Welcome Lily Lynn....

Yes, it only took me a month....but I'm finally posting some pictures from Lily's birth. Time has really flown by since she's been born.  For those that don't already know, she was born September 13th and weighed 6 lbs 2 oz.  She is a petite little bundle of joy.  She really has been a good baby.  She's pretty much slept all of the first month of life, except for the time she takes out for eating and pooping.  She's sure to set her mental alarm clock for every three hour and never misses a feeding.  She did sleep a 6 hour stretch ONCE, and mommy is certainly looking forward to that happening more often.   Her sister Clementine has grown to love Lily and is excited to help with anything she can.  She loves to hold, kiss, point out all of her body parts, force binkys in her mouth, and buckle her in her car seat.  She's a great big sister!

Life Changes....

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything.  Life has been full of changes for our family and I've been a little bit overwhelmed and not really sure what to say about some things.  I'm going to do my best to give an update.  Sorry, no fun pictures involved.

First of all, we made the big move from New Haven, CT to Highlands Ranch, CO.  I ended up flying with Clemie and Brent and his dad made the long drive with the truck.  Everything went safely and smoothy and we're happy to finally be a little bit settled here.  We're currently living with Brent's parents.  They have been so patient with us as we try to figure out what's next for us as far as a job, house, kids, etc.  The job hunt for Brent has been a challenge, but we think things are starting to finally fall into place.  It's been nice to have Brent at home with us to help with Clemie and to keep us company, but I'm happy he's finally started to go to work last week!  Right now he's up to 2-3 days a week, but we're sure his workload will pick up soon... despite Brent's desire to be a full time mountain biker/hiker and fly fisherman.  

A major life change has recently affected our family.  A few weeks ago my dad was killed in a boating accident in Key West, FL.  We were all totally shocked and of course devastated by the news.  My dad was so young at heart and none of us thought this day was coming any time soon.  We have all come to rely on our faith and knowledge that our Heavenly Father needed him home more than we needed him on earth and that we will see him again one day once our journey in done.  The funeral was held in Key West where my dad spent much of his childhood and still considered home.  He died and his earthly body rests in a place that brought him so much joy and doing what he truly loved, anything out on the ocean.  We are missing him ever so much and think of him all the time.  We're all learning how to adjust our lives without him and I'm sure this will take some time.  It will be hard not having such a fun, loving guy around.  We love you Dad!

In more happy news, baby girl #2 will be born sometime within the next month.  We are so excited to meet her and hope that we can come up with a name before she is born.  We're open to suggestions if you have any.  Remember, she will have a sister named Clementine, so it has to kind of go with that.  It's been a challenge.  

Well, that's my update for now.  I'll try and keep the postings coming.

Brent's Graduation Dinner

This week we had Brent's graduation dinner for completing his residency here at Yale.  I can't believe it has been a year since attending the dinner for last years graduates.  It was fun to experience living in New England, but I am so ready to move on to Denver.  Brent has been super busy with his program and I never imagined he would be away from home so much.  Between being on-call and all of the extra evening lectures and visits to a local dentist's office, he has been gone late into the evening many nights.  Between being pregnant and having a wild child to look after, it has been a little rough the past few months trying to survive until the end.  Well, our time is almost up, and I couldn't be happier.  I'm really excited to live close to family and start this new phase of life!

Before the dinner.  We never take a family picture, so I figured this was a good opportunity.  Sadly, this is about as good as it gets.

This is Julie 26 weeks pregnant and feeling rather large.  I'm hoping this isn't going to be a 10lb baby!

At the dinner.  Clementine was such a good girl.  The whole things lasted about 4 hours between the presentations and dinner.  I think I was more antsy then Clemie.

Doing what we have to do to keep Clementine entertained.  A little sprite never hurt anyone.

Brent showing Clemie off to everyone.  Clementine is pretending she's a shy girl.  

Brent going up to get his certificate.  They introduced him as the "hot shot" of the group.  Not sure if that is an insult or compliment, but I guess we'll take it.

Cape Cod

A couple of weekends ago we were lucky enough to have my Aunt and Uncle come up from Key West for a weekend visit.  This gave us a good excuse to make a road trip to Cape Cod.  None of us had been there before, so it was a new experience for all of us.  Not really knowing where to go in Cape Cod, we headed all the way to the end of the Cape to Provincetown.   It was beautiful and the weather couldn't have been more perfect, but lets just say it was not at all the yuppy town we all expected.  We were definitely the minority when it came to heterosexual couples. Let's just say our next visit to Cape Cod will probably not include Provincetown.  We discovered on our way home some nicer small towns with beautiful beaches that we would love to visit again.  Overall, we enjoyed the day eating lunch on the waterfront, walking the town, and exploring some beaches.  

These were our views while eating lunch.

Clementine enjoying eating lunch with her great Aunt Louanna and Uncle David.

Clementine trying out a boa at a local toystore.

Downtown Provincetown

This was the beach we discovered on the way home.  I can't remember the name of it, but it was beautiful.

We had to go test out the water.  It was so freezing!  The only people crazy enough to get in were the surfers with wetsuits.  Clementine loved the waves and even stuck her toes in.

More pictures of our darling Clementine....

Clementine and I went to Las Vegas about a month ago to visit my family.  My sister Wendie is a photographer and took some pictures of her while we were there.  Here a just a few that she took.  Enjoy!

When did she turn into such a big girl?

