Happy Thanksgiving

I am grateful for little toes, fingers, ears, mouths, tummies, eyes, legs and everything that this little boy has brought with him from heaven. Oh, how neat it is to have something so close to heaven in our home, and to know that we get to take care of him and raise him the best we can. I am so grateful for Heavenly Fathers giving heart, for letting us experience being a mommy and a daddy. Everyday I take several minutes (hours)just stairing at him and taking these moment in. How blessed I feel to be a mother and be so needed by this cutie pie. I love being home and only having two obligations, that being my 2 men in my life. I got a little photography happy and took some seasonal pictures of James. This guy better get used to all the pictures I take, cause I am constanlty clicking my camera. How could I resist all his cute little expressions and new moments in his brand new life.

Our Baby Boy's Nursery

This is little baby James' nursery. Thanks to Mamma Rose for the cutest pillows and blanket for his crib. We absoultely love it. I spent some fun hours being crafty and making frames and staining the white furniture to make it look anitque. It was so much fun preparing for our little man, time sure flew. Now it is even funner having him with us every single minute. I just can't stop falling more and more in love everyday with our little bud. Everyday is new and I just love being a mom. Currenly, James sleeps in the basinet right next to our bed during the night. We are still trying our hardest to get him on a schedule,so we don't have to wake up at least 3 times a night with him. He is still just a big time sleeper, at first I was worried that he wasn't drinking enough, but I am now rest assured because his diapers are consistanly full. He is a big time stretcher. Here daddy is trying to wake him up from a wonderful sleep, but having no success. We have found that baths are one of the ways of waking him up. At first he did not like them at all, but today it didn't seem to bother him as much. I love this naked boy. Yet as a mother, I find the skin to skin feedings and cuddlings to be the most special bonding experiences.

Our little guys first week of life

One of our little guys favorite things to do is be swaddled. He loves the warmth and just being tightly cuddled and cozy. He is one big cuddler. He just snuggles right up to anyone at any time. I love the precious moments of cuddling with him. Poor little James has had a bottom rash. So in the mornings we open the blinds and let the sun in. We air out his bare bum and it is said to help with jondice too. He had a little right when he came home from the hospital, but now he is all cleared up. I think James is so funny sometimes, especially at feeding time. He gets so frusterated about latching on and will squiel like a little piglet. It is so cute, yet funny to watch. Or when he has a dirty diaper, he will let everyone know. I know it may sound a little crazy, but ya I did throw a week old party for him, with just Josh, mom and myself. I had to, it was just so wild that a week had passed so fast. Our Snoozer Our poser and Eddie Munster look-a-like (cute little vampire baby) Our deep thinker after a successful feeding. Proud Mommy and Daddy

Welcome to the world Baby James

This is the story of the arrival of James Wallace Nielson, our beautiful son. On Thursday, November 6th I went in for my 38 and a half week check up with my doctor. She told me I was dialated to a 3 and could have the baby soon or it could take up to a few weeks. So I left thinking I still had a good week or so until I was due. That next morning at 3:30 I woke up like normal to go to the bathroom. This time was a bit different though because I felt some tightning, my guess was that it was a braxton hicks contraction. So I went back to bed and then 8 minutes later the same thing happened again. I happened about 4 times before I woke Josh up and asked him to help me relax and focus on something else, like hypno-birthing told me to do during a surge. With Josh's coaching, I was able to relax during the surge and focus on something else, instead of the pain. This continued for a while and I took a hot bath and was able to relax a bit more. Later on the contractions were 5 minutes apart and I had no idea I was experiencing true labor contractions. Once the contractions started to be 2 minutes apart I finally realized I was going to have my baby. So I was writing a lesson plan for my sub between the contractions. I finally sent them out and then we left to go to the hospital. On the way my contractions were 1 minute apart. Then we got to Utah Valley Hospital. When we got there I still thought we had time and felt alright so we parked and walked in. When I got situated in the birthing room they checked me and I was dialated to a 5. As I continued to go through contractions, I was so grateful my husband was there because he is the one who helped me relax and put my mind somewhere else. The thoughts that made me get through it so well was being able to visualize me and my son doing different things. 20 minutes later I was dialated to a 8 and 10 minutes after that I was dialated to a big 10. My doctor came in and informed that if I wanted to have my baby in 3 hours that I could continue with the hypnobirthing, but that it would take 3 hours to breath the baby down. She said that if I wanted to do that she would go back to her office and return in 3 hours. Yet if I wanted to have my baby in 20 minutes that I could start pushing now. I did not want her to leave and 20 minutes sounded a lot better then 3 hours so I told her I would start pushing right then. So I pushed a total of 9 times in 10 minutes. During the last part of this time our baby was in distress and not happy , because he was not getting enough oxygen, so they put the oxygen mask on me and told me that I had to push our little guy out in the next 3 pushes or they would have to take other measures, like a C-section. All I could think about at this time is my baby is in distress and I that I didn't want a C-section. So I dug down and pushed as hard as I freaking could. I didn't care what happened, all I wanted was for him to come out breathing. So I pushed as hard as I could and I felt as though I could have given birth to my heart. But suddenly the most amazing thing happened. He was on my belly and crying his little lungs out. I was so extremely happy that I didn't even know what to do. It was so neat having him skin to skin and just seeing our little boy enter this would. Daddy was one excited man, he was announcing his arrival to everyone he saw. The nurses said that they had never seen such an excited father before. Josh was calling everyone and he just couldn't stop smiling. He went with baby James for all his assesments and told James that he would always be right next to him to support him, even during the circumcision. Josh is a proud daddy and I know he will be the best daddy too. I love how he comes home and just craddles his little guy and can't get enough of him. James Wallace Nielson Born: Novemeber 7, 2008 at 8:56 A.M Weight: 7 lbs 12 oz Height: 19 inches Features like daddy: blonde hair, light skin, long toes Features like mommy: ears, lips, long fingers and hair line Mommy is so in love with his little son. Each time I look at him I just feel so blessed and know that he is truly an amazing miracle. His whole birth was such a spiritual experience and it really made me feel loved by my father in heaven. My hope is that I can be a good mom and always show him my love no matter what. It is so neat being a women and having the experience of carrying James for 9 months, having a pretty easy birth and then taking him home to love and care for him. I can definatley say that I am in the transition of learning new things about my body and about my little son. I am currently learning how to breast feed. He is so funny because he gets so frusterated if he can't lach on. James definalty tells us if he has a dirty diaper or is hungry. We stayed at the hospital for 2 days and came home Sunday morning. We had a great experience at the hospital and we were visited by friends and family the whole time. We didn't get much sleep but I totally enjoyed being waited on and just relaxing. Well James, you sure have 2 other ladies that adore you and can't get enough of you. Your grandma and nana are total baby hogs and have been the greatest help to Josh and I during this time in our lives. Thanks to them for bearing us when we were born into this world. It is amazing what our mothers did for us throughout our lives. Thanks MOM(s)!

