Meet Alex

I took Ben and Simon to mama and daddy and baby Alex at the hospital yesterday - we lasted maybe 20 minutes....Ben was very shy of the new baby as we walked in. Da was holding Alex and Ben immediately stepped back closer to me ...didn't know what to think. ..so I suggested tht he might want to set up on the bed with mama...his eyes lit up and he said YEAH! So up he went - mom took Ben and I took Alex. I got to check Alex out - talk about one solid little guy - I'm still not too sure how long he was but he truly handles the 9 lbs 5 oz without any problem. Ten toes on the long Willden feet, soft brown hair, didn't get to see the eyes. He surely can pull some faces though!

This is my favorite picture - you can tell from his ears that he isn't premature - such a softy!

Another good frowny face.

The whole family -this lasted a few minutes, long enough for me to shoot a couple pictures with Dirk's camera and a couple with mine. Then the boys wanted down. they got tired of running in circles around the room (although the room WAS twice the size Glenn's was at the Provo Hospital!). Then they discovered the push buttons on mama's bed and that was the beginning of the end - about the time they had mom folded nearly in half we decided the visit was over!!

However, today Dirk was giving Ben a hug and telling him that he was going to the hospital to see Mama and Baby Alex Ben held up three fingers - and said "three boys!!"

You gotta admit they make cute kids!! Congratulations Dirk and Da. And, Melinda, you better get your rest while you're in the hospital cause you are going to have your HANDS full for the next couple of years!as I unloaded the pictures on my camera I found several cute ones of Emma from when I stayed with her after Glenn's accident. I loved the poignant look on her face in this picture!

old pictures

my dad Merritt has had this picture for some time and has puzzled and puzzled over it. He knew that the oldest boy was Wallace, his father, and going down in age would be Theron - he really thought that the five year old was Clinton and the baby Uncle Bill, but couldn't figure out the seven year old - Peter was younger than Clinton not older. After examining the picture very closely I can see that both the 5 and 7 year olds look very very similar - I think that the picture is indeed Louis and Mary's five sons - Wallace, Theron, Clinton (age 7) Eldon Peter and Lawrence Dewayne (Uncle Bill)
This is the picture I lost somewhere between scanning and my blog - does anyone in the family know who this is?
This is a picture of me (Susan) and Kecia Lynn at Merrilee's wedding in 1982 when Kecia was about 19 months old.
This is a picture of my Grandmother Viola Yates Nielson and her oldest son Legrande (who went by Dan). They are picnicking in front of an old steam engine that was used for threshing - this picture was probably taken in 1920 or 1921
from left to right - great grandpa Louis Nielson, grandpa Wallace Nielson, great uncle Marlen Nielson with dog in wagon, Great Uncle Theron Nielson. The man kneeling in front of the wagon is Gerhardt Hansen, my Aunt Marie's uncle.
My Uncle Evan thinks this is a picture of my grandfather Wallace Nielson
Uncle Evan told me that he remember's his mother showing him this picture years ago and he believes that the lady is the rocker is his Grandmother Susan Isadore McCarthur Yates. The baby on her lap would be his mother Viola Yates Nielson and the girl standing between the two ladies is Aunt Dora (Grandma Viola's older sister, Susan Isadore Yates Bradfield). The other lady is Aunt Mary McArthur Mathews, sister of Susan Isadore McCarthur Yates.
Legrande Nielson, Darnae Nielson, Harlan Nielson, Evan Nielson, Wallace Nielson, Merritt Nielson, Larry Nielson and Sterling Nielson. This picture was taken in front of Grandpa Louis and Granma Mary Nielson's Leamington home at the time of Grandpa Lou's death in December of 1947
Merritt, Harlan, Darnae, Aunt Beryl, Grandpa Wallace, Legrande, Grandma Viola, Evan Nielson, Sterling Nielson with Larry in front. The two girls are Great Aunt Della's girls - Carole and Diane King.
My cousin Debbie Linge Frehner - her mother was a sister to my dad - my Aunt Jeannine

feeling better

I don't know if it is a week of eating toast and and bananas and drinking gatorade and herbal teas...or the antibiotics but things are looking pretty good. I can't say, by a long shot, that I am better, but things are looking up. I really really really want the antibiotics to do the trick and I DO NOT want them to find something bad (like cancer) in my colon....so we will pray that this is gonna do the trick.

It is so nice to feel good though - even when I do have an attack of diarrhea (like after drinking two bottles of barrium for the CT scan) I don't feel exhausted and tired and headachy and miserable like I did before because of the gatorade. I didn't think I would EVER EVER EVER choose a bottle of gatorade over a can of pepsi but I have been doing it all week! Amazing!

Still Feeling Rotten

It is 1:30 in the morning and I don't dare go to bed because every 20 minutes or so I need to run to the bathroom. I am low on energy - tomorrow I am going to go buy a whole bunch of gatorade to help restore the electrolytes...and Monday I am going to call the doctor for another appointment - there is no way I can wait until the 23rd (when they are doing my colonoscopy) to find out what else we can try to help stop this infernal diarrhea. The antifungal drug that I was prescribed for the Candida helped really well for one week - and since then has been coming back worse every day - Wednesday and Thursdays were my worst days so far. Today I felt pretty good - but tonight things are not good.

I will only eat toast and drink lots of liquids tomorrow so that I will be in good shape to go to Provo on Monday - I very much want to go see Emma and Ben and Simon....so I have to make sure I can do it....I have also decided I am going to halt my walks in the mornings - I have only been walking one and one half miles instead of the normal 2 1/2 miles and that still leaves me in awful shape for the rest of the day. I am going to see if I don't wear myself out first thing in the morning if I will have more energy for the rest of the day.

this is probably too much information (or TMI as Jamie would say) but I wanted to give you all an update as to what is going on STILL!