Peakmore Academy - Homeschool Blogger

Baby Crochet

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 15:39:00 -0500

Now that baby's birth (and gender) has been revealed, I can share a few of the things I've made recently...

Here is a little doll I made for the baby, just to pass the time asI waited for the pregnancy to be over. This was the first arugumi (i know i didn't spell that right) that I completed. It was a free pattern online. I want to make another one, bigger and in a softer (less firm) yarn next time...

and the baby'ghan I made with a big ol' ruffle around it all. it is rather small, but I got tried of making it. this is a good size for her to carry around though (so I tell myself. LOL) It did help pass the time, though, especially when waiting for my chiropractor appointments last month!

And because it's always more fun to look at things that have a baby with them... here's the same blanket, with baby "G"

Welcome to the World! (our baby's birth announcement)

Wed, 1 Jul 2009 14:31:00 -0500

My how time flies!
A week has already passed since the birth of our brand new, beloved, baby G-I-R-L!!!

Meet baby "G"

Just hours old.

She was born on Wednesday, June 24th, at 3:19 am after 18 hours induction on Pitocin. And while I knew I would NOT be having an epidural, I had planned to have some minor pain relief via I.V. However, by the time I mentioned that I'd like some I was already at 6cm, thus missing the "window of opportunity." *sigh* LOL

So, baby "G" was birthed into the world at a pleasingly plump 9 pounds 3.6 ounces, 21.5" long, head 14.5" circumference, (didn't get the chest circ.), and a full head of black hair.

Besides the necessary induction (which we'd tried to avoid through various "labor inducing" ideas, all to no avail), and the various bags of drips I was hooked up to on I.V-- well this was a much more natural labor and delivery than I'd ever had in the past. Deep vocalizations (aka groans that could have won me a Grammy Award for "nature sounds") paired up with me singing my lungs out got me through all the contractions and pains. Thank goodness for my iPod Shuffle!!! A completely natural, unmedicated delivery -- I have to pat myself on the back and grin! I had no plans for that but am thrilled and so happy I was able to experience it!!

Me relaxing between contractions, note Shuffle on chest
& hair clip at the ready!

I have started writing up my recollection of the actual labor and delivery process/experience, but need to get my husband's input as well since much of the last portion of the labor escapes my memory.

I'm happy to say that with the hospital's Wi-fi capability, we were able to webcam (video/voice chat) with Yahoo messenger and have our older daughter, my mother, and my sister on the computer with us through MUCH of the laboring part and very soon after the delivery. It was a WONDERFUL experience having them there. Hubby coaxed me on, fanned me for probably hours with a dumb folder, because I was SOOO HOT! He was a trooper.

Baby "G" is a joy. Pure joy. She nursed like an old pro immediately after delivery. She bounced back quickly from low blood sugar at birth, and after two sleepy days and low interest in nursing, she is nursing like a champ. Engorgement has set in, LOL, and with some minor pumping and LOTS and LOTS of nursing, I'm beginning to see to the other side of it.

Daddy is totally smitten with is new daughter. We both look at her still, totally amazed at the blessing we've been given. Years of heart-ache and desire for a baby have all been sent to the back of our minds now with this glorious little being, a part of both of us. Exhausted from lack of sleep, I've just been enjoying the bonding time with this new piece of my heart.

Baby was placed and cleaned up and assessed right on my chest, I LOVED THIS!!!
I had no idea she's be "allowed" there for so long... it was pure mothering bliss!

Daddy shows off the stamps of baby's feet! the nurse had
put on him during baby's assessment.

Big sister enjoying little sister, later in the day.
Crocheted baby hat, made by me just a few days before
she was born--- something to pass the time! LOL

A bit of kangaroo time... just tucked her right into my nursing gown that I'd made.

Well I'll have to share more photos later, hubby just brought baby "G" up for nursing time. Duty calls.

And... THANK YOU mom and SEESTER for "being there" through the labor with me... two thumbs up for yahoo messenger! It meant the world to have you two on the webcam with me, even if I wasn't paying too much attention to ya towards the "rough part" LOL HUGS and LOVE YOU BOTH!

Smile for your photo!

Thu, 14 May 2009 11:46:00 -0500

From yesterday's ultrasound:

Positioned head down (woohoo)
That's an arm up by the forehead.

So THAT's what's been "tickling" my left side of my ribcage! LOL

Baby Update

Mon, 11 May 2009 16:27:00 -0500

**SIDE NOTE: Yes, we're still homeschooling. LOLWe're super close to going up a level in MUS textbook, to start then next unit of Tapestry of Grace Year 3 (redesign this time!), and kiddo is reading Huck Finn among other things. All the rest of the subjects is still going on, too, but those are the most recent changes. **

However, most of my IM's and emails to me are asking about "the baby"... so here's today's photo of my big ol' baby belly....

Taken at 33 weeks, 2 days.
Even the kiddo commented on how GIANT this blue
shirt makes my belly look. LOL

Next doctor appointment is on Wednesday and we're slotted for another ultrasound. So, maybe I'll update after that, too.

SURPRISE! (wordless Wednesday edition)

Wed, 8 Apr 2009 09:27:00 -0500

View more Wordless Wednesday entries by others.

A Green Lean Towards Spring

Wed, 4 Mar 2009 09:57:00 -0600

So in my attempt to practice and improve my quilting skills while also decorating the table, I completed another table runner on Monday, this time for MARCH!

The top, looking down from one end.

The backside. I pieced this together "more fanciful" than I had
planned due to leftover fabric scraps!

The label.
I'm still working to improve my border
stitching and lettering, but at
least it is better than last month's!

