The cutest Grandkids ever!

This year, there were three new grandbabies born. 2 Anderson kiddos, and 2 new Adams grandkids. You would think that would mean 4 babies, but this first cutie you see is not only an Adams grandson, he's also a Anderson grandson!

I just can't get over how freakin adorable this little boy is! We LOVE him!

Here's Baby Lilly and Baby Nate. They were the first and last of the babies born this year. They've got a Maltby cousin, an Adams cousin, and a Lines cousin between them.

And here's Grandpa Adams with his two new grandkiddos.

Here's Jack, Madi, and Nate. They are toooo freakin cute for words. Even though Nate is 2 1/2 weeks younger than Madi, they are the same size, and people thought that they were twins!

Here's the two babies together again. Aren't they too sweet for words?

This weekend we were expecting my mother-in-law in town to visit us and our newest member of the family. That was set up since before the little guy was born. What we weren't expecting was for her to bring Sara and her two kiddos along. We should have been more suspicious b/c she said she had rented a car, so we didn't have to pick her up from the airport. That made no sense, and Dan and I kept telling her that she should just cancel it, because we could drive her anywhere we needed to go. And then Sara's MIL called and invited Dan, me, Diane and Sara over for Sunday dinner. When Dan heard his sister's name on the list too, he thought Cindy had just misspoken and didn't mention it to me. So he was less surprised, but I was shocked when Mom knocked at the door holding a sweet little baby in her arms. I realized immediately what it meant, but Dan was confused. He thought that Mom had somehow snuck into the house, grabbed Nate, snuck back out and knocked on the door.

I do have to admit to being a little perturbed though. After all, Sara told Coree that she was going to be in town, but not me :( Oh well, it was a great surprise, and we had lots of fun over the weekend. Before they left, we took all three kids to Sears and got some pictures taken. Jack did well for an almost 2 year old with ear infections in each ear. Then the babies both had to eat before we could get their pics together. And we took some naked baby shots, and Nate peed on Madi, then Madi peed on Nate. So between the two babies, and Jack dropping his ice cream cone not once, but twice, we pretty much trashed the room we were in.

My great big boy

Look at my sweet boy, all 21 and a quarter inches of him asleep on the ginormous king sized bed. I'd like to add that he had it all to himself for this particular nap.

Wait, what's this? Is something missing? Yeah, that's right, my little boy is growing up. His umbilical cord fell off today and now he's a big boy with a bellybutton and everything!

This one is from in the hospital. Little guy spent next to no time in his bassinet. Every chance he got, Daddy was cuddling and snuggling with him.

Isn't Lilly a big big girl? At only 3 months old, she's already able to hold her baby cousin.

Sitting side by side, you can tell these two are going to be good buddies. And that Lilly is excited to get to meet her sweet new baby cousin.

I've got to say, I love having a baby in the house again. It is so amazing to see how much he changes from day to day. I had forgotten how exciting it is to watch even the tiniest milestones being reached. Like today when I noticed that Nate's umbilical cord was gone, I proudly showed his daddy and then proclaimed that Nate was all grown up. That he's a little man now, not a baby anymore. As usual, Dan was able to point out that I was being a little crazy, and that at a week and 2 days old, Nate is still very much a baby. I just can't get over how much has changed in the past 2 weeks. And how different it is now that Nate has been born. And how awesome he is. As I've told Nate, he is literally the answer to a prayer, and he is a sweet gift from God.

it's all about me!

