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Thoughts on Our Upcoming Twin Birth
I am 19 weeks pregnant with twins. Almost half way to full term. That means in 19/20 weeks these two babies will be on the outside, and no longer inside the protection of my womb.
My belly shot 18 weeks pregnant with twins.
When we found out we were expecting not one baby, but we were in fact expecting TWO babies, I was shocked. I was confused, terrified, excited and glad to finally have an explanation as to why this has been my “crazy pregnancy”.
For the first few days I felt a huge sense of loss.
I grieved the loss of my planned home birth. My son was a homebirth. My daughter a hospital birth. I have experience with both settings. I much prefer a home birth. The comfort of my own space, my own bed, my own shower. Eating and drinking as needed. Being as loud as I want. Within 30 minutes after birth, being able to snuggle into my own soft comfortable bed, with my newborn happily nursing on top of me, with not a care or a worry. Without anyone waking us mid-snooze to check the baby, or to check me. Our midwife being so calm. Calm and serene and in no hurry to do anything. No hurry to cut the umbilical cord. No hurry to weigh the baby. No hurry to clean the baby off, and definitely NO clear plastic boxes insight. No one taking the baby from me, to put her in the plastic box so I could “sleep”. Ugh!
If this was a singleton pregnancy I would be having another home birth. In our state it is illegal for midwives to knowingly deliver twins at home, or in a birth center. That means I HAVE a hospital birth this time.
I kept telling myself,“This is NOT the end of the world”
But it feels like it is.
I know many mothers have had wonderful birth experiences in hospitals. But having a hospital birth was not what I had planned. Not what I had envisioned and not what I wanted.
“Why?” You ask.
Do you want the list of reasons I don’t like hospital births?
No? Then stop reading now. See you back here tomorrow.
Yes! Then keep reading below.
I dread having blood drawn and getting an IV. I have rolling veins that are buried deep in fleshy, chubby arms. Getting blood drawn or starting an IV can be a painful process. Typically the nurse/tech pokes me at least twice in each arm…while I cringe and my blood pressure spikes from my fear of needles. I tell them, “Please just take it out of my hand”.They never listen. My veins roll while I am being poked repeatedly with nothing but pain to show for it. The nurse/tech finally is able to find a usable vein in my HAND of all places. Hmmm, I wonder where she got that idea?Do you understand now why I dread the IV part of a hospital birth?
Once labor has started, typically hospitals set a time limit on how long they will “let” a mother labor. This notion of putting a laboring mother on a “clock” and only giving her a certain number of hours to have her baby is ascinine. I do not perform well under pressure. My body does not respond well to time limits. These babies will come in their own sweet time… no matter what the ob says is the standard length of time for labor and delivery.
I don’t want to be pressured or undermined while in the throes of labor. I have booked a Doula (or 2?). That has helped to quiet my mind, and allay my fears with pushy doctors and brusque busy nurses. I needed someone to take the burden away from me, and my husband. Someone who will allow us to go about this birth in a calm and primal way, as nature intended birth to be. Someone who will be an ambassador for us, towards the hospital staff. Some one to rub my back, tell me it’s okay to scream, remind me to breath deeply, and bring me non-stop glasses of cold water. Someone who will remind the nurses, “No, she doesn’t want an epidural. No, she doesn’t want pain meds. No, we don’t want to speak to the anesthesiologist”. Someone to tell me I am strong in my moments of weakness. Someone telling me I CAN do this, I WILL do this and this is what my body was MADE to do. This will take the pressure off my husband. He is typically great at births, but we have 2 other small children and it is likely his mental attention will be split, between thinking about them and their well-being and being fully present with me.
I do not want any unnecessary invasive procedures. I have done enough research to know that twins does NOT automatically mean a C-section. I need to do more reading about the topic, what specific measures I can take to ensure the babies have the best chance to be born naturally. From what I have read so far, the chances of twin vaginal birth is greatly increased when the babies are at or very near term. I want them to stay safely inside me for as long as possible. This means taking it easy, not stressing out or over committing to activities outside the home. This means (for me) daily naps and frequent breaks to sit down and drink water throughout the day.
