Sunday, October 2, 2011
Soccer
"Help, Help":Thank you and Explanations
First, I want to say thank you for all of the advice. I have taken some of the advice and Joshua is doing a lot better. In fact, he gained nearly a pound in just 4 days. He was 14.4 pounds and now he is 15.2.
A lot of people wonder why a mother of 8 would need help/ advice. Well, we are pretty healthy and I really have had no need to worry about nutrition. In all honesty, I have very little knowledge of nutrition. All of my previous 7 babies nursed well. A couple of them, I put on whole milk at 11 months because I was pregnant and they did just fine. I am healthy. I have always been able to eat pretty much whatever I want to and I feel great most of the time. My kids are mostly healthy. No one has any food allergies or long term health issues (at this point). My husband is healthy, and he hates healthy food. Except for the first year of living in a new place, we are rarely sick, and even then, it has been very rare that we have ever had any severe illness. So we eat what we want, and we try to get in some regular exercise and we do great. On a rare occasion this has been different. Joshua is one of those differences. He was fussy, not growing, and my first child to not be crawling before 8 months of age. I knew he was hungry and that I was losing my milk because he wouldn't nurse.
This is what I have tried. I put him on a higher calorie/higher fat yogurt. I tried coconut milk and he loves it (I am really happy about it). After feeling better from the coconut milk, he was willing to try more things, and he is nursing better. I give him half a bottle of coconut milk and then he nurses. Because he is not so hungry he has settled down and is nursing without screaming except first thing in the morning. If he isn't too hungry or too full he is now willing to eat avocado. He will eat a half of one in a sitting. He is also enjoying squash and pumpkin now. I am not completely sure of his problem past being hungry. The coconut milk alone seems to have changed everything. As far as I can tell the weirdo kid won't eat if he gets too hungry and it is just a downward spiral from there. I think I can probably rule out allergies because of his amazingly fast weight gain. Coconut milk is expensive and all of the family likes it, but it seems to be what the baby needs, so we will deal with the cost.
I thought I should also address what seemed to be a few concerns in the comment section. I think some people were worried I was force feeding or being overly concerned about size. I have only ever force fed one of my kids. I hated being force fed as a child and adamantly decided I would not do it with my own children. Mostly, that has worked just fine. Except my third child, Johnny. When he was 17 months and about done breast feeding, he came down with a bad case of croup. After about 6 days he was no longer coughing, but he had a high fever and was not walking anymore. I took him to the doctor thinking he probably had developed pneumonia. The doctor checked him, but could not find anything wrong with him so she sent me to the emergency room. They took a chest x-ray first-- no pneumonia. So they took some blood to see if he had a blood infection. They came back. No blood infection, BUT he was malnurished and severely anemic. They sent me home, but they would not give me iron until I force fed him and took him to see his doctor. So I began force feeding. He hates food so that was not an easy task, but within 24 hours his fever went away and he was walking and good. We got him on iron, and continued to make sure he ate for the next 2 years. He is still very picky. But he now eats 3 to 7 bowls of vitamin fortified sugar coated cereal each morning and is fine.
As far as worrying about size. I think a lot of people worry about that when they look at my family. I have a 13 year old daughter who is devastated that she weighs 99lbs, is 5 feet tall and wearing a woman's size 2 pants. She really is big for my kids, and she has always been a good eater. But she is not fat and I won't let her diet. I have a 12 year old daughter who is 60lbs, 4 ft 5in tall and an entire head and shoulders shorter than other kids her age. She is a picky eater. She would rather go hungry then eat something she doesn't like. Then I have a 10 year old son who is 58 pounds and about 4'5". He is smaller then everyone else his age. He is my boy that was the malnurished 17 month old. Then my son Adam is 48 pounds and almost 7. I think he is a little small for his age, but not so severely and he eats constantly. Then there is a 5 year old girl who weighs 32 pounds. She is very petite and looks about the size of most 3 year olds. She is a very picky eater. She pretty much survives on apples and dessert. Then I have a 3 year old daughter who is 26 pounds. She is small for her age and the doctors always worry, but I don't because she eats a lot and a variety and is taller then all her sisters were at the same age. She is 3 and wears a size 3-- miracle. Then there is Joseph. He is our tall, fat kid. He is 2, wieghs 26 pounds and last we checked and from what it seems like from his peers he is in the 50th percentile. Lastly there is ity bity, Joshua. I do worry some. But my husband is a short man, and while I am tall at 5'9", I grew very slowly. I did not reach 5 ft until I was nearly 14, and I did not gain my full heighth until I was 19. So between my husbands short genes and my slow growing genes people wonder if we feed our kids at all.