Ok, so I've been going on and on and on about my sweet little brand new baby who I love so very much. But I'm still here too! Anyway, my biggest achievements are that I have managed to get caught up with my housework (almost), and I've lost that pesky water weight that had me swollen up to sausage feet and chipmunk cheeks. A whopping 11 pounds of water weight. So, that and the baby/delivery weight loss brings me to half of my pregnancy weight gain gone. Yay. The downside being that while it's an impressive number of lbs. gone, it was a very large number of lbs put on over the past 9 months. Now my biggest worry is that I won't lose all this baby weight before we get started again!
On a related note, I can finally wear my wedding ring again!!!!! The day I put it on was a day of great rejoicing throughout the land. Well, throughout my household......ok, maybe just by me. When I proudly held my ring adorned hand up to Dan, he asked where the baby was, and what I was doing. But when I did tell Dan why I was excited and why he should be too, he could hardly contain himself. He said, "good for you" and turned back to the computer, unable to hold in his emotion; not wanting me to see him tear up. At least that how I choose to remember it!
I'm doing well with this whole nursing thing too. My milk came in, and the engorgement phase is over. Also the horrible, horrible low back pain that I was feeling last week is finally over. I finally feel back to my old self, and I actually have more energy and zip than I've had for the past two months. Apparently it's easier to take care of the little guy from the outside rather than lugging him around inside. Though with that method there was less conscious effort. And less equipment. Over all, I prefer having him out in the world.
And that's all that's going on with me. for now. later I'll post again b/c Nate has some exciting news of his own!! Such a big boy.

Baby pics

This is one of his first pictures. The reason he's so white is he was in shock a little from having his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. The tubes in the top of the picture are from the oxygen mask that he got for about 2 min.
Grampa with his two new grandbabies. Lilly and Nathan.
Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Ryan. Wow, I look like a doped up chipmunk!
This one was tough b/c I'm holding Lilly on the side with the IV still in my arm, and she's a big girl. It's the two cousins and their parents. Well, minus Joe, cause he wasn't there.
Daddy and Nate. And yes, that's pretty much the expression on Daddy's face every time he holds his little boy!

Needless to say, we love, Love, LOVE our sweet baby boy, but it sounds like Daddy and Uncle Ryan are in for a beating because they just went into the room where Baby Nate is sleeping, and I hear the gentle pseudo-cries of a newborn on the verge of waking up 5 min. before Mommy was planning to go to sleep. Yup, there's the telltale cries of an awake baby. Curse you Daddy and Uncle Ryan.....curse you!!

Nate Updates

Today was a busy day for me and the little guy. At the ripe old age of 1 week (1 whole week!!!), we were off to the doctor's office. That kind of sucked because his appointment was at 8:45 and he was up every hour on the hour to nurse last night. What can I say, he's got a limited skill set right now, but he's good at what he does. Which is why he went through 3 diapers during the course of his check up-he's just doin' what he does best, eat and poo. He currently weighs 8lbs, 15oz so he's almost back up to his birth weight, and he measured in at 21 1/4 inches. That actually surprised me, because I thought (and Daddy did too) that he was only 20 inches at birth. So, either they measured him wrong at the hospital, or he grew over an inch in a week. If that's the case, I'll have a baby the size of a five year old before he can even roll over! All in all the visit went well, though he was traumatized when he got his temp taken, and when they had to do the heel stick for his pku test. But, with a little time spent nursing, all was right in his world again.
He surprised the doctor with his advanced hand grabbing skills when she was trying to check out his ears and nose. All of a sudden, she looks up, startled, and said it looked like he was intentionally grabbing her hand, and he's strong. She said it almost looked like he focused on her hand, and then reached out to grab it, as opposed to flailing his arms around, realizing there's something there and grabbing it. But babies don't do that til 3 months. Personally, I think he did. He did something similar to his daddy where he reached out with both his hands, grabbed Daddy's hand and pulled it to his mouth. Dan says Nate kissed his hand, then let it go. Nate was also a little turkey during his check up, because when she went to check on his circumcision, he peed. But he did it just before the diaper came off so that there was pee coating his whole little area that she had to check. Thank goodness for gloves!
We also went in to Pepsi to turn in the paperwork needed to get the little guy on the insurance. And while we were there, I decided to pick up my paystubs, so Nate got to see the warehouse and meet a couple of the people I work with. They were all suitably impressed with his awesomeness and cuteness, and surprised to see me with a baby. He slept through that whole encounter, and just oozed adorableness. It's looking like I'll be going back to work around Thanksgiving time. My doctor's appointment is set for Nov. 25 and I got all the paperwork that I need to return to work. I also found out that the scary certified letter I got saying I had exceeded my 12 weeks of FMLA leave was just a reminder that they can backfill, but I was reassured by the HR rep that they aren't looking to fill my position, and it doesn't look like that will happen in the next 2 months. So it looks like I'll still have a job to go back to...yay!
Uh-oh, I hear noises coming from the other room. Looks like I've used up all my free time, and Nate's hungry for some quality mommy time.

