A Little Bag of Sugar

Zoie is now 1 month old and weighs about the same as a bag of sugar. She had her check up yesterday and weighed 10lbs6 oz (75%), her length was 23 3/4 inches (90%)- and her head 50%. She is on the same growth track as baby Grant so I expect her to be a little chubba wubba too. She is healthy and sleeping more at night. She was born nocturnal. So our next goal is to help her sleep in longer stretches at night, but for now I'm just glad she isn't wide awake between 1-4am like she was 5 days ago.

Chris took 4 weeks paternity leave to help out with baby Zoie. Today is his first day back at work and I'm already missing him! He was amazing and I was so glad that he was able to stay home with us. Since Zoie was wide awake at night, I was awake at night, so Chris would get up with the kids and I could sleep in. He took the kids out to play and ran errands so I could rest. He did many loads of laundry and dishes to keep the house clean. Plus he started refinishing our kitchen, which is looking amazing! I'll upload pics when its complete. I am really grateful for my wonderful husband! I love you Chris and Thank You for everything!

Now for some cutie pics!

Zoie and Madelynn

Zoie's Birth Story

I was glad Zoie came after we finished her room, but I wasn't expecting her to come just hours after my previous blog post. I was actually scheduled to be induced on Tuesday Jan 31st because my babies come so fast and I didn't want to deliver in the car or in the middle of the night and not be able to get in touch with a friend to watch our kids.

I was dilated to 3.5 cm on the Saturday before she came and I was mega uncomfortable, but still just expecting to be induced on Tuesday. Then on Monday morning (1/30) I woke up at 8:10am and noticed low back pain. So we called a friend over and got to the hospital by 9am. When the nurse checked me I was dilated to 9cm. The contractions were very close together, so I'm glad Chris was there. Something that helps me cope with the contractions is "Counter Pressure." When a contraction starts I ask Chris to jam a hand held massage claw into my lower back and I totally relax my body and it relieves the pain.

When I finally dilated to 10cm the contractions slowed down. In the past I have had an uncontrollable urge to push, but not this time. So I kept waiting and I never felt that urge. Because I'm impatient I asked the nurse if I could "get this show on the road" and just start pushing, she said that would be fine. Because I deliver my babies without epidurals I was in charge of when I pushed, which was nice to have some control. The first three pushes weren't very effective, but once I figured out "where" to push, the baby dropped and with three more pushes Zoie arrived! (From the time I realized I was in labor to when she was born was 3.5 hours.)

They rounded her weight to 8 pounds.

My recovery is going a lot better than my first deliveries and nursing started out a lot smoother than it has in the past. Zoie is such a delight and I am really enjoying getting to know her. She is 10 days old in the photo above and looks a lot like baby Grant.

Welcome Zoie Adele Anderson!

KaraLee and I (and Grant and Madelynn) welcomed baby Zoie Adele Anderson into our family on Monday, January 30, 2012 at 11:38am! She was born at 8 lbs and 20 inches (nice round numbers). I won't post the details of the labor and birth here, but suffice it to say that things went very well and KaraLee and Zoie are both doing great. :) I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves:

Now We're Ready!

Now we are ready for baby #3! Chris and I finished her room last night at 11:00pm. People always ask whether or not I'm ready for another baby and before 11pm last night, my answer would have been "no." But now that she has a place to live, she is welcome to come anytime.

I thought I took a complete "Before" photo, but I can't find it anywhere. So here is a small shot of the baby's room. The entire room was this dark maroon color with brown trim.

We decided to paint the room a neutral light green and to install white bead board on the lower half. The bead board was actually a lot easier to install than we thought. I LOVE the way it turned out!

We replaced all the brown trim with white, replaced light switch and outlet plates and painted the original door white. Now we just need a baby to move in and decorate the place!

We are ready for our little baby to come, but I'm not sure the current baby is. Madelynn has had a hard time accepting that this isn't her crib anymore and someone smaller is coming to town. Poor little girl, maybe baby #3 can bring Madelynn a peace offering.