A lot of people wonder why a mother of 8 would need help/ advice. Well, we are pretty healthy and I really have had no need to worry about nutrition. In all honesty, I have very little knowledge of nutrition. All of my previous 7 babies nursed well. A couple of them, I put on whole milk at 11 months because I was pregnant and they did just fine. I am healthy. I have always been able to eat pretty much whatever I want to and I feel great most of the time. My kids are mostly healthy. No one has any food allergies or long term health issues (at this point). My husband is healthy, and he hates healthy food. Except for the first year of living in a new place, we are rarely sick, and even then, it has been very rare that we have ever had any severe illness. So we eat what we want, and we try to get in some regular exercise and we do great. On a rare occasion this has been different. Joshua is one of those differences. He was fussy, not growing, and my first child to not be crawling before 8 months of age. I knew he was hungry and that I was losing my milk because he wouldn't nurse.
This is what I have tried. I put him on a higher calorie/higher fat yogurt. I tried coconut milk and he loves it (I am really happy about it). After feeling better from the coconut milk, he was willing to try more things, and he is nursing better. I give him half a bottle of coconut milk and then he nurses. Because he is not so hungry he has settled down and is nursing without screaming except first thing in the morning. If he isn't too hungry or too full he is now willing to eat avocado. He will eat a half of one in a sitting. He is also enjoying squash and pumpkin now. I am not completely sure of his problem past being hungry. The coconut milk alone seems to have changed everything. As far as I can tell the weirdo kid won't eat if he gets too hungry and it is just a downward spiral from there. I think I can probably rule out allergies because of his amazingly fast weight gain. Coconut milk is expensive and all of the family likes it, but it seems to be what the baby needs, so we will deal with the cost.
I thought I should also address what seemed to be a few concerns in the comment section. I think some people were worried I was force feeding or being overly concerned about size. I have only ever force fed one of my kids. I hated being force fed as a child and adamantly decided I would not do it with my own children. Mostly, that has worked just fine. Except my third child, Johnny. When he was 17 months and about done breast feeding, he came down with a bad case of croup. After about 6 days he was no longer coughing, but he had a high fever and was not walking anymore. I took him to the doctor thinking he probably had developed pneumonia. The doctor checked him, but could not find anything wrong with him so she sent me to the emergency room. They took a chest x-ray first-- no pneumonia. So they took some blood to see if he had a blood infection. They came back. No blood infection, BUT he was malnurished and severely anemic. They sent me home, but they would not give me iron until I force fed him and took him to see his doctor. So I began force feeding. He hates food so that was not an easy task, but within 24 hours his fever went away and he was walking and good. We got him on iron, and continued to make sure he ate for the next 2 years. He is still very picky. But he now eats 3 to 7 bowls of vitamin fortified sugar coated cereal each morning and is fine.
