Christmas!

I have been a serious slacker on this blog lately. Life has just not been super exciting. The highlights have been Sarah getting her first tooth and everyone being sick including myself.
We did have a lovely Christmas this year at my parents home in Houston. We Opened presents, ate too much food and had a really good time playing games and catching up with my family.
The girls of course got way to many gifts. Which of course are now scattered around my house. Elizabeth's top presents were a hammer and peg set,a monkey pillow pet, Curious George pajamas' and Mrs. Potato Head. Sarah did not have a top present. She loved everything because she was able to put it in her mouth and use it as a chew toy.

I am Thankful!

So I know this post is a little late.
I was at church today and actually got to sit through most of the talks. These 2 talks are just what I needed to hear. They were about service and the ways that service has touched these speakers lives. The talks have stuck with me all day.
While I have had some tough challenges lately (bad back,stress with Elizabeth and so on) I feel the need to share the service that has been shown to me this past Monday in particular. On Monday I had a friend who called me to see how my back was doing and to see if they could do anything to help me out. Then another friend called me to ask if we would like to come to their house on Thanksgiving. Then a while later a member of the bishopric called to see how my back was doing (he had helped give me a blessing the day before). In addition my mom and sister called to see how I was doing that day.

The day before all this had happened I could hardly move due to back pain and spasms (I am happy to report that the constant spasms were gone after the blessing). I also wasn't feeling like I deserved the love of my Heavenly Father. I know now that he cares about me. He wants me to be happy. I am grateful for the people who called that day. I am grateful for small acts of kindness and service.

Elizabeth's New Best Friend

Elizabeth first met her new best friend at WalMart a few weeks before Halloween. We did not buy him because he was ten dollars and really annoying ( He dances and sings "Livin The Vida Loca."). Elizabeth played with him for a while as I was shopping and then we put him back.

The day after Halloween I was browsing the Halloween clearance and there he was. He was marked down to five dollars.I still thought it was expensive, but I bought him anyways. I must say that Elizabeth was overjoyed when I gave him to her. She loves playing with him. The poor guy is arthritic from her playing with him so much. I know he is really annoying but I am glad she loves him so much.

Freedom!

So I am hoping that Sarah is officially weaned from breastfeeding. I am kinda sad but it is for the best. I gave her 4 1/2 good months.
I had to get her on formula because Sarah had stopped gaining weight. She was 13LBS 90z at her 4 month checkup. That is not good considering the fact that she was 9LBS 12 ounces at birth.
Cory can now feed her too. I can now go places without worrying about getting home in time to nurse her. I also don't have to nurse in public. Yippeeeeee.

Ohhh the Joys of Having a Three Year Old!

My poor carpets this week have been through the ringer. On Monday Elizabeth dumped 2 dozen peanut butter w/chocolate centers on the floor. Then she smeared the chocolate all over the floor. It was such a mess. Then this evening I made Elizabeth noodles and then (mother of the year award--soooooo nutritious) went to feed the baby. When I came out there were noodles ripped up and ground into the carpet. I don't understand why it is so much fun to make messes all day long. I miss the days when my carpet actually looked nice. The complex will definitely have to replace the carpets when we move it. SO much for getting our deposit back. I wish I had tile floors sometimes.

Look What We Found

After 2 months of looking we found the keys. I have blamed it on Elizabeth from the start. But admittedly it was I who misplaced the keys. They were in the most random place ever. I got the cook book down from the shelf today and there they were right in the middle of the book. Don't ask me why they ended up there. It also is sad that I haven't used that cook book in 2 months. Well at least I have the clicker back for the car doors.

Soooooo Cute

I don't mean to brag but Sarah is soooo stinking cute. I just want to pinch her chubby cheeks. She is growing soooo fast. She can roll one way. She also smiles ans coo's all the time. She is also a very chilled out kid. She loves music and making everyone around her smile.

You Go Girl!

I just want to say that I am finally at a point where I feel like Elizabeth is getting what she needs educationally. She loves school and is always excited to go. She has an awesome teacher. She has also been going to speech 3 times a week. Her therapist told me that she said "brown bear" today. She told me "go bye" today to. I know that it might not seem like a big deal but up to now she has not said any 2 word phrases. She also has been picking out her own clothes and knows how to dress herself. She some times changes several times a day (this equals more laundry for me :) ). I am hoping that we are only going to go forward with her progress from this point forward . Yay for Elizabeth!

