2 months!

Ari is two months old today! Hooray! It is incredible...lots has happened. We had her blessing on December 11th and it was great. We had a lot of support from family which was nice. It was so fun to have so much family around. Marissa came to stay with us for almost a week and Seth's parents came out too! Ari gets held so much, she is so lucky to have so many people who care about her. I had her wear my little blessing outfit for her blessing, so that was special. Seth did a great job. Apparently she was hopping hands in the circle, her head ended up in a different one than it started with, but she didn't really fuss much.

While they were out visiting, we were able to go and see the lights at Temple Square, they were very beautiful, but it was pretty chilly. We had Ari all bundled up so hopefully she stayed nice and warm. Below is Seth with Marissa and Mom and Dad Nielsen.



Jace got married last weekend and Grandma LeBaron made her a little yellow jacket and bonnet, she was so cute. Everyone wanted to know all about her and had to comment how cute and little she was. We think she is adorable. The wedding was really nice, we are happy he found Brooke.






I just took this one above today, doesn't she just look grown-up? I think maybe it is the outfit. I guess she is growing up on me. And of course babies sleeping are the most precious sight ever. I love how peaceful she looks when she is asleep. When she is asleep I feel like I can see me in her better than when she is awake. Is that weird?



So everyone says Ari looks like her Daddy which is great. We think a lot of it has to do with the facial expressions they both make. I took this picture the other day while Seth's family was in town and it was about the funniest thing, the best part being it wasn't planned at all. Like Father, like daughter, what can I say? So classic!

Well we are excited for Ari's first Christmas. I have a Christmas outfit somewhere, I just have to find it. I feel like my life has been super crazy these past couple of weeks, but whose life isn't, right?

Almost 1 Month....say what??

Time flies when you are having so much fun!

Ari is still so precious (of course)! She only sleeps 1-3 hours at a time, sometimes 4 hours at night if we are lucky. She loves taking walks in her stroller around the neighborhood.  We love her little occasional smiles and feel as if she is starting to respond to us. Everyone she meets comments on her long beautiful fingers and feet. I know she does not get that wonderful trait from her mother, it must be the Nielsen genes in her. Maybe she will be tall! Of course she gets a lot of 'oh wow, she is just beautiful' comments too, which are always fun for Mom to hear. :)

We are coming up on 4 weeks this Saturday, which is unbelievable. She is already changing and it is so crazy to realize just how fast she will grow up. The story behind the C-section is that my placenta had started to calcify and wear down (I was a week overdue when she was born) and so it wasn't supplying her with enough oxygen to support her through a contraction. I had been admitted to the hospital on Friday night to start me on a drug to get me ready for the induction the next day.  They had me all hooked up to the monitors and after even the smallest contraction (which was so small I couldn't really feel it) her little heart rate would drop.  So we monitored this for about 8 hours before the doctor finally concluded there was a very slim chance, if any, that she would be able to handle a large contraction, so a C-section appeared to be the best and safest option for Ari.

That day I delivered her was such a flurry of activity and people that I really didn't have time to just sit and ponder what had happened, but in speaking with my mom later that day, she pointed out that had I started my labor on my own at home, there is a chance that something bad could have happened to Ari since I wouldn't have known the condition she was in and the outcome could have been very different from what it was. I can't stop thinking about how grateful I am that He saw fit to have things happen just perfectly and that we have modern medicine that can help us know more about the situation so we were able to have the best outcome possible! I feel very blessed. Prior to my delivery, I was trying some of the supposed tricks to get my labor started, I mentioned in a previous post the very long walk we took trying to speed things up. How glad I am that I didn't get my wish at that time. The Lord knows what is best for us and sometimes we have no idea when He is blessing us.  I wonder how many times this happens and we never realize it. In this case, I was able to see a short time later the blessing that it was, but I am sure there have been many times where I haven't been able to see so clearly his hand in my life even though it was there. How blessed we are!

Seth is an Attorney! Josh is Home!

Seth passed the Utah State Bar and was officially sworn in on October 31st. This is him signing all the paperwork afterwards.  He is all legit now. :) I am very proud of him! All of his hard work and studying paid off. What a relief!

Josh got home from the Ukraine on Wednesday!!! We went and visited with him at the Salt Lake Airport during his layover on his way home.  It was so good to see him and be able to talk with him. He did wonderful holding Ariana for a full two hours (he never really held babies before his mission). He looked so happy and it was so fun to be with him.

A few more pictures of Ari. You can never post too many pictures of a baby, can you? : )

So cute and scrunchy. Love the wrinkles.

It is just so weird that a mere two weeks ago she was inside of my belly. We took this picture the day before I went to the hospital.

A few more pictures...

I just love it when she is awake and happy. I love her little eyes!

