ONE

Stole this from another blog:
TYPE ONLY 1 WORD...IT'S HARDER THAN YOU THINK!!!

1. Where is your cell phone? table

2. Your significant other? Tyson

3. Your hair? ponytailed

4. Your mother? kind

5. Your father? talkative

6. Your favorite thing? family

7. Your dream last night? interrupted

8. Your favorite drink? cranraspberry

9. Your dream goal? homeowner

10. The room you're in? front

11. Your fear? pain

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home

13. Where were you last night? couch

14. What you're not? outgoing

15. Whats for breakfast? eggs

16. One of your wish list items? house

17. Where did you grow up? everywhere

18. The last thing you did? eat

19. What are you wearing? clothes

20. Your TV? LCD

21. Your pet? none

22. Your computer? CENTRAL

23. Your life? good

24. Your mood? rollercoaster

25. Missing someone? Tyson

26. Your car? maintained

27. Something you're not wearing? socks

28. Favorite Store? scrapbooks

29. Your summer? hot

30. Your favorite color? green

31. When is the last time you laughed? today

32. Last time you cried? recently

33. Who will/would re-post this? unknown

34. FOUR THINGS I COULD VISIT OR DO OVER AND OVER:
1. scrap 2. shop 3. sleep 4. read

35. FOUR PEOPLE WHO E-MAIL ME:
1. Suzanne 2. Char 3. Talesha 4. Dad

36. FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:
1. CAKE 2. burgers 3. Cake 4. Cake

37. FOUR PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT NOW?
1. sleeping 2. date 3. home 4. traveling

My Doc Visit today.......

well, I had a busy day at the dr today, we did the non-stress test ~ baby Grayson is doing good, I am measuring at just the right week (35), I had some blood work done, got checked for group b strep, had my cervix checked (which hurt like heck, and still hurts - dang man) and I am dialated 1 cm.

Tyson got to come to the appointment today, which was nice. He's been so busy lately that this is only the second time he has been able to.

my blood pressure is still the same, so it's not creeping up anymore, but doc still says that after my check up next week, he is probably going to see if he can give me a "push" to make baby come a little sooner, so we won't have to deal with as many complications (like the mag sulfate that I am dreading).
so that is my update for today. he says by next week we should have a pretty good idea of a date for baby to arrive.

The Andersons!

I know this is a Halloween picture - but it is the only Family Picture we got this year. (click on it to make it bigger!)

Next year we will be welcoming 3 more~
so we will have to get a family picture some time in Aug!

Christmas Eve.

Well, Thomas seems excited now. But I think it's more from the several glasses of chocolate milk he had at Grandma's for dinner. LOL.
Merry Christmas Everyone!

The Story of My Washer

I forgot to blog about this when I got it - so I will catch ya'll up now.

A few weeks ago, Mom called me and asked "do you still want a dishwasher?"

what kind of crazy question is that? OF COURSE I want a Dishwasher!!!!!
I have been washing dishes by hand for 3 years, and dreaming of the day that we can move to a new house and that I will be the proud owner of a real dishwasher, and I will love it and charish it and kiss it goodnight --- sorry, getting a little carried away - YES - I want a dishwasher.

She had been listening to the talk radio station one morning and they do a program called "Trading Post" where people can advertise the things they'd like to sell, trade, or be rid of. So this guy called in and said he was giving away a dishwasher! Mom was the first to call!! and she got the dishwasher for me. Dad went and picked it up and they brought it over. The guy told them it had been left behind by some renters and he wasn't even sure if it ran, and that is why he was just giving it away.
I kept my fingers crossed as Dad got the faucet hook ups ready and we set it all up.

It worked fabulously! And I am now in Heaven :)

It is a portable washer, and it's OLD and HUGE, but it WORKS!!! I nicknamed it BUD (Big Ugly Dishwsher) - but I do truely love it.

There is of course a little catch - and I do not have the adequate words to describe the comedy of it - so here are a few slightly embarassing photos to show you
BUD's drawback.....







I have to stand on my tippy toes to get my belly up high enough to go over the washer if I need to get by into the kitchen.
You would think I would just get everything done in the kitchen that I needed to do, before I hooked up the washer, right? Yeah, well, I try, but Thomas then has to demand something that I forgot in there, like his waterbottle or something, and I almost always have to do the skooching thru to get it.

But it is a minor inconvinence compared to standing at the sink up to my elbows in yucky hot soapy water for an hour to wash up the dishes. It is amazing how a counter top of dishes can disappear in a matter of minutes inside the washer, and come out in 30 minutes all clean and ready to be put back away. It's heavenly.
(Thanks Mom!)

hmmmmm....

