Happy Birthday Nicole!

On Saturday, October 17, Nicole turned two! We were up camping in Mantua on her "official" birthday so we waited and celebrated on Sunday at Grandma Peterson's with dinner, presents, and cake & ice cream!

Nicole's cake was pink inside (strawberry) and frosted with whipped cream cheese frosting. YUMMY! It was decorated with sprinkles and Piglet....thanks to Hannah and Ashley.

It took her awhile to catch on to opening presents but she finally got the hang of it. You will see in one of the pictures below that she is waving and saying "Hi Dad!" to Dave as he is filming her with the video camera. What a hoot! I am so glad we were able to catch this on camera.

Nicole got some new tubby toys, a baby doll, a stroller, and a cute new Sunday dress for her presents. She seems to love them all! Especially the stroller, which she has tried to ride in!

I guess with each child your memory starts to fade. My memory of having Nicole is starting to fade. It also was a very interesting time in our lives and things were pretty much a whirlwind.

It is always the same going to the hospital and being so nervous as to what's to come. We did not know if Nicole was a boy or a girl. I remember being in the OR getting prepped for my spinal and the OR nurse was telling me that she has three girls. She was giving me the stats that after two girls your chances go up by 75% that you'll have another girl and then your chances go up again from there. Yea, yea, yea....whatever. I know she was trying to do small talk to keep me calm but it wasn't working.

I do remember the spinal scaring me this go round. All of a sudden I got a zing down my left leg. It really scared me and it was difficult to make myself hold still. With Ashley, they let Dave be in the OR with me when I got my spinal, which was very calming. With Nicole, it was me, the OR nurse and the anesthesiologist. Not very calming because it's an awfully cold room!

I was nervous after having Nicole because like with Hannah my body started to hemorrhage. It was nothing like the experience with Hannah but scary non-the-less. It's a very scary feeling when you move and feel the gush that you're not suppose to feel and then the nurse panics because she knows you've hemorrhaged before. It was touch and go for awhile and I was administered some meds to try and get the bleeding under control. My body temperature was also very low, which surprisingly makes you extremely hot and I also got the itches all over my face from the spinal, which is a side effect. Why can't I have a normal delivery?!? Anyway, long story short, my body eventually took control and healed itself. By the next morning things were under control and I was no longer dizzy, hot or itchy and was able to get out of bed.

The other thing that stands out in my mind with Nicole is having to take her over and over and over again to have her heel pricked to check her beliruben for jaundice. I remember the alien she looked like when we had to put her on the belly bed lights to get her counts down. She sure make the room glow. Dave would sleep with his night mask on to drown out the light.

Through all of this and much, much more.....I wouldn't change her for the world. She is hilarious and bring TONS of joy to our family!

We love you Nicole! Happy Birthday!