Connor Brooks Nelson

I finally get the chance to introduce our new addition!

Connor Brooks Nelson

October 17, 2011

7 lbs. 9oz.

21" long

12:43 P.M.

We love him to pieces!!

He has been a perfect baby :) Somehow, I lucked out again!

He's got beautiful blonde hair!! Much lighter than Brody's was.

I love to watch him sleep :)

Brody is a big brother now!!

He ignored Connor for the first three days we were home.

But now, he has become a good helper and has to know where Connor is.

He picks up new phrases every day, and usually has me laughing at least a few times a day at what he says (compared to what he thinks he's saying).

Whenever he sees me holding Connor, he says, "So cute!!" - guess he picked that one up from me.

He likes to give Connor kisses and "hold him, Mommy?"

Brody is growing up so fast - it's hard to believe he was smaller than Connor only 2 years ago.

He's so handsome, like his dad.

And he's got big muscles...

See?

He didn't want to smile for us much.

Until his cousin, Maysa, started trying to make him laugh.

She did a good job. Aren't Patti's photos amazing! Thanks so much for taking these pictures!

He also likes to make funny faces when people are showing him attention.

And then he finally had enough.

But I can't get enough of this guy.

Did I mention that I love him?

And... still waiting...

Well, it seems that my intuition was WAY off on this one, and I did not have the baby early... in fact, I am one day OVERdue today, and am slowly going nuts as I try to keep myself busy so that I don't think about it too much. The good news........ my induction day has been set for Monday, if nothing happens before then, so baby, we're almost there!!! Can't wait to meet you!!

This picture was taken today - and looks like maybe I should have worn a shirt that wasn't the same colour as our walls, but oh well.

Here are some things I've been doing to keep busy... well, pinterest is helping me out a bit, so I got into decorating some pumpkins... Any suggestions on the bow thing? I can't say that I have a natural bow talent, and I'm not terribly happy with this one. Project: use puff paint to dot fake "rhinestones" on the pumpkin. Super easy.

Pumpkin #2 - paint with chalkboard paint... only problem, I thought I had chalk I bought for teaching last year, and I don't have any... or at least I can't find it now. Brody and I will have fun with this one, and I am hoping to write ____ days until Halloween, and update it every day. Super easy, and cheap to make.

Of course, my new birthday present is helping me stay happy and "busy" - I have been sadly mourning the loss of the Mac I had from the school district last year while I taught. You have to return them at the end of the school year. Instead, I was sharing one with Kevin, which he uses for work, and which is four years old - not awful, but not a Mac. I LOVE the feeling of a new computer, and this one has not disappointed me :). (The smudges must be from my camera lens being dirty, because the laptop is still shiny and new...)

I've also been trying to get Brody excited for Halloween. We went outside to take pictures in his pumpkin shirt with the pumpkins (pre-crafting). He thought it was hilarious to roll them around the driveway.

Then Dad got home and tried to throw Brody in a pile of leaves. Brody thought it was great until he landed (softly) in the leaves. He did NOT want to lie down in them, but he did want to crunch around in them with his shoes... This kept us occupied for a while.

We've also been making Halloween treats! This is what Brody helped me make this morning...

SPOOKY WORMS IN DIRT!

Man, was Brody ever excited!

He thought the worms were fantastic!! However, after trying one with the oreo crumbs on it, he asked me to lick off all of the rest of them for him... I guess gummy worms are only good when the texture is normal.

What a mess!!!! We spent a while cleaning up after this one, but he had fun eating it.

I love my little man!

Cinnamon Toast the Right Way!

I was so excited when I came across this today!!!

So, earlier this week, I decided to be extra adventurous and made cinnamon toast for the family for breakfast one morning. Mmm.... was it ever good. I did it the same way my mom used to make it when I grew up - by mixing the softened butter with the cinnamon and sugar, THEN spreading it on the bread before throwing it the oven to cook.

Two days later, Kevin was up early and decided to make cinnamon toast for us for breakfast (I know! Great, right?) However, I came out to the kitchen to find that he had gone about it all wrong! There was no spreadable cinnamon sugar mixture, but instead, he had toasted the bread, and put butter on it so the butter would melt. He then mixed together milk, cinnamon and sugar in a cup, and spread/poured that on top of the already toasted bread, and THEN put it in the oven to cook.

