Christmas Card 2015

I still need to update our blog with our awesome November fun and now December as well but the holidays and potty training has put our life a little behind :)  However, I thought maybe family and friends would enjoy seeing our Christmas, excuse me, I mean New Years Cards.  I went to pick up our cards a few weeks before Christmas only to discover that they had ALL been printed with the message "Love The Moss Family".  So they have been reprinted and are being dropped in the mail this week but for those who simply CANNOT wait, here is a digital copy. Enjoy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We hope your 2015 was wonderful!  Here’s what the Nielsen Family was up to this year!

Shawn – Is still building his Farm Bureau agency.  We were warned that the first 3 years can be the hardest and his late nights are evidence of that.  He has 5 employees now and is looking to hire a few more the beginning of the year to help ease his work load so hopefully we will get to see more of him at home.  He enjoys golf, hunting and working outdoors whenever he does get time off.  He is currently serving in the Elders Quorum Presidency.

Alyssa (Me!) – I am a full time mama to Kimber and now little Brady.  They keep me BUSY!  In my “spare time” I try to keep my blog up to date to continue helping families in the Prader Willi Community by sharing our own story and experiences.  I am serving as Primary Secretary in our ward which has to be one of the best callings ever.

Kimber (2 ½) – Started walking early this year just before her 2^nd birthday!  Her speech is amazing and she keeps us laughing on a daily basis with her very “grown up” vocabulary.  She knows her alphabet and numbers.  Her schedule still includes therapy multiple times a week and regular trips down to Primary Children’s Hospital to see various specialists but this is officially our “normal” and isn’t as overwhelming any more.  She love books, Elmo, Daniel Tiger, Word World, and singing at her nursery class with her friends.

One of the highlights of our year was a trip to Florida to see THE Prader Willi Specialist, Dr Miller.  Our appointment with her was worth the budgeting, planning and long flight over with a toddler at 7 months pregnant.  Dr. Miller was very impressed with Kimber’s progress and told us that she feels Kimber is definitely on the “mild” end of the Prader Willi Spectrum.  We left her office so full of hope and EXCITED for Kimber’s future.  Oh the places this little girl is going to go!  Watch out world!

Brady (4 mo) – The other highlight of our year!  Brady was born in August via c-section and has definitely brought a new level of “excitement” to our home.  The whole experience has been dramatically opposite to Kimber.  He was born with literally perfect apgar scores and our little man has not stopped to take a breath since!  He giggles, coos, rolls over and is DETERMINED to become totally mobile before his mama is ready for it! 

I have been asked if having a “typical” baby is easier or harder than my experience with Kimber.  It’s just DIFFERENT!  While it is nice not to have constant doctor and therapy appointments, it did take some time adjusting to a baby who actually cries, eats by mouth and spends more time awake than asleep!  We LOVE having him in our home and Kimber absolutely ADORES him.

We are so grateful for all of your love and support this year.  We look forward to what next year has in store for the Nielsen family!

Love,

Shawn, Alyssa, Kimber “Bean”, and Brady

Baby Blessing, California and Halloween... A Busy October

Let me just start off by saying we had the most AMAZING Halloween.  I was SO nervous leading up to this holiday this year.  In the past Kimber hasn't really cared about the candy or trick or treating but this year I knew it was going to be different.  I debated about what to do.  I finally decided to just send out a little message to some of our ward members to see if any of them were planning on having non-food items available at their homes the night of Halloween.  I was hoping for 5 or 6 houses to hit just to give her the experience.  I was so excited for her when 10 families told me that they would have something special for Kimber.

As I took her around on Halloween she was SO excited.  She enthusiastically told each person "Thank you for my Trick-or-Treat!"  When we got back to the car she would giggle, examine and excitedly talk about each new prize until we got to the next house.  As we were driving I started getting text messages and phone calls from other members in our ward to let us know they also had something special for our girl.  Over an hour and 20 houses later she proudly marched into the house with her loot of

bouncy balls, stickers, glow sticks, coloring books, and even a can of olives!  We really do live in an incredible place with incredible people who love our little Bean!

