baby olive is here!

wow.. i have so much to say, but yet it is so hard to put the last 4 days into words! my water broke at noon on friday, april 4th and olive louise was born at 1:00 am on saturday, april 5th. it was an absolutely amazing experience, more than i could have ever imagined. i was lucky to be able to have a completely natural labor and delivery, everything worked out so well and my recovery has been great. olive was 6lbs 10oz, nice sized, but still a 5 week early premie. she needed a little assistance breathing at frist, but was released from the nursery after 1 hour.. josh was with her holding her hands the whole time. we are mesmerized with how incredibly perfectly beautiful she is, we cannot seem to put her down!

we hope to begin sharing lots of pictures and details with you soon, but i wanted to let you all know we are doing great and let you have a peek at her!

pretty green organic baby shower!

we had our big shower this past sunday, it was perfect! the theme was organic/green and the wonderful hosts pulled it off beautifully. i loved it all! we had great food.. lots of fruit, cheese, potters crackers, nuts, cupcakes and some delicous salads for lunch. it was all very yummy! ruthmari's diaper cake was amazing, check out the pic bellow.. made with organic diapers of course! my mom came and i was so happy to see her, she is very excited to be a first time grandma! we had a great turnout and the baby received lots of gifts. thanks everyone for being so generous! what a lovely day! THANK YOU!!!

greta and the wonderful shower hosts..
ruthmari, donna, debbie and ashley

greta and cousin carolyn

best diaper cake ive ever seen!

custom hand stamped napkins!

my absolute favorite.. chocolate mint!

leaf fruit skewers

how cute is this appetizer display!

yummy salads!

playing aunt donna's games

our niece gracie is a great present helper

a very pretty knitted blanket from GG!

my aunt kathy made the baby a super cute sock monkey quilt!

josh's "diapering after dark" toolbelt kit!

34 weeks!

Baby Andersen now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

co-ed friend baby shower!

our really great friends victoria and adam threw us a great co-ed baby shower. they had a lot of delicous food that josh could actually eat, including a dairy-free, gluten-free bundt cake! we played games.. guess the melted candy bar in the diaper, pin-the-tail-on-the-baby, and we decorated onsies. we got a bunch of great gifts, thanks everyone!

adam, shower time!

yummy food

victoria and adams delicious bundt cake

guess the melted candy bar in the diaper game.. ewwww!

onesie decorating

josh playing pin-the-tail-on-the-baby

lorraine playing pin-the-tail-on-the-baby

vince playing pin-the-tail-on-the-baby

33 weeks!

This week baby Andersen weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Well, this has been the first really tough week. I switched to a new doctor who i feel so much more comfortable with and who is also much much closer to me. the practice is a family practice so he will be the baby's pediatrician too, very cool. the hospital i will be delivering at is highland park hospital, about 45 minutes away. in the process of switching doctors it was discovered that my blood pressure is higher than they would like it to be. this is new, its been normal until now. i am also borderline anemic and retaining alot of water. these are the symptoms of preclampsia which would not be so good and i am really hoping to avoid.

the good news is i have a whole list of things i can do to help turn this around and i am doing them all! most of them are dietary changes, more protein from meat, less whole grains and a whole bunch of different supplements. they also have me drinking a daily gallon of distilled water for 3 days. ive been taking a walk everyday which is really great because it is so beautiful up here, spring is coming yeah!!

i have 2 baby showers coming up, one this saturday, and i am so excited! ill post some pics and all the details soon!

7 weeks to go and cant wait to get this baby out!

32 weeks!

By now, baby Andersen weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

thanks a million!!!

ive been feeling really lucky lately and i want to thank the other people that are helping me so much and making life much easier for me.

a big gigantic thanks to josh who has been so awesome throughout my whole pregnancy. we've always been a team and done just about everything together and during this pregnancy he's had so take care of so much without me and take care of me at the same time. he hasnt complained once! everything ive asked him to do he does, he does everything he can to make me more comfortable and brings me flowers. yes, i know.. im the luckiest girl in the world.

also a huge thanks to tom and ruthmari (josh's mom and dad). they have done so much for us and i cant thank them enough. the fact that we can all live under the same roof and not want to strangle each other is really a testament to how cool they really are, love you 2! ruthmari takes me on errands often and i am so grateful for this.

thanks to the rest of our families and friends who have been really supportive and excited along with us about our baby!

im totally crying rignt now.. im such a cliche pregnant lady!

a shout out to my very special friend rosie!

my very special friend rose is every pregnant womans dream! she has been coming to my house every tuesday and giving me a fantastic pregnancy massage. i cannot even begin to explain how great this feels.. i finally have relief from lower back pain! rose is a massage therapist, soon to be certified. if you need a great massage.. i can put you in touch with rose. best massage ever.. i aint lyin!

ultrasound pictures.. so cute!

our ultrasound yesterday was amazing! they had a new setup that included the ultrasound on a big screen tv right in front of us.. we could see it all! no.. we still dont know if its a boy or girl.. its a surprise for all of us. josh's mom (ruthmari) and sister (ashley) came along with us. so far the verdict is that baby andersen looks like greta.. what do you think?

oh, and you should all know that i am having a nice big baby.. this baby is already 4.6 lbs, not the 3.something that the average baby is at 31 (almost 32 weeks). the doctor estimated that baby andersen will be 8.6 lbs at full term!


cant wait to kiss those lips!

here the baby smiled for a few seconds..


look closely.. its the babies profile..

baby greta.. this was the youngest pic i had..

newborn baby josh..

31 weeks!

This week, baby Andersen measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.