I'm baaaacck

Wow, this has been one crazy crazy week. And last night, for the first time since Sunday I got to sleep (I use the term loosely) in my very own bed! Dan got the fun part, putting up pictures, and using age progression technology to see how Nate will look when he's his daddy's age. And now it's my turn to tell the story! We went into the hospital Monday night at 10, and by 11:30 they had started me on Pictocin. And 20 short hours later, Nate was born! Turns out he was face up (one nurse referred to it as 'sunny side up') and they said that was the reason it was taking so long to make any progress. So, he had to be turned over, and since he's such a big guy his shoulders didn't make things any easier. He had shoulder distotia which I think is a fancy way of saying that they had to twist and turn and maneuver to get his shoulders out. The nurse 'helped' get him out by climbing up next to me and shoving on my tummy while I was pushing. Hey, whatever works, right? But that's not all....apparently Nate had also managed to get his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, so when he was born, they whisked him away, and he got some oxygen. That's also why he looks sooooo ghost white in his first few pics. He went from white to purple to pink in the course of about 5 to 10 min. And as they took him away, I grabbed Dan by the hand and told him "go make sure he's perfect" He was going to stay with me and hold my hand, but I pushed him away (it took so much arm twisting to get him to go to the baby) and demanded that he check on the baby. And pointed out that I couldn't check him out because I was basically paralyzed from the waist down.
We did good. I was able to deliver without an epesiotomy, and without having to have a c-section-which was my greatest fear for weeks beforehand. So now we're home, getting used to life with a baby on the outside, while our little guy gets used to having to do things like breathe and eat on his own. And let me tell you, he has got this whole eating thing down pat. He is a professional nurser! He's also good at napping (thank goodness) and he has his daddy eating out of his tiny little hand! :)

You can see what's going

Well, unfortunately for the world, Rachel is unable to post right now due to the fact that she is in the hospital, so you have to listen to me. No, she didn't trip over a dog into a pit of venomous snakes, she actually decided to have a baby! THAT'S RIGHT! Nathan Daniel Anderson has finally deemed it necessary to grace us with his presence. Weighing in at 9 lb 1.8 ounces, our little football player has come!
Anyway, I know you are dying to see pictures of Nate and not listen to a sleep deprived fool, so here ya go. Enjoy!

This picture is of my cute little big guy

(yes he is both little AND big)

This is one of the first chances mommy got to hold him
This is one of the many chances Daddy got to hold him

(Daddy got to hold him MUCH more than mommy, at least initially)

Another picture of his cute face

(for some reason people say he looks like me, but I don't see it) Wait a minute...

Oh!!! Now I see it!

(little do you readers know that in a short time mommy will probably kill daddy for putting this picture up)

Well, that's our little miracle. Stay tuned for details! You stay classy World Wide Web.

