My 3rd grade twins are doing a unit on Australia. Naturally this means that we need to discuss and combine our knowledge of Australia on a daily basis. Turns out our knowledge is a bit limited. I have explained to my sons that my best friend visited Australia and has a friend there and encouraged them to make a list of questions to ask her.
They have turned my offer down.
I have bragged about the fact that I read not 1, but 4, blogs written by people that live in Australia which should pretty much make me an expert. I added that they have kids and we could probably contact them and get in touch with real live Australians.
They were not impressed.
Turns out 3rd grade boys only really want to know about the animals and the aborigines of Australia. My knowledge of fibros, brumbees, weather patterns and the Sidney opera house are of no interest to them. My possible to access to real live Australians has been shunned.
Well, have no fear, super mom is here! We will hit up the library, scour the internet and become kangaroo and koala experts. Let the researching begin. Ready, set, go!
Oh wait... turns out my particular 3rd grade boys are not real keen on "researching." this time around. They are up for watching a few youtube videos and some picture books might do quite nicely but....
"Maaaaaaawwwwwwmmmmmm. We don't HAVE to research at home. The teacher didn't assign it."
"Why are we doing extra work? The other kids aren't doing extra work."
"I already know everything about Australia. Oh that? Yeah, I knew that."
It's funny. They usually like to dig in and learn the nitty gritty details of things. But this time, when the subject is actually interesting they have become downright lazy. Not sure what happened there. I'm hoping it's just the weird sicknesses/exhaustion that has been plaguing our family the past month. So now I am a super mom on a mission and knowledge will be attained whether they like it or not. I'm sure this will go well AKA wish us luck.
p.s. I'm doing my own special kind of research on the side. I found a show on Hulu/Netflix called "Mcleods Daughters." Its from Australian television and is providing me with 8 seasons of Australian Outback farming soap opera drama. I find myself getting very wrapped up in who falls in love with who and what's going to happen when someone dies suddenly. I keep taking baths and doing laundry so I have an excuse to spend 40 minutes by myself to watch the next episode. Of course it hasn't provided useful information for my children yet but I am ready to discuss mustering, brumbees and drenching with anyone who is interested. I reckon that's pretty much everyone righto?
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Anticlimactic
Definition: A disappointing end to an exciting or impressive series of events.
I'm not sure if the end results were "disappointing", we did find out that the baby is healthy and all the right sizes and shapes. But... that baby kept the privates as private as could be.
I have had a lot of ultrasounds, you get one every month with twins and every two weeks as you get further along. I have never thought it looked more alien or bizarre than today's. There were a whole lot of shadows, spine shots and the top of the head. less exciting than i hoped for. That baby stayed as still as could be in breech position facing towards my toes. I didn't even know babies could lay that way! I can't imagine being an ultrasound tech and having to figure out which shadow means what. Of course my brilliant husband claims he saw everything the tech did and more :) Me? I'm not even sure I actually saw a baby :) My sons all quickly lost interest when they realized the only thing they could identify was the head. They were to shy to ask questions and saved them all up for after.
So, since I have 5 weeks to wait before we get our next peek at the goods I figured I can answer some of their questions for you as I take a stroll down memory lane.
Question: Did I kick you when I was in your stomach?
To Larry and Curly:
Hell yes! Actually, you mostly kicked each other. Until about 6 months you were like a yin yang symbol and constantly kicking each other in the head. Every time we peeked in on you it was like a boxing match where anything goes, toes in the mouth, fingers in the ears, you two were brutal! Towards the end of the pregnancy Larry went head down and kept his feet up in the middle of my stomach and Curly laid straight out on top and settled into my ribs. It hurt to breathe for awhile because Curly wouldn't stop poking, prodding and exploring where no baby was meant to be. All the movement was fun though and I could usually tell which one was up to what. I guess moms have eyes in more places than just the back of their heads!
