Keller's First Christmas

Well, Keller gave us the best Christmas gift ever...he slept from 12am to 5am Christmas morning.  Then he ate and went back to sleep from 6am to 8:30.  What a generous guy!  His Christmas was pretty uneventful, what with just eating, sleeping and pooping, so below, I posted pictures of how the rest of us celebrated :)
I hope all our friends and family enjoyed their holiday celebrations.

Getting ready for bed on Christmas Eve

Decorating cookies

Gifts galore!

Not a creature was stirring...

The stocking were hung...

Good morning little elf

Time to dance!

Nice shoes!

Hanging with big bro

Murphy's collection of Hero Factory

My kids....Merry Christmas everyone!

When a Child is Born...

I wasn't sure how I would feel once Keller was born, 
but the lyrics to this holiday song sums it all up:

A silent wish sails the seven seas
The winds have changed whisper in the trees
And the walls of doubt crumble tossed and torn
This comes to pass when a child is born

A rosy hue settles all around
You've got the feel you're on solid ground
For a spell or two no-one seems forlorn
This comes to pass when a child is born

Welcome Keller Scott!

     Baby Anderson finally did find a name about a week before he was born.  So now it's little Keller Scott Anderson (or Kel, Kels, Kelly who knows what nickname we'll go with...I'm just calling him "little froggy" or "little booger" for now in the cutest voice possible)  He was born on my Mom's birthday, December 18th at 6:47 pm.  He was 7 lbs. 13 ozs. and 20 1/2 inches long (for some reason the lady who first measured him didn't straighten out his little froggy legs all the way, thus the different incorrect measurement on my FB post.)  We went in to the hospital at 6:00 in the morning, and it took about 12 hours til the little bundle arrived.  He really didn't want to come out.  I was still at 4cm at 5:30pm.  Then I got an epidural and within 40 minutes I jumped to 10cm and he was ready to be born. Incidentally, don't wait on your epidural, I waited too long, and it didn't have time to catch up. Of course, as all mothers say, after they see their newborn's beautiful face-"you don't remember the pain".

Keller Scott

     We ended up staying at the hospital an extra day.  I was discharged, but Keller was not.  However, they let me stay with him to take care of him (how nice of them, right?).  The baby doc heard a heart murmur that she wanted to get checked out, so he ended up having an EKG and Echo and chest x-ray.  They had to send the Echo to All Children's for the neonatal cardiologist to read and then they had to take another chest x-ray b/c the first showed a mass near his spine.  The 2nd x-ray came out just fine, so they think something was under him when he got x-rayed the first time.  It took forever for All Children's to get back with their diagnosis, but they felt like the anamoly would correct itself within a short time.  They only want to see him for a follow-up in 3 or 4 months, so nothing pressing.  Finally, they had to check his bilirubin levels so he doesn't become jaundiced because our RH factor is not the same. If his color isn't right tomorrow, then I have to bring him back tomorrow for bloodwork. He has an appointment with his doctor on Monday, so she'll also check him then. After all that, we finally got to leave the hospital at 4:00 yesterday and it felt good to be home.

 Brothers!

  Daddy's newest boy

 I caught Tyler just staring at his baby brother for like 20 minutes...sooo cute!

  Big sis has been a big help...she just adores him :)

Best early Christmas gift ever!  

Keller is staring at the tree lights.

Ready, Set....

Okay...no GO yet, but I will be checking into the hospital @ 6am on Tuesday, December 18th.  They think they will only have to break my water to get me started.  I am so hoping they don't need to give me pitocin.  I have no idea how long it will take...could be a couple hours, could be 12 hours...ugh.  Right now this baby is moving a ton...there is no room left and he is up in my ribs.  He is ready to join this world.  I finished work on Friday and decided not to go in on Monday so I could clean...clean..clean.  I did most of my cleaning Sunday though, so maybe I will relax :)  I took one more picture of the belly.  Even though it's only about 9 days later than the previous one, the baby is obviously still growing.........whew!

Almost 39 Weeks!

