We're groupies!

My daughter and niece's school performing group did two performances today at other schools and visited a couple of other places. My son and other niece followed them around all day and we decided that we're groupies!

Their performing group is a song and dance group that sings motivational and popular songs and the kids chosen to try out are on the honor roll and have excellent behavior. My daughter loves being in front of people and she's short, so she is on the first row, dancing, singing and smiling the whole time. My niece is tall and a tad shy, so she's kind of tucked away in the back row, but she might just like it up there.

They started this morning off with a performance at another elementary school in the district, and then visited a famous site for a little bit to run around and let off some steam. Then they went to a park to eat lunch and play, and they finished the day up with another performance at another elementary school in their district. They were gone from school all day and got back to school in time to go home!

My two kids and I followed them around in the car all day and had a very good time being groupies! My son danced, clapped and did the moves during both shows. Toward the end of both shows he got tired and dropped off for a nap. My sister-in-law got to come to the second performance. She couldn't come to the first one because of work. (Speaking of which, we were the only two parents who came. The kids do have a performance next week at their own school so maybe some of the parents will get to come then.)

The girls have one performance tomorrow and we're planning on being groupies again.

Very busy schedule!

My head is spinning thinking about our very busy schedule for the rest of the month, mostly with school-related activities.

My older daughter has a presentation about the rain forest with her gifted and talented class Monday morning. It's a play, she said.

She and my older niece are in a performing group at their school for kids who have good behavior and good grades. They have been practicing their songs for a couple of months or so and it's getting time to start their tour!

The two girls have not one but TWO performances on Wednesday. The first one is that morning at an elementary school in our district and the second one is that afternoon at another elementary school in our district. The very next day, Thursday, they are going to an elementary school in a neighboring district for a performance. My younger daughter has a fit session that Thursday afternoon.

The following week, the girls have another performance on Tuesday morning at their own school. The next day the baby has to go get recertified for WIC and then he has a photo shoot later that morning. (It's penciled in, actually. We don't have official confirmation but most likely it will happen.)

There will also be some other field trips for good behavior and honor roll for the girls that I haven't been notified about yet. And of course every day or pretty much every day the baby and I have the breakfast and lunch thing at school with my younger niece.

We are also having a dishwasher and front doors installed in the next week or so, and we are going to spend the weekend with some friends this weekend.

This is all making me very tired just thinking about it!

That was amazing

I have five kids to tend to in the mornings and believe it or not I didn't have to do ANYTHING for ANYONE this morning!

My nieces came a bit earlier today than they normally do. Their mom dropped them off here about 6:40 a.m. on her way to work. When they got here all the kids and I were still in the bed. My nieces got my girls up, and my girls for some odd reason got right up and got dressed.

My older daughter fixed her own hair and made her own lunch, and my older niece fixed my younger daughter's hair. By the time I got up all I had to do was get in the shower. I didn't even have to choose any clothes for myself since my younger niece did that. The baby woke up while I was in the shower and the girls changed his diaper and dressed him. My husband had gotten home from his first job of the day by then and was entertaining the baby and everyone when I got finished getting myself ready.

Really the only things I did this morning were put socks on the baby, give my niece a belt, and pull lunch fixings out for my daughter.

I know that will never happen again but it sure was nice this morning!

Normally I have to do everything from getting girls' clothes out, making them get out of bed, combing their hair, changing and dressing the baby, and a ton of other things, and that's after I've slept until the last possible second. We manage to get it all done by 7:30 or 7:35 a.m. but not having to do anything this morning sure made things start out great for me!

A year ago today ...

... I took the kids to school, wrote a couple of stories, called my mom, called a friend, cleaned up around the house, picked the kids up from school, and then HAD A BABY!!

I can't believe a year has gone by already. It seems like it has gone so fast. This past year has been exhausting, overwhelming and wonderful. He brings so much joy to all our lives and we are so glad to have him.

They're famous!

The girls' photograph is in the latest issue of one of the papers I write for. I blogged about our trip to the Clinton Presidential Center in the previous post, and their photo taken there was printed in the March issue of STAND News.

They were viewing the White House in Miniature display there at the Clinton Center, and the story it accompanied described their visit.

They thought it was pretty cool to be in the paper.

A day of history and culture with the kids

The kids and I had a great day of history and culture! I needed to accompany a group to the Historic Arkansas Museum and the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park, and the kids were out of school, so along they came with me!

We saw Adella the Storyteller at the museum, saw lots of neat things at the presidential center, and finished the day up with a ride on the trolley.

Adella told an African tale about the drongo bird in Madagascar, related the tale of Brer Rabbit and the Briar Patch, and finished up with a story about a buzzard tricking a squirrel and a rabbit into becoming a meal for him but he couldn't trick a monkey. (My six-year-old daughter has been doing a fabulous buzzard imitation since then!)

My son got to walk around through the crowd with Adella, and that was okay until she pulled out a tambourine and started playing!

The girls thought it was great fun to go through security at the presidential center, and they thought sitting around the Cabinet Room table was pretty cool too. They wanted to sit in the President's chair, which is two inches higher than the other chairs.

The highlight of the presidential center for them was seeing the White House in miniature, on display there temporarily. It was pretty much a huge dollhouse to them but my eight-year-old daughter said she feels like she's been to the real White House now.

A trolley ride was a great way to end the day. We rode past the museum and the presidential center, which was pretty interesting to them, but a handclap game was much more to their liking!

A reward for good grades

The kids' honor roll/good grades party last night was a blast! They had a wonderful time, my sister-in-law did a fabulous job with the menu and decorations, and my husband brought home a beautiful and delicious cake.

The only disappointing thing (and it really wasn't a big deal at all) was that most of the people the kids invited didn't get to come. Their only guest was a lively nine-year-old, and with her and our four girls — my two daughters who are 8 and 6, and my two nieces, who are 9 and 5 — there was plenty of little girls to have an exciting party!

