Christmas 2012

Well, we had a rough December, but Christmas day was great.  Everything went really well and the kids were all so happy and cheerful and it was a great day together.

We had a series of storms come through the days before Christmas.  This picture was actually taken a couple of weeks ago, but I just had to put it in.  Jerry and Matt spend over an hour shoveling our driveway as well as several of our neighbors.  Matt is a really good help and it makes me proud of Jerry to involve him and of Matt to work with him.  What good boys!

I just can't get enough of this little girl.  She's my best present ever!

Christmas morning was very exciting!  Abby woke up about 6:30 and I enjoyed some peaceful moments.  While I was feeding her I heard Matt get up... and then go back to bed!!  I was really surprised.  So I finished with Abby and laid her back in bed and got back in bed myself.  Matt came in at about 6:56 and said, "I tried so hard to wait until 7 but I'm so excited can we just open presents now?!"  I laughed so hard.  He'd asked me if it was ok if he got up at 7.  I'd said of course, but I didn't really mean 7 exactly.  Anyway, we got the girls up and walked out into the living room.  The first thing Kate said when she saw her stocking gifts was, "Yes! I wasn't on the naughty list!"  I thought that was really funny.  Later in the day I asked her if she was really worried about being on the naughty list and she said, "Well, Sara and I have been fighting a lot lately."  I actually felt really bad and told her it's ok to not be perfect and that she's a really good girl. What a sweetie!

The girls were very excited with the easel that they got.  It was supposed to be from Santa, but Matt saw it covered in the storage room and wondered what was "under that tarp" so just to be safe... it was from us.

Sara had a turquoise Christmas.  She has decided that is her favorite color so she got turquoise jammies, a leotard, sweats, hair band...  I overheard her and Kate talking later in the day about how she is a turquoise girl.  So funny.  Sara had Abby's name for Christmas and this is the Glo-Worm she picked out for her.  I love sibling gifts.  They all tried really hard to think of something their sibling would truly  like.

I realized I didn't get any pictures of Matt in his new Rockies sweatshirts.  Instead this is him helping Abby open her gifts.  Jerry and I got him tickets to a Rockies exhibition game that they are playing in Salt Lake City.  He is so excited to go in March.  I think Jerry is just as excited!  I wish I was going.

This is the blanket I made for Abby and some headbands I bought.  I tried really hard to have it done by Christmas, but I didn't quite get it done until yesterday.  Oh well.  Still looks cute!  

Christmas day was so much fun and we all loved it.  Unfortunately, as I went to bed wasn't feeling so great.  I woke up in the middle of the night with the stomach flu.  Again.  I thought that even though everyone else in the family got it that I would be ok since I had it over Thanksgiving.  Apparently, once wasn't enough.  I was so sick the next day.  I could barely get out of bed without feeling like I was going to pass out.  Jerry was so much help and I was so grateful for him that day.  I just slept and slept and was luckily on the mend the next day but I still feel like I could sleep for a week straight.  I was actually sad to take down the Christmas stuff, but I'm so exhausted from all of our December sicknesses that I'm glad to put that behind us and hopefully have a better January!  I was just glad that Christmas day everyone felt good and we all had a fabulous day!

Christmas Fails and Successes already

Well, it has already been a memorable Christmas season.  Some things have made us laugh, some smile, some almost cry and some throw our hands up and say "oh well".

One of our biggest fails so far was something that almost made us cry.  We had some gift money and so we decided to get a nice family gift.  We thought the kids would love a foosball table.  Jerry and I were really excited about it.  Jerry left one Saturday morning to pick it up.  While he was gone the kids spotted a mink in our yard.  We have some neighbors that have a mink farm nearby.  So when he got home the kids were excited to tell him about it and he also wanted to have our friends come pick it up because they can be kind of mean.  So when he got home, he first called our friends.  Somehow, in all the excitement of the mink, Kate looked into the garage from our house door.  She was able to see into the back of Jerry's car and she was able to see the table.  She started jumping up and down and screaming with excitement, "Daddy got us a foosball table, Daddy got us a foosball table!"  She was so excited and of course Matt and Sara heard and also got excited.  What could we do?  We were both so bummed, but happy that they were so excited.  So we said, "Merry Christmas!" and set up the table.  We have had a ton of fun with it!  We have all been so happy with it.  It was a great buy even though we would have loved to see that excitement Christmas morning.  Oh well!

