Author: Phoebe Gleeson

Finally finally back to homeschooling today. Such as it is, we do math for 20-30 minutes a day. In the near future we will be participating in the co-op’s geography fair, for which the children have chosen Mongolia. I’m looking forward to that, because all I know about Mongolia is Genghis Khan and yurts. Or gers. Whatever these are:

And that family from Babies. Actually that baby in particular, Bayar, was the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as softening my heart towards having another baby, after Gloria. He reminded me so much of Gilbert. So cute.

And now I have yet another on the way! Babies, why stop at seven.

Anyway, I digress.

Other than that I guess we don’t do much regular school. The children read regularly, books of their own choosing. I think they need to write more, because I think writing is getting more and more important in these days, and I think they need to be able to accurately obtain information from varied sources, with a weather eye to what sources are legitimate and what are unreliable. So I may be assigning things for them to do this year to hone those skills as well. Especially Faith, who is no longer a child but not yet an adult, with the open eyes and thirst that accompanies that phase of life.

 And there is still the matter of Gloria learning to read, which she is freaked out by. That’s ok. She can learn when she’s ready, and in the meantime she’s soaking up literacy. I’m shocked that she will be SIX next week. Holy cow.

Man were we sick. But now we’re okay!

We went to co-op yesterday, after being away for over a month between holidays and sickness. Everyone did pretty well. I keep the uncooperative ones (ha ha, you see what I did there) in the vestibule while the students are in class. It’s a pain to stay and a pain to leave, but we usually choose to stay. It takes an hour and a half to drive home and back to the church and the kids are there for… an hour and a half. So there’s no point in going home. And as far as doing anything other than going home, the church is ten miles outside of city limits in the middle of a wheatfield. So going anywhere else is problematic too. We usually just sit around and wait.

Yesterday was tolerable though, because I brought brand new markers and three pads of heavy paper. Bede, Trixie and Gloria spent the whole time drawing. I never liked to draw as a child, and I certainly don’t as an adult, so it’s kind of alien to me that someone could spend hours making marks on paper. And the marks look like, you know, art.

Dorothy spent the whole time in my lap. She’s less shy than she has been, but she wasn’t quite up to snuff yesterday still. Here she is, still slightly snotty.

See how I’m keepin’ it real? Just ignore the incredibly messy house and focus on the crusty haystack-headed toddler. Wait, that didn’t come out right. Oh well, she’s sure cute.

It is nice to have a reason for the house to be messy, though. Usually it’s just because we’re kinda lazy.

With another baby comes another carseat. Now, we have a big car (a Freghtliner-branded Mercedes Sprinter) but we also have a lot of folks to fit in it. So a round of carseat juggling is in order.

Dorothy has a convertible Graco My Ride 65 much like this, although a year older. It’s a fine seat but man is that thing wiiiiiide. And tall! I mean, it fits kids to 46 inches (116 cm), it has to be tall. Anyway, it’s a big seat!

We wanted something a little smaller for Clementine so we would have more options as to where to place seats. We do like the Graco line in general, so I looked at their infant seats.

(A brief aside to those less knowledgeable about carseats: Infant seats are the smaller, baby bucket type seats. They fit younger babies and toddlers, and are only rear-facing. Convertible seats are the larger seats that always stay in the car. They can go from rear facing to forward facing, hence “convertible”. They fit babies from newborn to 40 pounds and beyond.)

A recent trend in infant seats is a welcome one: they are available for taller and heavier infants. They used to go to 22 pounds and 29 inches tall, which my kids would bust rather quickly. (Wee Glees are not really so wee.) Many newer seats go to 30 or 35 pounds, and fit 30 to 32 inches (76-81 cm.) The reason all this matters is: the longer a kid can rear face, the better, as it is much harder on the body to be in a car accident facing forward, especially young bodies with disproportionately heavy noggins and scrawny little necks.

There were two Graco models in the running, the SnugRide 30 and the SnugRide 35. I went with the 30, because I wanted to be sure someone could ease past it to sit in the middle between it and the Barcalounger, I mean, My Ride 65. I got this design for the cover

SnugRide 30

Pale and tired, but much better than I was.

Last night was rough for the ill, but Dorothy, Faith, and all the other wee Glees are unfevered today! However, now I have it. Ugh! Being the mother, I get no sick day unless I am near death (and mercifully I am not.) So my plan is to sit very still, sleep if possible, and read Pete the Cat a hundred times to Dorothy.

Dorothy calls it “meow Oh No!” while she signs “shoes”.

In the interest of spamming all my friends, I mean, blogging more, I have set this to autopost to both Google+ and (using ifttt.com) Facebook whenever I blog. If it becomes tiresome I’ll stop it.

Below is a picture, which I hope the autoposters pick up for the post photo, instead of the standard sidebar photo.

Faith and Dorothy are both ill.

She is very Meow! Meow! Dah! Meow!

Dorothy can climb up on the benches.

Since I’m halfway there, I’m easing Dorothy into care from others during Mass. She spent about 20 minutes not in my lap, quiet and happy. A good start!

I did a good job!

It was so quiet. I’ve been a mother long enough to know that that is often bad and sure enough…

This little girl ate one bite out of each of these apples.

 She’s not actually sorry though, see?

Little scamp!

We went to the park today with friends. I am exhausted. I think it was too much sun more than activity. I need a nap.

I’m knitting a little garter stitch blanket for the new baby. This isn’t the best photo on this gray fall day but I am making progress.

This is the third such blanket I have knit. The first was for Tabitha’s third child, Toly, and the second was for Gloria.

