Pictures from Christmas!

Nieman Family of 5!

Our new addition...sleeping!

Austin checking out his new gerbils

Austin testing out his new trampoline

Why hello there neglected blog!

Yes, I've fallen off the face of the earth. I've crashed landed into utter chaos of laundry, dishes,nursing, diapers, appointments, and normal day to day happenings. It's been good though! Jack is a good baby and just giggled for the first time yesterday! I was putting lotion on his belly after a bath and he broke out in a fit of laughter. So sweet! We've still yet to catch him smiling on camera...
Here are some pictures to enjoy!

11 days old

One Month Old!

Andrew reading a Thomas book to Jack

7 weeks old!

Notice there aren't any pictures of Jack and Austin. Austin is just not that interested in him! He doesn't want to hold him at all but he does randomly come up and kiss his head so I guess that's a plus!

My big boy

Decorating the tree at Grandma and Papa's house!

And the winner is...

My sis, Amy!

She correctly guessed Jack's birth weight AND his length! Since you won the baby pool, I'll let you change all the itty, bitty diapers you want. Cause of course, that way you can spend time with him. Since he's your nephew and all. Hee Hee.

Jack's arrival and pictures

So yes, I've been gone for quite some time but you all know that seems to happen when you have a new baby in the house!

39 weeks 4 days pregnant

After spending almost the entire day (October 29th, my due date!) sleeping since I was overwhelmingly tired, I went into labor around 8pm that night. Nine hours later (my longest labor!) Jack Arthur arrived at 5:14am weighing in at 6lbs 14 oz. and was 20 inches long (my longest baby!). I was quite surprised at his size. I figured since he was my third, surely he would be over 7 pounds! I guess I just carry 6 pound babies! Here's the boys stats:

Austin: 6lbs. 6oz. 19 1/4 inches
Andrew: 6lbs. 15oz. 19 1/2 inches
Jack: 6lbs. 14oz. 20 inches

Jack's delivery was the easiest of the three and I'm sooo happy I'm not pregnant anymore! Cindy, you were right! Caring for 3 boys is much easier than caring for 2 boys and being 9 months pregnant. I see what you mean now!

Seconds after being laid on the warming unit, Jack peed everywhere!

Our attempt at our first family of 5 picture

Still pregnant!

There's still time to put your guess in for the baby pool on the right side of my blog! See if you can guess when Baby Jack will arrive! I wish it was today (or yesterday for that matter!) but I'm being as patient as I can. No. Not really. But I try!

Yesterday, the boys were watching a Signing Times video and having a picnic on the living room floor when I noticed an interesting sight. I pretty much knew this was the case but to see it in a picture gives it a new perspective:



Andrew's head is definitely bigger than Austins.

Yesterday, was our 10th wedding anniversary so my sister, Amy, took Andrew off our hands for a few hours while Austin was at school. Here's a conversation she had with him:

Amy: Andrew are you excited for baby Jack to be born?
Andrew: Yes
Amy: Is Mommy excited for baby Jack to be born?
Andrew: No. She's just tired.

Aren't kids great?!? LOL

So, I'm still pregnant and today I'm 39 weeks. I'll have to remember to have Ben take another picture! I'm going for weekly visits and the last two appointments my blood pressure was slightly higher but nothing to be concerned about. Gained another few pounds putting my total at 33 pounds so I'm happy with that! Just waiting now...

38 weeks pregnant tomorrow!

We're getting down to the wire...I hope. Both the boys were born after their due date so we'll see! If you'd like to guess when Jack will make his arrival, enter in the Birth Date Baby Pool to the right! Have fun!

Andrew has laryngitis!

You may need to turn your volume up...he can barely whisper!

OB update and pics

Picture taken at 36 weeks 3 days

OB visit at 35 weeks 6 days...

