Christmas Cheer!

Wow! What a great Christmas break it's been! Here are some of the highlights:

We started off my Christmas break with a trip to the Bass Pro where Myka met Santa Claus for the first time! She wasn't too thrilled about him! I don't think she understook why her parents just sat her down on the lap of some strange guy and started taking pictures. It didn't take long for the tears to come, so that trip didn't last long! However, after meeting Santa, we took Myka out to Rhema Bible College to see all the beautiful Christmas lights! As we drove through, she kept saying, "Ooohhh, pretty!" I don't know how many times she said that! She loved all the lights! Her favorite part was the tunnel of lights and watching the ducks swim in the pond. She would have stayed forever, but it was below freezing wind chills that night, so we didn't stay long. We walked through quickly and then headed home! We showed Myka the bench where her Daddy proposed to me! We plan to take her there every year!

On Christmas Eve Eve, Myka and I baked/decorated Christmas cookies together for the first time this year! She had so much fun! Her favorite thing to decorate with were the sprinkles and m&m's! However, she ate more m&m's than she actually put on the cookies! It was definitely a mess, but so much fun! I'm looking forward to the many more times we will bake together!

On Christmas Eve, we went to my parents where we celebrated Christmas with my parents, grandparents, and sister's family! We had so much fun! Mom cooked a delicious lunch, which I'm sure they will be eating for still several more days! There was so much food! We then opened gifts...which took 2 1/2 hours! I have never seen so many gifts! What's funny is, every year my parents say they are going to cut back...however, every year there are more and more gifts! We truly are blessed! It's amazing the joy I get when I watch my daughter tear open those gifts and see her eyes light up as she sees her new toys! I just want her to always know the real reason of Christmas and the most important gift of all is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! After we opened gifts, most of the family had to call it a night. My grandparents and sister had to leave early because of the crazy blizzard conditions. With God's hand of protection, they all made it home safely! Nathan and I stayed (since we only live 2 miles away) and played Scrabble all evening! I won!!!!! It was definitely a fun day even though we didn't get to play our usual games with the whole gang! I'm just glad everyone was safe and sound!

On Christmas morning, we all slept in and I fixed cinnamon rolls for the family and we opened our gifts to one another, as well as opened gifts from Santa! Myka got a new set of golf clubs from Santa this year! Nathan and I got Myka her very own recliner, which was a huge success! She loves it! I got a new wireless printer and digital picture frame and Nathan got stocked up on clothes! We had a great time watching Myka play with her new toys!

After we finished our personal family gift exchange, Nathan had to go work on the driveway! He shoveled and shoveled and shoveled!!!!! While he cleared the driveway of all the snow, us girls got cleaned up and ready to go to Nathan's parents house for our Nelson Christmas celebration! We were a little later than usual due to the bad weather. In fact, Nathan's brother had to come pick us up in their 4-wheel drive vehicle because Nathan's truck just doesn't do very good on the ice!

Once we got to Nathan's parent's house, we opened gifts and had another great meal! We always say we've eaten so much, we won't have to eat for days...however, we're always hungry in a few more hours! =) The guys had fun playing with some of Myka's new toys...yes, I said Myka's new toys! They played "pig" with Myka's new Fisher Price basketball goal and they raced her new car around the living room! It was fun to watch!

On Saturday, we just enjoyed a lazy day at home. We didn't want to venture out into the ice and snow, so we had a fun day at the house. We took Myka out to play in the snow for her first time. She was not happy at all at first, but she soon began to have fun and didn't want to go inside! She looked like a little eskimo all bundled up out there! We had so much fun. Once we came inside, we just picked up the house, took all the decorations down, and played with all of Myka's new toys!

We are truly blessed with the most wonderful family ever! I am looking forward to this next week at home again with my baby girl! It has been great! In fact, Myka has become quite the Momma's girl this week! I'm just taking advantage of it, because she is usually always wanting her daddy! =) I'm sad Nathan can't spend this week at home with us, but it's another short work week for him too, so it will be fun!

