Las Vegas

A few weeks ago, I attempted a family vacation with a 23 month old and a 2 week old without Tyler to Las Vegas to watch my nephews play baseball. Fortunately for me, I have an awesome family who helped me out with my two boys. I had a great time watching baseball, chasing Cohen and being in warm weather. Cohen loved being with all his cousins and caused trouble right along with them. His favorite part of the trip was "borrowing" balls from teams that left them out. I didn't realize the balls weren't his until we got home and he had tripled his collection. We did have many adventures on this trip and learned a few future travel trips for taking kids. First, don't ever stay at a casino when packing two small children in two different strollers; stay at a hotel where you can park right outside your room. It truly took 10-15 minutes to park and get to our room. Second, don't take two strollers in the first place. I can't tell you how many times I had to get two separate strollers in and out of the car along with the boy that went in it. Third, remember that naps is a must or you have screaming children. Last, it is a vacation... Tell yourself this over and over until you believe it. But in the end, I am glad I went and my boys had an absolute blast. Cohen loved being at the ball games every day and Talon loved being held by everyone.

Talon's Newborn Pictures

A few weeks ago, we got Talon's newborn pictures taken. In some pictures, he looks so much like Cohen to me, but the older he is getting and the more awake he is, I have noticed he definitely has his own look. Enjoy!

Baby Talon

Baby Talon finally made his arrival on April 6, 2011 at 3:39 p.m. I had a scheduled induction at 9:00, but by the time everything got going, it was almost 11 a.m. Dr. Anderson broke my water at 11:15 and I got my epidural by 12:15. At this point, Talon's heart beat kept dropping with every contraction I had. We couldn't increase the pitocin to speed up delivery or Talon wouldn't have had enough time to recover between contractions. Dr. Anderson said it is like holding your breath for 30 seconds every 2 minutes. It is doable, but you get tired after a while. We, along with all the nurses, were getting really worried about this. Our head nurse said she thought for sure the cord was wrapped around some part of his body. If you have ever had this happen to you while delivering, you know it is the scariest thing to watch your babies heart beat drop out of the normal parameters. Fortunately, Talon did react to the nurse each time she would check me and feel his head so we felt like that was a good sign. At around 2:30, the nurse said she needed us to have this baby soon so she could relax. At about 3:15, they called Dr. Anderson and prepped the room.

By the time they got me ready to go, the nurse noticed Talon was already coming out without me doing anything. Dr. Anderson had to hurry over and get ready to deliver him. They had me do a half push and got Talon's head all the way out. That is when they noticed the cord wrapped twice, tightly around his little neck. Then when they had me do another half push, he came out with the cord also wrapped around one arm. At this point, Dr. Anderson was able to pull him out. This whole process took about a minute. I thank my Heavenly Father that Talon's delivery was easy considering the strain the cord wrapped around his neck was doing to him. I have never been so scared in my life as I was during this time. When I heard Talon's first cry, I have never felt so much relief. I could finally relax and be excited to have my little boy. Now, I have to get Cohen used to his little brother which hasn't been as easy task so far!

Apparently, Cohen thought he was the patient. He took over my bed along with the TV and my water.

Talon Tyler Nelson

April 6, 2011

7 lbs 9 oz

21 inches long

3:39 p.m.

St. George

I love when March finally comes and we head down to the Sunshine Baseball Tournament. This year was especially fun because Cohen loved going to the games to see his "Papa" coach. For most of the trip, Cohen talked of nothing more than riding the bus with Papa. After one of the games on Friday, he finally was able to ride the school bus and loved every minute of it.

The Dons played two games on Friday and Cohen ran the entire time during both of them. I could hardly keep up with him being 8 1/2 months pregnant. Luckily, Tyler and many others helped with keeping track of our runner. Unfortunately, Saturday came around and it was apparent Cohen wasn't feeling well. He had a fever over 102. We debated about going to games this day, but finally decided to go after we got his fever under control.

Even though Cohen didn't feel as well on Saturday, he had a blast being at the ball park. He loved watching the boys play baseball. Cohen was constantly yelling "hit ball", "homerun" and "catch ball" to the players. One of his favorite things was to try and take the bats out of the dugout. He succeeded a few times, but we luckily caught him before anyone knew they were missing!

These pictures are of Cohen a few nights before our "trip". He was so excited to go that he put on his backpack (filled with balls, a mitt, and a bat), got another bat and grab his tee to head out the door. He had a hard time understanding our trip wasn't that night. He kept telling Tyler, "Dad I wanna go bye bye." Throughout the next few nights, we caught Cohen sleeping with his backpack because he wanted to be ready to go for his "trip".

My sister's mother-in-law made Cohen the cutest little Dons outfit for him to wear to the games. He loved wearing his "uniform" like the big boys.

Hey Batter Batter...

Swing....

After swinging right handed, Cohen had to take a few cuts left handed.

Cohen loading to get a big hit...

HOMERUN! Apparently whenever you get a hit, then it is a homerun in Cohen's book!

Cohen loves to squat down like a catcher. The only problem is he also likes to try to hit from this position.

Here are all the Nelson Grandkids that were at the Sunshine Tournament with Grandma Gloria.

Wow..

...where has time gone the last two months. I haven't had any time to update my blog between sub plans, preparing for Talon's arrival, teaching and Cohen. I am hoping in the next few weeks things will settle down.

About a month ago, we took Cohen on his last Nelson Family Cabin trip before the cabin is sold. He had a ball sledding, playing in the snow and entertaining the rest of us. I think one of his favorite parts of the trip was pulling the sled up and down the hill; he even didn't mind pulling his cousin around. Unfortunately, little boys can't stay outside forever and Cohen didn't enjoy going in the house.

After January is over and February begins, I always get anxious for spring time. This year I found some aviator sunglasses and a hat for Cohen that I had to buy. He loves wearing them around the house and in the car, but if anyone draws attention to the sunglasses or his hat, then he takes them right off!

The other night Cohen came to me and told me he wanted his picture taken. He doesn't usually do this so I thought I better take him up on the offer. Here is Cohen cheesing the camera!