And More Updates

Yeah, yeah... I suck at making up blog titles.  This is going to be a quickie since Harper could wake up at any time and there's a lot of stuff that deserves it's own post so I promise more will be coming later!

Harper finally had her 6 month check-up today.  She's 17 lbs and 26 inches, 60th percentile for both height and weight.  I was a bit concerned that she's down from the 75th percentile for weight, but the doc assured me that it's just because she's crawling.  Apparently babies tend to have a dip when they start moving around.  She loves that Harper's still breastfed and LOVED our cute little cloth diapers.  All in all, we have a very happy, healthy baby.  Not so much as a single fever or ear infection since she's been born.

Cheap velcro and leaking -- FUN

As far as those cute little gDiapers go, I'm having mixed feelings.  I've had a couple questions about them, so I definitely want to talk about them in more depth, but anyone thinking about them may want to hold off. 

Kaelin started homeschooling last Monday.  Overall, I think it's going to work well for us.  There's a little bit of an adjustment on both our parts, but I think she's learned more in a week than she did in a month at Marrington.  She's loving Latin and she's getting a lot more out of her Bible readings than I thought she would.  I'm going to start doing a weekly recap of everything she's learning once we get out of the review stuff. 

I started my fall vegetable garden.  While this might not sound all that impressive, I've never had the green thumb that the rest of my family has.  I mean, I lived on a freaking farm.  My dad was a farmer and I can't even have a houseplant.  Yet, vegetables are expensive and it would be great if I knew how to grow my own food for when the apocalypse comes and I can't just mosey down to Publix.  My Brussels sprouts aren't looking too hot, but my zucchini are magnificent.  I mean, they're only sprouts right now, but they haven't died yet.  Win!  If I even get one little cherry tomato out of this thing, I'll consider it a success!

Brussels sprouts, tomatoes, and zucchini!

Jason's got less than 3 weeks of Prototype left!  These last six months have been pretty trying on our family, but one way or another, it's almost over.  He's on mids (8:30 PM - 8:30 AM) which is the hardest shift he has.  He never gets enough sleep and he walks around like a zombie ALL.  THE.  TIME.  He fell asleep at Harper's doctor appointment this morning if that's any indication of how sleep-deprived he is.  Of course, it's his own fault because he sits downstairs and watches cartoons with me, I mean the kids, instead of sleeping.  He even failed a watch this week because of it.  He was so upset about it because he had down everything perfect up until the last 10 minutes.  He started to zone out and turned a valve the wrong way.  His instructor really didn't want to fail him, but if he did something stupid like that on a real watch, he could have killed someone.  The sad thing is, I gave him a harder time about it than the staff did.  He was worried it would screw up his chances of staying on as an instructor, but his crew kept telling him not to worry about it and that several instructors have failed more than one watch as a student. 

I, being a former nuke, told him to suck it up and stop failing because if he gets sent to Guam, he's going alone.

Ok, maybe I wasn't quite so blunt.  But I did tell him that the Navy's his job and he needs to do whatever he needs to do to not screw up at work even if it means chugging coffee for 12 hours.  Then I reminded him that it's not the end of the world if he doesn't get staff as long as they don't send him to welding school.  Welding school is in Groton and only 3 months long so we wouldn't get to go with him if they made him go there.  I'm sorry, but I'm not spending 12 weeks in this craphole without my husband. 
I feel bad that he's had such a shitty experience with the boat being down practically the whole time while his friends in New York were able to board weeks ago.  Oh well.

Let's see... what else?  I got my first official check from the magazine I write for.  My article should be out in the November issue so I'll probably spend that first check buying magazines that prove I'm an official writer.  Oh, and I totally fit into my old pants (KUrunner desperately needs an update).  Yay me, again!

First Day of School

4th Grade

Updates

Jason officially was picked up for staff so we won't be moving any time soon.  Poor guys having a hard time getting checkouts though because the staff is like, "You don't need to know this as a student, but you'll have to know it in a few months so go learn it now."  He was the only person on his crew to be selected as staff though, so I'm pretty proud of him.  His "friend" also applied, but she didn't even get an interview.  I know, I'm a bitch, but that makes me smile just a little.  She's getting a divorce though, so I'm not really enjoying her misery to the full extent because I'm not that mean.  I did spend the morning in happy tears because a guy who's made life really sucky for the whole crew got really crappy orders when almost everyone else got what they wanted.  Karma, baby! 