I want to labor naturally, this means moving around as needed and not being attached to wires and monitors. This means no breaking my water early, and no internal fetal monitoring. External monitoring only intermittently Begrudgingly, I had to leave the midwife and the Birth Center where I was receiving prenatal care and whose belief in natural birth was strong. I transferred to an OB because of the twins. I have not yet met the OB, but there are a few midwives in the practice, so I have hope that they will be open to my wants and desires for a natural birth.
Birth can be unpredictable and I want to be informed of all possible outcomes before they happen. I know that twin births are different than singleton births. There are twice as many babies to keep healthy, two placentas to make sure are working correctly, and twice as much fluid to cushion them. However just because there are two babies, does not mean my body can not do this in a natural way. It can. Things may not go exactly the way I want, I know the nature of birth is unpredictable. Because of this I plan on attending ICAN (International Cesarean Awareness Network) meetings before these babies are born, just in case.
Trust
I want to recreate the scene of my 18 week ultrasound for you, my dear readers.
The ultrasound tech rubs the wand over my gooey gel covered belly. She says, “I see a head and a heart. And a head and a heart.” She looks over at me.
“Here are two heads” She looks at me again.
Realizing I still wasn’t getting it, she says,” It’s twins .”
“What! Your kidding!” I say in disbelief. “You are joking right?”
“Wait, what?” my husband says.
“There are two babies. You are having twins. ” she says calmly.
The rest of the ultrasound appointment consisted of the ultrasound tech checking each babies organ systems, and measuring their growth. While my husband and I alternated between saying…
“Oh my God!”
“You are kidding, right?”
“Tell me you are joking.”
“But how did this happen, twins don’t run in our family?”
“That explains why I felt so sick.”
“So that’s why I am so big already!”.
It took a few days to sink in. The idea of twins. Two babies, at one time.
Whoa!
TWO! AT ONE TIME!
Say that again?
Yes, Twins.
Two little mouths to nurse. Two little butts to put into cute cloth diapers. Four hands to hold. Four feet to kick. Two bodies to clothe.
Remember our family already consists of my husband, myself and two children. Two very young children. My daughter is 3, and my son is 19 months. When these babies are born, my other children will be 4, and 2. We will have four children, 4 years and younger.
We wanted children, we were open to children. I prayed for God to bless us, our marriage and our lives with the blessing of children. So to say I didn’t ask for this would be a lie. (Although after these two babies are born we will be done. Done. Done. Done having babies.)
But twins was not part of our plan. Apparently, our plan was not God’s plan.
It’s both funny and terrifying to think that with no history of twins in our family, that I would suddenly be blessed with twins.
My twins have separate amniotic sacs, separate placentas and a good-sized membrane separating Twin A from Twin B. This means it is very likely they are fraternal. I must have ovulated two eggs in one cycle. Whoops!
I just keep thinking about a verse I memorized as a child: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)
I don’t understand why this is happening or why we were given twins. But…..
These next few months, (heck this whole next year!) I will need to TRUST.
. I will need to trust that my husband, my mother, my father, my sister, my village of awesome mom friends, will be here to help me. Trust that as I struggle during this first year with twins that people will be here for us. I will need to lean on others.
Trust that help will be:
-Here to help us from drowning in diaper laundry (To my volunteer service of cloth-diapering mommies, you are the most awesome gift ever!).
-Here to bring our family dinner on days when sleep deprivation puts me out of commission.
-Here to play with my older children, to make them feel special and not left out, or pushed aside.
-Here to help hold babies so I can shower (This may seem trivial but it is a luxury to new mamas.)
-Here to take our dog for the occasional walk around the block since I don’t anticipate ME taking him on any walks uber pregnant with twins, or even 4 or 6 weeks post-postpartum.
I know once things settle down and our family adjusts to a new paradigm we won’t need so much help, but for the time being I am trusting in God and spreading the word. If you want to help, bring it on!
“Money, Money, Moneeey!, Moneeeeey!” – Simple Ways to Spend Less and Live Well
“Money, Money, Money, Moneeey! Moneeeey!” The song “For the Love of Money” by the O’Jays is on repeat in my head. If you want to see the YouTube video for the song click here.
Have you seen the price of a gallon of gas recently? Or the price of a gallon of milk?
As prices go higher and higher, our dollar is having to stretch further and further. Our family’s yearly income is less than most. Think lower middle-class. We aren’t broke, and our bills which we keep modest for a reason, are always paid. But there is no “extra” money. Every dollar is accounted for and considered. Here are some ways that our family reduces cost and still lives well on a small budget.
