Quinn - 1 Month

Quinn 1 month old

Time sure has seemed to go quickly.  Quinn is already 1 month old.  He's more alert and interested in some of the things around him.  He likes to stare at whoever is holding him or sitting next to him.  The contrast of the brown fan against the white ceiling also catches his attention several times a day.

In School This Week...

Monday:  Kent and Katy did English, math and piano practice.  We went to the library for storytime and to check out new books.  Clark, Lissie and Kaomi watched part of a Thomas the train movie while I was feeding Quinn and Kent and Katy were working on their lessons.  We did Bible and storytime all together.  Katy asked me to stop reading because I kept falling asleep.  It makes for an "interesting" story when I read words that aren't on the page and don't make sense with the story or when I just stop reading in the middle of a sentence or thought.  Katy also worked on cursive and Kent finished a book he was reading for History.  I was planning on listening to Kaomi read, but it didn't fit into the morning and I was too sleepy in the afternoon.

Tuesday:  Birthday Holiday!

Wednesday: Katy started with English while Kent played trucks with Clark.  Kaomi worked on a color by number and reading.  She's having trouble remembering ang, ing, ong, and ung, but she's being a trooper and doing her best.  She is also reading words begin and end with sh.  When Katy finished English she went to play with Clark and Kent went to work on English.  He's been learning about telling a story from a picture, so I gave him a picture of kids at a pond to look at and write a story, rather than complete a new lesson.

Thursday:  Kent did a math review.  Katy worked on multiplying by 4's.  Kaomi helped play with Clark.  Kent and Katy worked on English lessons.  Kent had a long over-due piano lesson.  Katy worked on cursive.  Kaomi worked on color by numbers and reading the colors she needed.  We had storytime all together.

Friday: We all learned about John Audubon and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in History.  Clark sat with us stacking Legos.  Kent and Katy added to their Timelines.  Kent and Katy did math and English.  Kaomi practiced reading a story with many words beginning and ending with sh.  We completed our Mystery book for storytime and began reading a non-fiction book.

This Morning...

I woke up to hearing coffee brewing.  When I came out to the kitchen for a glass of water there was a special place setting where I sit and donuts on the counter.

Then I went to get Clark up and Kaomi greeted me and brought me a special card made by Katy with a cupcake paper pocket.  In the pocket were two origami cats that she made and a piece of cupcake paper with two cupcakes on it.  Pretty soon Lissie came in to her room and greeted me too.  I got breakfast started for Clark and Felicity, then Quinn started crying his, I'm all alone and I want to eat come and get me now, cry.  Kent told me happy birthday while I was feeding Quinn.  We all got our donuts and sat at the table to eat them together.  Kent took about 30 minutes to dissect and eat his.  I figured since it is my birthday I wasn't going to fuss at him for taking so long and I didn't have to watch him, besides he had already finished his chores and it's a holiday from school.  Towards the end of the morning I put on some music to enjoy hearing.

In School This Week...

Monday:  Kent and Katy practiced the piano and completed English and math.  Katy also worked on cursive and Kent had history reading.  Kaomi did printing practice and reading.  We did Bible, poetry and storytime together.  We were going to do geography, but I wanted to go outside to do it and it was colder than I wanted to spend much time out in.  Maybe we will try to do it tomorrow.  I was supposed to do reading with Katy, but we ran out of time and I forgot this evening when we could have worked it in before bed.

Tuesday:  We made Valentines today.  Kent and Katy also did their piano practice.

Wednesday:  It's a holiday for Felicity's Birthday.

Thursday:  Kent and Katy completed math and copywork.  Kaomi had practice following directions.  We had a Valentine's Day Party.

Friday:  We completed this week's history.  Everyone worked on math.  Felicity worked on coloring with orange and purple.  Kaomi worked on handwriting while Felicity "read" books to Quinn, and I read books to Clark.  Katy worked on catching up in her cursive workbook.  Kent practiced the piano.  We also had storytime all together.


Linked with:

Finished Fridays     

Valentine's Day - 2013

Felicity's Birthday Activities

For Felicity's 3rd birthday we made birthday crowns.  Felicity choose to make hers blue and she put princess and other stickers on it.  Kent, Katy, Kaomi, and Clark made yellow crowns with a variety of stickers on them.  After everyone was done decorating their crowns I covered them with packing tape to help keep the stickers in place and to add stability to the paper so they wouldn't rip easily.  Quinn and I had a follow-up appointment at the mid-wife and everyone wore their crowns there.

Felicity w/ her crown.