... well, today is day 3 with no nog - problem is, when I went grocery shopping at the beginning of the week, I bought 2 weeks worth of stuff, so I wouldn't have to go Christmas week --- so I have a lot of bananas, yogurt and milk - that now aren't goig to be used. Guess I will be making lots of banana bread, and getting my dairy intake.

no more NOG ??????

Every single morning starts out the same for us - Thomas gets out of bed, and sits (bounches) on the couch while he waits for me to mix up his morning NOG in the blender. For those who don't know "NOG" is milk, yogurt, and banana. I think I have been doing this for almost a year and a half.

But the day before yesterday his nog cup (a sippy type cup with a soft straw) broke. Sure I could go to the store and buy ANOTHER one - but I think it's time for him to move on from that cup. So sure enough I talked things over with him and explained that the nog would be in a different cup and we picked out one we had with a straw, so he could still sip it. But he barely touched it - actually, he didn't drink more than about 2 sips of it, and then we forgot about it, and it got spilled all over my floor (yeah, I am used to the no-spill sippy cup still too).

So this morning, I prepared some pumpkin bread for him to munch on right away, and he devoured it, and didn't even care that we didn't make nog. He asked about it a little bit later, and I asked if he was sure he wanted me to make it, or if he would rather have apple juice, and he happily accepted a juice box instead.

I am kinda glad to not have to use the noisey blender every morning - I was worried that when Grayson got here, that the noise would be irritating to him, or wake him up if he was sleeping.

share your ideas with me...

.. about how you get your kids excited about Christmas.
So as most of you know, Thomas has a few quirks - or what I like to call an "interesting and unique personality".
Christmas mornings have not been what I have expected (or remember from my own childhood). I know he is still young, but my little guy just doesn't care about presents.
We had some gifts that we were given, and we had them sitting on the couch by the christmas tree, and he wasn't even curious about them. He didn't wonder if they were for him, or what might be inside or anything. All he cared about were that they were in his way. "Move the Presents" was all he said, because he wanted to bounce on the couch where they were.
So since he is just not really into that, we got him only 2 special gifts, and then a few Lightning McQueen things to put in his stocking. I have explained that the stocking will have treats and surprizes on Christmas morning, and that seems to have peeked his interest. But I can't decide how to keep his enthusiasm for unwrapping the gifts.
I don't know if wrapping them and putting them out now, and telling him about them for the next week would work. Or if not putting them out here until Christmas morning would be better. Or maybe I just shouldn't wrap them at all. I can't decide.

Bundled up!

It took us nearly a half hour just to get all bundled up to go out and brave the cold to play in the snow.




It only took about a half hour, before Thomas's hands were freezing cold, and he was ready to go inside again. I need to find him some more water resistant gloves.

The Snow came!

Winter is on it's way

The forcast is SNOW - so we decided we had better get all the leaves cleaned up before the wet snow makes 'em all soggy. I am not much help this year, I swept with the broom, but with my belly and achey back, I didn't assist with any of the lifting or raking. But Thomas was a big help! Just watch this video :)

Thomas's Little People Nativity

Isn't this the cutest thing you have ever seen? In my wish to teach Thomas about the real meaning of Christmas, I just knew I needed to have this nativity set for the kids to play with each year.




When Thomas pushes the angel on top it lights up the star and the baby Jesus, and plays the song, "Away in a Manger".

Doc visit today

well, my blood pressure seems to want to slowly keep creeping up, so my new doc wants me to come every single week now. While I am not happy about having to drive to Logan every week - I am very grateful that Dr. B wants to keep a close eye on us (unlike my crappy docs I had when pg with Thomas- I had severe signs of pre-eclampsia with him, but they didn't ever even seem to bat an eye about it until after my due date - but that is a whole nother story).

It snowed today, so it was my first glimpse of how driving the canyons will be this winter. It took me 50 minutes to get to the hospital from our house. That was during the middle of the day though, so with each visit (since I will have lots) we'll try different routes to find the best way to go.

Every visit I will have a non-stress test, which means I get to sit and watch the TV and relax for 20 minutes and listen to baby's heartbeat while they monitor him, to make sure that he isn't being negatively affected by my rising blood pressure.

