The Smile

This is the first official smile caught on camera by her daddy while I was out Christmas shopping yesterday.

(The bonnet is from Carrilyne and is soooooo cute on her.)

The Month of October

The month of October has been a busy one for us.  We got this beautiful creature on the 3rd.

This sweetie got the sister she has always wanted.

This boy turned 2.

She turned 10.

We watch intently everyday to see how this cutie pie changes.

We celebrated Halloween.

Life is good.

The Birth Story

I realized that I haven't posted anything on my blog about being pregnant other than the ticker on the side. So..... I'm pregnant blog world!!!!! It has been a long 9 months and I'm so glad to be done with this one. Here is the long awaited birth story. When I went to the doctor 3 weeks before my due date (October 6) I was 85% effaced and dilated to a 1. I was very excited to hear this because with Benjamin I never dilated or effaced until probably the day I went into labor with him which was 11 days after his due date. A couple of days before the birth I was experiencing lots of contraction and they were keeping me up at night but nothing was consistent or very difficult. But at about 4:30 on Friday afternoon, I felt my first hard contraction. So I started to monitor the contractions through the evening but they weren't 5 minutes apart yet. So Jeff and I went to bed for the night not really sure if this was it or not. I didn't sleep a wink because I was in pain. But by 2:30 a.m. that is when they started to be 5 minutes apart and they stayed that way until we left for the hospital two hours later. We called Jeff's dad and he came over to be with Erica and Ben. We got to the hospital and I was dilated to a 4. In order for the hospital to admit you, you have to be at a 5. They monitored me for 3 hours but I never progressed past a 4 and the contractions stopped being 5 minutes apart. They gave me a shot of morphine for the pain and sent me home at 7:30 a.m. and told me to come back when the contractions were 5 minutes apart for an hour. The morphine made me so sleepy and feel so wonderfully good. I came home and sleepily ate cereal and then made it upstairs to my bed. It was General Conference Saturday and I didn't watch it at all because I was laying up in my bed for most of the day. Once the morphine wore off after several hours the contraction started to get painful again but they were still not consistent. I called my parents in Rexburg and told them to come down to be with the kids because we were probably going to go to the hospital soon. My parents made the 4-hour drive and arrived at about 6:30. By 7p.m., the contractions started to be 5 minutes apart and by 8p.m. we were driving in the car to the hospital. They checked me and I was dilated to a 7. I was so relieved because it felt like I had been in labor forever and the end was finally near. A group of people rushed in to get things progressing with my delivery and get my epidural started. After the epidural and they let me rest until about midnight when I was dilated to a 10. I started pushing at midnight. With my first baby, I had to have an emergency C-section because my baby was in the posterior position. We could see his head but he was just in the wrong position to be pushed out. There is a 1% possibility that C-section stitches from another birth could rupture and could be dangerous for the baby. So I was feeling a little apprehensive about being able to push my baby out but I wanted so badly to be able to accomplish this very hard task so I didn't have to have another C-section. Pushing a baby out is the craziest hardest thing I have ever had to do. It took me about an hour to accomplish the task. In between pushes I would look at my pushing team's faces to see if I was doing a good job and at first the looks on their faces were of uncertainty.....especially my doctor so I was a little scared. But finally after a while I could tell from the looks on their faces and their praise on my efforts that something was actually happening and my little baby was almost out. Then I saw my doctor preparing herself to actually deliver a baby by putting on some additional sterile clothing and I looked at Jeff with joy and knew that I had almost done it!!! What a feeling after feeling like I failed the first time. So after 32 hours of labor, my baby girl came out at 12:56 a.m. on October 3 and they placed her on my stomach and that was the most wonderful moment that I didn't get to experience with my first baby. She weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long. She's got a double chin and a big thighs. See the next post below for pictures of my sweet baby girl.

Sweet Elizabeth

Elizabeth Lynnette Anderson was born on October 3 at 12:56 a.m.  She weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 inches long.

