TeeHee

My little boy has the cutest gummy smile!!
See for yourself...





Ryder has laughed for me twice but I still have yet to get it on video. It is so adorable though, believe me!

Ryders Age: 5 Weeks and two days new

Blessed

Ryder Preston Nilsson
Born June 16, 2011
at 5:59pm
weighing 7 lb 2 oz
and 19 inches tall

I'm a mom!! There is no role I love being in more. I absolutely LOVE being a mom!! My favorite part about being a Mom? Being able to make my baby happy. There is no feeling more saddening or heart jerking than hearing my baby cry due to pain or discomfort and walking into a room, picking up my crying baby boy and soothing him brings me so much joy. I live to make my baby happy. I also love carrying my sleeping baby to his bed. It's so precious seeing him limp in my arms yet somehow still clung to me as if he is completely dependent on me. It makes me feel loved. It makes me love him just that much more.

Preston and I have been so blessed. I cannot believe there is something so perfect in this world. Ryder has no flaw. He is such a content baby. He hardly cries unless he is in pain or has a been in a dirty diaper for a while, he's a great eater and a wonderful sleeper. Ryder literally came into this world eating. As soon as he was set on my chest he quickly found his own way to food. It was incredible! He's a natural with the boob. haha! Too much? I know many new parents complain about not getting any sleep but I am lucky to say that I am not one of them. Ryder sleeps so wonderfully. At night he will sleep for five hours, then I'll get up to feed him and he's back down for another four. Not bad at all, eh?? I have only had two nights that have been a little rough and even those weren't too bad. And honestly, I would stay awake with my baby, holding him and giving him kisses for the rest of my life if I could. I hate missing a single moment with him because of sleep.



Here are just a few of my favorite things about my baby boy...

- His little tiny ears, nose, hands and feet. What mother doesn't love these miniature features?
-His big contagious gummy smile. I have never in my life seen something cuter than his smile. Ryder started smiling on day three and no, I guarantee you, it was not and still is not gas.
- The way his right leg twitches as he stretches after being unraveled from his swaddle.
- His precious little tiny sneezes. He sneezes twice every time, just like his momma.
- I love his innocence.
- I love when he wraps his tiny fingers around one of mine.
- Walking into the room and seeing Ryder sound asleep on his daddy's chest and his tiny arms trying their best to wrap around daddy.
- I love how he snorts when he cries. Sometimes I don't know if I should smile or feel bad.
- I love when he sticks his little hand up on my chest as he eats.
- His little superman and "bus driver" stretches are to die for.
- His loud squeaks as he eats and his little sighs as if he were saying, "boy, this is a lot of work" makes my heart melt.

I love this kid so much, I even love his poop!

Changing his diaper is always an experience and I've loved every one of them. I've been sprayed by the hose four times and by the back end three times. Yes, I have literally been sprayed on by poo and that many times. I'm not talking explosive diaper, I'm talking in the middle of a diaper change and old faithful decides to put on a show. Its awesome! I can't help but laugh every time it happens.

I love being a mom!

I am so blessed to have such a wonderfully perfect little family.

Ryder's Age: 4 weeks new
Cravings of the Week: Spending every waking (and sleeping) second with my baby boy!

Oh Yeah......

I have a blog! I guess I should stop neglecting it. Many people have been giving me a hard time for not updating them on my pregnancy. It's hard to want to want to post pictures of myself right now when I feel fat and ugly. Ugh! But even though I still don't have an updated picture of my current self, I am at least going to blog. I will be sure to have Preston take a picture of me the next I time I actaully get out of my PJ's and dressed.

Life has been crazy busy these last 9 weeks. Preston and I have been working on the house and yard more, getting together the last minuet items that we will need for the arrival of our baby Peanut, going to our birthing class every week (we had our last class last Tuesday, yay!), celebrating our baby peanut with an incredible baby shower thrown by my sweet and talented sister in law, entertaining dinner guests multiple times every week, shooting weddings (at 9 months pregnant and down in Las Vegas), editing weddings, shooting and editing multiple bridal and engagement shoots, celebrating the graduation and return home of my big brother from Officer Candidate School, celebrating several family birthdays (including mine and Preston's is in just 2 short days ), celebrating our 3 year anniversary, Preston has been going to night school, I've been working on some sewing projects that needed to be completed before Peanut arrives, oh yes and all while growing a baby. That's a lot of work, if you ask me.

