Free Range Family

Happy Leap Day everyone! Today is an uneventful day for this family, Lon and I both work so we don't have anything really planned. Alan and I did some more cleaning and organizing (I reluctantly got rid of all of Alan's baby clothes, won't have use for those) but other than that, nothing exciting. However, I DO  have some exciting news for you, my dear blog readers. :D Profile shot of baby Yesterday at one, we had my ultrasound appointment. Lon, Alan and I all went together. Let me tell you, it was quite the adventure having a toddler come to an appointment like that with you lol. He was a handful! He was interested in the ultrasound at first, then wanted to run around the room and play the rest of the time. Thankfully, he fell asleep on Lon halfway through the appointment. Baby's Face I had two technicians who did my ultrasound and then the doctor who checked me out afterwards. I guess the first was there to gather all the information on Baby and the second was

Halfway there! Waaaaaaaahooooooooo!!!! :D I honestly cannot believe that it has gone by so fast, it seems like just the other day I got that positive test. And now we only have 20 more weeks (if we go full term, which I believe we will) until we meet our little one! :D Today is also an exciting day for my pregnancy and my family. We have my twenty week ultrasound scheduled at one, and we will be finding out the gender!!!!!! We are hoping for a boy, but will be elated as long as baby is healthy. I just can't wait to find out! I am ready to start buying gender specific things! You, my wonderful readers, will find out tomorrow asap! But for now, comment on this post what you think we are having. Boy or girl????? Here's my 20 week post! Via How far along: 20 weeks and 2 days Size of Baby:  10 1/2 ounces and 6 1/2 inches long or the size of a can of Red Bull Developments of Baby: Baby's organs are adjusting to their correct placements. Kidneys have developed to lo

Happy Monday everyone! I am in a great mood today! Lon works from 8 to 2, so Alan and I cleaned the house some (Alan helped me with his toys mostly). Then I work in Child Watch from 4 to 8. I am very excited for tomorrow, when we have our twenty week ultrasound and find out the gender of Baby Andersen #2! :D We can't wait! We had a somewhat busy weekend. Saturday morning was mostly uneventful, as poor Lon was really sick. That afternoon, I had to host a birthday party at the YMCA and then we had a dinner with my parent's and grandparents. We went over there around 6. Lon stayed home because he still was feeling sick and didn't want to get my grandparents sick with anything. Alan and I hadn't seen my grandparents since we told them about the pregnancy on Christmas Eve so we were pretty excited. As soon as Great Grandpa Louie sat down, Alan was in his lap, showing him just about every toy he had in the house lol. Then he went over and told Great Grandma Marcia a bunch

Happy Friday everyone! Today is another quite busy day for Alan and I. We are meeting Kelsie and Kelton at the YMCA for Open Kids Gym again, and then we are looking at several potential rentals later with Lon. This weekend I also have my old coworker Apryl's baby shower. Pretty fun weekend! Here's this week's Five Question Friday! What's your favorite way to spend down time (alone or with a significant other)? I like to read, meditate, stretch, do yoga or pilates, draw, blog or scrapbook. Are you the kind of person that wants things more as soon as you know you can't have it? No not at all. I am a Buddhist, so I am not materialistic and have trained myself to not desire items. I only desire peace, positive energy and love. If you were given $1000 to spend on yourself, what would you buy? I honestly wouldn't no what to spend it on, if I had to spend it all on myself. Now if I could spend it on my family, the things would be endless. Stuff for Baby,

About a month ago, I wrote about meditation during pregnancy. At the time, I was really interested in the book Pregnancy Meditations: 36 Weekly Practices for Bonding with your Unborn Baby by Michelle Leclaire O'Neill. However, through my searches around town and online for a nicely priced book (new copies with the cd ran about $99 a pop, ouch) I found a much better book written by the same woman! It is called Nine Glorious Months: Daily Meditations and Reflections for your Pregnancy. Here is what this book looks like: Via Here is an example of what some of these week's mantra's were. Yesterday's Mantra: Spirals of hair are developing on your skull; the main one is at the crown of your head. Do draw in the heavenly forces. May your body be filled with a divine energy, your own true self. Today's Mantra: Now you also have soft, fine hair on your back and arms and legs. A gentle furry creature you are. Tomorrow's Mantra: Your soft covering of hair

