Today we are back to school for the final three-week session of our semester, and then we will have a break until February. The children weren’t too happy when I started school rather early, but now they are singing my praises at the idea of a long Christmas and baby break. I sure do like setting our school schedule myself, especially when babies decide to be born right in the middle of the school year.

Our Thanksgiving week has gone by rather quickly. I thought for sure I’d get lots of projects done, but instead I spent the first half of the week fighting a cough and sniffles. Fortunately by Wednesday I started to feel better, but by then it was time to kick it into gear for Thanksgiving dinner.
I had lots of fun making my favorite things for our family feast. And the children seemed to really delight in the goodies that adorned our little buffet line on Thursday. We didn’t go anywhere else for Thanksgiving Dinner. We just enjoyed the company of our family.
And after our dinner and a rest, we headed out to have dessert and game-time with Roy & Mary and family.
Today, Black Friday, we decided not to participate in the shopping frenzy. Instead, we had a quiet morning, and then ran errands during the middle of the day. One of the errands included looking at a loft bed that we thought we might be able to use to rearrange kids a bit, thus making room for the next kiddo who will arrive in about 5 weeks. We bought the bed (second-hand), and then worked hard to get it assembled and in place in the study, believe it or not. Isaac is delighted to have a new place to call his own. I hope it will be a good arrangement. Time will tell.

One wonderful side benefit from the rearranging project is that it pushed me into sorting through some boxes that have been sitting and waiting for my attention for a very long time. What a great feeling to get things looking better. Hopefully tomorrow we can continue with the project and have even more areas looking more tidy.

Even though our family has escaped the worst of the flu stuff going around, we finally succumbed to the sniffles and coughs during the past week. I’m grateful to report that no one has gotten seriously or miserably ill. But we have gone through our share of tissues, and we’ve been coughing through our days.
It seems like we’re through the worst of it, and since everyone seems to be getting better rather than getting worse, I’m hopeful that we have dodged the bullet for now.

This next week we are off school as we enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m really looking forward to the break. No doubt the children will enjoy it as much as I do. I’ve been pushing them for 15 weeks, so we’re all ready for a break.

In other news… I wish I could report that Lilly is fully potty trained and trustworthy, but she is still stumped at the idea of doing her poopy work IN the toilet. I know she’ll get it eventually, but it seems to be taking a long time.

Have a restful Sunday!

Our school calendar allows us to take the week of Thanksgiving off, so this week we are eagerly working toward the goal of being done with our requirements. We still have some busy days before we are free though. Tonight is choir practice at church. Tomorrow is “music lesson day”, which is a long day with five kids taking lessons. Then Friday evening there is a choir performance over in Peoria (50 minutes away) that Laura is part of, so I’ll take her to that.
Somehow in the middle of all this, school is happening, chores are happening, and music practice is happening.
The kids have some sniffles and coughs, but nothing to serious. My pregnancy is progressing nicely, with a good report yesterday from the doctor’s office.
So, there you have it. Nothing terribly exciting, but full days nonetheless.

One week ago today, I started potty-training Lilly. And one week ago today (and tomorrow) I was very discouraged by our efforts. But I have to admit, the rest of the week has gone very well, and last night we made our final breakthrough with Lilly figuring out that pooping in the potty is preferable to having dirty pants. This morning she repeated her success, so I’m hopeful that she is really understanding the whole process. It’s amazing how far she has come in one week.

Today Lilly did better with her potty training. For starters, she didn’t do any of the endless fussing and moaning and crying that she’s been doing for the past two days. What a relief!
She did have an accident this morning, but then after that, she had an almost-perfect day. I’m starting to think that she might actually catch on to this potty-training thing.
In other news, Michael and I were able to slip away for a late lunch — early supper at Applebees. Michael’s meal was free, thanks to the fact that he is a veteran, so we were able to get out of there for $12 including the tip. The best part was that Lilly didn’t give Laura any grief while we were gone.
Thanks to having reduced stomach real estate, I’m still feeling full from our meal. I have to say, one of the best parts about not being pregnant any more is that I’m able to actually eat without being uncomfortable. I am SO looking forward to that!

Today’s potty training was so much worse than I’d hoped it would be. Lilly fussed and moaned and cried and threw fits. I tried to be cheerful and upbeat, but it wore on me badly. To top it off, I had one of my older children questioning my parenting skills. “Can’t you DO anything about her whining?” My response was that I was trying to endure without snapping or yelling. I also told this child that I completely understand what it’s like to have opinions about child rearing when you haven’t had any children. I certainly had lots of ideas and opinions. My children have quickly dissolved all of my wonderful ideas and left me in a puddle of indecision and ineptitude.
By this afternoon, when Lilly was fussing at me, I simply joined her. I started to cry, letting out all of my frustration and irritation with her and the world in general. Interestingly, seeing me in tears startled Lilly enough that she just sat there quietly staring at me. I guess she wasn’t sure what to think.

Unfortunately, the afternoon did not go any better than the morning. And the only thing that made the evening better than the afternoon was that Michael came home and took over with Lilly. He has infinitely more patience with her than I do, and she loves him dearly. I’m just a caretaker.
Now Lilly is in bed for the night, and I’m not hopeful about the prospects for tomorrow. But since I can’t stop the passage of time, tomorrow is inevitable. One consolation is that it can’t possibly be any worse than today.

Today I started potty-training Lilly. I thought I was mentally prepared for the day, but I ended up getting more frustrated than I intended. Lilly either didn’t feel good this morning, or she didn’t like potty training, because she moaned and fussed and wailed during most of the morning. Finally at 11 a.m. I gave up and put her in bed for a nap. After her nap, she did much better, and made good progress in her training. Tomorrow we’ll see how much she remembers.