Ping Week in pictures...

Buoyancy The girls collected different household items and we made guesses on what would float and what would sink. They LOVED this!





Field trip to the duck pond.
We've been there plenty of times before but we had just learned a few more facts about ducks that morning so it made for even more interesting observation of our floating feathered friends. I was really happy that I was able to catch a duck (I kind of pounced on it...extremely ungraceful like). The girls got to inspect the duck's webbed feet, special duck teeth, and see the waterproofed feathers. We got to talk about how God perfectly designed the duck for it's habitat. Pretty fun little lesson!

Paige was NOT cool with the duck snatching the entire piece of bread out of her hand.


She really did not expect the ducks to be so grabby!


She got the hang of it though and learned to use her foot to keep the ducks back. Smart girl!




They all enjoyed petting these extremely tame ducks!! We did not see any ducklings and that was a little disappointing (and surprising given this time of year) but maybe we'll have the chance to check out the other duckpond I know of.

Quack

This week we are going to be doing "The Story about Ping". The girls and I are so excited! We read "Ping" sometime over this past year and the girls loved it. It was one of my childhood favorites as well. My girls (and I) are always especially interested in studying about animals so this should be a fun week.

Some of the things we will be doing are going to the duck pond (where I will try to catch a duck so we can study it (I'm really good at catching ducks--one of my talents-- but I'm also EXTREMELY pregnant!), learning about ducks in general, a bouyancy experiment, "traveling" to China (with a few stories on missionaries in China, some geography, and we'll have egg drop soup with lunch one day), and a lesson or two on discernment. Hopefully I can get myself to get pictures on here from our week!

We are all ready for baby so it will be nice to be able to have a "normal" week--possibly our last week as a family of five. I'll be planning our lessons for the following week too because the last thing I want to do is spend time waiting on baby and obsessively thinking about his/her impending arrival. :)

Tick, tock.

The countdown is definitely on! According to my snappy little Lilypie baby ticker we have fifteen days until Baby G #4 is due. Obviously the baby is unmoved by something so silly as a date on the calendar but it's nice to know that at this point the end (or beginning) is definitely in sight!

Today was our home visit with our midwife. I'm feeling really productive b/c we did big grocery shopping this morning, came home, ate lunch, and then had our visit. Two big things in one day--at this point that's pretty good! :) The visit went great. Baby is doing well and is in a good position. I'm feeling pretty good for the most part. Having some nausea issues as well as NASTY heartburn but I'm far from miserable. I am thinking this little peanut is going to hang on for at least another two weeks and that's fine with me. I've got plenty to do to keep busy :)

A Pair of Red Clogs

Last week we used the book "A Pair of Red Clogs" for our schooling. It was a really fun book to read. We enjoyed studying a little bit of Japanese culture. One day we made origami animals. Another day we found Japan on the map and learned a little bit about islands. Hailey was impressed by the Japanese alphabet and said she was very happy that she didn't live in Japan.

All week long I meant to get a hold of some chopsticks for us to practice eating with but due to getting sick (twice), I didn't get around to that until Sunday evening. It was kind of cool though--we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things and the sushi bar was selling sushi packs "buy one get one free" Normally I would take that as a warning to steer clear but I trust the sushi at HEB so this worked out great for us! We got a California Roll sampler and a pack of Summer Rolls. And they had wooden chopsticks! The girls were so excited and the LOVED dinner! They've had California Rolls before but not in awhile (that's one food I don't like to share). The younger two often need urging to eat raw green veggies but they didn't seem to mind that the summer rolls were packed with a good deal of lettuce.

We used the chopsticks the next day at lunch. We watched an instructional video (thanks youtube) and then the girls practiced with the sticks. Reese and Paige were more frustrated than anything but Hailey was very funny--she ate her veggie crisps with her chopsticks! And I cooked a bowl of rice and let them work on that with their chopsticks. It was a pretty fun way to end our study of "A Pair of Red Clogs"

Comparison

Reese picked up my bra, which was hanging to dry on the towel rack in our room, and asked "Is this for your boobs?" I snorted and said "Yes. Put it back." She then exclaimed "It looks like Wall-e's eyes!!"

On another note about Reese: I'm reasonably sure that her acid reflux has returned. Over the past month she has spontaneously thrown up several times--usually after running around. Sigh. I guess it's back to the Previcid for her. Not a huge deal but I absolutely HATE my kids being on any medication for long periods of time. She did eat a brownie tonight and chocolate can be a trigger for reflux so maybe we can try to avoid potential problem foods? Sigh again. Her reflux was severe when she was a toddler that it worries me not to aggressively treat it though. Don't want her to stop eating again and start wasting away...

Why is it that...

the times that my children need the most correction consistently coincides with the times that I feel the LEAST like being on their cases???? Or when I sit down to just enjoy them for the people they are, that is the time when I can count on someone to throw a tantrum? WHY???

Today was my 30 week check up. I can't believe that we are doing prenatals every two weeks now! This pregnancy has already flown by--I'm sure the next ten weeks or so will be no exception--especially since we have done just about ZERO to prep for his/her arrival!

My visit was good. Baby is measuring 29 weeks (my babies always measure a little small) with a nice healthy sounding heartbeat (147 bpm). All my vitals are fine. I've gained two pounds in the last two weeks which is great because I've had a hard time putting weight on. This brings my total weight gain to either 10 or 11 pounds. Hopefully I can keep gaining a pound a week until the baby is born. I really expected to go in and have gained more weight because I've been trying to eat more lately! But I don't have much room so I'm not eating as much--thanks to my good old short torso!

The only down part of the visit was that my midwife is sick! Not contagious-sick but she's got something going on that is making her feel terrible all the time. Gallbladder sypmtoms but all the tests have come back showing a healthy gallbladder--she does not look well though. She's lost weight and is surviving on soup and a few other thigns. Not good. My heart really goes out to her. She is a busy mom and midwife and does NOT have time to be sick! Being a midwife can be such a physically demanding job and I imagine that it's been quite awful for her to keep carrying on with her duties. Selfishly of course, I hope that she is better in time for our birth. You certainly want the person attending your birth to be in as tip-top condition as possible!

I'm cooking up a ham for dinner which excites me way more than it should. Not exactly a healthy food but it should make for easy dinners for the next few nights!