Memorial Day 2015

We have quite a few traditions in our family.  One is to visit the cemeteries on Memorial Day together.  We went to my Grandpa Denny's.

Bear and Don were both wearing grey pants/shorts and a striped shirt so we wanted their picture together. When Bear went over by him, he was like, "my shirt is grey and black and yours is... Hey we don't match!"  Can't fool him!

My uncle David's.

And a huge part of our Christensen family decided to meet up together to see our family graves.  One of the best parts is the free soda!

This is at Grandpa RJ's.  I didn't even notice Chris had a black eye until I saw this picture!

Baby Sayler.  She had a headstone placed since I was there last.

My cousin Ben's.

Mom and I realized we were dressed the same- even our shoes!

We missed the group shot at Grandpa RJ's because we needed to get home for lunch and a nap.

The afternoon was really nice weather so we played outside for a long time.

Bear is quite coordinated for a 3 year old and is getting pretty good at some sports.

After baseball, we were playing soccer and he hurt his foot again :(  The same foot we just got x-rayed because he'd been limping on it.  Just as he started to walk on it a little more, he hurt it again!  We need to take it a little easier I think.

Bear's Appointments

I just love these little pictures I find on my phone. 

This week Barrett had two big appointments.  He had a hygiene appointment at my dad's office and did exceptionally well!  Last time, he did great when my dad checked him, but got nervous when Jacki was cleaning his teeth, but this time he was perfect!

We went when my mom was working, so that was a big plus.  It worked out even better because she didn't have a patient when we were there so she could help Barrett and watch him while I got my teeth cleaned too.

He picked these dinosaurs as his prize.  Plus like 50 mints~

Later in the week, we had to go to the doctor to get his first X-ray.  He jumped off the couch Wednesday night and hurt his foot, when he was still limping on Friday, I thought I'd better get him in just in case.  I had to just watch through the window but he did so good and held super still!

He got 3 blue suckers while we were there too and loved how blue his mouth got! He loves wearing his hat backwards now.

Nothing was broken, so we're assuming he just strained a ligament or tendon and it'll just have to heal on it's own.

Let's see, in other Barrett news.  He still loves letters and numbers.  He counts almost everything.  He can count backwards from 20, forward to 100.  He loves reading books.  He'll get a huge stack of books and just sit and have someone read them all to him.
He wants to play with his dad every second Daddy is home.
Says, "Really!?" in such an irritated and sarcastic way when something bad/frustrating happens- like he drops a toy or whatever.  Not that many actual "bad" things happen in his life, luckily.  

He is always singing songs.  He makes up his own songs a lot and he also creates clever mashups too.  Usually he'll mashup a church and a pop song.

He loves fighting.  All his toys have to line up to fight, his cars have to, even his tools line up to fight.  Everything he has has to be a good guy or a bad guy.  

He is very excited to get to hold his baby sister and has asked me a time or two how she got in my belly and how she's going to get out.

He can be so sweet and cuddly but he also has a grumpy face and attitude that we get a lot of these days as well.

He is pretty dang tall and skinny.  I can't get him a pair of church pants that fit him to save my life!  They're all too big around the waist if they're long enough, or they fit him around the waist but are too short.
He calls his toy box a "toy toy box" for some reason.
Exclaims, "That's fantastic!"
Almost always calls friends that are boys his boyfriends.
We were playing a matching game and when I wasn't getting many matches, he said, "You suck!"  Neil and I had to try not to laugh while we told him that wasn't a nice thing to say to people.
He can spell Pops and stop and he recognizes many other words.  He's so smart!
I love to hear the dialogue between his toys as he plays by himself!  He'll quote shows that he's seen or say things he's heard me say.  He's got the best memory.  But the best is when he just makes up their conversations- I just love to hear him play alone!
He always is giving me choices, like do I want to play matching or bingo.  When I make my choice (if it's the one he wanted to), he'll tell me, "Good!  Good choice!"

Animals

Bear loves animals (he also loves the Maroon 5 song of the same name, FYI).
Tay and Bowie came up for a couple days last week and Barrett was over the moon!  He really loves Bowie and wants to just be wherever she is.

