Home Educating the Puddle Girls…

Halloween

Muhahahahahahah!

Completely nothing day. Girls have been remarkably patient really but are all feeling the heat a bit. Maddy has needed almost constant cuddles and a lot of milk. Fran seems to be very easily moved to tears and Ammi just keeps shrieking. Still, i did manage to clear out the cupboard a bit better so i have more access to the crafty stuff. Must USE some of it.

They have spent the day in costume and we have only had 3 lots of treaters, all very amiable ones, although i obviously overestimated the school children of Peterborough by putting a sign on the door telling them where they had to go to get their treats. Reading not a skill they practise around here perhaps?

This one was the best i managed. I think it comes as no surprise that for most attempts of this photo, Amelie upended herself as i took it to give me a full naked shot of her bum. We are going to have trouble with that girl.

Applebobbing - actually Ams was quickest at this; i think she chased it al lthe way down to the bottom!

Candlelit feast last night. Just your average dinner really, but a lovely occasion somehow.

Not entirely sure where the “n” went - but Fran did choose the colours herself. I definitely recommend felt tip pens for decorating salt dough.

Cactus and Pilgrims from DWN.

I’ve got a cold, which is deeply unfair and also a rather odd thing on my knee which HURTS. I am NOT amused.

Super Dad

I’m starting to realise just how much i under-appreciate Max really. He has been great again today. I got to lie in, then i got to lie on the bed again having a sulk for a while, i got cups of tea/hot chocolate/lunch without asking, he went shopping, he offered to let me sit in my room all day and read, he did a fabulous Halloween party for everyone tonight, carved a pumpkin with the girls, cleaned the kitchen and generally was a bit wonderful. I do KNOW he is wonderful but he is really going to town at the moment.

I think between us we managed to be mildly educational too - certainly the pumpkin was great, plus the girls drew pictures of it, we have saved the seeds to grow this year. While Max, Amelie and Moo were shopping, Fran and i read one of our Sonlight books “The Thanksgiving Story” and talked a bit about that. I love the early American history era and really want to learn more, so a few Sonlight books seemed like a good opportunity to start and the Thanksgiving one just fitted the season, moreorless. Then we looked briefly at this Thanksgiving site and talked about how it must have been to spend so long on the Mayflower, before fitting the whole thing into the scheme of what she knows about history. (I MUST do a Book of Centuries) Just to finish off, we got out the Draw Write Now set and used the harvest and pilgrim sections for a while. Fran did a great job actually, her ability to copy the instructions is coming on nicely. I was faintly amused by her decision to colour the pilgrims in bright colours though, cerise tops and gold trousers!!! She also drew a great cactus.

Last week i made some salt dough halloween stuff and today they decorated them. After the soggy poster painted versions of last week we used felt tips and that worked pretty well, Fran did a very autumnal set, quite well thought out and consistant for her.

Maddy has taken a profound interest in car insurance and is asking all about it (ad nauseum) and i think i have worked out what is up with Ams at night - for the last 3 nights now the night terrors have been about the moth that flew into her mouth. Poor child.

I’ve decided i’m not actually pregnant and its just wind. Its gone on too long now and its all starting to feel faintly unreal; having now got to being the most pregnant i have ever been and having passed both “emergency/not right” baby days, i think, if i am brutally honest, that i am just expecting something horrific to occur and i’ve almost got past the point where i can look forward to a baby with any certainty. That probably sounds insane :~( But oddly enough, in among feeling stupidly anxious/pissed off, i am still quite calm and still enjoying having it in there. it just doesn’t feel like i am ever going to meet it.

Anyway, all our spirits were much lifted by tonights candle lit tea in costume; we had flobberworms, eyeballs, hearts, lungs and livers, dead mens fingers and shrunken heads with pumpkin juice and thin blood to wash it down with. Maddy got the joke (eventually!) And i booked us a mid-week at Centerparcs today as well which, extraordinarily, was cheaper for a 3 bed than it was last year for a 2 bed.

Well.

I’m either going to have a Halloween baby or a November one. I can safely say i didn’t expect that.

Still here.

Managed 36 hours without a telly anyway. Nearly bought a new one this evening but missed the shop and it closed, then just tried the old one and it miraculously came on! Excellent.

The girls did really well, this morning they listened to story cds and acted out stories, looked at the pictures in the matching Barefoot Book and danced about to Going on a Bear Hunt (Ammi being particularly cute at that!) We all had a bit of a tidy up and then headed out to Auntie Kates to play.

That was lovely - her little girl has recently started to sit up and also grab her spoon and feed herself, remarkable achievements for a child with such special needs. It was amazing to watch.

I’ve been to be monitored again this evening. Had one run in with a midwife “WHAT do you think you are doing being 41 weeks when you have had 2 sections????” followed by “why did you have them then?” I briefly explained about Ammi and then said i wasn’t really sure how Fran had gone so wrong and didn’t feel that it had been a particularly cleverly managed labour. She stormed off and then came back clutching my notes “Has anyone ever EXPLAINED to you what happened?” - i said yes thank you and she said “That baby was MUCH to big for you to birth and you didn’t get her head down - THAT is why you had a section, it was nothing to do with labour management!” I said she was 7lb 5oz, 1/2lb less than the one i did birth and that being made to lie on my back for 10 hours probably didn’t help things much and she replied “It SAYS in your NOTES she was too big.”

