Nielson Hot Spot

Monday, August 11, 2008

She's Almost Got It!

Maya's been practicing her crawling technique lately, and at this family party we were able to catch her in action. She gets up on her hands and feet, but then she gets stuck. She doesn't know what to do next, but she knows that she must somehow go forward. So there she is with her belly way up off the ground and she starts to rock back and forth. It starts out relatively slowly, but it builds up until she is violently lunging and then she lets her arms collapse and she lands six or eight inches in front of where she started. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done!

**UPDATE 08/10 Maya is in full-on crawl mode now. Oh, yes, girl gets around! Time for the baby gates!

Our Miss Heather

We love Miss Heather! She's actually my awesome friend Heather Cram, but the kiddos call her Miss Heather (because its polite). She is so good to our kids and she an even better friend to me. I don't deserve her love and generosity! Heather, thanks for always making yourself available to help me out in a pinch, for taking Maya when Jade and I want to catch a flick at the dollar theater, for bringing over samples of your awesome cooking, for letting me tag along on your photo shoots, for coming to my photo shoots and mentoring me on the "little things" that make a good session better, and for sharing our special moments bonding over our idiosyncrasies. Here's to you, Heather!

gIrLy TiMe!!

Kaeli and Abbi had a fun time playing dress up with Maya. And Maya had a blast, too! It was pretty cute when Maya just sat still and let Kaeli put the lipstick on her!

Have you seen that kid next door? He's HUGE!

My best friend Lori, who also happens to be my sis-in-law, just moved in to our apartment building. YEAAAAAHHH! Its sooo fun to have them so close. Our niece, Kaeli, comes over practically every day to play with the boys, and her little sister Abbi is always just a few steps behind. It's cute the way they just open the door and walk in like they own the place (which I'm sure Kaeli is convinced of.). We don't mind at all because we love having them over. Anyway, Kaeli and Abbi have a not-so-little little brother who was born in the middle of March, so that makes him two months old in this picture. Lori and I wanted to see how close Jacob and Maya were in size (Maya was seven months at the time). We had just weighed them and Jacob was less than half a pound smaller than Maya (which you can't tell from the pic because he's so beefy!) I couldn't believe it! Jacob and Maya were the same length from head to crotch (sorry, couldn't think of a better word), and the only difference was that Maya's legs were about two inches longer. We love Jacob, though! Nothin' better than a big ole baby boy !

At Long Last...

To say that my dad's side of the family isn't close would be an understatement.... They don't even talk for years at a time! And, just to give you a little perspective, I get my "chatty" nature from them. So, yeah, they're not close. Consequently, I haven't seen my Aunt Loretta's family for almost fourteen years! Since she live a short two-hour drive away in Vegas, that's a shameful tale. So, to give this story a happy ending, My mom and sister and I finally made the trip down to see Loretta and my (awesome) cousin, Michael. We met up for lunch at a really great restaurant, where Michael drilled Mom and I on all the "funny little things about Mormons", which was hilarious, especially when he and Aunt Loretta got serious and asked, just to make sure, whether we were really polygamists... not that they would judge:)

I have to relate this funny story that Michael told us about his Halloween costume from a few years back: Mike and a friend were debating on whether to dress up as two Jehova's Witnesses or a pair of Mormon missionaries.... They finally decided to go with the missionary idea because, as Mike says, "You guys have way better accessories!" So off they went with their white shirts, ties, backpacks, and "future missionary" name tags! I love it!

Taiya, Loretta holding Maya, Gabe getting squished, and Jaden

Mom and Loretta

Jaden thinks he's a dog, and the dog is confused...

That's right folks, those Nielson boys are no respecter of circumstances when it comes to when or where they will take their clothes off.

This is Mike teasing Gabe with the dog's ball. Mike was AWESOME with the boys and was willing to throw that ball as many times and they would catch it and bring it back. I know, "fetch" is a game you usually play with a dog, but apparently its great for toddler boys as well.