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Last Day of Kindergarten

Today I put Z on the bus for last time, at least for Kindergarten. I remember putting him on the bus for the first time 9 months ago. I watched him square his shoulders, march to the back, and sit next to the window with the seriousness of a soldier reporting for duty. You could tell he felt like a grown up. All I saw was my little 5 year old who was changing right before my very eyes.
And change he did. Today he brought home some final assignments, one of which he had been working on since the beginning of the year.
The first page chronicled how he wrote his name and drew a self portrait the first week of school.
One of the final pages was the same thing except from the last week of kindergarten.
It’s amazing how much his hair and ears grew this year. Just kidding, it’s a lovely drawing.
At the beginning of the year he could write very short words and made attempts with sentences that he was already familiar with. He was reading books that were specifically designed for the earliest of readers. You know the kind, where the content is limited to three word sentences with three letter words like “Sam can sit”.
A year later and he is writing sentences like the ones from this worksheet.
Obviously he has some spelling to work on, but this is Kindergarten. He’s doing SUPERB if I do say so myself.
He loves to read and write stories. The other day he wrote an elaborate story which he labeled “non fiction” (in his own spelling) and it was all about his trip to New York City from over a year ago. As I was flipping through the pages I looked at my mom and I said “does this make you think of anyone one” hinting that it reminded me of myself at a young age and she agreed. He isn’t reading chapter books or anything, but when he is reading a story he doesn’t want to put it down and sometimes this calls for reading on the go.
I pray that this thirst for literature stays with him. Maybe it will, or maybe he will mellow out with age and that’s fine. I am glad though to see him start off on the right foot. Here is part of what I shared with Z’s teacher today in a thank you card I gave her.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher for Z’s first year of school. He learned so much from you, but most importantly he learned to love school. What better way to kick off the next 12 years!”
I have had so many emotions going on this past week from this latest milestone after the struggle that we have been through to get to this place. I am grateful that we made it, and that God, as always, has been so faithful. It has been a great year for Z.
Boys begin boys after their graduation.
 I know that his school and his teacher were perfect for him during this season and I feel incredibly blessed. I am proud of my son.

 

 

I can’t wait to see what comes next.

By |2015-05-19T20:16:22+00:00May 31, 2014|My Life, Uncategorized|2 Comments
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More Than Words Can Say

*This was originally written over a year ago. Sometimes I just need to write even if I keep it to myself, but today, on the 2nd anniversary of her diagnosis, I am ready to share.*

In the world of hearing loss I feel like the label “Late Identified” is a big red stamp across my daughter’s forehead. These days most deaf children are diagnosed through a brief newborn hearing screening before they even leave the hospital. Since SJ wasn’t born at the hospital we never had any testing done until she was over two years old. 

SJ at two years old, a month after she was diagnosed.

SJ’s birth was perfect. It was hands down one of the most amazing, beautiful, and spiritual moments of my life, but if I could change the past then I would have had a screening test done after the home birth.


The first seconds of SJ’s life!

 As with any treatment plan, like with cancer or autism, the earlier you can diagnose and intervene, the better. There are so many benefits to getting started at a young age when it comes to language, and we lost two years of valuable time. However, having those years of not knowing did have some benefits. 

When I blogged for the first time about SJ’s hearing, Amanda (from Oh Amanda) left me a link to a woman she called her hero. That woman was Rachel Coleman of Signing Time. I read her story, got several of her videos, and she soon became my hero as well. Her daughter Leah was also late identified because the hospital had taken a break from newborn screenings for a brief time before they became mandatory and that was when Leah was born. Here is what Rachel said about her daughter being late identified.

 “Was it meant to be? I don’t know. I wonder how over-protective and lame I would have been if they had handed me my newborn baby and said, by the way she’s profoundly deaf. Looking back I can see the blessing it was that we got to know Leah for her first year with the complete expectation that she could do anything, she was limitless. When we did hear her diagnosis “severe to profound hearing impairment” when she was 14 months old, we mourned. We cried. We felt silly. We couldn’t believe it. We thought there was a mistake. We hoped it would go away. We felt all of that and more at once! Finally we looked at Leah and she was still her happy beautiful self. And we recognized that for Leah nothing had changed. Nothing was wrong.”