Fun At the Zoo

This past weekend we went to the zoo as a family. It was just the local zoo so it was sorta lame. Elizabeth was less than thrilled with the whole experience. After the zoo we rode the train. We all had a blast doing that. I think we should have skipped the zoo and just gone on the train multiple times. Oh well. It was fun to get out as a family.

Sarah' Baby Blessing

This past Sunday we blessed Sarah. It was so great that most of my family was there to participate in the blessing. Sarah looked so cute in her blessing dress.

Trouble Maker!

I must start this post by saying that I love my kids. That being said.......Elizabeth has been sooo naughty in the last 24 hours. First of all she hid they keys (I am not 100% sure but pretty sure of this). We looked for 4 hours and still couldn't find them. So today I had to get the car towed to the dealership so that they could reprogram new keys. It only cost us $160.oo. Then after we came home from getting the car I put on a Barney DVD for Elizabeth so that I could go nurse Sarah. While I am nursing I see Elizabeth go into the bathroom. I call for her to get out. She was still in the bathroom and refusing to come out. Finally she comes out covered in baby bath soap. She had dumped soap all over herself and on the floor. What a mess. Then after I get her cleaned up I notice this little container of "NO Thumbs" (stuff you put on your kids nails so that they don't bite their nails) empty and open on the floor. I have no idea what she did with it. It has cayenne pepper in it for heavens sake. And then as I am about ready to post this I go and check on Elizabeth and she was sitting on the floor eating peanut butter out of the jar with a comb. I can't leave her alone for a second.

I really don't know how Michelle Dugger (From 19 Kids and Counting) does it. Or anyone with tons of kids for that matter. I was talking to my mom today and she reminded me that she had 4 kids by the time she was my age. I shudder at that thought.Two kids are enough for me. When I am baby hungry in a year from now I want ya'll to remind me of this.

Yippeeeee

All the work has paid off.I am very happy right now. Elizabeth got into PPCD (preschool programs for children with disabilities)today. She will be going 8-11 Monday through Friday. It is going to be good for her. She needs all the help she can get. Her teacher seems really nice. I hope this will help with her speech and behavioral issues.

2 Months Old

Our little Sarah is 2 months old today. We went to the doctor yesterday and she is growing like a weed. She weighs 12 LBS and is 23 1/2 inches long. She is cooing and smiling. She is such a cute girl. We are glad to have her in our family.

I Need More Patience.

I am trying to figure out what I am supposed to be learning from this. Elizabeth has been giving me so much grief. I try to be patient but after 5 plus hours of non stop screaming it is really hard to keep my cool. The only time she isn't screaming is if she is being held. That would be fine I guess but I have to feed and hold Sarah to. I just want her to be happy. It is sad that she is so discontent with her life. I keep thinking that one day she will wake up and and everything will be better but It doesn't. She isn't talking and has some severe behavioral issues. The Occupational Therapist says they could label her as having autism but once you label a child as having autism it is hard to get it removed if later on she is fine. I know she has sensory disorders (which is on the autism spectrum). She understands what we say to her and she follows directions but the talking is non existent. It is hard to see kids the same age as Elizabeth talking and acting the way a 3 year old is supposed to act. It makes me sad. I don't know. I am trying to love her anyway. Sorry for going on about it but this is my life.

Ducks,,,,,

My sweet 3 year old loves ducks. We own at least a dozen rubber duckies. Well today I went in to get Elizabeth from her bath and she had stacked all of them up on the bath tub ledge. She cracks me up.

I Want My Old Self Back!

Okay so I know I had a baby 10 days ago but I want to feel like myself again. I can't seem to get it together. I am tired and feel blah. Even though I only have 5 pounds to lose I still feel fat. My face is broken out like the good old days when I was a teenager. A new pimple is appearing everyday. I want to wake up soon and be able to feel well again. I think it is partly due to the fact that I have been stuck in this apartment for almost 2 weeks and I have only ventured outside a handful of times.

On the plus side. Elizabeth and Sarah have been champs through all of this. Sarah is a good baby and Elizabeth has been doing a pretty good job of entertaining herself.I hope they will continue to be understanding and I can be a good mom again soon.