Something funny that has made me crack up all December long is Kate's obsession with trapping Santa Claus.  One day she looked at our gas fireplaces with the glass screen, chuckles and says, "Hey... we have a way to trap Santa!  If I can trap Santa then I can have Christmas every day!"  She has come up with several different ways to trap him.  So we really laughed when we saw this on Spongebob:



It has made us giggle a lot this year!

We have had another fail with everyone getting the stomach flu.  It has been really weird.  I got it first the week of Thanksgiving, then Jerry got it a couple of weeks later, then Sara, Matt, Kate and finally Abby woke up in the night with a bit of a fever and definitely lethargic.  It has been rough.  It has been really hard to get any shopping done when I have to stay home and help sick kids.  I have kind of just had to give up control though and let things get done in any way, or just not get done at all.  After Kate was born, and she stressed me out, I was talking to a friend who has 6 kids and I was asking her how she does it.  She told me she's just had to lower her standards a bit and just roll with the flow.  I didn't understand what she meant at the time, I do now.  I just can't be perfect and in control all the time.  Hard lesson for me!

We had a great night looking at the lights at temple square, we had so much fun delivering neighbor gifts, I've enjoyed watching Kate and Sara in their Christmas programs and we've had fun at work parties.  At my work party they reserved the theatre and we watched Rise of the Guardians.  Loved it, kids loved it!  Major success!  And then at Jerry's work party they gave out a ton of awesome gifts... Wii U's, flat screens, iPads, etc.  Jerry was lucky enough to win an ipad mini.  That was a pretty awesome success!  We had fun playing the present game where we go around the house and find a random gift for everyone and then we have to say why we're grateful for the gift that we're given.  It was fun.  We've also enjoyed reading Christmas stories and watching Christmas movies.

Even though it's not even Christmas yet, it has been a Christmas we'll remember.  It has been nice to be forced to slow down and enjoy my family.  It's hard to have them all sick, but we've spent a lot of time just chilling!  I am excited for Christmas morning, but this December has already made me happy!

3 month pictures

I was having some minor technology difficulties, so here are some good quality 3 month pictures or our sweet little Abby!

We really really love this little angel.  I love her smiles and the way she's starting to find her voice...  So precious!

Happy 3 months!

We can't believe Abby is already 3 months!  She is growing so fast.  She is a delight to all of us.  The older kids love to hold her and kiss her head.  We've had a few arguments from them about who gets to hold her.  It makes me laugh when that happens.  I can't complain about them wanting to hold her!  As I was looking through my phone for some pictures of Abby this past month, I found some really cute ones:

I'm not sure who took this picture, but it really looks like Abby is cracking up about something.  I loved it.  It has been hard to get a picture of her smiling at us.  

I really loved this picture though.  Sara clearly took it of the two of them.  I thought that was so funny.  I'm not so sure Sara taking pictures while holding Abby is the smartest thing, but I guess it turned out ok, because Sara didn't drop her!  So funny.

We have tried and tried to get Abby to take a pacifier.  She actually will suck on one.  We have to hold it for her for most of the time though.  She is getting better at keeping it in her mouth by herself.  She sometimes even dozes off with it in her mouth which is so cute, but the second it falls out of her mouth she wakes up and her thumb goes straight in.  And as she is waking up from a nap, her thumb goes straight in then too.  I'm not giving up on the paci though.  I'm not sure I can handle another thumb sucker!

This is about the best picture I can get of her smiling.  We all love her smiles.  The kids and I will do whatever we can to get her to smile at us.  It is so precious to have her acknowledge us and smile at us. It is really heartwarming!  

Yesterday, Sara, all by herself, decided to read Abby a story.  It was so sweet.  We've just started putting Abby in her Bumbo chair and it is so fun.  It's hilarious how it like swallows her up.  It made me so happy to catch Sara doing this.  She really can be an angel when she wants to be!  

Like I said, we are all enamored with Abby.  She is a very good baby.  She has her moments of course, but for the most part, she rarely cries.  She's very happy and smiles a lot.  She is starting to figure her hands out a bit.  She bats toys more although it's not quite on purpose yet.  She sleeps pretty good.  She usually sleeps at least 7 hours at night.  I've started to expect that so when she sleeps less I wonder what is going on.  Her naps are irregular, but so are our days so we kind of just go with whatever.  She keeps on growing.  She's got some cute rolls on her legs and you can see her cheeks.  She is just so lovable!

