First Appointment

Today I had my first appointment with my midwife. We have decided to have this baby at home. I would have never thought that I would have a baby at home, but after my last hospital experience and seeing Rachel have Elsie at home, I was sold. Even PJ is on board.

I am using a midwife in Winter Springs. She is pretty kooky (is that a word?) and earthy. Basically everything you would expect from a homebirth midwife!
She has a house on lots of land that the kids got to explore while we talked over everything. Unfortunently, our maternity health insurance is terrible, so it is cheaper to pay out of pocket for a homebirth than to use a typical practice and hospital with our insurance. Maybe that is why PJ is on board! Either way, it seems like this is the way to go and we are at peace and even a little excited about it.

I got to hear the heartbeat (only one Mom!), which surprised me at the early stage of 10 weeks. I am still coming to grips with the fact I am even pregnant, so hearing a heartbeat was a little weird. It was almost like I was surprised it was there. Maybe I thought this was all a funny joke. Now it is official, there is a little person in there!

Keep us in your prayers if you think about it. The main requests would be:

Finances
Having 4 children
Health of baby
This mommy taking care of 3 while wanting to only lay in bed all day, not move, not eat, feel bad for myself, and sleep sleep sleep........

Thank you!

Help

First let me say thank you for those who participated (keep them coming!) in our name quest. I have enjoyed hearing what everyone thinks! Once I know no one else is going to post, I will post the winner. Although, that does not mean we will use it. You have got to give us a few more months of fighting and arguing before it is official.

Here is my actual "Help" question.

For those who homeschool, and have young children, what ideas do you have for keeping them out of the way? I start school with Kayla next week and have been racking my brain of what to do with Wyatt (2yo) and Annie (1yo). Hopefully, Annie will continue her morning naps until she is 4. Yeah right.

Please comment any ideas you have, or have used yourself. Thanks!

Baby Name Vote

PJ and usually have major issues naming our children. I would like to take care of this name thing early on, so I am allowing all of you to take part in the vote. We may not listen to you, but it would be fun to hear what you think. I will give names and meanings.

Girl

Natalie Jewel Herron  (Natalie - To be born, or Christ's birthday)

Danae Elyse Herron  (Danae - Showered with gold)

Boy

Garrett Jacob Herron  (Garrett - Strenght of the spear)  PJ's favorite

Gareth Jacob Herron  (Gareth - Gentle) I personally like this better than Garrett. More unique.

Colton (Cole) Jacob Herron  (Colton - swarthy person. Swarthy means a person with a dark complexion, in case you
were wondering)


 I heard today my father and mother-in-law read this, so I better hear from you both too, Roy and Mary!  No more stalking my website without making comments!!  :-)


Added:

I wanted to add a couple things (for those who read this before I said this)  We can swap the girls middle names. Example:  Natalie Elyse instead of Natalie Jewel etc.

Also, for my brothers and husbands sake...

Virgil Jacob Herron  (Virgil being Wyatt Earps brothers name)

Doc Holliday Herron   :-)

I think my brothers and husband would love for us to have a little Doc and Wyatt or Virgil and Wyatt running around.   :-)

Still Alive

Yes, I am alive and well. Feeling pretty much like BLAH, but hanging in there. I am hoping I start feeling better by the time we start school. I decided I will share what the top 10 things I am looking forward to this Fall/Winter are. I think it might make me feel better this morning!

In no particular order:


1. Football season starting! I love football and I love fantasy football. I can't wait to come home on Sundays to the unlimited games (Direct TV Sunday ticket), watching the Redskins, and lounging on the couch while my kids nap. Good times.

2. Starting homeschooling.

3. Coaching basketball. This will be my 4th year coaching the Regent Acadamy's Girls Varsity Team.

4. The MOM's meetings starting up again.

5. Holidays. I can't wait to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving!

6. Family nights. We are starting to get together once a month as a family to go over the Fruits of the Spirit. I think my dad wants us to love each other more. Or maybe it is have patience with each other? Self-control?

7. Weather getting cooler, or at least not being oppressively hot.

8. Doug and Devi coming to town.

9. Feeling better and getting back into a rhythm and schedule!

10. Watching my kids grow up a little more and getting ready for one more!

Shrinking Family

I have been thinking recently how next year we will officially be a family of six. It is amazing that already people consider our family large. I cannot go anywhere without somebody giving me a look of sympathy and telling me "wow, you have your hands full". I find it funny most of the time. I think about what people must have though of my mom when she was walking through the store with six little ones in tow.

I wonder what people will think when I have two in a stroller, one walking with me, and a pregnant belly. Most will think we do not know how to use birth control. Although, perhaps that is true!, I would love to just leave out the part about the "accident". I would love to see the looks on their faces when I say how excited we are to have four children. That we would have it no other way. I think being happy about having four children in six years would be pretty shocking to most.

According to the Census Bureau figures, since 1970 the percentage of households containing five or more people has fallen by half. And it keeps shrinking. I am not here to say we must all have at least four children. What I am curious about is why it is so bizarre to have more than 1 or 2 kids, as if there was something irresponsible about it.

I was talking to a lady at church on Sunday about my pregnancy. She has 7, I think. She was saying that more people will ask you bizarre questions. One person asked her if she thought she had to many children. She answered back, well which one of these children you see do you think I should not have had?

I would LOVE to hear from people on this. There are so many different reasons for family sizes. I think it would be very interesting to hear how many kids you have (if any), if you are done, if you do not have children how many do you want, why?

I would really love for this NOT to be a debate about how many children are to many, not enough etc. I would just love to hear the perspective or opinion from others. I have noticed that "large" families in today's society are taboo, so assuming believers are the only ones reading this blog, are they becoming taboo even for us?