BP: 123/61
weight gain: 3 pounds
total weight gain: 29 pounds

Got the all clear to let him be born whenever he wants to make his entrance! Would LOVE to have him early but Austin was born 2 days late and Andrew was 5 days late so we'll see if the trend continues.

Oh yeah, gave Andrew some kids chapstick to occupy him at the store. He enjoyed it so much that he looked like a clown with yellow makeup on! You may need to click on the picture to fully enjoy it.

Let's play catch up!

We've been pretty busy these last few weeks! The boys started school (Austin 3rd grade and Andrew Pre-K), we went apple picking, and dr.'s appointments!

Attempting pictures before heading off to school

Apple picking in Mexico, NY

Wednesday, Austin had an appointment with the geneticist (2 1/2 hours away) that went pretty well. It had been 5 years since we'd last gone so it was about time! I just didn't feel it was necessary to take him earlier. Plus at the time, Austin was seeing so many dr.'s that it was overwhelming. Now that we're in a period of less appointments, I decided we'd better get it out of the way.

Other than updating information, nothing new was discussed. I expressed my concern that I couldn't find anyone within an hour drive to take Austin on as a pediatric dental patient. I've been trying for the past year and to no avail. Thankfully, the geneticist is setting us up with a terrific (or so I'm told) dentist there. Yes, it'll be a 2 1/2 hour drive but it's worth it. Besides they have great shopping and restaurants! Heehee!

Austin was weighed and measured while we were at the appointment. It utterly shocked to me find out that he's gained yet another 3 pounds since June! That's 13 pounds since June of 2009! My little scrawny Austin is porking up! On the bright side, he also has grown another inch so that's helping. I think we've finally hit the stage in RTS where the pounds pile on but the growth in height starts slowing down. =(

I also had an OB appointment this morning so here's the latest picture of my round self taken at 33 weeks 3 days.

34 week OB appointment
BP: 118/64
Belly measurement: exactly 34 weeks and still head down!
Weight gain: Doing good! gained another 3 pounds
Total weight gain: 26 pounds

Just to clear things up!

After posting the latest pictures of Austin as a baby, fellow RTS blogger mom, The Happy Ones pointed out that it looked as though Austin wasn't born with the classic black hair most RTS babies are born with. Guess what? He was! These aren't the best pictures to show his hair but they were nearby so that's what I scanned for you! His hair fell out as most babies do and when the new hair grew in, it was blond. Enjoy!

Picture of Austin while still in the hospital (less than 3 days old)

Austin at approximately 5 weeks old

OB checkup and some old pictures

30 weeks 6 days

BP: 122/64
Weight gain: 4 pounds in 2 weeks (holy cow!)
Total weight gain: 23 pounds (trying not to gain over 35...we'll see!)

I'm measuring right on and got some acid reflux medicine to try. Now only if I could get something to relax my back at night so I could sleep! Two weeks till my next check up!

Now here are the old pictures I dug up for you to enjoy! I know I did!

Ben and Austin (3 1/2 yrs old)

Ben and Austin (7 weeks old)

Austin (5 months old)

Pregnancy Update

Picture taken at 29 weeks 6 days

Latest OB visit:

28 weeks 6 days

BP: great
Baby update: Jack is officially head down and a bit over 3 pounds (according to ultrasound)
Weight gain: 4 pounds putting my total weight gain at 19 pounds.

Having a lot more 'complaints' than I ever did with Andrew and Austin but hanging in there are doing good. The countdown begins...less than 10 weeks left!

Pregnancy Update

Twenty six week along...where has the time gone? While being distracted by 2 other needy kids, I haven't paid much attention to the months on the calendar going by! Last Wednesday, I had another check up and here are the stats:



25 Week appointment

belly measurement: 26 weeks

BP: a bit higher than usual but that's probably because I got a frustrating phone call minutes before they took the reading

weight: Eek! Gained another 5 pounds putting my total weight gain to 15 pounds. I have a feeling I'm going to gain more with this pregnancy than I did with Andrew's pregnancy...bleh.

