Unschool-ology

Unschool-ology
Unschooling: Living Without School; Living Free Range-Freedom to Learn What One Wants When One Wants

Monday, January 16, 2017

Welcome To Motherhood of Multiple Children

Where a peaceful life means avoiding the grocery store and making something simple for dinner.

The dishwasher is in the process of being fixed. I have resolved to do my grocery shopping online or pick up what I can't order from Aldi during S's swim class. The crockpot is my best friend. And I'd love to get a robot mop.....Maybe one day.

Things I said I'd never do. But I've had to proritize. With Sam, as an only and an older child, I had too much time on my hands. Now with Sara, I have not enough. And I have to choose.

Do I want to miss these months where they grow way too fast? Or do I want to suck it up and deal with a halfway cleaned house?

So now I have some dog hair behind the couch, the crockpot stays on the counter, and they're are a few unfinished projects at the top of the basement stairs. And the laundry may or may not stay one load behind. But it pretty much did that before. So not too shabby considering I have cloth diapers in the rotation now. Luckily, I have realized...it will all be there waiting on me when I'm ready. When Sara takes naps while I'm not holding her. When she isn't nursing as much. When Sara and Sam are busy playing together. Whe.mBecausen Sam and I are not in the midst of a learning explosion. One day we will be out of this stage and I will miss it. Until then, I'll enjoy them both and forget about the house and shopping in the store and having 3 course meals for just a little while longer.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Gotta keep this short and sweet because life is busy lately, but I have a few things I'm so excited about, but nobody wants to hear me go on about. Poor Hubby has to though.

Me:

I start working next Wednesday. By "working" I mean 4 hours a week. lol I will have both the girls and a 7 hour day just seemed way too long to have them and be working. So I am working afternoons, 1-5, which is just so perfect for our schedule. Clean in the morning, then work with Sam, then work. She will get her attention and not be as needy while I am there. I will be the post abortion counselor and outreach coordinator. My job will be counseling clients like usual, but the post abortive and abortion vulnerable will be specifically scheduled for when I am there. I will be doing recivery studies-individual and running the group study, which sounds like a lot, but it isn't because women aren't exactly lining up at the door to tell everyone about their abortion. My job will also be to make connections with churches and other Christian organizations to refer women who have had abortions to us for counseling. And then or course speaking at churches like usual. The best part is, she said I can clock another 4 hours a week at home if I do any work. Specifically, when Jessie is home with the girls, I will probably make calls to churches, meet with pastors and other entities, etc. So I'm nervous, but excited. Too much is changing around here. New baby. New car. New job. I am nervous about being tied down to something, even if it is only 4 hours a week. I am bad about not wanting to dedicate ourselves to stuff, even though I do all the time. I'm not flaky, but I want to able to have the option of flaking without being irresponsible. Know what I mean? Maybe not....Anyway...

Jessie:

He finished yet another semester of school! He has never been this dedicated. I feel so bad for him and I want to help, but we are both running ourselves dry here adjusting to the new normal. He is doing a great job, carrying all As and only has a year or maybe a little less left in his academics. So yay him.

Sara:

Sara is growing fast! She is two months old now. She is having her tongue clipped so she can eat better. She isn't gaining much weight. :( Anywho, after her "surgery" she should be fine and start eating more and gaining. I am noticing all the small stuff that I never did with Sam because I was a new Mom and because she was in daycare during her good hours. But the other morning, I was sitting with Sara and just watching her. And I noticed that she was starting to notice her feet! She kept pulling them in and watching them. And then she kept trying to coordinate her hands to grab them. She was not successful that day, but it's coming soon. She is growing so fast. I put her in a jumper yesterday and she could stay balanced and play. She rolls over. She is just too darn big and strong! My Husband and I both got excited the other day when she reached for the toy on her carseat on purpose! That's right! She was batting at it on purpose!! We were in cloud 9 the rest of the night.

