A whole different world

I the world of an "average family" being considered 1 or 2 kids, we look very different. Most people didn't say anything when I had three. Some would comment, but it was mostly about the fact that they are all three boys. Now that I have baby, things have changed. I hear a lot of, "You look very busy.", and "Finally got your girl huh?". While I understand that most people mean well, it's enough to know that people are staring at me. They don't have to say something too. Do they stop to think of how it makes the boys feel when they ask, "Finally got your girl?" Like my three boys weren't enough, we had to have a girl. I was just happy having boys and would've been just as happy had little Raindrop come out a girl too. I love all my children. They are all from God, regardless of their gender.

Don't even get me started on going out to eat. Even though Raindrop is only 3.5 months old, we still have to seat 5 people. Most places aren't' set up for that. Why? I have no idea. Our food takes forever for some reason and it's always expensive.

Regardless, I love my family. I don't care what others think, when I come through the store with all my kids in tow. They are loud, there's lots of us and we will be out in public. Too bad if you don't like it.

Surviving

This summer is going way too fast! I can't believe we are already in August. I remember summers lasting for, what seemed like, forever when I was a kid. We have had a busy summer here. It's been stormy, like much of the country, and now hot. Very hot. We are surviving though. My house is a constant mess, but the kids are happy and healthy. Adding #4 into the mix hasn't added much stress, but she sure keeps me busy.

We took a family walk yesterday evening to the lake. It was so fun. The older boys rode their bikes and daddy pushed our 2 year old and baby in the stroller. We all got some great exercise and got to see, and hold, a frog.

It seems that, even though things can and often are stressful, in this stage of raising kids we have wonderful opportunities to make lasting memories with our children. My kids are still talking about small trips we've taken and times we've had with one another in years past. We don't take big trips to Disney World, though they'd love that too. We just make the most of what is available to us locally.

So, I encourage anyone who reads this to look at a map and decide how far you are willing to drive, draw a radius around your home and explore. You can try a new park, take a trip to a small town near you, or even just spend some time in the yard with your kids. Make some lasting memories without adding stress.

Getting back to it.

This full moon has brought me back to my energy work. It feels so wonderful to get back into doing what God wants me to do. I had kept saying I needed to get back to it. I feel more in balance when I do energy work and I hadn't been working on it for quite some time. Well, a friend asked me to do a reading for her and it was great!

Where have I been?

I had a baby! A little girl to be exact. She blessed us with her presence 6 weeks early, but is healthy and strong as can be. Here's the story.

I had an appointment with my home birth midwife on Wednesday afternoon. The appointment was in MN, since SD doesn't have the greatest of laws when it comes to home birth. (That's something that needs to be fixed in my opinion) After my appointment I met with my husbands aunt for supper in Sioux Falls. I had some pain starting, but just thought maybe it was a gall bladder issue cropping up and it would stop as soon as I took my supplements. We ate and parted ways.

Before I left town I knew something was not right. The pain kept getting worse and worse. I drove home anyway. My cell phone was dead, so I couldn't call Rob and let him know I was on my way, so that just added to the concern. I had all three boys with me and this pain kept getting worse. I thought I might have to stop in Brookings at the hospital it was so bad. I kept praying that if something happened that God would protect my children. I didn't know if I was having a stroke or a gall bladder attack or what it was. I reached Brookings and just kept driving. I was going WAY over the speed limit, but I didn't care. I just needed to get home to my husband.

I arrived home, stepped out of the van and doubled over. Rob came out, very concerned, and got the three boys into the house. I went in and took my blood pressure. It was 242/156!!!! Holy crap! I needed to call my MW and my doctor. I called my MW, who told me to just go straight to the hospital. I then called my doctor to let him know what was going on, he of course told me the same thing. So then I had to call my friend Carole to come watch the boys until my mother in law could get here. She lives 4 hours away and we couldn't wait that long.

As soon as Carole got here, we left for the hospital. My poor Asher was so scared. He didn't want us to leave and it broke my heart to leave with him crying like that, but we had to. My life, and possibly my baby's life, was in danger.

We got to the hospital and got through all that fun stuff that happens there. The blood tests came back and showed that I had severe toxemia. The baby had to come out now. How could this be? I was only 34 weeks along. What would this mean for the baby? What would this mean for me? What it meant was another cesarean for me and a preemie baby. I'm not sure anyone wants that. I wanted to have a home birth after all. Why?

Rob reminded me that we needed to trust God. We prayed. He laid hands on my belly, on our baby, and prayed that everything would be okay.

The nurses brought some scrubs in for Rob to change to. As he went into the bathroom to change, they wheeled me out of my room to the OR. I was prepped for surgery. Did I mention that I did not want another cesarean? My doctor and the nurses were all very wonderful. Soon after Rob got there, my sweet baby was born. The doctor asked if we knew what gender the baby was. When Rob answered no, he said, "Stand up and see." She was perfect! They brought her over to me and she was just beautiful!

They sewed and stapled me up, while Rob went with baby Isabell to the nursery. I was put into recovery until I could move my legs. It didn't take long and I was wheeled back up to labor and delivery. I got to hold my sweet little girl for the first time! Oh what a blessing she was. Soon after we got to nurse for the first time. What a beautiful feeling.

Isabell is still doing great and so am I. We are definitely praising God for this miracle. Looking at all the "what ifs" in this situation is scary. We are very thankful that we serve such a mighty God.

Decisions, decisions....

I'm in the middle of trying to decide what we will do with our homeschooling next year. I finally settled on Heart of Dakota for our curriculum. I'm totally in love with it. It's such an easy curriculum to use and it's educationally sound. It's great for an open an go type of life. I really needed this since my boys keep my so busy. We will also be accepting a new member in the family this June, so having a newborn on top of three very energetic boys. Oh boy, does that sound like a fun time! Really, we are so excited for this baby to come, and we are definitely blessed.

Anyway, I'm way off track now. Back to the HOD stuff. I keep waffling back and forth between finishing up our preschool curriculum, Little Hands to Heaven and having both boys go through Little Hearts for His Glory together. The wonderful thing about HOD is that you can do that. Carrie has it set up in this wonderful way that most of her curriculum can be used for one or more grade levels. So, I could have Lightening(my oldest) go through it using the plan for 1st grade(which I planned on doing anyway) and have Thunder(my almost 4yo) go through it with us using the kindergarten plan. Sounds good in theory, to have both of them going through the same book. It would make things so much easier on me to only have ONE master plan, with a few differences thrown in right?

I thought I had decided to just go ahead and do this. However, I don't want to rush Thunder through just to keep him in the same book as Lightening. I think that could have negative effects on his education. So, now I'm thinking that I'll just keep going through Little Hands to Heaven with him and move him on to Little Hearts for His Glory when he finishes. Lightening would just finish out the few things we are doing for his "kindergarten" and then move on to Little Hearts for His Glory in August, or before if I think I can handle it with a newborn baby. This means that I would be teaching out of two different books, but I think I'd rather do that than hold Lightening back or rush Thunder ahead.

I think my husband is getting tired of me talking about it. That or he's heard none of what I'm saying and is pretending to listen. ;)

Fun with finger paint!

We made some finger paint today. It was so much fun! We mixed 2 cups white flour into 2 cups of water. Then we divided it into small jars and added washable tempera paint. Covered and shook well to mix. You have finger paint! The kids had a lot of fun using their finger paint too.