My herbal tea

Now that I am back home, I have resumed the drinking of my "pregnancy tea". However, I am filled with questions. Does it really work? A study done found that Red Raspberry Leaf tea did shorten the second stage of labor (pushing the baby out), but only by about 15 minutes. Are claims that it shortens labor really true? I drank it with Caleb and with Taryn. Both labors were relatively short. I also drank it with Liam, though not as much, and although it seems his labor should have been short, it really wasn't. I was dilated at four cm for days prior to his birth, and I should have had a quick onset labor, but I spent days in "prelabor" or early labor. Even the active, very painful stage lasted 8 or 9 hours. That seems like too long for a fourth baby.       

But then I think of other factors which might have applied. I was a lot older when I had Liam than when I had the others. It had been nearly a decade since I had a baby, maybe it was like having a first baby all over again. Although I used EPO, I inserted it (and took it orally), but didn't use the turkey baster like I did with Taryn (bet you wanted to know that!). Did that make a difference? Did my "self-induction" methods bring about Liam's labor before it was really time, thus lengthening the labor? I don't like hospitals and their controlling ways-did going into an alien environment (biologically speaking) cause me to tense up and slow labor down?

Is it all just game of chance?  Either way, it'll be fun to compare this experience with my previous ones. Well,  fun in that painfully horrifying way.

Back to reality-Finding Space

I plan to post a vacation blog, however I am still waiting for my daughters to send me some pics from their phones which take much better pics than our digital camera.
For now though, it is nice to be home. I am getting back into the routine of constant laundry, planning all my meals instead of stopping at fastfood, and trying really hard not to scream at the teenagers camped out on my couch eating junk food and staring at Netflix all day. Why don't they go DO something? Don't they know they will be stuck at home for years after they "grow up" and have kids? Why are they wasting a sunny day? Should I get rid of Netflix? I just banned eating in the livingroom for now, but Karl won't back me up, and how long will that last? Karl's family is the type who had soda with dinner and ate bags of potato chips sitting on the couch at night. Yuck. And he thinks that's okay.

Having been to several different motels/hotels in the past six month, I am beginning to notice things I want for my house. I love the lack of clutter hotels have. Our suite in Florida was equipped with everything we would need (except bookshelves), and not one bit more. I am so tempted just to throw everything in my kitchen out and just START OVER. Fingerhut used to have these starter kitchen sets, I wish I could find one now.

I am still thinking about what to do with Liam's toys. I go back and forth. We are slowly collecting cherry finished wood, but someone gave us a crib that is more honey colored. Should I get a toy shelf to match the crib or what we already have? The toy chest will be in the dining room for now. Karl's parents gave us an oak dining table. I don't like oak-colored finish anymore (too country), we have a nasty oak particleboard desk and hutch, a cherry finished (solid oak) bookshelf, and white ikea cube shelving in the dining room. Plus the molding is all white finished. What to do? They have cheaper cube shelving at target in white which would be okay with the ikea and the molding, but I hate to start purchasing cheap stuff. But if I get higher quality stuff what color finish? Go to Wood U and paint some oak shelves white? Or stain them cherry? Or be thinking about the time when the little ones have a room of their own to share and go with honey?

I get so frustrated, I don't do anything.
So now I want to declutter everything, and I strongly suspect one of the cats peed on the diningroom rugs while we were gone. I wonder if I can get the kids to help me air them out on the porch? Hmmm. At least they were each only $30 at Kmart, and they are almost two years old, so if I have to throw them out, i would guess I got good use out of them.

I can't decide whether or not to make a room for Caleb in the basement. I think he needs the interaction of being close to the rest of the family-he is so reclusive. But I want the little boys to have their own room. But really, an affordable five bedroom house is not to be found on this side of town.
Urg.....I am glad I have a big family, I can't imagine the easy, boring manageability of just one or two kids (I remember having two, easy, but not as much fun as 3+), but the space problem is annoying.

The Mess and the Challenge

One of the major frustrations in having young children is having toys all over the place. I remember with relief, the time I cleaned the girls' bedroom out and realized-they don't play with toys anymore. I could get rid of all that cluttering crap! What a relief. But now that I have a toddler, I find the mess slowly creeping in. Of course, I had intended only to buy high quality wooden toys that wouldn't be an eyesore, but even wooden toys make clutter, not to mention that other people buy plastic stuff. Please note: battery operated annoying stuff has a tendency to "disappear" for long periods at a time, along with Disney stuff. My kids are really too good for Disney. Okay, okay, we do buy into Harry Potter stuff, but I have to draw the line somewhere. On Christmas, Karl's dad laughed with devilish delight over the annoying Cars book he bought Liam. He even said how much it was going to drive us crazy. It was very noisy with lots of buttons and no real literature or educational value at all. I don't know why he was so excited, because it's our house, and Karl and I frequently "lose" the book.

So, now I am left with this mess and a need to clean it up! The problem isn't just the way it looks. The mess makes it hard for Liam to figure out what to play with, and it's hard to clean around. I can't wipe down a baseboard if it's covered in toys. This leads to a buildup of crud in the corners. Since I already live in an older house with rough dusty edges and baseboards separating from the wood floor, it's a little gross.  So I  really feel the need for organization.

SO....Stay tuned to see what I do with all this stuff.

