Homeschooling....

Now let me just tell you growing up I was SO against homeschooling.  I have no idea why...maybe it was the pasty white kids who shielded their eyes as they walked out into the sun every couple weeks when done with homeschooling.  Or the fact that none of them talked and they all walked in line behind their moms like soldiers.  You know....THOSE kids when we were all walking home from school with all our friends in colored clothing and laughing at Tommy blowing milk out his nose in the lunch room...yeah high school was awesome....lol.  So anyways that obviously never happened anywhere but the horror movies where the kids ended up actually being dead or something weird like that...well the milk thing happened....couple times....stupid jocks....lol.  ANYWAYS I have no clue why I was against it.  Being uneducated about how it really was probably had a massive factor in all of it.  So we started our lovely little kiddos in public school because of course...they rock and have normal people and that is what everybody does....right?

Oy....let me say that first of all schools are nothing like when we went and we went at some pretty sad and dark times.  Columbine happened a couple blocks away from our high school.  We were the high school they played in sports and such down the street.  So we went through our scary moments.  I do not blame the schools or teachers whatsoever on this so please do not take this the wrong way and it ALL is only my opinion BUT I feel it was 99% the parents fault....I know I know...blame the mom.  I just feel like parents used to hold their kids responsible and now they blame it on everybody else but the kid and dang it those kids need their butts whipped once in a while!  Geeeeeeez!  Crazy how much parents allow their kids to do and if I hear one more parent say "Well he is like that because he has ADD"......AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!  Now do not get me wrong.  I do feel that is a condition however I feel it is VERY over diagnosed and sometimes the kid just needs a parent to step up and take on the parenting role and NOT ALLOW THEM TO ACT LIKE THAT!!!  I get you all think my kids are angels and that I have no idea since I live with such well behaved children....a little hint....I DID NOT ALLOW THEM TO ACT LIKE THAT!!  My kid threw themselves on the ground and oh yeah...mama got the spoon!  NO WAY my kid is pulling that crap!  Although they still try and I will never be the mom that says "my kid will never..." since as soon as I say it they are doing it.  I just find certain behavior unexceptionable and my children do get spanked for it.  Do I beat them...no.  I would like to sometimes but I do not.  They get a spank on the butt and that is it.  I must say if you are sitting there thinking "yeah but she does not have any strong willed children (yes out of 4 kids I never had one strong willed.....BAILEY....child at all)" however keep in mind that I do I just controlled it before it got out of hand.  If it ain't cute at 12 it ain't cute at 2.  OMG sorry....back to homeschooling....lol.

So a couple reasons we decided to homeschool.  First of all we prayed long and hard about this.  We waited until God said it was time and that was when we pulled the kids out of public school.  Taylor was coming home and talking about how mean kids were and was telling me what they were doing.  They were not making fun of her but of other kids and she did not like it.  That is when she started coming home a little sad each day because of this and if you know her you know it takes a lot to bring her down...she has an amazingly happy spirit.  Another reason was I wanted to be involved with their education!  I could volunteer in the kids classes but I was not allowed to bring other kids.  Wa wa wa...yep....can't do that.  Then I noticed Brecken was not learning what he needed to.  Those were our BIG reasons.  Some smaller ones were Brecken has 5 therapies a week and I am getting worn out from doing all his therapies and school so I can imagine how he is!  We decided it would be best to pull him and keep him in his more intense therapies then in the school therapies.  It was just too much.  Plus he would cry when we tried to take him to school which is weird for him too.  He is a very happy kid and loves to play.  Then being a military family and having Doug in and out of deployments and such, I just figured it would be nice to be able to pick up and go back to Colorado for a couple days if I wanted to and not be worried about the truancy officers showing up at my house.  California is crazy on their school attendance laws.  Then I started hearing about teachers strikes and kids were suffering for it and then the whole morning after pill will be offered to high school girls (they are starting this in NY)....I was done.  Too much for a kid to worry about that they should not even be thinking about!  SO all in all we decided this was best for out kids at this time in our lives.

