The Princeton Review

Motto: "Under God's Power She Flourishes"

Mascot: Tiger

Colors: Orange and black (big points off for that)

Nearby Cities: New York City!!! and Philadelphia

Closest Hogwarts colors: none. :(

Best movie quote about Princeton: 

"Where do princesses go to college?”

“They go...where the princes go. They go to Princeton."

Famous People that went to Princeton:

There is a really long list on Wiki, but the most important is Andy from Toy Story.

Apparently in Toy Story 3 there are several hints that he was going to Princeton.

That's pretty awesome. :)

This where Matt will be spending all his time. It's the Frick Building and it's brand new.

All new equipment, lots of space, all organized.

Matt is completely in love with it.

We would probably live in this complex, Stanworth Apartments.

And this would be our grocery store.

Along with..

!!! No surprise there, since that was one of my requirements for where ever Matt goes.

The malls look pretty too.

There is even a cute looking Starbucks. Even though we don't drink coffee, I always feel a bit more at home when one is near by. Also in high school, the 10th grad class I TAed for defined civilization as where ever there is a Starbucks. So maybe that influenced me just a bit.

Anyway while Matt was gone, Baby and I went shopping in Park City with our friends Kaitlan and Claire. We also were supposed to go to a Princess Party at BYU, but Madeleine had no patience for it. So I just snapped one or two photos of her all dressed up, before she started crying again.

I really missed Matt. He helps out so much with the Baby. Also, she only sleeps well when she is sleeping with him. See how happy she is? She only sleeps like 3 hours a night this weekend. With him around, it is more like 8. She slept basically from 11 to 10 the first night he was back. I was thrilled.

Matt came home from Princeton really excited and tired. Doesn't mean we are going there though. He still has 4 more schools to visit. :) But what do you think? Can you see us living here?

Matt leaves for Wisconsin next. I'm really hoping he doesn't go there, but I'll still do a post on that one too. I'm a bit nervous and excited about where he will pick. We already know when we are moving out of Provo, now we just need to know where. 

Early Valentine's Day

Matt and I desperately needed a date night, since Valentine's Day and our year and half anniversary are next week. Matt is leaving the morning of Valentine's Day to New Jersey, so we ditched our baby at my parent's house and went snowboarding. (Yeah for great snow and a Dr.'s okay). We had so much fun, even though neither of us can really move today. Our muscles are so sore.

A few high points...

I lost one of my gloves on the ski lift on the way up to our first run. Matt swore I was going to freeze but I did just fine. The sleeve to his sweatshirt that I was wearing was frozen stiff by the end of the night, but it kept my hand warm.

I was run over by some random guy. Poor thing somehow got his snowboard wedged between my legs and my snowboard. He was so embarrassed but we were both fine.

Matt winning the admiration of some younger kids with his jumping skill in the terrain park.

We were pretty excited though at the end of the night to cuddle with baby. :)

And eat cookies.

6 weeks

Baby Goober (that's what we've been calling her for the last two weeks...since she produces a lot of different types of goo...) is 6 weeks old. 6 weeks in the baby world is like turning 13 in the normal world. It's a big milestone apparently.

Babies start smiling, sleeping better, growing some more...all sorts of random new skills. Moms really like this point to, because the baby starts acting human. I had that realization 3 days ago. I told Matt that I was finally seeing her a tiny person instead of a baby monkey. He said it was good that I had come to accept that our baby was the same species as me.

Yesterday we went to mine and baby's 6 week check ups. We both are doing well, but baby has a cold.

Weight: 9lb. 4 oz

Heights: 21.5 in

Music Baby - 1 month

For her 1 month photos, I wanted to do some music ones, since both Matt and I play multiple instruments and our parents both own a lot. I only did a guitar (which Matt plays) and piano sheet music (we both play piano). I still have a lot more instruments at my disposal, so there will be more coming. ;)     

We had so much fun with the guitar. In the photo below, she started plucking the strings. She was so excited that when she moved her finger that music started playing.  

Along with liking music, she also endorses recycling.  

