Life In a Shoe

18 weeks: almost halfway {pregnancy update}

kimc — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:41:08 +0000

I was afraid that weekly updates would prove a challenge, and this week it feels that way. My belly got bigger, I took my vitamins, I slept in late a couple of times, and now I’m 18 weeks along instead of 17. What’s to tell? My next appointment is still over a week away, and the halfway mark in 2 weeks seems like the next milestone to look forward to. In the meantime, I’m thankful to be feeling well and enjoying the small but frequent movements I can feel.

I’m beginning to have a bit of swelling in my feet and ankles if I don’t remember to put them up during the course of the day. This is a problem I never had to deal with until my 8th pregnancy, and now it seems to come a little earlier each time. Any tips on preventing it would be welcome, especially since I’ll be spending a lot of time on my feet during the Texas Republican Convention in a few weeks.

Belly pic

Baby bump is definitely growing. I think I may be cute already. I feel cute, but I’m not sure if I can stand 5 months of cuteness. Even puppies and kittens outgrow cute faster than that. Of course The Dress helps. In my regular clothes, I have more of a baby lump, not nearly so cute.

Oh, but speaking of clothes, here is my pregnancy excitement of the week: after spending a lot of fruitless time searching the Goodwill and other thrift stores for maternity tops, I visited a baby consignment shop and learned that I’ve been doing it all wrong! I found maternity tops for the same price as the tops at the Goodwill, but here instead of hunting for a needle in a haystack every item of women’s clothes was maternity! I had assumed that prices would be sky high but they were very reasonable, and I came home with about 5 maternity tshirts in my favorite colors plus a couple of dressier tops, a skirt, and my first Bella Band. One had the ruched sides that I’ve been longing for, and the others were more plain, but a little 1/8″ elastic stretch-stitched into the side seams created that ruched look and now I have an almost entirely new wardrobe! Now I’m thinking of pretty-ing them up even more with Kaitlyn’s ruffle-neck tutorial.

Baby at 18 weeks:

Can hear, and may be startled by loud noises (my poor child!)
Is about 6″ from crown to rump, and weighs 7 oz.
Goes through the motions of crying.
more

Exercise

I walked 5 miles over the last 7 days. Also, I finally did some informal online research and learned that there is probably no reason I shouldn’t do pushups and kettlebell swings as I was doing before I got pregnant. I thought that they worked the abdominal muscles too much, but found no such warnings. On the downside, I can barely do 10 pushups now instead of the 40-50 I was doing a few short months ago. I can’t blame extra weight, because I only gained 3 or 4 lbs. so far – although it does seem obvious that I’ve gained far more than that in my belly. Maybe my pushup muscles migrated to my midriff. :)

Getting ready to leave for a walk. Mrs. R, these pics are for you. [wink, wink]

How far along are you now? Pics? What’s new?

Online classical, Christian supplementary classes for homeschoolers: Founded in 2007, LTA teaches students to think well and communicate effectively. Worldview, philosophy, civics, writing, web design, and more. www.livingtheanswer.org/

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4 Moms: Favorite frugal tips

kimc — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:25:08 +0000

This week we 4 moms of many are sharing some of our favorite frugal tips. I’m already busy making this harder than it has to be, asking myself if ”favorite” means the tips we enjoy the most (or complain about the least), or the ones that save us the most. Or maybe our favorites would be the most creative ones, that make us happy just because we thought of them. Maybe our favorites are the ones that are so deeply ingrained as habits that we don’t even think twice about them, but then it gets really hard because we might be utterly unaware of them and then how would I tell you about them?

And if it’s hard to decide on the criteria for the word favorite, how about a definition for the word frugal? This blockbuster post on Frugal Hacks reminds us how widely our definitions can vary, and maybe when I decide which frugal tips are my favorites you’ll just snort derisively and mutter, “She calls that frugal?” Or you might be horrified and send the link to all your friends: “Can you believe she does this to her own family?!”

Now that you’ve been exposed to all my deepest self-doubts and neuroses, I’ll share a few of my best tips for stretching a single income in a double-income society. Some may seem too obvious, but I suspect much depends on where you’re standing and what you already do or know.

