*Six months and Irish Twins*

I can't believe how fast these last couple months have flown by! Brandt is now 6 months old. He had his checkup last week. He weighs 15 lbs. 14 oz. he is 20th percentile in weight, 80th in height and 84th for his head. So I guess I have a tall, thin, big headed little guy!

I took this pic yesterday morning. I needed my Diet Coke with a lime, and figured it would be cute to send to family and friends that are also addicted to Diet Coke. I love his expression! He looks like I caught him doing something bad.
This one cracks me up so bad! I had him on my lap and had my phone turned trying to get a picture of him smiling to send to his grandmas, and this is the face he pulled right when I took it. I laughed and sent it anyway. Everyone loved it.

He has been so much fun! He was able to start eating baby food and he absolutely loves it! He had squash first and was furious when I stopped feeding him. He has been wonderful with sleeping through the night but he has now learned that he likes sleeping on his tummy. Kinda freaked me out the first time I found him but I soon learned he sleeps better that way and he loves it.

~Irish Twins~

For those of you who have not heard of the term before you're not alone. I had no idea what it was until it was used by my neighbor to explain my situation. People are considered to have irish twins when their kids are born within a year a each other. Yes, you heard right. We are expecting baby number two 5 days after Brandt turns 1!!!! I delivered Brandt 2 weeks early so if I repeat history this baby will also come early and be Brandt's Irish twin. Complete shock? Of course! And just for those of you who don't know, you can use this as a heads up, some anti biotics will cancel out birth control. We had no idea. But we are so excited to see what new little angel we get! I am just over 14 weeks so we won't find out what we are having for about 6 more weeks.

Just goes to show you to be careful when you think to yourself, "what were they thinking?!" when you hear of someone having their kids close together, I did that all the time and swore my kids would be at least 3 years apart! But now mine are going to be closer than anyone I asked that question about.

So, wish us luck! This will sure be a year to remember!

Here's our little peanut at 11 weeks! Sorry it's a bad picture. I took it with my phone from the ultrasound. I love this little person so much already and can't wait to meet him or her. And before anyone asks I would love either a boy or girl! I think a boy would be great so Brandt can have a partner in crime and someone to use the clothes he's already grown out of. And I would love a little girl to dress up in pink and do her hair. So I figure, either way, I'm set! Feel free to predict if you want though!

~A Blessing & A Farewell~

We have been so busy lately, but have had so much fun! Brandt has been such a joy! We were able to have Brandt's blessing on October 24th. It was so good! Brock gave such a beautiful blessing and Brandt didn't even make a sound. Almost all of our family was able to make it up for it. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful and supportive family. Thank you to all who made the long trip up north for us! We love you all!

Here we are! Our happy little family!

Here is Natalie, Kathleen, Me, Brandt, Brady, and my mom. My poor dad wasn't feeling well so he was at my Grandma's.

Here is Randee, Brandt, and Brock. Brandt is actually smiling in this one.

~Mission Farewell~

We also had my little brother Alex's farewell in October. He was called to serve in the Minneapolis, Minnesota mission. He did so well with his talk and I was amazed at how many people showed up to hear him.

Here are my three wonderful brothers! My older brother Nick, and my younger brothers Alex and Brady, with Brandt screaming.

This one cracks me up! Apparently Brandt was really hungry while Alex was holding him so he was searching for something to eat. Poor little guy.

Here are all of the kids in my family in order from oldest to youngest. Nick, Kathleen, Me, Alex, Brady, and Natalie. Nick was able to fly in from Washington D.C. for Alex, it was great to see him again and to let him finally meet Brandt.Here's the whole family minus my sister in law Tati, she wasn't able to get away from work. There's Nick, Brock, Brandt, Me, Kat and her husband Tom, Alex, Brady, my Dad, Natatlie, and my Mom.

It was so nice to be able to be there for Alex. We will miss him so much but we know he will do such a great job!

~Baby Overload~

Me, Heather, and Alicia were finally able to get together for just a little bit and get pictures with all three of our babies. We are all so grateful to be done with pregnancy and finally have all of them here!
Here is Brandt, Korbin, and Kyndree. Placed oldest to youngest. It was so fun to see them all!

