Look What's Up!

My brother is a woodworker.  He can build anything and everything...with or without a plan.  He will see something he likes somewhere or on TV and then just draw it up and build it.

Like a lighted corner display with glass doors for my parents, or a wooden toy chest that looks like a pirate's chest for the kids, or a clock that looks like a grandfather style clock but has cat prints on it to liven it up for our house, or a computer desk with a slide out keyboard tray and a CPU cabinet and a file drawer.

Or a cupola for his house.  (Which, I must say, is very awesome.  It's got a built in bed and shelves and drawers but it's all really tiny and low and so cozy...)

Anyway, last Christmas, no, not this PAST one, but the one before that, I asked him if he could build us a hanging pot rack to fit in our kitchen.

Yes, it's a scary thing.  All of our pots and pans are all over the stove, counter, and sometimes dining table or floor when we really get to cooking on the stove.

Remember now, before you judge, that we are sharing our kitchen with my in-laws, so there are 5 cooks, counting Elizabeth, who use the kitchen daily.

It was out of control!

But, you see, as much as my brother loves to build things, he loves to build the things that he loves to build, not necessarily the things that we would love him to build.

So, the year passed, and nothing became of it.

Now, I know that you can get pot racks online or at Ikea or wherever, but the problem is that they are small, and expensive!  And we have a lot of pots.

So, now that I am officially 'nesting' seeing as the baby is due in 4 weeks, I really couldn't take it anymore.  I mean, how can I add another person into the house, knowing that every inch of the house is not being used to its fullest?

Yes, I am a space hog.  I love to manipulate things in order to get the most out of any space possible.  I have always loved puzzles, and as our house gets fuller, my brain works overtime to think of how we can reduce, reuse and manipulate into the space available.

So, and I know that many of you would have thought of this solution long ago, but I was still holding onto the idea that my brother would make something for us, this weekend, Jimmy and I headed off to Lowes.

Now, whereas I grew up around tools and wood and guys that built and fix things, so I know my way around a tool box, and Jimmy has many talents, and I would not trade any of the talents that he has for anything, Jimmy is not a fix-it man.  He is not a tool man, and he is not a build-it man.

But, since he knew that I had been waiting for so long for this, and because he was tired of the messy stove all the time, too, (and he was probably afraid that if he didn't do something soon, I would get up on the ladder and do it myself) he braved the home improvement store with me and we dug around a bit.

We came up with using a heavy duty shelf with S hooks.

I know, I know, not rocket science.

But for us (read:  Jimmy) this was really something.  I mean, this meant finding studs in the wall, screwing things in...you know all that kind of stuff.

And so, with the advice of:

If you don't use a  level, and it doesn't go up right and sturdy, it will have to be done again...

I left the room, except to sneak in and take some pictures.  NO, I wasn't checking up on him!  I would not do such a thing!

And here is the final product:

I can't believe it!   I actually have somewhere to put the pots and pans!

AND...Elizabeth can't say, when she is supposedly 'done' with the dishes:

Oh, I didn't know that pot was dirty...

There's no excuse!  If the pot is not hanging, it needs to be.  And in order to hang the pot...it has to be cleaned.

I can't tell you how excited I am!

I know it's a bit high, and we may put it a few levels lower, but the problem is that the alarm system on the door hits right at the height where the shelf should be, and any lower, I'm afraid I'll crack my head on it, but at the height it is, the shelf on top is not really that usable because I'm the only one who can reach it.  (My mother-in-law has to kind of stand on her toes to reach the dangling pots!)  But we keep a step ladder close by, anyway, so we'll just see how it goes.

Now...on to the next project...  :)

Get Your Guapo On!

I don't know exactly why it is so hard for me to put pictures on here, but for some reason, whenever I want to write, I can't find the camera, or the card won't read or what I want to write has nothing to do with the pictures...stuff just stands in the way.

But not today!

That's our Gabriel!  I do think that he has grown huge since the last time I posted pictures here. 

Anyway, if you notice, he is wearing a button down shirt.  It's Sunday, and we had just gotten back from church.  Jimmy is not a dresser; neither am I.  We seem to live in jeans and t-shirts with a sweatshirt thrown over the top if it's cold out. 

But the kids 'dress up' for Sunday church.  That means a dress for Jo, no jeans for Elizabeth, and a button down shirt for Gabriel. 

And every time Gabriel puts on his button down shirt, everyone tells him that he is so 'guapo' (handsome), well, because he is!  So now, when he sees his button down coming out of the drawer, he says 'Guapo!'.  And if you ask him where his guapo is, he points to his shirt. 

