Helena

Baby blessings, the MTC, and CougarTown

I haven't posted in a few weeks, and that's because we have been very busy! My mom arrived on April 15th and was with us for a few days before the rest of the family arrived for Helena's blessing. We had a fun time taking Tempe and Helena shopping, to story time, and to the children's museum. Unfortunately, Tempe has been feeling a little sick and grumpy, and she has completely gone back to needing her binky all the time--but if that is the worst thing she will do while adjusting to a new baby, I think I'm pretty lucky!

On April 19th, my dad and brothers Josh and Jeff and sister Kelsey arrived, and so did Jason's parents and sisters Corinne and Katelyn, brothers Austin and Jonathon, and Jonathon's wife Rachel and their two girls Maddy and Libby. We had quite a full house! The next day Jason blessed Helena in our ward sacrament meeting. It was a beautiful blessing and we were so thrilled that we could have it here in Laramie with all of our friends before we move away. Here are some pictures of everyone gathered together after the blessing!Jason's family had to rush back to Utah for a stake fireside, but my family stuck around until Monday afternoon. I hadn't been planning on going to Utah with them, but they convinced me to come, so I quickly packed stuff for me and the girls and made sure Jason had enough food in the house (so that he wouldn't go out to eat every single night). It was kind of a hard trip, because Tempe wasn't feeling at all well and she was really fussy, but we still had fun. It was so wonderful to be able to go to the MTC with Josh! I was able to go with Tyler a year a half ago, and I was so happy that I got to have that experience with Josh, too. Josh is supposed to email us all tomorrow, so I can't wait to hear how his first week as a missionary has been! Check out this article that the Nashville paper did about him: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200804250210/COUNTY090101/804250352
While we were in Utah we also went to BYU and I was able to see one of my old friends before she graduated and headed back east. I took Tempe to the duck pond and she had fun chasing the ducks and throwing bread at them. When I was a student living south of campus, I walked past the duck pond every day on my way to and from school, and I always saw moms with their kids feeding the ducks. I always thought that after Jason and I got married, I would be one of those moms at the duck pond. Going to BYU at this time of year was actually pretty hard for me--it was graduation week and it was hard for me to see everyone on campus having what I want so badly. It seems really unfair sometimes. I can't say that I regret not graduating before getting married/having kids, because I wouldn't trade what I have now for a diploma, but I do feel very sad that I wasn't able to have both. I know that I will graduate someday--I only have 28 credits left--but it's not really the same. It's not the experience that I always expected I would have. I guess that's life, though, right? Things don't always go according to plan and you have to be flexible. I am so grateful that I was able to find a wonderful man to marry and that I have my two beautiful girls. There are a lot of girls that can't say that yet, and I'm sure they feel the same way I do--that they wish they could have had both.
If Jason had gotten into BYU Law, I would have graduated by now (hopefully!) but it wouldn't mean anywhere near as much to me as it will when I finally do graduate. Working so hard and for so long makes it so much more meaningful!!

Jason's aunt Margaret took some absolutely beautiful pictures of Helena while we were with his family in Utah--check them out in her blog!

Count Your Many Blessings

Last night as I was holding Helena's hands together with one hand and holding her binky in her mouth with the other, in an effort to settle her down and help her sleep more soundly, I found myself wondering why she couldn't just be still and calm and let me get some good sleep! Really, she sleeps like a log all day long, but as soon as I start getting ready for bed, she wants to be snuggled and cuddled and she spends the whole night snorting and snuffling (if you've never shared a room with a newborn, don't be deceived: they are loud. Whoever coined the phrase "sleep like a baby" didn't know what they were talking about).
This morning, even though I am tired and I wish I could crawl into bed and sleep undisturbed for days, I realize how lucky I really am. First of all, even though it's hard for me to sleep with Helena, at least she is asleep! I'm not up pacing the floor with a crying baby for hours on end, or trying to entertain a baby that is wide awake in the middle of the night. At least I can lay down with her and close my eyes and rest. And really, I do get some sleep, just not as much as I am used to! So really, I'm pretty lucky. It could be worse.
And of course, I am so grateful that I am up at night with my daughter, because that means I have a beautiful, healthy child. It's such a blessing to have her and Tempe in my life, and if that means I miss out on a little sleep for a few years, it's completely worth it. I wouldn't trade the two of them for all the sleep in the world!

Twisted sister

Tempe has really warmed up to Helena over the past week! She calls her "Bah-bee" and she just can't get enough of her! Instead of trying to take everything away from Helena, she now just likes to share things with her little sister... like the bouncy seat! At first, Tempe threw a fit every time Helena got to sit in "her" bouncy seat, but now she climbs in and asks me to bring the bah-bee over to sit with her! Or sometimes she just lets Helena cuddle Frosty in the bouncy seat. If you've read our post about Tempe and Frosty, than you know how generous that is of her!

I feel so lucky that Tempe has adjusted so well to Helena! Bringing home our second baby has gone very smoothly, and once again I can't believe that I am so blessed with such an easy baby and an easy toddler. I better not say any more or I will jinx myself!!!

Week One

Coming home from the hospital on April Fool's Day.

Today is Helena's one week birthday! The week has gone by fast, and so far, we're not only hanging in there, we're doing really well. Our ward and friends have taken such good care of us! We have had so many meals brought (we're actually drowning in leftovers now, so I think we're good for another few days still!) and so many people have offered to help or to watch Tempe for me. I'm so grateful for all of the great friends we have here! That's one thing about Laramie that I am really going to miss.