The rest of the month went pretty good as well but boy were we BUSY!

After Shawn had to leave for ANOTHER work trip I jumped at the chance to get out of the valley myself and took the kids to surprise Aunt Mikayla in California while Uncle Bryan was out in the field for training.  Shawn wasn't able to join us due to a very full work schedule but we had SO much fun.  We loved seeing her little home on the base, hanging out at the beach (although Brady HATED the water and Kimber took some time warming up to the idea of sand and waves again) and seeing where Uncle Austin works.  I wish we could see them more often and the weekend went by way too fast.

Shawn has been amazing.  He's set some pretty big goals for himself and the business and has been working SO hard to achieve them.  Usually this means not getting home before 9:30 and skipping lunch but he knows if he works hard now it will pay off.  He and Kimber are workout buddies and do P90X together every morning.  The other day he had some early meetings and Kimber slept in and so she missed their session.  I think the sound of the shower is what finally woke her up and she came running into my room in a panic and said "Mom!  Where's my friend!"
"What friend honey?"  I asked her.
"My friend!  My friend that does push ups!"
"Oh... Dad's in the shower..."
I love that she considers him "her friend".  I hope she always does.

Speaking of which, she is SUCH a crack up.  As her vocabulary expands (she used the word "smock" the other day) and her speech becomes more clear she keeps us laughing every single day.  As I was putting her down for a nap a few weeks ago she kept getting up.  At first it was because she forgot to give me a hug.  Then it was a kiss.  Then she needed to give Brady a hug and a kiss.  I could tell her excuses were running low when she came out and asked for a drink of water (that NEVER happens).  The final time she got out of bed I was getting frustrated and she knew it.  When I asked her what she wanted I could see her draw a complete blank.  Then very carefully she answered "I need to.... shake your hand...."  She walked over to me, shook my hand and then ran off to her bed before I could put her in a time out.

She LOVES learning her alphabet and can identify every letter.  My conversation with her while doing the dishes went like this:  "Mom!  I see a K!  K like Kimber!"
"Yes that is a K!  Do you see a Q?"
"Ya!  I see a Q!  Q like Kimber!"
"No honey, Q is like Queen."
"Oh, ok.  I see a Q like Queen Kimber!"  She is one of a kind for sure!

She is starting to notice there is something different about her though and as a mom it is hard to watch.  I want nothing more than to "fix" it all for her right now.  I never want her to feel left out or alone.  When she walked out from her nap holding her Gtube in her hand I rolled my eyes a little and told her to lay down so we could put it back in.  I was surprised when she said "Ummm I don't want it anymore."  I tried to explain that that wasn't an option and she replied "But Brady doesn't have a tube!  My friends don't have tubes!"  Ugh... I didn't think we would be having this conversation until she was at least in kindergarten.  Luckily we have an amazing community of PWS moms who sent me photos of their kids with their tubes and we were able to have the "some people have special tubes and other people don't get them" talk.  That night as we carved pumpkins Kimber asked if her pumpkin could have a tube.  We have the only jack-o-lantern on the block with a gtube and we are proud of it!

Our little Brady boy is now two months old!  He was blessed on October 11 in his Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen's home.  It was such a special day with just our immediate family around.  (Which was still quite the crowd mind you)  He weighs 11 lbs 8 oz and is 23 inches long.  He's finally figured out how to smile (for a little while he had his smiles and frowns mixed up) and has the cheesiest grin earning him the nickname, Chuckles.  He is still "Mr. Intense" and loves to be one the move requiring me to learn the art of the Moby wrap.  He loves to be held... but not snuggled.  If he's awake his head is up, eyes are wide and he's constantly taking it ALL in.  We absolutely love him!

That's this month in a nutshell!  We are excited for the holiday season and we are so grateful for the friends and family who helped us get it off to such a great start!

