Night Time Parenting?

 

We have always been strong believers in co-sleeping and for us that means night time reassurance, comfort and cuddles.  Around age two all of our children have been interested in having their own beds and generally will start the night out there. Our little Hannah now 2.5 goes to bed at 7pm in her own bed and joins me in my bed around 1:30-2:00am, it's like clock work. It's always been important to us that our children know we are there for them 100% anytime of the day. I have never been one to let a baby/child cry in the night because crying tells me there is a need and that need should try to be met. For our bigger children it means one of us moving into their bed until they are comfortable and sleeping soundly. Sometimes we wake up there in the morning sometimes we make it back to our own bed. I personally think one should keep a bed open to children as long as possible.  If they want to be close to you, why deny the opportunity for connecting with them?  Growing up can be scary and wonderful and challenging. 

Childhood is such a short time and being open to just being there and being available gives children such a comfort.  

 

  This is one of those topic's that get mothers all wound up and that isn't my intention but more to share on what works for us.

For most of human history a baby has slept with his or her mother, or perhaps both parents. 

It was not even until 200 years ago cultures began to construct dwellings with more than one room. The majority of people around the world still live in one -room shelters where all activities take place.

50 out of 136 cultures evaluated by anthropologist John Whiting found mother slept with child and father slept in another place.

Wood Season

It's wood season, so our Sunday afternoons have been Chris and the older four out in the bush falling trees and chopping wood.  I think we are safe to say we are done (9 cords later), Chris thought he may go get one more load but then we decided to rip apart our main bathroom and reno it before the babies come.

The older four are super strong and focused, they help Chris a lot! Austin worked at the stored this summer and bought himself a good axe, he also has been helping another household chop and stack.

This past six months has been a challenge for me to be still. I look around my little homestead and itch to do something. Yet at the same time I don't have the energy to get anything done. It's been interesting to sit back and really watch things change and my children grow.

 

 

 

30 weeks, night sweats, BH contractions, acid reflux and no sleep..

              It feels so good to say I’m 30 weeks (31 tomorrow), I know I could have 7+ weeks left but I also know that they could come in 6 weeks. Either way I feel like I’m at the end and it feels good to say they will be here soon.  I think we are also pretty sure on these two little guys names.

Things are going extremely well! As uncomfortable as I am - I am so thankful for these little boys health.  I had a growth scan today and Baby A is no longer breech but transverse  his brother is head down. Baby B is in front and A is by my back, I had noticed A's movement had slowed down lots and B had increased but it was just positioning.   They are face to face with each other and there is still lots of time for them to make the shift head down.
They are growing like weeds!!  Today baby A weighed 3-15 and B was 3-11 so they are staying nice and close in weight!

Acid Reflux….. I’ve figured out that if I stop eating by 6pm each night I can go to bed and be fine but  I have been having some issues with my heart rate racing which is from two things, the weight inside is crushing a main blood supply when I am laying in different positions and my blood sugar is dropping in the night.  It has been recommend that I snack a couple times in the middle of the night. I have been cutting up some cheese and crackers around 2am and a glass of milk.
Because I need to sleep on an incline, Chris got the boot out of our bed. :( my mound of pillows started to take over. 

Night Sweats......  I have always been hot pregnant but this is something I have never experienced!   I’m waking up every 2 hrs to go the bathroom and I’m covered, literally hair wet and all!! Windows are open all night I can't handle blankets while the rest of the house is adding blankets to their beds. So to add to my lack of sleep I get to add this to one of the lovely reasons why it’s so hard to sleep with 2 people inside of me.

BH Contractions.... are starting to pick up more and more they are painless but sure can take my breath away. I start weekly non-stress test next week, the appointments are adding up now. I am having an

 u/s every 4 weeks unless something changes, weekly non-stress tests at the hospital, OBGYN appointments, midwife, and the chiropractor. It's a lot of driving as I have not been able to make any of these happen on the same day.

I do want to praise my kids, because they really are doing awesome. Yes we have our bad days but I couldn’t be happier with the way they are helping out and being understanding. I lay in bed at night and my mommy guilt will get me but I truly believe even though they are watching too much TV and don’t have a change of environment much, their character is being built by the sacrifices they are making while I’m not able to do everything I normally do. I can look back at our journey so far and see all of us growing in so many ways and that excites me. I catch myself just looking at the kids and falling in love with them everyday.  I would love to find a mothers helper but living out of town makes that difficult.  Chris has completely took over shopping and cooking, I knew God had a reason Chris took the culinary arts program. :) I am spoilt! He cooks way better than I ever could.

Look at that sweet face.

September

                                              
 Basic goals I have for myself this September.

1. No crying in public. Hormones are a wonderful crazy thing.
2. Stretch, warms baths, and have wonderful husband massage legs before bed. (Maybe this should be Chris's goal list?) Seriously restless legs are about to make me nutty.

     3.Remind Chris to grab another blanket because those windows are staying open! I'm kidding these are not my true goals. Well kind of they are but you know what I mean.