We went to visit Grandma Lyril on Sunday and he was SO excited to get to play with her cats.  We couldn't stay long because my allergies got so bad, but he was having the best time!

He tells me occasionally that he wishes we had a dog and a catty.  When I told him that we get to play with our cousin's pets, he said, "yeah, but I want my own!"  Sorry buddy!

Bathroom Makeover

One day Neil had the great idea to remove the very old wallpaper in our bathroom, just to freshen things up a bit. All he was going to do was take down the wallpaper and paint the walls; it was going to be super simple and quick.  Well.... then I started thinking... We really could use a new tub in there, and if we get a new tub, the tile has to be redone, a heat lamp would be nice, etc.  It kind of snowballed into basically a whole new bathroom and we called in our good friend Clare Niederhauser to get to work.

I took these pics as Neil was starting to get that wallpaper off- a job that was harder than expected. 

I took some awesome pictures of Neil demolishing the shower with a big sledge hammer and another picture of the tub area after the tub, tile, and all the drywall had been taken out.  It looked very weird. We had some computer drama right after I downloaded those pictures and they all got deleted.  Not all my pictures got deleted (thank goodness!), but the last pictures I downloaded did.  Neil and my mom worked all day getting all that tile out!

I had never seen purple drywall before but I actually really liked it and would've even considered purple paint!

Getting ready for the new counter.

Thank you, North Davis Cabinet for putting a hole in the wall when you came to install the granite.  That added about two more weeks to our project time.

The new tub and tile.

Neil stained all the cabinets.  I took this picture with the flash on so you could see better that the cabinets are dark brown, not black like they look without the flash.

And he did all the painting too.  I was thinking all along that we'd do a blue-gray color for the walls but my mom thought that might be too dark.  My brother-in-law, Jeff pointed out a pretty light green color and we went with that.  It's lighter than we expected and is a little hard to see, but it's pretty.

I thought I'd better smile since I was in the picture too ;)  Oh, you can't really tell because of the light, but the light fixture hasn't been put back up since painting.

Finally, my personal birthing suite is finished.  Just kidding~  That's definitely not my thing, but I am extremely happy to have this bathroom all done and usable again!

Compare

These aren't the best comparison shots, but I thought it would be fun to do a side by side of my 2 pregnancies.  Man, you can really see the swelling/obesity in the 2nd picture! Either that or my eyes have just gotten really squinty in my old age.  Actually, I still have that same workout outfit from the first picture, maybe I should take a pic in that again! 

Krispy Kreme

One day after the gym, Bear and I were running a couple of errands and I decided to stop at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.  He got to pick a few doughnuts, I got to pick a few, and he got to watch how the doughnuts were made.  It was an all around hit. 

He really could've watched the doughnuts being made for a lot longer, but I got sick of it and was also starting to feel sick from eating so many doughnuts!

36 Weeks

How Far Along:  36 Weeks

Size of Baby: Cantaloupe and about 6 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Since Barrett was born in the winter, most of my clothes I had from my first pregnancy are for colder weather.  I have like 5 t-shirts/tanks that I feel like I wear every single day but I just don’t feel like going out and buying more maternity clothes at this point!

Gender: Girl

Name: I think we’ve settled on one.  Just kidding!  I find it really funny how shocked people are when I tell them we don’t have a name.  Is it really that uncommon for people not to name their baby until it’s born!?

Movement: At 34 weeks, she was head down again, and at 36, it seems she has stayed that way.  Her little jabs and kicks are starting to hurt!

Sleep: It just depends; sometimes I sleep pretty well and other nights I wake up a million times. My back hurts a lot at night- it's super painful when I try to adjust/change positions.

Exercise/Activity Level: I’m usually only going an hour a day, definitely taking lots of lower options in classes, and skipping days altogether once in a while. I’ve got to do something to pass the time, might as well go to the gym!

Weight:  I weighed myself at 34 weeks and was 150.6; I don’t know what I am now though.  With all the swelling, I know I look like I’m pushing 200!!

