Free Range Family

Its finally Friday! Yay, I am so glad for the weekend to be here, even though I work almost all Saturday. I am still excited to have Sunday off to spend some much needed, much missed quality time with my family. I haven't done a Five Question Friday in so darn long, I thought it was just about time to start doing them again. :) So here it is, your Five Question Friday! Enjoy! 1. Do you swim in the winter? I do actually lol. But that's only because I work at the YMCA and they have two olympic size swimming pools. I have started swimming at least once a week, because my midwife says its another good, low-key way to exercise while pregnant. I really enjoy it! But probably because its indoors lol. :P 2. Do you love or hate winter? I was raised in Montana, in a very outdoorsy family, so yes lol I LOVE winter. We love to go out and sledding, play in the snow, go snowmobiling, and do other outdoor winter activities. 3. Do you put makeup/actual clothes on when you know you

Yesterday I had my first doctor's appointment for Baby. I was excited but nervous lol. But I had a wonderful experience with my nurse and midwife, and definitely will not be anymore! :P I was checked in and had to do a routine urine test, blah. Good thing I am pregnant and have to pee like all the time lol! I know, I know, TMI! The nurse took me into my room and we went over my medical history. I don't usually like doing this part, only because it takes FOREVER and I just wanted to meet my doctor. But we got through it and then she took my blood pressure, which was good. That made me a little more relieved because when I was pregnant with Alan, I had issues with low blood pressure. Then she told me a little about what to expect for the appointment- basic physical exam, PAP smear (ugh), listening to Baby's heartbeat (yes!) and bloodwork (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!). Then she left me to get the midwife.  My midwife came in and introduced herself. I am terrible with names

Yay, yay today is the day! Today I have a doctor appointment! Yay! :D Lol I am excited to be 15 weeks along too, but mostly just for the appointment. I hope to hear Baby's heartbeat today. That would be the greatest! But more on that later lol, here's my weekly Pregnancy Post! Enjoy! Via How far along: 15 weeks 3 days Size of Baby:  5 inches long and 3 1/2 ounces or the size of a small apple or orange Developments of Baby: Baby's legs are growing longer than their little arms now and Baby can move all of their joints and limbs. Even though the eyelids still are sealed shut, they can now sense light. Tastebuds are also forming this week, even though Baby won't really use them until after birth. On an ultrasound, the gender can be discovered starting this week although most doctors will wait until the 17th or 20th week. Total Weight Gain: 5 pounds currently, yeah! Maternity Clothes: My highschool clothes no longer fit me comfortably (Darn I was looking forward to

I haven't ever really written a post about just my husband. I'm not sure why lol... He is a wonderful man, a fantastic husband, and the best father ever. This blog has always been more family and Alan orientated. However, yesterday was our nine month wedding anniversary and my husband deserves some major love! :) Lon and Alan, September 2009 Let me share with you how wonderful of a husband he is. Every morning, I wake up at 6:30 to get ready for work. I meditate for a half hour and then start my day. Lon normally wakes up right as I am finishing meditating, even though he has no reason to (Alan doesn't wake up usually until 8 or 9), and will stay up with me until I leave for work. He says he likes to keep me company while I get ready in the morning. I think he's silly. :P He also does this other thing that just makes my heart melt. :) He would probably die of embarassment if he knew I was posting this, but he doesn't read my blog lol. And plus, I think its a sw

Well no, we didn't go sledding. :P The weather never got better Friday and we didn't want to take the little ones sledding at the parks on the weekend, because all the school kids would be there. However, Sunday we went over to my parent's house to play in the snow with Uncle Kalvin. Alan in his snowsuit. He calls it his Superman outfit lol!  We took the boys outside to play for about an hour, in the nice 30 degree weather. The sun was out and there was little to no wind, so it was perfect! Lon put Alan on a sled and pulled him around the yard. Alan was quite scared at first but then he started to get into it the longer Lon pulled him. But then Lon accidently started pulling him on uneven ground and it wigged him out lol, so he bailed into the snow. :) Alan on the sled   Alan was done with the sled after that lol. He decided he would just try and chase Uncle Kalvin and Daddy around, which was another challenge on its own. He had his big snow boots on and the snow was

