The birth of Nolan is one  I will never forget.  Not that you forget birth often, but his is one that grew me in many ways.  I developed gestational diabetes at 20 weeks preg. with Nolan.  With that came checking my sugar 4-5 times daily, sticking to a very strict diet and taking medicine twice a day to control the diabetes.  At the end of my pregnancy I was seeing the dr. every 4 days (from 32 weeks until his birth at 39 weeks and 1 day).  I was having non-stress tests twice a week and ultrasounds every 3 weeks.  To say the least the pregnancy was not only hard on me, but on my family as well.

His BIRTHday, started like any other induction.  We arrived at the birthing center at 7:30 am, finally got hooked up etc. by 9 am.  I was already contracting every 3 mins. so they knew that the pitocin would work well.  I was dilated to 3 cm at arrival and was about 50 percent.  After a couple of hours I requested my epidural.  I told them then that I could still feel most of my legs etc.  They tried to adjust it, but it continued to only numb my one side.  After several HOURS at being at 5 cm (a problem I have always had) they turned me on all fours to get his head to turn (he was sunny side up).  After about 30 mins. they turned me back around and I knew the baby was coming. 

They called the dr. in and she checked me…..still at a 6. I couldn’t believe I was only a 6 still……until about 3 mins. later she check me again…….now I was almost 8 cm.  Okay we are moving fast now…..a couple more contractions and I am yelling that I want my epidural to work…NOW!!!!  I was very unhappy and in a ton of pain.  This wasn’t something we were planning on….natural birth.  My mom knew right then that I was in transition.  I am so thankful that Dave and her were there……they both stepped up and took control of me and the situation.

I told the dr. I couldn’t take it any longer, so she told me to bear down through the contractions.  After doing that once they started to call for “baby stat”.  The baby came quick at this point…..two pushes and his head was born…..then the dr. told me to stop pushing because there was micodium (sp?) in the fluid.  They were trying to clean his mouth out.  THen I screamed  and he was born.  They quickly put him on me and stated to rub him etc.  We looked at the dr. and said, “What is it?!!!”  She responded with a, “Oh yeah, you guys don’t know.”   I then let out a big…..IT’S A BOY!!!!!!!!!

After he was born he was monitored for 12 hours for his sugar (which was perfect!!!!  Praise the Lord).  The Lord truly taught me to trust Him during the pregnancy and birth.  I had such horrible fears going into birth because of Ethan’s birth.  The thought of another 9 lbs. baby would bring me to tears in seconds.  The thought of stitches for months gave me nightmares.  But the Lord protected me and not only took care of me, but gave me my easiest recovery yet!  I praise the Lord for His goodness to me and my family!

Isaac and Nolan

Gracelyn and Nolan

Owen and Nolan

 

Tomorrow we go in at 7:30 am to induce labor.  With diabetes the baby has a higher chance of becoming a still born so they induce you earlier (39 weeks).  I love inductions…..I know some don’t!  But for us, I sleep great the night before, I wake up and head into the hospital….by mid afternoon to late evening we have a baby.   It works with having to get the other 4 children to my parents, we are organized and ready…..no big surprises on that end.

Boy or Girl…..that is the big question!  We are excited to take whatever the Lord gives us   He knows exactly what my family needs and what this little one will do one day.  I can’t imagine thinking of any of my children as something different from what they are.  So tomorrow we finally to get see if we have another son or daughter.  Thank you so much Lord!

Please be in prayer for us as we welcome this child.  Please pray for the Dr.s to have wisdom during the birth and with the baby right after the birth.  Thank you so much!

At our last ultrasound (We have had one every 2-4 weeks for almost 3 months now) the tech did an amazing 4D one for us for FREE!!!!  Here are some of the pics we received.

Look at this sweet baby cuddle up to his/her mama!!!! I just love this one! 

The tech took about 15 photos for us and we are so thankful.  We are truly amazed at what God is doing in this little life already!!!!

As many of you know I have a VERY hands on learner.  My little Owen (age 4) loves to have his entire body moving at all times of the day.  Sitting can be very hard for him to do, but he did great!  We do lots of moving and grovin while counting and learning how to read.

Isaac was all set for starting 2nd grade.  He is doing such a great job at reading and organizing that all I have to do is get him started and he is off!   That is a huge help when I have other children I need to help. 

