Me and the Baby

On Tuesday I went to my regular doctor appointment. He measured me and declared: "Colista, you are measuring huge!" Two weeks earlier I had measured normal and then on Tuesday he said I measured like someone ready to give birth that day! He told me I would have to come in for an ultrasound.
So today I had to be in Quincy at the hospital at 7:00AM!!! with a full bladder of course. The baby looked so darn cute on the ultrasound. I saw him opening and closing his mouth and trying to wiggle all around! He face was all chubby and cute.
I got done there about 7:30. I had to be at my doctor's office at 10:00. So I took myself out to breakfast at Village Inn and had some Carribean Crepes...mmmmm...so good. I hate going into sit down restaurants along though...oh well. Then I sat in the mall parking lot and tried to read a book for a while. finally it was 10.
The doc told me that I have high levels of amniotic fluid, a condition called poly-something-or-other. Here is a link for info about that.
http://www.i-am-pregnant.com/encyclopedia/Pregnancy/Amniotic-Fluid/Polyhydramnios
Apparently, it can be dangerous or not. I had borderline levels with Asher and he is okay although he came a wee bit early.
Also, he said that the baby is measuring too big for age, but he's not as concerned about that.
Then he said that the left ventricle of the baby's brain is enlarged. We don't know why this happens or what it means. Great. Here i a link I found about that.
http://www.i-am-pregnant.com/encyclopedia/Pregnancy/Ventriculomegaly
I have to have another ultrasound in two weeks to check my progress. Hmmm...
i think everything is going to be fine. Jeremy is going to give me a blessing tonight.

Okay and I found out today that there is a correlation to heartburn during pregnancy and the amount of hair that the baby has! Who knew? The ultrasound lady asked if I'd had bad heartburn and I said, ya,like the worst ever! She said, you baby has lots of hair all over and then showed me the little wispies. Cute!

Shredded Pork Vomit

I keep puking up shredded pork! It's disgusting. So are maggots.

Kevin Smacked me in the Face!!!!!

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Kevin tagged me. So here goes!


Four Random Things I Like About My Husband


1. I like that he rubs my feet.
2. I like his spiritual side.
3. I like that he puts a heck of a lot of thought into his gift choices for me.
4. I like his body!


Four Jobs I Have Had

1. Manager at Holiday Inn
2. General Manager at Zuka Juice
3. Head night chef at Reston Hotel
4. Mom of the freakin year!


Four Movies I Have Watched More Than Once

1. The Princess Bride
2. Gangs of New York ( I have a sick obsession with it)
3. The Lord of the Rings trilogy
4. Black Hawk Down


Four Places I Have Lived

1. Lexington, VA
2. Salt Lake City, UT
3. ST. Cloud, MN
4. Quincy, IL


Four TV Shows I Have Watched

1. LOST
2. Northern Exposure
3. Rome
4. The Tudors


Four Places I Have Been Most Recently

1. Chicago
2. St. Louis
3. Peoria
4. Decatur


Four People Who E-mail Me Regularly

1. What to Expect.com
2. Sir SPAM
3. my friends.
4. my fam


Four Favorite Foods

1. REAL mexican...not the crap people around here pass off for it.
2. My Mom's meatloaf...no one will ever top this....except maybe me!
3. Roast
4. Creme Brulee


Four Places I'd Like To Visit

1. Egypt.
2. New Zealand.
3. Italy
4. Hawaii.


Four Things I Am Looking Forward To This Year

1. Getting this kid out of me!
2. Tristan's baptism
3. My 10th wedding anniversary
4. Twilight movie


Four People I Tag

1. Liz
2. Kim
3. Sarah
4. Joanne

Oh my gosh...I'm HUMUNGOUS!

You people don't even know!!! I can't move! It sucks so bad. This kid has to get out. The time has come. I don't know what the deal is with my lower back but good grief! And none of my shoes fit. It's all sick and wrong. I'm miserable and I just want to quit!! AARHGGHH!

Oh!

And that is Cedric's version of a haircut. We got it cut by a pro the next day. Oh! and I must get apic posted of Liam's new do! We chopped his curls and gave him a faux hawk! It's sweet!

