Baby #5 - Week 9.

It's week nine and I apologize for my lack of posting but as any mother knows energy in the first trimester is limited and other things have had to take top priority over my blog. Please hang with me and I will hopefully be back in my normal blogging routine soon. This week I had my first prenatal appointment and the due date was set for November 5th. I am feeling more tired this week and needing a lot of protien rich foods to keep me going. If I go too long I get all shaky and sick and just plain nasty feeling. But if I am careful and keep my protien levels high I am actually feeling better with this pregnancy than I ever have with the other babies. Well, enough about me here is what you really want to hear about THE BABY!

Baby is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

Here is what baby looks like this week.

It is so amazing to see that it actually "looks" like a baby already. Isn't our Creator God amazing!

How's Baby #5 growing?

As most of you know by now, I am expecting baby #5 in the fall should be around November 5 or so. I am scheduled to see my doctor for the first time this week and will have an official due date then. Last fall I participated in Samantha's Body After Baby Challenge and I really enjoyed it. While I know that I will gain weight during these nine months, I want to be as healthy as possible. So, I have decided to blog weekly about our babies growth, how I am feeling, and what good choices (physical activity, eating, sleeping, etc) I have made this week. So, here is the first post....

• Well, this week I will be 8 weeks along. I am still battling on again off again morning sickness. It is not as bad this time as it has been with other babies but it is present none the less.
• I am not as tired as I have been with other pregnancies. I still have days where I am on the couch most of the day so tired I can't lift my head (all the while carring for 4 children and schooling 2 of said children), but those are just some days where as other times I have felt that way for 3 months straight!!
• I am still planning on gardening this summer. That will give me consistant activity and it is something that saves us money and that I thoroughly enjoy!
• I am trying to only allow myself one treat a day. Some days that is ice cream other days it is chips, it just depends on the day and how I feel.

Here is what the baby looks like at this stage -


Marveling over a baby's tiny fingers and toes is one of the joys of the first day of life. Those fingers and toes are just beginning to form this week, and the arms can even flex at the elbows and wrists. The eyes are becoming more obvious because they’ve begun to develop pigment (color) in the retina (back of the eye).
Also, the intestines are getting longer and there isn’t enough room for them in the baby’s abdomen, so they protrude into the umbilical cord until week 12.
By now, the beginnings of the buds that will develop into your baby's genitals have made their appearance, although they've not yet developed enough to reveal whether your baby is a boy or a girl.

WINNER!!!!

Jill with comment #16 is the winner. Random.org picked that number and she is the lucky woman! Jill, please email me and I will get you in touch with Tracy at Busy Bee Diapers. Congrats!!! And thank you all for entering. Check back soon for more giveaways!

Mama Notes Guest post Recipes

Here are the recipes that I made mention to in my guest post over at Mama Notes. I hope that you all enjoy them and can find them useful in your kitchens. Thank you for taking the time to hop on over here. I hope you come back soon!

Don't forget to enter my first giveaway here. Cloth wipes and a wet bag!

Bean Dip (I have done this with black beans as mentioned in the recipe and also with pinto beans which is what they use in store bought bean dip.)

How I cook my Beans

Chewy Granola Bars 

Breakfast Bars

Granola (topping for yogurt, a cold cereal in the morning, or a grab and go snack during the day. This is great stuff!)

Cinnamon Rolls

Big Batch of Dough (stromboli, cinnamon rolls, this dough freezes well)

Guest Post

Do you have a grocery budget? Are you always looking for ways to cut it? Well, I wrote a guest post about our grocery budget and how I feed our family of six on $300 a month. Want to read it? Head on over to Mama Notes to see what I said. Then check back here in a bit and I will be putting up some links to a few of the recipes that I mentioned in the post.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!!!

My First Giveaway!!

