Tiny Sugarbaby Pip

Well, the last week has seen me go from anxiously awaiting real labor & begging friends for prayers for peace of mind to kinda laying low to hm, maybe taking a few walks to pick up the pace to oh, come on, this is starting to get annoyingly boring. Same ol' same ol' (un)fun little trend of constant but irregular minor contractions since the weekend! But I got the peace of mind I begged for regarding the actual birth ... so that's a plus! Thank you, Lord, and thank you, friends! Uncle Pete stopped over for a quick dinner out and sleepover visit while in town for post-residency interviews, which was lovely =). He hadn't seen the kids since vacation in SC in June and hadn't been to our house since before he moved in June 2 years ago! Our St. Matthew (the reformed tax collector) feast day meal of silver dollar pancakes ... get it? Lying down at naptime;  feeling  enormous, but when I look at these shots, it doesn't look all that impressively big

Last post, I finished with this: " So while I might not have the time to say and show just what we're up to, know it'll involve locating and cleaning the baby clothes stash, the co-sleeper, the infant carriers, installing the 4th carseat, packing a hospital bag ... oh yeah, and going to more appointments, doing school, and all the other normalcies of keeping up with the family. Life is good!" And that's exactly what's happened 😂 At least I'm predictable.  37wks 38wks School has certainly found its stride, which feels awesome; so awesome, in fact, I'm a tad sad we'll have to put it all on pause for a bit. In fact, I've thought about staggering a few subjects so we come out after a 4-5 week break with another 1-2 weeks completed, after all. They enjoy it so! I tell ya, little missie sure has taken off! It's amazing to see the challenges she's put on herself and achieved well in these few weeks, completely of her own motiv

Pip has already passed the 35wk mark, and I'm just now getting to a new report because it has been busy  around here. As soon as last post ended, Pappy brought Paul back from Houston, and  we started school!  It's already been a full three weeks, and each week has been quite different from the last. I'm getting used to the curriculum, Paul's getting used to the new layout of school, and Ada & Jack are getting used to the new routine. All in all, I give it a solid A-. There are a few things that still need tweaking (curriculum-wise) and a few things that need shuffling (schedule-wise), but we're doing it, and we're enjoying it! Yay! So, all of that means that when we're not schooling, we're otherwise engaged in keeping house, outside play, inside play, errands, meal prep, gardening, etc, not leaving much time for blogging. Plus , with the beginning of the schoolyear came all the beginnings of every other activity: homeschool swim team, Boy Scouts, ar