My Blog

Oliver’s Birth: “The Story”

Wed, 6 Jan 2010 10:51:45 -0800

I promised I would write an entry giving more details about our little Ollie’s birth. So here it goes:

The last month of pregnancy, I had lots of contractions. There were several days where I thought, “These might be going somewhere” and then they would stop. On Wednesday October 28th I was in Target and some pretty bad contractions started. I headed home, and when Brady came home for lunch I asked him if he could watch the kids so I could lay down for a few minutes. I did, and that seemed to help. But, they kept coming all day long. Nothing regular, but definitely uncomfortable.

That evening I had Young Women’s. I went, despite my discomfort. I still wasn’t sure if this was going to turn into anything or not. That night at Young Women’s we had a lady come and teach us how to give foot rubs. She said that she couldn’t run my feet because some people think that a good foot rub can trigger labor. When the girls told her I was due in two days, she decided it wasn’t too risky. She used me to demonstrate, and during her rub I was having some pretty hefty pains. I’m not saying it was because of the foot rub, since I had been experiencing them before, but the intensity was increasing and for the first time I started to think that this baby may be on his way.

After Young Women’s was over, I rushed out of there and called Brady on my way home. I told him that he may want to be prepared to have this baby tonight. He had taken all the kids to a hockey game while I was gone and was tired, and I don’t think he was all too thrilled about the possibility of getting no sleep. When I got home, I, of course, started cleaning - just in case. Then, at about 10:30 I decided to try and get some sleep. Brady laid down while I got ready for bed. I remember telling him that I would wake him up if they started to get closer together. He requested that I give him at least a few hours of shut eye. I climbed into bed, and the second I laid down, my water broke. Five minutes of sleep was not what Brady had in mind but I decided that we better head to the hospital right way since I have fast labors. We called Brady’s mom and we were on our way.

We arrived at the hopital and got checked in. I requested an epidural. During this pregnancy my platelets had been low. Platelets are the things in your blood that make it clot. I knew that if they dropped low enough, I wouldn’t be allowed to have the epidural, but my doctor had been reassuring me the whole time that my levels were fine and I didn’t need to worry. But, when I requested the epidural they told me they needed to do blood work before they could okay it. They rushed the blood work, got the results quickly, and came back to break the news to me that I would not be able to have one. I was pretty upset and scared! My doctor tried to talk the anesthesiologist into it - he had run a lot of tests and didn’t feel the need to worry. But, the anesthesiologist said that under no circumstances would he give one to a lady with platelet levels below 100,00 and mine were 78,000. So, there was nothing I could do but cry, and I did.

Luckily, the really horrible part went fast. Oliver was born at 2:39 AM on October 29th. Once I saw his sweet little face, I decided it was all worth it. I also told my doctor and Brady that I had earned bragging rights for the rest of my life. They agreed. :)

Oliver is such a blessing to our family! We love his so much!

Introducing Oliver Kenneth Nelson

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 17:10:23 -0800

Born October 29 at 2:39 AM
8 lbs 8 oz
20 inches long
Proudly welcomed by Brady, Danna, Tate, Ella, and Milo

We feel so blessed to have Oliver here. A healthy baby is truly a miracle and a blessing. We are already so in love with him! But look at at that face - who wouldn’t be in love with that?

More details to come soon. Thanks to Marianne for taking the beautiful pictures of our precious boy!

Ella is 5!

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:28:19 -0700

On October 11 our little princess turned 5! I can’t believe it. 5 years has gone so fast! To celebrate, she chose to have a Hannah Montana birthday party with 8 of her friends. We started by having them paint a picture frame and then decorate it with stars, sparkles, and guitars (because rock stars love to have their picture taken.) Then, I glammed them up with make-up and had them pose with a microphone and guitar for a photo shoot. (We printed the photos later and delivered them in the frames they made.) All that took longer than I thought, so we only had time for one round of “Hot Microphone” (hot potatoes only with a microphone). We finished off with presents, pizza, and cake. I usually go overboard on the cakes, but this year I wanted to keep it low key. So, I baked cupcakes in ice cream cones, frosted them, and then dipped the tops in metallic sprinkles. The idea was that they were supposed to look like microphones. I imagined them cuter in my head then they actually turned out, but the kids seemed to think they were cool. I think all in all, the party was a success.

We had the party on the 10th, which was a Saturday, so on her actual birthday (Sunday), we had the Nelson clan over for dinner and more cake. She is a loved little girl.

