Beauty From Chaos

I am SO sick of my OB office. They are so slow and nothing they do makes sense. If you get taken right back to the room from the waiting room you still end up sitting for at least half an hour before a doctor or the nurse practitioner comes in.

That’s another thing. I think they have 2 doctors, a Nurse practitioner and some other lady who I met today, I have no clue what she does there, maybe a doctor, maybe another nurse practitioner. Anyway… I’ve met one doctor once, and the lady today, and other than that it’s been that dumb nurse practitioner who just rubs me the wrong way…

I finally decided to ask her some questions my last visit, because I had no clue what she was, I knew she wasn’t a doctor because they call her by her first name. I thought maybe, just maybe she was a midwife? When I asked her she got VERY mad at me because How dare I assume she was a measly midwife, they are uneducated and don’t know enough to deliver babies. um yah… ok.

So I asked her questions about my natural delivery that I wanted, seems like not too much is going to be “allowed” according to her. I’ve yet to be able to see a doctor to actually ask them if they are ok with my plan. She seemed to think there were too many issues that she’s seen come about during delivery for them to every consider me delivering a baby on my hands and knees or squatting, after all, how would they push on my belly to push the baby out if it got stuck and I was on the floor? yah… maybe all doctors need a class in NATURAL childbirth then they wouldn’t need the nurses to push on people’s bellies… but I wont go there- that would be an uneducated inexperienced way of doing something I’m sure.

So today when scheduling my next appointment I asked if I could choose who I saw next time. The answer- no, you see whoever is available at the time. REALLY? no wonder they are so slow at getting doctors back to the patients.

So yah, I’m very frustrated with the office right now, and I don’t have much other options, I currently have medicaid because my husband is still unemployed. I could try the doctors office that is a little further away, it would mean delivering at a different hospital, one that I’ve heard isn’t as good, or there is a doctor’s office even further away which again is a different hospital, which is about 45 minutes away.

Ugh, I’m just so torn.

Oh, then there is the other thing I’ve been thinking about. I’ve delivered preterm with both girls, so they want to start checking me at 34 weeks to make sure I’m not going into preterm labor. A lot of me wanted to not get any checks until I was actually IN labor, but then again if I go into labor and they catch it, we could do things to delay it, causing Josiah to stay in there longer to cook some. Something that could prevent months of neonatal care, monitors, breathing machines etc. So I’m weighing out the pros and cons and right now the slight risk of infection due to them checking me seems worth it to avoid months of problems that could occur if he is born too early. If I make it through my 36 week check up then I will tell them no more checking me.

Anyway… that’s my current frustration!

We got home from our camping trip tonight, the trip home which was only suppose to take 5 hours took us over 8 because of traffic. Luckily the girls were good for 98% of the trip, Lexi got really tired about 30 minutes from home and started some whining, then fell right asleep.

We were a little concerned that hurricane earl would make our trip a little less than pleasant, but it was a great weekend! Last night we had a bad thunderstorm, which made packing up so much fun since everything was soaking wet. Oh well, at least our tent kept us mostly dry. Friday when we got there it was really, really hot, the other few days were pretty enjoyable, a little cooler and there was a nice breeze on the beach.

This was Caylee’s first trip to the ocean as far as I can remember, and she loved it, well, once she got used to it anyway. I really wish we had a camcorder so we could have taken video of her, once she got in the water, there was no keeping her out. She’s so much more brave than Lexi is.

Two years ago when we went to the Myrtle Beach area we went to the Ripley’s aquarium and did not like it, I blogged about it and the VP of communications contacted me immediately asking me what we didn’t like, and also offered free admission to their attractions if we went back. We remembered that a few days before we left and I contacted him. I was quite impressed with how quickly he responded and followed through with his offer even after two years. We decided to check out the believe it or not museum, and mirror maze and the aquarium again. I was so glad my sister and brother in law watched the girls for us while we went to the museum and the mirror maze, the museum is NOT a place for young kids, Lexi would have been REALLY scared. The mirror maze was fun, and I’m sure the girls would have liked it. The did they like aquarium this year, which made me feel better. It doesn’t compare with the Tennessee aquarium, but seeing their faces light up at the fish and sharks was worth it.