My eight-year-old daughter made all A's and the two nine-year-olds made mostly all A's. The six-year-old in kindergarten and the five-year-old in preschool don't get letter grades, but they got lots of checkmarks on their report cards. Everyone was well deserving of a big "good grades" party, that's for sure.

The theme of the party was balloons, so we had balloons everywhere. One of the games they played and loved was one in which you kick ballons into a box. It sounds easier than it really is, because you cannot touch the balloons with your hands, and of course they are so light they go all over the place and you can't get them in the box. We played several different versions of the game with all the balloons that my five-year-old niece and I aired up with a bicycle pump, which was great fun in itself!

The girls also played musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey (with Donkey from Shrek on a huge printout my husband came up with somehow) and danced their hearts out, mostly to "Soulja Boy" and "Wall to Wall" by Chris Brown. They choreographed some good moves to "Wall to Wall."

The party food was barbecued smokies, baked beans, chicken wings, and chips and dip, all made by my sister-in-law, and that delicious cake made by a woman who works with my husband. It has a great big "A" on it because my older daughter made all A's and her name starts with an A.

The kids had such a good time that we left the decorations up so they could have another party today. This one was much briefer but they still had a good time. We are still eating on all that great party food and the cake.

The girls even got gifts! My sister mailed packages for all four of the girls, and a friend of ours gave them a gift bag this morning.

We told them that we won't give them a party every single time they make all A's or get on the honor roll, but we will always try to reward them. We'll definitely do another party, and we think they'll remember this one and work hard to have another one.

Good grades party

We are having an honor roll/good grades party for our girls tomorrow!

Our eight-year-old third grader made all A's, our nine-year-old fourth grader made all A's and two B's, and our kindergartner and preschooler got very good marks! The fourth grader and the preschooler are actually our nieces.

A few weeks back my husband promised our third grader that he'd throw her a party if she made all A's, like she normally does. She did make all A's, and her cousin in the fourth grade also got on the honor roll as usual, so the party was on! My husband got his sister (our nieces' mother) involved in the party and it really began taking shape then. She has already bought all the party decorations, plates, cups, goodie bag items, and even invitations, and today she's getting some food. I'm going to do a little food shopping for the party myself today, and my husband will be bringing home a freshly-made cake tomorrow after work.

I've called several of our friends and invited them, and most of them can come. We have the invitations to give to some more of them tonight. We're expecting about 20 kids (give or take a few) tomorrow evening. We're going to keep it very simple with a few games and a little food and hope they have a great time!

The wonderful thing about Tigger ...

... is Tigger's a wonderful thing!!

My son will be nine months old this week. The last time I posted was just hours before he was born!

The time is near!

We are now down to the final stretch as we await the birth of our new baby! We are all ready with everything we need so now we just wait. My body is making some slow but sure progress as it has done with the two previous births, and we are hoping for a quick labor and delivery as we had with the second child. I believe he will be born around his expected arrival date of April 28, but as I tell my daughters, babies come when they are ready so we will just wait!

In the meantime I seem to be growing larger every day and people are starting to shake their heads at me and say things like, "Bless your heart." Actually, nothing hurts and it's not hot here so I'm just fine! I'm enjoying these last few days while my whole family looks forward to meeting the new little one.

Good doctor's visit today

I went to the doctor this morning for my now-weekly visit and am happy to report that the baby and I are doing wonderful, we were in and out of there in one hour, and I wasn't harrassed much about my Medicaid application!

I'm dilated "a stretchy 2," according to the doctor, up from between 1 and 2 cm last Monday, and I'm 80 percent effaced. Nothing else has happened so I'm sure I'm doing the same thing I did the previous two times, just getting all ready for the due date. I hope that's what happens, since I'm rather busy up until the last weekend of this month, and I am thoroughly enjoying these last few days free from breastfeeding, diaper changing, and being on 24-hour mom duty!

They did ask about my Medicaid application and just shook their heads at DHS when I reported that the application is still pending but they said they'd see if they could put a rush on it.

Best of all, I got there at 11 a.m. and left at noon!

A bad mom and proud of it

I was a bad mom today but I still have my sanity and I'm proud of it!

My kids got out of school an hour early today for parent-teacher conferences. Of course they were rather rowdy and it was raining outside, so I couldn't send them out to play. I had plan B ... let them watch television. That they did, to the tune of FOUR movies!

First they watched an animal show on VHS, then they watched Babar on VHS.

After that we watched an old movie on TV. (Does it count as parent-child time that I was in the living room with them working on my laptop and watching the movie with them?) It was called "Showboat," a 1951 movie based on the 1928 Jerome Kern musical, about life on a Mississippi River showboat.

They also watched an old Kurt Russell movie (he looked 20) with their dad.

Normally they don't watch near that much TV in the run of a day so this was really unusual for them. But they were nice and quiet and I didn't have to threaten to do bodily harm to anyone and I had peace all afternoon long.

So maybe I was a bad mom for letting them watch that much TV, but I think I'm better person (or at least still sane) for it!

All morning at the doctor!

The girls and I spent all the morning long at the doctor's office today. It was actually two doctor's offices, as I had to take one of the girls in to see about an eye problem and then I had my regular prenatal checkup. The whole thing lasted from 9 a.m. to noon today, with much of that time spent just waiting.

My older daughter started complaining about something being in her eye yesterday afternoon, and it got really red and irritated. She didn't get much sleep last night because of it, which of course means no one else got much sleep either. (Except her sister.) Her dad wanted me to take her to the doctor this morning, so I got her an appointment at 9 a.m., right before my prenatal checkup at 10 a.m.