I am so super excited to bring you my first giveaway and it is one that is for a product near and dear to my heart. I love cloth diapering and cloth wipes and everything about that diaper choice. Well, Tracy at Busy Bee Diapers has just opened her shop online and is offering a set of diaper wipes. This is a set of  3 days worth of cloth diaper wipes , 24 count, 8x8 in fun prints some with terry on the back, some flannel on flannel, a few are a new product called swipers which are made with fleece. This could quickly build your wipe stash and you will be able to customize the prints to whatever you like boy, girl, neutral, fun and crazy...depending on what your needs/wants are. (retail for about 18 dollars).

She is also offering a new wetbag, i your print of choice. (Retail of 8 dollars, standard size wet bag)

So, as you can see this is a giveaway for some really awesome products and lots of them! This giveaway will end on Friday and the winner will be posted sometime over the weekend. So, you want to enter?

Here's how -
1. Be a follower of my blog.
2. Visit Busy Bee Diapers and tell me what print set looks best to you. She is adding more often so keep checking back!
3. Tweet about this giveaway and leave the link to your tweet.
4. Start a thread or comment on a thread in My Community (located on my right sidebar).
5. Spread the word about this giveaway by leaving a link on your facebook page, in a blog post, ect. You must link to this giveaway for it to be a valid entry.

My Birthday

Next Wednesday is my birthday. In honor of my birthday, I am hosting my first giveaway and it is one you won't want to miss. You will have a chance to win cloth wet wipes and a wet bag from a really cute etsy store. And the winner gets to choose the print for both!!! So, come back Monday to find out the details. The contest will run Monday through Thursday with the winner annouced on Friday.

A Typical Day

I know you have been wondering. Well, you have, haven't you? Don't you want to know about it? A day in the Sikes home that is. Hasn't it been rolling around in your head for weeks now? I know how much I love reading posts about life in other households and I thought it was high time I did a post about the days within the walls of my home. So, grab a glass of iced tea, (yes it is finally warm enough here to enjoy cold drinks again!!!) and I hope that you enjoy.

My husband and I rise around 6:45. We spend time in together and get him out the door to work by 7:30. After that I take a few minutes to check my email and such and spend some time in prayer about my day. By 8am the bigger children are up and we are getting breakfast. During breakfast we do Bible time and read alouds. Right around 9am we start book work. The girls do math, language, phonics, spelling and writing (not all of these every day but these are the subjects that we focus on) in the morning. Once these are done they are free for the rest of the morning once morning routine is done.

Around 11am I start lunch and we eat some time close to 11:30am. From 11:30 until 1:00pm it is clean up time and then play time for all children. This is when I start some laundry, clean the kitchen, or wrap up paper work. At 1pm the littles lay down for nap/rest time. This is the time when the older girls and I take advantage of the quiet time in the house and we practice reading, do our history or science, or do some oral spelling or math. Usually it is during this time that the three of us are folding laundry on laundry days. We take turns folding and reading. Other days the girls will gather with me in the kitchen and read/work/talk while we all bake together. It has become one of my favorite times of day.

By 3pm, everyone is awake, and we grab a snack. After snack the children have free time. I finish up housework, make phone calls, and start dinner. At 4:00 or 4:30 (depending on how bad the house is) the children are rounded up and it is afternoon routine time. We pick up the house, empty the dishwasher, set the table, wipe down the bathroom, and just do an over all clean up before Daddy gets home.

We eat dinner at 5:30 and everyone helps with clean up immediatly after dinner. The dishes are loaded in the dishwasher, the table is washed off, the pots are washed by hand, and if needed the floor swept. After that the evening is family time. We play games, watch a movie, take a walk, or just sit and enjoy each others company.

At 8:00pm we get a bedtime snack and get dressed for bed. Then it is family worship time and off to bed by 9:00pm. It is a full day but it is one that, for the most part, we enjoy. It helps me to stay on top of things and to fit everything into my day. Does every day go like this? Not at all, especially not in the last month. Being in the first trimester makes me sick, tired and over all feeling BLAH. So, we have slacked a little but we will get back to it soon enough.

