Funny Tate-isms

- We were driving in the car a couple weeks ago, on our way to Tate's music class. Ellie was a little fussy and had been crying off and on. For the umpteenth time she started crying and Tate said "Oh man, not again!"

- Rob's sister April had given Tate a package of dinosaur figures while we were at a Sunday dinner. The next morning he asked me if the dinosaurs could have a snack. I told him that dinosaurs ate waffles and coincidentally, that was what I was making for breakfast. He quickly informed me that dinosaurs don't eat waffles. When I asked him dinosaurs eat, he looked at me out of the corner of his eye and said "MARSHMALLOWS!"

- Tate is so excited to be a pirate for Halloween. He is borrowing a pirate costume from his friend Wesley, who lives down the street. We bought him a pirate sword to go along with the costume and since then, his favorite thing to do is sword fight with Rob. The other night they were sword fighting and Tate aimed his sword at Rob and said "Eat my steel!" Apparantly, he heard that phrase in the Veggie Tales pirate movie he is so fond of watching!

Ellie - 10 weeks old

I can't believe how big Ellie is getting. Just today, I looked down at her as I was putting her down for a nap and couldn't believe how big she was. She has lost that newborn look and is starting to look like a baby! At her 2 month check-up she weigh 10 lbs and 14 oz (50th%ile) and was 23 inches long (90th%ile). She smiles a lot now. We have tried making her laugh, but haven't been successful yet. She is still eating every 2-2.5 hours during the day and usually every 3 hours at night. It seems like it is so often. Sometimes I can push her to four hours at night if I keep giving her a binky. I tried putting her down in her crib a couple nights ago but decided that it was too ahrd for me to keep getting up to give her a binky. Maybe in another couple weeks she will be sleeping longer at night and I will be ready to put her in her crib. It is just so convenient to have her next to my bed in the pack 'n' play.

The last couple of days she has been a little grouchy at night and it has been hard to calm her down. Last night I tried calming her down for an hour so she could nurse. I finally stripped her down to her diaper and nursed her in her dark room with the door closed. I wonder if sometimes she just gets overwhelmed with all the noise of a busy two-year old and his parents who are trying to keep up with him. Tate is a great older brother and helps us out usually whenever we ask. He still gives her little kisses on her head and has started asking me what is wrong with her when she starts to cry.

She is not the best at taking naps, but today she slept for 2.5 hours in the early afternoon! Usually she cat naps (20-30 minutes) until late afternoon. I have tried putting her to bed early (around 7pm) but that doesn't usually work. She prefers to go to bed around 9:30pm and wakes up around 8 or 8:30 in the morning.

We blessed her last Sunday and it was wonderful. Rob did a great job with the blessing. He blessed her with unique talents and encouraged her to recognize and develop those talents. He also blessed her that she would grow close to her Heavenly Father through a relationship with the Holy Ghost. He blessed her that she would be married in the temple and that she would return to her Father in Heaven. Finally, he blessed her that she would be quick to repent and even quicker to forgive. I am grateful that Rob holds the Priesthood and was able to give her such a dear blessing.

Ellie - 6 weeks old

This was the best shot I could get of her today!

She's smiling! Although I have yet to capture it on camera, Ellie started smiling a couple weeks ago. It was hard to coax a smile out of her at first, but now it is easier. I can't believe how much she has changed in a few short weeks. Her hair is getting lighter and is, sadly, starting to fall out. Unfortunately, it seems to be falling out mostly on top and in the back. I am afraid that she is going to look like an old man! She is awake more often now, usually for about an hour after eating. She likes to look around with her big, dark eyes. She is also starting to be vocal. Not much cooing, but more like little shrieks and "AH!" sounds. It's adorable.

The sleeping situation at night is getting a little better. She still loves to be awake from 9pm to midnight, and it is so hard to get her to sleep during this time. Rob can rock her to sleep more easily than I can. I usually lay her next to me on the couch until she falls asleep. The only problem with that is that I fall asleep too!

She is still a rockstar pooper. I try to wait until I think all of the grunts, pushing, and mini explosions are over before I change her diaper. But it is not uncommon for me to have to change two diapers within 5 minutes.

