No, the title is not a mistake. I am boiling, not burning my bras in an effort to kill the yeast that might be lurking in them. Probably TMI for some of my readers...sorry.

I have dealt with thrush since Ace was 6weeks old. Yes, for almost 22months. So, after 4days of being purple from using gentian violet and decreasing my refind sugar to almost nil (yes I ate some strawberry cheese cake icecream) I think we are thrush free!!!! She doesn't have any in her mouth and I am no longer in pain so I think that indicates that it is gone.

Ok and now on to some baby pictures. After I downloaded these I realized that we don't have as many of just Z as I thought. So we will take some pictures today and post tomorrow in honor of her being a month old!!

Telling stories to mom and dad

Lovin' on Uncle Josh and Nana

All the girls and Nana

My friend Erin asked me if I would share about unschooling and how we were inspired to take this journey. With all the kids currently asleep I am going to attempt to share with you all a bit.

We started out homeschooling in a structured way. We started the year our oldest would have gone to Kindergarten. We didn’t have much money but I worked to find curriculum that would fit our budget. That year I caused more tears to flow from the two of us than the Hoover dam sees water. So I backed off a bit…ok a lot and began to search for something better.

During that time I met an unschooling mom online and then made a friend with an unschooling mom in real life. Between these two women I really began to journey ever faster toward unschooling. We were much more relaxed but we weren’t there yet. Even in the relaxed atmosphere I still felt something was missing.

So I read. Better Late than Early by Raymond and Dorothy Moore, The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn, anything by John Holt I could get a hold of as well as John Taylor Gatto and I read online articles written my unschooling parents.  And I prayed. I prayed and asked God what I was supposed to do. What I was doing wasn’t working. I felt that I was supposed to back off even more and trust that the child that He created was equipped with passions that were uniquely hers and that she was equipped to discover them and to pursue them. I was to be a facilitator.

So life was full of library trips and late night reads. Games, games and more games, play dates, conversations, observations and just plain living. Living and learning were not separate things; they were intertwined. One cannot exist without the other.

We have been total unschoolers for almost 7 years now. It has been a fun and interesting journey. I have had panic moments when I felt that they weren’t where they were supposed to be. I have to pull myself back and remind myself that they are neither behind nor ahead they are just where they need to be. I have had to deschool myself.  We don’t apply grades although my oldest likes to say what grade she is in. I don’t test them; there are no set hours of learning during the day. I have kids that stay up late and sleep in late. They become inspired at 9pm and their learning energy flows until the wee hours of the morning.  I make suggestions, I bring home books from the library based on what they have shared with me in conversation, we talk, and I ask questions about what they share with me. Nothing is ever forced.

Our days are varied. No two look the same. We live and we learn and we go where life takes us. The best part is that I get to learn along with my kids.

Feel free to ask anymore questions you might have. I will answer them as time and children allow!

I am a morning person, have always been that way. Staying up late was always hard for me. I was usually the first one asleep at sleepovers and the first one up. So it makes perfect sense that I have given birth to at least 3 night owls who seem to get into a learning mode at about 10pm until the wee hours of the morning.

Right now the Aly is up doing an African dance workout video. Emily (3yo) is trying to workout too which is causing some distress for Aly. SiSi and I have been searching for letterboxes in our area that we can search for this weekend.

Earlier Aly was reviewing the geneology information her great grandmother gave to her. She plans to do searches on the surnames in the family tree. SiSi decided she wanted to sew something so I set her up on the sewing machine and she started sewing. She didn't have a specific thing in mind to make and wound up making a fairy bed.

We looked up the teen labor laws for our state to find out when Aly could actually go to work. She has to wait one more year so she thinks she is going to look into doing some volunteer work with a local vet.

Now as I end this post Aly is doing a hip hop work out video,SiSi is asleep on the couch, Emi is cutting construction paper and Zoe is waking up to nurse.

Living and learning, it's a 24hour thing!!

Still here and doing better. Thank you for all the hugs and advice.

All of the littles have had a cold. Poor Z had a rough night about 2nights ago. Now she is sleeping better at night but the congestions seems to be a pain for a little while in the morning. We are nursing, nursing,nursing. I have added extra vitC and some eccinacea to my supplements in the hopes that it will help clear this cold out faster. It wouldn't be so bad if she could breath through her mouth but since newborns don't know how we have been sleeping proped up.

My days start earlier than they used to. I have been busy but it doesn't bother me because I can do everything easier without my big belly.

Last night when we were getting the littles down for bed I was stretching out on my stomach and it felt wonderful!! Then there is the ease of bending down now. Tasks just don't overwhelm me like they did those last weeks of pregnancy.

