Where to start. Papa I think as he's most on my mind these days. His back is not getting better, in fact, I think it's is worse but he's too stubborn to admit it. He's still on pain meds full time, 24/7, and while they help him get up and moving and go to work that is about all they do. They make him sluggish and 'fuzzy' and he knows it and has to plan around it. I've found my pregnant Swiss cheese brain is doing MUCH better then his fuzzy drugged one. Which, if you know me at all, is saying something!! He is still working nights, so 1pm to midnight, which works well as it gives his back and leg time to warm up before going to work in the morning and gives us some time, on good days, to get some stuff done here at home. On bad days it's all he can do to get up and moving and often means he spends his morning with a heating pad on his back or asleep waiting for the drugs to kick in. For as skinny as he's always been it burns me a little to see that he's loosing weight. He denies it but it's true and I've not been the only one to notice. All and all he's as stubborn as normal and at least now he is eating and back to drinking coffee, thought totally off his beer! (And it irks him to know that he couldn't even MAKE beer if he wanted to as neither he or I can lift the carboy!) In a positive note he's sleeping well on the drugs which was a problem before he started them and finally seems to be catching up on that area.
J is growing like a weed and I noticed again the other day that his pants are getting too short!! I just bought him some!! He's doing grade 2 here at home and is mostly enjoying it. He does gripe something terrible about Math but I think he secretly likes it as he always wants to do it first!! We've started a new idea with his schooling which I really like so I'll tell you about it :) He's doing ACE paces and for grade 2 there are 6 subjects. Each subject takes him between 25 minutes and 40 minutes on a regular day. To do all 6 subjects in one day was getting a bit long and stressful so we adapted it to 3 subjects each day switching back and forth every second day. So day 1 he does socials studies, Science and English, and day 2 he does Math, Word building and Creative writing. Day 3 he does ss, sc, and eng again and back and forth. This gives him about the same amount of book work as L and E and doesn't stress either of us out! He still finishes 6 paces in 7 school days because he normally does all the pace tests on the same day.
L, at the age of 6, has also decided to grow and finally has almost outgrown his pants!! For our short legged little boy that is quite abnormal!! Rarely have we switched his pants because they were too short.. normally they just start falling apart! He is really into reading independently and enjoys reading what ever odd words he finds to read. He had great fun in the 'city' last time we were there figuring out what the signs say. He does have a few muddles with longs and shorts when he reads but I expect part of that is sheer laziness as he does know them all to say them. He has started his 1st year at AWANA kids club here in town along with E and after several weeks of me tagging along has started to enjoy it. He is quite quick to memorize scripture which surprises me after all the trouble we had with him when he was younger but makes me think he's grown into his brain a bit :)
E has also started AWANA and is a bit more outgoing then L. Together they make a cute pair, following each other around and helping each other. They are in the same class, L insisted!, and really seem to enjoy the time with just the 2 of them together!! Now that we think we know one of her triggers for her asthma, colds!, and have her use her puffers at the slightest sign of a cold she is doing well in that department and never even got the last cold the rest of us got!! What a wonderful thing to see our normally first sick and last to be better child running around completely healthy while the rest of us battle a running nose and watery eyes :) She is also totally enjoying the freedom that can be found in reading and often helps her older brother with his longs and shorts!! They make a funny pair, he knows what all the letters are and she knows all the sounds and can't remember some of the letter names!! He is one pace ahead of her in math and loves adding but she dislikes adding but LOVES subtraction and excels in it!! Where as L dislikes subtraction so much he'd rather not do math at all!! E is maturing in other ways as well. She has started doing things without being told and being helpful in other ways.. finding a need and filling it if she can. She's quite the little mother and we often see her leading Baby J around by the hand.. playing with him or helping him in some way. These days she is counting down to her birthday and can't wait to be 5!!