Here is a look at Ella at 5:

She is as girly as they come. She loves make-up, high-heels, stick on earrings, dresses, nail polish, long hair, eyelashes ... if it’s girly, she likes it.
She acts more like a teenager than a little girl most of the time. Sometimes it makes me wonder what the next 10 years will bring!
She loves to be with friends! She’s a very social little girl.
She’s great at riding her scooter and loves to do that too. Now that she got a new bike for her birthday, she’s been cruising around on that.
She loves to sing and dance. She is taking a ballet/tap class this year and is doing great.
She’s so smart! She can read and write simple words. She started preschool this year and is doing great.
One thing we have noticed is that she has a talent for remembering people’s names. She is very friendly, and always says hi to people by name. Half the time, I didn’t even know the person’s name.
She is a great sister! She and Tate have started to ask if they can both sleep in Ella’s bed on the weekends, and it is so fun to hear them playing and having fun during their sleepovers. Milo doesn’t know what to do without her when she’s gone. They are the best little friends. It is fun to watch them play (they usually play babies, puppies, or barbies.)
She is so excited for me to have the baby! She really wanted a sister, and was sad when we found out it was a boy. But, now she already loves him. She is always asking to feel my tummy and gets so excited when she feels a kick. She’s always kissing my belly and telling the baby she loves him. She will be such a good helper!
She’s been into Hannah Montana, but recently discovered Taylor Swift and has now declared that she likes Taylor Swift more than Hannah Montana. She’s always asking to watch her music videos on YouTube or listen to her album on my ipod. Of course, she knows all the words so she sings and dances along.
She loves to draw and is a great artist. Most of her pictures are of beautiful girls with dresses, long hair, and long eyelashes, mermaids, flowers, or hearts.
She’s obsessed with the Shock Dance Team. That is the only reason she wanted to go to any of the games. She knew all their names, and visited them on the field after every game.
She still sucks her thumb and crawls into our bed at night - evidence that she is still our little girl!

We love you Ella! Happy Birthday!

Recap

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:20:42 -0700

Here’s a recap of what we have been up to in the past 4 months.... it’s been awhile. I’ll try to make it quick - while still capturing the important stuff.

Shock - Arena Football kept us busy this summer. The Shock had a great season. We attended all the home games and traveled to Boise. I would say the Boise trip was fun, but we caught the stomach flu while at the hotel. Not so fun. At least Brady got to watch the game - I was in the room with sick kids feeling not so hot myself. At least we won that game! We won most games - we made it all the way to the Arena Cup championship game in Las Vegas and won that too! Brady and I traveled the Vegas while his parents watched our kiddos. It was a nice get away and great to win our second championship in 4 years! In other Shock news, we will be competing in a new league next year called Arena One. This league is the highest level of Arena Football, so we’ll be playing with the big boys (cities like Chicago, Phoenix, and Orlando). We’re excited!

Powell Trip - We met my parents and Cic and the Jenks in Missoula over the 4th of July weekend to visit my brother Kimball and Elaine and their new baby Danny. On Sunday we all attended Danny’s blessing. He is such a sweet little boy! It was fun to see them. Then, Bethany and I and our kids caravanned back to Powell with my parents and stayed for a weeks visit. It was tons of fun. Summer is the best time to be in Powell. My parents arranged for the kids to ride some miniature ponies, we visited a little zoo and candy store in Red Lodge, and went swimming in the Cowley pool. It was nice to relax and be with family!

Tate - As I mentioned in the previous entry, Tate has been taking Taekwondo for the past few months. He is doing great! We love to watch his progress. He had his first belt test at the end of August and is now a yellow belt. We’re so proud of him! The belt test and ceremony were so fun to watch. He did great! At the ceremony, the kids receiving belts were all on the mat waiting respectfully. Master Kim (the head of all the schools here) picked Tate out of the crowd and had this conversation with him.

Master Kim to Tate: “Tate, what’s up?”
Tate: “Um, nothing Sir.” But after a short pause continued, “Wait, actually, I did build a little box house with my dad this morning, Sir.”
Master Kim, puzzled: “What did you build?”
Tate answered, “A house out of a box, Sir.”
Master Kim: “Cool, that sounds like fun.”

Everyone in the dojang laughed. It was so cute. Then when it was his turn to receive his belt, Master Kim asked him who was more handsome, him or his dad. Tate paused for a few seconds, and then answered, “My dad, Sir.” Everyone laughed and Master Kim responded, “You’re breaking my heart!” One of the parents told us that he always asks the new kids this, and Tate was the first one to answer his Dad. What a sweet boy! Pictured Below: Tate with Master Kim, then with his teacher, Mr. Justin, and then with his family.

