Nesting

Nesting instinct refers to an instinct or urge in pregnant animals to prepare a home for the upcoming newborn(s). It is found in a variety of animals (both mammals and birds) including humans.^[1][2]

  Its seems to me that my nesting instinct has hit and is in full swing. I'm 24 weeks along and feeling good. I'm not too big to be miserable and I'm not sick. Heck I haven't even been exhausted for a while! I'm in the perfect mood to clean the closets, bathrooms, pantry... oh wait.. no! I'm in the perfect mood to decorate and rearrange things! I'm dying for the kitchen remodel to take off. We've schedule a day for tile to be laid but cabinets take a while to build.. and I just want to buy appliances and cute stuff and get going on the fun part.

To take my mind off of the kitchen.. I've been playing around on Pinterest (surprise, surprise) and have been pinning all kinds of things for Baby Sister and Allie's room.

A friend just introduced me to Sarah Jane and I've fallen in love with her Wee Wanders line. The quilt picture above is made with her fabric designs as well as the horse and deer prints. Sarah Jane studios is having a 20% sale this weekend and I'm dying to "buy all the things"! I would love to see Allie and Baby Sister's room become something like the board I've put together. Fun quotes, color, whimsy, lovely, bright and horses or course.

For now, I will go clean a bathroom and dust something!

39 Weeks | Waiting...

Waiting to add another pair of boots to the backdoor...

At my check up today I was dilated to 3cm. Little man is making progress. He could come today or he could keep cooking til next week!

38 weeks | Baby Shower

I'm officially full term! I hit 38 weeks and at my last doctor appointment I was 2.5cm dilated. Baby weighs about 6.8 pounds and he's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek).

Little man could come any time or he could kick it for another couple weeks.

I'm so ready to not be pregnant any more, but the thought of pushing a little human out of my body again has me hyperventilating a little.. er a lot. I'm trying not to think about it too much, but Luke's birth wasn't that long ago and is still very vivid in my mind.

My mom put together a diaper shower for my sister, Ashley and me last weekend. It was lots of fun! Ashley and I are ten weeks apart in our pregnancies again! Too funny, like we could've planned it any better!

Two more weeks!!
I think I can, I think I can...

37 Weeks

That's all the update for this week...

Maybe next week we'll have a baby, then things'll get real exciting.
For now, I'm going to take a nap.

36 Weeks

How far along: 36 weeks

How big is baby: weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long.

Sleep: Okay as long as I have every pillow in the house. Some nightly heart burn.

Movement: Elbows in my ribs, kicks in my pelvis. I swear he is standing up and stretching.. I can feel him everywhere!

Food Cravings: Salty foods and salads.

Gender: Boy.. now to name him!!

Labor Signs: Some occasional contractions. Dilated to one but baby is still high. (Could've fooled me!!)

Belly Button In or Out: In, in, in!

What I miss: Being able to cross my legs, sleeping on my stomach.. my waist.

What I'm looking forward to: School being out and sleeping in a little bit.

Allie and Baby Room {Sneak Peek}

If you remember this post, you know that I've been working on making Allie's room gender neutral to share with our new baby boy.

While I'm still working on little details and wall decor, the bedding is done and that is a huge, huge, huge part! Here is another sneak peek at the boy/girl John Deere room.

Whaddya think??

I've also been nesting.. a lot.
Cleaning my butt off and sewing as much as possible. Always with a Pepsi close by! ;)

My mom helped me bind this quilt.
Kick me if I ever mention working with satin again.. but I loooove the soft minky.
Thank you mom!! This would seriously be in the garbage without your help!

We're pretty excited to get the little dude here -- and we're almost ready for him now!!

32 weeks 2 days

Whew.. we're getting down to the wire people!

I know it was only about two weeks ago when I did my last update, but Baby Freddy Coconut (as he has been nicknamed this month) is getting so big that I thought it was time for another update.

How big is baby: about 3.75 pounds and about 16.7 inches long.

Sleep: I've moved to the couch...

Movement: Lots and all the time.

Food Cravings: Still loving the chewy, sour candy and PEPSI!

Labor Signs: Cramping and tight muscles but nothing major.

What I'm looking forward to: Being done! Lol.. but seriously its been a pretty good pregnancy.

