tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77436119015243917362024-03-13T20:11:57.566-07:00Team SchweenThe story of our lives...hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-21556038738470647822016-08-26T13:19:00.002-07:002016-08-26T13:39:11.932-07:00Read Alouds We've Enjoyed (+ audiobook downloads!): Part 1This year we've really fallen in love with reading chapter books aloud as a family. The kids are finally old enough (at least most of them are) to sit and be engaged and enjoy a story over days or weeks. I still try to be very intentional about reading plenty of picture books as well because I think they are SO beautiful and rich and important for many more years to come. I don't plan to cut back on reading picture books any time soon for so many reasons. However, we have thoroughly enjoyed entering into a new "phase" where our kids are ready to listen to chapter books, which are usually above their own reading level. <br />
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My absolute favorite new discovery this year is the <a href="http://amongstlovelythings.com/read-aloud-revival-the-podcast/" target="_blank">Read Aloud Revival</a> podcast on iTunes (or listen online), with Sarah Mackenzie. I am addicted. I binge listened to many many episodes when I first discovered it. I think they're up to about 50 episodes now, and I have already re-listened to a couple of my favorites! Check it out. You will not be disappointed. It is free and a wealth of information for families in general, homeschoolers, parents looking for book ideas and lists, etc. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family where both of my parents read aloud to me and my siblings. I have so many fond memories that pop up now and then when I see certain book titles, hear a character's name, or see a book cover that looks familiar. My mom still jokes with us about <em>Matilda</em> and their family's use of the "telly" instead of reading books. I remember my dad laughing so hard out loud when he read <em>Owl's in the Family</em> to us. The <em>Spirit Flyer</em> series was one of the most memorable and exciting read aloud series I can remember. So much so that I re-read them myself a couple of times when I was a little bit older. I didn't even realize how blessed I was to grow up in a home where books were important, and family time boding over books was a priority. That was my "normal" - I am SO THANKFUL! The Read Aloud Revival podcast is making those things a reality in so many homes. It's exciting! It will make you want to forget whatever you're doing and go read to your kids (Also known as D.E.A.R.: drop everything and read!).<br />
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<em><u>READ-ALOUDS...</u></em><br />
I thought I would share some of our favorite read aloud chapter books from this year (so far!). Keep in mind my kids are all still little (7, 5, 4, and 2) so these are mostly short chapter books and simpler stories, but many are still classic and have such great character building truths in them. Some are just plain hysterical. And one even made all of my kids genuinely sad at the end. Great conversations and questions arise when you least expect it! Here are our favorites from this past school year (in no particular order):<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Charlottes-Web-E-B-White/dp/0061124958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464382904&sr=8-1&keywords=charlottes+web+book" target="_blank">Charlotte's Web.</a> and then we had to watch the original animated movie, of course! </li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_11?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=my+father%27s+dragon&sprefix=My+Father%27s%2Caps%2C203" target="_blank">My Father's Dragon</a> series of 3 books</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Piggle-Wiggle-Betty-MacDonald/dp/0064401480/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464383248&sr=1-1&keywords=mrs+piggle+wiggle" target="_blank">Mrs. Piggle Wiggle</a> (we've listened to more in the series using our library instant download option)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Courage-Sarah-Noble-Alice-Dalgliesh/dp/0689715404/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464383345&sr=1-1&keywords=courage+of+sarah+noble" target="_blank">The Courage of Sarah Noble</a>. Very short, and very wonderful.</li>
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<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bears-Hemlock-Mountain-Alice-Dalgliesh/dp/0689716044/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464383684&sr=1-1&keywords=bears+on+hemlock+mountain" target="_blank">The Bears on Hemlock Mountain</a>. Great, short adventure book for little ones learning to sit for read aloud time.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Family-Bridge-Natalie-Savage-Carlson/dp/0064402509/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469205295&sr=1-1&keywords=the+family+under+the+bridge" target="_blank">The Family Under the Bridge</a>. This is an amazing book. We will read this many times, I'm sure. Opens up so many conversations about orphans, widows, the homeless, foreign countries, etc, but in a sweet way that is down on a kid's level. A lovely ending.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Borrowers-Mary-Norton/dp/0152047379/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469205442&sr=1-1&keywords=the+borrowers" target="_blank">The Borrowers</a>. I think all children are fascinated by the idea of tiny people in stories!</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/James-Giant-Peach-Roald-Dahl/dp/0142410365/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469205581&sr=1-1&keywords=james+and+the+giant+peach+book" target="_blank">James and the Giant Peach</a> (read by daddy!)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Because-Winn-Dixie-Kate-DiCamillo/dp/0763680869/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469205727&sr=1-1&keywords=because+of+winn+dixie" target="_blank">Because of Winn-Dixie</a>. Sweet book, full of life lessons, and then we thoroughly enjoyed the old Disney movie!</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Chocolate-Factory-Roald-Dahl/dp/0142410314/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469205620&sr=1-1&keywords=charlie+and+the+chocolate+factory+by+roald+dahl" target="_blank">Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</a> (also read by daddy) Then we HAD to watch the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Willy-Wonka-Chocolate-Factory-Wilder/dp/B005F96UJ6/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1472095129&sr=1-2&keywords=willy+wonka+and+the+chocolate+factory" target="_blank">original Gene Wilder</a> version- the BEST! It was an extra fun experience since we watched it with friends of ours who also read it out loud as a family!</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xI-AU9aF1LU/V8Cg8sUOyXI/AAAAAAAAFWU/uj6nVmCMfmMB1mkuma1vMFSUSGn_ph0tACLcB/s1600/Wonka%2Bwelcome%2Bsign.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xI-AU9aF1LU/V8Cg8sUOyXI/AAAAAAAAFWU/uj6nVmCMfmMB1mkuma1vMFSUSGn_ph0tACLcB/s320/Wonka%2Bwelcome%2Bsign.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kids wanted to make a sign for our front door before our friends came over to watch!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PJ's, blankets, ice cream...such fun memories!</td></tr>
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<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Dresses-Eleanor-Estes/dp/0152052607/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469205658&sr=1-1&keywords=100+dresses+book" target="_blank">The Hundred Dresses</a>, a classic story for girls <em>and</em> boys! A great introduction to the topic of bullying and kindness.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Homer-Price-Robert-McCloskey/dp/0142404152/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464383376&sr=1-1&keywords=homer+price" target="_blank">Homer Price</a>. Definitely a funny one! We will read this out loud again, I'm sure.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pippi-Longstocking-Astrid-Lindgren/dp/0142402494/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464383537&sr=1-1&keywords=pippi+longstocking" target="_blank">Pippi Longstocking</a>. Also funny!</li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Twig-Elizabeth-Orton-Jones/dp/1930900457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472094991&sr=8-1&keywords=twig+book" target="_blank">Twig,</a> our first "fairy" book! The three big kids loved it and I enjoyed watching the wheels in their brains turn as they imagined throughout the story. And of course, they have been playing elves and fairies ever since - bonus!</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't this part simply lovely? We re-read the entire page :)</td></tr>
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<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Owls-Family-Farley-Mowat/dp/0440413613/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464383401&sr=1-1&keywords=owls+in+the+family" target="_blank">Owls in the Family</a>. The book is in my personal top 2 favorite read alouds from my childhood - it's hilarious! All ages will laugh.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Milly-Molly-Mandy-Storybook-Joyce-Lankester-Brisley/dp/0753453320/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464383431&sr=1-1&keywords=milly+molly+mandy+storybook" target="_blank">The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook</a>. Took a little while for me to get in to it, but it was a good intro to reading chapter books out loud since each chapter is a contained story, but the characters are the same throughout the book.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Littles-John-Peterson/dp/0590462253/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464383467&sr=1-1&keywords=the+littles+books" target="_blank">The Littles</a>. We've only read the first one in the series so far, but have been collecting others whenever I find them, used, for future read alouds or kids' independent reading.</li>
<li> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fantastic-Mr-Fox-Roald-Dahl/dp/0142410349/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472095050&sr=8-1&keywords=fantastic+mr+fox+book" target="_blank">Fantastic Mr. Fox</a> (another fun dad read, though might require some previewing... And we definitely will NOT be watching this movie with the kids anytime soon ;-)</li>
</ul>
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<u><em>AUDIOBOOKS...</em></u><br />
This year we also discovered and treasure trove of instant download audiobooks from our library. All you need is your Library's app, plus the Overdrive app or the Hoopla app, and you're set. It might be one of the more exciting things of my adult life...ha! Here are some of our favorite audiobooks we listened to (so far!) from the library:<br />
<ul>
<li>The Cricket in Times Square</li>
<li>A Bear Called Paddington</li>
<li>Pollyanna (such a classic, old Disney movie to watch afterward)</li>
<li>Sarah Plain and Tall (I look forward to sharing the movie with my kids someday)</li>
<li>Mr. Popper's Penguins (definitely a favorite!)</li>
<li>Happy Birthday Mrs. Piggle Wiggle</li>
<li>Mercy Watson series (these books are also FABULOUS for the beginning reader)</li>
<li>Hans Christian Andersen stories</li>
<li>Frog and Toad Collections</li>
</ul>
And last but not least, Audible. Amazon's version of audiobooks. We scored a free 3 month subscription and it has been awesome! At the very least you should be able to do a 1-month free trial. It is so easy to download books onto my iPhone and play them from a Bluetooth speaker around the house, or better yet, in the car when the kids are a "captive audience" and it keeps them so much quieter than any other drive conversation/chaos! Favorites so far:<br />
<ul>
<li>Ramona Quimby series (14+ hours of audio!)</li>
<li>Henry Huggins (13+ hours of audio)</li>
<li>Children of the Noisy Village</li>
<li>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (the Ann Hathaway Version!!!)</li>
</ul>
hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-24643212776651147922016-04-21T08:41:00.000-07:002016-04-21T08:41:02.179-07:00A "day in the life" of our homeschoolThis year I have had quite a few friends and friends-of-friends reach out to me about homeschooling. Some of them have kids who are just getting to be school-aged and they are interested in starting homeschooling. Others have kids currently in public/charter schools and they are looking at pulling them out and homeschooling instead. I have had phone conversations, email threads, FB messages, coffee dates, etc, to talk about the "how" we homeschool, more so than the "why" we homeschool. This post is about the "how," as opposed to our "why" :) I do not consider myself very experienced yet in this area, since my oldest (of 4) is only in first grade, but despite my<em> lack</em> of experience I hope to be helpful in offering a glimpse into a typical day of school at our house. I am blessed to have a number of people in my life who are veteran homeschoolers. I know that many friends of mine are not so fortunate. So even though I don't feel I have a lot of wisdom to offer yet, I am happy to offer whatever I have if I am the only one who can bring encouragement for someone considering the idea! <br />
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I've had soooo many people tell me this year that they desire to homeschool, but can't picture what that might look like and how they can keep up with the rest of "life" (laundry, cooking, exercise, etc) if they add teaching children into the mix. So here I am, as a non-expert, just to show you how WE did things this year. Some things we have found worked well for our family, when I find time to exercise, what the littler ones do during school hours, and any other questions that I remember being asked over the last year. This is NOT a post where I will spend a lot of time talking about the failures in our days, parenting struggles, etc. There may be time for that later. But this post is specifically about our routines and we find to be working. Thanks for joining me! (At the time I wrote this post my kids are 7 in first grade, 5 in preschool, 4 and 2...well anyone below first grade is in "preschool" at our house, lol!)<br />
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<em>** DISCLAIMER ** NO TWO FAMILIES HOMESCHOOL IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY! In fact, that is the BEAUTY of homeschooling, right there. Please do not think that we have the perfect methods, or that my way is the only right way. We are only are the very beginning stages of figuring out what works best for our own family. My hope is that this gives you ideas that may or may not work for your family, but at the very least encourages you that this homeschooling thing is not only possible, but also so enjoyable and SO worth it!</em><br />
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<u><strong>DAILY SCHEDULES</strong></u><br />
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First, my lovely sister Erika Shupe (<a href="http://www.largefamiliesonpurpose.blogspot.com/">www.largefamiliesonpurpose.blogspot.com</a>), is the master designer of these schedule spreadsheets. I couldn't have come up with this template on my own - not a chance! She is one of the homeschooling mamas that I am SO thankful to have going before me. Second, a word about schedules... Before you look at these and think our house is perfect and organized and peaceful all the time, let me just tell you that it is NOT, lol. These schedules are my "goal" for our day, but of course anyone who has even spent significant time with small children knows that nothing ever works out exactly as you planned! We never even tried to do math for an hour, however, if I give it an hour in our routine it allows for the baby to need a dirty diaper change EVERY day during that time. It allows for me to help another kid with a random bloody nose. It allows me time to get the little ones situated in their activity to occupy them during math time with my oldest. Otherwise math looks like this...your sisters playing with your math manipulatives and distracting you from doing your work. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not-so-successful math time...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When I'm not paying attention and haven't set him up with a structured activity...he's the cutest little troublemaker I've ever seen.</td></tr>
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Things run a bit more smoothly when I stick to the schedule and have something for the littles to be doing while Tyson does his math work...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Successful math time! Toddler having structured floor play, preschool sister wearing headphones and using <a href="http://www.starfall.com/">www.starfall.com</a> for her computer time, oldest working independently on his math.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eWEVgjRPIrQ/Vv7iyrAJEGI/AAAAAAAAFQM/yip1esHpmHk3NxgNSDUYjVCmdDW2TNAXA/s1600/IMG_9006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eWEVgjRPIrQ/Vv7iyrAJEGI/AAAAAAAAFQM/yip1esHpmHk3NxgNSDUYjVCmdDW2TNAXA/s400/IMG_9006.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Other preschooler having "table time" in the adjacent kitchen during Tyson's math time. Staying seated at the table with an activity only allowed during table time (in this case, craft sticks being used to make stables for her animals), with a timer set for however long table time lasts (usually around 30 minutes).</td></tr>
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And you get the picture. We maybe did 30 minutes of real math in the 60 minutes scheduled, but that is because I purposefully build in those cushions in our routine because without them we would never stay with it! I have time to move a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer, or load a few dirty dishes into the dishwasher when I have a second. The spreadsheet might look strict, but it doesn't include the hundreds of little things that have to fit somewhere into our day, so we leave lots of extra time for those things.<br />
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Our schedule also fluctuates at different times of the year because of weather! We live in beautiful, sunny Colorado, where the weather changes are a bit more extreme than I am used to, having grown up in the Pacific Northwest. Here in Colorado we spend more time outside because it is so dry and sunny much of the year. There are also stretches when we have a lot of snow. Many of the beginning and ending "school months" are filled with free time outside to enjoy the warm sunny weather. During the winter if we have to be inside much of the day, we might move things around so we can do snow play during the middle (warmer) hours of the day. When we hit 70 degree days in March...you better believe we're going to the park that day, which motivates the kids to work through their school quickly in the morning! There is still plenty of flexibility, even in routine :)<br />
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At the beginning of this school year (2015) I had a first grader, a 4 year old, a 3 year old, and a 1 year old (who <em>was</em> still taking 2 naps...bless him). Last year (2014), doing kindergarten, I was also nursing the baby. Nursing and naps require a much more detailed school schedule, in my opinion, in order to keep things organized, and make sure the baby gets fed without the rest of the crew destroying the house. This is a picture of our daily routine LAST year (kindergarten), and we stuck to it pretty closely: <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DzUP1chCgSU/Vxjqx7lLFcI/AAAAAAAAFUw/IvYMHEn7opsbtf3Ewn3Nul2Gy1tcQ5_HQCLcB/s1600/Fall%2B2014%2Bschedule.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DzUP1chCgSU/Vxjqx7lLFcI/AAAAAAAAFUw/IvYMHEn7opsbtf3Ewn3Nul2Gy1tcQ5_HQCLcB/s400/Fall%2B2014%2Bschedule.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fall 2014 (CLICK THE SPREADSHEET TO ENLARGE)</td></tr>
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Here is an example of our schedule at the beginning of this (2015). The "baby taking two naps" thing made life soooo much easier, ha!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fall 2015 (CLICK THE SPREADSHEET TO ENLARGE)</td></tr>
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Our current schedule has not been typed up yet. We still do the same things in the same general order, but it's been a little more lax the last few months. Plus we added "Morning Time" (see below) which has changed our day for the better. The "baby" (aka 2-year-old!) is older and able to play independently for longer periods of time (and no longer takes 2 naps). My oldest is reading which makes it possible for him to do more things on his own (read his own math word problems, read his music homework sheet and practice on his own, etc). So instead of showing you a current spreadsheet, I thought it might be helpful if I described our typical day and included some pictures.<br />
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<u><strong>OUR DAYS, DESCRIBED</strong></u><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><em><strong><u>Early Morning</u></strong></em></span></div>
I get up around 5:45 AM to exercise at home, 5-6 days a week, (usually) before my kids wake up. I try to fit in one more work out sometime over the weekend, but it might be something outside like the 200 stair incline near our house, playing co-ed soccer with my husband on Friday nights, or heading to our local rec center to use the gym. I love to exercise and I love to feel fit. At this point in my life it is unrealistic for me to spend hours a week at a gym. It is too disruptive for our day for me to haul 4 kids somewhere multiple days a week so I can exercise. Time consuming, expensive, and waaaay too much work to make it worth it, lol. I have also come to the realization that it's okay to do lighter workouts than I have done in the past. I am not planning on doing an Ironman anytime soon....so I don't' need to work out like I'm training for one! I workout for about 45 minutes, and get my shower in, before the kids get up (they are required to stay quietly in their beds until their clocks "turn yellow" between 7 and 7:15 - magical - and then they are allowed to get up and start their morning jobs. If I stay up too late the night before and start my workout later than planned, it inevitably takes more time since I will have...."distractions"....throughout the workout ;-)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The distractions sure are cute laying on my yoga mat with me! But I still try to finish my workout/shower before they get up so we can move quickly into our school morning!</td></tr>
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Around 7:00 - 7:15 the 3 biggest kids' clocks "turn yellow" which is their cue that they are allowed to get out of bed. Those clocks changed my life...ahhh. I struggled for a while to find a good way to get them to do their own personal "jobs" in the mornings without me prodding and reminding and generally holding their hands through it. Finally I figured out how to make a simple little chart (thank you, Pinterest) that I printed on card stock and laminated with my home laminator. I hole punched them and put them on a necklace length piece of ribbon that they could easily fit over their heads. Then they use a little clothes pin to remind them where they're at in their list of jobs! They slide the clothes pin down each time they finish something. It's awesome! I no longer have to babysit their job time, and they can be working on those things while I'm finishing up my shower or making breakfast. They love it, and I love it! They don't even use the cards most of the time now because their jobs have become habit. If they start to forget or skip things, I require that they use the card again for a while.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyson (age 7) wearing his job card. His jobs include: put pajamas away, get dressed, put any dirty clothes in the hamper, pick up room, make bed, put away any folded/clean laundry that I left for him, and unload the dishwasher. </td></tr>