We got her to the doctor, and they looked at it and put some stuff in it that made her eye glow in the dark. They didn't see any foreign material but they did see a scratch. Evidently what happened was something got in her eye and scratched it. We're supposed to put medicine in it and cover it with an eye bandage until tomorrow morning, and the doctor wants to see her back in the morning.

We got out of there in record time, in time to get to my doctor's office in time for my 10 a.m. appointment. We sat out in the waiting room for over an hour, and then in the exam room for at least 15 minutes before I was seen. Of course it only took one minute for the doctor to examine me after we'd waited for so long.

The exam revealed that I'm dilated between 1 and 2, which is typical for me. I started dilating four weeks before both of my other children were born. My blood pressure is excellent and the baby's heart rate is wonderful. I won't mention anything about my weight gain but it is right in line with what I weighed two weeks from delivery with my other two children!

We went back out to the waiting room to wait for another appointment, and it was noon before we left. We were there for two hours for a one-minute exam. Goodness.

How's that for an adventurous morning?

This is rather interesting!

My five-year-old daughter was counting the letters in her first name (there's five of them) yesterday and so the seven-year-old child decided to count the letters in her name. She actually already knew that there are seven letters in her first name, but she made the interesting discovery that EACH of her names has seven letters! Wild! She thought it was pretty cool that she discovered that she has seven letters in each of her names when she was seven years old.

Incidentally, the five-year-old daughter and I each have five letters each in our first names, eight letters each in our middle names, and then her last name is the same as my married name so we each have seven letters in that name too.

What makes this TOTALLY weird is that our son is going to have seven letters in each of his names. We realized that last night when we were relating the story of the kid with the seven letters in each of her names last night to some friends. We couldn't believe it.

Now my sister and her husband's two children together have five letters in each of their three names, but they did that on purpose. Ours was all a complete accident!

Less than a month to go!

We have now about a month or less before our little boy arrives. The excitement is building for everyone in our family.

We've gotten a lot of nice things for the baby and now a couple of drawers are full of little blankets, sleepers, tiny t-shirts, washcloths, and stuff like that for a sweet little boy.

This month is going to be a busy one as we carry on with all our activities and wait for the baby to come!

Baby gifts

With the birth of our third child and first son drawing closer, we're receiving a lot of nice baby gifts. We had a baby shower this past weekend and got a lot of things like onesie t-shirts, blankets, clothing, and diapers, all things we really needed!

We also got a couple of beautiful hand-crocheted afghans for him in the last couple of days. My grandmother (who died this past weekend) made a yellow and green one and my sister made a gorgeous blue striped one. My mother is working on a couple of quilts for him and she made him a blanket with some fleece my aunt bought for him and using my grandmother's sewing machine.

Now we just need a little boy to wear all the cute clothes and use the beautiful afghans!

Homework in pre-k

My five-year-old pre-kindergarten daughter came home with homework yesterday!

It was actually practice work but I thought it was funny her teacher sent work home, along with reward stickers to go with it!

My daughter had a blast doing her work, which was practice writing her name. She does a great job with that but she could use some more practice with the whole writing on the line thing!

Countdown to baby time!

We are all counting down the time left until our new little one enters our lives ... six weeks now!

We're collecting supplies for the home birth we're planning while trying to be prepared for the hospital in case we have to go, and I'm cleaning up around the house a little at a time. Very slowly we're getting things for the little man to wear and I'm thinking of a few other things we need (a sling, a boppy pillow) and others have things they won't need anymore (a swing, a car seat) to hand on to us.

A baby shower is being planned by one of my friends for next weekend so that is exciting for us.

We've already got a name picked out, although we aren't telling anyone what it is until he's actually born. The girls really want to know what it is but if we want to keep it a surprise we most certainly can't tell them. We've assured them that they will be the first to know what it is as soon as he gets here and then they can tell the whole world!

We aren't preparing a nursery as we've never done that and don't see the need when he's just going to be sleeping with us for the next several months and maybe even the next few years. I'm just figuring out where we'll put his clothing and other things and making sure all the sheets are clean for whatever bed we end up using!

I'm trying to get quite a bit of work done this month so that next month I can focus on more preparations and then the month or so after his birth I can focus on him and the girls. I'll still have some regular assignments but I'd like to have other things out of the way.

Hopefully six more weeks will pass quickly for us as have the previous 34! I'm not so sure about the girls but I'm fairly certain the weeks will pass quickly for me.

An attitude adjustment

With my blossoming belly has come quite a change in attitude about my pregnancy.

At first I was rather upset about the whole thing, having decided that our family had a good balance with two children and having grown quite used to having "big girls" who can do a lot for themselves. Finding out another one on the way meant I had to again give up my body for several months (years actually, counting the pregnancy and breastfeeding) and all of me for many more years to come.

I'd walk by the mirror and observe my growing belly and just shake my head as if to say, "What have you gotten yourself into?"

Along with that was the feeling that although at 36 I'm quite young, that's still a little old in my book to be starting all over with another baby.

But as my belly continued to grow and could no longer be hidden by what I wore, I began to accept and enjoy what was going on inside me and to look forward to the changes in store for our family. Now I look in the mirror and say, "You're beautiful. This is a beautiful thing happening to you."

Now I view it entirely as a blessing and that I'm up to it (might as well be, right?) and that we are all going to be better off for it. I'm actually glad it happened because the girls have gotten so much enjoyment out of seeing my belly grow and from looking forward to the birth of their little brother. That right now makes it all worth it.

As for myself, I know having another child will be a delight. Although the challenges we are facing will be great (we have to learn how to deal with babies all over again and we'll have to adjust to the dynamics of having another person in the house) I believe this child will make us wonder how we ever lived without him.

A father's pride

As we make preparations for the little boy that will be entering our lives soon, we are having fun telling people that it is indeed a little boy. No one is more surprised than we are, the parents of two precious girls.

