Doctor's visits and homeschool

Praise God we have had a really great two weeks of home school! Mom you would be so proud (and interested) we are learning about early American history so lots of American Indians, Christopher Columbus, and the Spaniards and exploration. I love reading about history and am so glad Trinity loves it as well. Craig is going to make the kids some cool Indian garb from old worn out t-shirts this week and they will have fun playing dress up and continuing her history lessons. It's amazing how much Brendan loves to listen too. He'll be playing and then stop and want to see the pictures of the Indians and there houses and he will ask questions about what I've just taught. It's so much fun for me! And we are learning biology!! Oh I love biology too!! Teaching her about cells, molecules, atoms, kingdoms of living species and taxonomy! It's soo cool! Can you tell I'm very nerdy?! In college I even thought about changing my major to biology because I love it so much. Chemistry...not so much (although I love the experiments). Anyway today we'll be making a model 3-D cell out of sandwich bags filled with Karo syrup and different cereals, beans, or gummies for the organelles in the cell. I'm so excited and really thing this will give Trinity a better idea of how it looks and what we are learning. She is alot like me and learns very visually. I think Brendan will have a blast squishing the cell and tasting the syrup. I love home school!

Yesterday was quite the day! We had to bring the kids in for doctors appointments and we were there for three hours and then had to have Brendan's blood drawn because his iron levels are testing just under the normal range. It's been like this since he was 12 months and I'm noticing some things like fatigue (more fits), paleness, flaky nails, and getting more tired and sick than usual. Also his eyes (the sclera) to me look a little jaundice. Not bad but even our doctor thought it worth checking out so poor kid had to have a vial drawn yesterday. Craig had to go into the lab with him and he was telling the phlebotomist no by shaking his head as she went near him with the needle. Craig said he was fine no crying nothing...and then he left and I could see his face as he approaches the van change. It looked like he finally realized what she had done and he was not happy about it at all! He was very angry at the whole deal (plus he was exhausted from being sick with a mild cold and waking up at 5am). But we weer really proud of him.

Trinity had to get her throat swabbed and she just gets into crying mode when she sees the q-tip. She hates to feel as though she's gagging but she gets so scared she won't keep her tongue down and then of course this makes the swab go down her throat. So that was a mess but the nurse was so sweet and patient. Trinity was lucky this time because usully the nurse are ready to pin her down and do the swab and impatient with her. She also had these weird holes in her cartiledge of her outer ear canal that I needed the doctor to look at. She had never seen anything like it before and told us to keep a look out for any changes but most likely it was a sore at one time and just healed strangley...almost like a chicken pox sore that keeps getting picked and heals as a scar. Anyway, she just has a little virus and is doing fine.

I won't be posting quite as much now that school is on...I'm now in teacher mode and much more active now that I can put Annaliese in the carrier for a short amount of time. But there is so much I want to share. I just feel like God has revealed so much truth about myself and our situation and although we are still in the midst of it all and I struggle emotionally with it daily I am really growing through it all. I'll take more pictures of Annaliese (who has to be the happiest sweetest and most determined baby I've ever seen) soon. She is such a miracle and blessing. I've got to get her giggling and "talking" on tape...she loves loves loves to hear herself talk and just starts laughing after certain loud sounds she makes! It's so cute!