Some days I don't want to leave the house because of the things people say... I'm hearing everything from "How much longer do you have left?" "You're HUGE!" and "You're tiny, all belly!" "You've gotta be ready to pop, right?" And the tummy touching! Goodness, please hands off.

But seriously, I'm excited and anxious to bring another little life into our family. With only eight more weeks (six if we keep the current trend up) left in this pregnancy, I've put together a Baby Bucket List, of all the things I need to get done in the next few weeks before I kick the baby bucket, so to speak.

1. Have Ashley color my regrowth
2. Get a pedicure
3. Deep clean bathrooms and kitchen
4. Dust.. or beg Heather to do it for me
5. Snuggle Luke as much as possible
6. Date night in with Dustin -- Pizza and ice cream please
7. Wash and organize baby clothes
8. Get bottles, binkies, diapers... etc organized
9. Finish my orders from work
10. Make crib bedding
11. Finish decorating Allie/Baby Boy room
12. Find a good book series
13. Sleep
14. Have a girls night
15. Get a new baby monitor

Eh... I have a lot more than that to do.. I'm going to stop listing it.

30 Weeks

How far along: 30 weeks!

How big is baby: just about 15.7 inches long now, and he weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage).

Total Weight Gain: a lot..

Maternity Clothes: Oh yeah.

Sleep: Insomnia has hit. Also heart burn has returned with a vengeance... so not sleeping super great.

Movement: Kicks and hiccups. You can actually see him moving if you look closely at my stomach.

Food Cravings: Sour gummies and Diet Pepsi.

Labor Signs: None still. Thank goodness not even a Braxton Hicks!

Belly Button In or Out: In but not totally squished in just yet.

What I miss: Laying on my stomach! {insert winy voice here}

What I'm looking forward to: My next check up tomorrow and to hear the baby's heart beat again!

24 weeks 3 days

How far along: 24 weeks 3 days

How big is baby: just over a pound and he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn)

Total Weight Gain: Ehhh.. I'm not keeping track.

Maternity Clothes: Still squeezing into my regular pants!

Sleep: Doing pretty well as long as I have lots of pillows.

Best Moment This Week: Getting my hair done by my fabulous sister! Its shorter and blonder.. guess I shouldn't have made the photo black and white. But I feel like a new woman!

Movement: Starting to feel larger more defined kicks, rather than just wiggles.

Food Cravings: Nothing crazy -- sweets and sugary things. Graham crackers too.. hmmm, crackers of any kind. Oh and Icees. Okay, so the Icee thing is a little on the crazy side.

Gender: Boy! Another little Nelson feller! When we found out that Allie was a girl, I thought for sure that all our other kids would be girls too. How wrong was I?! Allie and I are "boy trapped" as she says! But we have each other and we love our boys.

Labor Signs: None, thankfully! But Baby Johnny has an 80% survival chance in the NICU if I was to go into labor with him today. Everyday he stays inside his chances go up by 2-4%.

Belly Button In or Out: In -- when I get really big my belly button practically disappears into a straight line. Its never sticks out. Is that weird?

What I miss: Laying on my stomach.. still!

What I'm looking forward to: My next check up and the glucose test. Means I'm more than half way done!

Its a BOY!!! {21 Week Update}

Baby Update

How far along: 19 weeks 3 days
How big is baby: about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato
Total Weight Gain: About 5 pounds
Maternity Clothes: Shirts, but still in my regular pants. So so sad Downeast doesn't have a maternity line, but I'm falling in love with Shade!
Sleep: No sleep issues yet, just can't sleep on my stomach
Best Moment This Week: Feeling the baby's hiccups
Movement: Yes, feeling kicks and wiggles
Food Cravings: Pizza, salad and bread. I need a Pizza Factory near by!
Gender: We find out next week!! Be sure to vote for your guess on the poll on the sidebar
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button In or Out: In
What I miss: laying on my stomach!
What I'm looking forward to: The ultrasound next week!!

My Babies

Today I had my first trimester ultrasound. Baby love looks healthy and has a strong heart beat. He/she is measuring right at 13.5 weeks, so we're right on track with June 19th for a due date (Grandpa Glen's birthday!).

Seeing the baby today solidified the fact that we're actually adding another life to our family! Its surreal, even with this being my forth pregnancy, that a little miracle is growing inside of me. Sometime I can't wrap my head around it!

