Fun with Visitors!

My Cousin Amy and her family made a stop in California this last weekend for a short visit. Her little girl Savannah is only 16 days older then Nathan and they just had a blast playing with each other. Seriously they played non stop all weekend and boy was it exhausting to watch!

 Saturday we headed to Natural Bridges State Beach to check out the tide pools and visit the ocean. Amy and her family live near Chicago so they really wanted to make sure Savannah got to see to pacific ocean. It was a really windy day but we still had fun.
                                          Nathan climbing over the rocks to the tide pools.

                                          Savannah, Amy, Me, and Nathan

                                             The kids digging in the wet sand

                                        Nathan spent a little time building sand castles with Papa

                                      Walking down to the water to rinse off his shovel.

                                          The wave was a little bigger than expected!

 Monday we headed to Happy Hallow park and zoo along with My Aunt Margaret. two of her kids, and my sister and her two boys.
                                            Riding the carousel with cousin Daniel.

                                                 feeding and brushing the goats

                                              

                                              ready to come down the slide!

                                               Riding the swings with Aidan.

                           Savannah, Liam, Nathan, and Aidan Checking out the Meercats

                                           Digging for Dinosaur bones

Summer Time

I don't have too many exciting things planned for this summer, but somehow we have been keeping busy. This week I found out that there was an opening for Nathan to take swim lessons and since I didn't have a lot planned for the week we jumped on the opportunity. Nathan's swim instructor is awesome! Monday he cried when I first sent him into the pool and kept asking for mommy, but it didn't take long for him to warm up to her. And soon he was blowing bubbles and practicing his kicking.

In other news, I had my 30 week check up at the doctor and everything is looking great. He was happy that all my blood sugar levels were normal. Starting next week he is scheduling me for a weekly non stress test to make sure the baby is doing well. We finally have a delivery date, yeah! We scheduled the C-section for August 21, so unless there are any complications we are set.
Hope every one is having an awesome summer!

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Kerri invited us up to Vallejo to spend the day at Six Flag's Discovery Kingdom with them. I have been looking forward to this day for a month and I was determined to have a great time even though I was pregnant. The day finally arrived yesterday and even though the forecast said it was going to be hot I still really wanted to take Nathan, so we headed up in the morning so we could take advantage of the park for the whole day. And boy was it hot! I was very glad there was plenty of opportunities for me to just sit down and watch the kids enjoy the rides. I was also grateful that Kerri was so willing to go on the rides with Nathan that required him to be accompanied by an adult since I was not allowed on any of the rides. We Started out the morning by first checking out the tigers and elephants. The elephants are always a favorite of mine and Nathan was just as thrilled to watched an elephant swimming in her huge swimming hole. He was even making his elephant noise, so cute! After walking by a few more animals the kids were all very excited to get on a few rides.

 Then it was time for the Killer Whale show so we headed to the stadium where the kids ate some lunch and we just relaxed in the shade.

                                          Nathan was mesmerized by Shouka

After The show we enjoyed some yummy mexican food and then head over to another young kid section. They enjoyed riding the train and a few other rides and then we let them play in the water for a while.

After the water they had a blast riding more rides. Nathan's favorite was the little train. I think he would have been happy riding it all day.

Finally it was time for the Dolphin show. Everyone enjoyed sharing some frozen lemonade(the perfect treat for the hot weather) and a churro.

After the show the kids still wanted to go on a few more rides. So I found a nice shaded bench while Kerri, Adam, and my mom took them around to a few more rides.

 Little 2 yr old Liam was the most fearless and begged to ride every ride even the ones he was much too small for.

After the park we headed to a Mongolian BBQ restaurant for dinner and it was really good. We then headed home and didn't get back until around 10pm. I was so tired but it was all worth it, Thanks Kerri for inviting us!

Family update

It has been a busy week at the doctors for us. Tuesday I went in for my 27week check up. Good news I get another ultrasound next week. Hopefully this baby will be more cooperative this time around. Unfortunately I also found out the I failed my glucose test so that means I have gestational diabetes. Honestly I have been dreading finding out something like that. For the next week I am supposed to track my blood sugar 4 times a day and then I meet with the doctor again to see how we should manage the diabetes. Since my numbers were just a couple points high I am hoping that we can just manage it with diet. I have cut all sweets out of my diet that part I don't really find that difficult. The hard part for me is limiting the amount of carbs and fruits that I eat. I was trying to make a meal plan a few days ago and I realized how many of my recipes are high in carbs. I became extremely overwhelmed and depressed with the idea of trying to find meals that my whole family will eat but would still fit in the parameters that I need. I have come more to terms with the whole situation  now and am actually hoping this change in diet will help me drop weight more quickly after the baby comes.
Wednesday I spent the majority of my day doing preop visits with Nathan's doctor and the hospital. Nathan was very brave for his blood draw, but let everyone know the rest of the day exactly where he had been poked.
Friday morning we got up early enough to get to the hospital by 6:30 in the morning. Nathan was scheduled to get tubes put in both ears and his adenoids out. Nathan had a great nurse. They started be giving him a sedative to take orally and that sure did put him in a good mood. He was funny seeing him so relaxed. After taking all his vitals they allowed me to follow him in to the operating room.  I stayed with him while they masked him down with some gas. Once he was asleep they sent me to they waiting room. Once they finally started I think the procedures only took about 30mins to finish. As soon as he was awake in the recovery room they called me back while Dave finished talking to the doctor. His recovery went pretty good. He initially was having a hard time breathing so the nurse did a breathing treatment on him. After that he was just upset about his iv and all the other lines that were connected to him. Dave and I were both really impressed with Nathan's doctor and were glad the he strongly felt it was important for Nathan to be surrounded by his family as he was recovering. I guess there are a few doctors that will only allow 1 person with the patient at the time, but Nathan's doctor insisted that Dave come into recovery with us. After monitoring Nathan for about 30min we were allowed to head home. Nathan was happy to get all the lines removed and even enjoyed a Popsicle out to the car. Grandma Bell sent a gift for him to get after the surgery and Nathan was super excited to get his alligator for his new zoo he got for his birthday. He has been asking for an alligator for weeks. By the time we got home Nathan was pretty much acting like himself. It is so amazing how quickly kids recover. The only complications was about 3am last night he woke up vomiting. I think he was more upset about that then anything else. But after getting him and me all cleaned up he was happy to go back to sleep and has been happy all day today. The doctor told us that his adenoids were very large and were probably causing his snoring. Now that they have been removed and all of the fluid drained from his middle ear he should be doing great and hearing better. I am so glad we were finally able to get this done.

                                                     all prepped and ready for surgery.

Memorial Day Weekend

This year we were able to go up to the family cabin near Sonora and had a blast hanging with family. Dave was able to get Friday off from work, so we left Thursday evening around 6 and headed to the cabin. We enjoyed some time with just the three of us for a few hours Friday, until the rest of the Families started arriving. When we woke up Friday morning it was actually snowing. Not what you expect for the beginning of summer holiday.By 1pm we had about 7 inches on the boat. Luckily it warmed up enough after that to melt most of the snow. Saturday morning Dave went golfing with Taylor, Brianna, and Javier. I think they had fun even though it was still a little chilly. Sunday we took Nathan to Pinecrest Lake for a short visit to the beach just to get some time out of the cabin. Monday morning the weather was perfect for boating and we left for New Melones Lake in the morning. Nathan loved being on "daddy's boat", it is pretty much all he talked about for a few days.
                                                         Surfing without the rope.

                                                            Cassie and Nathan

                                          Testing out Taylor's new Wave runner

                                                       Having fun with Uncle Javier