Tub Pics for Lacey since she's NEVER on Facebook!

P.S. She is in love with the bath. She seriously used to scream at us the whole time. Now she's happy as can be in there.

Flowers and Fog

Last week, while I was at home on the couch holding the little one as she ate, I heard a knock and quick doorbell ring. I got up to see what it was and to my surprise it was a package. Pro Flowers was written on the box and inside there was a note from my husband. Suhweet! I've never gotten flowers in the mail and I loved it. Thanks baby!

We've also had a ton of fog at our house. On our way home, one evening, it was so thick that we had to pull over to the side of the road. As we were pulling over, a huge truck was driving by on the wrong side of the street and would have hit us head on if we had not pulled over!!! Just kidding. We obviously needed to spice up this part of the blog post a little so we could post these amazing pictures! Hee! Hee! We're dorks.

Padre

Today, another year has gone by since my dad passed away. I think about him a lot but I especially think about him in December. I would have never thought that 3 years from this day I would be married and a new mom. It is a very bitter-sweet time. I try to imagine what he would be like with Kelsie and how he would have responded when he heard her birth weight! I'm sure there would have been many times he would have stopped by on his way home from work in Tooele to see her. But, I can not dwell on what might have been for too long or it will make me cry.

He was a wonderful father. He made so many sacrifices for me. Being a new parent myself, I can only understand part of that sacrifice. I definitely can see why it's so important for my children to have a good relationship with their dad. His influence has reverberated through my life and I'm sure it will continue to do so. I think he would be happy to know I feel this way. That was probably one of his goals as a good parent. I can just see him now, patting himself on the back:)

I added a few of my favorite pictures of him below. Pardon the quality of pictures. They were photos that I scanned in a while ago.

My dad was also a more than 10 lbs baby. Look at those chubby cheeks!

I'm pretty sure this is Joel. The oldest and therefore his first child.

My baptism day. I love his jumpsuit. Classic.

One of my favorite pics of our family. It cracks me up every time. Speaking of cracks, Sethy.

A family photo at Draper Park.

This was a snowy winter. I'm sure he was clearing the driveway here.

I am a head case!

Hi! My name is Beth. I'm a new mom and I have a problem. I'm not really one that stresses too much about things. In fact, you might even say I'm a pretty cool headed lady. People at work used to always comment on how calm I was in stressful situations. Well that calm person has left the building.

Case in point. Kelsie Nelson's arrival to this world.

First stress. Baby freaking out every night for hours when we first got home from the hospital. We figured out she was still hungry and we were not feeding her enough, so we started giving her a bottle at night.

Second stress. Baby hadn't pooped in 3 days. She had a blowout the next day.

Third stress. Milk did not come in until almost the 5th day. Jami told me to relax, take a hot bath and start pumping.

Fourth stress. At two week appointment, baby's weight was 9 lbs 8 oz. Under her birth weight. Started eating a grain called Quinoa to help milk production.

Fifth stress. Baby acne or is it a rash? Had to call doc to make sure.

Sixth stress. Baby spits up more often and does this gagging thing. Reflux? Made an appointment today just to make sure and check her weight again.

Not to worry everyone. Kelsie is back up to 10 lbs 2 oz. That means she gained 10 oz in a week. Wahoo! I was so freaking excited and the doc was not worried that she had reflux because of her weight gain and sleeping habits. He said that most babies have some reflux. Now I can start thinking of something else to stress about. Sounds like a plan.

2nd Week and Some Pics For Heather

Here are some pics of our 2 week old. Hope you like them.

Notice her Spock Live Long and Prosper Sign

Kelsie's Birth Day (Warning! Super long post!)

This is what I woke up to one morning this week. They are both on their sides with their arms across their bodies. Hilarious. And Kelsie was squishing into my space of the bed just like her dad does.

It has been an insanely crazy week. Time just flies by when your doing nothing but breast feeding! Everyone tells you how much 'your life changes', 'you better get your sleep now', 'girls are the best' and yada yada yada.....but you seriously have no clue what it's like until it happens to you. I remember leaving the hospital and thinking 'They are letting me take this baby home and I have no idea what I am doing. Are they freaking crazy?' Oh and 'My bum is killing me in this car. Get me home quick.'

