First visit to the park 2011... among other thoughts!

Easter Weekend Colin and I decided to ride our bikes to Bower to take Brant to the park.
It would FINALLY a beautiful day and I have been itching to go bike riding. I wanted to get a few rides in before I'm too big to go or we have our new addition who won't be able to go for bike rides for a year! :(
So here are some pictures from our first trip to the park!

Brant LOVES swings!

Bower Park has a fun little section that makes noise! And of course, Brant being a boy, loves to do such things!

Oh man! I remember... Last year that was too much for him, but this year it was the preferred way of getting to the top!! My little boy is growing up!!

Again, last year this slide was a bit too high for his liking! He needed a little motivation to go down and someone to catch him. This year he flew down the slide with ease! (He didn't even fall at the bottom!)

Something a little new this year... the BIG BOY swing! Of course we didn't go too high, but he thought it was pretty cool!

I can't believe how independent and big my little boy is getting! He rarely wants help with things anymore. He wants to put his own clothes on (even if it might take 1/2 an hour to do so, and a few backwards shirts! LOL), brush his own teeth and go to the potty by himself! He will usually get me to place him on the potty and then he'll hold up his hand and say "Go mommy!" and he'll tell me when he's done! We've been doing really well, even with pooping on the potty! He knows if he poops he get's his own cup of chocolate milk! So thankfully that's enough to motivate him!

He seems to be understanding that he will be having a little brother join him soon! He'll come in to bed with us in the morning and come and kiss mommy's tummy and say "Hi Little Brother!!", he also loves giving raspberries! Today he even said "Come out little brother!" so I'm starting to think he might be grasping the concept after all! I'm nervous to see how Brant reacts to having a newborn in the house. I can't see him being one of those kids that just accepts it and moves on. He's either going to love it or hate it!

I'm quite nervous to have 2 kids. I'm so tired most of the time (I think third trimester pregnancy being the culprit!) and I enjoy the quiet times when Brant naps! Brant is also a little handful! Don't get me wrong, he's a great kid and he's happy 95% of the time, but he's a little Forrest Gump! He LOVES to run, bolt and escape! He'll usually run without looking back or listen to us call after him to stop! He just keeps going! He's gotten better in malls and stores because he knows that if he takes off he gets put in a cart, but outside is a different story! YIKES... and to think I'll most likely be having another runner! yay... :S!

Mostly... I'm extremely nervous... no, scratch that... TERRIFED of labour! I wanted a completely natural labour with Brant, and to say the least, everything that could have gone wrong (besides death), went wrong! It was awful. Back labour was awful, c section was awful, spinal going stupid was awful and recovery was awful. I'm just so petrified it will go the same way again, especially an emergency c section! I remembering being almost fully dialated and my doctor telling me to push... and immediately my thoughts were "OK... I'm done! I don't want to do anymore!" I was so scared! (Granted, Brant was in a bad position and pushing brought NO relief!) People keep telling me that if baby is positioned right, pushing is the best part. Yeah... I don't know how much I buy that! LOL

I keep being reassured by Heavenly Father and family that things will go alright, but it honestly feels like my first time all over again. Eeeppp... Nevermind that I'm worried that if everything goes as planned, how will it affect my relationship with Brant? I never got those first special/critical bonding moments with him resulting in MONTHS AND MONTHS of post partum and anxiety. I'm just afraid I'll bond more with this baby and have more of a special bond with him instead of sharing that equally important bond with Brant!

Oh the worries and woes of us mothers!! What we put ourselves through! LOL I'm certain everything will be fine and it's just pre-labour jitters.

Oh a happy note... It's supposed to be 20 degrees on Monday! I think a bike ride is in order!

An Anderson Easter!

It all started with a hair cut!

For the most part he was pretty good! Near the end, Colin needed to hold his head still!

The finished product! Despite the funny face he's giving, I didn't do a horrible job!




Then we coloured eggs! Brant really had NO CLUE what we were doing, but he had fun naming the different colours we used! He still has no idea who or what the Easter Bunny is!

Another shot of us colouring Easter Eggs...

Brant and the finished product!

The Easter Bunny was pretty good to Brant! He loves to colour and draw so he left Brant lots of colour supplies sure to make his mother follow him around with a sponge and bucket! :)

He sure thought chocolate for breakfast was the bestest thing ever!!

He eventuall found all the eggies hid by that tricky Easter Bunny!