Then we met up with Jeff and went to lunch at Fuddruckers.  Felicity thought that was a great idea, because she wanted to know if we could go to a restaurant for lunch.  When we returned home it was time for quiet time.  Felicity didn't want to have quiet time, but I reminded her that she would want to be happy for when Daddy comes home from work and for her birthday party after supper.  After quiet time and snack the girls colored princess pictures and Kent colored a castle picture.  Jeff came home earlier than normal from work, so we could have a fun party time after supper.  Jeff picked out the cake from the store and I found some princess Legos to decorate it.

Happy Birthday, Felicity

Time for presents.

Princess cake.

Linked with:

Finished Fridays    The Modest Mom    

Felicity is 3!

Felicity has been looking forward to her birthday since October.  She is so excited about having a birthday and turning three.  Yesterday when we told her, "Your birthday is tomorrow."  She said, "It's coming soon."  This morning when she climbed into bed with me I told her happy birthday and she said, "My birthday is coming soon."  Then I told her, "No, today is your birthday."  She said, "Really?"  "Yes."  "Where are my presents?"  "We'll have them later, with Daddy."

Special place setting.

Felicity is 3!

Linked with:

Raising Homemakers    

What Do You Think About Quinn?

I gave each of the kids an assignment last week for school, per my Dad's request.  I thought I 'd share their assignments and responses with you. 

Kent's assignment was to write a paragraph about Quinn for English.  Here's what he wrote.

Quinn

     I like Quinn.  He is cute.  He is fun to have for a brother.  He also likes music and maybe mommy.  He is quiet and likes milk.  I love him.  He cries when he needs his daiper changed and for milk.  He sleeps a whole lot.  He cries to help himself wake up too.

Katy's assignment was to write several sentences about Quinn for English.  Here's what she wrote.

 Sentences about Quinn

1. Quinn is cute!
2. Quinn was born at 12:17.
3. Quinn was born on Saturday.
4. Quinn is 12 days old.
5. Is Quinn happy?
6. Quinn sleeps a lot.
7. Qinn is not crying.
8. Is Qinn asleep?
9. Is Qinn awake?
10. Quinn likes to be cuddled.
11. Quinn likes to be held.
12. Quinn sucks on nuks.
13. Quinn has a lot of hair.
14. Quinn likes music.

Kaomi's assignment was to draw a picture about Quinn and tell me about him.  She drew a small stick figure with hair and colored a blue blanket around him and titled her paper "Quinn."  The following was her narration about Quinn.

He's cute.  He's fun to have.  He has cute jammies and blankets.  Mrs. Wood gave him a green blankie.  Quinn has a balloon because Grammy gave it to him on his birthday.  He sleeps all the time.  Sometimes he wakes up.  I like Quinn.  Quinn is fun to have around because he's just born and he doesn't do the things that Clarky does.

I decided to ask Felicity what she thinks about Quinn, too.  This is what she said.

"I like Quinn."

"Can I hold Quinn."

"Quinn is my brother."
"I like him."
"He has a nuk."
"He has foot jammies and shirts."
"I like to hold him."
"He sleeps."
"I like to sing 'Jesus Loves Me' and 'The Lord is My Sheppherd' to him."

Here are a few things that Clark has been saying about Quinn, too.

"Ouch."  If you ask him to kiss Quinn or he gets closer than he feels comfortable around him. 

"Cry, baby."

"See, baby."

"Kin, cry."

"Bear."  We bought a new soft blanket for Quinn on Saturday and Clark likes the blanket and keeps calling it bear.  It is fuzzy, dark brown on one side and light brown with brow polka dots on the other side.

"Baby?"  When he wants to know where Quinn is if he hasn't seen him in a little while.

Linked up with:

Mama Moments Mondays    Raising Homemakers    

In School This Week...

I'm not sure how much we'll actually accomplish this week, but we decided to try and begin getting back into the swing of things.

Monday:  They had craft time with some friends and got a chance to play with some friends that they hadn't seen in a while.

Tuesday:  We started with geography.  We learned about the different continents and found the continents that are represented by several of the missionaries that we have cards to pray for.  Then I worked with Kaomi reviewing her reading while Katy worked on an English lesson and Kent watched Clark.  When Katy finished she took over watching Clark and Kent worked on his English lesson.  We also had storytime.

Wednesday: We started with Bible, beginning a new missionary story book called Seed Sowers by Gwen Toliver.  Kent helped watch Clark while I went over Katy's math lesson and Kaomi's reading.  Then Kaomi started on her printing practice and I went over Kent's math lesson.  I took over supervising Clark and worked with Kaomi on her math lesson. 