 

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

I made these for dinner last night. Here is the link to the recipe: Stuffed Pizza Rolls. Even though my husband is gone and my step-daughter is not here and my sick baby won't eat, I had to make them once I saw the recipe. And OH MY they were good!! There might or might not be any left when they get home.

Making Pizza

I couldn’t resist taking this picture. They were all working in the kitchen together to make little mini English muffin pizzas for dinner.

Big sister gift

This is what his 9 year old sister decided to get him for Christmas when she was out shopping for Christmas presents with her own money in December. I'm glad he finally decided to get some good use out of it.

Momma

Look who came to visit

Cousins are the best! So is the sandbox!

Helping Grandpa in the garden

100 Things I Love

My friend Natalie challenge her blog readers a few weeks ago to try to list 100 of their favorite things. What a magnificent task to help me see once again how full my life is because there is so much to love in this crazy world. Since today is Valentine's Day I'm changing it to "100 Things I Love."

1. Going to quilt/fabric stores and imagining all the quilts I want to make someday

2. Omelets with mushrooms, onions, and cheese with salsa on top

3. Rivers or streams that are close to where I live

4. Pink

5. Green

6. Reading books

7. A full moon

8. Endorphins

9. Going out to eat

10. Pizza

11. Living close to my church so I can walk to church

12. A sunset with pink and purple clouds

13. Having my visiting teachers come to see me

14. Going on a walk

15. When the sun doesn't go down until 9:30 p.m.

16. Riding my bike with my baby in the bike trailer behind me

17. The smell after it rains

18. Peanut Butter Moo'd shakes from Jamba Juice

19. Tulips and daffodils popping up in the spring

20. Good Mexican restaurants

21. Chips and Salsa

22. Lilac bushes

23. Barbequing hamburgers in my backyard

24. Downtown Boise

25. Having the best in-laws in the world

26. My baby's laugh

27. Snuggling

28. A warm car from the sun during the winter

29. American Idol

30. The Wasatch Mountains

31. When my mom and dad call me

32. Naps

33. Singing in a big choir

34. Being in the temple with my family

35. My rice bag to warm up my cold feet

36. Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music

37. My mom's sense of humor

38. Waterfalls

39. Goodreads.com

40. Playing tennis

41. Nachos

42. 50% coupons at JoAnn's

43. Fresh carrot-apple juice from my juicer

44. Taking off my shoes and socks after a long day.

45. Homemade bread

46. The Ensign with the General Conference talks

47. Peanut M & M's

48. Putting feta cheese on my salads

49. 70 degree weather

50. Saturday morning pancakes

51. My Crockpot

52. The Provo City Library

53. Costco

54. CHEESE!!!

55. Spring

56. Waking up from a good night's rest

57. Being a mom

58. Remembering how special my wedding day was

59. The kettle corn my husband makes in our big pot

60. The Food Network

61. Cafe Rio's chicken salad

62. Having sisters who I adore

63. The smell in the house when I am sautéing garlic

64. Picking vegetables in my garden

65. When my husband does the dishes

66. Having a dance party in my kitchen with my kids

67. Books by Shannon Hale and L.M. Montgomery

68. Peeking in on my baby while he is sleeping

69. How friendly my daughter is to everyone

70. Having my siblings and siblings-in-laws give birth to new little spirits

71. The kindness and sweetness of my Dad's heart

72. My nieces and nephews

73. Watching The Pride and Prejudice movies

74. Feeling protected and safe when I am with my husband

75. Home decorating stores

76. Hiking

77. French Fries

78. The ocean

79. Going to church with my family

80. Garden fresh tomatoes

81. Quesadillas

82. Playing the piano

83. Getting kisses from the two boys in my life

84. The Oregon Coast

85. Homemade quilts

86. Chick Flicks

87. Visiting my parents' house and Jeff's parents' house

88. Taking a shower

89. Having sore muscles because I know I have worked those muscles

90. Water parks

91. Homemade chocolate chip cookies

92. The music of Nickel Creek

93. Hearing my one year old try to say words

94. Music from the 1980's

95. Fall in New England

96. Lindor chocolate balls

97. Rearranging furniture

98. Getting warm by a fire

99. Beaches in Hawaii

100. Helping someone

Winter Blues

Is anyone else out there experiencing the winter blues? You want to go outside and play but it is just too dang cold?! And it gets dark so early too. I hate that and I start a countdown to Spring every year around this time. Well, here is something that is helping me not to feel the winter blues too much this year. This cute baby I get to look at all day long.