Cedric's first day of First Grade

Cedric started first grade on the 18th. he was very excited but a little nervous as Tristan filled his head with horror stories of Mrs. Rose. I told Ced that Tristan was just being goofy but he was nervous anyway. He came home that afternoon and ended up loving Mrs. Rose! YAY!
Liam starts half day pre-k this coming Monday. And Tristan is doing homeschool. He would be in the third grade. I tell ya, the more I read up on this Thomas Jefferson homeschooling, the more I am convinced that it is the way to go. I think may keep Cedric home next year too.

The Birthday Luau

Asher cheesin for the cameras! He wanted to smother the flames with his fingers.


The garage before the party started. It looked pretty cute except for all the "garage stuff". We had tiki torches lining the basketball court part of the driveway too. Kept the bugs away pretty good.
The Cake
Asher's birthday present from grandma and grandpa kelley

the birthday boys plus Liam
My Tristan

And the Luau is over. Thank goodness! It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. I think we ended up with about 50 or so people here! Tristan turned eight years old on the 21st. Asher turned two on the 17th and Jeremy turned 31 on the 20th. WOW. My oldest is eight. weird. We ate lots of food, had cake and ice cream and played. I was on my fee the entire day doing stuff and thought I would die when I went to bed that night. Only to discover that I didn't die but the next morning, my body wouldn't work! My back was literally stuck. There was no way I was going to make it to church. I just rested all that Sunday and left the majority of the cleanup for Monday. On Monday our friends Jonah and Laura came over and helped us clean up and we had leftovers and cooked out. another good time. We also played cornhole!

blah, blah, blah

I think we finally have two name candidates for the new baby. This is semi good news as we were drawing complete blanks on what to name this poor child. Who knew we would have to come up with so many boys names? But, I'm going to leave you all hanging because we decided not to tell anyone!!! HAHA! Cruel of me, eh? Why even bring it up then? Because I can!!! LOL! You'll all find out soon enough and I'm sure everyone will be thrilled!
Last night my good friend, Nichole Ivie and I went to the late show in Burlington. We saw Mamma Mia and it was so freakin good!!! I love ABBA anyway but, the movie was super fun! And we had the entire theater to ourselves so we could laugh and be loud and sing along if we wanted. It was a definite "hang out with the girls" movie and made me really excited for the Time Out for Women conference in St. Louis this September. There are like 25 or 30 of us going down there together and it's going to be so much fun!!! YAY!
Also, my mother in law is making me matching curtains for the boys room out of the flat sheets from the new sheet packs. She got the first set done last night and they look so cute! Thanks so much Debbie! I'll have to take some pics and post them.
I think I will go clean the garage now...

Sunny Skies...

Today is beautiful! What a great day to be alive!

RECAP

So this is Our friend Chris's new little baby girl, Elayna. She's super cute and I had to put a pic up of her. we're excited to see her again at the birthday Luau that we are going to have this coming weekend to celebrate Jeremy, Tristan, and Asher's birthdays.
I swore that I would not combine their birthdays since they are so close together (Asher is the 17th, Jeremy is the 20th, and Tristan is the 21st). But this year I'm very pregnant and just not up to the multiple parties idea. On the 16th we are going to have a big party starting at 5:00pm--come of you are able. I'm getting some authentic hawaiian luau recipes, and hopefully we will have a blast. We're going to play cornhole, eat, some game for the kids I haven't figured out yet, and just hang out. I've got tons of luau decorations and leis for everyone. Hopefully I'm feeling good that day and in a decent mood:)
Here is the unbelievable swimming pool. So we really really liked many things about this pool. It's just big enough that I can let the older boys swim with almost now worries, it's a good ice breaker for Liam to get used to swimming, and it just barely doesn't drown Asher. Also, late a night after the kids are in bed, it is just wonderful to slip outside in the dark and just flow so the weight of this dreaded stomach goes away! It's like having a jacuzzi...without the jets...or the heat....hmmm....not like a jacuzzi at all I guess. Who knew that a tiny little pool could fulfill so many dreams...and dash them all to pieces too!!!!
So we've been putting the chlorine solution crap in every other day and keeping the cover on and all that good stuff. So you also have to change the filter every two weeks. So we go to about 12 different stores to find the stupid filter. None. anywhere. So, Jeremy gets online to see if he can order it....nope!!! Know why???? They only sell the darn things in the UK!!?!?!!?!? WTF???
There were all kinds of angry people online ranting about what a hassle this stupid pool is. The only solution is to buy a brand new pump for a different brand of pool and use that instead. But, it costs just as much as the whole stinkin pool did! Good Grief!! So, now we have a green, algae covered pool that we don't know what to do with. Crap a Dog!