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If the kids finish their job cards by 8:00 (easily done if they're not too distracted) then they get a sticker for their sticker chart. Tyson generally finishes his jobs and starts his piano practice by the time I make breakfast. A few days a week my awesome hubby makes green smoothies for the family before he leaves for work. That is a HUGE help for me! I make (ahead of time) some kind of breakfast bread, healthy muffins, etc, to eat with our smoothies. I don't bake in the morning since I'm working out and showering, so that's something I do the night before, or on the weekend and freeze for later use. Keeps breakfast pretty simple at least for a few days!<br />
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After breakfast Tyson gets started working on his <a href="http://www.mathusee.com/parents/" target="_blank">MATH</a> while I clean up breakfast. The other 3 kids have some free play time. Our formal dining room was turned into our school room, which I love, because the kids are right next to the kitchen when they're doing school work so I can multi task (cleaning, food prep, <em>MAKE COFFEE</em>, etc). If the other 3 kids are being rowdy or distracting Tyson too much then I have one do educational computer time (wearing headphones) for 20-30 minutes, and another one do "table time" in the other room at our kitchen table. Those are activities we reserve for kids who are seated at the table doing an activity alone (not joint playtime). <br />
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<u><strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">Late Morning</span></em></strong></u></div>
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After I've cleaned up the kitchen (at least a little bit - not the whole thing spick and span! Rinsed out smoothie glasses and breakfast dishes, cleared the table, etc) I have Tyson finish up with his math lesson, I might do a little food prep or start the crockpot for dinner (if it requires more prep time I often start the night before by chopping veggies, browning the meat, etc), and then we do "morning time." I have LOVED this new addition to our school day! I will have to do a separate post about the concept, or you can Google "homeschool 'morning time'" and you'll find plenty of resources. Basically there were smaller things I kept trying to fit somewhere into our day, and those things often slipped through the cracks. I also wanted a time in our day when we ALL sit together (usually in the living room), no matter how young some members of the family might be. I don't want the littlest ones to get the feeling that they're "in the way" or just a "project" I'm trying to manage. They are just as important in our family and in our homeschool! For us, morning time includes prayer (we take turns - nice and short) to start our day, singing a song (working on learning a few verses of Amazing Grace), catechism (memorizing the most basic and important questions/answers for our faith - later we'll add in the Bible verse references), poetry memorization (this has been so FUN and the kids are amazing at it - much better than I am!), our Classical Conversations weekly memory work review (no matter what grade/age the kids are this is something we can always do together which saves so much TIME!), and a little bit of read aloud time. <br />
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This may sound like a lot, but it only takes us 30-45 minutes, and I fit in all of those important but small things I hadn't been able to organize every day. The 2-year-old usually makes it through the prayer and song...and then he wanders off to play. The 4-year-old is required to be with us for about half of the time, but she usually sticks around longer. The 5 and 7-year-old sit with me for all of those things. I made a little 3-ring binder for keep our list in front of me so I don't leave anything out, and it makes our resources more organized. If we have time (probably once a week) then I make hot chocolate as a special treat.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Morning Time list. I have dropped off with the character curriculum and plan to use a different one next year.<br />
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After Morning Time I let Tyson have a break to play for a few minutes while I take the littlest 3 kids upstairs for "Play Alone Time." Once I've set up their activity <em>(large "Loving Family" fisher price dollhouse, baby dolls and clothes, Duplo Legos, Mr. Potato Head collections, My Little Ponies, large magnetic dress up dolls, Little People house/farm, Lil' Woodzeez treehouse collections from Target, etc)</em> they each play in separate bedrooms for about an hour. It's glorious. They enjoy (even though they don't always know it!) a little break from each other, and it gives me time to focus on Tyson for 1-on-1 time doing his <a href="https://www.logicofenglish.com/homeschool" target="_blank">LANGUAGE ARTS</a> curriculum. We have been doing Play Alone Time since they were all babies (always including an audiobook or kids CD playing quietly in the background), so it's something everyone is used to in our family. The 2-year-old plays in a bedroom, while he is contained inside a folding gate play yard. That way he can play alone without me worrying about him getting into things he's not supposed to in the bedrooms. Usually from about 10:30 - 11:30ish I have this hour of (semi) uninterrupted time with Tyson to do his LA lesson, and start making lunch! The little kids clean up their Play Alone Times and then have some free play time together while I make lunch.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This jokester getting ready for Language Arts time with mom.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jersey (age 5) having Play Alone Time in the boys' bedroom: using the Tag Jr. reader to do "school" with her dolls.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><em><strong><u>Mid-Day</u></strong></em></span></div>
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Lunch time is always...an adventure. I am pretty worn out from the morning of school, setting up and putting away activities, changing diapers, etc. The more kids I had at home the louder lunch time became, and I grew pretty tired of phrases like "don't talk with food in your mouth," and "stop distracting your sister," and "hurry up and finish your lunch." That's when we started listening to audiobooks during lunch time! (See my post about that, <a href="http://www.teamschween.blogspot.com/2015/04/audiobooks-why-we-enjoy-them-and-which.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>). We also listen to our Classical Conversations memory work CD's during lunch to review. It's quick, the kids love the songs, and it's one more way to reinforce the new grammar during our week. After any meal the kids are required to clear their places and put their dishes next to the sink. (My weak spot...little meal time chores. My goal is to have chairs pushed in, table wiped off, and dishes loaded, but I haven't found the time to train AND require those things of specific children. Will be working on those and other new chores during the summer.)<br />
If we stay home after lunch then it's free play time for a while. Often including...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Outside play time in beautiful Colorado weather!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside playtime...usually resulting in dress up clothes and some kind of adventure that I can hardly keep up with. Some days, there are just no words...</td></tr>
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Other days when we need to head out for a bit after lunch and before naps, it might look like this...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trips to the park</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quick errands before naps</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doctor appointments...Double Trouble in the waiting room ;-)</td></tr>
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<strong><em><u><span style="font-size: large;">Afternoon</span></u></em></strong></div>
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And then...it's NAPTIME!!!! Woo hoo! I <strike>can't wait for</strike> miss my cute kids while they nap. In our house the kids usually nap until age 5-ish. Depending on their individual sleep needs, of course. At this point in time my oldest is the only one who doesn't nap. The 5, 4, and 2 year old still nap every day (unless I intentionally keep them up for some fun outside play or something). I only let the 4 and 5 year old sleep for about an hour (usually 2:00 - 3:00ish) and then I have to wake them up so that they will still go to sleep well at nighttime. Tyson (age 7) has quiet time every day. He either plays outside by himself, or listens to an audiobook while he does Legos, Magnatiles, Zoobs, Thinking Putty, a puzzle, or whatever other activity he might request to work on at our school table. He knows that he is supposed to be quiet and not bother me because mamma needs a break by that point in the day! I am always around if he really needs something, but ever since I started incorporating audiobooks into this time of day he rarely interrupts me as he's engrossed in his story :)</div>
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What do I do during nap time? Well it varies depending on the day and the week! I try to do my quiet time with my Bible and sometimes a Bible study book for part of the time. The rest of the hour I often spend prepping dinner food, cleaning the kitchen, changing out laundry, picking up around the house, working on the computer, making any necessary phone calls, and probably about 200 hundred other small, random tasks that have to fit in to the day somewhere! For a time I tried exercising in the afternoon (when I was still nursing the baby early in the morning) but it just doesn't happen consistently. I'm too tired by then! It works much better if I listen to podcast or an audiobook of my own while I get some things done. If we were out for the whole first half of the day at the zoo or something, I usually come home and crash for my own hour nap because I'm physically and mentally exhausted and my introverted-self needs to hibernate in order to function in the afternoon (#keepingitreal). Next year I plan to have 2 hours of quiet time for everyone (2 nappers and 2 non-nappers) so I can have a longer stretch of time to rest and also be productive. The non-nappers will probably have required reading time for part of that, and the rest of the time they can listen to their own audiobook while doing a quiet activity, or play outside.</div>
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Around 3 - 3:30 I wake the 4 and 5 year old up from their naps and bring them down for snack time. The 3 big kids sit at the kitchen table and eat their snack while I read aloud from our current chapter book. This has been so nice! Their mouths and hands are busy which means there are far fewer interruptions while I'm reading. And snack time happens EVERY day, which ensures that read aloud time happens almost every day. Win! (Sometime this spring I will do a post on all of the read aloud books we have enjoyed this year.)</div>
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After snacks there is more free play time. If it's snowy, they often head outside. If it's sunny, they often head outside. See the theme? This is just the truth about Colorado living, ya'll! If it's too cold, snowing too hard, or raining (yes that happens...twice a year) so they have to be inside, then these are typical scenarios:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Book Time": each child on their own couch or chair with a snack of books. Not allowed to talk to each other ;-) I usually put on some Pandora with piano music or something in the background</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puzzles while listening to an audiobook</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fUIaptFMS5k/Vxf_6N12a7I/AAAAAAAAFS8/jRj3ylNI5EoVweLzlZite0-t7YifG4tcgCLcB/s1600/IMG_9029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fUIaptFMS5k/Vxf_6N12a7I/AAAAAAAAFS8/jRj3ylNI5EoVweLzlZite0-t7YifG4tcgCLcB/s400/IMG_9029.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Free-for-all dress up play...you never know what chaos will ensue! (Can you tell we do a lot of dress up at our house!?)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group "Table Time": kinetic sand is a new favorite! Usually with our current family audiobook playing</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Library book feasting in the living room</td></tr>
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Of course it's not always smooth and peachy and pleasant and quiet. As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, this is not the time where I will delve into our shortcomings, major cracks in our day, mommy meltdowns (say whaaaat?!), and other mishaps. But at least this gives you some ideas as to what our successful afternoons look like, and things you might try at your house! If we stay home I use this time to keep working on dinner, and the rest of the things I mentioned that I do during nap time. I try to pick up the house some more every day so that it looks <em>somewhat</em> put-back-together before my wonderful husband gets home from work and wonders why a bomb went off in the house... If I happened to have finished dinner earlier in the day in the crockpot and we've had time to pick up the house a little bit, then I will spend a little time baking ahead (muffins, granola bars, etc) or we will sometimes sneak in a little more read aloud time with picture books, or our chapter book if they're antsy to hear the next chapter. Some afternoons the kids spend all together, and other afternoons they divide and concur. My 5-year-old is a definite introvert so she will often ask to have more play alone time in her room, or do some kind of art at the kitchen table, or some computer time by herself. My 7 and 4 year old could party with people all day long, so they can often be found having some adventure together outside. And the 2 year old naps later in the afternoon than the other kids, so he's not a part of the equation right away.</div>
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<strong><em><u><span style="font-size: large;">Evening</span></u></em></strong></div>
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I won't spend a lot of time talking about this part of our day, since it's probably not much different than all of yours' ;-) Dinner is ...fairly chaotic. Meals as a family are a big priority for us. It's loud. Kids vying for daddy's attention and trying to talk over each other. If it's not their favorite meal on the menu then there is a lot of coaxing and prodding people to finish eating. I barely sit down since someone always needs their water bottle filled up, a second serving of something, a paper towel because something spilled, mid-meal diaper change, yadda yadda yadda. It's wonderful noise in the grand scheme of things, and I wouldn't change it for anything. But it's definitely not a quiet, calm time of the day, lol! After dinner my rock star husband usually helps do the dishes and clean the kitchen. We attempt to have our own conversations while the <strike>hooligans</strike> children are excused to play a little bit (or finish picking up the house if the toy tornado didn't get sorted out before dinner). Then it's pajamas, potty, and tooth-brushing. This takes approximately 3.5 hours. (30 minutes if we're working at light speed). Our goal is to have time for a little bit more read aloud from a chapter book that only daddy reads from. Doesn't happen every night, but that's the goal! We were just talking about maybe moving this to be right before dinner while I finish cooking, or right after dinner before the bedtime routine. This would ensure that it happens before both parents are feeling "done," fried, burned-out, and just pure exhausted from the day-to-day... We'll see.</div>
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<strong><u>MISCELANEOUS EXTRAS:</u></strong></div>
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I realize that this may now be the longest blog post in the history of...blogging. But I wanted to try to cover as many questions as I could think of, that people have asked me this year! Hopefully it wasn't too much or too little information, for those of you who were looking for a post like this. I can't describe every possible minute so please remember that there are times for a 30 minute educational TV show, interruptions for diaper emergencies (once in a while resulting in emergency BATHS - TMI), sick kids, sick moms, bad attitudes which make school take longer, last minute trips to the grocery store if I forgot to buy something over the weekend that I needed for my meal plan, etc.<br />
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Speaking of meal planning... I usually plan my meals for the week on Saturday, then grocery shop locally on Saturday or Sunday. Plus a mid-week trip to Costco on Thursdays since I'm out that direction when I take the kids to their music classes. I don't have <strike>any desire</strike> time to shop with 4 little kids during the week, so I try to do the bulk of it on the weekend. </div>
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Also, some other time I will post about <a href="https://www.classicalconversations.com/what-classical-conversations" target="_blank">Classical Conversations</a> , but for now just know that this is our second year being a part of one of these communities, and it simplifies our school and my life SO SO SO MUCH! For now it covers our history, science, geography, art, and other small things. I don't have 7 separate curriculums to touch on all of these "subjects." They are combined through Classical Conversations in the most wonderful way: classical education! Bonus: the kids get to experience bigger art and science projects than I particularly want to take on at home. It makes our days so much simpler, and I am forever grateful that we were encouraged to join a community. We go to "CC" one day a week and then are home doing the work ourselves the rest of the week!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dissecting!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painting</td></tr>
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One of my favorite things about homeschooling is the time it frees up for our family, and the flexibility it allows for. Sometimes we ditch the normal school routine and do something different. All of these things we get to do during the week, during the day, so that we can still have family time on weekends without trying to cram in a bunch of educational activities. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Have other homeschooling friends over in the middle of the day!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Head to the Children's Museum<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Story Hour at the library</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Afternoon tea parties </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nature field trips with our CC community!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-57PqKr-H6T4/VxjX7f36_lI/AAAAAAAAFUY/x4NfAbsTwGc9J4ltni5iPB4i-XPiDGJvQCLcB/s1600/IMG_8850.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-57PqKr-H6T4/VxjX7f36_lI/AAAAAAAAFUY/x4NfAbsTwGc9J4ltni5iPB4i-XPiDGJvQCLcB/s320/IMG_8850.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zoo adventures</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Helping mom cook </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Go to plays</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Week day (no traffic - can I get an AMEN!?) ski days as a family</td></tr>
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Well I think it's time to wrap this post up since it's taken me weeks to write it in small snippets, and I'm sure it's taken you hours to actually read it. Please leave a comment if you're one of those friends who has had questions for me this year and I left any of those questions out of this post! I am always happy to talk about what's working or not working for our family - I love to get ideas and feedback from my friends who homeschool. Community is an invaluable resource! Thanks for taking a peek at our days. Blessings!<strike></strike></div>
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hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-32341648168906416182015-09-15T19:43:00.000-07:002015-09-16T10:29:12.686-07:00Discovering my diastasis recti, and how I am healing it, Part 2A couple of weeks late, but I am finally back for my 6 week update on my diastasis recti and how I am using the Tupler Technique to heal it. If you read <a href="http://teamschween.blogspot.com/2015/08/discovering-my-diastasis-recti-and-how.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a> of my journey you might be curious about my experience over the last 6 weeks. If you haven't read it, please do, as it explains WHAT diastasis recti is, why it is important to check for it, how I discovered I had it, why I chose the <a href="https://diastasisrehab.com/" target="_blank">Tupler Technique</a> to attempt to heal myself, etc. <br />
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<strong><u>Doing the Exercises</u></strong><br />
As I mentioned in Part 1, the Tupler Technique is no small commitment. That became more and more true the further I went with the program. You are expected to complete the specified exercises 3 times a day. The number of "reps" and sets of exercises gradually increase (as your transverse muscles get stronger and can handle more challenge) and therefore take a little bit more time to complete as time goes on. I would say that at first it took me 5-7 minutes to do the exercises (3 times a day). By week 6 I would say it usually took me more like 15-18 minutes to do them. That is no small thing when you're home with 4 small kids, homeschooling, and barely have enough time to take a bathroom break during the day as it is! Making time for the exercises required planning ahead and prioritizing them over other things some days. I found that I just HAD to do the morning ones before my kids got up and we started our day. Otherwise I would never pause long enough to do them. I tried to do the mid-day exercises as soon as I put the kids down for afternoon naps. Defintely NOT what I wanted to do as soon as I finally had a few quiet minutes to myself, but I did it anyway. Healing the diastasis was just that important to me. I knew that I was committing to the program, wanted to do it the right way, all the way, and have no excuses to not see results. I did the evening exercises after the kids went to bed while I watched part of a show or something (little reward for myself, if I had to sit there and do them, I might as well be pleasantly distracted ;-). Of course there were days here and there where I didn't fit all of the exercises in!! That usually happened with the middle of the day sets if we were out and about or just too busy. <em>But I very rarely (as in, almost never) just let myself be lazy if I was at home and just didn't "feel like" doing them</em>. That's where my competitive nature comes in handy for once, ha! I wouldn't let myself just not do them without a good reason.<br />