Anyway, I hope this didn't bore you too much. It got longer than I thought but I hope you enjoyed it. If you have a post about a typical day in your family I would love to read about it. Leave me a link, send me an email (on my profile page), or send me a message on facebook (lower right hand sidebar). I always enjoy reading about the daily lifes of other families.

I must be...

...A Careful Woman

A careful woman I ought to be:

A little girl follows me;

I do not dare to go a stray

For fear she’ll go the self-same way.

I cannot once escape her eyes;

What’re she sees me do,

she tries

Like me, she says,

she’s going to be,

The little girl who follows me.

She thinks that I am good and fine,

Believes in every word of mine;

The bad in me she must not see,

The little girl who follows me.

I must remember as I go,

Through summer’s sun and winter’s snow,

I am building for the years to be,

For a little girl follows me.

-Author Unknown

 

This poem speaks volumes in its short lines. Have you mothers of girls ever thought about how our actions will effect the way that our daughters view the job of motherhood, homemaker, and wife. If we complain about our work or waste time on the phone or the computer what example is that setting? If all our daughters hear us speak of is how hard and unrewarding, and never ending this job is, will they want to do it? Through what they see in our heart, our words, and our actions will they want to embrace this calling for them? The last thing any of us would do would be to jump head long into a job that we had only heard and seen negative things about.

 I am praying and striving and focusing on being positive about my calling of a keeper at home. I am putting a smile on my face and joy in my heart that I have been blessed by God to serve within these walls, the people that I love most. I want my girls to grow up and to view motherhood, homemaking and wifehood as journeys and callings of great blessing.

How are your actions today shaping your daughter's opinion of this calling? Are we teaching them that this is a job that is worth doing? Or is all they see a momma that begrudgingling does her "work" and finds no joy or satisfaction in her job? If you don't want your daughter to grow up dreading this life, we must stop the cycle now and show them that when we work at this job with the strength of our Lord, it a job of highest calling.

 

I have joined the club...

.....the expectant mothers club! The Sikes family would like to announce the expectation of our fifth child. We are all excited beyond words and I hope that it explains a littel about my lack of posting lately. I am feeling "normal" for me during the first trimester. I feel like I have been hit with a semi tractor trailer after having ridden a roller coaster twelve times! But other than that, things are moving ahead swimmingly and we couldn't be happier.

Thank you Father for this next blessing. Each life is a gift from You and we are so honored that You choose this one for us. Help us to raise this child seeking You first at all times. Keep us focused on Your word and will in our lives. Bless this baby with health and safety as it grows inside me. Help me, as a busy mom, to keep my priorities in line with Your will and to focus on my home and health first. Direct our path through this season of life and fill it with joy and peace in You. Thank you Father for loving us and for creating us to love. I love You and I love this new life You have placed inside me. Amen.

One Million Arrows

I have read this book cover to cover. Now, for a mom of four children that is a feat that I can't claim for very many books in the past eight years. But, this book is worth your time. I enjoyed every minute of it. I enjoyed it so much that I have several posts planned about it this week. The first or which is an interview with the author and gives a great overview of the book and the heart behind it. Tomorrow I will be posting some of my favorite quotes and my thoughts on the book.

One Million Arrows: Raising Your Children to Change the World


Interview with author Julie Ferwerda
1. The title of your book is, One Million Arrows: What is that all about? The title originated with a man I met in India by the name of Dr. M.A. Thomas. He’s received many national awards in India such as the Mother Theresa Award and the Padma Shri for his humanitarian efforts, especially for his work with orphaned and abandoned children that he started in the 1970s. In the 90s, Dr. Thomas read a verse in the Bible that describes children as a gift and a reward, like sharp arrows in the hands of a mighty warrior (Psalm 127:3-5). He realized that all children, regardless of background and circumstances, should be seen as a gift and a legacy to society because they can make a significant and positive impact in the world if given the proper training and opportunities.
India has as many as 80 million orphans so he set a goal of rescuing one million orphaned and abandoned children, sharpening them with love, education, and spiritual nurturing, and launching them back into society to bring positive change through the power of the Good News about Jesus. To date he has raised over 16,000 orphaned and abandoned children who have become doctors, nurses, teachers, politicians, missionaries, and leaders, and he has planted over 21,000 churches in India and South Asia.
Relating to us…the arrow vision of raising children to be a gift and heritage to their society is for all parents, all countries. So many parents in our culture have lost their vision as to the incredible opportunity we’ve been given to shape—not just tomorrow’s leaders—but today’s leaders and shapers of their peer groups, schools, and communities. But this takes vision and deliberate investment and training. One Million Arrows casts a vision for parents to sharpen and launch our children right now to make a positive impact on society.