Save on food:

Cook from scratch. If you already do some scratch cooking, expand your skills by tackling new recipes: Enchilada sauce, pizza crust & pizza sauce, tortillas, biscuits, pancakes. This adds some work in the kitchen, but cuts your grocery bill and simplifies shopping because you buy greater quantities of staples like flour but less individual items like canned biscuits, bread, english muffins, bagels, and pancake mix.
Buy in bulk but always check unit prices. Bigger isn’t always cheaper, so don’t get fooled.
Shop the specials but check unit prices again. Not everything in the weekly sales flyer is a good deal.
Always watch the prices as your items are rung up. I get overcharged on at least one item almost every time I go to the store, especially sales and clearance items. If you catch the mistake before your order is finished, it’s easy to fix. It’s much harder if you wait and have to go through customer service.
Use what you buy. It seems obvious, but even a great deal is a waste of money if you don’t use what you buy.
Do some menu math. You might be surprised at the results.
Drink milk and water. Juice may have a few vitamins but is loaded with sugar – natural or otherwise. You get much more bang for your buck by eating fresh fruit. Other drinks have little or no nutritional value, so the less you drink of them the better.
Learn to eat meatless meals. Don’t make the switch all at once if you are heavy meat eaters, but begin having a meatless meal every now and then. Skimp on the meat in regular dishes, and teach your family to see it as a garnish rather than a main dish. It could be that your family won’t miss the meat at all!
Avoid eating out. Even a cheap meal out usually costs much more than eating in, so do your best to avoid eating out. It’s fine to treat your family to a restaurant meal, of course, but make it a planned event. Don’t let it happen by accident or default just because you failed to plan.

Save on repairs:

Take care of possessions. Reduce the need for repairs by taking good care of the things you own and use.
Ask how you can save on a repair. Some shops will let you order and provide the parts for a repair, just charging you for labor. If you can find a better deal on the parts than they offer, you can save some money. Prices are often negotiable, too. You’ll never know if you don’t ask.
Do your own repairs. You can do many of your own repairs on autos, appliances, furniture, walls, plumbing, and more. Don’t know how? Learn. The internet is a wealth of free information at your fingertips. If you need to actually see how a repair is done, YouTube is a wonderful resource.
Borrow tools for repairs. If you need a particular tool that you aren’t likely to use often, ask around for a loaner. Besides your own friends and acquaintances, Home Depot and Auto Zone often loan specialty tools for free.
Make it last or do without. Use cars, appliances and other big-ticket items as little as possible to extend their lifespan. When it’s time to repair them, ask yourself if it’s really worth the cost. How much would you miss it if you chose not to repair it?

Save on clothes:

Shop secondhand. If you’re used to buying new, secondhand stores may give you the heebie-jeebies at first, but that feeling passes. Thrift stores can be a great resource for high quality items for far less than you would pay for a new cheaply-made counterpart. Some items are brand new and still have tags from local retailers. We routinely find shoes that retail for hundreds of dollars in thrift stores for $10 or less. I have 2 pairs of boots that I absolutely love: one cost me over $100, and the other pair was like new for $4 (but retails for nearly $200). I bet you couldn’t tell which was which.
Enjoy hand-me-downs. Let it be known that your family appreciates hand-me-downs, and you may never need to enter a thrift store – except to drop off donations. Many people would prefer to give their children’s outgrown or out-of-favor clothes to someone they know rather than donate them to a business, but they need to know that you want them. Brag up the adorable bag of dresses that ____ passed to your daughter, and others will know that pride doesn’t stand between you and a new free wardrobe.
Plan ahead. Don’t wait until summer to hunt for a new summer wardrobe. Whether you’re shopping new or used, it pays to plan ahead. Great prices are easier to find at the end of the season than the beginning, so think about what you’ll need next year.
Repair and remodel. It doesn’t take mad sewing skilz to do minor repairs. Even some very impressive alterations take more creativity than skill. Get outside your comfort zone and you might be shocked at what you can do. Check out what Kaitlyn did in less than 10 minutes to pretty up a plain t-shirt.
Extend the life of your clothes. Washing and drying is hard on fabric, so if it’s not dirty don’t wash it. When you do wash it, consider hanging it out to dry rather than using the electric dryer. You’ll save 3 ways: less electricity, less wear and tear on your dryer, and your clothes will last longer.