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<strong><u>Splinting</u></strong><br />
The splint is annoying. It just is. However, it definitely loosens up after the first week or two and you just get a lot more used to it! At first I couldn't imagine how I would wear the thing for months on end, but it really wasn't that bad after the first week or two. I started in summertime in Colorado. It's hot here, man! I had envisioned trying to wear a thin, tight-fitting tank top, then the splint, then another loose-fitting tank top or t-shirt over to "hide" the splint. But <em>after the first day I realized that I actually didn't care at all what it looked like</em>. I probably only covered it up with another layer a couple of times in 6 weeks! I bought the tan color and the black color (not necessary to buy 2, but I wanted to be able to wear both colors and work out in them so I needed to be able to wash them easily without worrying about not having one be dry, etc). I bought a few tight-fitting tank tops from Target. Just basic, black, wife-beater style (what an aweful description!) and one with prettier lacy straps. I wanted them to be fitted so that I could wrap the splint over them and not make them bunch up and look weird. A lot of the time people didn't even notice I was wearing the splint when I wore the black one over a fitted black tank top! And if someone asked, it was just a good opportunity to share about an issue that people need to be more aware of anyway. I don't worry about covering it up or hiding it. I just don't care that much what it looks like....and it's hot in Colorado! I really did wear the splint around the clock (except for showering) for the whole 6 weeks. Like I've said, if I was going to go to all this effort, I wanted to do it right! Do the exercises diligently, and wear the splint as directed. Here is a picture of how I wore it just around the house every day. If I went out I usually wore the black one with a black tank, but I never took a picture wearing that one, apparently.<br />
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<strong><u>The Ups and Downs</u></strong><br />
The ups... As the weeks went on I definitely felt my TA (transverse abdominals) getting increasingly stronger. I got into more of a habit of engaging my core constantly during all of my daily activities. My bellybutton went back in after being "out" post babies. My low back stopped bothering me. And honestly I was finally more than just "hopeful" about having a fairly flat stomach after 4 kids. My abs looked BETTER in the mirror, even though I had completely stopped exercising for the time being. (It's always nice to exercise less and look better...ha! If only that worked all the time...) I could definitely tell it was working and as I checked myself (at the bellybutton, and about 3 inches above and 3 inches below) I saw the finger width begin to close.<br />
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The downs... As the reps/sets increased each week it was harder to make time for them. Still doable! But challenging. I also found that <strong><em>it is extremely important to keep your neck and shoulders relaxed while doing the exercises</em></strong>. It is easy to tense up and hunch your shoulders as you're concentrating on counting and thinking about which core muscles you're using, etc. I make a very conscious effort every time I do them to keep my shoulders down and relaxed. Otherwise you run the risk of building up too much tension in your upper back and neck which can cause problems. I was aware of this all along so tried to prevent that from happening. I could tell that I was still getting really tight in my neck about weeks 4/5 and I was about due for a trip to my chiropractor. It depends on how you feel about "alternative" treatments, but I think chiropractic and massage are important, or at the very list beneficial, while doing this program. The human head is heavy! When you add in a lot of "head lifts" 3 times a day it's bound to put stress on the neck and shoulders from dead lifting that weight (even if you're using correct form). Having your spouse do a few minutes of deep massage on your neck and shoulders helps a ton! And if you're feeling that it's still tightening despite that, a chiropractic adjustment and some of their pressure point work to release tension is key! I learned my lesson the hard way. I felt my neck and shoulders getting more and more stressed and I kept putting off a visit to my chiropractor because we were busy starting the school year and I put myself on the back burner. Then during week 6 I tilted my head back in the shower to rinse my shampoo and totally tweaked my neck! It was under a lot of strain already and I hadn't been good about loosening it up with massage. That little movement in the shower was just the last straw and I heard a few little pops and knew what I had done (been down that road before). Couldn't turn my head without pain! Anyway, went to my chiro that afternoon and took and few days off of doing the head lifts (kept up the seated contracting exercises) to let things settle down in my upper spine. Just something to be aware of! The exercises work, but they do put consistent stress on your neck and shoulders 3 times a day!<br />
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<strong><u>My 6-week check in</u></strong><br />
When I started the Tupler Technique I asked Brooke (the licensed Tupler Technique gal I saw in Denver - check <a href="http://www.diastasisrehab.com/">www.diastasisrehab.com</a> for someone local to you!) if it usually takes the whole 18 weeks to heal it, or if it really varies between clients. She thought I could potentially heal mine closer to 6-10 weeks with the program. That is because I already had some core strength built up (not great transverse, but not starting from zero, either), I have been a life-long athlete, familiar with how to isolate and use particular muscles, wanted to be disciplined following the program, etc. I also exercised throughout a couple of pregnancies, and in between pregnancies when I had time (not too long because my kids are all fewer than 2 year apart!). I had also been working out hard for 6 months or so prior to discovering that I had diastasis recti, so I wasn't concerned about losing weight or changing my diet. I really just needed to heal the diastasis and that was the only issue. Brooke does a great thing with her practice in that she does free "belly checks" for anyone who wants to come by. Fabulous way to know for sure if you have diastasis, how bad it is, and what your personal plan could look like to fix it (group class, DVD's on your own, 1 or 2 private sessions with her, etc). I paid for a 1-hour consultation with her to begin the program, but then went back to see her at 6 weeks for a free "belly check" so she could check my diastasis progress, write down my updated measurements, and take a second set of pictures. I was nervous to go because it was kind of my "moment of truth" for someone to officially tell me if my work was paying off, and how much further I needed to go for complete healing. <br />
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Well, let me tell you, that was a shocking appointment! First she looked at my guide book where you log all of your check marks each day for the exercises. She said I had been extremely consistent (I missed some here and there, but I guess she could tell that I was very intentionally about sticking to the program). She checked my abs (as you are supposed to do while lying down on the floor) and hesitantly, but excitedly, pronounced me "healed" from the diastasis!!!! After only 6 weeks! I was stunned! If you remember from Part 1, I started with a 4 finger gap at all 3 spots (bellybutton and 3 inches above and below) and my connective tissue between the gap was considered "deep" (as in you can press deep in between your abdominals when you're checking for diastasis) on bottom and middle and "medium/deep" at the top (out of shallow, medium, and deep options). After 6 weeks my measurements (top to bottom) were now 2 fingers wide and "shallow" depth, 2.5 fingers and medium/shallow, and 2 fingers and shallow. If you've been pregnant then anything approximately 2 fingers wide or less is considered normal. Some separation occurs naturally during pregnancy and no one ever has zero gap between their abdominals. That's why the connective tissue functions to keep them together and strong. So even though there is still a slight gap, it is considered healed and normal. The connective tissue is a major factor so going from deep to shallow is a big improvement! The middle place you measure, right at your bellybutton, is always going to be a little different than above and below it because the bellybutton is there and is always going to make the connective tissue slightly weaker there, so a shallow/medium depth in the very middle is "normal" for me after 4 pregnancies!<br />
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<strong><u>The proof is in the pictures...</u></strong><br />
Well, I kept debating whether or not I really felt like posting a picture of my stomach online for who knows how many people to see. Not exactly something I was looking forward to. However, when I began researching diastasis recti I had a really hard time finding any articles or blogs that showed before and after pictures of people who stuck with the program. A number of them posted pictures and measurements when they started out, but usually they dropped off and didn't continue with the splint and exercises. So, in the spirit of hopefully helping someone else on a similar journey, here are the pictures for you. The first two are the day I started. Herniated bellybutton and it's pretty obvious that I have diastasis recti! These pictures show what I looked like being back down to my pre-pregnancy weight, working out hard for 6 months, and my stomach looking WORSE the more crunches I did. This is as bad as it's ever looked after losing baby weight. That's how I knew something was wrong: exercise was only exacerbating the problem.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sAuA6d2n_2k/VfUHB12C_1I/AAAAAAAAFNs/paNkKM--fg8/s1600/Diastasis%2BRecti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sAuA6d2n_2k/VfUHB12C_1I/AAAAAAAAFNs/paNkKM--fg8/s400/Diastasis%2BRecti.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day 1 of the Tupler Technique</td></tr>
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The second set of pictures were taken at my 6 week check in with Brooke. Same camera, same lighting, same room as the first set of pictures. And these were after NOT working out at all for 6 weeks. Obviously all those crunches I was doing were making the situation a lot worse!!! (If only I had known about this before and saved myself a lot of time and head ache!). These pictures are after 6 weeks of doing the Tupler Technique exercises, but no exercise beyond that. In fact, I think I even gained a pound since I stopped working out during the program. My bellybutton went back in after only a couple of weeks. <em>(SIDE NOTE: in the second set of pictures I still think my bellybutton looks a little jacked up at the top even though it's back "in." That's because during college I made the very wise decision to pierce my bellybutton. Not that uncommon, right? But when you're a college soccer player...not so smart. Even with it all taped up it got ripped out during one of my soccer games, which left a nice little scar, which then stretched during 4 pregnancies. Live and learn....Dad, be proud that I'm finally admitting it was stupid - and thanks for not disowning me at the time).</em><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nEuvD7bOh2k/VfUHEfoNgeI/AAAAAAAAFN0/brW31L8l45A/s1600/Recently%2BUpdated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nEuvD7bOh2k/VfUHEfoNgeI/AAAAAAAAFN0/brW31L8l45A/s400/Recently%2BUpdated.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Week 6 of the Tupler Technique</td></tr>
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Here is a side-by-side of just the front shots so you can see the difference. Of course it doesn't always look exactly like this and may look different depending on the time of day, if I've been doing the exercises, etc. It is normal for your muscles to stretch out as the day goes on and your stomach to bloat a little bit by later in the day. So even though it won't always look exactly like this, I am looking forward to learning more core exercises that are not crunching, in order to continue to improve my core strength and keep definition consistently. There are plenty of ways to work your core with stabilizing exercises, planks/push ups, standing and side lying exercises, etc. I am just now on a mission to learn as many of those as I can to replace traditional ab workouts!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oHP5V6LO9e0/VfUHGnOS9hI/AAAAAAAAFN8/ATWcRW2vtuQ/s1600/Diastasis%2BRecti1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oHP5V6LO9e0/VfUHGnOS9hI/AAAAAAAAFN8/ATWcRW2vtuQ/s400/Diastasis%2BRecti1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day 1 vs. Week 6</td></tr>
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<strong><u>Where I'm at now...</u></strong><br />
Honestly? I'm totally paranoid that the diastasis is going to open back up again now that I'm not splinting. Brooke assured me that all I need to know is that I have a great measurement for what to do and what not to do in order to make sure it doesn't separate again: <strong><em>as long as you can keep your transverse at 5th floor when exercising, that exercise is fine! If you can't keep it at 5th, then don't do it.</em></strong> Those terms make sense once you start the program ;-) I am doing the TT exercises 2-3 times a day, and also starting to add in total body workouts again (slowly!). I have never had to exercise with modifications in mind or really having to think that hard about what I'm doing. It's a whole new world now! My brain hurts just thinking about holding my TA correctly during each repetition of every exercise, making sure I'm doing "belly breaths" (so as not to add extra strain on the connective tissue), etc. But it's inevitable that I need to learn to work out with these muscles in mind, so I might as well get used to it. I am attempting to return to the Bikini Body Guide (aka <a href="http://www.teamschween.blogspot.com/2015/06/my-favorite-new-work-outand-why-its.html" target="_blank">My Favorite Workout</a>). However, it does incorporate quite a bit of core work on the floor (crunches, jackknifes, leg lifts, etc) which I will need to swap out for "diastasis friendly" core work. If I go along and decide it's just too much work to change so many things in the routine, then I will try a different work out program which uses primarily standing/stabilizing/side-lying core exercises.<br />
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Now you know one of my biggest fears: that the DR will return and go back to the way it looked before. I guess actually writing that out is a form of accountability for me. I will post pictures in 2 or 3 months once I've settled into a consistent workout routine, without splinting (except for during exercise, at first), and see how things are looking. I'm curious, myself! And a bit nervous.<br />
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<strong><u>Important Thought:</u></strong> <br />
You CANNOT heal the diastasis, then quit the program and not incorporate exercise into your daily life, if you expect it to stay healed. Think about it. You'll spend weeks and weeks building that transverse muscle and doing exercises 3 times a day. If you just quit everything all together and return to life as you lived it before, of course the diastasis will re-open! Any muscles that you build will not keep their strength without continued exercise. Now I begin the journey of learning to modify every exercise I do. Bicep curl include a TA squeeze from 5th to 6th (as they say with the TT). A push-up includes a core tightening squeeze at the right point. Everything from now on should incorporate a transverse muscle work out. It's a bit overwhelming, but I am determined to keep the diastasis closed AND be in good shape!<br />
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Thanks for sharing in my journey. I really hope that my story and the pictures are helpful for someone out there, since I myself had a hard time finding the type of step by step blog post that I was looking for. Please feel free to share on Facebook, or leave a comment if you're in the same boat! It always nice to know we're not alone in something new, and potentially discouraging at first :) Blessings!<br />
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Heidi<br />
<br />hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-66756632777562520102015-08-10T10:44:00.001-07:002016-04-13T13:57:24.477-07:00Discovering my diastasis recti, and how I am healing it, Part 1Hello! So, my most recent post was all about <a href="http://teamschween.blogspot.com/2015/06/my-favorite-new-work-outand-why-its.html" target="_blank">my favorite new workout...and why it's awesome.</a> Today I'm going to tell you about why I've had to STOP working out. Greeeeat, right!? It's a major bummer, but a definite necessity. I will try to keep it fairly short...but I'm not very good at that. (HERE IS THE LINK TO <a href="http://teamschween.blogspot.com/2015/09/discovering-my-diastasis-recti-and-how.html" target="_blank">PART 2</a> OF THIS POST)<br />
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I've been loving my workout (link above) for 6 months or so. Post baby #4 I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I saw results. So encouraging to have toned arms and legs again (after a lot of hard work!), and feel much stronger in my daily activities. I could see more and more definition at the top and on the sides of my abs, but <u>the mid-lower sections of my abs seemed to be looking WORSE the more core workouts I did</u>. "<em>How is this possible</em>!?" I thought. All of the crunching, planks, leg lifts, etc., and I felt like I now looked 3 months pregnant, instead of (just!) 2 months pregnant as I always felt post baby #3 and #4... And I should note that<u> I was back down to my pre-pregnancy weight, and looking much more "fit" all around</u>. I was pleased with the muscle definition in my arms and legs and everywhere else! I think that is exactly why I started to think that something wasn't right in my abs. It wasn't a "baby weight" issue, and I was lean/muscular everywhere else. It doesn't ad up to look worse with more and more exercise and strength. I was also starting to have some low back pain. Enter: Diastasis Recti. Why this condition is not more common knowledge and something that EVERY woman is taught about during and after pregnancy is completely beyond me. It is so very common, and yet almost never diagnosed. And even if it is diagnosed, there's no suggestion that you could potentially heal it! So what IS it, you ask? Well, I am going to borrow someone else's definition since it's summed up better here than I could ever word it. From <a href="http://www.diastasisrehab.com/">www.diastasisrehab.com</a>:<br />
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<em>"Diastasis Recti, a condition often ignored by the medical community, is a problem that screams for more attention, and that is why Everybelly® should be checked for a diastasis recti. </em><br />
<em>Everybelly® means all women (baby or no baby), men and children. Many people have a diastasis recti and just don’t know it! </em><br />
<em>A diastasis recti is a separation of your outer most abdominal muscles. The job of these muscles (called rectus abdominis), is to support your back and your organs.</em><br />
<em>So why should you care if your muscles are separated? Because separated muscles are weak muscles. Separated muscles cannot do their job of supporting your back and organs. To achieve a strong core, your muscles must be close together. </em><br />
<em>When the muscles separate, the connective tissue (linea alba) joining these muscles stretches sideways. This sideways stretching of the connective tissue causes it to become thinner and weaker. So what happens is this weak saran wrap-like connective tissue is now ineffectively supporting your belly button, back and organs, instead of the muscles if they were close together. </em><br />
<em>The cause of a diastasis is from continuous stretching of, and intra-abdominal force and pressure on, this connective tissue that joins your outer most abdominal muscles. Right smack in the middle of this connective tissue is your belly button which is a weak spot. That is why when the connective tissue stretches sideways your belly button will become an “outie”. Pregnancy and doing crunches are examples of intra-abdominal “force” on the connective tissue. Wearing a front loading baby carrier or being in a hands and knees position are examples of “pressure” on the connective tissue. Movements where you arch your back will flare your ribs. This flaring will stretch your connective tissue. An example of this movement is swimming. </em><br />
<em>Everyone is born with their muscles separated! Usually, the muscles come together when we are three years old after our nervous system has developed. But this does not necessarily happen with everyone. Because our belly button is a weak spot in the connective tissue, even if the muscles do come together, there is always the risk that they may come apart again. </em><br />
<em>A diastasis can be closed on <strong>anyone</strong> at any time. It does not matter when you had your baby or even if you have had a baby at all! Closing a diastasis is all about healing the connective tissue. Everyone’s connective tissue will heal at a different rate. It depends on the “condition” of your connective tissue. The weaker your connective tissue the longer it will take. Also, the connective tissue on people who have stretch marks will take longer to heal. </em><br />
<em>Healing the connective tissue is all about putting it in a better (narrow) position, bringing blood flow to it and protecting it when doing any type of activities so it is not being stretched nor does it have any intra-abdominal force or pressure on it.</em> <br />
<img class="mainImage" data-bm="14" src="http://mutusystem.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Diastasis-Recti-V3.jpg" height="267" width="400" /><br />
So if you stuck with me through all of that reading, nice work! You may have gathered what I learned, which is this: <u>crunches and all traditional "jackknife" type core movements (like a crunch) are the absolute WORST thing you can do if you have diastasis recti</u>. Because I didn't know I had it, I had started making it worse with all of the ab work I was doing. Depressing, right!? The reason so many moms look a couple of months pregnant indefinitely after having babies is because the connective tissue is weak and your abdominal muscles don't hold your organs in as well as they should. Kind of creepy to think that the little "mommy tummy," as it's often referred to, is your organs pushing out further than they are supposed to! Also definitely explains the low back pain I was starting to experience. If your core isn't strong and doing it's job, other parts of your body will definitely suffer. And all the crunches in the world won't make your core truly strong if you have diastasis recti! I've learned it has nothing to do with weight or how all around "fit" you are (unfortunately!). It is easy to check yourself to see if you have diastasis recti (look it up online like anything else). If you do, then you should definitely not be doing any jackknife exercises, which I learned the hard way! And, I would strongly encourage you to look into how to "heal" it. People do physical therapy for all kinds of injuries. Think of this as physical therapy, to heal an "injury" you sustained from pregnancy. And this could happen after 1 or 6 pregnancies! Doesn't matter how many times or how long it's been since you were pregnant.<br />
