Silly Baby

Eliza is growing so fast. She is so adorable and I love to eat her and squish her. We really can't get enough of her. Eliza LOVES Mauree and it is so fun to watch them interact. They crack each other up. Mauree is the one who first made Eliza laugh. She thinks she is older than she really is. She is rolling over on her own now, (both ways) and tries to sit up when in her car seat. She can't get enough of her fingers she is always chomping on them, and sometimes manages to get both hands in at once! She will hardly ever lie down flat. She instantly arches her back and throws her head back as far as it will go. This is her new favorite position. She is a silly one.

STYLIN'

This is what happens when mommy has an early meeting before church and daddy is in charge of getting both girls dressed, fed, and out the door by 9 a.m.! When I said she could wear "what ever" well, lets just say this is not what I had in mind! Matt always does such a good job getting the girls dressed and cute. Last Sunday though, Mauree was determined to choose her outfit by herself. Who has time to negotiate on a Sunday morning anyhow. As "colorful" as she is, I couldn't help but smile when she came in the chapel. She was so proud of herself...funny how she thinks the clothes I pick out are ugly?! Oh the mind of a 4 yr old.

2 months old!

wow, how fast time goes by. My little Eliza is getting so big. She is such a good baby, and Mauree is my little helper. Life with two has really been smooth so far. I am so grateful to be able to stay home and be a mommy. In my opinion, there is no better job than this. The rewards are endless. Yesterday Mauree said to me, "Thanks for being a nice mommy. I love you so much". She is always telling me that we are best freinds and yesterday I heard her tell Eliza the same thing as she was hugging her. It was the sweetest thing ever...especially now that Eliza is smiling. She will smile at Mauree when she comes near....these moments and so much more..priceless. Oh how I love my girls.

Peach Picking

After being in the house for a few weeks after Eliza was born, we decided to venture out Peach Picking!!! We have our favorite place in a town nearby, where you can pick almost anything in season through fall. It is so green and beautiful, we love it. Unfortunately it began to rain about two minutes after we started. We had fun regardless, and the peaches were honestly the best I have ever had! We packed a picnic and had lunch under a pavilion at a local park. It was Eliza's first official outing. It was just a nice family day.

I promise she was very happy to be here!

She wanted to pick every peach in sight!

Twirling around to watch her ruffles fly! This is a great memory for me watching her dancing and just being a little girl. It was so green and beautiful and we were all so happy. My little girl enjoying her childhood. This I love! Life's simple pleasures are the greatest.

This is her looking thrilled that I am STILL taking pictures. Mom enough already!

Me and my girls

I can't beleive how big my baby girl is! When did she grow up? She is my sweetie. I still call her my baby, but she informed me she doesn't like that because she is NOT a baby anymore, she is four. I tell her she will always be my baby, she is my first. One day she will understand when she has a baby of her own!

Eliza Clair Anderson

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of adjustments, but nonetheless wonderful. My mom and sister got here just in time for sweet Eliza to join us! We were worried they wouldn't make it, but thankfully all went well and they were able to take care of Mauree while we were in the Hospital. It was fun to have them come hang out at the hospital with us each day.

My labor was very short...only 4 hours, but that doesn't mean less painful! How quickly I remembered how much labor hurts! I swore I would never have a baby without an epidural, those things are heavenly and never intend to go without....but if you don't have a choice, I guess it just works out. I wasn't mentally prepared to do it, but all in all now that it is over with, I am happy things turned out as they did. As for next baby, I think I will plan on the good old medication again!

It was so good to have my mom, sister, and niece here. Time goes by way too quickly and we miss them already. Mauree absolutley adores her little sis, and can't wait for her to get bigger so she can play dress up with her. I think the transistion for her is going well and don't think we will have any issues! We feel so blessed to have two beautiful, sweet little girls. They bring us so much happiness. There is nothing greater in life than to love our precious children and watch them grow.

Our Exciting Arrival

Our sweet baby girl was born on June 15 at 12:43. She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and 20in long.

More pictures to come!!