Made an appointment for another ultrasound since the tech. didn't get a good measurement of Jack's spine and an appointment for the lovely glucose screening test. Wonder what flavor I'll get this time around? With Austin, it tasted like orange soda and with Andrew it was really sweet lemonade. We shall see!

Andrew is 4!

My little man is 4 years old now. Wow! Andrew had a great birthday party including a bounce house and the ever special 'lion cake' he's been requesting for the last 4 months!




Pregnancy update soon...along with updates on Austin and his schooling dilemma.

Today I hate RTS

It's been an interesting past few days with Austin. One frustrating thing after another! It all started Thursday/Friday (I can't recall which day it was!). After a full week of temperatures in the mid 90's with no air conditioning, no a/c at Austin's school, and no a/c on Austin's bus, I think the heat got to the poor kid. He came home from school and an hour later threw up all over my carpet. He wasn't acting sick and didn't choke on anything so I'm *fairly* sure it's from the heat. He recovered pretty quickly since the temperatures cooled down on Saturday.

Fun Saturday? Weeeelll, I was in the middle of changing his pull up on my couch when I noticed he was getting a rash so I left him to go get ointment. I came back to find him in the process of peeing all over his belly and my couch. Not a happy mommy! I stripped the couch cushions and washed those (24 hours after washing vomit covered clothes and towels).

Sunday was a cooler day as well and Austin was his usual self. Sunday afternoon, he starts having some build up in his eyes. Thinking, it was just allergies we kept our routine. Three hours later, Austin's eyes are pouring out nasty gunk, his eyes are swollen shut, and he's got full blown pink eye. Trip to the pediatrician Monday morning to get eye drops...still acting perfectly normal (cooler weather again).

Of course, I kept him home from summer school Monday since he was contagious from the pink eye.

Tuesday (today) was supposed to be not too hot but really really humid. Well, the forecast was wrong and it was hot AND really really humid. Austin comes home from school and won't eat dinner. He puts up a fuss about laying down for bedtime (a little unusual but not completely) and sure enough, 15 minutes later. He's throwing up in his bed. It's 83 degrees DOWNSTAIRS in our house so I'm guessing upstairs it's probably 86ish.

So, is Austin getting headaches from the heat? I don't know. Is he feeling hot or dizzy? I don't know. It's all a big mystery. We try to get him to drink water but it's not something he enjoys. He drinks juice and milk and we've tried to get him to drink mostly water with some juice but he won't touch it. To make matters worse, I went to take his temperature and the battery on the dumb thing goes dead.

I'm calling the pediatrician in the morning but today I have decided that I hate RTS.

My view from above

Yeah, feeling pretty large now and still have 4 months left! I'm one of those lucky ladies that loses her belly button when her belly gets huge!

Andrew insisted that I take a picture of his belly as well!




This morning we had a picnic lunch at a state park a little ways from our house. We also walked one of the trails on site with the boys. Austin rode in his stroller since he's not great at walking long distances.







After walking 3/4 of a mile, we let Andrew rest his legs in the stroller and made Austin walk. Yeah, he was pretty mad about it! It took lots and lots of encouraging and at one point he did what he always does when he gets mad that we make him walk. He stops. And refuses to move!


You can barely spot him in the picture but he did finish the walk!

Dr. visit update

Seen at 21 weeks 5 days...

BP: good
Baby's Heart rate: 155
Weight gain: 4 pounds
Total weight gain: 10.5 pounds

Need another ultrasound (oh darn right? LOL) since they didn't get a good measurement of the baby's spine.

Flashback!!!

I'm cleaning out my house for a huge garage sale this weekend and found these pictures I thought you all might enjoy!

Our first 'family' Christmas picture, Arizona 2002

Austin 9 months old

Austin 2 1/2 years old

Austin and Andrew Year 2006

Andrew and Austin Year 2006