The Anderson's Celebrate 8 Years of Being a Family

Chris and I decided this year that our anniversary is really a family occasion. It is the beginning of our family and as such, it is a day that belongs to ALL of the family...at least in part. So we decided to take the kids bowling and out to dinner. Going anywhere is an interesting experience with the kids, but they did pretty good.
here they all are watching someone bowl
this is how payton spent most of the bowling experience.


Jaxon's first time up


jayden having a turn. he used this cool little ramp thing...he and i had a really good score!


jaxon getting final instructions from dad


jaxon's muscles!




Here is the anderson family on their 8th anniversary!

afterwards we went out for some "chiney spicey chicken" as mykenzie called it.

Chris and I spent a few hours shopping for some new work clothes for him :)

What a wonderful way to celebrate the beginning of our family. We had a great time together and enjoyed being a family. I am so grateful for such great kids and a wonderful husband. I never would have guessed when we got married where we'd be in 8 years!

Baby Tag

Where were you when you found out you were pregnant? At home in the bathroom for all four. Although I had my suspicions before.
Who was with you? Chris, myself, myself, myself
What was your first reaction? Excited. Shocked. Excited and relieved.
What was your husband's reaction? Excited. Shocked. Happy. Happy.
Who was the first person you told? Chris, obviously. Then usually katy and mom and Chris mom

Were they planned? All but one...and i bet you can guess which one!

Was everyone happy for me? Sure.

What was the sex? Boy, girl, boy, boy.

What was the nursery theme? I think we went for a whatever people could give us for free, mixed with a few things we picked up from the DI and a crib. Although Jayden and Payton had a "sports themed" crib set.

Did anyone throw a shower for you? Yep. for the first one...but I really could have used one for the second one too.

Did I get any outfits I didn't use? Yep...and then I gave them away as baby gifts to others. That's right, I'm a re-gifter!

How much weight did I gain? Somewhere near 50 or 60 (I stopped paying attention, it was too depressing), 40, 30, 25. (remember that was at 7 months)

Did I get stretch marks? yeah...i think its inevitable.

Did I crave anything? FRESH FRUIT constantly

Who or what got on your nerves the most? Everyone telling me I was either too big or not big enough...and a DUMB STUPID doctor who wouldn't listen to me :)

Where were you when you went into labor? Home, hospital, hospital, home

Complications? Meconium and heart rate decelerations, premature dialating, premature dialating, preterm birth and lots of bleeding and prolapsed cord.

Did your water break? obviously. the dr. broke the first 3 and payton's broke on it's own

Who drove you to the hospital? chris all 4 times

Did you go early or late? Day before due date. 35 weeks, 37 weeks, 30 weeks

Who was in the room? Chris, dr. nurse, chris dr. nurse and nicu nurses and some assorted students, chris, dr., nurse, chris dr. nurse, nicu nurses and pediatrician

videotape? EWWW i didn't even want a mirror. I was grossed by the reflection in the dr.'s glasses

pain medication? epidural with the first three...no time for anything with the last one OUCH!

c-section or natural? vaginal all four times

what was your reaction to the birth? excited...overwhelmed with gratitude that they were here and alive and extreme worry and concern with the last one a lot of fear.

how big was the baby? 7lb15 oz, 6lbs 4 oz, 6 lbs 2 oz, 3 lbs 4 oz ( I can't remember lengths off the top of my head)

What was the baby's full name? Jaxon Christopher, Mykenzie Nicole, Jayden Leon, and Payton Rodney

Did your husband cry? do you know chris?

When is the next one coming? The andersons are officially done having children...as long as we have something to say about it.

If you could, would you do it all over again? I think I could do without baby drama

The Master of Disaster Strikes AGAIN!

that's tyme all over the cabinet shelf and jaxons awesome artwork. today it was the bathroom cleaner all over the books (again). He has a way of finding and doing that just about drives me CRAZY!

Guess What...

Payton is now SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! YAY! I'm not sure what just clicked with him, but he just figured it out this last week. He's been going from about 8:30p to 7:00a. Not too shabby. Now if only I could get Mykenzie and Jayden to do the same, I might get a full nights sleep...the first since Payton came home from the hospital.

Jayden

is a transgender name, right? remember how I said his "accident" cut our shopping trip short? yeah, so we went to grammies house to wash the pants and all. This was all I could find to cover him up! At least it stayed up!
I think he thought it was comfy, but was happy to put pants on when they were dry.

Rest...

Weekends in the Anderson home consist of a lot of this:and this:
we really like to REST on the weekends. Lots of sleep and snuggling in bed (until the kids turn it into wrestling and then we kick them out :)

Do-Over for the front room

OK so few things in our home can survive Jayden and our front room is the first to be completely destroyed! I guess after 7 years, it was coming eventually, but it was helped along with him spraying Pam on the carpet and then bleaching it with hand sanitizer. We decided to get some new furniture...a little smaller that will make the room look bigger. OK, so here is the CAD drawing of our plan. We'll probably go a little lighter on the floor than this, but this is the general idea.


here is the view from the front door.

So on Saturday Chris and I went shopping...or looking at least...with all 4 kids. It wasn't too bad...until Jayden peed his pants in the middle of the 2nd store. So that put an abrupt end to our afternoon. Anyway...here's what we found. ABOVE: this is the couch we're thinking. it is kind of distressed or worn looking and a dark brown. I really like it. it doesn't sit off the floor as high as I'd like, but this is the clearance stuff...the new stuff is way TOO expensive.

this is the chair we're thinking...only orange. it's pretty small and it ought to fit in there pretty well, or we ought to be able to fit two of them in the room.
here's what the orange looks like...they let us take the pillows home to compare.
here's the green and the orange...

anyway...so that's our project...we'll go get the flooring in a week or so and then pull up the carpet and put the floor in...I'm EXCITED about our new look!