Samantha:

Samantha had been struggling a big for my attention lately. And as much as I want to be super mom, you can't get there just by baking the best treats and leading all of the activities. So I've been trying to keep my relationship with her going strong. It's tough though. She has so much energy from being locked in the house all day in the Winter since activities have not started back yet. And she is SO hyper. Not to mention all the changes she has been through. I keep reminding myself she is adjusting too. Anyway, we listen to audio books in the new car that has a working radio and CD player. We play lots of games in the afternoons, go out for special treats, and I make it a point to have meaningful conversations. Last night she helped me clean so I could spend time with her today and not worry about anything. We talked about how bad she wanted to be a nurse and she decided she wanted to volunteer at a hospital, so we will see where that goes. I am ready for activities to start back and pretty weather to return. I think the cold weather depresses her a bit because she has always had issues in cold weather. She is very emotional, so even the rain effects her mood.

Which brings me to my next point, I'm so nervous about everything starting back! We will be so busy that I literally had to make a list of everything to do around the house each day, right down to things like, "Lay out the Chicken and make the sauces for crockpot dinners Tuesday and Wednesday." "Make Jessie's breakfasts for the week." I have 7 loads of laundry a week, dinner and dishes every night, weekly cleaning, AHG, Swim Club, PAT, La Leche League, CHEA, Church, now work even though I did volunteer biweekly before. Now Sam wants to volunteer. And that's all before we do any at home learning for either kid. Although I guess all that is learning....With Sara I like for her to have lots of tummy time. She likes it. I like for her to have time in her Bumbo and I like for her to hear us reading. With Sam, I like to help her learn to study her Bible, read Narnia, read Story of the World-which we just started for History, and practice some sort of math through games. I'm learning to do some of this on the go. I think we may get Narnia as an Audiobook and listen for an hour or two a week-on the way to AHG and on the way to swim. Those are both 1 hour round trip. And then while I'm at the Center, she will be doing an hour of math games on the computer. And then of course Summer leaves plenty of time to hang out and read because activities are out.....I'm starting to feel better now....I guess that is life for you. Don't want to waste a minute. With two is just seems like double even though it isn't. It's worth it though, every single minute.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

2016 Fog

We woke up this morning and started the new year off right by going to church. Great message. It touched my Husband and confirmed some of my thoughts and feelings on the future. 

But anyway, I've been looking back over the past year, which really began 13 months or so ago. My Husband accepted God around Christmas time. We decided to try to adopt. Then...we got pregnant!? 

Once I got pregnant, all normal life ceased to exist. I got really sick and that was it from there. We entered a fog. Don't get me wrong. We kept going, and we had a fantastic year, but everything was focused on the baby. All my appointments, a lot of what we talked about, our time together as a family (feeling Sara kick). Toward the end, we even sat around the house waiting for her-FOR ALMOST A MONTH! Then came the newborn stage. We spent a lot of time laying around in bed. I was feeding her constantly. Everyone was drained and adjusting. It is interesting how one person took over our whole lives and changed it completely. We just got back to normal life. Well, the new normal. 

We also went through a few other changes this year. Jessie went back to school. He just finished a full semester today. And we even bought a new car, only 2 days ago! Life is changing, and it will keep on changing. 

I already expect one possible change this year. If I decide to accept, I will be working 1 day a week at the Center. Jessie will be entering his major related classes at the end of this year. (He had some credits from where he attended school a few years back.) And, we will be parents of a 9 year old! Which seems too close to preteen to me. Since their hormones started changing around then. AND we will be reading a young toddler. Somebody please pray for me! Sam is starting swim team. I will be meeting some new people through the groups I am joining with Sara, Le Leche League and possibly Kindermusik. Of course, the girls will be too-building new relationships in the community.We plan to start a new History Living book curriculum-basically the same thing we have been doing, but a new book. We will be adding twice as much Bible time in. Minor Changes= Major Outcomes. Oh, and we will be taking our first daily vacation that isn't just a hundred or so miles away....There are so many other firsts, I can't even begin to list them! 

I just can't wait. This year has a lot for us and we have a lot for it. Praying we can do more good than bad for this world this year and that Samantha learns new things along the way. 

Happy New Year