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As I started researching and reading I continually came across the "Tupler Technique" (<a href="http://www.diastasisrehab.com/">www.diastasisrehab.com</a>) as a way to heal diastasis recti. Plus I had one friend who highly recommended it and used it after each of her pregnancies for a quick heal. I wish I had known before and during my 4 pregnancies so I could have healed it right away, instead of making it worse!!! Google will give you diagrams and definitions, and there lots of exercises on Pinterest that you can do, but in my opinion, in order to truly heal it correctly and permanently, you HAVE to learn the correct way to do so. Otherwise you risk re-opening your diastasis if it's not fully healed and if you haven't learned what movements to avoid (aside from just crunches). There are a couple of other programs out there with a comprehensive healing plan. After many late nights reading blogs and vlogs and reviews and websites, talking it over with my husband, and running it by my chiropractor, I decided on the Tupler Technique. But you don't have to just take my word for it! Do some digging and see what looks best to you! <br />
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So now that we all know WHAT diastasis recti is, how extremely common it is, and that it can be healed, I will touch on what it looks like to go through the program. The TT (Tupler Technique) requires that you wear an elastic splint 24/7 (except in the shower). Yeah, it sucks as much as it sounds like it might. It's not painfully tight at all! Just annoying to wear. But I totally understand the importance of it now. You also do exercises 3 times a day. I think the easiest way to explain them is like doing kegals, but for your abs (all you moms out there know what I mean!). Learning how to isolate and strengthen specific parts of your core. The program is technically 18 weeks. Extreme diastasis can take longer to heal, and on the other hand it can take fewer than 18 weeks to heal, as well. I am praying I can heal mine closer to 6-10 weeks! You can't do any exercising for the first 3-6 weeks (depending on the severity of your diastasis). THAT is the part that kills me!!! I finally did all this work to get back in shape...and then I had to stop. Completely. That's why I wish I had known about it sooner before I even started working out (I wait until baby is about a year old to start working out so I can be done breastfeeding since exercise compromises my milk supply). When you start working out again it's gradual and you need to modify things so you don't make the diastasis worse. It's too much to describe in this post, but the TT DVD shows you how to start exercising again, or you can do your own thing (like I plan on doing) if you have good body awareness and can isolate those transverse abdominal muscles correctly while you exercise. <br />
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Even when I do start working out again, I will never be able to go back to doing "crunch" type exercises. Ever! It can reopen your diastasis very quickly. So even once you're fully "healed" you can do all kinds of planks, stabilizing workouts, side lying and standing core exercises, but never crunches again. If you can picture "hinging" at the waste, that movement is fine. But lying on your back and curling upwards in a crunch motion makes it physically impossible (no matter how great of shape you're in!) to activate your transverse muscles, and that's how you widen diastasis recti. Not good. So for me....and many many many more people out there...goodbye crunches! (which, really, I am not that upset about, to be honest, lol) Once your diastasis is healed you can return to most regular exercise! YAY! The workouts I've been doing rely heavily on planks/push-ups/burpees/etc. I will go back to doing the same workout program, but will significantly modify the "ab day" workouts. Taking out jackknife movements and replacing them with diastasis-approved core work ;-) Push-ups and those kinds of things are fine once you're healed! As long as you can hold in your transverse, any exercise is fine.<br />
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I purchased the splint and DVD and guidebook (to track your exercises) all online. I was going to put off starting the program until this fall. I didn't want to wear the splint when it was hot outside, and selfishly I wanted to continue working out for a couple more months. But after really thinking about it, I realized that was kind of stupid, ha! I had stopped doing all of the core parts of my workouts. So I was getting stronger in my arms and legs and pushing myself, but my core was getting weaker. That's a recipe for injury, right there! Your core is vitally important for all kinds of exercise. But I couldn't strengthen my core until I healed the diastasis. Plus, my husband and I play co-ed indoor soccer and it was scheduled to start in a couple of months. I couldn't play soccer during the 6 weeks of no exercising. As much as I didn't want to, I realized there was no point in delaying once I knew what was inevitable. So I got ready to start!<br />
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A friend of mine in Seattle realized she also had diastasis recti. She went on the TT website and actually found a local Tupler Technique Licensee. I decided that after watching the DVD I still had some questions I wanted to be able to ask someone, and I also wanted someone to check my diastasis and measure how bad it was to make sure I was doing it correctly. I didn't need a "class" to do the program with - I am pretty self-motivated and am very aware of different forms of exercise. But I wanted someone to just make sure I was doing the exercises correctly, check my measurements, and then I could go do it on my own. I found a local TT Licensee in Denver and reached out to her for help. If I was going to give up working out for a period of time, and wear the darn splint, I wanted to make sure I was doing EVERYTHING right so I could heal it as quickly and completely as possible. No "trying" the program and half way getting it right, and then wonder why I didn't see the results I wanted. I wanted to do it well. We set up a 90 minute meeting so I could ask all my questions, she could check my diastasis, and we could walk through the exercises together to make sure I was on the right track. She was fabulous. Worth every penny. I got my questions answered and it felt a little more legit than just buying the DVD and products off of a website ;-) You can start through a Licensee and get the products you need through them. You can have group accountability if you need. I had just already purchased the DVD and what I needed so I was only looking for a little bit of help getting started.<br />
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As of today, I am 2 weeks in to the program. You guys, I can't even tell you amazing it is to see results within the first 4 or 5 days. This program HAS to be done consistently and with dedication, otherwise you will NOT get the results they talk about. My stomach is already flatter just after the first week. In my second week I noticed another crazy thing. Post-pregnancy my bellybutton had gone from "in" to being flat and weird looking. Again, you moms know what I mean... Nothing jacks up your stomach like pregnancy, lol. A herniated bellybutton can be no big deal, but can also turn in to a bigger deal! Something to have checked out. Well in the second week of the program, my bellybutton was back in again. It hasn't looked like that in 7 years, ya'll. Such a random and unexpected "perk" of healing diastasis! Anyway...<br />
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I am going to continue doing the program myself at home, and then go back to Brooke (my TT "person") at 6 weeks so she can check my diastasis, re-do all of my measurements, compare before and after pics, and just get a report of how I am doing and how close I am to being healed. She took side and front view pictures of my stomach the day we started, and she will take pictures again at 6 weeks. If I get up the courage to post those, I will ;-) I plan to do another blog post after my 6 week "check up" to show my personal progress and discuss other bumps in the road or discoveries along the way. I am hopeful for no more low back pain, and a fairly flat stomach after having 4 kids! Both of which I thought might never happen - no matter how hard I worked out. <br />
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Once you're at your goal weight and working out regularly, it's so discouraging to realize you may not be able to get your body back as much as you'd hoped. And OBVIOUSLY I will NEVER look the same as I did before babies. Nor do I want to!! I love to be in shape, but that looks different after babies, which is perfectly normal and expected. I honestly don't mind the few stretch marks and other "changes," because my body has been used exactly as it was intended, to grow and deliver and feed 4 precious little people. It's miraculous, actually, when you think about it. And it is an honor and a gift to experience. However, <em>I honestly did hope to not look 2-3 months pregnant for the rest of my life</em> ;-) <em>And I hoped my low back pain would stop once I wasn't carrying tiny humans inside my uterus all the time</em>, lol. I read another blog post about "body after baby" issues. I don't remember all it was about, but the title was one I think of often: <u>"My Body, Broken for You."</u> As a Christian that phrase is very significant. A reminder that Christ's blood was shed, his body pierced, and his life given, to pay for my sins. To give me eternity in heaven. But I also now think of it as a tiny tiny way in which our bodies, as mothers, are broken for our babies. It is worth the sacrifice 100%. It's kind of a cool reminder that as moms (and dads!) we set our own needs and desires aside on a daily basis, and put our kids needs above our own. It pales in comparison to Jesus' sacrifice for us, but I think being a parent gives us a glimpse of His sacrifice for us in the same way we make sacrifices all day long for the sake of our kids. Parenting is definitely a humbling way to begin to understand our Heavenly Father's love for us. Anyway, I know that was a RANDOM tangent in this post, but I think it ties in well when we think about our bodies after pregnancy. I am not striving for some kind of perfection - just strength and no more back pain! Sometimes when I look at my kids, or if I look at myself in the mirror, I smile and think , "my body, broken for you, <em>and it was so worth it</em>." I would do it 1,000 times over. I can still be okay with that, while at the same time having a strong core to take care of and play with my kids and exercise without fear of injury. <br />
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One more note and then I will wrap up this jumbled mixture of thoughts. I wish everyone knew about diastasis recti, even before and during pregnancy! It is crazy to me that there are post-natal workout DVD's that are full of crunches, without any mention of diastasis recti. And that there are some DVD's out there that may <em>mention</em> diastasis, and what to <em>not</em> do if you have it (which is better than nothing!), but do not offer alternative exercises or any mention of the possibility of healing it. Please, spread the word! Encourage friends and relatives to do their research and check for diastasis. Share this post if you think someone might benefit from my story. Check in again later when I do my 6 week follow up post. It's not something I was dying to post about - showcasing my own insecurity with this issue, ha! But I think it's invaluable information and something I wish I had known a long time ago, so I am happy to share if it will help someone else with their body image or back pain or whatever other side affect they are experiencing. Hopefully my next post will contain some pictures and measurements to compare from before the program, to 6 weeks in! Feel free to share. And stay tuned :)<br />
<br />hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-63365568012313590752015-06-15T14:44:00.002-07:002015-08-10T13:55:35.357-07:00My favorite new work out...and why it's awesomeGreetings! Great news. I have finally found a work out program/routine that I LOVE. And I have done many! Thanks to my friend Lindsay, and her awesome blog (<a href="http://lindsayleighbentley.com/2014/09/09/5-weeks-in-my-workout-regimen-im-dying-in-the-best-of-ways/" target="_blank">http://lindsayleighbentley.com</a>), I found the perfect work out for me right now. Just for some background, as far as my exercise experience... I have been a Division 1 athlete, a Division 2 athlete, had personal training, worked out at gyms, done weight lifting at home, done DVD workouts at home, have tried to get back in shape in between 4 different pregnancies, etc. I have been extremely fit in college, extremely unfit after having a baby and not having much time to work out, and everywhere in between. I can say <em><strong>with this work out program I feel the most all-around fit that I've ever felt</strong></em>, aside from the few years of college soccer, of course. My goal was to gain my muscle back, feel strong, and not worry about being in pain or hurting myself when I'm running around with my crazy kids, carrying 2 at a time up the stairs, or playing a game of soccer. When I am nursing a baby I have found that really any amount of exercise affects my milk supply. I don't want to jeopardize any nutrition for the little ones! Not everyone will have that problem, but thought it was worth mentioning. I have to wait patiently until I'm done with that to start working out. I started this guide the day after I weaned baby #4 ;-) I have to say, I'm not a fan of the name of the program. At all, ha! But if you can get passed the name, it rocks. Drum roll please...<a href="http://www.kaylaitsines.com/" target="_blank">Bikini Body Guide by Kayla Itsines</a>. <br />
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Why I love it...<br />
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<li><u>You can do it at home, at a gym, or on the road</u>. Personally, I love working out at a gym. Some people don't, but I do. In this stage of my life, it's just not a season where I can easily and consistently get to the gym. My husband travels so even if I wanted to go super early, I can't count on him being home. I have 4 kids, so inevitably someone would be sick and couldn't go. I homeschool our kids, which means every spare minute of my day seems to be used up between school and food and household duties. It's just a season where the only way I can count on getting a work out, is if I'm home!</li>
<li><u>It takes 30 minutes. Period</u>. The time requirements don't increase with the work out intensity. It just takes 30 minutes. I've always wanted to try some of the P90X type work outs, Crossfit, Insanity, etc., but I don't have 90 minutes to exercise! Relating back to the first point...I don't have much spare time in my day. With 4 little kids it would take me 30 minutes just to get everything packed and ready and in the car to go to the gym, lol! I would have plenty of excuses not to fit a 90 minute work out in to my days. There is really no excuse not to find 30 minutes to work out ;-)</li>
<li><u>It is designed specifically for women</u>. Sorry guys, but this one is just for the ladies. Kayla understands how a woman's body response to various exercises differently than a guy's. I am not looking to be a super ripped body builder. I want to look lean and strong, but still feminine. </li>
<li><u>It is cardio and strength training simultaneously</u>. I used to spend 30-45 minutes lifting weights and THEN somehow try to find a way and find time to fit in cardio. Not anymore! 30 minutes a day and I've covered both. I've also always hated leg workouts. When I was designing my own weight lifting routines at home, I always slacked on leg exercises, doing the minimum. This program covers upper body, lower body, abs, cardio,, etc, without letting me leave out things I don't like! Like I said, all-around fit.</li>
<li><u>Minimal equipment required</u>. You don't have to spend a ton of money. The program itself is cheaper than 1 month at most gyms! I already owned a set of free weights and a bench (thank you, Craigs List!). I only use a couple of dumbbells, a medicine ball, and my only purchases specifically for this program were a yoga mat and a Bosu Ball (not required, she shows you alternatives if you can't buy one, but I found one on mega-sale at Big 5). You can certainly do the program without a bench, but I have definitely enjoyed having one on hand already to use. I don't have a fancy set up. I had hoped to clear out a space in our unfinished basement and set up to work out down there, but it hasn't happened yet, so for now I just work out in our bedroom!</li>
<li><u>I am dead tired exhausted after every work out.</u> If I'm going to dedicate a small amount of time to working out, I want it to kick my butt. I want those minutes to be worth every second! I've found that the level of difficulty increases perfectly from week to week. Each work out is HARD, but do-able, and the next week never feels any easier, ha!</li>
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<em>One personal opinion to note</em>: you have to be able to push yourself. This is not a personal trainer, it's not a group class, and it's not even a DVD where you have an instructor you have to keep up with. This is an eBook and you follow it as hard as you can, working against your timer, pushing yourself as hard as you can. If you don't think you can be your own cheerleader and not let yourself quit, then it might not be for you. With this workout you definitely get out of it however much you put in! I love the challenge of racing the clock, jamming out to Pandora, and kicking my own butt in a work out! But not everyone will want to do that.<br />
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There is an optional dietary guide to purchase as well. I am happy with my diet and very much believe in organic/non-GMO, Whole foods, full fat, real sugar, etc. I can't vouch for her dietary guide because I haven't personally seen it. If you need help in that area, it would be worth checking out, I just can't speak to it since I didn't feel the need to change my diet. Just wanted to get my work outs figured out! <br />
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Kayla does a cool thing in that she includes 4 weeks of "pre-training" for ladies who have recently had a baby, or just haven't worked out in a while or at this level. Me and my ego thought I should just skip the pre-training weeks. My husband brought me back down to earth when he reminded me that A) I recently had a baby, and B) I hadn't worked out at an intense level for a over a year and a half. My prideful self decided to start at week 2 of the pre-training...why am I an idot!? LOL! I should have just started with the beginning of pre-training since it was my first time working out post baby #4. Anyway...the pre-training weeks are not a waste. I was just too used to being in shape and didn't want to admit that I was completely NOT at that point ;-) <br />
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Just so you can see what the work out pages look like, here are some screen shots: <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pre-training week 2</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BBG week 10<br />
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Big difference between pre-training and the end of the guide! I had to humble myself to do modified push-ups (first time in my life!!!) at the beginning, but now a whole work out of regular push-ups is no problem. I love feeling fit! And I love that it only takes 30 minutes! Here it s a picture of my little work out corner of our bedroom. Not much space or equipment required, I promise! I follow the work outs on my lap top, iPad, or phone. Whichever eReader I prefer. <br />
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The eBook lays out your work outs 3 days a week. She also includes options for doing 30-45 minutes of low intensity cardio. I go for a 30 minute jog once a week, and I play indoor soccer once a week. That's it, folks. I don't have time to go on long runs. I have 4 kids so I can't exactly strap them all in a stroller and take off! And I hardly sit down all day because I'm so busy with "littles" so I figure that counts for exercise too, right!? ;-) Anyway, that might have been way more info than you cared to read about, but I am excited about it, love how I feel (I'm on week 10!), am actually able to see my abs again after 4 kids, and wanted to share now that I can say it's tried and true. Check Kayla out and get going towards feeling and looking your best!hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-76040351024078939852015-05-11T14:46:00.000-07:002015-05-11T14:46:14.915-07:00Celebrating Mother's Day "Real Life" styleIn honor of Mother's Day yesterday I thought I would give you all a little glimpse into our "real life" experience. This was my very first Mother's Day with my husband home all morning. Background: until a few months ago he had been working at a church leading worship (in a part or full-time capacity) since we started dating! As Mother's Day is always on a Sunday, that meant that he was gone before sunrise every year and didn't get home until lunch time (or later!). I spent 5 years getting the "littles" up by myself on that morning, reminding them what the day was and telling them to give me hugs and kisses and wish me a "Happy Mother's Day," which they did, and then they would promptly forget about me for the rest of the morning, of course, because that's what preschoolers do! To be expected. Rushing through breakfast, clean up, kids' church clothes (which I finally learned to put on AFTER breakfast since they inevitably spill on them even if they're typically clean eaters), nursing the baby, getting spit up on, and trying to get myself ready for church somewhere in there...we were a vision! The house <strike>always</strike> often looked like a tornado went through it by the time we left. We usually arrived semi-on-time, hair bows somehow only slightly askew, and me exhausted and sweating profusely (even if I didn't look like it). Eventually I would collapse in my seat for the service and enjoy the 75 minutes of time to think outside of my little world of mothering and (hopefully) pay attention to a message about things much bigger and grander and more important than myself. Jesus' story instead of mine. Sometimes it's hard to snap yourself out of the "fog" and remember that the world is much bigger than your little life when you have a bunch of little ones taking every ounce of physical energy from you :) In other words, Mother's Day has always been just a normal Sunday for me and the kids and the working husband. (Though I should note that Robin almost always left a card and flowers on the counter for me to discover when I woke up!).<br />
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This year was completely different, so wonderful, and a perfect celebration of motherhood. Notice that I did <em>not</em> say that it was peaceful and quiet and relaxing. In fact, it was none of those things! It was loud, messy, busy, chaotic, rushed at times, and hilarious at others. Pretty normal as far as things usually go around here with 4 kids ages 6 and under (that sounds so much easier than it did a few months ago when I had to say 4 kids ages 5 and under, ha!). It had a very apropos ending, I must say...<br />