Now, I know that is not good for his vocabulary development, and we really should correct him...but it's just so darn cute!

Anyway, he KNOWS it's a shirt, it's just a special shirt...a guapo!

Money Talk

Elizabeth had been wanting a hamster for quite some time.  Finally, at some point over the summer, we decided to let her have not a hamster, but a guinea pig, since they do better with small kids than hamsters do.

But the stipulation was that if Elizabeth was going to get an animal, she would be totally responsible for its upkeep and care.  Meaning, that she would buy all of its food and supplies.

Elizabeth has been doing a good job of making some money.  She has a pretty regular cleaning job and she does some babysitting for some of the church families, and she sometimes does babysitting or odd jobs around the house that earn her a little extra cash.

Which means that since she has an income, she is responsible for paying for almost all of her extra activities..youth trips, concerts, extra school stuff, going out to lunch after church and before band practice instead of taking her own food...if it's something extra that she wants to do, she needs to save up her money and decide how much she REALLY wants to do it and now much it is really worth to her.  A lot of her friends (and their parents) think that this is unfair.  They think that she is a child and so it is our responsibility as parents to 'provide' for her. 

Well, we do.  She has food, clothing, shelter...and what WE think are good life lessons.

Anyway...

An interesting thing happened the other day. 

The youth leader passed out a flier for a great program in the area that will cost $20 plus food.  Of course, Elizabeth wants to go.  But also, she mentioned a concert that is coming up that she would like to go to, too. 

So, Elizabeth, how much money do you have?  


About $50.  


And what about your pig?  Remember, if you run out of money and can't buy the pig food or hay, then you loose him.  


I know!  I need to make more money and decide what I want to do!

Hmmm...

Well, we'll see what she will decide to do, but it seems like a good lesson in the making! 

Home school, anyone?

How do you know when it's right?

Jimmy and I have been considering home school for Elizabeth for a while now, but everything kind of came to a head a few weeks ago when we found out that there was a pretty big issue in her school with some bullying going on.  Jimmy wanted to take her out right away when it all hit the fan, but I wanted to see if there was a way to work through it and resolve it both for Elizabeth's sake and for the other student's sake. 

So now, there has been a suitable solution presented, and it seems that on that front, things are going ok.

BUT....

Elizabeth has been having chronic headaches and nausea.  This is from a child who is NEVER sick.  She has missed less than a handful of school days due to illness in her entire school career of 9+ years.  In fact, it got so that I would take her out of school early on her birthday just because she NEVER got a random day off like most of the other kids do and did.  Her 'illness' started pretty much at the beginning of this year, and got progressively worse until we finally figured out what was going on at the school with the other student.  I thought that when that issue was resolved that she should also start to feel better due to the release of that tension, but it has not gone away.  If anything, it has gotten worse...to the point that she feels sick every time after she eats and gets migraines more than once a week.

Over winter break, however, when she had 11 straight days off of school, she didn't complain about these things except a very few times, but that could be attributed to other hormonal issues, and the complaints went away relatively quickly. 

She was also very peaceful and all 3 of the kids were calmer and more patient and tolerant of each other.  With Elizabeth being the oldest by 9 years, I think that the little guys really look up to her and feed off her attitudes and temperament, so her kindness was rubbing off on them.   She did her chores without complaining and even did extra work like washing all the windows and ceiling fans without complaining and without having to be asked more than once.  The day she went back to school, though, she came home and even though she got a chance to relax and unwind for about an hour or so before the whole family converged, she was a big angry growling bear at everyone and about everything from helping wash up the little ones to feeding the cats.  It was horrible!

What is it that is causing this?  We found out last summer that she has allergies to both mold and dust, so maybe there is something in the school that is making her sick?  But we have a lot of dust around here, and I'm sure that we have our share of mold spores of some sort since we don't use AC and very little heat, and we have pets that come in and go out. Is it a different kind of dust or mold?  Or is it because they keep the blinds closed in some of her classrooms all day so there is no natural light that comes in?  Is it that most of the drinking fountains don't work so she can only hydrate once a day at lunch?

If it's stress about the baby coming and thinking about being home schooled, then why did it go away over the break?  If anything, I would think it would have been even MORE stressful because she was with us all day, every day.  She and Jo came with us to work every day and Elizabeth did homework and helped us with inventory at the shop and played with her sister and practiced her trombone every day as well as helped with dinner and dishes and all the other stuff she does around the house.

Looking at it from these angles, and especially now that I have put it into writing here, it seems like school is just a toxic environment for her.  Whatever it is, there is something there, whether it be the building itself or the pressure from the other students there, something is making her sick between the time that she gets on the bus in the morning and comes home again in the afternoon.  