Tate is starting to take much more of an interest in her and has asked to hold her several times. He is mostly gentle with her, but sometimes we have to remind him that he needs to be "soft." He also likes to pretend that he is a baby and has started asking for his own binky. We tell him that big boys get to do fun things like play soccer and eat cookies and that babies only get to take naps. That usually seems to work.

Sleep all day, party all night

I need to write this post so I won't forget how Ellie slept as a one month old . . . HORRIBLY! She takes really great naps during the day, but at night she is up so much! She experiences horrible gas at night that causes her to grunt, push, moan, and wiggle for hours. By the time she finally goes to sleep, she only sleeps for an hour or so before waking up to nurse again. I have been in tears a couple times because I AM SO TIRED! It is not uncommon for me to get only 3-4 hours of sleep at night, and that is only in one hour increments. It is really rough. I hope she grows out of it soon and starts sleeping better at night. Mylecon does not seem to help with the gas at all, so I need to do some research and find some other remedies.

Ellie's 2 week check-up & Tate's pending surgery

Tate and I took Ellie to the doctor today for her first check-up. She weighs 7 lbs 7.5 oz (30th%ile) and is 20.5 inches long (75th%ile). Her head size was in the 15th%ile, small like Tate. The doctor said that she looked great. She does have a "stork bite" mark on the back of her head. It is about the size of a golf ball but will fade with time. She is a rockstar when it comes to pooping - we usually change her diapers in pairs (she waits until you get a new one on and then minutes later fills it up again). She is also a pretty good little eater, if I can keep her awake long enough. She is starting to be awake more during the day. She will usually stay awake for an hour or so after she eats. She still struggles with sleeping well at night, so I usually only get about 1 or 2 hours of straight sleep in between feedings. Rob has been home all this week, which has been a big help. I am struggling a little with getting the hang of two kids. I guess it is a learning process, I just hope I can get a handle on it soon. Rob leaves for Boston next Tuesday!

We took Tate to a pediatric ENT doctor yesterday. He still snores loudly at night and often pauses in his breathing. I never realized how used to his snoring I had become until Ellie came home. She is such a silent sleeper, I often wake up and get freaked out by how quiet she is. I have to stare for a while to make sure I can see her breathing. The ENT doctor had an x-ray of Tate taken and told us that his tonsils and adnoids are large and he would benefit from having them removed! I almost started crying right there in the exam room. I just can't imagine sending my little boy in for surgery. But, in an effort to help him sleep better, we have scheduled his surgery for September 28th. I am NOT looking forward to it at all.

Ellie - 8 days old

My baby is a rockstar! She slept for six hours last night! It was so nice. She fell asleep around 9:30pm and didn't wake up for a feeding until 3:20 this morning! I don't know if it was a fluke or not, so I will just appreciate it. When Ellie was a couple days old Rob said "We know two things about her: she cries like a kitten and farts like a sailor!" Both of which are true. She has kind of lost the "mewing" cry and has developed quite the wail (but she doesn't cry unless she is really ready to eat) but she still passes gas that smells like rotten eggs. She is starting to develop a schedule, which I love. And she is also starting to stay awake for a while in between naps and feedings which is fun. I can't wait for more milestones to come.

I have been struggling a little bit with my feelings about how this is all affecting Tate. He has been a little sensitive the past few days and I have had less patience - which is the wrong combination. I know that he is going through something, trying in his own little way to deal with the change in the family. I felt sad last night when Rob and Tate went to Rob's parents house for a visit after dinner. I feel a small temporary division of the family - me and Ellie (for obvious feeding reasons) and Rob and Tate. I just hope that the feeling goes away soon and that I can have more patience with my little boy.

Introducing . . . ELLIE MONA ANDERSON

She's here! We are so excited and grateful that everything turned out so well. We got a phone call around 9am on Wednesday, August 5th, that they had a bed available for us. So we quickly packed up and took Tate to Janet's house and then on to the hospital. We got to the hospital at about 10am and into our room around 10:30am. The nurse started the pitocin at 11am and after checked me, telling us that I was 3+ centimeters dilated. At 11:30am, Dr. Hebert came in and broke my water. At that point I was dilated to 4 centimeters. My mom arrived shortly thereafter (with some lunch for Rob) and we spent the next little while chatting. I got an epidural about an hour after they broke my water. That was not a fun experience. I think that it was less painful when I got the epidural for Tate's birth. Still, I am grateful for modern medicine that takes away the pain and allowed me to enjoy the experience.