Save on purchases:

Don’t fall victim to SOS. Shiny Object Syndrome is a dangerous disorder that can wreak havoc on your budget. If it’s new and cool, force yourself to wait and make a careful decision after the excitement has worn off a bit.
Don’t just ask yourself if you’ll use it. Go a step farther: ask yourself if you need it, or if you’ve truly missed having it. Did you just realize you wanted it when you saw it on the shelf, or is this a great deal on an item you’ve been looking for?
Shop around. Don’t assume that a sale – or a thrift store find – is a great deal. Take time to check prices, or make sure you already know prices when you are shopping for an item. If you weren’t already shopping for the item, you probably don’t really need it right now.
Know the return policy and save your receipt. Leave yourself room for buyer’s remorse, and be ready to act on it. Even many thrift stores allow returns under the right circumstances.
Don’t fall victim to the spend-to-save fallacy. Some deals make you feel like the more you spend, the more you save. Stop and think: if Option B leaves less money in your pocket than Option A, it’s probably not a savings.
Eye buyer’s insurance with deep suspicion. There’s a reason stores offer you those extra insurance policies, and it’s not out of the goodness of their hearts. They profit on the deal, which means somebody loses on the deal. The odds are against you, so unless you have good reason to believe you might beat the odds, just decline.

And a bonus tip: Don’t be shy. Ask for discounts. Ask for add-ons. Many prices are negotiable, and you’ll never know unless you ask. Negotiating is a dying skill in the US, but is alive and well in much of the world. Help bring it back! Be courteous, but bold. Smile when you make a request, and thank them whether or not you get what you asked for. Here are some phrases I have used successfully:

I would love to have this, but it only costs $8.99 new. Can you come down on the price?
I think my daughter would really like this dress, but it has a hole here. Can you take something off the price?
I love the color of this shirt, but it has some faint spots – see? Can you adjust the price?
I’m looking for an oven like that. Can you do a little better on the price for me?
If I buy these 3 items, can you throw this in for free?

What are some ways that you save money?

Here’s what the other 3 moms say:

Connie at Smockity Frocks
Headmistress @ The Common Room
Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

May 17 - Q&A
May 24 - Homeschooling when in a rotten temper

17 weeks: Another milestone {pregnancy update}

kimc — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:26:21 +0000

Baby and I are now at 4 months! Maybe it’s a small milestone, but everything is exciting during pregnancy. I’m pretty sure my belly is really popping out now. The reason I’m sure is because at least 4 people have looked at me over the past week and said things that start with “Wow!” Things like, “Wow! You’re really starting to show,” or “Wow! I guess I haven’t seen you in a couple of weeks!”

Want more evidence? I tried to measure my belly and came up with 20 cm, which is roughly equivalent to 20 weeks. See? I’m big. In fact, I’m 3 cm. big if I trust my measuring skills. That would almost put me in the running for twins, if I were the suspicious sort, but I’m not so let’s just forget I said it. Well, let’s make a note of it just in case I do have twins, and then forget it for now.

I’ve gained a couple of pounds now, and nausea is almost completely gone, though I’m prone to heartburn already. Do you ever get it this early? I don’t usually get heartburn until the baby is big enough to put pressure on my stomach, but now it feels like the nausea has just morphed into heartburn instead. I can hardly complain since I have never before made it through my first trimester without throwing up a single time. In fact, I’ve never made it through my first trimester without throwing up hundreds of times! What’s a little heartburn?

My biggest complaint now: heat. Normally I’m that person who is perfectly comfortable when others are fanning themselves with sheets of paper, and I’ve always loudly proclaimed that being pregnant in the summer didn’t make a bit of difference to me. Now, suddenly, I’m a can’t-hack-it-pantywaist. The temperature hits 90, and I sound like a 2yo who missed her nap. ”I’m hot! I’m all sweaty! I want a/c. Waaaaah!” This could be a long summer. We have acclimated to our climate, and the rest of the family finally agrees with what I’ve been telling them: it’s not that bad. But after years of telling my family it’s not so bad, I’m afraid they might enjoy my suffering this summer. Nah, they wouldn’t do that, but I would deserve it if they did. :) [Deanna read this and affirms that she will, indeed, enjoy my suffering.]