Thursday:  We started earlier today than we have all week and got a lot accomplished.  Kaomi completed reading and math.  Kent worked on a paragraph for English and math.  Katy completed cursive, worked on sentences for English and completed math.  We also read history, completed an art project and had storytime.

Friday:  Everyone worked on a page for history about the Pledge of Allegiance.  Kaomi completed reading, math, Adventures of Grandfather Frog and a drawing and narration about Quinn.  Katy completed her English sentences about Quinn, math, reading, cursive and piano practice.  Kent completed a paragraph about Quinn, extra reading for history, math, reading and piano practice.  We also had storytime with everyone.  Kent and Katy alternated watching Clark when they weren't working on school, so I could work with Kaomi and anyone else who needed my help.

It was nice to accomplish a whole week of school and see that we really can have a new baby, a very active toddler, a more independent toddler and a dependent kindergartener and still complete everything.  It's nice to have flexibility and be able to do more than one day lesson in a day as needed.

Linked up with:

Mama Moments Mondays     Simple Living Wednesdays    

A Misunderstanding

After lunch today Katy was being grumpy and rude about one of her siblings.  I called up to her that since she was being rude she should go ahead and start her math that I had assigned for her to complete this afternoon.  I know she heard me, but she didn't come down and get her math book.  I was trying to think of a fitting consequence and hadn't thought of one yet when it was time for storytime.  I called all the kids and she told me she was drying off.  I wanted to know what she was drying off from and she told me from her bath.  At which point I realized she hadn't disobeyed so much as misheard me.  I started laughing to myself and told her that I had said do your math, not take a bath.  So she came down to storytime all clean and still had to do her math this afternoon during quiet time.


Linked with:

Raising Homemakers     Mama Moments Mondays    

Quinn's Birth Story

    On Thursday, January 25th, I kept experiencing stronger contractions off and on through the day, but they didn't seem to be leading to anything very quickly.  Thursday evening they spaced out evenly around 3 min. apart, but they weren't as strong as actual labor should be.  We called the mid-wife and she said to walk around for a while and call her in an hour if they got worse.  They stayed the same, so I sent her a text to let her know that they didn't seem to be going anywhere for the moment.  After several hours I went to bed.  I wanted to be sure to be rested if they did turn into the real thing.
    Friday morning when I woke up the contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart, but still not very strong.  My mid-wife called me to see how things were going, as she had some other things she was needing to do that morning, but wanted to make sure she wasn't needed before she started them (it was her scheduled day off from the office).  She said to go into the birthing center to get checked and see if maybe we could get something started.  When I went in I was dilated to a 2 and it seemed like maybe something was going on, but it was still to early to tell.  The mid-wife on call stripped my membranes to see if it would encourage labor and sent me home to walk and pump and see if anything would happen.
     My mid-wife called to see if anything was happening around 10:30 am.  At that point it was still hard to tell, but the contractions were about 10 minutes apart and seemed to be getting stronger.  She said she would come over to our home in about an hour and see how things were going then.  When she came I had dilated to a 3 and she thought we would probably be calling her to come back around 3 in the afternoon and have a baby by evening.  We've had a history of having some quicker labors, so that is what everyone was expecting.
    I continued to pump, walk and rest to help keep things moving along.  By 2 pm the contractions were starting to be about 5-10 minutes apart and definitely working, but not super strong.  Jeff's mom came over to be here for the birth and help with kids if needed.  I didn't feel like it was time to call the mid-wife until around 4:30-5 pm.  When she got there I was dilated to a six, but I felt like I should have been dilated more.  Things seemed to be progressing more slowly than my past few labors.
     Jeff's mom took care of ordering dinner for everyone.  It smelled good and I kind of wanted to eat mine, but it seemed to me like the baby was going to come sooner rather than later, so I thought I would wait and eat after the baby was born.
     I continued laboring, while listening to the conversations around me and playing a mindless game on the computer.  I kept losing the game, so apparently it wasn't as mindless as I thought, but it helped distract my thoughts from the contractions and relax better.  By 8:30? pm, I was only dilated to 7.  We finally sent the kids to bed.  They were a little disappointed that they wouldn't be up when the baby was born.  I continued laboring and it seemed like things were getting close and I was ready to get in the tub and have the baby, but around 9:30 pm I was still a 7.  We decided to go ahead and break my water to help expedite labor.  Then I got in the tub expecting that it wouldn't be much longer.  By this time I was tired and just really ready to have the baby.  My thinking clarity was also decreasing.  After laboring in the tub while the contractions got worse, my midwife thought I should get out and try walking around a little to see if it would help the baby to come.  I wasn't real keen on the idea.  Even though I had been drinking water and pregnancy tea throughout the evening I was really tired and realized that I probably should've eaten dinner.  I was hungry, but wasn't sure that I wanted to eat something at that point.  I did think I should have something so I asked Jeff to get me some sprite, thinking maybe the sugar would help.  I did eventually get out of the tub.  I was dilated to an 8.  My midwife decided that due to me being tired and knowing that the baby was big we shouldn't have a water birth, because the risk for potential complications was increasing.
     The contractions became almost unbearable at this point.  I don't think I've had contractions like that since maybe Kent's birth.  I remember squeezing Jeff's hand, I think so tightly that it probably hurt him, but he just kept on encouraging me.  We tried a warm rice sock on my back, which felt nice for a short time and then I was yelling to get it off me, because it was too hot.  Shortly after that the pressure became intense and it was time to push.  I didn't even realize that it was time to push until it was time.  They had to get my shorts off for me.  Then they wanted me to push harder and I didn't feel like I could, but I think I just needed to breathe and then I could push again.  Jeff said he could see an ear, that was encouraging so I pushed harder and soon the baby was born with a giant gush of water behind it which seemed like water spraying from a fire hydrant.  It was Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 12:17 am and the midwife placed the baby on my tummy.  Someone, I think maybe Jeff said it was a boy.  I was so glad that he was out and there were no complications.  After a while they weighed him in at 9 lbs. 15 oz., but my mid-wife first misread the scale and said 10 # 15 oz. and both Jeff and I were like "what?!?".  Then she read it again, realizing that she had read 10 first because Quinn was so close to 10 pounds.  He was 22 inches long and his head circumference was 14 1/2 cm.  As soon as I was feeling a little better after the birth I was ready to eat my supper sometime after 1:00 am.  The chicken quesadilla was SO good!  We were able to finally get a little sleep starting around 3:15 am.  Around 7:15 am, Katy and Kaomi showed up to see if we had the baby and when they found out it was a boy which they quickly went and shared with Kent.  A little later the older kids went in to see Felicity and Clark and we heard Felicity loudly ask, "Is the baby born?"