Counting down to 38 weeks

30 weeks 31 weeks 32 weeks 33 weeks 34 weeks 35 weeks 36 weeks 37 weeks 38 weeks

For the love of the Game

Josh just had his last day of coaching tonight. He has been helping coach the Salem Sky Hawk team. They are a brand new school this year and therefore had to basically start from scratch. Since FOOTBALL is Josh's favorite sport, he loved coaching the teenage boys. Almost everyday there was a new story and I could tell that he just loved working with the young boys, and had hopes to influence them for good. I look up to my husband for the man he is. He is so involved in other peoples lives and has pure excitment for little things. He is a leader in so many ways and he continually teaches me to always love my elementary students no matter what, because in all reality that is what they will remember as the years go by. Even though his team did not come out on top, I know that Josh will persue his dream of one day being a head coach for a football team. GO TEAM GO!! I have never met anyone who is such a diehard for football. Football is his passion and he thrives for it. It's so funny watching him watch a game, because his whole body gets into it and he is so intense about the plays. Currently, the love of my game is teaching my team of third graders. I have been feeling great and still have the synergy for all my hyper 8 and 9 year olds. I love teaching and find it so rewarding. Teaching young children in surly a passion of mine. I have great kids this year and just love them to death. They always give me hugs at the end of the day and now my tummy is being implanted with kisses as the days go by. They are so excited that I am having a baby soon, it is a continual countdown. Now we are at 13 days away. I have become a little stressed out, knowing that I need to get all my lesson plans done before I go into labor, so I am not doing them in the hospital. Thus, my plan is to teach until I am actually going into labor or until my actual due date. Yet, I must be prepared, because so many people have told me their stories of going early. The biggest change I am encountering is my ability to sleep and be comfortable. I will admit that having a big huge ball in the middle of my waist is not always the most pleasant. My poor husband hears me get up in the middle of the night like 3-4 times. I guess my body is just getting us prepared for when our son will be waking up every 3 hours to be fed. Ready or not, Baby James will come when he pleases. This countdown of 13 days may be correct, to late or to early. No one really knows, it is just a guess in reality. I want him to come when he wants, even if he is late. I would rather him come late then be induced. (This is just one of my preferences, unless he was like 2 or more weeks late, then I would be concerned).

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum have some fun!

Every year Josh and I take turns picking out the costumes for Halloween. I picked these great costumes, allowing me to be nice and plump and comfortable as I am 38 weeks pregnant. We did feel like total nerds being Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum but we had a ton of fun acting the part too. Josh insisted in being Dum, that just allowed him to goof off even more. We went to the Halloween Party at the school where I teach curently and my students just loved it. Currently in 3rd grade I am reading them Alice in Wonderland, so that made it that much better. Josh sometimes comes into my classroom and reads to them, he is a celebrity in my class, the kids just adore him. Halloween night we made our rounds to our brothers and sisters homes. Halloween is always more fun when kids are involved. They get so excited about trick or treating. It was so great being with everyone, mom even dressed up her little baby pug. I love Halloween, it is just a time to be crazy, have fun and eat a lot of candy. How could you not like it? Plus, it's fun to just see everyones creative costumes. I wonder what Joshy will pick next year for our family of 3. As a clan of us took the kids around and I held little McKay (little bear), I just couldn't help but think that next year I will be holding our Baby James who will be almost the same age as Mc Kay, taking him around for the event of trick or treating. Wow there is so much to look forward to. Eliza was our nightly entertainment. She is so funny and so dang cute. She's so tiny and will sing out a song from High School Musical, with actions and everything. We can't help but just prob her on, she loves the attention.