Skeletons

Even though we are waiting for baby sister to arrive, we have business that we have to do...like...school. We are learning a bit about the human body. We've discussed germs and anti-bodies and how to fight germs. (which we are losing miserably right now since everyone is sick) We also are discussing bones and the skeleton. Each boy put together their own mini skeleton picture and then we did a big one together. They also did a couple of worksheets on the purposes of the bones. Here are a couple of pictures of their work.

It's good that I have the boys home with me all day. I would be going crazy if I didn't have them to take care of. I'm so blessed to have these little boys. They are so kind, loving, and smart. They are so much fun! I'm very excited to add a female to the mix and see what happens. (o:We will have to change the name of our school though. Don't know what to yet, but Nelson Boys Academy won't work much longer.

Quickie Update

Just a quick note for all of you who don't have Facebook. I went to the doctor today. Since my bp was reasonable, my doctor has scheduled to induce me on Friday the 30th. I, of course, could still go on my own before that, but this is my guarantee that she will arrive before the end of the week. Yahoo!

NO BABY!

Last night I was up for two hours timing contractions. Not the most admirable contractions, but they did hurt a bit. They were all over the place and eventually I just had a little voice whisper in my head, go to bed, they aren't going to get any worse. I went to bed...they didn't get any worse. They actually went away. Then, this morning Connor woke up with a terrible cough and said his ear was hurting. I ran in and took a shower and again, the little voice told me...nothing will happen with this baby today. You have other things to take care of first. I felt very much at peace. We went to the doctor and did the non-stress test. Elizabeth performed beautifully and the doctor was very pleased that my blood pressure was down even more. He told me to come back on Monday, do another NST and bp check and if all looks good, we would schedule an induction. So, the good news is, baby and I are in pretty good health (and Dr. Lawrence panicked too much on Monday in my opinion), and I WILL have this baby by the end of next week NO LATER!!!! Of course he told me that anytime I wanted to go on my own he would be very happy. Duh, so would I. (o: This whole not having any idea about when she's coming is driving us NUTS! Especially when the doctor keeps saying, "Maybe in two days you will have her." over and over again. Oh well, she will eventually be born. Don't know any women that stayed pregnant forever. I do have to give a big shout out to my mother-in-law, who came over on Tuesday to be here in case I got sent to the hospital on Wednesday or Friday. The kids LOVED having Grandma here. They played a lot of games~especially Battleship, and I had a grown up female to help me organize baby clothes with. I sent her home for a couple of days to take care of Travis's dad and take a break since I don't go in again until Monday afternoon. They are, of course, "on call" this weekend, but I'm sure his Mom will appreciate a little break. It's sure great having her here. I'm grateful that I have a mom-in-law that I get along with, because my mom is soo far away. (Oh, but my mommy WILL be here on February 2nd. I can't wait!)

As far as Connor goes...I followed my promptings and took him to the doctor this afternoon. He didn't have an ear infection. As a matter of fact, the doctor said his ears were "pristine". He was impressed at how healthy Connor has been and commended me for taking such good care of my son. (I was thinking...awww shucks, go on! And then the thought occurred to me~what do you expect me to do~ignore him and let him starve or something?) (Can you tell this pregnancy thing is making me a tad irritable?) Anyway, it looks like he may be developing some allergies. It HASN'T rained for quite a while here (yes, in Seattle~and we MISS the rain!). It's been very foggy and smoggy. Doc thinks Connor is showing sensitivity to all of this. He gave us a couple weeks of Children's Zyrtec and said to watch him and his symptoms. I'm glad I took him in because he's been waking up so stuffy the past few weeks. Plus, I now have some peace of mind that he isn't sick.

Anyway, that's about it for now. I'm going to go and copy next weeks Language Arts and Math worksheets for school. I'm on a kind of modified bed rest I guess. He told me to stay down and rest as much as possible, but understands that I have three children to take care of. Travis has been a great help and to anyone from Kohl's who is reading this...THANK YOU for being so kind and willing to be flexible during all of this. We are blessed to have so many kind friends and co-workers.