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After nap time we did some errands at the mall and planned to eat dinner around there afterwards. Robin (bless his heart) wanted to go somewhere a little nicer than usual to celebrate me. That obviously nixed Chick-Fil-A and anything along the lines of Red Robin. But at the same time we didn't want to go somewhere<em> too</em> much nicer because it needed to be kid friendly and not break the bank. By the time we narrowed down our options everywhere had a solid 45 minute wait, with nowhere to sit in the waiting room. Obviously this does not work when your kids are 6, 4, 2, and 14 months. We finally drove to a restaurant we like that was about 15 minutes away and had no wait (Mellow Mushroom, if you're a local!). It fit the bill of a little nicer than usual, kid friendly, not going to break the bank, and no wait time. For some reason our food was taking a really long time to come out and the kids were trying to hard to be patient but were on the border of losing it... They even wanted to pick off of our adult salad plates while they waited for their food ;-) When the food finally came, Tessa (almost 3 yrs old) suddenly said she wasn't hungry. Of course that did NOT go over well considering that we had just ordered her her own meal (which we don't always do for the littlest ones!). We gave her "the look" (all you parents know what I'm talking about), gave her a short (and pointless) lecture about eating the food we just bought for her, and commanded her to take a bite (like any normal parent would do, right!?). She refused and this went back and forth for a minute or two. The other kids were whimpering and trying to wait for their food to cool down so they could eat it, and Robin and I were a little bit annoyed that we couldn't start into our own meals because we were trying to convince Tessa to eat hers. <br />
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Finally Tessa caved to our parental authority and took a bite. VICTORY!!! Until about 9 seconds later... She looked a little pail, was squirming in her seat, making some pathetic noises, and coughed/gagged. Robin looked annoyed again for a second and then I put the pieces together and said, "put your napkin under her mouth <em><strong>right now</strong></em>! She's going to throw up!" Yep. Called it. She puked ALL over herself and the booth seat we were sharing. Robin tried to catch it in the cloth napkin. Didn't even come close to getting all of it (valiant effort, honey!). So, Tessa is now soaked from her hair to her socks and scream-crying (I think that should be a word), the other kids are just starting to eat their food, the table next to us is just staring at us, Robin and I haven't even started our dinner, and we have a couple of nice black cloth restaurant napkins full of vomit. We literally started laughing. The irony of the day and moment! We very rarely go out for a sit-down dinner with the kids. And of course the night we decided to splurge and go for it, this happens. Robin said, "Happy Monther's Day!" We called our server over and told her we had to immediately box up all of the food she just brought out because we needed to leave. One look around and she understood our "situation." The other kids started the wind-up-to-cry since they were so hungry and had only take a couple of bites of their food. I told them they could keep their whole to-go box on their lap and eat in the car. Tessa is still scream-crying. We used the rest of the cloth napkins (sorry restaurant staff!) and a whole lotta baby wipes to clean up the booth and Tessa as much as possible. Still laughing at this point. Then we packed up all of our kid gear, guided the soaked 2-yr-old out of the restaurant, and took our more-expensive-meal-than-usual out to the car. After I got Tessa changed into dry clothes and buckled her in to her car seat and promptly fell asleep (as in, drooling on her shirt). Poor baby girl! We dragged her around a mall and took her to a restaurant where we made her take a bite when she clearly had good reasons not to! I wish I had documented the restaurant scene, but I was a little too distracted... <br />
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Anyway, that was our Mother's Day saga. We laughed about it, we survived just fine. It was truly just a picture of what motherhood (and fatherhood!) is all about. Putting your own needs (like hunger and a nice meal!) aside in an instant and doing whatever has to be done for your kids. Sure it was a bummer to pack up and leave before we had eaten, but we were honestly not upset about it. Might have had something to do with the fact that we felt guilty for making her eat when she must have felt nauseous! Around 8:30 pm Robin and I finally sat down in the family room and ate our dinners with a glass of wine. That just how it goes, folks! Over the last few years I have watched some good friends, some aquaintences and some relatives go through unimaginable trials with their kids. Infertility, losing babies late in pregnancy, and fighting for their kids' lives through various conditions. I can't even begin to fathom what they have been and are going through. I think it's important to keep the perspective that every day with our kids is a gift <em>no matter what</em>. An immeasurable blessing. I could care less that our dinner out was cut short. I got to spend the day with my whole family. I had to take care of a sick kid. Well, that is life as a mother! I am so happy to do it. So thankful to be able to care for my babies. Blessed beyond words by a husband who provides for us and loves us. Parenting isn't glamorous, but it is priceless, and I am thankful for every single day I get to do it.<br />
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Speaking of... One more highlight of my day. My 6-year-old son left me the sweetest gift. He colored a picture for me, folded it up as neatly as possible, and put it on my nightstand. Along with $.44 as a gift. He can't open his piggy bank by himself, so while I was gone the day before he must have grabbed all the change he had from his nightstand. Change that hadn't yet made it into his bank. And he gave it to me as his own, unprompted Mother's Day gift. He has always been so generous and these little acts are one of the best things in this life. I love that he thought of me on his own, and gave me all he could find. What a sweet gift! He stole my heart 6 years ago, that kid...<br />
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It was a really, really, really wonderful Mother's Day.hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-40477440898634361892015-05-05T17:08:00.000-07:002015-05-05T17:08:10.851-07:00My favorite parenting resources (so far!)<div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;">
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So we've been at this parenting thing for 6.5 years now. Sometimes we feel like we've got a decent handle on things. Oftentimes we feel like we have no idea what we're doing still. Ha! <strong>(Some of you are thinking<em>, "Man, that's a long time! They must be experts by now." </em>Others of you are shaking your heads, chuckling, and saying<em>, "Oh honey, you've barely scratched the surface of parenting... You've got it coming to you still!"</em> <em> </em>I tend to believe the latter, myself)</strong> One thing we know for SURE is that the following resources have been incredibly influential in forming our parenting "tool box," if you will. I won't go in to a ton of detail about each resource, but I thought I would share a little blurb about each since I've had many friends ask me what we have found that works, where we got certain ideas from, etc. <em>We are still learning every day and are fully aware that we have many many years of challenges ahead of us as the kids get older and progress through different stages.</em> But so far in the journey, these are resources that we have loved! Some are more philosophical in nature, others are more practical, and some are a good mix of both. <br />
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I would like to preface this list by saying one thing first... We believe that a major portion of our lifetime is devoted to raising our kids and training them up in the way they should go, so taking the time to seek out wise counsel from veteran parents, and reading, learning and praying about parenting resources to use is valuable time very well spent. We don't see results overnight, and we didn't spend just one Saturday taking a class. We have invested A LOT of time in the following materials (be it on our own watching DVD's and reading, or in a group setting ) and we can't think of anything else more important, so it's been worth it to us! Life is busy, there are many other activities and hobbies and pursuits (and kids!) to take up your time, but I would encourage you to find some parenting resources that you feel good about and invest the time in your little people now so that you can reap the sweet rewards down the road. <br />
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<a href="http://www.growingfamiliesusa.com/home-3-2/" target="_blank">Growing Families International</a> is an organization that we have grown to love over the last 7 years. This link takes you to the "About" section on their website if you want to learn more about their philosophy. They fall in to the "both"category - philosophical and practical. Some of the materials we have purchased the DVD and workbooks and done them on our own. Other times we have been able to find a local class here in Colorado (through <a href="http://chcc.org/grow/classes/" target="_blank">Cherry Hills Community Church</a>) to go through the material as a group with fabulous facilitators. All of the books, CD's, DVD's, etc can be ordered from the <a href="http://www.gfibookstore.com/series-on-dvd/" target="_blank">GFI bookstore</a>.<br />
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The bookstore link above shows all of the available parenting resources. We started with their "Preparation for Parenting" material when we were pregnant with our first baby, learning about how to help baby get on a flexible yet predictable routine with eating and sleeping, and answering many of the rookie parent's questions on what in the world to expect with a tiny new human in the family! We proceeded to go through their Babyhood Transitions material, Prep for Toddler and Toddlerhood Transitions which covers everything from naps, starting solids, highchair behavior, methods of correction, expecting/understanding/dealing with tantrums (I mean, we all think OUR kids won't do that, right!? Riiiiiiight... And then you actually have a toddler and you experience reality), ideas of how to structure a toddler's day, etc. Most recently we did the Parenting from the Tree of Life series parts 1-3 in a group setting. It was FABULOUS! This series starts off giving lots of background for how important it is to speak words of LIFE into our kids, how to know and speak your kid's (and your spouse's!) love languages in ways that matter to them, and many of the Biblical responsibilities of parents. Then it moves into the practical advice which is GOLDEN. Their teaching on obedience, correction, discernment, encouragement, and everything in between is incredibly valuable. I would say this material starts being applicable around age 4+ up through pre-teens (they have another series for parents of pre-teens and teens. Lord have mercy, we personally aren't there yet ;-). I truly don't know where we would be without the principles of GFI.</div>
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The next resource is a booked called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Family-Times-Practical-Activities/dp/0802439799/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430696200&sr=1-1&keywords=creative+family+times" target="_blank">Creative Familiy Times: Practical Activities for Building Character</a>. I LOVE this book for littler ones! It's very short, concise, practical advice and "how-to's" to structure your toddler/preschooler's day. We do book time, play alone time, blanket time, talk time, date nights and all kinds of little ideas from here that have been game changers for our days at home. It's such a small book it's hard to see how much valuable information could be packed in there! Super practical. </div>
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Another book that we love is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Why-Cant-Get-Kids-Behave/dp/1449772838/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430868268&sr=1-1&keywords=why+can%27t+i+get+my+kids+to+behave" target="_blank">"Why Can't I Get My Kids to Behave?"</a> It's so good! I'd say this book starts being more applicable for ages 4+. Definitely still some stuff in there even for teenagers! This one is a good mix of the philosophical/practical. Lot's of great tips and the reasons WHY behind behavior and correction and new habits to form. Good stuff.</div>
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The last book on the list for today is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Give-Them-Grace-Dazzling-Jesus/dp/1433520095/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430868585&sr=1-1&keywords=give+them+grace+dazzling+your+kids+with+the+love+of+jesus" target="_blank">"Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus."</a> This is probably the most important book. You can read every manual and how-to and parenting self-help book on the planet, but if you are missing passing on the message of Grace to your kids all day every day, then you're missing the whole point of parenting. <em>I'm preaching to myself here, ya'll!</em> I'm about 3/4 of the way through this one and need to finish it ASAP. <em> It is a message I need to hear. Over and over.</em> It is beautiful and refreshing and practical and encouraging and life-giving both for the reader AND for the kids who will hopefully reap the benefits as parents read :) We have loved Growing Families International and all of their material, as I first listed, but <em>I think it's important to pair this book along with those resources</em>. It is possible for some people to get so caught up in the formula of "do this" as a parent and your kids will be guaranteed to "do that," but sometimes it doesn't work that way. Even if we follow the parenting handbooks to a "T," we are all so very very human, and will make mistakes constantly (parents and kids!), and this book helps you understand that and how those mistakes are redeemed by Jesus all day long. Even when we feel like total failures as parents, this book is a sweet reminder that God is ultimately overseeing our kids if we let Him, and it doesn't matter how many times we fail. It only matters that we point our kids towards Him and His saving Grace when we do fall. </div>
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There you have it! Whenever anyone asks me for any kind of thoughts or advice having to do with parenting, it's almost guaranteed to come from something on the above list. There are SOOO many ideas and opinions out there and it can get overwhelming as a parent, so hopefully this list will narrow down a few options for someone out there :) Many blessings on your efforts!</div>
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<em>(I should go finish reading the rest of "Give Them Grace" right now...my patience wears thin when my husband is on a business trip and I'm wrangling 4 little ones on my own. Here's to keeping my cool and giving them - and me - GRACE tonight! Amen!?)</em></div>
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hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-80695682047513870872015-04-17T10:46:00.001-07:002015-08-10T13:56:05.521-07:00Audiobooks: why we enjoy them, and which ones we love!I have mentioned on Facebook a few times how much our kids enjoy audiobooks. And I enjoy listening to theirs, as well! Here are some ways we use them and a list of ones we have collected so far.<br />
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We started out using audiobooks during lunch time. With 4 kids so close in age (6, 4, 2, and 1) the volume of chatter and <strike>whining</strike> questions and conversation distracted them from eating, and I grew very tired of telling everyone to "be quiet and eat your lunch." Enter: audiobooks. They started eating much more quietly (and therefore, quickly!) so they could hear the story. That was a golden discovery for a couple of years. These days we listen to some of our Classical Conversations (our new homeschool community - more on that subject later) memory work CD's during lunch instead, but we use audiobooks other times of the day.<br />
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Currently we use audiobooks a few different ways. Tyson (6 yrs old) no longer takes an afternoon nap. I need him to have quiet time in the afternoon because a) the other 3 kids are napping, and b) I need a break from questions and kid duty for a couple of hours! Ty usually gets to listen to an audiobook in the school room while he does some quiet "table time" (that's what we call special activities that we get out to use only at the table for the designated person) like Legos, Magnatiles, Zoob manipulatives, puzzles, etc. He loves to be around people all the time and will constantly tell me things or ask me questions from the other room during his "quiet time." But when he's listening to an audiobook he is completely captivated by the story and really just does his own thing. I love it because it gives me a mental break and my own time to get things done without constant interruptions from that adorable 6 year old face. Here he is using his new favorite art "tool:" <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ed-Emberleys-Drawing-Book-World/dp/0316789720/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429287240&sr=8-1&keywords=ed+emberly+drawing" target="_blank">Ed Emberley's Drawing Book: Make a World</a><br />
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Another time we use audiobooks is when all of the kids have some free time together (dangerous, I know!) and want to get out an activity like coloring books or puzzles. They are much quieter and focused on their OWN activity (as opposed to arguing or trying to play with someone else's things) if they are all listening to a story together. It definitely makes something like coloring last a lot longer if they are engrossed in a story! Of course the 1 year old and 2 year old don't have as long of an attention span as the big kids do, no matter what, but it still helps and they listen as the come and go from the school room and play room. </div>
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Car rides are also another time we use audiobooks. Sometimes we listen to music or just talk to each other, but audiobooks definitely come in handy in the car. Quiet time is a huge benefit of audiobooks, of course, but there are also other reasons we love them! I wish I had a couple of hours every day to sit down and read aloud to the kids. I enjoy doing it, they love listening, and it's SO good for them for many many reasons! But being a "stay-at-home-mom" of only little ones (meaning they aren't yet old enough to do much for themselves, and certainly aren't that much help to ME yet, lol) as well as a "homeschooling-mom" means that there are so many demands on my time every day that I don't have nearly as much time as I would like to read aloud to my kids right now. We still do read aloud time as often as we can, but I always wish it could be more! Audiobooks make up for what I cannot do during this busy busy seasons with only littles. They can listen to quality literature with rich vocabulary and increasingly complex story lines for hours and hours on end. So GREAT! We purchase many books that many would say are "above" their cognitive abilities, but I would argue that kids understand and retain more than we give them credit for. <em><strong>We always try to buy the unabridged version of books.</strong></em> Plus, hearing a wide range of vocabulary helps them to constantly build their own "library" of words :) Anyway, there you have some of the "how" and "why"! Now for the list of auidobooks that we own so far! There are many more out there once you figure out what you and your kids like. The library also has quite a few to try! I will try to update this post every so often when we add new ones to our collections.<br />
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These are my favorite for younger ages (2+ yrs) <em>and for when all of the kids are listening together</em>: <br />
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<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Frog-Toad-Audio-Collection-Read/dp/0060740531/ref=tmm_abk_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1429284462&sr=8-1-spell" target="_blank">Frog and Toad Audio Collection.</a> The kids love these during lunch time.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Arnold-Lobel-Audio-Collection-CD/dp/0061899690/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1429291434&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=arnold+lobel+audio+collection" target="_blank">Arnold Lobel Audio Collection</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beatrix-Complete-Friends-Unabridged-Classics/dp/B00RWSPX8W/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1429284508&sr=8-4&keywords=complete+peter+rabbit+audiobook" target="_blank">Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit and Friends</a>. Great classics for every child to know and love.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/James-Herriots-Treasury-Children-Creatures/dp/1427205248/ref=tmm_abk_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1429284806&sr=8-12" target="_blank">James Herriot's Treasury for Children.</a> Wonderful short stories about a variety of animals!</li>
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These ones are a little more complex, but <em>you could still start them with 2 and 3-year-old younger siblings so that multiple ages can enjoy them together</em>: <br />
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<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Charlottes-White-E-B-Unabridged-AudioCD/dp/B00BPHLJRK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1429289457&sr=8-2&keywords=charlottes+web+audiobook" target="_blank">Charlotte's Web (unabridged)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Great-Stories-CD-Album/dp/1600790348/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1429284855&sr=8-2&keywords=your+story+hour+great+stories" target="_blank">Great Stories from Your Story Hour.</a> These are a mixture of short history and adventure stories teaching values and character traits for all ages. This link is for Volume 1, but there are many more! So far we own Volumes 1-5. You can purchase difference places online.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Pan-J-M-Barrie/dp/1441715495/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429289941&sr=8-1&keywords=peter+pan+audiobook" target="_blank">Peter Pan (unabridged)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/King-Arthur-His-Knights-Weiss/dp/1882513312/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429290178&sr=1-1&keywords=jim+weiss" target="_blank">King Arthur and His Knights.</a> Jim Weiss has narrated many popular stories in these shortened versions of classics. We buy mostly unabridged, like I mentioned, but there is also a time and a place for these short stories as an introduction to classic literature. I can't wait to read books like Treasure Island to my kids, as well as them reading the stories on their own, but until their old enough we really enjoy Jim Weiss' versions. This is one of many (our local library has quite a few).</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/God-Country-Adventures-Odyssey/dp/1589974743/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429292521&sr=1-1&keywords=odyssey+history+cds" target="_blank">Adventures in Odyssey: For God and Country</a>. We definitely listen to some Adventures in Odyssey! So far I try to stick with the more historical and biblical stories. These are more for fun and not <em>necessarily</em> building their vocabulary ;-)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Kids-Collection/dp/B00000212C/ref=pd_sim_m_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0RT591JNN9JK54VHE9BH" target="_blank">Classical Kids Volume 1</a>. The kids LOVE these! There are about 4 CD's in each set and they combine beautiful classical music with narrations about Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven, etc. I knew the kids would enjoy these, but it's surprised me how often Tyson chooses these for his quiet time.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Classical-Kids-Collection-Enchantment/dp/B00001SIBF/ref=pd_sim_m_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=03A0Y1BJDNT3YZJ1ZHCF" target="_blank">Classical Kids Volume 2</a></li>
