As most of you can see we are now getting closer to the due date of the baby. We are getting anxious for the time to come and so far everything seems in place for the home birth. We have been trying to get our home ready for this new bundle of joy coming into our life and so that means the last few weeks we have been really working on the house. We got all our new trees and bushes going and this weekend we finally got all the wood from the trees we cut down also cut into smaller pieces in a pile. We are going to save some of the wood for scouts but we will probably offer some of it on craiglist (hopefully someone wants it). We also have gotten most of the rooms organized how we want them although we will need to maintain it. I guess we are nesting.
Work continues to go good for Chris and luckily he has been spared the hard times with his work. He continues to enjoy it which is also important. Scouts continues to be fun and they now have a larger patrol which is an adjustment as some of the boys get a little more rowdy. He has been a great help since I often get low on energy and is very anxious for the birth. He has always been such a great birth partner.
I continue to grow and I am struggling with the usual symptoms of the last part of labor (tired, big, and uncomfortable) but things continue to go well. Homeschooling is good and both Peter and Sam do well with that - although Joe and Will only have limited patience for it. We set up a toy room and as of yesterday also have an outside play room in the garage. The garage room will be when the kids have a lot of energy and need to burn some of it off and it is raining or for some other reason we can't get out. Will was very cute, he kept sliding down the small slide in the garage.
Peter is getting really good with his reading now and has moved up to the next level in reading. We are reading a book together where he reads from the book and I have the same book and follow along. He is also very anxious for his baptism in October and asks us about it about every other day. He has his moments where he doesn't want to help pick up or wants to be the boss, but luckily they typically don't create too many problems.
Sam loves animals and plants. He has been quite the helper when it comes to doing the planting outside. When we were cutting down our trees, he would often be right there wanting to help dig or cut up roots. He even helped when the missionaries came over to help chop up branches. He loves to draw and writes very well and is gaining enthusiasm with his reading as well. If especially likes reptiles (including dinosaurs) and several times has corrected us when we say something wrong about a particular species. Also Sam LOVES to ask questions about everything.
Joe is light hearted and tries so hard to do school. He tries to stay up with his brothers but often can't. Still he has his preschool each day and normally does that until his attention span runs out or he sees Will doing something fun. He kept getting upset because he couldn't right his 5 on the chalkboard. He continues to be the most interactive with Will and you can tell Will prefers him (even though all of his brothers play with him). It is clear that the two of them enjoy a special bond like Peter and Sam do. He loves Star Wars like his brothers especially Darth Vader. He is excited for his birthday coming up and last week he was able to hand out invitations to all of his friends.
Will loves any kind of power cord, especially Chris' laptop. If he anything with a cord on it he will take that item and plug it literally into all the light sockets in the room. He always tries to make sure that Chris has his work phone and will scale great heights so that Chris has it. He loves his new little playland in the garage and recently learned how to go down slides. We are not sure how he is going to take the next little one but I am sure like all of his brothers we will have a period of adjustment. I think the kids have a bigger problem that they can't be on Mom's lap right after she has the baby. He words keep improving and some of the sounds he was making are becoming clear. He was actually trying to say words but they weren't clear, but now he is getting better at that.
I had better sign off but everyone have a great week.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Videos
Here is a short little video of each of our sweet children. They sure are cute... growing fast see them while they last!
Sam
Joe
Will
Peter
Sam
Joe
Will
Peter
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Baby Charlie
Life is good. We just had a great Sunday, one of the talks in Sacrament especially hit home. It was about balance. I have been thinking a lot about balance lately. It seems everything comes back to being balanced. Whenever I am troubled about what to do with a particular thing it seems the answer revolves somewhere around being balanced. So the lesson is that we need to be balanced in all aspects of our life, temporal, spiritual, emotional, etc.
Baby Charlie has been doing somersaults in my stomach lately. We had an ultrasound last week that showed things are going very well and he was head down during the ultrasound. Later though I could tell he had moved back to breech. Right now he seems to alternate a lot and the midwife isn't concerned because he was very easy to turn. Being all baby helps in all of this. The placenta continues to move away from the scar which is also a good sign. Hopefully everything goes according to plan. We are being very prayerful about the whole matter. People give us all different kinds of reactions to the home birth thing so it has been interesting. Chris wouldn't even consider doing it unless he got a definite "yes" in his prayers. I am more of a risk taker than him, but luckily the Lord knows the right balance (see there is the whole balance thing again). In truth, Chris and I balance each other real well. I am more spontaneous and he is more organized. Thankfully the Lord had helped us to be a great team.