Time for something different

Lately I've been dedicating my posts to one four letter word. And it's time to move on for a time. After all, that's not all that's going on with us right now. And also because I talked to my cousin Bryan tonight and though he's not usually a blog reader, he saw my last post and, well...sorry Bryan.
Anyway, Dan and I are doing well. He is still fighting his way through school, studying like crazy, and doing great cause he's super smart. Although we did have a talk the other day about his video game habits. He started playing World of Warcraft again with his brother. You may remember we've had difficulty with this before. In an earlier post, I posed the question 'can a nonhuman be considered a mistress?' Well, it started out innocently enough, but one night when he finally came to bed and asked me if I was ok, and what the matter was, I replied "the game is stealing your soul" (because as everyone know, I'm not the type to be overly dramatic). Since then it's been lots better. We even got a brandy new board game called pirate's cove. We are into strange, specialty board games that I've never heard of, but they are way cool. We don't have any of the games I grew up playing, like Monopoly or Scrabble or Life, or Clue, etc. We have games like Carcassone (and all 5 expansions) and Pentago, a zombie game called Last Night on Earth (super super fun! we had a game night when a bunch of Dan and Ryan's high school buddies were in town, and two of them bought it as soon as they got home). Just goes to show how boring we are. I cross stitch, Dan plays WoW and together we enjoy a good zombie board game.
Hmmm, maybe I lied, there's really not a whole lot going on with me right now. Other than that which shall not be mentioned. (At least not right now). I can't wait til I'm able to travel again, cause I wanna go see Grandma, and also Megan and Hunter. (Suzanne does too). And I can't wait to see my mil-she's coming out a week or two after-----the event that shall not be named-takes place.
Funny story, I was at Safeway today picking up some stuff for dinner. When I got to the car, the driver's door would not unlock. I tried using the keyless entry, and using the key itself...I even opened the passenger door, reached across and tried to unlock it from the inside. Nothing worked. The other 3 doors opened fine, but that didn't really do me a whole lot of good. So in the end, I had to go in through the passenger side and crawl over to the driver's seat. And since I am so travel sized and compact, the seat was really close to the steering wheel, so anyone who was in the parking lot at the time was probably doubled over laughing. I know I would have been. The worst part is that when I got home, I still couldn't get the dang door open, so I had to crawl over the seat again....but when we went out later, Dan got it to open in under 15 seconds. How I loathe that door!
Well, that's my excitement. My day literally consists of sleeping, feeding and watering the animals, reading, light housework, sleeping, waiting for Dan to get home from school, playing with the cats, napping, eating, reading and sleeping. The biggest things I've done this week are going to the grocery store today, swimming today, going to Chandler Mall to pick up the new board game, and going out to lunch with my aunt Patty a couple days ago. That's about it.
But, I do think that soon something with my mom is going to change. At least I hope so. I've been thinking a lot about it lately. It started a couple weeks ago when Suzanne told me that Mom told her to tell me to give her back the spare Corolla keys. And I sent her an email saying sure, give me a call and we'll get together. Well, she still hasn't, but one night lately Dan gave me a blessing and we were both surprised to hear my mom mentioned, and I was told that she does want to know me and my son. And then, when my aunt and I went to lunch (we had Chinese) my fortune cookie said that someone in my background was going to be more co-operative than usual. So, it raises my hopes that change is in the air.

obviously I don't 'just know'

Well, once again, I have driven into Scottsdale for no more reason than to wear a stylish hospital gown and submit to an internal exam by a friendly, cheerful nurse who smiles as I try unsuccessfully to crawl away from her violating fingers. I really should back up here...today, I thought (erroneously as it turns out) that my water had broken. Turns out that it hadn't, but I did get an update. We're now at 2cm and -2 position. But the worst part is that the nurse is convinced that the trickling liquid that I mistook for my water breaking, was in fact urinary incontinence. She was nice about it and everything, and she did her best to explain that it happens to lots of women, especially at this stage, and that it was nothing to be embarrassed about. But I swear to you all, here and now, that I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was NOT the case! I know it with just as much certainty and clarity as I know that my husband, as a worthy Priesthood holder will give me a blessing when I do finally go into labor, and that later, he will bless and name our baby. And that our children will be born sealed to us, as an Eternal Family, and that one day I will get to see and continue to raise Devon. As you can see, I don't just think that I wasn't wetting myself, I KNOW I wasn't! (also, I happened to have laid out a towel to sleep on, just in case, the night before, so when I got home, I kind of double checked). The nurse did finally relent and say that it could also have been remnants of the plug and regular discharge, but I could see in her eyes that she still thought it was just plain ol pee. So, I was sent home, again...with the admonition that when the baby's coming, I'll "know"
Which I've got to say, is the most annoying sentence ever! The last time I had a baby was four and a half years ago! I don't just intuitively remember everything, and even if I did, this pregnancy has been very different than my last. And seriously, in what other situation would medical personnel use that phrase? "I think my appendix ruptured" "no dear, it didn't. But don't worry, if it does, you'll know"........or, "My arm feels like it's broken" "it's not, but come back if anything changes"
Anyway, I feel that I should point out now that I post this not necessarily because I think anyone out there in Internet-land wants to, or even needs to know, but mostly because my blogging releases stress and lets me chronicle my life events. And because I frequently read old posts and laugh. Sometimes, so hard that I experience urinary incontinence.