Let's back track to Friday night. Chad and I left for New Moon at 3:30 in Ogden. I had been having random contractions all day but nothing alarming or consistent. While watching New Moon, I was having them more often. (Which may tell you how good a movie it is!:P) Chad starting tracking them when we got out and they were coming every 10 minutes. Woke up at about 11:30 and they were 6-7 minutes apart. Finally at 4:30 they were 5 minutes apart and we decided to go the hospital. I was at 6 and feelin' fine.

We walked the hallways, sat on the labor ball, did some squats, ate some food, drank some water and was checked again 3 hours later. Still at a 6. The on-call doc wanted to break my water or start me on low dose pitocin which I wanted nothing to do with. We asked for another hour and got it. My doc was called and told my nurse I can do whatever I want and I can tell her when I want my next exam. I love my doc.

By about noon, it had been about 6 hours since I had entered the hospital and I had them check me again. Still a freaking six. I told Chad that if I was the same at the next check then we would brake my water. So I did and that's when labor all started to change. My contractions were harder and more painful. I was getting really annoyed with having to be put on the monitor where I couldn't really move to get comfortable. Granted I know they have to cover their butts but I can definitely see the annoyance for someone wanting to have an unmedicated birth.

I hit 9 a little while later and was starting to feel the need to push. It is so excruciating to have this need and be told not to push. Seriously, it's is like telling someone who's been holding their full bladder for hours....DON'T PEE! Chad was doing all he could to comfort me but I was telling him to stop touching me! I also had flashes of all the friends and family members blogs that recently had kids (who had epidurals) and how calm/peaceful they looked. What was I doing?

Finally, I was at a 10!!! Wahoo I can push. Yeah right. Really. You want to push but then when you have to push like a millions times for an hour you just want to die! And if any of you know of the 'ring of fire', then you know that the explanation of it does not do it any justice. It should be 'the ring of incomprehensible pain', or 'the ring of you want to shoot yourself it hurts so bad', or 'the ring of why the hell didn't I get an epidural'. I could go on and on.

She was born at 3:44 in the afternoon. Weighing in at a very healthy 10lbs 3oz, stretching 21 inches long and with a head circumference of 36 cm. What the?

It's been a really hard week. But I feel the blessings and stresses of motherhood all around me. From the moment she came, I knew I would love her and worry about her constantly. I've never prayed so much in one week in my whole life. I've never loved Chad so much either. He has been a huge rock and has let me cry to him all the time. Each night when going to bed, I think about how I seriously could not love him more.

Please no more pictures! She raised her hand up like this right before I was going to take the picture. I felt like the paparazzi.

Ten Days to GO!

That's right. 10 days, 11 hours, 33 minutes, 24..23....22...seconds to go. But who's counting really. People kept telling me the last month is the worst and then when I was into the last month they told me the last two weeks are the worst. I would always think "How could this possible get any worse in just the last two weeks?" HAHAHAHA. Oh how naive am I. On the two week countdown I was instantly having more contractions at night that were more painful, waking up pretty much every 1-2 hours and driving in my car started to become increasingly uncomfortable. Are you freaking kidding me? Today at my doc appointment this is what I found out:

-Dilated to a 4

-70-80% effaced

-Baby is most likely at -1 station

-I've always measured bigger than my due date. (I think I could have guessed that one!)

-Heather is psychic. She always texts me the day I go to the doc.

-I could have this baby any day. I think today would be a good 'any day'.

-I already told the baby if she is late, she is grounded so maybe she's taking me seriously.

Halloween Costume

The decision to wear a Halloween costume this year came a few months ago when I saw this t-shirt being sold on KSL by a lady making them in Provo. I laughed hard when I happened upon it and so I ordered one.

Little did I know what a commotion I would stir up. I wore it to work on Friday because I wasn't working on Halloween and immediately was a hit. All the nurses loved it. Then when I started walking the hallways patients and their families were commenting on it. I was a celebrity!:) To top it all off I had four, that's right four people take a picture of me. Our unit secretary, one of the social workers, an nurse practitioner and trauma doc all took a picture.