The yard is almost completely ready for planting now, we chopped down our last tree and all we have left to do is remove the stump (we have already have done several). We may move one of our lime trees to the back yard as well, but we still have a lot of wood to chop up and bundle too. Maybe Chris can use all of that with scouts or we'll have the garbage haul it away. We can't wait to get our trees and get them going. Our strawberries survived the Houston winter (even with an actual hard freeze) and already have some strawberries growing. We are going to eventually move them to the front and hope to have them set up in the next couple of weeks. We just hope this all pays off.
Baby Charlie has been doing somersaults in my stomach lately. We had an ultrasound last week that showed things are going very well and he was head down during the ultrasound. Later though I could tell he had moved back to breech. Right now he seems to alternate a lot and the midwife isn't concerned because he was very easy to turn. Being all baby helps in all of this. The placenta continues to move away from the scar which is also a good sign. Hopefully everything goes according to plan. We are being very prayerful about the whole matter. People give us all different kinds of reactions to the home birth thing so it has been interesting. Chris wouldn't even consider doing it unless he got a definite "yes" in his prayers. I am more of a risk taker than him, but luckily the Lord knows the right balance (see there is the whole balance thing again). In truth, Chris and I balance each other real well. I am more spontaneous and he is more organized. Thankfully the Lord had helped us to be a great team.
The yard is almost completely ready for planting now, we chopped down our last tree and all we have left to do is remove the stump (we have already have done several). We may move one of our lime trees to the back yard as well, but we still have a lot of wood to chop up and bundle too. Maybe Chris can use all of that with scouts or we'll have the garbage haul it away. We can't wait to get our trees and get them going. Our strawberries survived the Houston winter (even with an actual hard freeze) and already have some strawberries growing. We are going to eventually move them to the front and hope to have them set up in the next couple of weeks. We just hope this all pays off.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Update on Peter
We saw the doctor and he said that the records all say he has Spastic Diplegia, but the only way to know for certain is if Peter is tested by a neurologist. So now it will probably take about 4 months to get in, which I am just fine waiting for, and we will be able to find out once and for all if he has that or not. It seems we need to find a name for whatever ails Peter before he can get braces, which I partly understand, but partly don't. Peter still anxiously awaits getting braces, I wonder if he thinks they will be magic shoes or why he is so excited about it, I will have to ask. Whatever the case, I think Peter will need braces to help his feet, especially since he can't really move one foot much.
So look down at your feet, move them in a circle, appreciate your ability! Never take for granted that you can move freely! Count your many blessings!
So look down at your feet, move them in a circle, appreciate your ability! Never take for granted that you can move freely! Count your many blessings!
Living Within Our Means
I gave a talk in church this Sunday, you can see it below:
At 18, I was taught the restored gospel and accepted baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the first phrases I heard as a new member was “living within your means”. I have thought long and hard about that phrase. At first glance it simply means that you should not spend more money than you have, but I think there is a much deeper meaning here.
The word “means” in the phrase has to do with our money. How do we get money? We work. So money is the value of our labor, and labor is the energy we exert to get the job done. So our “means” can be a reflection of our energy.
At first glance living within our means has to do with living within the money we have. It may sound too simple, but you cannot spend more than you make. At least it used to be that way. Our grandparents had a very different view of credit, back then it wasn’t given out as freely as it is today. If we budget our money, pay our tithing, plan out our expenses, save for what we want… it all sounds so simple, but we can and should avoid credit. If we stop and think about what money really means and what credit is, it might change our thinking a bit. As I said, money is the value of our labor, our energy to perform a task. So when we borrow money, we are borrowing against our future energy with interest added. What will happen if we borrow beyond the energy we can exert to make money? That is when we may feel overwhelmed by debt. In order to explain interest to our children we told them that it’s as if you borrow money and every day that you can’t pay it back you have to pay a little more money. Debt is like a hungry monster always growing with interest. Soon it amounts to double the original cost of the item.
