Greta asked me to take a picture of her for my blog today. She wants you all to know what she wore Sunday.
Very fashionable! And since I decided to post about Greta, I figured I'd take pictures of all other willing participants, so you can all see our Sunday best. Here is Elsa posing for the back to school catalogue.
Annika is 7 weeks old now and went for the baby giraffe look! Okay...so she didn't really give verbal consent.
So, I'll take her big smiles as consent instead.
Here is what I wore...7 weeks postpartum. How long can I use that postpartum label to excuse my squishy belly? A year from now, I'll be all "here I am, 13 months postpartum"
Ignore baby spit-up stain on my shirt.
That's all the willing participants this week. In other news, Heidi started high school at a local, public, magnet high school after being homeschooled for 8 years.
So far, she's doing well. All A's and overall she likes it! However, the most exciting news of all, is that three years after graduating from law school, 2 years of underemployment/working on his own at his own business (getting a few clients during that time, but not enough), my husband FINALLY got a job with a law firm! Starts on Tuesday. Yay! We're super excited about it. That's all for now. You can look forward to my next blog post in a few days weeks.
In honor of that....I'm going to share 7 things about Elsa.
1. Elsa was born at home. Intentionally. But, if it hadn't been intentionally, it could easily have been accidently...it was that fast! You can read her birth story here.
2. Elsa loves babies.
Here she is with baby Audrey.
I babysit Audrey 4 days a week. Every day, we get a running commentary of what Audrey does. Audrey said "ahh'. Audrey kicked her legs. Audrey rolled over. Audrey's sucking her thumb. Audrey's eyes are closed. Audrey's sleeping. Yay......Audrey's here!!
3. Elsa likes to perform. This performance is directed by Greta.
4. Elsa loves animals. For her birthday, she wanted a cat cake. Do I have a future in cake decorating or what? Food photography too, for that matter.
6. Elsa still loves to nurse. We talked about weaning after she turns 3, but she didn't go for that idea. Whenever we talk about getting no more na-na, she just says yes na-na, I DO want na-na. I do like na-na. She WILL be weaned by her 4th birthday, however. Mom's honor.
7. Elsa's middle name is Rose. When she was born, we wavered between naming her Elsa Rose or Elsa Marie. We chose Rose, because, right before she was born, her older brother, John, said that Rose is a beautiful name. We felt bad for him, being the only boy and all.So....John picked her middle name. However, had we known that Disney was going to come out with a new princess named Elsa.....we would have named her Elise. Alas, Disney neglected to tell us about their movie plans. How rude of them. When she was first born and we told people here name, everyone was all Elsa---what a cute name, you don't hear that often. I love that. Now everyone is all, Elsa...her name is Elsa? You named her after the Disney Princess??? Oh well. Even worse, Real Elsa loves Disney Elsa. I blame that on Greta....big sisters have big influence. Happy Birthday Elsa! We love you!
1. I feel like I shouldn't complain about this, but I will. My 2.75 year old is still nursing, and I'm really ready to not nurse so much. Not that I necessarily want to wean her completely, but I'd love to cut her back to just scheduled times. She still wants to nurse a lot, whenever she is bored or hungry or thirsty or needs comfort. I think the boredom and needing comfort are the biggest motivators. I feel like I shouldn't complain about it, because everyone would just be all wean the kid already..she's way too old. She's a walking, taking, potty-trained, no-napping, pigtail-wearing toddler.
Or they would be all..ha, that's what you get for being a attachment parenting, demand nursing, co-sleeping mother. Now you have a kid who will still be nursing in Kindergarten.
The kindergarten part is most definitely NOT true. All my kids were still nursing at age 3, and none of them were nursing at age 4, never mind Kindergarten.
In my circles, it seems as though most people nurse past one, but hardly anyone nurses past two. And here we are, approaching three and still going strong.
And you would think with four kids, I'd have this weaning thing down pat. But I don't. My other kids all nursed past their third birthday. I don't mind nursing that long. It's just that Elsa is so demanding (aren't all toddlers?) about the whole thing. And she isn't put off easily. Actually...if she is hungry or thirst, she is easily distracted by offering food or drink.
