haven

my favorite

little smirk...

auntie em

i've got a lot of extra face in this one-it's not pretty-but i think haven looks cute so i'll sacrifice. because that's what motherhood is all about, right?

***thanks for the pictures (again) aubry!***

in other family news:

• i've trained nash to take haven's diapers to the trash can.
• nash got a paper towel and cleaned up his dropped cookie
• nash started walking downstairs on his own (finally!)
• nash said "daddy" after looking at steve's pictures in a family album
  
• stevie "a got good grades" and is feeling better about life (i think)

home sweet home

we're finally home. well, not stevie-he's back in vegas for another three weeks. but nash and haven and i have my mom here to help out. it's nice to be home and to have a little help and company.

i got out of the hospital on saturday morning and immediately jumped back into anderson family festivities. we had family pictures that night (crazy, right?!) and then jah's mission farewell & birthday celebration on sunday. we're sad for josh to leave-we call him the baby whisperer. enough said! it's weird to think haven will be two when he gets back...

so far, so good with haven. she's been a great nurser and an even better sleeper. she's been sleeping through the night minus one feeding at about five! let's hope that keeps up! she caught a bit of a cold but seems to be handling it well. nash is a great big brother and makes the sign for "baby" every time he sees (or doesn't see) haven. he loves to rock her cradle and will give her an occasional forehead kiss, but he's not obsessive and leaves her alone most of the time. he did give her a good whack on the head today, but after i told him he needed to be soft he petted and kissed her. at least he's good at apologizing? whenever he sees me after i've been gone for a bit, he looks around for the baby. he seems to know she's here to stay.

my recovery from the c-section has been smooth. after nash i bounced back really fast and expected to bounce back even faster with haven. this time i actually felt some pain the second day but overall i still managed to recover pretty quickly. i'm feeling pretty good minus some slight discomfort around the incision. i even got on my bike yesterday morning to see how it felt and it felt good (but i let stevie take it to vegas with him so i won't be riding it for another week and a half). i think i'll be able to participate in the MS bike tour in a few weeks without any problems.

so far having two kids hasn't been any harder than just the one. and the few times it's been a tad crazy have been nash's fault (sorry, boy, but it's true). i'm sure my first trip to the grocery store with just me and the kids will change that, but for now i have my mom here to run errands. sweet!

thanks to everyone for the well wishes, visits, and cute gifts (haven is one well-dressed little girl with nowhere to go!)...

a few more pics from haven's birth

welcome haven!

HAVEN ELIZABETH ANDERSON
IS HERE!!!
7 lbs 7 oz
20 inches
lots of dark hair!!!

and now she wants to eat (which she is really good at and which makes me one happy mommy!). so i'll post more later. thanks to the fam for being there!

lexi takes lizzy for a ride

last night we decided to take nash to the park to feed ducks (again). stevie thought it would be a good idea to take lexi too. i wasn't too sure-i mean, she's a bird dog! but stevie insisted and said he would take her away from the ducks while nash fed them. didn't happen. in fact, i found myself sitting on the park bench positioned on top of the hill holding onto lexi's leash trying to keep her calm. sit, lexi, just sit. chill out. sit! it wasn't the ducks that taunted her, it was the random pigeon or seagull that would stop in for a bit. well, just when i thought she had settled down and might just sit and watch for a bit, i suddenly found myself being yanked. a pigeon had taken flight and lexi was determined to get it. she pulled me so hard that i couldn't get my hand out of her leash and she pulled me into and almost over the back of the bench which began to tip backwards. luckily my quick reflexes weren't entirely impaired by my pregnant state and i managed to scramble over the side of the bench and quickly found myself on hand and knees on the grass desperately trying not to land on my belly or in goose poop. she pulled me a little further and i finally managed to find my center and yank her back and give her a good lickin'. i climbed back on the bench and cried and laughed at the same time. it's nothing like the shiner that my SIL got from her dog while she was pregnant, but i came out of the whole ordeal with a nice skid mark on my wrist from the leash, a skinned knee, and a huge bruise on my right arm from the bench. i can only imagine what the other park-goers thought when they saw my about-to-pop self being dragged by my dog. and i'm wondering if the hospital staff will think we have "domestic" problems when they see all my scrapes and bruises tomorrow!

