Chinatown

Our first month of home school is almost over. III and Rosy have just ended their 3rd week with me. Of course, they still have to finish the second part of the week with their Bio Mom, but, for me, this first month is over. As you may have noticed by now, we are trying to interject some more interesting extras into our school year. Last year was a no-frills year because I was on bedrest or reduced activity for most of it. This year we are hoping to enjoy our learning a little more.

Here are some pics of the kids working on their mini-Chinese Dragons. Note that Twinkle can not stand to be left out of anything and has to have her own chair for art time. She attends every day of Shelby's class.

The Actors Studio!

As part of our home school curriculum, III and Rosy learn a poem each month. This month we are working on a poem called "I Call First" that shows why you may not want to be first at everything. The poems that we usually learn are very boring, so we are spicing it up a little this year. Their Bio Mom and I have decided that we don't have to be bound to the strict curriculum. We think it's more important that the kids learn to enjoy learning. We will always make sure that we cover the fundamentals of what they need to know for each grade, but we want to encourage them through our extra projects.

School has been a lot more fun this year. In addition to our regular classes, we are also studying a country each month. In August, our focus was China. We learned how to say, "hello" and "thank-you" in Mandarin. We cooked two different Chinese meals and one Chinese dessert. We looked at pictures taken from space of the Great Wall of China. Of course, we watched the Olympics. We watched Mulan, and compared the Disney Mulan to the original Mulan from the Chinese fable. We used a website to determine what our Chinese names would be. We figured out our Chinese birth year and we made Chinese New Year dragons. This is what I always thought home school would be like!

Lights, Camera, Action

I'm better than The Farmer's Almanac! If you want to know when it will rain in the Pensacola area, you just check to see when my portraits are ready to be picked up. The last 4 sets of portraits that I have had made have all arrived back at the studio on a day that it was raining. Even though TS Fay is headed our way, it only sprinkled for about 6 minutes today - the 6 minutes that I was leaving the portrait studio and headed to my Jeep. I managed to keep the pics dry though.

I was scheduled to go to St. Stephens tomorrow, but I really don't want to be out and about during the rain and wind. I feel bad that my family won't get to see the pictures, so I scanned some of them.

Maybe I'm biased, but I think these are really good looking portraits. I had them done at our local Wal-mart. I never thought I would have my kids portraits done at Wal-mart, but then I priced the "real" photographers. Whoa! You can make a car payment for less than a sitting with one of them. So, I've hunted around and found a lady that I really like. Our kids respond really well to her and she usually gets the shot on the first try. The color values on these pictures look better in person; the images here have been run through my scanner. These are Superman's 3 month pics and were taken on mine and Hubby's 4th anniversary. We can compare how much III and Rosy have grown since 2004.

Froggy Boy

I think that Superman is really at his cutest right after his bath, so you guys get lots of bath photos. We are really blessed that he has two cool bathrobes and several hooded towels. He doesn't really enjoy the evening post-bath fashion show, but Hubby tells him it is the price he pays for having a prissy mommy. Family portraits, Easter ensembles, and theme dinners are other things that the men in our family think are nuts but we persist in doing anyway.

The baby's congestion is improving, but we have a new problem now. His sinus drainage is creating some intestinal discomfort (gas). Monday was terrible because I didn't know what the problem was. He only took 3 little 15 minute naps ALL DAY! Tuesday was much better. He is somewhat back on a regular schedule. Sleep - Breast Feed - Diaper Change - Bottle - Poop - Mylecon - Diaper Change - Play - Nose Spray - Bottle - Diaper Change - Mylecon - Nose Spray - Breast Feed This goes on non-stop. And, I guess it will for another year or two.

