Wow, it's been such a long time since I've seen this board. It looks like there have been lots of changes. I could barely find the place! Glad it's still here though.
We'll let's see....where to begin.....
I'm an apprenticing midwife now. I'm in my 2nd year of schooling and work with two awesome preceptors. I've attended countless prenatal appointments as well as postpartum and well baby checks. I've been to one homebirth but with the amount of moms that are due right now, there's promise for a lot more. I think we have 35 moms due between now and Christmas! We also work with the Amish. What a great group of people they are! On Monday, after our last prenatal appt, the mom says, "We have so much corn and potatoes to can, why don't you take a few home and save us some work." She gave me BAGS of stuff...enough for 10 dinners....lol I'm so proud to be working within the homebirth community. I'm on call right now for 3 moms who are due within the next 2 weeks. Busy busy!!
This will be our second year of homeschooling. We love the freedom of being able to go on vacation whenever you want, not having a set schedule, not having to send my kids away for the entire day only to do more homework when they get home. I also love the fact that I don't get phone calls home telling me that my kid has to miss a recess because he spoke without raising his hand.
It's like dropping this sac of bricks you've been carrying around and walking away. The kids are learning so much more and actually retaining it! We don't use a curriculum but there is a "teacher's store" right down the street from us and I get all my material from them. The kids will do grade appropriate math work books and reading comprehension stuff. We study geography, social studies and history in one big clump. For science, we take field trips to the science museum after a lesson to tie it all together. It really works out great.
Clay and I are about to celebrate our 8th anniversary! We had a rough first 5 years (having 3 babies in 2 1/2 years can really stress a marraige!) but we are really getting along so much better and we are much happier now. It was definitely a struggle but I think it's made us stronger in the end. He is very supportive of my midwifery and homeschooling! That really is key because I spend a lot of time with those two things.
So, Dakota is now 8, Patrick is 7 and Sydney is 5.5 turing 6 in January. I can't believe how much they've grown (physically as well as maturity) in the past year. Dakota is wearing a size 10-12 shirt and 10 pants. He's about 4'9 and 55 lbs. Patrick is in 8s, is about 4'3 and weighs 50 lbs. Sydney is so tall. She's 4' even and weighs about 47 lbs and wears a size 6 in pants and a size 7-8 in shirts.
Here's sort of a recent picture:
The kid in yellow is a neighbor kid.
Anyway, that's what is going on with us! Always busy but enjoying life very much. Fall is my favorite time of the year and the weather has just been perfect for jeans and sweatshirts. We'll take a couple more trips to the zoo before winter and definitely hit the cider mill soon!
I hope you're all doing well! If you ever get over here and read this, please let me know how you are doing too!
Lots of love from Michigan!
~Jen
UPDATE on me. :)
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