A September Update

Well, we survived our first (and probably only) hurricane here. I actually think Hermine was a tropical storm when she blew through at 3am a few Friday’s ago.

I woke up and it sounded like my house was going through a car wash, with the wind and the rain hitting the side of the house. I expected little kids to join us but that didn’t happen and when I went to check on them, the sound of the storm was hardly noticeable upstairs. The kids slept through the storm and Peter only woke up to nurse then went back to sleep. I was awake for a good part of the night though, of course.

Joshua got up for work and got a text from his boss that the office didn’t have power and that the sheriff said people needed to stay off the roads until noon, or even later, so Joshua worked from home. We, thankfully, didn’t lose power or internet during the storm. (Which is strange because we lost power the week before on a Wednesday morning, while the sun was just shining away.)

That afternoon we submitted a counter offer on our house and the next morning, it was accepted. Wait, what?! True story. We’ll be heading back north, God willing, soon. Housing on that end has worked out as well so all is good and we just have to wait for the inspection and appraisal here, then closing.

I’ve spent the past few days packing up more boxes. I packed a bunch back when I found out I was pregnant with Peter because I knew I’d be sick for a good few months and then I packed up a lot more over the Christmas break, so really, it’s clothes and kitchen stuff that needs to be backed. (Oh and Joshua’s tools, but those are his domain, not mine.)

We decided to enroll the kids in the strings program again to keep them learning until we move. Last year Karol was in the Concert Strings group which requires auditioning and being accepted. I was under the impression that auditioning was an annual thing and that he would have to do it to keep his place in the group, so he did that on Wednesday. It turns out that he was accepted into the Youth Orchestra. (again what?!) He’s ten. I’m not bragging here, but I’m super impressed by his skills.

Strings started last night. Benedict is playing this year and his class is first, a half hour before the girls’ class, then Karol class begins right after the girls’ class ends. This means we are out of the house for three hours, sigh. I got the kids out and when we got to the school, it seemed like no one knew where the girls were supposed to be. Peter was having a melt down, and I was trying to keep my mind together. I was near tears. I got the girls to where they needed to be and then realized they didn’t have their music books or paper. Sigh. I hate forgetting things.

Oh and I also thought that the Youth Orchestra was on Wednesdays. Nope, Mondays. No one had eaten dinner and Peter had spit up all over my shoulder. I rallied though and kept my mind together. Note: Bring the stroller next time and not the baby carrier, it’s still to warm out for that.

Finally, I’m making these for dinner. I’ve made a variation of these recently, without the cabbage and sauerkraut (so basically burgers wrapped in bread.) Tonight I’m making the recipe for real. That is if Margaret stops sneaking sauerkraut from the jar. She’s informed me she loves it and would eat it all the time. Winning.

Filed under: General Stuff

Sigh

We’ve all been nursing a bit of a cold, including baby Peter. The rest of the kids can articulate what hurts (throat, ears, eyes, nose) but poor Peter just gets to cry and cry a lot to let us know he’s not feeling well. He’s been waking up between 330 and 430 in the morning and has been fussy until about 630 or 7. That makes for awesome morning around here, I tell you. Say a prayer for him and for his parents that this passes quickly.

It doesn’t help that when he should be napping during the day, certain children are very loud and wake him up. It’s been a rough day and I’m near tears.

 

UPDATE:

I didn’t even get a chance to actually post this yesterday because the day was so rough. Last night, Peter fell asleep around 8 instead of his normal 930. He woke at 3 (ish) to eat and then went back to sleep next to me. He slept again until about 6am. Did I? Of course not. I was wide away. I prayed for a bit, then I read a bit. Wikipedia is your friend at times like this, you find a boring topic and go feel your eyes drooping. Nope, that didn’t happen either. I finally fell asleep a little after 4, but it was still far better than yesterday.

He slept the rest of morning and when he woke up, he was happy. I’d forgotten what happy Peter was like because I haven’t seen it for a week. I’m really happy that he’s back to his normal self, really.

Filed under: General Stuff

Updates Round Here

  • Our elliptical machine broke last week, so we ordered a conversion kit for my bike and now I can ride it in the house like a stationary bike. I like it much better and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to kill me.
  • If you’ve read my blog for a while, you know that I have milk production issues and supplement the babies with formula using (currently) a Lact-Aid nursing system. This time has been no different, except I seem to have a lot more milk with Peter than I did even with Scholastica. It’s not at the no supplement range at all, but my supply is still here and he’s 9 weeks old today and it seems to be going up. I’m so happy about this.
  • We are in the middle of week three of school and I think we are being pretty successful here. There are some days where I have to pull them along to get their work done and some days (okay everyday) there are complaints about how much writing they have to do (well from one kid), but it gets done.
  • We’ve been watching the Olympics here as well. The kids love water polo and the horses. I really enjoyed the swimming and gymnastics. I’ve probably have stayed up later than is prudent watching some nights.

 

Filed under: General Stuff

Friday Night

The house is clean, the baby is happy, schoolwork for the week is done and the grades have been logged, and I’m drinking a beer. I’m documenting this because I’m certain this will never happen again.

Joshua is working with a kid on multiplication and long division. The rest of the kids are building Lego. If you follow my Instagram account, you probably saw that Benedict made a model of himself out of Legos. Stay tuned for the toilet he made for his guy.

The kids get a prize for working hard this week, so we’ll dole that out here in a bit and snack while watching the Olympics. Those are very popular around here. Anytime we watch gymnastics, the kids start doing flips. I had one doing headstands against the wall today. That will probably show up on IG later as well.

Oh, hey Andrea, the next time I text you that the baby never sleeps, please reply that I need to lay down with him on my chest and he’ll go right to sleep for two or more hours.

Filed under: Home Schooling, Peter

Two Months!

peter2months

Things Peter does:

  • Sleeps five hour stretches at night.
  • Sometimes pushes himself up on his forearms.
  • Smiles at his brothers and sisters.
  • Nurses like a champ.
Filed under: Peter

Round Here

This weekend I worked on lesson plans for the up coming school year. Since I am using a mix of Memoria Press and Kolbe, it took a big of tweeking, but I think I’ve got it down. I only wrote a week out for the older three kids, so we have room to adjust if need be.

I’m going to admit that my kids are whiners about having to write anything out. Why I’m not sure as they’ve always had to write things out for their school work. There is a lot more writing this year for the older two than there has been in the past and I’m hoping there isn’t much of a rebellion against it. I’ve tried to come up with a good mix of heavy writing days in some subjects and heavy reading days in others so they aren’t “killing” their hands. (As they like to tell me.)

Peter slept pretty well last night. He went to sleep around 9pm and stayed that way until 2am. He nursed then slept again until 645am. He’s mostly happy this morning as am I, plus I folded laundry and made dinner for tonight. (Tacos, if you are interested and everything is prepped for toppings too!)

I’m still trying to get a picture with the real camera for his birth announcement, but he’s not cooperating (and it’s hard to try to make him smile while making sure he’s arranged properly and holding the camera.

Oh and I made s’mores waffles on Sunday, wow, yum.

Filed under: Home Schooling