A Sunday Change

Well last Sunday was my second time I went to church since Logan was born. We almost didn't make it to sacrament though because of baby stuff at the house. I am so glad we did. It ends up that the boundaries have changed for our ward. We are now going to the 4th ward which is in a different church building and unfortunately starts at 9:00 am again. We were looking forward to going to church at 1:00pm for a whole year. Plus in the same meeting a new bishop was called. The person who was called is an incredible man, Brother Bowcutt. He was our institute teacher when we were in the singles ward. He also gave my aunt Brenda a blessing once that was absolutely incredible. We are sad to say that he won't be our bishop. We are excited though to meet new people and make new friends. There are reasons for everything. We are happy to say though that we don't have to go alone. Some of our favorite couples from our old ward are moving to this ward as well.

Here are some different outfits he has been in this week. Plus bath time and cuddling with Ms. Blackie. We don't really allow this that often but when we do it is really cute!

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This is Logan's first Christmas so we thought we would try to film a small part of it. Please dismiss our voices.....just watch him!!!

Here is Mr. Logan crying just a little bit. He doesn't cry too much but when he does it is sometimes really cute. He is so innocent and always just wants milka milk...that is what we call it!

First Christmas Eve PJs!

Logan says,"I was sleeping when my parents decided to wake me up to open a present. I am very excited as you can tell. What could it be?"

"Christmas PJs from grandma and grandpa Nichols!! Yippy!

"I am still sleeping but I love my new pjs! Thanks grandma and grandpa!"

Just a few pictures!

Here are my new overalls!! They still are a little big but I'm growing fast!!!
Just thought I would just come right out and show everyone my deformed toe. It is smaller than all the rest and barely has a toe nail. It is like my mom's toe. My other foot has a middle toe that is bigger than the 2nd to biggest toe. That is from my dad. I am split right down the middle!

Logan's first video.

My favorite pair!

Is this not the cutest moment ever! Daddy and son asleep together. As you can tell by the second picture that Logan is quite cozy in this position! Scott isn't really asleep in the 2nd picture just so you know. That would be too safe. I don't think I think this is the most cozy I have seen Logan!

Bath time!

Warming up after bath time!!

This is Logan's 2nd bath since he was born. For now he has to get them on our kitchen counter next to our sink since he is only allowed to have sponge baths until his umbilical cord falls off. It is almost gone! Then on to real bath time in the tub!

NIchols ELVES!

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We are on our own!

Well it is almost two weeks since Logan Radley joined our family and we are now all by ourselves. Our parents were the biggest help.

Unfortunately my mom only had one night at the house with Logan. She was here for his birth and stayed with me one of the nights at the hospital so Scott could get a full nights rest. He definitely needed it. They helped out with watching our dogs while we were in the hospital and doing some house work and things. I have to say that all though my mom isn't a dog lover she is great with them. She TRIED to play with Chloe out back but when my mom would throw the Frisbee Chloe would never bring it back. It was hilarious. My dad on the other hand did his best to stay away from them. Especially Blackie since she would randomly bark at him for no reason.

Scott's parents were here for almost a full week. They helped out a ton as well. They had the chance to be at home with us for our first week. Pat never stopped moving. The laundry was always being done, dishes washed, bottles cleaned and the floors always vacuumed or swept. I have been trying to keep up with her routine and so far it is working out pretty good. My lactation consultant came over yesterday and said, "OK your house shouldn't be this clean with a new baby around!!" I told her I was kind of anal that way and that I liked cleaning. I think she thought I was nuts! Maybe I am but oh well.

