{SQT} David's Nursing Success!

1. Recovered

We are all feeling better, and I was briefly looking more svelte when I lost seven pounds in 24 hours. Too bad that kind of weight loss never stays off! Looks like I have to lose the baby weight the old-fashioned way.

2. YMCA Tuesdays

Climbing trees during John's track class . . .

Reading books in the shade while watching John (the red spot in the distance) run the track . . .

Getting 'drunk' on Mama's milk at the Y . . .

3. Music Morning Wednesdays

We are trying something new with music lessons: everyone at our house on the same morning! Click here to read more.

4. Reading Aloud

I'm six weeks postpartum today and this past week began reading aloud chapter books to the older three kids.

I never did stop reading picture books to the tiny tots. When I came home from the hospital, Chris and I found it a powerful way to help the 2- and 4-year-olds connect with me for me to do the bedtime routine (and read to them) at night, while Chris kept the other kids at bay. So, we carved out that time and it really helped the toddler with the transition to a new baby brother. Even if he didn't see me all day those first couple weeks, then at nap and night times, I gave the newborn to someone else, snuggled my Thomas tight, and read him board books.

But I certainly could not manage reading aloud a chapter of anything REAL to the older set.

Reading The Odyssey over snack time

This week, my 6-year-old asked poignantly, "Why don't you ever read to us anymore?"

That was a knife in the heart to this bookworm mama! It was time to figure out how to manage it.

So, even though evenings are hard with a fussing baby and a traveling husband, even though it's kind of chaotic . . . I began reading aloud. The first night, I read poetry from my beautiful old collection. The next night, "Heidi." And one day when I hollered out that we were having popcorn and lemonade for snack, the kids grabbed "The Odyssey for Boys and Girls" by Alfred J. Church and I read about the cyclops.

I'm glad to be back!!!

5. Spiral Notebook Method

I'm three or four weeks into our soft start back at homeschooling, and I'm using Sarah Mackenzie's spiral notebook method (see here) to help me cope.

Truly, I prefer a highly structured schedule in which, for example, I know that at ten o'clock we're doing math lessons. However, I can't function that way with a newborn, and probably not at all for the baby's first year of life.

For now, I've gone back to the spiral notebook method, which served us so well after I had Thomas two years ago. I add notes and scratch out notes all the time.

For now, the children are doing only independent work. That means the third and fifth graders are carrying maybe a two-thirds load of work, but I still want to get back the subjects of grammar, composition, and Latin, all of which require me to teach them. The first grader can only do a few things without me, so she's waiting on my ability to teach for her to resume spelling, grammar, and math. And poor little four-year-old Joseph waits longsuffering for me to do any preschool with him.

6. Nursing Update

David is exclusively nursing and I am weaned off of pumping!!!

My little kangaroo baby

After David's first revision for tongue tie, he wasn't making much progress. His wound closed up too tight too fast, so we took him back for re-treatment. By that night, he began transferring milk. That week, he got strong enough to transfer 1 ounce, and plateaued there. About the next week, he suddenly jumped up to 2 ounces, and then plateaued there too. (I can't tell you how many nursing sessions he transferred exactly 1.8 ounces: it was uncanny.) I began reducing bottles and purposefully nursing him as often as I could, weighing him many times a day to make sure he was transferring enough milk. About a week later, he could sometimes transfer three ounces and that's when we were flying! I had been cutting back on pumping and was able to wean off entirely this week.

Look at those chubby cheeks!

David is 6 weeks old today, on the cusp of weighing 12 pounds (after a birth weight of 8 lbs 6 oz): an overall a 4-pound gain. What seems such a dark, nearly impossible task when I'm trying to teach a tongue tied baby how to nurse was so worthwhile.

7. My Little Helpers

The real truth is that I couldn't possibly do all this without the help of the children. When my husband is traveling again, like he was this week, I see illustrated that this little brood is both the cause of my having a lot of work to do and the very reason that I can manage whatever amount of work that I do.

One morning this week, my 6-year-old daughter made toast and scrambled eggs for her family of eight . . . by herself. My husband traveled for business this week and my 8-year-old daughter took over handling the night wakings of the 2-year-old, such that I didn't hear a peep all night. My 10-year-old handles the garbage cans, lawn mowing, laundry. Various kids wash the dishes after each meal, clean the bathrooms, and so forth. I'd be lost without them! In more ways than one . . . they are my salvation.


For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.