baby i

I thought that I should post some photos of baby i since there have been a lack of photos taken of him and Bryan pointed out that I haven't posted any photos of him. These are not the most recent photos but I am working on it.

Father's Day

We had a pretty mellow Father's Day. Since we had a huge party the day before, we had the leftover pulled pork in sandwiches and the leftover sides from the party. We both had naps, which we desperately needed from my usual lack of sleep and Bryan's lack of sleep from starting to cook at 3:30AM for the party and going to bed pretty late on Saturday and having early church is always a good reason to have a Sunday nap. Bryan opened his presents and all the boys had their own gun.

That gun now has "DAD" written on it.

Lil A is helping Bryan open his presents.

Mexican Train. WOO-WOO!

Swimming with Friends

We went swimming with some friends and had a great time. Well, technically baby i and I didn't get in the water but we had a great time watching everyone else in the water. Big A is getting a lot braver with the water and Lil A is how Big A was last year- not wanting to get in so much. He did hold on tight to Abby though (Thanks again Abby for letting him hang on for dear life and for getting me out of the house, oh I am trying to post more now that you are stuck on the couch for the next 7 weeks). Hopefully we will have more fun times at the pool this summer.

Ann's House

We went up north for Baby G's blessing and Ann was fabulous enough to have all of us at her house. It was a fast trip (like usual) but worth it. Big A told me last weekend we were "going to Aunt Tim's house and then to Ann's house." I like that my kids have such a great time with their cousins, it makes spending time with family enjoyable. Here are just a couple photos that were taken that weekend (I don't think I took any photos the whole weekend but these were on my camera).

Lil A's 3rd Birthday

Lil A turned 3! And, of course, we had to celebrate for weeks. It started with opening presents the weekend before his birthday because we went up north and stopped at Kim's on our way (I don't have any photos of that but the ball gun and the fruit snacks taped to the top of the present he got there were a HUGE hit). Then we had a birthday celebration on his actual birthday with just our little family and then a big family party on Saturday. It was fun to have cousins at the family party- usually it is just aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

PARTY

Aunt Jill was in charge of the photo taking during cake & ice cream and I am so glad she got this sequence of photos. Notice he has an adult on each side and is NOT stopped. I sat across the table from him and was encouraging Jill to take photos of it.

POTTY!!!

Lil A has decided (with a little help from his parents) that it is time to use the potty! We have had a couple accidents but with so many visitors, it is hard to leave the fun in time to use the potty. But he is willing and is doing a pretty good job at reminding me that it is time for him to go to the potty. He can sit on the potty forever, which I don't mind because he is actually on the potty (until I want to go somewhere). We went to Disneyland on Monday to get his toy (and to see some out-of-state friends) and after picking up every toy at his level in the Buzz Lightyear store, he decided he wanted candy (he is Bryan's child).

He told me "I not pying (crying), I'm happy."

Eating suckers to celebrate actually sitting on the potty. Big A has decided that he gets candy whenever Lil A gets candy for sitting on the potty too.

Newport Beach

We were invited to spend a few days at Newport Beach with our friends. Her parents have a house there and it was great to have a meeting place, a bathroom (and if I had more time and energy a place to sleep- packing for 3 kids and work clothes for Bryan during the week was out of the question with all of our fast weekend trips this summer).
Tuesday, we made it down there with just enough time to play at the park at the pier and to eat dinner at Ruby's at the end of the pier. A few husbands were able to be there too, which helped with all the kids at dinner.
Wednesday, Abby picked us up and we spent a couple hours in the sand and then a little while at the house. Big A, Lil A and N were sliding down the sand and having a great time getting sand everywhere (notice N covered in sand in the photo).
All the kids played really well together and loved running around the house- from the outside courtyard to the inside (Beebe would have LOVED it). Abby and I were planning on leaving earlier but the kids were playing so well that we didn't even notice the time. We took the ferry and decided we are chickens but the boys seemed to like it, Big A called it the "car boat."
It was a great couple of days. Thanks Charise.

