the Andersons

christmas bliss

2012-02-02T20:52:00.002-05:00

probably will let the pictures do most of the talking on this one. i might sound cliche to say that this was "the best christmas i have ever experienced" but i'm pretty sure that is true.

we had an amazing day… we stuck to the one tradition i swore i would never break- "our kids will always wake up in their beds at their home for christmas and we will spend the entire day there"! we might have missed a little bit of extended family fun, but by golly i was determined to make it happen and I'm so grateful we did.

i compromised on another tradition though- chad grew up with his presents from santa just being "out" not wrapped. mine on the other hand were always wrapped in "santa paper" and names written in big sloppy, busy handwriting. chad wanted the wow factor, so i gave in and we had santa's gifts out and the family gifts wrapped up.

it was precious. we started christmas present time at 7:30am and didn't end until 1:30pm! not because we had too many gifts (b/c i'm a huge governor of how much and not too much and only for special occasions…just ask my mom she has so many rules:) but because we just let them play with each gift for as long as they wanted without pushing "opening" another.

It was a joy to play with Greyson on Christmas day. Reese enjoyed everyone being in the floor with her all day as well! haha. I swear, we got her sock monkeys, baby dolls and other girl stuff and she only wants to play with hot wheels and dinosaurs. i'm sure i was the same way.

we both we are off of work for 12 days and enjoyed taking the sleigh to go visit everyone the week after christmas. exhausting… not sure what is easier, staying here and hosting or packing up and traveling. either way it will always be special. here are a few pictures and lots of videosof our christmas. (chad got me a sony bloogie HD camera for christmas- i was a little excited to "tape") AFTER posting i noticed i didn't upload the videos in HD, so I will get it changed soon, but hey you get the idea right?

christmas morning at 4:30am- i couldn't sleep!

this is our conversation with greyson in his bedroom on christmas morning…he screamed

" i hear the reindeer on the roof"! it's only voices, no video on this one.

first stop… hot wheels track!

our dinosaur eater!

Reese crawling thru her "walker"- irony maybe?

Love his precious sweet face here! Helping Reese with her fist present

grey watching chad open his basketball that he got for him!

the best $7 ever spent… he is obsessed with this nerf goal

this was not posed…too funny!

christmas late night...who knew Chad was so musically talented?

"Hi Mama"

Meet Rascal the sock monkey i had made for Reese- she pretty much hates it.

I'm going to change her around, i can feel it!

i thought i would join in the fun.

Sweetest grey ever- this is at MeMe and Pops- we allowed Grey to spend his own money this year at the dollar store and he got to buy a special gift for the each person in the family.

This is him after they opened their gifts- thanksgiving and hugs!

More dinosaur train!

Since it is nearly Valentines, I will spare anymore Christmas Spirit! However i think i'm still soaking it up.

santa did not kidnap us...

2012-01-12T11:32:00.004-05:00

I'm going to update the blog tonight about christmas!

for now, here is my sweet bitties on Christmas Morning.

"Hark the Herald"

2011-12-21T21:35:00.001-05:00

who goes to a birthday party for a friend and comes home with a better present than the one you gave? we did!! thanks to our friend Avery who turned 6 last weekend, we now have a pet fish. Avery celebrated with a circus/carnival theme party and the whole theme was precious, but to our surprise on the way out the door, we each got our party favor…a goldfish! Greyson was in LOVE to say the least. I on the other hand was slightly taken back by our new found friend. grey shook that little tupperware bowl like it was a snowglobe and I thought for sure the fishie was toast. nope- he not only hung in there but was named "hark the herald" (by greyson completely on his own… we obviously listen to too much christmas music) and he had been kissed and hugged and told he was loved by the time we made our 2 minute trip home.

yep, he was in our family, no getting out of it at this point. i spent the afternoon, trying to read up on how to keep this little fellow alive and in the meantime i sent Chad (who was christmas shopping) a couple of pictures of our new son. next thing i know, chad (a.k.a. sucker) walks in with a 10 gallon aquarium, food, rocks, etc. OH MY GOSH, "hark the herald" is more loved than me at this point. hehe
well, the short of the long, we are hoping that hark the herald will help to nurture greyson's gentle and caring side and ill take every bit of that i can squeeze out of him!

so you thought battle was pissed with being third in line behind the kids… he is ready to hunt this new member down. everyday, he just follows him around the tank, smearing his nose all over the glass trying to get as close as possible... Tail wagging just waiting for the perfect time to jump in and go fishing. poor hark the herald…snow globe, giant dog, loud brother and a sister who loves to just hit the side of the glass with both hands! welcome to the family Hark the Herald! (we think it sounds like a superhero name, you just can't call him Hark, he needs all 3 names ;)

As soon as we got to the van this is what i see. Sweet!

Grey went almost immediately down for a nap when we got back,
i went to check on him and this is the next thing i see. Oh geez! I took hark the herald and took his top off so he could get some oxygen and moved him to the kitchen with me. about 30 mins later greyson awoke and started screaming "where's my hark the harold? mom oh no my fishie is gone"! (in an absolute panic)

watching him swim in circles

Chad and Greyson got hark the herald all settled in his new crib and then chad leads him in a prayer for his new fish and his new home.
So sweet, i tear up when i see this picture.

everynight we feed him at 6:30 and then grey watches him eat in silence for like 20 minutes. You know they say that fish are supposed to lower your blood pressure?
Maybe we should have tried this a long time ago!

family pictures

2011-12-17T15:55:00.002-05:00

i could go on and on about Melissa at http://swanky5studios.com but I really do think her pictures speak for themselves. Melissa and Hannah took Reese's newborn pictures and we were blessed to have Melissa travel back down to Knoxville to our favorite park and marina- The Cove Park and Concord Yacht Club- to take a few of us all together. Reese was sick this day, but you would never know it because Melissa captured everysingle smile she squeezed out! I will always be grateful for this time in our lives. Here are a few of my favorites.

highlights

2011-12-10T14:04:00.001-05:00

We are here and I'm once again behind on blogging... I'd love to go thru and give a detailed post for each event but instead here is an equally as genuine, gloss-over summary to get us back up to speed. Buckle up, I have a lot to say!
UT football games as always, took over our fall. Chad has taken full advantage of "networking/working while attending" and he has enjoyed his all access media pass, by watching from the sidelines and skyboxes for most games. I snapped this pic of him on TV at the South Carolina game. In real time, he actually looked very official like he was a part of the Dooley interview (shaking his head and nodding, even though he couldn't hear a thing:) however from this picture and knowing his goofy self.. I kinda think he looks slightly stalk like!!hehe

we also had the good fortune of enjoying Coach Martin's seats that he wasn't using for the UT vs LMU basketball game. WHAT? yep, we were like children in a candy store! So grateful for a friend, neighbor and Coach who knew that we would go support our VOLS and enjoy every minute of it. Funny story- the game wasn't televised in Louisville, so my brother always watches them online when that's the case. well, he spotted us behind the bench and texted us the whole game about what we were doing, saying, "i just saw chad's fist pump"etc. At halftime we went to chat with some friends and showed back up to our seats a few mins into the second half- we already had received Bryan's texts..."umm hey guys, where did you go?" he didn't want us to miss any action!

In October we took some days off to spend some much needed time with family in Nashville. we "made our rounds" and started at MeMe & Pops'. We are always greeted with joyous smiles, fresh sheets, diapers and wipes, my childhood favorite meals, activities for the kiddos and fridges full of our favorite beverages! LOVE IT! This trip we visited Gentry's farm and picked our own pumpkin, rode a hayride and played with all the fun farm toys. Think this stop might become a new family favorite tradition.

Next we visited dear friends who just had their second daughter, Ellie! She is a doll, literally a tiny little doll. I looked at Greyson and Reese when we left in disbelief that they were ever that small. It's such a blessing to have such great friends in our life, that even though we don't see them that often we can pick right back up just like it was college (except college with 4 kids under 3, so maybe not like college at all, but still an amazing time;). I'm so grateful for you Marthie, Brent, Hailey and Ellie. We are looking forward to our next visit, even if it's not until Hilton Head again this May!

We ended our time in Nashville at the farm, it was perfect weather and perfect company as always. Greyson's heart is so full there, as I have described before. Carla is very wise and reminds me to "keep his hands and feet working" and we have less behavioral issues. She is so right.

MeMe and Pops soaking up so much needed lovin!

Gentry's Farm had the most amazing tire swings-
Look close, baby sissy is sleeping inside!

I love this glimpse of everyone at Gentry's- just hanging out

At the farm- on the Gator he loves!

Reese at the farm- just a front porch rocking kinda day!

Greyson loves the fresh air and wide open spaces there- don't we all!

Keeping it real and a side note- Greyson hit a point about 2 months ago where just like a light-switch, he turned on his most hurtful, disrespectful and challenging behavior to date. (A friend Kara, described it going on with her 3 year old on her blog...and Kara you have no idea how comforting it was to read that we aren't alone with those struggles, TY!) On a day to day basis, we see many more tantrums, crazy outbursts and boundary testing than ever. I continue to be shocked by some of things he does, talking (screaming) back and even biting Reese. The latter of those we have zero tolerance for. We have tried everything...more love and one on one time, tightening boundaries, taking turtle away (i know the unthinkable, right?), seeking parenting books for counsel, encouraging good behavior , asking other parents of toddlers, etc. etc. You name it we have tried it... The one and only thing that has gotten to Greyson is his memory verses- " i am wonderfully made" Psalm 139:14 , "be kind and loving to each other" Ephesians 4:32. Grey has put those two together to understand that God made his family and he should be kind and loving to us! Sweet, but give Greyson just partial credit there- that is the Lord. And he intervened and got my attention loud and clear with that...I have continually failed with my earthly attempts to fix this. But now I have given this over to God. I can't do it myself and I'm so grateful to have his help and share that testimony one day soon. (hopefully sooner than later!)

This picture below is from a night that was so special to me… Greyson and I "Camped Out" about a month ago. We baked S'more cups together and we built a huge fort in his bedroom. We told Reese and Daddy goodnight and did not come out until the next morning. By flashlights only, we laughed hysterically, read books about camping, we made shadow puppets, we sang songs, and of course we ate yummy S'more cups! This picture pretty much sums it up for the both of us. I awoke underneath a fort with 6 turtles and 1 extremely happy little boy. We will do this again soon- for both of our sakes.

S'more cups!!

Have I mentioned how very much we love our neighborhood lately? Our neighbors are incredible and we spend a lot of home time with them. Halloween was no exception. Greyson really wanted to be a white snow tiger this year, but believe it or not that's not a very popular costume. So he settled for a consignment Lion in his size! He roared all night and there are no words to capture how genuinely happy he was. He was absolutely shocked every single house "look mom, they gave me candy?"! I mean knocked his socks off shocked- house after house after house. Precious. Speaking of sugar- Reese was a bumblebee that was handed down from none other than one of those sweet neighbors we love. She barely squeezed into the 12 months outfit, but Reese is game for anything!

Our little Bumblebee

Here is one of those shocked faces! Priceless

The gang- minus a few moms taking pics

Our Reese Cup after a long night trick or treating

Reese is 9 months old now and army crawling, real crawling and pulling up! She prefers to walk just as Greyson did. (He only crawled for about a week and then just started running) Reese is almost identical, holding onto anything to use as leverage to walk herself around a room. She prefers our hands and quickly gets frustrated if she has to be stationary at all. We go to her nine month well appt. on Tuesday, but I'm pretty sure the stats are going to say this... big, healthy, happy. I'll take it and those delicious rolls! At what age is this not cute anymore? She likes to blabber about "dadada" a lot, we also get some "budabuda" for brother, and lately we have heard "mumuma"- which is of course the sweetest sound of all! She has 6 teeth which makes her eligible for tacos at our house! She waves "hi" and "bye" all the time. She is ALWAYS happy, and it is absolutely infectious.

Sometimes we call her "Butters"
because don't you think those rolls need just a little!