To Moe:
You had so much room! I got big enough for two so you just swam around in your own special gigantic size pool of amniotic fluid. You were all about the flips and tricks. Babies are supposed to be soothed by moms movement but not you. Nothing soothed you except moving around 24 hours a day. Just like now, you were in charge and you set the pace. We loved you for it then and now. P.s. you made it very clear that you were a boy every chance you got!!
That's all for today but I am loving every minute of you 3 boys and your questions so stay tuned for more answers and stories.
I'm not sure if the end results were "disappointing", we did find out that the baby is healthy and all the right sizes and shapes. But... that baby kept the privates as private as could be.
I have had a lot of ultrasounds, you get one every month with twins and every two weeks as you get further along. I have never thought it looked more alien or bizarre than today's. There were a whole lot of shadows, spine shots and the top of the head. less exciting than i hoped for. That baby stayed as still as could be in breech position facing towards my toes. I didn't even know babies could lay that way! I can't imagine being an ultrasound tech and having to figure out which shadow means what. Of course my brilliant husband claims he saw everything the tech did and more :) Me? I'm not even sure I actually saw a baby :) My sons all quickly lost interest when they realized the only thing they could identify was the head. They were to shy to ask questions and saved them all up for after.
So, since I have 5 weeks to wait before we get our next peek at the goods I figured I can answer some of their questions for you as I take a stroll down memory lane.
Question: Did I kick you when I was in your stomach?
To Larry and Curly:
Hell yes! Actually, you mostly kicked each other. Until about 6 months you were like a yin yang symbol and constantly kicking each other in the head. Every time we peeked in on you it was like a boxing match where anything goes, toes in the mouth, fingers in the ears, you two were brutal! Towards the end of the pregnancy Larry went head down and kept his feet up in the middle of my stomach and Curly laid straight out on top and settled into my ribs. It hurt to breathe for awhile because Curly wouldn't stop poking, prodding and exploring where no baby was meant to be. All the movement was fun though and I could usually tell which one was up to what. I guess moms have eyes in more places than just the back of their heads!
To Moe:
You had so much room! I got big enough for two so you just swam around in your own special gigantic size pool of amniotic fluid. You were all about the flips and tricks. Babies are supposed to be soothed by moms movement but not you. Nothing soothed you except moving around 24 hours a day. Just like now, you were in charge and you set the pace. We loved you for it then and now. P.s. you made it very clear that you were a boy every chance you got!!
That's all for today but I am loving every minute of you 3 boys and your questions so stay tuned for more answers and stories.
So excited I could pee my pants!
Well, I'm 19.5 weeks pregnant so I currently feel like I'm going to pee my pants every hour but still, today is a very exciting day.
Today is my 20 week ultrasound. Today we find out if this thing growing inside me has turned into a healthy baby or if I've been carrying around a weird case of indigestion. We also get to find out the sex of the baby!!!! Of course it's not that accurate and I'll probably begin doubting the answer as soon as I hear it, but still...yeah!
The most exciting part is that my husband, mother in law and all 3 of my boys are coming with me. That's right, we're having a party in the perinatalogy lab y'all!!
I have been counting down the days to this. My boys are hilarious about the whole thing. Larry wasn't sure if he wanted to go for quite awhile (I think the whole skipping school part was what convinced him) but last week he was talking to the school counselor and telling her how excited he was (glad he told somebody). Curly is the only one in the family rooting for a boy. I think he'll jump for joy and shout out loud if that's what we find out today. Moe is in baby heaven and its pretty much all he talks about. If its a boy he really wants it to have a name that starts with "T" so we may be needing suggestions.
Yesterday we had a discussion about what would happen at the doctor office. I have been trying to explain what a sonogram is and how it works but I think we'll need to utilize google this morning before we leave. Otherwise they'll come home and make wands and start shouting at walls thinking that a wand and sound makes you have X-ray vision. See? Told you I didn't explain it well. We also went over how they will tell if its a boy or a girl. This is where I'm thankful I have boys. They know that they have penises and girls don't. They have never asked what girls have. They clearly understand and are wildly entertained by the fact that we are going to look inside my stomach to see if the baby has a penis or not. I could write 100 blogs on their discussions on this topic but I'll just leave it at this since my blog is already getting long.