Belly pics

Not happening today. It’s raining nonstop, and the OCD in me wants this week’s pic to match every other week so far. That means it needs to be taken outside on the west end of the deck, which means it’s not happening right now unless you want to see me looking like a wet rat. Well, do you want to see me looking like a wet rat?

update: I asked on Facebook, and apparently you DO want to see me looking like a wet rat. I’m sorry to say the rain had almost stopped by the time I got up the gumption to go out. Here’s my rainy day pic:

Baby at 17 weeks:

Baby is about 5″ from crown to rump, or 9″ from head to toe.
Baby weighs just over 5 oz.
Fat stores begin to develop under your baby’s skin this week.
Cartilage in bones is beginning to calcify.
more

I can’t believe the baby is already that big. Nine inches?! It’s like a real, living doll! My belly is growing, but doesn’t feel big enough to have a whole little person in there! I know there’s been a person in there for 4 months now, but this person would fill the entire palm of my hand now, and still you might not know I was pregnant by a casual glance. Isn’t hard to wrap your mind around a miracle like that?

Exercise

I remembered! I did it! Besides last week’s zoo trip – which I will conservatively estimate at 2 miles, and in which I pushed a heavily loaded double stroller up and down a LOT of hills, I also took a 3.1 mile “trash walk” with 3 of the kids. That’s at least 5 miles of walking in the last 7 days. We took 3 large kitchen bags and completely filled them with trash from the roadside, then drove around and picked them up when we were done. It was fun and responsible, and the kids can’t wait to do it again! We will do it again, because there was plenty of trash left.

Are you pregnant? I would love to hear your update again this week. It’s fun to compare notes, and think about where I’ll be in a few weeks, or how far away 17 weeks seemed just a little while ago. Where are you in this journey, and what’s on your mind or heart?

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Knives for Sale

kimc — Sun, 06 May 2012 00:21:01 +0000

posted by Natalie

I have two things I would like to sell. The reason I want to sell these is because my sister’s birthday is coming up and I need money to buy her a present.

Both of us these are brand new from Vision Forum, not from clearance. What I have for sale is these:

Boys Practice Throwing Knife, as shown. There are three knives. This is $12.00 plus $4 for shipping.

And this one is Six Piece Throwing Knives With Sheath, the price for this one is $17.00 plus $4 for shipping.

I will sell both together for $24.00 and free shipping for them. Just leave a comment if you want one or both of them.

I would like to sell these relativity fast, order soon!!

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Giveaway: Grandpa Jake’s Campfire Cooker

kimc — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:22:47 +0000

Now here is a great giveaway. I’m pretty sure some of you have been waiting a long time for this!

We get to give away a Grandpa Jake’s Campfire Cooker from Forgotten Ways Farm!

Until recently, the only foods we had cooked over an open fire were hot dogs and marshmallows, so this was exciting! I borrowed my sil’s dutch oven to go with my big frying pan, and we were ready for business. Perry used our new wrought iron cooker to prepare a fun and delicious dinner of sausage & scrambled eggs, which we wrapped in tortillas. It was our first foray into campfire cooking, but it went very well and the whole family enjoyed the results. Setup was fast and easy, and cooking was a snap.

Of course there was a learning curve, and a few lessons picked up along the way:

Hammer the support into the fire area before starting the fire. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself having to lean almost directly over the fire to hammer it into the ground.
Consider wearing clothes that cover your lower legs. Shorts may feel nice under most circumstances, but not when you’re standing right next to an open fire.
A ring of rocks is a good idea to provide a physical barrier between you and the fire. We do have a ring of rocks around our regular campfire area, but chose to set up in a bonfire area instead.
Start your fire well ahead of time and make it bigger and hotter than you think you’ll need, so you can have a nice bed of coals for cooking when you are ready to start.
Remember that cast iron moves slowly. It heats slowly, and cools slowly.

Getting started:

Ooh, that’s a little hot on the shins…

Sizzlin’ sausages!

See the hook on the edge of the cooking grate? You can hang a pot there.

Long pants. Ahh, that’s better. Scrambling eggs now. Sausage pan is off to the side, near enough to stay warm but far enough to keep them from burning.

It’s super easy to use the two long hooks provided to move grates up and down or side to side.

