Christmas 2010

So this year we were supposed to get 3 to 4 presents per kid but thanks to Dan I think we ended with 5 per kid... ah well at least it wasn't the usual 8 :)  only if you add the Santa present and the sibling present.  We all had fun and were anticipating the day when they could all open their presents.  It was a lot of fun.
Christmas Eve we had a nice meal which consisted of a Ham, potatoes, rice and some vegetables and of course home made rolls.  Tristan and I also baked some cookies.  After dinner we waited for Steven and family to come over so we could have a little family Christmas program.  We started out with a nativity, Steven read the birth of Christ story in the bible and the kids acted out the story with the help of Dan  and  aunt Amber.  I have to say that the best actress that night was Carmen, she did everything perfect :)
We then let the kids open one present each and then chatted for a while, ate some more and right at the end we sang some Christmas songs.  We sent the kid to bed around 10:30 I think and then sent our selves to bed as well.  The next morning we waited in bed until the kids woke up and started going downstairs to check out what Santa brought them, they were very excited. Santa was very generous this year and brought Shayna a new sewing machine just for her, Victor got a skate board, Tristan got his own scooter and Aaron got his cool digital camera.  We opened all of our presents and then everybody started having fun with their new toys.

 I was able to find a new set of stockings for the entire family including one for our baby girl, each was $.0.89 a really good steal if I say so myself.   They are the cutest things ever.

 The cast of the Navity

 Aaron and his new camera, he loves it.

 Tristan and his scooter.

 I am still not sure how I feel about this skateboard but he loves it.

 Shayna and her brand new sewing machine.

 Aaron and his pile of presents.

 Victor and all his goodies.

 Shayna and her stash.

 Tristan and his things but he was more interested in his new game boy than anything else.

 My kids got me a new jewelry box, it is really cute.   And Dan of course got a couple of Sunday shirts from the kids.

  A

I have to say that it was a very relaxed Christmas day and I even felt like making a special breakfast, I made an omelet for everybody with the left over ham and they loved it.  So far they still enjoy playing with their presents and are very happy with them.  So am I :)  Hope everybody had a great Christmas as well.

The latest.

My pregnancy has been keeping me from posting as often as I like to regularly do it, but I will try to create a post here with lots of pictures and less words to proof that we have been doing things as a family.
My mother left us November 27th, right after Thanksgiving (which was great but no pictures).  That week for our Family Home Evening we had a little bell choir with the kids and she participated as well.
We miss her so much but know that she is very happy to be back home eating all her favorite food and we also know that we will see her again next year (hopefully soon).  After we dropped her off we went to the Rennasaissance Festival and we had a wonderful day eating, walking and entertaining the kids with various activities.  We really enjoyed it.

 The kids trying archery again, I think they are getting a little bit better.

 Aaron was super excited to be able to do it this time around.

 Here we are trying to see and listen to "Tartanic"  They are the best!!

 Tristan posing with this executioner guy.

 He was also surprised at the size of his corn dog and he ate it all gone.

 Victor and Shayna found this interesting looking creature, his costume was awesome.,

 At the beginning of the Month Tristan lost his first tooth, doesn't he look different?  He is growing up.

 Shayna had her first choir performance at the Stake Center and I think she did great.


We went to the drive in one night and enjoyed two kids movies, I loved Tangled by the way :)

 The kids had been saving all year as a team and they got $27.00 all together, so they decided to go and buy some Legos, we offered to buy one set so they could get the other one 50% off and they love them.  They got an early Christmas present.

 We went to our Ward Christmas party and the kids were able to see Santa.  The sweetest thing was to see Aaron give Santa a big hug when he climbed on his lap.