Boy do I relate to that! When we first came to SJ’s school, one of the advisers had commended me on how well I’ve done at communicating with SJ despite her hearing loss. She told me that many parents have a hard time just talking with their deaf children and unknowingly tend to turn their conversation toward someone that is listening to them. I’d like to take credit for being so loving, but I didn’t know she was deaf.

 Another therapist was astounded by SJ’s cognitive abilities and said she had never worked with a deaf child potty trained at such a young age. I’d like to take credit for that too, but once again I didn’t realize I was potty training a deaf child (and besides that she initiated it). For over two years I treated her like any other baby/toddler. We didn’t fret. We weren’t trying to protect her. We weren’t taking action. We just loved her as she was, and in the mean time she loved us back and proved to be a very capable, thriving, joyous little lady. 

I know now more than ever how vital communication and language is. However, in those years we “lost” by not starting therapy or using hearing devices we also gained a lot and I learned a valuable lesson. She understood me. She may not have understood my words, but our love transcended all of that. Our hearts spoke to one another. I have always told my kids that I love them more than words can say and for SJ I’ve lived that truth. 

By |2015-05-18T05:19:43+00:00May 5, 2014|Hearing Loss, Motherhood, My Life, Special Needs, Uncategorized|10 Comments
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SJ’s Latest Evaluation

This week was parent teacher conferences at SJ’s school. I wanted to do something special for her teacher’s because SJ goes to the best school ever with the greatest staff in the world.

Exaggerate much?

Well, to me it is all of that, and it’s been a God send for SJ. The least I could do is look up a simple thank you on Pinterest. I liked this printable from Tammy Mitchell Designs.

Instead of having SJ (Sedona) sign them I scanned her name and added it to the printable. That was her teachers favorite part, getting to have a keepsake of her name which she had JUST learned to spell.

In fact, out of nowhere she has been blowing me away with her handwriting. She can’t read, or sound things out. She doesn’t know ANY of the alphabet. So, considering all that, it is amazing that she can not only spell her name by heart (which is a long one), but she also knows several letters from her friends and family’s names. Just one example is when she saw the word Happy and thought it said “Hailey” which is a classmate. Then she had written some names on a piece of paper to which she pointed from bottom to top saying “Sedona, Zion, Ezra, Mommy”

 Some of the letters she did get right, and I don’t think it was just a coincidence. She is starting to make the connection. She also very suddenly went from scribbling blobs to drawing houses, rainbows, buildings and people.

And here is one of daddy playing guitar.

There are other areas she is falling a little behind in. I don’t want to focus on that because her team assured me and reassured me that she is doing wonderfully and it’s nothing to be alarmed about. I am going to work on making sure she keeps her implants on ALL the time at home and the school is going to pull her out of nap next year, since she doesn’t nap anyway, so that she can have more tutoring. I’m sure she will be fine and we can all pray and believe that she catches up in the area of sentences and can continue to move forward in order to really reach her fullest potential!

Lastly, here is a video I put together for her teachers to see the progression she has made since coming to the school a year ago. If you’ve watched any of the videos on my blog you’ve probably seen most of these and can skip this, but it’s still interesting to see 18 months unfold in 6 minutes. The first clip is with hearing aids and she can’t speak at all, she is mostly just looking at the therapist and trying to mimicking through the visuals. Nearly 6 months later she is implanted and activated, and she started to hear words and repeat them. This potato head video was an enormous breakthrough for Sedona. The third clip is summer school and she is still mostly repeating words with prompting, but she recognizes several vocabulary words. Then fast forward to this year where she can understand a TON more and is saying a few simple sentences and communicating by answering questions. The last clip is one I took at home of her practices some of her vocab. She knows 300 words now (give or take) and is has even started to sing for the first time.

That’s what’s happening with SJ. I want to do a blog post about Z’s school next. I was a part of a Common Core webinar yesterday and it’s been confusing and a little scary, but nevertheless I love his school. I will elaborate on all that later. I hope everyone has a really GOOD Friday!