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And lastly, these are our newest ones we are starting to collect as they are a little more advanced. Our 6-year-old definitely gets into the story, even though at times he doesn't catch everything in the whole plot.<br />
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<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Under-Drakes-Flag-Extraordinary-Adventures/dp/B00GS6LMV6/ref=pd_sim_sbs_m_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1VVF2YKNNVK7M542KY6P" target="_blank">Under Drake's Flag.</a> Great historical drama full of character and adventure.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kingdoms-Dawn-Kingdom-Chuck-Black/dp/1598593838/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1429290709&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=kingdom+series+cd+chuck+black" target="_blank">Kingdom's Dawn (Kingdom Series Volume 1)</a>. This is a series that we are just starting to purchase. We gave the kids the first CD for Easter this year and Tyson has been enjoying it so far.</li>
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I think that's all we own so far! I love adding to our collection as often as possible. I can't wait to get the Little House series, the Chronicles of Narnia, and so many more from my wish list. Hope this post was helpful for some of you!<br />
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Blessings.hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-52777164913467584172015-04-17T08:48:00.001-07:002015-04-17T08:48:15.701-07:00Let's try again...Well once again it's been quite a long time since I posted on here! I honestly forgot this blog existed for a while there. Four babies in five years will do that to you... I lost half of my brain (and my ability to be on time to anything) somewhere along the way! <br />
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Recently I have had a number of friends ask for advice about certain parenting subjects, recipes we use, my favorite baby and kid gear, play and quiet time activities that our kids do, our first year of homeschooling, audiobooks the kids listen to, etc. So I've decided to *TRY* to do a few posts on here when I can (in all my spare time!) in order to share that kind of information from our little daily world here in Colorado. We live a pretty small life, full of lots of love and laughter and plenty of...challenges, ha...but I love it and wouldn't trade it for the world.<br />
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Thanks for checking in with us. Here's to yet another attempt at getting around to posting on the blog more than once every 2 years! hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-89725176133027370502013-12-15T20:48:00.000-08:002013-12-15T20:48:30.709-08:00Why bother unpacking when you can decorate for Christmas, instead!?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We are slowly but surely continuing to unpack the new house. Unpacking is not that much fun. So we took a break and busted out the Christmas decorations instead. Here's a little glimpse of Christmas at the Schween's this year. With all the money there is to be spent on things for a new house (who knew door knobs cost so much!?!), we didn't want to spend much extra money on new decorations this December. We used what we had from our last house, and supplemented with a few new purchases, as cheaply as possible (think, split peas from the bulk section at the grocery store...). Next year? Outside lights!!! I had to let that go this year with everything we have going on, but next year...watch out.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can I just say that having banisters is AWESOME....until you realized how long it takes to hang, shape, and fluff garland! 81 feet of artificial greenery later, my hands and arms looked like I lost a fight with a cat. Wounds aside, one of the first things I thought of when we looked at his house was how fun it would be to have banisters for decorating at Christmas :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally got our stockings hung! And we can't believe that next Christmas there will be 6 hanging from our mantle.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wasn't kidding - you thought I was. Split peas are filling up my candle holders. I already had the candles and the variety of glass holders...add split peas and you've got the cheapest green décor you've ever seen.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aaaand my one, token "Glassy Baby." LOVE. Why do they have to be so cute!? I probably won't own any more at that price tag (in my mature state of motherhood, I would rather buy a few lattes...or 50 lattes, or whatever the cost equivalent would be)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And then of course there's our 9 ft tree. Thank goodness for super high ceilings in the living room! And thank goodness that I could reach down to decorate the top of the tree from the balcony, lol! Otherwise this pregnant mama would have had a solid 2 feet at the top without any ornaments.</td></tr>
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Hope all of your Christmas prep is fun-filled! I finished most of our Christmas shopping a while ago. Thank you, Amazon.com, I never even had to leave the house. Very much looking forward to Christmas morning with 3 little ones tearing open presents this year!!! I have always loved envisioning a house-full on Christmas morning with our family, and we're definitely getting there! The big kids are enjoying our advent calendar and understanding the Christmas story a little bit better each year. MERRY CHRISTMAS!<br />
<img height="96" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3BVd4L1MqG8/Uq6Bm3Xx0DI/AAAAAAAAFAs/WeSvRXenpi4/s320/DSC_0817.JPG" style="left: 380px; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 306px;" width="63" />hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-68176515263992441952013-10-12T15:06:00.001-07:002013-10-12T15:06:09.471-07:00And then one day...we bought a house.This is not the post to explain the road we traveled to get here. To buying a house. That might come some other time, as it's a long story! This post is because of the family and friends who have asked for pictures of our new house. Well, technically, we haven't closed on it yet, so it's not 100% a done deal, but it's as close as we'll get until our closing date on November 14th! <br />
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We didn't take any pictures of the outside of the house or the yard yet - oops! We were focused on the inside of the house and measuring everything during the inspection since we won't get to go inside for another month when we close and move, and wanted to be able to look at our pics to plan our furniture, etc, so we didn't really worry about pictures of the outside. It's an older house ('95) and the outside definitely needs some work as it looks a bit run down (long story, it's been vacant for 2 years as two daughters have been remodeling the inside after their parents suddenly passed away) and the landscaping has only been kept up to the bare minimum (basically, they mowed the lawn, and maybe pulled some weeds, but it's overgrown and untended). The inside is looking much nicer than the outside, since that's what the sellers have been working on painting, new floors and carpet, new appliances, etc. We will face the yard work in the spring when the time comes - nice not to have to worry about that too much at this point since we're moving as winter and snow are taking over Colorado!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front door and entry way</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stair case in entry leads to bedrooms upstairs, and the family room is off to the right</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the "living room" to the left of the entry way. We will be using it for a "play room" of sorts, with our old couches, play kitchen, train table, etc</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the "play room" into the "formal dining room." We are turning the dining room into our homeschool room - I am SO EXCITED about it!!! Can't wait to post pictures of it down the road.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from standing inside the family room - kind of a great room feel with the kitchen and family room open to each other (hall on the left leads to the powder room, laundry room, and garage).</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Family room - left</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Family room - right</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kitchen, overlooks the family room</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More kitchen. Off to the left you can see into the "homeschool room" (dining room), and off to the right you can see the French doors into the office.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g42h_szMxdo/UlNsZdcnFRI/AAAAAAAAE9w/C0voF3E8E4E/s1600/DSC_0624.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-g42h_szMxdo/UlNsZdcnFRI/AAAAAAAAE9w/C0voF3E8E4E/s320/DSC_0624.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is where our kitchen table will go - can't WAIT for our new table which will actually seat our family and extend to seat company :) We have been so cramped in our little breakfast nook eating area and I cannot even tell you how excited I am for our new dining set up!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from inside the office, where Robin will be able to work from home when he needs to, and it will also be our music room where we hang all of his guitars and put Ty's keyboard for his music class.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top of the staircase, master bedroom door is to the right from the stairs, and the other 3 bedrooms are off to the left at the top of the stairs.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Master bath, and closet on the right</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More master bath</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Master bedroom</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kid bedroom - haven't decided which room will be for the boys and which room will be for the girls.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another kid room. The 3rd bedroom will be a guest room + napping room. Right now we have a kid napping in our room in a pack n play every day, so I look forward to having our bedroom space back and using the guest room for nap time instead!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kid's and guest bathroom.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, and randomly, a picture of half of the basement. The whole thing is unfinished, but it's huge and will be an awesome storage space.</td></tr>
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So that's all for now! Pictures of an empty house...and we are so excited to move in to it! I can't sleep anymore because my poor brain can't stop thinking about where to put the couch, which wall to put the bed on, where our pictures frames will work, how to organize the kitchen cabinets...ahhh! We are feeling totally overwhelmed and blessed at how doors have opened and things have worked out with this house. It's more than we ever imaged...and cheaper than we ever imagined! We look forward to turning this house into our home for our soon-to-be family of 6!!! I will post more pics down the road when we move in so all you out-of-towners can see the place since we can't invite you over for dinner.<br />
<br />hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-58192206995209745652013-06-14T14:03:00.000-07:002013-06-14T14:03:12.243-07:00A gift of rocks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Hey, look at me! Posting again before an entire year went by. I'm on a roll. </div>
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A couple of weeks ago was my mother-in-law's birthday. I made some homemade vanilla extract for her as a gift (didn't try it first...so here's hoping it's any good!). I wanted the kids to make something for her since I know she would appreciate something handmade much more than something store bought. And the kids have about $2 between the two of them, so that wouldn't have bought anything fabulous anyway ;-) She loves to garden and has a lot of plants, planter boxes, etc, so I thought it might be fun to make some "pet rocks" to live in her garden! The kids would love doing it (I would try not to have an anxiety attack, like I often do when I get out a bunch of painting supplies around my 2-year-old), and my MIL would have some things in her garden that would remind her of the kids on a daily basis.</div>
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I browsed around online and saw a few different ideas to pull from, and we also made some up on our own. Here is our first venture into the world of pet rocks!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Armed with some "base" colors for our critters</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jersey girl painting her rocks.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">While painting there were plenty expressions of her current favorite phrase: "Mommy, I do it MYSELF" - complete with big eyes, serious tone, and the most exaggerated emphasis on "myself" that you can imagine. She must be two. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyson choosing to pain a mouse grey.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The finished product of Stage 1! We wrote next to them in the box what we thought they should become after observing their various shapes. *Most* of what we originally thought of came to fruition.</td></tr>
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Stage 2 was just me and Ty. I woke him up a little bit early from his nap so he could help me paint stripes and eyes and noses, etc. I knew Jersey would get frustrated with me trying to show her what to paint, and she doesn't have the fine motor skills to do anything more than broad strokes yet. So for this particular project, Tyson and I had some special time putting on the finishing touches.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ty blowing on the "googly eyes" so they would dry.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My goof ball thought he was pretty "big time" waking up early to help with a special project.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here is the finished product! We decided to make: fish, tiger, ladybug, bee, mouse, dog, and 3 monsters (Tyson's favorite!). After the rocks were dry we decided to spray the fish and two of the monsters with some glitter (I mean, who doesn't love a glittery pink monster!?). Then we sprayed all of the rocks with a clear, UV resistant coating. I'm hoping it will keep the colors from fading too much this summer!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyson's favorite monsters! He LOVED the googly eye effect.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A couple of my personal favorites.</td></tr>
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There you have it! A cheap, fun, relatively painless (probably completely painless if you don't have a 2-year-old!) project which turned out super cute. My only regret is not making any for us, because the kids both carried the rocks around and talked to them like they were real pets, ha! So cute. We will have to make some more for our own yard at some point.<br />
<br />hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-836386327085881282013-05-20T19:55:00.000-07:002013-05-28T14:17:11.398-07:00One year later...Well, I thought since my last blog post was Tessa's newborn photo shoot (you can read her <a href="http://teamschween.blogspot.com/2012/05/tessas-story.html" target="_blank">BIRTH STORY</a>) that it was only fitting for my next post to be about her 1st birthday (lame, I know). We upgraded our windows software (I'm not a fan), bought a computer better suited to Robin working from home, and had some issues with .BlogSpot. Technical difficulties, people. Oh, and life was a little bit crazy there for a while after adding child #3, making three kids ages 4 and under. I was too busy to devote time to figuring out why the blog wouldn't let me up load photos, etc. And with the upgraded computer set up...I wasn't even sure where my photos WERE once I took them off of the camera and put them on the computer - ha! Technology issues are making me feel old... Anyway, it's been a fun and crazy year for our not-so-little-anymore family. Tessa Grayce turned a year old last week and we had a low key afternoon celebrating with my in-laws and a couple of friends. We kept it small on purpose so we could really just enjoy our family and our birthday girl without the utter chaos that inevitably accompanies big first birthday bashes. I missed my family and wished they could be there, but tried to take lots of pictures so they could at least experience it in photos. Now on to the party!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Latest project: birthday balloon wreath! I wanted to make some gender neutral decorations that I can pull out every time there's a birthday in our family. 1) because I don't have time to make specific themed decorations for each kid every time they have a birthday, 2) I don't want to spend the $$ to make new decorations all the time! More cost effective to have a few reusable ones.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birthday sign...post gusts of wind at the beginning of the party. It looked cuter before the weather got in the way!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My little birthday beauty.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My in-laws back yard - MUCH more conducive than our yard for a BBQ with plenty of room for the kids roam around and play.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty pleased with how well these turned out! I did not want to use artificial food coloring since that stuff is pretty bad for you (and I'm especially conscious of what I make for my kids to eat). But I didn't want just plain white cupcakes for my girly girl on her bday. The frosting is colored using only a homemade blackberry "sauce." I made the sauce, strained the seeds, and added some to the (dairy free) frosting when I whipped it up. Unexpected benefit: it tastes amazing! Slightly fruity but not overpowering at all. And of course since I'm obsessed with coconut flour these days, I had to attempt coconut flour vanilla cupcakes. Grain free, and also delish! I used to be gluten free, but once our whole family went off dairy I stopped having any issues with gluten (hallelujah!). We just eat very few grains in general anymore, so coconut flour cupcakes were a divine discovery.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jersey girl enjoying her cupcake.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gang hangin out in the back yard.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyson and one of his best friends, Tori.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Why is everybody singing and staring at me?"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big brother to the rescue, helping blow out the candle.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As with all of our kids, she wasn't so sure about touching the cake. Much less putting it in her mouth.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I LOVE this picture (good job, Robin!) of her chubby little baby fingers. I know she will lose what little baby chub she has before we know it. Tessa had a 2-layered coconut flour vanilla cake with whipped coconut cream "icing" since she, like the rest of our family, is dairy free.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Okay, enough of this stuff. I'm not so sure about this whole 'sugar thing.'"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few presents for the birthday girl.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Much needed summer clothes from Grandmommy and Pappy! You would think we would have enough girl stuff already, but since the girls are opposite seasons and it gets pretty darn hot and pretty darn cold here, I haven't been able to use a whole lot of Jersey's clothes for Tessa. Hopefully in the next year or so all of the hand-me-downs will work for Tessa since she'll last longer in her clothes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little play kitchen from Nana and Papa.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We still can't believe we have THREE kids, and the littlest one is already a year old. We live a very rich life if you're counting your blessings in children.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The birthday girl in her PJ's, all tired out from the excitement, snuggling with Grandmommy. </td></tr>
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Still amazing to me that my baby girl is a year old! Each of our three kids I have felt the same way, but with each child time seems to fly by a little bit faster than the last. I'm in the process of weaning her which all of a sudden makes her feel even less like a baby. She's literally seems to be growing up overnight! I feel like I was given such an incredible gift that I was the center of her world for the last year. Someday she won't need me like she does now, so I am treasuring every single day. I am truly humbled that God chose me to be her mama. We love our "Tessa-berry" (Robin's nickname for her that the whole family has adopted). Happy first birthday, sweet girl!<br />
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hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-60049573896413703012012-06-13T15:04:00.001-07:002012-06-13T15:07:11.007-07:00Tessa's first photo shoot! A couple of weekends ago we had Tessa's newborn photo shoot at our house! My friend Kim has her own photography business (check out Reve Photography on Facebook!!) and she came over to capture our newest little princess on film (okay, I guess you can't say "film" anymore...on a digital card? lol). Tessa was a pro picture taker, and Kim did such a great job! We love how the pictures turned out. The following are just a few of my favs...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My necklace that Robin bought for me, including my new "Tessa" charm which I got for Mother's Day this year :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty eyes :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snuggle bunny fast asleep</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet dreams, apparently ;-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Girl talk</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet perfection in God's amazing design of tiny little humans</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite reminder of what is at the center of this family</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I crack myself up!"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little white angel love</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whispering "sweet nothings" in her ear...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little beauty</td></tr>
