UTI

My baby Liza has a UTI.  Poor thing.  I've been loading her up on cranberry juice, coconut water, water, homeopaths and anything else I can think of to help her out.  I'm trying really hard to avoid antibiotics at this point.  Anyone else have experience with this?  How long before you would take a kid in?  What symptoms would make you take her in?

She had a couple of UTI's as a baby.  We had the whole VCUG - kidney reflux tests done.  She's fine.  We haven't had any issues until recently.  I weaned her in August and started working harder at potty training her (she was about 90% there at that point).  Potty training quit working.  She kept leaking and seemed to have no control over her urine.  I gave up!  Put her back in pull-ups and figured we'd just wait.  (She still pooped on the toilet every time.)  She always stunk like urine, strong, nasty urine.  I just figured it was her.  A couple of weeks ago I started giving her some cranberry tincture I had on hand.  It seemed to help a bit with both the potty training and the smell, but I wasn't being extremely consistent about it.  Then Sunday she peed her pants at church and kept having to go to the bathroom.  I didn't think about it too much - she just does that sometimes.  Sunday afternoon she seemed uncomfortable, but nothing completely unusual.  I gave her some cranberry and went on my merry way.  She woke up Monday morning and cried when she had to pee, peed every few minutes, etc.  Classic signs.  Poor baby.  She's doing better today, but certainly not 100%.

Any advice?

***(Follow up)  I tried to take Liza in to the acute care clinic this morning, but it was packed.  I didn't have time to sit and wait around, so I came home planning to go back this afternoon/evening.  But she seems to be doing MUCH better!  Her urine doesn't smell and she isn't complaining and peeing nonstop.  I'm adopting a wait and see attitude.  If it is worse again in the morning, I will take her back tomorrow.  Oh, Mau, I ordered Uricare.  I have purchased Native Remedies before, but didn't think of it this time.  I might get it as a back up!  Thanks!

Frustrations

This past week was LONG.  Nothing enormous, just small frustrations and it all added up to me feeling very done. 

It started with my engagement ring breaking last Sunday night.  Then I got a flat tire.  It was dark and there is no cell coverage where the tire went.  Thank God I was able to get coverage 10 feet in front of the car.  The wind blew part of our kid's play set over.  (We despise the wind out here - our trampoline blew away a couple of years ago.)  We've had some ongoing HUGE issues at our church and someone wanted to talk about it this week.  I didn't.  I lost.

It's now Sunday afternoon.  I have a raging headache, want to cry for a few hours and am praying this next week is much better!

Current Events

My older girls and I spent 5 days last week in Ohio with one of my dearest friends, Marie.  She mentioned that I don't blog much at all, so this one is for Marie!  :-)

My in-laws are due in town today and we are having a blizzard.  They are driving!!!  This is our 3rd snowstorm of the year, so I'm expecting a bit of a long winter here.

We have been super busy since school started this year.  I usually work very hard at making sure we don't have stuff scheduled every day.  Somehow I've failed this year at that.  Well, we aren't supposed to have something every day, but it seems to be working out that way.  Every other Monday, Abigail has a friend over to work on science labs.  Every other Wednesday we have a world history discussion group at our house.  (Which has turned into most Wednesdays.)  The girls have piano lessons Thursday mornings.  Eric and I have been helping with music at church frequently too.  ETC ETC ETC.  We're busier than I like.

Well, Marie is calling me, so I will talk on the phone instead of blogging!!!

Motivation, Part II

I love Sally Clarkson.  Her books, her blog, her words.  She speaks my heart over and over and over again.  Her blog today fit perfectly with my post the other day about motivation.

I Heard Him Call Come Follow

“Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise, Thou my inheritance, now and always; Thou and thou only first in my heart, High king of heaven, my treasure thou art.”