~Random Pics~

Here are some random pics of Brandt that I just wanted to share.

I'll end with this one because I love it! His eyes are so big! Hope you all enjoyed my overload of an update!

*Catch up*

Sorry it has been a while since I have posted anything. We are doing great! Brock and I are trying to adjust to parenthood. He is doing an amazing job! I hope I am doing ok, all my days are blending together with the absence of sleep. Brandt is an amazing baby. He is very calm and only cries when he is hungry or messy. I am soaking it up because I am sure that he will have some part of me in him and he will soon voice his opinions very loudly.

We had our run in with jaundice for a couple of days. He was on the Bili lights for a couple days but eventually we were able to take him off. On a funny note, the little tough guy decided one day that his umbilical cord should not be attached anymore! I was changing him and took the socks off of his hands to get him dressed and before I could react Brandt had reached down grabbed onto his umbilical cord and pulled it right off! I was so glad my mom was there to calm me down. I thought I was going to pass out! Apparently it was ok to come off because he didn't cry or even scream. The pediatrician laughed when I told him what happened so it's nice to know that other children take matters into their own hands on deciding when it should come off.

Here are some of my favorite pics. Some are from my phone so sorry for the poor quality. Hope you like them.

This is the outfit that Brock found to bring him home in. Brandt wasn't as excited about it as we were apparently.

Here is proud Daddy getting to hold him. Brandt looks exactly like Brock! I love it! He even has the curly hair when it's washed. Yes he does have hair it's just white so it's hard to see.

Here's Grandma Kari holding her first grandchild. She was in heaven! I was so lucky to be able to have her stay with me for a week after Brandt was born. She was amazing with helping me!

Here is Aunt Kat! She always texts me to tell me to send her a pic because she needs her "Brandt Fix" And here is Uncle Alex. He is leaving on his mission to Minneapolis, Minnesota in a couple months so he was glad to be able to see Brandt before he left.Here is Uncle Brady. He's gonna have so much fun with these two uncles when he gets older.And here is Aunt Randee. This little guy is already so loved by all his aunts and uncles it's amazing!

Here he is on his Bili lights. It was so hard to have to leave him in his bassinet and not hold him so he could be on the lights!

This was so funny! We have to soak his feet once or twice a day and while I was doing this we were watching bull riding. He sat and stared at the t.v. for a good 5 minutes without making a sound! He was loving watching all the movements!

Here are some more of Brock and Brandt. He has been such a huge help and an amazing dad!

This picture was taken when he was just over two weeks old. It has to be one of my favorites because of his little smirk.Hope you all enjoy and I will try to do better on posting.

~He is Finally Here~

Our precious little man decided to please his mommy and join us on this earth early. Our little Brandt Brock Nielsen was born at 9:17 on Sunday and came in weighing a whopping 6lbs. 14oz. and is 21 inches long. However his feet seem to be at least 3 inches of him. I am hoping he is going to be tall like his handsome Daddy. Speaking of Brock he has been absolutely amazing this last week. He helps get up with Brandt at night, changes his diapers, and takes time to help me waddle from point A to point B. I am so very grateful for him and all he does for our family.

I am not going to go into details about the labor but I am sure one day I will consider having another baby, but right now I just want to be able to sit down and not feel like I would rather rip out my insides than go pee! Our little Brandt looks like a glow worm at the moment with the lights he has to sleep with, but his bilirubin count continues to decrees so let's hope he continues to get better. He is such a blessing from above and I can't help but believe in miracles when I look into his adorable face. He looks a lot like his Daddy and is just as patient. He is such a blessing and we are so happy he is here, and the fact that he is early is even better!! Baby boy Brandt your Mommy and Daddy love you so so much, you make our lives happy and full.