We have done a few things outside of our house so far. We went to the mall for about 30 min. and then went out to eat at a sit down fast food restaurant. We learned our first lesson that day. Bring a stroller when you have a baby and are going to the mall. Poor Scott had to carry Logan in his car seat while we shopped. Luckily he isn't a 12 lb baby. We also have made one Walmart trip. I have yet to go any where by myself with Logan. I can't imagine not sitting in the back with him quite yet. Who will cover him when the sun gets in his face? I know I will get over all that but for now I am going to stick with Scott driving and me in the back. Granted this will all change tomorrow because Logan and I have some things we have to do and dad can't come. :(

One thing I wish I could have right now is my lactation consultant here 24/7. Or at least at every feeding. It is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. I almost want to say that I would rather go through labor again than have to go through the first two weeks of breast feeding. If I have help it is AWESOME but by myself it is a bit difficult. When Logan and I get it on our own though it is the greatest thing in the world. I can't say that there is a better way to bond with your baby than breast feeding. Just looking at him while he is eating and knowing that I am giving him all he needs is a great feeling. Granted who knows how much longer this will be but I hope I can pull through it all. I used to think that people were crazy for giving up or not breast feeding. I now totally understand why. It is hard. It has brought me to my knees many of times to ask for help from Heavenly Father. I truly can't do it alone.

Well life as a mom still is the greatest things I have experienced yet. I love holding and rocking him to sleep and some times being the only one that can comfort him. I also love watching Scott take care of him and look at him. His face lights up every time he sees him. We love him SO much!

A few more Pics!

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Labor and Delivery....BE WARE..could be graphic for some readers!

6 am Friday morning we arrived at the hospital so I could be induced. I was 40 weeks and 5 days preganant and ready to have a child. I was excited and nervous. I went into the hospital knowing I was going to do it with out an epidural so I was trying to prepare myself mentally.

We were admitted and got settled into the delivery room. My first nurse ended up being someone I heard a lot about but never met. She was my friends fiance. She was only my nurse for the first hour but it was nice to start the day off with a somewhat familiar face. My next nurse was Sherri. She was very nice and informative. She had me go through some practice runs for the actual pushing part of labor. At 7 am they start me on patocin. Scott and I sat watching the monitors with his heart beat and my contractions. At this point I had a smile on my face and was giggling. The nurse kept asking me, "ok you're having a contraction now, are you feeling these ones?" I felt them but nothing I hadn't felt before. She then said, "I will wait to ask you when you aren't giggling anymore!" At 10 am my doctor came in and checked me and I was a 2. She then broke my water for me and left. Around 12 I started to have to breath through my contractions but I was still up and down and feeling ok. I wasn't quite smiling anymore but still texting people and talking to Scotty. I would say around 4 is when I really started to have bad contractions. At that time I decided to get in the tub. That was great! After I got out my contractions felt worse because of how great it felt to be in the tub. Unfortunately I could only be in the tub for 30 min. because they had to keep me on the monitor. Around 5 my doctor checked me and I was at a 6. She was very impressed. I wasn't. I wanted to be at a 10 and pushing. At this time I started to feel more little urges to bare down. At that point I decided to ask for some IV pain meds. She gave it to me and it made me loopy and sleepy. I imagined that the medicine would take all my pain away for a while but it just took the edge off for about 30 min. Just enough to relax. At around 6 pm I started to feel the urge to push. The pain of these contractions got to the point that I almost wanted to cry. The nurse came in and I told her how I was feeling and she said she would call the doctor to check me. The doctor was supposed tp be back in 30 min but the nurse said if it got too unbearable to let her know. About 20 min later I called her back in and told her my contractions were constant. She finally decided to check me and I was at a 10, 100% effaced and she could feel his head. The doctor told the nurse that we could start with little pushes until she could make it in the room. The Dr. had 3 other ladies in labor at the same time so she was quite busy. I started to push around 6:50 with the nurse. Right in the middle of it all was shift change so I met a new nurse at quite a weird time. I really liked this nurse though. She was young and sooo helpful. Around 7:45 my doctor came to help me through pushing. She was so great. She took her shoes off and sat at the end of the bed with her feet up. It was nice not being in stirrups and having a doctor down there watching. She was up close and personal. Scott was great holding my leg and wiping my face down with a cool wash cloth and then fanning me with some random paper thing he found in the room. I wasn't one to have Scott rub my back all day. I just felt like laboring by myself but I was so grateful to have him right there with me during the really important part. During the middle of pushing my doctor wheeled something over to the end of my bed. I didn't know what it was until she flipped it around, a MIRROR! I was a little freaked out about this but in the end I am so glad I watched it all. I could see the progress I was making by seeing his head move and it made me push harder and longer. At this time I asked the doctor if any of the pushes I was doing could be the one that would make his head just pops out. She made a face like not really but she did say that she was pretty sure I would have a child by 8:30. I quickly was looking around the room to see the time, it was 8:05ish. The nurse laughed at me cause she new I was holding my doctor to her word. Around 8:20 I looked at the clock again and thought, "ok this is it. I will have a baby in the next 10 min." I really gave it all I had and at 8:28 Mr. Logan Radley Nichols was born. I was in shock! I couldn't believe that something so beautiful and large was inside me.

