Tuesday, November 26, 2013

32 Weeks!

I'm 32 weeks and went to see my specialist today. I'll see him weekly now until delivery which means I will not see my regular OB until 36 weeks. There's really no reason for two doctor appointments weekly. Plus it's hard to find someone to care for Blue Rock while I go to these appointments. Thankfully my dad has mostly watched him which has been great. I prefer my primary OB, her ultrasound machine is so much better and she'll be the one who will hopefully be with me during delivery. However, the specialist insists that it's important for me to see him.

Baby girl looked great today! I had to sit on a chair and let them record her heartbeat for about 30 minutes. Then I saw the doctor and he did a pretty detailed ultrasound. He told me if I start having any signs of preterm labor then I need to go to the hospital. Let's hope she doesn't come this early! Of course I'm looking forward to meeting her. I know our lives will change completely when we add a new baby to our family and daily routine. Blue Rock is super excited and I love that!

Baby Belly!
How far along? 32 weeks

Baby’s size? She weighs about 4 lbs, 4 oz.

Total weight gain/loss: 37 lbs! Looks like I weigh what I did last week.


Maternity clothes? Absolutely! I've never weighed this much before! Sadly some of them are not fitting as well because I've "exceeded" the weight for them!

Stretch marks? No new ones.

Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good. I have to get up one or two times a night to go to the bathroom, though.


Best moment this week: When Blue Rock looks at my belly and feels his sister move. He then lifts his shirt and tells me he has some babies in his belly too! He insists that I feel them because he has more than one in his little belly!

Miss Anything? Being slender. I can't fit around things like I can when I'm not pregnant. Although I love this belly because it holds such a precious gift.


Movement: Yes, all the time! I think she moves the most when I'm trying to sleep at night but throughout the day she moves and kicks. She feels like she's taking up my whole belly. I feel her on both sides and love watching my belly move. It's very surreal.

2D sono of my baby girl!

Food cravings: Um, sweets! I broke down and bought some Oreos the other day. So good! I pretty much will bake cookies if we're out of them. Actually I bake them even if we have them because I want another kind.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not really. I've experienced heartburn which is horrible. Milk and Raw Apple Cider Vinegar has helped.

Gender: Girl!!

Labor Signs: Just Braxton Hicks. The other day I had a pretty bad one.

Symptoms: Growing belly and lots of movement and kicking.


Belly Button in or out? Flat! Blue Rock thinks it looks funny.

Wedding rings on or off? Off!


Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and blessed!

Looking forward to: Meeting my daughter.

Please pray for: A healthy baby and pregnancy.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Week 14: My Father's World K - Unit 10: Water

We finished another fun and busy week of My Father's World Kindergarten.  This week we were on Unit 10: Water. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas. We finished up today, even though most of our work took place last week.  We decided to take the week of Thanksgiving off but got a little behind.  Last Monday was very busy and we ended up not getting any "official" school work done. That's the beauty of homeschooling, if something comes up, you can go with the flow and make it up another day.

A few extra things we did this week included making homemade pasta with a friend. I had two doctor's appointments, one baby and one dentist. Everything is still looking great! Blue Rock and some of his homeschool friends painted with q-tips at our co-op. We also met a friend of mine whom I used to work with downtown for lunch.

Verse: [Jesus said]..."If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me...streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive...John 7:37-39 (NIV)

Poem: "Rain" by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1913

Theme: Water - Jesus gives my spirit living water to drink. This was a little complicated to explain but I think Blue Rock's catching on.

Monday: No school. We had a busy day and Blue Rock spent most of it with my dad.

Tuesday: Today we had to double up on school. The previous week was Veteran's Day and so we finished our octopus unit first. Then we started this week's unit of water. First Blue Rock drew four pictures, some that started with "o."  He drew some olives, an octopus, an orange, and a gopher. I told him how to spell the word of what he drew and he wrote it, rather than just the letter it starts with. His handwriting is getting better and practice makes perfect! Then he matched some words to pictures and glued them on. He is getting great at sounding words out. Then he painted an ocean to put an octopus in. This tied into our water unit, which we were able to start while waiting for his painting to dry. He drew land around the ocean because he wanted to.