My baby isn't so babyish anymore... He still drools, though. Look at that sweater...

Homemade Pregnancy Tea

During my two "shorter" labors, I consumed fairly larger amount of red raspberry leaf tea in the final months. Although, I did have red raspberry leaf tea with my last pregnancy, I did not drink it as frequently as I would have liked, for no reason other than being very busy.
Now that I am well into my second trimester (although I still haven't really felt the baby moving), I decided to start drinking up.
Pregnancy teas alone are rather expensive, and I wanted more than just plain raspberry leaf. I decided to add nettle leaf, and dandelion root to my brew. Now, I have also heard that alfalfa is good to add, and I WISH I had bought some mint or something pungent to really flavor it up. But for now, this will do, and I can add raw honey as necessary.

Really hoping for a better labor this time!

Some other pregnancy tea recipes:

Covenant Homemakinghttp://www.covenanthomemaking.com/2012/02/homemade-herbal-pregnancy-tea.html

Passionate Homemaking

Snowboard Mommy

EcoChild's Play

Fence 'im in!

One of my main worries has been the little amount of outdoor time Liam receives. Since we live on a busy street and our unfenced backyard backs right into our neighbors' yards, sitting out with him is a constant "on your feet" adventure. This worked fine on base when I was in my 20s. But frankly, I don't want to be constantly following Liam around like a sheep redirecting him. I guess that would actually make me the shephard, wouldn't it?
So, today I purchase this:

No Dig Fencing

While it won't be sturdy and secure enough to leave him out there, I really hope this will be enough to keep us old fogies from having to chase Liam all over the place, and he will get some more outdoor time. I can sit on the back porch and knit or read, while Liam gets some fresh air. Hope it works!

We had a 40 foot length across the back of our yard, so I just needed to cover that, which is 7 panels. I didn't get one for the side of the house without a gate just now. I will probably block it with a bike and the trash can or something for now. I will post a pic later if it works out!



I'll be picking it up today, assuming it's available.

Definately going more with Charlotte Mason

To be honest, I don't really like the idea of a "method" of homeschooling. It sounds like a made-up idea from the outside, which is just giving up control to someone else. BUT, I have been reading The Charlotte Mason Companion (after reading through the first couple of Charlotte Mason's very dense books) and I just love it. The writer/mom Karen Andreola just sounds like a lovely lady. I remember reading her reviews in Great Christian Books when Tierney was just a toddler, and I always loved her gentle style.

So what does this actually mean? With a 20 month old, I suppose it means we should be spending more time outside soaking up the world. This is hard. My yard doesn't have a fence, and it is VERY small.

We had been planning on sectioning another area of the basement off to make a bedroom for Caleb, but now...I think I want to move. I hate the hassle, mess, and expense of moving-well, who doesn't?-but the young ones need room to run and play. Plus, they raised our rent from 750 to 800, but they had originally wanted to raise it to 900 (which they will get-in this neighborhood). We are worried it will go up again when the lease is up in the summer. So. I think this summer we will need to move. We will likely only find a 4 bedroom, so the girls will have to share, and the babies. It makes more sense for the girls at 17 and 12 to share, than Caleb and Liam at 15 and well, 2 this summer. Plus we are making sacrifices to be in their school district (we really want a place in the country-I'd even live in a trailer!), so they can make this sacrifice.

So, hopefully sometime this summer, Liam will have a back yard. We can't buy a house as hoped this year, but...that isn't a necessity. AND! I have seen acceptable 4 bedrooms(particularly if I get over the idea of trying to impress my facebook "friends") in the right district for 700 to 750. They are older, but not a craftsman's house (like my current house), but noone ever died from living in a ranch home. Priorities, not pride!

You may wonder how a post about Charlotte Mason turned into a post about money. I think this is one of the distinct struggles with homeschooling. Usually, it requires someone to be home most of the time. I can't teach and be home all day. If my husband (well, he will be my husband tomorrow) had already finished college and had a well-established career this might not be an issue. But not all homeschoolers have college degrees and great jobs. Family and home education have to be a priority, because it's a heck of a lot easier to send them to public school and work fulltime.
I can't say for sure that we will homeschool because Liam isn't even quite two. Who knows what the future will bring?  I can only say this is the path I am on right now, and it feels like a nice one.

Methods

Once again I am disillusioned with Waldorf. The thing is, I belong to these mailing lists for people who are trying to raise their children using Waldorf methods. Some of them really know how to approach an issue "in the Waldorf way". The problem is, when they speak, to me, they sound like total flakes. I am not sure I buy into the philosophy. I love natural parenting and looking to nature and slowing down a bit. I am just not sure I buy into Waldorf.

So I have been looking more at Charlotte Mason methods. Her ways are natural without getting into the strange philosophies of Waldorf. Additionally, I am interested in classical education and literature-based education. I think these are what I am really looking for.

Part of me thinks, why bother? I am just going to end up working fulltime and have to put the little ones in public schools. But I don't like the product of public schools. I don't like the peer-dependence and the culture that is emerging. I have to make some choices here. But I don't want to starve in retirement either.
Is it wrong to homeschool  if we have to get food stamps?

What is the answer? My heart says, keep them close to home, get active in the homeschooling community when they are bit older, and do what feels right. That is just so hard to do when a paycheck, nicer house, and vacations are around the corner.