Missed Pics

Sorry just realized I never posted some of my favorite pics. These are from about a month ago. Sorry there are kind of a bunch - you kind of go camera crazy :)

Time Flies

Wow it's been 2 months. I do not think time has ever moved this fast. School is now back in full swing and stress levels are around a 9 in our home. Mike watches the little guy most days of the week and works during the weekends, while I go to school and work one night a week, and then on top of that we have to study for school and Mike has to do his online classes and try to find the time to shadow. We are SO thankful for the support system we have and all the help we get with watching the little guy so we can sleep after staying up all night studying for an exam or so we can just hit the books or so we can go grocery shopping after a month of not finding the time. Our mom's are what are keeping us afloat. We love you Mom's!! And Alexander is FAR from being an easy baby so thank you for just loving him through the hard times!
Ok so once upon a day Alexander was very little, and then he discovered food. At his 2 day appointment he was just past his birth weight and by 2 weeks I believe he had gained a pound. His little cheeks and legs starting filling out and he was looking more and more like a normal chubby little baby. So now 2 months later he has doubled his birth weight and is now 12 lbs. We went from breast milk to formula because he was having problems, then back to breast milk, then to another formula, and then another, and finally we struck gold with the food that works for him. Its called Lipil Nutrimigen and it is the only food we found that does not cause him to curl up in pain and cry all the time from stomach pains, and his bowel movements are normal and almost breast milk looking which is amazing after our journey, it does however STINK so bad! Oh and its like 20-26$ every 3 days. Thank heavens for WIC.
Halloween was fun and after putting the little man in his tiger costume we took some pics and headed out with my brother for his first "trick or treating", which entailed standing on the sidewalk watching my brothers kids trick or treat for about 4 houses, get cold and head back home. But it was a memory.
Oh and he is really starting to smile which is SO fun. His first big responsive smile was right before a test last Friday, which I think was good luck and helped me pass. Mike is done with school for the semester on December 4th but has LOTS to do before then - like a test a day.. BOO! But we do what we have to do and hope for the day when things are not so chaotic. Man having a kid is HARD! But man he is the cutest little guy and all you have to do is look at him after a long day and you can't help but have a smile cross your face. Here are some pics of our chubby little bug (or squirt as Mike calls him).
Love you all! Oh and Welcome Home Jeff!! :)
Star and Mike

Alexander is HERE!!!!

Ok so let me tell you our story that has happened since the last time we have posted. Star is back in school and just waiting for Alexander to come into the world. On 10th of September while Star was in class, she felt a "gush" and so we decided to investigate it by going to the hospital and talking to our doctor. Test were taken, and nothing was out of the norm so we went back home disappointed. Little did we know that Alexander had a plan up his sleeve, Star took her test the following day and passed it only missing 3, and then we came home that Friday night and celebrated Star passing her test.

The following morning we slept in till about 11, woke up had breakfast, and got ready for our to do list for the day. At about 3:30 while we were walking out the door, Star felt another "gush" and then another one about 10 min later. We decided that on our way to go do our "to do" list we would stop by the hospital and see if this was "Normal". On our way to the hospital, we were laughing, joking, singing songs and living it up.
(Star here to type some) Ok so on our way I had yet another "gush" and had to scramble to keep the seat and my pants dry because it was such a big one. We thought this might be something but I was having no contractions and was in no pain and with all the other false labors and what not knew that we would get there and they would say the line I have heard a thousand times that this was all normal. So we didn't really pack a lot of stuff and left the stuff we had packed in the car because I thought we would be in and out. Well....we go in and they do their little test (a pH strip) and it was blue, which meant my water had broken. So the nurse is talking about starting pitocin and starting the contractions and I was looking over at mike shocked and terrified that this was it...we were going to have the baby. I all the sudden didn’t feel ready and kind of wanted to leave. Weird.
Well they stick on IV in my hand (OUCH- the bruise is just now fading away a week later), and start the drip. I guess the policy is to start pitocin at a 6 and you can raise it 2 every hour (I think) and 20 is the max. So yeah 7 hours later and bored out of my mind it was maxed to a 20 and I was waiting for the contractions so my body would start dilating. It was not long after that I heard a "pop" and nearly got knocked to the floor with pain. We called the nurse in and she made it just in time for the next one, she helped me breathe through it and asked if I was ready for the epidural which I quickly let her know I was. So 15 min later I am pain free and so super grateful for modern medicine. Well I guess the contractions (that I could not feel :)) were compressing the umbilical cord and stressing the baby so they stop the pitocin and have me lay on only one side and give me oxygen. After everything was calmed down me and mike decided to get some sleep while we waited.
So an hour and a half later (1 am) the nurse comes in the check me and I have gone from a dilation of a 3 to a 9 almost a 10. They want the baby to move down more so again we just chill. Around 3 am the nurse comes in to do some practice pushing. I do one and she stops me and mike asks if that is the head. Well I was told not to push till the doctor came in. So the Dr comes in and they bring in a mirror so I can watch (AMAZING) and 3 pushes later Alexander is out and getting cleaned up. I was so happy there was no episiotomy or stitches. They said he was 5 lb 13 oz and I was shocked by how little he was. Oh and he was 18 inch long. They do the APGAR test and he gets an 8 then a 9. Then they hand him to me and the moment feels like your dreaming. I was looking at the face of the little guy that had been growing in me.