This video is cool to me because he actually appears to obey when I tell him to blow a kiss to Gram Sam. I have started recording little snippets for my mom every day so that she can see him growing. I also want him to hear her name and know that we are excited about her. I think he will respond with extra enthusiasm if he knows that we all say her name with excitement. (Sometimes I worry that maybe I do too many little "educational" experiments on him. Am I going to have to have another kid that I don't do any of these things with to use as a control?) Anyway, if he is blowing a kiss, it's the first time he has done it.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears

Every night after we bathe Superman, we wrap him in a hooded towel. The other night we used the one the transforms him into a lion. While Hubby was drying off the baby, he was growling at him and teaching him to growl back. I was startled that Superman could do it, but it was really cute to see him in his little fluffy towel growling back at Daddy.

This morning I decided to get in on the act. (We are still at home because of his congestion or we would be at church by now.) After his morning bottle, I was trying to see if I could get him to growl with me. Well, I'm not a good growler. Maybe it's my sinus congestion or maybe it's just a noise I can't make. Kind of like how I honestly can't do that nasty throat clearing thing and how some people (including me) have to say "wa-pow" because we can't make a whip noise. (Chandler understands me on this one.) BUT, I can trill "r"s. At first Superman thought this was great and he was mimicing me. I figured that if Daddy could teach him to be a lion, I could teach him to be a tiger. Then, I made the mistake of running to get the camera. As usual, once that little red "Record" light came on, he lost interest in what we had been doing. He did, however, think that Mommy was very funny.

Even though he's not growling like a lion or a tiger on this video, I thought those big smiles were cute enough to post.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, No, It's a Hand!

Superman found his hand last night. We were preparing him for his bath when Hubby noticed that Superman had found his hand. I disturbed his concentration a little by running for the camera and talking to him, but he was clearly fascinated by what he saw. By the time I got the camera there he had lost a little bit of his interest, but he was really checking it out a minute before.

He didn't go to bed until 2 AM this morning because of all the sniffling and snuffling, so we are all worn out. Maybe he will be back on schedule before Monday when school resumes.

Sick Baby

Superman has the crud! I woke up stuffy and sneezy Wed. morning. By Wed. evening, Superman was starting to sniffle. Now, he has the full blown crud! We took him to the doctor this morning, and she has ordered him to be homebound for the rest of the weekend.

Happy Birthday to Julia

Happy Birthday, Julia!

Note that Superman is wearing his "birthday suit"!!!

Jumperoo for Joy!

We finally got Superman's Jumperoo. This video was taken within the first minute that he was in it. He really enjoyed himself and his play got more and more rambunctous as he became more accustomed to it. He thinks it is very cool. He sometimes just sits and grins and then he will bounce madly for a minute or two. I think it is going to be well worth the money spent and the aggravation incurred to get it here.

Not that you can see his outfit in this video, but it is a cute little romper (One-piece? I don't know the correct term.) that has tug boats and says, "Tugging at Mommy's Heart". My mom got it for us. My dad worked on a tug boat for most of my childhood. Very cute!

We've noticed that he strongly favors his left leg. It is always kicking and pushing. I'm, of course, convinced that it means he will be a kicker for UA eventually.

I'm posting his bath photos to show how long he has gotten. The first time I put him in that tub, I was sure that we were going to break him. Hubby, Gram Sam, and I were all so nervous. Now, my little piglet fills up his tub and uses the end of it to push against. We've started putting less water in it because he delights in splashing me during his bath. After watching the Olympics this week, Hubby has hinted that maybe Superman will grow up to be another Michael Phelps. I hated to point out to him that most of the people in both of our families are not very aerodynamic. It's a hoot to bathe him now! He really seems to enjoy it - as long as I keep that warm washcloth over all the parts that are sensitive to the cold.

Open House at Roses Preparatory Academy

Rosy's Work Station
III's Work Station
"Around the World" Station - China
Healthy Habits Bulletin Board in the Restroom
Nutrition Bulletin Board in the Cafeteria

Saturday was Open House at Roses Prep!