Tate started first grade this year with Mrs. Ames as his teacher. He is doing great, but we miss him now that he is gone all day! He is such a smartie. His reading is coming along great. He still loves to draw and write books. He’s always working on something creative! I don’t think I’m ready for him to be such a big boy, but he’s growing up. He even lost his first tooth September 19. He was so excited to have the tooth fairy come. He looks so cute!

New York - I left the kids with Brady and jetted off to New York from July 31 - August 3 with my sister Bethany so we could visit my brother Collin and Jen and their new baby Violet. We met my parents and Cicily there. It was so much fun! Collin and Jen were such great hosts. They showed us all around the city (I went last year for the first time, but Bop and Cic hadn’t been before). We also went to two Broadway shows - Jersey Boys and 9 to 5. Both were great. And, of course, we enjoyed seeing baby Violet, who is so sweet! On Sunday we were able to attend her blessing. It was such a fun time. Bop and I felt like we were in High School again. :)

Seattle Weekend - We decided to take a little weekend trip to Seattle over Labor Day weekend. It was the last weekend before school started, and we didn’t know when we would have another chance to get away. It was so much fun! We bought the City Pass and packed as much as we could into a few days. We ended up having time to go to the Zoo, Space Needle, and the Children’s Science Museum. It was fun to spend time together as a family, and the kids loved all the tourist attractions - especially the museum!

Ella - Ella started going to preschool two mornings a week this year at Teacher Barbara’s and is loving it. She is so smart! She is a good pal for Milo while Tate is at school all day, and she’s super excited to have another baby in the house! She’ll be a good helper! She also turned 5 on Sunday - but I plan to do a separate entry on that. Here she is on her first day of school.

Milo - gave us a bit of a scare in August. We took the fam to Dairy Queen and while we were eating our ice cream outside on the patio he fell backwards off the picnic table and landed on his head on the concrete. He started screaming. I picked him up and tried to calm him, and then he went limp and passed out. It was so scary! I think he even stopped breathing for a couple seconds. He was out for about 20 seconds, but it seamed like an eternity. I had no clue what was going on - and I freaked out. Once he came to, we were all a little worked up! We took him to the ER to have him checked out. They gave him a CT scan to make sure he was okay. Everything checked out, and after several hours we were back at home. Poor Mi guy. He is so accident prone!

Other than that incident, he is doing great. He’s turning into a little boy before our eyes. He is so much fun and such a sweetie! He talks more every day. What he can’t explain in words, he acts out. We always say he is the best charade player around. He now calls himself “My-mo” so that is his new nickname around here. He LOVES motorcycles and all sports. He sits with Brady in the morning while he reads the sports section and asks him questions about the pictures. He also loves to ride his trike because he thinks it is a motorcycle. On the days when Tate and Ella both have school, he does not know what to do with himself. He walks around the house asking, “Where Tate”, “where Ella.” It’s so sad.

In the above picture he is riding his trike (motorcycle) and wearing his winter hat because he calls that his football helmet. He’s so funny!

Firsts and Lasts for Tate

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 15:09:29 -0700

On June 17 Tate attended his last day of kindergarten. As a mommy, I had mixed emotions about the whole thing. Obviously, he is growing up. As a first grader he will be attending school all day. This part is sad for me. I will miss not having him around as much! With morning kindergarten, we were still able to do lots of fun stuff together after school. Now, he will be at school during our McDonald’s playdays and park picnics. But, we will just have to plan other outings at 3:00! But mostly, I was just proud of him. He is such a smart, sweet boy. He did great in kindergarten, and will be more than ready for first grade!

A couple days before the last day of school, we attended his Kindergarten Celebration. It was so cute! He and all the other kindergartners sang songs and then they all received a certificate. Then they showed a slideshow of memories of his class throughout the year. Here he is singing in the program, receiving his certificate, and then pictured above with his teacher, Mrs. Metcalf. Good job Tate!

A few weeks ago, Tate had his first day of taekwondo. He hasn’t been interested in participating in soccer, tee-ball, or anything like that. But, for a while now he has showed interest in marital arts. We asked him if he wanted to take some classes this summer, and he said he did. So, we signed him up. He is doing really good! His teacher, Mr. Justin, said that he has natural athletic ability, which will help him a lot. He is very agile, and I must say his kicks and jumps are high. It is so fun to watch him! I really like that he is enjoying it, because it will be good for him. They really emphasize respect. He has to bow anytime he gets on or off the mat and say “yes sir” or “no sir” when asked a question. The class is teaching him lots of good things, and he is loving it.

As for Ella and Milo, they are growing fast and cute as ever. We are all enjoying our summer together. This weekend we are headed to Missoula to attend Danny’s (Kimball and Elaine’s new little baby) blessing. Then, we will go onto WY for a weeks stay with my family. We can’t wait!