Memorial Day 2008

We started off our memorial day with a picnic. We tried to go to School House Park but it was jammed packed. There must have been a reunion going on or something so we ended up at Stubbs park and unfortunantly the bees had taken over the picnic benches. So we enjoyed our lunch on a side bench.

Next we headed for the pool. Paul and I did not get in cause it was freezing. There were suppose to be strong thunder showers that day, but we did not get them. Collin of course did not swim either. I let him soak up a little bit of sun and I think it helped his sleep cycle cause he slept quite a bit there. Maybe that is what he needs to get sleeping better, out in a little bit of sun everyday!

Fun days

We joined the Boonshoft! The kids are at a great age where they can really enjoy this. And I really think that they enjoyed putting me in jail. I had no hope since Paul was my prosecutor, Nadalie and Matthew were my jurors and Rachel was the judge who sentenced me to 30 days :)

Swimming expert

Nadalie has joined the swim team this summer.

Last Day of Brownies

Nadalie will not be a brownie any more she has moved on to a Junior. She said that she does want to continue on with girl scouts next year. So get ready to buy more cookies from us everyone :)

Poetry Reading

I went to Nadalie's school today for a poetry reading. It was alot of fun. She really did a great job. She had the job of putting the pictures of each poem up on the overhead plus she had two poems that she had totally memorized. Only a few parents were able to come and I sure feel blessed that I am able to be home with the kids so I can go to some of these fun things. I dearly love Nadalie's teacher. She has had her for two years now cause she is a "looping" teacher. I think that Rachel will be unable to have her cause she is going back to teaching second grade next year and by the time Rachel gets there she will be teaching third :( . I sure miss being in school myself. It is funny how when we are young we are in a hurry to grow up but when we get older we wish we had those times back.

Update

I had my appointment with the OB. She said that everything looked great on the Ultrasound and that this new baby's kidneys did have a slight form of dilation but not enough to have to follow up on. That is good news for us! YAY!

Although Collin's white casts has helped with comments from others, I am still getting them. And people want details. So I have figured out if I say that he had a birth defect they have finally quit asking or atleast they don't ask anymore questions. I hope that maybe that will make people think twice about asking someone else. I can't wait until they are off totally!

Enjoying the outdoors

I just had to post this picture! I really hope that baby Ryan looks just like Collin! Too cute!

It's a Boy!

Ryan Russell M is on the way!

Why do names have to be so difficult?

We have been having a hard time deciding on girls names, although after tonight it is really not going to matter. But then I got to thinking about what names I was going to use with each of my children that I did not get to use. Nadalie was origionally going to be named Valerie, and I changed my mind at about 8 months with her. Rachel was going to be either Rachel, Jillian, or Lauren. And they both were going to be named Logan if they were a boy. Collin was going to be Samantha or we had Nathan and Ryan picked out for other boys names. This time we have Ryan for a boy and Nathan for a backup and we are just lost about girls names (Samantha is out). There are some we somewhat like but nothing really stands out for us. We have considered Christina and Kelly (two of my best friends), Tessa (my second cousins name), Jessica (just a safe cute name), and Gabrielle (we both really like but just does not go well with our last name).

Collin's twin

We had our ultrasound today, the lady checked out the baby's toes and fingers really well and saw nothing abnormal. She did find that the baby's kidneys have the problem that Collin has. Although, it only measured 3MM which Collin was at 6-7MM, and she said that it is just slight and would not be considered abrnormal. They think I might not need any furthur ultrasounds, unless the doctor thinks that it might be important to make sure that it does not progress. I know that it is usually common in boys, so I guess that is my guess now. All the kids are guessing it is a boy too now. The lady wrote it down on a card, so tomorrow is the big night. I really think that the baby looks like Collin :)

Collin Update

I took Collin back to the Ortho today. The lady showed me how to press on Collin's feet to make sure that the color goes from pink to white to pink again. Well his one foot has seemed to have lost its pinkness. The nurse at the doctors took a look at it and said that it looks good although it is very squished and we can't see his pinkie toe. So she said he may want to recast him. So the doctor comes in, keep in mind that this is not the same doctor who did Collin's surgery. He said to me, "I guess it looks ok to me, I think". That was not the answer I was looking for. I am just glad that he is not Collin's surgeon. So after the doctor left the nurse said if he is fussy all the time then I would assume that something more is wrong. So I guess that is what I will look for.

