Grumpy's horse

Can you believe it? Two posts in two days! I must not have enough to do! We spent a ton of time this past weekend cleaning up the clutter that has accumulated in the spare bedroom . . . since Gennie moved to her big girl room . . . to get ready to add new baby stuff. We had kinda been just sticking random stuff in there that didn't have a home otherwise . . . and most of it got thrown out in the dump run . . . must not have been that important to save after all. Gennie has always been terrified of the rocking horse that Kevin's Grumpy made . . . so it's been sitting in there out of sight . . . but she was thrilled to see it this time so we got it out and showed her how to climb on. She still doesn't like getting off of it . . . her friend Avah has a new plastic one and Gennie fell off of it getting down a few weeks ago . . . ended up with a huge purple bruise on her butt cheek . . . but she can climb on all by herself now, after much practice.

We took these pix to send to Grumpy to show him another generation of Anderson kids having fun with it. All Gennie needs now is the hat and chaps and boots . . . as if her daddy would actually let anything remotely cowboy into the house. :) I couldn't believe it when I married him . . . he actually had Garth Brooks cd's in his car . . . but he swears he hasn't listened to them since high school.

21 weeks

So I'm at 21 weeks now. Sorry for the possessed look in my eyes . . . I didn't think he was really going to take it right then . . . but he did. I decided that I'd better put at least one picture on here of me, besides that horrible one from my birthday. I have been in no mood to have my pix taken lately because I'm down to just a few outfits I can still wear and am tired of wearing the same thing again and again . . . but I guess that's what happens to us all when we're preggo. Since there's not many stores around here . . . and hardly any that sell maternity anything . . . I ordered some pants online but they take FOREVER to get here. I guess that's what we gave up when we moved out here to the Wilderness. Oh, for a Target . . .

We have decided on a name for the little munchkin. Josiah Michael Anderson. Kevin got to pick it out this time . . . of course, I had input, too . . . and this is the one we loved the best. And the kids' names go well together . . . Genesis and Josiah. Sounds good. Funny thing, tho . . . Josiah means "God will heal." We're hoping this is not a peek into the future for this kid. I envision broken bones and myself a nervous wreck everytime he leaves the house . . .

We woke up to no hot water this morning. There is a fatty boy storm system moving thru here this week and the winds yesterday were sooooo bad . . .blew out the pilot light on the water heater. Haven't had that happen before. The maintenance guy came and said it was just a fluke thing . . . seems to happen when the wind is from the south . . . and there were others in the park that he had to go relight this morning. Where in the world do we live . . . ? In the Old Testament there's the stories of the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years . . . well, between here and Evanston is truly a wilderness and we can imagine just what they were wandering thru. No people, no structures, scarce water. Oh well, Wyoming's still a great place to raise kids and that's what's important.

Gotta go do all the housework that requires hot water.

It's a . . . .

It's a BOY !!!!!! Wahoo!!! We couldn't be more pleased! The dr said there's no mistaking it. And he checked all the in-depth stuff to make sure that he doesn't have any of the genetic problems that are coursing thru our gene pool. The spine is completely intact so there's no sign of the prenatal version of Kev's HPP disease . . . if there was a problem, the baby wouldn't have a skeletal system and would be stillborn . . . and the heart was fully functioning and intact so there's no sign of congenital heart defects. When Kev told the dr about the health concerns we always have to ask about he said, "So, you're not bringing alot to the table, are you?" and Kev laughed and said, "Yeah, she didn't read all the disclaimers about me before she agreed to get married, did she?"

Gennie is thrilled to have a little brother on the way. This past week she's been thinking thru all the things she can share with the baby . . . all her old baby stuff like the bouncy seat and Exer-saucer and high chair and swing . . . and had decided that she wanted a sister instead because the sister could wear her clothes. But now that she knows it's a boy she has decided that it will be much more fun to buy new clothes for him . . . the girl can shop! We'll still use most of the other stuff . . . hey, we saved it this long in a house with NO storage areas so we better get some more use out of it.

The dr said the measurements were showing that the due date is within 2 weeks either way so he plans to leave it as Aug. 5 but with 2nd time c-sections they usually go in after them at 39 weeks so I don't actually go into labor. That brings the birth date to either July 31 or Aug 2 . . . here they only schedule c-sections for Tuesdays and Thursdays . . . I guess I shouldn't complain about the bizzare scheduling here . . . in Jan 2006 they finally passed a hospital policy that epidurals would be available 24/7 from then on instead of just between the hours of 8am and 5pm . . . if you went into labor other than those hours you were forced to have a drug-free natural birth unless it was an emergency c-section! Whatever! Anyway . . . 19 weeks to go!

I can't wait!

We were supposed to have our ultrasound done today but they called us and said they had scheduled the dr triple booked for the next 3 weeks! (someone should be fired!) Anyway, they wanted to do it on Mar 29 but I told them I couldn't wait any more so they gave us an appt with a different dr for Mar 19. I don't think I can wait over the weekend . . . I mean, I know I have to but it's been eating at me for 5 months now and I desperately want to know what this little munchkin is. We didn't find out with Gennie and that was unbearable . . . I have no idea how we did that. And it really doesn't matter to us who the dr is that does the ultrasound . . . we are seeing a midwife/np for everything but the actual c-section . . . so it doesn't really matter who we get. By the time I'm ready to deliver I'll be happy to see anyone with a scalpel and a spinal block needle.

