Last Friday I went to see How to Train Your Dragon 3 with four of my children. It made most of us cry and was a fitting wrap up to the series. Sometimes movies are as good as you hope they will be.
Saturday was my one day to mostly just putter around and do things I enjoy. I met my children's needs when required, helped the husband-still-recovering-from-surgery, and did some grocery shopping. However a large chunk of my time was spent with my nose in a few books. I'm working my way through the Twickenham Time Travel Romance series. Yes, total fluff, and so relaxing. The series is penned by several authors, who follow different groups of people through the same world. While the books are numbered, I've found that it is helpful to read all the books by one author in a row, to follow their stream of storyline, then go back, pick another author, and read all of their books in the series.
I've got a Kindle Unlimited subscription, which costs $9.99/month and opens up over 1 million books and thousands of audiobooks for me to read at any time. I love it! I got the subscription 4 months ago and have checked out 67 books, most of which I have read. A few I started, didn't enjoy, and returned without finishing (probably 4 books). You can check out up to 10 titles at a time.
Sunday was the first time since January that our entire family was well and able to go to church together. It was wonderful. When we came home we had a quiet, peaceful afternoon and evening.
Monday morning kicked off the week of the annoying schedule. Somehow we ended up with morning appointments or activities on 4 of the 5 days that meant I was leaving the home or busy by 9am or 10am. Today Mason and I had a 3 hour appointment in the city. Thankfully, homeschooling is flexible. I let the kids know what was up, and that they were responsible to work with me when I was home (aka. get up and do school right after breakfast) or they could do work with me in the afternoons after the appointments. Afternoon school work is generally frowned on by my children so today most of them got right to work after breakfast. Makayla was the only one with any afternoon school work today, and it was translating a story from Latin to English, which I love doing with her. Not long after we finished she took my husband to his physical therapy appointment and left me to oversee the rest of the kids playing, reading, and creating at home. In the evening I read aloud two chapters of Summer of the Monkeys. We have really not been consistent in reading aloud so we still have half the book to go.
Tuesday's homeschooling happened early and steady. Daddy was the listener for reading lessons. I oversaw grammar, writing, science, etc. Today's appointment was a checkup for daddy with his surgeon. Things are healing well. He is now sling-free and allowed to move his arm, but not lift weight. The doctor says a full recovery will take 8 months, but Jason will most likely be cleared for at least light duty work at the 3 month mark. Our afternoon was piano lessons, a short nap for mommy, cooking dinner, reading more Summer of the Monkeys, and family time.
Wednesday was the only day this week with no morning appointments. People took their time waking up and doing school. Daniel and I baked cookies together in the afternoon. In the evening kids had activities at church.
Thursday had physical therapy for Mason mid-morning. He finally has his standing braces back and so today he was in them using his walker at PT for a little while. The braces need more adjustments so next week we will go back for another 3 hour appointment in the city a few days after his already scheduled 8 hour appointment day for his IV infusion. In the afternoon Joseph and Emma both had orthodontist appointments. Over dinner we read the last two chapters of Summer of the Monkeys as a family. It was such a fun book and most of the family enjoyed it.
Friday homeschool friends came over for our Summer of the Monkeys book club. We all talked about favorite characters and favorite parts of the book. Our next book club pick is Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat. It is a shorter read I think my kids will find funny.
Saturday's highlight for me was going to see Fiddler on the Roof put on by a local high school. My mom, Emma, and I went together. I love musicals and the teens in this performance did a great job!
Sunday I was home from church with little ones who were coughing, congested, and had mild fevers.
Monday was the beginning of another homeschool week. To shake things up a bit I did science first in the day with my PreK-5th grade crowd. We started Marine Biology today. We learned a bit about oceans, salt water, the layers/zones of the ocean and what creatures typically are found there. We measured out on our floor just how long a giant squid is (12 feet!). We did a demonstration of ocean currents using a large pan of hot water and adding blue ice cubes to the 'poles'. As the ice melted the blue dye swirled to the bottom and toward the center of the pan, and the hot water was moved up and toward the poles. We did a density experiment with grapes in water, salt water, and sugar water.
Tuesday my note taking fell apart. More kids were getting sick, I was at the hospital with Mason for 9 hours on this day for all things bone density and an IV infusion.
The rest of this week went like this:
Sunday was the first time since January that our entire family was well and able to go to church together. It was wonderful. When we came home we had a quiet, peaceful afternoon and evening.
Monday morning kicked off the week of the annoying schedule. Somehow we ended up with morning appointments or activities on 4 of the 5 days that meant I was leaving the home or busy by 9am or 10am. Today Mason and I had a 3 hour appointment in the city. Thankfully, homeschooling is flexible. I let the kids know what was up, and that they were responsible to work with me when I was home (aka. get up and do school right after breakfast) or they could do work with me in the afternoons after the appointments. Afternoon school work is generally frowned on by my children so today most of them got right to work after breakfast. Makayla was the only one with any afternoon school work today, and it was translating a story from Latin to English, which I love doing with her. Not long after we finished she took my husband to his physical therapy appointment and left me to oversee the rest of the kids playing, reading, and creating at home. In the evening I read aloud two chapters of Summer of the Monkeys. We have really not been consistent in reading aloud so we still have half the book to go.