Now let me just say I have MANY friends who are teachers and they are good!  I would love my kids to be under them and I do not think that teachers get paid enough whatsoever but when you are a military family and you are seeing soldiers on food stamps and getting any other help they can because they are not getting paid enough and instead of going on strike they volunteer for a deployment and leave their kids and spouse behind in hopes they will see them again to make a little extra money...then you tend to frown upon people going on strike....especially when you are letting kids pay for it and then we have the awesome referee strike which cost a couple football teams some wins...that is a WHOLE other blog...just all bad.

So back to homeschool....lol...wow I am on a ROLL today!!  Taylor has been doing great so far!  She loves it and I love working with her.  Brecken is already doing better then he was!  It is working out so far and we shall see where this takes us.  Please do not take anything in here offensive.  It is all my opinions and I have slept no more then 2 hours straight since September 1st so I get to rant once in a while.

Now we are in day 2 and I must say as crazy as the kids are making me it is going well!  I am actually enjoying it and Taylor seems to like it also and as weird as it is I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. 

Mothering ALL my kids!

So I just saw a post from a mom whom I started following who has a special needs son.  Same thing as Brecken and about the same severity.  Her son is 9 now so I really like reading what she is going through as a mom and how he is doing being that Brecken seems to be on the same track.  While I agree with some stuff she says there are certain things I do disagree with.  Today she had written an article about how mothering is the most important thing for a special needs child.  Yep...I agree....however the article was so focused on her special needs son there was no mention of her daughter.  I often do this too when I get on a role about how hard it is to mother a special needs kiddo.  I love my son so much and I hope he knows how much I adore him and yes taking him to all his doctors, therapies and such is a lot.  I never imagined I would be doing this once I had a family of my own.  My life literally revolves around Brecken more then any of my other kids because of his needs.  I often catch myself hearing other moms talk about how hard their day is with all they have to do and think "try throwing a couple therapies on top of that" or "yeah in the middle of helping one kid with homework I am rushing my son into a warm bath because he is having painful spasms in his legs".  I try not to do this because I understand how hard being a mom is period.

As of now yes my boys take more of my time but my girls are definitely taking more of my mental sanity.  Haha.   So personally I think mothering is the most important job no matter what.  For all 4 of my kids.  I try and get to where they all have something in their lives.  Taylor is in gymnastics so that she has something that is for her and no one else.  We try and take her out on dates so she does not have to be surrounded with "Brecken" on everything.  She enjoys his therapies and helping me with him but we have had her comment on "why does Brecken have to have Cerebral Palsy".  She never says it in a mean way or anything like that but she sees other families and knows that they do not have to do a lot of the stuff we have to.

I KNOW God gave me her as my first child for a reason.  She is an amazing big sister and a huge help to me.  Especially since we live the military life and my husband will be gone for days to months to years at a time.  I know she does the same exact thing I do too though.  She looks at other family's and wonders how it would be if we could be more "normal".  Although being 6 she does not realize that all family's have their challenges. 

Bailey on the other hand is my kiddo who knows something is up with Brecken but she is not quite sure what it is.  She pushes him around and tells him to keep up which is awesome because it does push him.  I have a feeling she is going to be the one who pushes him the hardest and be in his face when he gets older telling him to get up and try harder when he wants to quit.  She is a crazy stubborn girl who loves her big brother and will want to see him do his best no matter what.

Jayce already pushes Brecken.  Brecken sees him and gets that he is his big brother and I see him wanting to be the best big brother he can for him which in turn makes Brecken push harder.

So all in all YES parenting a special needs child is important however not forgetting that there are other ones looking to you to be the mom you need to be is just as important.  Making time for my other son and my girls is just as important to me as being the strong mama Breck needs.

I love my kids and yes they ALL drive me nuts sometimes but they are ALL worth it every single day!  Every night when I go to bed I always think my worst days with my kids is 1,000 times better then the best days I had without them.  Being a mom is hard and no joke but it is a job only the amazing and strong can handle and I say if you still have the same number of kids at the end of the day that you started the day with...you are super mom!! 

