Weekly Update Oct. 27-31

I thought I would give an update today because tomorrow we are going to be like a tornado. Dentist appointment for Tera in the morning, Kids getting their reading awards for the month at Pizza Hut, Both kids going for physicals and flu shots in the afternoon and then Halloween stuff. JP has the day off so being the genius I am I decided to fill the whole day up. JP has been working 10 hour days every day this week at work except for Monday. So our whole week has felt a bit strange. The kids always have a hard time adjusting when Daddy works a lot of overtime. But it's almost over and we survived.

We are 23 weeks today and at this point things are just ordinary. Baby is kicking a lot and hard. Tera actually felt him kick through my shirt. I don't remember the others kicking that hard this early, but it's been a while. We don't go back to the dr. for another 2 weeks but everything seems good.

We were going to volunteer at a community Trunk or Treat, but I started getting a really bad sore throat last night. I woke up this morning having a hard time swallowing without pain. I couldn't sleep so I got up and ate some toast, drank a big glass of orange juice and took some Tylenol. Besides gargling salt water and drinking hot fruit tea, that is about all I know to do for a sore throat when you are pregnant. I do not like to take medicine if I do not have to. I am not running a fever, and as long as I keep drinking fluids it doesn't hurt as bad. So when the guy called to confirm our volunteering tomorrow, I bowed out. I cannot sit outside at night with a sore throat and expect to get better. I also do not want to make myself sicker. So we will do our own thing this year, which may mean a trunk or treat at a smaller church with JP taking the kids. I will probably stay at home and give out candy to any kids who may come by.

I am so tired right now, I did not get a lot of sleep and plan on getting in bed soon after the kids tonight. I think with lots of rest, orange juice and prayer this thing will get better. I would appreciate any prayers, this is the first time I have been sick in almost a year.

Weekly Update

This is one of those uneventful weeks. We had Monday Fun and have spent the rest of the week at home going through the routine. Tera is taking a Music Theory class and her teacher gave her a song to learn this week-Yankee Doodle on the keyboard. So we bought an adapter since we cannot find our other one and set up my keyboard that has gathered dust for the past few years. She has practiced every day and is doing really well. Her teacher is a piano teacher and asked if we ever thought about Tera taking lessons. She said Tera would be a very good student for piano. So I am going to work with her through the spring semester and make sure she is serious about taking lessons. The going rate is around $70 a month for 4 half -hour lessons. Since we are watching our money closely, that seemed high so I want to make sure she is serious before we invest that kind of cash. If she is serious, hopefully she can start maybe next summer. She seems to really enjoy it and is very dedicated (her first week). Daniel likes to compose his "own" music on the keyboard. He has always liked to do it his way. I told him he could take the music class next time but he refused. He said Tera could teach him what she knows, but then when she tries he refuses to listen to her. OH well.

Both kids want to be Robin Hood for Halloween. It has been crazy trying to piece together the costumes but we are down to accessories and off to the thrift store tomorrow to look for quiver materials among other small things. A while back JP bought a DVD set of an old black and white Robin Hood TV series from the 50s. The kids love it and would watch it everyday if I let them. They read every kids version of Robin Hood, they can find. They make bows and arrows out of sticks and strings in the yard and have quarterstaff fights. I didn't even know what a quarterstaff was until I asked them. It seems strange but I am so glad they like Robin Hood compared with some of the things out there.

We have an opportunity to give out candy at a community Trunk or Treat. We are praying about it. This will be the first thing in the community we have done as a church. Our house church is just us right now, but we want to be the Church no matter what our size. It is really exciting to have the opportunity to serve.

The baby is doing well. Kicking hard already. We haven't had any problems this week and yesterday marked 22 weeks. JP is working a good deal of overtime right now but it is helping us after the move. Since overtime comes in spurts (there are months when he doesn't have any) we are not going to complain about it now.

Well, that's it for now, have a great weekend.