It's rather annoying when people respond, "Oh, I bet Daddy's so proud." Yes he is, but this comment rubs me rather the wrong way, like he's not proud of our two beautiful daughters or like the prospect of having a son is more exciting for a father than that of having a daughter.

Nothing could be further from the truth. He couldn't be more proud of our little girls and has actually wondered what he should do with a son. (I've told him it shouldn't be any different than what he does with the girls, which is everything. "Bench press him and teach him how to cook," I say. He lays on the floor and picks the girls up like he would a weight, bench press fashion.)

I realize the comments are well-intended, not mean-spirited, so I try not to make a mean-spirited response. My children's father is delighted to have another child, boy or girl, and is proud of all his children.

It's a ... (think blue here)

The specialist who did our second ultrasound really surprised us all when he said to our daughters, "Are you girls ready for a baby brother?"

"Oh, we want a sister," they both politely informed him.

"Well, it's a boy. There are definite boy parts here," he replied. He then proceeded to circle the "parts" on the screen and take a photograph. He gave the photo to us along with several others taken of our little man. They all showed a beautiful and healthy child.

It's probably going to take a while for all of us to get used to the idea of the baby being a boy and for the girls to get over their slight disappointment, but I'm sure there'll be nothing but excitement soon!

Back to school!

The girls went back to school today after having a couple of weeks out. We had loads of fun visiting family and doing things together here at home. They watched movies and played during the times that I worked while they were out of school.

I wasn't quite ready for them to go back to school this morning but I didn't let on since things were going rather smoothly, especially for people who've slept late and enjoyed generally leisurely lives for two weeks!

I remembered to pick them up from school today (got out of the habit of that during their vacation) and then hauled them around on errands for a couple of hours. Poor dears, but they handled it very well and were treated to a trip to Wendy's -- inside, no less -- before we came home.

It was a full day for the first day back to school, and they're back at it tomorrow. At least they only have two more days to this week.

Doctor's visit

The checkup at the doctor's office earlier this week went well and it turns out that we may find out the gender of the baby fairly soon!

The girls went with me and were really excited to hear the baby's heartbeat.

Since I'm over 35, my doctor's office is going to send me to another doctor's office for a more advanced ultrasound designed to detect problems more likely to crop up when a woman my age is pregnant. I have already made up my mind not to allow any invasive testing and really not to accept anything just because I'm told I need to do it because of my age, but the nurse practitioner assured me that it's just an ultrasound, and besides, the gender of the baby will probably show up on this one.

We had an ultrasound when I was 18 weeks pregnant but the little one, for the first time in his or her life, refused to move and reveal any telling information. I wasn't disappointed not to discover the gender, especially since the doctor could see how healthy the baby is. (So there!) I was thinking that we may have another ultrasound later on in the pregnancy, but as it turns out it may be sooner than later.

My doctor's office will make an appointment (and clear all the paperwork) with the other doctor's office and let me know when to show up. So for now we just keep waiting ... and growing!

Another tooth gone!

My daughter lost her second tooth tonight, the second tooth she's lost in three days!

She didn't snatch this one out herself like she did the one night before last. She said she wanted it to "fall out naturally." (Good grief.)

Her dad got after her with a string and that didn't work so finally he grabbed it, saying he was going to count to three and snatched it out on the count of one. She stood there and looked at it until I started cracking up (the whole scene really was funny) and then she started bawling.

She recovered from the whole thing quickly, and proceeded to go around the house flashing grins at everyone.

First tooth gone!

My seven-year-old daughter lost her first tooth tonight! Good thing too, because I was getting tired of being ordered to look into her mouth to watch her wiggle a barely-moving tooth.

She was just sitting there while we were practicing our ASL together after our family Bible study and snatched it out. I actually heard it come out.

Now she has another loose one right beside it!

She was really wanting to lose some teeth. Most of the kids her age have a mouthful (or several) permanent teeth and she has all baby teeth. She was 12 months before she cut this tooth that came out tonight or any of her teeth, so we expected the teeth to be "late" coming out.

Now we'll see how long it takes for this next loose one to come out.

Little seamstresses

My daughters made this quilt and pillow this evening with my mom! Neither one of them have ever sewn anything before.

My seven-year-old daughter grabbed these squares and a needle and thread and started sewing them together. She had NO HELP with the exception of me threading her needle. After she had handsewn all the squares together, she sewed them together on the machine with my mom only operating the foot pedal. My daughter did most of the work on the backing and the binding too.

My five-year-old daughter handsewed the three sides of the little pillow then turned it, poked the corners out, stuffed it, and sewed it closed on the machine with my mom just operating the foot pedal.

My mom and I thought this was pretty good work for two little people who've never sewn anything before!

Ultrasound today!

We had the ultrasound today. It's a ...

BEAUTIFUL HEALTHY BABY that wouldn't cooperate so we could determine the gender!

Everything looked great and saw every body part except the telltale part we were looking for. We got a great look at the nice big round head (like daddy), along with the beating heart, spine, hands, legs, and feet. That little baby just wanted to lay face down with its legs curled up underneath it!

Afterward someone told my husband I should have had coffee or some chocolate before we went in for the ultrasound to get the baby hyped up. Normally I do have coffee first thing but the appointment was so early I didn't have time to make any!

I'm 20 weeks tomorrow according to my LMP but the ultrasound has me at almost 21 weeks. I think it's because this is going to be a BIG BABY! My two other children were a few ounces over eight pounds as well.

The next doctor's visit is Dec. 27 for a regular checkup, so maybe they'll tell me then when they can do another ultrasound. This office may like to wait until later in the pregnancy to do the second one.

My children were so excited to find out what the baby is but they weren't very disappointed that we weren't able to find out. We did go around telling everyone we were going to find out today, so it'll be funny to have to tell them we couldn't make it out.

We have a lot of people wanting us to have a boy -- and wanting us to want a boy, but we honestly do not care -- so they'll have to wait a bit longer to find out.

