Letter to Abby at 4

Dearest Abby,

Well, I'm sitting down to write this after one of your worst tantrums in a long time. That was rough. But you are sleeping and peaceful now. Thankfully, over this last year, those awful tantrums are becoming less frequent for which I am sure grateful. You have grown into a loving, caring, sensitive girl and I love the person you are becoming.

Last week we had a little scare where we lost Rua for several minutes at a summer concert in the park. It was just you and me because Dad was in China. You looked all over with me and you were so worried and scared that we had lost Rua, you were in tears and really nearly hysterical. And in the days since then you have been even more watchful and loving to Rua, making sure she is ok and taking care of her. You love your little sister and I love to see it. Last Sunday Rua woke up from her nap and all she wanted was you, to sit in your lap. She didn't stay there as long as you wanted her to but she sure loves you too.

You are also very loving and affectionate to your mom and dad, especially Mom. You tell me several times a day, completely out of nowhere, "Mom, I love you." Melts my heart every time. I love the time I get to cuddle and sing songs and read books to you.

Oh books, another love of yours. You've always enjoyed reading and that hasn't changed a bit. We always come home with stacks of books from the library and read them over and over. Your favorite book right now is what you call your "body book." It's a lift-the-flap book that teaches all about your body - anatomy and how things work. It fascinates you.

You have become increasingly independent in your play and it's fun to watch as you now do 'pretend play' much more. Your favorite toys are your little cars. You drive them around for hours, taking them to the library, museum, etc. You got three doctor kits from friends for your birthday so you are now spending lots of time taking care of your animals and baby. Every now and then you pull out some dress up clothes and want to do ballet and dance, but those moments are rare, mostly you'd love to just play with those cars.

Along with your pretend play, you make up songs and sing all the time. It so fun listening to you. Sometimes you ask me if I want you to teach me a song. Then you sing a line at a time of a song you are just making up on the spot and then have me repeat. (guess you are learning from how they teach you songs in Primary!) You also talk a lot more than in past months, like constantly talk. That can be exhausting to listen to

You love to do crafts, any kind of craft. You really like going to 'class' every week (just a home based little preshool with some other kids from church). I wish we could afford to send you to a nice preschool with lots of kids and lots of activities, you would love it.

You'd also love to do swimming lessons. Which we have put off til next year for budget reasons. But you are quite confident in the pool now and love that you can go by yourself in the water with those floaty things.

You are getting so good on your bike! It's so fun to watch you!

You are so helpful in the kitchen and enjoy putting on your apron and baking with me. Your favorites to make are cookies and treats, of course. Mondays are probably on of your favorite days because we get to make a treat for FHE.

You are just such a fun, special, amazing , beautiful little girl.

I love you so so much Abby,

Mamma

May 2016 pics

Date! We never go out on our own (too expensive to hire a babysitter). But as a birthday gift, my parents came down and watched the girls so we could go on a date! So nice.

We went and got some burgers and ate them on the Ocean Beach pier and then just had a ton of fun talking and taking pictures. Even saw some whales!

Quarantined
The girls got hand foot and mouth disease this month and so we quarentined ourselves for several days. Felt so long. Here is Rua playing with the little boy that got them sick while I went to an RS activity. If you could see a closer pic, they are both covered in spots.

 Hiking!

Abby stopped sucking her fingers!! So proud!

Random pics

Painting rocks

Outside time 

Temple visit

May 2016 - Baby Anderson gender reveal

We had been debating whether to find out the gender of this baby (I think waiting would be so fun), but to compromise we decided on doing a little gender reveal party with the girls to make it more fun than just finding out during the ultrasound. I made cupcakes filled with pink and blue and then had a friend look inside the envelope for us and keep the box of cupcakes with the wrong gender. 

So none of us had any idea which cupcakes we were going to get. Abby had been really really hoping for a boy so we thought that hopefully a cupcake would soften the blow in case it was a girl.

And it is...

A GIRL!!

The girls had a lot of fun with this and it didn't sink in right away to Abby that this meant the baby was not going to be the baby brother she was hoping for.

When she finally realized what this meant, Abby was definitely sad. But she has mostly come around to the fact that she is getting another sister. Rua on the other hand, has absolutely no clue what this all means. All she know is that she got to eat a cupcake! :)

Marathon - Desert Classic Jan 30 2016

So this happened a few months ago...

Like I mentioned here, I've gotten really behind since I haven't been feeling good with some awful morning sickness, so keeping up our little family blog just was not something I was able to do.

