The Vibrant Life

Today was my 16 week appointment - basic, boring, just a check up, but it went well.  At my last appointment, I was still so sick that I was still a couple pounds under my 1st weight (from my very first appointment).  This time, I had finally gained a couple pounds - the nurse wrote down my weight and said “oh!  I’m glad you finally gained a little weight!”  I just laughed and said “yeah, YOU’RE glad ;)”  Because you see, I know what’s to come.  I know my future in weight gain isn’t promising ;)  Haha!  I know I know, I’m pregnant, I’m SUPPOSED to gain weight.  But really?  Ask any pregnant woman how excited SHE is about gaining “25-35 pounds” (if you’re not under or overweight when you get pregnant).  Anyway, moving on.

Like I said, today was just a boring appointment - weight and listening to heart beat basically.  Which is only slightly silly considering I have a normal healthy pregnancy - and I can weigh myself at home and I have a home dopplar.  Oh well, I don’t mind the appointments.

What’s interesting is…  ok wait, let me back up.

When I went in for my very first appointment, I had a due date of (I think) February 19th - based on my LMP.  When they scheduled my dating ultrasound, I went in thinking I was 8weeks 4days (can’t remember for sure, but I was close to 9 weeks).  At the ultrasound they determined that I was only 6weeks 2days.  They put me back 2 1/2 weeks, pushing my due date to March 9th.  I was bummed at first, but I got over it, no biggie.

When I got my home fetal doppler, I was also reading on some pregnancy message boards about other women who had home dopplers.  They were all due around the same time I was.  The tips they kept giving when it came to finding the heart beat was to look way down low, by the pubic bone.  Well, I could NEVER find my baby’s heart beat that low, I always found it up higher.  And over the past quite a few weeks, I have been finding the heart beat up high, right by my belly button.  I thought it was odd that everyone else who had the similar due dates were finding their babies heart beats down low, and mine was so much higher…  but I brushed it off.

So back to today’s appointment.

The Doctor was trying to find the heart beat, and she started about midway between my belly button and my pubic bone (so much lower than I usually find the heart beat).  I let her know that I had a home doppler and told her where I usually find the heart beat.  She looked all over.  She looked high and low.  Again, since I have a tilted uterus, we acknowledged that it is still a little harder to find the heart beat, but she just kept shaking her head and saying I have a baby that hides ;)

I finally offered to give it a shot and try and find the heart beat like I do it at home…  and it did take a bit, but when I did find it - it was up at my belly button (maybe even slightly above), right at the top of my uterus (as in, I had to push in and get the doppler literally on the TOP of my uterus).  She was shocked - and then started asking me about my dates.  So that’s when I told her about my dating ultrasound and how I had gone into that room thinking I was 8 1/2 weeks along and they told me I was only 6 weeks along.  But I told her that I’ve been able to find the heart beat up high for quite awhile now.

She said more than once “wow, I’ll be interested to see what they say about your dates at your ultrasound next month.”  She said that if there’s a discrepancy of more than 10 days they will change my dates.  I’m not getting my hopes up, but I also wouldn’t be surprised at ALL if they push my date up a little (or at least back to closer to what it was originally).

So there ya have it!  16 weeks!  I haven’t taken a 16 week belly shot yet because it’s been super rainy here lately and this week has been a busy week.  But hopefully I’ll sneak one in today, before it gets too late.  And who knows - maybe by next month I’ll have to re-name all of my belly shots so the dates are accurate ;)  Hehe, ok ok, wishful thinking.

I’ve got to be honest - I am LOVING this home schooling thing.  Like, LOVING it.  Like, I want to be in it for the long haul (if Ryan were on board, but he’s pretty interested in sending the boys to PACT Charter School when they get in…  so we’ll see ;)).

Cody is really thriving, and I love seeing his wheels turn!  Same with Tanner - since we’ve always tended to focus on Cody (being of “school age”) when we work on certain things, we haven’t worked with Tanner on school related stuff as much.  It’s just so much fun to watch them learn and discover and grow and develop.

I’ve been trying to get the boys to understand just what home school is all about, and that it’s not just about having school in our house.  I’ve been telling them that we can learn ANY time, ANY place, and frankly, we can learn whatever we’re interested in learning about.  (which goes for any child, public/private/homeschooled - it’s just parenting.  But it’s more focused than just chatting about dinosaurs or answering one question that the child has.  It’s turning their questions into detailed lessons.)  Today Cody tells me “Today I want to learn about farms!”  So that’s exactly what we learned about!

Since it was a rainy day and the boys were already completely soaked to the bone from puddle jumping, I didn’t want to take them to the library to check out books on farms/farm animals/etc, so we went home to settle in for “school”.  We started out by Googling “All about farms for children”, which gave us a few good links.  I had been telling the boys in the car that there are many different kinds of farms and farmers.  For example, some farmers have cows and they have “dairy farms”, and some farmers have fields and they harvest foods, etc.  