Our toilet is broken and no amount of plunging seems to fix it.  We put in a request form with the housing office, but they suck.  Apparently a non-flushing toilet isn't high priority.  Yeah, they're going to like it when I wake up at 2 in the morning and forget it's broken and water seeps through to the bottom floor.  I absolutely love my house, but hate the company we rent from (yet, they are still better than Balfour Beatty who privatized base housing.)

Kaelin starts Mother of Divine Grace homeschool on Monday.  We're pretty excited.  I'm a bit nervous because I'm not sure I should be teaching her Latin or Catholic catechism but it's got to be better than the crap excuse for public school here.  Also, there isn't a Catholic school in town.  Blarg.

Harper is NUTS.  This kid can crawl - hands and knees belly off the floor type crawl.  I mean one end of the room to the other in the 10 seconds it takes to pull out her baby jail Pack & Play.  Also, notice how they aren't called playpens anymore?  I guess people didn't like the idea of putting their kids in a pen.  Anyways, I sit her in her bedroom floor to get pjs out of the closet and she'll be under her crib before I turn around.  She really likes it under her crib.  And under Jason's desk.  And under the coffee table. 

She's in gDiapers now.  I love them.  They are so much lighter than our prefolds/cover combination.  Maybe that's why she's able to get around so fast now.  We also discovered Harps could be a baby model.  Scout's also coming around to her.  It's not like he didn't like her, but now he lets her crawl up and pet him. 

Seriously, aren't I cuter than the babies on the packs of diapers?

Still no teeth, though.

My April marathon has been canceled.  No clue why.  It was on the website one day, then not the next.  I can't justify going to Kansas just to run a half so maybe it is a good time to try for Baby MacGyver Chuck Norris Thundercats Snake Eyes Picard.  Not that we are having any luck with that yet.  I guess I'm going to have to find another race, but since I don't know if it will take us a month or a year to get pregnant, I don't want to lock myself in, you know?

I need a new camera.  I love that my iPhone has a video camera and it takes AMAZING pictures outside in full light.  But if it's not 100% bright in the house, the pictures come out grainy.  Suggestions?

Bye-Bye School

I know I'm a few weeks late here, but Kaelin's last day of school was June 2.  I can't believe I have a 4th grader.  It wasn't all that long ago when she started kindergarten.  Over these last few weeks I've really enjoyed having her home -- almost as I've enjoyed not having to take her to school in the morning or interrupt my afternoon to pick her up! 

I'm definitely nervous though, since it means our homeschooling adventure is just around the corner.  I have no doubts in my ability as a chemistry teacher on the college level, but am I going to be able to teach my own kid Greek history?  What about Latin?  There are books on her 4th grade reading list that I've never even opened.  How am I going to teach her Shakespeare?  What about when she starts giving me attitude? 

Am I even going to have a free minute to myself?

Anyways, I was originally going to write my own curriculum, but after HOURS of research I realized that I have no clue what 4th graders should learn.  Plus, I might have the tendency to pack a little too much into a school day.  I found what I think will be an amazing Catholic homeschool program so we're going to try that, for at least her first year.  If we like it, we'll stick with it, otherwise we'll try something new for 5th grade.  I also found most of the books she'll need cheap so the whole thing will probably only cost us $200 for the year.  (Between fundraisers and school events, I probably spent over a thousand bucks at her old school -- free education, my ass.)

For the summer, she's working through a summer bridge book and a pretty hefty reading list in addition to the activities we have planned like the aquarium and some Civil War battle sites.  As much as I dislike living in South Carolina, I love that Charleston is full of history. 

Love and Happiness

I know I haven’t been posting much on her because, well, I’ve been enjoying my family. I would apologize, but no offense to my wonderful readers, I’d much rather be hanging with the kids than sitting on the computer with you.