2. You mentioned the notion of parents investing in or training their children. Isn’t this what parents already do? Some parents do invest in and train their children to some degree, but there is also a lot of hands-off parenting in our society today, especially in training character development as well as teaching our children how to live for the big-picture—like what were they made to do in this world, what are their unique gifts and abilities, and how can they use them to make a difference now?
We have to train our children to serve others—it doesn’t come naturally. But for many of us, once our kids head into kindergarten, it’s easier to let someone else take over a lot of the training, or to allow our kids to fade into their entertainment-driven culture in their spare time. We need to see parenting as a much bigger opportunity and invitation than that!
I use an illustration in OMA from 9/11 about victims, bystanders, and firemen, the roles people take when lives are at stake. We must teach our children to see themselves as the firemen of this world…the heroes who are willing to set aside their own comforts in order to make a radical difference for others who are suffering or even in danger. There are so many in our world—whether the world around us or the world at large—who need our help and care in order to be saved from terrible circumstances.
I am so encouraged to see a great movement of young people in our world right now who are joining God in His work, coming back to historic levels of competence, purpose, and service for their fellow man. OMA emphasizes helping your kids find what they are passionate about and then training them to use it to serve and positively impact others.


3. Can you give us an example of kids who are using their talents and passions to serve others? Many of these kinds of young people are featured in the book, such as Chloe who is currently majoring in filmmaking in order to positively impact her culture by communicating truths that will spur her peers to make positive choices in life. She’s already received Film Festival awards for her work on the film, “The Enemy God” by (10X Productions), Ivan uses his love for extreme sports to hold events worldwide for sports enthusiasts where he shares a bold Gospel message and then plugs youth into local churches. My oldest daughter Dani uses her love for music and working with kids to impact hundreds of kids during the summer as a Christian camp counselor. These are just a few of many inspiring examples!



4. You have an emphasis in OMA for families to invest in taking care of international orphaned and abandoned children through established organizations. Why is that? Investing in other children is one of the best ways to get your kids hearts interested and engaged in serving and helping others. Also, there are so many children worldwide who are the truest victims and have no means to get out of the gutters of life without help. As mentioned, these kids are currently being rescued and shaped to become spiritual leaders and contributing citizens of their own countries. Our family can make a true difference in the world by impacting lives of these children, which will in turn impact whole villages and cities as they grow up. What a great investment of our time, talents, and money! Many organizations will even allow you to visit the orphanages and ministries you help support.

We love to make it known that all proceeds of OMA go to international orphan ministries.

5. Is this a “how to” parenting book? We do share many principles-based parenting tips from several successful arrow-raising families. But there are already many how-to books on the shelves and I’ve had publishers tell me that parents ask for them but then don’t buy them. That’s because parents need inspiration: “What’s possible through our family if I commit this kind of energy to deliberate parenting? Can our family make a true difference in the world?” The major emphasis in OMA is inspirational aspect of parenting—casting a vision of the exciting ways your family can plug in to make a difference.



6. Is there any place parents can go after reading the book for more inspiration and guidance? We are currently developing our website (OneMillionArrows.com) as a community where parents can share testimonies as well as spiritual training helps. We are also adding many resources on our site such as unique orphan ministries to consider getting involved in, suggested books and resources, daily spiritual training helps, and stories of young people around the world who are making a difference.



Check out the blog and home page for updates and really useful resources for raising arrows. You can also buy the book at Amazon.com