We spent some time each day on the beach (normally two times a day) and it was actually relaxing! The first night we were there we were walking right after dusk, so it was a little dark, but there was another family there who had 4 kids, ages 6,4,2 and 2 months. I was so impressed with them, they were calm, laid back and were just standing there while their kids played out of hands reach. We were all nervous, yelling at the girls when they got too far away, and trying to make them stay with us at our pace. Seeing them really got us thinking about trying to relax a bit and let them be kids. I think it really helped our vacation be more enjoyable. Yes we still jumped and yelled when Caylee ran into the campground road, or got too far away from us at the beach, but all in all we really relaxed a lot. I’m hoping to be able to continue that here, because yes I want rules and I want them to listen, but I also want them to be allowed to be kids! My sister kept pointing out to me how much more relaxed we are with Caylee than we were with Lexi and saying that by the time we have 4 we’ll be like them. We’ll see, I really hope we can be more laid back now!

The worse part of the whole trip was the sleeping, or lack there of. I barely slept any of the nights and tonight I am exhausted and looking forward to being in my own bed! Last year we got one of the double high air mattresses, thinking it would make life easier and better, I really don’t like it any better than I like the smaller ones, in fact I might like the smaller ones better. This was probably the last summer we will be using the tent we have because it’s really too small for us, we have to keep our bags in the car which to me is just annoying. We’ve thrown around the idea of getting a small, older pop up for next year, we’ll see!

Right now I am going to answer the call of my bed! Good night!

I was in a hospital holding my new baby girl. I know every mother says this at every child’s birthday but I cannot believe she’s two already!

Happy Birthday Caylee Bean!!!

She has gotten quite the vocabulary and speaks in sentences lately. We’ve seen a huge improvement in her since we started only letting her have her pacifier at nights, having her mouth free has given her the ability to make conversation, especially as she’s listening to a 10 year old, a 4 year old and her 2.5 year old cousin. We’ve even managed to cut down on the amount of her screaming to get her way, we just tell her to use her words and she’ll normally ask for whatever she wants. it’s great.

She’s still a climber, and is into EVERYTHING. Some days are worse than others, on those days I can’t turn my back for a minute unless I want to turn back around to clean up a mess or pull her off of something.

Tonight we are having a little party with Eugene’s two sisters, then tomorrow morning we leave bright and early for camping at the beach (doesn’t everyone go camping during a hurricane?) Hopefully we can get everything done today that needs done.

I really want to pick some brains.

How do you prepare for teaching? Do you look over everything at night for the next days work, or do you spend a few hours on a weekend preparing for the whole week?

And how do you go about teaching multiple grades? I’m teaching kindergarten and 5th grade, with 5th I can get her started in a subject and come back, but the kindergarten requires me to be teaching/helping the entire time (which of course is only an hour and a halfish, broken into 3 sections). I just want to know how other seasoned homeschoolers of multiple kids/grades handle all this.
Or maybe I am just scared because I’ve never done this and don’t know that it will just get easier after the first few weeks.

Lexi turned four on Monday. I can’t believe I have a 4 year old!  Her party was wonderful, except for the 7 or more hours I spent making her cake (not baking time, just working time).

She planned this whole royal party, she told us she wanted princesses, princes, kings and queens and she wanted a castle and a castle cake and dancing. Oh and ice cream.   It was kinda fun to see her use her imagination and just come up with something totally on her own, so we went with it! This was the first birthday she totally picked everything (even the cake some what) Last year she picked the theme, but that was all she cared about. This year she had her ideas and wanted them. Even the ponies and unicorns, which luckily my sister in law found some stick ponies and unicorns for the kids. lol!

Here are some pictures.

Tomorrow makes 20 weeks in the pregnancy, that’s half way to full term for most people. If this pregnancy’s length is like my other two, then it’s over half way since I delivered Lexi at 34.5 weeks and Caylee at just under 37 weeks. if there is a pattern of adding 2.5 weeks then I should have this one at 39.5 weeks.

However, this one is a boy and who knows what will happen. He’s already given me more trouble than the girls.  The morning sickness was comparable, but at least with the girls I found something that helped make it go away. The acne is about the same, but he’s been giving me cramps, and there was the whole bleeding thing last month. And the low placenta they will be checking on in 10 more weeks.  Oh and don’t forget the fact that I already feel like my stomach is out as far as it should go… and yes, I’m only at 20 weeks, I have a feeling I better start bathing in lotion or something.

For the longest time I didn’t feel anxious for this pregnancy to be over, I wasn’t spending all day looking at baby stuff, or getting really excited. I figured it was because I had two other kids of my own, plus two of my sister in law’s kids here keeping me busy. But once we found out this was a boy I went crazy. I have been spending so much time on oldnavy.com and childrensplace.com and anywhere else.com that sells baby clothes. I cannot wait to dress this boy.

