Reflections

So we've come to the end of 2011 with a new baby and not much in the way of formal homeschooling. Despite my initial disdain at the idea of "unschooling" or "natural learning" (I'm very routine oriented) it's what we ended up doing for most of the year. I'm taken aback at how much Katie has picked up and learned without my prompting. She has been doing a lot of written copywork, I can see more maturity in her art and craft and she is constantly asking questions about everything.

I've been tossing up what to do about Christmas since we now have four children. It's not something they can really avoid. My parents are opposed to anything pagan in roots and dressed up as “Christian” and most of my life I've lived like this. Having children does make you rethink this stuff though! I do think there are valid arguments to still “observe” this tradition that have positive aspects. The Bible doesn't command us to celebrate Christ's birth but it doesn't mean it's not a good thing to do.

We have a tall tree with lights that really brighten our house and that we all enjoy – no we're not going to be worshiping it! I'll be on the lookout for a lovely nativity scene for next year though. I also want to experiment with doing a Jesse tree next year and reading from Jotham's Journey for Advent. Katie and Sam might be old enough to appreciate the meanings in a year's time.

We had a go at making salt dough decorations this week and I even tried making a wreath from our lush Happy Wanderer (Hardenbergia violacea). Merry Christmas!

Ruby

Our Ruby was born three weeks ago, our smallest and possibly our strongest. Another of God's gifts to us!

Thankfully this was another quick birth. I had Braxton Hicks contractions for weeks leading up to the birth and hardly knew I was in labour till they were minutes apart at 1 am.

I hadn't needed to go to the hospital at all in my pregnancy because I was seeing my caseload midwife locally so once we arrived we couldn't find the entrance. There was obviously works going on and we were wandering around with me in established labour. With every contraction I had to get on all fours – I almost believed I was going to give birth in the carpark! Fortunately a car pulled up that was headed to Emergency and took us to the right place.

What I can remember from the birth is: VEINS, RUPTURE, HAEMORRHAGE, THEATRE. A good thing I was in hospital this time.

Oh, and also: I FINALLY HAVE MY BABY.

She is beautiful and has put on a ton of weight. I'm almost fully recovered.

It was recommended I have a caesarean next time. If there is a next time. I think our family might just be complete.

The Bread Machine

Recently we decided to buy a bread machine. It happened to be advertised on Deals Direct and was half-price available for only a day or so online. My husband and I discussed whether it was something we could do with and we went for it seeing it had great reviews. I have blogged about my previous breadmaking attempt which was great but there is something about dumping a whole lot of ingredients into a machine and letting it do all the hard work for you!

Despite its bulk it has been a great addition to our kitchen - we have since found a spot for it to live out of sight and I use it on average twice a week but will probably use it a lot more. It came with a bunch of recipes which I've noticed use millilitres and grams for weights. This allows for more accurate measurements resulting in perfect bread (I did try out an attractive online recipe which just used cups and it was a disaster). I was so impressed with the traditional white bread and have since tried out sweet bread and cinnamon raisin nut bread.

One thing I would like to experiment with is gluten-free bread recipes. There is no such mode on our model but I think I'll hunt some recipes down and see how I go. Served warm/toasted with jam and butter they're a real treat - no more $1 supermarket bread in this house!

Board Game Fun

Homeschool has taken a bit of a backseat the last few weeks as I head into the last stretch of pregnancy. I still want to inject a bit of fun with an educational focus so we have been spending quite some time playing old fashioned board games.

One of the best ones for young children starting to play (3+) is Candy Land. It's been around for 50 years and there's no dice and no reading required. This game teaches counting, colours and how to take turns. Probably a down side is the focus on sweets - after all it's about who can get to King Kandy and his Candy Castle first!

Zingo is a great game for learning number recognition. Yes it's based on the regular Bingo game but is a lot of fun. Katie always asks to play this and will often place tiles on my card if she sees a match.

As a family we all play Junior Monopoly and is a firm favourite. The board is a fun fair and ticket booths are purchased for the different rides. This great game introduces the concept of money and responsibility.