When Did September End?!

People always seem to be reminding the younger generation "Life goes too fast!  Don't blink or you'll miss it!"  I never understood this until Kimber was born and suddenly life seemed to be thrown into double time.  Well I'm convinced now that life just speeds up with each child you have!  Suddenly the leaves are changing, the days are cooler and the nights are just flat out cold.

Kimber came into my room the other morning and asked to curl up with me under the covers.  After a few precious minutes of snuggling I asked her, "Kimber should we get up?"  She thought for a minute... "Ummm, no thanks."  "We could make cake-cakes" I bribed.  "No tant-too mom.  I not hung.  I too cold!"  I guess when the child with PWS refuses to get out of bed for pancakes it is officially fall and time to crank up the heater!

So far our fall is off to a great start!  Shawn has had several work trips this month which has left me to manage the two kids alone for several days.  I'll admit, at first I didn't think it would be that big of a deal since he usually works until 8:30 or 9 anyways and gets home most nights just before I put Kimber in her bed.  The first day he was gone I felt that I handled everything ok.  I put Kimber to bed and sat down on the couch to enjoy a little chick flick when I realized all that was left undone!  Trashes, dogs, chickens, beds, living room pick up, moving the last load of laundry from the washer to the dryer, the list literally goes on and ON.  I don't know what I would do without that man.  In a world where women are so proud to proclaim that they can do it all on their own I officially would like to say I could not do it without Shawn.  He is the unsung hero of our home and I absolutely love him!

First football game!

His business is going well.  He currently has the most employees he has ever hired at one time and hopes to be able to really move his business forward in big leaps.  We were able to enjoy box seats at the Aggie football game this month thanks to the wonderful people he associates with at ARS (a local flood and fire clean up company).  It was Brady's first football game and Shawn got a VIP pass onto the field.  It was such a fun night.

I am slowly adjusting to the happy chaos of two kids.  Just when I think I have a handle on things Brady will change up his eating or sleeping schedule and I feel like we are all the way back at square one.  My major accomplishment this month was getting Kimber back on her growth hormone prescription after a miscommunication with the health insurance caused us to have to go without for almost a month.  We saw such a HUGE change in her strength, endurance, and especially her speech and cognitive function.  We are also back into our full therapy and doctor appointment schedule which is also taking some adjustment with an extra person tagging along but it's been good for Kimber to get back to our "normal". I am SO grateful for the medical advances that help give us a happy, functioning Kimber.

I am recovering from my c-section well but it is taking a little longer than I remember with Kimber.  However, I admittedly don't remember much about that period of time with Kimber and she was much smaller... and I didn't spend my days chasing down a two year old while taking care of a newborn so all things considered I think I'm doing pretty well :)  Park outings with Whitney and her littles keep me sane and remind me to laugh.

Kimber dozed off while reading Brady and I a book.

Kimber is growing up SO much!  She knows all of her colors, can count to ten (mostly... we get a little confused about where 9 comes in on occasion) and can identify a violin, bass, flute, trump (trumpet), horn (french horn) and trom (trombone).  She loves music and can sing "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain", "On Top of Spaghetti", "The ABC Song", "The Wiseman Built His House Upon a Rock", "Jesus wants me for a sun-BEAN", "I am a Child of God" and parts of "Come Thou Fount".  She LOVES the Mormon Tabernacle Choir about as much as she loves Elmo or Daniel Tiger.  The other day she surprised me when she walked up to the TV screen which was displaying the Sesame Street logo and excitedly said "Mommy! I see a T!"  Sure enough!  She can identify the letters T, O, F, W, L, K, P, X and A.