This has been a very cool pregnancy so far. I have all kinds of pregnancy symptoms I never had with my other 2 and I am grown up enough to understand and appreciate them instead of whine or ignore them (except the crying, i will write an entire post on the crying.) My kids are a part of it. I love that they are close together in age and best friends but I have to say pregnancy through an elementary school age kids eyes is really awesome. My husband can't stop talking about baby names and he researches baby products and mulls over schedules etc... He generally shows this level of interest only in video games or fantasy football so it's a laugh and a half to have baby conversations with him (although the 1am wake ups where he makes me write down name ideas that came to him in his sleep I could do without.)
I promise I'll mostly write about the funny pregnancy stuff and skip the sappy but I just couldn't help it today because I AM SO EXCITED!!!!
After we find out we're taking the boys shopping to each pick out an outfit for the baby. I figure we can take a picture of them with the outfits and that way they get to participate in telling everyone what we're having. The magic of Facebook :)
Now I'm off to wake up my boys and get this party started! Wish us luck, health and clear views of baby private parts today!! Also God, if you're reading this, I'd really like to not pee my pants in front of everyone or cry at the doctors office. Amen.
Today is my 20 week ultrasound. Today we find out if this thing growing inside me has turned into a healthy baby or if I've been carrying around a weird case of indigestion. We also get to find out the sex of the baby!!!! Of course it's not that accurate and I'll probably begin doubting the answer as soon as I hear it, but still...yeah!
The most exciting part is that my husband, mother in law and all 3 of my boys are coming with me. That's right, we're having a party in the perinatalogy lab y'all!!
I have been counting down the days to this. My boys are hilarious about the whole thing. Larry wasn't sure if he wanted to go for quite awhile (I think the whole skipping school part was what convinced him) but last week he was talking to the school counselor and telling her how excited he was (glad he told somebody). Curly is the only one in the family rooting for a boy. I think he'll jump for joy and shout out loud if that's what we find out today. Moe is in baby heaven and its pretty much all he talks about. If its a boy he really wants it to have a name that starts with "T" so we may be needing suggestions.
Yesterday we had a discussion about what would happen at the doctor office. I have been trying to explain what a sonogram is and how it works but I think we'll need to utilize google this morning before we leave. Otherwise they'll come home and make wands and start shouting at walls thinking that a wand and sound makes you have X-ray vision. See? Told you I didn't explain it well. We also went over how they will tell if its a boy or a girl. This is where I'm thankful I have boys. They know that they have penises and girls don't. They have never asked what girls have. They clearly understand and are wildly entertained by the fact that we are going to look inside my stomach to see if the baby has a penis or not. I could write 100 blogs on their discussions on this topic but I'll just leave it at this since my blog is already getting long.
This has been a very cool pregnancy so far. I have all kinds of pregnancy symptoms I never had with my other 2 and I am grown up enough to understand and appreciate them instead of whine or ignore them (except the crying, i will write an entire post on the crying.) My kids are a part of it. I love that they are close together in age and best friends but I have to say pregnancy through an elementary school age kids eyes is really awesome. My husband can't stop talking about baby names and he researches baby products and mulls over schedules etc... He generally shows this level of interest only in video games or fantasy football so it's a laugh and a half to have baby conversations with him (although the 1am wake ups where he makes me write down name ideas that came to him in his sleep I could do without.)
I promise I'll mostly write about the funny pregnancy stuff and skip the sappy but I just couldn't help it today because I AM SO EXCITED!!!!
