Two Digits!

Yea! The pregnancy ticker is down to only two digits now. We're getting there, slowly but surely. I told Nick that this is probably the first pregnancy where I'm excited about the baby coming but also content with the fact that he's not here yet. They are so much easier to take care of in the womb versus out. I'm just enjoying feeling him kick and wiggle all the time. Next Monday I have my glucose screening appointment. In the past I always throw up after drinking the sugar drink, but maybe this time won't be so bad.
Nick managed to get through his 12 hr shift (the Saturday before last) and then got both his assignments turned in and took a test. The prof. still hasn't said anything about the test to the class but Nick said only 1 student turned in their test before the time was up and everyone was pretty upset with how it went. Hopefully that translates into a bad average on the test and a good score for Nick. We're excited for this semester to be behind us!
Andrew has started up with his tantrums again, but now he adds in lots of "humphs" and "sighs" and sounds that tell me how disgusted he is with my parenting. Hopefully it's a short stage he's going through because it's really annoying!
Madelyn is at the end of her month long stage of teething. She's getting 4 teeth right now and goes through about 3 shirts a day, because of all the drool. Her teeth come in so slowly! I hope these are the last ones for awhile. Everyday she is coming up with new words and repeats them over and over and over throughout the day.
We still can't agree on a name for the baby, but the ones we like are Timothy, Elijah, and Luke. Let me know what you guys like...

My husband, the amazing man!

I just had to write a quick post about Nick. He told me that past Valentine's Days he's been a little lame, so this year he has been leaving me notes all around the house since February 1st. He calls it the 14 Days of Valentine's. I love it! He's left notes in the cereal box, microwave, light on my nightstand, in a bag of bagels, and one was an email with a song. All this while he has been studying like crazy and working OVERTIME at work. Last Saturday and this Saturday he's had to work, even though he got in over his required 40 hrs and goes to classes at the U too. It makes me feel really special that he takes the time to think about me even though he is completely overloaded. I hope I can find something really cool to do for him this Valentine's Day, anyone have any cool ideas?

Blogging slacker

That's me! I haven't even taken the time to read others' blogs, let alone update mine, until today. I got a reminder from Summer that it's been awhile, I just didn't realize how long it had been since I wrote anything. Thanks Summer for getting me going again!
Some updates:
Nick started the semester on January 13th and is taking two graduate classes this semester and works full time. He got an A- in his class last semester and I am so proud of him, especially because the class was REALLY hard. I'm excited for him to have the summer off and be able to really do well at work and have fun with the kids and me.
I just had my 24 week appointment on Wednesday and the baby seems to be doing really well. We still don't have a name for the little guy, but hopefully by the time he comes we'll have some names we both like. I have been feeling so great, it's amazing! As long as I plan the weekly menu with mexican food I do really well actually cooking it and don't get sick, weird eh? One week we had lots of pork on the menu (because it was on sale) and I didn't feel good and had NO desire to cook. I've still been working twice a week, consulting for insurance, and watching kids Tuesday-Friday. Needless to say I've been busy with Nick always at work and school but I've been BLESSED with this pregnancy and been able to keep up with everything so far.
Andrew is still loving preschool and loves to tell me all the things he learns. I love helping in his class once a month too, kids are so cute! He is growing like a weed and amazes me with his insight into things. I.E., Me: Andrew, you make me so happy! Andrew: You make me happy, but also sad, and mad too! We've had a few problems with him calling me names like "pee-pee head" the other day after school, and having consequences like time outs. He gets three minute time outs, that end up going for about 12 minutes because he "falls" off of time out, and the clock starts over, or he talks back to me, or tries to play with toys, etc. I hold on to the hope that someday he'll shape up when I threaten time out.
Madelyn is talking like crazy. Some of her favorite words right now are: naughty, poopy, peas (or p-p-p for please), don't, Aneeee (for Andrew), Mommyyyy, Daddyyyy, crinckle, tickle, yucky, etc. She's been saying two word sentences too, like "Don't Aneee" or "Don't go" or "poopy out" (when she's sitting on the potty). She keeps me busy and running around like crazy (probably the reason I'm 6 months pregnant and haven't gained weight). She'll patiently sit for a good 5 minutes, whileI do her hair, and once I'm done she promptly stands up and un-does everything I just did.
Well there's the novel of what we're up to. I hope everyone is doing well!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I just wanted to do a quick post and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope we can all remember Christ's birth and the miracles that took place. I'm so grateful for my family and friends and for this time we get to have a break and reflect on our lives and blessings! We love you all and hope this new year gives new opportunity for good changes.
Love,
The Nielsons!
Here are some pictures/highlights of 2008