There was no way that this toast was going to taste as good as the tested recipe that I grew up with, so I kindly voiced that there might be some things that he could do to improve his cinnamon toast making skills... very kindly - I mean, he was making me breakfast, and I'll never discourage that. Kevin had me wait to try his creation before giving it a no, though, and it really wasn't too bad (but how bad can it get when butter and sugar are involved). We both left the house still under the impression that our method of cinnamon toast making was more correct.

...SO, I think it is great that someone else has already analyzed and tested the different cinnamon toast recips, and come to a conclusion... guess you have to follow the link to find out what the REAL best recipe is for cinnamon toast (and find out who was more correct).

OR

Let me know how you make your cinnamon toast so I can give it a try. Maybe there's a recipe that hasn't been tested yet.

Whoever Came Up With This is Genius.

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I have to say, is that I wish I had found out about this website a long time ago... I can already tell it is going to be one of those things that I have a hard time staying away from, but I've already come across about 100 things I'd love to try to make, and tons of ideas for recipes and house decorating, and I've only looked for 20 minutes. I seriously cannot say more how much I love it! I'll never loose ideas from websites again, and who needs a favorites bar when you have pinterest! Thank you to Patti for introducing me to my new addiction.

If you haven't checked it out yet, you should...

Seriously.

Baby Blake

My sister, Kim, asked me to do up some baby announcements for the newest addition to their family. Her photographer took some VERY cute pictures, and I wish I could have used them all in every announcement, but here is what I came up with. I'm not sure yet if she's using one of them, or going to do something different, but it was fun anyways :).

It has been over a year since I have played on photoshop, and I remembered today that I totally miss it... although I know there is a whole lot more you can do, and I only skim the surface. I'd love to take a photo editing course if there ever was one around... anyone around here know of one? I also made up a few options to do one for our Nelson baby #2, so I don't have to worry about them later... but I'll save those until I have the little wiggler.

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Brody turned 2 at the end of August, and I wanted to show off how proud I am of him and how wonderful it is to have him as part of our family.

My little man, Brody Dennis Nelson, was born August 27, 2009 and I was immediately smitten.

One year later, we celebrated his first birthday with some exciting cake eating, which he really enjoyed! He was already walking, saying some simple words, and had lots of teeth to show off.

We decided to do some cake for him this year again, but we asked him what kind of cake he wanted, and like his answer to most things these days, he said, "cars", ... Lightning McQueen it was!

Lots of his cousins came over to celebrate with us! Brody loves his cousins!

They all helped show Brody how to blow out the candles.

And then we went to the pool to enjoy it for the last time this year. Even Daddy (Kevin) was able to swim with us for a while before he had to go back to work. (Perhaps birthdays in harvest season are not as convenient as other times in the year... sorry Brody!)

Brody is such a good swimmer now. He did really good this year.
I love my little man!

His cousins Zachary and Blake, and Auntie Kim were able to spend most of the week with us before Brody's birthday. These two boys are hilarious! They feed off of each other until they are both so wired it is scary! Brody had to show Zachary his favorite toy in the park... the quad/car!

One of Brody's birthday presents was a lightning McQueen sprinkler! He had a blast trying to drink the water without getting wet. Notice his new Lightning McQueen t-shirt and his McQueen crocs. Man, he sure was spoiled by his cousins and grandparents!

Lucky for us, Zachary had a birthday only a few weeks after Brody's, so we headed up to Edmonton to celebrate that, as well as Blake's baby blessing. Here are all the kids at the park enjoying their juice boxes in the hot weather.

We also had a picnic. I took about 10 photos of this, and Brody was jamming his face with peanut butter sandwich in every one. Nothing comes between that boy and his peanut butter and honey. I think he is learning his speed eating skills from his father too.

And, just for you, Amber, here is my 37 week photo shot of all my chubbiness. Kind of scary to look at it in a photo. I didn't realize I was that big, or that swollen. A few more weeks to go!! I hope they go fast!