More pictures...

So I know this is a little ridiculous, becuase Justin already posted those last two entries. Our little guy is only 5 days old and we already have 3 posts of pictures of him. We are a little bit crazy about him if you can't tell! Anyway, I did some editing while Braden was asleep in my arms and decided I should put them up. He iis just so sweet and such a happy, content little baby! I came upstairs the other day and Justin was playing the guitar and singing to Braden. I wish I could have had the video camera ready at that moment. Justin is the best dad and is absolutely in love with Braden. I don't think Braden could get a better dad! My boys are the best!
My Mom and Dad were able to come from WA andstay with us to help take care of Braden (and us). It has been so great to have them around. They are also in love with their new little grandbaby and can't wait for him to be done with the bililights so they can hold him all the time and spoil him as much as possible!

Christmas Package

So our early little Christmas present has come wrapped in his own Christmas lights. Braden has jaundice and we were sent home with the bili-lights. So here is our little Christmas present under the tree with his lights.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!

Sunday at 7:56am Braden David Peterson joined our little family. He weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 20 inches long. He has a little more hair than either of us were expecting, but it is still pretty sparse. He has been a very content little boy. He gave a few little cries as soon he was born, but then was happy to just look around at the world with those big blue eyes. He doesn't even cry when his extremely inexperienced father ineffeciently changes his diapers. It was truly an amazing experience to watch his birth and overwhelming to realize that we are this little guy's parents. We are very happy and blessed to have him. Elise is doing well and recovering nicely. She pushed for two and a half hours and,needless to say, was pretty exhausted after the whole ordeal. She had amazing endurance which can probably be attributed to her exercising late into the pregnancy. We are happy to have Braden here!

Projects, projects and more projects!

Well, to answer all your questions...nope, no baby yet. We are anxiously and very impatiently waiting and I walk 30-60 minutes every morning hoping to encourage the contractions that I do have all day long to be more intense and productive. I don't think I've ever been so excited to feel intense pain.
Anyway, I'm trying to be a little more patient and focus on enjoying the time that Justin and I have to ourselves until this little guy comes. :) And, thanks to my wonderful Justin, things are finally ready for our little guy to come! We have been working on project for months and months, and they are finally all finished! You see, I'm not much of a "nester". You'd think that I would be panicking that the baby could be born any day, and we have not yet gotten the carseat installed, and are just barely getting the room presentable enough for the baby to even have a place to sleep, but that's just us I guess. Anyway, here are the projects that Justin finished up this last week:

Gliding rocking chair ottoman - we bought a gliding chair for $5 at a garage sale months ago, and ever since Justin has been feeling the need to make an ottoman to go with it. So, he drew up a design, we went to Home Depot, he spent many hours cutting and sanding and lacquering, and viole, we have a gliding ottoman with a matching pillow! It's great!

Dressers - Justin and I have never owned a dresser, let alone found one for the baby. In fact, I think it's been about six years since I have used a real dresser. We recently tried our luck at the DI and found these two just waiting for us! So we brought them home and Justin worked on them all day. By nightfall we had a dresser for us and for the baby! YAY! It is SO nice!

Crib - We also purchased a crib at a garage sale for $5 and decided to refinish it. Big mistake. There are about a million dowels with scalloped edges that take 1-2 hours each to sand down - by hand. We have been working on this crib for a majority of the nine months I've been pregnant! I would never do this again, but it is beautiful and we love it. Let's just say it had better last a LONG TIME. Right now I don't have a picture of it put together, because there is not enough room in the bedroom for both it and the bassinet we are going to use. So, once our little guy is big enough that we want him in the crib, I'll try to remember to take a picture of it to show you all. I really love it.

And with that, our projects are finally finished! Everything is put away and we are just waiting for this little baby to join us!

A Great Thanksgiving...

Justin and I had the best Thanksgiving! The week started out with me fixing my first Thanksgiving dinner. It was wonderful! The rolls were the only big disasters, but in the end they turned out great. (We had some overzealous yeast that decided to explode while rising in a warm oven! I wish I had taken a picture because it was really pretty amazing. I am also very grateful for a handy husband who is able to unscrew things and pry the oven door open when I accidently broke the lock and got it stuck while the rolls were cooking in the oven! I wish I had a picture of that one too. It was all really funny!) It was so nice to have the leftovers and the good company over for some pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner.

Next, we went to my Grandma and Grandpa Neilson's for Thanksgiving. We stayed with my aunt and uncle, Shawn and Heather, which was a blast! Justin got to play football with all the guys (an event he looks forward to all year), and came away this year without any injuries (except a few nasty bruises that is)! On Black Friday Justin and I ventured out to do some shopping. This was officially my first encounter with shopping the day after Thanksgiving. It wasn't too bad - I think mostly because we didn't go out until the afternoon when some of the mad rushes were gone. I don't know how people do that 5am shopping stuff. Some people must just love a good deal more than I do, I guess. Anyway, we found some good stuff, so it was successful.

The best though is that every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving my mom's family gets together and goes to a little town called Eureka to cut down a Christmas tree. Although this tradition has been happening my whole life, I have never participated until this year! Justin and I went with them, found a tree, cut it down and brought it back to Logan! Now it is so pretty in our living room and it makes our apartment smell SO GOOD! Our first real Christmas tree. It's so exciting! I love Christmastime!