San Clemente

We survived another week at the beach! This year was extra special because we had our cousins come from Tennessee to be with us!



No, the weather wasn't perfect and a few family members got sick, but we did our best to have a good time!


Four generations of family in a place that holds a lot of my childhood memories and being able to share them with my children is very unique. Plus we had baby Drew with us this year who proved to be a champion camper.



Dillan's confidence riding his 2 wheeler bike skyrocketed this year. He got the bike last year on his 5th birthday, but has only rode it a dozen times since, and mostly with "advanced" training wheels. This week he rode without training wheels, rode fast, and figured out how to start on his own without using the curb! He was very proud and called himself the show-off on the bike.

Leah loved being around her cousins Roxy and Jo-Jo. She also hung out with Grandma and begged snacks. She had fun doing whatever the big kids were doing, including sprinting down the steep beach trail. Of course she eventually tripped and scraped up her elbows and knees pretty well. But that didn't stop her from enjoying the sun, sand and water!

It's always fun to be together with family!



Side note: Thanks Cougars for an exciting season! Jimmer shoots from Provo! POY!

March Madness

It's tradition. There winner gets a prize, like picking a date night of their choice. I know I have a losing record with my brackets to Chris', but I KNOW I won at least once. He says I haven't, and I have nothing to prove otherwise.

So here we are again. I refuse to listen to the experts on "bracketology," I don't see how you can be an expert. Any team can win and lose at any time, so it's not really a science. I love cheering for the underdog. And why wouldn't I pick my beloved Cougars to go all the way? Who says they can't? This is as good a year as any, in my opinion. And as a true blue fan, I will always believe. JIMMER'D!

Chris takes the brackets very serious. He pays close attention to all the teams in the country throughout the season, and very carefully makes his selections. He throws in some upsets to mix it up. He won't tell me his strategy for his selections, but it must be complex. It takes him hours.
Me? Well, I choose my favorite first of all, then have my own system from there, working backwards. Like if I don't like the schools' colors, they lose. If I've heard of the school in another sport, like football, and think they are overrated, they lose. I hate the teams that every year are always listed in the top 10 because their programs have amazing successful reputations. Blah.
It takes me 3 minutes to fill mine out.

Let the fun begin!

Drew's Blessing

On Sunday our sweet little boy was blessed at church. It was amazing to see all the love from in the people who were there. The Taylors were well represented, Chris' mother and stepfather came from St. George and my sweet friend drove from Las Vegas that morning to be there.

Four generations were present.

All weekend I had been making preparations for that day, including a luncheon after church for the family. It was crazy. Even as the meeting began there was the constant greetings taking place, keeping the kids happy, and catching up with one another.
Before I knew it, Chris was carrying him to the front of the chapel. It hit me that we hadn't discussed the blessing at all. I was surprised that I hadn't mentioned it to him before, because that sounded like something I would do. And I'm grateful I didn't.



Chris was cool as usual and did an amazing job. I don't believe he knew what he was going to say beforehand, he just spoke the words that came to him.



It was the first time the family had seen him, so he was passed around the entire rest of the day. Lots of love, it was a beautiful day.

Life with 3

This is my perspective. Life was smooth. Like driving at a cool 45 mph along the coast with 2 kids and a husband, wind blowing through my hair, perfect sunshiny day, etc etc.
NOW suddenly life is driving at 105 mph, with 2 kids fighting constantly, a baby attached to my chest 24/7, and a husband who's doing his best to cope with me and everything else but looking at me like I'm a crazy person that he doesn't know what to do with!

I know we'll get there again. We'll find our rhythm that works and life will be so much more enjoyable with a 3rd child. I just need the patience to allow things to get there! It was hard enough dealing with the patience to allow my body to heal and recover from this birth. Which I really didn't do and still not 100%.

Really the baby is perfect. He doesn't demand much, sleeps a lot and looks cute all the time. Dillan and Leah have been different. The afternoons are the hardest. After school and everyone is hungry or bored or both. Hopefully the weather will get nicer and we can spend more time outside and keep ourselves occupied and HAPPY!
I also look forward to some spring cleaning with completely reorganizing my kitchen, going through everybody's clothes, having tons of enjoyable afternoon activities planned for everyone, having a plethora of healthy snacks readily available, having dinner perfectly planned every evening, clean clean CLEAN everywhere and not feeling a day or two behind!