Short and sweet post today, I don't have too much to talk about. Except... This is my 200th post! Hooray! Its been quite a journey since I started this blog in October 2010. Back then Alan was only 13 months old, Lon and I were only married by common law, and things were quite different. Alan in October 2010 Alan is now almost 2 and a half years old, Lon and I are close to celebrating our one year anniversary of marriage in April, and I am, of course, expecting again. Wow! Almost a year and a half of blogging already and I hope for even more fun-filled years of it!  Alan in December 2011  I seriously love blogging and love to share my family's life happenings online. It makes it so that my family members who live out of town or even out of state can still be involved in Alan's and Baby's lives. Makes me so happy! :) Thank you readers for experiencing it all with me! You are the best! :) We are still hoping to go sledding today with Kelsie and Kelton

I am very sad to report that we had to postpone our sledding adventure today, until the weather is a little warmer. Right now, outside its -9 without the windchill lol. Brrrrrrr to the extreme lol! The roads are crazy, people are snowed in, yet us Montanans keep on trucking lol! I think we got five inches last night? Wow so much snow everywhere! So everyone please, PLEASE keep your fingers crossed for Alan and I so that it is warm enough to go sledding tomorrow! This is what it looks like outside, and that's not even a street view lol! You should see the roads! The view from behind my work. Look at how pretty all the snow is! :) Does everyone like my new layout? I thought that it was time for a change lol. I love this new look! Very colorful and artistic! :) Enjoy!

Goodbye first trimester, helloooooo second trimester! Whoop whoop! :D I am excited because this week I am actually starting to show! Everyone at work has been noticing and asking lol, if they already don't know. Its exciting because now when I tell people I am pregnant, they don't just stare blankly at my stomach and go "Uh-huh" lol. Hello people, you can actually be pregnant for a while without showing! Lol! :P It started snowing hard last night! Woke me up several times from the harsh wind blowing our old house around. And driving to work this morning was more of a dangerous adventure than I wanted it to be. Ugggh I am so glad that I won't have to do that again for... another six hours lol. Let's hope the snow slows down a little! Its seriously like blizzarding out there! At least there will be snow for sure tomorrow for Alan and I's sledding adventure! :) Here's my Week 14 post! Enjoy! Via How far along: 14 weeks 3 days Size of Baby: 4

Lol that sounds more like a oxy-moron than anything, but that was the weekend we had. Saturday I had to work at the YMCA for only a couple hours, so we spent most of our day at home, hanging out and playing with Alan. We practiced Alan's Polar Bear ABC game and watched Cars 2 about a million times lol. It was a great low key day. Then that night, Lon and I used one of our giftcards from Christmas to go out to dinner at Red Robin. My wonderful mother volunteered to watch Alan for us for the whole night, since the rest of my family had gone out of town for the weekend. They had a great "sleepover" together, eating ice cream and watching Muppets Treasure Island. Lon and I had a fantastic date together as well. :) We hadn't gone out kid-less since... Uh his birthday lol? So it was just awesome to get to go out and enjoy our time together. He ordered the Bleu Chesse Burger (ew lol) and I got the Classic Burger with a chocolate milkshake. Oh yeah lol, this pregnant mama

I wrote about meditating during this pregnancy during my Pregnancy Post last week. But I thought that meditation has become such an important part of my pregnancy, that I should dedicate a whole post to my practices. Currently, I meditate once a day with my Buddhist books. This is good and gives me an open mind to the ways of the world and how life works but I have been desiring something more. Like an actual connection with Baby. There is a wonderful book I have found about that does this called Meditations for Pregnancy: 36 Weekly Practices for Bonding with your Unborn Baby. Via I am saving up to buy this book, but am obsessed with finding out as much as I can about it right now lol. I was able to view part of the book on Amazon, and found this AWESOME mantra for your fifth week of pregnancy. Apparently they have a mantra for every week that has to do with you and baby! So cool! "Like my own miraculous spine, I can be flexible but strong. I can accept the changes in

Here we are, one week away from my second trimester! I am pretty excited, because the second trimester is where things start to get fun! I can't wait for my first ultrasound, the first kick I feel, finding out the gender, and so much more! :) My morning sickness has improved somewhat, thankfully! There are days were I am just fine and there are days where I feel AWFUL. But I am at least grateful it isn't a daily thing anymore. And I have been drinking those Carnation Instant Breakfasts or whatever they are called, in the morning and they have been helping out as well. Thanks to a fellow WTE mama for giving me the idea! :D Here's this week's Pregnancy Post! Via How far along: 13 weeks 3 days Size of Baby:  20 grams and 3 inches long or an Egg Developments of Baby: Baby's bones and skull are becoming fully solid. Baby can make a fist and even suck its thumb! Vocal cords and eyelids are also forming this week as well. Total Weight Gain: I stepped on the scale

I found this at Parenting Fail Blog. This cracks me up and is soooooooooo accurate, I think lol. At least for my toddler. Enjoy! Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone!

