Avery Jane Nilsen

So, I'm just chillin here at the hospital. I have the wonderful sausage fingers and toes and am not able to sit up on my own...but life is seriously good. We have wifi, cable, a beautiful new baby girl, and as many popsicles as I can eat!
Just adding a few more details as Ava-Jane is asleep and Jacob is out getting some grub.
I was able to be awake for this C-Section and that was AWESOME! For those of you who don't know, Olivia should have gone to cesarean and had to be in the nicu for a week; Evalyn was an emergency cesarean after 9 hours... They put me under for Evalyn's and I still remember feeling betrayed when I came out of the drugs and the doctors told me that she had been with her daddy for over an hour. So this was pretty cool to be able to be a part of the show and talk and watch it all going on.
Of course, the scissors the surgeons were using got dull pretty quick on my abs of steel.
Jacob was able to record the surgery- he set up the camera and then just stayed by my head until Avery was out. I loved being awake and being able to hold her immediately. She was a little blue smurf who had a great cry. She has already found her thumb, nurses like a champ, and makes these cute squeaky sounds that remind me of a dog's chew toy.
I did forget about all the pain that comes with a c-section. Wow. Chocolate does make it better and my father-in-law already snuck me in a couple of Twix. Now it is time for some more meds and they put me out pretty quick. Thank you all for the calls, prayers, and messages of support. Hopefull we will be back in Carey by Friday. And then, the adventures will really begin.

Number 3 Nilsen was born this morning via c-section at 7:55. She was 6 lbs 9 ozs. and 19 1/2 inches long. Mom and baby are both doing well. Enjoy the first pics.

So...things have changed...

Hello All! Big announcement: we have moved! Yes, we are suffering whiplash from how fast it all happened, but we are doing well.
Jacob got a call on a Wednesday offering him a position teaching Spanish and ENL at the school in Carey, Idaho (my hometown). On Friday he interviewed and later that evening found out he got the job. On Saturday he received the phone call letting him know that he needed to be there on Tuesday....3 days later. So, that left one very pregnant and good-spirited (stop laughing!) wife with two crazy girls to pack up and move. Long story short: it happened.
We are now living in Carey, Idaho (still getting phone calls from people asking us where we went) and counting down the days until baby girls number three joins us (we are down to 5 days folks!).
Jacob is loving teaching and striving to build up relationships with the students. I am loving having him home at 4:15ish every day. It is great to have a yard full of trees and our own space with great neighbors. It is awesome to be so close to family. It is sad not to be so close to other friends and family. And this big-belly thing is definitely getting old.
I know our camera is around here somewhere....but not exactly sure where... So, no pictures. However, we are still alive and have not fallen off the planet. We hope all are doing well and will take more time later to check out how everyone is.

Summer Days

My sister is visiting for a few weeks and I have been in heaven- my own personal slave that my girls absolutely follow everywhere and adore... what am I going to do when she has to leave?!?
The weather has been beautiful and we are all a couple of shades darker from so much time outside. The beach is fantastic and the water is warming up. I'm just posting a bunch of pictures of my beautiful family. Enjoy!

Yep, another one.

It is official. We are having another beautiful baby GIRL! Mommy wanted another girl because we have all girl clothes and Daddy wanted another girl because he loves his little girls:)
We are about 27 weeks along now and life is good. I am taking a splendid little pill that is normally given to patients going through chemotherapy to prevent me from dropping down to that fun 98 lb point that I did with Evalyn.
Olivia was a little disappointed at first (she was hoping for a baby boy) but is now excited to be a "double-big-sister". She has cast her vote and is determined that we should name the new sister, "Tinkerbell". Evalyn is oblivious to anything besides she needs to be soft with mommy's belly. But judging by the way she handles her baby doll, this is really going to be interesting. Good thing babies are so durable!
We were able to get some cute/creepy ultrasound pictures and everything looks really healthy and well (of course this is just going off what the tech was saying because I couldn't tell one end from the other). However, we all know how illiterate I am when it comes to all things technical, so there will be no pictures yet and you will all have to trust that I am telling the truth:)

Summer is here...hopefully...

The blog-bug has not bitten me for a while. However, at the friendly insistence of relatives that we "get some more pictures up", we are posting new pictures of random good times.

Despite the insane and fun thunderstorms and hail storms the past week has brought, we are really convinced summer is here. The garden is finally in, and the girls have exchanged sweat pants for shorts (I, on the other hand, am perfectly content to wear my sweats all year long).

My brother and his wife, Jonathan and Lisa, along with their twin boys and Lisa's sister with her husband and two children (don't worry about that sentence making sense, just keep reading) all spent the weekend with us. We were a little disapointed that the weather did not cooperate, but it was still great to get together. Olivia loved her new friend, Riley (4 yrs old), and they both are bossy and that worked out great, surprisingly. After going through two bottles of nail polish, 1/2 a bottle of room spray, a tube of baby lotion, and all the dresses in the closet...there was a rule the door had to always be open.

As much as I moan and weep, this town is actually pretty nice in the summer. We are within walking distance from a very fun and warm beach and we have a spare bedroom and a backyard. That said, if anyone is looking for a cheap and relaxed family getaway come-on-down. One rule is that you have to call first because the spare bedroom is also where I stash all the clean clothes that come out of the dryer... and pretty soon it makes more sense to just rummage through the pile than actually take time to fold and put away... get the picture? Seriously. Call first. And call.

Evalyn was trying to use her green marker the same way she saw mommy use an eye liner pencil. She actually did pretty good, considering.



Trying out the new pool. Yes, Olivia is pretty much naked. We have established that now the underwear has to stay on at all times while outside. I would like to thank whatever brother of mine taught her to pee outside though... she has pulled that a few times. You know who you are.



Check out those muscles on daddy!

This is just adorable. Jacob is starting early to try and convert them from soccer to baseball.

No need for words. I just love, 'em.

Olivia is 3!!!

Happy Birthday to Olivia Chaya Nilsen. She is 3 today. Initially, since her daddy would be gone, we were just going to pretend her birthday is next week. However, a relative unintentionally brought the whole birthday thing up to her... so we had a little celebration. It was fun and she loved it. I am lousy (seriously lousy) at surprises, so Olivia helped me with all the planning and executing of this momentous event. Yes, we are celebrating again next week when daddy is here.

This is the wonderful "ladybug" creation. We used everything from gum and rolo's, to chives for the decoration. The inside was a beautiful, brilliant blue. Delicious!

Evalyn getting in on the cake eating with Aunti Lilly. She handled the fork very well.



Grandma O. had a great time with Olivia. They both were divvying up the cake before the candles were even blown.



Her birthday tutu that mommy and Aunti Lilly made.



This was great! Have you ever heard of "spaghetti dogs"? So much fun. I got the idea from a great blog called plumpudding (check out a link here on our site) and they are hilarious. Evalyn and Olivia went to town stuffing the spaghetti through the hot dogs. My family thinks we're crazy but they were such good sports about Olivia's birthday dinner.

My mom made Olivia this beautiful blue dress and this cute little church bag. My mom and dad stuffed the church bag with books, chapstick, snacks, doodlepads, colored pencils, and other quiet activities just for church. It was a great reminder to me about how special home-created gifts are. Olivia loved the gifts. They were made with love, took thought and time, and just reminded me that you don't have to rush to the store and try to find the best and brightest toy to make a great gift. I just need to get creative...