Hayden's Big Day

We were so lucky to celebrate Hayden yesterday. He was given a very special blessing by his Dad and was surrounded by friends and family who love him. It was a wonderful day! Actually it was a great weekend. Family started arriving Friday night, so we had lots of time to play with cousins and visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Saturday they got to watch Haley play soccer (they lost their game, but played awesome!), we then hit Costco for a few more items we needed for our big dinner. The BYU game took over the rest of the day and when it started all of my family was here. It was a ton of fun to visit with everyone and the kids could just run wild with cousins. I was so happy to have everyone here, all 4 of my brothers and their families were able to come. Marc and Hollie even made the trip from Logan and had to drive all the way home on Sunday--it was so great they came all that way (Thanks guys). Sunday was the blessing and a yummy dinner of pork, chicken, and steak tacos (we need variety!). We had a ton of food, but luckily we had lots of hungry mouths to feed. It's fun to have an excuse to see people you don't get to see very often. A good friend of the Nelson family came--Gordon and Irene. He was Michael's Dad's partner and best friend for a long time. We had a nice visit with them. He got teary when talking to Michael and his brother Eric and how proud he is of them and how proud their Dad would be. It was really sweet. It was just a very special day and I'm so thankful we were able to celebrate having Hayden in our family. I of course forgot to take any pictures after church, but we got a few before.

I'm Loosing It . . .

Yes I'm loosing it . . . my hair that is. After I have a baby I start to loose my hair and it continues for about 9 months. I'm not just saying a strand or two. It seems like handfuls! I have tons of hair so it isn't missed a whole lot, but I can't stand the regrowth. I get the short hairs as it comes back that causes fly aways and a strange hairline. One of the joys of having a baby. They are totally worth it! I guess if it weren't falling out I'd be pulling it out. How can an 18 month old little boy bring so much joy and so much frustration at the same time? Harmon entertains us and we can't help but laugh at his cute little face, then the terrible twos set in and he's a monster. I totally believe the terrible 2's start at 17 months! It's a good thing we love him as much as we do! I'm sure all Mom's can relate to an active child and loosing hair! :)

And the answer is . . .

Hayden--Harmon
Hunter--Haley

At least I think that's right ;)

Guess Who?

I'm not sure why, but we've had to get the naked shot of all of our babies. I think it's because babies have the cutest little bottoms! Anyway, looking back I'm sure glad I labeled my pictures. I can't tell them apart. Can you?

Soccer, Pre-school, and cute kids

Haley and the Ladybugs had their first game last Saturday and beat the other team 14-0. Haley had 2 goals and was just beaming after each one. We were worried that she might not be able to keep up with the team, but she did great and it was so fun to watch. She has a great coach and has made some great friends on the team! She's LOVING Kindergarten and dance--she is one busy little girl!

Hunter just started Pre-school on Tuesday and he was SO excited! His best friend Samuel is in his class so that makes it even better! The first day he grabbed his Spiderman backpack and ran in the room without a single hesitation. They learned the letter A and he enjoyed practicing his writing. This is HUGE for Hunter because he doesn't really enjoy coloring and doesn't sit still for long. He now asks for homework and loves doing some learning pages when Haley does her homework every day. He's getting to smart to fast!

Harmon is our entertainer and his Mom's trial at the same time. He has become a climber and has quite the attitude, but you can't get mad at him because he is just to darn cute! He gives the best kisses and we love his cracker dance (he does the same dance every time you give him a cracker). I'm afraid the terrible two's have started early, but hopefully they'll be gone soon. Harmon LOVES his little brother and if I walk by holding Hayden he'll scream until I let him give a kiss. It is really sweet. He'll be a great big brother!

Hayden is the sweetest little guy. He's still in sleepy mode unless it's night time then he's wide awake. He gave us a scare by getting sick at 10 days old, but has been healthy and happy since then. He loves to be held and cuddled and Mom of course is always willing to provide. I feel guilty when I look at him, because I wasn't really ready for him to join our family and now I can't imagine life without him. He is truly a blessing from Heavenly Father.

This post is more for Mom and Dad than anything. We have to document everything in their lives because they grow up WAY to fast (and they will probably never have scrapbooks--I have NO time). :)