Today is my midwife appointment, and before that I have to go to the courthouse with Alan to get my vehicle registration renewed. I am worried about having him with me, but I know if I am prepared we will be okay. :) I'm participating in Toddler Talk Thursdays again. Here is this week's post. :) Enjoy! Here are the Link- up Suggestions: 1. We ask that you follow all three hosts.That way you can keep up to date on future Toddler Talks. 2. Feel free grab the Toddler Talk Button and display it in your post or on your blog. 3. Stop in to other blogs that are linking up.Leave a meaningful comment if you visit, and follow if you would like. 4. If you have a topic you would like to suggest, please leave it in the comments sections of this post! 5. If you want to post the link up on your blog – please do! Maybe we can draw in more people to participate and share tips!! This Week's Topic: Your toddler's favorite songs Alan is really into singing your basic

This week is kinda a busy one for us. Yesterday wasn't too busy, but today I have to clean the whole house and sort through Alan's clothes. We are moving him from the size 24 months to 2Ts or 3Ts now because his little arms and legs are so long lol! Tomorrow I have my midwife appointment, and Friday Alan has his play date at Open Kids Gym and then we are looking at several potential apartments for rent. Saturday I don't have too much planned except for a friend's Scentsy party that I will try to make it too, but Sunday is one of my old coworker's baby shower. Phew! :) Hopefully every night I will be so exhausted from the day that I won't have any problem falling asleep! Hopefully. :) Here's my nineteenth week Pregnancy Post! Enjoy everyone! Via How far along: 19 weeks and 3 days Size of Baby: 10 1/2 ounces and 10 1/2 inches long or the size of a large tomato Developments of Baby: Arms and legs are finally proportional to each other and the res

The other day I was at work with Alan. He was running around the room, yelling and terrorizing like he normally does lol. I had a coworker come up to me and ask me if I was nervous for when the new baby comes. Confused, I asked her why. What she said kinda offended me, but only really because I am pretty hormonal right now. She said that because of how active of a toddler Alan already was and quickly paused searching for better words to use. I told her she had permission to call my son a wild child because that's what he was. She laughed and said that she was just concerned that I might have my hands full with a toddler like Alan and a new baby. I told her we would be fine, by that time Alan would be almost three years old and would be going to preschool in the fall. But it really kinda bothered me. To me it seemed like she didn't want to directly say Alan was wild, and why she would even be concerned in the first place? I work at a daycare and have dealt with multiple babies a

So I chickened out today and didn't take Alan to Open Kids Gym lol. I was still exhausted and didn't really wanna chase him around. But my siblings are out of school until Tuesday, so hopefully we will do something fun with them later today. If I am feeling up to it lol. I seriously have been so beat lately, its sad. I don't think it helps having a wild toddler to chase everywhere either. Oh well. Here's this week's Five Question Friday! What do you do when you are really upset to calm yourself down? I meditate or do yoga and pilates. A lot of the times my stresses seem so huge and awful, when they are actually small and petty. Meditating helps me realize this fast and clears my mind. Which has worked wonders for me during my super crazy, hormonal times. I feel like I would be a lot more unbearable if I didn't meditate as much as I do. Via Do you go all out for V-day or is it just another day? It is just really another day for us. I've ne

For some odd reason today, I was just absolutely exhausted! I slept in until ten and still  took two naps! I dunno what got into me, but I am glad that Alan behaved well and wasn't too difficult for me today. I hope tomorrow I have more energy, I want to try and take Alan to Open Kids Gym in the morning and I work for a couple hours at night. Since I don't have too much more to post about, here's the late Pregnancy Post for this week. Enjoy! Via How far along: 18 weeks and 4 days Size of Baby: 6 ounces and 6 inches long or the size of a grapefruit Developments of Baby:  Baby's nerves are making more and more complex connections. The sense of smell, taste, sight and hearing are all developing. A protective covering of myelin (this makes nerve connections travel faster) is beginning to form around Baby's nerves, a process that will continue for a year after they are born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in plac

Yesterday was of course Valentine's Day. I am somewhat particular about Valentine's Day, I don't believe that it just for lovers anymore. I believe that Valentine's Day is a day for you to share your love with everyone that you love! :) This is how I've celebrated my last three Valentine's Days and I honestly wouldn't want it any other way lol. This year was no different. Unfortunately, Valentine's morning wasn't too fun for me. I woke up around four in the morning with morning sickness, which continued until about eleven. Ugh, not fun at all. You know the alien movie The Thing???  The alien cell that took over your body and imitated your cells? Please tell me you've seen the old or new version so I don't feel like a total Sci-Fi nerd lol! Well, yesterday morning I felt like an "infected" person right before the alien cells explode through their body to attack its next victim. Yeah, fabulous lol. :P Lon had to work from 8 to 2 t

