Nickerson News

It feels like I have been pregnant forever! At least for the whole year of 2009. When you add up all three pregnancies I have been through an entire pregnancy! wow!

I’m not one who enjoys pregnancy…at all…

Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT complaining AT ALL! This is my miracle baby and I am TRILLED to go through all this pain to have a beautiful baby in my arms. I’ll take 9 months of awfulness, pain, pure exhausted, starvation, nausea, swelling, carpel tunnel, UTIs etc. for the life of my child. Bring it on. I can handle it….I think.

So after my sonograms and charting, we learned that I found out I was pregnant just 8 days after conception. Isn’t that crazy! I found out REALLY early with this one. All to say, I feel more pregnant then only 8.5 weeks.

I start the day off feeling pretty good (not too much morning sickness, however MAJOR NIGHT sickness) and then by noon I am screaming for a nap. If I’m not working, I crash with my little man who God has touched and turned him into a great napper. Are pigs flying? Can you believe I just said that! I’ll probably shoot myself for actually making that public and watch his old ways come back. But God must have known I needed these naps because I need to have energy (if you want to call it energy) at night since I work about 4 nights out of the week.

Then after my nap you would think I feel energized. Nope, ask any pregnant woman, it helps but you feel foggy and still tired when you awake. Then it’s around 4pm and the night sickness hits and gets worse by the hour. It’s a feeling of “I need to vomit but can’t” kinda feeling that hasn’t left me since about 5 weeks pregnant. See I don’t have that problem where food looks and smells gross, oh I wish I was one of those pregnant woman. Instead I have the appetite of a football player and nothing satisfies me. nothing. I make a larger dinner and 30 minutes later the hunger strikes!

If I don’t eat, my nausea increases by the minute. So I eat and then I immediately hate the aftertaste in my mouth so I must brush my teeth right away. And then I’m grossed out by what I just ate. It’s a torturous cycle. I force myself to jog every night so that I won’t explode into a hot air balloon, but sadly I think all the working out isn’t going to stop my body. It’s going to do what it wants.

And so, that is a taste of my world right now. Don’t take this post the wrong way, I am not complaining, just stating facts. I’m loving carrying Baby Hope around, just not loving the pregnancy part.

Since when did 4:30am sound like a good time to start the day? Apparently, Abel thinks it is just fine.

I’m deliriously tired, so I don’t know how this post is going to sound.

Abel started getting out (and in) of his crib over a week ago and our lives have been flipped upside down. Abel has always kept life very interesting! Seth and I look and feel like we have a newborn all over again because of the lack of sleep we are getting around here. Tonight we are putting a new bed in his room and we are praying (and wishing upon any lucky stars we might have up there) that he will get back on his old sleeping schedule.

So many moms have tried to give me tips and advice on how to “fix” Abel’s issues. Honestly, they don’t work. We have tried EVERYTHING and Abel is who he is. I feel like so many moms look at me and think I have done something wrong (or haven’t tried enough) in raising him. But God made him this way. Abel is VERY VERY strong willed! I laughed to myself the other day, as a dad told me his daughter was strong willed because often times he had to tell her “no” twice. Or the lady in the Post Office who told me he would sleep better if I gave him a long bath in lavender. (BTW, have I not told you my son HATES baths. I can’t even remember the last time we bathed him. It was days ago and Seth and I were holding him down in the tub as he was screaming his head off.)

Abel is difficult, but honestly I feel blessed he is who he is, because he has taught me SO MUCH about parenting. I think every parent should get an “Abel”. It truly HUMBLES you! Parents would learn then not to be judgmental if every parent had an “Abel”, because then they would understand that it was nothing they did to make their child who they are. Sure, I totally believe in discipline. Believe me, we discipline and discipline works. I am talking about their personalities and how God made each of us different, and some children are way more strong willed then others.

I honestly feel like most days I am barely keeping my head above water. It feels like I am in an ocean and I am splashing around frantically trying to stay above water and as I look around me it seems like other moms are floating by in their big tubes sipping Mai Tais and laughing. I know there are other moms out there struggling, so please feel free to tell me your struggles.