The link we stayed on the most was this one, which I actually loved because it helped us focus on one specific farm and one aspect of the farm - Dairy farms and cows. We learned all about cows - from what they eat (a specific question that the boys had), to what they do (like milking), and how they help people (by giving us milk - and how much milk they are able to give us).  We took the quiz at the end of our web surfing and I was so proud of Cody for getting probably 7 out of 10 right (with slight coaching/reminders on one or two).  

We finished up our little lesson by finding some coloring pages with farm animals to print and color - only to discover that at some point in the past few weeks, their crayons/markers were misplaced (and Daddy to the rescue found them when he got home from work).  But that’s ok.  Something to do later. :)

Ryan and I have also made the final and executive decision about what “grade” Cody will be considered to be in.  The thing with home schooling is that there is no real “grade” to follow, you just school along with how your child is learning and growing.  So if your child is doing math at a 2nd grade level, you use 2nd grade math. If they are reading on a 4th grade level, that’s what you go with.  Most home schoolers at some point have “claimed” a grade just to make it easier to tell people that ask “what grade are you in”.  I’ve also noticed that it probably comes in handy if your child does enter the public school system.

Anyway - We had decided, at the encouragement of a daycare/preschool teacher mostly, to NOT start Cody in Kindergarten last year when he could have started (his birthday is on the cutoff date, so we got to choose).  This decision was almost 110% based on his “social level”.  However, academically, he was (and is) well beyond Kindergarten level (then AND now).  I struggled with this decision back then, and have struggled with it until now.  

The thing is, Cody has come a LONG way socially.  He’s also had many more opportunities to be around people (of all ages) and interact with them.  He’s improved so much and I feel that he’s “caught up” to whatever imaginary place he needs to be in to be considered “caught up”.  He also reads incredibly well (including books he’s never seen before, he’ll read captions on the TV as they come up, billboards as we pass - so he processes the words fast), he does math (as you can see on the video, which doesn’t do his math “skills” justice), and so much more.  He blows me away with what he knows and retains and processes, and can figure out on his own.

Bottom line is, I did NOT feel comfortable in my heart of hearts starting my son this year at a Kindergarten level.  Not at all, not even a little.  Anyone who is close to me knows this, it was no secret, I struggled so much with this.

So we made the decision.  Cody will be considered a 1st grader this year.  And that’s that.

I have found an amazing home school support system that I’m so excited to be a part of, and I’m excited for the year ahead for BOTH boys!  Tanner will be in Kindergarten next year, so they will be 2 years apart in school.  I feel completely at peace with this decision, no regrets.  

Aaaaand, I didn’t mean for this post to be this long ;)  I apologize.  I’m excited to share our adventures in home schooling, especially because I am on such a learning curve!  There’s so much to discover, so many choices, so much that I get to be in control of when it comes to my children’s educations - and I’m BEYOND thrilled and looking forward to what’s to come!

So - stay tuned I guess!! ♥ 

Well here I am - 15 weeks!  Some days I look more pregnant than others - and days like today (which is actually 1 day before 15 weeks, but tomorrow is Cody’s birthday and will be too busy for a belly shot) I just look like I’ve spent too much time at the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Even though every time I see these belly shots I am embarrassed at how big (as in chubby) I look, I’ve been having fun taking them, and I look forward to seeing my belly grow and those numbers keep climbing.

Today our squishy gave me quite the scare.  I’ve been blessed so far to have been able to find his/her heartbeat fairly quickly every.single.time I’ve looked for it with my fetal doppler.  Today I got the news that a friend had miscarried, and it devastated me, knowing exactly how she was feeling.  I wanted the comfort of hearing my own baby’s heartbeat, so I decided to take a listen.  For the first time since I got the doppler, I could not find the heartbeat.  Anywhere.  High or low.  So I got up, went to the bathroom, came out to the couch, and tried again.  Still nothing.  Not even a flicker of that faster heartbeat.  I was terrified.  I sent a text to Ryan, and I was this.close to calling the clinic to see if I could go in and have them find it for me.  In the meantime, I decided to drink a Mt. Dew and try again later.  When I DID try again (maybe an hour later or so?), I found it.  Right away.  In the same spot I am always able to hear it.  The little stinker.

So now I’m feeling better, and our next appointment is next Friday (I’ll be 16+2).  The next appointment I have after that will be the gender ultrasound, and truly I can’t WAIT!

And here’s what TheBump.com says about our little nugget for week 15:

Continuing the march towards normal proportions, baby’s legs now outmeasure the arms. And, finally, all four limbs have functional joints. Your fetus is squirming and wiggling like crazy down in the womb, though you probably still can’t feel the movements. {Actually, I HAVE been able to feel the movements - the blessings of multiple children, you are usually able to identify baby movements earlier on compared to your first pregnancy}