Whether it's a boy or girl, we've decided to do the decor in Noah's ark animals. I found this fleece fabric at WallyWorld and couldn't pass it up. It's supposed to be jungle animals but it's just so cute! I had seen it months ago before we got pregnant and loved it then . . . but once we found out about this little one I went back and the fleece was gone . . . thank you, Walmart . . . then when it was finally there again I bought a huge piece. I made this blanket (in the picture) and two receiving-blanket-sized ones out of it. I put the edging on the big piece and of course ran out so I had to get more. Gennie has been so excited about this baby . . . everyday she comes up with something else that she wants to "share" with the baby. Yesterday she was wanting to give it her old sandals that don't fit anymore. I told her that if it's a boy it will have to get boy sandals when it's big enough. A little later she came up to me and said she wanted a sister. I asked why and she said, "Because boys can't wear my fun sandals!"

Spring???

Well, we don't want to get our hopes up but it almost feels like spring here today. Gennie and I went outside for a while to play with sidewalk chalk. She has been asking for it since right after Christmas but the snow has finally melted off and the sun actually works . . . well, kind of.

She can draw people figures now . . . at least they are recognizable as head, arms and legs . . . and has been drawing them on just about every surface she can . . . we've been running around after her to slip paper underneath whatever writing utencil she happens to be using.

If the wind wasn't blowing it would probably be around 60 degrees today. (Grandma Joann, you remember the wind, don't you?!) But with wind chill it's about 40 or so. My parents have been in Redding visiting Krista and Joey and have been enjoying the 80's there . . . but they're missing all our nice weather and by the time they get back, it will probably be back in the low 30's with snow and ice and all that lovely spring Wyoming stuff. We don't actually get excited for the warmth until at least after Easter . . . and we don't even attempt to plant anything until Memorial Day. Love that high desert . . .

Amy's birthday

I'm finally getting around to scanning this horrible-quality Polaroid they took of me for my birthday dinner. We went to Cruel Jack's restaurant because I really wanted the Black Jack burger with a spice rub and creole mustard and pepper jack cheese ... apparently the baby was sending out the demand for spicy. Thankfully it didn't upset my stomach! Anyway, my dad told them it was my birthday and they slapped this ridiculous hat on me, sang a song, snapped my picture, and gave me a huge piece of chocolate cake with more frosting and whipped cream than any one person should consume at one sitting. Everyone helped eat it, tho, and we almost finished it all. We had to pry the spoon away from Gennie before she went into sugar shock. Kev got me a tiny yellow rose bush for my indoor garden and new shoes that I've been dying for and got my highlights redone. My parents got me a set of matching photo frames for setting up promo displays and a Crop-a-Dile tool for scrapping and a bigger card for my camera ... I keep running out of room on shoots ... maybe if I didn't take 70 pix a at time that wouldn't happen. All in all it was a great birthday!

Posing

Well, Gennie's been on a few shoots with us, wouldn't you say? I was going thru my shots from this last Christmas ... yeah, so I'm not exactly caught up on my scrapbooking ... at least I've gotten her birthday book done for this year ... and I found these that I took on christmas morning before my parents got here for breakfast and presents. We usually do christmas eve at their house after we drive around town and look at the lights ... and attend the christmas eve service if we're having one ... and then christmas morning they come over and open presents with us. Anyway, I took these fun shots for no reason as we were finishing up prep on breakfast and waiting for them to get here. She did all the posing herself with no coaching from me ... but obviously she's been paying attention on the shoots ... and even the head tip is hers. She loves looking thru the pix with me after I do a senior shoot or a family. And she always wants to know the person's name in the pictures. She usually remembers it, too, and will go thru them when the prints come back and tell me who's who in the pix.

For her birthday we got her the new Fisher-Price digital camera for kids. Of course, it's bright pink and encased in an easy-to-hold-on-to rubberized hard body that can apparently be thrown down a hill and still work ... thankfully we have yet to test this. It holds about 50 pix on its internal hard drive so we didn't have to buy a card for it. It only has 5 buttons on it ... the on button, the shutter, forward and back for viewing the pix and the trash button. It's really easy for her to use and she took to it right away. We gave it to her on her birthday trip to the zoo and she used up the 50 pix just on that visit. She did pretty good, too ... she kept telling the animals "now, just one more, okay now turn your head this way, great now look at me" etc. She cracked me up! Now that she has her own camera maybe I'll turn her loose for these weddings that I keep being asked to do this coming summer. It's really ironic ... we decide to have another kid, and that very same summer - when I'll be completely out of commission - I get called for 7 wedding gigs. I've decided not to shoot after April because I don't want to have to haul all my stuff along with a gigantic stomach around trying to shoot a wedding. I'm one of those photographers who doesn't mind getting dirty or wet or whatever to get the shot so I don't think I'll be much use doing a wedding in my condition. (I once did a senior shoot lying on my face with my butt in the air in the gutter at the bowling alley because the kid wanted to pose in his favorite lane. And another wanted an impossible shot that required that I get mid-thigh deep in the fast-moving current of the Green River to get it right. Whatever!) Anyway, I guess I'll just have to pray that God will send more shoots my way once I can move again!