Andrew...1 month old

Andrew is 1 month old today and I thought I would post a little about him and how he is doing. He is a sweet little boy and my love for him, as with Delia, is incomprehensible!! He is growing though he still seems so small to me. Just in the last week or so he has been doing a lot of spitting up..though not nearly as much as Delia and projectile vomiting every now and then with some back arching..yep he has acid reflux..although he still has to see his doctor in order to get his medicine. Hopefully this will help his pain he is having with it. It even effects his eating. He is a very sleepy baby. This is a good and bad thing. He falls asleep all the time when he eats so getting him to eat enough is super hard and sometimes frustrating, but he sleeps 5 hrs at night!! So nice. He grunts a lot and makes many noises..as did Delia, so I put him in the bathroom so I can hear him cry, but his grunting is barely audible, so no more waking up to every little noise. We'll see how long that lasts! He does make some cute noises when he sleeps that make me smile, I have to remember to get it on video. When he eats or sucks his bink, he brings his little fisted hands up underneath his chin..cutest thing ever! I think the only reason he cries when he does is his acid reflux or he is hungry. Nice this time around to have a baby who doesn't cry so much. Delia loves him very much. although it has been hard to teach her that she is not big enough to help with everything she is very caring about him. He has been given the nick name "bubba" courtesy of his father! Even Delia calls him that too! He has been smiling at me when I am looking straight into his bluing eyes. I love it and cry out of pure joy just looking at him and knowing he is mine. Such a wonderful thing to be a mother, to be able to love a child of god is unlike anything else. Moments like these make all the challenges worth it. I can't wait to see how much he is going to change and how fun it will be to raise a boy this time around!

More Pictures of Andrew...and the Birth Story

So this birth experience was soooo much better than it was with Delia. I made the sacrafice of driving to Durango, CO( about 1 hour away) to be seen by the doctors there and to deliver at the that hospital. I had heard too many horror stories of the one here in Farmington. It was worth it! It was so much more of a personal experience this time. There wasn't a bunch of hussle and bussle with so many doctors and nurses coming in and out of my room! There was only a total of 4 people vs. 25 that were there last time! My labor went fast. About 8 am I was at 3 cm and they started the cytotec, which is a tiny pill they put directly on the cervix. 4 hours later about 12 pm they checked me again and I was only at 4 cm. My contractions were pretty mild and were coming about every 3-5 mins. but I passed the time away by watching the Law & order marathon on TV. eventhough I was only at a 4, they decided to break my water to speed things up and boy did it! since Andrew was still so high in my belly, she had a difficult time trying to break my water. I had already had an epidural with Delia when my water was broke so I had felt no pain. But with this one it was one of the most painful things I have experienced. After that the contractions came on stronger and were getting closer together. They lasted about 1-2 mins. and were coming every minute to 30 seconds. It was pretty intense. I told them I definitely wanted an epidural, ut they needed to get a bag of fluids in me before they could do it. The nurse could tell I was in a lot of pain and tried making the fluids go in faster. Once that was done the anesthesiologist came in and was super nice. I was having horrible contractions while he did the epidural it took all I had to focus on pain management so I could stay still enough for him to do it. After it was done, it took about 15 mins. for the pain to go away. considering that I was only at 4 cm when they did the epidural, christian decided to take a drive to downtown durango to pass the time. after about 20 mins. I started feeling a lot of pressure and called the nurse in to check me. I was dilated to 8 cm!!! What..how did that happen so fast? All those painful contractions I was having during the epidural must have made me dilate super fast. So I had her call christian to tell him to come back because it was going fast. 10 mins. later, it seemed the epidural was going to do all that it could because I was in a lot of discomfort even after pushing the button 3 times. So I called the nurse again to check...and what do you know I was at a 10!! What the? That was faster that I was even hoping for. The doctor was called and was there fairly fast, but still no christian. After the doctor had put on all her dressing and was getting ready for me to push, christian walks in. What a close call. I pushed for 3 contractions, about 10 mins. and out he came. No one could believe how fast it all happened. The doctor said I pushed like a pro. Wow..that's good to know. It was pretty intense the whole thing. The pushing was more painful that it had been with delia..then again I may not remember how it really was. He came out posterior with a handby his face..no wonder it hurt it what the doctor said. She was amazed at how fast he came out with him being posterior and with a hand. The minute she set him on top of me we mad eye contact and had that instant bond. the first thing I noticed was his eyes. He had Delia's eyes. So stunning! He also was smaller than Delia and so adorable. I was in labor for a total of 6.5 hrs. a far cry from the 22 hrs I was with Delia. The experience was so nice and much more relaxed this time around. I was glad I was able to have a better birth experience. I am so glad to have a little boy in our family. He is perfect and a sweet addition to our family.