Monday I go in for my glucose screening, we shall see if losing 35lbs was enough to keep me away from having to check my blood sugar and watch my diet. I was off of soda and junk for so long, then shortly after I found out I was pregnant I got hooked again, even on caffeine!  The past week I’ve been trying to detox myself from the soda and caffeine, maybe next week I’ll work on the junk food.  I really don’t want to gain a million pounds, or even 40, so I know I need to start controlling my sweet tooth!!

It’s getting kinda late for this pregnant woman, especially since we have to get up early tomorrow and we have a busy day… so to bed I go!

We’ve lived here for 5 months now and still haven’t found a church, in fact, most Sunday’s we’ve been driving over an hour one way to get to a church that’s actually preaching the truth.  Every once and awhile we decide to try out a local church instead of making the long drive. Today was one of those days.

We did something I’ve never done before in my life. We got up, got the kids out of their children’s church/nursery and left before the pastor even got on the stage.

Why? Because they were tickling the ears of everyone in there and we couldn’t stand it. The man on stage was talking about a series the pastor is doing on Wednesday nights about being blessed and how God wants to bless you. Ok, Yes, God does want His children blessed. But he went on about how God wants His children to have things in this world and have money and have this and have that.

Right about there is where my husband and I looked at each other with that look. You know, the one that says “if this goes on, we’ll have to leave…” unfortunately it went on and on and on.  He even went as far as to say that if you rejoice when someone around you is blessed you put yourself one step closer to being blessed yourself. He was talking all about financial blessings mind you, not just the blessings of being alive, or having joy or having Christ as your savior.

We left somewhere in there. And this is why….

Jesus himself had no place to call home, no pillow to lay His head on. All of his disciples were told to leave their families and posessions and follow him. Jesus said it is easier for a camel to be put through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  When people asked Jesus what they must do to enter He told them sell all you own and follow me.

So tell me, If Jesus and his disciples lived like that, why would He want us to just have stuff we don’t deserve?

There are very few things on our list of stuff for this baby. The majority of the things we need are boy stuff- clothes, blankets, burp clothes. stuff like that.

The only two big things we needed/wanted was a certain swing and a certain bathing seat. I planned on looking used, the seat I couldn’t find used anywhere, but it is only $15 new so that didn’t bother me. The swing was about $75 used.

I mentioned this to my friend as we were talking about consignment sale shopping. She mentioned that the people who sold her their new house left a swing in the basement that she’d be happy to give us. Imagine my surprise when I go down there and it’s the EXACT one I wanted!!

Then today while looking at craigslist, I found the bath seat for $5!! God is so awesome. We’ve also been given some boy clothes from a few different people.  I’m hoping to find the last few non diaper things I need at a consignment sale coming up in a few weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised if God just happens to put the cloth diaper stuff I need there too!!

It didn’t really take me all day to do these few small areas. I was done by 1, and included in the time between posting the before pictures and being done was lunch for me and 4 kids, 3 diaper changes, 3 loads of laundry being handled (some put in the dryer, some folded some put in the washer) and the usual stuff. I also managed to sweep, mop and vacuum all floors and clear off clutter from two other areas that I didn’t post pictures of (the top of the microwave and part of the counter.)

Anyway, here’s my proof that i did the work…. The only thing I didn’t get done was my husband’s desk, he was working the whole time and told me not to touch his stuff. lol. I cleared off the clutter that was on the very top, it was mostly stuff that didn’t belong in the office anyway.  I still have a small stack of papers on my desk,  they are the ultra sound pictures from yesterday and a list of stuff we need to get next time we go to the store.  Also, i had to put the time out stool on the top of the fridge because the kids keep dragging it places and getting into stuff they’re not allowed to.

So Kacie suggested I take pictures of areas in my house I wanted to clean/organize so that I’d be more motivated to actually take care of those problem spots instead of ignoring them day after day.

So here ya go world. The messiest spots in my house (right now)

• the top of the fridge- it has become the catch all for anything we don’t want the kids to get into or things that have been taken away from them.
• My desk- another catch all. For any bills, coupons, and just about anything else.
• The top of our rolling cart- Here’s where anything that is supposed to be IN the cart gets piled for some reason it’s just too hard to open a drawer and put the stuff away.
• My husband’s desk- again, another place for just about EVERYTHING.  Pretty much the entire office in general is a problem area. It will be fixed.

Time to get busy.