An Afternoon at the Beach

It has been such nice weather for this Memorial Day weekend.  Today after church, we packed the kids in the car and headed out to Surf Beach.  I was armed with sand toys and my trusty camera.

Caleb is afraid of the waves, so he mostly stayed with me and we made sand castles.  He really had fun stomping on them after we had built them.  I started calling him Caleb-zilla.

I got some video of him destroying the sand city we had built.

A little later, Micah wanted to get in on the Godzilla action.

John and Micah played in the waves and took a walk down the beach to look around.  While on their walk, Micah found a couple of sticks for him and Caleb to play with.  Amazingly enough, no eyes were poked out and no boys were harmed due to these sticks. 

Caleb eventually got brave enough to get closer to the water to go find rocks.  He would find a rock, run back to show it to me, and then go back to the tide to throw the rock into the water. 

In that last picture you can see the rock in mid-air on its way into the waves.  The funniest part though, is the last picture of the sequence.  The waves started to come in and he thought for sure they were going to catch him.  Look at the expression in this last picture!

                     

He was running as fast as he could away from those waves.  You should have seen how fast those little arms and legs were pumping!  Hilarious!

Caleb was tired out by the time we got home.  He wanted to snack on some goldfish, but fell asleep while he was eating them.  He was actually still chewing when he fell asleep.  But not Micah, he was wide awake!

We had a really great time.  The boys love to be doing anything outside, and they really love going to the beach.  I have already decided that we are going to try to spend as much time at the beach this summer as we can.  It’s something different from just spending time at home, and best of all…it’s FREE!

My Little Graduate

Micah graduated from preschool last night.  I’m so proud of this son of mine who enjoys learning and has done so well this past year of preschool.

The kids sang 9 songs that they had been practicing.  It was too cute!  He was right on the end, so we had a great view of him and what he was doing. 

As you may know, Micah has a tough time standing still.  So between songs, he would kind of spin from side to side, so the collar thing he was wearing was never on straight.  But it was too cute to see.  And at one point John told me to look at my son.  Micah had his hands on his face pulling down his bottom eyelids and he was spinning in circles.  That tassel on his cap was almost horizontal he was spinning so fast!  Too funny!

                    

Next they called the students and they went over to get their graduation medals placed around their necks, and they got their diplomas.

After the ceremony, we walked over to the reception.  They had put together a slide show of the preschool class over the year.  It was made with the song, Let Them Be Little.  It was really sweet, and all of the kids are going to get a copy.  I will try to post it as soon as I get it.

I’m really proud of my little guy.  He is so excited to get to start kindergarten in the fall.  It’s hard to believe that he was just a little baby 5 years ago.

No catchy saying this week

Today I am 16 weeks pregnant.  Baby Stults is now the size of an avocado.

                                    

Tiny bones are forming in the baby’s ears, so he or she can now hear my voice.  Eyebrows, lashes and hair are starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming.  That’s what’s going on with baby right now.

I had my OB appointment on Wednesday, and finally got to see Dr. Huss since he’s been back to work from being sick.  He looked good, although he says he does get winded pretty quickly.  But he said that his PET scan showed that there is no sign of cancer anymore, so that’s great news.  He still has 3 more rounds of chemo to do.

Since I didn’t see Dr. Huss at my first appointment, I never got to hear the baby’s heartbeat.  I finally got to hear it Wednesday.  It sounded good! 

Since I’ve been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, I also met with the nutritionist on Wednesday.  She went over what I should be eating, and actually said I was doing pretty well.  They did say I should try to eat between 1600 and 2000 calories per day.  That’s a lot of calories! 

But I feel good, and baby is growing nicely.  Can’t wait for my next appointment, which is when I should be able to have my ultrasound to see whether the baby is a girl or boy.  On a side note, Micah and Caleb have both requested to have a baby sister.  John and I are both hedging our bets, but we keep reminding the boys that we are going to get whatever baby God gives us.

You say he got his cheek slapped?

Monday afternoon I was checking my voicemail after I got out of school.  I had a message from the preschool saying that Micah had developed a rash on his cheek, his chest, and his upper arm.  They called it slap cheek.  I immediately called John so that he could Google what that was since I wasn’t near a computer.

