The Day Ethan Turned Three!

Since July it seems that Ethan has been getting excited for his birthday. In July I had to leave early from the house one day to go to breakfast for my co-worker Cindy's birthday. When I told Ethan this he said, "when it my birthday we go to breakfast too?" I told him we would thinking his birthday was still far enough away that he would forget.... Well he kinda did, but he kinda didn't. Since October 1st Ethan has been saying, "first it Grandpa's birthday then Aunt Anjali's and then it's MINE!!!" It was so much fun this year because Ethan was truly excited about his birthday. The night before his birthday he said, "I go to sleep, when I get up, it MY BIRTHDAY!" So this is what we did on his birthday:

I had to wake Ethan up around 7 so he could open presents and get both of the kids ready for the day. I gently woke Ethan up, he turned and looked at me and then jumped out of bed and said "It my BirthDAY!!!" and went running down the hall to tell Daddy. We got Katelee ready while Ethan went potty and then he was ready to open his presents We did the present opening in our bedroom, since this is where we all hang out in the mornings while Chris and I get ready for the day. Ethan was so excited to open his gifts.

Katelee sat on the bed with Ethan the whole time and seemed to love it just as much as the Birthday boy himself! He got two shirts, a coloring poster and a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse car toy. (It's hard to explain, so I'm not going to try.)



After we opened presents and got dressed we headed out of the house to drop Katelee off at Grandma Blackburn's while Ethan and I headed off to Dr. Duddy's for Ethan's 3 year check up.

Katelee was wide awake and Ethan was still getting there ....

Big yawn from the Birthday Boy!

Ethan loves Dr. Duddy, so it wasn't such a bad thing for him to go on his Birthday. When the Dr. walked in Ethan said, "Dr. Duddy, today my birthday!" And then later he said, "After this, I'm going to go play with Lukey!" The Dr. told him that he was going to be getting the Hep-Booster shot and Ethan looked at me and said "I have booster seat in the car." It was too funny, he really does pay attention and pulls out words he knows. When the nurse came in Ethan sat on my lap, I told him if he was a big boy we would stop and get a Slurpee on the way to Grandma's house. So he told the nurse, "I be big boy." The nurse cleaned his arm off and gave him the shot. Ethan watched the whole thing and didn't even flinch. There were no tears, in fact Ethan looked at me and said, "I good boy, let go get Slurpee!" So we did just that, expect the gas station I stopped at didn't have Slurpee's or even slushes... So he got to pick a soda and he picked Diet Dr. Pepper. We headed back to Grandma's for breakfast and then he got to open two gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Blackburn...

He got an airplane and a Garbage Truck that makes noise drives. After that we headed over to Lukey's house. Luke is Ethan's friend from church. They both love BYU and are only 6 or so months apart. When I thought of what Ethan could do to really have fun on his birthday I thought, maybe he could get to play with some of his friends that he normally doesn't get to see that often. So I called up Luke's mom and she said we could stop by! Kids at this age are so funny when they play. They don't really play together, just by each other. Ethan and Luke did play a little football, but really Ethan just wanted to run in the grass. Ethan had so much fun at Luke's house that he threw a huge tantrum when we went to leave. I was a little embarrassed, I must admit, but Ethan was having sooo much fun! Finally I was able to bribe him with an Otter Pop from our house and he was okay with that. We stopped by our house and got a few things and then headed over to the next Fun stop for the day, his cousin Madilynn's house. Ethan loves to play with her toys because she has so many and they aren't his! Aunt Anjali and Uncle Matt got Ethan a really nice ball glove, ball and Bat. Ethan loved them and loved playing with Maddy and her friend. He once again didn't want to leave, but Uncle Matt was able to make it easier for Ethan by giving him an apple for the road. We headed back over to Grandma Blackburn's house for naps.

After Ethan's nap we waited for Grandpa to get home so Ethan could see him. Then he headed home with Grandma and Grandpa Blackburn to our house. Grandma Nelson and Grandpa Nelson came over and brought dinner, Hawaiian Haystacks, Ethan's favorite. They also brought a gift for Ethan to open...

Cowboy boots! Ethan's eyes lit up, this is what he told EVERYONE he wanted. He had to have them on instantly and even had a cowboy swagger that appeared our of nowhere! Since he got these boots he has worn them EVERY day, even to church on Sunday.