But comfort seems to be the biggest factor for her.
And like all toddlers, telling her no upsets her, so then she needs comfort...which to her means nursing and she wants to nurse even more. It's kinda a cycle that I'm not sure how to break. Since the moment she was born, she's been a super voracious nurser, so it shouldn't surprise me that she is still going strong. Of course, I feel like I should say that were are wonderful things about nursing toddlers. She never has bad temper tantrums and is NEVER out of control. It's always super easy to calm her down. Plus, she's like freakily healthy. Seriously.when all the other kids are laid up with a stomach bug, she throws up one time, and is back to running around and eating and totally normal. Even colds don't hit her as hard as the other kids. So, I definitely DO NOT wish I had weaned her a year ago, when she was still one. I just like to complain...being melancholic and all.
2. I've managed to lose 10 pounds over the last 2 months. (I know, I know...I said I wasn't going to try to lose weight. That was the...this is now). Not super impressive, but hey slow and steady works, right? I've been doing it by basically doing what comes most natural to me. That is eating massive amounts of low-calorie foods and limiting/watching portion sizes on everything else. I love to eat. I mean, I really love to eat. Which means I love eating foods that takes a long time to eat. Salads, fruits, vegetables. I did some research and found out this sort of diet has name,...the volumetrics diet. The idea is that people are satisfied with a certain volume of food...so to lose weight you choose foods that are less caloric dense but have increased volume. Of course you still eat some fat...but you really try to eat large quantities of foods which have low ratio of calories/grams. It really jives with the way my body works. A 100-calorie candy bar would go down in about 2 bites, while a 100-calorie apple would take much longer to eat...so the apple would be much more satisfying (not to mention way healthier). It's not so much that you cut out more caloric-dense foods..but that you crowd them out, with healthier foods.
3. I've been doing really good on keeping my house fairly clean since me moved. Which for me, is a BIG thing. I'm NOT a neat person. However, I've just been really on top of keeping things picked up, and that's helped tremendously. When things are picked up, it's so much easier to clean. I've been really working at training myself to get into the habit of putting things away, and picking up as I move through the day. When things are picked up, I can actually clean, but I find cleaning super overwhelming if I have to pick up stuff to do it. Same for my kids. They are doing so much more cleaning now, because they aren't spending so much time picking up.
4. Life is hard. Starting a business is hard. Finding clients is hard. Please pray for Ben's fledgling law firm. Marketing is NOT our forte and we don't have the budget to really hire it out. Actually we both hate marketing. It's why I could never do any of those network marketing things. It's why this blog is still so small. We're trying to get past that we both find marketing to be sorta distasteful. But, marketing is what we have to do, so somehow we'll find a way to learn and do what we have to do.
5. My dermatology appointment went fine. The doctor didn't see anything concerning. So, that's a relief.
6. I want a dog. I love dogs. I find myself browsing petfinder.com for dogs. Although we aren't in a position to get one yet. But, hopefully in a few months to a year. I don't want a puppy..I want a house broken, obedience trained dog that doesn't shed.
Poodles are supposed to be good like that, right? This one looks so lonely. Of course, I think their coats are pretty high maintenance and I'm not into high maintenance stuff. A dog is still pretty far off in the future anyway...
7. It's shaping up to be a very busy summer. Which is good. I love busy-ness. My kids are doing free swimming and golf lessons through the local parks and rec. You can't beat free! And Heidi and Greta are in a play, so that will be fun for them. Looks like we'll be going light on the schoolwork this summer, but we'll still do some...because I'm mean that way. And, I prefer year-round schooling.
Let's play a game...shall we? I tell you all the fortunate and unfortunate things that have happened to me recently. And then in the comments you can tell me all about the fortunate and unfortunate things that I have happened to YOU recently. Because I really do want to hear about YOUR life. Let's start.
Fortunately...After we moved a few weeks ago our old lawn mower worked and I was able to mow the side and front lawns without incident.
Unfortunately...Our back yard is completely fenced in so only accessible by carrying the lawnmower up 4 steps from the sidewalk that lead to the gate. Or, you could carry it from the garage up two steps, across the deck and down two more steps. That means, that mower has to go up/down steps to take it out of the garage and mow the back yard.
