Goodbye To You

We said goodbye to Hill and Ben last week. They are off to Boston for the summer. We will miss their free babysitting. And maybe them. Hillary is Sadie's favorite adult (besides us of course). FYI, Sadie's favorite kid is her babysitter's daughter Holli, aka Hahdee.

Hillary watched Sadie once or twice a week during her freshman year at BYU. Even though Sadie didn't see Hillary as much this year, Hillary remains in the top spot.

We'll miss you guys! See you in August!

PS I am as large and in charge as ever

Pouting, Prepwork & Easter

It's official. I am more pregnant than I have ever been before- 37 weeks and 2 days. I am kind of annoyed about it. Did Sadie's pregnancy spoil me? Absolutely. The day I was 37 weeks pregnant with Sadie was typical. I went to work. Went to Wal-mart during lunch to pick up a baby swing. I went to Subway for lunch and noticed that I felt terrible but attributed it to the fact I was hungry and had just carried a big box all the way across Wal-mart by myself. I went to Daniel's softball game that night and felt fine. I went to bed and woke up around 4 AM to my water breaking. Sadie was born at 10:06 AM. I didn't feel any contractions- no pain until I was recovering. Not bad for one morning's work. At 37 weeks and 1 day pregnant it was all over.

Did I expect lightning to strike twice? Absolutely not. I have spent my whole pregnancy mentally preparing myself to go 41 weeks. My doctor has constantly reminded me another early birth was highly unlikely. Until last Thursday. My doctor was surprised (I would almost call her tone of voice shocked) to find I was 3 cm dilated, 80-90% effaced and the baby's head between a -1 and -2 station. Eight months of mental preparation went out the window. Despite the doctor's reminder I could sit like this for another 3 weeks I was instantly convinced I was going to have a baby on Easter weekend. My doctor admitted I probably wouldn't make it to my next appointment. I called my mom and told her to expect to be coming out to Utah this week. I paid way too close attention to any kind of ache or cramp in my body. Since I have never felt contractions I kept telling Daniel- "I think I might be feeling something". I packed my hospital bag. We went to bed every night saying- she'll probably come tomorrow.

Here we are, Monday morning. I didn't get out of bed until 7:30. I was so disappointed to be going to work. Am I being ridiculous? Yes. Do I feel ready to deal with a newborn? No. But I want to be done. I am attempting to convince myself that I feel fine and I will be pregnant for another 3 weeks.

I guess the good news is that we are now essentially ready for this baby girl to make her grand entrance. I am still working on decorating her room/the guest room. Maybe next week I'll be done. I washed all the clothes and various covers/parts of baby gear. Daniel will install the car seat soon (aka probably after my water breaks). Between both girls we have over 1000 diapers (not joking).

I got a great deal so I bought a 4 month supply. If there is one thing you absolutely know you will use, it's diapers. Plus, Sadie loved the boxes they came in.

And in case you were wondering, yes, Sadie regularly wears a onesie, cardigan, and shoes. No pants.

Finally....Easter Sunday. We did a little egg hunt in the living room. I put 2 or 3 jelly beans in each egg and placed them in plain sight around the room. Sadie actually caught on pretty quickly. Here she is saying "cheese" for the camera.

We didn't clean up all the empty eggs Sadie left around the house and this morning she kept getting excited when she'd find one. She'd shake it and say sadly, "all gone" when she realized there were no jelly beans in it.
Sadie also got a new ride-on toy.

Despite the fact that Sadie looks excited in this picture, she actually doesn't love it. She hasn't played with it much. I think I'll return it and get a trike or something.

Daniel keeps insisting that it is too small for her and she is too old for it.

Before church I attempted to get some pictures of me and Sades.


But she threw a tantrum when I had to turn the screen around to take a picture.

Alicia, Bryce and Tyler came over for a delicious Easter dinner. I successfully made yummy potatoes au gratin for the first time- even though they took forever to cook and pushed back our eating time an hour.

Sadie ate 2 rolls and 2 bites of green bean casserole. That's it- little stinker.
I guess she was just excited to wear Uncle Tyler's boots.

The End. Hopefully you don't hear from me again this week because I'm having a baby!

A Good Day

I'm pretty sure last Saturday was the best day of Sadie's life.

The morning event was the UVU Easter party. Hillary came to help control Sadie.

Sadie was on her game- running from activity to activity without a care. There were long lines, but she didn't notice. In fact, she usually ran to the front of every line. Hillary and I took turns waiting in line while Sadie would stand by the front.

She made Hillary steal multiple balloons from the centerpieces.

Coloring- she kept instructing the girl next to her which color to use. She would shove a crayon in her face and say "puhpee" (purple- even though the crayon wasn't always purple) until the girl took it.

Sadie's favorite activity was the bouncy slide.

Click on this picture to get a better view of Sadie's face- she loved it.
Finally....the egg hunt. There were so many people at the party that I was a little worried about the hunt. We heard there weren't enough eggs for everyone.

Good thing Sadie had no idea what was going on. She was happy to wander around with her little empty basket and balloon. It was pretty adorable. She didn't get any eggs- they were gone in less than 30 seconds.

