Another Dream Come True!

Well, I have misplaced my camera once again.....and I have much to blog about.......mother's day, Cedric's birthday, and other stuff. Hmmmm. Well today I will blog about something else.
Ever since Jeremy and I had met we had shared a love for the band Pink Floyd. We were never able to see them in concert as they are not together anymore.
Big Bummer! We always said that would probably be the best show ever! Well, apparently Roger Waters (He was the bass player, co-lead vocalist, lyricist, primary songwriter, and one of the founding members) has put together a new limited tour of The Wall!
So of course we are super stoked to go!! It's in St. Louis at the end of October and we are going with some of our best friends, Jon and Nicky Cote!!!! woot! woot! Prices for the tickets were a bit pricey but this is a once in a lifetime event I think!

Homemade Playdoh

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make homemade playdoh with the boys. Liam was home from school and actually helped make it but didn't come out to play with it until later. Cullen and Asher had a blast with it! We made yellow and blue. Playdoh is one of the greatest things on the planet I think! We had some of the regular store bought playdoh at home but it's great to show the kids how to create things from scratch. And teach them how to measure! ha!

Baby Girl Update

Today I went to the doctor for my 24 week checkup. Heartbeat was good.
I was tired and couldn't breathe. I hadn't gained any weigh yet and expected the same today but somehow I managed to rack up NINE punds in one month!!!!
I've never gained that much in one month!
Dr. Kim had the results from my ultrasound and said that we needed to schedule another one. The baby's abdomen is too big.
He said not to worry, we will check it and see if it's normal now or what. I said okay.
The ultrasound is scheduled for May 26th. That same day we scheduled the glucose (diabetes) test. I came home and decided to look up a little info on what this enlarged abdomen on the baby could mean.
As I cruised the internet it seems it could be any number of things to a blocked bowel or urine tube (technical term, ha!) some people said it had something to do with Down Syndrome but I didn't quite get the connection there.
The most logical thing to me seemed to be that it is probably related to gestational diabetes. It seems big fat babies (with enlarged abdomens) are a common problem with gestational diabetes. I have a good portion of the signs and symptoms......and I have all the risk factors: (copied from informational website)

• over the age of 30
• obesity
• family history of diabetes
• having previously given birth to a very large child (over 9 pounds, 14 ounces), having previously given birth to a stillborn child or a child with a birth defect
• having too much amniotic fluid
• having gestational diabetes in a previous pregnancy
• having high blood pressure
  

signs and symptoms:
Generally, gestational diabetes may not cause any symptoms, however, the woman may experience excessive weight gain, excessive hunger or thirst, excessive urination or recurrent vaginal infections.


Now this is just me being Dr. Colista...but it all seems to make sense doesn't it. Seems this stuff is the treatment which sounds like loads of fun ( I mean the injections part):
Treatment for gestational diabetes includes eating a carefully planned diet, getting plenty of exercise, maintaining a healthy pregnancy weight, monitoring glucose levels and, if necessary, daily insulin injections.

So we have two weeks to wait and see if I am in fact correct or just a crazy hypochondriac! Either way, it should be interesting....and I get to see that baby girl again! woot!

For those who want to know, YES, we have a growing list of names for this girl! We won't be naming her until we see her but we will have a list. If anyone would like to make suggestions, we are certainly open......
List so far (and by golly if you steal one of my names I will hunt you down!):

Haven
Vivianne
Eden
Naomi

I will keep you updated on the naming process of course. Middle names are hard. My middle name is Rose and we may use that but, I'm on the fence about it.

Carthage Primary School 2010 Spring Concerts

At Carthage Primary School they don't have Christmas concerts, they have Spring concerts. Maybe to be "politically correct", I don't know. Anyway, the kindergarten-2nd grade concert was on one night and the 3rd & 4th grade was on the second night. The first night was Cedric's and we took the whole family. It was a nightmare! Cedric did amazing but the other boys that were not in the program made it their mission to ruin the program for everyone else. So, we decided that on the second night we would divide and conquer. Jeremy stayed home with Cullen, Asher, and Liam. Cedric and I went to Tristan's program. He also did a great job!

Schools Kill Creativity

As most of you know, I strongly dislike government schooling. I can go on and on about all the downfalls and the tragic things that happen there. In fact if we had not moved to a smaller house, I would be home schooling all of the kids now. And I fully intend to do so when we move again in two years. Ken Robinson makes some compelling arguments for creativity that I fully agree with. Take a listen....it's about 19 minutes but well worth it!
On another day, I will go into the stupidity of public schooling on all other levels.

Cullen......

I can't get enough of this kid! He's so stinking cute! I'm pretty sure he's going to be VERY jealous when the baby comes. He loves his mama! And apples too....ha!

Asher.....

Asher went from being our BEST sleeper at the old house, to being our WORST sleeper at the new house. Every night he is the last one to finally go to sleep and we have to struggle to keep him in bed. One night after fighting with him a whole lot to go to sleep, we found him finally asleep....like this!

The Hunting of the Eggs

Not long after finding their baskets inside, Asher happened to look out the deck door and find some eggs in the grass outside! He was SO excited! He went running around the house trying to gather his brothers to see what he had discovered outside. So we had to throw clothes on and head out. Our yard is HUGE....so the Easter bunny only did the fenced in part. And steered clear of the stream. The boys had so much fun! Then we came in and had a giant Easter breakfast! Mmmm, good.

The Finding of the Baskets

Cullen's Bucket

OOoops, it's sideways.....how do you fix that? Have to ask Jeremy later.....

Cullen finding his bucket

Liam was still waking up!

Cedric's Basket

Tristan's Basket

Asher's Bucket

The Boys woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to find their baskets. You would have thought it was Christmas or something. Of course Tristan and Cedric had already went around and found everyone's baskets and had to "lead" them to their stuff. It was cute though, the kids really enjoyed everything! The Easter Bunny went very simple this year and the boys didn't seem to notice or care. Yeah! They said it was the best Easter EVER! woot!

The Coloring of the Eggs

We colored about 5 dozen eggs this year. It was actually a lot of fun because we did most of it while Asher and Cullen napped! haha! I did get Asher up to do some but it was a lot easier to do it with the baby sleeping. Asher was meant to be included but once he fell asleep on the couch, you can't wake him up right away or you will end up with a holy terror on your hands! The older boys had a ton of fun though and so did I.

Inspiration For the Day

This really struck a cord with me today. So many times in my life...during the hard times....I tend to lose faith rather than the other way around. She (the woman in the video) just really inspires me to be a better person. And to not take anything for granted...even the really hard times in life. It's all for a greater purpose. You can read her blog too....it's awesome. I'm gonna put up a link to it on the side of my blog.