Back to work

So, I survived my first week back at work. Overall, it went pretty well. I fell back into my old routine without any major catastrophes. I remembered everything just fine, even the numbered codes that I have memorized at work. It was a pretty busy week, so it flew past pretty quick.

The hardest part was juggling the home life along with the work life. I was definitely more tired this week with getting up with Elliott in the middle of the night, working all day, fighting a cold, and then doing it all over again. But it was a good week, and we all survived it just fine and are getting into a pretty good routine.

Everyone in the house has colds right now. Mine is finally getting better, Emma has been a snotty mess for 2 weeks, Elliott has gooey eyes and a runny nose, and John's still trying to fight off the cold. So, pretty much once the kids are asleep, we are asleep these days.

My parents came to visit this weekend. They hadn't seen the kids since Elliott's baptism, so they were pretty eager to come and visit the kiddos. They came Friday night, and Emma was super excited to see them and play with them. It took her forever to finally settle down and go to bed.

Saturday was a fun day. We spent the beginning of the day just visiting with my parents and playing with the kids. And, I did some house cleaning along the way since I had babysitters and not much time to clean during the week anymore. After lunch at Beef O'Brady's, John and I headed to Brookings to meet up with some college friends and watch a double-header Jackrabbit Basketball Game.

It was really nice to catch up with everyone, since we hadn't seen some of our friends for such a long time. After the game, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to visit some more and drink some beer. We got lost in conversation, and didn't get home until 2:00 am. Boy, did I pay for that today! It's been a long time since I have been awake that long.

Today was a pretty casual day. First of all, it was absolutely freezing outside, so we enjoyed just staying inside the house for the day. My parents left in the afternoon, and John had an engagement session, so I had some time alone with the kiddos which was nice.

Right now, Elliott is sleeping in his crib, John is working on getting Emma to sleep, and I am enjoying some quiet time. And I am super drowsy, and getting ready to close my eyes and sleep. I've got another full week of work and busy evenings at home to prepare for.

And I am hoping that warmer weather is on the way :)

Sibling love

Sharing bath time :)

Elliott loves bath time

Emma showing some attitude...

And then being her goofy self

Happy Valentine's Day :)

It's Valentine's Day today! Since it's a Saturday, and it's Valentine's Day in Sioux Falls, we knew better than to try and make any plans as the city will be crazy busy today. So, we decided to just run some errands in the morning, and then have a low-key day.

We spent the morning just hanging out at a family, and enjoying some time together. The kids were being super adorable and love-y (they must have known it was Valentine's Day!!)

Since it is so cold out today (I think the high is 6 degrees) we were looking for something fun to do inside. We decided it would be a fun day to take the kids to "Dino-roars". The zoo transformed one of their indoor rooms to house dinosaurs that look real, move, and make dinosaur noises. Emma was a little bit terrified of them at first, but eventually she warmed up to them and thought they were pretty cool. Elliott had a good time just looking around at the everything and taking it all in. After looking at all the dinosaurs, and digging up fossils, Emma spent some time playing in the play areas in the Museum and the zoo. It was nice to let her burn off some energy. We had to basically drag her out of there to get some lunch.

Emma requested "noodles" for lunch, so we hit up Valentino's for lunch. It was a mediocre buffet, but Emma sure enjoyed her pasta and pizza. She was such a mess by the end of the meal, it was crazy. Elliott behaved pretty well in the restaurant, but John or I had to hold him the entire meal as he was not having his car seat for some reason.

After lunch, we still had to hit up Costco. We made it a quick trip since both kiddos were in desperate need of a nap. Luckily, Emma fell asleep on the car ride home, so that made it easy to put her to bed. Elliott had a bottle once we got home, and then it didn't take long for him to fall asleep either. Right now, everyone is sleeping, and I am enjoying the silence.

Not much planned for the rest of the day. We are just happy we get to stay in our warm home, away from the craziness that will be Sioux Falls tonight. Man, we are getting old!

Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day, and don't forget to tell that special someone how much you love them. And not just today, but every day!!!! I love my three Valentines very much, and feel so very blessed to have them in my life.

Emma and Elliott playing on Emma's old activity mat

Emma "digging" for fossils 

These little rides are apparently the best thing ever 

Fun at the zoo

Sibling love 

Adorable. 

Last Week of Maternity Leave

My last week of maternity leave is sure flying by. Technically, today is basically my last day of maternity leave-just have the weekend after this, and then back to work on Monday. I am both ready to go back, and not ready to go back. I am going to miss my days with Elliott, and my evenings with my family. But, I am going enjoy going back to work with a routine, and more adult interaction in my life.

It has been an interesting week to say the least. On Monday night, Emma caught whatever John and I had-and she threw up all over the place. Like 3 times. There we were giving Emma a bath and doing laundry at 3:00 am. It was not so fun. There was not much sleeping going on in the Nelson Household that evening. Luckily, Elliott never got it.

Tuesday was a pretty short evening since everyone was exhausted from the night before. I think everyone was asleep by 9:00pm. It was glorious.

On Wednesday, Rachel came for a visit. We visited and played with the kids for a while, before heading to the mall to let Emma play in the play area and do a little shopping. We also ate some supper, before heading home again. Rachel enjoyed giving Emma a bath and putting her to bed, and having some bonding time.

Yesterday, I was able to get out of the house and run some errands while Rachel watched the kiddos. I picked up Eli's birth certificate, opened a savings account for him, and then ran to Wal-mart to pick up a few things. It was really nice to get some of these things done with hauling the kids around.

