Playing catch up

Ok, I am so bad at blogging it's not even funny. I feel like a horrible mother since I never post about my wonderful children. Lot's has happened for us over the last year. We moved back to MS in OCT of 2010. I have decided to go back to school full time and Micah is still trying to decide what he is going to do...haha I was originally going to school for Radiology but have just recently decided to change my major and go into Physical Therapy. I'm actually really excited about it. I just finished my first semester back in school after 9years and ended up with 3 A's and 1 B, which landed me on the Dean's List....yay me!!!! The kids are loving being here in MS and getting to see their cousins all the time. Gareth has a really hard time saying goodbye when he gets to play with them. He always cries and begs to go home with them. It's actually a little heartbreaking to see how hard it hits him. Kahlan is full of personality and is constantly making us laugh. She is going to give us a run for a money the older she gets. She loves to pick on Gareth and to mess with him. I have a feeling that when she gets older and is big enough that she might just kick his butt. Gareth goes for pre-k evaluation on Thursday, we are keeping our fingers crossed that he gets in. If he does then he will start in August and will be in school Mon-Fri from 8-2. Well, this is my attempt at jumping back into blogging, hopefully I will do better and can write about all the funny stuff that my kids do on a daily basis to keep you all entertained...haha

Checking In

Ok, so everyone knows i'm totally horrible at this blogging. You would think I would have so much to write about with a 2 year old and a 3 month old. So, let me give some updates. Gareth has been doing really well with his potty training up until this last week. He is trying to regress a little, he will pee his undies and then come to me with a big grin on his face and say "Potty." He's totally just doing it for the attention, so a friend gave me the idea that everytime he has an accident to strip him down and stick him in the shower with ice cold water and explain that we have to get him clean since he had an accident. He hates showers anyways and when it's freezing cold he hates it even more, he cries and shakes and says "Cold." It totally breaks my heart to be so mean but i've got to get it through to him that peeing in his pants is not a game. Other than that he is doing really well, he is starting to try my patience a lot more than he use to but that's a typical 2 year old. He's loving being a big brother and constantly wants to help with her in some way. He always wants to give her her binkie, and gets mad when i do it. Micah finally got his app in for the FD, we are just waiting on his letter inviting him to test. He is doing really well in his class and is basically the teacher's pet, it's totally cute. He's decided he's probably going to take 2 or 3 more classes next semester and is planning on having his Firefighter I by the end of next year, that way if he doesn't get on with City this time, he can get on the reserves here in Boulder once he gets his FF I and then they just move him up to full time employment when someone transfers out or an opening comes available.

Kahlan is getting big and doing really well. At her 2 month check up she was 12lbs 2 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. She is a little chunker....It's so stinking cute. Our pediatrician said since she was nursing so well that she will probably wait til she is 6 mos old to start her on solid foods, which is fine by me. She is such a great little baby, she smiles ALL the time, especially when she sees or hears her Daddy. She is a total Daddy's girl. She sleeps pretty good too, she normally goes down about 8:30 and sleeps til 5:30 or 6:30, goes right back to sleep for another hour or two after that. She's recently discovered her hands a feet more and is constantly attacking her hands. We are so blessed to have two wonderful, healthy children. We are hoping to get back to MS around Christmas time so everyone can see Kahlan, plus i'm just dying to go home and see my family.

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. We were afraid Gareth wasn't going to wear his costume and that he was going to be to scared to even trick or treat. He is going through this scared phase, everything is "pooky" (spooky). He was terrified of halloween sections in stores and scared to death of halloween stores in general. He would scream and cry "Scawy Scawy, Help ME, Help ME, " but he did great on Halloween. He loved his costume and we were hardly able to get him to take it off and he was bouncing from house to house. He loved being a Dino. He loves Dinosaurs and that is pretty much all that consumes him and his days. It's way cute. Kahlan was a Ghost for Halloween and i think she was the cutest ghost i've ever seen. Next week is the annual Aviation Nation Air Show at Nellis Air Force Base and we CANT WAIT!!!