She LOVES her baby Brady and is such a big help.  She's quick to find the bottle or "fas-ifyer" when he is crying and is happy to throw away his diapers after a diaper change.  The other day Brady was crying during tummy time.  A very concerned Kimber found me to tell me "Brady sad!  Brady no like his tummy!"  I quickly tried to explain the benefits of tummy time in two year old appropriate terms while trying to get the next load of laundry in the washer.  I dismissed the tears welling up in her eyes as a sign of exhaustion and made note that it was probably time to start getting ready for bed.  When I came around the corner again I found her sitting next to him on the floor, with crocodile tears running down her face, gently rubbing his back saying "It's OK Brady.  Brady bery stwong.  It's OK Brady."  She is an incredible little spirit and is constantly teaching her mama lessons about life, love and patience.  She is one of a kind!

Brady is already one month old!  I can't believe it.  This month definitely went faster than the one before it.  At one month old Brady has head control.  He hates tummy time!  So much so that he made it a priority to figure out how to roll from tummy to back.  We were pretty shocked when he pulled it off!  Thanks to our chiropractor he is sleeping almost 5 hours at night.  The best way to describe him is just INTENSE.  He has the cutest dimples and dad's personality.  We are so happy to have him in our home!

Just a few more pictures from this month:

Brady sleeping in his "basket-nett" at Grandma's house

At the park with Emery and Sage Noorda after Brady and Sage's 2 week check up!

Brady in his Sunday best for his first day of church

Kimber asks to hold "her baby" and is very protective of Brady.  Brady loves his big sister.  I am such a lucky mom!

Baby Brady

He's here!  Our little Brady joined our family on August 18 at 7:50 am.  Despite measuring small for most of my pregnancy he weighed in at an impressive 7 lbs 1 oz and was 20 inches long.  We've had lots of people ask so here's how it all happened!

Kimber was born by emergency c-section.  It was intense, scary and PAINFUL.  When we found out we were pregnant again I asked my doctor if there was a chance I could have a VBAC (vaginal birth after csection).  She felt that my chances of a successful VBAC were good and was very supportive my entire pregnancy.

Two weeks ago we went in for my weekly check up and she was shocked to find that he had dropped to a -1 position.  She excitedly told me that he was in a GREAT position to attempt a vaginal delivery and that she felt he was getting ready to come join our family very soon.  That weekend I started having contractions.  Excitedly I told Shawn we were getting close and we started timing.  My contractions got to 6 min apart.  They were strong but not horribly painful.  They never got any closer.  Unfortunately they never stopped either... When I saw her a week ago I explained that I was having regular contractions that didn't seem to be progressing any further.  She ordered a non stress test to make sure Brady was handling them OK (which he was).  She decided to go ahead and strip my membranes that visit to see if we could help them progress further.  She excitedly told me "Hopefully we will see you in a few days!"

Well, she didn't... That weekend my contractions progressed to 5 1/2 minutes apart and were PAINFUL.  I fought myself trying to decide if this was the real deal, if I needed to go in to labor and delivery or not.  I couldn't sleep through them and it was impossible to get comfortable in any position but I decided that due to the fact that I could still talk and walk through them I would wait it out a little longer.  I kept waiting for the pain to peak and push me over the top of the hill into full labor but it never did.  I tried EVERYTHING to get this labor progressing but nothing I did could push them past the 5 1/2 minute spread.

The next time Dr Craig found me in her office (Monday) I told her how my weekend went.  I also informed her as she went to check my dilation that if she told me after all of these contractions I was still a two I was going to cry.  I took one look at her face and knew.... I was still a two... My insides felt like hamburger thanks to over crowding, a very active little boy and then two weeks worth of constant contractions.  To be very honest I was EXHAUSTED and could not imagine going in to labor already this sore and worn out.  It terrified me but we had other problems.