Motivation

What motivates you?  What makes a person get up every day and keep going?  I recently had a day where I just had no motivation left.  I kept thinking of verses that talk about keeping our eyes on the prize, running the race, etc, but nothing.  I finally had a few moments to think about it and I realized that, in my mind, the prize we are running towards is heaven.  And frankly, I'm not too worried about getting in (no I'm not trying to be arrogant, I just know where I stand with God).  So no motivation there.  Then there's rewards in heaven - crowns, mansions, etc.  None of which I'm interested in.  Now what?  WHAT motivates me?  What has kept me going for all this time to work at my marriage, homeschool my kids, clean my house, make food, etc?

Some of you know me well enough to know the answer.  My husband knew it immediately.  Relationships.  I value real relationships more than anything in this world.  My relationship with Christ, with my husband, with my children, with my friends.  The thought of not obeying what Christ has asked of me would hurt our relationship, so I don't want to do it!

Now, can someone help me with a verse that I can put up to remind me of that motivation?

Weaning

I think I mentioned that I weaned Liza recently.  It's been a month now since she's nursed.  She and I can still have tears over it together (and separately for me).  But when I weaned her, I never filled up or felt a let-down.  Definitely nothing left.  I have been much sadder over all of this than I thought I would be.  She is 3 now and I always have another baby by now.  And while I don't really want to be pregnant ever again (I'm worn out, old, exhausted, etc), the whole thing is just making me feel OLD.  When did I get old?

I think I'll go cry now.

Arnica

Before I get into this post, I have to mention that my computer has been unable to connect to the internet for a few weeks.  Probably an easy fix, but no time.  So I've been stuck using Eric's computer which means I have no links for any blogs, including my own!!!  :-)  I'm finally making time to figure it out this morning (and I should be doing other things, but whatever).

I am accident prone these days.  Anyone else?  Last night, I was opening the door to Eric's office and smacked the side of my nose with the door.  Don't ask.  I have NO idea how I managed to accomplish such a thing.  Within about 5 minutes my nose started to swell a bit, just on the side.  Oh, and it crunched when the door hit.  I was very surprised it didn't bleed, so figured it wasn't too badly hurt.  But then I was able to SEE my nose.  Not in a mirror, just looking straight out and I could see the swelling.  I grabbed the Arnica (a homeopath for those of you who are scratching your heads) and put some on and took some.  (Eric about died laughing when I told him - he loves me, really, he does!!)  For the next 1/2 hour, I took Arnica and put some on my nose.  About an hour later, the swelling was gone and that spot wasn't blue anymore!  I love Arnica.  I have a barely noticeable spot on my nose today.  :-) 

The Best Laid Plans

My parents have been planning to take my kids camping.  The plan has been for them to take them today and come back Monday.  To some of you this might not seem like a big deal, but I have never had my kids leave the house, all of them, overnight, at the same time.  NEVER.  We did have all the kids spend one night at my sister's about 18 months ago.  One of those, leave them at 8, come back by 10 the next morning (Liza was still nursing, so I needed to not be gone long).  Prior to that, the last time Eric and I had 2 nights without kids was for Eric's class reunion when I was expecting Liza (which ended when my kids called and said Grandma was super sick, couldn't get out of bed, so we hurried home). 

Now, having nights alone hasn't been a priority for us.  We've figured out how to make our marriage work without it, we're ok, but it sure has sounded nice to be able to watch a movie, by ourselves, prior to 9 p.m.  To not have to get up early and feed kids, etc.  Maybe even lay around and read a book and not think about food.

This week there have been some enormous issues brought to light in our church.  There is a Very Important church meeting due to it.  Yep, you guessed it, tonight.  Sigh.  And now Josiah has a fever.  I do believe God is reminding me we are fine without the time off.

Pictures

I figure most people look at my pictures on Facebook.  But since some of you don't really know me and some of you *gasp* don't have Facebook (weirdos!!!!), I will post a few here!

I took this one of Eric and Liza at the beach in New Jersey.  I just love this picture!

All my kids just loved the beach.