The 5 Facts Instagram Fad

Madeleine, while becoming a much better sleeper, likes to be awake for random, long pockets of time...especially at night. I figure since I'm up, might as well write a blog post.

Apparently, there is a fad on Instagram and Bonnie from Life of Bon has challenged her readers to do it. She challenged us also to write our love stories too. (I'm working on that one) Maybe if she keeps up this challenge thing, I'll start updating a lot more frequently.

Anyway, I don't have Instagram or even a smart phone (my phone barely calls), BUT I do have a photo of me, and I have 5 random facts too. And since it's a family blog, you get 5 things about each of us. 3 times the fun.

Michele

1. I hate coconut. This wasn't always so, I used to love it. But then my sister turned 1. My mom picked out a cute coconut bunny cake. At 3 years old I wasn't impressed, and since then I hated anything to do with coconut.

2. My first steps were taken at Neiman Marcus. (I picture me walking towards a cute pair of Oscar de la Renta shoes. I think those shoes would motivate any kid to walk.)

3. I have had the same email since I was 8. Since I moved so many times, I've kept the same email, just in case one of my friends from way back when wants to contact me.

4. I have actually done over 100 of my pins on pinterest.

5. I weighed more at my wedding than I did when I walked in the hospital to give birth to offspring.

Matt (dictated to Michele)

1. He has a scar that looks like Wolverine stabbed him in his leg.

2. He can do a heelflip on the skateboard.

3. He failed 7th grade biology.

4. He loves watching The Nanny with the baby.

5. He hates eating chips straight from a bag.

Baby

1. She hates being dirty.

2. She sounds like a train engine when she eats.

3. She has gone to 4 different malls in the 5 weeks that she has been alive.

4. She doesn't wake up when we bump around her car seat.

5. When I put the guitar in front of her, she sat there plucking the strings. She was shocked some noise came out of it.

PJs and a video

A few moments of our week...

In my sewing class I'm taking at BYU (I decided just to take a class for fun this semester to help me get out of the house), we made pj bottoms this week. I made baby matching bottoms. Oh yes just helping her be my little clone. 

When baby is awake, I have no idea what to do with her. She can only do so much tummy time. Then, I remember one of my friends gave her baby girl a manicure when she was 2 weeks old. I looked at her little nails and realized that even if I was sure it was okay that baby probably would end up chewing off the nail polish, there was no way I could paint those little things. That is a picture of her pinky finger next to mine. Her's is about the size of the tip of a ball point pen. I kid you not. It's tiny. 

Also baby learned a few new tricks this week. 

One is sleeping!!! We love it. She sleeps pretty awesome now at night (well most of the time). We stick her down and she'll sleep for 5 hours, eat and then sleep for another 3. We are still tired, but not from her but from our own bad sleeping habits.

And here is a video of her other tricks...smiling and making noises. She's usually like this in the morning. She was going on and on for like 10 minutes today...which was good, because it took me about that long to figure out the camera. 

(There is sound...you just might have to turn the volume up pretty loud)

And last but not least, we helped my mom put together stuff for my sister at the MTC, which you can read at her blog...here.

Thai Curry Noodles

Look at those little eyes. So cute, so innocent, so alert...especially since they are supposed to be asleep. 

I thought since I was still up, I would share a quick recipe we tried for dinner tonight. 

This is the first recipe we have tried in a long time. I think the last one was fried chicken while I was 5ish months pregnant, since I was craving it, and we didn't feel like going to the store. My goal this week is to eat 3 meals a day. It will be quite the stretch. More often than not, Matt will come home starving, only to find me equally hungry...so we run to In-n-Out for burgers and fries. So the fact that I ate 3 meals today and tried a new recipe, I feel like an overachiever  (okay, I found it and had Matt cook it, but that still counts right?)