;-)

In all seriousness, the last few weeks have been great. Jason’s been crazy busy at work, but it’s made us appreciate the time we have with him all that much more. Kaelin’s out of school now and we’ve been having a blast with our mini summer homeschooling session. Plus, Harper’s getting to a really fun age (instead of the eat, sleep, poop newborn phase). So, I have lots to update about when I get a few minutes.

I also checked my blog stats this morning — and people are reading this blog! I mean, obviously, I don’t have the kind of readership that my favorite mommy blogs have, but it just amazes me that people are reading what I’m saying. Two Embrys started out as a blog for my family to see pictures of the kids so I get absolutely giddy everytime I log on and have a new comment. Seriously, if you are reading… leave a comment (unless you’re just going to tell me how much I suck)! I love the advice and information I’ve been getting from you guys. Thanks for reading and putting a smile on my face.

Until next time, I’ll leave you with some pure cuteness — a picture of Kaelin at 4.5 months (the same age Harper is now!)

Front facing car seat?  Oh, what I've learned in 8 years...

P.S. If you like my writing, feel free to mosey on over to my fitness blog, KUrunner. I try to keep most of the mommy stuff over here, but honestly, what mom doesn’t want to live a healthy lifestyle? (Yes, this is shameless self-promotion here. Sorry!)

P.P.S I think it’s safe to say that I might be over my little episode of depression! Yay!

Homeschooling?

Recently, Jason and I have talked a lot about homeschooling.  Without a doubt, we had decided to homeschool Harper and any other kids that we are blessed enough to have in the future.  Kaelin was a more difficult decision.  She’s already been in both the public and the private school systems.  How would she take to homeschooling?  Would I even be able to homeschool her with her, um, personality?

Then we get a letter in the mail informing us that the school district didn’t do well enough on whatever standardized test they do and no longer met the No Child Left Behind requirements.  Okay, so I have reservations about NCLB.  Maybe it’s because I did AWESOME in school or maybe it’s because I haven’t had to deal with a struggling child, but if you aren’t ready to be promoted a grade, you shouldn’t be.  Teachers really can only do so much with a room full of kids and expecting them to take extra time to help a failing student is time they take away from helping an excelling student.  Just because my kid is bright and can figure things out on her own doesn’t mean she should be given a pile of busywork while the teacher explains why 2+2=4 yet again.  Anyways, since they sucked on the test, the school district isn’t eligible for federal money.

Because Berkeley County schools are rolling in the dough.  Kaelin’s school, which last year was only open to military members living on base, went from about 200 students to almost 500 students.  Yeah, they bus in an extra 300 students and only gave the school an extra 3 teachers.  Class sizes doubled in one year.  I can tell you from 18+ years of schooling (as a student and a teacher) that class size is one of the most important things when it comes to getting a good education.

Obviously, that’s not the only reason we decided to homeschool.  We are military and Kaelin’s already been in 3 different schools over 4 years.  Schools aren’t universal.  When we moved to SC, Kaelin was starting the 3rd grade.  Her 3rd grade math is basically what she learned in 2nd grade at her last school.  She wasted a year sitting in class learning what she already knew.  But what happens when we move to the next school who’s 4th grade math builds upon stuff she hasn’t seen yet?  Will she spend the year struggling?  With homeschooling, she’ll have a customized curriculum based on what she already knows and what she should be learning.

A big issue with homeschooling is socialization.  People assume that homeschooled kids are weirdo Jesus freaks who don’t know how to talk to others.  I’m sorry, but that’s crap.  First off, look at the kids in the school system.  This year, Kaelin’s been threatened and bullied.  She’s learned some really bad words without knowing what they mean or why she shouldn’t say them.  I’m not sure these are the kids I want her socializing with anyways.  Second, there is no shortage of local clubs and sports teams to join where she’ll get to play with other kids with similar interests.  There are youth groups at church.  There are a ton of kids who live in the neighborhood.  The schooly system isn’t the only place to meet other kids.

Like I said before, this was a really difficult decision to make.  Both Jason and I went to public school.  I absolutely loved my high school.  It was a brand new school, not yet overcrowded.  I had AP classes to choose from.  I had tons of extracurriculars to be involved in.  Most of all, I loved the teachers I had.  They were the type of teachers who really enjoyed their jobs and wanted to pass their passion for learning to you.  Sadly, I don’t see many of those around anymore.