Life update for January

A month later than I was hoping, and 2 weeks later than I was expecting, the nausea is finally starting to dissipate.  I'm usually ok throughout the day if I keep snacking and drinking but without fail come 7pm I'm queasy and ready to crawl in bed.  This made the holidays a bit less than magical and we had to go super simple on everything.  I've also taken about 5 pictures this month, up from 1 the month before, but still pathetic.  So sorry, this one is all words!
         I've craved some odd things for me the past couple months.  One week it was tunafish, I ate about 2 sandwiches a day loaded with pickles.  Then it was nachos, this was wonderful because it was so simple to prepare.  I have had almost no desire at all for chocolate or sweets, which was actually nice during the holidays as I wasn't tempted to make or partake of most of the usual junk.  I usually don't like cereal or oatmeal but I've eaten plenty of both of those, and while ketchup was something I almost never would eat I'm trying hard to limit my french fry intake even though they are just a vessel to get the ketchup in my body.  I decided to switch doctors mid pregnancy because I was continually baffled by things my doctors would say and advise.  Maybe I was spoiled having my first 3 in babytopia with some amazing Obstetricians, and maybe I just know too much about the process having 3 kids.  I feel like these ones haven't studied medicine since they graduated med school in the 70's, and don't deal with anything but first pregnancies.  So I switched over to a group of midwives! Gasp, I know, Tyler thinks I'm dabbling in witchcraft.  I will still deliver at the baby factory hospital here, and there is a great OB who works with them in case of complications.  I'm very excited.  My belly is officially a baby bump and while watching the kids work with power tools and listening to Tyler saw wood I felt baby 4 kick for the first time.  Like popcorn popping.  Maybe it's a sign that it is a boy.  That's what the girls want, and Tyler. Hands down.  No hesitation, Boy.  I've gotten it in my head that if it's a boy we can be done, and while it seems almost sacrilegious to say that- I want to be done.  This pregnancy has been the worst yet and the real misery that usually hits in the 3rd trimester, yeah I'm already starting on that joy.  No wonderful, comfortable, second trimester with this kid.  So if I can be done, if there are no more spirits waiting up there for us, I'll be one happy momma!  I'll gladly suffer through the preteens and teenage years, if I can just get my body back.  But, if we are to raise more, then I will suffer for another year, because these kids have always been worth it. 
      Now that I'm functioning during the day we are actually sort of people again.  We babysat for a neighbor with 20 month old twin boys and watching Quinn interact with them was just hilarious.  We had friends for dinner, and went on a walk.  Even in the dead of winter I feel like it's spring and the world is new again now that I'm not so sick all the time.  The house is getting clean and as Tyler says "Whoa, I can't believe you are nesting this early."
      As Alex was finishing up Kindergarten last year, we decided to just start first grade curriculum immediately since our traveling rotations would take us into the fall, and the kids always do better with a routine.  It worked out nicely that we were able to take a week off here and there while we packed and moved to a new place, and only do a few things a day instead of the full schedule.  This gave me a degree of confidence that my kids were on track and that we were ahead of the public school children for quite awhile. Since we have been plowing through homeschool at halfspeed since I got sick, I've been a bit nervous about where Alex stands.  The Monday after Christmas we jumped into school with a new routine and it's been AMAZING!!!  The girls all get up at the same time, get dressed and clean their room (they read books at night, and boy they can go through a LOT of books which are then tossed on the floor.)  We go downstairs and eat breakfast and then clean up the kitchen and do any other chores for the day.  This gets them moving and focused and actually excited for school to start!  Then they get the go to start on their folders.  They arn't allowed to play or even touch toys until all of their folders are completed.
    All through November and December it seemed Alex was whining because she just wanted to play and didn't want to do school.  It was hard because I was teaching from the couch and making the big girls take turns playing with Quinn while I helped the other child with school work.  Everyday we had a lecture about how all the other 6 year olds were in school from sun up until sun down and how her life is so much easier.  I'm sure it was inspiration because I had the idea to use folders to organize the kids work.  Each girl has 5 colorful folders and every night I fill them with their assignments.  Many of the things Alex can do on her own with little guidance from me, or I can oversee while helping Heidi or Quinn.  I am very blessed that she catches onto things quickly and usually wants to work alone instead of with my help.  The folders that have a pink sticky note inside are the ones that the girls must do with me and include a lesson or new concept.  They LOVE it!  Not only do they blow through the work twice as fast as when I was directing them and assigning the work, but I overheard Heidi telling my friend that while yes she did have school on New Years Day, it was ok because we've started doing FUN school!  Sometimes I slip an activity in a folder, and Alex usually has a story she needs to read to Quinn.