He didn't cry right away. They had to suction out his mouth for a min. and then Scott cut the cord. They wiped him off and gave him to me for about 30 sec and then took him to really suction his mouth out and get him a little cleaner. That was about 2 min and then they came to hand him to me but I told him to give him to his dad. While he was getting cleaned off I looked over at Scotty and saw him with his head down pondering the moment. As he looked up at me we both had tears in our eyes and a smile on our face. I love Soctty so much and am SO grateful that he truly is the father of my child.

I can't even describe in words how much I love my son and also how much more I love my husband. It is amazing to think that Heavenly Father loves each person in this world even more than I love Logan and that blows my mind away. Being a mom is the greatest things I have experienced in my life and it has only been 5 days since he came into our life. We both could sit and watch him for hours. Every face he makes me smile. I get teary eyed through out the day just thinking that he is mine and that I get ot keep him FOREVER!!!

Here are a few pictures of Mr. Logan Radley Nichols

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Logan

Here a few pics from Scott's phone. I will putsome better ones up later today.

Logan Arrived!

I don't have a picture right now because I am a little busy taking care of Mr. Logan. I just wanted to let everyone know that he was born on 11/28/08 at 8:28. He was 7 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long. We are home from the hospital and doing well. Labor was hard but a great experience. I will tell more the experience when I have a little more time!

We love Logan more than we ever could have imagined!

Final Doctors Appointment!

Well Tues. I had my last doctors appointment! I was nervous going into this one but I don't really know why. Maybe I thought she was going to tell me I was really in labor and would need to walk across the street to the hospital to have the little guy! Who knows why?! Anyway nothing had changed. I was still at the same point with no progress. She scheduled me to be induced on Friday morning at 6 am. I am excited to know the exact time he is coming but I am nervous because being induced makes your contractions hurt even worse than they normally would. It is nice knowing though that I can prepare my house and get everything done that I want and wake up in the morning knowing I will be back with a baby! CRAZY!!

That is it for now. Next time you here from me I will be a mommy!! YEAH!!!

40 Weeks PLUS!

Well I am now a day over my due date. I never thought I would go OVER my due date but here I am. Today I did yard work because 1 I am bored out of my mind and two I want to be as active as possible so Logan will get come out!

We are so excited to meet the little fella!

No luck at the doctors!

Well the good news of the day is that Logan is healthy. His heart rate was 140. That is exactly what it should be. My body is healthy as well so now we just play the waiting game. There was no change from the week before. I am still effaced and dilated the same as I was. ERG!!! She did strip my membranes so that is supposed to help the process a little, HOPEFULLY! If Logan doesn't come out by the 25th we get to talk about being induced. If that is the case then we will most likely be induced on the 28th or 29th. We will just have to see how things play out. I am doing everything on my part to help him come out. I am walking a LOT, doing exercises on the Wii, doing household projects to make it so I am up and down a lot, etc. So now we just have to see how long he wants to stay in that cozy little home of his!!

Logan is already stubborn!