Jason's mom was able to come meet her newest grand-daughter for a few days before she and her family left to go to Jamaica to help Jason's brother move back after his internship. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and Jason, Tempe, and Grandma Jan got stranded in Cheyenne Monday night (which was ok, because I was still in the hospital). They got a hotel room and settled in for the night, hoping that the road would be open in the morning... but it wasn't. I was all set to be discharged from the hospital that morning, so they had to take I-25 down to Ft.Collins then come back up to Laramie on Highway 287. It took Jan almost 24 hours to get here!! But we're glad she was able (and willing!) to come. My mom will arrive next Tuesday and we're excited for her to be here as well! I have quite the list of things that need to be done to keep her busy :)


Helena has already changed a lot in her first week. She cries a lot less than she did the first few days, and she's already starting to sleep better at night (mostly because I started letting her sleep in my bed). She still likes to be held most of the time, which makes getting Tempe lunch/dinner and cleaning her up a lot more challenging. But she is a sweet, cuddly girl!


As for Tempe, we're not so sure how she feels about Helena. She is all over babies at church, but mostly ignores Helena. I guess that's better than blatantly disliking her! She has had a few bursts of jealousy, but mostly is content to look at Helena every once in a while and help me by bringing me things. She is very concerned when Helena cries!


So we are doing pretty well. Hopefully the second week will go just as smoothly!

Time Out

Today Tempe had her first official time out ever! She has been pretty good with the baby, but when Dad was getting Helena dressed, Tempe lay down next to her and kicked her! Poor Helena was already upset about getting changed, and being kicked just made it worse. So Tempe had to sit on the couch without her Cookie Monster and Elmo toys for a minute until she was ready to listen and be nice to her little sister. She didn't like it one bit, but she did stay where I put her until I told her she could get down!

We've been trying to think of ways to help Tempe adjust to her new sister, and one of the things we've done seems to be working pretty well. Tempe loves wearing bracelets and necklaces, so I made her a special "Big Sister" bracelet. Every morning when she gets dressed she puts it on, and as long as she is nice to Helena she gets to wear it... but if she takes something away from Helena or does something mean, we have to take it off until she can be nice again. She really loves wearing her bracelet so it has been a big motivator to be nice! Besides that, we have just tried to involve her as much as possible--Tempe helps me by bringing wipes and diapers when Helena needs a diaper change, or picks things up for me when I am holding the baby and can't reach them. She likes babies in general, but she isn't sure about sharing Mom and Dad's attention.

Helena Louise

Yesterday afternoon we welcomed our second beautiful daughter, Helena Louise Anderson, to our family at 2:13 in the afternoon. She weighs 6 lb 8 oz and is 19 inches long. So far, she loves sucking on fingers and being held. Big sister Tempe was skeptical at first (she yelled "No, no, no!" when we first asked if she wanted to hold the baby) but is warming up to Helena. To get all of the details of the birth, keep reading!!

*** DISCLAIMER!!! I'll try not to make this too graphic, but if you're not interested in things like dilation, better stop now. ***

At my 37 and 38 week appointments, I was 4 cm dilated with a bulging bag of waters and having lots of irregular (but painful) contractions. My midwife was concerned that since I was already so dilated and contracting, I would go really fast when I went into labor, so she asked if I wanted to augment my labor by having her break my water. At first I wasn't sure, but after a few more days of an aching back and fruitless 5-minute-long contractions, I agreed, so she scheduled us to come in Sunday morning at 7 am. When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to the monitor to see if I was contracting on my own, and I was, but they weren't very strong and they weren't at all regular. Esther (my midwife) checked my cervix around 8, and we were all surprised to see that I was 6 cm already. How could I possibly be 6 cm and not in labor? I don't know! Esther broke my water and we all expected me to go really fast... but 4 hours later, I still wasn't contracting! We decided to use Pitocin to get my labor going, and as soon as the nurse hooked the Pitocin up to my IV, I started having pretty strong contractions. This is what I looked like during my contractions:

Just kidding... that was me goofing off.

After about an hour of pretty painful contractions, I decided that I wanted to get an epidural after all, so they brought the cart in and got it all set up, but the anesthesiologist was tied up in another room and I had to wait for her. I was in a lot of pain, but I just kept thinking about that epidural... until I realized that I felt like I needed to push!!! I admit, I panicked when I realized that the anesthesiologist wasn't going to make it before I delivered. I feel like I was out of control the first few times I pushed, but after a few contractions I realized that it was only when I was actually pushing that I was in a lot of pain, and I started to relax between contractions and get on top of the pain. Jason said it was pretty funny because I was screaming bloody murder while I was pushing, and then as soon as the contraction ended I was perfectly coherent, making jokes and laughing and asking Esther questions... then another contraction would start building and I would start screaming again!

Luckily, I only had to push for about 15 minutes before Helena was born. When they put her on my chest, she was screaming (like mother like daughter) and I was just shaking. I couldn't believe that I had actually delivered a baby without drugs! It was an amazing feeling, especially because when it was over, it was over and I felt 100% better. The very best part about it was I had no tearing or cutting, which means no stitches!! I can't believe how good I feel and how easy it is to get out of bed and walk around. I almost feel like I didn't have a baby at all.

Jason and I are surprised at how different Tempe and Helena already are. Tempe was very quiet and very, very low key as a newborn... Helena voices her displeasure when her diaper is changed or you try to move her when she's comfortable, and she likes to be held constantly. I love that even though my girls are sisters, they already have their own distinct personalities!

Tempe and "Baby Sister"

The whole happy family!