Matt and I love Thai food. Two times ago, when we went to my favorite little Thai restaurant Matt's dad ordered some Thai noodles. They were so yummy, and I decided I wanted to make some at home. This recipe isn't the more traditional recipe I'm guessing, but it was so good and only took 30 minutes to make. (And for bonus points, it used up all the broccoli in the fridge) 

Thai Curry Noodles

• 2 tsp. vegetable oil

• 1 chicken breast

• 1 c of green onions, chopped

• 1/2 of a white onion

• 1 bunch of chopped cilantro
• Dash or 1 tsp of ginger (we chop ours)

• 2 Tbs. yellow Thai curry paste

• 1 tsp. curry powder

• 1 tsp. ground turmeric

• 1 15-oz. can of coconut milk

• 5 oz of rice noodles

• ¾ cup chicken broth

• 2 tsp. light brown sugar

• 5 cups broccoli florets

• 2 limes

(Note: The next time I made this, I added mushrooms, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and baby corn. More veggies. :) )

Cut up chicken and add to oil in medium pot over medium-high heat. 

Then sauté onion, green onion, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and baby corn in oil 2 minutes. Add cilantro, curry paste, curry powder, ginger, and turmeric, cook a minute or two. 

Next stir in coconut milk, broth, and brown sugar, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium, and cook 5 minutes. Simmer 10 minutes. (If you don't do this long enough, like I didn't, the water doesn't cook off enough and you'll need to add another tb of curry.)

Cook rice noodles in large pot of boiling water. Add broccoli to pot for last 2 minutes of cooking time. Drain, and add to curry mixture sauce stuff. Mix well and serve with lime.

Food in tupperware on the floor = one classy food photo :)

PS Here is the other recipe for Thai Green Curry soup that I made for Riley's and Mollie's farewell.

Fashionistas

This week Baby and I decided to channel our inner Fran Fine.

"If it's not half off, it's not on sale."

Matt treated me to a weekend of shopping. I needed some new clothes after the baby was born and he was sweet enough to notice. I didn't notice how direly I needed them until after my first shopping trip on Saturday night. I walked in the door, and  Matt said, "Aren't those my pants?" 

"Huh, I guess they are." The sad thing is I thought those jeans fit better than normal. (They were actually staying on my hips.)

Shirt: Banana Republic
Jeans: Chicos

I spent Saturday night and all day Monday going through racks of clothes (after all I had 9 months worth of shopping to catch up). I was surprised every time that these normal non-maternity clothes were fitting! Banana Republic and Ann Taylor were having amazing sales. I was so excited. Those stores actually have clothes that can kind of make me look like a grown-up. (Every time I take Baby somewhere, people give me that look of "Aaaw, its' okay. You're being such a good big sister.)

My hair has even been feeling pretty grown up. I constantly seem to have this new kind of hair gel called Spit-up of the Baby. It really keeps that hair glued in place, and it seems to replace itself the second I wash it out. It's pretty amazing.

Madeleine on the other hand decided to wear vintage 80's baby clothes this week.

This lovely piece is from Matt's mother. 

And this one was from my mom. It was the dress I wore home
from the hospital. 

We look pretty fancy, eh? Maybe one day Madeleine will grown up to be fashion blogger, inspired by this blog of course. :P

4 weeks

We had too much fun with tummy time today.

She's such a cutie. We have too much fun together.

Milestones:

Hit 9 lbs

Can hold her bottle

Swat out her binky

Meeting Baby Dinosaur

This week Madeleine met Baby Dinosaur.

It was not planned.

Matt was at school, and I was starving. (I don't think I'm coordinated enough to have a wiggly baby in one hand and a knife in the other.) So I stuck Madeleine in the crib, and out of desperation that she would stay happy while I made a sandwich, I stuck Baby Dinosaur right by her and ran out of the room. I figured I had about 2 minutes tops to make my lunch.

Surprisingly, it was quiet the whole time I was in the kitchen. (I was even able to cut up a tomato and avocado!!) I was pretty shocked. When I walked back in, I saw that Madeleine was happily growling and swatting at Baby Dino. It was so funny. She sat there growling at him the whole time I ate lunch, watching her from my bed. She even stayed entertained long enough for me to take a few pictures. 

Oh and here are some other pictures from this week. :)

I would update what Matt and I do all day, but we are basically just Madeleine's slaves. We both get to leave to go to class, but other than that we are at her beck and call. We really love it though, and she pays us well with cuddling and weird baby faces. :)

Another week

She is still looking pretty cute at 2 weeks.

