8 weeks old!

We made it this far. Sarah has changed so much, it seems like it has happened almost overnight. She is super chunky now (I will update you on her stats at her appt next week.) also she is becoming a happier baby, and yes sleeping better! She slept 5 hours straight last night! Megan is such a good big sister, we are getting a routine down and now that Sarah is a bit older, we dare leave the house a bit more. We went to the Tree House Museum last week and had such a fun time. I have just over three weeks of maternity leave left, and I have spent some time thinking about why I want to go back to work and I am posting my list of "why I like to work".
#1 Appreciation. I feel that when I work Wes appreciates what I do all day because he gets a little taste of what it is like to be alone with the kids. I also appreciate Wes more for his efforts at home and at work. I miss my family while I am at work and really make more of an effort to be pleasant at home, since that is where I would rather be anyway.
#2 Daycare is really a good thing for us.(Megan goes once a week) There are some pitfalls to daycare, such as more children and sharing germs and what not, but, when Megan jumps out of the car because she is so happy to see Debbi and this whole maternity leave she has been calling Debbi on her pretend cell phone, I know she enjoys the interaction with the kids there. (I appreciate Debbi as well, anyone who can allow other peoples kids into her home and love and care for them the way Debbi does, has a special place reserved for them in heaven).
#3 Money. This is the most obvious reason for work.
#4 Work friends. I really work with a great group of people at Logan Regional, and cant wait to see them all again.
#5 Shifting Priorities. As I have been home for the last 8 weeks, there is this strange self imposed feeling that my house should be spotless, laundry ought to be done, I should magically purchase a months worth of groceries on $5, and a gourmet meal should be ready each night. As a working mother, I feel my house doesn't have to be spotless, laundry can be wrinkled, dinner can be quick and simple, waffles, cold cereal, or take out are just fine, and groceries are allowed to have some convience foods. I feel that when I work my time is better spent with my family, and I can let some of the other things at home slide.
So in three weeks when I return to work, it will be hard, but I will do it happily.

Happy New Year

We survived 2009. It was a really good year. Sarah is now 6 weeks old, and these are her 6 week pictures. My new Year Resolutions this year are: I have slowly began to notice that what I call "indepedence" in Megan is more like stubborness. In an attempt to make my life easier and prepare her for interacting with others, we are going to work on minding mom and dad. Goal #1 Dinner time. I really don't believe in making kids clean their plates, I do however want Megan to sit and eat with me and Wes at meals. So far this year it has worked out. I need to have a meal ready when she is hungry and prepare something that she will eat. (she has had the frozen corn-on-the-cob 3 0ut of 4 nights this week.) We are also working on picking up and not whining. Goal #2 get Sarah on a schedule. Meg was on a schedule and really was a good baby, Sarah is still learning. There are my usuall goals of being on time and of course financial freedom. We actually started this financial goal back in the summer, Wes and I upped our life insurance this summer and revamped our financial plans. P.S. we really like our financial planner and feel that his plan was really easy to work with. We are 1 month away from having no credit card debt, and no vehicle debt. If you want the name of our financial planner, let me know, He really was great to work with. His theory was not to change our lifestyle, just make sure that we could keep it up, life, death, or disibility.

Merry Christmas

Sorry this BLog is a little late, My house exploded after christmas, I really wanted to be the ambitious type that put the tree down and moved on with life, but I just had enough time to put the toys away. The tree will wait til next week. My little angel baby is turning out to be not such an angel at night. She refuses to sleep in a bassinette, and will only sleep when I hold her. Each night I fight her to sleep on her own for about 2 hours and then I cave, and we move to the couch so that I can function the next day. At least I have 6 more weeks to get her sleeping better.
Santa found us, again. Santa brought Megan a pink jeep, and Sarah got a Bumbo seat. Santa came to me and Wes early this year, we bought a larger trailer this fall, since we outgrew our trailer "Team Dirty", now that we have 2 kids.

New Baby photos

We went to kiddie Kandids for our combo christmas and newbaby photo shoot. Thanks to Grammy for keeping an eye on Megs while we took the baby photos. Things are going well here, I have my Christmas tree up, thanks to Wes and Megan and all their help. Here are some better pics of the baby, she was 1 week 2 days old, and I got her just at the right time, when the birth swelling diminishes and before the baby acne sets in.

