Little Squirt!

December 2013 - March 2013

One week old

From the start Karl has been a very content, easy going baby. He just loves to be fed, held, and hear and watch people around him. During that first month he'd have me up three or four times in the night for about an hour each time, but he made up for by sleeping in and also taking a nice long nap at about the same time everyday that Jared took his nap.

This is just a short video of Karl at about four weeks old cuddling with Daddy.

Six weeks old

This is a picture of  Daddy playing with Karl. Of course the doctors like to remind me that "your baby will start smiling when their about two months old, smile before then is just because of gas" etc, and they may be right, but I felt with Jared and now again with Karl that he's just a happy boy and is sometimes smiling because he's happy. During those first two months sometimes I'd be holding him and talking to him and he'd smile. I like to think he knows he's loved. =) And we're finding that Karl has a ticklish neck!

Seven weeks old

 When Jared was a baby he often cried when he was getting his cloths or his diapers changed, and that's been my experience with other babies, so I was pleasantly surprised by Karl the way he would smile whenever I changed him. You'd almost think he was being tickled the way he'd light up sometimes when I'm taking on or off his onesie. It's very cute.

Eight weeks old

 We've loved how Karl's been growing and turned into such a cute little chunk! At Karl's two month check up he was 13 lbs 11 oz and 23'' long.

 This is a video of two and a half month old Karl with his smiles and wiggles. Jared and I get very distracting during the day wanting to stop and play with Karl. =)

Twelve weeks old

 When Karl was 15 weeks old (three and a half months) is when I heard him really laugh out loud for the first time. I was holding him in the living room and he was looking down at Jared watching him play and jump around. I guess he thought it was pretty entertaining and started laughing. It was one of the sweetest sounds I've ever heard.

Four months old

 This is Jared's dinosaur baby. Jared loves this jacket on Karl. =)

Goober Sweet Goober

January - March 2014

These are some short videos and pictures of Jared growing up and playing and discovering new little things.

This is a video of Jared doing palates. Sometimes I'll do it in the morning and if Jared get's up early enough, he'll come in and see me doing it and want to try it too. His interpretations of what they're doing on the dvd is pretty funny sometimes.

This is a video of Jared wearing my shoes to put them away in the closet. He is always putting my or Ryan's shoes on. It's very cute, but sometimes tricky for him.

This is a video of Jared being a gorilla. He did it after watching a gorilla on a cartoon. I thought it was so funny so I had to get a video.

 Jared got his first bottle of bubble bath for Christmas and he loves it!

 He also got this rocking horse for Christmas from our neighbor. It took some getting used to before he'd get on it because it neighs and wages it's tail and such, but now he likes riding it and saying "yehah! yehah!"

After things slowed down after the holidays, we started potty training Jared. He's made some progress, but still has a long way to go. He doesn't mind sitting on the toilet now, just so long as he doesn't have to go in it. But, he's getting more comfortable with it,... and I'm being patient. 

Jared in one of his new suits.

Jared has been pretending to be three things a lot lately, a cat, a dog, and a baby. This is him climbing across the couch pretending to be a cat. Since Ryan got the Lego Marvel Super Hero game for his birthday, his very favorite thing to pretend to be now is the Hulk. He's a very fierce 2-year-old Hulk. ;)

Friends and SNOW!!

January 2014

Brandie holding Karl.

 Our new year started off pretty good with some visits from some good friends. We had my friend Brandie Beadle and her husband, Brian, over for dinner with the sister missionaries.

Sister Quist and Sister Ogden, the best missionaries in the field, aside from one. 

 We then had the sister missionaries over again because we love them so much!! Jared especially go nuts whenever they come over.

Jared making a popsicle stick puzzle.

 We got to have a play/baby-sitting day with the Kelley's kids. We made homemade popsicle stick puzzles and raced cars and ran around outside and watched a few cartoons. I managed to get 2/3 of them to take naps.

Eeva, Jared, Ryan, Nathan, and I making puzzles.

 We had a few days that were kind of icy, which I guess is a big deal here in Houston. Ryan stayed home one of those first days that it was icy because they were going on and on about it on the news and telling people to stay home. But, Ryan and I soon learned that they kind of go nuts here about any snow or ice what-so-ever, so he went in from now on after that. There was only one day that we actually saw snow that stuck. That day Ryan went out the door to leave for work, but then came right back in to bring me a handful of snow. It was all gone by 10:00am, but it was fun to see it for one morning.

Ice outside our kitchen window.

New Year's Eve

December 31, 2013

We decided to have our friends from the ward, the Kelleys over for New Year's Eve dinner and games. We then decided to invite both the sets of missionaries in our ward (Elder Brown from Logan, Elder Awog from Hawaii, Sister Quist from Arizonia, Sister Ogden from SLC) over for dinner and games that night as well. So we had a full house and it was a lot of fun. The missionaries taught us a new card game and Jared taught the Kelleys, Nathan and Eeva, how to play ...hand-gun-combat I guess you could call it. =) He had a lot of fun having friends over.

The missionaries headed for home around 9pm and then we and the Kelleys got the kids into jamies, did sparklers and a few other fireworks, then we settled down to watch a movie 'til mid'night. 

When the time came we ran outside and watched the fireworks going off in every direction around the neighborhood. It was very exciting for the kids, they didn't know which way to look.

We hope everyone's had a great year so far!!

Palm Tree Christmas!!

