Arizona trip

The kids and I flew back to Arizona in August. It was interesting flying by myself with three kids, a layover and a plane change. But they actually did really well. Here are some pictures from our trip.My mom and the kids. 

Sarah rolled over for the first time. 3 months old. 

We got to visit our friends.

 

Sarah met her new cousin. 

We saw Steve's Grandma.

Rode horses at Steve's parents house.

Then flew home. It was a fun trip. We love going back to Arizona. 

Parker's 5th birthday

I took the kids to get their picture taken this summer. I didn't get the digital copy, but here is a picture of it. 

We celebrated Parker's birthday on his actual birthday just as a family and then has his birthday party later. So he got 2 Pokemon cakes. Here is his family cake.

 And here is his birthday party cake. I tried out new recipes for frosting, but I still haven't found the one I love yet.

 We also took him bowling on his birthday. He loves to go bowling these days.

 We did an Olympic theme party, remember this was during the summer and the Olympics were going on. We had all the kids register and find their names. Then taped their name shirts and did lots of Olympic themed party games.

 Our Olympic "flame".

 Gold medal party favors.

I didn't get any pictures of the games, but it was a lot of fun.

Sarah's Blessing

We were able to bless Sarah last month and I am just getting around to posting about it. We were lucky enough to have Steve's parents come out for the blessing. We didn't take any pictures before we left for church and I was just planning on taking some after church, but Sarah had other plans... She had a blowout during sacrament, but luckily enough it was after her blessing. So I made Steve take some pictures the following Sunday with Sarah so we could have some pictures documenting the event. We didn't get a family shot, but I am just glad to have any.

 

I took this picture one day before church. They all were just so cute, I couldn't resist. 

I love when this little girl smiles at me. Here are her 2 month stats.

24 inches long- 96%

14 pounds 13 ounces- 98%

Head 40.9 cm- 99%

 She often looks at me like this. I can imagine she is saying "Mom, what are you doing?"

The kids got to see some of the flight simulation stuff their dad does. I think Parker thought it was cooler than Paige did.  I think this one was a Star Wars pod race they made for fun.

 We did had some fun for the 4th of July. We had some friends over and did some fireworks. Yes, we can have real ones here. :)

 This was Sarah sleeping one day when she was a couple weeks old.

 I got the kids pictures taken this week and I didn't get the digital copy of them so I just took a lazy picture of it with my phone.

Two Weeks Old and birth story

 Our little Sarah is two weeks old today and my good friend took some pictures of her today and has already sent some to me. So I thought I would post them while I was writing about Sarah's birth.

 On my due date we decided that it was time to be induced. My parents came in town that day and I was to be at the hospital that night at 9:00 PM to start the induction. So we left Parker and Paige with my dad that night and my mom came with us to the hospital. By the time we got all the paperwork filled out and were settled in our room it was 11:00 PM. And the room was HUGE! I was already having contractions on my own, but I had been for a couple weeks but they were starting to be more consistent and painful. I was at 3cm and 75% effaced, but again I had been for a couple weeks. That baby was coming that day for sure. So they decided that at 4:00 AM they would start pitocin so they could make sure that I got enough of the antibiotics in me before I delivered because of the group B. I asked to have my epidural put in at the same time as the pitocin, but they said no that I should start out by taking a ambien sleeping pill to help with the contractions (big mistake). Around 2:00 AM my contractions were so painful that I still couldn't get any sleep so I asked for the sleeping pill. It didn't help at all. All it did was make me so groggy and out of it. The contractions were too painful to let me fall asleep. So at 4:00AM they started the pitocin and then around 6:00AM they broke my water and they said I could finally have an epidural and I was at 6cm. They stopped the pitocin because my contractions were consistent and close enough. The anesthesiologist got to my room around 7:00AM and they put in my epidural and I threw up a few times while he was getting it in. Anyways it didn't work and he had to come back with his boss and they tried to adjust it and checked back 15 minutes later. Still not working... and so they adjusted again and tried a stronger medicine. And they kept trying to get it to work, but it just wouldn't. Man it hurt so bad. I just laid on my side and held on to the bed rail. I couldn't do anything because I was so fuzzy from the sleeping pill I couldn't really explain what was going on in my mind well I just expected everyone to know what was happening. I could feel the urge to push, but I just held off from telling every one because I wanted them to fix the epidural before I had to start pushing. When I finally said I needed them to get the doctor they checked me and I was already crowning. So the doctor got there and I only had to push a couple of times and she came out with the cord around her neck, but they got it off and she was fine. I had some tearing that had to get stitched up. So now I know what a natural birth feels like. I always want an epidural. Here is our first family picture. We have been up for about 26 hours here so Steve and I are really tired.