Thanksgiving Day, headed to the Park. Sweet baby.

We love how they love each other. Greyson and Reese like to roll ball back and forth, "chase each other", they love to play (and chew) on cars together, talk in some weird baby language back and forth, and of course dance together!

This is where we spend our evenings- cuddled up in a rocker,
reading sometimes happens, but "Lovin" never fails!

Happy Birthday Jesus Party at our church last week.
We had to bribe Grey to sit and smile!
Yes, she is standing by herself.. Ridiculous I know

We are preparing for Christmas around here...it is truely the most wonderful time of the year!

Pooped!

2011-11-09T13:44:00.002-05:00

I can't say we are as tired as her...but we are close!
I am so behind on blogging, but I promise to catch you up soon.

she loves him...

2011-10-28T20:36:00.000-04:00

this bitty is going to be one tough cookie! can you tell nothing phases her? also how much fun is our life? this is at meme and pop's house last weekend. sweet sweet sounds...

Growing too big!

2011-10-12T12:58:00.000-04:00

Reese is 7 months old and so so sweet! She smiles all the time, she cuddles all the time, she laughs all the time and in turn we do the same! She has brought out a sweet, gentle, loving side in all of us! She is 17.5 pounds (75th percentile, so yes there are babies with chubbier legs out there, even though it is hard to imagine) and i can't remember her length but it is 99.9 percentile. Can you tell from those long legs below? Reese loves Big Brother and she is really starting to interact with him a lot. She can now go from sitting up, to making her self tip over to her left and then roll and roll and roll to get something. UHOH! we are about to get really busy. Grey yells- "look, reese is____"! everytime she does anything. He is so excited for her. (pretty good big bro)

Pumpkin!

Greyson at the State Fair! Yes we aren't too good to fair it! Actually a lot of fun for his age.

Greyson absolutely loves feeding Reese dinner! He is such a good helper and she loves his company maybe more than the sweet potatoes, wait maybe not! She is a chunker!

After!!!

Look how long those legs are? Aren't they delicious in those tights!

Reese so proud of her 2 teeth!

It's the FALL! so we are of course busy with UT Football! Reese has been 2 tailgates so far, and 1 game! She loves it (imagine that). She really loved the band. I was raised going to games every weekend my entire life, so I want her to be the type of girl that can enjoy football like me... and it not be too "boy" for her. Now that doesn't mean she doesn't need to dress the girl part! She rocks some orange!

Reese and Pops at her first tailgate!

Greyson very busy with both Cornhole and football! maybe he was a bit distracted to smile for me!

MeMe and Reese

Yes, these are my 2 children, and yes it is impossible to get them to

both look at the camera at the same time!

We have been busy busy with sweet blessings! We continue to be humbled by God's grace and mercy as he continues to provide for us in every way. I really need to get more consistent with updates- that aren't gloss overs of our life... but for now I'm too busy soaking up the goodness!

Day to day

2011-09-25T15:26:00.001-04:00

Our everyday via my IPhone. I can not count how many times over the past few weeks when I have said to myself , "I don't ever want to forget this!" if you know me, you know I might have the worst longterm memory ever. It makes me sad, but I snap alot of pictures to help me out with my lapse. I mostly send these to family, but honestly everynight when I get in bed I take my phone out and flip thru my daily pics and then I count and thank our Lord for my daily blessings.
Here are a few favs from the past few weeks.

Reese loving on her giraffe blanket, and chewing with those swollen gums.

Pj day! Reese and Grey spending some time rolling around together!

Most nights i take a nightly relaxing shower just to wind down- well surprise look who was still awake and joined me! A little less relaxing and a little more growling.

Reese fell asleep chewing on her paci. Too too funny.

Not sure why the dinosaurs live in the chalkboard tray, but Greyson puts them here everyday;)

They are starting to spend more and more time admiring each other these days! Love it.

Battle loves the van, he has his own row for lake dates. He loves swimming a little more than me taking his picture though.

Roaring like lions at meme and pops house.

Our roars didn't wake these two up. How sweet!

Reese is pretty proud of her sitting up skills! Oh and did I mention she is the happiest baby I have ever seen!

This picture fills my heart with joy! This is on our way home from Nashville. Am I really their mom? What an amazing gift. I love looking back at redlights and seeing this mess of mine!

My poor mom has been bombarded with my decorating pics. I finally filled in the bookshelves, so I have to get her approval with every change!

Reese's first UT tailgate! I love my little vol.

Chad and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. We never take our own picture bc I always forget. Here is too my hot husband!

Greyson giving Reese a "gentle" hug to her. I'm telling you nothing bothers her...

Dressed in a 12 month outfit- it was chilly last week and she had nothing to wear, well good thing I reached for this 12 month outfit bc she will probably only fit in it a few more times.

Excuse the landscaping as it is still a work in progress! But check out my happy little swinger!!

I blinked and he is BIG! How did this happen?

We went to a friends house for the Florida game and she made this!! How cool is that? I was very impressed!

Reese today chewing with those teeth- looking way to big herself!

Time flies, ty phone for my memories!

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ABC easy as 1, 2 , 3!!!!!!

2011-09-15T11:14:00.000-04:00

I can't believe Greyson is 3 years old! I'm not too sure how i feel about it today. Sometimes i want him to still be little, but most of the time i am busy just loving him at every stage. He is 38 inches tall, about 32 lbs, and fast! haha Grey is so into sports that i had to give him his own commentary stat! He requests everyday to watch golf on TV. He doesn't want to watch cartoons, just "Rory McElroy, or Tiger if his knee is better." I mean we might have a problem here... he also corrects the announcers if they say Rory, while they are showing another golfer, "thats not Rory McElroy silly, he is wearing a blue shirt today." Dad is proud. We just went to Greyson's 11th UT Football game. Yep that might be another problem we have created! This is one Mama is proud of! People always stop us and say, " oh buddy is this your first game" and grey looks at them like they are crazy and says back, no "10!" hehe

If we aren't watching sports of some kind, we are playing them or playing hot wheels. Those little cars are EVERYWHERE in this house. They go in the bath, or outside, down the stairs, in the living room, on the track, underneath doors, in closets, in cabinets and in Reese's mouth of course. There is no doubt one day Grey will move out and i will be super sad and then i will sit down on the couch with a delicious glass of wine ;) and feel something in btw the cushions and it will be his "favorite race car". (at least i'm hoping so) Ok, i'll keep it together he is only 3.

We had a marvelous time celebrating this year. It was more like Birthday week which we adapted from Uncle B's birthday month he celebrates each year! wink wink

We had a birthday party at one of our favorite parks (McFee Park) and invited several friends from around town. About 1 hour before his party while we were setting up it started absolutely down-pouring. I thought for sure, no one would come- but nope we have some pretty amazing friends. They ALL showed up in the rain. I'm in debt big time. After a few bolts it passed and we played in the Splash Pad and playset. So much fun, but because of the rain I didn't get to take a ton of pictures... here a few though.

Greyson eating his CupCake at the Park

Turtle themed of course, here are his CupCake toppers!

Whoa mama this is yummy!

A little bit messy, but SplashPad is right behind us!

Party Favors were animal masks, we had white Tigers, Zebras, Giraffes, Bears, Lions and Monkeys.
The kids loved them, but a few were a bit afraid,

i'm thinking it was the roars from the behind the masks!

Splash Pad time, I told you i barely took any pictures-
busy getting soaked!

How much do you love those legs? Reese's of course...yummy!

She absolutely cracked up playing in the water, so fun.

After his official party we had a few other celebrations, including a weekend with MeMe and Pops filled with gifts and cake! While they were here (and could watch baby sister), we planned a special birthday present for Greyson and just Mom and Dad. We did a private turtle excursion at the Zoo. We reserved the time and donated to the turtles... and we were able to go into their home with a zoo keeper and feed them, and learn about them, pet them and play! Greyson absolutely LOVED every minute of it!!! I'm so glad we did this...and mom's i think you can do these at any zoo, i highly recommend it and you can also visit the penguins and giraffes. We will save those for another date though. Here are a few of my favorites moments.

Meet Tex- he is 75 years old and loves watermelon!

This is Al- he is 150 years old and stand up when you pet him! Pretty sweet, but he can accidentally bite off your finger if you are holding the watermelon too close, he can also just slam down his shell when he gets tired so we had to watch our fingers and toes.

Lucky Turtle

grey-"Hey Al, how are you doing today?"

me- "get back just a little bit please honey"

Love!

This is a good perspective on how Big Al actually is.

Now I told you it was a birthday celebration! Greyson's other present from us was a big boy bike. He loved it for the first week, but since he has taken a few spills and is not that interested, but who could blame him! Here is a video of him opening up his present and figuring out his gift.. pretty cute if i say so.

My sweet little boy is 3 years old! I am so grateful for the gift to parent him. He will always be my baby boy!

hi ho hi ho...

2011-08-21T15:23:00.020-04:00

it's off to work i go". (although it has been nearly 6 weeks ago) and what do you know... i am majorly behind on the blog!! so sorry- but i barely have time to take a shower and hunt down some sort of dinner these days. we are so blessed and have loved to spend all of our free time as much "together" as we can. spring and summer are Chad's busy seasons and add in a 5 month old, a 3 year old and a mama going back to work- well this is what you get, a laggy blog. (but a very happy family) although i can't possibly catch up on all of our blessings, i will touch on a few! And then I really intend to update weekly now- I have to get Greyson's birthday on here immediately... Ok- this week for sure- 2 posts! (if i write it down maybe i will make the time)

First of all, a handful of you know that i went back to work knowing that another layoff was inevitable and fast approaching. I sell Lipitor, the number 1 used pharmaceutical medication ever on the globe. Yea, sounds good, but it like many other drugs has a patent and in our industry the end of the patent means less reps needed because there is one less drug to promote. Well you can probably see the writing on the wall, November 30th of this year, Lipitor goes generic and Pfizer had to make a plan to account for the 15 Billion dollar a year loss of profit from Lipitor alone. I found it was hard to get motivated coming back from maternity leave, two fold- due to not being with Reese and Greyson daily as well as not knowing my immediate future yet once again. We were told August 11th, to stay home the following Thursday, the 18th and "wait for the call". Going thru this several times now, Chad refers to this day as a really bad reality show.(as we wait not only wait to hear about ourselves, we wait to talk with my colleagues on my team and friends across the country that i care so much for) My manager found out her destiny wednesday but was not able to communicate with us until Thursday. Literally Thursday we just sat at home and waited to hear "severed" or "retained". Throughout the 11-18th, i received emails regarding territory changes, upcoming product training (for those who make it) as well as severance info (for those who don't). Although I appreciated the transparency that Pfizer gave me, I was on pins and needles all week. My job provides so many blessings to our family...(my income, car, gas, car insurance, taxes, internet, cell phone, health insurance, free Rx's, and a flexible schedule to be with my kids when I need and desire to be). I was reminded of several verses that recharged my soul and left me refocused on the prize that is not my earthly job... specifically i memorized

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with THANKSGIVING bring your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

I did just that- prayed and remembered that this is the time when I was going to be watched and tempted to fall. I realized throughout the week, that I have always been provided for and what I was really feeling was not distrust in the Lord, but fear of my comfortable and preferred lifestyle. Well, not to make this too dramatic, but i received my phone call Thursday morning and I was retained and placed. My drugs changed slightly, my territory changed slightly, i got moved to another district and I got a new manager. Although I will be devastated to lose Susie as my manager, i have gained a friend in her and we live too close to not enjoy our families outside of work anyway. It was another humbling day in my house. I sometimes think, "why me?", but throughout these experiences I have began to shift my thought to "why not me?" Thank you Dear Lord, for the treasures of my heart and continuing to bless me when I have done nothing to deserve it.

Let me just keep it real and let you know that my prayer life wasn't the only thing that increased last week, so did my wine and snickers ice cream bar intake and my talking/analyzing and talking some more! Thank you to those who were and always are there to help me process. Chad Anderson- you are incredible!