The oldest three got to learn how to surf.  I think they are all considering moving to the beach and being surfers permanently.

This is one of my favorite ones of Abigail.

 

Josiah has such a cute grin!!

Beka and Liza.  Beka is always helping the other kids.

Don't let this picture fool you, this is a very rare, almost unseen moment in life.  We will treasure this picture always!!

I can't figure out how to space those last two pictures.  Ack.  But I did learn there is a "add a caption" thing, so whatever.  I love this picture of Beka!!

My boys and their cousin, Caleb.  Their poses crack me up!

A sweet picture of Seth and Caleb.

Allergies

The day after we got home from vacation, my allergies returned with a vengeance.  For the last 3 years, I have felt like I'm exhausted all the time.  I just assumed it had to do with getting older, 5 kids, etc.  Well, NO.  I am allergic to Colorado.  :-(  I felt much better while we were on vacation.  I'm back to wanting to stay in bed all day, feeling lazy, unmotivated, burnt out.  Sigh.  I know I can take meds for it (and am currently on Zyrtec, Benadryl and Nasal Crom - yuck).  I'm just wondering if there is anything you can do to stop having allergies.  Seems like we should have figured this out by now!!!

Weaning

For those of you who don't know how truly weird I am, this should dispel any myths of me being normal from your mind. 

I am in the process of weaning Liza.  Yes, she is almost 3.  Yes, I have nursed all of my children for more than "normal" (in the US, that is).  Just to give you an idea, I have nursed for 11 and a half years total with the 5 kids.  Liza has nursed the longest, mainly because I'm not pregnant!  I've usually had to wean the kids once I am pregnant, due to pain, contractions, exhaustion, whatever. 

So why am I weaning her?  I was really ready to be done a couple of months ago, but knew that with this big trip coming up, nursing her would be very very helpful.  Which it was.  But somewhere in all of this my milk pretty much dried up.  Which means nursing her became very painful.  VERY painful.  If I could have weaned her in the middle of the trip (when she wanted to nurse extra!), I would have.

We got home Saturday evening, Sunday I told her we were going to have to stop having "nu-nu".  She took it fine.  Monday morning, she woke at 5 and nursed.  That was the last time.  I talked to her about it later that morning, reminded her that mommy was hurting and we needed to be done.  We were both fine.

And then yesterday...she wanted to have nu-nu before her nap, but took it pretty well when I said no.  We cuddled, rocked and she was fine.  Granted, she didn't take a nap until we got in the car, but that was to be expected!  Then last night, bedtime, she fell and hit her head on the floor.  She wanted nu-nu, she was crying, I almost gave in, but then she hugged me instead and seemed ok.  And that was when I wasn't ok.  I started to cry.  I have loved nursing my kids.  It has been such a special bond with each of them.  It always feels so good to be able to "fix" things.  And now it is over.  We aren't planning on having any more babies, so it is over for good.

So I'm sad and feeling quite old. 

Our Trip

I know I promised I would blog more and even would blog about our trip.  Well, we are home.  I'm trying to climb out of the pile of laundry which seems to have sneaked into every corner of my house.  We had a wonderful time on our trip!  I only wish it could have been longer and we could have seen more people, gone more places.

Now, about that drive.  Here are the stats - approximately 3500 miles, 72 hours, $1400 in gas (9 mpg while pulling a trailer!!!).  It stunk.  Horrible stunk.  The only redeeming part of the drive was when we got to see people we love along the way.  Funny though, the kids didn't mind it!!!  When I asked them if all this driving was worth the time out visiting family, there was no hesitation in their answer, "YES!".  Crazy kids.

Abigail videotaped the van and camper before we left.  Here is what we traveled in:

We took lots and lots of pictures!  Three cameras (mine, Abigail's and Rebekah's).  Both of the girls can take video with their cameras.  And they did!!!  I will have to unload some pictures off of my computer here soon if I want my computer to continue working!!!