What I Miss: I actually miss the super nice equipment at my old doctors office.  They did really fancy ultrasounds and great measurements and weight of the baby every appointment.  I do really like my new doctor, but I do not love his basic ultrasound equipment.

Cravings: Cold cereal- especially at night when I can’t have it.  Since I have cereal every morning for breakfast, I can’t take my prenatal pill in the morning (you’re not supposed to take it with dairy I guess), so I take my prenatal at night but that means I can’t have cereal as a delicious before bed snack L

Symptoms: I am super forgetful, getting mega heartburn (even smells give me heartburn!), and getting swollen with the warmer weather.  I’m even starting to wake up swollen now rather than just getting more and more swollen throughout the day!  Also, I can’t walk normally; I’m either waddling or limping.  At 33 and 34 weeks, I finally went to a doctor to have my SI joint manipulated (not a chiropractor, he’s actually just a family dr who specializes in bones or something).  He had me bring Neil along so he could learn how to help stretch and fix my back too. I don’t know that it’s really helping to be honest, but haven’t been super diligent with the exercises either.

Weird Things: I can’t keep it straight how far along I am.  And the crappy thing is that I keep thinking I’m further along than I really am. 

Worries: I am worried about how hard this change is going to be for Barrett.  I’m really hoping it’ll somehow help his behavior because we’ve been struggling with that recently, but I have a feeling that it’s only going to make things worse.  I really do feel bad for him, he is so excited for his baby sister but he has no idea how much his little world is going to be turned around by it.

Best Moment of the Week(s): All last week was stormy and much cooler and it was heaven for me since I’m so dang hot all the time! Mother’s Day was nice of course; I think the very best thing though is my bathroom is almost finished!  It just needs a couple finishing touches which should all be done in the next few days!

Appointments This Week: I’ve been going every 2 weeks for my last 5 appointments and I’m now starting on my weekly visits.

What I’m Looking Forward To: The baby of course!  I can’t even imagine what she’s going to look like.  I kind of just picture Barrett as a newborn, but I bet she looks a lot different from him.

Something I've Learned/Realized: I really should’ve bought more gender-neutral items the first time around.

Pictures:

34 weeks

At our 34 week appointment.  I think at this point on the ultrasound, he was checking the levels of amniotic fluid, so you can't really see much.  Barrett has come to probably only 3 appointments with us, but the other day he was telling our neighbor that the doctor puts jelly on my tummy and then he can see pictures of his baby sister.  He's so observant :)

Her carseat is here and ready for her.  But we don't mind waiting a few more weeks still!

Try to excuse the dirty mirror.  Bear was cuddling so cute on the baby, I had to try to get a quick picture.

35 weeks.  This shirt reminds me of Juno- I love that show.

36 weeks.

Mother's Day

Had a great Mother's Day this year filled with lots of people I love.

We had a wedding shower for my cousin Mandy the day before and got to spend time with Grandma GiGi.

I sent 2 big boxes of Cheerios to my mother-in-law Dawn because she loves them and can't get them in Peru. I'm glad they made it in time!

Neil drove all the way to Park City to bring me a whole bag of jaffles!

He got me some beautiful roses and a nice card too.  He always writes the nicest cards!  I also got a NuMe curling wand that I've been thinking about buying for a while.

Barrett sang a couple songs in sacrament meeting.

He made me this cutest card at church.

A close up of it.  He really has the cutest sunbeam teacher- she does the funnest things with the kids.  Today was actually the first day Barrett has ever attended his class, he always goes to primary, but then Neil or I take him home for lunch and his nap.  The teacher asked Neil if Bear could stay today, so we let him just this once!  You know I don't mess up his nap schedule for just anything!

They did this paper today too.

We had our annual Nelson family party at my parent's house.  There actually wasn't that many people that came, but it was still a full house and lots of fun for everyone.  My mom took all these pictures and they're a little grainy- I'm not sure if that's just the lighting, her phone, or if it happened when I sent texted them to my phone.

Melissa and Grandma CC

Connie and CC

Shelley, Don, and Craig

Me and Madi (not sure why this was taken so close up)

Garrett and Scotty

Neil, me, Berrie

Berrie, Jill, Dad.