Elliot is 5!!!

Five years ago my life changed forever. Justin and I had been married for almost 4 years and were done with school. We both had jobs and had bought a house the year before. Things were good so we thought why not add to our family. We were so lucky to be able to have Elliot Lisa come to be with us.

Seconds old:

Elliot with all that hair that SO took everyone by suprise:

With her aunt Lisa, her namesake:

Snuggling with mom, 2 weeks old- she was seriously the best baby EVER. Wish I could have 10 of her:

Chubby cheeks from the beginning:

Learning to crawl, 6 months:

She has always been very maternal. Here she is "sushing" her baby (and has often been found "nursing" others- all of which has made her a GREAT big sister):

She loves to be outside. Here she is with her dad:
And at the beach in Chelan:

My sweet, goofy girl:

Who often dresses herself:

And this was today at preschool handing out her cupcakes with Ms. Cheryl:

Happiest girl around:
Elliot, we love you so much. You make my day with your smile and always keep us entertained with your stories. Love you, chick!

Tripp's Blessing

We had Tripp blessed this past Sunday and we were lucky enough to have both sets of grandparents there to witness the blessing. They all came on Saturday and we had a little birthday celebration a week early for Elliot at Time Out Pizza (pineapple pizza of course for Elliot) and ice cream cake for dessert (meant to take a picture because it turned out sooo good- there is an excuse to make it again!). Sunday I had the arduous task of getting all three kids up and bathed and looking handsome and beautiful as well as getting myself ready while Justin was at his early church meetings. I will pat myself on the back that I did alright. I tried to get a couple pictures of the kids before church too, but since I was by myself this was a good as it got:

I couldn't stop laughing at this one because of poor Tripp's crossed-eye look:
And here is my handsome little fella:
They sure looked cute in their matching outfits. It will be fun to have the two boys to dress alike.

Justin did a fantastic job on the blessing as usual. I am so grateful that he has the priesthood and that he takes his responsibility very seriously. I try to take notes during the blessing so that I can remember what was said and these were a few of the points mentioned in Tripp's blessing:

• That he would be a healthy boy, grow strong physically and spiritually
• That he has been born into a family that loves and cares for him and to recognize that love and become that type of person
• Be a faithful latter day saint and accept the priesthood
• Become a missionary to serve Heavenly Father
• Go the the temple and be married there, to find a wife and progress eternally
• Think of your brothers and sisters, mother and father
• Be a gentle man
• Be wise and make good decisions
• Use opportunities to better yourself and to better the community
• Be a latter day saint that Heavenly Father would be proud of
• Be faithful as you learn to read and pray and do so frequently and humbly
• Know that you are loved by so many
• Know that your Heavenly Father is with you always

After sacrament meeting, we took a few pictures out in the foyer with our parents.


It was a wonderful end to the weekend and I am so grateful for the gospel, the priesthood, my family, and that beautiful baby that we got to celebrate this weekend.

More of Tripp's Arrival

Thanks to my sister-in-law, we got some much better pictures. She sent me a whole disk full of them. Here is a sample.

The new family together: My "little" boy, Grey who just had his world turned upside down with Tripp's arrival:

Elliot is in heaven with her new baby brother:

Brand new and so perfect:

A whopping 9 lbs, 3 oz- look at that girth:

Proud parents (they were giving Tripp a bit of oxygen to get his coloring pink):

Just seconds old:

It was a great day and we have been so happy to have Tripp in our family. We are slowly adjusting and will have to continue to do so as the move approaches- April 30th is now the move date. More pictures to come as Tripp has already changed so much!

Tripp Duane Anderson

He is finally here and I am finally posting about it! Tuesday March 23, we went to the hospital in the evening after my parents got here to stay with Elliot and Grey. The plan was to start an induction with cervidil that night. Here is a picture of me just before going to the hospital:

I still was only about 3 cm dialated and 50-80% effaced when I got there and no regular or strong contractions. That changed in the night. I started getting some pretty strong contractions falling about 2-3 minutes apart. Then they would stop for 30-90 minutes. Then start again. I got next to no sleep that night and was sure that my cervix had to be doing something. The nurse came in to remove the cervidil and there was basically no change with my cervix. I was so bummed and now getting worried that it wouldn't happen today. But my contractions were still going and getting painful. After maybe another hour I asked the nurse about epidural so she checked me and I had made some progress- the contractions were doing what they were suppose to. We moved to a delivery room and she got the anesthesiologist in. Thank goodness for Dr. Timothy! Epidurals are the best thing ever! My contractions were going sky high and I wasn't feeling a thing. In fact, my arms were feeling a little heavy and my head a little floaty so they turned off the epidural drip to make sure I could still keep breathing. I still had some control of my legs but no pain. Dr. Hemmerling came in to break my water at 9:26 AM and 1 hour and 5 pushes later we had a baby! 9 lbs, 3 oz and 20 1/2 inches long and absolutely perfect. I am doing great too. Bouncing back quickly, but need to remind myself that I did just have a baby and to not over do it. Spring break has now begun too which is perfect because I get Justin home for another week to help out.

Elliot loves her new baby brother and is a huge help. Grey, on the other hand, does loves the baby- its just scary love. Here's a few pictures. More to come- Lisa, my sister in law, took lots of pictures and is getting me a disk soon. I am so grateful that she made it to the delivery. She helps lighten the mood and between her and Justin I have all the humor and support I need. Thank you so much for being there, Lisa! Sorry some of these pictures are small. They were taken on my iphone and then taken off of facebook. Still learning the ropes of iphone and pictures and such.