We started Unit 10: Water, of My Father's World. I gave him Candy Corn and had him make a "w" with it. Then he ate it. The number this week is 10. He colored some pictures that started with "w" and cut them out. We talked some about water and about Jesus being living water from the Bible. It's kind of a hard concept to describe. Then he glued the octopus that he made last week in the water painting he painted earlier.

Picture page

matching words with pictures

Painting water (and land)

Making a "w" with Candy Corn

Coloring the W page

Cutting the pictures out

Gluing the octopus in the water on his painting


Wednesday: One of my friends invited Blue Rock and I over to her house to help her and her and her daughter make homemade pasta and let the kids play. I had never done this before and it was really neat. She has a pasta machine. The recipe was just 3 cups of flour, 4 eggs, and about half an egg shell of water. Then you put the dough through the pasta machine many times until he's very thin and long. Cut it up and then make it into the kind of pasta you want. We made spaghetti. The kids were interested for a little while. But you'll see from the last picture that we made a lot of pasta!

Afterward, we met hubby for lunch, then I had a dentist appointment. After my appointment we came home and did our school work. First I think the first time ever, Blue Rock didn't complain about his handwriting page this week. He just did it and did a great job! He wrote Ws and the number 10. Then he did a sound discrimination page and circled pictures that started with "w" and put an x on pictures that didn't. He did this pretty much by himself. I had started making chocolate chip cookies for a church potluck. Then we talked about water and how water is a liquid and doesn't have its own shape. I had him pour water in several containers and we saw that the water took the shape of the container it was in. After that we put some water in a container and I had him put his finger in the water to the bottom. Then we put it in the freezer for tomorrow's science experiment.

Starting to thin the dough

Crank it!

Long pasta

Cute pasta makers!


My sweet handwriting boy!

He's getting good at writing his name too

Sound identification page

Learning how water takes shape of it's container

He thought of things that were liquid and I drew them on a chart

We'll see what happens when we put this in the freezer overnight

Thursday: Today we had our co-op group. It was my week to teach, which is always fun. We talked about Thanksgiving and then painted with q-tips and made turkey hand prints. The kids seemed to really like it. We did half of our school work before our co-op and half afterward. In between we met a good friend I used to work with for lunch. She invited Blue Rock and I for lunch and gave me a sweet baby gift. She gave me her bathtub, which is really nice! I don't get to see her as much as I'd like to. We used to work together and she has always been such a good friend.

We started off with our math page. Blue Rock drew 10 penny's to equal $0.10. Then he drew 2 nickles to equal $0.10, then 1 dime. We talked about how money and then I let him keep the change we used. My husband has been giving him jobs to do and letting him earn some money so he can save to buy things he wants. Then he matched 6 pictures with 6 words that he sounded out. He did great with this too. Then off to our co-op we went, then met my friend for lunch. Then we went home where he saw that the water had turned to ice, we put an ice cube in two bowls and put one by the window and one in the fridge. We saw that after about an hour, the one in the sun melted, the one in the fridge did not. He made a water magnet and we talked about solids. He named some solids and I drew pictures and added them to our chart from yesterday. 

Math page, money

Word/picture matching

Writing letters with q-tips

Co-op group, love these kids!

Turkey hand(s)

The water froze into ice!

Two bowls, two ice cubes

Cutting out the magnet

This week's water magnet

Most of the magnets we've done

Matter Chart

Ice in the fridge is still a solid, ice by the window turned into a liquid
Friday: Fridays are always busy. We usually have a lunch play date and do other fun things. After lunch we went to the mall and he got to play some at the playground. I wanted to look at a few stores for some Christmas ideas. For school, he sounded out words, glued them to his page and colored four pictures and wrote the words to what he drew.



Sunday: This evening our small groups were cancelled due to weather. So we did some school work so we could take most of next week off for Thanksgiving and catch up. He did his blend ladder and showed his dad how he could spell words and read them. I dictated a few words and he spelled them and wrote them. Then we played a fun game called Web of Words. You have to be able to spell 3-letter words to play. He did awesome and beat us every hand!

Building words

Writing words

Reading words and following directions I give him

Family game night!