***As noted by Trish, that camper looks pretty small.  And it is!  It is only 21 feet long and weighs about 4000 pounds.  How did we all fit?  Well, it is a hybrid camper, which just means it is sort of a cross between a normal camper and a pop up.  There are 3 queen size beds that pop out of the sides.

The Beast Goes East

Hello!  Yes, I don't seem to blog anymore, but I have a friend who would like me to start up again.  I just might, we shall see, but don't hold your breath!

We are heading on a very very very long road trip.  3,500 miles round trip, at least.  The kids are thrilled, the parents are a little scared.  5 kids, 12 passenger van and a camper.  This will be great, right?

Spring

We woke up this morning to a bit of snow on the ground and snow still falling from the sky!  Welcome to springtime at 7000 feet elevation.  We are very very thankful for the moisture, but still...

A couple of weeks ago, we were reading poetry and the kids were supposed to write some poetry.  Only Rebekah really followed through on it.  Here is her poem about spring (although spring somewhere else, not here!).

Spring spring it makes you sing
The flowers that come, the joy it brings.
The beauty, the flowers,
The sun, the showers,
The lavender, the rose.
It stays through summer
In fall it goes.
Love the spring,
(Only when the weather is nice)
The open windows,
The baby mice.
Spring spring it makes you sing
The flowers that come, the joy it brings.

A Mountain Bluebird

Nursing

I have now nursed for about 10 years total.  This evening I was thinking about some of the funny or odd things I have done while nursing.  I have nursed while cooking, while eating (not odd, fairly normal actually), while making baskets, facing backwards while riding in a car, facing forwards while riding in a car and, tonight, I nursed my 2-1/2 year old while playing ragtime on the piano (it didn't sound awesome, but it wasn't horrid either!).  Anyone else have funny or odd things they have done while nursing?

Homeschooling

First, day 5 without a car.  I actually picked it up yesterday, drove it home, called the shop and took it back.  The alignment is still messed up.  We are out of milk, eggs and many other things, but no one is starving yet!  Yes, I *could* go to the grocery store in the evening, but had a Pampered Chef party to go to last night (way more fun than grocery shopping) and was hoping to wait until today to go shopping.  We shall see!

I thought I should update on my quitting homeschooling.  This week has been a tad rough.  I've felt like crying many many times.  But in the midst of it, I feel peace about quitting.  Part of that is that after a couple days of reflection, I realized that it really was just the curriculum we were using (My Father's World).  It wasn't working at all!  It's a wonderful program, one that I will recommend.  It just wasn't working with our kids at their ages.  The program was geared towards 4th-8th graders.  Which, if you think, means it is way over the heads of THREE of my kids.  My three youngest.  Which meant they were not interested in what I was reading, out loud, to them, for an hour to an hour and a half a day.

For now, I am going to use something called, Organic Homeschooling.  It's new.  I'm going to just try it out for the next 2 months and see how it goes.  So that's where we are today.  Talk to me tomorrow, it just might change!

Still No Car

Day #4 without a car.  I read a devotional book in the morning (most mornings).  This morning, can you believe, the devotion is titled, "Queen of Your Home, part 2 - Watching the Home".  That doesn't sound too bad.  The points are, 1 - To observe, to keep watch and 2 - To lean forward, to peer into the distance.  Again, no big deal.  But the ENTIRE devotional was about STAYING HOME.  ARGH.  Seriously!!!  "Dear mother, don't look at all the other things that you could be doing outside your home."  "Better be there (in the home) than wear a queen's coronet.  Better be there than carry the purse of a princess..."  "Your home is not a prison to restrict your life.  It is a place where God can use you to influence many lives for Him, firstly your children, and multitudes of others who will come into your home over the years."

Sigh.  SIGH.  Ok God.  I think I'm getting the point.