Never Say Never

I read this on my friends blog and actually remember her saying some of her "I will nevers" and I am SO sure people remember me saying mine so I figure this was a good list because it is very true.  So here are some things I have said I would never do as a mom and now I realize I never ever say that I will never because I end up doing it.  I also will never be that mom who says "My child would never..." because as soon as I say that they are doing it....lol.  A lot of these are the same as my friends so here is my list.

1.  I will never let my house go more then a week without being cleaned....HAHA!
2.  I will never have the TV be a babysitter for my kids.  Yeah that one did not last at all...lol.
3.  I will never bribe them to be good since they should always just be good and listen (yeah ask my kids what they got for our last grocery trip).
4.  I will never yell at my kids or say things my mom used to say....HA!
5.  I will never say "because I said so"
6.  I will never give my kids junk food in the mornings (again ask my kids what they got for our last grocery trip...lol)
7.  I will never pretend like I did not see something they are not supposed to do just to get out of disciplining them....oy.


Here are a couple things I think I have held strong too which I know a lot of moms have since I am surrounded my awesome mamas.

1.  I will not allow my kids to not hear me tell them I love them often.
2.  I will not go very long without hugging them.
3.  I will not allow them to think I do not mess up...often...I am trying my best and there are days....there are days I just think "wow how on EARTH are they turning out so good with me as their mom".
4.  I will NEVER EVER forget to thank God for them and for allowing me to be their mom.

Jayce Christian Levy

 Jayce Christian Levy was born Saturday September 1st 2012 at 04:07.  He is 5 pounds and 14 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long.  So I went into labor and delivery with pain in my c-section scar and they wanted to keep me overnight.  So they doped me up with Vicodin and Ambien and as soon as I started to get all loopy they decided they wanted to go ahead and pull little man out.  So I do not remember a lot of what happened.  Doug said I was pretty out of it and I kept falling asleep during the delivery.  I remember hearing him cry and then they took him to NICU.  As soon as I got out of recovery I heard the news when my little man was not in my room.

 Jayce has Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn (TTN).  He has fluid in his lungs.  This is actually a pretty common thing for kids who are born via c-section.  They just do not get that squeeze to get all the fluid out that a vaginal birth canal provides.  So as of right now they have him in an incubator with a mask strapped over his nose and a tube down his throat.  He is hooked up to monitors and has an IV.  At first I was really upset about this (who would not be seeing their kid hooked up to all of this stuff) but he is getting better and it is all working.  I have not been able to nurse and I still have not gotten to hold him.  I really want to hold my baby boy!  So for now he is still in NICU and I am in my room by my lonesome.  God is good and we have had some amazing people come to our side!  Gary and Charlene Lewis and their girls have pulled together to watch our kids while we are in the hospital.  We have had girls calling to get meals sent to us once we get home.  We have massive amounts of prayers coming our way!  I am confident Jayce is going to heal completely and quickly from this!  Doug has the next month off while we get through this and his work has been amazing on letting him do what he has to do.  Anyways I am a proud mama and excited he has joined us!!  So early too!  His due date was the 25th of September and the c-section was for the 18th but then they moved him up to the 6th and he still did not think that was soon enough so decided the 1st worked best for him.  I am just thankful he waited until September so I got my September baby!!

 Brecken and Taylor have seen him and Taylor was excited to be able to touch him.  Brecken did not want to touch him but he did not want to leave his side either.  I think he was afraid he may hurt him.  I just cannot wait to get my son home and have all the kids together:)  Soon.....soon!

34 weeks, First Day of School and the Beach:)

 So here is my 34 week picture.  Bailey is not happy at all.  Lol.  I am actually 35 weeks now but falling behind on getting pictures up.  Sorry. I know you all want to see me in my fantasticness.  Anyways Jayce is huge and I am done.  I want him out.  Lol.  I am sore and tired and just done.

 This last week was Taylors first week of 1st grade!!  She likes it so far and her teacher seems nice!  We thought it was Breckens first day too but apparently that is today.  All the parents showed up for his class so they apparently did not inform us all that we all still had another week of summer.  So today will be his first day of school:)

 This weekend we went to the beach. One of the benefits of living by the water is it takes us 2 minutes to get to the beach.  Bailey chased birds the entire time.  I sat and looked like a beached whale.  All in a days work:)

So we have 4 more weeks until this son makes his appearance.  Things are getting busy again because of school and such.  I am done with my summer semester and did really well actually!  I am thinking I am going to take the fall off but we shall see.  3 more weeks until Doug has a month off and 4 more weeks until my mom is out here to help.  I am ready!!!  Bring on kiddo #4!!

