2021-2022 Homeschool Goals

 I have 3 main homeschool goals for this year.

1. Incorporate Read-a-loud books.

2. Plan arts/crafts weekly.

3. Play on the floor with all 3 kids.

At first glance these do not seem like"school"goals and for a typical school they are not. However for a homeschool mom who tends to get caught up in the academics and loses sight of the time spent with my kids these are the goals I need.

This will be my first year of not working full time while homeschooling and I want to be a good steward of the time and children God has blessed me with. 

When I was on maternity leave earlier this year I started reading a few chapter books to the kids and I was surprised with how well they listened. I've always stuck with picture books that I thought was the only way to keep their attention. I have somewhat of a plan of how I'm going to do this but its a work in progress. If you have any practical suggestions of fitting this in daily I would love to hear.

Sam has always loved doing creative things and I have not. This year I splurged and bought a book with creative arts and crafts projects then I went to Walmart and bought every supply that would be needed. My plan is on Sunday's when I plan out our week to have Sam look through the book and pick a project that we will do on Friday's. 

I recently listened to another homeschool mom talk about the joy she has found in getting on the floor and playing with her kids. It hit me hard! I don't naturally like playing on the floor with the kids. I tested it out this week with Westley and the pure joy on his face when I sat down and started playing with him was all I needed.

I have a tendency to set too high of expectations then crash and burn but these goals feel attainable. I'm so excited for this year and to be doing it without worrying about work is truly a dream come true!

Owen's Birth Story

 Owen is almost 6 months old and I realized I haven't written out his birth story. Hopefully I still remember most of the details.

I was at my 38 week check up and I mentioned to the dr how done I was feeling with this pregnancy. She offered to do a membrane sweep and I immediately said yes. She ended up breaking my water during the sweep although not the gush that happened with Westley. I knew there was no rush to get to the hospital as  I've had longish labors each time. I called Howie at work to let him know and figured out what to do with the other 2 kids. Howie rushed home even though I told him to take his time, I was straightening my hair when he got home, pretty relaxed for the situation. Contractions hadn't really started yet. About 1 pm I was all hooked up/checked in and since the dr didn't want this labor to last as long as the others they went ahead and started pitocin after I was hydrated. I was 3-4 inches dilated at this point. Around 3 pm I went ahead and got the epidural even though contractions weren't bad yet. 

If I remember correctly this is when I napped for awhile until the nurse came to check me around 7pm. I was still dilated the same 3-4 but she noticed that the dr hadn't completely broke my water so she took care of that part. They also started being more aggressive with the pitocin, my doctor wanted him born before midnight. Around 10:45 or 11 I started feeling a lot of pressure and I was 10 cm. I mentioned that it didn't take me long to push my other 2 out so they got the dr and as soon as she was there I started pushing. One of the nurses noticed my birthday 1-01 and it was 1-11 and 11 pm so they all thought it would be cool if he was born at 11:11 to continue to 1 theme. At this point I was feeling a lot more than I ever had with the other 2 so I was not waiting to push. So at 11:09 he was born. He came out pretty fast which caused some bruising on his forehead probably contributing to the jaundice that he developed. He weighed 8 lbs 12 oz (38 weeks and 3 days) I can't imagine how big he would have been had I made it another week or 2. After they weighed him, my doctor said "now aren't you glad I broke your water?!" 

He started nursing pretty quickly and they got us into the post-partum room not long after. He had a decent night and ate pretty well. But the next day he really struggled with eating. He kept spitting up a lot of mucus that they think he swallowed when he came out so his stomach was not happy. At one point they took him to the nursery to observe him for a couple of hours. They checked his jaundice levels the next day and weren't concerned plus he had gotten better at nursing. 

At his appointment on January 21st the dr noticed he was looking a lot more jaundiced and sent us over to the hospital to get his levels checked. His levels came back at 21 and the doctor had him admitted for light therapy. He did surprisingly well with the lights, he was under them for 2 hours at a time and I had 30 minutes in between to feed and change him. The next afternoon his numbers finally came back low enough to be discharged.

Owen has been the perfect little addition to our family, he's very similar to how Westley was as a baby. Thankfully we were able to buy a house when he was 3 months old which has allowed him to have his own room (in our closet lol). He sleeps in his crib pretty well, after Westley co-sleeping for 3 years I definitely wanted Owen to not be dependent on sleeping with us!