By |2015-05-18T05:20:09+00:00April 17, 2014|Hearing Loss, Uncategorized|3 Comments
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I Want Apple Juice (and other glorious statements)

I feel like SJ’s been tattling on Z since birth. One time, before she could ever talk at all, she came running into my room crying. Z came following right behind her yelling “she’s lying”. Hmmm. That sounds suspicious. However, she has come a long way in the past 6 months and the progression is evident in the way she and Z bicker. In October she went from just pointing at Z to actually being able to say his name.

It really was a major milestone. Then in December she started piecing two words together and saying “Z hit!” (or Z push, Z hurt, Z boo boo, etc.) Her latest achievement is the 3 word combination such as “Z hit me”. I hate to be so enthusiastic about sibling rivalry, but it really is exciting to watch her build her communication skills!

There are other things I am sure would annoy most parents, but I am just thrilled to hear her talk. For example the other night we had cut off juice for the day and told her she could have water. She didn’t like that and she just kept whining JUUUUUUICE. Then when she was given a cup of water she said “No. I want apple juice.” Perfectly clear. How am I supposed to respond to that? I didn’t give in, but I did smile and maybe clap a little.

She has said several other sentences recently like

“Mom, I hear phone”
“I hear it”
“I want pudding”
“I will do it”
“Daddy sit down.”
“Baby Ezie’s turn”

She can also count to 5 and knows several colors.

She sang 5 little monkeys along with her class for a school presentation. Here is a video of Z and SJ practicing.

Last week she was in The Very Hungry Caterpillar play and said her line perfectly, which was “I eat hotdog”, without any cue.

 Way to go SJ!

She is making great strides. Even her bedtime routine has made a complete 180 degree turn since I last complained mentioned it. It’s hard for me to capture her talking on video. I always have my hands full, and you know how kids are, they stop the moment the camera  is ready. However, the webcam helps some because she seems to respond well to the computer. That’s how the video above was recorded (Z changed the background to fish), and this one is her showing some of her vocabulary word pictures. In it she says over 20 words. I know she is very difficult to understand. There are a lot of sounds she can’t make yet, like the “C” sound which is why car sounds like “har”. She understands so much though and she is able to articulate more and more each day.

That’s just a small portion of a ten minute video! That girl is on fire. It was this time a year ago that she said her first word and now she knows a couple hundred words. For 6 years Z was the only one talking and it won’t be long now that I will have three chatter boxes on my hands. Bring it on.

Captions for the video:
Bird, cow, dog, rabbit, hand, ear, feet, eye, horse (twice in a row), bug, strawberry, hamburger, kitty cat, bike, cow (which she calls horse at first), sink, hotdog, crackers, pizza, chair, cup, bed, spoon knife, fork, boat, phone.”

By |2015-05-18T05:20:42+00:00March 25, 2014|Hearing Loss, Uncategorized|2 Comments
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Hope For Homeschooling In Small Spaces

 One of the things I have learned along the way in this journey is how you can homeschool in a very small space. When we had to pull Z out of school last year I just began working with him in the parent lounge in the upper level of SJ’s school, and I was amazed at what we accomplished.

 It made me realize that you can homeschool almost anywhere.

If I had to share one tip for someone homeschooling with limited amount of “classroom” space I would say to become best friends with your local library.

 

I know every library is different, but even the most basic of branches have books, that much I can guarantee. This is a great way to get some free resources and not have to keep them stored. Just use, learn, and return. Our library even had “learning packs” that you check out according to themes like rhyming, manners, music, etc. Each big duffel bag included toys, games, flash cards, books, videos and more that were all focused on that one subject. It was awesome.

Now, I am not a homeschool expert by any means. I just happen to be curious about it and interested in learning more. So I asked some friends of mine to share their input about homeschooling in small spaces.

Jen and her husband have 4 children and have lived in a variety of different apartments and rental properties which all would qualify as small. She is the one that sent me the poem that I posted yesterday and she is the first one I asked to help me share tips on homeschooling in small spaces.

Her number one piece of advice was to keep things simple. When it comes to supplies and curriculum Jen likes to make sure she is using what she has and if not then get rid of it. She also says that their family table is multipurpose. They use it as a dining table, but it is also where they do school.


With three small boys at least one of them has to be running around half naked right? 