I cannot believe we are down to the last few days before Preston and I are rewarded the title of Parents. My pregnancy has been going well. Every once in a while I will have a day or two where I feel very uncomfortable. Randomly my tail bone/hip (I don't know which it is) will freak out and make it so I can't even drag my leg let a lone walk with it for about 30 mins. That has only happened to me 3 or 4 times but it KILLS! For about 6 weeks of my pregnancy I had a hard time sleeping on my left side due to the movement of one of my ribs but I would lodge a small pillow just under it making it bearable to sleep on but now I'm great! I don't need to sleep with a pillow and I can comfortably sleep on both sides. Of course little Peanut pushes up into my ribs every so often especially if I'm slouching on a couch but I think he may have dropped this last week so it doesn't happen really any more. All-in-all I'd say I've had a very easy pregnancy and boy am I grateful. I hope I get this lucky every time I am pregnant.

There is no doubt the worst part of pregnancy for me is the weight gain. I feel SO fat. My face looks huge to me. I cannot wait to have my old body back, although I am told it won't be exactly the same. Probably true but I'm determined to get it back. I've been lucky enough not to get any stretch marks on my belly. I think I have gotten a few spider veins or stretch marks on the backs of my legs but they are small and there are few. They will disappear for sure when this baby comes out so I'm not worried about them. Two weeks ago I went walking for an hour, (30 minutes longer then usual) yeah, not the best idea. I was swollen for a good week. My fingers feel like sausages sometimes but I hear I am lucky to not experience any swelling until my last couple of weeks of pregnancy so I am grateful.

I've got a bunch of pictures to share with you guys but I'm not at my computer with all my pictures on it so it will have to wait a little bit. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow I will be able to get to it.

Life is going well and Preston and I are more than anxious to meet out little guy. Only a few more days until he's due to arrive!! I'm sorry if I've bored you all with my post. I'd be surprised if many of you made it this far into the post. I consider my blog to be more of a journal for myself than a place to share my life with the world.

Until next time,
- A pregnant momma

Week: 39 weeks and 3 days
Cravings of the Week: (or past two months) FRUIT!

T-Minus 10 Weeks!!

I guess since I've hit and passed the huge milestone of the 3rd trimester and am now 30 weeks along, I should post an update.

30 Weeks

Today marks Week 30! I've started jogging again. Not quiet running but it feels good to get my blood pumping again. Since I slowed down on exercising for the past 7 weeks, I can tell I've gained a little more weight than I probably should have while being pregnant. Not fun. But I have high hopes that I can get back into some shape that's not just a huge blob.

I'm lucky to say that I still do not have an outtie belly button nor any stretch marks. Thank you Fish Oil!

For the past three or four days I have started getting more uncomfortable. I'm finally feeling pregnant! As miserable as aches and pains are, I'm thrilled to be experiencing what every expectant Mom talks about. Every so often my tailbone starts to hurt. I woke up one morning and it was killing me! I guess it has to do with the way Peanut is laying. He will push against something (I forget what it is) and it will trigger pain in my tailbone. Weird. A long with my painful tailbone, my left side hurts a bunch from my rib cage. It hurts mostly when I've been sitting for awhile and when I lay down. I have one rib that pokes out from all of the belly expansion and because of it, it kills to lay on my left side. I'm pretty limited on sleeping positions now. I mostly sleep on my right side. Just today I started getting slightly painful kicks from Peanut. It feels like really strong muscle spasms and so far has occurred mostly on my right side.

Honestly though, I really do enjoy having these pains. It's just more reassurance, aside from all of the kicking and punching that's going on inside my belly, that I have a little guy growing in me and that makes all of this discomfort worth it!

