Schooling

It is no secret that I loath public schools, especially those here in Utah.

Many of my school years were spent here, and there was no challenge whatsoever.

Not to toot my own horn, but I'm a fast learner. I pick something up, and quickly want to move on to the next thing. With my love of knowledge, I did amazingly well in school.

That is, until I got bored.
Waiting for the slower children to catch up was never much fun.

When my family moved from Ohio back to Utah my interest in school was obliterated. 

I went from Honors English, Chemistry, and large amazing choir...

to Basic English (there was only one level for the grade), Earth Science (which I learned in the 6th grade), and a choir where everyone was accepted (some people just cannot sing.)

The idea of homeschooling first appealed to me when my sister in law announced that she was planning on going that route. The over achiever in me went into research mode and learned the following about children who are home-schooled:

1 - they are generally better socialized 

2 - they are smarter

Yes, please!

Much to my dismay, Sophie has recently been dead set on going to public school. Like any 5 year old, she wants to do what all the other kids are doing. Without much grace on my part, I agreed to take her to the kindergarten round up for our local elementary. I hated it, and still do.

Denny kindly reminded me that our parenting style is to respect our child and her wishes.
Begrudgingly, I filled out all of the stupid enrollment papers. I agreed to let her try out the "summer school" they have to let kids get used to the idea of school. If she still wanted to attend after that, we would discuss it.

Fast forward to about 8:00 this morning.

I finished reading my sister in law's blog about how much she loved homeschooling.

Despite the fact that I had nothing but doing laundry planned for the day, I decided we would have our first day of homeschooling. 

That way Sophie could experience both homeschooling and public school and decide which she liked best.

It went WONDERFULLY!

Enjoy the pictures of our successful day.

Fish graphs.

Shapes.

Math.

Weather.

Alphabet match.

Mya wandered in and out of the room as she pleased.

Sophie was super excited as we went from one activity to the next.

It was lovely.

And just because they are adorable, here are the girls in their new swimsuits.

Yep, I made them.

And this one is just too cute.

Denny and Mya playing games last night while I finished up some sewing.

PEACE OUT!

Why I'm Not Worried About Giving Birth At Home

My mother kindly brought it to my attention that family members are worried about my hippie ways.

While supportive, they just don't understand why I would want to have my baby at home.

So I decided to compile some helpful information, and hopefully put their worries at ease.

• I have a wonderful care provider, who will be with me the entire birth, and thereafter to keep watch over baby and I.
• Should something go wrong (rare, but it happens), my midwife has the skills to handle the situation. And if needed, 911 response would have someone to our home within 2 minutes. We also live within 2 miles of 2 different hospitals.
• My midwife, her assistant, my doula, and my husband will all be ready and able should I need any help.
• In many studies that compare home vs. hospital births, home births (with a trained care provider) are safer. They have fewer complications, injuries, infections, and deaths.
• The amount of interventions in US hospitals is unacceptable. 1 in 3 women have a cesarean section.
• Hospitals have a "time limit" of how long they will allow women to labor.
• Many of the hospital "routine" procedures are unnecessary and can cause more complications.
• The cost of a midwife is by far more affordable than a hospital birth.

Smaller reasons:

• No IV at home, instead I get to eat and drink as I please.
• I don't have to worry about people not respecting my wishes.
• I don't have to ask to pee.
• I get to wear my own clothes.
• No strangers will be all up in my lady business.
• Instead of being strapped to a machine, the midwife checks heartbeats with a Doppler/fetoscope.
• No paperwork being shoved into my face during contractions.
• No one will be shouting "PUSH" at me.
• Instead of a tiny hospital bed, I will have my large fluffy bed with my own pillow.
• I will have a birth tub to use during labor AND pushing. (hospitals kick you out before you start pushing)
• I get real food instead of hospital food.
• Hospitals make you stay 24 hrs, sometimes more.
• Nurseries give babies formula, even if specifically told otherwise. 
• Hospitals are crawling with germs.
• Baby-nappers.
• Bitchy nurses.
• etc.

My main reasons:

• I hate hospitals. They are for sick people, and I am not sick.
• I want the girls to have the option of being present and involved.
• I am comfortable at home.
• I trust my body.
• I want to do whatever the hell I feel like during labor, and not have to fight off medical staff.
• After giving birth I get to simply crawl into bed and enjoy the emotional high. At a hospital I would be on high alert making sure no unwanted procedures were preformed on baby.
• Because I can.

I am very excited about our first home birth.
I adore the midwife and doula that I've chosen to support me during labor.
I will have a wonderfully talented birth photographer there to capture the memories.
My children and husband will be there to give me love and support.

Who wouldn't be excited?!?!?

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend.

The girls dyed some eggs.

Being as I'm a hippie and hate chemicals, we used good old vinegar and food coloring.

Mya was only interested in the color blue.

They turned out well.

 

And me in all my pregnant glory.

 

The girls played outside while we cleaned up in the house.

Sophie picked out a new Easter dress during our Girl's Day.

(complete with stick-on nails and a fancy new clip)

While dad was outside hiding all the eggs, the girls got to dig through their baskets.

70+ eggs and 5 minutes later, we released them into the yard.

Sophie was a bit of a challenge to get any pictures of, being as she was running around at warp speed.

Mya quickly followed along after her.

After they filled their little buckets, it was time to check the loot.

I only bought one small back of candy, because I didn't want the children in a sugar coma for the next week. The rest of the prizes were stickers, stamps, tattoos, rings, etc.

As always, they put on all the tattoos in one sitting.
Luckily, I loaded up their baskets with a bunch more.

We spent the rest of the afternoon running about outside and enjoying the sunshine.

I made the girls some sidewalk paint (cornstartch & water).

Sophie enjoyed practicing her letters.

Mya hoarded any chocolate she could find, and squatted over the bag, devouring it like a rat.

That's mah girl.

Hope everyone else enjoyed their Easter weekend.

Flowers and Genitalia

Every Valentine's Day, Denny is required to purchase not one, but three gifts.

If just I get chocolates, the vultures will eat them all.
If just I get flowers, their little hands grab all over them until they wilt. 

So.

Three gifts.

When the girls woke up to this, they instantly started man-handling everything on the table.

Mya stuffed all, yes all, of her chocolates into her mouth at once.

Sophie tried to claim the roses for herself, but settled on the yellow daisies.

Other than the fact that neither of them even touched their breakfast, it was a pretty good morning.

Also, if you are a slacker and doesn't use Facebook, you missed a fun piece of news.

Tiny fetus has a penis.

Just FYI.

Crazy Dreams & Bath Time

One of the joys of pregnancy would be intensely vivid dreams.

I have always had really bold dreams to begin with, so when you add in the hormones, they just get weird.

Examples:

After stealing a buttload of money, I was asked what I was going to do with all of it.

My response was, "buy Ian Somerhalder... I want to know what he tastes like."

Being trapped inside a large hotel with Sophie, running from a tyrannosaurus.
By the way, the whole "just stand still" thing from Jurassic Park is complete bull.

Some creepy man kidnapped me and kept me locked in his basement for months.
When I finally escaped, I got my revenge by scratching the paint on his bright yellow car.

And most recently:
Denny and I are "separated."
I am dropping Sophie off with him for their first weekend at his place.
I am sitting outside a steak house crying uncontrollably.

I turn into a fish.

I am with other fish trying to get away from an orca.

I am in a grocery store.

Buying a cart full of breadsticks.

Mya kicks me and I wake up.

This stuff is banans.

Anyway.

Here are some cute pictures of the girls taking a bath.