Life with the Deffenbaughs

Monday, October 27, 2014

Baby Blues Part Deux

Well there really aren't any more baby blues per say... I know it has been a bit since I've blogged but a baby, 3 year old, 5 year old, homeschooling and work both at school and church can keep you quite busy... oh and the lack of sleep doesn't help but like I was saying the baby blues have lessened and all those prayers have worked... thank you Jesus! Dawson now sleeps a bit longer, cries a LOT less! (although with David sometimes he tends to have these crazy meltdowns!) But overall he is doing much better. We do ALOT of laundry though. He still does have the Acid Reflux so pretty much after every meal he barfs.. its lovely especially when you are holding him and you are fully dressed to go somewhere... or when you have just given him a bath and he throws up all over oh and my ultimate favorite is when I am dressing him for church and we are running late and he throws up after I have completely dressed him (can you sense the sarcasm?!) Yeah we go through a lot of bibs and burp rags. A lot of tshirts and clothing... but at least he is not crying continuously and that is something to shout about! I am now heading to bed and putting JJ to sleep since he fell asleep next to me on the couch... but I promise I will blog soon and tell you how homeschooling is going... (hint I HEART it!!)

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The Baby Blues...

I know a crazy title... but the baby has the blues and rightfully so. We believe he has reflux and while baby has the blues, Mama has the reds... yep the angry reds not at baby of course but at the horrible pediatrician. Let me back up a bit.. once upon a time 5 years ago to be exact we met a wonderful pediatrician which we visited every time Matthew had a vaccination appointment and then when Jonathan was born we went and saw her as well. She was great! Personable, caring, excellent bedside manner... then without notice she left (insert the screaming mama face!!!) Yep I was distraught, I mean who was going to be taking care of our new bundle of joy! Enter new doctor... there were only 2 to pick from so I went with the lady pediatrician since I had met the other doctor and he was no good at his bedside manner whatsoever! This doctor that we currently have now is no gem either. The first appointment with Dawson she was in and out and no friendly banter took place. The second time around she was a bit better but still not really listening to the concerns I had about Dawson. Yep by this time we were noticing that some things were not right. The lack of bowel movements and constant fussiness was just not something that to us was "normal". The pediatrician just said it was colic... fine we took that response and then me the googler nerd that I am, began researching the symptoms that I was noticing with Dawson and everything pointed to reflux. Finally after one car ride of 30 minutes of non stop crying (and I mean the crying where the child is gasping for air and you can tell he is in some serious pain) I called to talk to her and of course no surprise here they had me talk to a nurse and the doctor would call back later only to hear that it sounded like he had colic which my response was no it was something else... well they gave me an appointment and she prescribed meds and changed his formula and had me call on Monday which was nonsense since once again she did not return the call and had her nurse instead tell me to continue with what I was doing... well she is done with us... Good bye to her because I am DONE!!! My poor baby is in pain and I can't do anything about it. My other kiddos on the other hand are suffering not because of the crying but because now they have 2 cranky parents that are losing their patience all too quickly and without realizing it at times taking it out on them which is completely unfair. So I am on a search for a new pediatrician, one that will listen to the problem and make sense of it. One who will help get to the bottom of it and bring some relief to our baby. At this point we are willing to do pretty much anything to keep him happy. So we will see what happens. Keep us in your prayers we need them! Despite all of this that is going on Homeschooling is going great and Matthew is loving it! I will update you on that once our this week (our second week) is over!

Monday, July 28, 2014

Our New Adventure Begins!

Well today a new chapter in our lives began... HOMESCHOOLING!! I can't believe it is really happening and I am so excited! We have been blessed to be able to do this and have our family support us in this decision that has been in planning since before our kids were born. I knew that one day I would be teaching my own kids. Why is a teacher homeschooling? That is very simple, as much as I enjoy being with my students, I know exactly what happens in the classroom. I see how we rush some of these kids into things that they are not developmentally ready for but we do it because it is something that we have to do. I don't want my kids to be part of that. I want my kids to actually enjoy what they are learning and pick subjects that they want to learn about. I want them to have fun while doing it as well and I don't want them to spend the whole day at school when in reality teaching doesn't take that long, we just make it long at school and we get kids that are bored throughout the day because instead of sitting down for multiple hours they should be learning through play. Unfortunately that is not what Kindergarten is all about anymore and don't get me started on Common Core that is another story for another blog post... People may not agree with my decision and that is fine. Homeschooling is not for everybody but I know it is for my family. Saying all that I can't believe my little boy has begun Kindergarten. Today we did all the subjects and it only took us less than 2 hours! It was amazing! I know his favorite subject is Science and he can't wait to get outside and explore which of course now that I know that we will definitely be doing a lot more of that. The beauty of Homeschooling I can choose what to teach and how to do it! Anyways, of course I had a small photo shoot prior to beginning our school day so I am sharing them with you although they are raw... I have not touched them or edited them.

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A digital collage by Smilebox

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Summertime!!

Yesterday was the official last day of school, since I had to go back to make sure my classroom was cleaned up and all things had to be put away. This past school year was a tough one considering that I had a room with a very high percent of ESOL students so my observations went rather interesting and not with the results that I always wanted. I definitely have been ready to end the school year since the first day of school. I also must say that being very much pregnant at the end of the school year was exhausting! Busy days are ahead for the Deffenbaugh's... In just a few weeks we will be welcoming our third little boy to the family and just like that we will become a family of 5. It is very exciting and no I will not be trying for the little girl... we believe adoption is a wonderful thing and if God chooses to bless us that way, we will gladly accept but for now we are content in being the parents of boys! In the midst of new baby we will be begin our new journey of homeschooling! I am SUPER excited about this. Although I have second guessed myself a few times on the curriculum for Matthew I know everything will turn out great! We will begin his first year (Kindergarten) officially at the end of July even though we have already begun the studies... We even joined a homeschool group that does field trips and a lot of social things together. They even have co-op classes so I am really excited that he will meet other homeschool kids and we will get to meet and befriend other homeschool families! Although I am counting the days until I can stay home permanently that will not be happening next year, instead I will be working half days. I am excited though for this new adventure, I truly believe that God has opened this door for us. The teacher I'll be working with is very much similar to me so I know we will work great together and have a successful classroom. Starting the school year I am sure it will be crazy!! I mean new baby, homeschooling and working aghh!! But I know this is the path that God is taking us in. It will be a hard year but I know God will not only provide but give us the strength to get us through it! I am hoping to have the energy to at least blog more... Id like to have these memories of our new adventure in homeschooling and life down in words rather than just memories in my mind. So this blog might turn more into our weekly events instead of just family updates which there will be some of that too but I would also like to blog not only about homeschooling but also my photography and crafty adventures as well... So hopefully you won't get too bored with the blog and keep reading and if you do decide to stop reading that is fine as well :) As for now I hope you enjoy your summer as much as we will, but hopefully yours will be more relaxing than ours!!

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Yes its been a while...

Here are some pics from our outing to see Thomas the Train... the boys were surprised and excited especially Jonathan who at the moment absolutely LOVES Thomas the Train!