Seminary Graduation Weekend

We went to Matt's seminary graduation (instead of high school graduation) and Grandma Nielson & Papa Cy came to celebrate too.
Big A started out sleeping on the futon and Lil A was sleeping on the sleeping bag. I went in to check on them and I found Big A's blanket and pillow still on the futon but he was cuddled up with Lil A- they are so cute.
Lil A played with this diaper box the previous weekend (so I stuck it in the garage to save for him) and played with again but this time Big A actually was the pusher.
The boys have really enjoyed opening presents for Baby i and Lil A got to open his present from Grandma Nielson and Papa Cy (we really celebrate birthdays for weeks).
Baby i was talking and looking at Grandma Nielson but that kept her from looking at the camera.

Memorial Weekend

Friday we went to my parents' house so that early Saturday morning Bryan could leave for his all day trip around Southern California-he started by going up to Lake Arrowhead to Palmdale, Tehachapi , Bakersfield, Orange County, Lake Arrowhead then it was too foggy for him to come back to my parents' house but we got furniture out of his long day and the living room looks great. My Dad took the older boys to his office for a "pay job," they cleaned out a ton of puzzles. My Dad was great with the older boys all day and I got 2 naps on Saturday. Saturday night (while Bryan was sleeping uninterrupted in Lake Arrowhead), I had 3 boys awake at 2AM and Big A woke up 2 more times after that and I have a cold. So Sunday morning, Mom made a wonderful breakfast and then I went back to bed. We went up the mountain to have dinner with Bryan's parents. Monday, was a game day at Cal State and Mom , Lil i and I went to Lowe's to dream. Bryan smoked a tri-tip - it was delicious, as usual. All of dinner was great, Bryan's parents brought a yummy fruit salad and baked beans, Mom made rolls (YUM) and a green salad. Before dinner the boys were given another job of vacuuming up dirt and leaves in the backyard but started pulling leaves off plants, so they were given the restriction of only brown things. Overall it was a great weekend, I just wish I didn't have a cold but I got more rest being there than I would if I had stayed home- thanks again everyone for helping me.


Bryan and Dad boxing on the Wii and Lil A "flying" in the box.

My Mosaic

1. Karin　花梨, 2. Summer Sociables 1, 3. Cajon de Farellones - Los Andes, 4. Mallorca 2007 -- Waiting for summer (Part 2), 5. Jeffrey Donovan as Detective David Creegan, 6. i love you water. i miss you diet coke., 7. The Beach, 8. Katie's Frozen Custard, 9. Undecided Skies, 10. Latest Family Portrait, 11. ms. independent, 12. Beauty

The concept:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

Thanks Heather, this was entertaining. It gave me something to do while waiting for Lil A to decide he wants to use the potty. He is actually wearing underwear!!!

Mother's Week #2

Katie came down on Monday, took the boys to Target to let me get in a nap and brought me lunch back. Tuesday Jill and Tori took the older boys to Disneyland because Big A told her the week before that is what they were doing. Jill was great by actually taking photos and emailing them to me too. After they got back from Disneyland, we did a quick photoshoot- we thought it was HILARIOUS. The photo of Ryan with Lil i is from Mother's Day.

Lil A was afraid and rode like this in the doombuggy.

Autopia

They were eating suckers, chasing birds and Lil A got stuck here.

Air Show

The boys went to my parents' house the weekend before I had Lil i (does that help some of you) and had a ton of fun. They ran errands with Ga on Thursday and spent Friday and Saturday with Papa. Saturday they went to the Air Show with Uncle Mike and Papa. They are still talking about it 3 weeks later. They got little "pairplanes" (according to Lil A) and Lil A has them talk to each other and wants to take them everywhere. On the way home Papa was thinking he was going to have to have McDonald's but Mike said "No, In-N-Out" and the boys agreed (hi, I have my boys liking the good stuff). Here are a couple photos I stole from Mike's camera over the weekend.

I'm a Princess?

You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Hair Washing

Baby I loved getting his hair washed. He stayed asleep through the whole thing. He loves the shower. I love getting my hair washed too.

