"It's a BUCK!!!!"

I was rereading some of my past posts and realized that I never announced the gender of our little one. Most of the world already knows, but for documenting purposes I'll tell the story.

My ultrasound appointment was scheduled for the afternoon of September 17, 2013. We (im)patiently waited in the waiting room for a good 45 min-1 hour before we got in. It turned out that the ultrasound tech got backed up because of an emergency earlier in the day. Once we got into the exam room the tech asked us whether or not we wanted to find out the gender of the baby. "Yes!" was our immediate response.

Up to this point, I was having mixed feelings about what the gender would be. Somedays I would think we were having a little girl, other days I was determined it would be a boy. I never had any kind of dream or "sign" that it would for sure be one gender over the other. But, I secretly hoped it would be a boy. Marc and I always thought that having a boy first would be so much fun. So the day(s) leading up to the ultrasound appointment were making me anxious because I was a little worried that I would be disappointed if the baby was a girl. I know, that sounds terrible, but it's true.

After checking on the baby's vital organs, limbs, and brain, the tech finally said "Ready to find out the gender?" I'm pretty sure my heart was pounding at this point. She hovered over the baby's legs, which were spread wide apart I should add, and it was most definitely a boy!

Marc and I couldn't stop smiling after that (and I might have cried...just a little). We were so excited to tell our families the good news. I told my side that we broke the "Nelson curse" (a family joke since all of my cousins have had girls so far). Marc proudly announced to his family "It's a BUCK!!!"

Here's some pictures of our little cutie:

Love this one with his legs over his head!

I cannot wait to meet our little guy and hold these little hands!!

Halloween Porch and Beggar's Night

It took me awhile to get my porch ready for the holiday but I made it just in time for Beggar's Night. What's Beggar's Night you ask? It's when kids come trick-or-treating the day BEFORE Halloween....crazy I know. And I don't understand it, but that's when everyone came trick-or-treating at our house. Also, for some reason kids these days don't know that you're supposed to say "trick-or-treat." C'mon I'm not giving you candy for nothing. So Marc and I started saying "What do you say?" before handing over the sweets. And do you know what some of them said instead of "trick-or-treat"? They told us a Halloween joke. Yeah, apparently in Des Moines they make their kids really work for candy and they have to tell a joke first. Genius.

Anyways, back to the porch decorations...so all day on October 29th I was busy decorating pumpkins. We couldn't find a time for Marc and I to carve jack-o-lanterns together so I decided to trade in the carving knives for paint brushes.

Can you guess which one Marc designed?

Here is our front door wreath, complete with a mini burlap "BOO!" banner and paper pumpkins.

A shot of the whole porch.

I think it all turned out pretty cute. Oh, and here's our new favorite addition to our Halloween decor, sent to us by my awesome mom-in-law.

Happy Halloween!

The Pretzel Roll Trend

Pretzel rolls have been everywhere lately, almost every fast food joint has their own variation of a burger or sandwich using the trendy rolls and of course Pinterest has its fair share of DIY recipes. Today, the pretzel roll trend made it into our house. Marc has been sending me what he likes to call "subliminal messages" (aka huge hints) all week about making our own pretzel rolls. I told him that I would only make them on a day when he could help me. I make my fair share of rolls and breads but was a little wary to try out the popular pretzel roll all by myself. Even though he's studying today, Marc stayed home so he could help out. 

Here's our finished product. (Recipe can be found at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.)

As we were shaping rolls and boiling water I said to Marc, "You're pretty spoiled, you know that, right?" He smiled and said "Yeah." I am at a disadvantage though because, honestly, who can resist his smile-mid-bite face?? 

Family Baby Shower

When we decided to move to Iowa instead of Arizona we had a few more weeks to spend with family before we had to move. We decided to spend one of those weeks back in Washington to see my family since we probably won't see them for the holidays. While we were there, my family threw us a surprise baby shower!

Aren't those the cutest decorations?? I love the hanging, clothes-pinned sleepers. And of course we had to have food--I think the fruit pizzas got devoured before we opened any presents :)

At this point we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, but my sister knew we would love this bib regardless of the gender. It says "Can't wait to hunt with daddy." Marc LOVED it! (Sorry for the fuzzy and badly-lit photos.)

Some teething rings.

 I can't remember what's in the box but whatever it was I thought it was pretty cute. 

A cozy ducky sleeper. 

 And everyone needs white onesies. 

My mom has made these cloth burp rags for as long as I can remember. She buys the burp rags in packs, then embellishes them with cute ribbon. And that's my cute new diaper bag!

My younger sister was in charge of taking pictures of us during the shower. We gave her Marc's iPad and she went a little crazy. I think she took a picture every minute or so....that means that she captured a lot of interesting expressions. I honestly didn't know I made these faces in real life! 

This is a tame one...it gets betters. 

Not sure what I'm after here..but I sure look tired!

Must have been the most surprising news of the year!

This is my favorite! I'm not trying to be a monster...that's just me yawning.

I'll end with a decent photo :)

 This was taken after all the presents were unwrapped...I think it was finally dawning on us that we were really going to bring a little person into the world. Glad our faces are happy here and not apprehensive.