I have had wonderful help this time. I had two friends come in the first two weeks to do post-partum doula work. That was fantastic. We had several meals from Jorry's work family that were awesome. My friend Pam has had my girls over to her house,made a meal and washed my comforter in her washer for me. Jorry's parents came the Sat. after Z was born and brought venison,fresh veggies and a wonderful home made apple pie. Then his Grandmother just came Tues- yesterday. She made home made bread, cleaned my kitchen,let me nap and made a wonderful meal for us on Wed. night. Today a friend from Indy is bringing another meal. Sunday my mom comes in for a week and hopefully we will get to put a few more things in the freezer.

Z is back to sleep now so I will end here. I need to get diapers going and the dishewasher unloaded.

I'll have more pictures in a few days.

I had a rough afternoon. I'm not sure where it came from but I wish it hadn't happened.

I still need to apologize to my kids.

I'm glad to no longer be pregnant but these hormones can really make things challenging.

I have been thinking about my dad a lot. Watching the movie Finding Neverland yesterday really started the water works. That is really a depressing movie. I like Johnny Dep but I don't think I will be watching that one again.

I do have placenta capsules to take to help with the moods and to avoid post partum depression. I haven't ever dealt with that after a birth but I was worried about it this time.

What are placenta capsules you ask? They are capsules that contain the dehydrated and powdered placenta that belonged to both Zoe and I.

I have two friends that have started doing this for moms. It helps, it really does. I don't have time to go into great detail about the benefits but if you are curious you can go to this website and do some reading.

www.PlacentaBenefits.info

I would have avoided my meltdown if I had taken a capsule or two. I know because I have avoided several by taking a capsule.

Now I am off to go grab a treat for myself and Aly so we can regroup after this afternoon.

Steph gave me this award,my first one ever, and now it's time for me to share in the fun!

Remember these two?

They are now known as

"The Dynamic Disaster Duo"

Don't let their sweet faces fool you.

They have taken making messes to a whole new level.

They get into things in 2.5 seconds.

They are able to reach things that you were sure were not reachable.

Together they are almost unstoppable.

They are well trained in the art of ignoring anyone trying to redirect them.

I repeat, don't let their sweet faces fool you.

Let's just recap some of the things that have happened since Z. has arrived.

The birthing pool was still up the day after the birth and I was by myself for a bit while Jorry went to the grocery store. Ace came into the bedroom carrying a stuffed cat. She was proudly showing it to me while doing a great vocal cat impersonation. As she lifts it up higher so I can see it, it drops from her hand into the birthing pool. I watch as the meow, meow goes floating across the pool to the other side. I get up to resuce it and grab a towel to dry it off.

Then while drying off the cat Emi picks up the end of the hose that was used to fill the tub and promptly turns it in a downward motion towards the carpet. Out flows all of the water that was still just sitting in the hose. I grab the afore mentioned towel and proceed to clean that up.

Jorry makes it back and proceeds to get the pump hooked up so we can drain the pool and avoid anymore floating cats or soaked carpets. He gets it all in place ;pump in the pool, other end of the hose in the bathtub. The pump doesn't come on and we realize that the switch for the outlet isn't on. Little did we know that while we were trying to figure out what was wrong one of the dynamic disaster duo twins had been in the bathroom. With a flip of the switch we here the water running into what we think is the bathtub. Jorry heads in there to double check things and finds a small flood on the bathroom floor. Yep, you guessed it, they had removed the hose from the tub. This time the afore mentioned towel was not going to handle the job and I had to grab every clean towel we had.

Then there have been the numerous extractions from the main bathroom. The younger half of the duo loves to climb up on the toilet and play in the water in the sink. Yesterday it was an extraction from our bathroom where they had found the shaving cream their dad left on the side of the tub. The door does have a child proof lock on it but it only works if the last person out of the bathroom remembers to shut the door all the way.

At one point after quickly putting the baby down I found them standing on a chair pulled up to the refrigerator in the kitchen. They had the freezer door open and both of them were standing with their heads in the freezer. When I asked them what they were doing the older member says "We're just looking for something for supper."

I now have a black sharpie stain on my dining room table because the 3yo was coloring on a piece of paper and it bled through.

So far though no one has been stuffed in the dryer nor have they tied up their older siblings and tickled them until they couldn't breathe.

It could happen though, they are just that clever! 

Still a baby!!

Because we were welcoming out newest addition to the family.

Please welcome Zoe Tait

Her name means "Life Brings Joy"

8lbs 2oz

20in long

My water broke at 2am and she didn't arrive until 7:35pm. I'll post the birth story with details later. Suffice it to say that when she did decide to make her debut she didn't waste her time.

We are doing fine. Tired but ecstatic. A wonderful homebirth.

Thank you God!!