Got my ring back!

Good news ... I got my wedding ring back this evening! I dropped it (actually it was my engagement ring) Sunday afternoon in the car, and it got stuck up under the metal track under the seat that lets you move the seat back and forth. My husband and I tried to no avail to retrieve it by poking our fingers in every imaginable spot under the seat. Finally he decided he'd have to take the seat out.

This evening after work he got started on the project. First he went to the store and bought two vacuum cleaners (I would find out why he needed those later) and went out to the garage with his lovely little helpers. A little while passed, and the next time I went out there (laundry room's out there, too, and of course there is always much to be done there) he presented the ring to me. This time he did not have as much of a smitten look on his face as he did 10½ years ago when he gave it to me the first time, and he made sure to tell me getting to it required a lot of work! I was just elated to have my precious ring back.

The vacuum cleaners came next. Actually one was for the carpet inside the house and one of my daughters and I tried it other. The other was a shop vacuum for the purpose of shampooing the carpeting in the car. What's the point of taking a seat out of the car if you don't shampoo the interior while you're at it?

Now I've got a clean car AND my beautiful antique white gold wedding set intact on my left ring finger! Hooray!

Wedding ring gone!

I've lost my wedding ring!

Well, actually it's my engagement ring and I actually do know where it is but it's firmly stuck under the seat of the car!

I took my rings off in the car yesterday to get the hair grease (from fixing the girls' hair) from around my ring finger. I dropped my engagement ring in between the seat and that thing where you put your stuff in between the two front seats.

I could see it but the more I tried to get it the further it went down. Finally it got wedged under the track that allows you to move the seat back and forth.

My husband and I both tried to find it but we can't. Looks like we're (he, that is) is going to have to take the seat out to get to it.

It's so aggravating because I haven't been able to wear these beautiful rings in about five years because of the weight gain from my second daughter. I've been wearing just a plain band that I call my "fake wedding ring." I finally got them resized for our 10th anniversary in August and now I loose one.

For the time being my "fake wedding ring" is back on my left hand. I hope it won't be too long before we can get the seat taken out so I can get my beautiful ring back where it belongs.

Another Student of the Month

My four-year-old daughter, who is in public pre-kindergarten program has just been named Student of the Month for October!

She gets to sit in a special place — on the cafeteria stage at one of the specially decorated tables, no less — for lunch one day next week, and her parents are invited to come eat with her.

It's really exciting for her — and for all of us — because her sister was the Student of the Month for second grade last month. My four-year-old preschool child kid was a little upset because she wasn't Student of the Month as well. She had gotten a time-out, though, so I told her if she'd keep being good with no time-outs she'd eventually get to be Student of the Month. So she did.

The school has character words they work on each month, and the Students of the Month are chosen based on their display of these character words. The word for August and September was "respect," so the respect exhibited by my seven-year-old second grade daughter was a factor in her being chosen Student of the Month for August-September.

The word of the month for October was "responsibility." My four-year-old daughter has been talking a lot about this word and what it means. For instance, she told me it was her responsibility to help me do things around the house. I take it she's been exhibiting some responsible behavior at school.

We're proud of our girls for these accomplishments!

Our crazy adventure

This is a true story about the crazy adventure my family has had in the last 24 hours. This story is so crazy you probably won't believe it — you probably won't even be able to read it all — but I'm going tell you anyway.

The short of it is that we have spent the last almost 24 hours with no electricity because we thought the power company shut it off, but all it was was a blown breaker.

Here's the long story. My kids were on the computer at 6 p.m. yesterday and I was fixing their supper when everything electric in the house totally shut down. I finished fixing their supper and we ate while I silently figured that the electricity had been shut off since I hadn't paid the bill, which was due two weeks previously. It was nearly $200 that I did not have and wouldn't have until the end of the week. Mind you, none of the other utilities for this house or our other one we are trying to sell have been paid for this month.

After we finished eating, I went through my bills as it was getting darker in the house. I indeed found an unpaid electric bill due Oct. 5, but surprisingly I found a shut-off notice with a disconnect date set for Oct. 17, the day before. It evidently came late last week when I was going to the hospital an hour away every day while my father was recovering from serious heart surgery. The envelope hadn't even been opened.

My husband came home to total darkness with me trying to herd the kids in the tub and to bed before they stumbled in the dark and hurt themselves. Now he's the one that always thinks the bill hasn't been paid when something shuts off, and he's almost always wrong, but this time he wasn't. He was slightly miffed, not at me but at our bad financial situation brought on by unexpectedly having to keep up two houses on our income that can barely support one. I was expecting a couple of checks by the end of the week; if both arrived they should have been enough to cover the electric bill and maybe even the rest of the utiltities, but one of my checks sometimes doesn't come until Saturday.

I wasn't upset about the situation — you can only do what you can do — until he brought up the fact that the one good car we have is in the garage, the door of which is, of course, electric. I was supposed to be somewhere for work the next day. The car he's been using to get back and forth to work is parked outside but we decided it wasn't reliable enough to get me to my work and back in time to get the girls from school. I realized that I just wouldn't be able to get to my work for the next day, but maybe something would work out for Friday, when I was supposed to go to the same place.

We turned in early, all snuggling in the same bed and thankful that the weather was nice and we didn't need any air. It had been hot during the day but cooled off that evening and we were very appreciative.

We got up early the next morning with the alarm on my cell phone piercing the darkness. A few minutes later everyone got dressed by flashlight, which was rather exciting until, of course, the batteries wore out. My husband and I dropped the girls off at school and he brought me back home with plans for me to walk to school that afternoon and walk the kids back home.

