This and That

At my brother Dave's behest to stop the slogging, I am writing this post although I should really probably go back upstairs and laydown while both boys are sleeping... nevermind Joseph just woke up.

Right now both the boys have colds, which they have had for a couple weeks, but now seem to be getting worse and Joseph woke up with pink eye this morning.  Ugh!  I've been trying to nip it in the bud with drops of breastmilk and hot compresses.  I really don't want to have to get the antibiotic drops if I don't have to in order to avoid antibiotics in general and the $50 co-pay that I remember we had to pay last year when Michael and Simon got pink eye.

Surprisingly enough, I have not succumb to the cold.  But this has been one of the worst allergy seasons for me that I can remember and I have been suffering from increased congestion in general, which is a common symptom of pregnancy.

I usually make the boys juice concoctions or smoothies to drink almost daily, but today I really threw in a lot of extra stuff in the smoothie (Dave might call it "smoothie stew"), but it still tastes good, I promise!  I even drank it myself.  (ingredients included banana, mango, orange juice, kefir grains, beet kvass, ecchinacea tea, fermented cod liver oil, greens: pak choi and beet, mandarin oranges...) As long as I tell them I made a "Starbucks smoothie" they are usually jumping for joy and guzzle them down (well Simon always does, at any rate).  If only I could find a way for Rachel to make her smoothies green, the difference would be negligible.

Pregnancy wise, I am doing good, feeling good.  I am a slightly awkward stage clothing wise where my own clothes are getting too small, but a lot of maternity clothes are still too big.  I have a few things that fit, but I have to keep wearing them over and over.

I haven't started doing any packing for St. John, but I have been working around the house to make preparations for upcoming house guests during the weekend of Daniel's wedding. 

Simon, at the ripe old age of 22 months, has ceased calling me the endearing "Mama" and has simply shortened it to "Mom."  He's also switched from his affirmative "yeah" to "yup" which he says in all ranges of tone and affect from a simple response to a long drawn out tired/sad/whiny "yuuuuP" which usually makes me and Michael smile.

Simon also has a way of making a grand entrance by running, running, running, then JUMP! as he plants his feet on the floor at his destination.

Joseph is enjoying school and frequently asks if he can go over to so-and-so's house (the particlular so-and-so varies from day to day).  This is really a guised request to play with other people's toys.  He is getting more and more interested in letters and "reading."  He especially likes to find a "J for Joseph" wherever he is looking.  There are a couple books he likes to "read" to Simon, such as "Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?" and if it's not that specific book, he often makes up a text that is strikingly similar to the "Brown Bear" format.  The kids in his class also bring in environmental text to display on their wall under each letter of the alphabet.  Environmental text are words that they can "read" because they recognize the shape, color, font and context of the letters.  For example, Joseph can "read" "Costco,"  "Trader Joes,"  "Bojangles," and "Lowes" when presented in their trademark form.  He also recently demonstrated that he has learned the whole Guardian Angel prayer and can say it all by himself.  He can more or less say the Hail Mary, Our Father and Blessing before Meals along with us, although we haven't taught those to him as directly as we did the Guardian Angel prayer.  Hopefully all of this bodes well for learning phonics and how to read and write next year when I start homeschooling him for kindergarten.  I am excited and nervous about the venture of homeschooling and I'm trying to research a phonics program that I like as well as considering different homeschooling methods and trying to figure out a good place to start with it all. 

I'm looking forward to seeing people next week and three weeks from now!