Taking a bath at Grandma’s house.

Modeling his Christmas Eve pajamas

Playing in his sister’s room while she is gone. Shhh. Don’t tell.

Watching a little “Kung Fu Panda” with Todd the Turtle.

Begging to be held by his lovely momma.

Going to church.

My Quilt Journal

My current obsession is quilting.  I can’t get enough of it and I lay in bed at night dreaming about the quilts I want to make.  I have been following a really great quilting blog CrazyMomQuilts for a little while that inspired me with my most recent projects that I will show you at the very end of this post.  She is obsessed with quilting but MUCH MUCH more obsessed than me.  But CrazyMomQuilts stopped posting stuff on January 1, 2010.  And I miss her quilt blog so I am making my own quilt post to show you my quilt history. 

When I was a single gal several years ago one of my former roommates, Tami, got me interested in quilting.  My first project was making a rag quilt for myself.   Here it is below.  I didn’t get too creative with the colors but I have always been a big green lover so I liked it.

 

Then she showed me a pattern for a snowman quilt that I made for my mother. And I used the same fabric from the snowman quilt to make a  lap quilt for my dad.  I keep forgetting to take pictures of these quilts so I looked through some pictures and I found a couple to give you an idea.  The snowman quilt is on the back of the couch and it doesn’t show very much but you can see a little bit of it at least.

Here is the lap quilt.

It was simple but my dad loves it and takes his afternoon snoozes with it.

Then I didn’t make any quilts for a few years until I met someone else to inspire me.  My friend Nancy.  She is my visiting teacher and comes to visit me every month and told me about some quilt classes that were being offered around Utah County.  So my mother-in-law and I signed up for one down in Payson which met every two weeks for 6 months and look what we each created.

This hangs in my kitchen.  It is probably a little smaller than a queen size. 

I was hooked after this one. 

I made a couple of lap rag quilts for Jeff’s two sisters who are college girls.  (Now one is a mission and the other goes into the MTC on March 17)  I don’t have good pictures of those quilts either.  I found this one on Facebook of Megan holding her quilt.  Megan is in the middle.  (the green bag is not part of the quilt) His other sister, Emily, is the blond on the right of Megan.  I made one for her too but I do not have a picture of it.  It is a pink and brown quilt.

Then I made a baby quilt for my niece, Madelyn.  This is the only picture I could find.  Sorry, Leah. 

My sister was nursing and had her boots on because she saw a mouse earlier in her house and was freaked out about it.

Then I made one for Erica.

Ben was so fortunate to have several people give us blankets for him before and after he was born.  I think my neighbors and family were pretty darn excited about him because everyone knew how long it took me to get pregnant.  I counted up one day of all of the blankets given to me and there were 16.  There were 4 quilts. 

This is one that my boot-wearing sister made for Ben.  I got to pick out the fabric.  I picked out the monkey fabric and then she found the other fabrics to go with it and made this adorable flannel rag quilt.

My other sister made the blue and white quilt in the basinet.  This picture was taken a few days before Ben was born.  His bed was all ready for him.

My mother-in-law made this cute flannel blanket.

My quilting inspiration, Nancy, made this one for Ben.  As you can tell she is pretty darn good.

So that brings me to my currently finished projects.  I had two nephews born in November and so I made baby quilts for each of them.  

 

I didn’t do the quilting (wavy sewn lines) on this one.  I hired some one to do it because it is fairly challenging to do.  I hope to post my  finished projects in the future.