Merry Christmas From The Andersons

Christmas cards just didn't happen this year, so we put together a little 2013 Year in Review for those who are curious about the many changes that came our way.

January: Eleanor turned one and we celebrated with a Minnie Mouse themed party and way too many gifts.

February: We had a lot to celebrate on Valentines' Day when we found out Baby #2 was on its way!

March: April spent most of her time on the couch with morning sickness, entertaining Eleanor the best she could.

April: We celebrated our third wedding anniversary along with April's last birthday in her 20's and Kevin's 33rd.

May: Kevin became an Ironman 70.3 in St. George by swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles and running 13.1 miles. What a Rockstar!

June: April accompanied Kevin on a business trip to Miami Beach and spotted Dennis Rodman poolside.

July: We bought our first home in Eagle Mountain, Utah. We absolutely love the neighborhood and have enjoyed making our home our own.

August: Utah had record-breaking temperatures and we tried to stay cool with trips to Seven Peaks Waterpark and lots of Otter Pops.

September: Baby preparations were in full swing as we anticipated our little girl.

October: Scarlet Grace Anderson made her debut eight days early on October 11th, weighing 6 lbs 11 oz. She is absolutely beautiful and a happy baby.

November: April was diagnosed with acute appendicitis and had emergency surgery to have her appendix removed.

December: We are excited to spend our first Christmas in our new home with our two beautiful girls.

The year 2013 has brought us so many blessings. We are truly grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ and have witnessed His hand in our lives daily. We look forward to 2014 with hope that it may be a little less eventful. :-)

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love, The Andersons

Scarlett's Blessing

Saturday, November 30, Kevin gave our beautiful Scarlett Grace a name and a blessing in our humble home. This sacred Priesthood ordinance performed in the LDS church provides an opportunity to bless our little girl with health, strength and many other important things that will bless her life. Kevin did an amazing job.

We kept the gathering very small this time. My parents, brother Brandon and Aunt Judy were the only ones in attendance other than our immediate family and a member of the Bishopric. A very different experience from Eleanor's Baby Blessing, but just as special. Kevin's mom made Scarlett's dress and I love everything about it. It is beautiful.

I am so grateful for my little family and that we will be together forever. That's pretty amazing.

Birth Announcement - Scarlett

I don't think I will be mailing out Scarlett's birth announcement this year (except to grandparents) so here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Newborn Pictures - Scarlett

I finally got around to taking some newborn pictures of Scarlett. Here are some of my favorites.

I Have All the Luck

When Eleanor was about 3 weeks old I got a kidney infection and was miserable for days. I had a fever of over 105 degrees for days and was achy, shook uncontrollably, etc. Having a newborn during that time was really hard and overwhelming. Too bad that a kidney infection was nothing compared to having acute appendicitis with a newborn.

Wednesday morning I woke up to feed Scarlett around 5:30 am and started having severe stomach cramps and some other not so pleasant symptoms. The pain was too bad to fall back asleep and I was pretty miserable. I finally took some Motrin in the afternoon and was able to get a little sleep. After I woke up the cramps had moved to my lower right abdomen. I decided to look up my symptoms to see if they matched appendicitis and they matched up pretty well. Kevin called my doctor that night to see if we should go into the emergency room and she said to go if the pain got worse, otherwise call her office in the morning and make an appointment. I made it through the night and started to feel a tiny bit better in the morning. But a few hours later the pain was getting unbearable again, so I called my doctor's office and got an appointment for that afternoon. It was pretty obvious it was appendicitis, so I was sent to get some blood work and a CT Scan. They both verified that it was acute appendicitis and I was sent over to the hospital.

Kevin's parents are in town, thankfully, and they took the girls as we headed to the hospital. Once at the hospital they rushed to get me ready for surgery and right as they were about to roll me toward the operating room, a Trauma 1 came in and I was put on hold for almost 2 hours. That wait was pretty unbearable. Definitely comparable to waiting for an epideral when in active labor. Wish that feeling wasn't so fresh in my mind. I was obviously put under once I got into the operating room and woke up a couple hours later in the recovery room. One of the first things I heard was a conversation between the nurses that went like this: "Did her appendix burst?" "I don't think so, but I heard it was really gross." Just what I wanted to hear. 

Apparently my appendix did leak a bit, so I have been on some pretty heavy anti-biotics and had to stay an extra day in the hospital. I haven't held my baby since Thursday and it is killing me. No mother should be away from her 4 week old this long. I have been pumping and dumping my milk while in the hospital and pray that I will be able to nurse again when I get home today. My supply has been getting pretty low. I guess I should be grateful that Scarlett is taking a bottle so well. 

I will hopefully be cleared to go home in a few hours. I can't wait to see and hold my babies.

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween was full of firsts for us. It was Eleanor's first time trick or treating, Scarlett's first Halloween, and our first Halloween in our new house. Kevin took Ellie around while I stayed at home to  hand out candy. Ellie absolutely loved trick or treating. Can't wait till next year!

Our little Ballerina and Witch

Scarlett Grace

Our beautiful Scarlett Grace Anderson is here! I figured I should write down her birth story before I forget everything. 

I woke up on the morning of Oct 10 and had some mild contractions. I had contractions earlier, but these felt different. I had some bloody show and my contractions started to increase, so I knew things were really progressing. My contractions were irregular throughout the day, but were getting increasingly more painful. Around 7 pm I told Kevin it was time to go to the hospital since my contractions were 5 mins apart. My mom was on her way from California and we met her in the hospital parking lot to drop off Ellie. Kevin hadn't eaten dinner yet and my contractions had become irregular again, so we stopped by the hospital cafe to get him something to eat. While he was eating my contractions were getting much closer together, so we headed up to Labor and Delivery to checkin. 

We arrived in our room just after 9 pm and I was checked by the nurse to see my progression. I was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. I was about the same the day before at my doctor's appointment, so I was a little disappointed. My blood pressure was getting high, so nurse called my doctor to see what she wanted me to do. My doctor went ahead and admitted me, much to my relief because my contractions were frequent and extremely painful. I impatiently waited around for the epidural till about quarter to midnight. I was checked about each hour and progressed from 4.5 to 5.5 to 6.5 at each check. 

My water broke on its own around 1:30 am. Around 2:30 am I started feeling like I needed to push. My doctor was delivering another baby down the hall, so I had to wait. I just kept hoping she would stay in while we waited. I begged Kevin to get a nurse and she came and checked to see if I was really ready to push and saw the baby was crowning. My doctor finally came in, we got my legs in the stirups and after two contractions and pushes, baby Scarlett Grace was born at 3:06 am. Perfectly healthy and tiny at 6 lbs 11 oz and 18 inches long.

I had scheduled to be inducted on Monday, October 14, but I am so glad she came on her own. This delivery was so much easier than the 22 hours of labor and 1.5 hours of pushing I endured with Eleanor. My recovery has been much quicker, though I am still recovering. I am just so happy she is here! She is absolutely beautiful and is pretty mild mannered right now. Hopefully that won't change. :-)

Eleanor is adjusting to having a baby sister the best that she can. She wanted nothing to do with Scarlett at first, but she is more and more interested in her each day. I am excited to see their relationship grow.