I hate thinking of titles for my posts.
So, in my last post I mentioned that Mercedes had been taught the family unit at school. She came home and I asked her about it. I thought I was being pretty casual and discreet, but yesterday Joshua came home and told me something that made me think otherwise.
He said, "you know how the other day Mercedes came home from school and you were sooo worried about her learning the family lesson because you were afraid people at school were confused about families?"
I said that I remembered.
He went on, "well, I think you were the one confused because my school doesn't teach about families that have a mom and a dad."
I held my breath.
"They teach us about
word families. You know, words that have similar letters or sounds? Those are word families and that is what the teachers teach."
A few weeks ago, I was having a lot of back pain and I could barely walk. Joshua took it upon himself to hold open my door and help me with simple tasks. I didn't ask him to, he just did it. It was sweet.
Joshua would also like this baby to be named Han, as in Han Solo. Jon Mark wants Thor. I don't think so.
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Mercedes had a bad UTI this past week. I felt badly for her. She screamed and cried every time she had to go pee. She had a hard time controlling her bladder, too. Her fieldtrip was today and she didn't want to miss it. I figured I had given her two doses of her antibiotic and she was doing much better, so I went ahead and let her go. Fieldtrips are a BIG deal around here. I haven't gotten any phone calls, so hopefully she is doing okay.
Mercedes and Joshua get such a laugh from watching Hannah. They especially like it when she copies what they say or when she and Luke act like doggies and stick out their tongues and pant.
Mercedes is learning how to talk better and she is losing her "British" accent. It makes me sad. I know getting her speech help is the right thing to do, but a part of me feels like a part of her childhood is being taken away. I know that sounds silly.
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Luke is my little helper. He loves to feel big and help me, no matter what the task is. He will carry in super heavy grocery bags for me and come back for more. He will help me cook and clean. He will do just about anything to help especially if I say that I need big brother to help me.
He likes to make his siblings laugh. He is also very stubborn and independent. I don't like telling him "no" because I am sure to get absolute resistance and he will not look me in the eye afterwards. But, I have to say no sometimes, and I just brace myself for the resistance. He is a sweetheart, though. He enjoys visiting the elderly, my mom takes him to see my grandmas sometimes and he loves that. They love him, too.
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Hannah is so sweet. She is happy most of the time and is quite an entertainer. She LOVES to dance. She has this one signature move where she bends her elbows kind of like a chicken and shakes her bum bum from side to side. She tries to copy whatever moves I am doing and she is quite talented at it. She talks pretty good. Her newest thing is telling me that her bum hurts when she is sitting in a stinky diaper, which is awesome because it helps me know sooner when she poops (which is all the time by the way). She gives a sad face and says, "owe, my bum".
Hannah loves Jon Mark. She is so sweet with him and he loves the fondness she has for him. I think a part of Jon Mark was sad when she was old enough to go to nursery. I think he enjoyed wrestling her for those two hours. She and Mercedes love their daddy.
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Jon Mark is doing well. He works hard and plays with the kids when he gets home. Lately, he has been teaching the FHE lessons and we have been doing a lot of role-playing with the kids about making good choices. He is the instigator of such approaches to parenting at this specified weekly time and I think it is a good approach. The hope is that role-playing will help the kids learn strategies on how to deal with peer-pressure and give them things to say or do in similar situations so that they don't find themselves panicking or not knowing what to do in real life settings.
Jon Mark is my perfect balance. He is steady when I am anxious and worried. I worry about my kids facing peer pressure, I worry about what they will face in their life-time. He reminds me that we teach correct principles and then we trust them to make good choices as we continue to guide them. He reminds me that we have good kids, and that they are capable of standing up for what is right. I know all of that, but I still get anxious about it, only because I want them to find happiness in this life like the happiness that I know. I want them to have all that I have and I know that true happiness only comes from righteous living. But, they are great kids and they are going to do great things. So, I really shouldn't worry so much. Plus, I have a great man by my side helping me raise them.
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I have 8 cavities. That's about the only thing new with me. It's embarrassing. But, in my defense pregnancy does cause tooth issues, and I haven't been to the dentist in like 5 years. Sooo, that's my excuse. This baby is kicking me more and more. I like feeling him move. Oh yeah, we found out that he is a boy. I'm not sure if I recorded that or not. He is measuring a week and a half ahead. That's no big surprise. That's always the case with my babies. My placenta is anterior and we are hoping that it's position changes slightly because an anterior placenta can cause a lot of hemorrhaging at the time of delivery. It can not detach or come off in chunks, and it can cause excessive bleeding. The baby will need to be taken out quickly, and so we decided on a C-section. It is the safest option, we think. My C-section is scheduled for March 6th at 10:30 am. We're excited that this lines up perfectly with the kids being on Spring Break from school.