Speaking of sugar... how tasty are my sweet treats?

Greyson a week shy of his 3rd Birthday, really? He is so sweet for a few minutes a day!hehe And working through his terrible 3's the rest of the day. He is too smart for his britches, which calls for many interesting conversations these days. Ill give a better run down next post.

Our Reese CupCake... This joy, is all smiles, all laughs and all sorts of yummy! She is in Love with her Big Brother and can not seem to get enough of him. Laughing hysterically whenever he is around. 5 1/2 months old and starting her adventures with food!

and just for fun! their 1st time in the bath together.

now that the fog has lifted I'll update again this week! Can't wait to share about Greyson's 3rd Birthday!

My laughing little joy!

2011-08-10T00:27:00.001-04:00

Reese is crazy about Big Brother Greyson these days!!! Check her laugh out! These are from my phone, so not great quality but you can still hear her smile!

In the bonus room with plenty of silly Greyson running around!

YouTube Video

At the park just swinging away!

YouTube Video

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My little cheerleader!

2011-07-21T11:48:00.001-04:00

YouTube Video

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we are here...

2011-07-20T11:36:00.002-04:00

but i am busy with going back to work. promise to update soon. my goal is tonight or tomorrow. so it will probably be next week, ha!

just the two of us...

2011-06-27T15:38:00.004-04:00

at times the best big brother around! Isn't he so big! ridiculous

this a rare, but sweet GENTLE moment from Grey to Reese. I think she eats it up.

Reese is always looking to Grey, watching him walk around the room (wait a minute RUN), she smiles at him easily and loves book time with him everyday. She rarely looks at the book when Greyson is around, she watches him and smiles every time he does. It's a precious sight.

Yep, that's right, he is kinda sharing Turtle. I guess Reese is better than the rest of us according to Greyson. :)

This was 2 saturdays ago- we all just chilled all day. A nice change of pace! unfortunately i think we have all caught Grey's cold, but we hope to all be just fine soon. Reese's little cough, is pretty sad.

I don't have a ton of time, but just thought i would give a quick update. We are spending A LOT of time outdoors these days, playset, splash pad, playing baseball, golf, parks, zoo, walks, neighbors. And we are loving it. I'm so grateful for this season in our life. Chad is super busy due to tournament time, so i find myself already looking forward to the fall. Trying not to wish a moment away. baby girl was having some sleeping issues as she regressed from sleeping thru the night, to not sleeping for about 4 weeks. But thanks to our Pediatrician, we are all sleeping again!! (the world looks better with a little consecutive zzz's) We are about to make some changes (return to work, Reese to "churchschool", new car, decorating the house, storm damage repairs, new roof etc, and then finally finish our landscaping out back) and are praying that we can make it all work smoothly. I just don't know how long it is going to take us to all get ready, and leave here in the mornings, it should be interesting! There is one thing for sure, I'm appreciative of the ride and I wouldn't have it any other way!

Random iPhone moments!

2011-06-12T22:45:00.003-04:00

I thought I would dump some of my recent iphone pics here, just to give you a realistic perspective of what my mom and friends get picture messaged all the time! Isn't it just amazing that you can share your moments so instantly? Just a glimpse into my mom's full mailbox!

This is the adorable mothers day card I got from grey!!! They helped him make it for me at churchschool! I think he looks just like my dad!

Baby Reese getting ready for Hilton Head island! She was excited and ready for fun!

Greyson watching Cars in the car, on the way to HHI.

I swore I would never get a car DVD player, oh well! I'm not perfect.

Delicious! Need I say more

Grey and I bike riding together.

My little sweetpea, preferring to sit up all by herself. Too big too soon!

Greyson watching Nemo and he saw Squirt ( the turtle Reese got him when she was born)...

He ran to the screen "look squirt it's you!"

I could eat this Reese's Cup all up!

These are mr. potato head stickers, you build him with each little piece/sticker just like the toy. We played with these at the dr's office. I think I liked them more than Greyson!

Greyson the morning after he got hit by a plastic bat

in the nose at our neighbors memorial day cookout! He looks so sad.

Reese with her paci and one of grey's old blankies.

Reese on Friday of last week. Once again sportin another one of my baby

outfits from 31 years ago!! You know my mom at least needed to see this one!

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we are doing well.

2011-06-05T14:23:00.012-04:00

i'm writing for 3 reasons... 1- to say THANK YOU, 2- to help prevent this from happening to someone else, and 3- because i haven't been able to call or write everyone back individually. i will also say that this is somewhat therapeutic as i do not want to be talking/writing about this, but i feel lead to.

THANK YOU... (and if i could scream and hug via the blog i would do that as well). thank you for ALL the prayers. i shared our emergency on Facebook and received a humbling amount of messages, phone calls and texts. we are SO GRATEFUL for each and every person that lifted us up in prayer and those of you who have physically been here with us since Thursday. God continues to show his grace (the blessings we haven't earned) and mercy (compassion and forgiveness when we deserve punishment or discipline). I'm unbelievably humbled by his Power to heal as well as his immanent desire for us to be loved and supported in fellowship. thank you friends for being quick to be obedient in prayer and support.

this is the fourth time and 3rd day, i've tried to type this paragraph. since i sometimes come back and reread posts, i think that i'm going to spare some details in hopes that I will be blessed with only the memory of my words in this post and not the visuals i keep reliving. Reese was in her bouncy on our kitchen table ( we put her there sometimes to keep battle out of her face and grey from bouncing her too hard ) at 8:00am on Thursday, she had been there about 15 seconds, when i turned to get Grey off of my computer and i heard a noise at the table, i turned and from 3 ft away i watched Reese and the bouncy flip off of the table onto our ceramic tile. she screamed very suddenly and then complete went numb. I could not get her to respond, she turned a terrible color and i couldn't get her to wake or arouse. I checked and felt her pulse. I called 911 described it all over again and tried everything in my power to fix her. i couldn't. the next few minutes are a blur, some mixed with conversations ... like these "grey, come over here and sing with me". we made up a song and yelled "stay awake baby reesee" over and over again. nothing worked. i called chad somewhere in that time frame as well. . grey was freaking out crying because of my reaction i'm sure. within a few minutes we had police, ambulance and fire trucks here. they questioned me like i had neglected her, i know that's their job, but i yelled "help my baby first". the EMT from the fire truck got Reese to wake briefly. the next few minutes are again blurry to me. I took Greyson to our magnificent neighbors home( who watched him in addition to her 2 young girls all day until my family got here), and got my shoes on and loaded into the ambulance where they already had her strapped in. it wasn't until then that i realized we needed prayer- i texted my family and friends. we rode what seemed like a long way to children's hospital where i was eerily calm along the way. (aka shock) chad met us at the ER entrance, where reese was starting to respond and her color was much much better. from there blurry again- we watched her get ct scans, and a chest xray, looking for fractures and damage to her head and collar bones. she wasn't able to eat until after our results and it was 2pm at this time. results of a skull fracture came out of the mouth of a busy, and seemingly unsympathetic ER doctor. I'll never forget that moment. i am changed forever because of that moment. it was the moment i realized I had done this to her.

she was admitted and checked every 2 hrs for neurologic changes. she exceeded every check with smiles and laughs! Friday am- we repeated a ct scan and the neurosurgeon came to let us know that he did not see any blood that was shown on the original scan. he also had a "hard time seeing her fracture"! Dr Harris felt like there was no immediate or long term threat to her development! (he also went through all the 1% chance of this, 5% chance of this, etc. )WHAT? seriously 24 hrs later and the Lord had already miraculously intervened. i am not sure why i was so surprised?

Exodus 14:14,Philippians 4:6, James 5:15, Matthew 21:22, Proverbs 15:29

we will follow up with the neurosurgeon in 2 weeks, and again in 3 months. we have to be careful not to bounce or rock Reese too hard until we know everything is healed. they are watching to make sure that the skull fracture heals faster than the brain grows. hence not pushing the fracture farther apart. I am praying that Reese is healing beautifully and I am confident that the Lord has control.

Greyson has not brought the morning up to us at all. i mentioned the firemen, etc. and he just said, "dad firetruck came to my house, Reese fell and hurt her head." then he talks about playing with his friends next door all day. Another Praise! I on the other hand, am probably worse off than anyone, i have had several panic attacks and Thursday was the worst day of my life. I keep reliving it, and tragically blame myself. as a mom my job is to protect my kids, not put them in harms way. in the past 2 days while home with her, i have realized i need to put it behind me so please pray for that peace. I have taken a few additional weeks off of work and i'm grateful that option was so well supported by my amazing manager.

*Starla- i received your card almost immediately when we got home from hospital- Thank you for your sweet words and your comic relief!! I love you.

Now- check out our sweet joy. This is on Sunday, 4 days after the accident. Seriously our God is awesome, isn't he?

HHI ;)

2011-05-20T18:23:00.001-04:00

Classic!

YouTube Video

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2 months old + what we are up to

2011-05-16T09:11:00.005-04:00

Reese is 9 weeks and better than ever! She had her 2 month check up and it was confirmed, she is a hungry hungry hippo! weighing in at 11 lbs and 5 ounces(75th percentile), measuring in length at 22.75 inches(75th percentile) and her head measuring 14 inches around (25th percentile). She is very healthy and did well with her first set of vaccines. We are so grateful for a healthy and added bonus hApPy little girl. We are BabyWise parents- so her eating and nap schedule is set and she is doing very well. She eats 7am, 9:30, 12:30, 3:00, 5:30, 8:00 and wakes up usually around 3ish in the middle of the night. We are working on spreading the feedings to 3 hrs (if she is asleep no problem making it to 3 hrs, but if she is awake she is starving at the above times) and hopefully should have her sleeping thru the night in the next couple of weeks. Reese coos, and smiles constantly. She absolutely loves to be talked to and really enjoys her Baby Einstein playmat- she actually giggles at the musical star above.

Greyson is in love with "baby Reesee" but with that love comes a lot of in her face, touching, yelling, and excited times. We are working on being gentle with our hands, our voice, and our actions around here. ahhh! Grey has had a lot of great things going on in his little life- he has mastered his class at school (and becoming bored)- so he moving up to a Big Kid class(new curriculum and classroom) on June 1st- which will help challenge him more . He loves his "churchschool" and has some best friends there to learn and play with. Since I have been off on maternity leave- he has spent 3-4 days (9-3) there a week and then home with Reese and I the other days. He needs his routine worse than me, if we deviate he does not do so well. When he is at home, he keeps us entertained and we have loved spending lots of time with our friends and neighbors outside. Speaking of outside- MeMe and Pops purchased Grey his very own PLAYSET! it got delivered by freight last week and Chad called PawPaw and Uncle Brian to the rescue to come help us build it. To sum up the long story- we had a landscaper come in and rip out (landscaping to follow this week) one of our patios so we could make room for it, then it took me around 3 hrs to organize the screws, bolts, and washers, etc into individual bags labeled steps 1-24, and then it took Chad, Brian and PawPaw around 12 hrs to build it! A serious project, and we got a small one- imagine if we would have got the one MeMe wanted to get him (it was big enough for a park)! haha Greyson has not been the best listener the past two days, so to be honest he hasn't been allowed on his new playset very much so I don't have alot of pics.

He is so smart and it makes us hold him to a different level of accountability. For instance- "Greyson please don't pull Battle's tail." greyson- pulls battle tail...then says "i not make good choices, i be a bad listener i have to go to time out and i not play on my new playset." me to grey "that's right, now go to time out please" grey- " no mommy, i not make good choices, i say no mommy, not yes mommy." me to grey- " greyson, do not tell mommy no, that is not a good choice, just like you said... now let's go to time out." grey to me- "yes mommy" then walks to time out..."i be a good listener now, i make good choices, i go play on my new playset?" AHHH- seriously? it's so cute, but he still has to go and then there is usually a breakdown because he keeps telling me he made a good choice! Love that kid.