Each day I feel more and more normal after the c-section.  I am already forgetting how hard it was to move the first couple of weeks.  I still have a lot of numbness around the incision area.  It doesn't really hurt, but it does feel weird.  I am still having some carpal tunnel issues and that is annoying.  I have all the feeling back in my left fingers, but my right wrist is still painful.  Most of the time it doesn't change what I'm doing, it just hurts while I do it.  

Now as I look back to the first few weeks after she was born, I can see how hard it was for everyone.  I guess you don't always realize it in the moment.  But we've all survived and I feel like we have a pretty normal life again and everyone is happy.  As much as I have loved Abby as a baby, I am excited for her to interact with us more and more.  I do love snuggling with her still and I try to continue enjoying this precious baby.  She is an angel, and my best gift by far this year!

Dance of the Bluebirds

Friday and Saturday were great days for Kate and me. She danced in her dance studio's production of Snow White. It was so exciting for her and so fun for me to spend some time with her. Friday was the dress rehearsal and it made me really excited. I've had her in three different studios looking for the kind I wanted and I finally found it. Saturday was the performance. She was so excited to wear her costume AND wear makeup. It was so fun getting her dressed and putting her makeup on. I just love having girl time and I love how different my girls are. They had a professional video the performance so we didn't video anything, but here are some pictures of my beautiful bluebird!

Harry Potter's less magical twin

This girl is always cracking us up!  I wish I knew all the things that go on in her head.  She is truly her own person!  On Sunday, we were talking about her primary class.  There are a few kids that have an especially hard time sitting still.  One boy in particular is always hanging all over Sara.  I asked her about him and she said, "Oh, he is irresistable!"  Jerry and I both burst out laughing.  She meant some other word for naughty or something, but that's not what she said.  It was so funny.  She also makes me laugh when she sings Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer because she says Balonio instead of Pinnochio.  She's a crack up.  She's had the stomach flu for the past couple of days and we are missing her smiles and laughs around here.  I wish Harry Potter could give us some potion to make her all better!

Abby's blessing day

Last Sunday was Abby's special blessing day in church.  It was such a good day and I'm so happy that she was able to be the center of attention.  She is never the center of attention in our house!  It really was special though and I'm so glad for all the friends and family that were able to come celebrate her!

I saw this dress in a store and fell in love with it.  Really, the way I felt about this dress I should probably do a separate blog post just for this dress!  I loved the roses on it and there was just something so pretty about it.  Kate and Sara were both in the store with me and Kate started looking at baptism dresses for next year and I had this brief moment of joy where I imagined us all looking together for three wedding dresses!  It was a beautiful thought.  I am so happy with my girls!

 

 Here's our sweet family.  Kate was less than cooperative about taking pictures.  Someday I can't wait to laugh with her about all her various grumpy moods!  Matt was also not thrilled about having to stay in his church clothes for pictures.  Really I don't know what he was complaining about, he got out of two hours of church to come home and eat and celebrate!

 I'm so grateful that my parents were able to come.  Abby worked her 2 month old magic and charmed her Grandpa!  It was really nice to have my parents there and be able to relax and hang out with them.

 Some of my fearless nephews...  It's weird to see my nieces and nephews grow up.  When Jacob was blessed, I was in high school and went to Nebraska to be there.  It is a little weird to have him all grown up and be in college and come to my baby's blessing.  We missed his brother, Micheal, but we told Jacob that he's our favorite twin anyway so...

I'm sure I was at Reece's blessing, but I don't really remember it since I was in la la single lady college land...

And I don't think I was at Creed's since he was blessed in the hospital before he had surgery...

We missed Adam and we would be mad except that he was running a x-country race in California...

 but it was fun to have these nephews here with us!

 Apparently my mom and sister and I need to coordinate our clothes better because I'm not sure purple and red go so well together, but it was fun to have them there.  My sister is always super helpful on days like this and who doesn't feel good to have their mom around!

 Abby was the real star of the day.  She is such a sweet baby.  She is really good and happy.  She smiles more and more at us and it makes us all happy.  I have yet to get her to smile for a picture... must be the Nielsen girl attitude in her!  We all fight over who gets to hold her.  Even Sara wants to hold her more and more.  I need to get out some pictures of Matt at this age.  I'm pretty sure his cheeks were chubbier, but Abby's are pretty loveable too.  I was so glad to get to celebrate Abby this day.  She is such an important part of our family already.  We love her very much!