Quinn several hours old, being held by Kent his oldest sibling.

Quinn Hezekiah has a lot to live up to; his name means wise one whom God strengthens.

Linked with:

A Mama's Story     My Pregnancy Journal   Raising Homemakers    Day2day Joys   
Weekend Whatever    

Enjoying the Slow Pace

This last week has flown by.  I have enjoyed snuggling with Quinn.  He's 1 week old today.

My husband is wonderful.  He was able to take the whole week off of work.  We slept in everyday (til 8 or later).  The older kids were quiet, even if they didn't sleep in and Felicity and Clark didn't usually start making much noise until around 8:30 am most days.  For the first three days after Quinn was born I was on "bed rest" this is normal, but usually I am eager to be up and involved even if I am just sitting on the couch.  This time, I was content to spend more time in bed "resting".  I had lots of little visitors who just wanted to see Quinn and hold him, too.  Jeff took care of making sure everyone was fed three meals a day for most of the week.  We had a couple people bring us wonderful meals, which was nice for Jeff to not have to cook.  Jeff changed lots of diapers this week and I know that's not his favorite thing to do - he didn't even ask me if I could do it once.  He also did several loads of laundry, so nobody had to wear dirty clothes.  Jeff would take Quinn in the middle of the night after he was fed, to snuggle and encourage to go back to sleep.  It's been a specialty of his to get the baby to sleep at night and he hasn't lost his touch.  Quinn has been a pretty sleepy baby and seems pretty easy so far.  We are hoping that he stays easy.  He hasn't been very interested in eating, because he has wanted to sleep, but that seems to be changing now and he is asking to eat more frequently, which helps because he actually stays awake long enough to eat pretty well.  Jeff even gave the kids an impromptu science lesson on oil from oranges and how it scents the air when the peel is all broken up and how the oil is flammable.  Because Jeff was home this week, I've been able to take it easy and enjoy being a spectator in my home, that's about to change as Jeff returns to work on Monday.  I'm sure we will have an interesting upcoming week as we adjust to having a new baby in the house and Clark won't have Daddy to tag after all day either.

I am so thankful that God has given me a husband who is willing to step up and do the things that I usually do, when needed.  Jeff has been a blessing to our whole family this week.

Linked with:

Raising Arrows       The Modest Mom blog     A Mama's Story    Raising Homemakers    

Quinn Pictures

Quinn's Birthday:

More pictures:

Quinn (1 day old)

Quinn (6 days old)

2 days old:

Lissie watching Quinn (5 days old)