No Baby Yet :(

My due date is officially today, but given all the signs I have had since Wednesday night I would have bet money that this baby would have been here by now. Wednesday night I was up most of the night because everytime I would get up to the bathroom or to help one of the kids I would have a serious contraction. They would go away when I would lay back down, but then I would just lay there watching the clock and planning how I was going to orchestrate the day- where the kids would go, calling into work, getting family here, etc. By 6:00 I decided to get up and take a shower see where the contractions were going. They were not regular or as strong as they were in the night so I decided to go to work. Barely made it through the work day and headed home thinking, okay, now this baby surely will come. Went for a walk, a few contractions coming. Got a decent nights sleep and woke up Friday ready to keep track of contractions. Went the the gym to walk and do elliptical to help the contractions continue. My dad and brother, David flew over to visit and go to lunch. Still keeping track of the contractions, but they ended up slowing down as I sat and visited with them for 2 hours. They got to be about 20-25 minutes apart, but then slowed way down. Went for another walk with Grey that evening, but the contractions didn't return. By this time I was getting frustrated. Surely, Saturday would be the day. I woke up Saturday in just a rotten of a mood as I had went to bed with on Friday. Made it through the day though- another trip to the gym, a trip to Walmart (that place on a Saturday should have put me into labor), the kids even went to a friend's house for a couple hours (thanks Anna!). But nothing. The contractions had all but stopped. Today, Sunday, I went to the first half of church and then came home. I have had a few contractions, but nothing to write home about yet. Justin is really wanting the day off from work tomorrow and I would love nothing else than to give that to him. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon and he will give the go ahead for induction either Tuesday or Wednesday. I am going to push for Tuesday. These days of waiting are just so long. And we feel like we need to just get this little guy here to move on the next thing in our life- packing and moving. I feel a little bad that I am not enjoying this last little bit of pregnancy. I just keep complaining about the moment and the fact that I am still uncomfortable and pregnant and not that we are soon going to have a little baby to take care of. Anyways, the next post will be of our little guy being welcomed to the world, hopefully happy and healthy.

And the blessings begin...

Last Thursday we got the blessed phone call that an offer came in for our house. Yes, only 20 days on the market and we got an offer! If that isn't an answer to prayers and fasting, I don't know what is and more solidifies the fact that this is what we are suppose to be doing. Not only that, but we ended up getting our asking price as well! We do have to pay the buyers closing costs, but still! We still can't quite believe that it is for real. I know that it isn't over until it is signed off and turned over (one of the reasons I haven't mentioned it on here yet- haven't wanted to jinx it!), but we are excited nonetheless. The one semi-down side is that they want to close on April 19th which is now just over 5 weeks from now. We decided to not bicker with them about the date and just get to work. I will mean 2 more months without a mortgage and we just want to get the house officially sold and move on. We have already started to box things up and putting our plans together. I will go live with my parents with the kids for a couple months and Justin will stay here and finish out the school year. We haven't figured out where he will stay yet, but we aren't too worried yet about finding something for just the 7 weeks that we will need. The hardest part is that we will be throwing a new baby in the mix at some time in the very near future. My official due date is a week from tomorrow and so far have only been dialated a fingertip. I have two more days of work next week, but I don't even care if I make it though those or not. This last week was pretty hard at work. I am just so much more uncomfortable this time around, even with being so pregnant with Grey in the middle of the hot summer. I feel like my pelvis is about ready to split open all the time and it is rather painful. Maybe the doctor will have some sympathy and we can help things along sooner rather than later...we go back Tuesday afternoon to check everything out again. Stay posted for the arrival of this hopefully sweet little baby boy who will help us with the move by sleeping LOTS!

Update

So a few tidbits of info that has been happening around here. Mainly high stress. Just so much unknown which isn't fun to deal with. Our house is officially on the market and has been for a couple weeks. We had an agent show it yesterday and am hopeful for another showing next week sometime. It is a good house, it just stinks that we are trying to sell it when the market is so bad. Better this year than last I suppose. And it is better that spring is coming which makes people look a little bit more at houses.

My parents got their call! And they will be spending the next three years in.....

St. George, Utah

This was big suprise considering it wasn't even one of the options. It is actually a brand new mission which will be a good challenge for them. My mom especially is thrilled because it is so easy to get to for us to come visit. And very family friendly too. The mission covers a huge portion of Utah too so they will be doing a lot of traveling throughout the southern half of the state.

My pregnancy is zooming by. I went to the doctor today and everything seems to be right on track. He is even going to check my cervix next time and maybe even strip my membranes. I have been having irregular contractions and Justin swears that this baby is going to come early. I have doubts about that, but I have been very wrong about just about everything with this pregnancy so who knows. I want to make it through my last day of work on the 18th (just a couple days before my due date), but maybe it won't be that way. I feel like I have hardly done anything to prepare for this baby to come. We even need to do a little shopping for him as I have realized that having a baby in March is far different clothing-wise than a baby in July. We need a few warmer things! This is me last Sunday at 35 weeks:

Today Grey was being such a ham for the camera today so I will finish with a couple fun pictures of him. Don't mind the gash on his forhead. He had an encounter with the wall and the wall obviously wone. Elliot was at preschool or else I would have gotten her pretty face too. Next time.