R recently had a bit of a coming out as she was the flower girl for my cousins wedding!! She did a FABULOUS job and played the princess with ease! I do have a few pictures but will have to post them later as I'm on the new computer and there are no pictures on it yet. R has also been 'doing' school. At 3.5 she's got a while before she'll be doing real schooling but she totally enjoys her little 'finding and circling' books and sits at the table with us listening to the stories in the reading program and coloring/drawing pictures. She's gotten pretty good at drawing lately and we can actually tell what she's drawing!! Bonus!! She does enjoy playing alone while we do school as well as playing with Baby J if he is not napping. The other day I went through R and E's clothing and both of them have finally grown out of their sizes!! YAY!! Because they are both so little I've TONS of size 2 and 3 clothing!! R is in 3 pants still but 4 shirts and E is in 4 pants and 5 shirts! While I haven't weighed them lately I think it's pretty safe to say that Baby J is still as heavy or heavier then R!!
Baby J whom I think I will from here out be calling J3 as Papa is a J and J is a J as well :) No more J's for this family!! 3 is quite enough! J3 also got a new wardrobe recently and is now in 18 month to 24 month clothing. Except pants.. most of those are still 12 month. I guess he's got Grandpa G's short legs :) J3 has been getting his 1st year molars lately and just popped the 3rd one through the day before yesterday! That last one better come soon as I need to start to get some sleep before the new baby comes! J3 is still our worst sleeper and now with these molars is often up several times a night. Mostly I drug him and give him a drink and hope he sleeps a few more hours. Seems to work most nights :) All 5 of our children had the most tooth problems with their very 1st tooth and the molars. Other then that you could hardly tell!! I'm very thankful that his last one looks like it might be soon and then we should be done for a bit!! He has learned how to be helpful and really enjoys putting stuff in the garbage.. even if it doesn't belong there! Oh and he LOVES socks.. just not on his feet. He favorite toys right now are the little peoples bus which he carries around one armed or pushes around making bus noises and a very heavy toy cow which, as Papa found out, hurts when he throws it at your toes!!
Well I guess I'm up. What with the reading program to get done, J's school, the critters, meals, laundry, housekeeping and my new ipad :) Never mind watching out for Papa (He seems to forget almost everything!!) and parenting. I keep busy!! I've managed to talk Papa into once a day milking for ease of backs and we'll hopefully start that soon. Maggie is having a very long lactation *she calved Nov 29/2010* and still giving almost 5 gallons a day and the hope is that we can go to once a day and still get about 3 a day. We shall see. Baby G is doing wonderful (My belly is measuring right on and my weight gain pretty much non existent I may actually loose weight this time around. Normally I just sort of stay the same!) and other then eating a lot of tums lately for heart burn *maybe she'll have hair!!* I seem to be doing really well at almost 37 weeks! Which for some people would mean I'm almost done or could have a baby at any time! But not so, so far anyway, for me. According to my previous pregnancies I still have a least 5 weeks left which is actually kind of nice this time around as we've still got a bit of things to do yet. Today we did clean out the entrance of tools and the bedroom of tote able books and fabric which are some good first steps. We still need to move my laundry sorting station to the entrance (somewhere?), find newborn girls clothes, set up the playpen in our room (where the laundry sorting station is now) and finish her blanket which I only started in the last week. I already moved J3's clothes out of our room and into the kids so after I wash her clothes they already have a place to live.
In general farm news the piglets are now all about 8 weeks old or older and we put them up for sale. So if you or anyone you know needs a couple of weaner pigs we've got just what you need :) They are ready to go anytime! We have two sold and are hoping to sell about 11 more as to keep 4 for ourselves for next year.