Later on that night, me, Chad, my sister Kelli and Nate her husband went out to McGrath's for dinner at the gateway. I continued to wear the shirt and still had many people point and laugh at it. Even in the restaurant people commented on how they loved it. After dinner we went to a Halloween movie (Macfisto) that Kelli's friends make every year. It was at the Rose Wagner theater in downtown SLC. So of course they have a costume contest and I was very much coerced to even enter. We're in this huge packed theater and I have to make my way all the way down to the stage. No freaking way. I've had quite enough attention for the day. They go through all the contestants and I get sent up on stage first. After a few more contestants go up, the crowd cheers for the winner. Guess who one? Yep me! I was completely embarrassed the whole time. But very proud that my baby bump got me a prize! Woot! Woot! Kelsie will be so proud one day. When we were leaving (waiting for Kelli to stop her social butterflying), a worker at the theater asked me if he could take a picture. He loved it but thought it was creepy! So if you see my picture floating around the Internet you know why!

The infamous t-shirt!

My loot! The box is caramels from V Chocolates!

The t-shirt has the star of the movie Macfisto in the left hand corner!

Happy Halloween everyone!

That's right another post! What? I'm a little bored.

This is the nursery. We are not totally done with it yet. It took us forever to find a crib set because we can never agree on furniture. I was trying to stay away from dark wood. If you've been to our house it's all over the place. But they didn't have this set in vintage white anymore so I relented. Plus we got the converter kit so someone can take the whole thing to college someday. And if they don't they can buy their own bed!!! Take that. I thought maybe it would be a better fit in a apartment than vintage white. Below you will see the frames I painted and then put paper/paper flowers/brads in them. Really easy. Let's just say Wood Connections is probably my favorite store right now.

The changing table.

And the crib. We want to put a big rug down in the center of the room and then a really comfy chair where our dining chair is in this picture. I also painted the "K" on the crib and then put glitter all over it.

Hope you like it.

Fine....I'll post something...Megan says I only post when you know what freezes over!

A pregnancy update that is a long time coming....

• 35 weeks prego (5 weeks to go, what! what!)


• Have reflux pretty much all the time, not heart burn, just extra gastric juices coming back up which is as lovely as it sounds. Zantac you are my friend!


• Feet and hands swell on occasion, but not since I've been lying in my sick/death couch for the last few days. Thank you H1N1.


• Gained quite a bit of weight. You can call me and ask me but I'm not publishing that info over the internet. Less than Jami's first child and more than Kelli's first. I seem to always be in the middle.


• Sleeping is of course so freaking awesome.


• KELSIE, that's right, KELSIE, does somersaults and probably a few back hand springs in my belly so I'm pretty sure she'll be a gymnast.


• I'm super ornery. No patience for anyone.


• I can't eat as much, which is weird 'cause I've been stuffing my face for months now.


• I've had two showers. One was my friend shower which Lacey and her mom did for me. The other was my family shower which my mom and Kelli threw. Thanks to all of you and to everyone that got Kelsie a present.


• Don't get me wrong. I do think pregnancy is amazing. It's a little crazy to think about a little human being that's growing inside me, that will eventually come out. Weirder.

And for those of you who've been asking for a picture of my belly here it is:)

Naked belly.

Clothed belly.

SUCKERS!

New Baby Name

We have decided on the name for our baby, but are having some trouble agreeing on the spelling of her name. So we thought that we would put it up for a vote. We have seen multiple spellings for this name, and I have listed them below. So that we do not bias your judgement we are not going to say which one Beth likes or which one Chad likes. Thanks for your help!!

1. Kelsey
2. Kelsee
3. Kelsie
4. Kelsi

First Anniversary and First La Caille Experience

I can't believe it's already been a year since Chad and I got married. It seems like it was not that long ago. There have definately been many changes in this last year. I moved in, we went on a few fun trips, we got called to the nursery for 8 months, I got preggers, we dealt with the renters from HELL, the townhome was remodeled a little, we got (hopefully) really good renters, there was a big crack in our wall that just got fixed yesterday......yada yada yada....the first year of marriage!

So to celebrate, Chad and I splurged and went to La Caille for dinner. The only reason we decided on La Caille was because we recieved a gift certificate from one of the pharmacists at work for our wedding. Thanks Samir. Where ever you are:). One of the coolest gifts that we got! I've seriously driven past La Caille a million times. It's pretty close to Little Cottonwood Canyon which is pretty close to where I grew up. I've heard about it for many years and always wanted to go in. If you've never heard of it then you'll have to look it up. You have to have some serious cash flow to be eating there on a regular basis. We still had to pay an outrageous amount even after using the gift certificate. Disclaimer: Don't get the shrimp cocktail. You only get 4 shrimp and it's $19. We laughed hard when it came out!

