Sunday, July 22, 2012

We have a baby!

My Joy-Filled Life

We have a baby!

Aaron Matthew 
July 21, 2012, 3:55 AM
10 lbs, 22 in, Med free!


You can view some more pictures here and here.

Thank you to everyone for your words, encouragement, and prayers through this pregnancy! We are so thankful for them, and to be home with a healthy new little blessing.

Birth details to come. For now we're still snuggling and taking it easy.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Dead to Sin, Resurrected in Christ



My Personal Testimony

By Abby

My mom and dad had taught me about God since I was little. I believed in him, but had not
repented. I saw my mom and dad, and my grandparents get baptized and started to think
about it and what it meant.

I heard about the gospel at church but I was too shy to ask about it. The Holy Spirit was telling
my heart to make a choice and it helped me overcome my fear, so I said to mom and dad that I
wanted to know more.

Pastor Duty helped me understand the gospel. We are all sinners and our punishment is
death and separation from God. But God sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and he was
resurrected from the dead so that we can have eternal life in heaven with God if we believe and
repent.

I was baptized as a sign that I am a Christian, being buried in the grave and being
resurrected in Christ. If you haven’t made Christ your savior, let the Holy Spirit guide you to
Jesus like I did.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

My Pregnancy Journal Link-Up, 39+ weeks

My Joy-Filled Life

Well, here we are. I'm at 39 weeks and 2 days as of right now. This is officially now my longest pregnancy. I'm feeling horribly depressed. I know I'm not to my due date. I know that baby is fine and healthy and I should be happy that he is doing well, blablabla. But I just feel miserable. I'm measuring over 41 weeks. My body has been having contractions for DAYS with hardly any result. I just feel like I am at the absolute end of my rope and the tiniest thing just triggers a huge puddle of tears to fall from my face. Its ridiculous. Had my appointment today, and I'm at 30% effaced...still. I did make it up to 3 cm, so that's progress. But since I was at 3 cm with my son for over 3 weeks I'm not all that excited about it. I thought the baby had dropped earlier in the week and was all excited - and I guess technically I was right, because he is now at -3 station, whereas before now he was so high it was unmeasurable. Sigh. I'm hanging in there, just barely though. I have tried to tell myself this whole pregnancy that I could go to my due date or even beyond, but I guess I just really never believed it since both my kids came before the due date and were big. I just didn't think my body would keep going this long. People keep telling me "don't have the baby until I go on vacation, or until my work schedule isn't busy, etc." I thought it was funny. Now I'm mad about it and blaming them. So anyway. That's my update for this week. I'm a big tearful puddly depressed mess of a mommy and I just want to go crawl into my bed and sleep for days. Maybe by the time I wake up my body will decide to go into labor. Sigh.

Sorry for being a bum.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Boy Mom BlogHop 2012!

When I read about The MOB Society's 2nd annual Boy Mom BlogHop earlier - I wasn't sure if I should join in. I mean, I only have 1 boy. About to be 2 at any moment though, so I figured, I totally count! ;o) So I say if you have a little boy, join on in and let's get to know each other and encourage each other in this special blessing of raising boys! It can be hard nowadays to raise boys up to be MEN of the Lord, and I think we could all use the encouragement, support, advice, ideas, etc. that we can get!

My name is Kelli and, as I said, I'm a mom of 1 little boy right now, but it could become 2 seriously at any moment as I am 39 weeks pregnant with our second little fella. I also have an older daughter who is the second "little mother" in our house. I blog to keep up with people I know and love, to keep them informed of our lives since a lot of us are so spread out, to meet new people and friends, and to share my love of family and faith - even on the bad days. =o)


Now, introducing:


William, Age 3.5
(aka Will, Boo, Mr. Will Boos, Monster, Trouble, Stinker, The Stink, Little Man, 
and many other random names)
Will likes to play computer and video games with his Daddy. He also loves to run around and climb on furniture. Another favorite past time is giving Mommy small heart attacks by doing daring feats, coming out of nowhere and scaring her, and hiding somewhere and refusing to answer or come out when called. Dinosaurs, animals, and space are awesome. He prefers little toys to big play items, and we have lots of little battles and wars raging around here on a regular basis. His sense of humor is impeccable and must be a natural gift because he is THE funniest kid I have ever met in my life. He's a little OCD - but he comes by it totally honestly (eh hem...) so I can't complain and we take it as it comes. He is certainly FULL of energy, but I love it and wouldn't have it any other way. I love the run-by kisses and leaping hugs, and hope that we can keep fostering his joyful and energetic spirit. Even though he's an active little booger, he's good for a cuddle whenever you need it, and if he thinks someone has hurt or upset you he's your number 1 protector. 
I just love this guy!