At which point i told her that i wasn’t interested in discussing it with her thank you very much and made her stomp off in a huff. Victim mentality my arse. Apparently she used to be the Labour ward manager….

All this was after the babe had wriggled away from the monitor so i had suggested she let the back of the chair down a bit so i was more stretched out. “Oh no, you can’t lie back, its DANGEROUS” - i said i just wanted to not be bolt upright because it didn’t like it, so she let the foot rest out, didn’t push the chair back at all and then told me i had to lie on my right side on my hip in an upright chair. WTF??????? Moronic woman. Good job her shift ended at that moment really.

Anyway, baby is still more than fine, the other midwife did another sweep and things have improved a bit but basically its still very comfortable indeed! Bless. *rolls eyes*

FORTY ONE WEEKS

I’m tempted to do a screen shot of that ticker. (In fact, if i eventually do text someone to say i am having it, can someone DO a screenshot of my ticker for posterity please!)

Oh well.

Midwife just been on the phone and (i love my midwife) she was still really chilled out. “Oh well, you have another week before we need to think about what you want to do” type stuff. Makes sure a change from the drama queening.

Actually i do feel a bit period-painy today but maybe that is just the result of last nights exertions ;~)

What could possibly make this baby stay in there when there are all those quiet, docile, studious children desperate to meet it? Maybe it knew about the telly.

I’m going out today, i may not be on the blogs - this does not mean i am having a baby! ;~)

We have come up with a new girls name. This is SO not a girl - we have NEVER had one boys name and three girls names.

Slim educational pickings

its all a bit thin on the ground here. Luckily the children are happy to play, do CD roms, watch dvds (well up until the tv died and went on to permanent standby :~( ) and so on. Uncle Rich was fab to have around but has gone home now to enjoy his birthday in peace. The girls demanded i print out a Jump Ahead “workbook” today and did some of that, we had a walk in the park and made willow crowns. Blah blah, xyz.

Me, i’m hanging in there, but only just. Forcing myself to keep a grip really, not because i want it over but because i am terrified of the consequences of my decisions. Its very hard to be calm and relaxed, i am trying. I don’t want to remember this pregnancy as a “stressful end” because its been a lovely one. I’m even quite resigned/expecting/quite looking forward to a boy now - i’m convinced it is.

Tomorrow is 41 weeks - i started with Fran, with a sweep, on that day - but this babe is happy. Its all very weird - uncharted territory, i just didn’t expect THAT with a 4th pregnancy.

I told Alison about this site on monday; Rich plays it all the time and i have a feeling i saw someone recommend it somewhere (maybe it was Alison!) but i can’t see where now.

Anyway, i’ve been playing this
Countdown and also City Clicker and also County Count Up

No such luck!

Woke up this morning and had a COMPLETE temper tantrum about not being in labour (5 days over is Amelie day) and immediately decided it wasn’t moving, i’m making a terrible mistake, i should just be sensible and go and have a section etc etc etc.

At which point Max, in a moment of impressive insight, decided the dribbling wreck in the place of his wife needed some serious reassurance, and took me to the Maternity Unit.

I have been scanned, monitored, examined, tested, felt (kept waiting) and as many other things as they could think of and the net result is…

The baby is in phenomenally good health and so am i, it’s slightly bigger than average, its cord is nicely curled up on its tummy, it’s 3/5ths engaged and completely immovable, is in a bareish minimum of fluid but okay, i’m not remotely dilated and according to a bizarre swab thing i have never heard of i have a 2-3% chance of going into labour inside the NEXT WEEK!!!!! So basically i am probably going to manage to have a baby in a completely different month to its due date!

Seeing the cord flashing away clearly on its tummy and nowhere near its head was a massive relief and the completely ridiculous overdueness that seems likely has just got to the point of being faintly funny. But for my own peace of mind i am going back for more monitoring on friday and seeing my own consultant on monday. Today’s one couldn’t come up with a single reason for me having anything done to me but thought, and i agree, that a semi close eye would help us all come to some sort of conclusion slowly rather than anything snap-decision-ish.

So you can all stand down, nothing short of fireworks is getting this baby out apparently!

Excellent - that should keep me and most people i know alert and well into our 90’s then!

BBC NEWS | Health | Cup of tea may help boost memory

Flying Porticos!!!

Exactly what we needed is what happened today! The Porticos made a last minute visit to see us and it was lovely. Granted it got much noisier (but that seemed to be mostly my children!) but everyone feels really refreshed and that was severely in order!

Amelie has disgraced herself several times today - snapped a DVD in half, drew all over my new canvas covered shelves and my bed sheet in Biro, drew on a wall and wee’ed on the floor. Even Alison, her greatest champion, seems to be coming to the conclusion she is possibly the cheekiest and most devilment-filled child on the planet! Hmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve thought it for a while myself!