This week...

She realized that eating is good. 

She likes cuddling with Matt while he reads chemistry textbooks out loud to her. 

She has learned crying gets our attention.

She likes to drastically change her sleep schedule. 3 hours here, 8 hours there. 

(We aren't complaining though.) 

She loves music and driving in the car.

She  probably thinks her mom is crazy, because of all the pictures I take of her.

Matt and I are doing great. We have both taken her out on our own and she's still alive. Matt checks in with me through out the day to make sure I haven't killed her. I'm way more relaxed now that she's born. Being pregnant was more stressful, since most of the pregnancy I couldn't poke her to make sure she was doing okay. Matt, on the other hand, worries about her all the time. It's really cute. I love how much he loves her. On another note, I'm fully recovered. I went running on Monday for the first time. I love my post pregnancy body. I feel awesome. :)

Today, my brother, Riley left on his mission to LA. It's pretty crazy that I only have one brother at home, and he might be leaving in April-ish! Anna is also probably leaving on a mission around then. That is pretty crazy that we'll have 4 missionaries out from our families! We are really excited for them even though we are going to miss them a lot. 

1 week

We survived the first 10 days! And we are still completely in love with her. 

A few big milestones this week:

• First shopping trip (Target)
• Gained all her weight back that she lost (Babies usually lose up to 8% of their body weight the first week)
• Learned to sleep in her crib
• Can flip herself like a fish (not flipping over, more like an inch worm. It's cute)
• Grew 2 whole inches!

As far as parenting goes, Matt and I are loving it. She's a really sweet baby and we have had so much fun as our own little family. Our apartment is so cold, so we all bundle up in our bedroom with our space heater. Matt has started calling it the inner sanctum. She loves sleeping on Matt's chest, so we have watched a lot of The Nanny while cuddling. Matt and I can't get over how cute she is. We both take turns saying "Hey, look at her, she is so adorable!" or "Can you believe we get to keep her?" This picture was one of those moments. Matt had been holding her after she ate, and I looked over and started giggling. Matt couldn't figure out what was so funny, so I grabbed the camera and took a picture so he could see. It's one of my favorites. 

We are both kind of sad that on Monday real life starts again. Matt starts school, and I signed up for a 3 credit sewing class that is twice a week. We really love being together. Matt has been so busy since we got married, and this break was really the only time since our honeymoon that we just got to hangout together without a long to-do list hanging over our heads. 

Baby Madeleine FAQ

F.A.Q.

What is her name?

Madeleine Adele Nielsen

How much did she weigh?

7 lbs 9 oz.

When was she born?

Noonish on December 26, 2012

Is she healthy?

Yep! She passed everything with flying colors.

How is Michele doing?

Great! There was no tearing or lasting pain from giving birth. She’s doing way better than she was pregnant. She is happy to report that her coat can now be buttoned, and she can sleep on her stomach again.

How was labor/birth story?

Short and painful.

Birth Story

We got to the hospital and Michele was only in mild pain and had only progressed to 4 cm (When giving birth, the cervix has to dilate to 10 cm. Michele had been having contractions for weeks but only opened up to a 3. So at this point, there had only been a little bit of a change). 10 minutes later she was shaking from pain on the bed, the nurse checked her again and she was a 5. They admitted her at this point and told her to walk to the room down the hall. By the time she got to the room, about 5 minutes later, she was a 7. Contractions were only about 45 seconds apart. Michele asked for epidural but she was shaking too much to get one. Didn’t matter anyway, she was at 10 cm – only 25 minutes after she arrived at the hospital.  

At this point, the nurse told her to practice pushing, but after 20 minutes Michele was exhausted. The contractions were coming too fast and she was in too much pain. She told the nurse that she had enough and pushing on her back like this was not going to get the baby out. She curled up in fetal position and had Matt rub her back. The nurse and Michele argued for the next 2 hours about pushing. Michele was stubborn, and nothing that nurse said or did could get her to push. (The nurse had some pretty interesting tactics.) Finally after demanding for a new doctor or a c-section, the nurse got the doctor, and he checked Michele. Baby’s head was at crowning! He told Michele that he could get the baby out without her help, but she should push. Madeleine was born about 10 minutes later.  

