Our Little Trooper

Ava has been such a little trooper lately. We had to stay an extra day in the hospital because her biliruben levels were high and she was jaundiced pretty bad. They put her under light therapy and we were only able to hold her during feedings. (Here is a picture of her in the hospital under the light therapy.)

Then we got her home and had to get her biliruben levels checked two days later and her values were high again. They said that we could try a home therapy for a few days and see if that worked, and if not ... back to the hospital.

The home therapy consists of Ava wearing a light band around her body at all times. It is attached to a machine and only has a three foot cord. It makes it difficult to feed, change, and hold her at times, but she is a trooper, and has tolerated it quite well. In fact, I think that she deals with it better than I do at times. Here is what she looks like wearing her lights.



We cover her in sleepers to keep her warm, and hold her constantly. It has allowed Joel and I to bond with her in a way that we probably would never had. She is such a good baby, and we can not complain at all. Hopefully this will all pass soon.

We love her so much!!

All I want for Christmas...

Our little girl finally came to Joel and I on December 24th 2009. I was at home on December 23rd and lost my water around 12:00 noon. I called Joel and asked him to come home from work and we headed for my doctors office to confirm that my water had infact broken. Once there they said that it had and sent us to the hospital. After 21 hours of labor, we were blessed with a beautiful little girl at 2:02 PM on Christmas Eve Day. We named her Ava Claire Anderson. She weighed 7 lbs 7 ounces, and was 20 inches long. Joel and I both have just fallen in love with her, and could not ask for a better Christmas present this year.

Here are a few pictures of our favorite little girl.

(Jen and Ava right after birth)

(Precious Ava)

(Ava getting her first bath)

(Proud Papa Joel with his baby girl)

(Ava with the Christmas hat the hospital gave her)

(Our Family)

Final Countdown

I can honestly say that I hope that this is the last post that I put up before our baby decides to come and join us. Oh, I hope that it is before Christmas, but she is now finally content inside of me. You would think that after contracting and being on partial bed rest for the last three months that she would want to come out early. Oh No...she is dragging it out to the end it looks like. But at least I can say that we should be in the final countdown stages.

Joel and I saw this cute little car seat cover at the doctors office and I thought that we could probably make it for way cheaper than you would be able to buy one. Yesterday we decided to attempt it, and I think that it turned out pretty cute. We still have the cover that zips up around their head too, underneath this, but it is so cold lately, that she will need this protection too I am sure.

Here is the last shot of my pregnancy pictures - this is a little over 36 weeks pregnant.

(Sorry about the showing of skin). I am not taking any more pictures because I feel like I have a Triple Chin now.

Well, now I guess we play the waiting came. The anticipation is a killer.

The Nursery

I have had a few people ask me to post pictures of our nursery, but have just not gotten around to it. I took a few random pictures the other day of the nursery, that I will attached to this post, but her nursery still needs some work. I figure that she will be living in our room for the first few months any way, so I can work on making it more cute during that time. I just have no energy right now to do it. I have a big bare spot on one of the walls, that I want to put her name on it in vinyl letters, but I am going to wait, since we have not decided on a name for sure yet. I think that we will have to wait and see her, before we decide on the name. I have no idea why choosing a name is so hard for us, but it is. It is such a permanent thing, and we want to make sure that we like it and that it fits her.

Here are a few pictures of the nursery. As you can see, there is really no theme. It is just pink and brown, but we like it that way. I am not huge on specific themes.

Her crib

Her dresser / changing table - the changing pad is MIA at the moment, but will be there when needed.

Home for the Holiday

This Thanksgiving Joel and I decided to stay home and celebrate just the two of us. I have been contracting pretty hard lately and did not want to be out traveling. My family was celebrating at the lake place, and I did not want to be that far away, and Joel's family had their Thanksgiving here, but with the baby sitting on my lungs (it feels like that anyway), and not being able to take my asthma medication due to this pregnancy, I decided not to go to his parents for dinner (due to the animals). Joel was able to go over and visit with his family for a few hours in the morning and see his siblings. When Joel got home we got our little chicken ready to roast, and then just relaxed and watched a movie. Joel's mom sent Joel home with a bunch of side dishes, so we did not have to cook much at all for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was actually nice just to have a lazy day together. I am so thankful for such a wonderful husband that supports me in everything.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Work Party!

This last week my work had a little lunch for Joel and I to celebrate us being pregnant with our baby girl. I work in a pretty small office, so get-togethers like this are fun and intimate. I work with such great colleagues, and have a fantastic job. It was nice for Joel to meet everyone I work with as well. The food and conversation were great, and we got some amazing gifts. I feel like I am ready to have her now, and hope that she comes a little early instead of a little late.

