RoyalMom

Simon apparently decided it was time for a diaper change all on his own. usually he comes crying to me, but I found him playing naked...a poopy diaper on the kid's bed and a skid down the side of the bed where he slid off. nice!

he is turning out to be quite a character. I thought Xander was going to win the class clown title but Simon might win the title with his pseudo tantrums. He lays down with his face in his arms and does some fake crying, then stands up and laughs wildly at us.

Although...Xander is cursing all the time now in Spongebob-speak, "ahhhh, tarter sauce!" or "...barnacles!" and that is pretty funny.

One of the unschooling mama blogs I follow Swiss Army Wife summed up my current thoughts beautifully today. How things change so much when you simplify life and get to enjoy your children so much more in a carefree lifestyle.

After two kids I was adamant that was it for us. Number three was an oops and now with our transition to unschooling and just living a relaxed life I am enjoying our children so much.

The learning just happens and we don't stress about where we need to be at what time, what they are or aren't learning at school, what homework needs to be done, what teacher or school is judging us or our children, what labels we need to work with, what preschool we can afford, what fees we need to pay, what fundraiser we need to feel pressured into, or how little time we have between scheduling around school, homework and early bedtimes.

We have all the time! They learn in spurts and so quickly. Xander asks me to spell things out while he writes to his pen pal and Isaac pulls out the Monopoly money to pretend he is rich...I hear them both counting money together. We have play dates with interesting friends who ask questions like "if a platypus is a mammal, how does it nurse with a duck bill?" we run home and look that up...(by the way, Tonya, yes they do nurse! LOL)

All this to say, I too have gone from "two-and-through" mentality to wanting another, a *fourth* (gasp!). Jason is still uncertain, but he's wearing down. <grin>

Wanna see what the kids and I did for school today?

A book we read a while ago had a character blowing bubbles with chewing gum. I told the kids about the time I blew a huge bubble as a kid and got it stuck in my eyebrows. The kids wanted to give it a try so I bought us a pack of Bubblicious and that's what we did today.

I guess its been a long time since I tried because there were no big ones for me. The kids tried but no luck yet. That huge piece of gum makes me gag! I don't know how I ever chewed it as a kid??

Jason started up softball again and I was able to take the big lens out for a test drive. Not quite as sharp as I'd hoped, but it is a mighty big lens to hand hold and I forgot to adjust ISO down. Grainy at 100% but it doesn't show here.

Simon on my back, kids running crazy and the chilliest wind!

This is exhausting...mostly emotionally.

The mama came down with the upper respiratory infection and has been congested and not wanting to eat. We forced a few squirts of water to try and keep her milk supply up and encouraged her to eat. We lost one of the runts.

Now one of the remaining four kittens is sick, very congested and meowing since early this morning. She can't eat if she can't breath, so she just crawls up on her mom's back and cries.

The kittens all blend in but the sick one is on her back, she has one nursing and two sleeping on her tail.

I can't believe it's only been a week.

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Update...that didn't take long. The sick kitten's upper airway filled up with fluid and she suffocated to death. I don't know what we could have done. I could barely handle it and Isaac held her. He held her while she died. He's 7 and handles it way better than I.

Seriously, never doing this again. This is ridiculous! I thought this would be fun, we sit on the sidelines and watch mama cat do her thing. Nope. sick cat that barely eats and adorable kittens dying one by one.

Jason has a week long team meeting for work and wanted some new photos of the kids to share. So to the back yard we went...

Jason says a Superman costume is no good without color, so I'll slip one in. I'm on a b/w kick though.

waaah!

Is it bad to say I wish they would just die already? This is heartbreaking. The eye is just starting to open in the corner. I don't think we'll get to see them open all the way.

But hey! no deaths in two days! Let's celebrate with some photos...

I had a couple inquires about bottle feeding the kittens and, yes, I've been stepping in to do what I can... more than I probably should be doing.

My mom came over and helped me give both kittens and the mom a bit of iv fluids. It's actually a big lump of fluid via needle pushed into the nape just under the skin. Not so easy to do on the mama cat and I won't be trying that again!

I've been bottle feeding every two hours. One kitten is not having anything to do with it and turning into skin and bones and the other kitten is taking to the bottle well.

After a full 24 hours of this, I have realized this is just too much to take on. Jason is out of town and getting up every two hours at night was doable last night but not for long term.

I've called in the reserves! My sister is picking them up and taking over. Hopefully she can get the mama cat to eat, take the sickly kitten to be euthanized (if it doesn't die today...it probably will) and see how long she can keep this other little one going.

Whew! I hate to call it quits but it's not what I signed up for at all. I had no idea all my kittens would turn out this way:(

not looking so good...