In Maggie news Papa went to the vet today and picked up a little bottle of cow hormones. He's found a AI guy who is willing to AI her for us and set the whole thing up. I'm not having anything to do with the whole process as I'm pregnant and the cow hormones are not to be messed with while pregnant as they also use them to abort and it does go through the skin if you touch it. Though it does not go through the milk or the cows skin so I can still drink milk and milk her. SO Papa will be the one giving Maggie her shots and the rest of it. I do know she'll get a shot on Sunday and then another one 11 days later and then 3 days after that the AI guy does his thing and in 9 months we should have a Holstein jersey calf!! We are really hoping for a heifer!! I'm not sure why except that we normally do and a half jersey might not have to be as bad as Bindy was. We would like to have two cows taking turns with their dry spells so we have milk year round so a little heifer off our own place might just be the ticket! Besides if we get another little bull calf, and we've never had a heifer!, he won't be nearly as nice as the half beef we've had previously. With that in mind Papa also talked to our nice neighbor Jim today who has agreed to let our two little knot heads (Steerseye and Meatloaf) winter over with his herd!! What a blessing that is as we'll not have to worry about getting hay home for them or water or anything. They will be with his herd of 60+ cows and might even learn some manners. Imagine that!! All we are out is some cash and Maggie will likely pay their way. Maggie's hay was paid for this summer with the trade of a butcher pig and we're making arrangements to pick it up soon. All she'll need then is a heater in her water tank and she'll be ready for the long cold winter.
The 2 little white pigs that we have been pig sitting for the last several months will be going the way of great pork at the end of the week. Papa is doing the messy work and the owner is picking them up to take them to be cut and wrapped. Then we will be done butchering until chickens next summer. *sigh of relief!
Fall has come quickly this year just the opposite of spring and summer which didn't seem to really come at all. The leaves were beautiful for only a few short days before the wind hammered them all to the ground. We've had a fire in the wood stove for several weeks now and are enjoying the heat after a cold summer. We made a deal with an uncle and had 3 loads of firewood delivered in a dump truck on to the front lawn, beside the house. What a blessing that is!! What should be a winters wood supply or more dumped in just the right lengths right next to the house!! We are still getting some poplar to burn from the back that Papa cut up this spring for warmer days but with the skid steer to move it even that seems like an easier job! Papa played with the mounds of firewood this weekend and managed to move them into a row which we will be able to cover with a tarp. We really do need to figure out where we want our woodshed and build one already! The addition holds a LOT more heat then last year and we are looking forward to seeing how much less wood we burn this year compared to last year. The boys are quite happy to have the wood so close to the house as it will make their wood chores very much less. E is determined to help them this year and I think she'll be able too.. R might even be able too if she can find the smaller ones to carry and still walk in snow *her main problem last year. Of course now they are all doing it.. each one bringing in a piece fitting their size.
In General news the dishwasher has finally been behaving it's self since Papa took the whole thing apart and cleaned it in early summer!! The washer has been acting funny for several months and the middle churny thing no longer turns if the load is anything bigger then the smallest setting. Today it started making another weird noise which is fine as we ordered a new BIG top loading washer just this morning so this washer only has to last another 10 days :) Now Papa needs to plumb it in so I don't have to use the milk sink hose and wash the entrance floor if I forget about it and we can do laundry like semi normal people. It's been an expensive month as we've also ordered a new mattress for ourselves after hearing about and reading about how terrible old mattresses can be for your back health. As our mattress is as old as Papa or older we decided we really did need to replace it. I wasn't super convinced until laying on a mattress like the one we bought at the store... for 3 minutes.. and it wrecked my sleep for several nights as I could not believe how uncomfortable our mattress was after that bliss for just 3 minutes. That convinced me when little else would!! The new keyboard I'm trying out is from the new DELL computer we ordered this year with the kids school funds. We also used their funds to buy the reading program we've been using so I can keep it just like I've got it and not have to redo it again when R starts school in 2 years. Or J3 a year or 2 after that. So far, we just picked the computer up yesterday, we are all really enjoying the new computer! The kids found a few cool games on it which is always fun!
Wow I think this turned into a book! If you got this far Thanks for reading and caring :) God Bless and Goodnight :)