Jen not only tolerates having a smaller home, she actually appreciates it. She says “Everyone has varied reasons for homeschooling. However, usually a common denominator regardless of reasons is a desire for togetherness. Small spaces certainly provide that! Yes, some days are hard, but I wouldn’t trade it. I like being able to hear and see what is going on from my perch in the kitchen and I like that it gives us ample reason to choose an intentional lifestyle.”

Lastly Jen pointed me to a great blog resource, Raising Life Long Learners (which has tons of info on homeschooling in small spaces), and Philippians chapter 4 (an encouragement for moms in the thick of this stuff). I will definitely be checking those out.

I also want to introduce you to another friend of mine. 
Andrea is the lady I called up when I began teaching Z. She has tons of helpful advice, especially when it comes to homeschooling boys, because she has 6 of them.
That’s right, SIX! 
Andrea and her husband made do with 1,600 square feet for the longest time. They did eventually add on, but she said there is still not a ton of room to work with. I can imagine. When I asked her advice about homeschooling in small spaces she talked about using the dining room table too.
She likes to buy educational place mats (including the ASL alphabet, which makes me grin), she then covers the table with a clear table cloth she buys by the yard at Hobby Lobby.
Andrea has lots of little organizational tips like keeping art/school supplies in an over the door shoe pouch hanger, or having a “locker’ for each child which she uses crates for.
One thing I thought was neat about both ladies is that they are not trying to duplicate the traditional school environment. If you want to have a desk or a locker in your home then that might be fun, but I like the idea of learning in the home environment and just embracing that.
Let’s talk about one more friend. Ashley and her family are always on the move because of her husbands job. 
This pic of Ashley has nothing to do with homeschooling. I just wanted to show it because it’s cute.
This means small and temporary living quarters. 
It would be difficult, or impossible to switch school districts non stop, so they have chosen to homeschool on the go and it’s worked out extremely well. They use an online program called k12 which brings the virtual classroom to the student, and because it is a charter school it is completely free!

Her boys have been able to learn about the world while traveling through it!

If you are waiting for the ideal space and the perfect situation to start taking charge of your children’s education then consider some of these stories. Homeschooling isn’t for everybody, but if it is something you desire then be encouraged that there is lots HOPE, even for the littlest homeschool.
Check out my index page for more of this series
By |2015-05-25T23:15:56+00:00October 29, 2013|Lifestyle, Schooling, Simple Living|35 Comments
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“Lots of Hope In A Little Home” Index Page

Welcome To My 31 days series on finding lots of hope in a little home.

Over the next 25 posts you will read about how my family of 5 has comfortable lived in less than 800 square feet for the last two years. Along with my personal store you will also be encouraged to never loose hope even in the midst of difficult circumstances, as well as some practical information on simplicity, and thinking outside of the box when it comes to how to set up your setup.
  1. My 31 Day Topic Announcement
  2. Why We Downsized
  3. 31 Day Index 
  4. One Simple Couch 
  5. The Hideaway Coffee Table
  6. Sunday Quote
  7. How To Put Hardwood Flooring Over Carpet
  8. The Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Kitchen 
  9. The Kitchen Expansion
  10. The Moveable Dining room
  11. A Simple Crib
  12. Sunday quote
  13. The Benefits of Room Sharing 
  14. Sharing a Bathroom
  15. Sunday Quote 
  16. Hang it, hang it, hang it 
  17. Three Life Lessons That Forced Me To Simplify 
  18. A Big Milestone In a Small Space 
  19. Party Decor and Festivities 
  20. Christmas in a Small Space 
  21. Sunday Quote 
  22. Homeschooling in a small space 
  23. The Loft style closet
  24. The Bedroom Reveal 
  25. There is HOPE
 I’ve been overjoyed to see all the positive feedback since writing this series in 2013. Several posts have been pinned and shared. I’ve also received questions from strangers needing clarification on certain projects. All of which is welcome. I am not some hot shot blogger so I just get tickled pink when someone contacts me. With that said, I would love to hear from you, and if you are currently living in a small space I pray that you would find happiness and fulfillment right where you are. Be blessed friend.
By |2023-06-13T19:35:02+00:00October 3, 2013|Simple Living, Uncategorized|6 Comments
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A Little Cochlear Panic Attack

I haven’t done an update in a while reporting how far along SJ is with new words and hearing milestones. It’s been a bit discouraging lately. I have had a hard time getting her to keep her CI’s on. She does fine at church and school, but anywhere else it is an everyday battle. Then add to that the set back of her having the pain on the right side (which is gone now, praise God) and then on Sunday one of her processors looked like it was broken and then there are the times that they are lost and it’s always stressful! Those little flashing magnetic “earrings”are by far those valuable things we own monetarily.