Lets see what else- oh yeh- we are headed to Hilton Head this week with some dear friends from college and their little girl who is Grey's age. We rented a house with a pool and we are so excited for Greyson to visit the beach for the first time!

Here are a few pics to enjoy- Reese is 9 weeks in these, and there will be more of the playset, once we get out there to play and when we finish the backyard, it's a mess.

Reese cooing. She is wearing one of my outfits from childhood, along with my bow. I'm so grateful mom kept a few things for me!

so delicious- she is this happy all the time!

Tummy time outside

Uncle Brian is a hero around here, he busted it for this little boy! We LOVE HIM!

riding his "boat swing" with his friend Avery!

thank you

2011-05-09T22:25:00.011-04:00

for making me a mother my Lord, and thank you sweet babies for making me "mom".

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward. Psalm 127:3

Greyson Knox Anderson- 2 years and 9 months

Reese Maddyn Anderson- 8 weeks

Pics from Mothers Day 2011- what a lucky mom i am!

Surgery went well

2011-05-06T22:51:00.001-04:00

Praise God!
We are resting, will update soon. This is grey post op before waking up.

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"My Ole Kentucky Home- far away"

2011-05-03T11:48:00.011-04:00

It's Derby time, and i just can't make the girls trip this year, so i had to get my KY DERBY FESTIVAL fix in somehow. I loved going to the Balloon Glow and Ballon Race growing up, so i ditched the fancy dress, hat, and mint juleps and made some family fun Derby memories instead! (don't worry, next year i will be back in the saddle - and Derby bound for sure)

Last week- Grey had double ear infections and a busted eardrum in the left, so we thought he deserved a little fun time for sure. (FYI, he is having his second tube surgery and his adenoids removed this Friday May 6th)

With our upcoming trip to Hilton Head and this drive to Louisville, we decided to bite the bullet and purchase the car DVD player. I swore, "my kid will never have one of those...he will sing and count his toes in the car just like I did". Whatever- NEVER say never. It was awesome! he loved it, and for 1.5 hrs it kinda felt like Chad and I had a date, because we got to talk uninterrupted, which doesn't happen a lot these days.

Reese is growing like a little weed, our 2 month appt is this Wednesday- but i can tell you, she is a chunker and I LOVE IT! I'm going back to work in 6 more weeks and having a hard time trying to decide about continuing nursing or not, so i welcome the advice. She is an absolute JOY. So happy and so smiley. Absolutely Precious!

Here are a few pics from the weekend- sorry for the blurs, I had a hard with my focus with all the light, and movement changes at the glow.

Big Balloons- there were about 20 total!

Proof Reese and I were there- see her little PolkaDotted head?

Chad racing the Green Machines at B and C's! Have you met my 7 year old husband??

Big Crash= 4 bandaids, and gauze every morning before work!

Uncle B, showing us how it's done!

Grey and Devan racing Tot

Aunt C soaking up some Ressee Pieces

They already have 3, what's 2 more!?

Thanks for another great visit B and C!

meeting PawPaw

2011-04-22T10:44:00.007-04:00

we like to call this hairdo- "a hot mess"!

we made a recent trip to Nashville to see all our family- and for Reese to meet PawPaw and Carla. you have to know Michael, but if you know Chad you'll understand...PawPaw doesn't say much, but you know how he feels. because of that, he is loyal, sincere, loving and most importantly genuine! after a long day of working outside, he covered up with a clean towel and held Reese for the first time. Greyson and Reese loved PawPaw instantly (and me), I really think it is because of his genuineness. you just feel it

"My"Carla( grey calls her) is the absolute best and makes us feel so much at home- it's a place i prefer to go, thanks to her efforts! We love it there and we LOVE them both very much.

see her little head?

Grey and Turtle feel right at home as well.

it was cold this visit, so grey only got to ride the gator and see the horses for a little while, he was a little bummed, but summertime is soon buddy!

A day in the life of stuffed animals at our home!

2011-04-20T13:13:00.001-04:00

YouTube Video

Five minutes later...

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take me out to the ball game...

2011-04-14T17:11:00.006-04:00

our littlest VOL!

Reese and Chad, cheering- oh i mean napping!

Grey loved "the Rock" it was painted for the Golf team on Saturday so he was even more interested in it. After this pic though, he dropped his pants and pee peed on it! classic.

although we have forced greyson to go to UT football, and basketball games, this last weekend was our first trip to the Baseball field! i have been trying to get chad to go for awhile now, but he is not a fan of the sport (to say it nicely). he did agree that it would be fun for Grey and good to cheer on anything that is orange, so we went on Saturday. our weekend was slammed pack with get togethers and grill outs with neighbors, but we were glad to squeeze in a little Rocky Top on a beautiful saturday afternoon.

Trying out a new app!

2011-04-07T10:59:00.001-04:00

Hoping to share some of my iphone pics and videos with the blog! Meaning more posts!

My Day!
My baby burrito greeted me with this sweet smile this MORNING!
Then she quickly reminded me I had taken too many pics...and she was ready to get out of her swaddle blanket!! But don't you just love that hair!

And this is my NIGHT!
could these turtles possibly be more loved?! I doubt it, my sweet little man takes great care of them.

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Soo LOVED!

2011-04-04T16:43:00.009-04:00

Reese is growing like a little lovebug, and Greyson is HUGE! maybe it's just in comparison but still... i haven't had time to take great pics of the two of them mainly because Greyson gets so excited and he scares me to to death. He is somewhat gentle, but he always wants to touch her and tickle her and well, I'm usually a nervous wreck and can't seem to take any pics, but here a few of them playing on the playmat. Greyson is a very very proud BIG Brother, as he always introduces Reese to strangers as- "this is my baby sister Baby Reese". Then he follows up with squeezing her cheeks or really rocking the car seat fast! She is going to grow up to be one tough girl!

In other news, Grey has double ear infections. We got concerned because we started to notice some hearing loss and took him right back in to the ENT again. He gave him a round of antibiotics and NoseSpray and in 3 more weeks we go back to dr to find out if he has to have Tube Surgery again. Whatever it takes to clear him up, because it is so sad for him to say, "whatcha say mommy please?" ahhh, poor buddy

Here are few random pics from this week:

don't you want to just love on her!!??

watch out Reese- Greyson is so CLOSE

He is always this excited to see her and play with her!

just chillin

Checking herself out in the mirror of the swing, so cute.

MeMe, taking good care of Reese

her "crib" haha

2011-03-28T09:17:00.007-04:00

when i posted a few pics before, we didn't have all our furniture just yet, so i thought i would post a few more pics of Reese's nursery. Although she has only napped in her crib a few times, i do believe that she likes it!! She spends most of her time in the pack 'n play next to my bed, then during the day in the swing or bouncy as well as an occasional nap on my chest on the couch!! shh, don't tell Greyson, we never allowed him to do that. Speaking of differences, she is a completely different baby than Greyson. She is SO GOOD!! God knew i couldn't handle another colicky baby. She only cries if her belly is upset, she whimpers and grunts when she is hungry and other than that seems completely laid back and content! She is a joy to be with and makes my job somewhat easy. She had gained 1 pound totaling up to 8lbs and .5 ounces at her 2 week appt, so her pediatrician said "we could let her sleep at night", instead of waking her. She sleeps great, usually from 9pm- 1ish, then from 2am- 5:30ish, then up around 7:30am. I'll take it! This past weekend we discovered Grey had 2 ear infections and he has been a bit of challenge to take care of both of them by myself, but we will get through it (makes me super sad, because he is showing some signs that he can't hear us very well asking us "what did you say please?" We are going to the ENT again this Thursday, so prayers that they can help without tube surgery again please! Gotta run, but here are a few pics.

Reese with her BIG eyes

i still love that monogram!

Her Chair, her Blankie and my Armrest Pillow

She got a girly version of a book rack like big Brothers!

Her little stroller is in the corner! MeMe and Pops got her that, and it is filled with all of my dolls from when I was little, Grey however likes to fill is with turtles and race it around the house!

FYI: Greyson has grown at an abnormal rate. 2 inches in 5 weeks- We just ordered him all new furniture, bedding and decorations from PotteryBarn Kids, hoping to get them soon! Also all new carseats....these kids are pricey!

blessed!

2011-03-21T12:26:00.006-04:00

Need i say more...

Reese's Newborn Pics

2011-03-17T12:27:00.003-04:00

Check out a sample of Reese's newborn pics! If you visit the link, leave a comment on their page, and if we get 25 comments we receive a free mini album full of her sweet pics. HELP US GET IT PLEASE!!

http://yourlifeasart.org/2011/03/sleeping-beauty-or-shall-we-say-rapunzel-johnson-city-tn-newborn-photographer/

Reese Maddyn Anderson

2011-03-14T12:50:00.011-04:00

Happy BIRTHday

not much time for words...but can they really describe her anyway??!! here is a short synopsis of March 9th, the day we met our daughter and our sister!

Chad and I went to the hospital at 6am for a scheduled induction- when we got there I was checked and found out that indeed my back and cramping were contractions and they were 4 minutes apart on their own. I was dilated to a 3 almost 4. Big changes since our dr's visit 2 days before... She was ready! Our precious nurse Sarah got us comfortable and set up- she waited for Dr Yang to come and check me instead of starting the induction, due to the fact I was already in active labor. Dr. Yang came and confirmed she was coming, but that the petocin would help move the contractions along quicker. And bingo- stronger, faster together and water broke pretty quickly. I opted for my epidural as they were anticipating a very quick delivery at this point.

Then i started noticing a small spot of pain on my left side, then larger, and larger and then- well i had all feeling as my epidural was not elevating the contractions. They were about 1 to 1.5 minutes apart and crying strong. Sarah paged both Dr Yang and the anesthesiologist to come and see what we could alter. Dr. Yang stopped the petocin and well we are still looking for that anesthesiologist???? Sarah held one hand and, Chad and my mom held the other as we decided it was best for me to grin and bear through it. And that's what we did... The pain, was strong, however it was easy- 2 contractions and then at 3:44 with my mother anxiously and patiently waiting outside the room, Chad and I welcomed Reese into the world! She weighed 7 lbs, 8 ounces, measured almost 20 inches long and had a head full of long dark hair! She looked so small- I thought for sure she was like 5 lbs ( all relative to having a 2 1/2 year old i'm sure) Our practice and hospital are considered more holistic- and to that i mean -They placed her on us all sloppy and fresh and honestly let us hold her for 2 days. She only left the room a few minutes for evaluations. Thank you for the prayers- she has adjusted so well! She is nursing well, sleeping as well as to be expected and so far only fussy from 9pm- 1am everyday. Hey, i'll take it!

Greyson is a pure joy- he is so sweet, kind and gentle with her. He walks around saying "baby reese where are you?" "baby reese, baby sister"! so sweet. Check out how proud he was on her Birthday!

Mama and Reese- I guess you can tell that I'm a little obsessed

All together- Andersons party of 4

Really is that ours?? Does God really trust us with something this precious- NO pressure!

I have a video of this moment- but i would cry everytime i looked at the blog if i posted, so we will keep that too ourselves. But this is the moment Grey met Reese- he just started blowing her kisses!!

Look at his face!! OMG- he was so excited. Priceless

Greyson loving on Reese and giving her- her very own Tiny Pink Turtle

MeMe and Reese and Tiny Turtle

awww LONG DAY!

Headed home!

More posts to come- because I'm a picture taking aholoic!

Introducing Baby Sister...

2011-03-08T15:30:00.023-05:00

Reese Maddyn Anderson

March 9, 2011 3:44pm- 7 lbs 8 ounces, 20 inches

I'm here... and my mom and dad wrote most of this post before I was born because they just knew I would be keeping them busy the first few days...

They tell me that my brother and I both have special UT names, because that's where my mom and dad met and feel in love, I haven't been around too long... but all i have seen is this bright orange color, so I'm thinking it's because they really like UT! They had a few names picked out but my big brother Greyson was adamant that my name be Reese from the start! Here is a little bit about my first name Reese- Mom says it is as close to "Neyland" as dad will ever get! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Neyland

Neyland remains the all-time winningest coach in Tennessee Volunteers history with 173 wins in 216 games, six undefeated seasons, nine undefeated regular seasons, seven conference championships, and four national championships.