Today is supposed to be 68 degrees.  I was thinking about how much fun it would be to DRIVE somewhere, get OUT of the house, take the kids to a park, take them hiking, take them ANYWHERE.  No car.  So, we will stay home.  We will get laundry done.  I will soak beans to make burritos for supper (since I don't have any canned beans and can't go to the store).  I will make a chocolate chip oatmeal cake (with kids help).  I will read books to the kids, play in the backyard.  I will stay home.  And learn this lesson God is teaching me.

The devotional I'm reading is 100 Days of Blessing, Devotions for Wives and Mothers, by Nancy Campbell.

A Lesson Maybe?

Let's say that you tell your husband on Saturday that you are sick of being in the house, hated being in the house and are going insane.  You miss church the next day due to sick kids and don't leave the house on Sunday.  Let's say that Monday you put one car in the shop, leaving you with no car on that day.  And that night you put the 2nd car in the shop, leaving you with no car for Tuesday.  And Wednesday.  And now possibly Thursday.  Would you say that maybe God is trying to teach you something?

I did leave the house yesterday for 2 hours.  Thank God I had an aunt and uncle in town for a couple of days to take me somewhere!

I Quit

Due to excessive fighting among my children and because I love my kids, I quit homeschooling today.  No, I'm not sending them to school.  I just quit trying to "do school" for a while. 

Lately, whenever I try to read to all my kids (devotions, science, history), there is fighting and interruptions.  I end up in tears pretty much every single time we attempt to "do school".  By the time we are done, I am done for the day. I have no energy left to deal with the kids.  I let them watch videos, tell them to play outside, let them get on the computer.  Anything to keep them quiet and hopefully not fighting.

What will I do instead?  Play games.  Make cookies.  Go to the park.  Read books (but only what we want to read and only what they want to listen to).  Plan our garden.  Plant a garden.  Maybe I will finally have the energy to deal with my kids fighting instead of just hoping it goes away.

First thing on the list?  Make cookies with my 2nd born child.

Mid-Life ???

I think I'm having some sort of a mid-life crisis.  I read a book the other day about "emotional phases of a woman's life" (that might be the exact title, but I'm not sure).  She termed it mid-life malaise.  Call it whatever you want, I think I have it.

It's funny.  I'm content.  I love my husband, love my kids.  I even love having my kids with me all the time and seriously do NOT think about sending them to school.  Yet I keep having this thought.  This is it.  This is life.  This repetitious, boring, mundane, unexciting, hard hard work.  It is life.  We're constantly behind in everything.  Eric works hard, long hours.  The kids are kids.  They squabble and argue and need to be trained and disciplined.  I spend my days cooking, cleaning, teaching, doing laundry, ...  Blah.  And since I have a 2 year old, this is it for the next 16 years.

All this makes me wish we could take a month and just go to Hawaii.  Or California.  Or Florida.  Definitely a beach.  One where the wind doesn't blow constantly.  One where the kids can play outside and Eric and I can just sit, watch the kids, hold hands and talk.  Eat delicious seafood, drink wine, take a walk on the beach.  Anyone else want to join us?  We could rent a bunch of cottages on a remote beach and have a month long vacation.

Teamwork

I think we are in need of some team building ideas for our family.  Does anyone have good ideas or good resources for encouraging teamwork in families?

A Normal Day

With kids around, even a normal day has very odd and funny moments.  Today, as Abigail and I were doing grammar, Josiah kept bugging me.  He finally had his head between my knees and I was squeezing his head, just to keep him occupied.  At one point he looked up at me and said, "nice butt".  Yep.  He's 4.

Later, I told the kids I needed 10 minutes of quiet.  Just 10 minutes to lay down, read a homeschooling magazine and have silence.  Within a couple of minutes, in comes Seth.  He cuddles up next to me and says, "Mom, during church they said that if we live with God we will have joy.  So why am I always unhappy?"  Sigh.  This is not a little conversation and it certainly isn't one I can read my magazine and give a "uh huh" kind of answer through.  So I put down my magazine and chatted with Seth.