 In fact even if you added up all of our assets it still wouldn’t be close to the worth of her processors.

Imagine how I felt yesterday when the kids were playing on the balcony and SJ had her headband off. Then I saw her looking through the cracks of wood down to the balcony below us.

There are some spaces between the planks and she thought it would be fun to drop her barrette, headband, and each processor individually through the cracks. AND it appeared that one of them landed in a bowl of water, which meant I had 30 minutes before that thing became worthless. To say I freaked out is probably an understatement. I don’t remember exactly how I reacted because that whole moment felt like it happened in another dimension.

The first thing I needed to do was just simply ask our downstairs neighbors if I could retrieve it. So I bolted down the stairs and started knocking and then banging on the door. No answer. So I went back upstairs and tried to think like Tom Cruise’s character in Mission Impossible. Could I climb down, not without dying. Would a broom reach, not even close, I tried. Think, think, think! Call the landlords’s? I felt uneasy about our downstairs neighbors. I think I can safely explain without them finding out because the chances of them reading a mom blog, especially mine, are slim to none. Anyway, the downstairs neighbors have a Pit Bull, his name is Ozzie and if the dog could talk he would probably curse like Ozzie just like his owners do. None the less I had no time to loose. I scribbled out a note along with my phone number and I went back downstairs to tape it to the door. The door has a fuzzy black wreath hanging on it along with an eyeball welcome mat. 
I know that some people decorate early for Halloween, but this might be year round decor for them. I snapped a pic with my phone because after my relentless knocking I knew I wasn’t bothering anybody.

Finally when I returned up to my apartment I had a stroke of genius and I remembered a giant paper clip that I could probably make a hook out of and we had some string from the recent pinata festivities so I had to basically make a fishing line. Because the processors are magnetic I was able to lower the metal hook down through the crack and it stuck right to the first one which was in the water.

Getting it back through the crack without knocking it off was the most nerve wrecking, but it worked. That was the biggest relief. Getting the second one was harder because it wasn’t a straight shot, but eventually after jerking the string up and down to cause the clip to land in different spaces I got it and at that point I was on a roll so I went for the hairband too. The kids were crowded around me watching as if it were a scene from the Sandlot (remember “I’ve got get that ball back. You don’t understand”). Except instead of a ball signed by Babe Ruth it was some cochlear Implants and instead of The Beast it was Ozzie (who luckily was not on the porch).

I told J the day that I have less than 3 major crisis/emergencies will be a good day and for the past week or so I’ve had some really bad days. All is well that end well.

By |2023-06-12T06:23:15+00:00September 6, 2013|My Life, Our Hearing Loss Journey|4 Comments
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My Peek at the Homeschool Life

I have always said that I would never EVER homeschool. Many of my closest friends do. They do it well and I respect them all the more for it. So, it’s not that I am against it, it’s just that I never felt like I was cut out for it. I have done a lot of homeschooling research lately since we had to pull the 5 year old out of Pre-K. It’s a slippery slope I tell ya. The more I get into it, the more I am intrigued and start to picture myself getting lost in the creativity of new ideas and rewarded by the delight that comes when you see a child’s eyes light up with discovery. Then I snap back to reality. I am not saying that it could never happen, but I would have to hand them over to a tutor or a DVD teacher by 3rd grade. I am so bad at math. No really, I am not talking about trigonometry, I am saying that I am intimidated by fractions.

Regardless of whether or not homeschool is even part of the equation (Equation. Yuck.) I will still always be involved in my children’s education in the most hands on way possible. I think that all parents should be. I have learned so much since embarking on this new academic territory. Some of the most enlightening advice I’ve received came from one of Z’s teachers. She was seeing signs that Z may be gifted and talented because of how quickly he picked up on things and eagerly wants to learn more. Counting to a hundred was never enough so she challenged him with counting in spanish. She told me with GT kids your goal is to broaden and expand the level they are on rather than just have them scurry off to the next one. The key is learning not just vertically, but horizontally. That’s when I reached up and pulled the chain that turned on the light bulb over my head.