So now, we are approaching the end of the semester, which would be an opportune time to take her out of school and start schooling her here at home.  But this is ALSO the time when the baby is coming, I am quitting my job, our pay will be cut in more than half, so I really need to step up my business with Pampered Chef to help make ends meet and my in-laws will make decisions about whether they will stay here with us in the US and get jobs or whether they will move back to El Salvador.  This will mean that in all of this, Jo and Gabriel will have to adjust not only to a new baby, but also to the grandparents, who have been their primary caregivers during the day, either being gone completely in another country, or being out of the house daily with work, and I will take on the responsibility of caring for 3 kids under the age of 5, one of which will be a newborn, and all of whom will be going through some pretty traumatic life changes.

Can I take on the lessons(and hormones!) of a teenager who will be going through a lot of her own stress, too?  Even though Elizabeth is very bright, a self-starter and will be able to study and learn much on her own, I will still be responsible for finding what she needs to study and setting up a curriculum for her.  I have never done this before!  And it will be a big change for her, too, both welcoming a new sibling, leaving the only type of schooling that she has ever known, and having me be at home and not 'working' all day. 

Can I pull this together and keep her on track?  I know that she will be able to move at a quicker pace at home than she does at school, so it will be OK for her to 'miss' a few weeks to adjust and find herself in this, but can I find the books and set her up in time?  Can we afford it?  I mean, can we afford the buy the books and materials that she will need to keep her up with her level?  I read the blogs of other homeschooling families and I feel like I can never do what they do.  Our house is miniscule (there's 8.5 people here in a tiny cape cod!) and our resources severely limited, but does that really matter?  When it comes to your children and your family, isn't it the love and the time that you share together? 

And am I reading too much into it?  I mean, is this 'illness' of hers a typical teenaged issue?  Are we jumping the gun and reading too much into the situation because of our (mine and Jimmy's) negative highschool experiences?  Are we being over protective?  Is there a such thing as 'over protective' when it comes to your child?

How do we know when it's right?

Coming Back

I have not written in forever.  I don't even really know how to break the ice again, so instead of trying to write something 'worthwhile' which is kind of what I have been waiting for, I think that I will just let some words flow here and post whatever comes out.

I have started and aborted many an attempt at writing on here because these last weeks have been very difficult. 

We are all well, and there is nothing to really worry  about...it's just that some things have happened that have made us stop and regroup...multiple times.

I am nearing the end of my pregnancy...I have about 5 weeks left, and I feel like I am actually somewhat ready, if that's possible, and Jimmy and the kids are super excited.  We have a car seat, which is great because Gabriel wore his out with him being so big and all, and I had gotten diaper covers a while ago and today we pulled out the newborn stuff from Gabriel.  We have the bassinet set up, kind of, but it is still on the other side of the room.  Right now, Gabriel's crib is on my side of the bed and the bassinet is on Jimmy's but after the baby arrives, I know that it only makes sense to switch it around, but I am not ready to 'let go' of my baby Gabriel yet!

Jo, of course, is ready for Gabriel to sleep in her room with her and Elizabeth, preferably in her bed with her.  Which could actually work since her bed is a mattress on the floor, but I don't think we are going to go that route since they are of the opposite sex, so why get them used to sleeping together when they will not be able to to do it for long. 

At work, things are going along, although I am not sure that my boss really has accepted the truth that in about 4-5 weeks I will no longer be showing up at his door.  We had a big meeting today and talked about it, and I think that we have a little more of a plan in place that will help Jimmy move into my position, but only time will tell if these plans will actually be implemented.  And there's not much time left in which to do the telling!

I am actually pretty excited about Jimmy taking over at work, though.  I think that it will really stretch him and get him to explore more of his potential.  He is excited, too, but also very nervous.  It will really be pushing him out of his comfort zone.  I am confident that he can do it.  He just needs a little practice and a few successes. 

Christmas was interesting.  We went to my parents' house on Christmas day, which was nice until my dad got after Gabriel so much for touching stuff (he's 21 months old!) that Gabriel came to me and said, "Mommy, vamos!"  in a plaintive little voice.  (Mommy, let's go!)  So, I took him and Jimmy home and as soon as he got through the door, you could see the relief in his little face to be in a place where he could touch all he wanted to.

So, Gabriel is crying upstairs, so I've got to go see what's going on with him, but at least I'm back 'on paper' again!