And don’t get me wrong. I love my baby boy so much! I am BLESSED that he is a HEALTHY ACTIVE boy! Truly blessed!

Please don’t leave comments about how you think Abel might sleep better or how I should discipline him. I’ve heard enough. However, we could use your prayers though….

Since I have a little time today (Abel has been napping 3.5 hours and still going!!! Somebody look at the window, are pigs flying??? ) I am going to share an easy recipe.

After his TERRIBLE episodes of nasty short if-any-naps last week, I think his little body hit the wall OR he is having a growth spurt and will be 3 inches taller when he wakes up.

Either way, I am enjoying this. I still can’t believe there are babies out there that do this type of FANTASTIC napping every day for their moms. I’ve said this before, but I could be supermom if my child took a 3 hour nap everyday!

I actually got some work done (business and personal), designed a postcard for a friend, took a short nap, made dinner, ran a marathon and even took pictures. Rock on!

I wanted to share one of my very first recipes that I learned how to make when I started cooking back in the day. I would make it in college with my roommates. It is actually from Carolyn’s mom, Connie, and it has become a huge favorite around here. I have given this recipe out so many times so I thought since today I have the time I would even take pictures of it for you and send you the recipe.

I will say, I cut back on the butter and crackers to make it a little less fattening. (Us 5 ft gals need to watch our calories). Seth on the other hand could eat a horse every night and never put on an ounce of fat.

So here it is: (add more butter & crackers if you need the fat!) Not only is it delicious but it is SO EASY!!!

Poppy Seed Chicken:

What you need:

- Chicken (1.5 lbs) Boil and then cube
- 1 cup of sour cream (light if you are watching)
- 1 can of cream of chicken soup (again, you can go light)
- 1/2 stick of butter (by all means, butter it up more if you can stand to add some fat to your thighs)
- 1/2 package of Ritz crackers, crushed
- poppy seeds (the amount is up to your liking)
- (optional) to make it a little more creamy-add 1/4 cup of milk

1) In a 9×13 casserole dish or whatever dish you please, add the sour cream and cream of chicken and mix together.
2) Add cooked, cubed chicken into the dish and mix together
3) Melt butter
4) In separate dish crush the Ritz crackers and then pour the melted butter onto the crackers
5) Add the crackers onto the chicken
6) Add poppy seeds
7) Cook for 30 minutes at 350 and ENJOY!

And here’s my dear friend Carolyn, Carebear as I like to call her, doing a FANTASTIC job babysitting Abel and Ava while I photographed baby Tyler the other week.

They are singing “The wheels on the bus” and now Abel is obsessed with that song!

This week I have been tearing my house apart trying to find some form of chocolate. I’ve turned the house upside down and I can’t seem to find any of the goods anywhere? I had to make hot chocolate the other night because I finished off the chocolate chips. Looks like I might have to do that again tonight.

I don’t buy sweets for 2 reasons:

1) Seth doesn’t eat sweets. What fun is it to eat chocolate alone when your husband is munching on an apple?

2) If I did buy it, I would eat it. ’nuff said.

I’m drowning in photo work (which is why the posts are lacking these days), but I must say I LOVE IT! I love being busy with doing what I love. (How cliche does that sound?) But its true. I love photographing people, especially the itty bitty ones. I’m so blessed to be given this opportunity! Thank You, Lord!

I’ve got a shoot tomorrow for a little guy that I have photographed since he was in his mommy’s tummy. Tomorrow we are doing his one year shoot. So excited to see him!

This is what I was doing one year ago at this time.

DJ at 6 months old.

I also had the opportunity to photograph my dear friend Janice’s precious 1 year old, Charlotte. Charlotte has as much energy as Abel. Can you believe it? It is so true. She can easily keep up with the boys.

Charlotte’s mommy & daddy’s a little over a year ago.

Charlotte at 3 months.

Happy One Year little Miss Charlotte!