Sarah's Birth Story

I think this is going to be a long post. Anyways....
Cory and I were supposed to be at the hospital at 6 AM on Wednesday morning to have the external aversion done. We get there and get settled and the doctor comes in and does a quick ultrasound to check the position of the baby. She was like this is a big baby but we will see what we can do. She lubes up my stomach and another nurse gets on the other side and then the doctor starts to grab the the head and the baby's bottom by pushing on the top of my stomach. She pushed and pushed. I must say that it hurt really bad. Then she checks to see the position. The baby wasn't in the head down position yet. Then she tries again. Only this time she starts pushing even harder. I thought I was going to die. It was the most painful thing I think I had experienced thus far. I was about ready to scream and tell the doctor to stop and then when I had had enough they were like "we are finished". They had successfully turned the baby. Since the baby was in an unstable position they said that I was going to be induced for sure that day.
They started me on something to soften my cervix. It worked wonders and I started to have contractions every 2-3 minutes without any Pitocin.I had to wait for 6 hours before they could start that so Cory and I walked around the hospital. At 2 they started the Pitocin. I was dilated to a 2. The contractions started hurting really really badly. They gave me a shot of staydal to take the edge off. It really didn't seem to do a whole lot for the pain. Then at 4:30 I was dying from pain. I was like " I am ready for the epidural". I was at a 3 so they called the anesthesiologist. He was there by 5 and so they attempted to do the epidural. Let me just tell you that after the third attempt the anesthesiologist was like I am not going to keep poking you. I guess that I have a really narrow space in my spine and the fact that I was having horrific contractions was not helping. SO I was then informed that I would not be getting an epidural. At that point I lost it. I had a breakdown. My midwife came in and was like "You need to get it together". I wanted to kick her in the face. SO they gave me another dose of staydal. It did nothing but make me crazy out of my mind. Then a few minutes later my water broke. I was so out of it with pain and thought that I had peed. I kept apologizing to the nurse. I think she was really annoyed with me at this point. At seven I got a new nurse that was really nice. I suggested to her that maybe they could get another anesthesiologist to try again. SO the nurse and the midwife called in a favor and they agreed to try one more time. The anesthesiologist took forever to get there and by the time he got there it was after 9 PM. He comes in with attitude and says "I am giving this one shot". The whole time he was placing the epidural I was praying. He actually got it in. It was amazing. I finally had relief. I really really do not understand how people go through labor without an epidural. Anyways, I was able to relax and at 11:30 PM the midwife comes in to check me and I am at 9 CM. She then says the babies head and body were really high and they had to prop my uterus up with pillows. At 1 AM I start to feel pressure and they came in and I was ready to push. 45 minutes later we had a sweet new baby. The mid wife was shocked that Sarah was so large. Se told me that they would not have flipped the baby if they had known how large she was. I am glad they did though. After all the drama and all I must say that it was worth it. SO that is the story of how Sarah was born.

Introducing Miss Sarah Abigail

She is finally here. All 9lbs 12oz of her. I had a feeling all along that she was going to be a healthy kid. She came at 1:45AM on June 17th. We are so glad to have 2 sweet girls in our family.

Wednesday is the DAY

So Wednesday is hopefully going to be a great day for us. I am super nervous about how things are going to go down though. The baby was transverse and then it went into the right position and now she is back in the transverse position. It is very frustrating. I have come to terms with a possible C-Section. SO that is not what I am concerned about. I am just scared about the external version.
Cory and I are supposed to be at the hospital at 6AM on Wednesday. The doctor then has to do an ultrasound to see the babies position. Then if they think it is going to work they give me some medicine to relax my uterus. After that the doctor puts a ton of Lubrication on my stomach and then tries to turn the baby.

I am hoping that it will be a success. They will induce me on the spot if it works.

My poor niece Emma is upset that this kid could be born on her birthday. I feel bad but I really want a healthy kid and not to be pregnant any longer. I will let everyone know how it goes. Wish us luck!

Things are Looking UP

I had my 37 week doctors appointment today. The baby has been transverse since 34 weeks. SO they sent me for an ultrasound. Well today when I went they said that the baby has decided to move down to the head down position. I am very excited about this. I hope this little girl continues to cooperate and stays down there. I am hoping that this pregnancy continues to go well and that she will be here sooner than later. My blood pressure has been fairly low this time around and I have gained about 30 pounds. I keep telling Cory that I don't know what it feels like to be pregnant this long. I had Elizabeth at 37 weeks. I feel huge and uncomfortable. I am fine with having this child in me for a few more weeks as long as she stays where she is supposed to be.

Sneaky KId

So the other day I was in the other room and I realized it had gotten suspiciously quiet in the house. Which means only one thing.....Elizabeth has gotten into something. I went out and low and behold she had ripped off some of the fake wood paper off of the entertainment center. I looked high and low for the ripped off paper. A while later I was picking up some trash and when I went to the trash can there it was. That little sneaky kid thought she could hide it by putting it in the trash. I couldn't help but to laugh. Never a dull moment in the Anderson house hold.