Of course, we topped off our feast with marshmallows roasted on sticks. Now we just need to find some good deals on more cast iron and/or some enameled cookware. I can’t wait to make coffee this way, and Perry is hoping to host a men’s breakfast followed by some target practice for our city-dwelling friends.

Can anyone recommend a good source of recipes for campfire cooking?

THE GIVEAWAY

One random winner will receive a free Grandpa Jake’s Campfire Cooker! US residents only, please. To enter the giveaway, do any or all of the following. Please remember to leave a separate comment for each entry.

Leave a comment on this post. What have you cooked over a campfire? How did you do it? How did it turn out?
Share this giveaway on facebook.
Blog about this giveaway. Leave a link to your post in your comment here. 3 entries for doing this, so leave 3 separate comments!
Grab a Forgotten Way or Grandpa Jake button and put it in the sidebar of your blog. (Get them here)

We’ll take entries for 7 days, then will choose a winner.

This giveaway has ended. Winner is Annie P., a newsletter subscriber. Remember, if you subscribe to our newsletter you will be automatically entered in all giveaways. Use the box in the sidebar to subscribe..

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Living the Answer Essay Class Review

Kittykait — Fri, 04 May 2012 03:19:32 +0000

Posted By: Kittykait

When people ask me about learning to sew I always say “Try it! Practice makes it easy, fast!”, and it always seemed silly to me when they returned with something like, “I couldn’t do it like you. You’re just naturally talented!”. But I always felt the same way about writing. Deanna and Megan could always just write well, with little effort. But I couldn’t and practice wasn’t going to change that. As it turns out, I just needed a pattern to help me along with my practice.

Several weeks ago Mom told Lydia and I that she signed us up for an online essay class, which didn’t excite me at all. It made me nervous. I’d never done something like it before and I didn’t know what to expect, especially when I found out there were in-class assignments! And a teacher! And worst of all, grades! I may have acted like a silly unsocialized homeschooler for a while. The upside to my nervous pessimism is that I’m usually pleasantly surprised!

The teacher is funny, entertaining and comprehensive. He uses a lot of quotes from famous literature to illustrate whatever aspect of good writing he’s talking about. He also uses some more lighthearted quotes. One week he pulled bits from both The Lord of the Rings and The Princess Bride movie, which won me and Lydia over for good.

The in-class assignments, which were my greatest fear going into this, are extremely helpful, because you get criticism on the spot. That way we know if we properly understand the concept that he’s going over, before the actual (graded) assignment is turned in.

The class is for five paragraph essays, which is a bit of a rigid format, but the principals carry over to most types of writing. After all, every bit of writing should have a bit of an introduction, and once you’ve written and intro you have to say something about the subject, then of course, you never want to leave a reader just hanging so you must wrap it up! Besides structure Mr. Vogel has plenty to say about keeping your writing from being choppy, making it interesting, engaging your reader from the beginning, and using different styles to aid you in whatever type of writing you are using to communicate.

The class is nearly over now, and I’ll be sorry to see it go. I like being forced to practice new things every week, which is a big deal. I used to be the kid that had emotional breakdowns over writing. Ridiculous. The skills I’ve gained from his class have given me a lot more confidence in my writing. Hopefully I’ll have the self-discipline to keep it up on my own, but for now I’m incredibly grateful for all that Mr. Vogel has taught me. I highly recommend it for parents looking to boost their emotionally incontinent writer’s confidence. Who knows? Maybe they’ll end up enjoying it.

P.S. If you ask *really* nicely I might post a few of my assignments.

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4 Moms: Cooking with leftovers {linky}

kimc — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:33:51 +0000

This week, the 4 of us are talking about cooking with leftovers. Alternatively, some of might be confessing that our cooking with leftovers mostly amounts to cooking with eggs laid by chickens who enjoy our leftovers. Would that count? I’m speaking hypothetically, of course, but you might also like to know that feeding forgotten leftovers to the chickens is a great way to soothe the conscience of a frugal housewife who feels like a failure when she fails to use leftovers in time.

But I always use my leftovers. And I never exaggerate. And my kids always obey. Shall I go on?