Brant's haul! Mommy is very grateful the Easter Bunny didn't spoil him with too much chocolate!

We hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Easter!!

The Andersons

Because apparently my blog is boring...

I've been razzed by a friend saying my blog is boring and I need to add more pictures! Gah... easier said than done. Since I fried my computer I haven't taken the time to move all my pictures and stuff over from my computer to Colin's. (Don't worry I won't fry Colin's too!) So today because it was so gross outside, I decided to take the time and transfer everything over!

-----3 HOURS LATER-----

I got everything transferred over and am updating all my pictures on both my blog and facebook!

This picture was taken at 25 months. He was complaining of a very sore bum, and he had a wicked rash. My grandmother mentioned putting him my kitchen sink with baking soda in it to help neutralize the 'burn'. Worked like a charm and Brant looked so funny in my sink! But he quite enjoyed himself! This picture was taken after I noticed Brant has been quiet for an unusual amount of time. I was on the phone and I went to go check on him. Let's just say NO ONE likes a baby they can smell before they can see!! I could smell, out of his room, the wonderful odours of SudoCreme before I could even see him. Let's just say I couldn't imagine he could get it anywhere else! Finally, after enduring WAY too many cold days, we finally had a beautiful *Sun*day. I wasn't sure how I felt about going out sledding on a Sunday before church, but we hadn't had a nice day in such a long time that I caved! *May I be struck down by lightning!* Brant had a GREAT time! He thought it was so fun! We weren't sure if he'd like it, but after going down once we had him hooked! He continually asked to go 'gain'...

After one of his many trips down with dad!

For Christmas, Brant got some money from his Uncle Rick. For the longest time his favourite book was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" (Thanks Grandma Wendy!) and we were walking by that Calendar Club place in the mall and saw "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" Game. It was on sale half price! So for 16.00 dollars we bought Brant his first board game! It's a *little* advanced for him but if we do a quick version he has fun!

Some more of the wonderful "Caterpillar" game.

Brant wasting time with Dad while waiting for bed. Usually he get's mad when Dad plays because he'd rather be playing with Dad. But this time he wanted to play with Dad! Maybe a future concert pianist in the works...?? Here is one of the most exciting recent events in our house... Brant decided he was *ready* for potty training!! After spending a few too many hours in a cloth diaper (bad mommy!) he was soaked! And I mean S-O-A-K-E-D!! So, after taking off his diaper I let him run around bottomless just to air dry.
I've been trying to get him to go on the potty, but everything I ask "do you want to go pee on the potty Brant?" He just replies "Mmmm... no." So I've never pushed it. I've been told by multiple moms of boys to not bother trying to potty train till they are three! So I never did!
So, he was running around bottomless, and I always set his potty out just in case, and he was reading his now favourite book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" (Again... Thanks Grandma Wendy!) and all of a sudden he says "Oh... pee!" and gets up and run to his potty and pees in it! I WAS FLOORED!! Needless to say, that's been occupying a bit of time! He'll now wear underwear and say when he needs to pee! Poop is still an issue, but we'll get there! We had a "freak" snow storm today. (If there is such a thing in Alberta) When Dad got home from work, Brant and Dad decided to go out and shovel! Couldn't miss that photo opp! Oddly enough, Brant has JUST begun to show an interest in shoveling because we couldn't get him to touch that thing all winter! But he had a hoot out there with Dad! A few pictures as he's so cute!

Ok, one more cute shoveling one!

Sorry, I lied! Brant was just having a great time! He'll be an even better help next winter! And then of course... the inevitable snow ball fight! Than of course, the snow was perfect for a snowman! Brant hasn't built a snowman yet, the snow has been yucky! So today was perfect! Then, it turned into a "Yoda" snowman! (All Colin...)

Then of course the SMASHING of the snowman!

Hey... don't look at me! Brant started it! :P

Wow... what the update!

Here's one of the LA#2...

I've just sort of popped! I feel huge! Way bigger than Brant! This kid LOVES my ribcage and my bladder! Must be a tall kid! He seems to be a bit more mellow than Brant, which might be nice! Brant is definitely 'ON THE GO' personality and it takes a bit to keep up with him! BUT - he a super happy kid, so we're so glad to have him in the family!

Impending labor has me nervous! Somedays I'm all for it, others I just want to sit and cry!! But it will all work out in the end!