NYC Here we Come!

We finally made it in to the city for a "mini" vacation. I call it vacation because although it is only an hour from our house to go and do all we wanted, meant the price tag of a longer vacation. It was so worth it and Mauree loved every minute of it, and of course so did we. We stayed on the 34th floor, with a view of the empire state building. It was especially fun to see at night when it would light up in different colors. Mauree LOVED looking out the window every chance she got. It amazed her how small the cars and the people were and how many buildings there were. She loved walking through Times Square, she thrived on the energy there I guess. Toys 'R' Us was a huge hit with the Farris wheel ride, she had never seen so many toys before, and yes she thought she "needed" everything! The highlight was going to Mary Poppins. She loves the movie and despite it being her nap time, loved it. Her favorite thing to sing now is "SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPYALIDOCIOUS"...except her version is so much cuter. It is the most adorable thing to hear her say. Everything about the trip went perfectly, I guess as it should if Mary Poppins has anything to do with it! It makes me smile knowing we will always have such a happy memory and that Mauree is old enough to remember the experience.

Sparkle Diva!!!

So my little Mauree is quite the princess....Prima Ballerina Princess if you ask her, and I found the most perfect little sparkly princessy place in the world for little girls and their mommies! It is so adorable you want to buy everything and have every treatment done, which I could never afford but sure wish we could! Everything is decked out in diamonds and sparkles and pink fluffyness. Every girls dream. Mauree and I went to get hair cuts one day and they finiched her off with a tiara and a spritz of gold glitter in her hair! They have ginat sized diamond rings lying around for decoration and she could not keep her hands off of them. She said, "When I get married, my husband can get me one of these"! 12 karot diamond, wow I hope he shares his wealth with mommy-in-law! We made another trip to celebrate Mauree's best friends b-day, Kailyn, who turned 5. They were so cute in their spa robes and flip flops. It was their first time for manicures and pedicures. It was so much fun seeing how happy they were. Mauree could not stop saying, "Sparkle Diva"! Too bad I can't get a discount for advertising. I think it is official that she is their biggest fan!

The very fuzzy Caterpiller

I would have never thought my little girly-girl would ever let anything bug related near her! but she found a new fuzzy friend she loves to hunt... Mr. Caterpillar! Her friend Kailyn introduced her to her collection of about 30 friends and Mauree was thrilled. Despite the fact that it grosses mommy out, She loves to play with them and let them "tickle" her arms. I guess there are worse things she could want to play with. After all, look at that adorable face, how could I tell her she can't play with her new little friends!?

Update on us...

Wow, alot can happen in a few months. We are doing great, anxiously awaiting real spring weather, so we can enjoy living on the coast! I won't bore you all with lengthy detail but here are a few highlights of what we have been up to.

We had our first experience at American Girls Doll Shop in NYC with our dear friends Catherine and Madelyn. They invited us in to celebrate Maddy's 2 birhtday, and wow what a treat. It really was an experience to remember. The place was huge complete with concierge desk, doll hair salon, cafe, photo studio, doll hospital, and on and on. Everything is adorable and Mauree was able to shoose a ballerina doll of course! We had lunch at the cafe and then headed down the street to Rockafeller Center. Mauree became sick while there, so it was a quick trip in to the city, but still fun. It is always exciting to spend some time there. I wish Mauree were feeling better so she could have enjoyed it more, but I know she will always remember it.

Easter was fun, but quiet and nice. We had one perfect day of weather wich happened to fall on the day of our friends BBQ and egg hunt. Mauree had a blast and got plenty of candy! Thankfully she loves to share with her chocolate craving mommy. My friend Catherine was the host and managed to fill about 300 eggs for just a few kids. She is so sweet and generous and always goes above and beyond. The food and the atmosphere were just as great. She is always spoiling us!