I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and we would like to also wish you a Happy New Year! May God fill your life with as many joyous moments as we shared this year! God is good and He delights in His children's happiness!

Love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year! I love spending the time with my family! This year, we started our Thanksgiving day at home. We all slept in and then when Myka woke up, we brought her into our room and had a lazy morning in bed playing and watching the Thanksgiving Day parade on TV! That was always a tradition for me to watch the parade with my Dad when I was a child, and we have decided to make it a tradition with our children as well! Myka loved watching all the big balloons floating down the streets! She kept pointing and she would get so excited! I loved it!

We then headed over to Nathan's parents' house for lunch! My mother-in-law cooked a delicious turkey meal with all the trimmings! We were joined by Nathan's brother and sister-in-law, as well as his grandparents. We just ate, watched football, and hung out all afternoon.

Later that afternoon, we headed over to my grandparents and joined my parents and sister's family. We enjoyed some dessert (and leftovers) and played games all evening...and of course, it's a family tradition to shop all the wonderful Thanksgiving ads and watch more football.

It was a great day! We got one picture at the Nelson's, but forgot to take all of our traditional family pictures before we left! I did get several pictures at my grandparents house, though! We had a great time and we are thankful to have all of our family so close! We are blessed!

Happy Birthday to me!

This year has been full of blessings and joy! Here are some of the highlights of my 27th year of life!

- celebrated Myka's first Christmas

- My sister found out she was pregnant!

- celebrated Myka's 1st birthday!

- went on a family vacation with all the Roberson side to Panama City, Florida

- found out we are pregnant with our 2nd child!

- decided to put our house up on the market

- bought a lot and started building a new house!

- found out we're having another GIRL!

- and so much more!

This has been a year full of changes, which is funny because I am typically one who hates change! However, I have such a peace about all the changes going on in our lives...selling our home, moving, having another child, etc! I know God has His hand upon my family and I have such joy knowing that all my family is serving the Lord and we're just enjoying the ride and going wherever God takes us!

I celebrated my 28th birthday on November 19th this year and I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me this coming year! The best is yet to come! I was able to celebrate with all of my family and friends. I'm known to celebrate for several weeks! Some of my festivities included fried chicken birthday dinner at Papa and Nana's with all the family, dinner at PF Changs with Mom and Dad and my family, dinner at Olive Garden with all the Nelson's, and dinner at Andolini's with the Miller's...by the way, these did not take place on the same day!!!

My family showered me with lots of wonderful birthday gifts! Although the material gifts are nice, I can truly say that I would have been just as happy to just spend that precious time with my family. I love them so much and feel so blessed to have them by my side every day! There's nothing that means more to me than to have a Godly husband who loves me with all that he is, a precious daughter that I get to raise and support her in her God-given abilities, and wonderful family and friends who love and encourage me in all I do! I am truly blessed!

I will leave you with a few of my birthday pictures! Happy 28th Birthday to me!!!!!

(I couldn't figure out how to post the pictures at the bottom, so all the pictures are at the top!)

We're having a.....

The wait is over! We finally went to the doctor this afternoon for our 19 week ultrasound and the ultrasound technician said she is 90% sure we are having another GIRL!!!!!!! We are so excited! The cord is still in between the legs, but she moved around enough for us to get some good shots of the "3 lines!" For those of you with girls, you know what I'm talking about!
My official due date is April 16, but based on the measurements today, it is April 14th...which happens to be Uncle Nick's birthday! We're eager to start looking through baby girl names, bedding, furniture, clothes, etc! Nathan said it will be cheaper in the short run since this baby girl can use most of Myka's hand-me-downs. However, he is already stressing about paying for 2 weddings some day...not to mention all of the hair and nail appointments! =)
During the ultrasound, everything looks perfectly healthy on baby girl! Her heartbeat was 150 beats/minute and all of her organs look great! I still marvel at the miracle of life! God is so good and we are so blessed to be having another beautiful child. To see that little life growing inside of me makes me tear up every time. I count it a priviledge and gift from God to have the opportunity to raise these children. I thank God everyday for entrusting us to raise these two girls! I pray for His wisdom and guidance as we engage on this beautiful adventure!