The Perils of Pregnancy

Not much time left.....The doctor is going to induce me a week early just because of my age.  I really hope Baby Anderson just decides to arrive early all by himself.  Being induced does not sound pleasant.  Everything is going great with the baby....good growth, fabulous heartbeat!  As I was looking back at this pregnancy (and if you've ever seen the movie What to Expect When Expecting, I'm the Elizabeth Banks character in that I don't love being pregnant..I don't feel all glowy) This pregnancy has brought symptoms that I never had with the others...thus, these perils: 1) I can't sleep-never had this problem with the others. I have to take dr. approved Unisom every night if I want some shut-eye.  Also, my nasal passages have been swollen this entire time, so I have to wear a Breathe-Right strip to bed (probably what was waking me up)  then there is 2) I have definite cankles...even my legs get swollen...ugh!  3) Finally, and thank goodness this just started happening, because not sure if I can take it very much longer...did you know that you can get carpal tunnel when preganant?  My fingers tingle and feel asleep all day long.  I guess the fluid in your wrist can build up while pregnant.  It should go away when I give birth...yay!  On a positive note, I haven't gotten any excruciating leg cramps during the night like I got with all the others :)  I've got to treasure the good with the bad because this will be the last one(it had better be!!!!)  So in about 16 days we will add another boy to this brood.

Here is a picture of me at almost 37 weeks

31 Weeks!

Here I am at 31 weeks :)  I have 9 week to go.  I'm sure the time will fly at moments and will drag at other times. 

                                         Happy Halloween!

What's Up with Baby Anderson?

      Well, it's been awhile since I've posted anything.  Baby Anderson has just been doing his thing...growing!  Obviously, we still have no name, which is driving Murphy crazy.  He keeps supplying me with names every chance he gets.  I had another ultrasound on Friday....the baby was measuring two weeks behind according to the belly tape measure.  However, they have done this to me for every pregnancy.  I must have some special room in there that the baby hides in, because after they did the ultrasound measurements, the baby is actually measuring 2 weeks ahead!  He is currently 4 pounds 4 ounces and I have 9 weeks to go.
 I have registered at Target, but, I've received some great clothes in the mail before that and am so thankful to family and friends.  We pretty much gave away everything after Murphy, not really planning on having another precious bundle.  Scott had a friend who gave us almost all of the big stuff.....swing, play yard, crib decor, walker, activity mat, and car seat seat with stroller.  We are almost all set...although I am certainly not ready.  Hopefully I'll post again before the big day, but this is the crazy time at school and everything moves so fast, so who knows?!  At least volleyball coaching has ended and I can put my feet up :)  

Here's Looking at You, Kid

Well...first week of school is done and boy do my legs and feet hurt.  I have to go shopping for more pants because I don't fit in ANY of mine!  I can't even do that rubberband in the buttonhole thing.  The picture does not make me seem too big yet, but I feel it earlier this time.  Seriously, I am bigger than this photo makes me look (must have used a "funhouse" camera).  I'm sure I am going to have a big boy with a BIG head (Thanks Scott )  This upcoming week I will start coaching my volleyball team.  If you know me well, then you know I wouldn't give that up :)  My feet won't thank me after next week is over.

Me at 23 weeks

A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet

Well, it's the war of the names over here in the Anderson household.  Now that we have two very opinionated teens who "won't speak to the baby, if we call him that"(ha ha... really!?) there is just no settling on a name everyone likes.  Thank you all for your suggestions, many of them very cool, some of them not so very.  Anyhow, we are going to put the name thing to rest for a little while and then go back to it later to see if any of the names on our very looong list have grown on us...Or at least one we can all be happy with.  But let's face it, the person doing all the work here gets final say on the name (as it should be LOL) So...what I'm saying here is you all will find out the winner when the wee one is born :)

My Kingdom for a NAME!

Okay, so we had a lot of girl names picked out.  I don't think baby boy  will appreciate any of them.  We had a hard enough time picking out a name for the last boy.  I mean...Murphy?  Granted that is who he is-  he totally fits his name, and I love it.  However, we only had that name for about a month before he was born and we hadn't gotten sick of it yet like the four others we had picked out.  Given a little more time-he could have ended up as...Aloysius-who knows?  So the dilemma continues.  We are looking for a name with a "y" in it -not Aloysius(because all the kids have a y in their names)  Also, when you are a teacher, it is hard to find a name because you automatically put that name with someone you've had in your class, be it a star student or not.  So let's hear your suggestions :)  You just might help name this baby. You can click on where it says comments below and add your idea.  Good luck.

Hello Everyone :)

So at 19 weeks, we've finally announced Baby Anderson to the world.  We went for a level II ultrasound in St. Pete's on Tuesday July 31st.  I'm of "advanced maternal age" (old lady), so they had to do a special sonogram to make sure everything was going fine....and it is! Yay! Baby Anderson is now about 11oz. and looks great, as you can see by the pictures. We found out something else too......it's a boy!  That will make 3 Anderson boys.  Poor Laney :(


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