I had tried to 'potty-train' four of my other babies. I had varying degrees of success. However, by the time they were a year we were using diapers all the time. Somewhere along the way I would start missing when they needed to go or I just got lazy.
So, while I was pregnant with Sara I prayed that the Lord would help me do it right and that I would be successful this time. One should be careful, very careful, in what one prays for.
Since the day she was born Sara did NOT like to wet her diaper. She would cry and fuss until we took the diaper off and took her to the pot. Now she is a little more diplomatic and will go in her diaper if I do not take her in time...during the day. At night she fusses and squirms until I drag my tired body out of bed to take her potty. I don't even bother putting a diaper on her at night anymore. She never wets during the night.
I should not complain. I have what I wanted. But I do complain...every night. I lay there with Sara tossing and turning next to me wishing she would just go to sleep, knowing that she will not until I take her potty. I am so tired at 2 am.
On the good side. I have taken her out in public without a diaper on several occasions with only one or two accidents. A package of diapers will last two or three weeks. It is fun to see people's reactions to us taking Sara potty.
Sara is only six months and it is usually after that time that I quit with the other kids, but I have a feeling it will be different this time. At least I hope it will be, all the lost sleep will be worth it if I can do well with her.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Canyon trip
We go to Palo Duro Canyon several times a year. Usually it is just me and the kids. We went yesterday and had loads of fun. We went to a different part of the park than we usually do. And we found caves!
There were some other people out there too and we must thank them for showing us some of the caves and for escorting some of the kids through the first time. The one was very narrow in the opening and was very dark for a short period, that made it exciting!
Kyla did not go. She held the baby so Mom could come back with the other kids. Ellis did not go the first time but he did go on the return route with Mom. Mom did not let Wes go, he stayed with Kyla. Next time he'll go though. I hope we have some more nice weather soon so we can do some more exploring!
Here are some pics:
Mom and Wes and Sara
Cora the Brave (the first one to go through one of the tunnel caves)
Entrance to the dark tunnel cave
Opening (the strangers who showed us the cave and helped the kids)
The 'out' side of the cave
You can read my eldest daughter's account of our trip here
Thursday, December 25, 2008
A Christmas to remember (pics added)
Our Christmas morning began VERY early. About 2 am.
Wes woke up sounding awful with croup and seemed to be having trouble breathing. I tried to comfort him and get him calmed down so he could breathe easier. Hubby was beside himself, worried that he has gotten water in his lungs that night in the bath. I love my hubby, but he isn't very level-headed when he's half asleep! LOL So Dh called 911 and Wes and Dh went to the hospital in the ambulance, first ambulance ride for our kids.
At about 5:30 I went and picked them up from the ER and then we came home to get a nap.
We let the kids open presents at about 9. They were all happy. The blocks were a big hit. We ate a late breakfast of pancakes and eggs with homemade egg nog.
Oh I need to back up and tell about the egg nog. The day before Christmas Eve I found my bottle of rum extract spilled in the pantry and made a mental post-it note to pick some up. Well...mental notes don't stick on me anymore.
So at 7 pm Christmas Eve when we were ready to make the egg nog I remembered about the rum. Every place was closed. Who would have rum extract? If it had been vanilla I could have asked anyone, but rum extract?
I called a lady from church that is always baking. I knew if anyone would have it she would. She looked in her pantry and the bottle she had was gelled. Then she spied another bottle that was nearly full and still good. So I drove 20 minutes to her house to pick up the rum extract and then back home to make the nog. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself!
Okay, back to Christmas. I started the ham about 11:30 so it would be done around 3:30. Then I went for a nap. I got up at 1:30 and dh went for his nap. At 2:30 I decided to check on the ham. The roaster oven was not on!! I should not cook when I am so sleepy! LOL So I turned it on and figured it would be done about 6:30.
During all this time the kids were playing and watching a movie or two.
Ellis managed to break one of his new toys. The blocks kept the boys and Kyla busy for quite awhile ( I will be uploading pics later). Emma has been listening to her new MP3 player all day. And Cora has been skating around the house in her new in-line skates. She has been very productive too, looking for any excuse to be helpful so she can skate around. lol
We just finished dinner at 6:30. Not a bad day, a bit
tiring, but not bad. And not one we will forget soon. I sincerely hope that the kids will go to sleep early.
This post is taking forever to get done. I just had to take a break to give Wes a bath. Now Sara wants me to hold her while she goes to sleep.
Enough rambling I suppose. Merry Christmas!
Wes woke up sounding awful with croup and seemed to be having trouble breathing. I tried to comfort him and get him calmed down so he could breathe easier. Hubby was beside himself, worried that he has gotten water in his lungs that night in the bath. I love my hubby, but he isn't very level-headed when he's half asleep! LOL So Dh called 911 and Wes and Dh went to the hospital in the ambulance, first ambulance ride for our kids.
At about 5:30 I went and picked them up from the ER and then we came home to get a nap.
We let the kids open presents at about 9. They were all happy. The blocks were a big hit. We ate a late breakfast of pancakes and eggs with homemade egg nog.