crazy crazy

Today was yet another fun filled doctor's appointment. With no changes. I thought that after this weekend, there would be at least a little progress made. After all, on Saturday I thought I was going into labor that night!
After the baby shower, I came home and told Dan about the crazy lady at McDonalds. She apparently decided that she didn't want a Big Mac after all, and tried to back out of the drive thru. That would have been fine, but she didn't take into account the fact that I was in line behind her, and her actions led her to hit the corolla. But she did make a worried, nervous face, like she felt reeeaaallly bad when she saw me pull my big pregnant self out of the car to inspect damage. Everything was fine, and I felt ok, so I didn't think too much more of it, but Dan and I decided to go check it out and make sure Nate was still in tip top shape. He was. I was freaking out every time the monitor got louder, or quieter, or changed in any way, but the nurse said that it was actually a basically perfect strip. And that the hills were him moving, so it was a good thing; I was worried it meant that his heart was crazy irregular. So, everything checkout out ok, and we went on our merry way. But about an hour or two after we got home, I started contracting. At first it wasn't bad, but it progressed. And Dan came into our room to see if I was ok and was confused to see the various body contortions being employed to ease the discomfort I was feeling. When it got so bad that I was doubling over and crying every couple of minutes (neither of us has a watch, much less one with a second hand, so we weren't really timing anything) Dan put me back into the car and we sped off to the hospital again. As I said, we didn't have a watch, or any way to time the contractions, but as we were driving up the 101, I had one at McKellips that lasted most of the way to McDowell and another one that started about halfway between McDowell and Thomas. Dan did really great, reminding me to take deep breaths, and at one point, just to breathe at all, and talking about inane topics to take my mind off it. Since it was later in the evening, we had to go to the after hours entrance, and be buzzed in. And I swear, that's where I heard the most ridiculous question I've ever heard. "What can I do for you?" Lady, you are manning the after hours entrance to the birthing center. Exactly how many possible things could I want from you? Hmmmm, I'm not there to order a pizza, I'm not selling girl scout cookies at midnight on a Saturday night, I don't have a broken arm. I'm a woman 38 weeks pregnant who wants to come into the birthing center!!!! You can open the bleeping door...That's what you can do for me! The funny thing is that as we were waiting to be buzzed in, I had what was to be my last contraction of the night. So for the next couple hours, I sat there, exhausted, and listened to the baby's heartbeat again. And I could feel the nurse's judging eyes, knowing she was thinking that I'm just another woman who cries "labor" for the attention. The worst part is that I was STILL only a 1+, but I did find out that I'm 50% effaced, and that Nate is at a -3 position (+5 is crowning I know, and 0 is at the entrance to the birth canal, I think). So, at 3:30 am we made our way home and I slept in all day long, so I missed conference.
And while I'm on the subject, can I make a confession. I feel like I can tell you, because you'll understand, and won't judge me. And even if you do, oh well. At least I won't have to see your judging eyes like that nurse. I just have to say, it is a challenge to sit attentively through General Conference. I know that the talks are good and the messages and topics are pertinent to our lives, my life, right now. But I find it's soooooo easy to let my attention wander. And Mom, if you're reading this, skip ahead a bit, ok? ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ok, here's my biggest, dirty secret about Conference. If I know that I haven't been paying as much attention as I should have been, I will listen to the last talk like someone's got a gun to my head, and when I talk to my mil, and she asks, I will tell her that was my favorite talk. And I'll quote a line or two from it and say how amazing it was. Because I know she'll ask, and I don't want to ever admit that I was playing pinball on the computer and not paying attention. Though that method does have the potential to get me into trouble, especially if the speaker is talking about something like senior missionary work, or the importance of personal worthiness of Priesthood holders. ....................................................................................................................... ok, Mom, you can come back now! So, I missed Sundays sessions (I actually woke up and reminded Dan that the afternoon session started in 10 min, then fell back asleep again) but I'm going to get them online and I will watch them. Really.
Anyway, back to today. Dr. Hunt said that everything is all still the same. Third week in a row! But, since Nate is such a big boy (I've been selling him short actually, he's in the 96th percentile for his weight, not the 94th like I've been saying) she likes to induce in the 39th week. I really like Dr. Hunt. Because she says what she usually does, or what she recommends, then asks what I want to do. She left it up to me and Dan, and we decided to schedule the induction for next Tuesday. So, by next Tuesday (if not sooner) we'll have our giant little baby. Now I've just got to go exchange all his clothes for something a little bigger, like maybe 3T so he'll fit them. I kid. Actually I joke a lot, but his large size is starting to scare me. The nurse on Saturday was feeling my stomach and seemed surprised to find all baby, and very little squishy, fluid-filled pockets, and declared "he's a big boy all right" in response to Dan's question about his size. And, even though a lot of women's weight gain slows down or even stops in the last few weeks, I'm still gaining about 2 pounds a week. And the average baby gains a half pound per week in the last month. Well, Nate didn't get into the 96th percentile by gaining weight at an average rate. And about 4 weeks ago he was 6lbs, 15oz. Dan thinks he's going to be close to 10lbs. And every time he says that, I cry a little.