But, the marathon! I had been wanting to run another marathon for a long time, the last one I ran was in 2008. But with moving around, having babies, not feeling like I had the time to train,and with how expensive the races are, it just didn't seem like the right time. But last fall, I decided it was something that I really wanted to make happen, especially before another baby came along.

I started training and looking for a race I could do. It was a bit discouraging because I wanted a Saturday race and one under $100. Not easy to find. So I expanded my search area and found a good possibility in the Phoenix area. I called up my sister to see if we could plan a trip to see them around it since they live near there, and guess who was planning on running the half marathon of the same race?! It worked out perfectly. We planned a trip out to Texas as an extension of the marathon trip so we could see Eric's parents, who the girls hadn't seen in over a year.

I thoroughly enjoyed the training. I really like going on the long runs and spending all that time outside. It felt so good to have this concrete fitness goal I was working towards, it made my runs so much more fun. Although I was really loving my long solo Saturday runs, it wasn't long before I had a little girl begging to come with me. So Abby started joining me on a good portion of them. I'd wake her up at about 5:30am, load up the stroller with lots of snacks and books to keep her occupied and off we'd go. The longest run she did with me was a 20 mile run, and I thought it was amazing that she lasted that long.

Our 20-miler photo! This was at about mile 10, so halfway. Still going strong!

The race was scheduled for Jan 30, and we drove out to Phoenix without any problems. Then the night before, I suddenly started feeling really sick and achy, and hardly slept the whole night.  I was a little worried about running sick but figured I was there so I was going to go for it. 

Ruth and I woke up early and took off to be at the race starting area around 6am. It was dark and cold and we almost missed the starting gun with trying to wait in line for the port-a-potty which they definitely did not have enough of. 

It was a very small race, only 51 people ran the full marathon, so a much smaller crowd than I've been used to in the past. They had the half-marathoners start at the same time so I was able to run the first part with Ruth. It is an out and back race so she turned around between the 6-7 mile and I kept on going. It really thinned out after that point. I really felt like I was just out there doing one of my long runs, except for when I would get to one of the aid stations. I had my energy gels with me and had planned out the spacing of those based on those water spots. I think I spaced them pretty well because my energy level stayed pretty constant and I was able to keep my pace between 9-9:30 minute miles. And every now and then I would pass someone which always feels good. :) 

The only bad thing was how stiff my legs were feeling the second half of the race. I really think that was due to the cold I had developed, it was sure not normal. But I was able to push through that without it slowing me down. I passed several people those last few miles that just looked like they were wiped out, I was so glad that I had paced myself well and was doing great. 

The end of the race is a small hill and you can't see the finish line till you reach the top of the hill and then it is about maybe a 1/4 mile from there to the finish. Coming to the top and seeing the finish so close was such a great feeling. I saw my little family there waiting for me and cheering for me (they were the only people at the finish line, that's how small the race was) and that was just the best thing to see. I felt such a sense of accomplishment and had tears in my eyes as I crossed the finish. 

My finish time was 4 hours 10 minutes, right where I wanted it to be and faster than my last marathon which was 4 hours 20 minutes. And because it was such a small race, I was 5th overall for the women, and first (and only) in my age group. :)

The rest of the day was relaxing, with some hot tub time, and a huge dinner at Cafe Rio. Aside from the crazy sore legs that always follow these long runs, it was a great day.

I'm so glad that I finally made another marathon happen. Hopefully it won't be another 8 years until my next one!

Coming September 2016...

Baby Anderson #3!! We are so happy, Abby is super excited, and Rua has no clue.

I am 18 1/2 weeks right now and for the most part I finally feel great! I was feeling pretty awful for the first trimester and a little beyond that also which is why the blog took back burner for a while. I just didn't have the energy and felt too awful to try to sit and work on anything. The morning sickness this time around was the worst of all three pregnancies. It was constant the whole day long and then an incredible fatigue would hit me early afternoon and last the rest of the day. I'm so glad it it passed now! The fatigue is still there but not to the extent it was.

I was excited to enjoy the easier second trimester and then they go and diagnose me with gestational diabetes and took the fun out of it all. I'll probably share more on that later, but it's sure been an adjustment.

18 weeks!

Even with the not so fun parts, I am really happy to have this new baby coming and am looking forward to 22 weeks, when we get to see the little baby again and find out if we are getting a baby brother or sister! (Abby is rooting for baby brother)

These cuties are going to be the best big sisters!!

**I will start posting some older things in the next couple of weeks so that I can get caught up on the blog. Since this blog is mostly just for us to have a place to look back at things I figure no one will mind some really old posts.