After dinner Ethan was able to blow out some candles on cupcakes Grandma Nelson had also made. When we asked him if he had a fun birthday he said, "Yeah, and next it is Ma Ma's birthday!" I think this kid likes birthdays regardless of who's it is!

Ethan I hope you had a GREAT Birthday, it was really nice staying home with you and hanging out. I sure love spending time with you and hope you enjoy hanging with your Parents too! It has been three wonderful years with you in our lives! We love you very much!

3 Years Ago Today

Three years ago today on October 21, 2006 I woke up early and headed to the hospital to have labor induced. Ethan's due date was the 14th of October so my Doctor decided we'd give him another week to come out on his own and then we'd make him come out! We were scheduled for a 7:30 induction and we couldn't wait. It is amazing to think that we'd be going into the hospital and within hours we'd be parents. We got to the hospital and all set up to go. I laid anxiously in the bed with nothing to do but WAIT! I tried reading and watching TV but those activities didn't last very long, I was too excited to concentrate on anything but the fact that I was going to be a mother. By 12:30 I was fully dilated and ready to go. After pushing for three hours the Dr. gave me three options. 1) Keep pushing 2) Keep pushing and use the Vacuum to get the baby out 3) Do a C-Section.... Let me tell you after pushing for three hours I was almost ready for the C-Section, but the Dr. was more willing to use the vacuum. We did a few more sets of pushes and the Dr. was ready. One more set and out came our beautiful baby boy Ethan Andrew Nelson at 3:35pm! He came out weighting a hefty 8lb 14oz and measuring in at 21-1/4 inches! He was screaming by the time the cord was cut and was perfect in every way. I know I'm the mother, and of course I'm going to think he is perfect but seriously the boy had the most beautiful color skin and silky brown hair. His head had a little bump from the vacuum but when he came to my hospital room after being cleaned and checked fully the bump was gone. His head was perfectly round!

Please excuse the nudity! When I first saw this picture I had to go check on Ethan's foot to make sure his toe wasn't stuck like it is in this picture! What a happy camper he is here!
The very first Nelson Family picture! Ethan was already calmed down and loved being wrapped up in his blanket nice and tight! (Funny side story... They gave Ethan to me to hold and after about a minute I had to ask someone to take him for me because my arms were so weak from labor and the boy was sooo heavy I could hardly hold him up!)
Ethan looks a bit Asian in this photo, but look at those cheeks!

They let Ethan stay in the delivery room for about an hour or so and then took him and Daddy off to the nursery to clean him off and check him over completely! I was left in the delivery room by myself until my sister, brother-in-law, Dad and mother-in-law came in to join me. I was overcome with emotions as they congratulated me, especially when my dad came and gave me a hug. I couldn't believe that I, the baby of our family was now a mother of a very healthy baby boy! After a bit they walked me over to the bathroom and then wheeled me over to my recovery room. My sister and Dad were gracious enough to run to Burger King and pick everyone up some dinner. It was waiting in my room when I got there! Finally they brought Ethan into my room and I was able to hold him for a while.

Of course the nights in the hospital were rough. I couldn't get comfortable and neither could Chris. (Something about pushing for three solid hours and having a big baby makes it a bit hard to sit, lay, walk or really anything comfortably....)I must say I had the best bed in the room and even offered it to Chris, because I knew I wouldn't be comfortable no matter what I was sitting or laying on! Ethan was perfect, he didn't really cry or fuss that much at all!

Here is my little boy after his first bath, isn't he a cutie. He was very awake and aware of everything going on around him.

And here is our little chunk the next morning! Too me he was absolutely Perfect in EVERY way! He is our first child and will always hold a special part of our hearts because of that! Ethan was a great baby, sleeping through the night at just 5 days old. He has always napped well and loved to eat! No one every asked me how often I was feeding him, because you could look at the kid and tell he was getting enough food! Chris and I were convinced that he was born to eat straight from a spoon, he devoured his bottles. We had to purchase more nipples multiple times because the kid sucked so darn hard they would tear.

Three years ago today our lives were forever changed and I'm so grateful it did! Ethan is a great kid, loves everyone and tried to be nice to everyone too! He is a big kid, weighting in at 36lbs and measuring in at 39 inches today at his 3 year old check up! Thank you Ethan for teaching your parents SO much in just three short years! We LOVE you very much!

What I Did 3 Years Ago Today.....