Aaron, Age 39 Weeks
(please ignore the HORRIBLY dirty bathroom...)
I don't know much about this new little man yet, except that he is definitely not as active in the womb as his older brother. I think he is going to be a little calmer, and more easy going. We'll see if I'm right I guess! Hopefully we will get to meet him sooner rather than later.



Right now our main family "stuff" is obviously expecting a new baby at any minute, and trying to juggle getting our homeschool year ready. I'm also considering and praying about a future part time career/ministry as a doula, and my husband is praying about going back to school to further his education and change careers. Basically a lot of stuff requiring prayer and guidance. We're waiting on the Lord to show us our path!

I am so excited about this BlogHop and getting to meet some other Mommies! =o)

Monday, July 16, 2012

How to Induce Labor - Pt. 2

Warning - this video has some dance moves and maybe some music and other things that could be offensive (ok, are slightly offensive). I wouldn't do these dance moves. I wouldn't in all seriousness like a song or video that was done in that style. But, its a joke. And I'm pregnant. And it amused me. SO, there is your warning. Watch at your own risk!


And yes, I totally tried all of this at home to induce labor. Ok. Not really. I did bounce and roll around on a birth ball for a little bit. And I waddled around the living room a couple times. I maybe even slowly danced back and forth holding a tired 3 year old. And the pee thing? Well. Pregnancy happens. I also do not believe this woman is 9 months pregnant. If she is, wowza. I'm super impressed.

And a random side note - today when I was in Walmart, a woman asked me when I was due. I get this a lot. I just smiled, tried not to cry and scream, and told her 8 days. She then said "Oh that explains it then." And then she walked away.

What does that even mean? I have felt extremely self conscious all day wondering...

Friday, July 13, 2012

How to induce labor - Part 1

This is for all you mama's out there who are waiting for your new little one and are about to go crazy if labor doesn't start soon. Go give this a try, LOL! We could all use a little humor I'm sure. Hope it gives you a chuckle. =o)

My Pregnancy Journal Link-Up - 38 weeks

My Joy-Filled Life

This week's pregnancy low-down:

  • Yes, 38 weeks. Almost there! I can't believe it. And at the same time, I can't believe I am not done yet. Funny how the last few weeks get. 2 weeks - that isn't long! But somehow when you are at the end of a pregnancy, its more like "2 weeks????? Are you kidding me?!?!?!"
  • 2 cm, 30% effaced. Still. My doctor tried to be nice and give me 2.5... but we both know she didn't mean it. LOL
  • Reality struck last night. I'm not ready. My bag isn't packed how it should be. I finally did buy some nursing pads and mama pads for after delivery. It must be clicking that oh yah, labor IS going to happen at some point... Plus my house is a mess. But instead of doing dishes last night like I should have, I forced my 9 year old to help me clear out her entire room and organize it from top to bottom. Let me tell ya, it wasn't pleasant, and I'm determined to organize the whole house before this baby comes. And those dishes? Well, I'm sure they'll get done... eventually. Until then, guess its lots of frozen pizza and take-out kiddos. (Like they would argue with that, ha!)
  • I have been so tired lately. And my body has been killing me. Last night though I was up til 1 A.M. cleaning and this morning got up at 6 and am moving faster than I have in weeks. Things must be imminent despite my lack of "progressing".
  • I still feel gripey, but I'm trying to be better about it. Lots to be thankful for. Even the achy hips, the waddling walk, and the clothes not fitting. It means I have a sweet healthy baby to meet soon! I should be rejoicing!
  • We told Mr. 3 year old big boy that the baby was going to "come out" soon. He seems excited. He says when he comes home he is going to close his eyes and be surprised about what he looks like, lol. Kids are so cute. He also said when the baby can walk he is going to chase him and pick him up and punch him... big brothers. What can I say? He is probably just telling the truth, lol!
  • I HAVE a picture of the belly, but I haven't gotten around to downloading anything to the computer yet. I will try to do that and update the post with one later today. No promises though! =o)

Discussion Question:  Let's talk names!  What name(s) have you picked out for the new baby and/or how do you choose the names for your children (after a family member, just like the name, like the meaning, etc..)?