Our little Ballerina

Clementine playing at the park.  She loves the slide! 

My sister had a really fun park that has all sorts of shooting water.  I thought Clementine would hate it because she hates getting water in her face, but she had a great time.  She loved putting her fingers in the little water spouts shooting out of the ground.

It's a.......

Girl!!!!!  We found out a couple of weeks ago, but incase we already didn't let you know, we wanted to share the news.  I'm excited to be entering into familiar territory and happy that I don't have to buy quite so many new baby items.  It will be nice to use all the cute stuff that Clementine didn't get enough use out of.  It will also be fun for Clemie to have a little sister and friend to play with.  I can't believe it, but we're half way through the pregnancy and can't wait to have another precious girl to add to our family!

Sleeping Standing Up!

Clementine and I are visiting my family in Las Vegas.  Last night she was so plumb tuckered out that she fell asleep standing up!  It was so cute and funny....but I felt bad at the same time.  I wanted to rescue her and pick her up, but we had to do a quick video and snicker for a little while first.

Can I have your attention please.....

Yes, I have an announcement.  Can you guess what it is???  If you guessed that we are having another baby, then you are right!  I never know when your supposed to announce these things, but I guess now is good.  I'm 12 weeks along and happy I'm almost through my fist trimester.  Lets just say, it hasn't been easy so far.  I think I forgot (which is a good thing) how horrible I felt the first time around.  This time I've felt equally horrible, but different in a lot of ways.  Lets just say for the past couple months I haven't been the best wife, mother, cook, housekeeper....you get the idea.  I spent the better part of a month without ever leaving the house or the couch.  It hasn't been easy dealing with a very energetic 1 year old and a husband that is very busy at work and not at home most of the time...but I think I've made it though the worst of it.  I'm feeling better by the day and doing more each day.  I'm looking forward to Spring so I can get out of the house more often.  Poor Clementine is going crazy being cooped up in the house all day, but it's just too much for me and the cold makes it no fun at all. Well, we are really excited and can't wait to find out if it is a boy or girl.  We'll keep you posted!

Baby it's cold outside!

So it's freezing outside and I'm dying!  It's been a rough week with highs in the single digits and teens with lots of snow.  We've heard it's been a bad winter compared to those in recent years here in Connecticut.  Lucky us, we're coming from 4 warm years in Florida trying to adjust.  It really hasn't been as bad as I imagined it might be....but it's starting to get old already and we're not even through January.  Brent is always excited to report the upcoming chilly forecast and walks to and from work every day loving every minute of it.  I don't know what's wrong with him.  It's not normal.  Lets just I haven't been leaving the house much recently....especially with Clementine.  I miss Florida weather.

This was the original coat that I bought for Clementine several months ago.  It was super cute.  Sadly, it was lost in a casualty over Christmas at Brent's family's house.  Sophie (the dog) ate a nice big hole in the hood and so I had to lay it to rest.

This is the replacement coat that Grandpa Nielsen bought for Clemie.  She got the hat and mittens for Christmas and she actually let us put them on her so we had to get a picture of her all bundled up!  What a doll!

NYC at Christmas Time!

Living in Connecticut for only a year, we couldn't pass up this opportunity to go to NYC over Christmas time.  We made the journey by train from New Haven to Grand Central Station.  Being the weekend before Christmas....it was crazy busy.  The train was jammed packed and we couldn't wait to get there so we could go to our hotel and relax for a bit.  Two house later, we made it, jumped on the Subway and headed for the hotel.  We  were staying at the Ritz Carlton in Battery Park.  We wouldn't normally stay at such a nice place, but a couple years ago Brent won some gift certificates to the Ritz Carton at a dental conference.  We've been meaning to use them forever now, but it just never happened.  I'd checked about a month prior for the Ritz NYC room rates and they were outrageous so I decided against staying the night.  I was bummed because NYC is so hard with a baby and having a hotel to crash in makes it much easier.  The week before Christmas, I check the rates again and they were surprisingly cheaper.  I booked us a room and we were off!  So we checked in and headed to our room.  We lounged around for awhile, ordered some room service, and then bundled up to head to the must see Rockefeller Center.  There were SO many people it was insane!  I didn't wanted battle the crowds to get close to the tree, so we just stopped real quick, took a couple pictures and headed on our way.  It was so cold and snowing....so we had to keep on the move.  We stopped in some shoppes, walked around for a little bit trying to keep Clemie happy and warm, and then headed back to the hotel.  We didn't get to see as much as we would have liked, but between Clementine and the weather, we just couldn't handle it.  After a quick night in the city, a relaxing night and lazy morning, we headed back home.  It was a fun trip and great to see NYC all decked out for Christmas.  It wasn't too bad staying at the Ritz either....I could get used to that treatment!  

This is as close as we could get to the tree without being trampled.

Brent and Clemie all bundled up!

Our delightful feather bed.  It was heavenly!

Part of the bathroom.  I didn't get a picture of the lovely tub that I took a relaxing bubble bath in.   Their toiletries were fabulous smelling!

Brent and Clemie checking out the crib they had set up for her.  It was so cute and Clemie loved playing in it.

They even gave her a whole goodie bag with all sorts of stuff and a Ritz Teddy.  It was so impressed!  

The goodies up close....including bandaids, night light, bathtub spout cover, diapers, shampoo, lotion, and fever strips.  All in a cute bag!  That stuff came home with me of course.