Isaac takes a feed and does surprisingly well!

See what fun you're missing? I can't roll out the pizza dough nearly as nice as Jason, so we each did our own. Dontcha love the wide open mouth of Simon sacked out in the corner, after the first frame?

Isaac says, "I'm going to put 10 pineapples on my pizza!"

And so he did...

Please don't call child services! I'll have it all cleaned up tonight:) I promise!

My sister picked up the cats and Mama cat started eating and drinking immediately at her house. What is up with that? Thank goodness though!

And my little one I was diligently feeding and grooming around the clock was dead by morning. The other one, that I thought would die is still hanging in there...surviving on a second IV fluid dose I gave before they left. Crazy.

I did get to see the eyes almost open before the end of the day. She's taking the cat and last baby back to the shelter.

Keeping my babe updated of our *exciting* life here while he's away. lol! We ran out of bread and I didn't want to go to the store. way to work extra hard at laziness!

Tuscan rolls will do. I've made these before and they are fabulous for sandwiches, hamburgers or just by themselves. I don't worry about making them smooth and perfect.

Isaac wants to try and make some snail shapes.

Two snails and a slug.

The "snail" turned out interesting. At certain angles it was "NSFW" as they say. bwahahaha!

Simon has not been so gentle with pets but when my sister and her husband came over with their dogs last night, he finally met a dog he can jump on.

As the dogs lounged on the living room floor, Simon put on a devilish smile and worked his way closer and closer until he was bouncing on Torque like it was a pony ride at the carnival. Torque is such a laid back dude he didn't care at all. I have to watch out for the wagging tails though. They can really whip and Simon is right at that level.

Thinking about it...

Its go time! (sorry I didn't get my flash on for this one)

Aundi is being induced today with pre-ecclampsia rearing its ugly head. Hopefully baby girl Noa will be just fine and labor is going well. I ran over to their house last night to get some final pregnancy photos.

so cuuuuute! only 6 pounds 10oz (I think) and so quiet and alert.

When I arrived she was bundled up under the warmer with just her wide eyes looking around. Nice work Aundi and Casey:)

Isaac wants me to put this out there to everyone in "hyperspace."

The dead snake he found in the yard.

Yes, I *need* one of these tiny baby girls.

Finally in Mama's arms for a pic. None of my brother! doh!

Isaac is SEVEN!

A little dinner, a little cake, a little present opening.

And a little Noa...

My mama with her first granddaughter:)

We are very excited to be heading to Vancouver WA tomorrow (today) for a four day "un"conference. hehe! It's hard to believe there are enough people following this lifestyle to make up a conference. This should be fun!

We broke out the chemistry set grandma got isaac for his birthday today. Good times!

With all these crappy snapshots on the blog lately it's hard to believe I do have a photography biz on the side isn't it?

But I gave her the full session...

(my fav!)

It was *fabulous*!!!!!!! Our hotel room was right off the pool and the kids swam twice a day. The speakers we're awesome and the kid's activities were fun. It was a great time to spend together, bonding and meeting other families living this wonderful lifestyle.

So many talented, fun kids in one place. We will be doing this every year, as long as its available.

revamped the video:)

with a new deck project...

I wanted a more usable deck with a hot tub. The hot tub is waiting in the garage.

These two rickety structures will come down and one beautiful deck will stretch across the entire length of the house. It will serve more as an extended living space, with rails spaced to code and a gate on the stairs. Simon will be able to play safely outside with his brothers. I can't wait!

and just because they're out there with me...

so so many eggs in my fridge.

Xander asked to build a robot out of wood today. We started with hammering nails. Isaac hammered one in and that was enough for him. He was off to play with his squirt gun in the yard.

Xander hammered and hammered. On his own, he figured out smaller nails were easier for him to hammer in. He figured out how to pry the nails back out. and that was as far as we got with robot making...

Then we dashed across the street for some play in the nature area. Have I mentioned how much I love that we have this right by our home!

We found some wild mushrooms growing and Isaac suggested we get a field guide on mushrooms to tell if they were poisonous or not. does it matter that he got the bird field guide and never looks at it?? no. It's just a part of learning this way. Its my job to facilitate and support their interests. The actual learning and motivation comes from themselves.

Our outing ended with Xander stuck in the mud and needing a rescue.

I'm glad I didn't have him get dressed before we left. I was afraid we'd lose the momentum if we stopped to get ready, since its only across the street:)

"Take a picture. It will last longer!!" (in my most childish tone)

Isaac brought me this.

Not bad, watercolor-esque background for the kit lens.

sometimes focus is crappy at distances, but mostly it's a great lens.