We also play simple card games like Go Fish and Old Maid.

One thing games will force you to do is to remind your little ones that winning isn't everything but having fun and learning is. Funny how hard that seems to sink in!

Other games we will be introducing soon are My First Scrabble, UNO and Boggle Junior.

Birth Skills

So I have another two months before I give birth again. It's interesting seeing people's reactions when they find out it will be my fourth baby. I inwardly puke every time I hear "wow you're going to have your hands full!". As if I don't know that. Yes I'll have four under 5, yes I know what causes it, yes we knew we'd need a new car and yes we might even have more. This is the choice WE have made, to have a large family - by current modern standards.

Sorry. I'm very tired in this last last trimester of this particular pregnancy. I'm acutely aware of my older body since having my first and the need to look after myself, which is getting very hard to do. I am thankful however for Katie who at five is my right hand woman, running little chores for me about the house every day.

I'm currently reading a fab book by Juju Sundin called "Birth Skills", probably the most practical and down to earth book on labour pain management I have every read - and I've read heaps of birth books. What I really like about this one is that Juju doesn't gloss over the pain of birth. The pain is very real. However she gives very practical advice on what any woman can do in each of the stages. A natural (drug-free) birth is fine and dandy but personally I need more than just "listen to what your body is telling you" and "go with the flow"! I've yet to finish the book but I have come away with some very useful ideas on how I can distract myself from the pain such as using vocalisation, visualisation and physical movement. I'll be packing my hospital bag with stress balls, CDs, essential oils and cue cards for my husband to help me recall.

Being able to release all inhibitions is essential - who cares if your doctor/midwife sees you grunting, bashing stress balls, stamping, counting and repeating mantras during contractions? If it's going to help you focus on something else other than the pain you may be able to avoid the drugs. I've never had drugs in labour but I have had posterior labour in a home birth and it's not pretty. There's some excellent advice on how to manage this type of labour also. I'm praying for a straightforward birth this time round. That's not too much to ask is it?

The Lemming

I'm happy to say that I have never had the unfortunate experience of having a child wilfully run off on me in public - until the other day. Just another morning of bundling three littlies with me to get a stack of stuff done.

I happened to be at the grocery checkout and decided to take Sam out of the trolley to stand with Katie for a while. After the few minutes it took to pay I looked around for Sam. Katie didn't know where he went - he had disappeared. Panicking, I searched around for him unaware of the checkout girl chasing me with a bag of shopping I had left behind.

After having Katie, who at age 2 was about as outgoing as a mouse and wouldn't walk 2 metres away from me for any amount of chocolate, I expected my son to be the same. It's in the genes, I myself was still holding my mother's skirt at age 6. Though Sam can definitely be clingy he is also a wanderer and will allow himself to be swept up in whatever is happening around him.

I quickly described him to the checkout girl confident no one could miss him in bright yellow. He was found in minutes. No doubt he had followed someone back into the store and had happily found himself in the confectionery aisle. His expression seemed to be a mixture of embarrassment and relief. Kind of the way I felt really.

Baba Ganoush

With the recent swamp of eggplants in my father's garden I've been trying to find kid-friendly recipes in an effort to use up this rarely seen vegetable in our household. The tribe weren't too impressed with my last attempts...until I decided to make baba ganoush. Miss 4 gave a loud “yuk!” when she saw me cut the eggplant ready for roasting but believe me it was a different story once I served it up in their sandwiches not too long after.

Ingredients

1 large eggplant

1 can chickpeas, drained

3 cloves garlic

¼ c lemon juice

3 tbsp tahini

dash sea salt

¼ c olive oil

2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Slice eggplant in half and roast in 400 degree oven for approximately 45 mins or until soft. Allow to cool slightly then scoop out inside of eggplant leaving skin behind. In a blender or food processor combine eggplant and remaining ingredients, except oil and parsley, until smooth. Mixture will be somewhat thick. Slowly incorporate olive oil until well mixed. Mix in chopped parsley by hand.

* I also added a little cumin for extra flavour – yum.