I have been able to apply this method when teaching both of my kids together when they are not only different ages, but completely different learning styles (SJ’s pertaining to her special needs). I’ve been doing this all along, but it’s clicking and making more sense now. Let’s say you are working in the garden together. The baby may be experimenting with soil and learning that it does not taste good while the preschool age child is learning that seeds grow into plants and healthy foods. The parents and elementary age child may be working together to understand the science behind germination and life cycles.

Lately I’ve been trying to increase the amount of reading time I have with my kids. Z is learning to read along and SJ is learning to listen. One of the books we read on a daily basis is First Words.

I know it’s a book for babies, which I only have one of, but even though SJ is 3 her hearing age is 3 months. We have to be able to go back to the BASICS for her to be able to listen and speak. When we go through this book SJ is able to practice saying AHHHH for airplane and her imitation of watermelon is totally unintelligible but she gets that it has 4 syllables and makes 4 grunts. At the same time Z is able to read some of the words in the book and enjoys helping me work with his little sister. In the meantime Ezie is like whatever. He likes to watch them though and I just keep on learning more and more from all three of them. It’s like a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. Okay, I had to look that up, but I couldn’t resist adding a little science. There it is.

By |2015-05-25T23:15:04+00:00March 16, 2013|Lifestyle, Schooling, Uncategorized|3 Comments
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Ezie’s Birth Story

 

October 1, 2012
“Honey. Wake up! I don’t feel good. I’ve been throwing up. I think we should just head toward the hospital” 
It was 3:00 am and we had only been asleep for a couple hours, but all I knew was that I was already at least 4 cm dilated (according to my last check up) and had been having a few mild contractions. We live an hour away from the hospital. I didn’t want to take any chances.
The bags had already been packed and loaded up the day before and my parents were watching the kids, so we just hopped in the car and headed to Lexington. When we got there at 5:00 am we had no where to go. I wasn’t in labor yet, but at least we were now a safe distance away from the hospital if things did progress. We parked outside of one of our favorite restaurants and slept in the car until they opened at 7:00. After breakfast we headed to the midwives office to have a little meeting about where things were at and she encouraged us to head to the hospital. We spent the next couple hours of early labor shopping and timing contractions, which were around 6 minutes apart at this point. I was pumped.
We finally checked into the hospital and after getting poked and stabbed a few times for my IV and blood tests I took a nap thinking it would be a good idea to rest up before show time. I did get some rest, but I also felt like afterwards my body had decided to call it a day and close up shop. I wasn’t feeling any contractions at all. I started to panic, but the midwife came and J and I talked to her about my fears of being rushed, and how I was worried that they were going to break my water. The medical team reassured me that I could take as much time as I needed. So against their recommendations I declined having them break my bag of water, but I thought it would be okay to strip my membranes since I was already at a 5 anyway and it was a such a minimal form of intervention. If I didn’t progress any further and decided to check out this would not prevent me from leaving the hospital.
At around 6:30 pm things started to get a little more serious and I called in the troops (my midwife, mom, and sister in law).
This labor was completely different than either of my other two, but I was grateful to have been prepared with knowledge and research as things progressed almost completely by the book.
First my contractions were coming 3 minutes apart. I could talk, but I had to focus. During this part of active labor J massaged my back.
I stood up and rocked frequently. I danced the baby down taking breaks to sit on the labor ball which relieved a lot of pressure.

I wanted to pace myself and allow gravity to work on our behalf before moving into the tub.
About an hour later once I finished getting my 2nd round of antibiotics for the GBS I decided I was ready to get in the tub. My midwife encouraged a kneeling and leaning position since Ezra seemed to be laying a little twisted and not quite straight up and down.