Tuesday's homeschooling happened early and steady. Daddy was the listener for reading lessons. I oversaw grammar, writing, science, etc. Today's appointment was a checkup for daddy with his surgeon. Things are healing well. He is now sling-free and allowed to move his arm, but not lift weight. The doctor says a full recovery will take 8 months, but Jason will most likely be cleared for at least light duty work at the 3 month mark. Our afternoon was piano lessons, a short nap for mommy, cooking dinner, reading more Summer of the Monkeys, and family time.
Wednesday was the only day this week with no morning appointments. People took their time waking up and doing school. Daniel and I baked cookies together in the afternoon. In the evening kids had activities at church.
Thursday had physical therapy for Mason mid-morning. He finally has his standing braces back and so today he was in them using his walker at PT for a little while. The braces need more adjustments so next week we will go back for another 3 hour appointment in the city a few days after his already scheduled 8 hour appointment day for his IV infusion. In the afternoon Joseph and Emma both had orthodontist appointments. Over dinner we read the last two chapters of Summer of the Monkeys as a family. It was such a fun book and most of the family enjoyed it.
Friday homeschool friends came over for our Summer of the Monkeys book club. We all talked about favorite characters and favorite parts of the book. Our next book club pick is Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat. It is a shorter read I think my kids will find funny.
Saturday's highlight for me was going to see Fiddler on the Roof put on by a local high school. My mom, Emma, and I went together. I love musicals and the teens in this performance did a great job!
Sunday I was home from church with little ones who were coughing, congested, and had mild fevers.
Monday was the beginning of another homeschool week. To shake things up a bit I did science first in the day with my PreK-5th grade crowd. We started Marine Biology today. We learned a bit about oceans, salt water, the layers/zones of the ocean and what creatures typically are found there. We measured out on our floor just how long a giant squid is (12 feet!). We did a demonstration of ocean currents using a large pan of hot water and adding blue ice cubes to the 'poles'. As the ice melted the blue dye swirled to the bottom and toward the center of the pan, and the hot water was moved up and toward the poles. We did a density experiment with grapes in water, salt water, and sugar water.
Tuesday my note taking fell apart. More kids were getting sick, I was at the hospital with Mason for 9 hours on this day for all things bone density and an IV infusion.
The rest of this week went like this:
- More appointments.
- Grandma flying in from Utah.
- More appointments.
- Sickness passing through the ranks.
- Mommy getting sick.
- Never-ending cleaning, cooking, and dishes because our dishwasher was still waiting on more parts.
That brings us to today, Monday March 18th. The kids woke to signs hanging around the house that read: "Surprise! School's out for Spring Break!" We are taking a 2 week break. There will be doctor appointments, a trip to the circus, a Teen Author conference in UT for Makayla, a dishwasher part being installed, and potty training for Tobias. No note taking, just rest and living this crazy large family life one day at a time.
Well, I wish you a great break! It doesn't seem too restful, but perhaps between the appointments and the conferences, if you're not doing school, you'll all feel rested anyway.
ReplyDeleteI'll miss your notes, but I'll get over it! :)
Is it as hard for you to be away from the family as a whole in order to meet the special needs of one as it is for me? I really struggle with being gone--even though being gone is critically important.
And I'm super glad your husband is healing well! I hope your financial needs are being met.
Some days are harder than others when I need to be gone helping Mason. We've been doing it for 7 years now, so it is a bit easier, but in the beginning it was really hard. I also felt a lot of guilt at first for how much our life was taken over by what Mason needed, because he simply had so many appointments in that first 2 years (literally more than 150 appointments or surgeries). I had another baby during that time too (and 2 more since, plus my ectopic with emergency surgery). All of it was hard.
DeleteI feel like any big change in needs is really hard at first and then we all fall into a 'new normal'. I had to come to accept that we would never go back to the old normal. Our life is simply different and will never be the same. There are things we have built into our daily life now that were very foreign and hard at first, but will now be a part of our days pretty much indefinitely.
I have also felt guilt over needing someone to help watch the other kids so much. While we would like to schedule all things to coincide with my husband's day off, it simply isn't possible. Some specialists don't have office hours on that day, they are in surgeries. So my mom sometimes takes time off work to watch kids. Or now my sister (she has only been in state the last year). Asking my older kids to babysit everyone can also be guilt inducing, and for some long appointments it really isn't feasible, especially now as one has a job and we share a vehicle.
And yet, I know without a doubt that this is all part of God's plan for our individual family. All the challenges and extras, all the unfairness, all of the 'our life is permanently different than everyone else's' and how it affects what we can and can't do - it is exactly what we signed up for in premortal life with God. We knew and we chose this. We trusted that our Father knew exactly what each member of our family needs to grow, learn, and prepare to return to him, and our specific challenges, needs, and opportunities are hand-picked by Him to meet our goal of being ready for eternity. In the short run this is really hard. In the long run it is worth every moment of struggle and it won't last forever. It will actually be a really small event in our eternal life.
((HUGS))
It sounds like a perfect time for spring break in your household. The appointments are exhausting aren't they. Sorry for all the illness this year. I hope you all have a wonderful rest.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
Enjoy your spring break! I hope everyone is feeling better and you get to enjoy the downtime without sick littles that need care.
ReplyDelete