Here are some pictures from the lunch party:

(The cute cake)


(Joel got the honors of cutting the cake)


(Us opening gifts)

Friend Shower

This last weekend some of my close girlfriends threw me a baby shower. It was so much fun to spend time with some of the most fun, and special people in my life. Steph and Kim decorated and made all the food, and the place looked amazing.

Once everyone got there we played a few games, and ate some great food.

One of the games was that the participants had to draw a picture of a baby on the top of their heads on a paper plate, and then I got to choose the best one.

I tried really hard to pick the best one, there were a few that were pretty good.

In the end I narrowed it down to two babies, and Kristen won. Her baby picture was pretty good!

I got some really cute homemade gifts, like beautiful blankets, clothes and booties.


And we got tons of other amazing gifts. Our little girl is so excited to use all these fun things!!

This is a group picture of all my friends that were able to attend my shower.

My mom was able to make the shower too. It was nice to have her there.

And two of my piano students (Maddy and Kate) were able to come with there moms who are two of my close friends.

I have been looking forward to this shower for a few weeks, and it beat all my expectations. I am so thankful for such great friends. I truly do feel so blessed.

Halloween Outfit

Joel and I went to a Halloween murder mystery party tonight, and were supposed to dress up. What is a pregnant lady supposed to dress up as??? And to top it off - I am not a huge fan of dressing up in costume anyway.

Well this is the outfit we came up with...

It worked well for me because I did not have to do much for my costume.

Finally hit 32 Weeks!!

This last weekend I finally hit 32 weeks of being pregnant. This pregnancy is going so slow for me, probably because I want to see her so badly. On Saturday we had a break from the horrible rain that we have been having, and the sun actually came out for a few hours. Joel and I decided to go for a walk at the Finch Arboretum, and we took a few pictures.

Jen at 32 weeks Pregnant.

This picture of the two of us is kind-of funny because we were using the self timer on our camera, and it looks as if we are really slanted.

It turned out to be a fun day, and was just nice to have a few hours to walk and talk together!

We have one spoiled little girl...

This past weekend I had a baby shower with family and close family friends. It was so much fun to spend time with such important people in my life. Our little baby girl sure got a lot of really fun stuff, and has already become very spoiled. And even though she cannot communicate with the world yet, I know that she is very grateful for all that she received at the shower.

The shower was hosted by my mom and my two amazing sister-in-laws. This is a picture of me and my sister-in-laws (Jenny, Maria, and Me).

The cake... it was so yummy.

My mom and I.

This is the cutest diaper wreath that my sister-in-law Jenny made for a decoration at the shower. I loved it so much that I hung it in the nursery when I got home. Just too cute!

Here are a few random pictures of me opening some of our little girls presents.

Maveric sure enjoyed this little frog that made fun sounds.

The whole day was perfect. Thanks again to all that came and participated. We appreciated all that was given and done for us!

Baby Update

Here are some recent ultrasound pictures of our little girl. I have been measuring a little small, so they wanted to make sure that she was growing properly inside of me.

This is a 3-D picture of her face. It is a little distorted due to the amniotic fluid in front of her face. But we think that she is pretty cute.

Here is a picture of me at 29 weeks pregnant.

Hopefully all will continue to go well and that she will continue to grow properly inside of me. We are getting anxious to meet her.

I heart COUPONS

I am amazed at times what you can get and what you can save from a few coupons. Today I purchased the above items for only $3.49. Crazy!! I got 10 Johnson & Johnson Baby care items, 4 boxes of Ritz Crackers, 4 boxes of Ritz new cracker fulls, and a box of pasta. Pretty good deal I thought. Can't complain when you get a lot for practically nothing.

24 Weeks Pregnant

Joel and I decided to take a picture before church on Sunday. I was exactly 24 weeks that day! December cannot come quick enough. We cannot wait to meet our little girl.

A Little Vacation...

This last week Joel and I took off work and were planning to go to California for the week, but plans changed and we stayed home for most of the week. We got a ton done on our basement, and it is really starting to look great!. Joel is so handy and does a great job with projects around the house. We did head up to Swietzer for a few days with our good friends Beth and Wes and had a great time with them. The view is amazing up on the mountain. We were able to stay in the Meyer's condo (the condo is so much fun and right on the mountain) which is in the perfect location.

This is the view from their condo.

We went down to Sandpoint one evening and took a walk along the water at sunset. It was such a pretty night. We had a great little vacation, and really enjoyed being able to spend some time with good friends too.