We are getting creative with cleaning products and use home-made when possible. We make our own laundry soap (We recently started using Ivory bar soap instead of Fels Naptha in this recipe and it works great!). I just saw a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergentt I want to try. I have constructive hobbies such as sewing, cooking, baking and knitting. Cooking at home saves so much money, as does baking. Have you seen the price of pre-made cookies recently? I used my sewing machine to make PJ’s for the kids, pants, shorts, cloth diapers, pillows, snack bags, Christmas cloth “wrapping” bags , cloth wipes, kitchen towels, purses, dresses, bags, napkins, place mats and more! I have knit sweaters and cardigans for my children, hats, finger-less mitts, wash cloths, wool soakers and recently finished my first sock!
We have a food garden. We have a few raised beds and grow some of our own food. The broccoli and carrots this winter were a hit with the kids. (My mother also grows food and shares with us. Last summer the watermelon, tomatoes and corn from her garden were divine.)
We buy frequently used items when they go on sale. I don’t clear the grocery shelves or hoard things in closets like I have seen some extreme people do on TV. But we do buy more of an item when the price drops. When pasta or marinara sauce is Buy1 Get1 at the store, I buy 4 boxes/jars. Right now strawberries are 3 pints for $5. Now is the time to make homemade strawberry jam, or buy a few pints just for freezing. Strawberries freeze well and are a welcome addition to smoothies year round.
We purchase meat in bulk. For all you meat-eaters out there, buying in bulk is the way to go. Separate and freeze into meal sized portions. Thaw each package as needed, for weekly meal planning. (I am considering buying 1/4 of a cow from a local ranch and splitting the cost with friends. Anyone done this before?)
We buy previously loved (used) items when we can. Clothes and shoes, toys, books, kitchen items such as pyrex dishes and plates. Thrift stores are a treasure trove of good quality previously loved things, so is Ebay, Amazon and half.com. If you use Swagbucks to buy Amazon gift cards and use those to make purchases, many items are free or greatly reduced.
We accept the generosity of others. We make it clear that we are open to accepting generosity. We accept with a grateful heart items that our friends and relatives offer. Through the years we have been gifted with a plethora of items: A wedding rehearsal dinner, hand-me-down kids clothes and shoes, Pyrex dishes, fabric, yarn, cloth diapers, knitting needles, kid’s table see pic below, furniture (dresser, sofa, ottoman, TV stand, rugs, lamps) a compost bin, board games, home school supplies, a pack&play, strollers, car seats, baby carriers, heart-rate monitors….the list goes on…..
We live by the saying “ask and you shall receive”. We make our needs known. When I am feeling overwhelmed by children, I offer to swap babysitting with friends. I am perpetually surprised by the willingness of friends to watch our kids, for the mere cost of watching their kids on another day. I use word-of-mouth or social networks to inquire after items we need. We have come to own strollers, home school reading programs, and other items this way.
We buy new things with a set budget in mind. Not everything in our home is gifted to us or found at a thrift store. We do buy new things, but not without setting a budget for that item first. My husband and I often discuss how much we are willing to pay for an item beforehand. It we can’t find it for the price we want/need, we wait. Eventually the price will drop, or a sale will happen, or the season will change and it will go on clearance. Sometimes this means we go months “making-do” before we figure out a creative way to make our purchase a reality. Such is the story with our floors. We want to rip up this carpet and put down wood laminate. We started talking about it in December 2011- now it’s March 2012 and we think we may have finally figured out a way to buy and install new flooring without breaking our budget. For items that we think are worth paying full price we do. But those things are few and far between.
We keep entertainment simple. We don’t own a big screen TV, a gaming system or have cable television. We use our TV for watching DVD’s, and our laptop and internet connection for access to streaming TV shows and Netflix. We visit parks, museums and libraries often. These places have no entrance fee and are free to use. (Our taxes pay for these public spaces so it is a wise use of our money to visit them frequently at least that’s what I tell myself.) The kids often spend hours painting, playing with Playdough, coloring, doing simple art projects and playing with their toys. 
This is by no means an exhaustive list. But by following these tips we keep the cost of living down. Our family still lives well, and we are not spending beyond our means.