Using leftovers is a lot like shopping from your pantry. One of the biggest hurdles to overcome is simply remembering to use what’s there. Do that by:

Exploring before you shop so you can plan some meals around what you already have in the fridge, not just the pantry.
Exploring before you make lunch, and serve a smorgasbord of leftovers.
Exploring before you proceed with tonight’s dinner plan, and be flexible if you find something you can or should use.

Some leftovers are easier to use than others. Rice can become a delicious rice pudding for dessert tonight or breakfast tomorrow. If you are Southern, your leftover breakfast grits can be sliced and fried in butter. Top with butter, salt and pepper for a savory side dish with supper, or top with butter and syrup for tomorrow’s breakfast. If you are not Southern, you probably wouldn’t know a grit if it bit you – or else you put sugar in your grits, bless your heart. That’s ok. Some of my kids put sugar in their grits, too. We just call them Yankee grits.

Cooked grains like rice, oatmeal, and grits can be added to breads: muffins, pancakes, banana bread, even yeast breads. Kitchen Scrap Cookies are fun and versatile. You can google recipes using cooked grains, or you can experiment on your children. Either way works. If you experiment, start with a proven recipe and add just a cup of cooked grains. If that works well, try adding more next time. Expect the results to be denser and more moist than usual.

When it comes to non-breakfast foods, casseroles are the standard answer. That may sound boring, but the possibilities are limitless! Frugal Hacks had a 5 part series on creating casseroles that appeal to your family and use what you have on hand. Each includes one or more recipes to get you started:

Leftover meats can also be chopped and seasoned for use in Mexican or Italian recipes like tacos, chimichangas, lasagne, spaghetti, alfredo, etc. Cooked veggies are a no-brainer in soups, stews, fried rice, and many other recipes that call for vegetables in any form.

I think a key is to consider the leftover as an ingredient: if you have cooked broccoli, look for recipes that call for broccoli in any form. There’s a good chance that you can tweak the recipe slightly and use what you have on hand.

Allrecipes is my favorite source for recipes. One feature that I love and use often is the ingredient search. Just fill in the ingredients you want to include and hit the search button. This is a great way to use up several leftovers at once or find new combinations for what you have on hand.

Here’s what the other 3 moms say:

Connie at Smockity Frocks
Headmistress @ The Common Room
Kimberly @ Raising Olives

What about you? How do you use up your leftovers? Link up with us!

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May 17 - Q&A
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16 weeks: The twin question {pregnancy update}

kimc — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:34:17 +0000

Previous updates:

Last Friday, I had another prenatal checkup. I always look forward to checkups, but this time I couldn’t wait. Our whole house has had a sneaking suspicion that this pregnancy might be twins, even though I did my best to convince them that there was no real reason to think so.

Nonetheless, the idea wouldn’t die. Supporting factors:

I really wanted to have twins this time. It worked the first time I decided I really wanted a boy, so why not again?
Twins run in the family, strongly.
I’m nearly 40.
I have been much more tired than usual.
Half of the kids have dreamed that this baby is a boy, and half dreamed of a girl. Laugh if you must – hubby does, and I sometimes do – but premonitory dreams also run in the family very strongly.
I felt movement at 14 weeks, much earlier than I normally do.
I heard a heartbeat on the left, and on the right, with nothing in the middle. I know it can echo like that, but I also know that twins have 2 hearts. :)

There were also several convincing reasons to believe that I was not having twins this time:

I had less morning sickness than usual. With twins, it’s common to get a double dose.
I was not bigger than usual. I confirmed this by measuring myself at 15.5 weeks, and came up with 17 weeks. With twins, it’s normal to measure at least 4 weeks bigger than normal, so this put me comfortably inside the normal range, especially for someone who has earned the title grand multipara. You could even call me a great-grand multipara.
The dueling heartbeats could easily be an echo. I kept telling myself this, but it wasn’t working.

So at my checkup, I beat around the bush. I asked about prenatal vitamin recommendations, assured Jennifer that I was eating plenty even though I haven’t gained any weight yet, and agreed to add dandelion root to my daily routine since I had traces of nitrates. When she glanced over my paperwork and noted that twins ran in the family, I tried not to look too excited or speak too quickly as I listed off the occurrences.