How did Matt do during labor?

He did fine and didn’t freak out at all. 

How is nursing?

Madeleine and Michele both aren’t the biggest fans of it, but they are managing.

Who does she look like?

When people were asking Michele this in the hospital she said, “She looks like the Russian mushrooms in Fantasia.” Matt said, “She looks like a baby.”  

Thanks everyone for all the love and support. We really appreciate it.

If you have more questions, leave them in the comment section, and we will get back to you.

Pregnancy :)

38 weeks people. Baby Offspring is still happily kicking away, which most days is fine with me. (I’m kind of hoping to go into labor tonight though so her birthday would be 12/12/12.)

Today was one of the more pathetic moments of being pregnant. I had just one final to take to graduate. I studied today, wrote out my note card, ate dinner, and was completely set to take my final. Matt had a final that would take just about the same amount of time, so we decided to take our finals at the same time. I got my test and found a spot right by Matt, and sat down.

I didn’t fit in the dumb testing center desk!! So I got back up and took off my coat, and then I could barely squeeze in. During the whole test, I had some issues breathing normally, but I managed to finish just fine. 

So since this whole pregnancy thing is almost done, here are my notes/advice for next time we decide we want a baby.

0. Don’t. (--courtesy of Matt)

1. Every pregnancy is different. Don’t judge the pregnant girl in your class who never stops eating or glare at the lady who loves being pregnant.

2. Babies come at 40 weeks (Not 24, 32, or 36.5 weeks) I’m really not good at this whole waiting thing.

3. Babies make your body hurt in really weird ways. Baby toes in the ribs hurt and feel really weird. Hips popping out of location hurts too.

4. You have to be a lot more comfortable with your body. Weird sounds coming from you? Totally normal. I didn’t even know pelvic bones could make sounds like that.

5. Baby kicks are cute. I think this is the best part about being pregnant. (unless it gets you in the ribs, see #3 – also Matt)

6. Drink lots of water.  Apparently camels can drink 80% of their body weight. I’m just aiming for 3%, like 4-5 lbs.  

7. Nurses can be stupid or really helpful. “Sorry sweetheart, I wish I could do something about your pain, but the only other option other than Tylenol is narcotics.”

8. Say “no” if you don’t want to do anything. I seem to forget this a lot, and then I would feel overwhelmed and Matt would find me in a puddle of overwhelmed-ness. It was sad.

9. If you can eat something, eat it. Don’t worry about how healthy it is. I remember going shopping with a friend in my first trimester. I grabbed for the oreos and she pointed out all the healthier options that I could be eating. I gave her a look and told her that while eating healthy was a good theory, I was just looking for stuff I wouldn’t throw up. I feel the same way now when people pin workout routines on pinterest. Nice in theory, totally a different story when there is a baby in your ribs.

10. It’s okay to cry on the bed and eat lots of mint Milano’s while reading mommy blogs. I love mommy blogs. They are the best.

11. Leave the house once a day.

12. Baths are divine. Though your husband might get mad that there is never hot water and threaten to get his own water heater. (Which is a good idea: “His” and “Hers” -- Matt.)

13. Prenatal vitamins are worth taking even if you throw them up. I’m really bad at remembering the health benefits of these.

14. The last few months I should probably not talk to anyone outside of my family (or in – Matt) in case people think I’m crazier than normal. Matt should have kept track of all the crazy things I’ve said. They are pretty awesome.

15. People feel entitled to give their opinion about your baby, your body, your parenting styles, etc. Figure out what you want beforehand and then tell them to go to a fiery afterlife.

16. Google can answer almost any question and is easier to use at 1:00 A.M. than a 300+ page baby advice book.  (Imagine making money off convincing pregnant ladies they need to do even more. – Matt)

17. 8:00 P.M. is a totally acceptable time to go to bed. And several naps are nice too.

I’m excited for Baby Offspring to come. We are ready as we know how to be with her, and the roads are clear.