Doctors

Last week Harmon had an appointment with the Endocrinologist (for his Thyroid). The office called the day before the appointment and said they needed to reschedule the appointment because the Dr. had a meeting. I was okay with that until they said it would be 2 months before they could get him in. I didn't really understand that because they should be accommodating ME since they canceled his appointment (and they say if you don't have your child checked regularly they report you to child protective services). They finally said there was another Dr. in the office that he could see today. So off we headed to a 10:00 appointment. I arrived 10 minutes early to find that the office is being renovated and to head to another location in the building. I went to that office and upon entering hoped that I wouldn't have to wait long because it was filthy. There were toys and books for the kids that had probably NEVER been cleaned. Anyone who has kids knows it is impossible to keep a 17 month old off the floor and I had the baby with me, which I've been trying to keep away from germs as much as possible. After waiting 45 minutes in the waiting room we finally got called back, we then waited another 35 minutes for the Dr. to come in. At this point my patience was GONE. I've never been a big complainer and I don't like to make a scene, but I felt like I should say something. The Dr. beat me to it and came in complaining about the office, it's staff, and how unorganized everything was. He also had a little tirade about Obama and health care, so I settled down a little. He was a good Dr. and was great with Harmon. He reviewed his last lab results and expressed his concern that the labs were filed in his chart before they were signed off. This concerned me because Haley had lacework done at the same time. He was nice enough to pull her chart to check on her and lucky that he did because her labs were elevated so off to the pharmacy we go for some stronger meds. Sorry for my little rant, I usually try to stay as positive as I can with Dr. offices--I've worked in plenty of them and I know how things can go wrong. I also know that things don't have to go THAT wrong. I guess a two hour Dr. appointment just doesn't sit well with me especially when it's for the one child who can't sit still for more than 5 minutes. I hope our next experience in the office will be better--we'll be back next month for Haley's appointment. (FYI--this is the only pediatric endocrinologist in town)

So Strange

Yesterday was such a strange day. It started with our meeting with a member of the bishopric where we found out we were being released from Cub Scouts. I admit I'm kind of sad, but relieved at the same time. The strange part of it is that we didn't get a new calling. I'm not sure what I'll do without a calling. Next to add to the weirdness is I sent Harmon to nursery (we're about 4 weeks early). I got to enjoy all 3 meetings without chasing him around and trying to keep him quiet so you could actually hear the lesson. After church we came home and had lunch, and the kids ate every last bite. They NEVER eat on Sundays because they always get snacks in class. It was great. I even got a short nap after that. We had good friends visit and I wasn't stressed about getting kids to bed early because of the holiday. It was fun to visit with ShaLayne and show off Hayden, she even brought the most yummy brownies. It was definitely an abnormal day in the Nelson household, but a wonderful one at the same time.

Blessings

I've been so blessed this week. I think Heavenly Father knew I was a little stressed with Michael going back to work, car pooling, and Dr. appointments. I decided I need to really count my blessings.

1. I drove 3 kids home from school every day this week and now I don't have to do it again for 3 weeks. How nice!
2. Michael cleaned all the grout on the tile in the kitchen. He is so good to help out around the house when I just can't get to it.
3. We found out that Hayden doesn't have the same Thyroid problem as Haley and Harmon. Thank goodness!!! I really don't need all the extra Dr. visits and he doesn't need to be stuck any more times than he already has.
4. I had some good friends show up with a gift card for dinner the other day--what a sweet thought and a huge help!
5. I took all 3 boys to a Dr. appointment and survived. Harmon and Hunter got flu shots and Hayden had his 1 week well-check even though he was like 2 1/2 weeks old.
6. I found out that Hunter made it into his preschool class with his best buddy. I was worried because my application was returned to me so it arrived late and the pre-school fills up fast. He is SOOOOO excited!
7. I am healthy enough and felt good enough to work out for the first time since having Hayden. I didn't even mind being sore the next day :)
8. I realized that my kids have some great friends. Between Haley and Hunter we had 6 play dates this week. They've had fun!
9. It's a long weekend ahead and we have no major plans so we get to stay home and relax. Michaels greatest blessing is that there is a BYU and Red Sox game on tonight, so we know what we'll be doing!
10. I'm not sure if it's a blessing or not, but we have a meeting with the Bishop tomorrow. I'm afraid new callings are coming. I've enjoyed my calling in cub scouts, but it is really hard to go to pack meeting with all the kids so it might be a blessing to do something else for a while--we'll see . . . .

I'm sure I could keep naming blessings all day. It is so nice just to sit and reflect on the past week and remember that with the stress and the bad things that happen there are so many more wonderful things that make me happy.

New Pictures

Somehow I didn't get any family pictures at the hospital with new baby. My Mom just sent these to me. We really should have a ton of kids they are so dang cute.

I survived

So I survived my first night alone. I missed Michael terribly, but he had to go back to work eventually. I was surprised at how well my evening went. We even had family home evening. The biggest fight was who got to read the scripture (Haley and Hunter fight over this responsibility every time). We made cookies and they had baths and were in bed by 7:40. It was great! Hayden went to bed at 10:00 and didn't get up until 3:00 then again at 7:30. It's our best night by far! I hope the rest of the week goes as well as last night, but I won't hold my breath. Haley has friends over today and she always seem to have more attitude after they leave.

I took Hunter to a Zumba class today that a sister in the ward was trying for pre-school age kids. It was hilarious to watch him, he had a blast! It helped that his buddy Samuel was there. Harmon was quite entertaining as well, he's got some moves!

Anyway, I think I'll survive having 4 kids 5 and under. I'm not brave enough to hit the grocery store alone yet, but lucky me the Hubby's schedule leaves him home enough that he can help a lot.