Friday, November 27, 2009

Quick 7!!


--1--

30 weeks.

I am really starting to feel the weight of this baby now. I am finding it hard to stand for long periods of time and get anything done. Today I took the washing off the line. It took me 10 minutes and I felt exhausted after. Teenage children will now be doing the bulk of this job now.

The week has also dragged a bit. I am expecting that the end of this pregnancy will take a long time to come now. I have plenty of plans though to get me through.


--2--
Curriculum for 2010.

I have been working on Tom, Amelia and Christopher's curriculum for next year.

I was going to get the Faith and Life series for their Catechism lessons but I am a bit drawn to the Image of God series too.

So I thought, I would just ask. Those of you that have used these resources. Which do you think is the better series for teaching the catechism?

--3--
New pram:

This is the pram I am probably going to get for our new baby:

It is a Valco Navigator. Price is good and most of the reviews I have read about it are good too.

--4--
Baby Hammock.

Since Madeline was a baby, we have used a baby hammock for the baby to sleep in for the first 6 months. We actually used it for longer with Madeline but that was a big disaster in trying to move her from the hammock to the cot so the rest of our children have been moved into the hammock by 6 months

Here is a picture of a baby hammock. As soon as we get ours set up and my camera back, I will take a photo of it. When baby arrives, I will take a photo of him in it too. I highly recommend the baby hammock. We have co slept with babies at night but during the day, these are a really good alternative to a cot.




--5--
School holidays.

We are winding up our home school program for the year. We have two weeks left and I am going to be doing Religion, Maths, spelling and literacy each day but most of the day we will be preparing for Christmas.

I am going to make decorations with Tom and Amelia for the family room and Christmas tree. We will also do some hand made Christmas gifts for the other children.

--6--
Curtains.

I finished the curtains for the boys room but I had a blonde moment and made them too long. Steve said, thats okay, just cut them off. Better to be longer than shorter. I did cut them off and had another blonde moment and made them too short. I was pretty upset when I realized. I am going to get some new fabric for the curtains and possibly cut up the curtain fabric to make the boys quilts.

--7--
Christmas Traditions.

One of our christmas traditions for the last couple of years has been for our children to have a kris kringle. They pick a name out of a hat and buy a gift for one of their siblings. The really like doing this each year. In the past, we have waited till just a week before Christmas since they all find it hard to keep their person a secret. I am thinking about trialing an earlier picking of names. We will see how it goes.



Link Jen isn't doing a quick 7 this week but you can still pop over and read some other interesting posts. She has some of the most interesting reading in the Catholic blogsphere.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Therese,
The baby hammock looks absolutely amazing. I haven't seen them before, but obviously they have been around for a while. Boy, we live a sheltered life in our part of the country!

I'm looking forward to "meeting" your new little man.

Have a great weekend and take things easy,
Blessings,
Jillian

A Bit of the Blarney said...

OOOO! I really like the baby hammock! Wishing you comfort now. Cathy

Dawn said...

Therese, we are also having the kids pick their names out of a hat. They did that yesterday. They are very excited about it. I hope they can keep it a secret till Christmas! Blessings!

Nancy said...

Therese...although I don't homeschool (I wish I did), the parish school that my kids attend uses the Faith and Life series. I think the series does an adequate job of covering the necessary material....however, I wish they went just a little bit deeper. I know that you can't expect a lot out of a kindergartner or a 3rd grader, but, I still do a lot of supplementing at home. We celebrate the liturgical year and lives of the saints as well as whatever the Faith and Life book does.
I'm not sure this helps you, but I justed wanted to throw it out there that it is pretty basic!

Laura O in AK said...

I'm still having the boys do a lot 1 month after J's birth. At least I can now make it up the 2 flights of stairs without completely losing my breath!

Tracy said...

wow, I've never seen a baby hammock, it looks fantastic, I wish I would have had something like that for my kids, I bet they would have loved it!

Cindy said...

The pram looks similar to the one we had. I loved it. The hammock looks great. I just I could have more babies to try it out! Take care.
cindy

Tracy said...

I love the look of that hammock. I've used the same bassinet with the first 6. But I'm thinking of getting a hamock this time. Michael was a terrible sleeper so I'm hoping to avoid another poor sleeper and though a hammock may be more effective at settling? What do you think?
As for prams.. I have an Emmuljunga, so will use that again. I also have a smaller layback stroller that fits in the car, so no need to get a new one this time. I also use a sling more than a pram. I found I often end up pushing an empty pram and carrying the baby anyway!
Do you have a sling at all? They are very easy to make for yourself. I'll send you some links if it interests you. We've had one since Fern was born. Michael being such a difficult bub lived in his. Made it much easier to get things done in the day. I even managed to carry him behind me and get some sewing done!

Therese said...

I really love the hammock.

Sam, (our second child) was born at 36 weeks and in the nursery, they had him in the hammock a lot. I hadn't seen one before this either but I knew that he slept really well in the hammock.

He was a terrible sleeper as a baby (still is) and I wished we had a hammock.

When I was pregnant with Madeline, a lot of people gave me money instead of gifts for her, being our third so I decided to get the hammock for her.

Tracy, I have a pattern for a sling that I bought for Christopher. I didn't get around to making it for him but I had a couple that a friend lent me. I will be making the sling for this one definitely. I have a lot of plans for sewing after Christmas. I want to have activities that I am sitting down doing while waiting for baby to come.

Kelly Casanova said...

Well done Therese, you're doing so well! Regarding catechism resources I've used Faith & Life, which was ok for a while. Now I use an old catechism from the 1960's that was written for schools, I find it great. I also use sheets from Calvary children's ministries - not Catholic but very good for bible study.
I really empathise with your tiredness and heaviness, having just been through it myself. I hope you get time to put your feet up each day and can rely on others around you to take the bulk of the work.
God bless

Kelly

Alexandra said...

Don't you love looking at all the new fangled baby items?! They get more clever as time passes. Nice pram and swing.

I was wondering about both those curricula as well. I couldn't make up my mind so we went with the Baltimore Catechism and Faith & Freedom readers for Catholic reading. The readers back up and reinforce our catechism with interesting vintage stories of saints and Catholicism.

Gramma 2 Many said...

Certainly cannot help you with the catechism, but love the looks of that hammock. Wish there had been something like that when I was a young mother!!
Hoping you are feeling well. Take it easy and do let the older kids help a little more.

Anonymous said...

This is all GOOD STUFF! ~smile~ LOVE that stroller, and I know a couple of mamas online who use the baby hammock. I see you don't have all that long to go~I expect it will go FASTER than yer thinkin'! I'm personally feeling sooo behind on school that I'm not sure we'll be taking our usual holiday time off. We'll probably just incorporate a few activities in alongside regular school~NO FUN! LOL! (((((HUGS))))) sandi

Please pray for a cure for Type One Diabetes

Please pray for a cure for Type One Diabetes
Our sons Tom and Christopher and our daughter Amelia are type one diabetics. We pray everyday for a cure. We do not want one by illicit means though so don't support any organisation that contributes to Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Click on the photo of Tom and Christopher to read about why I am against using Embryonic Stem cells for a cure.

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