A Week, Briefly (It's all about feeding the baby)

Another non-academic week that was rich in life skills and family time . . .

This week was dominated by our efforts to get Baby L to grow.  I called a breastfeeding support group (only to have my call go unreturned for over 48 hours).  I also made an appointment to have his tongue tie reassessed for clipping.  After a weight check proved that he was still losing weight,  the dr's office took us seriously, and by Tuesday afternoon we were at an ENT's office having the procedure done.  It was far more traumatic than I expected (and I'd done my homework!), so recovery has been difficult. 

Even with his tongue being freed, he's struggling to nurse effectively.  Nursing sessions take hours, and I have to pay attention to helping him get properly latched and staying that way.   I will be attending a breastfeeding support group in the coming week to do weight checks and see if there's some knowledge that I don't already have about nursing babies--there must be something!  If he's still losing, then it's time to look at some supplementation options.

So . . . my plans to jump back into school after a couple of weeks of recovery have been utterly derailed.

While Mom is forever busy with keeping Baby L fed, Dad keeps the family happy.

M13 is often behind the camera, so we intentionally took this picture of her with Baby L to prove that she really does hold him . . . and she probably holds him more than any other sibling!

There was lots of down time this week while Mom and Dad were busy with Baby L and keeping up with errands/chores/paperwork.

H5 has been missing our normal routines and her normal amounts of attention from Mommy.  Fortunately M13 was willing to let H5 be her dinner-making buddy.

After M13 took her picture, H5 took M13's.

Then it was A7's turn with the camera--capturing the two sisters working together.

And a silly I3.

And she got Baby L in a thoughtful moment, too.

We had a snow storm on Wednesday that made us want to stay quietly at home, but we had places to go and people to see, so away we went. 

First there was Explorer's Club.  I'd planned to just send the kids with Dad, but the group leaders decided we needed to do a planning session for the coming year to help us find a focus (the group leaders just changed this year).  The older kids helped the younger kids do some crafts while the parents talked.  I'm disappointed to learn that the changes are going to lead the club in a direction that is not going to work for our family, so unless I have a major change of heart, this is our last semester of Explorer's Club.

We stopped at a thrift store to get soccer gear for the older girls.

Then there were church activities that night.  Had it not been for Dad being home, we'd have missed out on all of the day's activities.  The kids are happy that Dad is a willing chauffeur.

It snowed a couple of days this week.  Not really very much snow, but enough for the kids to get out and have some fun.

M13 caught a few cardinals at our feeder.

When there aren't enough sleds to go around, the kids get creative.

Good enough to eat!

Such a cute J11.

M13 took this beautiful shot of S12

This picture of I3 is too gorgeous for words.

H5 has a sweet, gappy smile.

M13--lovely selfie

More creative sledding options.  (The kids say she never made it down the hill--instead she opted to play with the red baby sled instead.)

E14 took the cat for a ride . . .

She wasn't a very happy cat at all.

I needed a shower, and no one was available to hold our little guy--too weird--there's always someone around!  I just tucked him in a basket and took him into the bathroom with me.   When the kids got home and saw him, they were delighted.

I3's favorite book these days is "Blue Hat, Green Hat" by Sandra Boynton.  He's learning some spelling from it. :)

Baby L is struggling to grow--he's starting to be all eyes like a baby bird.  (But he has more hair than shows in this picture!)

Everyone is tired these days.

On Saturday the girls had a dance performance at a local city carnival.  They did two mini-shows that went over really well.  Dad took them and was one of the photographers for the day.  I stayed home with the two little boys.

But even before the shows, the older girls had their first soccer practice!  It was an early morning, and a long day for the whole family.

Here are the older two groups performing "Raise a Ruckus."

The littlest ones performed "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

After the show, the director gave the kids some free carnival tickets.  They had a blast hanging out with friends, eating junk food, and playing games.

Though I3 was stuck at home, his sisters didn't forget him--every one of them brought him home a prize from the carnival.

Baby L got his first real bath on Saturday night.  It's pretty clear how he felt about it.

In addition, we had a couple of long conversations about our adoption plans.  We're at a tough cross-roads right now, with strong feelings from all family members to deal with.  I talked candidly with an adoption worker.   We're having to call on our deepest reservoirs of faith in order to make decisions.

The week ahead will need to include some serious self-assessment about what we reasonably can/can't accomplish in our homeschool in the next month or so . . .