And this is my perspective II:

Mormon Battalion

With a 4-day-weekend and Daddy's last before going back to work, we HAD to do something FUN!
We had heard all about the newly remodeled Mormon Battalion and so headed on down before the rain began.
I wasn't sure what to expect or if it would even impress my kids, especially Dillan who acts "too hard to impress" nowadays.
But I was pleasantly surprised!


soldiers

We walked into the building and were greeted by sister missionaries and couple missionaries dressed in pioneer attire. Then put into a room with a some older folks on vacation from Utah. The sister began speaking about the Mormon Battalion and pointed out the pictures on the wall. As soon as one of the pictures sneezed, Dillan about jumped out of his chair! He was shocked and listened intently as the pictures spoke to one another and then got up out of their chairs and out of their frames!


pan for gold

Both kids obediently followed the missionary from room to room and were first to volunteer for everything! They had a blast. Baby D slept the whole time.
It was cold when we were finished, but we still panned for gold and played in the water.
Then we ate lunch and the kids did not want to go home, they were ready to go back! By this time it had started raining, so we got back on the road but made a stop at MikiD's to play and have a treat before heading home.
They haven't stopped talking about it all weekend. We will definitely be back soon!

Brothers

Dillan has fallen head over heels for his little brother. As soon as he gets home from school he looks all around for where he could be and always wants to hold him.
He's even started affectionately calling him "Little D."

I needed to see for myself just how similar they look. This is as good as it gets:

Dillan


Drew

Best Buddies!

Drew Christian Anderson

the newest little member of our family has arrived!

Thursday, February 3, 2011. Weighing 7 lbs and 19 inches long.

The story:

Wednesday
We arrived early morning at the hospital for a planned induction. It was nice and quiet in the OB wing, so we were extra taken care of. All set up in bed, pitocin was started around 9 am. Dr B came to visit before that morning and promised to return later. Later there wasn't much change except for minor contractions. Dr could not break the water, and could not feel baby's head. Later that night, baby had still not dropped but Dr was confident and advised to just stay the slow and steady course. Baby's heart rate was fine and allowed Mommy to rest easy.



Thursday
In the early morning hours, in between small winks of sleep, Mommy's water finally broke on its own! Soon after an epidural was given to allow Mommy to sleep. Note to self: get the epidural the night before so you CAN sleep during the night. Soon after, Mommy woke up to pain in her arm/wrist and saw that her IV had slipped and her wrist was swelling! IV was quickly switched to the other hand. Now that the water had broken, something had to give. Dr knew it, Mommy knew it. Still a long day with little change to cervix. Lots of frustration, Mommy was ready to just go home, but the consistent fetal heart rate echoing in the room was reassuring.

By 7:00 that night, Dr came into the room stating his concern that there must be a reason for slow progression and brought up the C word. By this time, all the fears and doubts start creeping in. Could the baby be too big to fit in the pelvis? Was a Caesarian inevitable anyway? Are we fighting against nature that the baby's even ready to be born?

But moving forward with faith, we agreed that a C-Section was the best option. Mommy was such a mess of emotion. Every little thing, like the temperature in the OR and the nausea from my spinal, was playing with my feelings, I wasn't sure how I'd get through it. Thankfully I had the sweetest nurse and husband on the planet who buoyed me up and lent me their strength for the night. Just a surreal experience overall. Feeling your stomach being tugged forcefully in many directions, having your doctor talk talk talk through the whole procedure, and wondering what it all looks like.

The few days before we went to the hospital I thought a lot about pioneer women crossing the plains and giving birth. I thought of all they went through just to bring a life into the world, not even certain how long that child would live. Then I felt so grateful that I could have children at all, healthy children. And that medicine was advanced enough to keep both of us as healthy as possible. Then I stopped feeling sorry for myself.

Finally I heard the Dr say hello to the little guy followed by an "Oh my goodness!" I wish I could have seen what he saw. Chris didn't even sneak a peek! Apparently Little D had the cord wrapped all around him. Around his arm, behind his back and three times around his legs! Fortunately, it did not end up around his neck.

When I was in recovery, Dr B came to see me to tell me the baby's weight and other details. He assured me that there was NO WAY this baby was going to drop into my pelvis, and if he had been able to see that on an ultrasound he would not have had me go through labor for nearly 2 days. But you can't see everything.



So he's HERE! He's healthy! He's tiny! And we couldn't be happier!