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I am SO glad we have these wonderful pictures (thanks Kim!) from her earliest days of life. They grow and change right before your eyes and she will never be this tiny again! These images are forever, and I am praising Jesus for this healthy little girl whom God has entrusted to our care.hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-44121476251163364342012-06-05T08:25:00.002-07:002012-06-05T08:25:51.840-07:00The kids meet TessaThis is mostly a picture post, but I wanted to at least get these ones from the kids visiting the hospital posted on the blog! Tessa is almost 3 weeks old - crazy :) We're all doing well, although my mom leaves on Thursday...at which point, I think I'm screwed, lol. Ty LOVES touching Tessa's head and leaning in to whisper to her. So far he's called her sweet, beautiful, amazing, and wonderful. His vocabulary couldn't be put to better use. I love hearing what he says to her!!! Jersey pretty much ignored her for a while, but now when Tessa is up to eat Jersey usually comes over and says "baby" and touches her head. My prayer is that they will all grow to be best friends. Anyway, here are some pictures of the first meeting...<br /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grandmommy brought the kids to the hospital for their first visit.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This picture pretty much sums up how Tyson feels about her - sweet looks and sweet words for his baby sister.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And this sums up how Jersey feels - doesn't really care and does her own thing, HA!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attempt at a family photo. The kids look like they were just given a death sentence or something. At least Robin and I smiled...?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tyson holding Tessa for the first time.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Grandmommy.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Completely unprompted, Ty started playing peek-a-boo with Tessa. SO CUTE!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And Jersey just wandered around the room getting into trouble and stealing my water bottle ;-)</td></tr>
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Well, that's all for now! Hopefully more pics to come soon. We had Tessa's newborn photo shoot last weekend and I can't WAAAAIT to get those pictures so I can share! She was a star picture taker. We also had a little family adventure to White Fence Farm for Grandmommy's birthday, where we got some really cute pictures of the kids. In all my spare time with three kids (and soon, on my own!), I'm not sure exactly how to keep the blog updated between taking care of 3 kids under the age of three and a half, and taking naps myself, but I'll try!!hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-52176597020329143832012-05-21T14:30:00.000-07:002012-05-21T14:30:59.026-07:00Tessa's Story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I'll tell you right now, this is a bit of a long read, and is more "graphic" in nature, obviously, since it's about delivering a baby, so feel free to stay and read our story, or skip this post if you're not interested in the details ;-) As I begin this post, we are waiting for Tyson and Jersey to come back home from Robin's parent's house. I'm sure the draft will take multiple attempts, and maybe even a few days before I actually get it done, but I wanted to recount our last few days welcoming our 3rd child into our family, and what a wonderful birthday she had! I probably have about 5 more minutes of "calm before the storm" when the kids get here...but at least I can get started. Where to begin?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last pregnant shot - 38.5 weeks!</td></tr>
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My first two pregnancies I had to be induced. With Ty, my water broke 5 days before my due date but I did not go into labor, so they had to induce me. With Jersey, my amniotic fluid got too low and they needed to induce her 10 days early. Having been induced both times before, my prayer and the desire of my heart was to NOT be induced this time, and go into labor on my own. That being said, I was also terrified of laboring at home since I had never done it before, and I was worried that I wouldn't know when to go to the hospital, etc (which was a legitimate concern since the Dr.'s kept telling me my labor would go quickly since I was already dilated and it was my 3rd baby). Our previous two experiences were very long days at the hospital, starting antibiotics for Group B Strep which I needed to get for 4 hours before even starting pitocin to induce me. Long, boring hours and hours at the hospital, stuck in the uncomfortable bed, hooked up to IV's and monitors. By the time labor actually started, it felt like we'd been there forever, but we were just beginning... This time I was hoping to labor at home for a while before going to the hospital so that we would only be there for "the big show" and not spend so many hours beforehand being poked and prodded and stressed out :)</div>
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This last Wednesday, the 16th, I went to my 40 week Dr. appointment (a first for me!). I was dilated 4.5 cm, 90% effaced (sp?), and the Dr. said basically "in labor without being in labor." This was not surprising to me since I had been having increasing contractions since...I don't know, as long as I can remember? I think they started around 28 weeks. The last few weeks I had been having sporadic but strong contractions all throughout the day, regular contractions in the evenings, and had been woken up in the night with false labor 3 times (strong contractions 2-3 minutes apart, for a few hours...until they turned into, nothing). My Dr. was just as surprised as Robin and I were that I hadn't had the baby yet considering how much "action" I'd had going on for so many weeks! At my appointment I had an ultrasound to measure the baby's growth and compare it to 3 weeks prior. Her growth/percentile had gone down a bit before, so they wanted to make sure everything was still okay towards the end. They also needed to check my amniotic fluid levels since they had gotten so low with Jersey. My fluid was fine, and most of Tessa's measurements were fine (30th percentile) except for her abdomen/stomach had dropped to the 8th percentile - not so good. Once it's below the 10th they like to induce since it can mean she's not getting enough nutrients from the placenta, etc. So after lots of discussion with the Dr. (who knew I really really didn't want to induce this time), she had to recommend inducing me the next day because of Tessa's measurements, and also thinking about the fact that I was 4.5 cm dilated she was worried I may not make it to the hospital in time since I had other kids at home to think about, and it was a bit of a drive to the hospital. On top of that, being a Group B Strep carrier, there was no way I would make it there to get the antibiotics needed before delivery so I didn't pass the infection to the baby. All of these factors played in to scheduling an induction for 6:30 am on Thursday morning (the 17th, my due date). I was disappointed, but hopeful that they could try just breaking my water at the hospital after 4 hrs of antibiotics and maybe I would still go into labor on my own without having to take pitocin. I wasn't heartbroken or totally devastated, considering I was kind of used to this happening before, but I was pretty disappointed that even with a 3rd pregnancy I wouldn't be able to go into labor on my own. Being induced also made the thought of "going natural" in labor sound too daunting, once again...</div>
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So, Robin and I put the kids to bed Wednesday night, and then proceeded to finish packing our stuff, clean the kitchen, do some laundry, and then we sat down for a last ice cream/TV session before bed ;-) I had noticed that I was having stronger contractions than usual (probably from running around trying to get everything ready!), but kept putting it out of my head because this had happened many times before, they never amounted to anything, and I had mentally resigned myself to being induced in the morning. Well, after sitting on the couch eating ice cream for 20 minutes, I stood up to go upstairs to the master bathroom and my water broke! I believe I said something along the lines of, "Oh shit! My water just broke!" Which, if you know me at all, I don't swear, so that shows how shocked I was. Then I kept laughing hysterically when Robin bolted out of his chair and started running around throwing stuff together like I was going to drop the baby on the floor right there!! I'm laughing now remembering... I think I was so in shock that all I could do was laugh. Well at that point we knew we had to really hurry because my Dr. told me to just "get in the car and go" if my water broke or I thought I was in labor. With how far I had already progressed, getting to the hospital right away was very important - I'm glad she instilled a healthy fear in me, because I had this great plan in my head of laboring at home for a while....bad idea for me. One of our neighbors had offered to come over and stay at the house if we needed to go to the hospital in the middle of the night and didn't have time to wait for my in-laws to get there. She came over and we left for the hospital about 10:30 pm. A funny memory that stands out from those moments is Robin chewing a piece of gum, and chewing it like his life depended on it. Kind of wide-eyed, throwing things in the car, and just <i>chowing</i> on a piece of gum like he was taking all of his stress out on it. I even told him how funny it looked once we were in the car.</div>
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I have to tell you, in it's own paragraph, just how amazing it was that things turned out as I just described.</div>
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<b>1)</b> we had just finished packing and getting the house in order since we had an induction scheduled. So when it was "go time" all of a sudden, we were totally ready!</div>
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<b>2)</b> Robin's parents were planning to come to our house at 6 am the next morning to be there when the kids got up, so they had a chance to mentally prepare the night before and get things done at their house, so they were ready!</div>
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<b>3)</b> The coolest thing... With SO many contractions going on all the time for me, I was so stressed and confused about knowing when I would actually be in true labor. I worried about when to have Robin come home if he was at work since every time felt like a false alarm. And I really worried about calling my in-laws to come in the middle of the night, only to get to the hospital and then be sent home because it wasn't really labor. This was my 3rd pregnancy, and I felt like a total rookie since I'd never gone into labor on my own! After being up in the night for hours the last time with false labor, I was so frustrated and disappointed, and it occurred to me to pray that my water would break when it was time to go. I was begging God for a sign, and water breaking sounded like the best way to know, since if/when that happened, we had to head to the hospital whether I was in labor or not because of my Group B Strep. Even though that's what I had been praying for, I wasn't exactly expecting it to happen! I think that's partly why I was laughing hysterically when it broke. It just kept running through my mind..."How cool is that!? Thank you LORD! Now we know, and it's perfect timing, we have to go!" I think that has been my favorite part of this birth story. God knows the desires of our heart (not wanting to be induced), and He cares about the little things (like my silly insecurity of wanting to know when it was time to go to the hospital). He knows when we sleep and when we rise, and everything that happens in between, and I felt like He had given us such a gift by the way things were happening.</div>
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Once we were in our hospital room, my Dr. checked me about 11:30 pm and I was dilated to a 6. That's great progress since my appointment that afternoon considering I wasn't having any painful contractions at that point, just strong ones. Although, I think we were all expecting for me to be ready to have a baby by the time we got to the hospital, lol. The Dr. had the nurses get the warmers ready for the baby and everything before we even got there! Timing also worked out well because they were able to start my antibiotics right away and I got through one full dose of the Group B meds before delivering (you're supposed to get 2 doses, but even 1 full dose drastically reduces the risk of infection for the baby).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All checked in and ready to get the real party started.</td></tr>
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Dr. Zart is the name of my Dr., and she was already at the hospital for another delivery. She came in and talked with us for a while which proved to be INVALUABLE for me in this experience. She knew I wanted to try going natural, but that I hadn't been able to before, and knew my concerns, so she shared her own experience. She had epidurals with her first two kids, but just about 4 months ago she delivered her 3rd and she went natural that time. She asked if I wanted to hear about how it was for her, and have her kind of walk through the details of how it often goes, so I would have some idea of what to expect. This was EXACTLY what I had wanted from someone. With Jersey I felt like our L&D nurse was nonexistent, and because of that I was really unsure of where we were at in labor, how far I had progressed, how far I had to go, how I was doing in terms of pain management/timing, etc. All I had wanted was for someone to tell me, "this is where you're at, it's probably going to be this much longer of this, and if you can get through that, then you're over the hump and just have to do this." I was managing the contraction, but barely, and I had no idea if it was going to be another 30 minutes like that...or another 8 hours! Because it wasn't a great labor experience with Jersey, and I was disappointed that for a second time to really need an epidural, I seriously looked into having a Doula with us at the hospital for Tessa's birth. Even though I'd had 2 babies, I still felt like there was so much I didn't know about labor, strategies for getting through each phase, etc. Robin has always been an amazing support to me, and so helpful during labor, but of course didn't know any more than I did about the when/how/how long/etc. A Doula would have brought all of her experience and could have walked us through each phase in hopes of keeping me in a physical and mental state of being able to go without an epidural. Unfortunately, that whole wish ended when I realized how much Doulas can cost! Once again, kind of disappointed... But God knew what we were praying for in a labor and delivery nurse this time, and He totally met that need. We loved nurse Vicki. She was very attentive and involved without being overbearing, and was really on board in helping me go natural. She was a "no nonsense" personality, and said what was on her mind. She spent time sitting in our room talking through things, helped me think about different ways to get through various stages, and was strong enough to encourage me that I could do it, instead of just offering an epidural when I was struggling through the stronger contractions. I tried sitting on one of those exercise balls for a couple of contractions, and she wasn't afraid to tell me: "you looked more relaxed in bed than you do on a ball," which was totally true! But those are the little things I thought, "I should like this, doesn't everyone like these labor ball things?" LOL. It was that little comment I needed from her to affirm that I was indeed doing better and was more able to relax in bed :) Between my awesome Dr., our rock start L&D nurse, and my wonderful wonderful husband encouraging me and talking me through each contraction, I feel like I finally had my "dream team" to help me do this!</div>
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So, let's see... When I was at a 7 the contraction really started getting intense and seeds of doubt started creeping in that I wouldn't be able to last much longer without an epidural. Robin talked me through each one, and nurse Vicki told me I was handling them really well for how far along we were. That made me feel like if she thought I was doing better than average, maybe I could keep going! I knew once we got to 8 cm that would be kind of the "peak" of the discomfort for me, since in the past I have moved from 8-10 cm very quickly. I think somewhere between 7 and 8 cm was the biggest mental challenge for me because I desperately wanted to persevere without the epidural, but I was pretty scared of what it would be like once I got to an 8 because I'd never been there WITHOUT an epidural and I knew I would be delivering soon after that. The nurse checked me again and told me we were at at 8, and that I was doing great. But I was really not sure how much longer I could hold out... She said she'd leave us alone for a few minutes (probably because she could see I was conflicted), and told me she'd be right back but to let her know if I felt any pressure in the coming contractions, just in case, so she would have a heads up to let the Dr. know how long it might be. Well as soon as she left I started another contraction, and felt tons of pressure, and I kind of started to freak out. Robin paged her right away and she came running back in, checked me, and I was fully dilated to 10! So then SHE slightly panicked and called for the Dr., and told her to run...that's always interesting to hear coming from your nurse! That's when things got crazy. Robin was wide-eyed, and I was terrified that all of a sudden we had left the 8 and the decision about getting an epidural, and what seemed like one second later I felt like I had to push!</div>
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I'll spare you the nitty gritty details (and honestly that part is a bit blurry for me already), but I can tell you that there were nurses flying around the room getting everything ready and helping my Dr. get into her "gear" to catch the baby. I was at 8, and then I was at 10 and pushing, and none of us were quite ready for how quickly that happened! I may or may not have had a slight panic attack and stopped breathing for a few seconds as my nurse and Dr. were saying something like, "Heidi, can you hear me? You need to calm down!" LOL! They had to bring me back down to earth. Fortunately, I didn't have very long to continue my panic because I had to push through just 2 contractions and little Miss Tessa was born!!! 2:26 am, 6 lb 11 oz, 18.5 inches long. Crazy, crazy, crazy... Relief flooded over me, along with every other emotion on the planet, when I heard her cry for the first time. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There may have been a few tears for my new little princess...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Worth every second of pregnancy, labor, and delivery.</td></tr>
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And then, I'm not gonna lie, I had a moment of feeling pretty darn proud of myself... I truly, honestly, expected to try for a while and not be able to do it without an epidural. I don't know why! I think our other 2 experiences had been SO long and difficult in the hospital, that I couldn't even imagine just being in labor there for a few short hours. It felt like the last 2 times had been a marathon day, but for this birth story, it had been weeks or "training" for a marathon with all of those contractions, and then it was more like a 100 yard dash when the time actually came to go to the hospital and have a baby! Mentally and physically it made all the difference in the world not having to spend all day at the hospital being induced artificially. I could tell that when my water broke, it was go time, and it wasn't going to take long. And I'm sure my <i>slightly</i> competitive personality (Robin will laugh out loud at that, since he would consider it to the <i>extreme</i>) played a part, in that I felt like I was competing with myself. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, I'm sure, on some level, even though that's obviously a ridiculous "reason" to not want an epidural. God made me competitive, right!? Guess in this case it came in handy, lol. I wanted to know what it was like to feel the whole process, and this time I got my wish.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweet, sweet relief!</td></tr>
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The rest is just the usual... Recovering after delivery was totally different from the last 2 times. Not having my legs be numb from the epidural so I could actually get up and walk around was so nice! And, sorry if it's TMI (what about labor and delivery isn't!?!), but I barely had to have any stitches this time which was certainly not the case with the last 2 deliveries!!! I was also really glad for Tessa's sake that I didn't have an epidural, for lots of reasons. Natural is just so great for mom and baby...even though it's the hardest thing I've ever done. My husband telling me over and over again how great of a job I did, and how proud he was of me, didn't hurt matters either. I told him he could keep telling me that all day and I would never get tired of hearing it. Robin was a trooper - I know it's so hard and emotionally draining for him to "help" me through labor without being able to do anything for me but encourage and support. I couldn't do it without him. I'll tell ya, now that I've delivered with an epidural and without, I am so glad I was able to experience both! 4 days postpartum, it's still pretty fresh in my brain, so I'm still processing the whole experience. It was hard. It was not fun. It was very, very rewarding. I'm sure I could work out a list of pros and cons, but that would be pointless. It is what it is. I did what I had to do with the first 2 babies, and the 3rd experience was just as different as the first 2 were from each other! Every birth story is so unique, and I just feel so blessed to have done this 3 times and end up with 3 beautiful, healthy, wonderful children (and have an amazing husband to go through it all with me!).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Really crappy photo, taken by our awesome nurse, ha ha! Not sure how she basically cut me out of the picture, but this is our first shot of Robin and I with little Miss Tessa.</td></tr>
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God's creation of human life, the design of pregnancy and labor, and the miracle of tiny tiny tiny newborn babies is truly astounding. God is good, and we are indescribably happy to have our little girl finally on the outside, living life with our little family. THREE KIDS!? Robin and I keep looking at each other and laughing at how that is possible... I'll try to post again soon with some pictures of when Ty and Jersey visited us at the hospital and met Tessa, and update on how life is going at home. For now, we are home, we're all adjusting, and all things considered we're doing just fine. Praising Jesus for our family of 5!!!!!</div>