Three years ago today I started my first ever maternity leave. It was a Friday three years ago today and I felt like if I stayed home from work I might feel more prepared for my world to forever change. How silly I was to think that one day would help prepare me for the REST of my life! I ran to Target three years ago today and bought a few last minute things, that looking back on, I probably didn't really need! Three years ago today I was 41 weeks pregnant and some what content with the fact that I still hadn't had our baby. I use to say "The longer he is in my belly the more time I have to sleep all I want!" It was a little annoying to have people say, "When are you due?" to which I would reply "Last Saturday." The look on the faces of the women that heard this reply was priceless. Oh the sympathy I received from their eyes! Or hearing people say "You're still pregnant?" Three years ago today I took a nice long shower and did my hair, that way I could just get up the next morning and head out the door for the hospital. I thought I would have a harder time sleeping, the anticipation getting the best of me... But clearly my body was too tired to stay awake and think, so I feel right to sleep three years ago today!

Three years ago today I never knew the feeling of waking up in hot sweats and running to a kids room to make sure they were still breathing. Three years ago today I never knew the feeling of complete fear, fear of not doing a GOOD enough job, fear of not providing my child with the most love I could, fear of not being the BEST example I could be. Three years ago today I didn't know what it felt like to hold a child in my arms and feel completely overwhelmed and scared to death. Three years ago today I never knew what it was like to actually WANT to wait on another person 24/7! Three years ago today I never knew I could pray so hard, fast so much and cry until their was no more tears to fall! Three years ago today I never knew the pain that three little letters (ITP) could cause a mother. Three years ago today I never realized how important it is to have GOOD doctors who care about your kids like they were their own. Three years ago today I was nice and large and completely unaware of the full extent of changes that were about to happen to me.... But most of all, three years ago today I was completely unaware of the ability I had within myself to love a little 8lb 14oz baby! (And over a year ago today a 7lb 6oz baby!)

Oh how much has changed in just three short years! I am not a perfect mother by ANY means, but I sure LOVE being one! Ethan changed my life forever, gave my life purpose and completely changed me for the better. I will forever love him with ALL my heart!

What a Cutie

For the first time, I look at this little girl and I see myself! I think it might be the eyes! Not that that is what makes her a cutie, but isn't she? On Friday's Ethan goes to Grandma Nelson's and Katelee goes to Grandma Blackburn's, so today I put her in Ethan's car seat and she loved it!!! When I turned around to take her picture she looked right at me and SMILED. I just love this girl, but she is growing up WAY too fast!

What a Lucky Girl I Am!!!!

I'm a thinker, I'm always thinking. When I lay down at night I'm thinking. While I drive I'm thinking and I swear I think when I'm sleeping too.... But lately I have really been thinking how LUCKY I am. And I will give a few examples of why....

Of course there are the two obvious reasons: Ethan and Katelee!

I know these pictures are a bit old, but I love them!

These kids mean everything to me. Last night while driving home from Grandma Blackburn's I caught Ethan scratching at a sore he has had for quite a while and I told him to stop. He looked me right in the eye and said "You no worry about me, okay?" Well of course I was taken back by this statement, but quickly replied, "I'll worry about you whenever I feel like it!" That night I wrote about this is the kids' journal and it made me really think. I will worry about my kids forever, there won't come a time when I won't be worrying about them. I think about them all day long when I'm away from them, when they are sick or not feeling well I worry about them. I know this will not change the older they get, in fact I'm sure it will only get worse. I only pray that I can be the kind of example that will help them be the best they can, so I won't have to worry TOO much! Ethan and Katelee make me smile every day and I love it! Katelee can throw the biggest attitude tantrum and I will just laugh because she is so cute!

Another Reason I'm so Lucky is: Chris

My husband is great! Though we are quite different in our worry tactics we make a great couple! Chris rarely worries about things, which sometimes drives me crazy! But that aspect really helps offset us! Chris loves learning new things about the body, I do too, just not as much as Chris! He really does try to spend as much time with the kids as he can, and he always tries to make time for me as well! I defiantly lack the enthusiasm of making time for Chris, but he also makes up for that! I'm grateful for the chance we had of meeting and getting married. I'm so happy to know that we are a family that has been sealed together FOREVER! I know that there really isn't' a way to comprehend FOREVER, but I'm pretty sure I'm excited to spend it with Chris and the kids!

Another Reason I'm so Lucky is: My Family!

