My big boy is 8

My boy is 8 now. I love what he wanted for his birthday, new clothes and lunch at the vegan cafe GloHealth. He is my least demanding child, always grateful for what he receives, still quite sensitive and thoughtful. Its amazing how different all my children are and I appreciate all their qualities.

See my boys. My younger boys seem to be more rough and like to wrestle, and to do more things together. They have been bonding more lately which is always a joy to see as a parent.

My middle boy is now yellow belt. I was excited for him to go to his grading but then on the day I had pre labour that seriously stopped me in my tracks. This pregnancy has left me clueless or maybe its just teaching me how unpredictable life and birth can be.

The holidays were fun though we didn't do too much in the first part. Easter was a non event as we were most excited about celebrating my son's birthday.

I have been knitting a little.
A vest for my youngest son.

 Bonnet in red llama yarn.
After preparing the tallboy I realise that I went overboard creating for the little one. What's new. So I am trying to make non newborn stuff now.

Knitted crane for Japan.

Hotshot for bub in Summer, knitted in cotton fleece.

Double stranded Versa with star buttons from the Bird and the Fish.

Now I am slowly but surely getting organised for the birth of our fifth child, I am feeling fine and I am just enjoying the last days (I don't think it will be more than a month but in May) of the family dynamic as it is.

Av has learned the alphabet, knows all the letters and can write the capitals and lower case. He can count to ten and extended himself to add small numbers together. He can also count to Japanese to ten. This is what he  wanted to learn for himself.
Meanwhile J has been picking up a few new words and saying them more clearly than he has older words. We are having a townhouse being built in the backyard which is interesting to see happen on a weekly basis. J says "House" and "Dirt"

Achievements

"I am schooling myself without a teacher. "

Av said this to me and what a great way to demonstrate unschooling is working very well for us. He is enjoying writing out letters and copying words from books. He can now write out his full first name. I have not sat him down and taught him on purpose! He just started wanting to write and recognise letters, words and numbers. He has been asking lots of questions though. He asks me about letters and numbers and has an amazing interest in them, almost all of the sudden.He enjoys playing computer games and looking through our old encyclopedias. I am so grateful he is at home and I am loving the opportunity to see him learn every day. He is such a happy boy. Though I must say it is funny when we talk about homeschooling with friends they seem to think we are at home all the time and he will not get socialisation. I hate that word for a start but the good thing about homeschooling is the many opportunities to learn, grow in different places and meet people. Not just for our sons but also for myself and my family. I am anti social in many ways and yet I did go to school, so if that is what school is about, it failed in my experience.

Meanwhile he is also enjoying his Karate classes. He has his grading slip to attempt yellow belt next week. He had a practice dojo tournament and showed skill in kumite, his kata isn't so great (maybe he can blame his unco parents) but he received certificates for both and is proud of his achievements.
My big kids are doing well at school. My big boy received a bronze certificate in Mathletics which he loves to do. He has never done homework sheets in past years but his teacher has been strongly encouraging him this year and he actually does it now. I think he avoids it because its a waste of time...
My daughter received a SRC jacket and she wears it all the time and takes pride in her new responsibilities.
J is starting to use more new words. He can put on a mean tantrum but he is still fun to be with.

End of March, my husband celebrated his 35th birthday. We had a great day, with the big kids asking if they could spend time with their Dad rather than go to school. It was a great day with lunch together then just dinner with the two of us.

We celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on 3rd April. I love my husband more and more each year. We have had some really tough times like most couples but its been as though we are seeing eye to eye more and more. We used to fight over housework and parenting. Then he conceded parenting was my domain being the primary carer (or moreso babies need their Mama in the first 5 years but Dad can still be very much involved) but now he has educated himself about the things that most people haven't even thought about or even heard of. Such as homebirth, unschooling, vaccinations, etc. I am very fortunate that he is home most of the week with his odd work roster but he has become more equal in parenting. He has been attacked over these choices more than I have - but he has chosen to be more open about them too.

Now 35 weeks and as always I have been low and compact. No rib pain or back ache, I feel quite fortunate. Nausea still rears its ugly head but I manage. Hoping that I can be organised in the next few weeks so I can really enjoy those last few weeks. Questions that I don't like to answer - How long do you have? I am sure it will be in the next 8 weeks or so....Do you know what you are having? Um, a baby.....