Daddy helping with our first day!Owen having art timePreschool time! The other girl in the picture is my Mother's Helper.

The first thing we added was the book The Well Planned Day: A Family Homeschool Planner.  With my children doing different things at different levels and the crazy fun that comes with 4 children and number 5 in early Novemeber……..we needed some ORDER!   So, we hope this helps keep Dave and I on the same page.  This way he can walk in and pick up right where I left off if I need him too etc.

For History this year:

We will continue with Core B from Sonlight for Isaac and Grace.  We will finish weeks 18-36 this next year.  We decided last year to only do 1/2 of the sonlight Curr. in one year and we are so thankful we did!!!!  The year was much smoother and we were able to focus more time on what we were doing instead of rushing through it.  We are very happy with this decision for our family.

For Math:

We will continue moving through Math U See.  We can’t say enough good things about this math program and are so happy with the ease of use and the way the kids take to it.  This year both Isaac and Grace will be working on Beta.

For Science:

We will continue with Answers in Genesis, but will move onto God’s Design For Heaven and Earth.  Last year we were so happy with the worldview taught in this book and they way they presented other worldviews. 

For Spelling:

Here is our big change this year.  We were so unhappy with Spelling Workout last year.  We decided to start over with another program and decided to go with A Reason For Spelling book A.  Book A maybe too easy for Isaac, but we didn’t want him to have spots that he missed, so we will just go with it.  We felt like he learned almost nothing from Spelling Workout so we are going to try another approach this year.

Language Arts:

Grace and Isaac will continue with First Language Lessons Level 2 this year.  We really enjoyed the way it was taught in this book and the way the kids took to it.  You have to love when your child says, “Mom, you just said a pronoun.  That is a word used in place of a noun.”  They were both able to pull out parts of speech and give me the definitions.  We are also continuing with Writing With Ease that goes with First Language Lessons.

Latin:

We will be starting Latin this year and have decided to go with Prima Latina by Leigh Lowe.  I am very excited about this book and the way it is taught.  After I read the introduction to the teacher I was amazed at what I learned about our grammar system!  I think this will be a GREAT addition to our school day.

Reading:

After Isaac did the Level 2 readers in sonlight last year I was nervous about what to buy this year.  He seemed to FLY through them with no trouble and wants to read everything.  So I tapped into a wonderful lady at our church that is a reading specialist for the public school here.  She offered to test both of my school age children for reading level to give me an idea of what I should do.  Isaac tested a solid 5th grade level and Grace at a 1st grade level.  This was such a help in choosing our reading for this coming school year.  So for Isaac we will be doing Sonlight’s Level 3 Readers (which are not grade 3 readers according to many school standards) and for Grace she will do Level 1 Readers with many books chosen by Ms. Dana from our church.  I am so thankful Ms.Dana was willing to help me go through each book they would be reading and give me her thoughts on it!  Grace will also continue with Explode the Code books 4, 5 and 6 this next year.

Penmanship:

Late last year we started New American Cursive and we will continue with it this year.  We will hopefully finish it by Thanksgiving of this next school year.  I am very happy with the way it teaches Cursive and how well my children are both doing with it.

Bible:

Dave does almost all of our Bible time in our home.  He likes to mix it up with different things so it is hard for me to let you know what we will be doing.  I do know he wants to continue with Leading Little Ones to God.  Other than than I am not sure.

PreK:

I do have a 4 year old this year at home and I need to make sure I am giving him the attention he needs to move into K next year……so here it goes. ( I am very nervous about have 3 homeschoolers this next year and a newborn baby, but I know my God will give me the strength to do what He has called me to do).  For reading we will start Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but will wait until January to start.  He will be doing lots of preschool workbooks and math books.  We will also be doing Sonlight 4/5 Level for him and let Ethan listen in and do things with him as well.  Owen is more of an active child and needs more moving during the day.  I think we will be doing lots of dancing and singing this year as well with him

So there it is!  The list will most likely change at some point to meet our family’s needs.  I will be posting our future schedule soon; I am still working on it a bit.

The house is wonderful! It is very small for a family of our size, but it is great.  I was told it is like walking into an Ikea showroom. That made my heart happy.  My goal was to not make my family or visitors feel cramped or cluttered when they walk in.  I am going to try and get some pics up of the house….before and after.  You would not believe the work our church put into this house.  They sure made it nice for whoever gets to live here.  We just get to be the first ones…what a blessing.