Up Close and Personal with the Fire Department

Sunday night, JP decided to try out the nice big wood stove we have in our new house. We have had wood stoves and fire places in several places we have lived so he is very familiar with them. He started the fire about 7 PM, the kids went to bed and I followed soon after. JP was chillin out on the computer and I fell asleep. About 1 AM, I heard him talking on the phone and telling me to get up to get the kids out of the house. He said the stove pipe was glowing bright red near the wall and the wall was so hot he could barely keep his hand on it. Like I said, he is a pro at fire places but he was freaked out. He called 911 which is something he said he has never done in his life. There was no smoke or fire coming out anywhere except the glowing pipe. We are so fortunate we live walking distance from the volunteer fire department. They didn't even use the sirens, but coasted down the hill to our house. The kids and I walked down to the car and I was glad we all wore warm clothes to bed and I thought to grab a blanket. By the time we walked down to the car, I was shivering. JP came down and started the car heat and he went back to wait for the fire department. They came in and checked the whole house out and choked off the wood stove. They used an imaging system which let them see through the walls to check for heat. It cooled down a lot while they were here and needless to say we will not be using it again until we have it inspected and cleaned. The fireman said when someone cleaned it they probably knocked some cresote or old ashes down into the pipe and it caught on fire.

They told us we could subscribe to the fire department for $50 a year or pay $1700 for them to come out to a fire. The $50 covers any time they come out. Since we are new, we do not have to pay for this time because we didn't know but we will definitely register and pay the $50 bucks gladly.

After the firemen left and we got the kids back in the bed around 1:30 AM, we got in bed and thanked the Lord for sparing us and our house. We realized how fortunate and blessed we were and thought of all those who do not have such wonderful outcomes.

The funniest thing was the next day at work, JP said some guy on first shift called him over. He said I thought I recognized you last night. The head fireman was a co-worker of JP's. Isn't that crazy!

Weekly Update

We are in the weekly routine now. The kids went on two outings this week. There was no Monday Fun- our homeschool class on Mondays. But we made a trip to the library and walked down to the little duck pond in the area called The Greenbelt. I would like to say I did well on the walk, but let's just say I was pretty winded when we arrived back at the car. No harm done. On Wednesday, they had a fieldtrip with a group of homeschoolers to the local Fire Station. The firefighters were awesome and the kids had a blast. The rest of the week we have focused on the 3 R's. Nothing special going on right now.

Today was our monthly Dr. Appt. We are 21 weeks now and everything was good at the appointment. I had the recommended flu shot today, the dr. pointed out that when pregnant women get the flu they usually end up in the hospital. I have only gained 8 lbs. so far. The dr. asked me was I eating good and I am. We just do not go out to eat that much anymore and eat a lot more veggies and healthy meals. I am actually eating more meat now than when I am not pregnant. So JP told me, now I can eat whatever I want without worrying since every month I say "I bet I gained 10 lbs. this month". Our baby boy is a kicker like Tera- hard. When I lay on my left side especially, it seems like he is trying to kick his way out. The heartbeat was good and we are not having any other problems at this point.

We have been here almost a month and it feels like we are running so much to appointments, classes, fieldtrips and overtime that we have not been able to unpack as much as we would like. We are getting it in little spurts. I have to take this mega-iron pill now to keep from becoming anemic later in pregnancy. The first few days I really didn't notice any difference but now I do feel like I have more energy. Let's hope that lasts. I did go through all the kids clothes this week to make an inventory of what they need for this fall and winter. It was a very reasonable list. We have had the great fortune of having family and friends who have given us clothes over the years, some of which the kids are just now able to wear. We are saving all Daniel's outgrown stuff for the new baby now that we have a place to store things. We'll donate the rest to our local Habitat for Humanity thrift store. Well, that's all for this week. Have a blessed Autumn weekend.

IT'S A BOY

We found out last Friday, we are having another little boy. I hope I will survive. The first little boy has definitely given me a run for my money. But memory is so short, I look back on home videos of Tera when she was little-she was a little pistol too. So I am definitely in trouble the third time around.

We think we have the name picked out, but we are waiting a little while before we announce it to give ourselves time to get used to it first. I go back to the Dr. Friday for a regular check up and the dreaded flu shot. We are all getting them this year on the recommendation of our ob/gyn and pediatrician. Tera is not too thrilled, so pray for her. Daniel doesn't care, he has never minded shots or needles.

We are off to the Library tomorrow and have a fieldtrip to the fire station on Wednesday. It seems like we will never get unpacked but oh well. We plan on being here for a very long time so we'll get around to it eventually.