This is the front of La Caille.

We sat outside and our waiter took this picture for us. Yes. That's right our WAITER! La Caille is well known for it's waitresses because they wear these "busty" outfits. We had the only waiter in the joint. Hilarious. Plus how we sat at our table, I could look into the restuarant and Chad had to look out at the grounds. HA! HA! I didn't even plan that!

Seriously the grounds are amazing. The pictures don't even do it justice. There are beautiful flowers and animals everywhere.

This was our unexpected dinner guest. The peacocks were kind of annoying because they would come up and try to get food from you. This guy ate the butter on the table next to us but it was their own fault. They were feeding him.

It has been a great year! I am so excited for the next year to come. Many more changes are in store. It's crazy how much more you can love someone over time. It reminds me of that Brad Paisley song. You think you know what love is and then you look back and see how far your love has grown. I'm not sure that makes any sense but oh well. I'm pregnant. Can I use that excuse for not making any sense? I know I can use it for forgetting things, well sometimes. Anyways....

Love ya Chad! Thanks for putting up with me for the last year. Especially since I've been PREGNANT!

Drum roll please........

It's a..............GIRL!!!!!

We found out yesterday that we are having a healthy baby girl who is even measuring a little bigger but due date is the same. Sorry. No ultrasound pics. The cd is not cooperating. I thought I might as well announce it and we'll try to add pics later. We are both super excited. I can't wait to find cute girly stuff to buy. Now there will be 4 little girl cousins all the same age coming within months of each other on my side! YES!

The Last Three Crafts and Some Birds

So I'm pretty much the slowest blogger ever right now. I just have a couple of updates 'cause Chad is gone and has all the other pictures on his camera with him. More is to come. Just thought I would share some of the last few months crafts.
This craft was done just this week. I really like it more than I thought I would.

And then the spring blocks were done a couple of months ago. If you want to see close ups you can go to http://www.gettinghercrafton.blogspot.com/.

This last one I did about 3 months ago. It's a scrapbooked picture frame that I gave to my Mom for Mother's Day. This is one of the last pictures taken of my Mom and Dad and it's probably the best one my Dad ever took. If you've ever seen our family pictures my Dad either has a goofy face on (not on purpose sometimes) or his eyes were closed. Ha. What a goofball! Ahh I miss him.

And this last part is for Carter since he is such a nature lover. You can't really tell that well but there are four, yes four baby birds in a nest on our front porch. I can peak through the little windows through our door and they move around and open their mouths. As soon as I turn the lock they hunch down and hide. Sadly for this group of birds, this is the last year I will let them bum off of us. They need to start paying some rent or at least clean up after themselves. There is seriously a ton of bird poop everyday from them. I've sprayed it off the last two days because I didn't really notice until my visiting teachers came by the other day and I was walking them to the door. I said "Oh you should look at our baby birds." They said "We already saw." I look around the brick and see all this bird poop. And I'm like "Guess it's hard to miss now with all the bird poop." Awesome. How embarrassing. Stinkin' birds. The novelty has obviously warn off.

My Awesome Hubby's Surprise Birthday

For a few months now, I 've been trying to decide what to do for Chad's birthday. He had told me previously that he would like to have a BBQ this summer and invite some friends over. So I thought what a better way to do that than do have his birthday be the BBQ.

Yesterday was his actual birthday. We went out to dinner at Market Street Grill. I didn't get him anything because I really wanted him to think that I hadn't put a lot of thought into his b-day. I wanted to throw him off totally. I ended up feeling kinda bad 'cause I could tell he felt bad that I hadn't really gone any extra miles for him. Little did he know.

So my biggest dilemna today was figuring out a way to get him out of the house at least until 6:45. The party started at 6:30. I finally just told him to leave at 5:00 and come back at 6:45. I said I had to 'finish his b-day present'. When he asked me if he should eat anything or just wait I knew he thought I was just going to make him dinner. Mewhahahaha.

