The Nursery

Over the last couple months, Kevin and I have been really busy with a lot of things, with one of those things being baby boy's nursery. We have been really lucky to be able to use one of Kevin's brother's old rooms to turn into a nursery. After we move out, it will be used as a play room for all future grand kids so we tried to keep that in mind as well as add our own taste to it. I am so pleased and excited with how it has turned out so far! I really just love being in there and imagining holding our baby :) I really wanted to get the room done as soon as we could so i wouldn't be stressing about it in the last month. We are pretty much finished, we have just a few things to add, like a glider rocking chair we just ordered. eventually i will put cute things on the walls and hang up the valance that came with the crib bedding. For now though, it seems like I have a million other more important things to get ready before baby boy comes!

This shows you a little bit what the room started like.

We were covering up to protect ourselves from fumes

painting

painting done with the chair rail put up

a cute lamp from ikea

a little bookshelf that was already in the room, now with baby boy's things on it

some decorations

a dresser i was so happy to find at a great price from down east home.

Kevin's mom found the cute bed spread for the bed that was already in there.

the crib bedding pattern

the crib

So that's what we have so far. It's fun every time we get new things to go in there and arrange it. I had my first baby shower this past Saturday at my Grandma Nelson's house. I have the best family! It was so fun and I got such cute stuff! I'm getting really excited to meet baby boy and also just to be done being pregnant. Pregnancy is really starting to catch up with me and my body is definitely hating it. It's really been hard for me at work because the kids can be so stressful and there is a lot of running around and up and down all day. Working at a daycare is not the best job to be pregnant with... oh well! I gave myself one week off before my due date, so hopefully he doesn't come before then so i have at least some time to relax!

Pregnancy Update

OK, I'm terrible lately at posting anything. I have felt so busy these past couple months. Who knew being pregnant was so much work?! Things have been going great though. I am now 29 weeks along and starting into week 30! Being in the 30's as far as weeks go makes me so happy. Like i can almost see the end! I know i still have about 11 weeks to go, but it feels great to have 29 weeks under my belt. I guess as far as updates go, the biggest one is that the week after Christmas we found out we're having a BOY! It was funny because for the longest time, neither Kevin or I had the slightest clue what it might be. But about 2 weeks before the ultrasound, we both just started feeling (without saying anything to each other) like it was going to be a boy. Sure enough! There was no mistaking it, he gave us a good view ha ha. So we weren't really surprised. Since then, things have just been moving slowly along. I always worry that I'm not gaining enough weight (which i don't know why because i definitely have been putting on weight, even if it is all belly). However, at my appointments, the doctor says I'm measuring perfectly, so i guess i should stop worrying. I don't think it's possible to be completely worry free while pregnant though!

So baby boy, as i have called him since we found out, is a pretty active little guy. His favorite time of day to party is when i am at work, during the kid's nap time. I don't know if it's because i finally get to sit down and rest, or because of the classical music or what, but he starts dancing around like crazy in there everyday during nap without fail. Another time he ALWAYS kicks or moves is anytime Kevin feels my belly. He just seems to know it's his daddy, and he always says hi! Kevin loves it so much! I can't wait to see Kevin as a dad. That's one of the things i'm most excited for, to see Kevin taking care of and interacting with our baby. He is going to be so awesome and i feel so lucky to have him :) It's fun and completely crazy to feel baby boy wiggling around though. I love it! It makes me sooo impatient for him to be born so i can finally meet him and hold him. I can't wait to see what he looks like and how he changes. It will be so fun to see his personality develop as he gets older. I'm SO excited!

I'm a little nervous because my back has started to give me grief... I woke up last week and it was so bad i couldn't go to work. I went and saw a physical therapist at Jeannine's office. She specializes in women's issues and is great with pregnant women. She said something must have thrown me out, but she popped my back a couple of times really good and i have felt great after that! She said to come back anytime i need to and she can fix me up, no charge. That's definitely really nice of her, and I'm very thankful for the offer! Other than that, i have been feeling great! Definitely really tired after working all day, but I kinda just love being pregnant overall :) Although, i am eagerly awaiting the finished product! Kevin and I signed up for a birthing class, a newborn care class, and a breast feeding class. Those should be good and help me feel a little more prepared, i hope! I decided to post some pictures Kevin has taken of me all along. We have this one spot in our room that's become the designated "picture spot" ha ha. So you can take a look at my expanding belly...

5 1/2 weeks. obviously, no noticeable change yet, mostly just a reference point of where i started.

12 weeks.

14 weeks.

17 1/2 weeks.

Christmas morning, 19 weeks.

19 1/2 weeks.

23 weeks.

28 weeks.

Baby boy's profile. I love his little head and belly!

A shot looking up between his legs...he's a boy!

His two little feet :)

Beautiful Niece!

I have such sweet, beautiful nieces!! Chantelle had some newborn pictures taken of Payton, and then some pictures with the rest of the family too (which I have not seen yet). The preview pictures look absolutely adorable! I am so impressed. I just had to brag about my niece when I saw them :) Little Payton looks like a beautiful angel! I'm so excited to see the rest of the pictures!