Not a great picture...but you have to go up steps coming out of the garage and down more steps into the lawn. Or if you go through the gate, it's about 4 steps up from the sidewalk.
Bad design if you ask me..but no one asked me before they built it. Go figure?? So, when I tried to move it up the steps,I must have broke something, because it started blowing out blue smoke.
Fortunately...Being the crazy old-fashioned person that I am, I decided it would be fun to try an old-fashioned push reel mower. So, I put out a call on Facebook and a friend had one that she graciously sold to us for $15. So, now I can mow the back yard without worrying about carrying a gas mower up/down the steps and over the deck and ruining another one. Because I have a tendency to ruin things. And the push mower works reasonably well on the back yard.
Unfortunately..the push mower doesn't work well on the front or side yards. Maybe they are too sloped or too bumpy, but it was way too hard. So, the other day I was outside struggling to mow with the push mower, and alternating that with my blue smoke blowing gas mower. It was a stuggle...and no one wants a blue-smoke blowing, polluting mower in the neighborhood.
Fortunately...our neighbor was outside mowing his lawn at the same time and he must have taken pity on poor struggling me, with my push mower and blue smoking mower, because he offered me a spare lawn mower he had in the basement. So, I graciously accepted his generous offer and gave him a loaf of gluten-free, dairy-free banana bread I had just baked as a thank you. So, now we have a blue-smoke blowing gas mower, a good working gas mower and a push mower. And I'm definitely going to only use the push mower on the back yard because it's a lot lighter to lift up/down steps and it's basically unbreakable but the new gas mower will be great for the front and side yards.
(Now I'll talk about something un-related to the lawn)
Unfortunately..last week I developed two lumps on the side of my leg. Thanks to google, I self-diagnosed them as superficial blood clots. Thanks to 4 pregnancies, I have fairly bad varicose veins, and apparently people with bad varicose veins are prone to superficial blood clots.
Fortunately..I was able to get in to see my doctor (who I hadn't seen before, but we just changed insurance so I had to pick someone) and I was right. And there are no deep clots (they sent me for an ultrasound). Only deep clots are dangerous...superficial ones are apparently no big deal.
Unfortunately..I also have this other lump on the back of my leg and I spent several days convinced it was some awful cancer and I only had a few months left. I am anxiety girl after all.
Fortunately...The doctor said it was just a cyst and not to worry about it. (and please, no one post stories about people who had "cysts" that really turned out to be cancer. My nerves can't take it..so I'm just going to trust the doctor and not worry about it.) Because I really do not need any more worry in my life.
Unfortunately..I hate going to doctors, so while I was seeing the doctor, I decided to face my fears and bite the bullet and get a referral to make an appointment for a general skin check with a dermatologist to check some moles. I'm sure they are fine, but better safe than sorry...and it might ease my anxiety. At least until I find the next thing to be anxious about. So, I'm doing that next week.
Fortunately...we do have health insurance.
(now onto a different topic)
Unfortunately...Elsa is driving me crazy because she's a toddler and toddlers drive me crazy.
Fortunately.. she's cute. And she sings...which is beyond cute.
Here she is singing her favorite song..which she made up.
It's called "I changed my mind." (Something she does a lot).
And here's another song she's singing about her Clifford umbrella. It's called
"Woof, woof, woof, woof....it red dog."
All her songs are pretty much just one-liners.
Unfortunately..despite the fact that when we moved, she got her own bed in her own room, she has yet to sleep in it for an entire night. Someday.
.1. On Monday, Ben got sworn in for the Indiana State Bar. We all went to the ceremony and had the pleasure of hearing various talks and roll calling and oath-taking and it was all very formal and court-like with lots of motions and may it please the court and things like that. Just like on TV.
2. Elsa, who just turned two, was a perfect angel at the ceremony. It was pretty amazing. She's also been really good at Mass lately, so hopefully her wild days are in past.
3. Except for when we went out to eat afterwards with my parents, and she spilled something on her dress and then proceeded to remove it in the middle of the restaurant. No modestly there yet!