It had started raining by the time I got back home, and there wasn't much for me to do in a dark, dreary house. No computer, no phone, no coffeepot, no nothing but waiting for the mail to run, hoping there'd be a check in the mail. I tried to do a few things but finally the darkness and the pattering of the rain took over and I went back to bed. My cell phone rung at almost noon. My husband decided it was too cold for us to do any walking this afternoon. He came after me during his lunch break and I took him back to work.

I checked the mailbox after I got back home, not really expecting a check and if it actually came, I didn't think the amount would be enough to cover the electric bill plus the reconnection. I nearly had a heart attack when I opened it and it was $200!

After making a trip to the bank, I hustled down to the utility payment office to pay the bill plus the reconnection, and the teller only took the amount for the bill. I explained to her that I needed to have service reconnected, but she said we weren't in her records as disconnected. I let her know that our service indeed had been shut off at 6 p.m. last night and I wanted it turned back on. Again she said we weren't down as disconnected and they don't turn anyone's service off after 3 p.m. every day. She suggested that perhaps it was a breaker.

Immediately I called my husband and he told me where the breaker box was. I flipped the main switch and you won't believe it, but every light in the house came on!!!!

Now, I was glad to have electricity back but aggravated that all it was was a stupid breaker switch that we could have flipped last night! We didn't know though, since that had never happened at this house before, and of course we had the dreaded shut-off notice with a disconnect date set the day before to add to it.

You live and learn I guess. That is one crazy story if you ask me.

Big city driving

Driving in the "big city" sure is frustrating after coming from a small town where nobody is in between you and where you need to go. Especially so is this true when you're trying to get your children to school on time and you have to cross a busy road that everybody in town takes while trying to get to where they need to go on time.

But, thankfully, I'm about to figure out how to drive in the "big city." The two keys I've finally figured out are:

1. Be patient.
Yes, it should only take two minutes to go two miles but you must remember that in the "big city," two bazillion people are going that same way, as opposed to only two others in a little town.

2. You cannot make a left hand turn.
There is just no way to cross two lanes of horrendously busy traffic at one time. Just figure out a route that involves only right hand turns, or be willing to turn right and then left and turn back around to the way you want to go.

Sounds like I'm making progress here. The first month of taking my children to school (HOW HARD COULD IT POSSIBLY BE TO TAKE YOUR CHILDREN LESS THAN A MILE TO SCHOOL???????????????) was just a blood pressure-raising fiasco. I have finally figured out the two keys and the trip to school involves a lot less blood boiling on my part.

Today I was all prepared for the crazy traffic and went the new way (the one where you attempt to cross only one lane of traffic at a time with first a right hand turn and then a left) but there was hardly no traffic!

"Where is all the traffic?" I wondered out loud and then realized it's a holiday today. Not one that calls for school being closed, but one that lets just enough people off work so that making the short trip to school isn't so anguishing for me. That and my newfound keys, that is.

A day with the girls

Today was a girls' day at my house. My two nieces came to visit along with their mom and grandma (my sister-in-law and mother-in-law). They all spent the night with us and my nieces spent this morning with their two cousins, my two girls, while their mom and grandma went to a doctor's appointment.

We spent the morning watching television, eating, and getting dressed for going outside. They had a ball playing together until they all left a little bit after lunch.

Afterward my two girls took a bath and the three of us piled in bed for some reading time and a very long nap!

Though my nieces only live an hour away (in our house "back home") it's always a special treat to see them!

Student of the month!

My seven-year-old was named the Student of the Month for second grade for August-September at her school!

The character word for August-September was respect, so she was chosen for displaying respect toward others. She also sets a good example in class for behavior and academics. (When she gets home she's so tired of being good and smart and so sometimes she turns into someone else altogether!!)

One of the perks for being student of the month is a special lunch, which was today. She got to sit at a decorated table on the stage in cafeteria where everyone could see her. Her dad couldn't come eat with her because he got stuck at work, but I did. We had our picture made together, and today she brought home a copy of it.

We're really proud of her and all her hard work! She's not only setting a good example for her fellow students but also her sister, who now wants to be the pre-kindergarten Student of the Month!

Working up to the big day and living through the aftershocks

The realization has hit me that being pregnant is rather akin to preparing to move. Being as we just moved and I'm in the early stages of my third pregnancy, I feel that I am qualified to point out the similarities.

The thing is that with both of these major adjustments in one's life is that it's just the precursor to the REALLY big adjustment — having a new baby, another child to care for, around; or trying to get settled into your new home and community and learning all the ins and outs of important things like where to pay the bills, where a good doctor for the kids is, and all that important stuff.

But these two life-changing situations have something else in common: after the big day not too many people are concerned with how you are getting along. Most of the inquiries about how things are going come before the big day, while you're pregnant or while you're trying to get ready to move.

Sure, you think you're going nuts sometimes and wish the whole thing would just be over and you appreciate the concern, but you feel like a dropped hot potato sometimes after the real thing happens and nobody's much interested anymore!

It's not that people don't care, they've just moved on (it took you long enough, after all) and you're stuck with the end result!!! Boy, what a deal.

Big news!

As if moving away from my hometown for the first time ever this past summer wasn't enough to turn our lives upside down, we got some surprising and exciting news exactly a week before our 10th wedding anniversary — we have another baby on the way!

The girls are beside themselves with joy while their father and I are still trying to get used to the idea. It's been a while since we've done this -- our younger child will be five in November -- so we're out of practice, out of the loop, and pretty much put ourselves out of the baby business when I gave all our baby stuff away to keep from moving it when we relocated.

The girls want a little sister, my husband and I don't care, and all our friends and family back home want a boy this time. We'll find out this winter and then begin the process of choosing names and obtaining something for the poor little thing to wear.

There hasn't been any sickness at all, which is wonderful, and the little one-inch baby has a ravenous appetite. I'm officially eight weeks along so if I were going to be sick it would have happened by now.

One thing's for sure, we are in for some excitement come next April and for a long time afterward. We're looking forward to it. Mostly.