I can't WAIT to meet my little man. It's driving me crazy!! I held my cousin-in-law's 3 week old baby boy, Miles, the other day (I even had the privilege of babysitting him for a little while a couple days before that) and it made my heart ache to hold my own son. I can't describe the feeling I get when I long to hold my son. It's so strong and incredible. I love my baby so much already.

Preston and I have been working on Peanuts room a little more. We've picked up supplies to build a closet system and we're going to start working on it this evening. I've also been busy with some sewing projects which I will have to write about and post later. I'm so excited for my baby to have and use them.

Life is very exciting for us these days and will only be getting more exciting. I love my husband so much and couldn't have asked for a better Father to my children. Preston will be, without a doubt, the best Daddy! He is so cute with our little man already as is just as anxious as I am to meet our little Peanut.

Week: 30
Cravings of the Week: Root Beer Floats

Unbelievable

Can you believe it because I can't.
Our garden area has been tilled!!

For the past couple of weeks we have been working hard to get our garden prepared for some growing. I weeded, Preston tilled and we put down clear plastic together to kill all the seeds from the weeds. It only takes a couple of weeks (some say days, others say weeks) to kill off everything but I think this year we're just going to leave the plastic down all season. I don't know if I can keep up with being a new mom, photography and learning how to garden all in one year. We're probably going to plant some tomatoes and squash on the end of the garden just so we can get some experience in before next year.

We are looking forward to having a garden!

Duke was so cute and did a great job at being a watch dog. I'm pretty sure he was afraid the tiller was going to attack Preston but thanks to Dukes impressive watching skills, Preston returned in alive and without injury at the end of the day.






Amongst all of our dead weeds, spring is found :)




FINAL RESULT

Before


After

St. Patrick!

This year I cooked a St. Patrick's Day dinner. It turned out perfectly!

Menu
Corned Beef
Cabbage
Mashed potatoes
Carrots

Confession: Due to a series of events, I was unable to cook this meal on March 17th. Preston's brother came over to enjoy the meal with us and I didn't want to freak him out with green mashed potatoes and milk so I left the food in it's original color. Next year I will be sure to go all out on the festive colors!

Week: 28

Cravings of The Week: Strawberry's and lemonade

What a month!

So, I guess I failed at updating my picture within a day or two of my last post... oops.

This last month has been extremely busy for Preston and I. Don't ask me what we have been busy with because I have no idea but some exciting things have happened. First off, I've made it to week 26!!! WOW!! What an accomplishment! And I now I'm counting down the days on one hand for the THIRD TRIMESTER to begin!!! Next Monday (4 days away) marks the beginning of my third trimester. I cannot believe how quickly time flies yet, June 13th still seems so far away.

(This picture was taken at 25 weeks and 5 days... 10 mins after I woke up. Excuse the tired face)

We went in to see a specialist last Monday (start of week 25) because our Peanut has some big kidneys for his age and my OB wanted to double check to make sure it wasn't anything serious. The specialist gave us a bunch of statistics on what large kidneys could mean but both her and my OB think there is nothing to worry about. Peanut is doing just fine :D At my specialist appointment they weighed baby Peanut and he came in at a whopping 1lb 14oz which is apparently the average weight of a baby at 27 weeks. Our boy is huge!! (I'm scared for delivery. Eek!). Peanut moves a TON! I know everyone says that about the baby inside of them but seriously, this guy is active. Sometimes it creeps me out to watch my belly doing the wave in directions it shouldn't. The specialist even mentioned it and jumped the first time she saw my belly move with her eyes. Maybe I'm eating too many treats??

As for me, I'm still doing great! I'm not running any more due to my little scare on Valentines Day but I am walking and lifting light weights. If I feel comfortable, I may start running a little bit here in the next week or two. I don't have much pain. Sometimes my lower back hurts but that happened before I was pregnant so I don't think it's because of the pregnancy. It's our dang couch and love sac. Uncomfortable! I can't sleep on my belly any more which really sucks. I think that is the biggest down fall of my pregnancy but I have gotten quite used to it. When I first started sleeping only on my sides, my right leg would always fall asleep no matter which side I laid on but I have now started putting a small pillow between my legs and that has helped a lot. I've gained 14 pounds which scares the crap out of me but apparently it's just below average so I guess I'm doing alright. I know most women get excited to ware maternity clothes because they make pregnant belly's look so darn cute but I actually like the look of my naked belly more than my clothed. Too much info? Probably.