The kids got to see their new work stations and new bulletin boards. Hubby and I decided that since we don't live in the big fancy house anymore, we can put bulletin boards up in places where the children would normally see them at school. So, there is one in the cafeteria, the bathroom, and the hallway. I remember as a child that I was always interested in seeing what was on the bulletin boards around the school. It's an experience that I didn't want them to miss.

School starts on Monday, so pray for us.

Superman says "Hello"

I know he's not really saying, "Hello", but it kind of sounds like it around the 10 second mark. And, I'm just enjoying being able to film him and post it. So, this is Superman chilling in his crib propped up on his Boppy. I realized right after I filmed this that he was starving.

School starts Monday, so the rest of this weekend will be a flurry of preparations. There are bulletin boards to prepare, desks to set up, and reports to prepare. Wish us luck!

Hi to GramSam

I know the video is sideways, but I couldn't figure out how to turn it over. It was just too cute not to post. Next time, I'll pay more attention to how I hold the camera.

Superman has found his arms. He can't completely control them yet, but he is almost there. When he is in his swing, I dance for him and he will mimic what I do. Unfortunately this is not going to teach him rhythm, but maybe he can just learn basic movement. He will "wave" if I wave at him.

And, yes, I know that baby talk sounds silly. But, my baby likes it!

Couch Potato

Superman is forbidden to watch ANY television. Everything that I've read about infant exposure to television says that he shouldn't see any TV until he is at least two years old. However, we've already noticed that he loves TV. We have to be really careful when we are feeding him and when we lay him down in his swing or bouncer. If we don't keep an eye on him, he will turn his little neck and stare like a zombie at the TV. This is particularly distressing because I HATE it when someone zones out in front of the TV and ignores everyone in the room and can't hold a conversation because their head is "stuck in the TV". Hubby, III, and Rosy all get fussed at because of their TV addictions.

The pictures on today's post were taken last night. Before we went to Prayer Meeting, I was feeding Superman while I watched an episode of Scrubs . I had to sit him down for a second and run to the kitchen. (By the way, I can see the couch from the kitchen, so I had my eye on him.) I didn't realize that I had propped him facing the TV until Hubby came into the living room and asked Superman if he was enjoying Scrubs. Hubby couldn't see me and I guess it looked to him like Superman was just kicked back enjoying his show. I took the pics because with his little short t-shirt, bloated milk belly, wet diaper, and glazed over eyes he reminds me of a beer-bellied redneck kicked back on the couch staring at the TV. These are not flattering pics but maybe I can use them later to show him what he doesn't want to grow up to be.

Yesterday was our 4 year wedding anniversary, and it was probably one of my favorite days of our marriage. Things were so relaxed. Because it was Wednesday and Hubby is a pastor, he sort of has to work unless we are going to be out of town. He and I stayed up the night before until midnight so that we could have the first minutes of our anniversary. Superman let me sleep until 8AM. Then, it was time to get rolling because we had a portrait appt. We got some great shots of all three of the kids. Hubby came home and we all had lunch together. I got to take a short nap after lunch. Then, III and Rosy went to the their mom's house for her visitation. I came back and worked on prepping for school and cooking for our Family Dinner at church. Hubby came home a few minutes early from work so that we could be together at 4PM which was the time of our wedding. We went to church and then came home and played with the baby. We had intended to watch a movie, but Superman was more fun! We ended the evening having giant bowls of ice cream! It was all so simple, but it fit us perfectly!

Relax!

Sunday was a great day for our family! Uncle Joe and Aunt Darlene showed up for the 11AM church service and spent the afternoon with us. Aunt Darlene made Superman a cute Peter Rabbit quilt with his name embroidered on it. It's the kind of thing that he will have forever. Everybody needs an aunt or grandma who will make them their own "blankie".

I also had a second great treat. Mrs. Alma called me and I got to share baby stories with her and catch up on how everybody is doing. She gave me some wisdom on how to get a baby to sleep, so we're trying a little rearranging to our schedule tonight. Superman got his bath at 9:30, his bottle at 9:50, and was laid down at 10:00. Wish us luck!