Me being a Worry Wart

Once again I am up at 2 AM stressing!!!! I know it is completely out of my control but I am nervous that this kid in my belly will not turn. I went to the hospital the other day due to not feeling any movement all day and everything was fine. I was informed that the baby was lying transverse though. They said they can do a version (trying to manually move the baby by external manipulation On your stomach). But I have heard that it is really painful. Plus there is only a 58 percent chance that it would work. If it doesn't work or my midwife decides I am not a good candidate then I would have to have a C-Section. This scares me beyond belief. It isn't that am that scared of the C- Section itself rather I am worried about trying to heal afterwords. We live on the 3rd floor and I can't even imagine climbing up the 3 flights of stairs. Then I am concerned that I will have to take care of this new baby and Elizabeth by myself. Elizabeth still requires me to carry her around and hold her a lot. Ahhhhhh.....It just stresses me out. Anyways, I just have to hope that this baby will turn on it's own. It would make me very very happy and relieve a bunch of stress.

Elizabeth Is Three!

I can't believe my little girl is three. She is no longer a baby. She is a big girl. Elizabeth cleaned up on gifts this year. She is one spoiled kid. Her favorite gifts so far is her tent,new baby doll and baby accessories (pack and play,baby carrier,bouncy seat). I hope she will enjoy the toys at least for a few days. Next year we will probably have a big party but we just had strawberry cake and ice cream as a family this year.
I am glad that we have such a sweet little girl in our family.

Easter Weekend

Lame me forgot to bring my camera to Houston this weekend for Easter. So I will have to just tell ya'll about it.
We headed down to Houston Thursday night so that we could be at the hospital at 6AM for Elizabeth's MRI on Friday morning. Poor Elizabeth had to be sedated for it so we had to be there an hour and a half early. The MRI went fine. Elizabeth was beside herself when she woke up from anesthesia . I felt bad for her. The rest of the day we just took it easy. On Sunday we watched conference at my parents house and got to hang out with Richard and Maria. We also had a mini Easter egg hunt for Elizabeth. She really didn't get the concept of finding an egg and putting it in the basket. It was still fun to watch though.
On Monday I hung out with my sister and her kids. It is always fun to hang out and catch up.
On Tuesday we went to the eye doctor to have Elizabeth's eye looked at. Her right eye has been doing this weird rolling up thing. It has gotten really bad in a months time. The doctor wants Elizabeth to have surgery on it. I figured we would do the surgery in 2 weeks so that we can recover and everything before the new baby comes in June. We also got the MRI results back. She is clear of growths on her optic nerves and brain (children with Neurofibromatosis 1 can sometime develop growths anywhere on their bodies). So that is a sigh of relief. The MRI did show that she has a cyst in her brain. Some people have cysts in their brains and it is no big deal. But this cyst is larger than normal so we are going to hopefully have a consult with a Neurosurgeon.
I am so ready to be over all of these issues with Elizabeth. She was officially diagnosed a few weeks ago with a sensory disorder and I had come to grips with that but now with the surgery and everything else. It is a lot for a child to go through.
Anyways I will keep everyone posted on the outcome.

I was Deceived

Cory is on my hit list.

Tonight we were invited to one of our friends houses for dinner. I asked Cory if he knew what was for dinner before hand. He told me roast and potatoes. It is not my favorite meal but I will still eat it. So we get there and start to eat. As I am eating, the husband asks me if I liked it. I was like "sure". Cory kept laughing and smiling. Finally I was like this is pretty good roast. Our friend said "what, this isn't roast". I was like then what is it. Then he said it was deer meat. I am very disgruntled. Cory knew the whole time and had even told our friends not to tell me. I have never had deer meat before. It wasn't as bad as I thought but I was tricked. I can't believe he would do that to the mother of his children. He better watch his back.

Crazy Rants of a Pregnant Woman

Okay seriously....I am soooo ready to move out of this apartment complex. I walk up the stairs (all three flights) today to find a mangie nasty stray cat that has been pooping and peeing all over the place eating my neighbors trash. I might add he is missing half his tail and looks diseased. There are two problems with this. One being that I really don't like smelling cat pee as I am walking up the stairs. The second being that I really don't like having to look at trash strung all over the place. The other day I walked out my door to find a chicken bone on my rug.I called the complex to complain yet again and they act like it is my problem. I guess it wouldn't bother me as much if I were blind or closed my eyes every time I walked out my front door. Ughhhhhhhh......I feel like I am the only one who takes pride in a clean area.
Anyways, that is all for today.