Bed Rest

For anyone who doesn't have Facebook, here is a quick update on things. Yesterday I went to the doctor and my blood pressure was very high. This isn't a huge surprise except that it has been behaving so well up until now. I knew it was giving me problems because I felt really awful on Sunday. I didn't expect my doctor to be quite so freaked out as he was yesterday though. I had to do bloodwork and a non-stress test (I had so many of those with the other kids. I thought I had escaped them this time) Needless to say, I am on bed rest all day today and then I have to go in again tomorrow to be checked again. If my bp is up at all, we will go straight up to the birthing center and be induced. If it is the same or better, we will just go from there. I don't know what will happen. I have a feeling that she will come on her own fairly soon. I was dialated to a one yesterday and last night I had a few nice little contractions when I was trying to sleep. We'll see.

Anyway, she will be here sooner rather than later. This is the latest update. I don't think Travis will be posting pictures or anything here because so many of our friends are on Facebook, where he is most comfortable posting, but I'll get to it as soon as I possibly can.

Thanks to all for the love and support that we have gotten the past couple of days.

Wall-e and Pink Stuff

The other day the boys collected all the boxes they could find and made Wall-e robots. Well, Joseph made them, the other two assisted. They never cease to amaze me with their creativity. They were playing some sort of game show with the robots the other night. Joseph and Spencer were asking the robots vocabulary word questions and then helping them answer. It was pretty cute. So, below are some pictures of the "robots" that have taken over part of our home.

The other pictures are what has really taken over our home. Pink stuff! Some friends at Kohl's threw me a little surprise shower on Saturday. It was lots of fun and was actually at Kohl's. They had a great big cake, so whenever anyone came in the break room, I would tell them they had to eat baby cake, even if they didn't bring me a present. (o: So, for my moms sake I am including pictures of all the loot I got from all those wonderful people. Also, I included a picture of Elizabeth's bed. I put it together the other day. I've become completely obsessed with this baby and feel like she will never arrive and join our family. It also scares me just a little because it all seems too good to be true that we are going to have her in our family. How did I get so lucky?

Anyway, here are the photos. Enjoy!
Elizabeth's bed. This is just a portable crib/bassinet that will be in our room for a couple of months. I always like to keep my babies very close (usually ending up sleeping with me instead of beside me) for about 4 months. Then I move them to the big crib. I haven't gotten the big crib yet, so when I do, I will be sure to post pictures of that because my mom bought the sweetest bed set ever to go in it. P.S. ~That love seat that is behind the bed...that would be where I sleep every night cause I can't sleep laying down anymore. I'll be so happy to rejoin Travis in our "real" bed after she arrives.

Here is closeup #1 of the stuff I got from the shower. Notice the adorable Little Sister shirt on the left?

Closeup #2.

The wide shot. Are we not just so lucky? Then, to top it all off, yesterday I got a big old box of stuff from my mom too. She's gonna be the best dressed baby ever! Thank you to EVERYONE!!!

Here are all the "robots" lined up. We have Wall-e, M.O., Go-4, and EVE.

Here is Wall-e. He's my favorite. You can't really see it, but at the bottom he colored a brown rectangle, then cut it out on 3 sides, so his front can open up to put garbage in. So cute!

So, Connor wanted to play with all of the robots, but can be a bit destructive. Joseph decided to make Connor his very own robot to ensure the safety of his own. He built a Burn-e for Connor. (have you seen the bonus show about Burn-e, the repair robot on the dvd?) Connor loves his very own robot. So much so, that when I went in to put the clean sheets on Connor's bed the other night, this is what I found. And when Connor saw me turn on the light and go in his room, he gave me a good talking to about waking up his Burn-e. As you can see, Burn-e takes up a good portion of Connors bed, but the kid insists on sleeping with it each night. I think that's pretty cute!

This concludes my photo show for the day. (o:

I'm Back!

Travis had the week off last week and so between the boys and Travis, I didn't get much screen time. Really, that's okay. I don't need much, but there are a few items of business that I would like to take care of...like this blog. (o:

So, last week I did a final cleaning of Connor's/Elizabeths room. I decorated the walls and cleaned out the closet etc. It's all ready to go. I also got the bassinet ready in my room. She now has a place to sleep. It seems like the more I try to clean, the more mess the boys try to make, but I'm slowly getting things in order. I know that I still have a bit longer before she is officially due, but my doctor said that after the 19th, she is welcome to come. That's in a week. At the end of this week, people will be seeing a lot of me walking down the streets, through the mall, around Kohl's etc. Anything that I can do to encourage her to join us here on the outside, I will be doing. All this pink and purple laying around is killing me! I actually smeared Connor with her new baby lotion just so I could smell it. I'm even excited about the delivery! I just want to be done with the pregnancy and start snuggling with my new little person that I am already in love with!