Backyard Fun

The older boys got used to having Dad around since he didn't go to work the week after Baby I's birth. They kept him busy and had a lot of fun. They ran lots of errands, trying to get things together for Mother's Day and planting flowers with Nannie- they LOVE watering all the new plants.
I was feeding Baby I in my room one afternoon, happened to hear the boys in the backyard (my window looks out to the backyard), glanced out the window and saw the cutest thing- they were pushing each other on the bike because the seat was too high for them to pedal themselves. I hollered at Bryan to grab the camera.

I went outside another time, saw them lying on the ground with the golf clubs in the air making gun noises. I think they were shooting birds but I didn't get a straight answer from them.

Sunday, May 4

**The first of many posts**

Sunday (the 4th) Bryan and I headed to the hospital thinking that it was going to be like the other 2 boys- somewhat fast and NO C-Section. I like to plan everything and thought I had this all planned out- go to hospital, have baby within a few hours, stay at hospital for 24 hours, recover quickly (like after Lil A) and be on "normal" routine before the week was over. Boy, was my plan totally wrong. I never thought a C-Section would even be a possibility, but Baby I was trying to come out feet first and since I had toast before leaving for the hospital, I had about 3 hours to worry about having a C-Section. My nurse was great, Bryan said she reminded him of Jamy (maybe that is why I liked her so much). Mom came down and spent a couple of hours with me before I was taken away- it is a much different feeling being the patient, I looked at the instruments very differently.
I did not really enjoy the experience but now I can honestly say, it is much harder to recover from a C-Section and I was not apart of the birth. I couldn't see what was going on, my neck hurt and I couldn't really move my arms because they were stretched out on the arm boards. In my Recovery room, I was really hot and could not have anything to eat or drink (because I would throw-up- I did later in my room after 2 sips of apple juice, my nurse warned me but I am stubborn). And it was almost 24 hours before I was allowed to walk and now that it has been a week and a half, I have noticed the numbness around my incision- YUCK! A few nice things about this delivery, they were really accommodating for the Dads (roll-away bed, meals, and a "pantry" where Bryan could get food/drinks whenever) and our last meal they tried to give us 3 trays of food because they thought we had a visitor, and all of my nurses were really great (the night nurses would take Baby I for 3-4 hours so we could get some sleep- I don't think he would have kept us awake though). Bryan's mom was able to stay with the older boys while we were at the hospital and helped after we came home, which was great because I was really out of it- my sense of time was off when we came home (I thought it was the weekend and it was Tuesday).
But out of all the badness of a C-Section, I have a beautiful baby boy, who is really good and lets me sleep (most nights) for 5-6 hours straight. He gives me the biggest smiles and endures all the love his big brothers give to him. So the C-Section was worth it to have him but if I had a choice I would not have chosen a C-Section.

Disneyland with MaLaan!

The boys had such a great time together! I think we need to live closer to each other (hint, hint).

The two pregos. She has so much more energy than I do.

We had such a great time with our friends. On Tuesday (April 22) we met them at Disneyland and had a great time. *Thank you to Jill (AGAIN, she really is the best- I think everyone needs a sister/aunt like her) for making it so I could go to Disneyland.* Big A got to go on Soarin' for the first time (I don't take them on rides that both boys can't go on) and it was a hit with everyone that rode.
This photo of Lil A wouldn't work in the slideshow but since he didn't get to ride Soarin' I thought he needed his photo on the blog and he had a great time chasing birds.

Thursday, MaLaan and family came over, played and then we went to lunch. It was sad when they left for San Diego. Big A kept asking me if we were going with them. And when the answer was "no," his response was "But they are my friends." Hopefully we will be able to see them soon (well soon for the adults).

**Oh, still no baby. The boys are with my parents for an extended weekend and we are wondering what we did before we had kids. I have heard that they are having a great time but have not actually talked to either one of my boys. Hopefully I will have the baby before the weekend is over but since it is perfect timing, I doubt that it will happen. I am going to go get pineapple (I read online that spicy food and pineapple induce labor- I had Pei Wei's DanDan Noodles last night and it didn't work, so I am going to try the pineapple). Wish me luck.**