Sarah Jean Nielsen

We welcomed Sarah into this world on Tuesday November 24, 2009 at 5:06 pm. She is a beautiful petite thing at only 7 lbs and 3oz and 19 inches long. I really think that we all should have scheduled inductions. This was by far the easiest delivery ever. Heather came from SLC to stay with Megan for the day til Grammy got off work, and I went in at 11:00 for the induction. Labor had a very slow start, I only changed a cm an hour, So at 4pm when I was still a 6, I said hey that epidural made my labor go fast last time, well, aparently when I told my body that it was getting an epidural It went the rest of the way in less then an hour, I sat on the edge of the bed at 4:30 and layed down to finally enjoy my labor at 4:45 and by then it was go time. They called the Dr. and Sarah was born. We didn't have time to let the grandmas know or anything. It really was nice to just have the time to our selves. The new women's center is lovely. They still placed the computers in the screwiest places. I was very grateful that we were able to go home at the 24 hour mark. I really missed my Meggars. Meg is really good with her sister, I haven't quite figured out how to handle 2 kids yet, when I stop to feed Sarah I get 2 steps behind Megan, but I am sure it will come with time. I am grateful for the long weekend and all of the help from Wes.

Here comes the Baby!

On my last Dr. apt I found out that my MD was leaving town for the holiday weekend. Initially I really wanted to try labor on my own vs. 10 hours stuck in a bed with an induction using pitocin. Especially since I haven't had any complications, unlike the first pregnancy. Well after talking with my doctor we elected to have the baby Tuesday Nov. 24, that way he could be there for the delivery. Of course all depends on the availabilty of beds on the L&D unit, so if all goes as planned I should have a baby on Tuesday, unless I get bumped, Then I will hopefully just be pregnant till Monday Nov. 30 when my Dr. gets back. Keep looking back for some pictures of the new little one. We're really excited.

6 weeks left!

Sorry I am such a bad blogger, not that I am really too busy its just that I would rather read what everyone else writes on their blogs during my internet time. So I just reached the 34 week mark, only six weeks left to go and only three until baby "Fiona" is considered full term. No that isn't her name, but we can't find a name for her and refering to her as #2 just seems rude. All is well with the pregnancy, do not expect any photos of me in my pregnant state, sorry I am not into having proof that my body stretches to that size. I plan to work til the baby comes and return after my 12 week maternity leave. I have been busy, I feared bedrest with Megan and the same fear returned with this kid, so I made sure that Christmas is bought, and that I have all the baby provisions for the first few weeks. Just in case.
This is the crappiest year to have a baby, there is so much hype about sickness, truly there does seem to be alot of sick people though. I understand the rationale behind the visitor restrictions, but there are those that really get their feelings hurt by not seeing newborns. I promise that it really is in the best interest of the infants and the best way to show your support. I just hope that my baby comes home after the 24 hour hosital stent because Megan is so excited and it seems so mean to make her wait...... We are ready to go.
Megan is potty trained and has been since August. We tried all summer, my problem was the pull-ups, yeah they are great for night, but they're too similar to diapers. (what finally worked for me was just taking the pull-ups away and telling her she was a big girl and that I would be sad if she peed her panties. We took 2 days to be at home then we started to get out, no fears of public restrooms for this girl. After 2 weeks she told me that pull-ups were itchy and she wanted to wear panties to bed.) She even goes indepedently if she has to, but she gets a kick out of the response she gets from me and dad when she says potty and we drop everything and scoop her up to the bathroom.
One last thing about my grown up girl that I think is just too cute. She is really into the Pillsbury biscuits and cinnamon rolls that come in the tubes that pop,(you can tell what we eat at my house) On Saturday I was changing clothes to go to town and while I was in my room Meg got out a muffin tin and a roll of buscuit dough and placed all 10 buscuits in the pockets. She was making lunch for Daddy, she said.
The pictures of of meg this summer, She was helping me clean out my car, and found some latex gloves and a stethoscope and said she was a "nurse". Then she helping dad fix cars. Yes Wes already has a hunting buddy, she loves to shoot guns. This is Meg at the Zoo, she cant decide if she wants to put her head in the lion's mouth or not.