Mid-Pregnancy Renovations

In mid-February Minnesota had wonderful {or so I thought} thaw. A couple of 40 degree days were the perfect reprise from an otherwise miserable winter. Henry and I went outside to enjoy the "warmth" and came back in to water pouring into our kitchen from the window that looks out to our sunroom. The window was a weird leftover exterior window from when the original homeowners put on the sunroom addition. 

The water lasted on and off for two days until the cold weather was back. Morgan did his best to clear the roof of the ice and snow and clean the damage. Unfortunately, when Morgan started doing some investigating it was clear that that spot on the roof had leaked for years. The drywall and insulation were completely ruined. Morgan cleaned up the damage, which left a huge hole in our kitchen. And a renovation at a really inconvenient time. 

Flash forward to mid-April -- renovations have included {or will when we are finally done} removing the window, filling in the hole, replacing the drywall/insulation, replacing the door to the sunroom, new light fixture in the kitchen, new paint for the kitchen and sunroom, and new trim for kitchen. 

The renovations have completely thrown off our baby preparations. We can't move our tot school classroom our of our nursery until they are complete -- since tot school is moving into the sunroom. It's been a major source of stress for me with no obvious end in sight. It will be great when we finally finish, but its just hard getting there.

So, that's where we are at. Anyone else dealing with unexpected renovations this year? 

Fears for Baby Number 2

Nora's is going to be here in a little over two months! Every day that fact simultaneously thrills and terrifies me. Sometimes, I have these moments of "what the heck were we thinking!?"  We are finally getting a tiny bit of independence around here. Henry still doesn't consistently sleep through the night. He's more attached to me then I ever thought possible. But, I'm also so excited to meet Nora, and see Hen as a big brother, and baby snuggles! 

So, my fears for baby 2, which I hope you will all tell me are completely normal and will fade as soon as I meet the Wiggly-one... 

• That Nora will be just like Henry as a baby -- I don't know if I can go back to months of colic, reflux, worry and high-needs. 
• That Nora will be completely different than Henry and I'll have no idea what the heck I'm doing. 
• I won't love Nora the way I love Henry. 
• Baby girl diapers.
• That Henry is going to lose it and completely hate the baby and me. 
• Henry is going to smoother the baby with his love.
• We're going to have problems nursing
• I'll end up with a c-section. 
• Henry will stop sleeping, and/or start having potty accidents
• I won't be able to handle it all.
• Morgan and I will never be alone again. 
• I'll have to think about having more kids. 

I think that's it for now. Or all I can bare to list. I'm normal, right?!

Letter H Tot School

Letter H tot school was another one of those weeks where Henry just wasn't super interested in going up to school. I'm not sure why, sometimes the more I push, the more he resists, so I've been trying to take a step back. When he would work, he did seem to enjoy the trays. 

On the first tray was letter H hide-and-seek. I created a sheet with a bunch of letter H objects hidden among non-letter H things. Then I included a small bowl of hats. The goal was to cover the letter H objects with a hat. This was Henry's favorite tray for this week. He is very interested in knowing what letter an object starts with and he's getting really good at figuring it out. 

The second tray was a set of community helpers (from a Safari Ltd. Toob). Then, I made corresponding pictures of the helpers' hats. This was a good exercise in less direct matching and really good vocabulary for Henry. It led to lots of discussions about what type of work each helper does, in addition to what they wear.

The final tray was a repeat from the first time we did letter H. It was a set of pattern matching horse stamps. The goal was to find the stamp that matched the picture and follow the pattern. Some of the kids in co-op were able to figure out this tray, but Henry still struggled with it. 

Other things we did this week included: 

Geoboard: To make the letter H or other shapes and letters. This is always a favorite. 

Henry Spelling: Henry is getting really good at spelling his name, so this was on the easier side for him. But he needed to place the numbers in order, then match the letters to the numbers. 

Letter H sensory bin 

We also had a magnet board and the salt tray, but for some reason I didn't get any pictures of those this week! 

 

Early April Blues

Yesterday was Elsie's -- our first loss -- due date. Had that pregnancy not ended in miscarriage, we would have a 1-year-old. 

It's crazy to think how much time has gone by since Morgan and I have held a baby of our own in our arms. I didn't blog about the due date for our fourth loss, but that also passed in March. I've been trying to focus on the beauty that is my baby bump and the wiggly little love growing inside me, but it's not always easy at times like these. 

I hate that seemingly happy times in our lives are still marred by so much pain and loss. I hate how much it still hurts to think about the babies we will never hold. I hate that this pregnancy has been filled with so much anxiety, worry, and distance.

I don't think that April 7 will ever be an easy day for me. I don't know why the first loss has been the hardest for me. Maybe it was that I was pregnant the longest -- carrying for well over a month? That we had an ultrasound? That it was the first? That it broke my pregnancy innocence? That it required a D&C? Whatever the reason, April 7 has come to embody our entire journey with pregnancy loss. 

I hope that Nora's eventual birth and life are healing. She is a true gift from God and the miracle that we never thought we would get. I wish that was enough for me right now. Maybe I'm terrible for it not being enough. Someday it will be, I hope.

Letter G Tot School

Henry is 36 months old. 

This was another week where I expected Henry to really enjoy the activities, but that didn't really happen. I'm not sure if he is in the same late winter/early spring slump that I seem to be in, or if my ideas haven't been connecting with him, but it has been a struggle to get him to repeat his work.

On the first tray was a basket of Easter grass with some hidden letter g words. Then, a sheet to matching sheet to match them too. Henry always seems to enjoy the sensory aspect of this activity. But, I've come to the realization that it is just way too easy for him now. Sadly, matching only words is still too hard. He's in a weird middle ground now.

The second tray was by far Henry's favorite tray of the week. This seems to be the kind of matching that Henry is really attracted to right now. Here, I included all the uppercase sandpaper letters from the letters we have worked on so far {A-G} and a small object that starts with each letter. I thought this would challenge Henry a little, but he knew them all right away. He loved sounding out that initial sound. Several of the parents at co-op were also surprised how their child could sound out the object to match correctly.

The third tray was a counting tray. I made a set of garden cards with a different number of vegetables in each. The children could then match a number card to the number of veggies present. Some kids had the patience to count out the veggies -- Henry did not.

The final tray was a green object sorting tray. Henry liked this too, but refused to try the tweezers. Many of the kids were great at sorting with tweezers.

Other things we did:

Replanted our class plant to get a taste of gardening.

Letter G Sensory Bin

Gardening Tools 3-Part Cards: These were printed from Montessori Print Shop.

G Magnet Board

Letter G salt tray