Q&A with TallyMom
Today I will be answering a few questions from readers. I received a few questions that I plan on covering in upcoming posts. So if your question isn’t here, don’t worry. It will be answered soon. I hope you enjoy this little peek behind the scenes.
I read that you are pregnant, Congratulations. My husband and I are trying to conceive, do you have any advice for us?~ T
Thanks T! We are happy to be expecting baby#3 in August. As far as you trying to conceive, I unfortunately have no advice for you. It seems I am a very Fertile-Myrtle and conceive easily. My best advice is to just relax. Breathe. Don’t stress about how long it is taking. If you are concerned or nervous that there may be a problem consult with your doctor. I am sure he will be more helpful that I am. Good luck!
Do you have a favorite color?~ R
Pink!
Our family of 4 is getting tired of catering our dinners to the kids. Any ideas for adult meals that kids will eat?~ K
I am not very picky when it comes to food. My kids on the other hand are very particular. Some meal ideas that are adult and kid friendly in our home are: cheddar-smothered baked chicken with rice, lasagna, stuffed shells, pineapple & smoked sausage shish-kabobs, pasta tossed with butter and Parmesan, fruit vegetable crackers and cheese plate.
How do you keep up with the laundry? What laundry system do you use?~ M
Laundry system? haha!. There are currently 4 baskets of clean clothes waiting to be folded and put away sitting in my living room. Want to come over and help fold?
That’s it folks. Keep those questions coming, I’ll do another Q&A next month.
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And Then There Were None
This morning started out on a grump-ity, grouch-ity, yell-at-each-other-for-no-reason, kind of note. Both kids woke up unhappy campers, with tears and whines. They fought with each other all morning. Fought over marker colors, how one child had more yogurt on their plate than the other, pushing one another because they both wanted to chalk on the chalkboard at the same one-square-foot spot. They do love each other, I promise. But like all siblings they argue. My toddler is still learning manners and has a tendency to pull his sister’s hair when she makes him mad. My daughter is particular and likes things just-so. When her brother touches her things or moves her things, she flips out. We are talking major melt-down.
So while this morning was not pleasant time to be the parent in charge, I feel this kind of transitional phase in which they are figuring out each other’s boundaries, what each other will tolerate and how best to share, is totally normal.
I just kept wishing that the whines, the screams, the annoying squabbles would cease. I kept thinking how wonderful it must be for those moms who send their kids to daycare or to school to have a quiet house. A quiet space to think, a few hours to themselves.
Ahhhh, what a relaxing thought that is.
I didn’t get that all morning. I don’t usually get that all day.
And then (suddenly) there were none.
No voices screeching, no one yelling at me that they needed me to take them to the potty, no asking for help to get a drink of water, or begging for me to take them out somewhere. Around 2pm, whilst both children were napping, (Both! Did you hear me say BOTH! Eeek, I know! It is so rare here too!) and the house was quiet, I realized it wasn’t as relaxing as I conceived it to be.
I was bored. So bored that I am here blogging about our day. I am accustomed to life going a million miles a minute. Averting children-created messes and disasters, again and again. Comforting boo-boos, enforcing manners, and solving disputes. I don’t know how to be alone in a quiet room with nothing happening. I am sure most mothers of young children understand me when I say I have not always been this way. I am sure as my kids become more independent I will learn to adjust to a new paradigm. But for now, in this quiet and serene moment produced by children napping, I am missing the noise and energy that they bring to my life. Sounds crazy, perhaps. But it’s true.
Posted in Life is an Adventure
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…and the greatest of these is love….
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love. I am told love does not divide, but multiplies. That is certainly true in our family’s case. I loved my husband with my whole heart, before children. Then when we had our first baby suddenly I loved them both with my whole heart. I know mathematically that does not make sense, but emotionally it felt right. Two years later, our second child came and I suddenly loved three people with my whole heart. How was that even possible? Somehow it was possible, and it felt right. Now we are expecting baby #3. We are due in August 2012. This love that multiplies will need to grow a bit further because this baby is coming in 6 short months and there will be a whole other human in our lives who will require our energy, our time and our attention. ….love always hopes…
This pregnancy has been rough on me. Two full months of all-day sickness means that at any moment my stomach revolts against me and stops me in my tracks. With two small children in tow, sometimes that means losing one’s lunch on the side of the road after pulling the car over, while being assaulted by a cacophony of empathetic crying and upset tears. Sometimes that means having to cancel play-date plans in favor of staying home and hugging the porcelain throne while the kids watch movies all day……Love perseveres….