Preston is doing great! He is so stinking cute with my pregnancy these days. He falls asleep with his hand on my belly and I love it. Preston always talks to baby Peanut and calls him by name. I can tell Preston is getting anxious to meet his boy and I'm getting anxious to see him in Daddy mode. He always talks about the fun things he wants to do with his son. First on the list is build a tree fort. We've got some awesome pine trees in the back yard that are dieing to have a fort built on them. Preston is going to be such a great Dad!

Aside from our expecting real human baby, we welcomed another sort of baby into our home this last week. Right now we don't have a name for her and unfortunately I cannot upload her first picture to my computer because I took it with my point and shoot camera that I've lost the USB cord to but here are some internet shots of her. She brought a few friends along as well... :)

I love our new addition!! I started booking a bunch of weddings so I decided to throw down on the Nikon D700 FX-format, a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and an SB-900 speedlight. I'm looking forward to all the fun I'm going to have with this new camera. I'm also looking forward to buying more lenses for her :D

Last week, with all of that warm weather we had, we put our hands to good use and started to prepare our garden area for it's first official season of production. Here is our progress so far...

Before

During

And After will have to come soon....

It's difficult to tell in these pictures but I worked on trimming and cleaning up our grapes as well. They had grown threw and up to the top of our apricot tree. It was such a mess! I'm looking forward to getting our garden tilled and planted in the next few months :D

Week: 26 and three days
Cravings of the Week: Lemonade and treats

Shot by Cupids Arrow?

Not unless Cupid is a doctor and his arrow is a needle.

We had a bit of a scare yesterday, on Valentines day of all days. To make a long story short, at around 11:30am I started cramping and at around 6pm I started bleeding. Not a good sign if you're over 20 weeks pregnant. It wasn't horrible bleeding but definitely obvious, bright red. I was terrified, or course, that something was wrong with my baby. So terrified that I was shaking and due to rush hour it took us 20 minutes to get to the hospital. On top of that we had to register when we first got to the hospital which is something that is usually done a few weeks before your due date so that you don't have to wait and do it on the day you are rushing into the hospital with a baby's head poking out of you. The good news is, apparently Valentines day is a great day to have an emergency. There was no one there so we didn't have to wait in any lines and we were seen immediately.

As soon as we got up to Labor and Delivery the nurses hooked me up to a machine that monitored the babies heart rate and any contractions I might have had. It took the nurse a minute to find the heart rate which scared me to death but was relieved when she found it and I was having contractions about every two and half minuets. I now know what contractions feel like which I am excited about but of course they weren't nearly as intense as they will be when I go into labor. After hooking me up to that machine and asking a whole bunch of questions, the nurse then poked me with a needle to draw my blood but missed the vein and had to re-poke me. To her surprise she got the vein but went right through it. She felt horrible and said she had never done that before so to put me at ease she brought in her friend to poke me and thankfully she got it on her first try. Did I mention I hate needles? No? Well I do. I hated it but luckily it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

They gave me another ultrasound which was the highlight of our day because we got to see our baby boy again. He's doing great! The doctors don't know why I was bleeding but they have put me on strict bed rest for the next two days with bathroom privileges every two hours and I can't work out for the next two weeks. Before we left the hospital the doctor gave me a shot which made me shake violently and my heart race for a few hours in hopes that it would stop my contractions and cramping. It did.

So now I am sitting in bed. Bored. Feeling lazy and writing a blog post about our Valentines day which includes no pictures. Lame. But our baby is doing just fine and I've stopped bleeding and cramping. I plan on writing up another post in the next day or two with a picture of my ever growing belly. Hurray for 23 weeks!

Week: 23 and one day
Cravings of the Week: Everything!
I am so hungry I could eat my kitchen cabinets!

It's Just a Bee Sting ...

... A very, very large bee sting!!

