A moment to breathe

****exhale********

What a month (or more) it has been!!
Lots of ups and downs which have been totally exhausting. Too much to-ing and fro-ing for my homebody self.

We welcomed another wee lad into the extended clan with my brother and SIL bringing Milo into the world. He is gorgeous and seems totally laid back~thanks to his birthing goddess mama. We haven't had a chance to soak up his sofness and sniff his little head yet but it is definitely on the top of the to do list.

Trying to get to the bottom of Eli's silence has proved frustrating. Hearing tests were inconclusive (but we are welcome to pay another $125 and try again another day!!) and an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist has been suggested. In the mean time we are taking the sage advice of our kind, knitting neighbour =) and cutting out the psychic parenting and encouraging him to make some kind of sound to communicate his needs.

The two serious learners =P and even myself were becoming bored and resentful about the everyday learning and so I decided to read a bit more about unschooling and test the waters...just with my toes for now.
The kids are writing a list each day of stuff they want to do, things they want to learn about and geneal brilliant ideas. Of course not everything gets done but it is easing the transition between structured mornings and free reign.
I have to reassure myself constantly and deschool on an hour by hour basis but I see their imaginations, spirit and enthusiasm come alive again. In the end I felt that I was "schooling" at home most days and that I may as well send them over the back fence to school, dipping our toes into unschooling reminds me of my reasons to homeschool in the first place.
Who knows, one day we might even be ready to dive right in!!


Our extreme low came last week when we lost our precious puppy, Moo.
He was run over ou the front of our house. It was a terrible accident. There was nothing we could do, just pat him in his final moments.
I had severe puppy-mama guilt. I miss him and his hyperactive tail, his "hellllooooooo" barks and his jumpy puppy kisses.

Eli is lost without his friend. He calls for him and is confused by the whole situation.
We definitely had grown into a 5+dog family and one day when our guilt has eased and our confidence rebuilt we will search out another happy puppy for our family.