Another over due update.  Josiah is now 7 months old.  He can crawl and tries very hard to pull up on things so that he can stand.  I'm thinking that he's going to be walking early!

He does have his bottom teeth.  You just can't tell from this picture.  And I also must say that I think he looks very much like my brother's baby pics here.

Yeah, so once again I was reminded that people actually look at this weblog to keep up with our family.  Sorry to neglect you (it's not that I don't love you or anything ). 

Lydia is fully potty trained during the day, sleeping in a toddler bed in her own room through the night (!!!!!!), growing like a weed and talking up a storm (my current favorite is "butter-butterfly" and "person" for purse and our most embarassing vocabulary moment occured at church yesterday when she announced -  sevral times - quite loudly that she had to go poop), she loves to color and play with stickers and still LOVES books and her Shleick animals.  She is still adjusting to the big sister gig.  Some days she struggles with lack of attention and can "over love" on her brother, but all in all I feel like she is doing really well.  I can't believe that she is 2.5 and how big she is.  Our biggest challenge right now is dicipline.  We are currently taking advice from Shepherding a Child's Heart by . . . someone I can't think of at the moment.  She is a defiant and strong willed child.  And we love her dearly .

At her first real birthday party.

Daddy got a defective "Jumpolene" from school so we get to keep it.

Reading with Grandma Nelson on a recent trip to WI.

Playing a game with Grandpa Nelson and cousin Story on that same trip.

Lydia playing pile up on Josiah, and he just lays there smiling at her-wise boy

Josiah is almost 5 months old and also growing like a weed.  He is a much easier and much happier baby than Lydia was, but not without his challenges.  He just LOVES Lydia.  He will take one look at her and smile.  Recently he's even begun laughing at her.  It is VERY cute.  He sleeps pretty well most nights and naps pretty well most days.  He struggled for a time recently with spitting up, but our wonderful Chiropractor fixed that up.  He is rolling from back to tummy and holding toys and chewing on things and the kid can DROOL!!!!

Heads Up 7Up

Succesful sleeping baby transfer (never was able to do that with Lydia)

Bonding with Uncle Joel (something else Lydia was never able to do-until she was older)

Josiah and his cousin Noble (they are 4 days apart)

The hubby and I are doing well.  I've adjusted bed times recently for the little Nelson's so that the big Nelson's get some time together and that has helped us both feel more grounded and connected to eachother.  Not up to date nights yet, but that type of thing is in the works.  I have been convicted of the fact that the best thing we can do for our children is to take care of our marriage. 

We took our house off the market after 1.5 years of it being on.  We might try again in late winter or early spring, we'll see.  But since I feel like this is my house again I have begun some decorating and rearranging.  I am in the process of moving Lydia from the nursery to her own big girl room.  I am painting each of the four walls a different color (yellow, pink, purple and green).  I've also hung a few pictures up.

I guess that is it for now.  The kiddos are calling.

On Matt’s last day of school, Thursday June 18, Lydia and I joined Matt for lunch.  We were sitting outside on a blanket and when I stood up I noticed that my behind was wet.  I hesitantly brushed it off (the grass must have been wet or something).  I had an appointment with the midwife the next day and asked her about it.  She said it very well could have been fluid so she gave me some nitrizine paper to test any discharge.  The next day I tested and it came back as amniotic fluid.  After some research and discussion with the midwife we decided to load up on immune boosting herbs and take my temp regularly.  On the afternoon of Friday June 26 I started having mild contractions that were irregular, but consistent and time able.  Just before I went to bed that night I had some more painful contractions and figured that I was in labor and would have the baby sometime that night or the next morning.  I called my mom to have her come over (she lives an hour away) and I put our midwife and some close friends on alert.  But around 3am Saturday morning the contractions stopped.  I was VERY disappointed.  I went for a walk later that morning and then made a visit to our chiropractor and then went on another walk, but nothing!  My mom went home and I accepted that the baby wasn’t coming and proceeded with life.  On Sunday we got up and went to church.  I hadn’t had any hint of contractions since the last ones on Saturday morning.  While we were on our way to church the midwife called to check up on me and suggested we consider using castor oil to induce labor.  She was a little concerned that I had maybe been leaking fluid for a week and half at this point.  She also figured that since I had been in early labor Friday and Saturday that my body was probably more or less ready.  I spent the whole church service thinking about what we should do.  I consulted some friends at church and decided to go ahead and buy some since we were out, but I hadn’t for sure decided that I would use it.  When we got home I put Lydia down for a nap and started researching castor oil, talked to our midwife and PRAYED!  I decided that I would take the castor oil just before putting Lydia to bed that night in the hopes of having the baby during the night.  INSTEAD. . .

    When Lydia woke up from her nap at 2:45ish I nursed her.  I had a few painless contractions while I was nursing and then had a hard contraction just as she was finishing.  I continued to have hard contractions so at 3:31pm I started timing them.  They were between 30 and 60 seconds long and between 4 and 6 minutes apart.  I kept myself busy until just after 4 when I had a contraction so hard that I ended up on my hands and knees in tears.  Matt asked me when we should call the midwife and said I wasn’t sure, but that when the time came I would surely know.  He asked if maybe right then was the right time.  I said “no.”  He said “I think it is because I don’t want to deliver this baby alone.”  I cried harder because I suddenly realized I was going to have the baby . . .SOON.  At 4:15pm Matt called the midwife and I called my mom to have her come back.  I continued having contractions and by this time had set myself up in our bedroom and was leaning on my birthing ball while Lydia watched a Winnie the Pooh movie on the TV in there.  At 5pm the midwife arrived and at 5:15pm my mom got there and took Lydia, screaming, from our bedroom.  I was so involved in labor at that point that my only reaction to that was “she’ll be fine, right?”  I noticed our midwife setting up the birth supplies and I thought “oh man, I better be in labor otherwise she is getting all this stuff set up and I’ll have to put it away if I don’t have the baby!”   The midwife did her thing and then left Matt and I alone.  She came back a little while later after I had Matt let her know that I had felt a small gush.  She checked it to make sure it was clear and then left.  I was having a contraction when she left and was feeling a hint of the urge to push.  When that contraction ended I asked Matt where the midwife had gone and told him to go get her because the baby was coming.  While he was out of the room I started pushing with the next contraction.  Matt came back with the midwife and she asked if I was “feeling a little pushy?”  I simply nodded.  I complained that the ball was no longer an adequate thing to lean on and that I needed something more solid.  It was suggested that I turn around and lean against the recliner that is next to our bed.  Some rearranging was done and I turned myself around to lean against that.  I pushed a few more times and asked if they could see the baby’s head to which the midwife said not yet.  I reached down and could feel his head right there.  The midwife seemed surprised by that. I also remember at some point mentioning quietly that it really hurt.  At some point the midwife told Matt that he would catch the baby and got him in position to do that.  And then out came the baby’s head and with another push the rest of the body was delivered.  I couldn’t believe that he was out and was even more surprised when the midwife announced that his time of birth was 6:30pm.  I had only been in labor for three and a half hours!  I was so tired after the baby came out that I didn’t look behind me right away to see our baby.  But I heard Matt announce, through his tears, that it was a boy.  I heard a weak little cry and then I looked back at my baby boy.  He was still a little blue, but within a minute (and with some urging by the midwife) he let out some good color producing cries.  He was and is such a beautiful boy!