We have A Really Mischievous Kid On Our Hands

I thought the world had come to an end when I got in the car tonight from Enrichment Night and checked my phone and had 8 new voice messages. The first message was from my next door neighbor (who I have never ever spoken to before). Stating that my husband was trying to get a hold of me. Then after almost having a heart attack I checked the next message and it was from Cory. He basically said that Elizabeth had locked him out of the house and that he was stuck on our back balcony (which is one the third floor). So I called Cory and he and Elizabeth were luckily okay. Cory said he was outside for 45 minutes and Elizabeth was inside alone. She would run up to the door laugh,check to make sure the door was still locked and run away. She also took her diaper off. Cory said that they had to call maintenance and maintenance tried to unlock the front door but the dead-bolt was locked. They threw the keys to Cory and luckily the keys are able to unlock the back balcony doors (I learn something new everyday). So Cory was able to get back into the apartment. I swear.......This kid can figure out things that normal children would never think to do. I am just lucky that no one was hurt or the house didn't get burned down.

HAHAHA

It doesn't even look like they actually used our pictures to make our fake baby.....It is pretty funny though

We Finally Got Snow

Cory and I didn't think it would actually happen.....But it did. We got lots of snow last night. I would say 5 inches or so. I think that might be a record for this part of Texas. It is pretty exciting. School was even canceled. I felt like we were back in Utah.
Cory sure had fun playing in the snow but it is too cold for me. We took Elizabeth out into it but she didn't quite understand it. Here are are some pictures of everything.

Things Are Really Not That Bad

So I have been sitting around for the last week feeling sorry for myself and not taking the time to think about all the wonderful things in my life. I am going to make a new commitment to be happy in the current situation that I am in. There are good things in my life.

I have a great husband who works hard at a job that isn't the best. Then he comes home and helps me around the house and with Elizabeth. He is a really good dad and puts up with my crazy pregnancy hormones.

I have a beautiful daughter that makes me laugh everyday. She has been giving the new baby kisses everyday (kissing my tummy). She is into taking care of her baby dolls. It is really cute.

I am grateful to live in a town where there a good programs that can help her with her speech. These programs are really hard to get into so I am grateful for that to.

I am grateful for the new little girl who is going to be here in our family in June. I have been feeling her kick the last few weeks and I have been enjoying that.

I am thankful for a roof over my head and a car that is running decently (knock on wood).

I am thankful for my mom dad and siblings who care about me to. My mom and sister call everyday and put up with my drama. I know it probably gets old but they still do it.

I am thankful to the friends who have stood by me and call or email me.

I am lastly thankful to a Heavenly Father who loves me.

I am used to getting what I want when I want it. I am spoiled I'll admit it. SO it has been an adjustment to deal with the challenges we all go through.I am trying to learn patience and that things are going to work out.

Something on my Mind.....

So I went to book club tonight and left feeling so frustrated. I am not even sure if I ever want to go back. There was a book picked and people had very differing opinions on the book. The discussion got really tense and people left upset. It is a church affiliated book club for heavens sake. I feel really dumb now to because anytime I opened my mouth to make a comment it didn't come out right. I feel so uneducated. Maybe I need to research things before I open my mouth. Maybe I am in mommy land too much and have lost my ability to communicate with the outside world. I used to feel like I could communicate more effectively. The one time I get to get out by myself in a month and I walk away feeling horrible. I should and probably will stay home in the future. Anyways sorry to be so blahhhhh....

Randomness

We have been busy this last month. First of all Cory graduated with his Bachelor's of Science in Agribusiness. He refused to walk across the stage so we have no pictures. He is now looking for a real job. The real work begins now.
Then for Christmas we went to my families house. We had a nice Christmas with family. Then that weekend Cory and I went on our first overnight excursion since Elizabeth was born. It was nice to celebrate our 6th anniversary together (alone).
This month we have been busy getting the housework caught up on. It is never ending.
Last weekend we had to go back to Houston for Elizabeth's eye doctors appointment. The poor girl is in for at least 2 eye surgeries in the next year or two. Hopefully Cory can get a good job with good health insurance.
I have kept just trying to keep on moving along with this pregnancy. I am feeling better and am already starting to show. I really don't think I showed this early with Elizabeth. I am truly scared of how big I am going to be when I am 9 months along. We are going for our next ultrasound next Monday and we may even find out the sex of the baby. YAY!

Random Scary Pictures from the last month:

Elizabeth posing with grandpa Smith. Grandpa Looks a little scary.

Our family as gingerbread men.

Blackmail picture of Elizabeth eating mac and cheese