Exciting news

I’ve been sitting tight on this, but now it’s finally time to share. My royal family is growing by one more princess! Our new little girl will be joining us sometime in early July.

So April is going to be all about homeschooling while pregnant and with a new baby.  Adding a 6th little girl to the mix is definitely going to shake things up. At the same time, I’ve done this before. I’m planning on sharing all the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years of adding babies while homeschooling.

How I’m feeling about a new baby

This pregnancy has been a little rougher than my last few. There are extenuating circumstances that I don’t care to get into publicly, but there’s been some added stress that hasn’t helped things. However, both baby and I are doing well, and I’m under close monitoring by my care providers. It’s definitely different to be pregnant in your 30s, not your 20s! And it seems my immune system is way down — I’ve caught every cold, flu and tummy bug going. But now that we’re well into the 2nd trimester, things seem to be settling down a bit.

She’s sucking her thumb!!

Our plans around a new baby

For me personally, I’m trying to do as much as I can ahead of time. Because I had planned out this year fairly well, we’re on schedule to end a few weeks early, so that we will be done school long before baby gets here. That’s not only a huge relief, but all that planning has made dealing with the discomforts of pregnancy a little easier. My girls can just pick up their books and work ahead, even if all I’m capable of that day, is laying on the couch, trying not to fall asleep/throw up.

I love having babies in the middle of summer. It makes life a lot easier. I plan on having the girls and I spend a lot of time at the park, the splash pad and the beach for the “4th trimester” — the month or two right after baby is born. I’m also considering summer day camps for my younger 4. Given that one is a special needs child, this may not work out, but the thought of having the kids occupied for the day is appealing.

I’m also working on our homeschool plans for next year. I’m focusing on what can be done more independently.  I’ve made subtle changes to our homeschool set up in order to foster that independence. While I don’t know exactly how much attention this new baby will require, all babies do require a great deal of time. So having my older kids be able to do schoolwork without my direct input is important.

The kids’ reaction to the new baby

I waited a long time to tell my children about their new baby sister. In fact, I was actually a little nervous! But they seem to have accepted the news with some degree of excitement and curiosity.  It remains to be seen how they will react when baby is born and the whole thing becomes a reality.

Raising Royalty

It’s a big job to raise children. I go back and forth between being excited about the thought of another baby — a longing I thought I had to give up — and being terrified of the whole thing.  There are some hard things surrounding this baby too.

There shouldn’t be much of an interruption of blog posts however. I am going to make some changes to how our newsletter goes out, so stay tuned for that.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. Here’s to the next chapter — starting over with a new baby!