Plus, this guy is a little distracting.
Hmmm... I think he needs a hair cut.

Things That Come In Five

1- Sides on a star

2- Fingers on a hand

3- Little Piggies (The little piggie that went to market, did not go grocery shopping. This just clicked with me)

4- Guys -- Burgers and Fries

5- Golden rings (four calling birds, three french hens...etc)

6- Senses (unless you count Haley Joel Osmet in the Sixth Sense)

7- Nelson children

8- Boy band members (It might sound crazy but it ain't no lie baby bye, bye, bye)

9- Presidents of the USA named John. (John Adams, John Quincy Adams, John Tyler, John F.
Kennedy & John Calvin Coolidge)

10- Food groups


Wait a second.. what was number seven? Nelson children.. aren't there are only four Nelson children?

Yeah, we'll number five is on its way!! I'm starting to feel a little green and we decided it was time to share our news with everyone.

Baby #5 is due to arrive mid-June of next year. Yay for Summer babies!

Luke

Luke Stanley Nelson
Born: January 17, 2011 6:50 AM
Weight: 8lbs 8oz
Length: 20 inches

More photos and stories to come!
Right now I'm too busy enjoying my new baby. ;)

Busy Busy Busy...

We have been

Listen to Busy writing from Christmas

busy, busy, busy!!!

Christmastime is such a wonderful time. But there is always so much to do!
I can't say thank you enough to the nice ladies at the post office for putting up with me and my crazy kids... who graffiti-ed their names on some boxes, and for finding my lost keys and saving them for me! The Logandale post office needs two things.. a bigger parking lot and a bigger office.. but not better service! Now the last of my packages have been mailed and we're all still alive. So thank you post office people!!!

Allie had her first dance recital last Saturday (pictures to come), we've made cookies and cupcakes.. (haven't delivered them yet), wrapper presents, read stories, mailed cards and so much more.. so there hasn't been much time for blogging!

Here are some highlights from the last week or so...

More Sandsledding
The kids would go everyday if we could!

Christmas Cookie Decorating
After Allie's dance recital we had all the Hardy's come over and help us decorate sugar cookies. It was lots and lots of messy fun!!
I don't think we could've squeezed one more person at the kitchen table!

12 days of Christmas
For days 4, 5, 6 and 7 Grandpa and Grandma Nelson sent us stickers, sugar cookie stuff, a beautiful ornament with their picture inside and Christmas crafts. The kids have looked forward to opening their presents from them every night!!
We've also enjoyed reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" and our "24 days of Christmas" book each night.

34-35 Weeks
Here is my Santa belly!! I hit 34 weeks.. now I'm almost to 35! YAY!
Things are great. At my last check up baby was head down and riding low!
We're getting there slowly, but I'm feeling pretty good. :)

Just Been Havin' Fun
The belly shot photo encouraged lots of other silly Christmas ornament pictures!

Hopefully I can get the rest of our Christmas goodies delivered today... we'll see!
And that Christmas card you haven't gotten yet... its in the mail! Promise!!!

On the third day of Christmas...

Papa Jack and Grandma Gaye gave to us...

A bucket full of peppermint candy!

The last few days, I've started drafting posts about how tired, fat, lazy, moody, mean, fat, grouchy, huge, fat, uncomfortable, miserable, fat and so ready to be done being pregnant that I am. But I always stop and erase them, because posting pictures of my happy Christmas kids is way more fun.


So I'll eat another Christmas cookie, watch Elf again and enjoy the last 8 days til Christmas. Because once its here its gone again pretty fast!


I am however still eying the baby countdown fairly closely.. less than 40 days now!! YAY!

Meeting Baby Ty!

On Saturday we went to Cedar to visit my little sister, Ashley and baby Ty!
Ashley went to the hospital to be induced on Tuesday night, November 30th and finally had Ty the morning of Thursday December 2nd.
She is a rock star. I think I would've given up after the first 24 hours!

Ty is the cutest little baby!
I loved holding him and can't wait til our new baby boy is here!!!!