So three days ago Preston took a picture for a belly update but it was right after I had worked out, I had no makeup on and I didn't realize how bad my hair looked. I didn't feel comfortable letting the whole world see that photo so today I asked Preston to take another one. Okay, so you see the photo a couple of posts down at 19 weeks? Well, my belly looked exactly like that in the picture that was taken three days ago. Not exaggerating one bit. And today I look like this....

I'm pretty sure I have officially "popped"!

Week: 22
Cravings of the Week: Raspberry Lemonade
(I think I officially have a real pregnancy craving!)

Peanut's Debut

We got our official 20 week (even though I'm almost 22 weeks) ultrasound done today. It was so awesome! The technician gave us a 15 min video on DVD of our session plus a bunch of pictures. She even gave us a few 3D pictures for free! She said she liked us so much and thought we were so cute that she wanted to throw them in. Hurray for us! We're cute! haha. I guess any doctors office you go to will charge for 3D pictures. At least that's what I've heard. The pictures are pretty cool.

I'm only going to post a few of my most favorite pictures because there are just way too many photos to post.

Our little Peanut is healthy and strong. I guess for his age he is two days ahead of schedule which would move, for the time being, my due date to June 11th. About a month ago I had a dream that my baby was born two days early, on June 11th. Crazy! I guess we'll see if my dream comes true.

During the ultrasound, Peanut yawned for us and we got it on video. It was so adorable!! Our little guy is so stinking cute and I can't WAIT to meet him!!

I've been meaning to take another picture of my belly so I could show all of you how I'm progressing but I keep putting it off. Maybe tomorrow I'll have Preston snap one and I'll post again. I'm really seeing a difference and I really show when I wear my baby doll dresses. I had someone ask me at church on Sunday if I was pregnant. Yay! I'm so glad she noticed but she is a brave women to ask that sort of question. Thank goodness she was right.

Peanuts Big Debut!!





I love his little feet and long legs!
I think he's going to have Preston's sexy long legs :D

Week: 21 and four days
Cravings of the Week: Raspberry Lemonade
(especially the Raspberry Lemonade Freeze at Olive Garden)

OOOOhhh We're Half Way There ooooOOOO...

Yes, I'm singing Bon jovi! Today marks the half way point of my pregnancy. 20 weeks along and I can see my baby belly growing more and more everyday.

I can't believe Preston and I just found out 4 short months ago that we were expecting. Time has flown since then but it hasn't flown fast enough. We are both so anxious to hold our little guy. We have a lot to do to prepare for him so I guess it's a good thing we have more time.

I'm so lucky to have so many people in my life to prepare me for becoming a mother. A special shout out to Amanda Nilsson (my cousin-in-law) who is an amazing Douala and has studied and knows so much about parenting. She is an incredible mother and I'm so lucky to have her by my side to guide me during this exciting time in my life. My own mother and sister-in-laws have also been giving me wonderful, helpful advice that I can't wait to put into action. Preston and I are so blessed to have our family and friends. I couldn't ask for more loving and inspiring people in my life.

This week Peanut is supposed to be six and a half inches long from head to toe. That's the size of a cantaloupe! It doesn't look like something the size of a cantaloupe is in me. He's kicking ALL the time. I love not just feeling my tummy but watching it too. It looks so weird when he kicks! Peanut is also tasting the things I eat now which means I'm forcing myself, whenever I have the chance, to eat tomatoes. I HATE tomatoes but I really want my baby to like them.I haven't been experiencing any pain which is wonderful and I attribute that to my daily work out. Since I've drastically reduced the distance of running I do down to one mile, I've decided to run five days a week instead of just three. Okay, okay so I usually end up going only four days a week but I need to tell myself that I go five that way, hopefully one day, I might get up the stamina to actually do five. Preston has helped me with a little weight lifting as well. Doctors suggest not to start weightlifting during pregnancy but I've got to build a little muscle in these weak arms before my baby arrives. It's mild lifting and I don't feel like it's strenuous but I also feel like I'm getting a descent workout in my arms. It's great! I want to encourage all of those who are pregnant to do some form of exercise. From my own experience I don't think I would be feeling as great as I am without it. Hurray for staying healthy!

