I Write Like A Girl!

I entered my five most recent blog entry titles into this little device and then I entered the text of my most recent entry and both, when analyzed, said I write like a girl!

How about you?

I Have Not Disappeared

As you might remember from last year, Ball Season is one heckuva a time for us. We love it but it wipes us out. We have at least 2 if not 3 games or practices on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays and Ray has practice on Fridays. Wednesdays and Saturdays are church, of course, so we are running to do stuff 7 days a week. So maybe you can understand why my blog posts have been rare lately.

I must say that all the running around between ballfields has lots easier this year, though since we're not hustling back and forth to school, too. Homeschooling has been wonderful in so many ways but the lack of driving and rushing to take and pick-up kids from school has probably been the best perk. I know, I know...I should probably be most happy about those "a-ha" moments and the bonding we have experienced as a family BUT if I spoke honestly, I would have to say that the best thing about homeschooling this year has been the fact that we've been able to stay home more! And I'm not the only one who feels this has been a big benefit. The kids love it just as much as I do and we are very grateful for the opportunity we have had to do so.

We're down to the last few weeks of school and it's exciting! We originally thought we could finish with our SATs being the last thing (May 8 & 9), but I don't think we'll be completely done before we take our tests. We'll probably have a week's worth of work after the standardized tests, but we are REALLY close to being done.

I haven't taken any pictures of the kids playing ball yet, but will do that soon. In the meantime, I do have this really awesome picture snapped by my friend Christy who came into town a couple of weeks ago. She's starting a photography biz and is trying to build her portfolio. When she came through town for her brother's wedding, she kindly included us in her stops. She's always impressed me to bits with the photos she has taken of her family and surroundings and I just feel so blessed she snapped some pictures of us! She's only shown me this one that she took but will be sharing more with me soon. I will be showing my faves to y'all, of course!

A Plug For A Great Nappy

The BumGenius 2.0 AIO cloth diaper is on sale. Yeah, it's only $2 off the regular price but since I was gonna buy a couple anyway, it's really nice that I saved $4! I always like to save a buck!

Henry rolled his eyes tonight when I bought these. This cloth diapering thing is something he supports but he doesn't get it. But hey, I'm not gonna complain. He gets and supports all the other "weird" things I do. The birthing and breastfeeding and Mannatech stuff all makes sense to him so I'm not gonna pester him with all the reasons I think cloth is so awesome.

Yes, CD'ing takes about 5 minutes longer per change and requires a few extra loads of laundry each week but knowing that his little hiney is covered in soft cotton (that doesn't have chemicals that might keep me from having grandchildren one day) makes it allllllll worth it.

I mean, just take a look at this little fella... He definitely deserves it!

Continuing Penn State Info

Since I already posted one bit of information about Penn State's breastfeeding advocacy, I thought I'd go ahead and post this second article to showcase what a great job they are doing! I figure it might help their google ranking :)

Priorities

Priority lists. I have two of them and they are broken down by two categories. Things I can do while holding Captain and things I can do quickly before Captain wakes up.

And I'm so behind that I struggle with what order to put things on these lists. Too many things are fighting for that top spot.

Today, menu and grocery-list-making was at the top of the list and checking them off the list took FOREVER. The actual shopping time had toget squished in, too. Not particularly fun.

Poor Indie has a bazillion school things she's waiting for me to grade. I feel bad about that. Ray has been easier to keep up-to-date with because she does her work on the laptop and I can nurse Captain and check her work all at the same time. Indie does her work on a desktop that isn't easy to sit at while I have Captain in my lap. Rocky is mostly up-to-date because his work is all in workbooks so we cuddle together anywhere to go over it. Today's schoolwork with him was done on my bed. He-Man brought his "work" to do on my bed today, too.

Yes, we kinda enjoyed doing school with a warm blanket on this cold APRIL day.

I just keep reminding myself that next school year will be very different. And we only have a few more days to struggle through for this year!

I wish I had Hiro's superpowers and could freeze time. If only things would just wait a minute, I might be able to catch up.

Blogging (reading & writing) is on both versions of the late-night to-do lists. Right now I'm checking off things from the "while I hold Captain" list. I do believe the rest of today's items will have to wait another day or more.

My Poor Mush Brain

I'm proud to say that not much brings me to tears these days. I'm especially proud that I can say that while still in a post-partum period. But I confess that I nearly lost it today.

