The other day as I was getting ready to do my exercises Jed took a look at my tummy and said, "You sure are getting fat with that baby in there!" But lest my self-esteem should be dealt too hard a blow, this morning he said to me, "I'm so glad you're not a mean mommy!" I said, "You think I'm a nice mommy?" "Yes!" This very enthusiastically. Okay, so maybe I'm not Supermom and my son thinks I look fat, but at least in his eyes I'm a nice mommy. :-)

Speaking of being heavy with baby, only one month to go before Baby arrives! If the Lord had consulted me at Creation about the gestational period for babies, I would have recommended six months rather than nine. Nine months is just too long. I was ready to have this baby a month ago. Not much fun feeling like a house, when none of your clothes fit and your back hurts and it's hard to get a breath sometimes and blah, blah, blah. But it'll all be worth it when we can finally hold little Jackson in our arms!

We have been homeschooling very steadily now for over three months, with our only vacation being last week for Thanksgiving and a few days here and there for sickness or appointments. I'd say that overall it's going very well. Keeping Chloe and Tucker occupied is still a battle, but lately I've been able to come up with some special activities for them so they don't just end up watching Little Bear. I consider it a good day with Jed when we read a Bible story, do a page of math, and do a reading lesson. Extra good days are when we're able to do other subjects like Heritage Studies, art, music, or science. Thankfully in first grade he's not going to be screwed for life if we don't do the extras every day! Next year and the years after that I'll push those harder. Homeschooling Jed is extremely fulfilling, even though there are days when I want to pull out my hair or stick him on the school bus, or both. The Lord is so good to have not only given us the calling to homeschool our family but also the desire and grace to do it with joy!

Don't try this at home

This morning as I was putting in my contacts I absentmindedly reached for the bottle of Clear Care solution and squirted my right contact with it. The minute it was in my eye my eye started burning like crazy. That's when I realized my mistake. Clear Care has to go in a special case that contains a metal that interacts with the solution and is neutralized after six hours. I felt really stupid. Three hours later my eye is still red and not a bit interested in wearing a contact any time soon. Thank the Lord my glasses are still fairly up-to-date!

We're having a stir-crazy kind of morning. It's sunny but all the kids are fighting colds so they can't go outside. We're not doing school this week and the kids are bouncing off the walls, even with the games we've been playing and stories we've been reading. As my grandma Abram used to say, "You'd sell them to the gypsies for a penny and a half if there were half-pennies, but since there aren't you'll keep them after all."

Today Jed and I saw the Superman emblem on something and I brought up the idea of Supermom. He said, "I woudn't say you were so much Supermom as Tired Mom." Well, I'd be the last person to call myself Supermom, but it was humbling to hear my precious son point out his observation of my energy level these days. He can be brutally honest but at least he's very sweet!

While we were out running errands today Chloe said, "When I don't have money I'm sad for money." I don't know where her fascination with money came from. Maybe it's from seeing Jed get paid for doing his chores or finding it fun to play with change. Whatever it is, she has said some pretty funny things about it lately.

We have had the worst luck with vacuum cleaners. In 7 1/2 years of marriage we've been through three. Of course we've always gotten (almost) the cheapest one at Wal-Mart or Best Buy. When our last one died recently, Evan went out and bought me an Oreck! He won major husband points with that move. :-) He got a fabulous deal on a machine that vacuums like a dream, is lightweight, and doesn't put your back out when you're pushing it. I think we've learned our lesson that sometimes it's worthwhile to pay a little extra to get something that's going to last more than one or two years. So maybe someday we can afford to buy a stereo to replace the cheap one we got at Wal-Mart only 15 months ago that recently quit working.