As of late..

The late Christmas present to the kids.. (bought used on Craigslist!)

The boys pretending to spend the night in the "spaceship."

At the park.. this was the first day (two weeks ago) when the cold spell "broke"

The boys and their "swords" or "guns." the sticks are multi-functional.

Jorge has a new trick.. i promise that Eva liked it very much!

If i can just survive...

This has been my thoughts for today: If I can just survive (dot.dot.dot).

I think most of it centers around homeschooling. I think.

Jorge is 4 1/2. We have done some pre-school stuff and he loves to learn. We did figure out that he is color deficient. Not color blind, but he can't determine yellow and blue very well. I was so thankful to be the one to figure this out and not some frustrated teacher in a classroom with 20 other 4 year olds wondering why this boy "won't focus." Needless to say, I wasn't any better because I thought he wasn't paying attention, but then God put in my mind/heart, "Rachel, he may not actually understand the difference. he could be color blind/deficient." So to the Internet we went and found some ways to "diagnose" it. Oddly enough, it was through the came Candyland that we figured all this out.

With that behind us. I now have to make a plan for when we start Kindergarten. I think I've decided to go with My Father's World Curriculum (feel free to let me know of any others you might suggest). With that, I feel very confident to start this coming September. The only thing that scares me.. well the three things that make me tremble and think.. If I can just survive are:

THIS...

THIS....

and this...

Well I don't actually have a picture of the little butter bean.. Isaac.

Come September I will have a fourth baby that will be four months old, a 2 yr old , an almost 4 yr old and 5 year old. Okay, Im not whining.. Just stating the facts.

The reason this makes me wonder my stats on survival is that today I had to lay down the law and put up a baby gate to keep Eva out of the schoolroom. Which she obviously did not like. The reason.. She will get into everything and will absolutely keep me from being able to focus on what I am trying to do with the boys. So come September I will have two little ones that will need to have something to do while I do school with Jorge. Well, actually i know that we will do his school in the afternoon while the other three are napping. But Alex will have to do school in the morning with the baby gate up.

Seriously, I am not complaining.. just wondering if I will survive it.

;-P

well DUH, Im pregnant.

So Im 22 weeks pregnant. But I forget about it all the time.

I had a birth last week that was absolutely beautiful. First time mom that made her 17 hour labor look easy. I was with her for about the last 7 hours of that. When I got home, I wondered why I was so sore on my lower back and legs.

then I remembered, "duh, im pregnant."

then I thought, "oh dear, and I have births right up until April, three weeks before my own birth."

I may be in over my head. Or just needing some heat packs when I get home.

Do you notice a pattern here?

This silly monkey smiles AS SOON as she sees you bring the camera out.  

Geez.  What a ham, huh?  but she sure is adorable.  

Whirlwind December..

To sum up some things since my last post: 

We are expecting a bouncing baby BOY! Found out two weeks ago.  His name will be Isaac (middle name pending) which means "laughter."  Certainly what we did when we found out we were expecting him. 

I doula-ed a birth last week for a mom having her 4th.  The super mom did 45 hours of prodromal labor and then 18 hours of active labor before she delivered her precious little girl.  (birth story to follow, seperately). 

I turned 32 years old on the 18th.  Two days later I was in the hospital with a kidney stone.  That is such a long story but suffice it to say that a pitocin induced, unmedicated birth (Eva) was a walk in the park compared to that stone.  That is NO exaggeration.  I came home with them saying I had a 7mm stone and a less than 50% chance it would pass on it's own, but alas, because I am pregnant that treatment was limited and not recommended. Two days later I was in the hospital again.  The reason we went in is because the Loratab did NOTHING for the pain, and while it was not a 10 on the scale as before.. it was an 8, and was not getting better.  This time we found out the stone had apparently broken up into two smaller stone, one in the bottom of my kidney and the other passing through the ureter.  So "this to shall pass" comes to mind.  And i came home Christmas Eve afternoon.  Sooo thankful that I made it out of that hospital in time for Christmas.  And now we just wait for the stone to pass and pray for no more "episodes."  (will keep you posted). 