My middle name, Maddyn came out of a long lists of Mom's favorites. Dad picked it and I think he did a great job. Looks like I am going to fit in around here just fine. Thanks for praying for me and my family. The other thing I am seeing a lot of these days is Mom's camera, she said she will post some pictures as soon as she can. (pic at top is her monogram above her crib!)

40/41 week update

2011-03-07T11:17:00.001-05:00

yep, still pregnant! i went to my appt today and although things are progressing, we decided to set a date for induction. i'm not sure why, but this entire pregnancy i have felt the need to not induce and allow her to be born on her own. Well...this past week has been miserable. Contractions on and off inconsistently, and other gross pregnancy stuff that I won't share. So i have finally accepted that i might need some help.

Today at the appt. i had gained a little over a pound- totaling 25. Baby Sister was measuring 35/36 on my tummy and her heartbeat was a fast and steady 188. (told you she was crazy and moved all the time) I am dilated a little past 2, 70% effaced, -1 staged. She is "right there and ripe, you should go in to labor at anytime"says Dr Yang. She also suggested i wait till next week to schedule the induction, I however had another suggestion. (I practiced, in the shower this morning because i felt like she was going to ask me to wait another week!) So i asked her if there was any additional risk to baby sister if we induced sooner than that, she said...not at all. SO WE SCHEDULED for this Wednesday March 9th at 6am. I'm still uneasy about the decision, so maybe God will pop her out in the next 48 hrs instead!! we will keep you updated, thank you for all the emails, phone calls and texts and keep them coming, it makes me feel very loved and blessed!

tick tock...tick tock

2011-02-25T12:40:00.007-05:00

still waiting on baby sister to arrive... if i'm not in the bathtub i am eating Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with my own added chocolate chips!! delicious....makes time fly by!

Pic is today, 39 weeks and 3 days

our little golfer/ baby update

2011-02-21T12:42:00.008-05:00

it has been unseasonably warm here this week and greyson has loved every single bit of it! i got my new lens and played around with it for a few minutes while we were outside playing golf on saturday...

can you guess who dressed grey this day? also, check out his "new shoes" chad picked up for him last week???? OMG!

if only they came in daddy's size!

38/39 week appt was this morning, it went well. absolutely no change from last week, weighed the same, still dilated 1.5, 60% effaced and -1 staged. She most be cozy in there... i tried not to be disappointed and realize that she needs this time to fully develop. i guess we will continue to enjoy our time as a couple, and as a family of 3. chad and i have always done well with dates, so we shall keep it up even if i waddle behind him everywhere! Dr Yang, said that if baby is not here by March 8th then she will induce me that day. So even though i'd really rather not be induced again, i might have to be. 2 weeks is a long time though, so we will just see what this next week brings! now excuse me while i go walk and eat spicy foods!

to infinity and beyond!

2011-02-18T11:09:00.002-05:00

our little buzz!

Misunderstanding...

2011-02-16T16:23:00.004-05:00

just a little side note to the posting about her name... IT IS NOT AINSLEY! i have had 3 people ask me, i guess because i wrote that Chad "won out on the name"...

He did on another name, i just couldn't let that one happen! ha

37 1/2 week appt

2011-02-15T08:25:00.005-05:00

baby update:

she is measuring 34/ 35 weeks , still a little small. Her heartbeat was ranging from 125- 146, and she still moves like crazy....

mommy update:

I lost 1 pound this week, does that tell you just how many chocolate oatmeal cookies i was consuming prior!!??? ha

I am experiencing vasal vagal responses (basically, seeing stars, lightheaded, sweating like crazy, and feel like i am going to pass out at anytime), I was instructed by my Dr. -to take it easy and keep my feet up, don't pick up anything, don't go to crowded places, eat as often as i can, drink small amounts of sugary drinks and pay attention to the faintness because i most likely will pass out if i ignore it...umm doesn't she know i have a lot to do???

I'm dilated to 1.5 and moved to 60% effaced, also just last week i wasn't even at +2 staging, however yesterday she had dropped and I was measuring at -1. Dr. Yang said "i can feel her head"! I was silently thinking the last time i heard someone say that, Grey was born 26 minutes later! My Dr. paged the hospital registration nurse yesterday and made an appt for me today.so she got my attention. We just finished registering and pre-admitting. I packed baby sister's bag and i am working on mine and Chad's. We shall see... i seriously still do have a lot to do, so hoping i can find time to rest and get things done before her grand arrival. We would appreciate prayers for a healthy and safe delivery and smooth transition for Greyson becoming a Big Brother! Keep you updated.

name & nursery update

2011-02-13T16:49:00.017-05:00

Baby Sister's Nursery and Name...

exciting news... we have agreed on her name and we both LOVE IT! Excited to share when she is born. I'm going to order her monogram for above her crib today. Hoping it will be here in time for her arrival. Her first name was unanimous and an easy, very meaningful pick for all of us. The second name has not been as easy... Greyson is actually still trying to sway us towards his favorite middle name (which happened to be mine for quite a long time), however Chad wins out this time and I'll give him all the credit for her middle name. He has been quite adamant about his favorite name Ainsley this entire pregnancy, I did not fall in love with it and have grown to not like it all since it was his only option for so long! (is this a flashback to the Neyland name 3 years ago!!) Since we didn't chose these, i thought i would share some runner up names...

Demi, Harper, Macy, Brooke, Brynley, Paige, Brooklyn, Blair, Ally

I honestly could have chosen each of those at one time, but they just didn't go with her first name according to Chad. I'm telling you for someone with no opinion about most things, he sure has made some strong statements about names over the past few months. wink wink, love you babe!

With my leave starting last week and being off 3 days, i have tried to work on her room a bit and even though it is not clean or finished, i thought i would take few pictures so you could see the progress. the pic at the top of the blog is my view of her chandelier (from the bottom!) ha. Here are some more...

This is a project I took on, filling an open back frame with pictures and inspirations of strong women in her life: below is my bronzed baby shoe.

Her Paper Doll Bedding and pink and white seersucker rocker and glider!

twinkle twinkle!

Another pic, this one of me when i was around 5. I think i have the same haircut now. haha

her bow holders and turtle clip made by the sweetest etsy shop

(me and etsy are bffs)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bananapies?ref=top_trail

teethers!

2011-02-10T14:37:00.004-05:00

Greyson and I went to the dentist this week! His first visit... it was intended to be a "happy visit" meaning...to ride the chair up and down and to hear all the equipment and then pick a treasure from the treasure chest! However he did so well, he had a full cleaning and tarter scraping... at the end same good ole response to the question "grey what did you think of that?" "mommy, its' fun in there"! What a big boy... not a scared bone in his body. So proud. Check him out!

Went to our 36/37 week appt on Wednesday and I thought for sure i was dilated to 3 and she was ready for action... instead i got told a "fingertip and 30% effaced". Really? "check again " i said. oh well, guess she is not ripe and ready just yet! I did however live up to the challenge and gained 3.5 lbs in 2 weeks. IMPRESSIVE and well, gross... so it's official, me and no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies have broken up!

34/35 week update

2011-01-26T12:17:00.009-05:00

"lovin"

baby sister is growing as you can see! we had our "growth ultrasound" to check and measure how she is developing. She weighed in at 5lbs and 8 ounces... she has grown from being in the 35 percentile to the 58th!! impressive. i think my newly developed need and desire for cherry coke and ice cream has helped that along!! haha. i know, i know I am supposed to keep my caffeine intake to less than 150 mg, so i only allow myself 65 mg a day, including chocolate. But man if it wasn't bad for us, i would insert it directly into my veins! ha yum yum so good!! Back to baby girl... She has a head full of hair and we could see it float around in the ultrasound. BRING ON THE BOWS! she is head down and dropped low (could be why i pee every 2 mins and have crazy pressure related startling pain at times), her femur measured in the 20th percentile, her head in the 30th, and her little belly 88th!! nice. Just like mommy now! Dr. predicted if she went full term that she would be another 8 pounder. Her heartbeat was 168 today. She is healthy as far as we can tell and moves all the time. I'm praying everyday for a healthy baby girl. It's different this time around, with greyson i was always wondering...will he have blue eyes like Chad, will he be short or tall? etc... but this time around, i have worried so much and all i think of is... will she be healthy like greyson is? that is my prayer and only that.

Me update: As of today, I have gained 19 lbs exactly, with only 5 weeks left to go, i might loosen the reins a little and enjoy some more tasty delights!! I feel very good considering i could topple forward at anytime. My legs swell abit from the added pressure, and i have started to get some pretty strong pains that my dr. described as "normal" and will continue. AWESOME! My last day of work is Feb 8th, so less than 2 weeks left to go! Pfizer is amazing, and grants us 3 weeks off paid prior to birth and then i have up to 4 months paid post pregnancy and an additional 6 months non paid if i choose to take it. There is also part time options to wade back in. I am very blessed with a job that provides us amazing opportunities and gives me tremendous flexibility to take care of our family. However, i am looking forward to my maternity leave!! i am ready to rest a little before baby sister arrives!

Grey update: greyson is so sweet and i believe he is really starting to grasp the reality of what is happening. I'm trying hard to protect him from seeing me hurt at times, or not be able to sit in the floor with him and play. i am looking forward to doing those things again soon. He talks about her alot, and in the ultrasound, he absolutely LOVED her heartbeat. We could see her head, and eyes and cheeks and he asked to see her mouth?? so cute. we play some in her room and talk about what it means to be a Big Brother. He has a lot of responsibility as her role model, so we are praising him loud and clear for all the great things he contributes to our little family. Moms with 2 kids, did you give your oldest a gift for becoming the BIG? If so, what did you do? I've heard of a few ideas, like a day of favorites for greyson, a gift from mom and dad for becoming a big brother, or a big night to celebrate the rite of passage, maybe with a big dessert, etc? We are looking for ideas... i would appreciate your advice!

I'll update soon with pics of the nursery. It is coming right along. I'm hoping to do a monogram above her crib, but we still don't have all the letters to make it. ha!

Snowed in!

2011-01-22T10:48:00.010-05:00

Last week we had 3 days off school and work... it was snowy and dangerous to drive outside, however it was also FUN!!! We spent some time in the snow, sledding, throwing snowballs, making snow angels, and drinking hot chocolate. If we weren't outside we were inside watching TOY STORY! Here is a glimpse of our time snowed in together!

ALL Grey wanted to do is throw snow balls!

Mr Potato Head SnowMan!

Yes, i know he needs gloves, we used some socks after we noticed how cold his little fingers were!

Snow Angels with daddy!

Watching Toy Story with woody, bullseye, buzz, mr potato head

and Turtle of course!

This is what he was watching, when i snapped the above pic,

i love that little expression on his face!

CHRISTmas TIME!

2011-01-09T15:30:00.015-05:00

I 'm so sorry about the delay in posting, as you can tell below...christmas vacation was a special time together and i just put the unnecessary off for a few weeks! NOW though, i have hit my nesting stage and I am officially freaking out about all the things we need to get done before Baby Sister comes and the blog somehow made the list today!! Since Christmas was a month ago now, I'll just touch on the highlights. I have learned my lesson, i sent an email out to our entire family around Thanksgiving and said, "we will be at home for Christmas this year if you want to see us, you will have to come here".... WELL THEY ALL CAME!! Kinda like the burger king commercial, "if you build it, they will come". So, we had visitors starting on the wednesday before Christmas through the Sunday after... on and off. I couldn't have pulled it all off, without my mom's help. She came in town early and cleaned our house from top to bottom, it was immaculate. I planned, shopped and cooked the menu and tada- Family Christmas at The Andersons' was a success. (however next year it might just be easier to pack up and go to their homes instead) haha

I have been hounding Chad for years about "traditions, making memories, doing it every year". He says you tell me what to do and i'll do it, but i just can't think of anything. So pretty much the last 10 years we have been together there has been some new attempt at a tradition. Ridiculous, its like a tradition of doing not the same things! However, I am holding myself to a couple from this year. On Christmas Eve we made a plate with Greyson's handprints and decorated it for Santa's cookies. We are going to try to do this every year and then have my much awaited "christmas dishes" i have always wanted that we can enjoy for years to come. Also we made Baby Jesus his very own birthday cake and sang him Happy Birthday. Greyson absolutely LOVED this, and keeps talking about it.