Life at 31 weeks

Oh me, oh my.. thirty one weeks down. Can you believe I only have about eight weeks left (if my doc still plans on inducing me early)! I was clicking through the "you might also like..." posts the other day and ran across this one where I mentioned I was ten weeks along and had only 30 weeks to go. Talk about a flip flop. Wasn't I just 10 weeks the other day? This year is sure flying by. November was an awesome month full of long weekends and holidays. Now that December is practically here and I've entered the last trimester, I'm fully enjoying maternity clothes that don't fit, Braxton Hicks, every two week doctor appointments, sleepless nights, restless leg syndrome, can't-get-comfortable-no-matter-what syndrome, baby hick ups and lots of movement and growing. I've put on some serious weight and I think we're going to welcome another 10lb baby in January!

Here are some things we've been up to in the last week:
Went to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 premiere

How flippin' awesome was this movie???!
I think its been the best book adaption so far. I loooooooved the 7 Harry's scene. I laughed so hard! "Bill don't look at me, I'm hideous." LOL!
I also loved the Ministry of Magic scene. I think they did a great job staying true to the book. Ron was killing me as Reg, the Ministry worker.
Speaking of Ron (my love), did anyone else cry when left?! Oh.. maybe its just my hormones...
Then the final scene when Voldemort stole Dumbeldore's wand! Wowzazs. Perfect way to transition to the next movie. Per.fec.tion.
If I could sit in the movie theater for another 2 and half hours without dying I'd see it again!!!

Celebrated Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving at the Dalley's. Kristi made some yummy turkey, Corey did a great job mashing the potatoes (safety goggles and all), Grandma's salads and Aunt Susan's pies were to die for! I ate way too much and gain 5lbs... seriously though, just ask my doctor.

Went canoeing

After we ate, most everybody headed to the river to participate in the annual canoe run. It was over all quite a success. Nobody flipped their canoe.. the only wet moments were when Mark got his boots wet and Corey and Caleb bobbed under the water during launch. Estefan and Will even got to paddle their own canoe.. they are quite the grown up's if you did know!

Got a Christmas tree.. or two.. or four!
On Black Friday, we skipped the stores and headed for the hills. We went to Cedar Mountain to get our Christmas tree!!

If you follow the photos you'll see Dustin's hike from getting the "perfect" tree. The snow was up to his waist but he trucked through it to chop down the beauty, while the rest of us sat in the truck with the heater on!

Dust and the tree! He made it through the snow alive. Look how deep it was!!!!

Trimmed the trees

The kids love to decorate the tree, so after Dustin and I got the lights on it was all them! They did a great job. I think its our best tree yet!

Ta-DA! What do you think? Preettty awesome, huh!
And Estefan, Mark and Allie are pretty cute too!!

We may have gotten a little carried away and got little trees for each of the kids' rooms too, but we couldn't help it!!

Watched Christmas movies by the fire
The night we got our tree up and decorated, Dustin made a fire and pulled the kids' mattress into the living room. It was so fun! We ate popcorn, drank hot chocolate and watched Christmas movies til we fell asleep.. which was only about 8:30PM. I think playing in the snow wore the kids right out!!


Hung lights on the house
Saturday morning Dustin and the kids went to work putting lights on the house. We put icicle lights up this year. Love them! Now our house looks like a big ol' gingerbread house! Dustin insisted on putting lights on the chimney. I had to close my eyes and pretend I was okay with it. But he got them up and didn't get hurt!!! Thank goodness, but we won't be doing that again.

So life is good. 31 weeks down... Still can't believe it.
Bring on December. 25 days til Christmas, 59 days til Baby Boy comes!!!

View from the top..

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink his eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

The third and final trimester starts this week. If you're like most women, you'll gain about 11 pounds this trimester. Baby Center

How far along? 28 weeks 3 days
Total Weight Gain: About 20 pounds
Maternity Clothes: Oh yeah..
Sleep: Eh, whats that?
Best Moment This Week: Allie asking if the baby can hear her voice.
Movement: Lots of rolling and kickings
Gender: Boy
Labor Signs: Braxton Hicks come and go.. nothing regular 
Belly Button In or Out: In
What I miss: laying on my stomach!
What I'm looking forward to: Christmas.. we keep telling the kids the baby will be here after Christmas! 
Weekly Wisdom: As fun as you think it might be, don't take all your kids to your doctor appointments with you. Those ones are always delayed!