4. On the drive home we saw a perfect Rainbow. I guess that made up for the fact that we had to walk several blocks in the rain through Indy to get from where we parked to the Convention Center. So we got both the rain clouds and the rainbows. We actually also saw a perfect rainbow on the way up, but I didn't get a shot of that one. So two rainbows in one day!
5. Most of you probably know that I tend to be fairly crunchy. And I used to be all into natural cleaning stuff. But, the last two years, I've been spiraling down into the harsh chemicals. It started when we lived in Virginia and pretty much got mold EVERYWHERE in the bathroom. The ONLY effective way to get rid of it was to spray that Tilex Mold Killer on it and that that took care of it for a good two months at a time.
Then here, in Indiana, we deal with hard water so it stains EVERYTHING brown (including my teeth according to the dentist). The only way to get rid of it is to use that super harsh, lime/calcium/rust remover stuff. It's poison but it works, and nothing else does. I'm not about to use that on my teeth though...they can just stay yellow. And let's not mention the carpet. Keeping the carpet clean is SUPER hard with kids that go in and outside all day. Yes, they do take their shoes off in the house, but of course that only helps if they actually put shoes ON to go outside. Walking inside with with the same bare feet you used to walk outside doesn't exactly keep the carpet clean. And, then there are the food spills and the potty-training toddler. Nasty carpet cleaner it is. Anyone know natural alternative that WORK without lots of WORK on my part? 6. I am a homeschooling idiot because it took me 7 years of homeschooling to finally try Saxon Math and I LOVE it. It seems to be the perfect Math for us. So, now I can regret all those years we've struggled through Math U See or Math Mammoth because I was too stupid to try only THE MOST POPULAR HOMESCHOOING MATH PROGRAM ever. Doh' 7. Ben had a job interview on Wednesday. He really wants that job, so please pray for him. He was one of 5 candidates they interviewed and they said that they always hire lawyers right out of law school, so that is a good sign. We'll see what happens.
1. Oddly enough, I am not scared of Ebola virus. Even though lots of other people are...including my husband who once passed out while watching a movie on Ebola. You know what medical things I am scared of? Cancer and Lyme Disease. Clearly I'd rather bleed out my eyeballs than have a long-suffering illness.
2. Elsa has her 2-year check-up yesterday. She is healthy...and about 50% percentile for height and 25% for weight. I would have thought she was fatter than that...but apparently not. When we did the language/development screening thing, she passed everything, so seems to be doing okay.
3. Speaking of pediatricians, does anyone else find it EXTREMELY AWKWARD when the doctor has you hold your toddler on your lap facing out and then the doctor scoots their chair up really close with their legs spread and your legs are kinda in between their legs.
Like this. I recreated the scene with Dr. Greta. Yes, Dr. Greta is eating a muffin while conducting an exam. Medical professionalism at its best.
AWKWARD, AWKWARD, AWKWARD. I've had 2 different doctors do this and the whole time I'm just worried I'm going to accidentally knee them in the groin. Yikes!!
4. Is it all right to talk about something that REALLY annoys me. I hate it when friends of my friends, friend me on Facebook, I accept and then later find out that they use Facebook to CONSTANTLY promote their business/MLM thing. I don't mind when actual friends promote their business/MLM, on Facebook but I DO mind when people I don't really know try to friend me so that just have one more person to hawk their thing too.
5. The worst part about job searching is the CONSTANT highs and lots...and moving up and down between hope and despair. That's not an exaggeration. It feels like a constant roller coaster with numerous difficult decisions to be made. I hate it!
6. Speaking of job searching, maybe I'll write a whole post on this soon, but when my kids are ready for college, I'm going to REALLY push them to find something with good career options with flexibility for working part-time in different areas. Ben and I both feel that our colleges failed us MISERABLY at career counseling. No one really explained how certain major/career choices increases your job opportunities and others limited them. If I had it to go back and do it over again, I would have majored in some sorta of health field (like Nursing) and continued working even after having kids on a very-part time basis (like once a week). I realize I could still do that now, but going back to school is infinitely more complicated at this point. And, Ben wishes that someone had mentioned law school to him 10 years ago, so he could have considered the possibility back when we were young and the economy was a lot better.