With 10 days off in a row, Chad and I didn't know what to do with ourselves... So we dabbled with more painting, more decorating of Baby Sister's nursery and aLOT of movies and playtime. Greyson hopefully enjoyed the time with us, however he asked everyday, "who coming to see me today"? Because literally someone new was here almost everyday! We enjoyed time getting to know our neighbors and having fun, much needed playdates with them! The things i would do, if i had the time...maternity leave might be a blast with my stay at home mom neighbors! Over the break, we also enrolled Grey in a new school- as we felt led to have him back in a Christian Environment. BEST DECISION EVER! And finally we have found a church home... it is amazing and a blessing in our life. Our commitment is to keep it a priority over the next few months, even though it is going to be difficult with our new baby. God is working in our hearts and we are aware and excited about it!

The only item on the wishlist that didn't get done over the holidays was naming our daughter! Like I have said before we know the name we are going to call her, and to Chad that seems like enough! (and it is has leaked out to a few people, like meme and pops, a couple of my dear girl friends that i value their opinion, and whoever else Grey has wanted to share it with!) Although the other name is a placeholder, it still is meaningful and is oh so necessary for monograms!! haha However we do have a few favorites but have decided we need to meet her first before we name her! How fun is that... I'm not very spontaneous so this is pushing me very far out of my comfort zone!

back to christmas....

my sweet and dear Paw Bear trying to understand what is so special about this turtle.. i think he got it!

Greyson and I reading his seek and find Elmo book when Maw, Paw, Barbara, John, Mom and Pops came to visit!

A messy little "tradition" that left engineer Chad all upset, because the "walls kept falling down" (probably not a repeatable tradition)

Doesn't this look like Santa skipped a few other people's roofs?? Ha this is before gifts with meme, pops, me, chad, grey, bryan, candy, devan, tori and jordan. there was a lot of us and a lot of presents- hope that rationalizes the explosion of gifts!

christmas is for kids and MeMe's- seriously look how happy she is!

yes, i'm big, but grey is cheesy so i like it!

uncle Bryan- really excited and shaking it with his new warm ups on!

MeMe and Grey special time

he was moving rather fast...so this is as good of a pic as i could get, Grey and his christmas card from tot! his fav- a drawing of "turtle"!

and j, d, and c loved their cards too!!

we spent christmas eve eve with b, c, d, j, t, m and p at the UT game of course- don't you want toeat up that little face...

even though its big enough to grow into for a few years...this buzz lightyear outfit from Nana (chad's mom) stole Grey's heart!

Nana and Greyson with his first "Buzz"

this is what Santa left Greyson Christmas night!! A new Easel, and other gifts just for him! You can also see his plate he made under the gifts, Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk and put it by his presents for grey.

"to infinity and beyond"

CHRISTMAS MORNING- fyi, a very white Christmas here in KnoxVegas!! it snowed all day!

a garbage truck- so exciting...(boys are such silly creatures)

Still drawing!

Need a say more...I think "buzz" was the favorite gift this year for sure!

Playing all day in pjs

Santa is good, these glassed were in his stocking! Perfect for the park- thanks Santa

Puzzles, and crayons and laughter, and joy...may we never forget!

Still drawing... with the help of his "monster shoes"

"what's in there"? yea!! reese's pieces, his favorite!

movie review

2011-01-08T12:37:00.000-05:00

grey is into "favorites" right now. he likes to tell me and ask me what my favorite is of everything and then tell me his! this is his supposed favorite part of toy story 3!

fall family pics

2011-01-06T14:50:00.009-05:00

We had a few family pictures taken by our friend Taylor Morgan in JC. She once again did a great job, she gave us over 600 to love on, so I just choose a few of our favorites to share. We gave a few calendar's for christmas so I was waiting till they were all gifted before showing the pics on here. I promise to update with our Christmas review soon. We had 10 days off, and we took it off from everything including blogging and the web for the most part. So stay tuned, it was a sweet and joyous time! Can't wait to share.

As for now, here is our family of 3 and 1/2!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T22:50:00.004-05:00

May you and your family have a blessed Christmas together!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

LOVE- Chad, Tiffany, Greyson, Battle and Baby Sister

Jingle Bells!

2010-12-21T12:38:00.002-05:00

I can here the sleigh bells, can you??? our family will start piling in tomorrow! we are so excited!!! Merry Christmas week!!

28/29 week update

2010-12-21T10:48:00.003-05:00

I got to the dr. despite the nasty weather last Thursday. Baby Sister is growing well. measuring right at 29 weeks, with a heart rate in the 150's. Her movement is fantastic. She is so much more active than Greyson was, which is a little scary to think about what might be coming!!!! she doesn't have regular sleep and wake cycles, mostly just wake. she keeps my up 2 -3 days a week almost all night long- kicking and dancing. Greyson never ever did this. He kicked from 3-4 pm every afternoon and then again when i laid down flat at night for bed. I have gained about 4/5 more pounds, bringing me up to close to 15 pounds total. working on keeping that around 1 pound a week from here on out. I gained 26 pounds total with Greyson and i would like to gain no more than that this time around as well. But Thanksgiving and Christmas, sure don't help with the scales!!! Since I have a RH negative blood type, i once again received my Rogaine shot. Uhh, this shot burns all the way down my leg- crazy feeling, but necessary to protect our little girl. we go to the dr again next week, so i'll let you know how we are progressing then!

28 1/2 weeks along...

2010-12-15T11:07:00.009-05:00

I am scheduled to have my 29 week appt tomorrow, but more snow is in the forecast! I'll update this post with details whenever i get in there. thanks to greyson and his "good listening ears" we got a few pictures of growing (as he says "BIG") baby sister. When he takes the pics, i seem to look tall!! I think I like it!

Yes, i have new long bangs, Yes i'm not very good at styling them just yet, Yes i think they are a good change to get me through an awkward stage of growing my hair out and YES, i still drive to Nashville to get my haircut!

THE LAST pic is my 28 week pic with Greyson.... just to compare!

28 weeks along with BABY SISTER!!

28 weeks along with GREYSON!

"a tender tennessee christmas...

2010-12-13T15:54:00.017-05:00

is the only christmas for me!" it's a snow day here today! chad, greyson and I are all home together. Cookies have been made, Chili is on for dinner, and the fire hasn't stopped all day! I LOVE IT!

well, we have done a few things around the house, but mostly shopping and wrapping, and shopping and wrapping and oh yeh, traveling again!! story of our life. we have been at home more since we moved here to knoxville, but still we can't seem to say no to traveling and seeing our friends and family. BUT, we are home from now until Jan 2nd- with NO PLANS to go anywhere!! i'm ecstatic. I pretty much sent out an email and told our family as nice as possible, if you would like to see us for christmas, home is where we will be this year. they all understand our desire for Greyson to be at home for christmas and the fact that we will be just a few (8 weeks) away from meeting baby sister.

Chad's mom is coming Christmas Eve and Day, and then MeMe and Pops will be here probably coming down the chimney Christmas night, as they can't stand to be left out (and we can't stand it either)!! Chad's job is always closed and off the week between Christmas and New Years and I usually take those days off as well. This year we will be spending it with Greyson, watching Toy Story, I'm sure! And we will be getting baby sister's nursery ready. We have her bedding, her furniture (minus a rocker/glider, b/c we use Greyson's daily and don't want to take it out of his room) and that's about it. We have only 2 outfits, 1 sweet "baby sister" onsie from our dear friends Brent and Marthie, and 1 bumblebee halloween costume passed down from our neighbor...I guess there is more shopping in store!!!

Our home is coming together, our kitchen chairs arrived 5 weeks late, however our couch came 4 weeks early, so can't complain!! (pictures to come once i have some time) We have painted most of the house and thanks to our recent visit from Uncle Bryan and Aunt Candy, we have moved our "old couch, and table, plasma and guest room furniture" all upstairs to the bonus room. It makes a pretty amazing guest suite and it will probably come in handy for me to sleep in when Chad goes back to work after the baby is born.

For now here are few pics of our christmas decorations. minus the 2 nativity sets that have to play together and are abused in the playroom. poor baby jesus, if only he were a small fuzzy turtle at our house, grey might be a little more gentle.

this is how much help greyson was with the tree! he was so excited to buy it and bring it home on top of the car, and then i think he was exhausted!

our TREE! it is a little bit bigger than we thought- 10ft! so glad we could hide the back, because we ran out of ornaments, but now i have to have one like this every year, it is amazing!

our mantle plus the fire!

our tree is all red, gold and silver and we have 1 ornament a piece that is not the decorating kind, and here is grey's- a sock monkey! doesn't it look lonely, i guess i'm going to have to give in and do a "family tree" next year.

our house this morning- i only wish you could feel how cold it is, you might appreciate my effort to take this pic! brrrr! we got our wreathes from a small nursery in fairview, and mom made our bows to put on them! i only wish they were fake and i'd use them over and over!

come on in SANTA!

"it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!!"

2010-12-01T16:33:00.005-05:00

we are busy unpacking from the Anderson Thanksgiving Tour and decorating for Christmas... So i will update soon, but to hold you over, here is my favorite reindeer of all!

25 week update

2010-11-22T14:06:00.008-05:00

baby sister is growing big! our 24/25 week appt. went wonderful. the ultrasound confirmed the venous lake, but it has not shifted or grown, so they are confident that it will not interfere with the remainder of our pregnancy!! PRAISE our Lord. they measured her during the ultrasound and said that she is 1lb 6 ounces now; weighing her in at only the 37th percentile! yeah, a small baby maybe this time around??

my obgyn always laughs and says, "i just can't believe that you were a 10lb baby"! well this time, my mom was there to confirm it! And Dr. Yang said, "there is no way that this little girl will be 10lbs unless we let you go to 46-48 weeks, haha hehe"! i quickly clarified that they wouldn't dream of allowing me to go that long.

i have gained almost 10 lbs so far, and i swear it's like wearing a huge beach ball all the time. she started out higher, but now she is all ball right in the middle, actually a little lower than Greyson was. when i bend over i sometimes feel like i could tumble forward on my face. chad and i had a date weekend this past weekend, (more on that soon) and i drank a ton of water one night and he asked me, "are you okay" in response to my face and i described the way i felt ... "it's like i'm carrying around a small aquarium"! seriously that is the best analogy i have ever came up with it!!! 15 weeks to go! guess we should actually name her and start getting her nursery ready!

here a few of the ultrasound pics...amazing!!! she looks like a cuddler!

my happy little vol

2010-11-11T19:53:00.002-05:00

greyson's many faces!

2010-11-07T11:22:00.004-05:00

we went to the 1st UT exhibition game last wednesday and greyson had a blast as usual. he clapped and cheered the entire game. the best part was when he first spotted Coach Pearl- he cheered- "GO BRUCE" (how does he remember these things??) i hope you enjoy a few of his expressions from the game...

take 1

take 2

take 3

take 4

Mommy and Greyson "cheese"

Daddy and Grey

trick or TREAT!