Check them out:

http://jeniboston.blogspot.com/2009/11/payton.html

Big News!

So Kevin and I are going to be parents! We are expecting a baby and I am due May 23, 2010. We could not be more excited and happy! We told both our families together at our Halloween/Birthday party (for Kevin's birthday) that we threw on Oct 23. We wrapped up a book called "For the Expectant Father" and I gave it to Kevin as a birthday present. He opened it and said, "Thanks Amy! This is awesome!" and then turned it around to show everyone. Some people got it right away, some thought it was a joke (because Kevin was dressed up as a baby), and some just weren't paying attention. My mom's face was the best though. She was sitting across the room and slowly got to her feet with a confused expression. She started to look like she was going to cry as she realized what we were saying. Finally I couldn't handle it and I said, "I'm pregnant!" Then there was lots of hugging and congratulating. It was a fun night! I have been feeling pretty yucky for the past month or so, but there seems to be more good days now than bad, thank goodness! We went in for my week 12 appointment on Monday and we met our doctor. We really like her and she seems awesome! We are way excited about her. We also heard the heartbeat for the first time on monday. We were both excited and knew it would be cool, but I think both Kevin and I were surprised at how much awe we felt sitting there listening to our baby's heart beat away. The doctor said it sounded really good! She kept having to find it because it would go away after a second or two. She said the baby doesn't like the pressure, so they tend to move away when you are listening to it. That made me smile to think that our baby is already so active even though I can't feel it yet.

I'm very excited and nervous for this huge change to come. I know Kevin will be such an absolutely amazing dad and I just can't wait to see him with our baby! (I know, I still have a while, haha)

The excited grandmas!

Uncle Kevin and Aunt Amy with Riley

Riley snuggling up to "cow-a-patch-u-a" (that's how she pronounced Cleopatra)

Chad and my dad

Grandpa, Grandma, and Riles

On Halloween, Kevin and I went down to Orem to see my family and go trick or treating with Riley. She was so cute! Then we watched a movie over at Tyler and Chantelle's that night. It was a lot of fun!

Trick or treating with Grandma.

The cute little Nelson family

Riley is sooo cute!

Payton was a pumpkin :)

Tyler was the "I like turtles" boy.

Look up "i like turtles" on youtube if you dont know what it is.

Colby was a Texas redneck

New Niece!

So she finally came! Tyler and Chantelle had baby girl number 2 tonight at around 7:30 ish. She's 7lbs 2oz. Chantelle went to the hospital this morning at 7 to be induced. Throughout the day, things were moving along slowly. When I talked to Chantelle at around 5:30, she sounded frustrated because she wasn't making much progress at that point... However, things must have started picking up speed after that. The next we heard was a text from tyler at around 8 saying that thebaby girl had arrived kicking and screaming! We were already down at my parent's house so we all rushed over the hospital. They have an annoying rule during flu season that no children under 14 can go in the hospital, so Riley had to wait in the parking lot with my mom :( We went up and got to see Chantelle and the baby, 2 visitors at a time. Chantelle looked great and the baby was just beautiful! She was calm and just happy. She kept sticking her little tongue out, it was so cute! It was so fun to hold her and think what a miracle babies are! I'm definitely sooo excited to be an aunt to another adorable girl! No name as of yet, we'll have to see what they pick...

Grandma with little cross eyed baby girl, haha

Grandma

she's so cute :)

Chantelle with the baby

Uncle Kevin holding the baby

Aunt Amy holding her

Sunbeams

Kevin and I got called to be sunbeam (3-year olds) teachers at church. I swear I'm never going to do anything in life except teach 3 year olds. Just kidding, I really love that age group a TON! I teach the three year old class at work and I was teaching the three year olds in my old ward. I guess it's just meant to be :) Anyways, it was our first week teaching today, and the kids are so cute! There was only two kids (one boy, one girl) there, but they were adorable! Kevin hasn't been around the kids at church since he was one so it will be really different for him, but after today, I can tell he is really going to love it.
This past Friday, Kevin and I had the chance to go to the new Draper Temple and I loved it! I havn't been feeling well and so I wasn't sure about going, but I'm so glad I did! It is such a beautiful place. I'm so thankful for temples and the sacred opportunity we have to go to the Lord's house and learn of him and feel his love and such incredible peace. I had a really great experience and I'm so excited to go back. I might get to go this week with my parents and Logan's friend (my adopted brother pretty much) Wei.
Kevin is finishing up the spring semester this week and he has a ton of work to finish up so he's a little stressed. Thankfully he only has one final to take! It will be nice for two weeks while he doesn't have classes and we can just spend some time together :) I really can't complain though, he is such an incredibly hard worker and does SO well in his classes. He is brilliant! He is the type that I know wont ever slack off and will always work hard to provide for his family, so I feel really lucky for that.
I'm also really looking forward to our Washington DC trip we have coming up in a couple of weeks. It's going to be nice to get away for a little bit. It will especially be nice to hopefully have some warm weather since it can't seem to make it's mind up here in Utah, going from the high 70's to snowing within a matter of days...