~The countdown has begun~

We are starting to count down the days until our bundle of joy makes his arrival into this world. That being said we are having a baby shower on Saturday in Idaho at my cousins house. She sent out invitations and I just wanted everyone to know that if you didn't get one I apologize, I am finding some people's invitations have yet to arrive, or are being returned. However just an FYI, we don't expect anyone to make the three hour drive to Idaho just to see a pregnant chick lay on the couch. I don't have a choice in going since I am her favorite sister, no not Natalie, Kathleen. I just wanted to let people know that my Mom and I are leaving for Idaho Thursday evening, but if you have something you wanted to get to Camie feel free to drop it off at my mom's house in Hooper and we will get it to her. I will post pictures of the baby shower for everyone. I know you all want to see Camie fat and pregnant as much as I do. Justice! :) Hahaa.... j/k love ya Camie! Well, have a Happy Summer everyone!

Love, Kat

Better Late Than Never

I have been a huge slacker when it comes to posting about our summer, but since I have recently been given a lot of extra time in my day to fill, I figure why not download the pictures from my camera and post what we did before I was sentenced to solitary confinement at home.

~4-WHEELER RIDES~

My little brother Alex was able to come up and spend a week with us. While he was here he went on a date with a cute girl that I worked with. Brock and I decided it would be a lot of fun to take them on our 4-wheelers. They are racing 4-wheelers so you have to shift them manually. This proved to be a little challenge for them at first since neither of them had ever driven ones like them. But once they got the hang of it we had so much fun! Brock and I rode on his and Alex and Ashley rode on mine. We took them to a place called the pumice pits. It had been raining for a couple days before so we knew we would get muddy, but little did we know, Ashley and Alex made it a point to hit every single mud puddle they could find! By the time we got back we were so muddy but it was so much fun!

Here's Ashley and Alex right after the ride...I think Ashley got the worst of it! But both their helmets were splattered with quite a bit of mud!This is Brock and me after. I think I had the most layers of clothes on and was still cold when we got done!

Of course we got stuck with the clean up! :) They were a lot worse in person than in the pictures.
Here's Brock starting to clean them off.

And here's the finished product! Shiny and clean! My aunt and uncle are so nice to let us store them on their property so they can be covered and not left out.






~BROCK'S BIRTHDAY BASH~


Brock's birthday was in June and we were able to have family and his friends over to his parents for a barbecue. It was a lot of fun! He hadn't been able to spend time with these friends for at least two years. It was fun listening to them catch up and re-tell newly wed moments they have had.
Here's the birthday boy with the delicious cake my mom made for him.


Here's me and Brady. Alex had the camera so he just kept taking random pics.
Brock's dad and I were trying to light the candles fast enough before the wax dripped. Way too many candles!!
Just got done blowing out the candles. He was still able to use only one breath so I guess there weren't too many for him yet.





~BEGINNING OF BABY'S ROOM~

We've (well, mostly Brock) have been working on getting the baby's room ready. My very creative husband designed and painted how he wanted the room. It is almost finished but I think it looks great so far!


Here is the crib with the bedding that we both were finally able to agree on. :)

This is the best pic I could get. We still havethe window valance to put up and to decorate the walls a little more. I'm very happy with all that Brock has done! I love it!

~Bed Rest or House Arrest?~

Guess I should update since it's been a while. I am now 31 weeks and counting down! My countdown became my main focus when I was placed on bed rest two weeks ago. I now have plenty of time on my hands to contemplate many things. For example, why do they call it bed rest when it is more like house arrest?! Anyone who has ever been on bed rest knows what I mean! I am not allowed to ride in a car, sit or stand for prolonged periods of time, I can no longer work because I was standing for at least 4 hours straight and I can't even go sit through sacrament meeting at church. Also my only outing I get is when I have my Dr. (a.k.a. parole officer!!!) appointment every other week.

This wouldn't be so bad if I were farther along but I still have at least 9 weeks before I am due. And of course it's summer and we had so many family trips planned. Our 4th of July was spent at home watching movies. My sweet husband refused to do anything without me because he said it wasn't fair for me to have to stay home and he gets to do whatever he wants. Wish us luck and if you have any ideas about what I can do to pass the time and save my sanity I would very much appreciate it! Here I am at just over 30 weeks. Sorry it's such a bad picture. I had to use my phone.