Well I thought that by my original due date, which WAS the 17th I would have a baby in my arms but NO!!! Mr. Logan decided that he needed to be a little bit bigger before he comes out or he really doesn't want to come into this crazy world quite yet. He likes his cozy little house inside my belly! I am really hoping for a baby this week though! So everyone thing good thoughts this week for us so that Logan will have to come out!!! Tomorrow is another doctors appointment so hopefully she will say you are ready do to go!!!!

38 weeks and 4 days

Here are a few pictures of my belly. Hopefully it will only get smaller instead of bigger in the next week. My doctors appointment yesterday doesn't seem to give me high hopes for that though. :( I am fully thinned out but I am still a cm and a half dilated. She did feel the head though. That is crazy to think about!! I know he will come out when he is good and ready so I am not going to rush him. We are just happy that he is healthy!!! And by the way that is not my belly button sticking out...just my tie on my strings. I don't' have an outty yet!!!

38 week update!

A week and a half ago we went to our doctors appointment and she told me that I was 30% effaced and 1/2 cm dilated. Granted this didn't mean I was popping out a baby any time soon but it did mean that the process had begun. This weeks appointment was even better, 70% effaced and 1 and 1/2 cm dilated. Nice and slow and I am ok with that. For one reason Scott is in Orlando for work until Sat. so I really don't want anything to happen while he is gone and two I have heard that slow labors are much better to cope with than short ones. It doesn't sound right but it makes sense when someone explains why.

The new project!

About a month ago while cleaning our couch cushions in the wash I decided that I wanted to wash our ottoman in the wash and not just by hand. The problem with that is that it is fully attached. So I thought, "how hard could it be to take it apart and make it so it wasn't attached anymore and I can wash it anytime I want?" I ran this idea by Scott and he said not to do it. So at the time I didn't. Still every time I sat down and put my feet up I thought about it.

Well while my family was in town our dogs, who have never chewed up any of our furniture, only pillows decided to to chew the corner of our ottoman. So I thought, "this is a perfect opportunity! It is already some what ruined so now is my chance to take it apart." I went over the idea with my sister Corie and she was all about it. She even gave me the idea to make it into some more storage space. So right then we both started to take it apart and look it over to see what needed to be done. We got it all apart in about 20 minutes and then my family left the next day. I thought for sure I would never finish this project but a day later I took it out and started. Scott cut some wood for me and I started sewing some fabric together and lining the inside with shelving paper so that no one would get slivers in there blankets that will be stored in it.



Here is the corner where the dogs chewed! Can't tell they even chewed it can you...thank you thank you!

Here is the almost finished product. I recovered the outside with the fabric and the green is the shelf paper. All I have to say is that I love staple guns! You just shoot and things stay together!

The next steps are putting fabric on the wood, adding some Velcro, putting elastic on the fabric to cover the cushion and attaching it all together!

I am so excited to have a new storage area in the house. It will free up a lot of space for baby stuff!!!

The baby's room!

Well here it is!! It is all the way done minus a rocking chair and some decorations on the walls and things! Scott cut and put up all the chair rails and and "picture frame" squares. He also painted...ok so he did it all!!!! I got to paint the boards and trim but that is it because the other paint and things was too fumy for me.

Here is his crib. It is all washed and ready to go. My mom was kind enough to buy his whole bedding for us!

This is what it looks like when you first walk in. It is so nice to see the room when walking down the hall. It gets us pretty excited to think that in about 4 weeks there will be a baby in this room! Crazy!

This is our mini co-sleeper. It actually goes in our bedroom next to our bed so that when he wakes up at night to feed I can literally just pull him up to me and feed him and put him back to sleep. Hopefully it works. I am lucky though cause brand new these things cost a lot but I happened to find it for half the price. My mother-in-law and mom were here and we went to a child consignment shop to find a changing pad and as we were waiting I looked over and there it was. It was meant to be!!! It fits perfect between all our doors and down our hall so we can wheel him around while he is taking naps and things.

The shower is fixed!