As far as worrying about size. I think a lot of people worry about that when they look at my family. I have a 13 year old daughter who is devastated that she weighs 99lbs, is 5 feet tall and wearing a woman's size 2 pants. She really is big for my kids, and she has always been a good eater. But she is not fat and I won't let her diet. I have a 12 year old daughter who is 60lbs, 4 ft 5in tall and an entire head and shoulders shorter than other kids her age. She is a picky eater. She would rather go hungry then eat something she doesn't like. Then I have a 10 year old son who is 58 pounds and about 4'5". He is smaller then everyone else his age. He is my boy that was the malnurished 17 month old. Then my son Adam is 48 pounds and almost 7. I think he is a little small for his age, but not so severely and he eats constantly. Then there is a 5 year old girl who weighs 32 pounds. She is very petite and looks about the size of most 3 year olds. She is a very picky eater. She pretty much survives on apples and dessert. Then I have a 3 year old daughter who is 26 pounds. She is small for her age and the doctors always worry, but I don't because she eats a lot and a variety and is taller then all her sisters were at the same age. She is 3 and wears a size 3-- miracle. Then there is Joseph. He is our tall, fat kid. He is 2, wieghs 26 pounds and last we checked and from what it seems like from his peers he is in the 50th percentile. Lastly there is ity bity, Joshua. I do worry some. But my husband is a short man, and while I am tall at 5'9", I grew very slowly. I did not reach 5 ft until I was nearly 14, and I did not gain my full heighth until I was 19. So between my husbands short genes and my slow growing genes people wonder if we feed our kids at all.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Secrets and Stomach Aches
Monday, September 26, 2011
Help, Help
I really am asking for help. My eighth month old baby, Joshua is not nursing well, and he won't take formula. He is only 14 pounds, so he is not even on the chart for his weight. I have tried to get him to eat solid food (baby cereal, mushed fruit, and vegetables), but the only things he will eat consistently are yogurt and chocolate. I do give him a lot of yogurt, but I doubt he can get everything he needs from yogurt. I've put swiss miss cocoa into his cereal to get him to eat it, but I really don't like giving him chocolate and sugar. I know a lot of people out there in blog world know a lot and do a lot with nutrition, so I am asking WHAT SHOULD I DO? What should I give him to eat so that he can get the nutrients he needs to grow? I've been thinking about trying avocados. I am not sure if he would even be willing to eat it. How do you get such a fussy baby to eat? I have had one other very fussy eater, but he breast fed very well until he was 17months old. So if any of you know about what foods I should give him or have had such an extremely fussy eater, please let me know what you think I should do.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Johnny turns 10
My little boy is ten years old now! I guess he is not a little kid anymore. Johnny has always been a good and easy kid to care for and he still is!
So about my boy: Johnny is in soccer and he is loving that. He loves to read and he stays up past midnight reading most nights. (like hid dad) I guess it is surprising that he is still good natured the next day. He likes games a lot, both computer games and board games. (like his dad too) He has always been and is still a walking, talking encyclopedia. The kid astounds and annoys me with how much he knows. He also astounds and annoys me by telling me every detail in every book he reads. I am lucky to have such a good boy! I look forward to seeing who this kid grows up to be. Johnny has a lot of potential!
Blah, Blah Blah, Another HomeSchool Post
Did I say homeschool is hard? I met another homeschool mom in the library yesterday as we were both getting books to prepare school for the upcoming week. I chatted for a few minutes. I didn't have much time. But she said something that rang true. "Homeschool is a full time job." That's it. That is why I am so tired and feel like I am extremely over the top busy. I felt like just having eight kids was a full time job. That was no big deal because having 8 kids was my full time job. Compared to John's full time job, with taking care of the home and our 8 children, I put in as much time into family and work as he did. I didn't have another job. Now I have two full time jobs. I am a teacher and a full time mother. It is very tiring. There have been times, when I have felt like giving it all up. BUT... I am finding so many good things about homeschool!
The first but, I am astounded at how much better the education is. Now, I am not an unschooler. My personality is very structured. I like to be organized. So our school is very organized. Each child has thier assignments and lessons that we do every day. On Friday's and Saturdays I spend about 4 hours preparing lessons and assignments for the entire week. The older kids are handed a syllabus and they have to check each thing off with me or John everyday before they are allowed to end school. The little kids have their worksheets labelled for each day in their folders. I have each younger child scheduled in for lessons with me. Our school is very structured and my kids are making leaps and bounds. The education, without a doubt, is far superior to what they were getting in public schools. For example, Johnny is studying ancient civilizations this school year. After two weeks he has completed reading around 300 pages about Ancient Egypt. He has been required to write about everything he reads. Look at any history textbook through the 12th grade and you will not find anything so in depth. (Have you read your kids textbooks? You ought to take a look, but that is another blog all by itself.) It is just not there. Now, Johnny is in fifth grade. No fifth grader in the public schools gets anything so thorough and in such a short time during school hours. Another example is Ruth's Shakespeare class. She is required to read 7 Shakespeare plays and she will be preforming one with about 15 other homeschooled teenagers. And she is loving it! You cannot find such an in depth study in any eighth grade class in the public schools. One more example is I am doing Spanish with my younger children. Rachel knows the days of the week in Spanish better than English. They are learning to write in Spanish along side English. I am pleased to beable to give my kids foreign language experience so young.