7. We finally gout our gas turned on this Wed. I had been delaying doing it because the only thing we need gas for is heat and we just moved here end of June, so the world outside provided all the heat we needed. But, my mother was after and after me to get our heat turned on. So, I finally did it and sure enough, last night it got down to like 40 degrees and they are only calling for a high of 46 today. Even with our heat set at 62 degrees, it still turned on. Moral of the story...always listen to your mother.
1. Remember how I was worried about Elsa's speech. Well she seems to have picked things up a bit in the last few weeks and is now combining words..sorta. She still isn't speaking in full sentences, but she has combined 2 or more words a few times. where baby on ack-et (John, jacket) Mommy, out. She has even added a few phrases. "I don't know"... seems to be her current favorite phrase. Probably because she hears it so much.
Me: "Where's your math book?" Kid: "I don't know." Me: "Why is there cocoa all over the floor?" Kid: "I don't know."
2. Thank you for all your prayers on our unemployment situation. While still no job yet, there have been some positive signs that things may not be totally hopeless and even an interview scheduled in early October. Keep praying friends.
3. Is anyone else completely penny-wise and pound-foolish? When we are watching our budget I tend to balk at buying simple things (like a can opener) but then somehow feel I NEED more expensive things (like vitamins or supplements...my downfall). It doesn't make sense, but it's the way my mind works until I finally breakdown and buy the darn can opener anyway.
4. Speaking of things worth spending money on, if you homeschool and have a middle or high school student, I can't recommend enough the recorded classes from Homeschool Connections. It has made my life SO.MUCH.EASIER. Heidi is basically doing Spanish, History, Literature, Math and English all independently. Independent work is the name of the game folks.
5. Speaking of homeschooling, are you ready for another I've changed my mind post. Everyone loves those, right? When I first started homeschooling I was pretty much against all homeschool oversight, and now I'm generally in favor of it. Not super stringent regulations, but enough. to help prevent educational neglect, which I now think IS real. Stay tuned for that future post coming.
6. So, in the interest of healthier eating, I've been trying to make healthier "treats" without any sugar at all. You know, things like avocado cocoa balls sweetened with dates. Yeah..um...it can't be done. I mean, it can be done but it probably shouldn't be.
Ben passed the Indiana bar exam!! We're very excited! And very grateful that they posted the results on September 12th. Last year when he took it in Virgina (and passed) we had to wait until October 31st to find out.
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He's still job searching though..so prayers would be appreciated. Although we are hopeful that passing the bar will help him find a job easier.
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It got colder here today...highs in the mid-60's. This is basically my favorite weather ever...except we are not prepared for colder weather and I need to somehow dig out all our cold weather clothes. But, I LOVE the cooler weather like this.
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It totally makes we want to take everyone and go hiking.
I did dig out some of our colder clothes and found a pair of boots for Elsa. Except now she wants to wear them ALL THE TIME. I mean ALL THE TIME. Heaven forbid we take them off for anything (like to change her pants). Cries of "boots, boots, boots, boots" until she gets them on again. In stark contrast to the rest of my kids (who prefer to be discalced) this girl loves her shoes. I forsee a very full closet in future years.
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I'm toying with getting Elsa evaluated for speech. She's mostly fine and actually says lots of words, but isn't really combining words yet and a lot of her words only we understand (like she says "A-ah" for herself (Elsa). I don't think she's that behind and she's pretty good at conveying what she wants across, but I think she might be a tiny bit behind. Anyone has experience with early intervention or speech therapy for young kids. Heidi was in speech therapy but she didn't start until she was older (over 4) and in hindsight I wish we had started her a lot younger.
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So, I'm sure you've heard about the mysterious respiratory virus in the midwest that is landing numerous children in the hospital. I'm trying to decide if I should be worried or not. Well, obviously I shouldn't be worried, because worry never changes anything. Or so, my husband tells me (personally I'm not convinced). Nonetheless it's probably wise to load up on Vitamin D, Vitamin C and immune-boosting herbs (like garlic).
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