Here it is! Our beautiful new tile! The plumbing is fixed so we have no more leaks, thanks to Scotty. For his first time tiling he did an amazing job. It is such a pleasure taking a bath now that I can stare at this pretty wall of decorative tile!

Week 33!

Need I say more! I think my belly tells the story....large and in charge. Really though compared to other women that are as far along as I am, I'm really not that big. Believe me though, I am big enough!!!!

Suprise Fix Up!

Here is a little bit of what is going on at the Nichols' home in Florida! On Tuesday Scott noticed that the baseboard next to the shower was pulling away from the wall so he took a closer look and saw that there was a bit of water behind it. What did that mean? Leak! The next step was to figure out where the leak was coming from and that meant tearing apart a bit of our shower. Picture number 1. As you can see it is just a small hole. Well what was behind that hole? Picture number 2. Wood rot and mold! Doesn't that just make you feel good inside.


Once we saw what was behind that small portion of the shower we couldn't stop there. Scott continued to break apart the tile to see what other treasures were in store for us. Well luckily the mold and wood rot only got so far and we are now looking at the final tear out....picture number 3. It looks a whole lot better now right?!

This is a picture I took of the under part of our tub. I was just curious about how it looked. I guess when they built the house they laid a small layer of durt under the tub. Why? Your guess is as good as mine!
Seeing that we have family and friends coming to our house in less than 10 days Scott has been working hard at fixing the leak and putting it back together. Which I have to say is so wonderful to be married to someone that has the guts to take on these projects. We called a plumber and he looked at it and said it would take around two hours to replace the pipes and would cost $85 and hour. That isn't including the parts. Pah....how about $10 for the parts and $0 dollars an hour! Works for me. So far all the pipes are fixed and now it is on to tiling. Scott knows what he needs for this but has never done it before. Wish us good luck!

Doggies

Here are our wonderful doggies. They are getting calmer and calmer every day. Although when we have people visiting they go crazy, hence the 3rd picture down. I guess we are the people that get to see those clam moments!!

31 Weeks!

Here are two quick photos of my belly at almost 31 weeks!

ALERT!!!! SEPTEMBER 26th.....poloicy # 1738..VOTE YES!

So I never watch Oprah but I happened to turn it on yesterday and I am glad I did. It was a program about sexual predators. I was absolutely disgusted. I new they were out there but I didn't know how big of a network these people have with one another and also how young there targets are.....infants and up! I learned that 3 out of 4 sexual molested children know the person assaulting them.

So why am I telling you all this? Well On Sep. 26 there is a policy that is trying to get passed called..."protect our children". It will put more police on the streets by allowing more funding for this specific problem. It doesn't matter if what party you belong too. This isn't about politics, it is about children. If you go to Oprah.com and click on the link it will take you through the steps to contact your senators by email or mail. Write to them and beg them to vote yes on policy number 1738!!!!

Overall update!

Most of you might not know that Scott got his promotion about a month ago and he is now working home! It is so wonderful having him around. It will be even better when the baby comes because we both get to be around him all the time. His new title is a systems engineer. He configures mainframe computers for an IBM partner called Mainline. It is a wonderful company to work for.

I am still working at good old Cypress Restaurant. My last day is November 1st unless I am feeling just amazing and decide to stay a little longer. I just get nervous to stay a little longer because I don't really want to go into labor while taking someones order!!

We are almost done with the baby's room. Scott painted the walls and is in the process of putting up the chair rails. It is so cute already and it isn't even done yet. I can't wait to get all the furniture in there and decorate it.

Healthy Baby!

We had our 30 week doctor appointment and it went fabulous. Minus that I gained too much weight in the past 5 weeks again. I look small but I guess the scale says to not eat so much ice cream! His heart rate was 160 beats per minute and I past my glucose test with flying colors!!! Yeah! I also convinced my doctor to let Scott get his blood type tested so I didn't have to get a shot for being O- blood type. She asked me two questions before she agreed, "you are positive that he is O- blood? ", I said, "that is what his mom told me.", and then she asked this question while looking me right in the eyes..."and you are 100% positive that he is the father?" UH YES! I thought it was funny though cause if it were the case that you weren't positive would you answer no with him sitting right there! That would be a little awkward! Its a good thing that I am 210% positive about the answer to that question.