        Quinn is by far the hardest part about this.  She has a 5 minute attention span and NEEDS to be doing what the big girls are doing.  This means I spend 5 minutes getting our the crayons and paper and locking her in her chair so she can't color on anything else (but she still does, how?) then she colors for 5 minutes and then I spend 5 minutes cleaning up thrown crayons, washing the non paper places she drew on and putting things away.  During this time she has moved on and is tormenting her sisters, grabbing paper and trying to tackle Heidi.  We find a new activity and repeat, for the next 2 hours.  She is exhausting.  She has started to talk quite a bit.  She loves playing the parrot game and mimicking anything we say, and we can communicate pretty well with her now which is super nice.  My favorite thing she says is "Snowball fight" or "Pillow fight!" it's just so cute.  She has turned into a little ball of energy that burns through anything she eats before I set her loose from the highchair.  It seems I'm always feeding, and therefore cleaning up after her in the kitchen.  Sweeping the floor is just a lost cause.  She has caught on to the idea of dress up and must be included with Alex and Heidi's games, usually walking around in princess highheels while pushing a shopping cart full of animals or babies.  I will often catch her laying on her stomach on the floor looking at a book or drawing on her water mat, with her hands propped up under her chin.  It melts my heart.  She LOVES to look at books and especially likes being read to.  She will excitedly run up to me with a book, throw it at me and say "UP, UP, UP" until I pick her up and prop her next to me and read.  She has even caught on to when I'm reading the words and when I'm just talking through the pictures and if I'm not reading she yells "MOM" and hits the book.  I don't feel safe carrying her up the steep stairs anymore so we walk to the steps and then I start crawling up and meowing like a cat.  She can't seem to help herself and even if she is trying her hardest to avoid bedtime she always crawls up the steps next to me meowing all the way.  Bedtime is tricky now that she has realized her crib is a prison and fun things happen while she sleeps.  I can usually hear her yelling at me and jumping like she is on a trampoline for long stretches before she calms down and falls asleep with her blanket over her face.  She is everyone's toy, sidekick and best friend all the time, although Heidi gets to brunt of her anger- head hitting, hair pulling, tackling and hitting.   She adores Tyler and will search the house for him, standing at the bottom of the stairs yelling "Daddy, Daddy" in a serious voice until he answers or appears for her.  She loves piggyback rides, especially down the stairs and says "Ready, Set, GO!!! GO GO GO GO!!!!" As we walk down.  She will always fetch her shoes and coat on request because it means escape from the house.  She loves being outside and free which hasn't happened much with the rain and cold and lack of sun.
      Heidi loves to be taught as long as she thinks she is having fun and it's not hard to convince her something is fun as long as she is fed.  She is reading Alex's kindergarten books and loves her "Explode the code" writing phonics workbook.  Unfortunately her attention span is only slightly longer than Quinn's and when it is spent she negative tries on her work.  She is constantly talking, ALL THE TIME.  When there isn't anyone to talk to she talks to herself or her animals or rocks, food, clothes, anything she can give human qualities to and make into a game.  It's her turn to stay up late and snuggle every other night, and boy I can't get a word in edgewise the entire time.  Getting her to disconnect and get into bed is a delicate battle that can only be won by happily getting her to focus on the task at hand.  She loves unicorns and must sleep every night with Uni her tiny pink glittery purple stuffed unicorn and fuzzy pink and black spotted blanky, as well as her little white sheep Clementine.  She also cries for these items when she has been injured- physically or emotionally.  She loves eating yogurt and dipping bread in oil and her favorite food is pizza.  She is a wonderful, detailed artist and naturally happy.  She is Quinn's best friend and partner in crime and is always so sweet with her unless she is fighting for her life against a Quinn attack.  She loves to help cook and laugh and had decided that potty humor is hilarious although she knows it it frowned upon by mother.  She is still on the little girl side of the line, while Alex has started to cross over to young lady it seems. 
    Alex is constantly surprising me.  She has finally gotten confident enough in her reading that I can catch her with books in the middle of the afternoon, not just looking at pictures.  She values her alone time and keeps all her MANY treasures up on the top of her bunkbed where she sleeps.  Along with many cherished stuffed animals, piles of books and pillows and toys she wants alone time with, getting into bed is a challenge.  She is also a hoarder it seems.  She will sneak away old grocery lists or cut up ads that I'm throwing away and take them to her treasure box.  This has caused Heidi to complain that "I don't have ANY treasures" since it seems Alex has so many, and then I have to explain that neither does Alex, she just collects garbage.  Alex is very good at math and is catching on quickly to phonics and reading rules.  I'm always amazed when I prepare a lesson and think that she may not be able to grasp the concept, only to find that she blazes through it without a second thought.  She loves learning about history and we will be starting our second history textbook of the  year because she never wants to stop!  She has started to care about her appearance and takes care to dress carefully each day.  She requests conditioner for her hair so it will be smooth, and is tickled that her bangs are finally long enough to stay behind her ears!  So am I!  She requested a pair of black flat "church shoes" for Christmas "like Mom's" and looks so grown up with her ballet flats when we go to the library or store.  She has also dipped into the world of lotion, body spray and loofas, I will find her sitting on the sink soaking and cleaning her feet occasionally.  She can be the most Christlike person in the world some days and for better or for worse acts like Quinn's mom most of the time.
      Tyler turned into a human again over the Christmas break.  I haven't seem him completely carefree in years.  We thought that rotations were going to be a breeze after the stress of first year PA school, and perhaps if we hadn't traveled for 5 months of it things would have been different.  Second year involves a lot more studying than I had personally anticipated, and there are still tests to take and the big final test to worry about.  Tyler has been a tutor and will continue to be for the next month which sucks up what little extra time he has, although I know he loves teaching and enjoys the experience.  He started a project with the girls and together they all (even Quinn) made a weaving loom over the break.  They all thrived having a purpose and a hands on project to do together, and I loved watching on from my recliner throne.  It's crazy to think that we only have 7 more months of this (5 months of rotation and 2 of class) and that this summer will bring a new baby, the end of PA school, and hopefully a move to a new and first professional job!  I get excited thinking of all the possible places and situations we might be in one year from now, and anxious to think of all that must happen to get there!  To think that 2 years ago I was almost in the same position- starting to declutter in preparation for a move with a newborn!  Unfortunately I left all my maternity clothes in Utah because we had specifically chosen NOT to get pregnant during PA school (but God had different plans and we decided to obey).