2010-11-01T08:44:00.009-04:00

Greyson had a great time this weekend. we went to the club for an organized party on friday. He decorated pumpkins, played ring toss, did a costume parade, and so much more. grey dressed as Buzz Lightyear and he loved it. I didn't take my camera with me, but let me assure you that he was the cutest buzz, exclaiming " to infinity and beyond" all night! (did you know of his Toy Story obsession??) Saturday we went to Johnson City to have our family pics taken and then came home to carve pumpkins. we all Loved that too. Sunday we went trick or treating with some neighbors and their little kiddos. (i'm always reluctant to put other kids on our blog, since there are a lot of parents who prefer the privacy, but i did get permission to sneak 1 in.) He had a blast. Greyson was scared at the first house and then he was ready to go to every other front door. We have a medium size neighborhood, but we live on a loop, with about 25 homes, we visited about 15 of them and called it a night! He would sometimes say "trick or treat" and other times just say "candy please"! so sweet. He dressed as Woody( once again Toy Story obsession) I didnt buy costumes this year, just the pajama pack of both characters and he sleeps in them too. Brilliant, if i do say so myself. We are not proponents of the scary side of halloween, more of the fall festival kinda people, so we agreed, nothing scary in our home to decorate with or to go to. As you can tell, Battle enjoyed some of the festivities with us, but mostly just barked his head off all night at the trick or treaters!

NOTE- yes he does have on Rain boots, we aren't sure why, but he does. And yes, his bucket is a McDonald's happy meal bucket. judge me if you must!!

carving pumpkins with daddy

battle posing with his pumpkin!

Grey and Elly- she was much more impressed with the candy than Grey

this house left their candy in a bowl and left few out to encourage people to take their own. well our little OCD grey picked them up placed them back in the bowl and then knocked on the door!

pumpkin friend

checking out all his candy!

there is no place like home...almost

2010-10-26T13:48:00.027-04:00

i had a couple of friends who live long distance ask about how the new house is coming along, so i thought i would bore the rest of you with an update too. if you know me at all, you know I obsess about decorating... it is an issue. i loose sleep sometimes, putting ideas together, lately it has been my canvas photo collage wall- i even went so far as to put painters tape marking the sizes of the canvases up to find which wall would work best. oh, and i have been on the hunt for 2 rugs, i know exactly what i want, but somehow they are impossible to find. where do people buy rugs??? i have looked everywhere. anywho this picture should say it all- we tried a "few" samples...

and finally through the help of benjamin moore who started customizing our color we got it!! it's Restoration Hardware's "silver sage"

http://restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod1048015&navAction=jump&navCount=0&searchId=1288115706206

The walls were yellow, just like our honey floors before and now they are a perfect shade of GREYgreen! we had all the rooms painted everywhere on the first floor with the exception of the kids rooms, 1/2 bath and kitchen this silver sage.

The kitchen is 2 shades darker, a special color our local benjamin moore entitled- "grey haze" for us. haha Here are the rest of our colors, correlating to the number/name on the swatch, AF20-mascarpone (our trim color down the road), AF665-angelica (master bath), cinnamon slate (our master bedroom), stone brown (our dining room), and then horizon gray is the color we started with for the base of the home.

We have made a few furniture purchases since we have been here, our dining table and chairs.(i know it looks bare, no rug, no pics) You can actually see the greygreen walls pretty well in the hallway here.

our master bed, (this is our delicious eggplant color that is being tested on the walls right now. hopefully chad will start loving it soon, so we can finish it up!)

battle a new bed, (happy 8th birthday battle)

a new couch and pillows (which won't be here until christmas), and our kitchen chairs and pillows (which should be here anyday)! oh and how could i forget the best deal of them all, baby sister's crib and changing table. Please excuse the pic, i took it in our garage. we purchased this new potterybarn kids kendall crib set and changing table, and mattress from a neighbor that had it listed on craigslist!! i got it all for $300 dollars!!! we were planning on giving her grey's but he is doing so well in his toddler bed conversation, we decided to leave him in it for a bit longer and then move him to our queen guest room bed instead of a twin maybe in another year or 2.

speaking of baby sister, check out her bedding! we haven't bought it just yet. it's dwell studio, called paper dolls!! i'm hoping to include some special items that i had in my room growing up, along with some antique pics of all the special women that will be in her life! i'll keep you updated with the nursery purchases, it is so fun to shop for chandeliers!!

greyson's playroom is a disaster, however we did just recently put up his board with all his artwork. he missed it so much since we moved and i didn't even realize it.

i never thought i would say that i want "wallpaper in my house" however, i DO! i am hoping to wallpaper our powder room in something fun, and i picked this out. chad once again is not so into it. i think this pic is pretty awful, just imagine it in a small room. it's ivory with charcoal dog breed silhouettes. i might have to pull out some selling skills on him!

and keeping it honest, i was adamant on not having our living room be "useable". i wanted to use the bonus room for the family and the living room for guests and adults and NO TV....well take a look, it just isn't functional to not "live" in the living room. chad is in the middle of hiding the wires and helping me transform this....to something more like the pic below- so that it blends in to the shelves a little better. filling those shelves is another one of my obsessions, i can see it all, just need to go to an antique store and get some goodies. (hoping to put some antique camera equipment, mixed with new pics, and favorite memories like little ivory turtle figurines)

and finally, my favorite and only accessory right now, my fall cinderella pumpkins.they are so classic and also greygreen!!

so as you can tell, we have a long way to go, however we are slowly making our house a home! we are hoping to stay here for 15+ years, so first and foremost we will fill it with little kiddo footsteps and lots of joyful memories! !!

Baby Sister!

2010-10-19T22:09:00.006-04:00

we had our 20 week (1/2 way appt.) on Monday. baby sister is growing well. she measured at 11 ounces (MOM- almost a diet coke can!) and 19 weeks 3 days. so she is a little bit small, which i like the idea of after having a 8 1/2 lb. grey! they measured her femurs, her heart chambers, her brain, her arms and everything else. she had no cleft palette, no markers for down syndrome, and everything was operating "perfect"!

i know i haven't explained my earlier complications until now, as it was very traumatic and hard to talk about, however to understand the rest i will briefly explain. At 7 weeks i was training for my new position in knoxville... i was waiting in the hall of a dr's office to get a signature for samples when i noticed that i had blood all over me and the floor. it was very sudden and an enormous amount. my partner at the time did not know i was pregnant, but i had to share and he took me right away to the hospital. i continued to bleed and so i was seen very quickly. chad rushed down from johnson city. we all thought the worse. before chad could get there i had an ultrasound and we found 2 things, a beautiful heartbeat(meaning baby was alive) and 3 sub chronic hemorrhages.

this is the defintion: Subchorionic Hemorrhage is bleeding behind the placenta, often caused by a clot. In most cases, this clot will dissolve away (around 18 weeks gestational), resolving the problem and allowing the pregnancy to progress normally. It may take several weeks for this clot to dissolve. Treatment for a Subchorionic hemorrhage is typically bed rest. Rarely, the clot dissects between the placenta and the attachment to mother. This may lead to placental abruption.

these hemorrhages are sometimes called "bleeds" due to the fact that if they aren't absorbed they can "bleed out" as mine did. it was a bittersweet day and i had a roller coaster of emotions. moving fwd to now... thru God's Grace our little girl is thriving and doing well and we found out on Monday that all of my hemorrhages have been absorbed into the placenta! however they did find a new blood clot called a venous lake in my uterus.

this is the definition..Venous lake is a descriptive term, referring to collections of blood flow between the placenta and the inner wall of the uterus.. Venous lakes alone are unlikely to cause problems to either yourself or your baby, but your obstetrician will be monitoring the placenta throughout your pregnancy to check for any further problems.... They will be monitoring the size and location of the lake and checking to make sure it doesn't abrupt or put pressure on my uterus to open prematurely.

due to this, i will once again be monitored with ultrasounds closely. which is ok with me, more time with her thru a camera! I am a little worried, and i would appreciate prayers to keep her safe and healthy for 20 more weeks as well as relieve my anxiety and fear. greyson is getting more and more excited, and kisses my tummy and says "hi baby sister". very sweet! he also sings, "he's got the whole world in his hands, he's got grey and baby sister in his hands"! LOVE IT

here are a few pics from ultrasound

her little legs- kicking away!

profile shot at 20 weeks

head and shoulders, knees and TOES!

i HEART fall!

2010-10-17T13:57:00.006-04:00

Last saturday we adventured out to Oakes Farm and played so hard! They have a pumpkin patch, blow up jumpy area, tractor tire climb, kiddie maze, peddle cart track, slides, 6 mile long corn mazes, trails of doom, and did i mention the corndogs! YUMMY it was a blast, and probably a new family tradition. greyson loved the hayrides best. anytime he sees a tractor he yells "paw paw"! ( as paw paw and carla have a farm with lots of goodies to play with) it started out around 75 degrees and it was down to 50 when we left. burrr, but not too cold for ice cream on the way home. Grey's quote of the day "yummy, yummy ice cream tummy"!

chad and grey coming down the tunnel slide!

he could play in the sand for hours!

our happy pumpkin

greyson on the hayride

being silly with mama

kisses

chad and grey in the 2 mile corn maze. it was so dark by the time we found our way out.

sunny bebop

2010-10-12T16:18:00.005-04:00

1/2 way there!

almost half way there!! baby girl is growing well and getting big! as i am too. yuck! anywho.... we go to our 20 week ultrasound on monday and i am so excited to see her again. this is the longest i have had to wait for an ultrasound due to the complications and constant checkups.

we are confident in 1/2 of her name. still working on the other 1/2. however we have decided to keep it a secret between me, chad and greyson. have you ever shared a secret with a 2 year old? hum...not so easy. anytime he hears "baby sister" he says it "......" . AHH

chad had the idea to randomly open up a name book and whatever his finger pointed to, we could name her...( i didn't agree to this method, however went along for fun) and what do you know of all the names he pointed to "sunny bebop"! we cracked up and have been calling her that for a few days. can you believe that is someone's name out there?

here are my most recent baby bump pics. can you tell i am carrying her high. it's crazy, how different this pregnancy is. praying for a good report on monday, of a healthy baby girl.

uncle brIan

2010-10-10T12:12:00.003-04:00

since there are 2 uncle bryans (one with an i and one with a y) we typically refer to my brother as uncle "b", and chad's brother as uncle brian. grey doesn't get to spend a lot of time with uncle brian, but when he does, he really eats him up! what a fun uncle he is! last weekend he came to paw paw and carla's farm to play with us. here are a few pics from the day.

Snip it!

2010-10-07T08:46:00.006-04:00

Grey had his 1st ever real haircut this weekend. I have been shaping up the ears and back for a year now, but decided that i needed some professional help! I'm actually really glad we waited this long because he was excited to get it cut and was perfect for 15- 20 mins in the chair. Of course you can see there were a few distractions... we went to a kids salon called "snip its". Chad and I wanted to stay and get ours cut too! He even got to take his snip its of hair and put it in a machine and then a rubber ducky popped out. (can you see why we wanted to do it too. ha)

BEFORE

how fun is this place!

AFTER!!! such a big boy

The "trimmers" were tickely!

it's going to be a PINK nursery!!

2010-09-22T20:45:00.006-04:00

that's right, it's a GIRL!!!!!

we went to the dr. and we were thrilled to find out that Greyson is going to have a little sister! since we have had biweekly ultrasounds, the sonographer has became a friend and she was rooting for us today! she is fantastic and printed a ton of pics, but i'll just share our favorites. chad and I went alone to the ultrasound, and told Grey at a celebration dinner. he has been saying that he was going to have a little sister the whole time, and i was secretly hoping he was right. although chad claims he didn't have a preference either way as long as the baby is healthy, i think he can't wait to buy tutus and bows in orange!

our conversation with grey today went a little like this:

chad- "grey, mommy and daddy went to the dr. and got to see the baby in mommy's belly today!"

grey - "hmm?" (with thumb in mouth and slight smile)

me- "would you like to see the baby's pictures?"

grey- "yes please"

me- (holding out the 2 dozen pics and starting from the top) "what do you see?"

grey- "baby!"

me- "that's right? who does the baby look like buddy?"

grey- "daddy"

chad- "looks like daddy? it's a girl grey!"

grey- "girl!"

me- "you are going to have a baby sister, are you excited?"

grey- "yep"

chad- "what do you want to name her?"

grey - (the standard response for 3 months now) "basketball? tennis ball? baseball?"

me- "probably not, but good ideas"

grey- "what's that?" (pointing to the non profile pic, a.k.a. potty picture)

me- (without thinking and laughing) "that's a vagina"

grey- (while pointing to every pic individually) "gina, gina, look gina, gina, gina!"

me and chad- laugh

chad -"good one babe"

grey- laughing with us

CLASSIC!!

tailgate friend

2010-09-15T17:09:00.003-04:00

we had a new visitor to our tailgate this weekend....can you see them?? i'm sure you can, i feel HUGE!! i'm so proud of my little vol in the oven, they were very excited about the pre-game tailgate food and the band music! looks like they are going to fit right in! we find out next week if baby will be wearing cleats or pom poms! Go VOLS!

my "little star"

2010-09-08T17:33:00.002-04:00

splash!