 I absolutely love September, it brings back focus and feelings of renewed dedication to the relationships within my home.  It's been interesting being less mobile and somewhat really amazing how God works everything together.  For example husbands that surprise their wife with pumpkin spiced lattes are worth keeping. ;)

My five school aged children currently sit with me all day working on their books bonds between siblings are deepening as we just *be* together.  God is good even when I can feel discouraged I am reminded that he has called me to this task. My goal for this beautiful September is to not grow weary, but to be thankful that I get to participate in another glorious season of my children's growth.
Homeschooling wasn't just an educational choice for us it was a dedication to raise up the very souls He has trusted us with. Prayer..  I have been trusted with much and with that comes anointing to do this WELL.  The enemy wants to steal from us and he will use anything even good things to get in the door,  He has anointed me to protect my children and how to recognize our enemy. The battle on our knees is so powerful.   All seven of them are growing and changing daily it's been a beautiful thing to watch unfold. From overcoming fears, to grasping a math concept, the softness of their spirit to comfort someone who is hurting, learning how to deal with different personalities,  the whispers "I love you" before bed. Those late night talks my teens are having with Dad, my heart sings during these times.

Constellations

 This week has been all about constellations! Because the younger children are still... well young they enjoyed looking at the starts and learning how they form into different shapes

Questions we talked about were:
Do stars shine during the day?  The answer was YES, but atmospheric gases, dust, and water vapor scatter sunlight passing through. This veils stars until the sun sets.

 We used the tablet with the app Google sky map to see the stars in the day and the night.

For a craft we used black construction paper, yellow and white paint and drew out constellations from a guide online.

Loving People

   It's been one of those weeks/months when it's easier to not look at the pain, the shame, the guilt others carry.  I sit here with the scriptures open questioning, how do you keep on loving when it seems so hard? How do you lay down your life again and again? As a wife and a mother the answers seem to just come, but when it comes to the outside what does that look like?  There is a lot of ugly in life. In the world. In people. In places, and in our hearts. There is a lot of ugly right here in me.

 It's hard when you feel like your losing hope and you have cried out to the Lord and nothing changes... When your believing for the miracle that doesn't happen..

 

 I remind myself of all I have seen, and set my hope fully on what we have not yet seen. Placing all of my hope and all of my trust and all of my focus on the grace given to us through Christ.

We went to church yesterday, what a timely encouraging sermon, it was if God was whispering "keep going, keep loving change will happen"  When you really get into life with people and decide to just say I'm not going anywhere, I may not agree with your choices but I am going to be here and love you anyway.

 

 I believe - that we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.
This is a big one-when you choose to walk through life with someone no matter what. It doesn't mater if you agree/disagree have the same convictions or what-ever. I think a lot more people would feel loved if we didn't measure each other so much.

I believe - that no matter how good a person is they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that. 
Yep! We have been hurt by someone and we have hurt someone. All guilty.

  I believe - that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.
Growing takes a long time, I screw up a lot!  There is still a long ways to go, so be patient with each other.

  I believe - that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them. Sadly this is something I had to learn how to do. It wasn't that I didn't love people but I learned people need to simply hear "I love you".

  I believe - that you can keep going long after you can't.
I have lived some horrific things and still came out on the other side with a deeper faith.

 I believe - that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
That's what being a mom is.

I believe - that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I believe - that friends can do anything or nothing and have the best time! .

I believe - that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I believe - that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I believe - that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I believe - that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I believe - that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I believe - that your life can be changed in a matter of hour's by people who don't even know you.

I believe - that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

Pregnancy Update 27 weeks.

            I can't believe we are heading into the last stretch here.   I am amazed that no signs of PSD this pregnancy. PSD can drain any woman and make her question her sanity. Words I would use to describe how I feel are heavy and tried. This week was harder than the last week on my body which I think it’s just  going to be that way until they are here! Finding comfortable positions sitting or laying is becoming harder and harder. The past 2 days the babies were squishing my lungs which made it very difficult to take a breath. I slept  up on big stacks of pillows including my snoogle.  

Last week I had an ultrasound to check the babies growth, baby A was 2lbs 5ozs and baby B 2lbs 1oz. I can only image what the pressure is going to be like when they are 5+ lbs each! Not to mention two sacks and two placentas!  They are doing fantastic. Heart beats were 142 and 158, A was breech and B was head down.   I have a fundal height of 36cm typically with a singleton your fundal height stays within your number of weeks, so at 27 weeks you would be around 27cm. I hope to grow these little boys into the 50's range.

 I have a large to-do list over the next 3-4 weeks I would like to get done.  I would like to get my change table re-painted. It's over 24 years old and I remember the day at 7 years old when my mom and dad bought it for my brother. Amazingly enough SEARS still sells the exact one!  I need to buy a nice stash of receiving blankets and then I have two swings picked out.  It would be nice to pre-make some meals and have some in the freezer for those last few weeks.  The hard part now is standing for extended periods of time so we will see if that actually gets to happen.

Last week I took a spontaneous trip up north to a long time friends house husband-less and children-less.  The only time I have done something like this is to a homeschool convention, so taking a trip that was just for my fun was way out of normal for me.  My friend had twins in March so I wanted to go snuggle babies and visit asking all those questions that would still be fresh in her mind.  I was so encouraged by her and different things to say to those nosey ones that you really would rather not answer.