Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Mini Vacation!

Sea World Orlando

There was a few of our friends going to Sea World that casually invited us. We thought about it and then decided to jump on that wagon! Especially with the whole Military getting in for free deal they have. We figured we'd use it! 

We had a blast. We left Saturday EARLY morning. Arrived in Orlando at about 7:30a. Spend the entire day at the park. Then stayed with some friends in their huge suite Saturday night. {we originally planned to drive back that night, I am very glad we decided against that!} It was a very long day! 

Sunday we stopped at Downtown Disney to just walk around and such. It got me wanting to go to Disney World pretty badly! Hehe. 
*warning, picture overload* 
{also, everytime I upload to Blogger, the pics have those lines through them, just look through them}

Beginning of our day. The girls in their St. Patty's Day attire. 

B posing. She called that Eel thing an alligator.

She liked viewing the fish and sharks!

However she didn't like taking a picture with the shark jaw...I'm a mean mom, lol. I love this picture. 

Sweet Aspenn. She was a trooper all day!

Daddy and Aspenn. 

Me and B with the dolphin. I'm not sure if she has a name or not..


I did it! I hate fish, but I touched the ray! Nick was oh so proud he had to take a picture documenting it!

She was all smiles, but this is the end of the ride, so maybe thats why she looked angry. 


Our Family

Watching Shamu.


I believe it was naptime. During the Sea Lion show, she grabbed fluff and laid on the ground.




I had to throw a picture of the whales. They were so neat to watch. Brynlee just kept yelling FISH. 

I have tons more pictures..whats new. The girls did great. I can't wait to take them to Disney in a few years! 

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

ALS {airmen leadership school} Graduation.


Nick graduated ALS last Thursday. I am so proud of him. 
He has never been a school person. He did so good though, he would come home from being in class all day, play with B a bit and then eat dinner then he'd go study while I put Brynlee to bed. Although I missed his help, I love his ambition to study. 

Here is us at the graduation. I got a new dress and new shoes out of it! 









Congrats to my now SSgt Hubby!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Our Little Valentines



We don't do Valentines, but I had the urge to do a little Valentines photo shoot with my girls. 
 The pictures turned out way better then I had expected and I can't wait to print a few for the walls!





*This last picture took some major convincing on Miss B's part! I had got one good one of her smiling but Aspenn's eyes were partially closed, so I really wanted to try for another. Brynlee would not smile or stand there for anything. I told her " I will give you anything if you just do this one more time" No such luck. When finally I tried " If you go over there with your sister and smile, you can watch a movie..." Brynlee's response: "CARS!!" So then I agreed and she walked right over there and smiled all pretty like, I got more then just one too. Whew, I'll remember to pull the movie bribe before I pull my hair out next time!

1 month gone but not forgotten.

{about 3 1/2 weeks late}

Wow.
All I can say.
Time flew. I know it didn't help that we had visitors from the day she was born till she was almost a month.

She has become quite the watcher.
She'd rather sit on your lap and look around then swing, or bounce.

I can't wait to see if she will grow to look like her big sister or get a whole new look!

Aspenn's Newborn Pics

Here are my favorite shots...

Her little smirk here makes me smile :)








Can't believe these were almost 2 months ago!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Brynlee & Aspenn's Baby Dedication.

This last Sunday at church they had baby dedication for all babies born in 2011. 

However Brynlee was born in 2010, but had yet to be dedicated. So I asked if she could be a part of it and of course they said yes. 

We didn't get the chance in Italy to do B like we planned. But I am kinda glad we got to do them both at the same time. 


Aspenn was the caboose of the 2011 baby train of PRBC. 
So we actually had the youngest child and the oldest child up there! 


I had meant to get a real pic of us looking and such but never did. 
The girls are matching. It was their first matching outfits. I'm sure positive there will be more to come!


Check out Aspenn's awesome ballet flats! They are adorable!
They were a gift. I'm obsessed with baby shoes! She probably has like 6 pair and yes I know, no point for a kid who can't walk!


Brynlee did great and loves her Bible. She was flipping through it while we were up there.!

Thank you Lord for trusting Nick and I to take care of these beautiful girls for You! We feel so blessed to have them in our lives and couldn't go back for anything. We promise to 'train them up the way that they should go' and to show them that Jesus loves them in all that they do & will always be there for them in the good times and the bad. 

Oh, Brynlee already loves to pray. We pray before meals and bed. She doesn't let us forget either! Sometimes we pray more then once. She now closes her eyes for most the prayer too! So Proud!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Brynlee Girl

{This picture below is messed up and I didn't feel like re uploading..yeah I'm lazy}

So. Kaci and B are besties. Sitting by the road. Weirdos really. 


I love this shirt my mom got her. Ironically she was playing with her stuffed Zebra all day too. I think she felt a bond..haha. 


 My mom got Brynlee a sand box for Christmas, and we waited to set it up till my mom was here so she could see her reaction. 

She loves it by the way...


Now we just have to keep her from throwing it all out of the box...easier said then done.




 I just wanted to do a short post on Big Sister B. She is getting so big. She is doing well with Aspenn too. Loves to hold her {for short periods} and likes to hold her bottle. Still gets jealous at times but we're all adjusting well.

I love my girls.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Welcome to the World.

Aspenn Noelle
December 28, 2011
12:13am
7 pounds 10 ounces
19 1/2 inches



I can't believe she is really here. When I thought she'd never come! She just wanted to wait till her expected arrival date. Yes, she was indeed born on her due date. {just wanted to be like her mommy who too was born on her duedate} 



We feel so blessed to have these gorgeous girls in our lives. Its pretty neat how much they look alike. Just looking back at Brynlee's pictures, they have a lot of similarities. They are/were exactly the same length but Aspenn is almost a whole pound bigger then B was. Even their heads and chest are super close in size.