December 24-25, 2013

 So, this was my and Jared's first Christmas with no snow in sight, but rather palm trees wrapped in Christmas lights. It was a little strange and I was definitely missing the snow. This also was, of course, Karl's first Christmas, so it was extra special for us to have him here. 

Ryan and Jared cuddling with Karl.

 Some how and for some reason I made time to make some plates of cookies and get them out to our neighbors and some ward friends, and one big plate for Ryan to take to work. I was still getting used to taking care of two boys, and not getting a lot of sleep, so I'm not sure how that happened, but I'm glad we were able to do it. =)

 On Christmas Eve, we had a relaxing day and in the evening we went to a park near by. Karl slept the entire time, in the stroller, and stayed nice and warm. Ryan and Jared had a lot of fun on the swings and monkey bars.

Jared playing with his nativity by the tree.

Christmas morning I wanted to sleep in while Karl was sleeping, but Ryan was really anxious for us all to get up and open presents. We made a compromise that once Jared woke up then we could open presents. So Ryan laid in bed and said "Jared...Jared" just loud enough that in our quiet house Jared heard and came waking into our bedroom dragging his blanket.

Sleeping Karl with a few of his Christmas presents.

 We soon were in the living room opening presents. Ryan passed them out and we took turns opening them. We feel very spoiled to have such giving family and friends who made it such a special Christmas for us. We are especially grateful for the gift of all gifts that the Savior gave and that we have this day to celebrate the hope and light his birth brought to the world.

Jared playing with some of his new toys.

Karl's First Bath

December 12, 2013

Here are some pictures of when Karl was one week old, and he had his first sponge bath at home. I can't say he liked it very much. He cried the whole time. It was very reminiscent of the Jared's first sponge bath. 

 But, we loved how good he smelled and how his hair puffed up when he was all clean and dried off. Poor little guy; he loved being dry again and back in our arms. :)

Karl's Birth!!

December 5, 2013

 Baby Karl Paul Anderson

Born December 5, 2013

Thursday, 8:18am

7lb 14oz

19.5'' long

 What a day! Karl just couldn't wait to be here with us, so he came two weeks early, and we are so glad he did. He's been such a sweet baby!

 Labor went rather easy; it was much easier than Jared's went anyway. I was determined this time to stay home as long as I could before heading to the hospital, but the unexpected happened: my water broke. So I had to go in. But, that wasn't too bad, because this time they gave me an epidural much sooner than I was expecting and then told me to go back to sleep. Ryan and I had arrived and the hospital around 1:30am and for being early morning in December it was really nice out.

 After resting for a few hours and letting the contractions get stronger they started to slow down, so the nurse gave me pitocin, then my water broke again, this time it was a burst and Karl was soon born. He was so little and cute and he looked just like Jared, so they are equally the cutest babies I've ever seen!!

 We were so excited to finally see him for the first time after waiting soo long. He was a very healthy baby, and I got to hold him for a while 'til Ryan and a nurse took him for a bath. 

 That evening Ryan headed back home to get Jared from our neighbors and they came to see Karl and I. Jared was very curious about the baby and excited to be able to hold him and see Daddy hold him, but he definitely didn't understand yet that we'd be taking him home.

 One of the times Jared was there he and I went for a walk around our floor of the hospital. He especially like to look through the nursery window. I was very glad to have a couple days to just sleep and spend time with Karl before heading home. But, once that time came I was very ready to be able to go home with Karl. Ryan buckled him in his car seat for the first time and Jared got to ride on my lap in the wheel chair down to the front lobby.

 We are so glad to have our sweet little Karl home to love him and care for him. He's already brought us so much joy; he makes us smile all the time. :)

Thanksgiving!!

 November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving last year was our first here in Houston and we were glad to have made so many good friends so that we didn't have to celebrate alone. Our ward knew we were new in the area and didn't have family very close by and they were so kind that we nearly lost count of how many Thanksgiving dinner invitations we received. We felt very loved and were especially grateful that Thanksgiving to have found so many kind people here in Houston.

Something else we were very grateful to have here in Houston is a ward that does Turkey Bowl every year. Ryan loves Turkey Bowl and was particularly thankful, so much so that that's what he said he was grateful for as they listed the different things in his Elder's Quorum class the following Sunday. =)

 Jared was excited to be there too. It was a cold morning but we wanted to come watch Daddy play. Jared was pretty good about staying on the side lines with me and we walked along the track around the outside of the field quite a few times, but he finally had enough of being a spectator and was ready for his turn to play.

 Ryan took some time before we left to step out of the game and grabbed a spare ball to go play with Jared. Jared was very good at playing keep away from Daddy and running in for a touch down. It was very cute!

 They were pretty pooped after that morning when we got home. So they took some time to rest while I finished making our pies for our Thanksgiving dinner.

When we were ready we headed to Katy to spend the evening with Ryan's old friend from Michigan, Karl Harwood, and his family. We had a great time getting to know Heather's family and Jared had two little boys and swing set to play with, so it was a pretty fun evening. Ryan and I play the connect the dot game on this table clothe they had, and no matter how many times we played Ryan would win every time. (Very annoying; this is why we always try to be on each other's team if we can. ;D)

At some point during the day, we took the time to finish our Thanksgiving wall. We put little slips of paper writing things we noticed we were grateful for over the past few days, and we put up some Jared-hand turkeys. There is so so much to be grateful for everyday, it's amazing to try and think about.