I will know next Wednesday whether I am knitting for a daughter or a son. I am having a hard time with the wait and I wonder how I went without knowing until the birth three times! (Gilbert, Trixie, Gloria)

We have finalized names to call the baby for either sex. We toyed with some names earlier but these are The Names:

Boy: Duncan
Girl: Clementine

I can’t go to the ultrasound without knowing the baby’s name. I know some people say to wait and then you’ll have 50% fewer names to consider but I want to say right then “It’s Clementine! Hi baby!”

We decide on the name the child is called together, but Sean picks middle names and I don’t know what he’s currently thinking over. He sometimes doesn’t know himself until the baby is baptized, or when we register the birth with the state, whichever comes first. He teases me about it too, coming up with ridiculous names, and since he fills out the paperwork I don’t know until it’s final.

He keeps me on my toes.

Dorothy the Fierce! Only she can’t say rrr, so her growl is more like “Yie!”

Since we moved this summer, we have had extremely limited internet. It means that we get 60 GB per month, which gives each of us a bit more than 200 megabytes of data per day.

That is not much data.

It means that I use my phone and the kids use a single computer. We have no Minecraft, no Netflix, no YouTube. (Well, maybe a little YouTube. But with only 200 MB, not much!)

This is both good and bad, but mostly bad. I have friends with similar bandwidth diets who have no trouble with it, but they have much smaller and younger families. It simply will not work for us but we have essentially no alternatives – the only other option is a T1 line at around $660 per month.

Since I don’t use the computer much, most of my typing is done on this phone. It’s certainly better than nothing but it is not ideal. I guess my point is this: have pity on me and my autocorrect typos, and also don’t judge me by my brevity.

I guess that’s it for now.

Something got lost in translation…

We had a nice Halloween. Faith was 41, from Return of the Dapper Men, Abby was an airship pilot, Bede was Timmy Turner from the Fairly Odd Parents, Gilbert was Mario, Trixie was the Great and Powerful Trixie from My Little Pony, Gloria was Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony and Dorothy was a fox kit.

I will be participating in NaBloPoMo, as usual. My Novembers are very well-documented.

Been drinking more water and started taking fish oil. I think it helps.

Really irritable today. Dog, kids, house. I feel anti-social.

Weight is 166.

We’re out at Post Oak Exsilium now.

Today we have killed two scorpions (Faith both times) and a red paper wasp. Saw a cute little green lizard and a HUGE black rat snake in the yard.

We have a new puppy, a new dog and a cat with four kittens.

It’s all good.

We’ve had this thing for nine months and I have yet to drive it. I am a scaredy cat. Sean, the Man of Steel, has no such qualms and tools around everywhere with us. Well, no more! I must learn so learn I shall.

I do not like driving. I don’t mind as much when I’m alone in the car, or with Faith and Abby, but with any of the other children – especially Dorothy – I hate it. Some of my attention is always on them, you see. But since we are finally MOVING (yay) I really need to be able to get out and around if Sean is not a few minutes away like he is now.

I will start this week, like a teenager learning. I want to go to a nice empty parking lot and get a feel for the thing.

Eek!

Faith and Abby are starting Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra next week. Well, maybe not next week because we may be packing to move! FINALLY! Our builder called today to say the floors are done, we are good. to. go.

Made all spelt bread yesterday. It was quite good.

3 cups whole spelt flour
1 egg
2/3 cup warm water
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

Mix water, yeast, egg, sugar, salt and oil. Add flour. Stir, then knead a little. Place in clean oiled bowl, cover, and let rise in warm place for an hour or until doubled in size. Punch down, form into loaf, place in oiled loaf pan, cover with dampened cloth or oil top of loaf and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise again until doubled (it will be faster this time). Remove cloth or plastic wrap and bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes.

Faith is a Very Useful Engine. She made peanut butter toast for all the children, competently and without complaint.

I’m feeling all out of sorts about the Boston bombing and the Gosnell trial and bird flu in China. I can’t do anything about that stuff, so I’m staying away from social media and news sites. With any luck we will be moving in the next few weeks, and that should occupy much of my attention.

All of the homeschooling kids are doing well. Faith and Abby are almost ready for Pre-Algebra. Kinda exciting! Gilbert is chugging through third grade math like a champ.

Dorothy is growing like a weed.

We have a new doctor and we like him a lot.

Guess that’s it.

We just switched family doctors. Our old one wasn’t bad or anything but she’s way over on the other side of town. And so far this new doctor is great! (He looks like he’s 12, but he’s actually my age.) Trixie, Dorothy and I saw him yesterday. He spent almost an hour just talking to us!

He thinks Trixie’s asthma and eczema are both food allergies. I have long thought so, but (because I am a bad mother) did nothing about it but fret and beat myself up because I wasn’t doing anything about it. He thinks if we just cut out dairy, specifically casein, (that’s pronounced kay-seen, not cuh-see-in, if you ever wondered) her eczema will virtually vanish and with any luck her asthma too. Which would be awesome because it’s getting worse as she gets older.

Trixie is less than enthused about this plan. She said, on the way home, “I don’t think I’m allergic to dairy. I think I was just born with asthma and eczema.” I said that she might be right, but we won’t know until we try it. She said, “No, I already know. We don’t need to try.” Today, one of the milkier days chez Glee as we have cold cereal on Saturday morning, she refused even to taste soy milk. I’m going to un-dairy along with her so she won’t be alone, but she is a woman of strong opinions. Sigh. Up next, almond milk.