2010-09-04T08:19:00.009-04:00

The neighborhood pool has been a hit, what do you think?? He absolutely LOVES water, but we have to be mindful with his tubes in his ears and because he lacks no fear and just jumps in without us watching sometimes, scarey! Other than a few time outs and talks, this was our evening at the pool last Sunday.

"daddy.. Grey jump high"

"again daddy"

I love this picture, so sweet! They are big buddies

This is Greyson's Michael Phelps pose, i took 30 pics, and about 16 were just like this! He would swing his arms back and then jump, hilarious!

"mommy daddy Grey happy"

Then on Monday night i went outside to turn on an extra set of sprinklers and look who followed me! He went behind the rose bushes (5ft tall fyi) and found the spicket then turned the water "up high, or little water" for about an hour! How does he know all this stuff???

We love summertime, but I love FALL even more because it means 1 thing - TENNESSEE FOOTBALL! Today while Chad is away on his guys football trip week, I'm taking Grey to UT's first game of the season. He is SOOO excited, I can't wait to share, although i can't guarantee alot of pics, since i only have 2 hands! Wish me and the VOLS good luck!

COMING SOON

2010-08-26T21:15:00.004-04:00

Baby Anderson 2!!!

We are so excited to announce that God is blessing us with another baby! We are a little over 12 weeks pregnant and thrilled to FINALLY be able to share the news. We found out on Chad's birthday- and Grey told him via his "big brother" tshirt. So fun! My due date is March 7th. Greyson will be 2 years and 7 months older- just what we were hoping for! We have had some early complications(that I will share another day) however we got confirmation today at our ultrasound that Baby is great, and healthy!! Praise God.

We have had ultrasounds biweekly for 6 weeks now and baby has consecutively had a fast steady heartbeat around 170-175. As for myself, I have had an entirely different experience this go around- i've been disgustingly sick at times, crazy worried and beyond tired. We made our commitment to move and then found out we were pregnant about 10 days later... can you say a lot going on??? Hats off to Chad and my family who stepped up and took over when i was down. I did nothing- really nothing, Chad pretty much did it ALL! Including packing, getting movers, boxes, organizing, unpacking, and actually shopping and picking our house. Thank you to my baby daddy! What a great husband and daddy he is. I'm so blessed and I'm thrilled to share our life with another little one!

This is baby's face- a little scary looking but amazing at the same time!

we blinked our eyes...

2010-08-23T13:59:00.012-04:00

and then he was 2! i can't believe it, i don't think i like it, but i gotta deal with the fact that Greyson is growing up!! he is an amazing son and God has beyond blessed us with a happy, hilarious, smart, eager and loving little man. we just went to his 2 year well visit last friday and here are his current stats:

weighs in at 27 lbs (50% percentile),

measures 36 1/2 inches tall (75% percentile),

still has a little head!! (20th percentile)

he is into everything, and honestly enjoys everything we do together but some of his favorite things are Thomas the train and his train table, anything Elmo, UT sports, playing golf and riding his golf cart, eating..., the park- walking, swinging, playground, his doggie "dattle", skyping with meme and pops, boats, the lake, the pool, the zoo, pawpaw and carla's farm and riding their gator, his water table, the sprinkler, reading books, kicking and throwing ANY and all types of balls, singing and dancing, and he still loves sucking that thumb!!

greyson absolutely loves food-(just like his mommy) his favorites are pretzels, chicken, bread, mandarin oranges, bananas, yogurt, whole grain eggos, any type of noodles, tacos, ice cream, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, cheese, blueberries, and anything to dip food into, salsa, ranch, ketchup and A1. He only drinks milk and water, and maybe once a week grape, orange or apple juice. And in the video above you probably saw that he has recently discovered that he likes "elmo cake"!

Skip over this paragraph if you are sensitive to boasting, because after i reread it, it sounds like I'm a crazy mom. Grey loves to sing his ABC's, ALL OF THEM! It's pretty cute and we had no idea he could until like 6 weeks ago and we were in the car and he said "mommy daddy, ABC song a, b, c .... z next time sing with me! hooray!" We were like, what? how do you know that? Shortly before that he started counting all his toes, animals, and pictures on books 1,2,3... It's like he is a little sponge. he can count to 15 now!! he can read (aka, memorized) a couple of his dr. Seuss books. he is pottying with his potty me elmo right on schedule and is still so proud of himself! he sings "twinkle twinkle", "little bunny foo foo", "monkey's jumping on the bed", "rocky top", "silent night" and "itsy bitsy spider". I'm sure there are many more, but those are the favorites these days. Grey is seriously a pretty good little kicker.. i laughed the other day at work, i was having lunch with a physician who is the coach for his 10 yr son's old football team. he was telling me that, not a single kid on the team could catch a football, drop it in the air and kick it across the field. i said, "well i've got someone in mind, but he might be a little small". we shall see, i'm thinking maybe start with soccer or something non contact! haha

On grey's actually birthday, he awoke to his favorite muffin breakfast and walked into the playroom filled with a Train Table! (that was put together by meme, pops, chad and myself the night before. now i know what to get pops, he played with it all night!) Greyson LOVES it and spent the morning with pops and meme while chad and I went to work. I came home early and spent the afternoon with him! We had ELMO cake and opened presents after dinner. It was a precious day. Then on Saturday Grey woke up and found 5 more visitors (uncle Bryan, Aunt Candy, Tori, Jordan and Devan) who came down to surprise him for the weekend. To say the least, he was worn out on Sunday and took almost a 4 hour nap when everyone left. Here are some pictures from his BIG Birthday Weekend.

Grey his Birthday Morning- first peek at the Train Table

sooo happy!

at the end of the day- Thomas is still "choo chooing"

Grey's "tennsee bicycle helmet" that he will probably wear to football games!

WHOOA- "Elmo Cake"

blew them out all by himself!

it's Yummy too!

real Yummy!

dad and grey outside Neyland Stadium, getting ready!

all the kiddos out to dinner for Grey's bday on Saturday

So BIG! "cheese"

Thanks for all of your prayers and support this year! What a good one it has been.

Happy 2nd Birthday to our little man!

2010-08-13T18:14:00.000-04:00

on the MOVE...

2010-07-21T12:44:00.011-04:00

sorry for the delay in posts... but we have been busy!

We have been praying for God to provide us with the right path for our family and we believe that leaving Johnson City and moving closer to everyone is where he wants us. We are officially moving to Knoxville on August 7th. YEA!!! This has been a very easy process for us, Chad's job offered up the idea back in December, and then a dear colleague of mine married and transferred out of my district in June, thus allowing a lateral transfer for my job with Pfizer. It all happened very quickly, but if you know me at all you know i have chewed and analyzed on this for way too long!

We put Grey on waiting lists for child development centers around the beginning of the year "just in case" we had the opportunity to move. Since our decision to take the plunge, God has been so faithful and provided us with the choice of our top 2 schools!!! We have prioritized several factors- 1. Christian environment/education, 2. Inside gym and outside play area, 3. A place for his baby brother or sister to go to down the road, 4. A curriculum with a schedule!! That being said, God has chosen Bearden United Methodist Early Enrichment Program(beep beep for short) for us!!! I'm so sad to leave Sonshine here in Johnson City. Greyson's best buds have moved up into each classroom with him and he treasures their friendships, however I know that children are in fact resilient and he will grow from this experience. (we would rather move now than when he gets older) I'm also pretty pumped that he will get to learn baby yoga, go to chapel and proudly announce the pledge of alligance daily! (a few new things compared to Sonshine) What a big boy!

Thanks to craiglists, we have leased out our townhome (in less than 9 hrs by the way) here in Johnson City to a wonderful couple who are in medical school. They are looking for a 3 year place, so hopefully this will be perfect timing for us to retry and sell it in a better market! We have also already bought a NEW home in Knoxville. (I TOLD YOU WE HAVE BEEN BUSY) Once again God provided an amazing home in Farragut, with the best school systems and 1 minute drive to the beautiful Lake Louden. We are truely "on the move". I start in my new territory August 1st, we close on our new home August 6th, moving trucks come August 7th, leasers move into our townhome on August 15th, and Grey starts "beep beep" August 16th. Oh and we do have a 2nd birthday in the middle of that!! We are very blessed and very overwhelmed. Please pray for a smooth transition and a Happy Beginning for our family. In the meantime here are a few pics of our new home.

P.S. I am working on our NEW blog, whenever i get some time I will let you guys know all about it!

the living room

view from foyer of dining(chocolate brown!)and living room

the Master Bedroom

the Master Bath- we LOVE the floors!

the kitchen

the HUGE bonus room- ready for full court playtime!

time with Tori TOT

2010-06-30T09:42:00.011-04:00

my niece Tori a.k.a. Tater Tot, came down for a short visit. she is 8 years old and all girl! Greyson absolutely adores her and i'm pretty sure she feels the same for him. she is the youngest in her household, so it was fun to watch her take on the "big sister" role. she was polite, respectful, and very helpful, not to mention fun. she and i had a karoke competition to michael jackson songs, and if you know me at all...this was one game i wasn't going to let anyone win. haha we even had a girls trip to the spa for mani/pedis! good times.

she really, really, really, really likes to sing songs that she likes and see if i can guess them. it was a fun game, however i think i might change her name to "jukebox" after a few days of that! here are a few pics from our visit!

Tot at the pool- we scored her jumps and Chad welcomed the cannon ball competition! I was awarding 2 winners with every jump...one for "style" and one for "technique"! haha

Grey and Tot sharing a smoothie

FYI- "cutcakes" are messier with 2

bathtime in the "big bath" with Tot!

Girls Trip to the spa

Tori got orange fingernails and white toenails with flowers on them. haha. I stuck with boring plum

thanks Tot for filling our house with giggles... what a great niece and cousin you are

tiny turtle song

2010-06-12T19:09:00.001-04:00

is there really anything better than turtles or singing about them?

MeMe

2010-06-04T20:35:00.002-04:00

sorry for the delay in posts (they will come).... there have been fish to see, horses to watch race, bikes to cheer for, boat rides, cornhole tournaments, popsicles, new lawnmowmow toys, and many many other things to keep us way too busy.

but most importantly we have been on our knees this week praying for grammy aka "MeMe".

she had some complications to a routine procedure on tuesday and through the grace of God, she is doing great now. please keep her and pops in your prayers. even though they are far away in distance they are both so very close to our hearts. We love you very much-

splish splash

2010-05-20T08:31:00.008-04:00

i have to say, greyson has never been a cuddler, never been a hugger, never really wanted to be held or touched. not sure why, but i think it all started with the dreaded colic. because of this, i have always felt like maybe he didn't really love me or bond with me the way other parents children do (that's a whole other post). well, ever since the water table purchase, haha...he has hugged me about 20 times a day and kissed and loved on me. you can say, it's my favorite thing in the world! I know it didn't have anything to do with the water table, i was just joking. I'm not sure if it is development, or desire, I actually don't really care. I'm just going to eat it up while I can!

"bird's eye view"

1 hour and 20 mins later!

battle thought it was his water bowl, i didn' t let him do this since Greyson tried to bend down and drink out of it the same way. "YUCK"

serious engineering here...