Anyway, we also did a few things as a family. We had some pretty torrential rains last week and some serious flooding around Washington. (we live on a hill, so no worries for us) We took the boys to Renton to see the Cedar River run. The library is actually built over the river, so we watched it rage under the building. Pretty amazing. While doing this, Travis snapped pictures of me and my belly, so I will post those for anyone who doesn't have Facebook and didn't already see them. (nice guy, eh? Hello world! See my gigantic belly?) We went to my in-laws and took the Christmas lights off of their house for them and visited for a while. We took 2 drives into Seattle and visited our old friends at the Brown Bear Car Wash. On Saturday, I went to a surprise baby shower for Elizabeth at Kohl's. We have some pretty nice co-workers/friends there. Between the shower and my mom's "shower" package she sent, Elizabeth will be one well dressed baby. (Kohl's baby)

There are other things to report, but I don't want to let this get too long. We will keep you posted on the goings on of our home, mainly on the baby front. I need to give Travis the password and stuff so he can immediately post baby pics and info when she does decide to make her debut.

A Quick Post

Just a quick post. No baby yet, of course, but getting really really close! We had a good New Years. Travis's parents came and spent the night like they have done for, I don't know, I think the past 10 years. We ate lots and watched movies and it was lots of fun.

Travis has the week off of work, so I am using him to help out with the cleaning of the place and preparing for baby. Connor and I have had a really horrible cold. I lost my voice for a week, but am beginning to feel better. Connor is taking a little longer to recover, but I am starting to see his old self reappearing.

That's about it. Whenever Travis is home, I don't get to the computer much. He's either on it, or the boys are, so this will have to do as my news for the week. (o:

A funny little story

Just a quick little story. It's about Connor, which should come as no surprise because that kid is so active that I could tell stories about him all day. My other two boys are wonderful children that generally play nicely with each other and do a pretty good job at staying out of trouble. Connor, on the other hand, lives for finding trouble. He is not a malicious child and doesn't mean to do naughty things, it's just his nature.

Well, this story is actually not a naughty story. (although it does contain nudity) Connor is very observant. He especially loves watching his father. The other night, he and Spencer were playing some sort of game "using their imaginations" as Spencer put it. They were in the main bathroom. I went to check on them because I could hear Spencer laughing and Connor talking and I was curious. I go in there and don't see Connor right away. Then I hear him making a pretend water sound in the shower. I look down on the floor and see all of Connor's clothes. "What are you guys doing?" I ask Spencer.
"Connor is pretending to be Daddy. I'm just keeping him company while he pretends."
"Oh, what are you pretending Connor?"
Connor then peeks out behind the shower curtain and says, "I'm being Daddy and I have to get ready for work to make money for the family!" Then he shuts the curtain and continues making water sounds.
I ran and got Travis to come see. We peek in and there is Connor, naked, scrubbing his back with his dads back brush, having a ball. Then he climbs out and starts drying himself off with his dads towel. All the while telling us that he really needs to get going to work. I asked him if he worked at Kohl's too, just like Daddy, and he looked at me like I was crazy.
"No! Mommy, I work at McDonald's, remember?!"
"Oh, sorry. My mistake. How could I forget."
He got himself dressed, got his toy truck and pretended to go off to work. He took Spencer with him. I don't know if this sounds as cute as it really was. Seeing him mimic his dad and having the desire to "earn money for the family" was just so sweet. He was soooo super serious the entire time too.

Anyway, I thought it was cute. And it was nice that he wasn't doing anything that would ruin anything. Last week he peed in his desk cause "it was a silly thing to do", and then he colored the entire bottoms of his feet purple and walked all over the house before they dried, so I had to clean purple footprints out of the carpet. He's a turkey! But he has a huge love for life and his family and he's dang cute so I think I'll keep him...for now. (o:

Christmas Day and Snow (still!)

So, Christmas was quite a success. The worst part of the whole day was that Grandma and Grandpa Nelson were snowed in and couldn't come over for Christmas dinner, and Grandma Teese and Grandpa Clair refused to drive up from Atlanta, but otherwise, we had a really great day. Thank you to all who sent gifts. Here are a few pictures of the morning and also of the SNOW. Travis took lots of pictures of the snow because he could not remember ever having a white Christmas before. On the news last night they said that since 1891, this is only the 10th!!!! white Christmas Seattle has had. Pretty amazing, eh? So, anyway, enjoy the pictures.
Joseph was beside himself with excitement. We had to make him stop tearing into things and go wake up his brothers.