Week: 20!!
Cravings of the Week: Raspberry Lemonade

How Well Do You See Color?

Did you know that 1 out of 255 women and 1 out of 12 men have some form of color vision deficiency? Does this prove that women see color more accurately then men do? I think so! ;)

X-Right recently put out a test online that you can take to check how well you see color. If you're a photographer, designer or just curious as to how well you see color, take this test! All you do is arrange tiles in hue order. Here is the link to the X-Right Online Color Challenge.


I quickly arranged the tiles and only missed 4. Not bad for being legally blind in one eye. I may try it later with my larger monitor which has more accurate coloring and take my time with it.

Baby Bump

Obvious outward signs are starting to appear.
Our little Peanut is growing and so is my belly
... FINALLY!



This last Tuesday I came home from running and noticed that my bump was starting to appear. I can still hide it in most outfits but there is no hope when it comes to my spandex Capri's and white t-shirt. My jeans don't fit anymore so I'm always wearing my workout clothes, leggings, dresses or PJ's.

I finally went shopping yesterday for some maternity clothes in efforts to find pants that fit but instead I walked away with 5 new shirts that I can't wear until my belly grows a bit more and two more pairs of leggings, one of which I may return. Maternity clothes are expensive, especially pants! Does anyone have suggestions one where to shop? I hear the Forever 21 in Salt Lake has a Maternity section and their pants are really cheap. I'll have to find some time to head up soon and check them out.

Week: 19 and five days
Cravings of the Week: Meat, Orange Julius
and Raspberry lemonade

Before

I found this video on my computer today. Preston and I made it right after we were engaged. How fun! I completely forgot about it.

I love that Preston totally misses his pool shot and right after bowls an awesome round. Gosh dang my husband is the best! I also love that Wayne randomly pops up twice in the video with his "good luck booty shake".

We had so much fun back then but nothing compares too how much fun we have had every day since. I cherish every moment I have with Preston. I'm so blessed to have found such a wonderful, fun, loving, perfect for me, man. He puts a smile on my face everyday :D I'm so lucky he picked me!

Whippersnapper!

We're going to have a son!!!!

We got our wish! Preston and I both wanted a boy. I thought our Peanut was going to be a girl just because I wanted a boy so badly. We are very excited and seeing him on the ultrasound was so neat. I didn't want to turn it off. I love my Peanut so much already!!!

We went and had an ultrasound done yesterday morning but it wasn't the medical ultrasound so we won't know details on Peanuts size and weight until we get the medical ultrasound on Feb 3rd. Preston and I didn't want to wait another month to find out the gender so we popped on into another doctors office and had them check it for us. Yippeee!!!! They only printed off 3 pictures for us. The disc of photos and a video would have cost an extra $20 and our doctor will be giving that to us for free so we will wait and have a video and digital images soon!

Preston felt the baby move three days ago! It was only one kick that he felt even though Peanut is moving all the time now but it was a big one. Preston actually thought that I had flexed my stomach on purpose because it was such an obvious movement but the baby is still below my belly button and my abs aren't down there so I can't really flex that area without moving my whole stomach. Proof!

Ever since Preston has felt the baby kick and now that we know the gender, I can tell this baby thing seems more real to him. I love seeing the excitement on his face when we talk about Peanut. I love that Preston is just as thrilled as I am about the idea of being a parent and having a family of our own. I am one lucky girl!!

Week: 17 and six days
Cravings of the Week: Chinese food!!!

Squiggle and Squirm

Felt baby move for the first time last night.

Great way to end the year!
We also bought our crib last night from Ikea.
It is SO perfect.
It was rated #1 on ConsumerReport.
Just the look I was going for.
Sturdy.
Cheap ($100)
On sale.
$80!

We celebrated the coming of the New Year with my brother, Evan, and our best friends Cherylyn and Matt. It was a relaxed evening with lots of conversation and fun. Cherylyn is also expecting a baby and she is due in April. We are looking forward to raising our little munchkins as first time moms together.

Week: 17

Cravings of the Week:
That one restaurant in that
one town, in that one state,
that we had that one time.