These people do SOOOO much for me I can't even begin to list them! My mother watches my kids all week long and she still loves them! I feel so bad for her. She wants to be "the Grandma" but isn't given that opportunity very often because she has them soo much. One day Mom, I promise you will get to be the grandma you want to be.... My parents are always willing to watch the kids for us when we need a babysitter. My siblings are great too! We have grown so close through the years. Matt and I have always been pretty close, we had a common enemy, my sister.... But now my sister and I are very close too! Ever since we didn't have to live together we are great friends! My sister and brother have both married great spouses that I love very much! They too will do anything for us anytime we ask! I love them soooo much!

Anther reason I'm so Lucky: My In-Laws

Once again, a really old picture, but this is the only one I could find on this computer!

My In-laws are everything I could have ever wanted. My Mother and Father-in-Law are always doing things for our family. Karolyn watches Ethan every Friday, which is a challenge! They also love to watch the kids for us and just this week Karolyn asked if she could do our laundry for us, so she could help us out more! It's little things that help make the challenges in our lives seem smaller. Aunt Lisa loves to come visit the kids and is Very good at spoiling them as well! These people are great and I can't imagine trying to handle life without them in it!

Other reasons I'm so lucky:

I know that I'm a daughter of God, I know that he loves me and is mindful of my ever need!

I have great friends that help strengthen me on a daily basis!

I have good health and am able to take care of my family!

I am able to provide for my family while Chris is bettering himself and eventually the family!

And much-much-much MORE!

This little Stinker!

This Monday Chris picked the kids up from my Mom right before nap time. The hope was that the kids would take really good naps so Chris could study for 2 HUGE tests that he had on Wednesday. So he puts the kids down and goes downstairs to study. A little while later he can here Katelee messing around in her bed. She does this for my mom quite often, but usually on the weekends when we put her down she goes right to sleep. So Chris goes upstairs to see what is going on. He opens the door and she is turning the light on and off. Apparently she discovered that she can reach the light-switch behind her crib. Chris also discovers that all of her binkies and stuffed animals are on the ground. So he gets everything put back together and calms her down again. He lays her down and get about an hours worth of studying done and she is awake and ready to go for the rest of the day. This girl has perfected the art of "keeping us on our toes" with her attitude, smiles, screams, fist clinching, shaking and much much more that she does on a daily basis, and sometimes all in an hours span!

Little Mountain Vacation

Since Chris is attending Touro University which is a Jewish Private School we decided to celebrate Rash Hashanan this year. One day a few weeks before that I was sitting at work looking over Chirs's school schedule and noticed that he would have Friday the 18th off of school and he doesn't have school on Monday's. So I called him up and asked him if he wanted to get out of town Friday-Monday. Of course he said yes and I put in my request for two (much needed) days off. After they were approved we decided to finalize our plans. We called our friends who have a cabin up at Duck Creek and asked them if we could visit the cabin. They said of course and those were all the plans we needed. Aunt Lisa had been down the previous week for Katelee's Birthday and decided to come up to the cabin with us on Friday and then head home Saturday afternoon. So Friday we woke up, packed the car and headed up to Cedar. We stopped off at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things that we needed and headed up the canyon. We got there around 2 o'clock our time and hung out for a bit. Of course Chris headed straight under the house to turn the water on and get a four wheeler out. He had a tough time getting one to start, but after a few hours of labor was successful. We really didn't have any plans except what we were going to eat. This made it really nice, there were no expectations to be ruined and no time constraints. We finally ate dinner and Chris took Ethan for a ride. Of course our little Princess was into EVERYTHING! She loved opening the drawers and then closing them and then opening them. This wasn't too bad until she decided to start pulling out the Ziploc bags, then it got to be a little too much! When we headed to vacation Ethan was fighting a cold, which it seems he is always doing. When we got up there Ethan, Aunt Lisa and I jumped on the trampoline for a while. It seems like after that Ethan was never really able to catch him breath so we got to do this:

That night. Thanks heavens we brought the breathing machine with us or we might have turned our vacation into a one day trip! Ethan's heart rate was pretty fast and he was coughing and wheezing like crazy. Before bed he got a treatment and Chris gave him a blessing... and Ethan was able to sleep great! Now Katelee on the other hand decided to cry a lot and sleep in the same room as me and Chris. This was a HORRIBLE experience. She had a bit of a rash going so we gave her some Benadryl thinking maybe it itched her and that was keeping her up. Well apparently she has the same problem I do with Benadryl. Instead of making her sleepy it kept her up till around 1-2am. Yeah! So needless to say the first night Chris and I didn't really sleep that good! But we both felt pretty good the next day for having had hardly any sleep.