Dr Craig explained that her biggest concern was that he had gone from a -1 position (basically "engaged") to a -4 ("floating").  My little man seemed to be lost trying to find the exit!  She felt this was why my labor wasn't progressing.  She knew how badly I wanted a "normal" birthing experience and I could tell she was going to ultimately let me be the one to make this decision so I asked her what she felt my chances of a successful vaginal delivery were.  She told me that she felt right now that it was likely a 25-30% chance of success.  What did unsuccessful look like I asked her?  Basically the major concern is that as my contractions cause my cervix to soften and dilate it could cause my incision site to soften as well.  With a now "floating" baby the concern was that the scar could tear and part of the baby or cord could "float" out into the abdominal wall and it would instantly be life threatening for both baby and mama.  That was enough for me.  As badly as I didn't want to (and as terrified as it made me) we made the decision to schedule a c-section first thing the next morning.

That night I tucked my little Kimber Bean into bed as an only child for the last time.  She looked SO old and it tugged at my little mama heartstrings knowing that this chapter of our lives was closing and a whole new adventure was about to begin in just a few hours.  Two hours later I woke up with HARD contractions.  I went to the bathroom and realized that this was it.  My body had FINALLY decided to go in to full labor.  I called my mom, finished getting the last few things we needed together for our hospital stay and we left the house at 3:00 am almost three whole hours before when we were supposed to be at the hospital.  We got checked in and the nurse checked me and told me that I was dilated to a three and that indeed this was "the real deal".  For a moment I was tempted to just see where this laboring lead us to.  Maybe he would engage again and my "dream birth" would become a reality.  As soon as this thought entered my mind though the nurse commented "Huh, it's weird though because he is still WAY up there floating around..."  Ok, c-section here we come!

I labored for four hours before they took me back to the operating room.  Our anesthesiologist was a very nice guy who talked and joked and laughed with us through the whole pre-op process to help lighten the mood which I was grateful for.  As soon as I walked into the operating room though my whole body started to shake uncontrollably as memories of Kimber's very scary birth started coming back.  I was instantly very grateful I had taken Dr. Craig's advice to attend at least one counseling session to address some anxiety that might have been "shoved under the rug" for the past two years.  I am SO grateful for our wonderful nurse who recognized the signs of a total panic attack coming on.  She got right in my face and started talking to me squeezing my hands while the spinal block was placed.

Once they had me prepped and on the table Dr Craig walked in.  Her cheerful "Good Morning Nielsens!  Let's have a baby!" snapped me out of the memory loop I was stuck in and I was suddenly very aware of how different the atmosphere was.  Everyone was joking and laughing throwing out bets on what the weight of the baby would be.  We waited for a brief moment until I was totally numb (a very nice feature) and then we started.  I kept waiting for the intense pressure that I experienced with Kimber and was shocked when the anesthesiologist told me "Ok his head is out!  Get your camera ready, Dad!"

I was grateful Shawn was able to capture this photo.  Giving birth by c-section is just as much "giving birth" as a vaginal delivery.  Birth is incredible and miraculous.  Vaginal or c-section, natural or with the assistance of medication, none of these take away the miraculous part of giving life to another human.

A few minutes later I heard it.  A loud, healthy newborn cry.  I bawled.  They brought him around the surgical drape for me to see and he was already a bright and healthy pink.  They shouted out his Apgar scores of 9 and 10. The nurse laughed and said that she only sees about 3 tens given every year but this little guy definitely earned his.

Shawn brought him over and set him on my chest so I could hold him while they finished closing me up.  When we got out to the recovery room the nurse let me do skin to skin and when Brady instantly lifted his head and managed an impressive "scoot" towards my breast she told me to go ahead and let him latch.  I nursed him for 15 minutes before we moved to the mother baby ward.

As Brady's newborn screenings and test results started coming back our pediatrician actually laughed and said that they were almost "freaky perfect" which was such a contrast to Kimber's constant results of "Well she passed but just BARELY..."  The whole experience was SO drastically different from Kimber's.