Oh I need to back up and tell about the egg nog. The day before Christmas Eve I found my bottle of rum extract spilled in the pantry and made a mental post-it note to pick some up. Well...mental notes don't stick on me anymore.
So at 7 pm Christmas Eve when we were ready to make the egg nog I remembered about the rum. Every place was closed. Who would have rum extract? If it had been vanilla I could have asked anyone, but rum extract?
I called a lady from church that is always baking. I knew if anyone would have it she would. She looked in her pantry and the bottle she had was gelled. Then she spied another bottle that was nearly full and still good. So I drove 20 minutes to her house to pick up the rum extract and then back home to make the nog. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself!
Okay, back to Christmas. I started the ham about 11:30 so it would be done around 3:30. Then I went for a nap. I got up at 1:30 and dh went for his nap. At 2:30 I decided to check on the ham. The roaster oven was not on!! I should not cook when I am so sleepy! LOL So I turned it on and figured it would be done about 6:30.
During all this time the kids were playing and watching a movie or two.
Ellis managed to break one of his new toys. The blocks kept the boys and Kyla busy for quite awhile ( I will be uploading pics later). Emma has been listening to her new MP3 player all day. And Cora has been skating around the house in her new in-line skates. She has been very productive too, looking for any excuse to be helpful so she can skate around. lolWe just finished dinner at 6:30. Not a bad day, a bit
tiring, but not bad. And not one we will forget soon. I sincerely hope that the kids will go to sleep early. This post is taking forever to get done. I just had to take a break to give Wes a bath. Now Sara wants me to hold her while she goes to sleep.
Enough rambling I suppose. Merry Christmas!
Sara wanting her mommy
A sleepy Daddy looking at a big mess!
Monday, December 22, 2008
It was amazing!!
That pic on the top of the page was taken after only one try!! I was not going to push it and try to get a better one. The preparation for that pic took about an hour and a half. I was already worn out. Everyone was looking at the camera and no funny faces or closed eyes. That's good enough for me! So that's the one that is going in all our Christmas mailings. Just waiting to pick them up from Walgreens and then put the envelopes in the mail box and pray hard that they will arrive by Christmas Eve to their destination. Not likely that they will, but one can hope.
P.S. Well they are off. Want to hear something funny? When I went to Walgreens to get the pics the attendant told me I needed to have a release form signed to get them. Apparently they thought that they were professional portraits done in a studio because of the background. Thankfully I had taken my camera with me and showed the picture on it.
P.S. Well they are off. Want to hear something funny? When I went to Walgreens to get the pics the attendant told me I needed to have a release form signed to get them. Apparently they thought that they were professional portraits done in a studio because of the background. Thankfully I had taken my camera with me and showed the picture on it.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Intellectual Espionage
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3b.htm
Portion from a book by John Taylor Gatto...great stuff!
From the page:
"Looking back, abundant data exist from states like Connecticut and Massachusetts to show that by 1840 the incidence of complex literacy in the United States was between 93 and 100 percent wherever such a thing mattered. According to the Connecticut census of 1840, only one citizen out of every 579 was illiterate and you probably don’t want to know, not really, what people in those days considered literate; it’s too embarrassing. Popular novels of the period give a clue: Last of the Mohicans, published in 1826, sold so well that a contemporary equivalent would have to move 10 million copies to match it. If you pick up an uncut version you find yourself in a dense thicket of philosophy, history, culture, manners, politics, geography, analysis of human motives and actions, all conveyed in data-rich periodic sentences so formidable only a determined and well-educated reader can handle it nowadays. Yet in 1818 we were a small-farm nation without colleges or universities to speak of. Could those simple folk have had more complex minds than our own?"
and,
"Put another way, black illiteracy doubled, white illiteracy quadrupled. Before you think of anything else in regard to these numbers, think of this: we spend three to four times as much real money on schooling as we did sixty years ago, but sixty years ago virtually everyone, black or white, could read."
Interesting isn't it?
Portion from a book by John Taylor Gatto...great stuff!
From the page:
"Looking back, abundant data exist from states like Connecticut and Massachusetts to show that by 1840 the incidence of complex literacy in the United States was between 93 and 100 percent wherever such a thing mattered. According to the Connecticut census of 1840, only one citizen out of every 579 was illiterate and you probably don’t want to know, not really, what people in those days considered literate; it’s too embarrassing. Popular novels of the period give a clue: Last of the Mohicans, published in 1826, sold so well that a contemporary equivalent would have to move 10 million copies to match it. If you pick up an uncut version you find yourself in a dense thicket of philosophy, history, culture, manners, politics, geography, analysis of human motives and actions, all conveyed in data-rich periodic sentences so formidable only a determined and well-educated reader can handle it nowadays. Yet in 1818 we were a small-farm nation without colleges or universities to speak of. Could those simple folk have had more complex minds than our own?"
and,
"Put another way, black illiteracy doubled, white illiteracy quadrupled. Before you think of anything else in regard to these numbers, think of this: we spend three to four times as much real money on schooling as we did sixty years ago, but sixty years ago virtually everyone, black or white, could read."
Interesting isn't it?
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