An exciting weekend

Nick and I got to go to the Forgotten Carols last night and it was awesome! I seriously cried with every song that was sung and it wasn't just because I'm hormonal! I would recommend everyone see it! Nick got the tickets for me as my Christmas present and I'm so glad he did. I can't wait to get tickets for family members as presents through the years. It's especially powerful if you're having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit. Nick even cried, even though he will deny it if you ask him.
Today we got to go to Fetal Fotos and found out that we are having a BOY! We are really excited and can't wait to agree on his name! Nick likes Timothy a lot (as do I), but I really love the name Elijah too. Decisions, decisions!
Nick has his final on Monday, so after that hopefully we'll have many more exciting weekends! Wish him well, he needs it!

Andrew is growing up!

Today was Andrew's first day of part-time preschool. When we would talk about going to school he would get a little sad (probably because I told him he couldn't be naughty to his teachers and friends) and say he didn't want to go to school. We got there at 8:30 to meet his teacher and check things out before class started and he did so well. Once he saw his own cubby and sitting mat with his name on each, he was sold! The teacher had just made a bear den because they are learning about bears this week, he was so excited! When I picked him up he got to put his papers in his backpack and wear it out to the car, how cool is that?!? After school he played on the playground with his good buddy Isaak. Madelyn even played with the big kids and went down a big twisting slide( taller than me) all by herself! She wanted so badly to stay at school with Andrew, she even pulled a chair up to the table to play with him when I dropped him off this morning, but she still has a few years to go. It was weird not having a load of kids for a couple hours, it was just Madelyn and me! I didn't even have work for the two hours I normally do on Monday-so we got to go grocery shopping, with just the two of us. You'd think with not having so many kids that I'd have my house all cleaned up from our huge long trip to Oregon, but no, it's a mess! I think it's going to take a couple weeks for me to recoup from this one. One highlight of the trip was that we got to stop in Portland on the way home and see Nick's sister, Lisa, and her fiance, Steve. It was nice to get to see my grandparents again, it's been 2 years since I saw them last and they are going through a lot. My grandpa is 94 (turns 95 nextMarch) and my grandma is 88 (89 next June). My grandpa just had his third stroke and my grandma suffers from dementia. They are still in their home, with my aunt and uncle taking turns caring for them. It was good to be in Oregon again, but sad to see my grandma and grandpa, whom I adore, suffering so much. I'm really thankful for my amazing family and that I was blessed to grow up with so many great memories with them!
We get to find out next Saturday (December 13th) what the gender of our baby is...Fetal Fotos here we come! Nick is liking the name Timothy (my dad's name) for a boy and we're still thinking Ella for a girl. Although we're not sure of middle names because there are so many good people in our families to name our children after...so we'll see.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that you're all recovering from turkey coma!

Twilight

So last night I got to see Twilight at the midnight showing and it was fabulous! I haven't read the books because I don't like to be disappointed with the movie. I'm not a person that would read or even give the time of day to vampire entertainment, but this was actually really good. So I think I'm ready to read the first book now! I didn't get to bed until 3am, but luckily Kristie (Hailey's mom) was nice enough to have Hailey come over later than usual so I could sleep in! I don't think I've stayed up that late (having fun) since I was in college, good times! I have to get pictures from everyone else that was smart enough to bring their cameras, so I'll post those at a later time! Oh and I almost forgot that I had my 3rd appt on Wednesday and everything is going really well. The baby's heartrate was in the 160-170's range. Fast little heart! If I remember correctly Madelyn was usually in the 145-150's range and Andrew was in the 160's range...just a thought. My doctor changed his mind about when we're doing the next ultrasound (changed to December 31st) but for insurance reasons we're going to change it to after the first of the year to help with our deductible for next year. Since we're doing that it'll save us about $250, so Nick said I could do fetalfotos! So we get to find out in a couple more weeks what we're having.