Katelee was able to get in on the Bedtime reading that night, and she kinda took over the book! After the kids were initially asleep and all was quite, Chris, Lisa and I had our own little fireside, without the fire. It was very nice to speak so personally and spiritually with them. It was very uplifting!



The next morning Aunt Lisa took Ethan outside to play and I got this picture of Katelee at the door.

She watched him for quite some time and would laugh randomly. She really does love her big brother!

Chris and Ethan went for another ride and came back with this picture of four deer. The deer were everywhere. One night Ethan and I went out and were able to see about 6-8 deer in just one trip and Chris and I almost hit one on one of our rides too. Ethan loved it and kept saying he saw "deers."

Just a random picture of the kids on Saturday!

The kids and Daddy went for a four wheeler ride on Saturday and they both loved it. Katelee wanted to go faster. She is our little dare devil. She wanted to go over the bumps or go faster ALL the time.

While Aunt Lisa was with us we drove around a bit and went to the Mammoth Caves. We had packed a picnic and took it with us. While we were eating in the caves it started to rain, again, so we hurried and got out of there and finished our food in the car. I feel bad because I guess we used Aunt Lisa's camera for those pictures. Oh well, just imagine a big cave and a very wet ground... After naps we followed Aunt Lisa down the canyon and had dinner with her at Wingers. I think this could be my favorite restaurant ever! It poured on us the entire ride down the Canyon and this is what we saw when we got to dinner....

This rainbow went all the way to the other side and was a double the whole way too. Too bad I couldn't get that in the picture. It was beautiful. Just another reminder that God truly does love us and want us to see how beautiful this crazy world is that we live in! After dinner we headed back up the canyon and put the kids down. They both went down very easy and let Chris and I have a very nice and peaceful night together.

The next morning after Katelee's nap we packed another picnic and headed over to Navajo Lake. This area is very beautiful and quite nice. The weather was great that day. We were going to go on a hike by the lake too, but decided instead to just throw rocks in the lake and enjoy ourselves there instead.

Here are my lake buddies on our way to the lake.

Ethan was so excited he ran almost the entire way to the lake.

And here is my favorite picture of the kid. Katelee was so excited to be by the lake as well. She wanted a rock and she held on to it forever. She would act like she was going to throw it and then she wouldn't. The rock was finally taken away when she tried to eat it for the tenth time. Silly girl!

It was a bit windy so we decided to eat our picnic in the car again, but this time the kids got to sit in the back and eat. They really liked that.

And Daddy had to get a picture of me with the kids! So here it is!

After naps that afternoon we put both of the kids on the trampoline and to our surprise Katelee loved it. This was the first time Ethan has really liked a trampoline so for Katelee to like it so soon really made me smile. She would fall and laugh, she just didn't care!

Here she is, just enjoying holding on to the mesh. Good thing it was there, or she would have been on the ground in no time... Same for Ethan too!

A little later Ethan and I got back on the trampoline and played around. I stood Katelee by the picnic bench and that is where she stayed for the next 20 or so minutes. She would lean down and pick up a rock, throw it and then lean back down and get another one. She is really good at playing by herself! Thank heavens!

Here she is in mid-lean!

Later that night we let the kids play around with the tractors while Chris built a great fire. The first night we tried to make a fire, but the wood we used was wet, so it didn't quite turn out well. But Sunday night we got it to work very well.

Katelee pretty much just knelled by her tractor and made silly noises. Ethan was all over picking up dirt and dropping it off somewhere else.

I set up the camera to take a picture of our family by the fire and this is the best we got! Look at that fire, isn't it AMAZING!!!

That night we put the kids down and had another nice quite night to enjoy before we headed home the next day. On Monday morning we woke up and started cleaning up. We put Katelee down for her nap and then Ethan and Chris went for one last ride and I did some major cleaning! When Katelee woke up we were ready to go. We headed down the canyon and I took a few pictures of the leafs. They were starting to change colors and it was beautiful!

We had a really nice trip and enjoyed spending so much time with one another. It really makes you appreciate your family and how fun it is to hang out. With Chris is school for pretty much the next 3 1/2 years solid I'm pretty sure these little trips are all we are going to be able to do... But that is okay with me, as long as we get SOME time together, that's all we need!

Oh and we went for a family ride on the four wheeler. Everyone enjoyed that, except Katelee when we went slow.... :)