pregnancy pictures-thanks to aubry!

feeding ducks at liberty park

april and james came up today and the four of us went to liberty park. we're so lucky to live by such a great park! the playground is huge-although nash was still too scared to try any of the fun stuff (except riding down the slide on mom's lap, which was not fun for me!). instead, he found a random bunny statue with the ears broken off and decided to give it kisses. what can i say, the boy loves animals. he also had a lengthy conversation on the phone while pacing through the grass (my dad is a huge pacer while talking on the phone).

after the playground we strolled over to the duck pond and fed the "ducks". finally, a little fearless streak came out in the boy! he LOVED it and fed them straight from his hand (even i'm nervous about doing that).



it was fun for nash to have a friend. he and james are only a month apart and are like peas in a pod. they are just about the same size with slightly large heads and are in about the same place with vocab and gestures. it was so cute to see them together-even though they are both in a sort of "loner" phase and didn't exactly play together. they took notes from eachother and i bet if we keep up with playdates they will be great friends.

talking on the phone

i had the video camera out today trying to capture nash giving his horsie (in the background) kisses, but i instead got this (it's sort of long, but pretty funny):



the funny thing is i have no idea where he learned this-i rarely talk on the phone when he's around. i usually text. his mannerisms kill me-he looks around like he's thinking about how to respond to "the person" on the other end of the line.

lizzythemommy

emmy said today that being a mom is the hardest job in the world. it's true. you run yourself ragged, you lose sleep, and you worry. but then between tantrums and (your own) meltdowns, you get a dimpled smile or a forehead kiss and it's the best bonus in the world.

being nash's mommy has brought out the best and the worst in me. characteristics i never knew i had. love i never knew could be so strong. its hard to imagine being able to have that much love for another child, but in ten short days i'll find out what that feels like. i am so anxious to meet my little haven. our daughter. nash's little sister.

lizzythebotanist: mother of two. i wonder if that will ever sound right...

davey-boy comes to town

one of my five faithful readers just requested that i post. wow, i feel like a celeb {sarcasm}. speaking of celebs-guess who came to town on friday?!?! our favorite little american idol, david archuleta! he visited for his "hometown visit" and made an appearance at murray high school on friday. you can bet your bottom we were there (me, emmy, aub-bob and nashville). OMH(!)...i was within the same high-school boundries as davey-boy!!! he was his normal nerdy, bashful self. overwhelmed and adorable. and he sang like a canary...

book covers

remember way back when... okay, so it wasn't that long ago. and probably not long enough ago. but anyway, i made a "goodnight nash" bookcover out of the "goodnight moon" book cover for nash. well, i've been having a hard time coming up with good book to use for haven's book cover (because they have to have everything the same, right?). i mean, "runaway haven" isn't exactly what i was looking for. then, the other day it hit me. we were cleaning out the basement to make more room for the growing family and i came across a box of my favorite books. and "harold and the purple crayon" just so happens to be one of them. duh! and the best part is that it even works (with a little photoshopping help) with the eventual color scheme i will use for haven's eventual room. i plan to use some of the book's illustrations as wall art (photoshopped, of course).

got a listhp?

now when my children have embarrassing speech impediments we'll be able to send them to aunt brr (this will be so much more face-saving than having them go to the school's speech therapist)-she just graduated with her masters in speech pathology and audiology (i think) from the U (take that coug!). congrats to brr-we're so proud of you!

heck yeah

is it just me? or is this the BEST THING THAT's HAPPENED ALL YEAR? especially considering that it is again snowing in utah. on may 1st. they were the only guys that stole my heart as a kid. i still remember waiting anxiously on the little blue loveseat in my dad's office while he called the ticket-line over and over and over trying to get me and my sister tickets to see them in concert. we didn't get to, but that was excitement enough for us! oh the memories.....

a fun little quiz

You Are Granola

You are creative and inventive. You don't do much the ordinary or normal way. You like to explore new ideas and lifestyles. Something isn't for you just because other people do it. Quick breakfast fixes are definitely not your style. You're the type most likely to cook yourself an amazing homemade breakfast.

What Kind of Cereal Are You?