I still haven't been in to see a doctor for Baby Andersen #2, still all because of my insurance and I am about to have a pregnant breakdown on these people for making me wait almost eight weeks! They had better WATCH OUT! :( Lol. Thankfully, it has also allowed me the time to debate with myself if I would rather go with the regular OBGYN doctor like I originally planned or if I should try a birth doula. I was definitely not pleased with how my labor and delivery of Alan went. I had wanted a peaceful, med free birth and it turned out hectic, somewhat dangerous for my son, and very medicated. Now I'm not going to place all the blame on the doctors and nurses at the hospital, but I do know that there needs to be a change. The question is doctor or doula???? For those of you that don't know, a doula is a professional (different than a OBGYN) that is trained in childbirth and provides physical, informational and emotional support to the mother. Doula means women's serva

Yesterday I only worked until noon and it was a gorgeous 60 degree day out (in MT, in January???? Hmmm lol), so Lon and I met up with my friend Kelsie and her son Kelton for a little adventure on the Rims. It was bright and sunny out when we showed up, and the wind had just kicked up a bit. But the boys were excited and took off right away lol. :) We went up and around a few of the trails and explored some trees and logs. Kelton was a brave man and climbed right over a log lol, but Alan was a bit more cautious. :) They also played catch and football with pine cones lol, that cracked us up! We saw a rabbit and a handful of dogs with their owners, which Alan loved. He is a big animal lover, and I know he enjoys playing with dogs. We need to get him and baby one after baby comes. :) Kelton and Alan are great buds, but they wouldn't stay together too well lol. This is the only picture we have of them close to each other really lol. I think Alan was trying to get him to hold his h

We are already in week twelve! Wow time seems to fly by lol! I am adding more to the Pregnancy Post this week, as this is a developing thing just like baby! :) Plus, the more I can share about myself and baby in this wonderful experience, the better! Looking back, I wish I would have had the ability to blog with Alan's pregnancy. But since I didn't, I need to write as much as I can about this one. :) Who knows, Baby Andersen #2 might one day read this and go... Ewwwwww mom. :P Lmao I crack myself up! This week, I am doing alright with the morning sickness. Have been drinking peppermint teas in the morning, and for the most part that keeps me okay until afternoon. Then eating usually solves the problem. I am hoping that I am finally out of this morning sickness stage, that would make this pregnancy all the more enjoyable! We can only hope. :) Here's my Pregnancy Post! Whoo week 12! Via How far along: 12 weeks 3 days Size of Baby: 1/2 ounce or a Vienna Sausage De

Today is Lon's youngest brother Chase's 20th birthday. Via Uncle Chase is one of my favorite brothers of Lon's lol. We have been friends for almost four years now, and I can still hang out with him without Lon and have it not be awkward. He is so cool! Uncle Chase is also a wonderful uncle to Alan. He will play with Alan, and help take care of him. Alan loves his Uncle Chase so very much! :D We haven't seen Uncle Chase in a few weeks unfortunately, but we will now have to take him out to lunch or to the park with Alan! :) Happy birthday Chase, I hope its a great one!

Our New Year's Eve was decent enough lol, for an exhausted pregnant mama and her tired two year old. :P We went over to my parent's house for dinner and to watch this guy on a dirt bike and guy on a four wheeler jump the San Diego Bay (yeah I didn't ever catch their names lol, sorry). It was pretty cool to see and Alan was almost as excited as Grandpa Kevin and Uncle Kalvin lol. But I fell asleep on their couch right after that. :P Lon finally got all of us home and I went right back to sleep. He apparently stayed up til midnight, but decided it would be best to just let me sleep through it. Good choice on his part lol! My New Year Resolution is to have Alan fully potty trained by the time Baby gets here. We have about seven months left lol, better get started! :) The next morning (yes waking up at eleven still qualifies for a morning lol), we celebrated a bit with Alan. We had a nice breakfast of Breakfast Burritos and fruit, which Lon made for me. Then we took Alan to