Welcome Kahlan Gael

WEll it has been two weeks so i figure it's about time that i announce the arrival of Kahlan Gael Andersen.  I was scheduled to have an amnio the morning of the 10th and scheduled to be induced on the evening of the 10th.  I guess Kahlan had a different plan in mind, a lot like her brother.  I was scheduled to be induced on my due date with Gareth and went into labor 2 days before which is exactly what happened with Kahlan.  I started having contractions on Saturday morning around 10:30 and they stayed consistantly 5 min apart, at around 1 I called my dr and he told me to wait another hour and call him back.  Well, after an hour they were 2 min apart but they weren't progressing in strength so I called my dr and he told me to get my butt to the hospital...haha his exact words....love my OB he's the best.  So, we started getting ready, Micah took Gareth to the Jorgensen's and came back and picked Mom and I up and off we went.  We got to the hospital at about 3:30 or 4 (can't rem exactly).  They put me in a room and started me on fluids b/c I was having "irritation" between my contractions and they wanted to knock that out so they could see my actual contractions and how often they were coming.  After receiving 2 bags of fluids the nurse came in and said that the dr wanted her to give me phenagrin  and morphine.  Apparently if you are in labor morphine will push you deeper into labor and if it's false labor it will actually stop your labor so this was the best way to determine for sure if i was in actual labor.  BRING ON THE MORPHINE, i slept for about an hour and half to two hours, they gave me the morphine at 7 and when i woke up i was still contracting and the nurse announced that we would be staying and we were for sure going to be welcoming our little girl soon.  She checked me around this time and i was dilated at a 4-4 1/2, but they didn't want to break my water b/c Kahlan wasn't dropping low enough and due to my high fluid they were afraid if they broke my water to soon that she would drop to fast and the umbilical cord would get wrapped around her head.  So, we all just went to sleep and waited..haha  They woke me up around 3 and checked me again, i was almost a 5 so they went ahead and broke the flood gates...haha and called the anesthesiologist for my epidural.  The anesthesiologist got there around 4 and and gave me my epidural which was great but i really wasn't feeling to much anyways thanks to the morphine.  My dr called around 5 and was wondering why i hadn't delivered yet, he was a little ticked that they had waited so long to break my water but oh well...haha he had them go ahead and start me on potosin.  After that i started to progress really fast, i was dilated about a centimeter an hour or a little more.  They called my dr at 8:30 since i was dilated to an 8, and he got there a little before 9.  I was dilated at a 9 when he got there and we started pushing.  He had them turn off my epidural when he got there but i still wasn't feeling anything and the morphine was still holding strong and i was chilled as can be.  I pushed for 30 min and at 9:27 am we welcomed Kahlan Gael weighing 7lbs 1 oz and 19 1/2 in long.  It was the best labor experience ever.  She was born right at 37 weeks and was as healthy as can be.  She has been the best little baby.  She will be 2 weeks old tomorrow.  She has been jaundice since we brought her home but it started clearing up and going away around Wednesday.  She is awake for about 4-6 hours a day and sleeps and eats really well.  She has been such a blessing to our little family.  Gareth struggled with having her here for the first few days but on day 6 he held her for the first time and ever since he has been loving the role of big brother and is wanting to hug and kiss her all the time.  We were afraid Gareth would revert on on his potty training when we got her home but he picked up right where we left off and he is doing great.  He still wears a pull up during naptime and at night but he stays dry all day.  My heart is so full and I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and to have these 2 amazing children.  I am recovering well and we are loving life.  

Dr appt

I had my weekly dr appt yesterday.  Everything still looks good, i'm still dilated at a 1 and 60%efaced.  He did decide that because my fluid level remains high and the increasing problems i'm having breathing and the pressure in my shoulders that if she doesn't come on her own in the next week and a half he is going to schedule an amnio for the morning of the 10th and will prob induce that afternoon if her lungs are mature enough.  I go for our growth assessment tomorrow so we will have a good idea of how big she is.  So, no matter what i know we will have her here in less than 2 weeks!!!  

So, we have been working on potty training for almost a week now.  Gareth is doing so well, he hasn't had an accident in 3 days, i'm thinking it may take another full week for him to be completely trained.  I was hoping to have him trained by the end of this week but i'm thinking it may take a little longer...we'll see.  He's still not asking and wanting to go, i'm still having to say "Ok, let's go sit on the potty."  He is getting increasingly excited for his new baby sister.  I think it is finally starting to sink in that mom is having a baby and that he is gonna be a big brother.  He goes with us to my fetal assessment appointments and he gets so excited.  As soon as we get into the room and he sees the monitor he starts smiling and saying "Baby Kahlan" before they even get me hooked up.  He is such a good boy, he sits there the whole time and just loves to watch her.  The days that we get pictures from our ultrasounds he has his hand outstretched for baby kahlan and he keeps the pictures with him until we get home.  It's so cute.  Gareth is soooo big.  Everywhere we go, people comment on how tall he is and are so shocked to learn that he is only 2.  He's as tall as a lot of friends with 3 and 4 yr olds.  He towers over the 3 yr olds and is about the same size as the 4 yr olds, it's crazy!!!  He's suppose to be my little boy but he is sooooo big.  He is full of sooooo much personality and is making us laugh all the time.  He has this new thing where he will tell you he wants something for example he loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and last night he wanted to watch it and asked his Daddy for Mickey but then continued to have his own conversation with himself and this is how it went  "Mickey, mickey, what do you say.....please.....ok ok.....now what do u say......Ank you (thank you).....ok ok.....you welcome."  We were laughing because he kept saying this over and over, he probably had that same conversation with himself like 4 times.  This is our normal routine, when he ask for something i always ask him "what do you say" and he will say "please" and once i give it to him i say "Now what do you say" and he will say "Thank You" and i'll say "your welcome" and he says "you welcome."  We are also working on "Yes sir, No sir, Yes Mamam and No Mamam."  I am bound and determined for my kids to show respect b/c most dont out here.  It's so different from growing up in MS.  PLus, it makes you feel good when you are out places and someone gives him something and he always says "Thank you" and people are always commenting on how polite he is.  