Ok, so we HAD picked out a name. I even blogged about it previously. Something happened. I don't know what. But I woke up one day and freaked out to my husband - we have misnamed our baby!!! I don't know how, but I just knew it. The first name fit, the middle was not my baby's name. That has never happened to me before with my other kiddos, so I was really upset! How could I have gone so long calling my baby the wrong name? I felt horrible. But, we've now figured it out (we think, I'm not guaranteeing anything now after having the first name melt down). And this little man, tentatively, is Aaron Matthew. You know, we have all kinds of "criteria" for names when we start the process, but by the end of it most of those "rules" have flown out the window and we end up picking what we like and feel is "the right name" for that baby. Ex. With this pregnancy, I said we would NOT use an A, K, or W name, because I wanted all the kids to have names starting with a different letter so no one woul ever feel "left out". Obviously that rule wasn't fulfilled. I wanted the middle name to be a family name (our other 2 kids have family middle names). Well, we went through lists of family names and realized, we had pretty much already used the good names... so unless we wanted something like Winston or Wilburn or Earl... we had to come up something else. My other son's middle name is Thomas which he shares with his Daddy, Grandpa, Great Grandpa, and Great Great Grandpa! So for inspiration I turned to a list of the 12 Apostles and we landed on Matthew. We also have a good friend names Matthew, and another dear friend lost his brother Matthew last year and (he and his wife are going to be Aaron's godparents, in name only really, because we don't do infant baptism, but we still like to give each child a special gift in godparents), and it just seemed to be the right name. I'm happy with it. We shall see if baby is born and I look at him horrified because I have named him wrong yet again, lol.




Prayer Requests: My Abby girl is being baptized on Sunday. She professed faith in Christ as her savior at church last Sunday and participated in communion with the body of Christ! It was so wonderful, and I am so happy to get to see her follow her Savior in baptism this Sunday. 2 others are being baptized as well! What a glorious day! I love seeing God work in the hearts of the youth in the church. I can't wait to see what God has planned for each of their lives in Him. If you could just keep each of these new Christians in your prayers - it is hard to be a youth and a follower of Christ now. Because they are new believers I really do believe Satan will be targeting them with doubts, challenges, you name it. They are going to need the prayers and love and guidance of the body of Christ (as we all do!), but especially now. Also, we have invited some people to witness the baptism that are not believers. They have agreed to come! And we would love for you to pray with us for their salvation, that they would hear and respond to the gospel when it is spoken this Sunday at the baptism. And pregnancy prayer requests - just for patience. To wait for baby to come when he is ready, to handle my stress and discomfort in a way that is honoring to God and shows a meek and content spirit rather than a gripey mean one, and for a healthy baby and mama whenever labor gets under way. Oh, also if you could just say a quick prayer that baby doesn't want to come until after the baptism, that would be AWESOME! lol. I also have some personal intentions regarding finances and some personal heart issues and struggles that I would appreciate your prayers on as well. And I thank you in advance for your prayers, and I am grateful for them (especially since this week I seem to have given you such a long list!)

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Our Homeschool "Plans"

I have seen many homeschool Moms posting about their curriculum plans for the next school year - yup its about that time for us all isn't it? So I thought I'd jump on board and post our plans as well, because its fun! And slightly addicting maybe for this homeschool curriculum junkie mom. We'll start with the 9 year old first, and work our way down to preschool next time.

For our 9 year old (would be in public 4th - but yah, we don't really DO the whole grade thing here)

History / Science / Language Arts / Reading / Bible / Vocabulary / Geography:

 

We will be using Heart of Dakota - Preparing Hearts for His Glory. Its Charlotte Mason style with lots of wonderful living books, but its all laid out and ready to go with lesson plans and assignments all made out for me (which I need this year with a new little starting homeschool and a new baby to adjust to having around!). History and Science are mostly living books with activities scheduled in, there is independent and together reading scheduled in as well with some good quality books that support the main material. There is a daily Bible lesson and a weekly memory verse, and vocabulary lists are also included that go along with the main things being read each week. For Language Arts they recommend using Rod and Staff, so we will be using their level 4 book (just the teacher and student texts, not the tests and worksheets). We are not using their recommended math curriculum.

Math:

 

Teaching Textbooks, we're using level 4. Its our first year using this, but I am hoping for good things! We have done the samples online and my daughter has enjoyed those and does well at understanding the material covered. She is a bit "behind" in math (I don't buy that whole ahead and behind thing - kids are different) so we're keeping her at level 4 because it seems to be the best fit for her (many people say you should bump up in TT because they seem a little behind state standards). In the past we have struggled with math - she's a bit of a perfectionist and math doesn't come naturally to her, and I am a natural math whiz, so putting the 2 of us together for actual math instruction is VERY difficult. Too much bumping of heads. I am hoping the computer instruction will help, so I can just be there for assistance and back up rather then being "teacher" for this subject. Hoping some conflict will be avoided this year.

