"Everything popular is wrong..."

I recently read that quote by Oscar Wilde.  Albert Einstein is the one who said, "What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right."  I like what Wilde says and I completely agree with Einstein, but I think I'd change both of those quotes a little.  My take is that what is popular is usually what is easiest.  Or maybe, popularity comes from what is convenient.  Everybody is aware of the fact that we live in a world  where convenience sells.  The next latest gadget becomes popular because it makes something happen faster.  Or it means you have to do less work.  I always get this other quote a little wrong, but my Dad had a quote that said something like, "Fast, cheap, or good...you can only pick two."  This is a lot of rambling to get to a point that's been rolling around in my head...
Homeschooling is not ever going to be the most popular option because it's not easy, it's not cheap, and it's not convenient (for most people).  When you put hardwork into something, you appreciate the outcome so much more.  I prefer homemade bread to storebought bread and part of it is because I know how much work I put into it and I also know exactly what ingredients are in it.  I prefer homemade school because I know how much work my kids (and I) are putting in every day and what knowledge is being poured into their brains.
I don't feel the need any more to defend our decision to homeschool, but any time I'm looking up curriculum or school ideas, I always come across a blog or a discussion where people are still arguing over the merits of homeschooling.  I think the bottom line is, some people will never think homeschooling is a good idea because they don't want to put in the work to follow through with it.  I completely agree that not everyone was cut out to homeschool, but I do feel that every single parent who is willing to put in the effort is capable of providing an education for his/her children.
My thoughts are completely unorganized here (mostly due to lack of sleep and limited time to type before I forget what I was going to say), but the bottom line is, every time I see people defending their choice to homeschool, I want to write to them and say, "Hey, it's your life!  Who cares what other people are telling you!!!"  A good parent wants what is best for his/her child and if you feel you are being a good parent by homeschooling your kid, then do it.  I promise people are always going to find something wrong with your choices whether it be the kind of car you drive, the neighborhood you live in, or the school you send your kids to every day.  Once people realize you are not changing your mind to homeschool, they will move on and find something else to criticize.  A lot of times, though, they are questioning and critical because they can not fathom the idea of A) spending that much time "trapped" in a house with their kids (the snow days have proven that!!) or B) putting so much time and energy into creating the curriculum and making decisions about what their children should be learning.  Public education is a right in our country but that does not mean we have to use it.  I'm smart enough to know that I have the right to bear arms, but I don't really think anyone wants me carrying around a gun.  I'm also smart enough to know that I can provide the same or better education at home that my children can receive for "free" in a public school or for "not-so-free" in a private school.  Guess what?!?!  It won't be the first or last time that I'm not popular!

The Evolution of Sleep

First month...can't discuss it or no one would have children...good news is you don't really remember what you did that month even though you were awake 23 hours a day!

Second month...routines begin to establish...nursing mothers are excited that kids sleep for 2 hours at a time!  Formula-fed babies seem to hit this stage of, "Hey!  I can sleep all night!"  I'll never get it...

Third month...baby can move...routines interrupted...no schedule

Fourth month...baby can roll over...will sleep beautifully until he or she remembers how much fun it is to roll over...solid food supposedly helps baby sleep longer but rolling over trumps that!

Fifth month...rolling over helps baby get self back to sleep and Moms start remembering where they put clothes other than sweat pants

Sixth month...baby should be able to sleep 8-10 hours with no problem...word of warning--your kid won't ever like doing what he/she "should" do...luckily naps are more predictable during the day

Seventh month...baby figures out sitting up in the crib means he or she can scream louder for you in the middle of the night, especially if teeth are coming (don't worry, teeth take their sweet little time)

Eighth month...can't remember, I'm usually pregnant again by this point

Ninth month...guess who wants to practice crawling in the crib at midnight?!?!

Tenth month...the best month of sleep you might ever have!  Two naps a day, 8 hours at night, I love 10 months old!!!

Eleventh month...screw it, they can pull up and try walking at midnight, circling the crib regularly, oh and some kids think this is a great time to try crawling out of the crib!

Twelfth month... Big month...babies say things like, "Hey!  I don't have to nap in the mornings any more!" And then sleep more at night.  Then they miss their morning nap, so they fall asleep at 11:30, don't take an afternoon nap, fall asleep during dinner until you pick them up and then stay up until 10 pm.

Thirteenth month...wean the kid completely and you've got no Hail Mary at 2 AM when the baby just.won't.sleep!!!  But after three nights or so, they get it.  They start realizing that you mean it that you won't them to sleep ALL NIGHT in THEIR OWN BED.  For me, this is when they start to get it. Okay, Mama, I'll take one good nap during the day and I'll try my best to sleep through the night, all night, in my bed.

Second year...kid figures it out, parents wake up to see if kid is still breathing because there's something wrong with a silent night, oh, and if there are other kids in the house, they wake up the not-so-much-a-baby

Fourth/Fifth year...naps disappear, coffee becomes more important in the afternoons

Teenagers...can't prepare myself for this other than to know that it will be really weird to be the one waking THEM up!!!  Payback's Hell...

So much to say

There's a lot going on in our world right now and I just have not had time to sit down and get my thoughts organized enough to blog.  Every day I think about things I want to mention in the blog and then I just don't get it out down.  Let's see if I can remember, in no particular order, what I've been meaning to write...

1.  2014 resolutions...I wanted to pay off debt and run 13 miles.  Debt is sort of paid off...building a house has made it necessary to use a credit card for building materials and such but we paid off what we already had in debt and hope to be back to zero when we settle up with construction loan (hopefully soon!).  I ran 13 miles on Thanksgiving Day at the beach and it was great!  Unfortunately after that I stopped running and are my way through December!  So...