Missing home

Never before have I missed home, never really had to even though no one in my family except me lived where I was raised in over a decade. I missed them but never missed home, until now.

We moved a whole hour from our home in Eastern Arkansas to Central Arkansas this summer, and there are many similarities, being that it's so close. The people are pretty much the same, friendly and respectful, and that has made the adjustment a lot easier for me.

I don't see anyone I know when I leave the house, though, and I really miss that. There's no one to wave to as I drive down the street. I don't know the children at school, I didn't go to school with their parents, and I didn't even go to that school.

Sometimes you take these things for granted when you are surrounded by them, when they are all you know, and then when this reassuring daily life isn't there anymore, you take notice. You even miss it.

It sure is tougher to get from one place to the other. Back home, in the small town of nearly 4,000 where I was raised and lived 35 years, it's a snap to get anywhere. You zip down the street to get to the school, you hop on the interstate to get to your next job.

Not so here in the "big city" of 60,000, not quite 250,000 if you count the adjoining twin city of 180,000. Traffic is everywhere; it's nearly impossible to cross the street just to drop the kids off at school not even a mile from the house. The places where you need to go are spread out further, too.

The place where I'm from is full of its idiosyncrasies, but something about it being home just makes me miss it. Thankfully it's only an hour away so we can visit fairly frequently.

Life explained

On the first day, God created the dog and said: "Sit
all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone
who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give
you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said: "That's a long time to be barking. How
about only ten years and I'll give you back the
other ten?"

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:
"Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh.
For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said: "Monkey tricks for twenty years?
That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I
give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said: "You
must go into the fi eld with the farmer all day long
and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk
to support the farmer's family. For this, I will
give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said: "That's kind of a tough life you want
me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and
I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said:
"Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this,
I'll give you twenty years."

But man said: "Only twenty years? Could you possibly
give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the
ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave
back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves.
For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family.
For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren.
And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

Family time

We moved into our new house a few minutes from my husband's job to have more family time. I have been delighted with the results these past three weeks, but my family informed me, in their nice little way, that they want to see more of me. That is, more of me NOT at the computer. They didn't come out and say it that way, but I got the message loud and clear.

They're right. I spend too much time at the computer. Some of it is working and some of it isn't, but too much of a good thing is definitely not a good thing.

To remedy this situation before it turns into a problem, I plan to implement something similar to my work schedule for computer use. That is, from about mid-afternoon until after the kids go to bed is time spent with the family, mostly away from the computer.

There are no hard and fast rules with this, but I try my best to get the bulk of my work done in the mornings and after the kids go to bed. This same routine ought to work for computer use as well.

I'm putting it to use starting today, and hopefully everyone will be happier with my decreased use of the computer while everyone is up and around.

Making ourselves at home

For the last three weeks (has it REALLY been THREE weeks?) we've been super busy trying to get settled into our new home and getting back to our normal routine. It's been exciting and we're quite enjoying it.

We have more time now together as a family, which was the main reason for the move. With my husband being only 10 or so minutes from work, we see a lot more of him, and most days we eat at least a meal together, sometimes even two. That was very rare for us at our other home.

We have taken up learning American Sign Language as we are attending meetings at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses with the ASL group near here. It's something my husband and I have both always wanted to do, and we felt that this would be an excellent opportunity for our children to learn a foreign language, and of course so we could talk with more people about the Bible. It's going really well and we are learning new signs just about every day, and most certainly at every meeting.

We are still trying to sell our other home and are having some work done on it. We've been back there (or at least my husband has) every weekend since we've moved to work on it or just to get more stuff. There is something odd about that. Before we moved we spent many weekends over this way, either househunting or doing other things related to moving, and now that we are here, we keep going back to the other house every weekend.

Another odd thing about the work is that we always wanted to do things like paint our house and do other aesthetic improvements but never had the time or money. Now it seems that I have the house I always wanted now that I no longer live there. Just within the last couple of months we pulled up most of the carpet I detested and replaced the floor and flooring, and then moved into a house totally carpeted!

I've stayed busy with my writing work and of course have taken the girls with me. We've also done some fun things like go to the movies and explore new places available here in the "big city" where we now live.

We really like our new home, our location, and the fact that we see more of each other. More good things await us in our new surroundings!

Life-changing experience coming up!

Our lives are getting ready to change drastically! The big move is coming up this weekend!

Today is the girls' last day of school, as tomorrow, the actual last day of school here, we will be at our new home getting our phone/cable/Internet hooked up.

Moving takes place on Saturday, and we'll have some help on both ends, so that's good. The settling in and getting back to our routine will be all our own job, though.

I'm looking forward to it all!

Awards day!

Today was a special day at school, one in which my daughter and pretty much everyone else in school were honored for their good grades and behavior. It was the "Good Behavior" assembly for the first graders, and my daughter earned her fourth good behavior ribbon (one for each of four nine-weeks grading periods).

For receiving four good behavior ribbons, she also got the coveted "Gold Medal" award. The school really drums this up and all the students are so very proud to receive the gold medal!

My niece, a second grader, received awards for being on the honor roll and for her excellent behavior at the school, although her time there has been very short.

Afterward I went back to class with my daughter and read a couple of my favorite books to the class, and then I had lunch with all three of my girls, my two daughters and my niece.

Once everyone arrived home we took photos of the award-winning girls and put their ribbons and medals in a safe place.

Congratulations, girls!

We give up on the bus

Our perfect bus-riding scenario is no more and it looks like bus-riding is no more. I give up!

For the majority of this school year, things just went so smoothly with the bus. My first grader caught the school bus right around the corner and my preschooler got on the van to head start about 30 seconds later. Wonderful. I was back in the house before 7:30 a.m., alone to brew coffee and get my day started.