Literature:

 

We have always done literature by just reading good quality books. However this year I wanted to begin incorporating actually story elements. Since this is all going to be new to us, I've chosen a program that's fairly simple and fun in its introduction to all of this. So we are going to be doing 2 literature studies a semester from Confessions of a Homeschooler. I let my daughter choose the stories since I thought it would help encourage her to read and do the work if she chose the book herself (plus if she hates it I can always say "Well you picked it!" lol!!). So for this year we are doing Stuart Little, Black Beauty, Dr. Dolittle, and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

Writing:

 

This is something new we are introducing as well. She has done short writing assignments, but hasn't had a formal instruction program. This year we are starting with Writing Strands 3 to introduce her to a more formal way of writing. I think its going to be a great program for her - and the book is actually slightly humorous. The author did a good job with making the instruction fun!

Spelling:

 

My daughter is a horrible speller. Charlotte Mason seems to be great for natural spellers, but it just has not at all clicked for my daughter, so I'm adding a formal spelling program. I don't like just the whole use a list thing every week, so we're going with a spelling program on the computer. We are tentatively planning to use Click N Spell - it covers the 800 most commonly used words in the English language. I think for someone who struggles with spelling and is a perfectionist, this will be good for her because she will for sure be able to spell the most common words used. After we complete that and she has some more confidence, we will probably switch to a different type of spelling curriculum that helps breaks words down into pieces and shows how to figure out the spelling rather than just memorization alone. But that's for another year!

Typing:

We are doing more on the computer this year, and in this day and age typing is almost more important than handwriting (ok, maybe it IS more important than handwriting). I found an online website that has free typing lessons for kids, so we are just going with that and then letting her play fun games online to reinforce that. http://kids.learn2type.com

Handwriting:

 

Some homeschoolers I know don't even bother teaching this anymore as its own subject, again its the whole computer technology thing. I still think its important - so we still do it. We're working on cursive, and we are going with a formal "program" this year and using The Joy of Handwriting. In the past we didn't use a program, just practiced with copywork as per Charlotte Mason. I've found this doesn't work out very well for us - my daughter forms lots of her manuscript letters in a weird way and makes it way more complicated than need be. We're going to use a curriculum for cursive this year, and if it works out well I will probably have her go back next summer and quickly run through the manuscript program to improve those writing skills which seem to not be fully developed how I would like.

Music and Art:





 

We're doing quite a bit for this actually, which is a change for us. The Heart of Dakota program is only 4 days a week, which allows us to have 1 day a week we can dedicate to those "extra" things that often get overlooked. For music we are doing a local homeschool choir program called Heaven Sent Choir, along with at home piano courses via Mary Jo Moore Piano Courses. I was only going to do one of those, but my daughter really wanted to do both, so I'm trying to encourage her in that since its the first time she has really ever WANTED to do something other than play, lol. We'll also be doing a weekly hymn study using the book "Then Sings My Soul", and an Artist and Composer Study via Confessions of a Homeschooler (the Artist study is FREE for the month of July!).

Other:

In our state we are required to do a "Good Citizenship" course every year. But this requirement can be so easily met (we have no state monitoring anyway since homeschool here is considered private and there is not state oversight). So I count Bible/Character along with our history lessons as completely covering that requirement. Of course as she gets older we will include government and that sort of thing, but its not something I'm really worried about "finding a curriculum for" right now. right now our good citizenship curriculum is Jesus!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

My Pregnancy Journal Link Up - 37 weeks

My Joy-Filled Life

37 weeks. Almost there. Just have to get over the hump. I can so totally do this. Its going to be a short update. I'm just grouchy and kind of feeling like I am "done" with being pregnant, ha.



So what's going on?
  • 2 cm, 30% effaced still.Cervix is really high, baby is head down and posterior. ....sigh.
  • Bag is packed, mostly... I think...
  • I'm feeling SUPER stressed. Not about baby or birth or pregnancy, but just about other life things. I think because I am just so tired, that all the other life happenings are affecting me much more than they would normally.
  • I am uncomfortable. I wouldn't say pain really... I just feel awkward and like my body isn't together right anymore and I'm not moving right and its just unnerving and annoying.
  • I am having a lot of cervical pressure. About 1 contraction an hour for the past 5 days. Never experienced this with my first two.
  • I feel like I'm so gripey. I'm not meaning to be... its just how the end of pregnancy goes I guess. Forgive me please. And pray for me to get over it and enjoy these last few weeks.
  • My doula has a feeling I'm going to go into labor within the next 2 weeks. I'm not sure. I am suspicious of this boy causing me trouble and being late. We shall see.
  • My diaper shower with the ladies at church was so sweet and wonderful! Such a blessing. After my amazing baby shower, and now the church shower, we are super set for baby and are just so thankful.

Discussion Question:  How do you plan on managing your pain during labor and delivery?

Since we are hoping to go med-free for this birth, I have done a bit of thinking about pain management. I'm planning to use music, massage, positioning, prayer, and all that jazz. Really my plan is just to kinda go with what my body says for me to do, because I think our bodies are made to do this and as long as I don't fight it, then I will know what to do.