2.  2015 resolutions...Weight, Water, and Wealth.  Between the last little bit of baby weight and the weight I put on over the holidays I have about 20-30 pounds to lose.  I am keeping track of how much water I drink with an app on my phone because I have been really bad about hydrating myself.  I want to spend less and save more so I'm going to try the Today Show challenge of saving $1 the first week, $2 the second week and so on until the 52nd week of the year. I think I'm going to try it a little differently but with the same amount of money.

3.  BAXTER IS ONE!!!  My sweet baby boy is one year old, can walk, is totally weaned to whole milk, has 6 (almost 8) teeth, and can get anywhere he wants to go (so ready for a one story house!!!). He weighed in at 20 pounds and had five shots at his check up.  We had a great day on his birthday going to a children's museum and eating Mellow Mushroom-his favorite!  He also got to have a scoop of vanilla ice cream with whipped cream for his birthday cake and he loved it!  Such a happy, adventurous guy!!

4.  School and schedules--we're slowly getting back into our groove, ballet is back, violin starts back this week, and art starts back in 2 weeks.  In school it's time for Social Studies.  Rachel is learning about the Maya, Inca, and Aztec civilizations and Ford is studying Native Americans.  These units will not win be any mother or teacher awards but they're getting some background knowledge!  Everyone is reading Aesop's Fables.  Ford has started addition facts.  Rachel is adding three numbers in columns.  Ruby is almost through the alphabet and ready for her first handwriting book.

I'm sure there are typos and there's more to say but I just spilled my coffee and Baxter isn't interested in entertaining himself, so there's your update!

Christmas 2014

Merry Christmas!!!  It's been a great, stressful, wonderful, crazy, ridiculous, awesome Christmas!  The kids did an awesome job in our church Christmas pageant last night and then had an exciting morning of opening presents.  There were a few glitches along the way, like forgetting to put out cookies and milk until after the kids went to bed (Santa still got to eat them, don't worry!) and the fact that everyone got new boots for the country except for Ruby whose boots plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean when Prancer sneezed (luckily he's sending a new pair in the mail tomorrow!).  The best part of Christmas is watching the kids enjoy so many fun new things and actually behave and get along (for now!).  We keep saying things like, "Next year when we're in the new house..." And even though that line is overused, I'll say it again...Next year when we're in the new house for Christmas, things will hopefully be a little less stressful and a little less harried but that is also part of what comes with Christmas no matter what.

And, with Ford's Emmet jacket, I feel the need to state for the record, I'd rather listen to "Let it Go" any day over "Everything is Awesome"...boys need to stop complaining about music from Frozen!!!

Closed for Winter Break!

i can't believe we made it to the last day of school for 2014!!!  With all the anticipation in the air, the kids have been CRAZY!!!  That is a truth no matter what kind of school your kids attend!  Everyone did a great job with our Science unit on the human body.  Ford and Rachel have been doing great with our new spelling system.  Ruby is anxious to have more school work and Baxter and I are both anxious to be in our own school house, not a basement!  Speaking of the house...the framing is finished, the tar paper is on the roof, we even have a carport!  Next is all the rough-in stuff like electrical, plumbing, and HVAC.  All but two windows are in and they'll go in Monday along with the three doors (front, back, and carport.  It's really looking and feeling like a house now.  It was a little surreal to drive down the driveway yesterday and come out of the woods to an actual house!!  We haven't been out there much because of the mud, and when we do go out we go through Ms. Kathie's field, bit yesterday it was dry enough to go the whole driveway and it was awesome to see the house at the break in the woods!  Hopefully the weather will cooperate to get the porches, stairs, and chimney completed soon.  It's amazing to see it all come together in such a short long time :)

A torn frenulum and no pacifier

One week ago I lost Baxter's pacifier.  He only had one and I kept saying if he (okay, if I) lost it, we'd be done with the pacifier.  Maybe it had something to do with unpacking from our Thanksgiving beach trip, or the fact that we were driving a strange car truck since the Suburban broke down, or maybe it was just a lack of sleep that causes me to misplace the doggone thing, but the pacifier was gone.  I checked the diaper bag a million times.  I checked the truck a hundred times.  I did not go back to the library (the last place I remember him having it) because let's face it, a pacifier that's been on the floor of the public library that long might as well be thrown in the trash!  So, here we are a week later and my sweet little 11 month old who busted his mouth and tore his upper lip frenulum yesterday hasn't cared one bit that his pacifier's gone.  This was the easiest pacifier transition I've ever known.  So glad to be done with that!!!
I guess now I should catch you up on school...
It's Science time and we are knee deep into the study of the human body.  Ruby and Ford are learning all about their five senses. Rachel has learmed about the skeletal system, muscular system, and circulatory system...next we go to the digestive system and nervous system.  Next week we'll all talk about taking care of our bodies (sleep, eating healthy, exercise and such).
Ford will be starting addition this week.  Rachel is adding three digit numbers and rounding to the hundreds place.  She will be adding money in a couple of days.
Everyone is finishing up poetry this week.  Next week we'll write some Christmas poems.  We've been talking about alliteration, personification, similes, and speakers.
Rachel is getting close to cursive, Ford is almost finished with lower case letters, and Ruby is about ready for a handwriting book.
Ford has been reading Clifford books which focus on certain letter sounds and combinations.  Rachel has almost finished all of the American Girl books.  Ruby is getting antsy to read, so I think in January we'll start the pre-reading Bob books.
We have been doing lots of Christmas crafts and hope to build gingerbread houses this Friday.  We've also been reading Christmas stories every day.
Some days are great, some days are hard, and every day is exhausting, but I do feel like we're learning a lot (myself included!).

A Step in the Right Direction

Baxter finally took a step today...ONE step!  It was so exhausting that he fell asleep eating his dinner...