First trimester tiredness, coupled with chasing two other kids around means I NEED a nap everyday. Without a daily nap, I am snarky, impatient and easily bothered by the small things. Normal developmental milestones, like inquisitiveness in my toddler and his desire to experience life by touching everything becomes annoying. My daugther’s near constant refrain of “Can I watch you (fill in the blank here) mommy?” while cute at 9am, becomes tiresome at 5pm when dinner isn’t on the table yet because she insisted on watching me cook, which takes extra time. ….. Love is patient…..
The kids are growing and learning and thriving. We are learning together, and they are blooming into wonderful children. I am received positive feedback about how my preschooler interacts with other children and adults when I am not around. I try to help my children practice manners and good listening skills at home. I can not abide rudeness in children (or adults). I hope that she will use these skills while out of my supervision. And she DOES! It’s amazing!. ….Love is kind…it does not dishonor others….
I haven’t been to Zumba in 3 weeks. At first the nausea stopped me from going. Then the kids had colds, and we were all feeling under the weather. Then the fatigue hit and mornings became extremely hard for me to deal with. By the time I woke up the kids, dressed then, packed a toy bag for them, fed them breakfast, brushed their teeth, got dressed myself, put them in the car, buckled their seats, drove the piddly little distance to the studio where the Zumba classes are held, unstrapped the kids, took them and all their gear and mine inside, took them to the childcare room..and phew! I had no energy left to actually work out. I had expended it all just getting us all up and out the door on time. I have no excuse now, the kids are getting up earlier on their own. I am close to my second trimester, when most women feel better and more energized. I need to go back. I miss it. I also had intended to walk my first 5k this past weekend and due to icky stomachs and my son not feeling well, I did not go. I have been so bad at walking/running lately. I am such a slacker. I told myself I would keep it up, but alas this has not come to pass. I need to do better for both my body and for my baby. I need to turn over a new leaf and start working out again. This pregnancy defiantly derailed my fitness plans…Love keeps no record of wrongs….
My husband encouraged me to keep writing on this blog. To not let it fall by the wayside. He has been strong in my moments of nausea. He has helped with foot rubs, back rubs and cooking dinner. He has picked up the slack when it comes to laundry. I have totally ignored the piles, and he had washed, dried and even *gasp* folded and put away more loads than he would care to remember. He has done so lovingly and without fanfare. He tells me I am beautiful and reminds me everyday that he loves me. ….Love is not self-seeking…
For there are these three things that endure: Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is Love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Posted in Life is an Adventure, Twin Pregnancy
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Pizza-Pie Fraction Game
After several weeks of frustration over learning math with my preschooler, the idea to ask for help from my Facebook Friends finally struck. They suggested a wide variety of activities and had some amazing ideas of ways to teach the elementary-school level concepts she was ready for, in a preschool friendly way.
The concepts of fractions went over very well. First, she separated the pieces into piles by size. Then she matched each pile with the correctly labeled circle. She was able to complete each “pizza” with the appropriate pieces. Finally she was able to make a whole pizza by combining pieces from two or more circles. For example she put a 1/2 and two 1/4 pieces together, making a whole, whereupon she exclaimed, “Mom, look! I can add two 1/4 pieces to a half and make a whole. Does it work like that for you too?”
I tried to explain to her that “yes, math works the same for everyone. It is universal. Numbers always mean the same thing, no matter who is using them”. She didn’t really understand. She is only 3 years old. I have to keep reminding myself of that fact.
I am not sure exactly how much she is learning, and how much is her just having fun, but overall I deem this pizza-pie fraction game a success!
A few happy moments…..in a newly discovered room!
Our home is a 3 bedroom 2 bath, with a living/dining room and kitchen all squeezed into 1,080 square feet. (It is actually 1,100 but 20 square feet of it is a storage space for a water heater and a few yard tools with outside access door only.) To say that space is at a premium is a gross understatement. Some days, I long for a bigger home, for the sake of more living space for the kids. Other days, when every room is messy I know a bigger house just means bigger messes, more rooms to clean, and more space to store junk we don’t need and would never use.
