Homeschool

I really wanted to enroll Olivia in preschool this year but the place I wanted to get her into has a strict policy with being 3 by September 1. Well her birthday is September 23 and Mike and I don't think that we should have to hold her back a whole year because she missed a deadline. I know that there are other preschools that don't have this strict cutoff but it does bother me that the school system has this cutoff date when really it should be based on the child's ability and maturity levels. I have also met a lot of people who homeschool in Boise so I have been reading a lot of books and blogs and checking out a lot of curriculums in the homeschool world.

Mike and I have discussed it before but I figured I might as well see what is out there. I found a lot of great information and I chose the Sonlight curriculum. There isn't much for the preschool years but I though it would be a good test run this year and next year to figure out if this is something we really want to do. I think I am a well rounded person in education but teaching little kids kind of freaks me out. Plus with our current situation Mike would be doing most of the teaching.

Things I like most about the Sonlight curriculum is it has a bible section where kids learn about bible stories and learn scriptures, it is literature based and it has everything planned for you. I am a firm believer that having good reading/writing and reading comprehension skills is essential to learning other subjects and that is what they focus on the first couple of years. The books on the reading list are classics and I checked the curriculum for middle school and high school and it was a meaty list. I also liked that even though the bible is a huge component they incorporate exposing kids to other religions and backgrounds. The curriculum incorporates other homeschool packages that have received awesome reviews like Break the Code to teach reading and Handwriting without Tears.

We already read to Olivia almost daily but this will be nice to expose her to more classics and give Mike and I the opportunity to spend some quality time with her. The preschool schedule only requires about 20 minutes a day. Plus money was another factor. Preschool would be a huge expense in our budget.

Wow time flies

I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted. I have been busy with some thing and lazy with others and the blog has fallen by the wayside. I thought I check in because I am suppose to be journaling all these memories about my family. Mike's parents have come to visit us several times which Olivia loves. We love it too and we were able to go to some awesome garage sales. Mike and I have been meeting lots of new people in Boise and hanging out which has been nice for Olivia to play with other kids. We have also found some fantastic babysitters. One girl is in our ward and she is 13 and she is just in the awkward stage of getting braces and going through puberty but she is the absolute sweetest. I was concerned about finding a sitter because Hazel is so young but this girl babysat for another couple over the summer and they have a set of twin boys that are only a few months older than Hazel so she has had a lot of experience. Plus her mom lives close by.

My working out has been non existent. Not surprised at all. As soon as things picked up at work that was the first thing to go. One day it will happen. Also Mike has a herniated disc so I don't have a workout partner anymore. :( He has been in a lot of pain so that has been hard in a lot of ways. He is at home with the kids all day and he is suppose to take it easy which is really hard for him. That means there is a lot of cleaning stuff that he can't help out with. The doctors have a fairly aggressive plan that I don't really agree with but that is a big story within itself.

I have been reading reading reading. I am trying to research all these things and I feel so overwhelmed so I end up wasting a lot of time on FB to give my brain a break. Then I started my pintrest account and boy is it fun but it surely can eat up a lot of time. Productive time. I have been researching homeschooling. I think I'll save that for another posts. I have also been researching some business ideas and then there are the parenting books. I have read them once but there is no way I can remember stuff from 3 years ago.

And then my rash comes and goes with my TOM and when I get stressed. So I got pretty stressed a few weeks ago and it broke out on my back, it crawled up my shoulder, up my neck and now is on my face. Makes me self conscious but Mike says it isn't noticeable but I don't believe him. The nice thing is I work with a bunch of guys and they probably don't notice. I can't take anything for fear of it crossing into my milk or affecting my milk supply. So I can't wait to stop pumping so I can do a detox.

I am going to end with my pumping woes. I never experience any of these things with Olivia but I know most nursing moms do have these problems. I got Mastitis in June. Wow that really sucked so I have been more aware about plugged ducts. I recently have dropped a pumping session so I now only pump 3 times a day which is so much more convenient than 4. Then I got a plugged duct on the left side and I was able to get it worked out. Then I took a nap on my belly the other day and have been battling this plugged duct on the right side. I thought I cleared it out 3 times before but it kept plugging up so I finally pop the milk blister and hopefully I am okay now. Lesson learned is I can only sleep on my back and popping the blister with a pin wasn't bad at all. And hear is my apology if that was TMI but being a mom of a new baby is a dirty job.

Video of Hazel learning how to talk

Thanks everyone!

I just wanted to thank you to everyone for their words of encouragement. I was pretty disappointed and angry and upset but that is life. We have no set plans but it is nice to know that we aren't the only ones that have struggled.