Sarah Karen Nelson

Our little girl was born May 11, 2012 at 8:38 AM. She was 8 pounds 7 ounces. 22 inches long. Birth story to come later. I am just loving holding this little girl and getting to know her little spirit. She such a happy baby and doesn't really cry. Here are a couple pictures of her. 

At the end

Tomorrow I will be my due date with this pregnancy and still no baby. That is alright I have never had a baby before my due date and didn't really expect to this time either. I went in a couple weeks ago for an ultra sound to see how big this baby was, because I always have big babies. She was measuring 7 1/2 pounds at 38 weeks. I know that this number isn't always accurate, but it feels about right. So she should be 8 1/2 pounds if everything was measuring right. My doctor wanted to induce me at 39 weeks, but I really like the excitement of going into labor yourself. However, now I am scheduled to go in for an induction tomorrow night at 11pm. Horrible time right? But I got to say I am ready. This has defiantly been the hardest pregnancy I have had so far.  I am ready for this little girl to come out so I can hold her and lover her. So stay tuned for pictures!

Pictures

I have to start being better about posting. There are quite a few pictures here so get ready. We had a Easter party for preschool at our house this week. We did a bunny theme so we pulled out our bouncy house, made bunny cupcakes, and had a Easter egg hunt. The kids had a blast! Lucky for us the weather has been so great this winter that we get to play outside.  

 Paige has totally become a little mom. She loves babies. She will try to take care of them like you would a real baby. She likes to line up her babies and then "change" their diaper. She pulls out diaper wipes and will change them. It is so funny. She also loves to feed her babies. I am hoping that she will love her new sister just as much and will want to help out just as much.

 Paige loves to play outside all of the time. I love being able to just let the kids outside and play. Parker will push Paige on the swing.

 Here in Ohio we have so much yard work. We had a bunch of mulch delivered a couple weeks ago and have been spending our time spreading it around. Parker loves to help his dad do this.

 In March we were lucky enough to have my mom and sister come out for a visit. We got to do lots of fun things with them. Ride the train at the mall go mini-golfing, and go to Parker's favorite places to go out to eat, Panera and Olive Garden.

 Steve has been out of town quite a bit in the past month and I decided to let the kids try to do a sleep over in Paige's room. They did really well, until Paige was ready to actually go to sleep. She wouldn't sleep on the floor. She just got up and got into her bed. But they both slept through the night and thought it was the best thing ever.

We have also been to some really fun birthday parties recently. One of Parker's friends had their birthday at a roller rink. Steve was out of town so I got to go by myself with the kids. This was their first time rollerskating so I had to hold each of their hands at the same time and try to keep them both from falling. Not so easy being 8 months pregnant. But it was so much fun! 

 Then we got to do another birthday at build a bear. Very cool! I did not know that you could do birthday parties there.

 We got to celebrate Paige's birthday in March! She is now 2. She loves Minnie Mouse so we had everything Minnie for her. Steve's mom and brother Jordan got to come out and celebrate with us. Here are Paige's stats.
Height: 34 inches- 62%
Weight: 24.11 pounds- 23%
Head: 47.7 cm- 76%

 We went to the children's museum for Paige's birthday.

 For one of Parker's field trips for preschool we went to visit a fire station. They were so great with the kids and let them pretend to drive the fire truck.

 Here are the kids making their valentines.