I love my Riles!!

So this past Monday, my mom, Chantelle, and Riley came up to go shopping with me since i have been stuck inside recuperating from my surgery. It was really fun and i loved hanging out with everyone. I just have to say that i have the cutest niece EVER. Riley is so funny. We would be walking along through the store and she would pick up a pair of shoes or something and say, "oh cuuuute!" Haha! She was having fun shopping with the "big girls." I love her little attitude and everything about her! She is just adorable! Outside of the store was a couple of water fountains and Riley was amazed at them. We tried to get her to go play with them and at first she was a little apprehensive. Finally i just picked her up and walked her over to the fountain. She LOVED it! She had so much fun splashing and getting me soaked... I'm so lucky to have such an awesome family and a CUTE niece!

A little unsure, she didn't want to get wet...

You could tell she wanted to touch the water.

About to touch it...

She finally plays with the water!

Once she was playing with it, every time i tried to put her down she'd ask me, "more time?" So I'd give her one more turn and then she would ask the same thing, "more time?" ha ha

She loved making big streams with the water

She paused to say, "cheeeeeeeeese" to grandma

My mom emailed these to me. I guess Riley had just barely woken up and had a bad case of bed head! ha ha

Nice hair Riles!

Stretch!

Kisses from Mommy

Cute FREE Fonts!

There is a way cute website my mom told me about where you can download hundreds of cute regular fonts and scrapbooking fonts. Best of all, it's totally free! I loved the fonts so much, I have to admit, I downloaded all of them! haha. Anyways, if you are into that sort of thing, go check it out!

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/fonts/

Thanks to my mom for finding and sharing this site with me :)

Tonsillectomy

I got my tonsils removed yesterday and it went really well. Kevin and I got to the surgical center and I changed into the beautiful hospital gown that everyone loves and then waited while they got everything ready. I was dreading the part where they have to stick the IV needle in me because that sort of thing makes me faint. So the nurse tried on one hand and she got it in, but then apparently they weren't quite ready for the IV, so she pulled it out and I started bleed a TON all over. It went all over my hand and the floor. I was already feeling light headed and that definitely didn't help... So then she came back and said she was going to try it on the other hand now. So she tried and tried and tried and tried.... for about 5 minutes she was digging around with the needle in my hand and I could hardly handle it. It hurt, but more than that it just grossed me out!! It was my worst nightmare coming true ha ha. Everything started to float away and I couldn't hear anything so I knew I was seconds from passing out. I said, "I'm really light headed..." and so she hurried and reclined the chair to I had my legs above my head. That brought me back pretty fast but then we still had to keep trying to get the needle in. Kevin said I was greener than my hospital gown! The nurse was great and sooo nice and calm. It wasn't her fault, my veins were just not cooperating at all! She still couldn't get it in and so at that point she asked the anesthesiologist if he could try. He tried up by my elbow and got it in fairly quickly. That was such a relief to have that over with! The anesthesiologist was sooo awesome. He was joking with Kevin and I and when they wheeled me away to the surgery room, Kevin called out, "I love you" to me and I said it back at the same time the anesthesiologist said, "I love you too!" to Kevin, ha ha! Then the nurse and anesthesiologist were asking me about where I worked and that was the last thing I remember. Next thing I knew, I was waking up with a nurse asking me what pain level I was at. I couldn't talk because I had a mouth full of really thick spit, but I held up four fingers. She brought Kevin back and gave me an otter pop to water down the spit. Kevin's mom, Jeannine, came a couple minutes later. After I finished the otter pop, I felt nauseous and the nurse handed me a bag to throw up into. For me, throwing up is one of the worst feelings, but this actually felt so good. It was such a relief and after that, Kevin said I looked a ton better. I was kinda drifting in and out and at one point Kevin was stroking my face and hair. I turned to him and said, "your hands are so soft" and he was like, "I moisturize" the joke was lost on me, but Jeannine and the nurse thought it was funny :) So when I was awake enough, I changed back into my clothes and then we went home. I loved all the people down at the surgical center, they were all so nice and really made me feel so calm. On the way home, we had to stop at Wal Mart to fill my prescription for liquid Loritab, which I heard is DISGUSTING. We had them flavor it like watermelon though, and so far its been fine :) I slept most of the day yesterday and it was so nice. The pain isn't too bad because I'm on a strict pain med schedule every four hours and using ice packs. My mom and dad came up and visited me last night and it was so nice to sit and visit with them. I love hanging out with them. So far, things have been going very smoothly and I'm not feeling too bad. Kevin has been absolutely amazing. He is constantly asking me if he can get something for me and asking how I'm doing. He is such a sweetheart! I'm so lucky to have him! He took Monday off to spend with me too, so that will be nice. Hopefully the rest of my recovery goes as well as it has so far. I'm just glad to finally have those dang disgusting tonsils OUT! Before... ewww!

After!

(It's brown and black because they have to cauterize the wounds)