On a better note, the other day we asked the doctor if there are any limitations that Collin will have playing sports and he said no. So I guess Collin will be playing soccer after all. And of course he is going to have to play baseball so he can end up in the Minor Leagues like Grandpa Dan.

Collin's new casts

We went to the Ortho doctor today and they took off Collin's casts. We were really hoping that he would not have to get another set on. But they put on another set, shorter this time. And I asked for white instead of the blue ones we had on before, only because I hope that people would not notice them as much. I guess it is a good thing to go ahead and have him casted again if it will prevent any future surgeries.

Note to self... I will never stop another child's parents to ask what happened to them if they are wearing casts. I get stopped all the time. Usually the question is "what happened" or "did he break both legs". And one time outside of the Mexican Restaraunt, a lady actually followed me out just to ask me questions and then went back inside to sit back down. I finally told Paul that I would like to make a sign for his stroller. He thought that it was not needed. So on Mother's Day when we went to the Museum, I was really hoping that Paul would get a taste of what it has been like for me out in public with Collin. And not one person stopped us. I just do not get it!

Collin's Favorite Toy

This is Collin's favorite toy. Yes it is a spoon. The funny thing is that he loves to drop it on the floor at restaraunts to make mommy and daddy have to go wash it over and over again. I swear he does it on purpose.

Big Boy

Collin can hold his own bottle now!

Mother's Day 2008

We celebrated Mother's Day at the Cincinatti Museum of Natural History and the Children's Museum. I had never been before, and we had alot of fun! Nadalie's favorite thing to do was to pretend that she was a chef. She made a great little chef although I think that my food was a little over cooked. Rachel liked being the cashier at the grocery store. I went to the store after Paul and Rachel said to me"I saw your husband in here earlier". HEHE out of the mouths of kids, huh???. I sure could not help but laugh. She was very professional.

We then went to Newport and ate at Joe's Crab Shack. I am not sure if I would go back. First, throughout the dinner they kept cranking up the music loud to the YMCA song and a few others. It might have been fun without Collin, but I was more worried about his ears and him getting fussy. And Paul's food was over cooked, and the girls thought that the shrimp was too spicy. The server was really nice and made Paul a new cheeseburger and gave Nadalie some replacement mac and cheese.

Nadalie painted me a spoon for a Mother's Day present and Rachel gave me a magnet with a picture of herself in the center. Priceless!!!! Paul and Collin gave me some stuff to pamper myself with including the slippers that I got for Laura's bridal shower that you can warm in the microwave and a gift certificate for a massage once I have the baby.

It turned out to be the best Mother's Day ever.

Mother's Day 2008 pictures

Rachel's school program

I went to Rachel's school on Friday for a school program. She is wearing her cousins Abbey and/or Kristen's dress! She looked really cute. I really like her teacher this year. I really thought that it was going to be more of a Mothers Day program, but found lots of dads and siblings there too. I now wish that I would have invited more people there.

Just like daddy!

Collin is doing very well with his casts. He is rolling around all over the house. I can't wait until next week and we can get them off finally (crossing my fingers) . I bet he can't wait too! I am so excited cause now he will be able to wear shoes finally.

Junior

The future Dragon's player :)

Baby boy?

This is the bib for the new baby. I found it at a garage sale, and thought maybe it was a sign, but we find out next week if the baby cooperates. But who knows, we might end up having a girl. So we are going to use Ryan Russell (middle name) for a boy as of now anyhow. That was the other name that we had in mind for Collin. I was not sure if we were going to get it this time since my cousin was considering it too, but last weekend we found out they were going to use another name.