“Interest never sleeps nor sickens nor dies; it never goes to the hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes a vacation; it never visits nor travels; it takes no pleasure; it is never laid off work nor discharged from employment; it never works on reduced hours. . . . Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you.” — J. Reuben Clark
I went to Ecuador on a mission for 18 months. Ecuador is a pretty diverse country. I saw people with huge mansions and people with one room dirt floors, but I never saw storage sheds or storage rental facilities. Upon coming home to Arizona, I had been gone so long and had so many different experiences that I saw the United States through a foreigner’s eye. I was amazed at how much we own. Driving home I saw one after another of places advertising to store your excess stuff. I got home and was blown away at how much stuff there was. I feel like we suffer from an over abundance of things. As I saw more and more rental storage units the phrase came into my mind, “living within your means”. I felt the Spirit whisper to me that so many people aren’t living within their own residential space. If we cannot afford a large enough house to hold all the things we want, perhaps we have too many things.
The same month I got home from Ecuador, Chris began to make frequent visits to my home and within the month we were engaged. We began our married life with little money but lots of love. Soon after our marriage, we were expecting our first son, Peter. I stayed home and Chris worked hard to provide for us and go to school to further his education. I have supported and encouraged him all the way through college. I knew that he was learning valuable skills to further his potential salary. I knew that his education would increase our means to provide for our children. Our level of education helps us learn unique things, the more unique—the more valuable. Education comes in many forms; it may be college, trade school, apprenticeships, and military training. My brother in law has worked long and hard learning about airplanes in the military and now he is one of the top people in his field. As we further our education we learn unique skills that set us apart and increase our value for work.
During those school years, I felt that I was as much in school as he was. We were both quite busy and living in a college town, the church ward was small and we were given time consuming callings. Chris was called as Elder’s Quorum President and I was called as Seminary Teacher. Our family continued growing; I had two pregnancies during those seminary years. Our time was stretched thin, but the grace of God sustained us. Time and again Chris and I felt bad that we couldn’t do more, but we honestly didn’t have any extra time. We were living within our means giving all of our time and talents to furthering Chris’ education, nurturing our children and helping the church. We can budget our time the same as way we can budget our money, planning how to spend our time. We can increase our earnings through further education. Unfortunately we cannot increase our time, there will always remain 24 hours in a day, no matter how hard we pray to the contrary. We need to learn to live within our time and use it wisely.
Brigham Young set the perfect example of balancing our time: work 8 hours, sleep 8 hours and 8 hours recreation.
Living within our means doesn’t have to be a line drawn with permanent marker, we can increase our means through education, and we can strive to spend our money more wisely, spend our time more wisely, organize and use our living space. As our lives change, our means change. Right now Chris and I have decided that he will work and I will stay home and raise our children. I feel like it’s his job to make money and my job to save money, and it’s important for both of us as well as our children to be content.
At 18, I was taught the restored gospel and accepted baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the first phrases I heard as a new member was “living within your means”. I have thought long and hard about that phrase. At first glance it simply means that you should not spend more money than you have, but I think there is a much deeper meaning here.
The word “means” in the phrase has to do with our money. How do we get money? We work. So money is the value of our labor, and labor is the energy we exert to get the job done. So our “means” can be a reflection of our energy.
At first glance living within our means has to do with living within the money we have. It may sound too simple, but you cannot spend more than you make. At least it used to be that way. Our grandparents had a very different view of credit, back then it wasn’t given out as freely as it is today. If we budget our money, pay our tithing, plan out our expenses, save for what we want… it all sounds so simple, but we can and should avoid credit. If we stop and think about what money really means and what credit is, it might change our thinking a bit. As I said, money is the value of our labor, our energy to perform a task. So when we borrow money, we are borrowing against our future energy with interest added. What will happen if we borrow beyond the energy we can exert to make money? That is when we may feel overwhelmed by debt. In order to explain interest to our children we told them that it’s as if you borrow money and every day that you can’t pay it back you have to pay a little more money. Debt is like a hungry monster always growing with interest. Soon it amounts to double the original cost of the item.
“Interest never sleeps nor sickens nor dies; it never goes to the hospital; it works on Sundays and holidays; it never takes a vacation; it never visits nor travels; it takes no pleasure; it is never laid off work nor discharged from employment; it never works on reduced hours. . . . Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you.” — J. Reuben Clark
I went to Ecuador on a mission for 18 months. Ecuador is a pretty diverse country. I saw people with huge mansions and people with one room dirt floors, but I never saw storage sheds or storage rental facilities. Upon coming home to Arizona, I had been gone so long and had so many different experiences that I saw the United States through a foreigner’s eye. I was amazed at how much we own. Driving home I saw one after another of places advertising to store your excess stuff. I got home and was blown away at how much stuff there was. I feel like we suffer from an over abundance of things. As I saw more and more rental storage units the phrase came into my mind, “living within your means”. I felt the Spirit whisper to me that so many people aren’t living within their own residential space. If we cannot afford a large enough house to hold all the things we want, perhaps we have too many things.