Kimber LOVES being a big sister.  Their first meeting was PRICELESS.  Kimber insisted that he was HER baby and held him close and whispered secrets to him for a whole half hour.  I was worried this would wear off when she realized he was coming home with us but this morning I woke up to her walking over to his bassinet and saying "Oh hi Brady!  I be right back!"  She then brought him some of her favorite books.  There were times during this pregnancy where I worried that maybe we were having another baby too soon with all of Kimber's special needs.  Now that I see them together I am so glad we didn't wait to reunite these precious little spirits.  I'm sure they have been missing each other.

Our family has a lot of adjusting to do and it's been a little difficult with mom temporarily out of commission but we have wonderful family around us helping us.  I'm hoping my recovery is fast so we can start life in our new normal.

Thank you all so much for the prayers, messages, meals and offers to help!

Welcome Back!

With little Brady soon to make his arrival in our family, I've decided it is time to revive our private family blog.  For two years now our lives have been about PWS and Kimber's development.  I'm trying to imagine adding another little person's needs to our already packed schedules and I'll admit it is a little intimidating but hopefully this blog will help update family and friends on happenings not only in Kimber's life, but our WHOLE family.

So here's a quick synopsis of our lives since the last post (over a year ago!  Yikes!)

Shawn owns a Farm Bureau Agency here in the valley.  He's worked very hard this last year and a half to build his business.  He loves his work, has 4 employees right now and is looking to hire more when the summer sales students start trickling back in to the area.  He was able to achieve "Rookie of the Year" last year as the fastest growing agency in Utah.  His hard work also allowed us to take a trip to Florida.  We had a very fun week in Tampa playing on the beaches, going to SeaWorld and were able to wrap it all up with a visit to PWS Specialist Dr Miller.  (for details on our visit with her you can go here)  We're super proud of him and his ability to push through lots of stress and late nights to achieve his goals.

I am 39 weeks pregnant and very happy to be very uncomfortable.  I keep reminding myself that this is SO much better than two months in a NICU but the discomfort is starting to take its toll.  I am ready to have this baby!  We have spent our summer hanging out at the pool and I am SO grateful that this last week was abnormally cool and rainy for a Utah August.  My biggest cravings this pregnancy has been McDonald's Hot 'n Spicy chicken sandwiches, Chinese food, and the smell of Clorox wipes (to the point that I have actually considered packing them in our hospital "go bag" but that does feel a little extreme so I'm trying to resist...)  I'm trying to enjoy the last few weeks (days?) of it being just me and Kimber.  I'm sure I am going to miss them.

Kimber is HILARIOUS!  Her little two year old speech impediment combined with her very large and "adult like" vocabulary is enough to crack you up no matter what she is saying.  Some of her most commonly used phrases as of late are "Oh my Heck!" "Holy Cow!" "I be right back!" and "I'm ready for the show!"  She knows her colors and is working on counting.  She also surprises us on a regular basis by throwing out vocabulary words that I had no idea she knew like "umbrella".  She's just growing up so fast!  Grammy has been working hard to teach her to swim this summer.  She now jumps into the pool, holds her breath under water and LOVES to go down the slide.  

She loves her class at church and we love her wonderful nursery leaders.  She also insists on saying her own prayers and they are DARLING!  My favorite so far is:  "Heavenly Father, Tant-too (thank you) a dad, and a mom, and a Duke, and a wrang-wrang (wrangler). I swim and jump and splash. Tant-too a Kimmy (how she refers to herself these days). Oh no a Shelby and a Bampa (apparently Shelby and Grandpa need serious help) Help Kimmy a brave brave (oh my mother heart strings). Love a Jesus and a parky shoes (sparkly shoes) AMEN!"  

She's excited for Baby Brady to get here and calls him on her toy phone often.  She also lifts my shirt once a day and will remind him "Brady!  It Kimmy!  Come out!"  I'm just lucky if this daily routine takes place outside the public setting of the local grocery store.  :)  She is one of a kind for sure!

We look forward to connecting with you all again on a more personal level and hope all is well in your families as you get ready to go back to school!  Keep your eyes peeled for news of our little man's arrival!