An Interesting Evening

Two days ago, I started having lower back pain.  I know that back pain is normal in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, and I remember having it quite a bit at the end with Gabriel, so I didn't really think anything of it, except that it was an annoyance, and really quite painful, more so than I remember with the others.  Yesterday, however, when I realized that this back pain was accompanied by contractions that came every time I got up and moved around, I started to get a bit concerned.  I mean, I am only 32 weeks, and as anxious as I am to meet the little guy, he really needs to stay in there and cook up a bit more before he makes his foray into the great big world.  

So, last night, after dinner and after the little guys went to bed, we left Elizabeth nestled on the couch with the phone at her side with the strict instructions to get in bed at 10, and Jimmy and I headed off to the hospital because I was having continuous contractions. 

Without going through all the details, I will just say that the upshot of the whole thing was that I am 'doing too much' and if the contractions don't stop when I am moving around, well, then, I'll just have to stop moving around. 

Hmmm...is that possible?

I was told that although the contractions are not strong, if they continue even as light as they are (they feel like Braxton Hicks, only they don't stop) they will eventually set off full labor, and it's not time for that.

I guess if it is necessary, it is do-able, but how does one just tell everyone 'Sorry.  I'm out of commission for the next month or so.'?  (That will bring me to 37 weeks.)

And how does one live?  I mean, you know the old axiom, you don't work, you don't eat...well, I've been pretty hungry lately...

So, in my attempt to cut down on what I am doing, I stayed in bed til 8:30 this morning, (after climbing in at about 12:45) and am dutifully sitting with good posture at my desk. 

And I am hydrating.  But to hydrate, I have to get up and go upstairs to get water or whatever when I finish what I have, which can bring on contractions....

And what exactly is 'too much'?  I mean, I don't FEEL like I am doing too much.  I am living like any other mom who has a job and responsibilities.  And I certainly did a lot more when I was pregnant with Jo.  I worked as an overnight manager at a warehouse, driving the forklifts and up and down ladders for 10-12 hours a night.

Of course, she was only my second, and that was about 5 years ago.

(Does that mean I'm getting old?)

Anyway, the good thing about last night was this: 

They did a sonogram just to see how the baby was and to see if I was effaced or anything yet, and it turns out that the baby is head down now!  Great news! 

In fact, he is SOOO far down that they had to put the reader thingy practically on my leg to see the top of his head. 

So thanks for the prayers guys; they definitely worked and got him in place.

Now, just to keep him in there for a little while longer and to stop the contractions! 

Things 'Round Here

I have not been on here for a while because my computer was out of commission for a week at Thanksgiving, and then things seem to have been moving at break neck speed!

Elizabeth got straight A's on her report card but has confessed to being bored in most of her classes. 

So...she signed herself up for Science Olympiads and a special French program that culminates in a competition in the Spring.  Maybe that will keep her busy for a while.

Jo is going through a rough time with lots of crying and carrying on.  So much so that I sometimes wonder how we are going to make it together next year!

Gabriel is having a blast with the Christmas tree and looking at all the decorations.  But, in pure toddler style, he was looking at a Santa on the tree this morning and turned it around and announced 'Ewww...poopoo!'  Ah, yes, the potty training days are still upon us.  Although he uses the potty and knows exactly what it's for, he is not consistent, so we are still washing diapers.  I was hoping to get one out before the next one goes into the diapers, but i don't think it's going to happen.

Jimmy is working hard to catch up on everything that he needs to know about the business for when I leave, which is coming soon!  At the end of this month, we have inventory, and then I only have about a month left!

I am getting steadily bigger, but still feeling well.  The doc has said that the baby is in breech position, which if he stays that way means a C-section, but I am keeping positive thinking about how there are still about 10 weeks left for the little guy to change his mind and turn around.

My Pampered Chef business is also growing steadily.  Thank you to all of you who have supported me in this!  It is a crazy time what with working full time during the day and then working shows and festivals on the weekends in addition to keeping up with the kids and their schedules! 

Jimmy and I have also been researching homeschool curriculum and just how to go about making everything work out.  I am not so worried about Jo as I am about Elizabeth getting the right stuff so she can continue at the rate that she needs to.

Speaking of which, I told my mom and sister that we were going to homeschool Elizabeth next year.  It didn't go over quite as badly as I thought it would, although I am pretty sure that I can't really expect any support from either of them. 

But in the good news, my mom has invited Jo to go the harbor to see the ice display there.  That's a first.  I guess Jo is getting to be of the 'acceptable age' now.  I just hope she can hold herself together and behave or it may be another 3 or so years before they want to do anything else with her!

I need to post pictures of our tree!  It is up and has our mangy assortment of ornaments on it.  Think Charlie Brown's Christmas tree BEFORE the other kids decorated it!  But it's ours and we love it!