The same month I got home from Ecuador, Chris began to make frequent visits to my home and within the month we were engaged. We began our married life with little money but lots of love. Soon after our marriage, we were expecting our first son, Peter. I stayed home and Chris worked hard to provide for us and go to school to further his education. I have supported and encouraged him all the way through college. I knew that he was learning valuable skills to further his potential salary. I knew that his education would increase our means to provide for our children. Our level of education helps us learn unique things, the more unique—the more valuable. Education comes in many forms; it may be college, trade school, apprenticeships, and military training. My brother in law has worked long and hard learning about airplanes in the military and now he is one of the top people in his field. As we further our education we learn unique skills that set us apart and increase our value for work.
During those school years, I felt that I was as much in school as he was. We were both quite busy and living in a college town, the church ward was small and we were given time consuming callings. Chris was called as Elder’s Quorum President and I was called as Seminary Teacher. Our family continued growing; I had two pregnancies during those seminary years. Our time was stretched thin, but the grace of God sustained us. Time and again Chris and I felt bad that we couldn’t do more, but we honestly didn’t have any extra time. We were living within our means giving all of our time and talents to furthering Chris’ education, nurturing our children and helping the church. We can budget our time the same as way we can budget our money, planning how to spend our time. We can increase our earnings through further education. Unfortunately we cannot increase our time, there will always remain 24 hours in a day, no matter how hard we pray to the contrary. We need to learn to live within our time and use it wisely.
Brigham Young set the perfect example of balancing our time: work 8 hours, sleep 8 hours and 8 hours recreation.
Living within our means doesn’t have to be a line drawn with permanent marker, we can increase our means through education, and we can strive to spend our money more wisely, spend our time more wisely, organize and use our living space. As our lives change, our means change. Right now Chris and I have decided that he will work and I will stay home and raise our children. I feel like it’s his job to make money and my job to save money, and it’s important for both of us as well as our children to be content.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Peter, Hospitals, Doctors, Records
7 years ago, I took our sweet baby Peter home and Chris and I began our life as parents. Upon leaving the hospital, the doctors and nurses mentioned the threat of jaundice of which I knew very little about, except that I should put the baby in sun to help him. What they didn't tell me was that my blood type and Peter's blood type differ to a degree that makes jaundice worse. I was so tired from having delivered Peter that all I could think about was going home and sleeping. I went home and slept, later to have Peter develop severe jaundice, not quite bad enough to be put under the lights but close. Going home, I felt that the jaundice wasn't a big deal, they didn't seem to stress the severity of it or what it is. Had I known about the blood type connection, knowing that he would get it bad because of it, I would have been better prepared.
Later when he was 6 month old, Peter's pediatrician in Farmington, NM suggested we see a specialist because his feet seemed to be deformed, he may have possibly had club foot. I took Peter as directed and nothing was found. Then later when he didn't walk until after 18 months his pediatrician in Socorro suggested we see a specialists to see why he wasn't walking yet. That led to further investigations, lots of therapist, early intervention, and a whole slew of specialists and doctors visits, eventually leading to surgery. We were told that he had "rocker bottom foot" and perhaps he was cramped in the womb resulting in his feet not growing properly. He had surgery on both feet and then braces afterward. The picture above is Peter at age 3 when a lot of these doctors appointments were taking place. After surgery, recovery and with Chris graduating college and moving to Texas we felt we could put it all behind us. We felt Peter had been treated and that the problem was more or less solved with the surgery.
Then during on of our homeschool days I was exercising with the kids. We were using elastic bands and stretching our feet. I noticed that Peter couldn't do what Sam was doing and that he was getting a bit frustrated. Upon further investigation, I realized that something didn't seem right, he didn't seem capable of bending his left foot forward. I then went to his pediatrician here in Houston. He didn't feel the need to investigate the problem if it didn't cause pain. I insisted that he needed to be reevaluated and thankfully the doctor consented to referring us to a specialist.
After seeing the specialist, he agreed that further investigation and treatment would be needed. He said that it appeared that Peter was missing a major nerve running the length of his leg. I was baffled how other doctors prior could have missed that. After the initial visit all the previous medical records from all those specialist in New Mexico needed to be requested a sent over. Luckily all the records were in one hospital system so you would think that would make it quick and easy. 6 months and 3 requests later, they finally got the records, proving that "3rd time is the charm".