Close-up of loopy meandering and binding.
I used Sulky Blendables thread. LOVE the non-uniformity of the color variegation!
I used this thread for the meandering (top and bobbin threads) and for the top thread
only for the binding. I used white in the bobbin for the binding.
I used a stitch already programmed into my machine to do the final attaching of the binding.
It is demonstrated at this website, though too! her two-part video is super!

Overall I'm pleased with the results. This was a definite learning project for me. From creating blocks that have a PARTIALLY sewn seam like the TWIST BLOCK does, to learning a bit about thread weights, to backing piecing-- all were opportunities to grow and learn.

I've already picked out fabrics, a pattern, and started on a table runner for APRIL! Stay tuned for that early next month!

Pineapples- But Not in Hawaii

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:02:00 -0600

Between organic produce delivery clubs, salad bars, and now quilting, I've dealt with way more pineapple while living here in Illinois than I ever did while living on Oahu.

Here's my latest brush with pineapples, this time for a quilt block swap:

Ten Pineapple Blossom blocks.
These are not sewn together, they're still individual blocks, ready for swapping.
I used the instructions over at Quiltville.com to piece them together.
They were a lot of fun to do, and not difficult at all!

So, I'll be putting these into the mail early next week and then eagerly awaiting the arrival of ten DIFFERENT blocks from other people in the swap. I think while I'm waiting I'll go ahead and make two additional blocks in order to get three "full pattern rotations" and be able to make it into something. Or, who knows... maybe I'll feel like just keeping them on hand and adding to them from time to time to eventually make them all into something larger.

An Update and Lessons for Today

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:01:00 -0600

Thought I'd give a quick update on our homeschooling since this *IS* a blog hosted at homeschoolblogger. LOL

Things have been going just dandy so far, with DD now "in 6th grade." She's been a pretty independent student for the last few years anyway, and this years proves to be no different. One thing that I'm really trying to get her to pay more attention to is ATTENTION TO DETAIL. Whether it be simple spelling or math errors, dropped letters or words in copywork, or something like remembering to put ALL the dishes away when she's doing the dishes (including the ones drying on the counter)... it all needs to be done. Right. The first time.

Like last evening, after dinner, I finally had a chance to look over/grade her work from earlier in the day. She was across the hall in her room probably doing some beading. Well, I had to call her in and have her go finish an assignment that she'd only done PART way, having not read/followed all the instructions I'd given her. She was not a happy camper, but hey-- not my fault. I'd given her adequate instructions. So she did the rest of the work and all was well. But this is a prime example of case/effect with the attention to detail issue.

Anyway, it's just after 9am and I hear her in the school room. Here's her list of assignments for the day:

click to enlarge

Plus, she's to read another chapter in The Hobbit and do another lesson of computer math (Teaching Textbooks 6.) She's still in "review mode" so to speak with TT6. Having started from the beginning of the disk, she's just rolling long till we get to "new material/info." She seems to enjoy it, though had to turn off the annoying buddy noise it offers. LOL

There ya have it. Didn't wan't ya all to be thinking that we had stopped homeschooling or anything. LOL

Thrifty Books

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:05:00 -0600

Today after picking kiddo up from a President's Day sleepover, we ran errands to three of the local libraries, returning books, checking out a few things, and picking up some holds. At one of the libraries I popped into their used book sale room and found the following wonderful items:

I only paid $5.00 for this whole stack! Each of the No Fear Shakespeare books alone is $4.95 at a retail book shop. Those alone would have been a good enough deal at that price! But add to it the Lowry book, the Dickinson poems, The Odyssey, and the Heirloom Machine Quilting book and, well, I was just beside myself with delight! (The quilting book shown here is the 3rd edition, but Amazon has the 4th edition available. I really like this book and would heartily recommend it!)

And so was kiddo. She LOVES Shakespeare and really enjoys how we wrap up a study of one of his works by using the No Fear Shakespeare books. These two additional ones will be proudly placed along side the other ones as well as the rest of our books on Shakespeare. But that wasn't all that made her happy. Oh no.

This is her reading the Emily Dickinson poems book... while I drive down the road. Actually, I had been stopped at a red light and was *just* pulling away when I managed to snap this one off. (which is why it is ~~blurry~~ artistic looking) She loved it when she was flipping through and found "Nobody" and "The Grass" as these are two of her favorite Dickinson poems! "The Grass" was one we covered when we studied Emily Dickinson last year and "Nobody" she came across when reading the book Gilda Joyce Ladies of the Lake ages ago. (How she recalled the actual book title this long after, is completely beyond me! LOL)

Anyway, just had to share my frugal finds for the day!

Oz wrap up

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:50:00 -0600

Many of my weekends from September through January have been spent driving kiddo to and from play practices for the CMJ production of Oz with a Wicked Twist. I'm happy to say THAT show is now over. Here is a little slideshow of photos I put together for my family to see. I thought I'd share them with ya'll, too.

We got kiddo's costume from an area GoodWill store. With a good laundering and make-shift hemming/tacking smaller, it worked for the role. Blue jelly shoes were provided by the director.

Well, it was enjoyable to watch her in her role as "Mistress of Oz" as well as a Munchkin (albeit one of the tallest ones!LOL) and as an Ozian dancer. She really blossomed in this show, growing her confidence. So much so, that she opted to audition for the production company's next show of School House Rock, Jr.

Rehearsals for that show start tomorrow. Weekend rehearsals are a bit lighter than the Oz ones, just due to the nature of the casting (ensemble cast, broken into groups.) But come April, we'll be going full-tilt with on stage reheasals, dress-rehearsals and so on. Good times for her, lots of driving for me. LOL