Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I have so much to learn!

I have so much to blog about, and so little time. Life has been so busy lately--yes, I feel like I've said that before. Aaron is officially at the "I don't know what else to do but to give you Tylenol" stage. He'll fuss and fuss for no apparent reason: he doesn't want to be held, doesn't want to be put down, doesn't want to eat, doesn't want a bottle, doesn't want to go to bed...he just doesn't know what he wants, so he fusses and fusses. Oh, this stage is so much fun! He's also becoming INCREDIBLY mobile. He not only crawls now, but he is pulling himself up on everything he can get his little paws on. He's just starting to practice getting down in a controlled manner, but doesn't always succeed...which leads to MORE fussing! :) Sooooo much fun. I'm really not a big fan of this stage, other than the fact that he's SO cute and he's saying "Dada" and "Mama" all of the time and it's just SO adorable.

Yesterday while he was trying to climb something, he fell and got his first real boo boo. He got his cheek bone right below his eye on the corner of our entertainment center. He's got a little black eye now, but nothing too major. He cried a bit, but got over it quickly. Thank God.

Aaron had been sleeping really well--generally from bed time until 3-5am ish and then again until 6:30 or so...he rarely sleeps past 6:45ish. He's definitely more like Savannah was and is (Luke had to be awakened the other day at 10am!!). Then we went to my parents house for a visit and his sleep got all out of whack again. It seems like we're starting to get back into the routine again, last night he slept until 3:30am and then until 6:30, so pretty good. I keep having these panic attacks of what in the world will I do with 2 of them?!?!!? But I have to keep reminding myself that His grace is sufficient...I will get through, and hopefully Aaron will be past this super fussy stage and will be just a bit more independent in a couple of months.

I don't have any updates on my pregnancy...I haven't been to the doctor in a while...I go on Thursday for a check up, but other than making me take the gestational diabetes test, I don't think they're going to do anything really exciting. I'm actually thinking about switching doctors because Jeremy really wants me to deliver close by instead of having to drive an hour in traffic to Berkeley. That really sounds good to me too...I really don't want to have to be stuck in traffic, not to mention that I want my children close by so they can come visit me!! I'm 26 weeks along, little Lilah is wiggling a lot, especially when I give Aaron a bottle...it's pretty cute to sit there and feel my two babies.

As for our home...with an 8 month old all over the place, it is both extremely difficult to keep things clean, and extremely necessary! I know I may be crazy to hope that Aaron has kinda gotten over his "put EVERYTHING in my mouth" stage...he was actually outside on the grass the other day and did NOT eat anything!! Yay!! It is still necessary to make sure all choking hazards are picked up and everything stays mostly clean. Yet my time is very limited due to having an 8 month old who is happy one second and needy the next. I was thinking the other day, "Hmmm, it's strange how I can find time for facebook, but I don't have time to do alot of the other things I'd like to do" when it dawned on me...facebook doesn't take much time or brain power. I can log on, read a few little blurbs, reply and move on with my day...other things require a lot more planning, time and brain power. Like right now, I'm in the process of creating master shopping lists that go along with my master menu so that I can go grocery shopping LESS and have everything prepared for meals and not have to think about what I'm going to make. It requires a lot of thought and planning and TIME though! The only time I have TIME is at the end of the day, when I'm tired and so ready for bed...and I have very little brain power.

Sooo...I've decided that I'm going to take a Coast Guard-esque approach to training my children. Actually, think Coast Guard + Boy Scouts. There are a few household skills I want my children trained in before I have this baby, namely: laundry, dishwasher loading and unloading, setting/clearing the table and cleaning the floor after a meal, vacuuming, etc. The things that need to be done and I sometimes can't get to due to taking care of a baby. I want to be able to say, "Sweet heart, can you please go start a load of laundry?" Or, "Would you please switch the load over to the dryer?" and know that my child will be able to do what I need correctly. My children really have minimal work to do around the house and as they get older, I not only want them to have MORE responsibility, but also I NEED them to help alleviate my work load so that we can all have more time together. So I'm going to organize this task much like one would go about getting their "Practical Skills" signed off in order to earn a badge. http://www.keepersofthefaith.com actually has badges that you can buy that they can put on their "uniform" or apron or whatever, I think that could be a lot of fun! Sooo, in all my spare time, I'm hoping to design a home economics course of sorts to use with my children. I'm also hoping to develop a nature study curriculum specific to what I want my children to learn--namely PRACTICAL skills and PRACTICAL knowledge. It's all fine and dandy knowing astronomy and chemistry, but if it doesn't apply to REAL life (like how does baking soda work and how does it differ from baking powder), what does it matter??? I know they're going to need all of that one of these days, but right now, I want them to know stuff that MATTERS, stuff that they will USE.

Okay...life is going on around me...even though my big kids are not awake yet (at 8am) and I must get moving for the day. I'm still working on my organization mission and am coming along--VERY slowly, but surely.

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