The doctor called today to inform us that Peter has a mild form of Cerebral Palsy called Spastic Diplegia. I was blown away, why do doctors not tell you these things? They didn't fully inform me of jaundice and they never mentioned cerebral palsy. How are we to know the right questions to ask? How are we to avoid situations like this? I don't like not being told. Had we not moved to Texas, we may have never been told of this condition. Ignorance is not bliss.
There are things that happen all the time that we don't fully understand, but we all deserve the right to as much information as humanly possible. Withholding information is wrong. But even worse, my heart goes out to those less prosperous 3rd world countries where a sweet child like Peter could have grown up permanently crippled not having access to surgery.
Today during scripture study the kids wrote about their feeling about the verse in the Book of Mormon that says, "we lived after the manner of happiness." They wrote about how keeping the commandments and giving to the poor makes us happy. I thought about all the activities and things that are suppose to "make" us happy. When it really comes down to it, I can be depressed and unhappy in the mist of heaven on earth if I so choose. I could surround myself with everything good and wonderful and still be grumpy. Happiness is a choice. Counting our blessings helps us to get in the frame of mind so that we can choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice, a frame of mind, an attitude. I guess its really our attitude that makes us who we are.
The doctor told us that Peter would need braces the rest of his life and Peter got excited. He anxiously awaits further treatment and braces to help his feet.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Daily life, sickness and the rest
Peter, Sam, Joe and I just finished reading 2 Nephi 10 together and now they are writing in their spiritual journals. Peter and Sam both have 2 different journals. One for spiritual things and the other for secular, daily life stuff. We came up with the idea when we read in the Book of Mormon about Nephi and how he kept two records: one with the more spiritual parts and one with more secular parts and the wars and contentions of the people. So we decided to do the same. Hopefully our secular journal won't be full of wars and contentions though! Today they are writing about verse 23 that says, "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life." Peter and Sam both wrote that they choose the way to everlasting life through Jesus Christ. They also mentioned several things they are free to choose. Our ability to choose is ever present and it is truly a gift. We are free to choose to obey or disobey but we can't choose the prize, reward or benefits of obeying God when we don't obey. Its the same with parents. The kids can choose to work on their writing and reading, but they can't choose to play if they don't get things done. I write out what they tell me to write and then they copy it. For each page they write they get 1 coloring page. Right now they are choosing to play around and not get their journals done, we'll see if they end up getting it done and benefit from the practice and get the reward of being able to color.
Elsewhere in the house, Chris has been home sick all week, this is day 4. He is going to the doctor in a hour to see what ails him. Hopefully nothing too serious, but hopefully the doctor gives him something so he can get better, being sick 4 days and unable to work is hard.
Peter is really progressing with his reading and writing, proving the saying to be true: Practice makes perfect. Sam and Joe are both learning right behind Peter who is a good example to them. Sam and Peter can be taught nearly at the same level, Sam does better with writing and Peter does better with reading and math. Joe is not on the same level as Peter and Sam but it is adorable to watch him try so hard! I got a large chalkboard and I have them all go and write me letters, words and numbers. Peter and Sam do fine and Joe tries so hard to keep up writing with them. He does extremely well for a 3 year old!
Will has been sick along with Chris. He has been more snugly and cranky lately. Usually during school he will go off and play, or find the vacuum or something else to dismantle, clearly his idea of a toy differs from mine! When he does stay in the same room with us he usually pulls a shelf of books out or makes a mess somewhere. At this point, I have pretty much given up on keeping him from making a mess, I am more concerned with his safety then for the mess. He really likes to plug things in, and he has gotten into my curlers before, so as long as he is not in danger, I let him roam. He usually ends up falling asleep on the floor somewhere and then I clean up any mess he has made. There have been times he climbs up on the table and falls asleep, looks really funny with a baby fast asleep on your dinning room table!
As for me, I am easy going and try and get school, housework, and meals done the best I can. It may look chaotic and crazy at times, but we do fine. I am due to have our 5th boy in May. So far the pregnancy is going well although last we checked the baby was breech. There is still time. The baby is moving a lot, so hopefully with a lot of prayers and exercises he will move into position. We are seeing a midwife and planning a home birth, hopefully all goes well and we succeed in having a water birth. That's what I am hoping for.
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