Merrry Christmas!

Brother's meet for the first time.

Zack was SO excited to meet baby Ben! The first thing he told him was "hi, I'm your big brother!"
I was just going to leave Ben in the car seat and have Zack pack up his things so we could go home (we were picking Zack up from his grandparents house on our way home from the hospital) but Zack wouldn't hear of it! He had to take the blanket off to look at Ben and kept saying "unbuckle him, can I hold him?" I think every parent worries about how older siblings will handle have a new baby in the house but Zack has been AWESOME! The biggest problem has been teaching Zack that Ben is not his new toy that he can play with whenever he wants! :) He is always asking to hold Ben and is constantly bringing him toys and stuffed animals that Zack thinks he'll want to play with. He is also always wanting to share his snacks with Ben, he thinks it's a "bummer" that babies only get to "eat milk". Zack has been such a sweetie with Ben, and Ben LOVES to watch Zack run around and play and actually seems to enjoy all the noise Zackie makes. Looks like we are off to a good start! :)

Zack was so excited to help Daddy carry Ben out to the car for our first trip home together. Zack thinks it is SO cool that he gets to sit right next to Ben in the car. Yesterday Zack fell asleep while we were driving and Zack had one hand wrapped around "bear" and the other around Ben's foot. What a sweetie!

The first morning we were home as a family together Zack decided Ben was lonely in his bassinet and brought him all these stuffed animals to sleep with.I was busy getting ready for my aunts wedding the other day so Zack decided he would entertain Ben for me.

Auntie Brenda's Wedding

My aunt Brenda got married on the 18th of December. I wasn't feeling that great so I only went to the ceremony and then went home right after but it was a BEAUTIFUL ceremony. The reception center was one of the prettiest I've seen! I absolutely LOVED her wedding colors, red and purple (you bet I would since those were my colors too!:) Everything was so beautiful and I was so glad to be able to feel well enough to at least go to the ceremony. I wasn't running around much so I didn't get any good pictures of the happy couple but they looked so awesome and everything was so perfect!

My family was there a little bit early so we took the opportunity to snap a few pictures. The lighting was that beautiful dim reception center lighting that makes for a great atmosphere but not so great pictures! It was fun to get some pictures of all of us that were able to be there though!

Our first picture as a family after Ben joined us!Ben with the man he was named after!

Happy Grandparents

More pics I got from facebook:

Don't they just look so happy!?

I seriously love my family, they are so awesome! Just looking at these pics makes me happy!

Welcoming Bejamin into this world...

Trent posted some way cute pics for me right when he was born but I have lots of time to kill here in the hospital so I thought I'd document the whole event for you!

Leaving for the c-section. It was so nice to just walk into the operating room this time!

First picture of mom and baby together.Getting to know Daddy.In the NICU. He had to stay there for awhile so they could monitor his oxygen. He turned out to be totally fine, they were just being careful.
His first moments with Grandma Nelson.
I know I don't look that great in this picture but when I laid him on my stomache I just HAD to get a picture...can you believe that a couple hours before this picture was taken that HUGE baby fit inside my stomach!? I don't know how it was possible! (I'm pretty sure my ribs are bruised from him, obviously there wasn't REALLY enough room for those long legs!)Getting some much needed rest.First Bath.So little in Daddy's arms.
He was unusually alert the whole first day, I guess he was anxious to learn about this new world he was in!
Lucky for us the hospital changed it's policy just days ago so Zack was able to come to the cafeteria and see me there. I was SOOOO happy to see him, I've missed him so much! However, I don't think he's missed me much at all, he's been in high heaven spending all this time with his Grandparents!Grandpa got him his very own backpack and he LOVES it! He carries it everywhere with him.

Little Santa.
Grandma Nelson got him these cute booties and the santa hat, I had fun taking pics of him in them!

I wrote out the whole story of his birth, it's more of a journal entry than a blog post so I thought I'd just provide a link for it for those of you who are interested. It is long, but if you're interetested click here.

Welcome Baby Ben

Baby Benjamin Ernest Nelson. Born December 10, 2009 at 8 a.m. Weighing in at 9 pounds 12 ounces, and measuring 22 1/2 inches.

Ticking Time Bomb...

Am I the only one out there who thinks the thought of having a baby is completely terrifying?
Let's be honest, my birth experience with Zack wasn't exactly the "beautiful experience" people talk about having during child birth. Don't get me wrong, he was worth every second of it, but am I looking forward to the actual birth of this baby? Um...not exactly. I guess it's a blessing that I am so uncomfortable these days, at this point I'm willing to go through anything to get this baby into the world! :)

THE COUNT DOWN IS ON...ONLY SIX MORE DAYS TO GO!

P.S. My doctor all but promised me this c-section wouldn't be nearly as hard. Zack had a muscle wrapped around him which made it very difficult to get him out. My doc said the odds of that happening for a scheduled c-section are slim to none...sigh of relief!

P.S.S. Here are some cute pics I took of Zack today, he LOVED being outside! But he's been sick so he only got to stay out there for a couple minutes.

I took this at his Grandparent's house, these snowmen sang and danced when you'd push a button and he LOVED them!

Changes...

I can't believe how much our lives have changed in one short year: Trent graduated college, new house, new neighborhood, new job, new baby, new car (ok...just kidding abou the new car but it would be nice if anyone's in the giving mood! haha) Talk about life changes though!!

Now that it's totally official I can blog about it but as of 2 weeks ago Trent changed jobs. He is now working for a company named Goldman Sachs, a large financial firm.
It was kind of crazy how it all came about. We weren't even thinking about Trent changing jobs but then we heard about this company opening an office in Salt Lake and he was interested from the beginning. Then a friend from his old job transferred over to Golman Sachs and told Trent how much he liked it. We figured we had nothing to loose by applying so he just went ahead and applied. We were somewhat surprised by how easily he got the job and what great benefits the company had. We talked about it a lot and decided it was a great opportunity we shouldn't turn down. So a month later he was starting a brand new job 3 weeks before the baby comes....ahhh!

While I am WAY excited to FINALLY have this baby (one week and 2 days to go...yahoo!) I'm totally sad because I'm finishing up babysitting some of the cutest kids ever! Starting last summer I have been babysitting these 2 kids once a week. The little girl was only a month old when I started and now she's walking and talking! Their little boy is one of Zack's best friends in the world. I never thought of myself as a "daycare" kind of person but I just fell in love with these kids and I actually look forward to the day they come because Zack LOVES the company so much, I'm going to totally miss having them come every week!

This is the 3 of them watching in awe as that tractor dug a hole.

P.S. My awesome husband let me sleep in a bit this morning and this is what I woke up to:Talk about stylish huh?