Preg update

I'm sure most of you know about my issues the last few weeks but for those who dont i thought i would blog about it.  I went in for my regular scheduled ultrasound earlier in the month and when they measured my amniotic fluid it measured 24.5, which is considered to be high.  So, they started scheduling me twice a week for NST ultrasounds and stress test to monitor Kahlan and to check my fluid.  The next week when we went back my fluid had jumped to 27.2 cm, but then went back down 2 days later to 25cm.  The issues with high amniotic fluid is it can cause your body to think you are further along than you actually are and can cause pre-term labor which i experienced last Wednesday at 33 1/2 wks.  They gave me two bags a fluid thinking that i was possibly dehydrated and that was what was causing me to go into labor but the fluids didn't stop the contractions so they had to give me shots to stop them.  3 shots later and 3 hours later they finally stoppped, but not before they gave me steroid shots to help mature her lungs.  I was sent home on bedrest and then the next night (Thursday) i started contracting again and had to go back to the hospital for another 3 shots to stop my contractions.  My Mom flew out on Friday to help since i was put on bedrest and Micah works weekends.  I saw my dr yesterday and i'm still dilated at a 1 and about 60% efaced but he said if i go into labor after Saturday (I will be 35 wks) that he wont stop me and I can get off bedrest...yay!!!  If she hasn't made her appearance by 37wks they will probably do an amnio and if her lungs are mature enough, he will induce me.  

So much for potty training.  I was hoping to really push it this week and try to have Gareth potty trained by the time Micah got back from his trip on Friday but alas he will not cooperate.  Every morning i get up and change him and say "let's put on big boy underwear and you can go potty on the big boy potty."  And what does he do???  He whines and says "No, no, no, diaper" and will go and get a pull up.  He refuses to wear his big boy underwear.  He had actually been showing more interest this last week so i though we'd have some luck this week but i guess not.

7 months preggo!!!

Woohoo, i can't believe how fast this pregnancy has seemed to go.  She is growing and making it harder and harder for me to breath, ugh!!  I never had that with Gareth, alot of the time i have to yawn in order to get a deep breath.  We've had so many ultrasounds this pregnancy and we have one more next month.  Our latest was our 2nd 4D and Micah was able to be there for this one.  She looks just like her daddy!!!  She is soooo precious and i just can't wait for her to get here.  I've had sciatica problems pretty much the whole pregnancy but i increased my workout routine about a month ago and since doing that I have been pain free.  It has been such a blessing.  Working out is giving me so much energy and i feel 1000 times better, plus i know she is enjoying it b/c she is moving more.  She is a pretty quiet and laid back baby.  Gareth was so busy when he was in my belly, he use to do barrel rolls across my tummy and kicked ALL the time.  She is much more subtle and really only gets active in there about 4 times a day.  Gareth is going to be such a great big brother!!!  He loves little babies and he's always kissing my stomach and saying "Baby Sissy" or "Kahman"...haha I love how he says Kahlan, it is so cute.  He is growing and changing so much everyday.  He is sooooo smart.  I know as a Mom i'm suppose to think that but people are constantly telling us how smart he is for his age.  When he turned 2 he already knew the whole alphabet including recognizing each letter and could count to 20.  Now he does all of that, knows all his colors, all his shapes, can count backwards from 10, can count by 10 up to a hundred (we are working on counting backwards from 100) and knows the sounds that each letter makes.  He is always thinking.  It's so amazing, he totally thinks outside of the box, if you give him a chip, he refers to it by it's shape, when we walk down the grocery store isles he is constantly picking out numbers and letters in places you'd never think to look.  I love that he is so eager to learn, I hope Kahlan is the same way.  He is still a big love bug.  He loves giving hugs and kisses and wants to give them to you ALL the time.  It's the greatest feeling when you leave, even if it's just to go to the gym for an hour, and you come home and he just runs and gives you the biggest hug and kiss.  I love it!!!

Micah is gone all this week on high adventure with the YM.  This is his first time going and i know he is going to have a blast.  They are staying at a members cabin in Beaver, UT and hiking 4 miles one night to do a big camp-out by a lake.  Im sure he will have lots to tell when he gets back.  Gareth and I are missing him so much already, he's only been gone a few hours but this is the first time he's ever left us and it isn't easy.  He finished his EMT-I on May 8th and he passed his written exam the first time he took it which is pretty rare.  Most people have to take it twice.  We are so proud of him and his diligence and hard work.  He is now looking for part time work to get some experience and will start a fire science class at CSN in September.  He is working so hard and doing everything he can to prepare for the FD and I am extremely proud of him.  I am married to the most amazing man!!!!  I will forever be grateful for all that he has sacrificed and had to go through in order to provide for our family.  I thank my Heavenly Father for him everyday.  

Well, that about sums up all that is going on for us.  I'm trying to be better about posting but i'm just not...haha