-My kiddos enjoyed Jesus' birthday celebrations today as well as all the presents they got on His birthday! LOL. I really think we may have gone overboard.. compared to the three gifts they each got last year.  Light sabers, books, six shooters w/holsters, baby dolls, sticker books, leapsters, movies.. to name a few.  whew.. 

I hope everyone is doing well and i am hoping that things start to slow down as we ring in the new year.  Praying, actually.. LOL.  

Buenos Noches.. 

Go ahead and give up on me.. Im a lost cause..

I'll forgive you.  I understand I may not get anyone to read this post either, because sadly I have fallen off the blog grid.  

I just can't juggle it and I seriously am the most uninteresting person right now.  

I have very little desire to post the encouraging "your children aren't as bad as mine" posts because, well, I have enough of those that you can catch up on. 

I'm sure that you would have no desire to hear the mundane "this is what I did today posts" that generally involve cleaning, cooking, dealing with my children and getting my house "ready" to put a sign in the yard (which will supposedly happen tomorrow.. don't hold your breath).  

I would gladly offer you some witty humor stories but oddly, I got none (how's that for grammar).  My life is not very funny right now. Just busy. 

And I'd happily tell you all the wonderful things my kids are saying, doing, and otherwise, but I couldn't remember them after the fact, even if I tried.  And my memory is so bad these days that even if I wrote them down, I'd lose the paper. 

I'm starting to wonder if this fourth child is going to do me in.  I'm not much fun and I'm basically just trying to "hold down the fort."  

On a positive note. . I have births again starting in December and every month after that until my own birth.. so stay tuned for some birth stories.. ;-)

You one single reader.. have a great day.. and I understand if  you don't revisit here ever again.  

Labor support

Great post about continuous support during labor.. (with a video)

http://enjoybirth.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/continuous-support-during-birth-is-golden/

Right out of the gate. . .

I proved this morning that you can, in fact, sin before your feet hit the floor (from your bed).  

You see, I went to bed too late last night.  

Then my boys woke up at 6:03 a.m (that would've been 7:03 if not for the absurd time change). 

Then at 6:04 my boys start bickering over something and then they come pouring into the hall and then my room, all the while yelling "MOMMMMMY!!!" 

Then at 6:05 Eva starts crying because said boys have now woken the sleeping tigress (who has yet to adjust to the time change) and will only cause her to get more upset with each passing minute.  

Of course, this series of events made me boil inside.  I sharply rebuked my boys to get back in their rooms and then did what I knew I shouldn't: go lay back down in my bed.  

Yes boys still fighting... girl still crying.  

Boil. Boil. Boil... 

Then I jump out of my bed, stomp my way into the boys' room (this is more of a warning that mommy is coming.. how scary is that??) and then swing open their door (again, scary).  Jorge jumps into his bed out of fear (sad, yes) yet that does not break my anger.  I get down in Alexs' face and harshly say, "EVA is TRYING to SLEEP!! BE QUIET!! NOW!"  

You have to know Alex.  He puts his thumb in his mouth and his bottom lip is quivering.  He's going to try to be strong and not cry, well honestly, because I just yelled at him to be quiet.  

I stand up fully ready to waltz out of that room and close the door.. but the sight of those two boys, and the power of the Holy Spirit (praise God).. broke me.  

I sat on the floor and grabbed Alex and called Jorge to me as well.. and cried.  

And asked for their forgiveness.  

They were very gracious and kind and forgave me quickly.  

The Lord too. 

Praise God for forgiveness.  

My super boys.

So we don't "do halloween" in our house, but I will do the mess out of 50% off costumes the week afterwards.  As you may know, our little men have a growing collection in their "costume box."  

 

I can rest at ease knowing that Captain America and The Incredible Hulk are tirelessly defending the Garcia casa today.  Im sure I will have fun prying these off of them when it's time to head to my nephew's birthday party later this evening.  

Eva Isabel

Eva on her first birthday (back in August).