Then there's Liza.  Yesterday I said, "aren't you being nice?"  And I meant that she was being nice.  She said, "Yes.  Actually no.  I was mean to Siah and to the Arnica."  (Arnica is a homeopath and she got into the homeopaths and ate some the other day.)

Abigail looked at me today and said, "Mom, I know what causes bruises."  I'm looked at her and said, "O.K.", thinking she's going to tell me how it's internal bleeding...  She said, "Falling out of a tree."  Very very funny.

So there you have it.  A normal day.  I'm sure Rebekah said something funny or profound in the last few days too, but my brain cells are dead tonight!

How Much Grace?

We have a child who struggles with being mean.  She hits, says mean things and can be downright cruel to her siblings.  We have struggled for years now to know exactly how to discipline and train this child for this kind of behavior.  We've tried numerous things and many many days it feels like we are failing.  Today, after she hit her brother, she was put in time out.  I was trying to be creative and called it "prison" and told her that in real life, hitting a person is something you can be put in jail for.  She was livid with me.  Understand, I did this not in anger, but in an attempt to fix a long standing problem.  I let her out of the room after about an hour, when her little sister needed a nap.  She promptly went downstairs to another room and locked herself in (including taking all the door keys in the room with her!).  A funny aside, she even had the nerve to call me to her, through the door, and tell me she needed matches to light a candle in her room.  FAT CHANCE. 

About an hour after locking herself in her room, she called to me again.  I went to her and she had a note in her hand.  I asked her if it was for me and she handed it to me.  This is what it said, "Mercy triumphs over judgment!!!  That is why scripture says:  'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' "

Woah.  What did THAT mean?  Since we had extra kids around at the time, I didn't get to talk to her about it until much later.  In the meantime, I obviously spent time thinking about what she meant.  I have given this child ample grace - too much some people think.  I haven't punished enough, haven't been consistent enough, haven't had big enough consequences.  I mean, obviously if I had done a better job she would not behave this way still, right?  Last year, while talking to Eric about all this and praying over this, we both felt convicted that she needed even more grace.  Today I found myself asking "how much grace is enough?  Can you give too much grace?"  Wow.  What a question!  Think about it!!!  How much grace do we want God to give us for our sin? 

Part of all this story is that this child feels her mistakes very strongly.  She agonizes over them, but what she shows everyone is anger.  Not remorse.  ANGER.  She apologizes with an angry tone of voice, she glares at people.  But I know that in her heart she hates what she's doing.  But as her mother, I am supposed to teach her that there is a consequence for what she's doing!!!  How?

I finally got to talk to her tonight.  She told me she wrote the note to encourage me.  And then she said, "you give me more grace and mercy than most people would."  And yet, I don't think I've shown her enough.

So, how do you temper grace, mercy and consequence?  How do you train up a child in the way she should go and extend grace in the midst of it?  How do you teach a child to be kind, loving and not to hit, say mean things and be cruel and yet extend grace?

We ended our conversation with me asking her to come up with some good ideas to figure out how to teach her to not do this.  We prayed together.  I told her that we are on her side - and this she needed to hear.  We hugged and all feels right for the moment.

Advice Request

Eric is pretty consistently putting in 12 hour days, which means he's not home until 7 many nights.  How do you get the "extras" done when this is the case?  Stuff like needing to take the oldest child (the only one old enough to babysit the others) out to purchase needed clothing?  We don't have family in town who can babysit, so that's out.  And what about home repairs?  Do you wait until your husband has a spare 2 hours on a weekend to fix broken things?  Pay someone else to do it?  Attempt to fix it yourself?  What about bills needing to be paid?  Eric handles all our finances and wants to do that, but more and more it's becoming an extra for him.

By the way, it's 10 minutes after 7 and he's still not home.  I need to run to a store 5 minutes from the house to pick up some boots, but I also need to take the eldest there to purchase jeans.  The store closes at 8.  Sigh.  And he just called.  He's just leaving work, so he won't be home until 7:45.  Double sigh.

Any good ideas?