I think Shayna is getting a little old for Santa :)

Halloween

Yes I know it is a little late for the Halloween post but don't worry it is only pictures, I need to keep updating my blog before I forget the details.
Halloween this year was kind of boring since it fell on a Sunday. I told my family that we were not going to go out trick or treating or give away candy since it was Sunday and it just didn't feel right to dress up as vampires and what not on the day of rest. They didn't agree at the beginning but after a while they were OK with it. We did go to our trunk or treat at church and Dan, my mom and I wore our old outfits from years past, the kids got their outfits from the store this year and had a variety of costumes :) Aaron was a a pirate, Tristan was Iron Man, Victor was death or something like that and Shayna was a vampire. We had the most fun with Shayna's outfit because she got to wear a wig and I worked really hard on the make up... too bad she didn't win the contest at church :) They got more than enough candy and everybody was happy in the end.






Shayna's make up was a lot of fun, she sparkles all over herself so she could shine :)


Here is Dan with his cool cat eyes he found online, people really didn't notice it until they had been talking to him for a while.

And here I am wearing the same outfit I wore last year but this time I had a little extra roundness about me :)

Update

Wow two posts in one day... But now I can breath a sigh of relief :)
I went to my appointment with the high risk doctor and after waiting for almost two hours (the waiting is the most horrible part), I go in there and it only takes 20 minutes for the whole thing to be over. They did a very detailed ultrasound and checked the fluids and everything looked good, the doctor did not show any concern about the echogenic bowel syndrome because all the other tests they had done came back normal. She told me there is a chance of 1% of having a baby with Down Syndrome and she honestly didn't know why I was there in the first place... they were concern about the diabetes but the baby has a good weight, kind of small for her age (4 lbs 3 oz.) but since I am doing great with keeping my numbers down with the diabetes there should not be any problem at all. She told me that she thinks the baby will be just fine and whatever is in the intestines right now is probably due to an infection I had at the beginning of the pregnancy and the deposits should come out after she poops for the first time...
I can not tell you how relieved I felt when I heard this and grateful that my baby girl will be OK, my main concern was her health, I was already thinking about medical problems and all sorts of things. Thank you all for your support and prayers, they are greatly appreciated.
Also a big thanks to my sis in law who watched my kids today for almost 4 hours so I could get this done, you are a lifesaver Amber :)
I also got to see a 3D image of the baby and she looks so cute already. I really can't wait now.

Wish me luck!!

It is a little early for me to blog but I need to write this down now so I can feel better. Today I go and see the high risk doctor and hopefully all my doubts will be cleared out. I am feeling nervous, anxious and preoccupied which is probably all very normal after being told your baby might not be normal at the time of birth...
I have been praying and thinking positive thoughts and all that but still there is the unknown factor and that is what is killing me. I talked to my doctor yesterday and they have been doing stress test on the baby, she seems to be doing fine in there, very active and resting her little feet right up against my ribs (very painful at times if I might add). The doctor said that I should be able to understand a little bit more of what is going on with the baby and what the ultrasounds have been showing really is, she thinks it might go away and that it is probably just stool sitting there but we'll see. In any case the uncertainty will definitely go away after today (I hope) and I can move on and know a definitive answer. What ever the outcome I will still stay positive and prepare my self even more for what the future might bring to us. Thanks to the people that are willing to listen to me and give me advice, it is very helpful :)

On a good note my morning sickness is completely gone, it has been officially 2 weeks since I last had to deal with morning sickness. I am now giving myself insulin shots since I was not able to manage the gestational diabetes with the diet, I was starving, not getting enough food in my body for baby and me and dropped another 3 pounds which is not good. So far I am staying right between 8 and 10 pounds of weight gain for this pregnancy. I am eating a lot better now and even with all the poking, enjoying life a whole lot more. I organized the guest room and transformed it into the nursery, the crib is set up and the baby clothes washed and put away, I still need to finish some other things but so far we are just waiting for little baby girl to make her big debut in a month or so...

At night I sit on the couch and enjoy watching my alien like movements on my belly, everybody rubs my belly at home and kiss it, the kids are all excited and love feeling her move in there. It has freaked them out a couple of times and I am surely going to miss that part of the pregnancy, the connection with that precious little life inside of me. I just love it.
I will keep every one posted on what is going on later on.