Today is the eighth and final day of CHD Awareness Week. It is also Valentine's Day, the ultimate Heart Day! :D For my final day, I will feature Miss Kirsten and her son Ewan @ Team Ewan. Via I discovered Kirsten's blog Ocotober 2010, almost a year and a half ago. I am a pretty dedicated reader of her blog and I also have befriended her on Facebook. I care a lot about Kirsten and her family. Kirsten has two children: Ewan and Austen. Ewan has CHD, specifically two types called Tetrology of Fallout and Pulmonary Atresia. Pulmonary Atresia: A type of Congenital Heart Defect where the pulmonary valve does not form properly. A solid sheet of tissue forms where the valve opening should be and the valve remains closed. Because of this defect, blood from the right side of the heart cannot go to the lungs to pick up oxygen. For those of you that aren't familiar with these posts already, I will only be sharing a summary of Kirsten and Ewan's journey because I en

Today is the seventh day of CHD Awareness Week. For the seventh day I will be feature Miss Krista and her amazing daughter Annabelle @ One Woman's Dream. Via I first started reading Krista's blog in March 2010, almost two years ago. I think that Krista is a very strong mother to have her youngest be diagnosed with CHD. She has gone through so much with her little one and in just under two years! Krista has four children total: Karalynn, Lacy, Gabriella, and Annabelle. Annabelle has CHD, specifically a variation of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome called Atrioventricular Septal Defect. Atrioventricular Septal Defect: A failure of any of the tissues that help divide the chambers, leaving one or more "holes" and possibly one leaky valve instead of two developed valves. I plan on only sharing a brief medical history on Annabelle and her condition, but that is simply because I urge you to check out her blog out! Annabelle was diagnosed with AVSD when

I had mentioned in an earlier blog that I had found my dress for the Traveling Red Dress Project. Its a beautiful red dress with a beaded decoration across the top. The lovely Miss Bella donated it to me for my own photo shoot, and sent it out Monday morning. Here is a picture from her of it, its nothing too super fancy but I think that it will be perfect for me! I went outside yesterday and it was here, sitting on our porch! I am endlessly excited! :) I have also been successful at finding a photographer. Remember the wonderful Jeff Bryson who photographed my wedding? Well he volunteered to do my red dress photo shoot! We have yet to set a date because I was waiting on finding my dress first but now that I have on en route, we will set a date. I still plan on being photographed on the Rims but there is snow right now, and I'm not sure how long I will last in the cold lol. Pray for warmer weather for my photo shoot! All I need now is some fabulous accessories and a friend t

I figured I would take a tiny break from CHD Awareness Week and post about the happenings of my family, since I realized I haven't done too much of that this week lol. Oops! :) We are all doing good. Lon was given more hours this week, which is a total blessing for our family. This means that I can cut back on my hours and take a little break. This pregnant mama is happy! :) Alan is doing good, going stir crazy with the weather. It keeps changing from really nice to snowy. Ugh. This morning, Alan was especially rowdy. I dunno if it was because of the newly fallen snow, or the fact that he knew he had a play date scheduled with his buddy Kelton and mommy Kelsie. But from the moment he woke up, he was jumping and climbing and hollering and dancing lol. Wild man. :) We met up with Kelsie, Keith and Kelton at the YMCA around eleven. The YMCA has Open Kids Gym for members and non-members every Friday from 9:30 to noon. Open Kids Gym is the coolest place for kids under five to come pla

Today is the fourth day of CHD Awareness Week. For our fourth day, I will feature Miss Jill and her beloved son Joshua @ The Real Life of a Red Head. Via I first began reading Jill's blog October 2010, almost a year and a half ago. I have been very invested in reading this blog and I care so much about Jill and her family. Jill has four children total: Caleb, Hannah, Joshua and Luke. Joshua had CHD, specifically a type called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: A type of Congenital Heart Defect that refers to when the whole left half of the heart (including the aorta , aortic valve, left ventricle and mitral valve) is underdeveloped. I will only share with you a short history of Joshua and his family because I want you to check out Jill's blog yourself. Jill has been through a lot with Joshua and since and the more people who read her story and support her, the better. Please check her out! Jill had a rough pregnancy with Jos