Dr. B was debating/pondering whether we would need to start me on the meds to help baby's lungs and stuff develop faster/stronger just in case we needed to deliver early. So far, he says the blood pressure isn't "bad" - YET - but we just can't tell if it suddenly is going to change to worse, if ya know what I mean.

so that is my news for today.

cute new belly shot -

I got this shot, purely by accident - but it is so darn cute!
This morning, I was putting out some candy canes, and Thomas grabbed 3 of them and said "one for you" and handed it to me, "one for Thomas, and one for Grayson" and he put it on my belly. I think he's excited for his brother to get here :)

He often says "Hi Grayson" to my belly.

too busy to blog

sorry, there haven't been any updates on us lately. With the Thanksgiving weekend and then several other things that came up, we have just been a busy bunch.

So now that I have a little free time, I am going to ramble on and on, about whatever comes to mind, and call it good.

Let's see, first of all, I had my first appointment with my new OB on Monday. My OBGYN decided he was going to quit his practise a month before our baby is due, so that threw me into a bit of a panic for a while. Because of several circumstances, I have chosen to go to a Dr in Logan, and that makes things a little bit complicated on us.

First, I have to get appointments scheduled on days when I can take Tyson to work, so that I can use the car - and that means Mondays - they are the only day that I can do that.
Second, I have to get someone to watch Thomas - this week I left him with Sara, so he could play with Keithan and Halden. Sara wasn't feeling so great, so I felt so bad leaving her with more work - BUT THANK YOU SARA, couldn't have done it without you!!!!!!
the timing of the appointment was so bad, so Thomas didn't get a nap for the day, and the next morning, the poor kid slept in until almost 10 am (that has NEVER happened before - he is usually up at 7:30) But that was kinda a nice break for Tyson and I to get to sleep in too, especially after a big day of running all around.

The other thing we have to worry about is the winter weather. We have to drive thru the Sardine Canyon from Brigham to Logan, and it can get pretty slick on snowy days.

We joked with my family, that when I do go into labor, that whoever we can find at home, will be the lucky one who will get to watch Thomas while we headed to the hospital. You should have seen the look on Nate's face - and we all laughed that he will never answer his phone when we call again. LOL. (he would do fine with watching Thomas, as long as someone else came along and got him after an hour or so)

Anyway - so at my first appointment with my new OB, he stunned me by informing me that I had NOT passed my 1 hour glucose test, and now needed to take the 3 hour test before returning for my next appointment, which he said would have to be in 1 week (instead of the 2 weeks like I had been planning). I guess my old Doc would have concidered I had passed the test - I had a 136 - because he thinks that under 140 is ok, but the new Doc says it had to be under 130 to be ok.

So I had to find an extra 4 hours of time to spend sitting around at the hospital to get the 3 hour test done. Luckily, we got it set up, so that I could do it at the Tremonton hospital, so I didn't have to go all the way into Logan. They took one blood sample first when I had an empty stomach, then I had to drink that ever so yummy Orange Drink (tastes like Overly sugared sunkist) - and then wait an hour, and test again, then another hour and test again, and for the third time an hour later.
So that is how I wasted 4 hours of my day yesterday. By the time the testing was over it was noon, and I hadn't eaten anything since the night before, except for that dang drink, so I had to find something to eat Quick, so I could drive home safely.
The nice Doctors office called later in the day and said that I passed the 3 hour test, so I do not have gestational diabetes. What a relief.

Tyson enjoyed the time he got to spend watching Thomas, though- it is really good for them to have some quality Father/Son time - just the two of them. They played the "basket game" - which is Daddy, pushing Thomas around the house inside the laundry basket, like a sled. They did "Ride on Daddy's" - piggyback rides. And they did "Woooo's" - which is when Thomas lays on the couch, Tyson hold his hands, and swings him from one side of the sectional couch to the other, and they both say "woooo" as Thomas flys thru the air. Oh, yeah, and they played "Roars" - Thomas runs to where Daddy is "hiding" and Daddy jumps out and yells "roar" and gives him big hugs, then lets him go, so he can run again. I need to get some of these games on video and upload them onto here! That will be my next project.

Well, we have our Christmas lights and the tree up. Thomas makes me turn them on the minute he gets up in the morning, and we don't turn them off until I go to bed at night. I hope we aren't running up the electric bill, hmmmm?

I was really sad when I pulled my favorite strand of lights out, and was just about to put them around the tree, but thought I should test them first - and found that they didn't turn on anymore :( They were neat because they flashed in really cool patterns. But I have had them for about 6 years, so I guess that their time had passed. I am just glad I did test them before getting them all up on the tree.

well, I hope that is a good enough catch up for ya'll. I will try to do better :)