waiting, waiting, waiting

As it draws ever nearer to the weekend, it becomes less and less likely that Nate will be here to join in the baby shower festivities. (good thing, cuz it's no boys allowed!) Honestly I feel like just before baby Madilyn was born, Nate was in a crazy race with her to be born. And once he realized he couldn't win, he settled back in and decided to wait a while. This week's doctor's appointment was slightly discouraging. Not because I haven't made any progress since last week (curse you, you lazy cervix!) but because last week the PA gave a misleading assessment. I thought I was at 2cm, but it turns out, it's just between 1 and 2, maybe closer....but Dr. Hunt says about 1 1/2...or a 1+. I realize this may be more information some need to know, my husband, for instance is slightly uncomfortable not only knowing that, but also with knowing how the doctor knows it. But hey, you made a choice today. I didn't hold a gun to anybody's head, if you're reading this, it's of your own free will and choice! Anyway, I'm still sitting around, waiting to meet my son...every day having a little more free time to remember a little more clearly events of 4 1/2 years ago, and how much fun labor is. I just keep telling myself that this time will be better. After all, odds are that Danny won't be in jail; he won't be leaving me between contractions for a smoke break; I won't have a crazy lady deciding that despite having regularly spaced contractions every 3 min I should be taking a shower, not going to the hospital; I will deliver within a few miles of the place I live, so even if I've forgotten to pack something, Dan can run home and get it and be back within half an hour (as opposed to 2 and a half hours one-way); and yet another super important difference: this time around I'll get a Priesthood Blessing.
In the mean time, though, it's boring just waiting. And waiting. And not wanting to cook, but knowing that if I get into the dinners that I froze, I'll be angry with myself. Then getting into the soup I froze as a lunch (my theory being that lunches are easier to make than dinners, so I won't regret its loss as much-I think my theory is flawed). So, in an effort to not only amuse myself, but to also keep busy, I've started washing baby clothes that I've been compulsively buying. Seriously, I've been like a crackhead, trying to score a hit. And Dan's trying to keep me on the straight and narrow, but I duck out of his grasp, or I hide. Heaven help me, I even fibbed about going to the bathroom one time at the Chandler Mall so I could check out Children's Place. And it doesn't even have to be boy clothes. The sales ladies at Jack and Janie smiled and chuckled to see Dan walk into the store and drag me away from an adorable, red, smocked dress with a bow at the waist. So, the upshot is that Nate already has more clothes than his daddy, and he's already growing out of them. I'm soo heartbroken. But, like a fool, I bought about a half dozen adorable little, little baby outfits, and as I was looking at tags, the newborn clothes say up to 7, or 8 pounds. And Mommy's Little Linebacker isn't going to get to wear them. Or if he does, he'll wear them for about half a minute, before we have a hulk-like moment of baby tearing through the fabric, pounding his fists argrily at the constriction, bellowing "Nate mad, Nate smash" as he rips the tattered shreds away.
Well, I obviously have waaaayyy too much time on my hands, I think I'll go refold baby clothes for a while.