I was glad to be in the water, but within a few contractions I felt nauseated and they brought a bag for me to throw up in. Vomiting during and in between contractions was not pretty or fun, but as I trembled and felt so depleted I was also encouraged. This could only mean one thing. Transition.
At this point I was praying and visualizing as I went from one wave of intensity to the next trying to groan and moan instead of quit, which wasn’t an option anyway. I felt like this next stage of intense pain was taking too long, but between each contraction I would relax and soak up the moment of rest before opening up to the next one. Remember the closer they come the closer you are to the end I told myself. All the while J was there telling me how amazing I was, how beautiful I looked, and reminding me to breath and keep my lips loose. He was my hero! The best labor coach anyone could ask for, and we never even studied the Bradley method. At this point I was so uncomfortable I was at the point of swearing off anymore children and I told myself I would count down 10 more contractions. I don’t know what my plan would be after that, but I was just trying to break it down into sizable intervals and distract myself like when you are running long distance.

After about 45 minutes of that transition stage I felt it. The urge to push. I started to smile. I almost laughed. My body was working FOR me and I was grateful to it.

 It is such a feeling of empowerment, but before we get to our happy ending I had a few strong pushes where I was bearing down with everything in me and then came the next stage which I was familiar with, but had never quite experienced to this degree.
The ring of fire.
This is the intensely excruciating climax of childbirth. Still, I knew that this meant it was about to be over, except I pushed a few more times and it wasn’t over. Still no baby. This is when I lost control. I had followed all of the rules and thought I knew each stage, but why was a I still feeling like my innards were being ripped out of me!? I heard the midwife and nurse whisper something to each other. Finally I screamed “What is going on!?” I am not usually that typical pregnant woman you see in the movies, but I needed information! I needed to know if something was wrong and if not I needed the encouragement that I was about to meet my baby. Luckily I got the latter answer. A couple of pushes later I felt his head and body come out all in one swoop. At 10:35 pm Ezra was born.

The relief was instant, as was the love and adoration that I felt for my son. I can write paragraphs and tell stories about the birth, but no words can describe the emotion that comes with bringing a new life into this world!

The 24 hours leading up to Ezra’s birth were a lot more intense than with my other two. It wasn’t easy, but it was a privilege.

By |2016-03-22T19:31:00+00:00October 6, 2012|My Life, Natural Living, Pregnancy & Birth|4 Comments
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FaceBook to the Rescue

My whole world turned upside down when we decided to sell our house and leave the place we’ve called home for the first 11 years of our marriage. Then my computer turned upside down when it fell off the bed! The good news is it was under warranty, the bad news is I lost my entire hard drive. I have come a long way when it comes to making back ups, so all of my work related data and personal files were covered except for November and December because I slacked off in the middle of getting ready to move.

As I was getting ready for SJ’s 2nd birthday I wanted to catch up on our family albums and her baby book, but I have no evidence of any family pictures that were downloaded November or December of 2012! That means I lost pictures of my sons graduation from the church nursery,
my kids in their adorable halloween costumes,
and our last Christmas before we left Texas.
That’s when I went to Facebook. I knew I had uploaded all of these events to share with friends and family, but would they be printable?
What a lot of people don’t realize is that web resolution and print resolution are two totally different things. When I worked for Now Magazine I would ALWAYS have people tell me we have lots of pictures on our web site, just pull them off there. And most of the time they were TOO small. Things can look great on the online at 72 dpi, but to look good in print they need to be around 300 dpi. I know it’s confusing, but just because it looks good online does not mean you can print it.
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However, Facebook has an option when you upload photos to post them at high quality and I strongly recommended checking that box, because thanks to the photos I posted on Facebook I have been able to print out all the special memories that would have been lost otherwise.
Here’s how to upload your photos.
1. Go to your photo albums and click the button that says add photos.
2. In the bottom left corner there is a box that says “high quality”. Check that.
3.On the right there is a drop down menu that says “public” and when you click on it you can customize who you want to be able to see the photos. If you don’t necessarily won’t to post the photos to your home page then you can select “Only me” and no one else will be able to view your photos, but they are there if you ever had a computer crash like mine did.
After that you just select the photos you want to upload and publish your album.
I am not suggesting that you use Facebook as your primary storage device. First of all I can’t guarantee they won’t delete your whole account tomorrow, and I am not even sure what the maximum number of uploads is. You should always back up your images through discs or time machine, external hard drives, carbonate, etc., but it’s nice to have multiple locations for your most treasured moments and in my case Facebook really saved the day.
Thank you social networking!
By |2015-06-08T14:29:07+00:00March 8, 2012|My Life, Uncategorized|2 Comments
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