Lydia was watching and listening impatiently, and our eyes met across the room. Finally I burst out, “OK. I already know the answer to this, but I need to hear you say it. I heard a heartbeat on the far left, and a heartbeat on the far right. They can echo like that with a doppler, right? It doesn’t mean twins, right? I keep telling the kids that, but they don’t believe me.” What I really meant is, I keep telling myself that but I’m not convinced.

Jennifer smiled, and quickly assured me that yes, it’s all sound waves and it’s very common to hear an echo like that. She also reminded me that with twins it’s common to have more morning sickness, not less. Still, I think she recognized my eagerness to know. We proceeded quickly to the part where we hear the baby’s heartbeat.

When she felt my belly, she commented that I looked like about 17 weeks (with no tape measure – she’s good!), and that was perfectly normal. No reason to suspect twins.

She also commented right away that she could feel the baby’s back, lying along the right side of my abdomen. Even after so many pregnancies, I had no idea it was possible to feel a baby from the outside so early. This tickled me for some reason. It somehow made it more real, like feeling the baby kick.

Then we listened to the heartbeat. It was in the 140′s. She took her time, checking all over, then told me what I already knew. Just one baby.

After that long, rambling account, maybe you were hoping for a different ending. Sorry. So was I, at least a part of me. But another part of me is breathing a sigh of relief for now. One baby is plenty to fill our home with a new burst of noise and joy and life, and that’s more than we deserve. And sometimes surprises happen, too.

Belly pics:

Here’s the weekly pic in my favorite dress.

And here’s one not in my favorite dress. I’m only posting this because I said last week that I would be sharing a photo in one of my everyday outfits. Now you can see once again why I choose to post photos of myself in the dress above. If you say something kind and affirming about the pic below, I will never believe another word you say. Be forewarned.

Baby at 16 weeks:

Baby is nearly 5″ from crown to rump and weighs about 3.5 oz.
Fat begins to form underneath skin.
Baby hears external voices.
Baby sleeps and dreams.
Baby’s developing facial muscles make facial expressions possible.
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Exercise

Remember last week when I said all I did was walk 2 miles, but I would take it as a starting point and try to do better this week? Well, I didn’t remember. Why didn’t you remind me?

I forgot all about this thing called exercise until Saturday, and then I was busy so I had to procrastinate until Monday. On Monday, I took 5yo Perry and 7yo Rachael on a walk, determined to cover something more than 2 miles. We had a great time and ended up walking a leisurely 3.3 miles, talking nonstop (well, some of us) and gathering dozens of varieties of wildflowers along the way. Now we have plans for regular wildflower walks, alternating with trash walks. Perry and Rachael were disgusted by the litter along the roadside, so we decided to bring grocery sacks next time and gather trash instead of flowers. Whoever wants to go with us will have to bring and fill at least one sack.

Do you have a pregnancy update for this week?

Link up with other expecting moms at My Joy-Filled Life.

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Providential sausage

kimc — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 01:58:15 +0000

Today I was picking a up a few items at the grocery store and noticed that the national brand sausage we normally buy was – gasp – $3.50/lb. I was horrified. Sausage is one of the few meats we still buy because it’s necessary for pizza, which is necessary for Friday nights. We can give up red meat and cut back on chicken, but the sausage is non-negotiable.

So in the face of $3.50 sausage, I searched my brain and remembered that I had seen pork loin in another store’s sale flyer for $1.99/lb. We bought a ton of pork loin last year for $.99/lb and used it to make our own sausage. I thought $1.99 was a good buy until I saw the price of sausage. Then I realized it was a great buy, so I decided to make an extra stop and stock up.

Alas, when I reached HEB, the pork loin was nowhere to be seen. It turned out I had seen last week’s flyer. The sale had come and gone. We bought our first watermelon of the season and wandered the store, enjoying the air conditioning and free samples but disappointed at missing the deal.

Then my eye lit upon an unadvertised special: the same national brand of sausage I usually buy for $3, which had recently risen to $3.50, was on sale 5 lbs/$5! Not only was this about 70% off the regular price, it was half the price of the pork loin we had missed. An added bonus: unlike the pork loin, it was already ground and seasoned. This is noteworthy because while homemade sausage from pork loin is lean and delicious, it’s also a lot of work. Don’t tell my kids, but I make it a practice to avoid unnecessary work whenever possible. I find there is generally enough necessary work to go around.