What's a blog post without picture? I pretty boring one. Here is a picture of Hazel and Olivia. Hazel is about 3 months and Olivia is 4 months. It is amazing how different they look. Overall Olivia does look a lot like me but if you look at the details she does have a lot of Mike's features. And overall Hazel looks a lot like Mike. Mike and I can't wait for Hazel to get bigger so we can really see her features but she does have quite the fiesty personality. I think as parents we underestimate how smart our kids are especially babies. Hazel gets so mad when she can hear us hanging out in the next room but she isn't there with us or if we are all on the bed and she is in her bassinet. And if she wants to be held or sat up don't even think about laying her down because she will scream bloody murder as soon as she is in a horizontal position. As long as the car is moving she is okay but when we get stopped at a light or stop sign the crying commences. She is definitely a lot pickier than Olivia ever was. In the morning she has to be laid in our bed for her morning nap. She loves to be swaddled still. She can't stand being in a wet or poopy diaper for even a few minutes. And she loves to watch Olivia play. Mike took her to get vaccinations and she is a screamer. Luckily for us our doctor is unbiased about vaccinations and he probably leans more towards not doing all vaccinations at once so we are following Dr. Sears schedule. Hazel is growing fast and I love this stage she is at. She coos and talks and she isn't mobile yet. There is only one thing I am waiting for her to learn how to do which is laugh. I let her have tummy time and she has rolled onto her back a few times but this time around I will probably be a little bit sad when she starts crawling and walking.

Olivia is also growing very fast. She loves church. Actually she just loves nursery. She is getting much better during sacrament meeting but it might be because I am more prepared and we have a routine. I have my designated church bag with toys and games she can only play with at church. She even said the prayer in nursery which makes me feel good because that means she is actually learning something from home. Sometimes I feel guilty because I can't fit it all in but we always say our prayers. And Sundays aren't as hectic. There is still yelling on my part but it use to be a lot worse. I made this checklist of things we need to do and pack before we go to church and it has helped out a ton. And maybe one day we will make it to church before it starts.

Potty training. We have had a couple of poo accidents and that hasn't been very fun. Mike and I just throw the underwear away. I just don't have the patience to clean that whole mess up. All I know is if Olivia has to go, it has to be NOW. She has been potty trained during the day for a little over a month. We just started night training but it was initiated by Olivia. Last night was the first night without a diaper and she woke up dry. I suspect that she has been dry for several nights or maybe weeks but she always takes her diaper off in the morning and puts it in the garbage before Mike and I get to it. I was quite worried about potty training and it has been a lot easier than I expected. Granted we waited until she was almost 3 so that probably made a big difference.

Disappointments and now what

Mike had a job interview last week and we were super excited but he didn't get it. We knew the competition was tough but there are civil engineers with 4-5 years of experience that are taking entry level jobs at entry level pay. That is like me erasing 5 years of experience off my resume. That would be devastating. That was an eye opener of the job market for civil engineers.

The economy stinks right now for most people so I did some research and it isn't looking so hot for civil engineers. Even if the economy recovers there is a huge pool of civil engineers. There are atleast 150 civil engineer programs in the US and they have around 30 people graduate each year and between 2008 to 2011 that is a lot of engineers. That doesn't include the civil engineers that graduated before then that have been laid off and the students that will be graduating in the upcoming years.

I can't make any decisions for MIke. I guess he has to decide if he wants to change his career and will that include going back to school. I can't speak for Mike but I can imagine he is disappointed/frustrated because civil engineering was THE major. I am disappointed because I am tired of living in limbo waiting for Mike to find a job. And now it seems like it could be more waiting.

The big question for me is "Now What?" You go to college thinking you will find a job and boom the economy tanks. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to find a job with an engineering degree. Lot of questions loom ahead and there are no guarantees that anything will work out. That is where my thoughts are today. Then there is the economy which is a blog posting of its own...

Random summer happenings

We were in Utah for almost a month so here are some random pictures from our trip.


I thought this picture was pretty funny. I won't miss the saggy diaper bum plus her pjs are a little big.


Olivia and Grandma at Lagoon. I think the picture captures how excited Olivia is.


The face Olivia is making reminds me of a face I make. Kanika will know what I am talking about.





Olivia and Ashton waiting for the fireworks to start.

Nothing slows this girl down

Even with a broken leg Olivia didn't let it slow her down. She got her long cast off and wore this boot for the next couple of weeks. She still jumped on the tramp and played in the bouncy house.