Anyway he is kicking like crazy but only for me. I will call for Scott to come and feel and he immediately stops. I think he can hear me calling his name and decides to be funny and make me a liar!

It has been fun getting to feel him kicking around. It is weird to think that in 8- 10 weeks we will have a little guy around us 24 hours a day! We are so excited!

Childbirth Classes

Monday night Scott and I started our childbirth classes. We have 6 more to go and then we better be prepared cause ready or not here comes our baby boy! The class was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Granted it was our first class and all we did was talk! I am a bit nervous for the "practicing" part. I know it will help when the time comes but it is still a little awkward at the moment.

28 WEEKS!

This is two weeks old but I thought it will work for now! Here is my belly at 28 weeks.

Boy or Girl!

Well as you can tell by the color of the words...it's a BOY!

We are just so excited that we have a healthy baby. He is also a little bit lazy right now, which I am TOTALLY ok with. He can stay lazy all he wants!!

The radiologist that did the ultrasound said that according to measurements he is really due on the 26 of Nov. Can you say GOBBLE GOBBLE! Yep he is going to be a turkey baby. My doc. will stick with the original due date which is the 18th so we will see how it all plays out.

In 6 days we will be able to have just one of these as our picture of our baby! BOY or GIRL!!! We are so excited to find out. We think that it is going to be a boy because we only have girl names picked out. It always seems like if you prepare for one thing you end up with the other.


I also think I finally felt the baby move for the first time this week. I could be totally wrong but I had never felt the feeling before and it felt so neat! It brought a tear to my eye. I also have been noticing where the baby is at times. I will feel my left side and it will be soft and then I will feel my right side and it will be extremely hard. Scott feels a little jealous cause he can't feel it yet. I can't imagine being able to feel a foot or a hand inside me. It is so amazing!
We will update you all as soon as we know the gender!!

Scott and the Dogs!!

Here are just some updated pics of our doggies.
This is Scott and Chloe playing their favorite game together. What they do is sneak towards each other VERY slowly. Chloe sometimes is going so slow she forgets that she already has one paw in the air and goes to pick up the other one and falls over. She has so much personality.

DOES THIS PERSON LOOK FAMILIAR?

Ok so he won't look familiar if you don't watch "SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE" but I still have to brag that I know him. This is Gev from the top 20!! If you were at our wedding you will remember a random guy dancing hip hop! That is him! So Scott and I can officially say we know somebody on T.V.

Our doggies and our garden! They have all grown!

Ms. Chloe

Ms. Blackie!
They are both about 55lbs and are getting calmer and calmer. We heard that Chloe's brother is 105lbs and is crazy. We are so happy we chose Chloe.

Scotty and out garden....our squash, cucumbers, and pumpkins are taking over!

Some random pictures and events!

Our night out to dinner where I ate a whole bowl of french fries!!! I think this baby is going to come out a french fry! It was great memorial day together. We hadn't really spent any time together for about a month so it was nice to just be together.



My lovely boss and friend was so generous and gave us a wii as a gift. She gave it to us because of all the work Scott has done with her son Zach. He tutors him in math. So we have been having some real quality time trying to beat each other at certain games. The one I would like to mention is basketball...why I mention that one? Let me show you.......look closely! If you can tell I am the winner! I have to mention that after this moment I scored 116 and he is still at 87!!! I am proud only because it is the only thing that I have beat him at!
Here are some highlights from our game!










Here is our attempt to create a dinner out of the ingredients we already had in our house. So I came up with potao salad and chicken casserole. Doesn't sound that great but it turned out pretty good. My picky cousins Wil and Jarrod even liked it and that is something to brag about!