Matt had training for work and had to leave us for a total of 5 weeks...yes I said 5. We miss him the minute he leaves for work just for the day, so you can imagine how sad this emotional pregnant mommy was for that long. He was able to come home on a couple of the weekends, but it was still hard to be without him. Mauree was actually really sad this time. I don't think she ever got use to it, and now that he is home she is very obsessed with him and makes sure to let me know that, "Well, I love you a little bit and I love daddy more". At least now I have made it a bit closer, She says "I love you to the sun and daddy as high as the rocket ship goes", but she still reminds me that it is not as high as daddy! Anyway, we are so happy that traveling is done and we can focus on things to come.

I can't believe I only have 7 weeks left until this precious little one is here! We are so excited and can't wait for the wonderful day. My official due date is June 16th. I feel like my tummy sticks out a mile, but what can I do? I love being pregnant and find myself feeling abit anxious this time. It will have been 4 years since Mauree was born, so I feel like it is my first time again. I am so nervous about the labor and delivery part. Thank goodness Matt is the best in the world, so I know I will be fine but still......!! Mauree can't wait to be a big sister and mommy #2! My mom, sister, and niece are coming to help out. It has been almost a whole year since we have seen them, so we are exptremely excited for all of the above!

22 weeks

29 weeks

Look Mom, I did it myslef!

If any of you have ever wondered how to tie your shoes so that they will not come untied, you may sign up below and Mauree will teach you free of charge! The complex way of weaving in and out and wrapping around is very complicated to teach, but she is willing. No more annoying shoe laces to tie, guaranteed after just one lesson. Apparently, if you swap the shoe to the other foot, this also helps in strengthening the ties that bind!

Vacaton Over!

Wow! That was one long vacation I took from blogging wasn't it! I hope you will all find me again some day soon! I will spare you on all of the long details of all the fun and exciting things that have happened since April, and just fill you in on a few of the highlights. 1. We finally made it for a much needed visit home to Utah. We love it so much and all of you who we miss terribly. I will never get tired of seeing my cute little hidden valley home town, Paradise. We were able to go camping in "real Mountains" for the first time with Mauree. She loved it.

After a few weeks in cache valley, we met up with Matt's family and headed to Lake Tahoe for a family reunion. This is me and most of my sister-in-laws. It was my first time to Lake Tahoe and it was amazing. The fact that the whole family started dropping like flies with a flu bug and Matt going to the E.R. passing gahl stones (sp) , wasn't so fun but it sure made the trip even more memorable. It was so good to spend time with the Andersons, especially now that we are spread out over the country.

2. Mauree discovered her love for dance and ballet. She goes every Thursday and can't get enough of it. She is constantly begging to wear her "balleotard" and is practically the only thing she will wear. She wants to sleep in her ballet shoes and leotards, and we have many times we have to comprimise. On Sunday she refused to wear a dress, and finally we opted to wear it under her dress and cardigan, (which caused a huge pain when she had to go potty) and we also had to bring along her ballet slippers in her purse....What a silly girl. I have a feeling the comprimises are only going to become more frequent, I forget sometimes just who is in charge!

3. Matt and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary this August. He is still the sexiest, most wonderful man I have ever met, and he still gives me butterflies. I have never been so happy and I love every minute I spend with him and my little Mauree. He is so kind, patient, and loving and he he is the greatest example to both Mauree and I. Honey thanks for being our #one. We love you.

4. My mom was able to come visit is this fall for a whole week. We were soooo happy to have her all to ourself. Matt had one more training for work to do in D.C. so she met us there. It was fun to show her around and let her see the sights. We loved having grandma with us and can't wait to have her here again. 5. Finally, the greatest news of all...after over one year of fertility treatments, we are joyfully expecting baby #2 in June. I know, I know I look like I am at least 5 or 6 months along, but what can I do? Apparently this time around my belly wanted to "pop" alot sooner than it did with Mauree! Oh well, I don't mind. I am just so grateful to have that precious baby inside my tummy, I will welcome the roundness happily...of course as long as that roundness stays on my belly and not my bummy! Anyhow, we are overjoyed and thank Heavenly Father everyday for the countless blessings he gives us and especially for the wonderful miracle making my belly bigger!