Doctor's visit!

We went to the baby doctor this afternoon for our regular check-up. I told the doctor that I didn't think this baby was going to be as active as my little Myka because I hadn't felt a lot of movement. She said that the baby probably was embedded behind my placenta and that the placenta was acting like a pillow, which was the reason I wasn't able to feel the movement. Right after we had talked, she started to listen to the heartbeat. Well, our little one proved me wrong! That little booger was all over the place! The doctor couldn't ever get a good heartbeat, because the baby just kept moving! She got tickled since I was just saying this baby wasn't active! I could hear the baby swishing all around, but I couldn't feel it! After trying several times to listen to the heartbeat, she decided to just take me to the ultrasound room to take a look!
This baby is definitely a baby after her mom's own heart...loves to get pictures taken! I was so glad we were going to get an ultrasound because I really want to find out the sex of this little one! The heartbeat sounded great...around 145 beats/minute! The doctor took a look around and everything looked great. Sure enough, the baby was behind my placenta, so that's why I haven't been feeling a lot of movement! He/she has grown so much since our last ultrasound and was moving all over the place! We had a great shot of the bottom and legs, but the silly cord was right in the way! We never could get a good shot to tell if it was a boy or girl! So, I guess we'll have to wait until our scheduled ultrasound next week! It will be a great birthday present to find out! I can't wait to make the big announcement!

Pregnant...and looking it!

I am now 18 weeks pregnant...almost at the half-way mark! I was really nauseous at the beginning of this pregnancy, which was completely different from my first pregnancy with Myka. I was never sick when pregnant with Myka...in fact, I felt great the entire pregnancy...no sickness, exhaustion, etc. It was the ideal pregnancy!
Since this pregnancy started off so different, I was convinced this time it must be a BOY! Afterall, a sweet little princess would never make her momma sick...right?! Well, after I hit the 9-10th week, the sickness passed and I started feeling great again! Well, now everything is back to the same! I don't feel sick or tired...except for last night when Myka was up all night because she was sick! I was very tired then! =) However, overall, it feels like my first pregnancy again! So now, I really don't have an inclination of what I'm having! I've tried to find differences in the way I'm carrying this child and I just can't tell!
At first, when I started showing at 11 weeks...yes, I said 11 weeks!...I felt like I was carrying a little lower than I did with Myka. However, I have now rounded out and feel like I'm carrying this baby pretty high...just like with Myka! We find out the sex of the baby next Friday and I can't wait to know if we're having another little girl or if we are having a little boy this time! I am so ready to start buying either pink or blue! We tried to start looking for a name, but we got too overwhelmed looking at both boy and girl names, so we postponed that project until we find out. It was so easy to pick out Myka's name, because it was a family name with a special meaning, and I knew I wanted a child named after my dad! However, this child is much harder to name, because we're starting from scratch...and not particulary after anyone! I'm hoping once we find out the gender, it will make our baby name search easier! If you have any name suggestions that go good with our last name, I would love to hear! As you probably know with my daughter's name, I like unique names, but not so different they are made fun of! I just want to try to stay away from the most popular names...which is very difficult!
I'll let everyone know next week what we find out at the ultrasound! Until then...I'll keep driving myself crazy wondering!

I finally did it!

Okay...I am officially a blogger! I have wanted to create a blog for some time now, but just haven't had the time. My hope is to blog about everyday occurances in the Nelson household! I hope you enjoy reading and I hope I can keep the blog updated! There are so many things that happen on a daily basis that I know I will forget someday unless I write it down So, this is my attempt in capturing those memories so I won't forget! Wish me luck!