Love that picture! 3 brothers...how special! Congrats on a beautiful family! BTW...I still remember that chicken when I was pregnant and I'm still embarassed that my husband asked you to make it again for me! Thanks for that!!! You know Noelani is going to be 5 in September...can you believe that?!?! I sure can't! How are things going for you guys?
Such an adorable picture. Jonathan doesn't look like a newborn. He looks at least two months old. They are all so adorable. Anxiously awaiting to see all of you. Love you
Hey!! I see Joanna every once in a while!! Congratulations on your new little one!! How wonderful! I'd love to see you the next time you're in Wichita!
hi! congrats on the new addition!!! we went with fuzzi bunz and i love them. i haven't tried anything else, but haven't felt the need to b/c they've worked so well for us. i couldn't put him in them until he was about a month old, so we did disposables up until then...
I can't believe how big he was!! He is beautiful, just like your others! don't even worry about sean- he will be fine bc YOU are such a good and conscientious mother!! i worried the same about chloe, but find that she thrives in her "mother" role for everyone! just look for opportunities that make her SO special and unique AND make sure she hears you talking about her in "private" to your hubby and others telling them what all she has done so well all day and how nice and helpful she is! we love to do that for our kids! i think they REALLY think (and we are serious about it, of course) we don't know that they are listening and it's so cute!!
i am SO happy about your choice to homeschool. Now that Jonah is almost 6 I have decided that this year is the year I will really get started. I will do first grade units and info with him. There are MANY different curricula that you could choose from, of course! I am tracking down a tape that i made from a little homeschooling workshop from mothers i know who have/are homeschooling. it was GREAT. I think Holly has one. I will get that to you to listen to. They were all so wonderful and had such different points and perspectives!! i also have a couple other older friends who i have met that have allowed me to attach permanently onto in order to learn from. Their advice has been invaluable to me lately. These Christian ladies have raised SUCH godly children. A VERY VERY good book that a friend of mine on here sent me is called "Homeschooling- the right choice" by KLICKA (can't remember his first name). I would definitely get that one. There is GREAT info on the history, laws, spiritual reasons and obligations WE have as mothers/fathers, etc. I feel like that will build your confidence up SO much and your arsenol when talking to others. I think that is what we all need sicne we will run in to so many people in opposition. I think it is so sad! But, I don't feel weird at all talking about it all- I think it is a combo of having a network of friends/mothers who are confident and bold THROUGH HIM and are striving to serve and live for their children daily. There is also a GREAT homeschooling group email of christians that my friend could get you on. you have to be added through her bc it is ONLY christians, which is pretty nice. they talk about very serious things and situations.
as far as spiritual lessons are concerned, i have heard and seen that rainbow lessons are great for the younger. i also have a CD from saraphim's mom (that she made) and Mrs. Harber(Harbermama) that has tons of homemade tools. I will use the simple "go through the bible in a year" lessons with jonah AND the proverbs lessons (which I think are GREAT right now for little ones) for Jonah this year. I will keep it simple, but consistent. I just can't even imagine how much he will learn based on how much he ALREADY knows on his "own"!!! He is reading so high already and basically teaching himself all day. BUT, before he tries to love learning on his own too much, I have decided to REALLY have lots of fun, sometimes silly lessons with him this year. I am sure at times, I will let his interests lead our lessons(at least through age 7 in order to inspire his love to learn), which was really good advice from friends! Chloe, of course will happily be along for the ride. She is pretty mature-acting and i am sure will be trying to act like she is doing all the same stuff! hope this helps!! def get that book!!! it's great. AND i will try to find the tape and get you a list of curriculum that people have used and suggested and love. (the tape talks a lot about that from 4 perspectives, which is helpful!!). LOVE YOU!! I pray that you are recovering well and feeling good. Take it so easy!! more pictures please!! ;) sorry so long, but i wanted to tell you this info quickly and i have got to go get the kids up bc we are heading downtown for a musical!! YAY!! Seussical the musical!! FUN!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE OXOXOXOXOXO
Congratulations!!! I love the picture of all of them together! I know what you mean about forgetting he's around- I did that with Liam all the time. Maybe it's something about third children where they just know their mommas need a break. :)
So glad that things are going smoothly. I remember you saying the same things last time about Sean being a good big brother and Ben being easy going. So glad for you. You have some sweet boys!