Ariana and Grandpa taking a nap.....what a precious moment! :)

We are home now, Day 2 and doing well....the days go by so fast! Time needs to slow down a little.

Baby Ariana

Well Ariana was born on Saturday morning at 5:38 am and weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and is just a delight. We were a little surprised when we learned I would have to have a c-section, but everything went smoothly and she is just a doll! Recovery has been going pretty well considering everything, but we wanted to post a couple pictures for people to be able to see how cute she is.

4 Days Past Due and No Baby

So here we are, October 19, 2011 and our little pumpkin hasn't decided to join us yet.  We made it through the tax extension deadline and some! Today Seth and I took a very long hike uphill around our apartment, well actually very far from our apartment. We were nearly to the base of Ensign Peak (which we would have hiked had we had some water) but decided we'd better turn back.  It was nearly a 2 hour walk. We've gotten a lot done this past week, including working on the baby room and getting our car seat (we are now on our 3rd different one).  I took the tags off so I do not think I can exchange it again. :) Our snap-n-go stroller arrived today so she can come any time...hint hint. Daddy tells her every morning today is the day, but she apparently isn't listening to him. Not a good sign! :)

The doctor says he'll induce me this Saturday the 22nd if she doesn't come before then. I am thinking that Saturday will likely be the day.

We also got in some pictures together this past week which I really wanted. I can't believe fall is here already and the leaves are all changing colors. I love the colors but don't like that it means winter is coming.

We Moved!

Hey all, we've moved from our little apartment in Provo to downtown Salt Lake. We are temporarily renting Grandma Nielsen's condo until we know what we are doing with our lives and where Seth's job will take us. Only 6.5 weeks to go until the baby arrives!! People want to see the baby bump so I thought I would post a couple pictures. I walk past this crazy colorful wall almost everyday en route to the gym after work. And I have just been waiting until we could come and snap some pictures by it. I finally talked Seth into it, but we never got to take any pictures of him before he was ready to call it quits. So here is the baby bump!

Seth is happy the bar is over, we just have to wait another 4-6 weeks to find out how he did. Our new ward is very different from our old ward. There is 1 Young Woman and 0 Young Men in our ward. So that is a change for us since both of us were involved with the youth the entire 4 years we were in our previous ward. So we'll miss that. But there are lots of good people in our new ward. We are the home ward to Elder L. Tom Perry and Elder Quentin L. Cook, so that makes things interesting. Most of the Sundays they are out on assignments so I don't know as we'll see them very often.  Mostly the ward is elderly couples or younger couples, so it will be an interesting dynamic. We like it so far though. We definitely cannot beat the location. I can walk to work, walk to the gym, walk to the bank, walk to the temple, walk to the state capitol building, walk to church, it is just great!  I am happy to put an end to the 2+ hours on bus daily commuting back and forth to work. It has been wonderful!

2011 in a Nutshell

He did it! He did it! He is all done with school! Yay! Now he just has take the Utah Bar in July and his life will be great (those are his words). I am so proud of him.

This is us right after the graduation.

If you haven't already heard our super exciting news, we are expecting!! I can never see what you are supposed to be seeing in ultrasound photos, so hopefully I picked two easy ones.

On my birthday we went and found out what we were having....we are having a little girl! We are very excited. The photo above shows her shoulder and arm and little hand, I think it is so cute.

Also for my birthday I got a new lense for my camera. Above is a picture I took at Temple Square on my birthday.  I need to start practicing so I am all ready for when the baby comes.

We took a trip to Oregon after busy season and stayed in Lincoln City, which is right on the beach. We had a relaxing trip with some fun hikes and lots of rain. One day we went and I made a glass float, basically a big glass ball with air inside. It was pretty neat to see the whole process.

These colors are really dark because the glass is so hot. 

This is Seth on the Drift Creek Falls hike. It was a good one, but not as good as the next one we did.

This is a view from our favorite hike, Cascade Head. It was so beautiful. The first part of the hike was through a rain forest and then you got up to the top of a mountain and had the most beautiful views. It was a gorgeous hike, but then it started raining so we ran most of the way down the trail.

We enjoyed our daily walks on the beach. Much different feel than California beaches. I always wore a jacket or coat to the beach.

Some of the staircases from people's homes to the beach were pretty intense. We only saw one person using the stairs to their home. They had to take a break halfway up their staircase.

These are the girls in Mom's old prom dresses. Melissa was thrilled to wear the one we picked out for her. I just love her face in this one, classic Melissa face.

While I was in St. George, Amanda was in town so we got together to catch up. It was fun to hear what everyone is up to. Crazy it has been 11 years since high school!

For a Young Women's activity we went hiking in Little Wild Horse Canyon and played around in Goblin Valley. It was fun and hot. I had never been there before, but Goblin Valley is quite interesting.