After we find out we're taking the boys shopping to each pick out an outfit for the baby. I figure we can take a picture of them with the outfits and that way they get to participate in telling everyone what we're having. The magic of Facebook :)
Now I'm off to wake up my boys and get this party started! Wish us luck, health and clear views of baby private parts today!! Also God, if you're reading this, I'd really like to not pee my pants in front of everyone or cry at the doctors office. Amen.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Family plan final update
Remember that whole family plan I started in August? I was full of vim and vigor with just a touch of smugness because I was figuring it all out.
Turns out that I figured out nothing and the whole getting pregnant thing made my new found goals even harder to accomplish. We've fallen back into most of our bad habits and I finally have enough energy to put some more effort into this whole family thing so I'm throwing out the old plan and starting fresh.
The main thing I've realized through all of this is that I need to grow up. I am quickly approaching 31 years and I still can't keep my own room clean or do chores regularly. My children seem to do better with a follow my lead approach so this year I'm going to make more of a point to lead by example and be present. We are still backing off from a lot of activities and we're going to relish in the beauty that comes from being home and together more often.
I want this to be a year where we all focus on the positive so we'll continue our family journal and we'll all work on accomplishing goals. There are a lot of big changes coming our way and I hope and pray that our focus on togetherness and positivity will aid in making the ride less bumpy.
We have a lot to figure out:
- how to get kids to focus without yelling
- remembering to always flush the toilet and wash your hands
- how to close the bread bag before you put it away
- talking about what bothers us instead of whining and crying
- wearing underwear everyday (this is just for one very special 8 yr old)
- how to look for ways to help
- honesty, even when it's hard
- spend less
- how to organize spaces and keep them that way
- the rules to mad gab
- never missing a chance to say I love you or give a hug
- how to give ourselves time outs
- a workable laundry schedule
- easy freezer meals
And the list goes on and on. I'm excited!
P.s. we are keeping a couple of proven winners from the old plan. The boys daily chore charts still exist, we just got rid of the reward part. The chores for $ list still exists. It rarely gets used but I love that I never buy them stuff and instead empower them to earn it themselves. Finally, the dinner checklist. I haven't cooked for awhile but as we get back on a schedule it's nice that we have a way to make dinner more of a family activity and less of a me feeling put out that no one helps activity.
Turns out that I figured out nothing and the whole getting pregnant thing made my new found goals even harder to accomplish. We've fallen back into most of our bad habits and I finally have enough energy to put some more effort into this whole family thing so I'm throwing out the old plan and starting fresh.
The main thing I've realized through all of this is that I need to grow up. I am quickly approaching 31 years and I still can't keep my own room clean or do chores regularly. My children seem to do better with a follow my lead approach so this year I'm going to make more of a point to lead by example and be present. We are still backing off from a lot of activities and we're going to relish in the beauty that comes from being home and together more often.
I want this to be a year where we all focus on the positive so we'll continue our family journal and we'll all work on accomplishing goals. There are a lot of big changes coming our way and I hope and pray that our focus on togetherness and positivity will aid in making the ride less bumpy.
We have a lot to figure out:
- how to get kids to focus without yelling
- remembering to always flush the toilet and wash your hands
- how to close the bread bag before you put it away
- talking about what bothers us instead of whining and crying
- wearing underwear everyday (this is just for one very special 8 yr old)
- how to look for ways to help
- honesty, even when it's hard
- spend less
- how to organize spaces and keep them that way
- the rules to mad gab
- never missing a chance to say I love you or give a hug
- how to give ourselves time outs
- a workable laundry schedule
- easy freezer meals
And the list goes on and on. I'm excited!
P.s. we are keeping a couple of proven winners from the old plan. The boys daily chore charts still exist, we just got rid of the reward part. The chores for $ list still exists. It rarely gets used but I love that I never buy them stuff and instead empower them to earn it themselves. Finally, the dinner checklist. I haven't cooked for awhile but as we get back on a schedule it's nice that we have a way to make dinner more of a family activity and less of a me feeling put out that no one helps activity.
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