Oh, that's too halarious! Poor little Sean! Glad he's doing well with it though. I couldn't possibly imagine having three in diapers at once! Natalie will only pee in the potty, too. I have tried everything that I know of to get her to do the poopy deed, but she WILL NOT. Hopefully one day soon!
We are still working on it too - so frustrating - by the way, I am using your M&M idea - so far it is working great. Good luck - I am totally sympathizing.
Julie, that was the funniest thing. I just sat here and laughed out loud while I was reading it. I could just see his big brown TERRIFIED eyes! And the fact that you were laughing (which is exactly what I would have been doing, too!) made it even scarier for him, I am sure. Just great reading, but at little Sean's expense. Glad he is getting the message, though. Love you
I've been reading quite a few posts about this subject lately. Glad it's finally working out. I guess it's probably pretty scary to think about all the stages in life that Sean will move through in his own time.
Julie, I hope the heat (and the floods) are not getting to you too much. I know you are ready for number 3 to get here. Do we know names yet? You might have said, but it has escaped me if you said it. Also, you might be one of those (or guess I should say two of those) who won't tell the name until he arrives. At least, you let us know what sex it is. That's better than we get from Holly and T.J.
Well, we took home the chair and washed the cover - so no need to worry - it's always fun to get to clean up all the other items that get hit too!! :) At least he hasn't been sick today - still running a little bit of a fever, but looks like he feels much better!
Ha ha! Good memories that I'd forgotten about. I hated those days of dragging myself out of bed for a boring class...at least these days it's for a cute baby face :)!!
I would love to see you guys while you are here. Hopefully we will be on the mend soon as I don't want to pass anything to you. I am in the process of washing everything and spraying my whole house with Lysol - the weather should be good enough tomorrow to air out my house too. Maybe we could hit the park later this week!
Awwww that was so sweet! He sounds like a very thoughtful, calm??, sweet little boy. I hope you print out that entry and save it. Sounds like you have a very sweet household, love it!
thanks for sharing! so many of those things I see in Luke too and its so sweet. Don't you wish you could just protect them forever from all the things growing up can bring?
So sweet! Your blog is almost like reading a foreign language... cars, trucks, airplanes, dribbling... I wouldn't know what to do with a boy! I'm so used to pink, baby dolls, jewels, and princesses! :)
I had seen it first at a Christian Book store, but then found it for much cheaper at Sam's - it is called Baby Signs Potty Training - it has a DVD, a book for parents, stickers, a train whistle and a book for the child. So far he has only had one accident and it was not a pretty one, but we are making progress. Good luck - believe me I feel your pain!! :)
I just read your post about having another boy and I really liked what you had to say. I really wanted a boy and was thrilled when we found out we were having one, but I also was frustrated by the many people who said "Now you're done!" as though just because we now had girls and a boy we should be done. We, too, have always wanted four and the gender never mattered. I do hope you get to experience the joys of having a girl, but how fun would it be to have all boys!
Whew! I was worried about the 21 months. We are still going, so maybe 22 months will be our magic number! lol I know I would have liked cloth diapers in the realm of making the baby seem that MUCH MORE soft and cuddly! Im just too OCD about my folding, so it would have taken me HOURS to fold them to make them all be the exact same size and stacked completely straight, all facing the same direction!
Yeah, I sat down and ran number on it ... saving SOOOOO much money, even if the initial outlay is kinda staggering. :) I'm getting pretty excited about it ... I'm still flexible on it, so that if it doesn't work for whatever reason I'm okay with the alternative, but I'm looking forward to cloth diapering! :) And since I'm starting from the beginning, it'll DEFINITELY be a cost savings for us!