As soon as he left, I was running around the house, setting the food up, decorating the front and back with balloons and streamers. Pretty much going a little crazy until Jami and Blake showed up. They were nice enough to bring two long tables and chairs. Blake was also our grill master which was very helpful. So after the set up everyone started showing up. I taped an invite (that I made for work people with the picture above) to the garage door so that Chad would read it when he got home. He was very much surprised. I love doing stuff like this! I am sneaky, sneaky. A big thanks to Kirsten for bringing the drinks, Carrie for the paper plates, cheese and onions, Seth and Amy for your chairs and ice cream, and everyone that showed up! WE LOVE YOU!

Speaking of love......you can stop reading now if you are getting bored.....I love my husband. He is such a great man. He has been very good and supportive especially the last 7 weeks that I've been sick and tired. He's always bringing up ways for us to do service and share the many blessings that we have with others. Improve who we are. That is one of the things he is very good at. I've always known that many people like Chad because I see him take an interest in everyone he talks to. He also likes to tease people which reminds me a lot of my dad. I can also see how much people like him because I'm always getting asked at work how he is doing. Even people I don't know but know I'm married to him ask how he's doing and they always say they miss him. I very much appreciate the hard worker he is. He sees something that needs to be fixed and improved and he doesn't stop until it's better. He is so intelligent and works to know more about everything. I love him and know he will be a wonderful father. He makes me very proud to be his wife.

Spring Toys and Projects!

Spring has finally arrived and we have been able to get some projects accomplished outside and inside the house. Also, we finally got rid of Chad's dresser that was purchased during his first year of college at the University of New Mexico 11 years ago. It was bought used and had to be sprayed down with Raid to get rid of all the baby cockroaches who called the dresser home. That same year Chad purchased the bed spread that we used until one week ago. Gross!!

We added some outside lighting under our eaves to brighten up the place.

Chad was so excited to buy his first lawn mower and gas powered pressure washer. The grass looks much greener now!! He has such an affinity for yard work that I'm going to 'let' him do all the yard work that he wants to. I know. I'm such a nice wife.

After getting rid of the dresser, we finally found a bedroom set that we both really liked. I'm loving it! I also purchased this lovely bedspread and took it back two days later after noticing it was DRY CLEAN ONLY! Come on Candice Olsen! Oh and it was also linen and super wrinkly. Amateur bedspread shopping mistake for sure. The dresser below looks lighter but it's just the flash from the camera! It actually matches the set.

But soon all of our other projects will be put on hold while we undertake a 40 week long project...

We are both very excited! I'm very excited for the first 12 weeks of this project to be over so I can stop feeling nauseated all the time! I'm due on November 29th. We are hoping for a boy but will take whatever healthy baby comes our way. But I just got told tonight by my Uncle Roger (after he looked at my eyeballs) that I'm having a girl. The odds are that he is 90% accurate (so he says). I guess we will have to see. The name game has already started and for a girl I like: Marie, Caitlyn, Samantha. For a boy, I've always really liked the name Owen. We can't wait to find out what we are having!

Easter Festivities!

Chad and I had a lot of fun this Sunday for easter. We made our very first honey baked ham, my mom made a really good spinach salad, and Kelli made angel food cake! It was a very last minute planning so only some of my family could make it. Chad's cousin Amy was actually able to come too! As you can see from the picture below, I forced Chad into dyeing some eggs. They didn't turn out that pretty but we had a good time and that's all that matters!

Finally good enough weather to be outside without a jacket!

The boys had a good time playing soccer around the backyard!

Mom and Hailee chatting it up!

Joel getting in on the fun with Josh and Jayden!

And last but not least the two blondes take a picture together! Who's cuter? J/k. I know it's Hailee!!!

Hope everyone had a good Easter! Getting together with family always makes me feel very blest to have them around.

Latest Craft

For my latest craft this last month, my craft club did these cute luck blocks for St. Patrick's Day. I was sick the night they did it so I went over to my friend Melissa's house this week so she could help me make them. First, we cut the letters out with a bandsaw....sike! They were already cut out. So first, we hand sanded the letters, painted them, used an electric sander to sand the edges, covered them with wood stain, and lastly sprinkled the 'U', 'K' and shamrocks with glitter. Oh and I glued the shamrocks on the 'L'. It actually took a few hours to do these but well worth the effort.

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's Day on March 17th drink lots of green beer....I mean green milk!