The second but is time. Not my time, that is, but my children's time. All of their studies are finished during the school day! There is no homework as such. There is no wasted time. Most of the kids even eat lunch while working because then they will have more free time later.
The third but is well my kids. I know my kids better. I know their strengths and weaknesses better. I know what things they have picked up from being in school and who they just are. Ruth changed at the end of 7th grade last year. Instead of being the nice girl who enjoyed helping out and spending time with her parents and siblings, she became the teenager who was yelling at her parents and being mean to her younger siblings and well just acting like the textbook teenager. By the end of the summer she was back to just Ruth. She is still back to herself. She spends near to 12 hours a week with friends at church, her Shakespeare class, and select friends hanging out and swimming. But she is still just Ruth, not Ruth's friends.
The fourth but is Johnny. We have noticed that about all he learned in his four years in public school was how to waste time really, really well. He was never given enough work to keep him busy, and he learned how to waste a lot time without causing trouble or being noticed. We cringe to think what this bad habit could have done to him as an adult. Johnny has enough work to keep him busy and I am taking notice and making sure he is occupied in a good way.
I could go on with other buts, like Adam needing extra help with reading and not having to do that after school time. Suffice it to say. There are enough good buts to continue the exhausting hard work of two full time jobs.
The first but, I am astounded at how much better the education is. Now, I am not an unschooler. My personality is very structured. I like to be organized. So our school is very organized. Each child has thier assignments and lessons that we do every day. On Friday's and Saturdays I spend about 4 hours preparing lessons and assignments for the entire week. The older kids are handed a syllabus and they have to check each thing off with me or John everyday before they are allowed to end school. The little kids have their worksheets labelled for each day in their folders. I have each younger child scheduled in for lessons with me. Our school is very structured and my kids are making leaps and bounds. The education, without a doubt, is far superior to what they were getting in public schools. For example, Johnny is studying ancient civilizations this school year. After two weeks he has completed reading around 300 pages about Ancient Egypt. He has been required to write about everything he reads. Look at any history textbook through the 12th grade and you will not find anything so in depth. (Have you read your kids textbooks? You ought to take a look, but that is another blog all by itself.) It is just not there. Now, Johnny is in fifth grade. No fifth grader in the public schools gets anything so thorough and in such a short time during school hours. Another example is Ruth's Shakespeare class. She is required to read 7 Shakespeare plays and she will be preforming one with about 15 other homeschooled teenagers. And she is loving it! You cannot find such an in depth study in any eighth grade class in the public schools. One more example is I am doing Spanish with my younger children. Rachel knows the days of the week in Spanish better than English. They are learning to write in Spanish along side English. I am pleased to beable to give my kids foreign language experience so young.
The second but is time. Not my time, that is, but my children's time. All of their studies are finished during the school day! There is no homework as such. There is no wasted time. Most of the kids even eat lunch while working because then they will have more free time later.
The third but is well my kids. I know my kids better. I know their strengths and weaknesses better. I know what things they have picked up from being in school and who they just are. Ruth changed at the end of 7th grade last year. Instead of being the nice girl who enjoyed helping out and spending time with her parents and siblings, she became the teenager who was yelling at her parents and being mean to her younger siblings and well just acting like the textbook teenager. By the end of the summer she was back to just Ruth. She is still back to herself. She spends near to 12 hours a week with friends at church, her Shakespeare class, and select friends hanging out and swimming. But she is still just Ruth, not Ruth's friends.
The fourth but is Johnny. We have noticed that about all he learned in his four years in public school was how to waste time really, really well. He was never given enough work to keep him busy, and he learned how to waste a lot time without causing trouble or being noticed. We cringe to think what this bad habit could have done to him as an adult. Johnny has enough work to keep him busy and I am taking notice and making sure he is occupied in a good way.
I could go on with other buts, like Adam needing extra help with reading and not having to do that after school time. Suffice it to say. There are enough good buts to continue the exhausting hard work of two full time jobs.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
What's Scary
Kate carried Joseph up the stairs on her shoulders to bring him to bed. The whole time, Joseph was screaming saying, "This is scary." Once upstairs, I brushed his teeth, whisked him into bed and asked, "Did Kate scare you?" Joseph replied, "Yes scary, and monsters with hot cocoa and bananas!"
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