John called me back to tell me that Slapped Cheek was also called Fifth Disease.  It was named Fifth Disease because it was the fifth of six childhood illnesses associated with rashes.  Later on, some of the other illnesses were renamed Measles, Scarlet Fever, and Rubella. 

The rash comes on pretty quick, and it really looks like the child has just gotten slapped on the cheek.  Micah had no sign of any rash when I had gotten him dressed that morning.  Apparently, Fifth Disease is really contagious.  The problem is that the period when the disease is contagious the child just feels a little malaise or a general sense of not feeling well.  The rash doesn’t show up until after the contagious period is over.  The school told me that a couple of weeks ago another child had gotten Fifth Disease as well.

The clinic is always really good at getting the boys an appointment quickly when they have been sick.  Once I told them what the school said Micah had, they actually triple booked the doctor so we could get in.

We saw the doctor and he confirmed that it was Fifth Disease.  Unfortunately, since it is viral, antibiotics don’t help.  But he did say that we caught it early.  All we can do is to give him fluids and Tylenol.  He said the rash would last 4 or 5 days. 

Since then, the rash has lightened on his face and chest and back, but this morning, I noticed it had spread to his thighs.  The doctor had warned us that this would happen.  He has also been fighting a fever and aches and pains.  Everything we’ve read says that it will be over soon.  The poor little guy has been a real trooper through all of this.  A mama always hates to see her little ones sick. 

Orange you glad to know this?

Knock, knock.  Who’s there?  Banana.

Knock, knock.  Who’s there?  Banana.

Knock, knock.  Who’s there?  Banana.

Knock, knock.  Who’s there? Orange.

Orange who?  Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

What is Alisha up to, you ask?

Well, I just felt like telling you that the baby is now the size of a naval orange this week.

                                   

Today I’m 15 weeks along.  According to TheBump.com I have 175 days left.  Actually, Baby Stults will be here sooner than that since I will have to have another c-section.

I feel good.  Micah slept with me last night since he was sick.  (That’s another post).  This morning I was lying awake in bed with him and I’m pretty sure I felt the baby move.  I know it was sooner than you would usually feel the baby, but after your first baby you know what to expect. 

I took my 3 hour glucose test on Tuesday since I failed the 1 hour test.  I figure I will probably hear the results at my next appointment with Dr. Huss next Friday.  But I’m pretty certain that I will end up with gestational diabetes again.  I’m not looking forward to the diet, but it’s all for the good cause of a healthy little baby.

Just Peachy!

Well, I’m feeling good and my baby is now the size of a peach!

                  

Just a little update on baby’s progress:  he or she is forming teeth and vocal cords.  Baby is approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body.  Intestines are in the process of moving from the umbilical cord to baby's tummy.

I had my one hour glucose test a week ago, and it turns out the results were too high, so now I get the exciting pleasure of going in for the three hour glucose test next Thursday.  I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll probably end up getting gestational diabetes again.  But if I have to go on another no sugar, low carb diet to make sure to have a healthy little baby, I will do it.

Ultrasound and First Family Picture

I went to Dr. Huss’ office yesterday to get another ultrasound.  At my first appointment, the midwife (who is covering for Dr. Huss until he gets done with chemo) thought I was measuring bigger than 11 weeks.  She did an ultrasound, but couldn’t get a correct measurement on the baby.  So I had another ultrasound yesterday.  Here is a pic of baby #3:

At preschool, Micah has been asked to draw a picture of his family.  His teachers say that whenever he draws a family picture, he always wants to include the baby.  So sweet!  So here is our first picture as a family of five, plus Lima the dog:

I have got some stinkin’ cute kids!

The boys had their pictures taken at school again a few weeks ago.  Ever since, I have been anxiously awaiting the proofs.  AND TODAY THEY CAME!  I love my boys and I think they took some pretty cute pictures.   Micah’s cap and gown pictures make me sigh because it just reminds me that my little preschooler is going to be a kindergartner in the fall.  He’s not a little baby anymore.