The pregnancy is going well, it is sooo hard to believe we will be a full 20 weeks in a week!!!!  WOW, the time is going way toooo fast if you ask me.  I don’t know if I am ready for this to be over with in only 20 weeks ( I am sure I will be more than ready come late October/Early November).  The kids have decided that we can have a girl this time but they want a boy next time….I don’t think they realize there isn’t a vote on this. LOL

The kids are all doing amazing!  Isaac is in love with baseball and counts down the days til his next game everyday.  He got to pitch for the first time last week and struck out 2 out of 3 batters, he was one happy boy.  Grace is in Tee-ball and is doing great!  She loves to hit the ball and is a super FAST runner!  Owen is happy just playing in the dirt with Ethan.  The younger boys are such a joy to this home…..they bring so much energy.

This is a busy time in the Ferraro home when it comes to homeschooling.  The kids aren’t busy but mama is with all the planning. We have done some switches when it comes to curriculum (another post I promise) and the way we plan.  We are using The Well Planned Day this next year, hopefully to help get us all on the same page.

God has been so good in the process!  The church has gutted the house and have re-done almost everything!  The house looks amazing.  WE are learning what we really need and what we just want to have.  It has caused me to be even more organized than I was before.  Everything must have a place. Praise the Lord Ikea is only about 5 miles from my home.  We are seeing the love of our church for the Lord.  The men that have put in hours and hours and hours of their own time to make this house a home just amazes me!  Also, this is the first time we will be able to hopefully pay off our student loans and debt Lord willing!     With another little one on the way we need we buy a new van. (Our current van would require that we put a child without a shoulder belt, something we are NOT willing to do), so now the Lord has opened up some finances for us to buy a different van.  PRAISE THE LORD. 

This is a BIG change for my family, we don’t do well moving.  We like to have our schedule and our house in order, but God is teaching all of us we can move with 4 little ones, home school and have another baby.  Only HE can give that kind of strength!

Please pray for us as we transition into lots of new rolls and a new home. Our Lord amazes me everyday.

Brigette, there are so many things I don’t understand about life.  One of those is the life of a very young mother with 3 children leaving this world.  Things I do know are…God is good, God is in control and we live in a fallen world with lots of pain and tears.  The realities of this make me want to see Heaven that much more. 

Brigette, you are missed. YOu are loved and you were an amazing mother and wife.    So many days I just sit and think of our times together and how much I long to hear your very happy voice on the other end of the phone. I love you and miss you!

Isaac 7 years old.

Isaac

Gracelyn my almost 6 year old!

Gracelyn

Owen...... 3.5 years old

Owen....such a silly boy!

Ethan....such a big 18 month old!

Ethan

Ethan

The Crew

Take Outs......

Uh-ohThere goes Ethan.....

Watch out below......

Crazy! Trying to get one more picture in.....

Come on back Ethan......

I am DONE!

Things are going great for the Ferraro’s.  God always seems to change things right when we think we have them figured out….has this every happened to you?  Well, almost 2 weeks ago I started to throw up…..hummmmmm……..So I went to the Dollar Tree and bought a test.  And it was POSITIVE!!! I almost fell over to be honest.

So, 12 days later I went to the doctors.  He did an U/S to figure out a due date.  He did the U/S to find a VERY small little baby and heart beat, we were only 5 weeks and 5 days along.  Oh, what a sweet sight seeing that LITTLE heart beat!  God is so amazing on how He creates life!   That means Dave and I found out only 8 days after conception……oh, I made him promise me there was only one in there, but the dr. said it was too early to tell.  Maybe another little girl, I was super sick with Grace.   It doesn’t matter to us, God sure knows what we need better than we do. 

So our new THING 5 is due November 9th, 2011.   The dr. and us are being very active in making sure I don’t end up with another 9 lbs.  Ethan had lots of problems with his sugar when he was born and he got stuck. So we are going to be checking my sugar more often than normal.  I am very happy about this. Please pray for….

Wisdom for the doctors

Health of the baby

Health for me (for me to be able to take care of the kids while being sick)

Planning for our family

Thank you very much!!!!!   WE are very excited to add another wonderful blessing to our family.