Then a little boy who got multiple eggs offered one to Sadie. She didn't care about it much. Until she found out there was candy inside. Then she ate the candy and checked the egg periodically to make sure more candy hadn't appeared.

When we got home I let her fill up her basket with the empty eggs we have. She was happy with that.

Next activity- I allowed her to watch Toy Story right in front of the tv.

Actually, I went upstairs to get a few things done and came back to find Sadie standing this close.

The evening activity was attending a farewell barbecue for the bishop of our old BYU married ward. Good old BYU 97th ward. It was great to see lots of old friends who hadn't seen Sadie since we moved a year ago. The backyard was heaven for Sadie. Multiple slides, older kids to play with, and a wagon.

She would climb to the top of the slide and then count to the 3 with me (kind of) and yell "go!".

She almost always fell on her face at the end of the slide. And it made us both giggle every time.
Next came the wagon.

I pulled her in it.

Bishop's grandchildren pushed her in it.

Hyrum pulled her in it.

And finally, she attempted to pull Hyrum. They got nowhere fast.

It was a great day. Sadie and I both slept well Saturday night. But you know what made Sunday even better? Daddy came back. And I made some delicious enchiladas.

Nutty Nugget

I mentioned how Sadie loves to make messes. Usually this involves dumping/throwing out everything in a container, on a shelf, in a cupboard, on the refrigerator etc. The other night I heard her get the cookie cutters out- which she usually uses as bracelets. She puts as many as possible on her arms and then throws them on the floor. I heard her dump the entire container out and I figured she was just enjoying making a mess.

What I was unprepared for was this:

Sadie sitting in the cookie cutter container.

There was absolutely no prompting from me to do this. I promise.

I don't know if Sadie was trying to be funny but she thought it was great when it made me laugh really hard. Until she realized she couldn't move. Then she used 2 of her signature phrases "sssstuckkkk" and "heb me (help me)" over and over for the next 5 minutes while I struggled to get her out.

What a crazy girl.

Free Family Fun

UVU is having their annual {free} Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow morning. Everyone in the community is invited. Here are the details:

9 AM- 11 AM
UVU Student Center Courtyard (Grande Ballroom if bad weather)
Egg Hunt starts at 9:45
Inflatable bounce houses, cookie decorating, crafts and games

Anyone want to come with me? I am a little afraid to bring Sadie by myself.
In my current state I have a little bit of a tough time chasing her around

Ch...ch...changes

Sadie was really sick a few weeks ago and it took a toll on the whole family, but we are all now alive and well in the Nielson household. In fact, there have been some real big changes lately.

First, I have finally started getting the baby's room ready. I am debating whether or not to buy a crib. Originally we thought we'd just have the baby sleep in the pack and play until Sadie was ready to move out of her crib. The thing is, Sadie LOVES her crib and has never once tried to climb out of it even though she easily could. I am in no hurry to move her out of it. Is it worth it to buy another crib & mattress to have our sanity longer (ie keep Sadie in a crib)? I am not against keeping Sadie in a crib until she is 3 and/or potty trained.

I bought a used dresser for the baby's clothes and started to sand and re-paint it before I remembered to take a picture. Here it is in the middle stage of it's makeover. I'll post another picture once I do some more work on baby's room. In the mean time, we have diapers and all baby girl's clothes washed and put away. That's pretty much all that's necessary, right?

Second, Daniel was put in our ward's bishopric last Sunday. I know, right? Do they not hear/see Sadie's tantrums during Sacrament meeting? Do they not realize the huge thing protruding off the front of me is a baby coming in a matter of weeks? It's taken me a few weeks, but I think I am not so bitter about it anymore. When Daniel went up to sit on the stand Sadie didn't really notice. A few minutes later she spotted her dad and pointed and started yelling "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" She did this throughout the meeting. She would pull on me frantically like, "Do you see what is going on?" Luckily Uncle Tyler was there to block her from running up to dad.

Before church Sadie was happy- once daddy wasn't sitting with us anymore, not so much.
Daniel's parents came out to be a part of the whole sustaining/ordaining to be a High Priest. What do you know, despite being here for 5 days, neither Carolyn or I got ONE SINGLE PICTURE of Sadie with them! Ugh

Third, Sadie has started giving 'looks'. She will give anyone a look if they do something she doesn't like. Or maybe for no reason at all.

Mad at me for saying "say cheese"

Mad at Tyler and Carolyn for not opening the piano cover.

Fourth, Sadie has become a professional mess-maker. She just loooves to make a big mess.

At least 3 times a day she throws all the frig magnets on the floor. When I came around the corner to get a picture of the mess in progress she tried to pretend she was just studying letters and pointed out an "E" to me. The good thing is that she will help me clean the messes up, sometimes with no prompting at all.

Fifth, I am officially huge and very uncomfortable. I get stared at wherever I go.

I am due one month from today! It's crazy that if this baby comes when Sadie did she would be here in a week and a half. Nope, no name picked out yet. Maybe we'll do that when Daniel gets back from Virginia next week. Yup, he's out of town. Hopefully the baby doesn't come soon!

PS- Sadie loves balloons- aka "boon/booms"

She reads Goodnight Moon only to point out the red balloon that appears in half of the illustrations