Today has been pretty chill. Elliott and I have been watching a little TV and just hanging out. We are enjoying our last day at home together while mommy is on maternity leave. Also, Elliott slept through the night last night!!!!!! I don't know if it was a fluke, or if I can expect it to happen again, but it was amazing. He was in bed by 8:30pm and didn't get up again until 7:00 am. It was so nice to get a full night's rest, hopefully it continues-especially with me going back to work :)

Emma is at daycare right now, having a Valentine's Day Party and a Pajama Day. How fricken adorable. I am sure she will be all sugared up when she gets home later today!

So, anyway, I am just trying to soak in my last day at home before reality starts again. Here's to my last day of Maternity Leave :)

Weekend Shenanigans

Another week has sped by in a flash. It is my last week of maternity leave, I go back to work a week from tomorrow. It is hard to believe it has almost been 12 weeks already. Time sure does fly. I am going to try my best to savor this last week, and enjoy my freedom and time with Elliott and Emma before I am stuck with a nurse's schedule again and stuck working evenings and weekends again.

This last week has been pretty uneventful. Emma and Elliott both have colds. Emma is very snotty and has a cough, which of course is the worst at night time. Elliott has quite a stuffy nose, especially when he wakes up in the morning, and he's got the goobery eyes, but overall he is doing just fine. So, sleep is a little messed up at our house due to the colds.

On Thursday, my co-workers were sweet enough to throw me a baby shower. So, Emma, Elliott, and I went into my work for lunch and stayed for a baby shower. Elliott got some very nice gifts, and Emma enjoyed all the attention. They were both very well behaved, which was nice since it was one of the first extended outings for me with them by myself. But it all went very well. It was nice to hang out and talk with my co-workers for a while was well. They were all pretty shocked with how big Elliott is, and how heavy he is to hold after such a short time.

Friday evening, John and I attended an art gallery show downtown Sioux Falls, and then we were going to go out to eat, but I got hit hard with some sort of stomach bug so we ended up going home and I was in bed by 7:30 pm. Not fun. And not exactly what we had planned for the evening.

Saturday was a day of recovery for me, since I still didn't feel the best. We all just mainly hung around home for the first part of the day. After naps all around, Emma and John went to the Kirby Science Center at the Washington Pavillion, and they had a good time getting out of the house. It was a gorgeous day, 45 degrees, so John brought some steaks home and we grilled them for supper. Yummy.

Today was a pretty typical Sunday. It was in the 40s again, which was amazing. We went to church, had a delicious brunch when we got home, and then got to kids down for their naps. While the kids slept, I made homemade Chicken noodle soup, and John made chili. We had a wonderful supper.

We also got out the paints for Emma, and she had a blast painting. And she didn't make nearly as huge of mess as I was expecting her to, so everyone was happy. We painting some pictures for Grandma and Grandpa Nelson since they just celebrated their birthdays. Emma really enjoyed the painting, I have a feeling she will be begging to do it again all week long.

Right now, John is patiently trying to get Emma to bed, she can be a little stinker about that sometimes. Plus, she will be really close to sleep, and then have a huge coughing fit that disrupts everything. Elliott is peacefully sleeping downstairs in his crib, and I am enjoying the Grammys. It's a pretty nice end to the week.

Also, on a separate note, Elliott almost laughed today. So, I have a feeling baby giggles aren't too far off in our future :) Yay!!

Bath art

Smiles 

Those cheeks :)

Snoozing in the swing

Painting project

Super Bowl Weekend.

I go back to work two weeks from today. That's pretty crazy! The last 10 weeks have flown by! This last weekend went by pretty quickly as well.

On Saturday, we took the kids out to Jim and Barb's house. It was the first trip out to their farm for Eli, so that was pretty exciting for everyone. The weather wasn't great, it was pretty snowy and cold, but Emma had fun going outside to see the chickens and pick some eggs. We also toured the flower shop/store as they did some new construction to the building.

Otherwise, we had fun just sitting around visiting and playing with the kids. Emma had a blast playing with all the "new" toys at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They also have a box full of princess dresses to play dress-up with. So, Emma was pretty much in heaven.

We headed back pretty early since the weather was turning bad, and enjoyed a nice quiet evening at home. Emma fell asleep on the way home, so she was a ball full of energy until about 10:00pm. That was fun.

Sunday we spent the morning doing some house chores, and clearing away the 4 inches of snow that fell overnight. We were invited to a Super Bowl Party by a couple from our church, so we went to that at about 4pm. There were a bunch of kids Emma's age, so she had a great time playing with all the toys and all the kids. Eli did pretty well at the party. He just sat on our laps and took it all in, and took a couple naps along the way as well.

I was too busy visiting with everyone to really watch the game, but it was an exciting one. The Patriots beat the Seahawks by 4 points, and it came right down to the last minute of the game. I also missed all the commercials, so I had to watch them on Hulu this morning with Elliott. There were some good ones again this year.

Eli is starting to sleep better at night, and it is amazing. He usually is asleep by 8-9 pm and then he sleeps until about 4:30 am. This doesn't happen every single night, but it's becoming more consistent. And then he usually eats, and then goes back to sleep for another couple hours. Sometime it takes a good half hour to hour to get him back to sleep, but it's still better than it used to be. I have also been sleeping in the basement up to this point, so now I am going to try to make it back upstairs with a baby monitor. I am excited to sleep in my own bed again! YAY!!! Although, Emma has another cold, so there could be some rough nights ahead...

Otherwise, not much new in the Nelson Household. The weather is cold and snowy again. I am trying to get myself a little prepared for going back to work so it doesn't completely kick my butt. Also, I have been working out pretty consistently, trying to lose some baby weight. These things all keep me pretty busy, and the days are just cruising by!

Have a great week everyone :)

Smiley boy

Emma combing Elliott's hair

Great-Grandpa Percy looking at photos of the kids 

Emma snuggling with Elliott 

Dressing up as a princess 

Grandpa Jim with his grandkids 

More smiles