Monday: We finished last week's school work this morning with our science experiments. We talked about different things that dissolve in liquids. We put salt in water and stirred it. The salt dissolved in the water. Then we added oil to water. Blue Rock mixed it and the oil and water combined for a bit but soon separated and the oil ended up back on top. We did this a few times to test it. Then I showed him how gas is made when water gets really hot. I started with a cup of water and we heated it in a pan on the stove. We watched how the steam formed from the pan. After about 5 minutes of it boiling we measured to see how much water was left. Then we added a few pictures of gas related things to our chart from last week. Now we are going to take a break from our official school work and enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday.

Salt, oil, water, and two cups

We added salt to one glass and oil to the other.
Then he poured water into each of the cups.

Then he stirred them

He noticed it was easy to dissolve the salt but the oil was having problems.

The salt dissolved but he oil stayed on top

Next we made steam (gas)

he was reminded that the stove is very hot when it's on

I showed him how the steam steamed my glasses

We started with a cup of water and after about 5 minutes we had this much water left.

We added a helium balloon, tennis ball, and steam under gas for our matter chart

Monday, November 18, 2013

31 Weeks!

I had my 30 week doctor's appointment today. The baby is doing beautifully. She has long legs and looks like she's going to be tall or at least a long baby. Her legs are measuring two weeks ahead. The amniotic fluid looks great. It was neat to see that measured, we have not seen that before. Her head was facing my back and toward the placenta today and so we didn't get very good pictures of her. I did get a picture of her spine but I'm not going to post it. The ultrasound tech/nurse told me that if I were to have her early, she'd have a very good chance of making it. She said preterm girls tend to do better than boys. I never knew that. I just want a healthy baby and would love her to make it to full term. Since my specialist doesn't want me to go past 39 weeks, she'll be here in 8 weeks or less! There is still lots to be done! After we get her nursery set up I'll post pictures, I'm hoping to get most of that ready this coming weekend.

How far along? 30-31 weeks
Baby’s size? Over 16 inches, about the size of a coconut. She weighs about 3 1/3 lbs.

Total weight gain/loss: About 37 lbs! Packin' it on!



Maternity clothes? Absolutely! I've never weighed this much before! Loving the stretchy pants!

Stretch marks? No new ones.

Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good. I have to get up one or two times a night to go to the bathroom, though.


Best moment this week: Listening to Blue Rock talk about how much fun he's going to have with his baby sister. Feeling her kick and move and enjoying the life growing inside me.

Miss Anything? Being slender. I can't fit around things like I can when I'm not pregnant. Although I love this belly because it holds such a precious gift.


Movement: Yes, all the time! I think she moves the most when I'm trying to sleep at night but throughout the day she moves and kicks. She feels like she's taking up my whole belly. I feel her on both sides and love watching my belly move. It's very surreal.

Food cravings: Pretty much what ever is in front of me. Lots of sweet things too, which I'm trying to avoid...not easy. I'm hungry all the time.
Anything making you queasy or sick: No. Although I can't eat anything too spicy or heavy too close to bed or I start having reflux.

Gender: Girl!!

Labor Signs: Just Braxton Hicks.

Symptoms: Growing belly and lots of movement and kicking.


Belly Button in or out? Flat!

Wedding rings on or off? Off!


Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy and blessed!

Looking forward to: Meeting her!

Please pray for: A healthy baby and pregnancy.


Sunday, November 17, 2013

Week 13: My Father's World K - Unit 9: Octopus

This week our theme from My Father's World Kindergarten was Octopuses. Blue Rock loves octopuses and we had a fun time learning more about them. There are so many neat activities you can do with octopuses. They are neat animals. We have several books about sea animals that feature octopuses in them. We have enjoyed reading stories about them this week.
This week we also worked in our garden, planted some seeds, caught a snake, and cooked together. As always he played a lot outside, with friends, and for the most part is enjoying being a kid and learning about the world around him. Every day we start off with our memory verse of the week. Most days we read additional scripture related to what we're learning about. I don't always write about this.

Verse: My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever. Psalm 145:21 NIV

Theme: Even the octopus praises the Lord.

Song: "Praise Him"

Monday: Today was Veterans Day, we are so thankful to all the men and women who have served and are serving in our military.  We took the day off from school today. We got Blue Rock's pre-K pictures taken and our family Christmas pictures taken for our Christmas cards. Here are two from our photo session.

