Drumroll, please...

Announcing the newest sweetheart to join our family: Little Red! Our little guy came at 4:54 a.m. on Monday, May 19, 2008.
He weighed 7 lbs 14 oz, and was 21 1/4" long. His most notable feature: his reddish hair!! I couldn't have been more surprised. The labor and delivery was (relatively speaking) great and pretty easy (again, this is still labor and delivery, mind you). Everyone gave him the weird-ish compliment of looking like a "c-section baby." He was out in three pushes, so he was all pink and perfectly shaped. He is a little doll, and so good and peaceful (that's unusual for our newborn offspring). We had a wonderful, wonderful experience at Progress West Hospital and came home on Wednesday. It was really funny, Girlie and Little Red are almost exactly 5 years apart, and we had Girlie's delivery nurse for Little Red's delivery. Five years later, different hospital--what are the odds? For my part, I'm doing (again, relatively) great. Recovery is going super fast and great. I even took all three kids to the doctor, BY MYSELF yesterday. Even I was impressed. I'm still totally exhausted; he nurses like it's going out of style, and for some reason, he's extra hungry at night. But, besides that, he's doing great, I'm up and about, the kids are completely in love with him (I have to protect Little Red from all of the extreme lovin'), and Mom is here helping us all. J hasn't noticed any change in sleeping pattern, but don't worry, his time is coming. J did an amazing job of juggling everything in our life while I was in the hospital. He was really, really wonderful and I feel so blessed to have such a support.

!!Aye-yay-yay!!

Fiesta time at our casa! Girlie's 5th birthday was celebrated with Latin flair on May 10th (yes, 15 days early, due to the pending arrival of little Anderson-Dirk ---see previous post for inside joke). Girlie and five of her closest girlfriends got together for a little pin the tail on the burro, Mexican Hat Dance, limbo, and breaking Mommy's 4-day-project pinata. They all had a great time feasting on chicken taquitos, chips, salsa, strawberry punch and lemonade, and...an 11:00 a.m. ice cream sundae bar. J and Sam-Sam went on the Father-Son camp out the night before, so it was up to Mommy and Girlie to get the party all ready the night before (which happened to include ice cream and a slumber party in Mommy's room). Girlie woke up this morning with a huge smile on her face. What can I say? The girl was born to party.

Sam-Sam looks serious about doing damage to the pinata.


Everyone got down to business with the sprinkles, whipped topping, chocolate, marshmallows, candies, caramel, and nuts. Lest you think it unhealthy, though, don't worry--it was all natural ice cream.

Preggo Mama

Well, I'm due in 6 days, and counting. Here I am, 9 months pregnant. Clothes are washed in Dreft, bassinet is set up in our room, the freezer is stocked with J-fixable food, and Mom is on standby--we're ready for our little guy's arrival. Except for his name. Any suggestions would be welcome. I am still favoring "Anderson", while J is getting so desperate for another candidate he actually suggested "Dirk". No offense to any Dirks who may be reading this.

St. Louis Saturday

What a fun day!! We slept in until 7:15 a.m. and then all enjoyed breakfast as a family. We took off on our adventure.

First stop: Carousel. This 1920's carousel was salvaged when the Forest Park Highlands burnt to the ground (the carousel was the only thing left standing). We all had a great time riding it. J and I each stood by one of the kids. J wanted to ride, but chickened out. : )















Sam Sam had a great time waving at everyone (and himself, when he saw his reflection in the mirror).






















Girlie in front of the carousel. She thought it was a little magical and maybe we should get one.





















Next stop: Butterfly House. We had a wonderful time watching a movie about caterpillars and butterflies. The kids had so much fun watching all the blue morph butterflies and were so careful not to touch them. The whole, very humid, building was all a-flutter with 1500 butterflies.

March Madness

Well, we've had a fun month. No, nothing to do with basketball or any other sport that claims extra madness during a certain month. Here's what we've been up to.

March 6, 2008
Girlie and I went to Kindergarten Registration. It was tearful and exciting (tearful for me, exciting for Girlie). Then we had some girl bonding time--lunch, manicures, and pedicures (picture to the left). She's so excited to ride the bus and meet her teacher.









March 11, 2008

We went to the Parents as Teachers Spring Fling and saw the Spring Bunny (no, not the Easter Bunny, the politically correct, non-denominational, non-offensive "Spring Bunny", because, hey, who can argue with the name of a season, for crying out loud). Girlie and Sam Sam walked right up to sit on his lap, those friendly little folks. Girlie later questioned me about the "real-ness" of the bunny. Smarty.

Then we met friends at Zachary's Playground, a huge, fantastic, all-accessible playground that my friend spent years of her life dreaming of, raising money for, and building--inspired by her disabled son. The kids love the swings and the castle the best.





March 17, 2008

A fun "drive-in movie" activity. The kids got to race around in their respective vehicles while watching a big screen showing of "Cars." They seemed to do a pretty good job of sharing (the blue trike seemed to be the favorite, over the "convertible" coupe with the "hoopty" wheel). We saw our friends Vincent and Carson there as well. Just for the record, none of us was wearing green that day.


Riley's very fashionable "cone head" statement.


















March 21, 2008

We met "Maisy" at the library. Girlie again seriously questioned the "real-ness" of the large mouse character, who suspiciously didn't say a word. Sam Sam seems to have gotten over his babyhood fear of large, mascot-type creatures.













March 21, 2008

We met our friends at Ft. Zumwalt Park for an Easter egg hunt. The kids really got into it, even though they, in turn, took big spills in the muddy grass. They got lots of fun eggs, and started devouring the candy with gusto.

Go Go Gadget Pediatric Neurologist

After Girlie's scary seizure on Jan. 29, 2008, her pediatrician recommended that we see the pediatric neurology specialists at Children's Hospital. They were going to do an awake/asleep EEG, which meant that I had to somehow get my sweet non-napping preschooler to just...fall asleep...at 10:00 a.m. J and I took turns on "Mission: Keep Girlie Awake"--I stayed up with her watching movies until midnight, then J got her up at 5:00 a.m. When he tried to wake her up, she REALLY didn't want any part of it. He kept trying to convince her, "Come on, remember? It's part of our plan. We're going to drink hot chocolate and watch 'Little Mermaid'." She sighed and conceded, "Fine. But this is the last movie, and then I'm going to sleep." She did great at the hospital, fell asleep as soon as we let her, then we all treated ourselves to chicken nuggets at McDonalds (Girlie's choice). We're glad that things seem to be going well now, and pray that our luck continues. We're grateful for all the prayers and thoughts from our friends and loved ones.

Maiden Voyage

So, let's be honest. I have no clue what I'm doing here. This is my Friday afternoon project while the kids are napping, and it's really kind of a fellow-blogger-pressured adventure on which I've set out. And, to avoid the "you-never-send-pictures" comments I get. So, my friends, enjoy this amateur attempt at sharing our sweet life with you.