One day at a time

We have been making a lot of changes, and for once I can say I am okay with that! The original plan was to start Ashlyn with first grade this year in August, but instead we put it off and started her in Kindergarten September 8th. The school work she is doing is first grade level, but she gets to do all of the fun things a kindergartener should get to do! This gives us a fresh start and has allowed me to start homeschool the way I had always intended it to be, before I got caught up in what the public school kids are doing. We still do school WORK, but don't make that the largest percent of our school day. In the mornings she does her spelling, math, writing or grammer, and in the early after noon she reads. Some days we just skip the morning work and play make believe. The rest of our day is filled with books books and more books, games, songs, playing outside, art, dancing and more! During breakfast and lunch we talk about a specific subject whether it be religion, someone in history, "the birds and the bees" or naming our favorite mammal! They've been talking a lot about religion lately, and Ashlyn has decided she is a buddist. Andi is I'm pretty sure creating her own religion (no surprise). None of them appealed to her. She says when she dies she is going to come back in another life as baby Andi. Andi is not requesting a book about Darwin. She has been obsessed with George Washington for months, and now Darwin. It honestly surprises me how much she has gotten into learning about significant figures in history.

Ashlyn is reading much faster now, is a pro on riding her bike without training wheels, has nearly mastered telling time, and is now tying her own shoes as of three days ago. She has lost two teeth and has another loose one, which I wasn't prepared for this early! She already has one permanant tooth, and two others coming in.

The pregnancy is going well. I am due in 12 weeks. Can't believe how time flies. We are having a baby boy. A couple of weeks before entering my 3rd trimester I cut out eggs and dairy from my diet and am now officially back on a vegan diet. It's a little stressful at times trying to make sure we're not only GETTING enough iron, but obsorbing enough, as well as obsorbing enough calcium. The calcium is no different on a vegan diet than a 'normal" diet, however your body doesn't obsorb as much iron from veggies as it does from meat. On the flip side, our vegan diet is filled with vitamin C which helps iron obsorbtion. The hardest thing is simply not knowing. I read that non-pregnant vegans should consume 14 mg of iron a day to be safe. However, a pregnant woman on a normal diet should consume 18 mg a day, so I guess a pregnant vegan should consume 22 mg or iron a day. The important thing is the girls are healthy and the baby is healthy. The baby is kicking non-stop. The girls kiss my belly all the time and talk to their baby brother. It's so sweet! Right now my focus is just spending as much quality time with just them as possible before the baby comes, and looking forward to more great years with them and their baby brother once he too becomes a wonderful addition to our family.