since we brought him home he/we have had a difficult time with nursing. Because this was my first time to be able to successfully nurse it became extremely painful! on a scale of 1-10 it was a 12. I cried a lot and finally came to my breaking point where I couldn't do it anymore. My friend had a couple more suggestions before I gave up and one of them was to use a nipple sheild. I hoped and prayed on my way to the store that this would work and that I would not have to give up breastfeeding. What a miracle!! It worked. So now if I used it everytime I feed him I can fianlly enjoy it pain free! thus that is why I have not posted anything since he was born. I never thought I would have such a challenge with the pain. He cannot latch on all the way, thus causing my excrutiating pain. Thank goodness something worked. Now hopefully my stress level will go down and I will start eating more(have been too stressed and busy to think about eating) Now things will continue to get better from here on out!

He's Here!!!!

WELCOME TO THE WORLD

ANDREW CHRISTIAN ANDERSON

8 lbs. 3 oz. 20 in.

PERFECT!!

FYI- Do Not Use Magic Eraser on Skin!

So you have all heard about my good intentions of trying to clean my child of messy stain on her skin with bad results. Well, my friends, it has happened once more. It seems I am a slow learner on how to effectively and safely clean my child and poor Delia is unfortunately my guinea pig!

Lately I have been finding so many "marks" on the wall made by mostly her and have gotten into a Magic Eraser frenzy! The thing really is magic when needing to clean surfaces of your home that are hard to get out. She got into the dry erase markers out of my church bag and colored all over her leg, coloring on herself is something she has done a hundres times. So I got this brilliant idea to use a magic eraser to get the marker out instead of scrubbing for ten minutes trying to get it out. I didn't scrub for very long and it came out great! Then about 15-20 mins. later she comes to me with make-up on and says "mom, I look gorgeous!" oh goodness! She attempted to put on mascara and lipstick! But this time I couldn't get to mad at her because it was kind of funny and cute at the same time and she was just innocently trying to "look like mommy" so I used some make-up remover to take it off. She then tells me she has on "owie" on her leg. the only thing I see is a slight mascara mark and figuered she has kind of scraped her leg with it, but it looked fine to me. She still kept coming up to me asking for a bandaid for her leg and I assumed she was just trying to find another excuse to get a bandaid, something she has been doing lately. Then finally she was getting really irrated by it, so I checked it again and saw a large red rash! What the?? So I figured that she was having some kind of allergic reaction to something because 20 mins. ago it wasn't there. So I put a little antibiotic ointment on it and a bandaid to make her feel better. Told her she could now get her shoes on and go outside with daddy, but she started crying and just wanted me to hold her. Hmmm...this must really hurt her when she doesn't want to go outside. Then a second "rash" appears on her lower leg. So now she has one on her thigh and her leg. What is going on? I tried for about 30 mins to figure out what it was that she came in contact with that is causing her to breakout ibn this rash. Then it finally dawned on me. she had colored on herself with markers, but that couldn't be it..oh, no!!! The magic eraser!! I hurried to the pantry to see what ingredients were in it..aparently none. But there is a warning that says to not use on skin, it will cause abrasions!! What! Why didn't I realize that before? It apparently has the same effect as steel wool when used on skin. Why do I not think of these things especially when it will hurt my child? So yes, I scratched the heck out of her leg..which is something I was really trying to avoid. Goodness!. So she has more medicine on and some cloth bandages to keep it covered for a bit and to make Delia feel better.

