Well, I don't know the answer to this question, but I've asked it before. It seems that homeschool families put around in extra large vans full to the brim with their well behaved offspring. In my head I envision the mothers orchestrating individual lessons for her 5 kids while simultaneously pulling one of the planned and prepared dinners from the freezer that she made with her once-a-month-cooking-plan. Of course, each ingredient that she created these meals with were purchased using no less than 2 coupons, which were then doubled by the grocery store, leaving her with a minuscule grocery bill. Somehow, she managed to tote her 5 children to 3 different stores in order to get the deals necessary to feel her entire family of 7 for $150 a month. I know these people exist. I have no idea what planet they come from, but I wish I could visit there and get some pointers.
I do, however, understand how the ended up with such large families. It seems that the act of homeschooling, or even the act of deciding to homeschool, instantly makes you fertile. If I had only known this fact, I could have saved tens of thousands of dollars and a whole heck of a lot of time. It seems that such fertility can be increased further if the homeschooling mother decides to sell all of her unused baby items on Craigslist. Not only is this infertility treatment option affordable, it can actually be lucrative. In my case, I went through and cleaned out all of the boys' old clothes, swings, baby baths, unused toys, all of the clothing Ivey has outgrown... everything that I am not currectly using for Ivey. It sold like crazy. The little that I had left I put up on Ebay. There I was, sitting on a Saturday morning amongst boxes of paid-for-waiting-to-be-shipped packages of baby items when I found out that I was indeed going to need all of those things that I had just sold. Yes, we are having another baby!
I found out of Jeff's birthday, but decided not to say anything until the next day. I expected for the next morning's test to be lighter than that one was... as is typical for me. No need to stir him up for no reason. However, the next morning, I was staring at a very very dark line. I have stared at enough lines over the past 9 years to know what is really really positive and what is barely positive. This was blazing. Sure enough, my beta levels are nice and high, and rose with an excellent doubling time. At 6 weeks, we had our first ultrasound and saw a flickering heartbeat. Now, I am almost 10 weeks along!
So... I've been trucking through the first trimester exhaustion and queasiness while changing (and washing) poopy diapers and having all 3 kids home 24/7! So far, the medical concern is my ability to get in enough calories to continue to feed Ivey and grow a new little peanut... oh yeah, and support myself. Ivey will be a year old in October, so if I can just make it until she is on whole milk I plan to drop down to just a morning and a night feeding and taper off from there as needed. Then, when she's 17 months, I will have a newborn and will start all over again!
When we found out that we were having Ivey, it was a little sad to us that she would not have a buddy. The boys always had each other, and we love the fact that they can play and talk and learn together. Well, it seems that Ivey was supposed to have a buddy after all! Now, I just keep thinking of all the craziness that will come about from having a family of 6. We won't fit at a booth with a chair on the end... I have flatware for 8, which will only get us through 1 meal... we already go through almost 3 gallons of milk a week, so that will probably increase to 4 or maybe even 5... but think of all the fun and laughter and crazy Christmas mornings we will have!