Our third bedroom is the smallest, and has never been used as a bedroom. Instead we called it an “office” and put our computer desk and bill paying paraphernalia in there. We stored our numerous reference books and novels, CDs and DVDs, computer software, etc on two massive bookcases. My husband stores his tools in there. I stowed my extra purses, diaper bags and laptop/work bags. Then we added a dog to the family, and we stored the extra dog food in there as well.
The closet in that room became a hassle, as it often avalanched its contents on anyone who dared to open the door and peer inside. Over the past 4 years, we have slowly and subconsciously added more and more stuff…..a desk for me….a sewing machine…..tons of fabric, skeins and skeins of yarn, a vacuum cleaner, a carpet steam-cleaner, an ironing board, our wireless internet router….on and on the list went…..until one day I realized….the room was no longer functional.
It had become a junk room. A storage room. No one EVER went in there without a purpose. It was a room to enter only when you needed to retrieve an item and then leave as quickly as possible, before something fell on you or you broke an ankle tripping over something on the floor.
Seriously folks, it was BAD!
A junk room in a house this tiny. Oh, no, no, that would not do at all.
Months passed…..and still the room was a mess….
But slowly, ever so slowly…..little by little, my goal to make the room functional again was coming to fruition.
My husband did his part. He moved his office and bill paying station to our master bedroom closet. I seriously paired down my stash of yarn and fabric. I took all the DVDs and CDs out of their cases and put them into zippered storage books. The books and novels were pared down as well, and what remained- the books we just could not part with-moved to a small book shelf in our bedroom closet. We still needed to clear out tons of JUNK. So with the help of my dad watching the kids one day, a family friend helping another day, my mom helping me organize one evening, and TallyDad tidying up the floor debris from time to time, the room is finally functional.
Is it less cluttered? Most assuredly YES!
Is it done yet? No, but progress HAS been made. A lot of progress.
Is it pretty? No. Well…… not yet.
But we are already enjoying time in there.
My vision is a visually appealing room that incorporates both storage and a comfortable spot for the kids to enjoy. We NEED storage for crafts supplies (fabric, yarn and sewing supplies), homeschool supplies (books, markers, worksheets, paint, paint brushes, pencils, paper etc), dog food/water bowl and the family wireless internet router. All those have found homes in the new reorganized room.
So far, the kids has a small table in the room, on which they do a variety of things including drawing, worksheets, and school activities (playing with unifix cubes, worksheets, practicing letters, etc.).
The kids have really enjoyed having extra space for art and play. They walk in and out freely….in a slow and leisurely pace. They come in and sit down, linger a while, color a picture, visit with the dog while he eats his breakfast, keep me company while I sew.
This room is not finished, and not a fashion statement, that’s for sure, but it is usable now…and sometimes…… it’s the simple things…….. like spending a few happy moments, in a newly discovered room….. that make life grand.
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Of books, and paint and nostalgia…
Our kids are thoroughly enjoying the wide variety of paint colors that we now have. So many in fact that they can now have a “paint palette” to choose from.
As much as I love the cost efficiency of just owning primary colors, yellow, blue and red. It is rather a bore having to mix paint each and every time, just so the kids have green for grass, or brown for dirt. Their creativity blossomed.
Not only was the paint applied to their paper, but also to hands, faces and ears.
As much fun as this requires a bath afterwards. So into the bath they went. Bath time still astounds me, as they play quite well together and separately. Each with a beloved toy or two, a washcloth and waves of splashy fun.
Later on in the evening, after the sun had set, and picture-taking requires a flash, my daughter discovered the joys of “reading” her Jesus Storybook Bible by turning the pages and making up stories based on the rich, vivid pictures. Her brother wanted to look too, and sat beside her. Peering intently at each picture, as his sister turned the pages and made declarations such as “This is when Jesus was a baby.” and “This is when god sent the frogs to Egypt.” 
After a few minutes of conversation and discussion between the two of them, my daughter holds up the book, shows me a picture and says “Whoa! Mom, look! It’s an angel!”
These are the days I cherish. When my kids are grown, and just my husband and I are “empty-nesters”. I know I will look back on these days…. the sacrifices we make as a family, for me to stay-home….the time we have sacrificed from our own lives, when we decided to homeschool……the fractured sleep…..
For days like this…..for moments like these…….. it makes it all worth it.
Posted in Homeschooling Ideas
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