So just in case you're like me and think that a Magic eraser can be use on anyting..that's wrong.

***Note to self: always read instructions on something before using it anywhere especially your child!!

hopefully andrew will not have to suffer from my neglect of thinking before doing!

7 Years and Counting

We have been married for 7 years now and I can't believe how fast the time has gone! We have been through so much together. Moved to 4 different cities. 2 Houses. Have had a beautiful daughter and now a son due any day now! We have traveled to many different places: Hawaii, Florida, Cancun Mexico, Chicago, Nauvoo, Tennesee, Missisppi, and of course the places we have lived: Utah, California, Kentucky, Colorado and New Mexico! It has been a fun journey and I look forward to many more with my wonderful Husband! He works so hard for this family and I appriciate and love all that he does. I cannot imagine my life without him, it would be empty! I love you, babe and look forward to the next 7 years!! Happy Anniversary!

When we were Dating

My Wedding Shower

Our Wedding Day: May 9, 2003

Baby Updates!

So yes, I am still pregnant and probably will be forever! okay, so maybe not forever, but I have a feeling this one too is going to be over due and large like Delia was but the difference from other prego moms is that I will be delivering naturally(with the help of an epidural of course) my appt. last Friday at 37 wks 5 days. I was not dilating yet and was only 20% efaced. Now now one week later I will hopefully get some news that I am progressing, if only a little bit. We find out tomorrow if there are any changes. But to make matter more escalated, Christian leaves tonight until Sunday morning to go on a rafting trip that he has had planned before we even got pregnant...soooo. My father in law is out here helping out with things that need to be done(organizing the garage, replacing the mail box, etc.) so that has been nice. I told christian that the chances of this baby coming while he is gone is slim to none, however I did tell him he needed to decide what to name him before he left just in case I do have this baby while he is gone, and we did!! Yes, finally! ANDREW CHRISTIAN is going to be his name. and considering it was his great-grandfather's name from all the way back to the civil war(which we just found out last night) that seemed to be the deciding factor for him. funny how we have choosen names that are family names!! This time is so excting for babies because christian's cousin and her husband are adopting a little boy that is due 1 week after Andrew and Christian's sister is pregnant with her second due in Oct. So we are all excited about babies!! Well I will keep everyone posted on the progress of this pregnancy..I am sooo ready!

A Nursery Mishap...and other Enlightenments!

So Sunday started out a pretty good day. Delia was dressed up cute in her new pink dress and I curled her hair. We were slightly late for church but we were not able to find an empty seat! So we sat out in the foyer..better for my behind anyway! Delia did pretty good although she still has a hard time sitting still. Later a couple of primary boys came and were standing out in the foyer because all the chairs were taken..this was during sacrament. They started rough housing a little, but it was just play. Delia however looked up at me and said, "that's not nice, mommy!" and of course I just say, "yep" because she says this a lot lately. Anytime she sees something that is "not nice" she lets me know, so now when she says it it's nothing spectacular anymore. So later while in nursery, about 5 min. before church is about over, someone is standing at the door of the cultural hall with Delia. This has never happened before, but figured it probably would since I ave been potty training Delia. So I just assumed she had an "accident" and was grateful church was over anyway. When I got to the door to pick her up, the primary president had told me that there was an incident in nursery and a little boy had bitten Delia's finger! What? Okay, wasn't expecting that. She said it had bled pretty bad but had finally stopped. Delia looked a little melancholly and sad, but wasn't crying and seemed fairly fine. She felt so bad and kept apologizing, but I was fine. I was just a little humored actually because little kids bite other kids all the time I just never expected it to happen to mine. I was just thankful that it wasn't delia who had done the biting.

Everyone was so concerned for her. Even the bishop called to make sure was fine and the 1st councselor stopped by to do the same thing. Never expected anyone to apologize really, it was no one's fault. But made me appriciate what good people we have in our ward and their true concerns for everyone. Makes me feel lucky to be a part of that. But they are 2. They are still learning what is okay to do and what is not. No matter how much their parents may have taught them or how good their parents are, little kids are going to do things that will make our heads spin. I can't be upset at a 2 year old child as if he were 16, or 25. I know better than that. that got me thinking.