Around 2pm I turned in my bed, causing the fetal monitor to move. The nurse came in to adjust the monitor and decided to check to see how I was progressing. After checking, she said "You're complete." I thought she meant that she was done checking me, but she meant that we were ready to have a baby! After quick preparations on the part of the hospital staff, and a few pushes on my part, baby Ellie arrived at 2:30pm! She came out quietly and was purple, which scared Rob and I. Apparently she had taken a big gulp of fluid on her way out and that may account for the silence. Once they started suctioning her out though, she started screaming and yelled for a really long time!



After a while she calmed down and Rob and I got a really good look at her. She is beautiful. She weighed 7 lbs and 3 oz and was almost 20 inches long. At first glance I thought that she looked smaller than Tate had, so I was surprised to learn that she was actually bigger than Tate had been (and she had been born 10 days earlier than Tate). Her head was beautifully shaped, probably because it didn't take long for her to come out.



My Mom and Dad were at the hospital before she arrived, so they were the first ones to meet her after me and Rob. Janet brought Tate a couple hours later. I think he was scared when he first walked into my hospital room and saw me laying in the bed. He looked like he was about to cry. I think he was just overwhelmed with everything going on around him. He met Ellie and was interested, but there was so much going on: Nana, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, and Cory were all there plus nurses were in and out, etc. We gave Tate the present that we had gotten him and told him it was from his new baby sister. He opened his new Mack truck (from Disney's Cars movie) and was SO excited. We picked a good gift.

I felt really good after the delivery. I didn't have any pain even though the epidural was wearing off. The nurses kept asking me if I had pain and seemed surprised by my negative response. The pain finally did come, but not until about midnight that night. Eventually everyone left except for Rob and Tate and we finally got some alone time together as a family.

It was hard being in the hospital this time. I didn't mind it so much when I had Tate. In fact, I think Rob and I were terrified of going home and taking him with us. But this time I spent more time alone because Rob was with Tate. So I decided early the next day that I wanted to go home. We left the hospital around 5pm on Thursday. I was glad to be home but REALLY overwhelmed and ended up having a little breakdown around 10pm that night. I bawled my eyes out. I just wasn't sure I was going to be able to handle two little kids plus all the things that come with keeping up with my house. Rob was very sweet and insisted that I go to bed. After a few hours of sleep I felt so much better. It must have been the fatigue and the drop in hormones after delivery.

Anyway, here we are 5 days later. Still tired (Rob and I both forgot about how newborns sleep all day and stay up all night) but slowly getting the hang of it. Rob has to go back to work tomorrow and I am very nervous about being by myself. I am mostly anxious about being able to give Tate the attention he needs. We are trying very hard to have extra patience with him and to make him feel involved in everything that is going on. We'll see how this next week goes!

Me and Tate right before we left the house to drop him off at Grandma's and head for the hospital.

We let Tate take the very last picture of my belly.

This is the last official picture of our family of three before it becomes a family of four.

Such a great picture. Rob gave me no warning before he took it!

She's here!

He is such a natural Daddy.

Our first picture together.

Nana and Papa.

We finally decided on the name Ellie. I have a little girl in my Primary class named Ellie and she is such a doll. We thought the name was cute. It was down to Ellie or Abigail and we decided on Ellie after we got a good look at her. I had picked the middle name of Mona almost from the moment we knew we were having a little girl. My Mom has always said that she hates her name, but I am honored to be able to give my daughter such a strong name and have her be forever linked to such a great woman.

Tate and his new Mack truck.

Ellie in her "going home" outfit. It is newborn size but was really big on her.

Tate holding his baby sister for the first time. He didn't want to hold her while we were at the hospital. We didn't want to pressure him on any aspect, so we just waited until he was ready.

SO CUTE! It makes my heart melt.

Uncle Bryan.

Such a doll. Healthy and gorgeous. We are so blessed.