Ladies, Birthdays and a LARGE Belly!!

So the other night I went out on a ladies night with 2 of my favorite girls!!  Charlene and Channa are awesome and they are crazy like us and have a ton of kids so we fit well together:)  We had a lot of fun being away from kiddos for a meal although I got sick that night in the back of Charlenes van...lol.  ALL Jayces fault!!

 Then my hubby turned 29 on the 3rd of August!  We are poor so I found what we had in the kitchen to make a cake for him from scratch.  It was not too bad for my first one.  All I had were pink sprinkles.  Now we are back to the same age:)  Our last year of being in our 20s!!  It is crazy to think we have been together since we were 16.  Seems like so long ago yet like it was yesterday too....well yesterday as in 4 kids and 3 deployments ago...wow:)

 33 weeks!!  I am getting LARGE!!  I feel like a hippo but Jayce is getting so big he is not able to kick me like he used to which is kind of nice.  He flips which can sometimes drop me.  I am thinking he may be bigger then all the other kids.  We shall see:)

 Bailey bug turned 2 on the 9th!!  I cannot believe my baby girl is 2 already!!!  She is all over the place and I LOVE this age so we are having a blast with her!  She is definitely holding her own as the youngest...for now...the other day Brecken took a toy from her and she ran at him at pushed him down...laid him out.  It was not funny at all (I WAS ROLLING!!!!).  ;)  We went in for her 2 year appointment and she is small for her age.  20th percentile but the doctor was very okay with that since she is growing and said she will just be petite:) 

Bailey bug
     You are such an amazing little girl:)  You make me so happy and I love you so much!  Watching you and your brother and sister just fills my heart with joy.  Although I have to tell you that you are the one kiddo out of the rest that is really taking after the Jones name:) and this scares me a little...lol.  You are stubborn and bull headed already at 2 BUT if you are anything like me and your Nana and great grandma this means you are strong and determined...plus if you take after me you will be hilarious;).  I know you are going to be an amazing young women and cannot wait to watch you grow.  Although please take your time...I am loving every minute I have with you and feel like it is all moving so fast.  You are all growing up way too fast:)  I love you Bay and hope you know how much daddy, Tay, Breck and I adore you:)  I know Jayce is going to adore his big sister too.

Mommy

32 weeks, Olympics and Couponing!!

 Yep I am 32 weeks now.  I have my check up today so we shall see how little dude is growing.  He is all over the place.  He moves so much more then the other 3 ever did.  Crazy child he is.  I am feeling large and clumsy.  We are all ready for him though.  I got his car seat this weekend and other odds and ends and I think we are all good!  My mom got her ticket to come out and stay with the kids.  I just have to pack in the next couple weeks and we are all good to go!

 Taylor had Summer Jam last week at our church.  They went from 9-3 everyday and she loved it!  They had water slides and bouncy castles.  She is just getting too big:)  She has 2 more weeks before she starts 1st grade:)

 The Summer Olympics have started!  YAYAYAY!!  I am excited SOMETHING is going on.  We have cable but we never watch it but we keep it for the sports.  Mainly football.  The girls stayed up to watch the Opening Ceremonies.  The kids run in every morning and want it on.  Taylor likes all of it but Brecken really likes the fencing.  Lol.  Anyways it has been fun to watch with the kids this year!!

I also got back into couponing since we are trying to save money.  Here I went to Rite Aid to get back into the swing of things there and I got all this stuff for $3.72.  I was pretty excited.  The toothpaste and mouthwash were free altogether.  I am really excited about all the changes we have made around the house.  Cloth diapering is going very well.  Coupons are awesome!  Making our own laundry soap and softener is great!!  They smell so good!!  Baking and making most of our stuff like bread and such is actually a lot of fun because I am teaching the kids at the same time.  It has all been so worth it lately!!  Well off to get my day started!!