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A few more pictures of Tessa being checked out, bathed, etc...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Bath time!"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Aaaaand I HATE BATH TIME!"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Oh, well, this rinse and massage part is actually kind of nice..."</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ok, I took this picture with my phone and it was sideways, and for the LIFE OF ME I can't get it to load onto Blogger vertically. So, sorry, but I had to post it anyway because it's Robin's first time holding Tessa and I just love the look on his face.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy girls.</td></tr>
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More to come soon (I hope - no promises ;-)!</div>hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-31239495801955967552012-05-19T12:00:00.000-07:002012-05-19T12:00:03.152-07:00Pool fun with daddyWe went to a pool birthday party a little while ago, and lucky for the kids, Robin was able to come and enjoy the fun (okay and lucky for me since I was about 8 months pregnant and not super excited to be in a swimsuit trying to keep an eye on both kids ;-). They both feel so safe with him and I had so much fun watching them play that day! Tyson is, umm, timid, you could say, in the water (and about most things in life), and then there's Jersey who has zero fear and would drown herself if you let her! Makes for a fair amount of work when you have one son constantly clinging to you, and one daughter constantly trying to escape you to get to the deep end, lol! They had fun.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jersey LOVED standing under the big bucket that would fill up and then splash down on her head.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dunk...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And then shriek with delight...every time.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He has a special soft spot for his baby girl.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The three musketeers coming down the slide :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robin being endlessly splashed in the face.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jersey loving every minute of it, even when Robin got a little tired of water in his face, lol.</td></tr>
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<br />hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-76446617026279857442012-05-15T08:44:00.001-07:002012-05-15T08:44:18.244-07:00Easter egg huntI know this is kind of old news, but I didn't want to forget to post pictures from our Easter egg hunt at Grandmommy and Pappy's house - especially since it was Jersey's first time hunting for eggs! She loved it and got the hang of it pretty quickly. Tyson, on the other hand, is convinced that you stop and open every single egg as you find them to see what's in there before putting it in the basket. A few had candy, and some had some money in them! Of course, he thought that finding 3 pennies inside was WAY cooler than finding one quarter. Three is always better than one, isn't it?? Anyway, it was a gorgeous day and we had a great Easter with our little family.<br /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fab Four - soon to be FIVE!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's much more fun to have one in each hand that you can shake!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CeZUE41nPrc/T7HLKDOtcYI/AAAAAAAAEkA/-fCJkWQJS8g/s1600/DSC_1463-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CeZUE41nPrc/T7HLKDOtcYI/AAAAAAAAEkA/-fCJkWQJS8g/s320/DSC_1463-001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Hmm, does this sound like 3 pennies, or 1 quarter?"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Yay! 3 pennies!"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I'm sure daddy hid one in the drain pipe..."</td></tr>
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Great day, great weather, great fun with the kids! Crazy to think next year we'll have THREE kids, and the third one will at the very least be crawling around the yard ;-)hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-22101988956774060472012-05-13T14:04:00.003-07:002012-05-13T14:04:32.965-07:00Conquering Bugs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>I don't even want to know how long it's been since I updated the blog, and I won't bore you with the details of why (because it's just the same old..."I've been busy" - which is always going to be the case with little kids ;-). So, moving on, sorry it's been a while...but I'll try to get back on the blog wagon.</i><br />
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You may or may not know about Tyson's major bug phobia we've been dealing with for the last few months. Not just that he doesn't want to touch them or see them. We're talking, screaming bloody-murder, sounds like someone is ripping his teeth out one by one TERROR, about bugs... You may think I'm exaggerating, but I'm telling you, the screams that come out of his mouth make my mama's heart stop for a second in sheer panic! And then I realize...it was just an ant. Or a fly. Or a bee. Or even a butterfly. Not quite sure how or why this started, but it was to the point where he was waking up 2-4 times PER NIGHT, screaming and shaking in his room, and even coming down the stairs to our room with these ghostly sounding screams! OUT OF CONTROL. I decided it was time to have bug boot camp, get real friendly with every bug we could, and start to face this fear head on because life could not continue like it was! The night terrors were bad, but he wouldn't even play in the back yard anymore, because a fly would land on the side of the house, or he would see ants in the gravel! It is sunny 300+ days per year here in Colorado...the child has to be able to play outside (for his sake, and mine!!). We talk about bugs, pray about bugs, talk TO bugs (aka, "Oh hi there little ant! Where are you going? Are you looking for food to take back to your family?"), and remind ourselves CONSTANTLY that bugs aren't scary, God made bugs, God loves bugs, and so should we. So, we got friendly with bugs in a variety of ways. Here are some photos of our bug journey...<br />
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<b>#1) Magnetic puff balls and pictures of bugs!</b></div>
I found the coolest idea on Pinterest for gluing those little craft puff balls onto small magnets. We use them for all kinds of things, but in this particular picture, he's putting them onto circles inside different kinds of bugs and insects. I just put the printed off pictures on a $1 cookie sheet from the dollar store (magnetic so holds the puff balls in place) and he goes at it. So fun! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange puff ball spider</td></tr>
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<b>#2) Coloring bugs</b></div>
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Not the most complex activity, but we got out our new collection of plastic bugs (thank you, Amazon) and found matching ones on our coloring pages to help us decide what colors they should be.</div>
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<b>#3) Bug matching </b></div>
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I found a blog (probably off of Pinterest, let's be honest) where someone had made this insect matching game for a homeschool unit. I downloaded all the different pieces and then laminated and cut them out, and we set to work learning how to match photos of insects.</div>
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<b>#4) Bug pattern blocks</b></div>
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For Ty's birthday we got a set of pattern blocks - I LOVE these things! I used to play with them when I was younger, and I had been wanting them for my kids for a while. I bought a set of actual patterns to use with the blocks, but there weren't any bug/insect pictures. Fortunately, the world of Google made it fairly easy for me to find some bug patterns online so I printed and laminated them so we could use them with our blocks!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Butterfly blocks</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dragonfly blocks</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And I'm quite proud of this one... Ty wanted to look at his new bug book while he was doing the pattern blocks, and he put the yellow ones together all by himself and told me they looked like the honeycomb in his book!!! Proud mom moment. His favorite part of the book is where it talks about the life cycle of bees, where they live, what they do, etc. I was just happily blow away that he made his own honeycomb out of pattern blocks :)</td></tr>
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<b>#5) Bug sensory bin</b></div>
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As I mentioned in one of the above pictures, we got a set of plastic bugs from Amazon so we could actually play with them and touch them instead of just reading about them in books. But I wanted some way for Ty to actually <i>pretend with them</i>, in hopes that it would further his "curiosity" and just make him more comfortable being around bugs. I had the idea of making a bug sensory box, and it turned out great! We keep his set of plastic bugs in this tub that I put together, and he uses it during "blanket time" about once a week.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking for food for his bugs (we decided that little brown puff balls, and green leaves cut out of felt would be the best food).</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Examining some of his bugs up close with a magnifying glass.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of our sensory bin, complete with flowers for the butterflies to land on and the bees to get nectar, a bowl for their food (since bugs eat out of bowls, duh), and a little felt mat with a grassy area, some dirt, and a little bond for them to drink :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And a "mom, stop taking pictures of me while I'm trying to play" smile :)</td></tr>
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So there you have it - our journey to conquer fear of bugs! I am pleased to report that our strategies are definitely working. We continue to read about bugs and do all of our little activities, read our bug flash cards and our bug books, and talk about how God made all bugs and what they do for the earth and the plants. He's still not a fan of the buzzing sound from flies and bees, and gives the occasional bloody-murder scream when one startles him, but we have made MAJOR strides! Now he will actually squat down and look at ants and potato bugs and talk to them, instead of screaming. He'll point at butterflies instead of running the opposite direction. And he will even stand (nervously, but still) near bees on flowers and ask about them. </div>
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We did have a tiny wasps' nest in our play structure in the back yard, and he walk right up and peered into the hole where the nest was and wanted to talk about them. Those are the situations that are a little bit tricky now, because I don't want to to scare him, but I don't want him to get too close or think about touching the wasps or their nest! Robin took care of it with some wasp spray, but it's definitely been interesting for ME to try not to react when I'm freaked out by a bee or a spider, etc. Gotta keep my cool for the sake of the kid, ya know... One day he yelled, "Mom look, it's a caterpillar!" It was in our garage. And by the time I turned around in half a second, it was gone. I'm pretty sure it was a fuzzy spider, considering caterpillars can't move that fast, but I tried to be nonchalant and tell him how cool it was that he saw a caterpillar. Whatever works, right?</div>
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<i>God made bugs, He loves bugs, and so do we.</i> We repeat that phrase often at our house... I'll try to be better about updating the blog, even though we are adding a newborn to our house any day now!</div>
<br />hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-9937863345299660732012-03-06T08:10:00.001-08:002012-03-06T08:10:25.631-08:00Pizza Playdate!A couple of weeks ago we had a play date at our house with a couple of Ty's friends from our Growing Kid's God's Way parenting class. Okay, and it's kind of a play date for me to hang out with the mom's ;-) My friend Jenna brought "Mini Murphs" for the kids to make their own personal pizzas for lunch! Papa Murphy's Pizza just started selling these little kid-sized pizzas with individual containers of toppings (cheese, sauce, pepperoni, etc). They had so much fun "decorating" their own lunch and watching it bake in the oven!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Since I was taking pictures, Jenna had the fun job of helping BOTH of our sons spread their sauce and do their toppings.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spreading their sauce was a highlight...which of course, Tyson turned in to "stabbing" his pizza dough and poking holes in it. Such a boy - apparently he has to "kill" his food before he eats it, lol.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And then there was little Miss Kayla, who spread her sauce perfectly, and then perfectly spaced out her toppings. Such a difference between boys and girls! It was pretty obvious which pizza was Kayla's, and which ones were the boys' when we were done!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making pizza was obviously a huge hit for everyone :) Thanks, Jenna!</td></tr>
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<br />hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-4077029138652193392012-02-29T14:28:00.001-08:002012-02-29T14:28:58.743-08:00Too cute for words...but too excited for pictures.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A couple of Sundays ago, Jersey wore the CUTEST dress in her wardrobe. Now that she's finally walking, she can wear outfits like this! After church we tried to take some pictures at our house, since her picture on our mantle needs to be updated, but she was too wound up from church and a short morning nap to sit still... Here are our attempts at capturing the outfit - not exactly frame-able, but still cute :)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Oh hi daddy! Can I see the picture!?"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I'll sit still...but I'm not going to look at the camera."</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Okay fine, I'll look, but I'm going to make funny faces at you instead of smiling."</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Oh good, are we done with pictures?"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"...pleeease can we be done..."</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She's a stinker sometimes, but I love her to the moon and back :)</td></tr>
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<span id="goog_451567680"></span><span id="goog_451567681"></span>hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-13675901293777033002012-02-05T19:56:00.000-08:002012-02-05T19:56:16.049-08:00Birthday Morning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Our little first-born son turned 3-years-old on January 25th. I'm a little behind posting these pics because our dear friends, the King family, flew in from Seattle to stay with us for almost a week on Ty's actual birthday. On the morning of the 25th we definitely had to do <i>something</i> special for our little dude, so I went to the store before the kids got up and brought back birthday donuts - complete with candles. The pictures pretty much give you the play by play, and you can tell by the expressions on Ty's face that he was beyond thrilled with his donut surprise (good thing he had his Green Smoothie first to balance out his breakfast, lol!). <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Okay, Robin's expression is pretty excited, too ;-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm THREE!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at that face...he can hardly contain himself.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think he likes it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can't stop smiling and giggling...as a birthday boy should :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jersey feeling a little left out.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...but it didn't last long - she still flashed me a sleepy-eyed smile.</td></tr>
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Hard to believe three years have already gone by. I remember driving myself to the hospital to have them check and see if my water had actually broken. Being the rookie that I was, I just assumed I'd drive myself back home after they checked me out, lol. Not the case... Robin headed to the hospital on the afternoon of January 24th, and after a very long and tiring night, Tyson Lloyd Schween was born at 5:55 am the next morning. Our lives changed 100% from that day forward, and I wouldn't have missed one day with my boy for anything. He is a challenge, he's smart, he loves to learn, he makes us laugh, he loves on his little sister (most of the time), he plays it safe, he loves to sing, he never runs out of energy, he wants to do everything just like his dad, he never stops talking, and we are so blessed to watch him grow and change and lean new things every day. Happy 3rd birthday to our first-born...we love you more than words can say.hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-64519242525597933452012-01-14T20:06:00.000-08:002012-01-14T20:06:52.826-08:00So close, so close...Jersey has been crawling since she was 6 months old. She's almost 13 months...and still crawling. I'm sure many of you reading this know that I'm SO ready for her to walk!!! She's been crawling forever. Yes, walkers are a lot of work, they get in to more things, but there are also many perks! My back is tired of carrying her everywhere. She can't really play outside at all in the winter because it's too cold/snowy to be crawling. And she can't wear any of her cute little dresses yet, because they get in the way when she's crawling! Well, she is FINALLY close to walking. Actually, she can walk just fine, she just hasn't decided to make it her primary mode of transportation yet. But we have seen major improvements in the confidence department this week, so my hopes are up that within another week she'll be a true "walker." Until then...she's still pretty darn cute ;-) And the way she says, "Hi!" in this video makes me smile ear to ear. I love her.<br />
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<i>(For those of you who get this blog via automated email whenever I do a new post, I don't think the video comes through like pictures normally do. If you can't see the video in your email, go to the actual blog link to view if you want to: www.teamschween.blogspot.com).</i>hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-54729774949380388262012-01-13T08:19:00.000-08:002012-01-13T08:19:00.432-08:00My days<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I spend a lot of time on the floor these days. My job, 7 days a week, about 13 hours a day, is taking care of a 1-year-old and an almost-3-year-old (and a 22 week gestation little baby - which is a lot of work!). My uniform? Black yoga pants or whatever else comfortable I can find. I do not have vacation days, and I do not have sick days. I don't get lunch breaks. The coffee is made by 7:00 am at our house, but I don't often drink mine until 9 or 9:30, after it's been microwaved a couple of times, because I've been changing diapers all morning :) The perks of my job? I spend afternoons on the floor, playing with my kids and listening to my little girl learn to use her voice, and sing... Best job in the world. Hard job? Yes! But when I hear her little voice learning it's way in the world...all is made right.<br />
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I read this quote the other day in one of my new books, and it brought tears to my eyes! I posted it on my Facebook page, but I thought it was worthy of re-posting on here. Actually, I think it is worthy of being framed and put up in my house so I will see it every day!!! <br />
<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="color: blue; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">"When
you look at your children, pause and stand in awe that you have been
entrusted with these little lives. Embrace them with your arms, your
time, your attention, and relish these fleeting years. Seek God's
strength to love them. Love them enough to be gentle and tender. Love
them enough to diligently train them and discipline them. Give them firm
boundaries and clear expectations so they will thrive. Instill in your
children a firm foundation upon which they will build their entire
lives. Uphold their dignity and speak kindly of them before others.
Acknowledge that no one else was chosen to parent these children. God
chose you."</span></i></span></h6>
I'm thankful that God chose me, to spend my days on the floor with my kids, listening to them sing. It's not glamorous, and it doesn't exactly pay well, but the rewards are greater than I could have imagined.<br />
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<br />hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7743611901524391736.post-10277502640926696072012-01-11T12:37:00.000-08:002012-01-11T12:37:57.647-08:00The day I've been WAITING FOR!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Okay well YOU may not think this is that great, but for me, this is a very exciting a long awaited day! I'm pretty sure I've been dreaming of this day since I got married, and since we learned we were pregnant, and since we found out we were having a girl. THE FOUNTAIN PONYTAIL. I seriously think it is the cutest thing EVER on little girls. Come to find out, there is another reason besides just being cute that so many little girls wear their hair this way... They won't leave their hair clips in! Jersey's hair has been falling in her eyes for a while now, and I have a bunch of adorable hair clips I keep trying to put in her hair. They last 2 minutes - maximum. Finally today we tried the fountain ponytail. I'm in heaven :) I'll admit, I am slightly obsessed with her...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pre-ponytail. Yes, her hair is always a mess and in her eyes. The girl will not leave hair clips in!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ta-da! The blank stare in every picture is because I turned on Baby Einstein for her to watch so that she would sit still while I put the rubber band in ;-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juuuust chillaxin...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wkhGNN1xG68/Tw3whxK-BAI/AAAAAAAAEWw/5DHbkUyg19c/s1600/DSC_1373.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wkhGNN1xG68/Tw3whxK-BAI/AAAAAAAAEWw/5DHbkUyg19c/s400/DSC_1373.JPG" width="246" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mom, why do you keep pointing that camera at me!? You've already taken 50 pictures in the last 5 minutes." </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Seriously - are you done yet?"</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Yaaay! Picture time is over!"</td></tr>
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Awww isn't she so cute? I can't believe how big she is already. These pictures are pretty much as girly as it gets. We have: hearts, ruffles, pink, bling, and a fountain ponytail! Love it.hschweenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02940494817276244540noreply@blogger.com1