Doesn't Christ do the same thing with us. Even when we are grown and know right from wrong, yet we still do them. We still disappoint our heavenly father and not necessarily intentionally. We are human and we are always going to make mistakes. That is why I am so grateful for my saviour and his sacrifice for us so we can be forgiven of our mistakes. So if Christ can forgive us of our mistakes shouldn't we forgive our own children for theirs? Whether we are teaching them not to bite or to avoid drugs and alcohol the same principle applies. We constantly need to be taught whether by our earthly parents or our Heavenly Father. And even so, we will still make those mistakes.

Just as there are those that do bad against us, we too do bad against others. We are not perfect. We need to make sure that we continue to be reminded about what is right and what is wrong, even in our adult years. It could have easily had been Delia who had done the biting because 2 year olds (and preschoolers) get frustrated and are still "experimenting" with how to portray that and get their message across. This is where we take these opportunities to teach our children, not if something happens, but because things like this are going to happen it is just a matter of when the teaching opportunity arises.

This made me grateful to think that my child is not the only misbehaved child, that I may not afterall be a bad parent, and that I need to reflect a little differently on what I have taught them when I see the good effects of it. When I get frustrated I need to step back and decide the best course of action rather than "acting out" without thinking which could have nasty consequences when Delia picks up on them as "acceptable" behavior. (this has happened on multiple occasions) But that doesn't if we are always the best example in front of our kids that they are going to be perfect either.

Because of my savior and the love he has for me to have scarificed for everything I have done wrong and will do wrong in my life I can look at situations like these and not even think about harbouring any bad feelings toward anyone especially those who are my friends. I am grateful that in the book of bad things that can happen to your child, this would be toward the back. I know Delia has been in much more peril because of my lack of parentship than a kid biting her finger! I took this as a personal learning experience for me and as a parent. Things are going to happen whether they happen to us or we happen to someone else, we need to be prepared on how to handle it and what better teacher is there than Jesus Christ to show us how!

The best part about all of this is how strong and tuff Delia is. She is still just as loving as she is with tantrums. She still asks, "a go to church a morrow?" She loves church and hopefully always will! If getting your finger bitten isn't the worst thing that can happen at church, we are on the right path!

34 weeks!! 6 more to go!

Here I am! I have finally gotten around to posting another picture of my growing belly and it has definitely gotten bigger since my last belly post! I don't look that glamourous because, 1) nothing fits, even my maternity close don't fit right becuase of how I carry. 2) I have no one to take pictures of me and I feel kind of silly asking some one to do it. 3) my camera is certainly not the best and dream one day have having one 10x better, but that is far in the future! So this is the best I can do. and may be the last you see until he is here.

Easter 2010

This year Easter was so much fun! The weather was much better than last year was and Delia is older so she got the concept of "finding eggs" much better also! I decided to make her dress more special this year rather than the usual "walmart" dress. I found a pretty purple one online and was also able to buy our little guy's blessing outfit too! I made a bow to match her dress and spent 40 mins curling her hair. Delia was pretty good at letting me do it and she looked so pretty afterwards! We taped conference so we could spend some time with some friends. We had an Easter egg hunt at the Country Club and this year they divided the ages, so it was a little easier for Delia, plus they were all just scattered about the grass and covering a large area, much different than last year so she got quite a few eggs. Then afterward we went with our friends, the Frank's and their daughter Ava to do our own egg hunt at a nearby park. The girls were pretty distracted playing on the slides while we hid some more eggs. they had a lot of fun finding them and on multiple occasionsran for the same egg. I tried to take some posing pictures of delia with some flowers, but that was not going to happen and I just wanted her to have a fun day to play. Delia got to see the Easter bunny multiple times. She even got to choose 2 prizes, which she ended up taking 2 jump ropes! We had brunch/lunch at the Country Club and it was really good! Then we came home, put delia down for a nap and watched conference. It was a nice day. Thank you Josh and Misty, we had a very fun time!