It started falling apart when the head start reduced its enrollment back in March, and of course my child was one of the ones who had to go. We put her in the pre-kindergarten program at the local public school where her sister attends, and that went fine all except for the fact that I have to drive her to school myself and sign her in.

My morning routine was severely interrupted but I adjusted well. I get the six-year-old to the bus by 7:25 a.m. so she can eat breakfast at school and then drive the four-year-old to school by 8-8:10 a.m. before they go to breakfast at 8:15 a.m. Fine.

The whole thing was blown to bits when the time changed. I have had trouble getting up on time ever since then, and of course that makes it hard to get to the bus on time.

What we have done many mornings since then is feed my daughter and my niece — I have since acquired another child to get back and forth to school — breakfast at home and then take them all to school at the same time. We walk my first grade child to her class, then my second grade niece to her class, and then get the preschooler to the cafeteria before her classmates and teacher go to the pre-k building right before 8 a.m.

Things are a little rushed with this routine but that's still my fault since I love to lay in the bed and hit the snooze button.

I thought I had it all under control this morning. My two older girls and I walked out to the bus stop at 7:27 a.m. (the bus usually comes between 7:28-7:31 a.m.) to see absolutely no children there. The neighbor kindly informed us that the bus had already come. Rats! So we went back in the house for our new routine. The girls ate cereal and fruit for breakfast while I got the four-year-old ready for school.

I got everyone dropped off with seconds to spare and decided that with just two weeks of school left, we may as well just forget about the bus.

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Time to start packing!

We're moving in two and a half weeks and I haven't packed a thing. It's time to get going on it! I finally have some boxes to work with, since my husband has been bringing some home from work and some friends brought a few big ones over the other night, so I no longer have any excuse to put it off.

I got some good advice from some friends last night. When I pack something up I should write on the box what room it goes in and what's in it, and when we take it to the new house we should put the box in the proper room right away. That way things are where they go right off.

That's some pretty good advice, given that when we moved into this house we had hardly anything other than some clothes and a few boxes of sentimental things. I had a few towels and dishes but that didn't take anytime to put away. It's now ten years down the road and we have accumulated quite a bit of stuff that we have to deal with now.

I better get to it, then!

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A proud moment

My four-year-old daughter was just tandem nursing her baby dolls. Now that really made me proud. It's an understatement to say I'm a breastfeeding advocate, but even I didn't tandem nurse, or breastfeed two children of different ages at the same time. I was five months pregnant with this little girl when I weaned her sister, who was two years old (24 months) at the time.

It's interesting that my daughter was just doing this. About an hour before that happened I had just discovered a website that advocates formula feeding. I was rather aghast until I located an article on the site that extolled all the benefits of breastfeeding. Even formula feeders promotes breastfeeding! That's wonderful!

The article on this site — which I won't link to since I don't want my blog leading to a site supporting something I don't care for — listed the pros and cons of both breast and bottle feeding. Interestingly, the advantages for breastfeeding outweighed the disadvantages. It lists eight advantages and five disadvantages for breastfeeding. The disadvantages were trivial things like frequent feedings and limiting caffiene intake.

Also very interesting is the fact that the disadvantages of formula-feeding outweighed the advantages, right there on the bottlefeeding website. The article named four advantages for bottlefeeding — things like being able to eat what you want and leave your baby with others, which you can also do while breastfeeding but I don't particularly support much leaving of a small baby with others for extended periods of time either. The disadvantages were significant and were mostly health concerns like the lack of antibodies in artificial milk.

I am so glad that the website advances natural feeding although it is designed to support formula-feeding families.

Of course my daughters don't know all of this but I'm sure they will come to realize it. For now they remember what I did and and pay attention to all my pro-breastfeeding comments in their own little way.

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Parenting 101

Craig Harris writes about how to come to a happy medium in raising our children in his www.HappyNews.com piece on Parenting 101.

It's a lot easier said than done, that not going overboard one way or the other. Harris says we ought to be neither permissive nor authoritarian, but balanced authoritative parents. How I do try!

Now THAT'S parenthood

A New Jersey couple just gave birth to their second set of naturally-conceived triplets!

It seems that the couple were told several years ago they couldn't get pregnant. Sharon and Rich Fontana proved that wrong when they had their first set of triplets two years ago. They've added three more to the family for a total of six children — there's one little girl in the bunch — all two and under. Check the story out.

I'll just think of them when I get frustrated with my two big girls who are six and four!

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Why God made moms

Some second graders were asked to answer the following questions about their mothers. I asked my first grade daughter the questions and put her answers in all caps. This is really cute ...

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.
SO THEY COULD HAVE BABIES.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He Just used bigger parts.
FROM DUST.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.
DUST.

Why did God give you your mother & not some other mom?
1. We're related
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.
BECAUSE HE WANTED ME TO HAVE MY TRUE MOM.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mom need to know about Dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home & dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.
TALK TO MY AUNT ON THE PHONE.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.
HER STYLE OF CLOTHES (giggle, giggle).

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A sobering realization

A very sobering realization just hit me. I'm a young and energetic — most of the time; tonight doesn't count — 35-year-old woman. By the time my mother was my age she had birthed eight children; two more were to come in the next seven years.

Can you believe it? A 35-year-old with EIGHT children? It's mind-boggling. I was 11 years old at the time; there were eight children born in 11 years. Oh, my word. We went on to become 10 children in 18 years; there was a considerable slowdown with the last two. I was 14 when the next one was born and was 18 and graduated from high school by the time the last one came along to my 42-year-old mother.

It just gave me a whole new perspective on 35 and boy am I happy to be living in the perspective that I am. Being 35 with EIGHT children just doesn't seem very young for some reason. Even a young 42 seems quite aged with 10 children. My dad was quite the young man himself back then, being only 11 months older than my mom.

I had something to say on this subject a while back but this age realization really hit hard. I'm sure glad I'm a young 35 with two children, that's for sure!

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