Nielsen Family: Valentines

My sweet friends and sister-in-law put together a baby shower for me. It was a little last minute because it was going to be in the middle of March, but the doctor said the baby is growing ahead of where she should be, so I could be having her early. At 31 weeks she measured 4.3 pounds which means she will be big! My OB doesn't want me to deliver a baby over 6 pounds but won't induce me unless I'm 39 weeks. So... I'm getting more and more uncomfortable. My friend Brittany mailed out invites... 65 to be exact and only around 25 came I think because it was so last minute and two other events were going on the same night.

I went over to South Coast Plaza to see what I registered for at Land of The Nod and fixed a few things since they looked different in the store. I wish there were more stores, instead of only 4 nationwide.

On Tuesday night we chaperoned my youngest brother, his girlfriend and their friends while at the concert, Ben Howard at the Shrine. We got up on the VIP section because I look so pregnant.

It was my dad's birthday and they stayed at the Ritz for a few nights to celebrate so we all met at their room to give him our gift to him... he is very patriotic since both his dads served in WWII and a fireman so my sister found a vintage flag that flew over the capitol in the 90's, my brother in law custom framed it himself and we all wrote on the back. He was so stoked. The kids all went swimming at the pools there while we girls had to go to the shower in San Clemente.

So many of my close girlfriends came which made me feel so special. It was a gorgeous backyard and my friends spent so much time setting up for it.

I opened gifts in front of everyone... which I so don't like because attention like that isn't for me. Everyone was so thoughtful. It's funny to see new baby things that wasn't around with Jackson or such girly things I'm not use to. I kept thinking 'what the heck is this?' or 'where on the baby's body does this go?' Oh man, those big bows get me every time. What do I do with these big things?

So many people contributed to the group gift of a stroller and carseat... so nice of everyone!

I feel ready. I didn't get much from my registry but am so grateful for a stroller and car seat.

My friend Tracey and I have been good friends since before high school and she is 4 weeks behind me but with twins. We both found out we were having twins around the same time so it was exciting and it is still exciting that both of her babies are healthy. She as well is having a boy and girl, and I couldn't be more happy for her.

Here are more people that planned my shower...

Linds (my sister-in-law) and Jessica (my bff since we were 4)

I was so tired the next day, so I took it easy taking naps and getting ready for Jackson to come. He arrived around 9:45 pm since they drove in and we were so stoked to have him.

In the morning we went to Universal Studios. I didn't bring my wheelchair because I didn't think we would walk very much. It happened to be a very hot day and lots of crowds. I had to sit down a lot and my feet were swelling like balloons. Near the end, they went on one more ride so I made myself comfy sitting on this empty bench no one was near. I read some emails, minded my own business with both of my feet up and low and behold, a korean lady comes next to me, gives me the look to drop my feet and sits right next to me. I wasn't surprised but I put my feet down and sat normal.

Then a few minutes later, a HUGE group full of chinese came up to my bench and three elderly ladies looked at me to scoot over even more. My purse was covering my stomach so I uncovered it to show them I couldn't scoot further over but they could care less. Three tried to sit down, but instead two only fit. So here I am sitting next to three elderly ladies that smelled like a nursing home (sorry for being so rude) but they did...and then Brady texted me saying they were looking for me. I described to him what bench I was on and he captured this moment right after the ladies held up a sign that said, "I am from Hong Kong, I do not speak any English" So classic. It was as if I got stuck in the Alhambra Costco's bench and couldn't get out.

Later we went to Jackson's basketball game and my parents came up to watch it as well. Jackson scored two baskets out of the eight his team scored. He really is getting the hang of things. Brady took lots of videos and pictures of him playing.

After Jackson gave my dad his birthday gift, a TP roll of Obama and then we headed to Cheesecake Factory for dinner.

My dad took this of us walking to dinner. They went to the art store while we waiting inside.

They came over for a little but and then Brady took Jackson to play basketball at the park we walk to all the time. They played while I took a bath... the baby is getting so big that she is sitting on some painful nerves.

On Sunday we went to church and then we rallied up some friends to play some father-son basketball at the school down the street. The boys had a good time!

On Monday Brady played basketball at the church with the guys and then I brought Jackson and his buddies to the church to play with their dads again.

They played for hours, getting sweaty and pumped.

We took his friend to the beach while we met his friend's family and many other families from our ward at Ocean Park near Santa Monica.

Jack and his friends covered themselves with towels and we threw fishies + chips trying to get birds on them, so they could try to catch them. They sat there for 30 minutes but the birds knew what was up!