Texas, Here We Come!

Wyatt and I have decided on our next move. Wyatt excepted a job with Pariveda Solutions and we will be located in Houston, Texas. I can't believe it! I never pictured myself in Texas, but come June we will officially be Texans!

There are so many exciting things in this area. We will be about 2 hours from the coast and about 6 hours from Mexico. There are so many Museums and parks and things to do. And Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States! Coming from the tiny town of Burley, Idaho this is going to be quite the change for me. So many people!

We have been examining the surrounding area trying to decide where to live. We are looking into several areas, but so far my favorite is The Woodlands. It's about a half hour north of Houston. Take a look at why I like it:

Beautiful, right?

Well, there are a lot of really nice areas as well. If anyone has been down there or knows the area we would greatly appreciate any advice you might have.

Well that is the Nielsen happenings as of late! I wonder if I'll get an accent...

Halloween...

The first Halloween....That's right, Dean's first Halloween. I know it's a little late, but he sure did love it! Tasting the candy, watching the kids in their crazy costumes. He just loves to watch other kids play! He was dressed as a cute little monkey because he is our cute little monkey

Wyatt is dressed as Dilbert and I am a witch

Dean is wearing the Dilbert glasses...so cute!

Here is Daddy and Baby carving our family pumpkin

Dean is trying to eat the seeds...he was successful...

Dean in his cute little pumpkin hat

Photo Shoot

I had my friend Heather take some pictures of Dean. And they all turned out so cute! Thanks Heather! Here are some of my favorites...

We laid him down and he posed all by himself.

I just love these ones where he is wearing the hat.

My precious little angel.

This is Wyatt's favorite pic. He likes that he is wrestling the tiger. ;)

The Many Faces of Dean

For being only 2 months old he has quite the personality...

Dean Hunter Nielsen

Born March 4 at 7:26 am. 6 pounds 6 oz. 18 inches long.

First Picture

Ok. Here is the story on how the whole thing went down. How I got my perfect little boy. The last month of the pregnancy my blood pressure started to shoot up. Not good. So twice a week I went into the hospital for a non-stress test to make sure there was no stress on the baby. What they would do is give me an ultra sound to see the baby and make sure there was enough amniotic fluid. And then they would hook me up to a machine and monitor the baby's heart rate. Everything was always fine with Dean. He is a strong little guy. I was in the third week of doing these tests and I still had two weeks until due date and Wyatt had a fly out interview in Chicago for a summer internship. We decided he could do since I was not progressing early in labor or anything. So we kept telling Dean that he could not come March 3 or 4 because Daddy would be gone. 

Well, Wyatt left Thursday the 3 for Chicago. I was on bed rest to keep my blood pressure down. About 1:00 pm I went to the hospital for my non-stress test and Wyatt was on the plane to Chicago. After my test the doctor over that unit came and told me that because of my blood pressure being so bad they were going to start me and I was going to have the baby that day. Well I burst into tears. Never done that in front of strangers. They asked me if everything was all right...everything was certainly NOT ALRIGHT!!! My husband was half way across the country!

So they took my crying self to labor and delivery. I called Wyatt's mom since she lived close to have her come be with me. Then I called my mom and told her to pack her bags, she was getting a grandson sooner that we thought.

A little while later when Wyatt got off of his plane he didn't see a text from me like I was supposed to send letting him know the test went ok. So he called. And I started crying again. I was a complete mess. I was not emotionally ready to have that baby. But looking back I am glad he came when he did. 

So Wyatt called the guys he was interviewing with and explained the situation. They bought him a flight home and he turned right back around to be with me. 

I was in labor all night. My mom came in time for them to give me the epidural. And I am so glad I had that. I could get no rest. I dilated really quickly to about a 3. About 10:30 that night my doctor came and broke my water and a little before midnight Wyatt finally made it! I was so worried he wouldn't be there. I was finally able to get some rest. About 6 am my doctor came back to check on me and I had not made any progress. So they took me for an emergency c-section. That was nerve wracking. 

As soon as Dean was born he had a little trouble breathing so they whisked him away. He was fine after about an hour, but then his blood sugar was a little low so they sent him to the NICU. Below are the pictures of him in the ICU with a tube in his nose for feeding and an IV in his head. It was the saddest sight. The nurses made us keep him in his bad unless he was feeding so that he wouldn't get too tired, but all he wanted was to be cuddled.

He spent 10 days in the ICU and that was the worst 10 days of my life. I just wanted my baby. He was fine after just a few days, but they won't let a baby come home until they are 100% and can eat perfectly. That is why he was there so long. But we finally got him home and he just thrived. And I could finally recover.

Here is his coming home outfit and finally laying in his own bed.

That is the story in a nut shell. I am just glad I have my little sweetheart. I can't image being without him!

New Hobbie

For my birthday, along with the cruise, Wyatt bought me cake decorating classes. I took fondant and gum paste decorating in October. There were 4 classes throughout the month. It was challenging, but so fun! I learned how to do some awesome things like making roses, daisies, bows, carnations, and several different flowers and other things to make a beautiful cake. Here is my first finished product:

All of the decoration is entirely out of fondant and gum paste icing.  Even the flowers. Now keep in mind that this is the first cake I have done in Fondant so it isn't perfect. I made this cake for my mom's birthday. I want to continue to develop my skill so I can make cute cakes for my kids!

And Then There Were Three...

So the end of my last post brings me to a new topic...yes to all wondering...we are expecting a baby boy on March 13, 2011. So that puts us at 23 1/2 weeks. Wow..it's still hard to believe we are going to be parents. And to a little boy! I am so excited! He's going to be so cute, just like his daddy! We haven't decided on a name yet, but we have a few ideas.

Here he is! Baby Boy Nielsen

So any advice or tips on raising a little boy would be greatly appreciated. Since I only have little sisters I only know about girls. This will be a change for me being surrounded by boys. But they will be my boys and I couldn't be more excited. I have secretly always wanted to have a boy first because I had a big brother and I loved it! 

We are in the middle of fixing up the nursery so as soon as it is finished I will post some pictures! 

The August Vacation

So just because we went on a cruise in August does not mean that because it is November it is too late to post about it! We went on a much needed vacation in August for my birthday. It was kind of like a second honeymoon (even though we have only been married for a year and a half)

We went on a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean. We stopped in Belize, Honduras, and had two stops in Mexico. It was so beautiful! And so hot. 

In both of our Mexico stops we went to different Mayan ruins, because I can't get me enough of those! As I was looking at which pictures I wanted to post I realized that most of our pictures were of ruins...so I won't post very many as to bored the reader, but there are a few very interesting ones. One of the ruins had a large pyramid with masks on the front. They have been really well preserved and we could still see some of the stucco. 

The masks went up each side of the front staircase.

Here is a close up. You can still see some of the red 

coloring.

In Belize we went Cave Tubing. Basically we floated down a lazy river through extremely long cave. Apparently the Mayans used these caves back in the day. The water was cold, but it felt so good. And was really neat. The pictures a poor quality because we used a cheap underwater camera so we could document the moment!

Exiting one of the caves.

Honduras was probably my favorite day. We went to the beach. The most beautiful beach I have ever seen! It looked like it belonged on a postcard. White sand, clear blue water, palm trees, it was so relaxing.

Wyatt also rented snorkeling gear and swam among the fishes. 

Now the only scary thing about Honduras was pulling into Port. Here is what we saw...

And this wasn't the only ship wreck! Made me a little nervous, but we deciding there must have been a hurricane or something...right?

What a great vacation! Here are some random pics

We had a blast! And the best part was there was so much food! And being 12 weeks pregnant at the time, that is exactly what I needed!