I'm 26!

If you would have asked me at 16, where I would be at 26 I probably would have said Broadway haha. 

Never in a million years would I have thought I would be married with 3 beautiful children.

Brads been gone for almost 2 weeks now and we have 3 more to go before we join him in Washington.

This means LOTS of mommy time!!

I love being a mom (though Challenging) I wouldn't trade it for broadway.

I had a great birthday, chasing my kids around at the park, and going to a movie with friends.

I can't believe he's 2 months already...

My terror... Love him though

And lily, the loving big sister. She is tuff too. She has been through a lot lately and is still full of giggles!

I had to add in this picture.... this is a house across from the park..... really??

7 weeks... Im turning to Mush!

Smiles are becoming more frequent with our litte man, and It melts me everytime!
I don't know where those blue eyes or red hair comes from, but it fits you! I hope you keep them forever!
Your sweet little dimples remind me of your big brothers that I love so much.
This week is really the first week you would even look at me. Picture frames, and cielings were way more interesting.

You are finally realizing that daytime is for play, and night is for sleeping. I put you to bed around 9 or 10 and you sleep til about 5:30, feed, and then fall back to sleep til about 9:30. This makes me VERY happy!

Graham you are such a blessing to our lives! We love you so much! I can't even look at those sweet little lips without wanted to squish them together and kiss you!
Love, Mom

Easter Fun!

Easter is one of our favorite Holidays! Not only do you get to spend time with family, hunt for Easter eggs, and remember the amazing life and sacrifice of our brother Jesus Christ

but on top of it all

 Baby Animal Days comes to Logan!

 Owen holding his first duck!

Lily talking baby talk to her bunny haha!

 This year Brad was lucky enough to join a Golf course country club that held a huge Easter hunt, relay races...

and yes, the EASTER BUNNY! (Owens Favorite!)

 On Easter day my sister and my beautiful nieces and nephews came over!

LOVE them! Can you tell which kids are mine?

 They laughed and played till dark!

Best friends!

If you didn't see any pictures of grown ups its because we were too busy cooking, and creating memories! :)

I love CARBS!

I was always told that bread was "extremely difficult to make, that yeast is of the devil, or that no 2 loaves turn out the same."

Well people... you're wrong!

I have found a fool proof recipe, that your kids couldn't even mess up!

I know I sound pretty excited about this, but its because I am. There is nothing better than a big hunk of warm carbs (except buttery warm carbs).

There are 3 great things about this recipe

It's cheap

It's fast

and...

They make GREAT gifts!

This is a loaf I made and wrapped for a girls night out party!

RECIPE HERE!

3 weeks/ Staying Alive

I honestly can't believe it has been 3 weeks! AND even more surprisingly... that I'm alive! 1 to 2 kids was a very easy transition for me... 2-3 not so much. It probably doesn't help that Owen and Lilia were the easiest babies! They slept at night, I could eat pretty much whatever without having to worry about giving the baby gas, and when they were awake... I COULD SET THEM DOWN!! Graham has a different plan for my life. 

I haven't seen much change in Lily's personality since we brought this little guy home, but Owen has defiantly changed. He loves the baby and never has tried to hurt him, but he has turned into a complete TERROR!! Probably cause he feels like he is no longer the baby (because he isn't)! Its not his fault that when I change his diapers now, I feel like I am changing a grown mans diaper! I'm sure life will settle down in a few months, so until then, I'm going to try and stay alive.

When I need a break, I let Graham scream it out for a couple minutes. When I hear him stop screaming its usually because Lily is his second mom! She cant let him cry. When I come in the room I tell her to put  him down, and she responds with "well no one else will hold him... he wants me!"

Graham already loves his big sister very much!

L.O.V.E

I have a new respect for mothers who are getting ready to have their babies pictures taken.

I just show up, set up my backdrops, and relax taking beautiful pictures of sweet little babies!

It is a different story when you are the mother and the photographer.

I took these pictures in about 5 minutes and I was DONE! 

All in all I think they turned out pretty cute. If you see more pictures of Lily than Owen, It's not because I love her more, but because taking pictures of Owen consists of funny faces and fart noises. Like I said... a whole new respect for moms on the other side of the camera!

Graham Wayne Nelson "Bean"

We are so happy that our beautiful baby boy was born this last Tuesday. 

He weighed in at 7.3lb and 19.5 in long. 

 Yes... that is blonde/red hair you see on that sweet face!

 Now for our story...

As most of you know, Brad is not the delivery type (though he does amazing every time). That combined with my speedy deliveries, I was SO scared to go into labor at home.

When I went into my Doctors appointment the week before I was diagnosed with Strep B. Even though the Doctor said it was common, I had never had it before. To protect the baby from the virus, you have to be on antibiotics for 4 hours before baby comes... good luck!

Since I was already dilated to a 3 and 80 %, when I went in for my appointment Tuesday, I was sent upstairs to delivery. Im not a huge fan of induction, but with what was at risk, it made it worth it.

They started my antibiotics around 4pm, and about 15 minutes later slowly added more and more pitocin as time went on, making sure I wouldn't go into fast labor. 

After 4 hours I was officially "allowed" to go into labor. It didn't happen... I was STILL a stinkin 3! WHAT! They called the doctor from home, and was going to have him come in and break my water, to get me going. Knowing this, I wanted my epidural! Not getting one with Owen was not by choice! Epidural went great... until it didn't work as well as wanted!

 Before the doctor reached the hospital, my water broke on its own, and the doctor was called off.  

BAD IDEA!!!!

My fear of fast labor was confirmed!

I went from being 3cm to a 10 in about 5 minutes. I wanted to PUSH... you know the feeling!

Well my doctor had went home, so he had to make his way back to the hospital... guess what I did...

held it! 

With what seemed like a century (5 minutes) of "Hee Hee Hoo's," which I'm pretty sure mine didn't sound anything like that, the doctor arrived.

With 1 push baby Graham made his arrival. Well I guess I should say 2 pushes. After the first we saw that the umbilical cord was wrapped abound his neck... but yes 2 pushes!! WHOOT WHOOT!

Now for some pictures!

Brad was such a proud dad! And don't mind me, and my swollen body... I blame that on the 4 bags of fluid put into me in the hospital....well AND the 2 boxes of doughnuts given to me by my wonderful friends! 

Thank you to all who contributed to my future diabetes!