My handsome boy!

Family picture
Tuesday: Monday was Veteran's Day so we started our school week today. I introduced our verse of the week and some information about octopuses. Then Blue Rock did his letter and color recognition page, cute out the pictures, then did some work in Developing at Early Learner 2. We rushed out the door for ladies' Bible class, met hubby for lunch, went to the grocery store, and then were going to go to a friend's house this afternoon but I wasn't feeling very good, mainly tired. So we rescheduled for later this week. Blue Rock woke me up at 5:30 this morning. Not fun! Overall it was a great day.




 

Wednesday: Blue Rock started the day off harvesting seeds from our yard long beans and counting them. I love when he finds extra activities to do, especially when it's something that needs to be done. Then he did his handwriting page for "O" and "9." He also did a picture box activity and made a hand octopus. Later in the day we planted some lettuce seeds in our Garden Tower and he made a giraffe picture.

Counting seeds

Handwriting page

Picture Box Activity

Hand Octopus

Cutting out the octopus

Planting lettuce seeds

Giraffe picture

Thursday: Thursdays are always pretty busy. We do school at home and then meet-up with friends for our co-op group. We started the day off looking at a globe. Together we found and named all of the oceans. I pointed out that all of the oceans are connected. Then he did a World Map picture. He colored part of the ocean and we talked about places we've lived, Germany and Texas. He's very interested in Germany since he was born there and I'm amazed with how much he remembers about our house there and different things. We talked about how the octopus lives in the ocean. Then we made an octopus magnet and talked about Psalm 69:34 which says Let heaven and earth praise Him, the seas and all that move in them. Then we went to our co-op and the kids heard a wonderful story about family and Thanksgiving. Then the kids ran around and played until lunch. We ate with everyone and then did some grocery shopping.  I made a beef soup and Blue Rock helped me peel carrots. I also made two lemon chess pies. We had a surprise guest, one of my husband's friends, Ryan, stopped by on his way through town for dinner. It was a busy and fun day.

Cutting the words out for the blend page

Gluing the words on the page

He read all the words without any help and matched them to the right picture.
Great job!

World Map page and activity.

Octopus math page

After he did his math page he cut out the bottom of it and measured the length.
He also made a square and rectangle and counted how many rods were needed where.

Cutting out the octopus magnet

Homeschool co-op group

Peeling carrots, helping with dinner

Our pies! Yum!

He made a frame and taped our picture on the back of our office chair.
Very creative!

Friday: Fridays are always fun. Today we started off with the blend ladder. Blue Rock is getting really good at sounding out words and spelling words on his own. He often puts together words that we aren't covering using letters provided. I only use about 5 consonants and two vowels. Most of the time he wants to use another vowel or two and continue making more words. I love watching him and helping him learn to read. It's so rewarding! Then he wrote a few words and then followed some directions. There were three words on each line and I'd give him instructions to find a certain word and either circle it, underline it, or something else regarding that word. He did great. He has a great memory. He did a maze and got to do several pages in Developing the Early Learner 2. Then we met our friends for lunch and a play-date. Then I took him to Toys R Us to pick out a toy for a friend's birthday party on Saturday and to look at Christmas presents. He got to get one present early, the Hungry, Hungry Hippo's Game. He played that game for 4-5 hours on Friday. Then he woke up Saturday morning, early, and wanted to play it. Every day he's been playing it and it has quickly become a favorite. I didn't have that game as a child but wanted it. It's fun playing with him. Most of our games are more educational so it's neat to have one that is just mostly fun. When we left this morning I saw a snake caught in our garage. When my husband got home, he and Blue Rock took care of the snake. For dinner we had octopus hot dogs and broccoli cheese soup. We rarely eat hot dogs but I saw this idea for an octopus hot dog so I thought it would be a great way to end our week. We had another fun week of school and living life!

Blend Ladder

Writing words

Reading words

Doing a maze

Activities from Developing the Early Learner 2

Activities from Developing the Early Learner 2

Activities from Developing the Early Learner 2

Hungry, Hungry Hippos

He's really good at this game and when he'd win he'd jump up and say, "I won, I won!"

The snake in our garage

Let's get that snake

They got the snake!

Our octopus dinner

He loved it!
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