There one thing that makes me more nauseated than wasting time is wasting money and today I thought I had done both through a terrible and embarrassing brain malfunction. Today was the last day I could order the SATs for the girls to be tested next month. I called the number, spoke with a lady that was a little "hmph" about me waiting until the last minute. I placed the order for a 2nd and 4th grade test. She said something like, "Do I have permission to confirm this order? Once submitted, it cannot be changed." I said, "Yes."

But did you catch the mistake? My girls are in 3rd and 5th grades! Not 2nd and 4th!!! And when we were doing the order she said things like, "2nd grade Spring, 3rd grade Fall." And I followed-up with, "Yes."

After giving my debit card information and getting an order confirmation number, I hung up the phone. And by God's mercy, I realized my mistake.

My eyes burned with near tears. NEAR. I tried to remain calm. Maybe there's still time to correct the error.

And thankfully there was. It took several minutes to cancel the previous order and place a new one but, PRAISE GOD, the error was corrected. Of course, I allowed Captain to fuss in the background, ever so slightly, as I used him and my hormonal mushbrain, to be part of my stupidity alibi.

The time wasted wasn't nearly as disgusting as the 88 bucks that might have been thrown down the toilet. Oh how I wish 88 bucks wasn't a big deal but it SO is.

Well, the Captain is really needing me now. I'll post about my struggles with priorities later.

Yeah, I'm Signed Up With Google Alerts

So you might be getting links to more things in the future. I'm only being alerted for "Mannatech" "midwife" and "breastfeeding" right now but I'm finding this feature so neat that I might add more things soon!

Here's today's link to a Mannatech news blurb.

Mannatech's awesome :)

Go Penn State!

Yeah, it's an odd thing for this Bama fan to praise the Nittany Lions but I'm cheering for their research department to reach people about the importance of breastfeeding. Here's an article with a reminder of some of the merits of breastfeeding and some ponderings as to why so few American women are choosing not to take advantage of these health benefits.

Captain's Cool Clothes

Captain looked like a big kid this past Sunday night when we ROCKED OUT IN THE RAIN at the tobyMac concert. It was absolutely AWESOME! Captain slept through it all, though.

Even the "BOOMING OUT THE STEREO SYSTEM!"

Everyone needs to own a tobyMac CD. Everyone.

In fact, he'll be in Tuscumbia on Saturday and anyone who can make it to the show, totally should do it. It honestly "rocked the mic for fun." It was the most rockin' worship I have ever experienced.

That Feeling At The End Of A Day

I was watching some parents who were bringing their children to ball practice today. They were in their work clothes and were setting up their folding chairs to just chill out for a while. I had a slight and distant memory of that feeling of relief and accomplishment that I used to get when leaving work for the day or finishing a day of classes in college, or even in high school. It was such a nice feeling of accomplishing a hard day's work and taking a moment to relax at the end of it.

But when I was watching someone else have that experience today, I realized that I was still smack-dab in the middle of my hard day's work.

Times like right now are my "chilling out" times but even now, I don't feel very accomplished.

I have to get up early in the morning. I gotta be out the door for a very important committee meeting on the midwifery bill. We're counting it as a school day of course but we need to be downtown even earlier than last week. I definitely appreciate not having to be anywhere in the mornings since we've been homeschooling.

Before I close, a quick little recap of a visit to the pediatrician for well check-ups. Captain, at 7 weeks old, weighs 11 pounds and 1 ounce. He is "struggling" with baby acne and cradle cap but now that I have a few questions answered about it, I will be treating it with a Mannatech approach. I've honestly been just waiting for it to go away on its own but I think I'm ready to be a little more proactive.

He-Man went for his 4-year checkup and he's doing great! His cholesterol (when did they start checking cholesterol in children??) is 113. I didn't know what that meant in a 4 year old but apparently it is excellent. He's in a low percentile for his height but if anyone DARES to make fun of him he can ALWAYS get back at them about having a good cholesterol level!

He was asked if he knew how to count to 10 and if he could dress himself. It's really hard to not turn this into a bragging time about how he can name all the capitals of United States :)

Henry finally finished up with the Passion Play at the church last night. When he got home, he finally got the relief he had been wanting for several weeks now. He got a haircut and shave. Here are fun pics. I think you will laugh:

The Finale - Henry as Joseph of Arimathea

Henry's Mugshot

London's Punk Henry

Cleaned up and ready for work!

"There's my Daddy!"