Yes, Cedric is okay for those of you that are wondering. He had me worried at first because he ran and hid and I didn't know if he was stuck under the car or what! He felt really bad. I don't think he was actually trying to "drive" per sey, I think he was getting something out of the front and knocked it out of gear. I talked to my mom and a couple of siblings about it and they all laughed at me!! I was feeling rather inadequate as a parent after he wrecked through the door because just last fall Liam had wrecked into a car at the Nauvoo Family Inn and Suites "accidentally". Anyway, they all laughed at me because they said those are the kinds of storeis you get when you have a large family. And then proceeded to tell me of all the crazy things my brothers and sisters did while growing up. My brother Russ, tied my dad's car to the front porch thinking that when my dad left for work, he wouldn't be able to go. But, instead my dad ripped the entire front porch of the front of the house when he tried to leave for work!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh there are so many good stories to tell but, I will spare you all.

For all my old pageant friends, the verdict is in.... the new Nauvoo Pageant is not as good as City of Joseph despite the rumors that abound! Oh, it's good. But, it's a completely different feeling and style to the whole thing. Volunteering at the concession stand is great and such a great blessing for the whole community. Before pageant time each year the church offers to all the local organizations (i.e. other churches, PTO, youth groups, etc.) that any volunteers will be "paid" and the money goes to whichever organizations they are volunteering for! Sweet, huh?

Miracle of Miracles, I have things growing in my garden finally!!!! I am going to have cherry tomatoes running out my ears!! And from the looks of things I will have a full bounty of watermelon and zuchinni too! I have one tiny green pepper and the devil deer from the east have trampled and eaten my tiny little corn!!! Oh well. Better luck with that next year.

My mother had a huge garden and a small little orchard too. Me, my mom, my sister Vicki, and my neice inlaw, Joanne, have been canning like mad-women!! We've made peach jelly, peach jam, peach honey, peach salsa, peach juice, peaches, peach pie filling, relish, oscar relish, pickles, corn, apricot jam, apricot baby food, apricot butter, peach butter, cherry pie filling, and more!!
We've still got a butt load to do. The plums are just about ripe and then we will have to do tomatoes and salsas and such. This is my first year of canning. Well, I canned like one day last summer and thought it a crazy endeavor. which I still believe, but what blessing to not have to pay for all this food when food costs are so stinkin high!!!

Okay that's all for now. I will have a lot to blog about these next couple of weeks because like I said we have three birthdays approaching, school starting, Tristan's baptism, Todd and Susan getting sealed in the temple, and grape festival all before the end of the month!!! I think a couple of my brothers are going to make it back for the temple and the baptism so I'm REALLY looking forward to that!

Excuse Me

So I've been slacking on my blogging duties as of late. I think I temporarily lost my mind. I was just a bit overwhelmed and had those dreaded feelings of inadequacy hindering my writing abilities. But, never fear, I'm back with plenty of stories and pictures to share! Now, I just need my computer guru of a husband to get home and help me put the pictures from the camera onto the computer so I can show everyone! I know, ridiculous that I don't know how to do that.
So here is a short summary of the events of the last two weeks:
* Canning our butts off!
* Almost done with Breaking Dawn!!!
* Cedric drove the van through the inlaws garage door
* Planning the birthday luau
* Went to the dentist to find out that I get to spend 6-10,000 on just three teeth!!! haha!! (no joke)
* Contemplated my abilities as a parent
* Had a Pampered Chef party
* Set up Tristan's baptism
* Went to the new Nauvoo Pageant finally
* volunteered at the concession stand at the Nauvoo Pageant
* Got the boys bedroom painted, beds set up, things on the wall, etc. curtains still to come...
* floated in the pool from the UK....more to come on that....
* Decided that it is time for this baby to get the freak out!!!!
* Found a long lost friend from COJ via facebook-yay!!!

So this is just a little teaser for later tonight when I may or may not find the time to elaborate on these stories and put some pics up!!!

Colista has checked out!

I am an emotional basketcase. Losing it today. This nut is cracked.