Spencer was so excited to get his Mega City. He sat and studied the box for a long time.

Connor got his firetruck. (and yes, they make lots of noise)

The good daddy helping free the toys from their boxes.

Joseph's police car. He says, "he doesn't want to actually be a policeman when he grows up, but he likes police things because he admires the police and that his Uncle Nate is a Deputy Sheriff, which he thinks is pretty cool."

Grandma Teese got everyone their own movie. We've never seen Kung Fu Panda. Spencer was excited to get it though. If it teaches my boys to be any more wilder (adding karate to our home), I'm sending them to you, Mom! (o:

We haven't seen Wall-e yet either, but Joseph really wanted it. They are out there watching it right now. Joseph is coming in and giving me blow by blow action reports.

Connor and Joseph love their loud, fancy new vehicles.

Ugh. This is cute of the kids. Not so cute of my 5 chins and gigantic belly! But, we had to include Elizabeth somehow. Right? I'll be so glad when next month arrives so she can arrive!

Elizabeth got her own box of adorable clothes and blankets. Thanks Mom!

Joseph helped Spencer assemble the Mega City in their room. They played in there together for literally hours. Connor was allowed to go in and watch, but not touch.

These two are really best friends!

And then, there is the snow....

This is a tree in the parking lot behind our apartment. Pretty isn't it?

This is our parking lot. There is ice under all that snow too. See Travis's cute little red '86 Ford Escort? That thing is falling apart, but is a workhorse! Gets him where he needs to go~even through all the snow.

That concludes our photo story of Christmas morning. All of us are sick with colds except Travis, but we were still able to enjoy the holiday because we were together. I made a turkey and we ate until we all nearly slipped into a tryptophan coma and just enjoyed each others company. I believe it was one of the best Christmas's ever!

It's Christmas Eve!!!

Christmas is here! It seems like it came really fast this year. Maybe it's because I wasn't ready this year, so I was kind of dreading it. Things you dread always happen much quicker than things you want to have happen. Right? Well, needless to say, it's here and I think I am pretty much ready. The snow has caused some major upsets in our home. We were supposed to have Grandma and Grandpa Nelson over for Christmas dinner, but it's looking very not promising for that now. They live on a hill and we live on a hill and there's this big old valley in between us. Valley=slippery hills. Just don't know about them driving on that. They say it's supposed to be warming up soon and melting all the snow. Hooray for rain! Snow was nice, but I prefer my cold Seattle rain. (o:

So, anyway, I thought I would post a couple of pictures since I haven't done that much picture stuff the past few days. Here they are for your enjoyment.
Connor has a bad cold. He's not sleeping very well at night. He NEVER naps during the day. (he stopped when he was one) But, yesterday, he was watching the Christmas movie, "Small One" and this is what happened. He heard the camera and started opening his eyes. But...
It wasn't long before he looked like this. He slept for about an hour, and because of that hour, he was up last night 2 1/2 hours past his bedtime. Just look how sweet and innocent he looks.

Everyone seems to be putting a picture of their trees on, so here is a kinda blurry picture of ours from the night we put it up. It looks nothing like this now~what with Joseph and Connor constantly "trimming" it, and Connor rearranging all the ornaments. Oh, and Connor was playing with the lights and now one strand no longer works. Oh well. It's still a tree in our living room. (o:
Here is a picture of the snow we have been talking about. Travis wanted me to have at least a couple of pictures of it to document that it really happened. We have been breaking snow/cold records that were set a really long time ago. It snowed a lot more after this picture was taken. And let me tell you...Seattle sucks at the whole snow thing. They have 100 snow trucks/sanders for ALL of King and Snohomish counties combined! That's from here to Canada people. 100! No wonders the roads are horrible. But, when this kind of thing only happens once every 20 years or so, I guess it would be a waste of money to have more. I guess.

And here is the little video clip Travis told me to get of the snow actually falling. It looks like this outside right now as well. Just keeps coming. (please ignore the weather report blaring in the background. We were listening to it while I was filming and didn't thing to turn it down)

So, have a wonderful Christmas day tomorrow. There will be plenty of pictures in the coming days. Thank you to everyone for all of the love and kindness you have shown our family this year! We love you all!