I found something in Micah's mouth. Yep, he is getting his first tooth! SLOW DOWN ALREADY!!!! It's to early...I'm not ready...but, I guess this isn't about me at all.
In other Micah news, he continues to thrive. He weighs 16lbs. 1oz. and is 25 inches long. He got nasty vaccines today but only cried a little. (Too bad Noah doesn't take a few lessons from him.) He is right on track with all of his "four month accomplishments" such as controlling his head movements, grasping for objects, vocalizing, and sitting with support.
The doctor seems to think that as blue as his eyes are, they are going to stay blue. That is very interesting to me as I have brown eyes, Joe has green eyes, and both of our other boys have eyes the color of chocolate! Micah is going to really stick out with his blue eyes...especially since his hair has a hint of red. Where did Joe and I come up with a red haired, blue eyed baby?