If you’re wondering whether there is a point to all this, here it is.

My first impulse was to complain that we had made an extra stop for no reason. Then I realized that we did find a good deal on a watermelon, and enjoyed some delicious free samples. The store was on my way home, so I had lost nothing but time. Good enough. I quit complaining.

Then I found the sausage, and realized that God had used an outdated sale flyer and my own faulty memory to lead us to a blessing. Of course He could have done it without my help, but sometimes it’s amusing to see the tools He uses. If I had simply happened into the store, I might not have thought at all about how I came to be there.

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4 Moms: Homeschooling through pregnancy or chronic illness

kimc — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:34:58 +0000

This week, we four moms of many are talking about how to homeschool through chronic illness or pregnancy. If your morning sickness is bad enough, the two may sound and feel like the same thing.

If we’re talking about things that bring daily school to a screeching halt, we could also add interstate moves to the list. We had a beautiful daily schedule when we lived in Ohio, and I had 6 children under 10 at the time, expecting #7. Once we moved, things were never the same again.

I expected our move to change things, but I did not expect the change to be permanent. For this reason, I spent several months waiting for our lives to fall back into order naturally. It didn’t help that I was in the midst of my worst pregnancy ever, with non-stop vomiting, suspected gestational diabetes, little or no control over my diet (we were not living in our own home at the time), and several other major and inescapable sources of stress around us.

When our lives didn’t quickly and naturally slip back into something resembling the old order, I spent several months sinking into a slow motion panic, afraid that the brains of our children were turning to mush while I watched helplessly from my miserable place on the sofa.

See? Pregnancy isn’t always a breeze for moms of many.

But I learned something along the way. I learned that not all education happens at the table with a pencil and a textbook.

It doesn’t even always involve a book, though it almost pains me to say so.

As long as children are not spending their days plastered to the television, immersing themselves in video games, or otherwise indulging in wanton purposeful brain damage, they are probably learning new things.

That’s not to say that you should let them quit school and do what they want for the rest of their days. Just don’t panic if school isn’t happening the way you envision it while you are sick.

Here are some ways to keep educating your children even when you can hardly crawl out of bed:

Read to your children, and encourage them to read. Read together in your bed, if that’s where you spend most of your time. That is where reading lessons happen in my house even when I’m well.
Make sure you provide plenty of good literature and nonfiction, and not too much “brain candy.” Children who read twaddle will quickly come to crave it just like the child who has been raised on breakfast pastries will crave that morning dose of sugar. It sometimes takes self control and extra effort to develop a taste for what is best for us.
Have your children narrate back to you when you read aloud to them. Encourage them to tell the story in their own words. Very little ones often show a desire to do this naturally, like when your toddler wants to “read” you her favorite book. I have also let the young ones narrate to each other to help “catch up” when one misses a chapter of a book we’re reading together.
Encourage the independent pursuit of hobbies and interests. Urge your children to dig deeper into what interests them, and to learn fun or interesting new skills.
Talk to your children, and with your children. This is huge! Explain difficult concepts, even if you think they’re too young to completely grasp what you are talking about. You are planting seeds and concepts. Answer questions. Ask questions. Include them in discussions, even if they’re too young to really participate. Engage. Don’t sell your children short: everything is fair game at every age.
Use videos judiciously. Work hard not to create an atmosphere where videos are the default method of entertaining children or killing time. Non-fiction and educational videos abound. Use them as a basis for discussions rather than just time-fillers. Let the kids watch a familiar/favorite video but require them to use the foreign language track rather than English. My kids groan, but never decline.

So much learning can be self directed and self motivated, but often our children miss out on that aspect when we are strong and healthy enough to hover over them and manage all aspects of their day. It’s not good to leave a child to himself (Proverbs 29:15), but I do think that we are sometimes inclined to manage their days a little too closely. The inability to do so can sometimes provide new opportunities for growth and learning that our children might have missed otherwise.

Here’s what the other 3 moms say:

Connie at Smockity Frocks
Headmistress @ The Common Room
Kimberly @ Raising Olives

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

May 3 - Cooking with leftovers
May 10 - Favorite frugal tips
May 17 - Q&A
May 24 - Homeschooling when in a rotten temper