Our Family of 4



So for all who have been asking. Here is her birth story:

    Tuesday, December 27th, I was having contractions all day. Nothing painful. Nothing time-able. No patterns just random contractions. Well that evening I started timing them, they were getting more frequent so I said what the heck. {I'll tell ya though, its much easier when you water just breaks and you don't have to do this timing stuff!} I was having them less then 5 minutes apart for an hour when I called my mom. Still they weren't painful. She said just to go in, considering I was due the next day and already at 4cm. I was curious to see if my cervix was changing any so I was like ok. So I told Nick that I wanted to go. Let my friend know that we'd be dropping Brynlee off sooner then later and started to get things together. At that point, I felt like the contractions had let up some, but I also stopped timing them. I didn't want to get there and then be sent home only to come back later.

  We arrived at the hospital at around 7:45 I believe. Sat in the ER waiting room for about 30 minutes before Labor and Delivery came to get us. Put us in a room and got all hooked up to the monitors and the nurse came in and checked my cervix. I was still at a 4cm. I was pretty disappointed. They told me they'd keep me for an hour to observe and then check me again to see if there is any change. Well my contractions kept coming, still not in a great pattern but they were there.

  At 9:30 she came back to re-check me. I was a 5...but barely. So it was good but not much. She said she would call the doctor and see what she wanted to do. She asked me if I wanted to go home, and if I was staying if I wanted to be induced after a certain time and all that. I didn't want to be induced, but honestly at this time I was really considering it, lol. She came back and the doc said she wanted to keep me since I was due in the morning. She said if I hadn't delivered by morning she'd come and break my water, which was a good plan to me.

  So we got settled in and figured we'd go to sleep. Well then I got a very painful contraction out the blue. No contraction worked up to it, it went from not painful to whoa. I wanted drugs. I had drugs with Brynlee and had no desire to go natural. I told nurse if they kept coming like this I wanted my epidural. She told me to tell her sooner then later, since I needed 2 bags of fluid before they'd give it to me. I had only had a half at this point! So she sped it up. Boy was that cold in the arm.

  She asked if I wanted IV drugs, I opted for that. So I got me some drugs, granted I don't think it did a thing but make me sleepy! The contractions kept on coming. I had quite a bit of pressure and told her so she decided to check me. I was practically a 6 by then.

  Drugs in, contractions still felt just as bad. I was getting worried that I wasn't going to be able to get my epidural! I'll tell ya, I am not a fan of pain or have a huge pain tolerance so this was something that really made me nervous. Nick was great the entire time. I kept telling him I didn't want to do this again, and he would just reassure me that I could do it. I then would say I know that, I kinda have to, but just keep telling me that because I am gonna keep saying I can't!

  I honestly can't remember the time table...I wish I would have paid more attention to the clock. I did good during the contractions this time with my breathing. Nick was really helping me not tense up and breath through them (with Brynlee this technique did not help me at all! ) . I'm glad it came in handy the second time around. After a little of enduring these contractions, I felt the urge to push. BAD. I told the nurse and so she was like don't push don't push and checked me. I was complete. I started bawling. I knew at that point I could not get my epidural! I don't know the exact times, but I do know they told me I went from barely a 5 to 10 cm in 55 minutes! They paged the doctor. Of course it was at night, so she wasn't there. Clearly she lives close because she got there fast, but to me it felt like forever. I just wanted to push!

  She literally walked in the door, and said push. She got all gloved up and such and broke my bag of water, and 4 more contractions later I had a 7lb miracle on my chest. Oh my goodness. That was a relief. I did it. I really never thought I could do childbirth without drugs, well I kinda had to. But I survived!

 So we got into labor and delivery at 830. Aspenn was welcomed to this world at 12:13. Not too shabby. I am very glad I didn't want to go home, we live 30 minutes from the hospital. As much as Nick says delivering a baby wouldn't be scary for him, I'm sure glad he didn't have to!

  I have been asked if we had a third, which we have no intentions of having....if I'd opt for the drugs or just go without. I liked how much faster it was. I mean I was still pretty fast with B (6hrs total. 22 mins of pushing) Since most people have faster labors the more kiddos...I'd probably not be able to get anything. Haha. I did like how much easier it was to push, even with the pain, I was able to tell where she was..unlike with B, I was just pushing.

  So all in all. It was a great labor experience. I am actually glad I can say I've done it both ways. I however have no desire to do it again....or at least in the very near future. ( Nick doesn't want anymore, and neither do I , but you never know right) 


  Hope y'all enjoyed my little book I wrote, haha.

Oh and Have a Happy New Year!!


Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas Day for the Nelson's

Here is what Brynlee walked out to this morning...


She actually went straight to the big Elmo...then saw the basketball. Grabbed it and started shooting it....I was shocked she knew what to do with it!


Her huge Teddy Bear


Then we read the The Christmas Story from her Bible. 


Then it was time to open presents!


I took more pics, but here is just a few. 




Brynlee size Elmo!


Loves her magnadoodle!


Dogs got their big pork bones...we didn't see them much today! 



After presents we had homemade Cinnamon rolls, a tradition of ours I am going to keep going. I must stay, todays we're the best I've made so far! Brynlee didn't want to eat it, but once she had a taste of it, she scarfed her's down. Haha.

The rest of the day we just hung out and played with new toys and read new books and colored. Went for a walk together and then had a nice big but small dinner, the 3 of us. Still wishing this little girl would come out and join the fun!

God Bless!