(Mike again)

As soon as Star is pushing to get the baby to drop with the help of the nurse, I notice that there is a little grey thing that I can see and lo and behold it is the head of Alex. I was like “Star I think that is his head”. In response she says “What does it look like, and what color of hair?”, and I respond “Grey”. Soon after the doctor comes in to get ready for Alex and then about 10 min later Alex is born!!!!! As soon as he comes out, they get his umbilical cord ready and the doctor lets me cut it which was a really cool experience for me. They then rush him away to clean him up and then they pass him to star and that was one of the best moments in my life was to see my wife/mother hold our son. Star then passed him to me and I was in shock and an instant love for the little guy that I was holding in my arms. I didn’t want anything to happen to him from that point on and never knew that I could love my child as much as I love him.

Star fell asleep and they took the baby to the nursery to get him all cleaned up. A couple of hours later, star wakes up and is then escorted to the bathroom with me one side and the nurse on the other (her legs were like Jell-O and she had to walk like Frankenstein). Star is then moved over to the post partum room. A little while later the pediatrician came in and gave us an update on Alex, come to find out his temperature was low, and so was his blood sugars which meant that there might be a chance that Alexander has an infection or something in him so they started to do a bunch of tests (CBC, Spinal Tap) and put him in the special care unit.

For the next 2 days, we were up every 3 hours to go and feed him, and waiting for the “ok” from the doctor to send Alex and us home. On Tuesday all the tests came back negative, and they attributed his issues to his size (he was now regulating his temp and sugars well) and we were free to go. Two days later we had a doctor’s appointment for Alex and he said that he is doing amazing and has only lost 1 oz from his birth weight. Star and I attribute it to the 3 hour feeding sessions that we were having for the past 2 days.

(Star here) Yeah Xander and I are still learning the ways of the cow so feeding sessions are a little lengthy but we are getting better. We are up about every 3 hours and feeding is now down to about an hour. I was supposed to get right back into school, but things were not as easy as I thought they would be, so I am taking a leave of absence from school for one month (I still have a couple tests that I have to do and what not but no lecture – yippee). We are loving our time with Xander and are in awe of him every day and how handsome he is. He has been a calm peaceful baby so far which has been wonderful for us. We feel like we learn more everyday about the challenges of having a baby but are enjoying the adventure. It is crazy how much you can love a little child and how worried you can be for them from the first time you see them. Well sorry for the length….hope you all enjoy the pics. (I wish I had makeup on in more of them :))

Love you all!

Star and Mike

no baby yet :(

So we haven't had Alex yet and we are happy about this for the first time in awhile because we just got back from fish lake with stars side of the family and it was amazing that we didn't have to worry about a baby and just to enjoy our time with each other and fishing. We will do a full blog tomorrow but here are some of the pics from the trip. Note from star: I hate this pics because I look like a whale, but love that mike doesn't think so and I am glad I have the excuse that its because I'm a week or two away from having a baby. Pointing at the lake from our cabin. Our little cabin. (same cabin where me and star semi got engaged last year)
Fishing with Keenan.
An amazing rainbow over the lake.
Taking a funny pic in the cabin - love this one.
The rest are just me and star and all her family that was there.

Impatient Parents

Wow we really are not very good at blogging. It is quickly turning into a bi-monthly thing.

Today is my last real day of relax with nothing on the to do list, just doing what sounds good at the moment. Me and Mike were really really really hoping to have Alexander here by now but with all our efforts nothing worked. I drank raspberry tea and took primrose oil pills, we went walking and even skipping, oh and Mike tried maternity acupressure points but Alexander is being stubborn and not budging. On Sunday night we had this ray of hope as I started getting contractions that were about 5 min apart and after 4 hours we went into the hospital and they measured the contractions for an hour (which were consistent around 2 min apart 30-60 seconds long) but after all that I was still just 1 cm dilated and thick, so they gave me a shot of morphine and said it was probably just early labor, well 10 hours later after the morphine had worn off I was back to no contractions and after my doctor appt I was still just 1 cm dilated. What was that about?? My bodies joke doesn't seem that funny. But me and Mike both understand when the baby is ready he will come.

So no baby and school starts Friday. I work tomorrow so this was my last real day to sleep in and relax before school hits and baby one day makes an appearance. Funny thing is I don't really like relax days - I just get bored, but I think once the baby is here and I am crazy stressed about school I will miss days with boredom.

Mike started his classes at Weber and has been studying a lot. He is such a good example to me and makes me kind of excited for the nights when we are both sitting at the table studying together. He is working so hard with work and shadowing and school work and I really feel so lucky to have him in my life. Mike makes me feel beautiful and amazing even when I look in the mirror and see this huge version of myself or I sleep for 12 hours. He tries to take on everything and I have to constantly fight him so that I can do things on my own and even do stuff for him. He is too good to me! We celebrated our one year anniversary on Aug 2, and were both blown away by how fast this year went and how much has happened. We took about a week off from everything and just played games, laid in bed and talked, went fishing and just enjoyed the time together, it was the perfect. I look back over my life and feel Mike is the best thing that has ever happened to me and am so excited that we get to spend the rest of this adventure together.

Wow sorry you can tell I am in a lovey mood today and miss my husband who is at work. :)

So once the baby is here I will post some pics and let you know the story. :)

We love you all so much and really are thankful for all the love and support you give us!

Star and Mike

WE ARE ALIVE :)

Well hello everyone from the Anderson family. Yes we are still alive but we have been super super busy. To start things off, Star is finally done with her first year of pharm school, YAY!!!!!! She didn't have to take any of the classes during the summer so it is super good times. We are going on 3 months left and counting until Alexander K Anderson is born, and Star is able to sleep hopefully once again. I finished my spring semester of school about 2 weeks before Star and was really happy with my grades. I am still working at the hospital as an orderly, and I somewhat got accepted into the echo cardiology program up at Weber State. I started shadowing some of the techs over at the Central Utah Clinic to get some time shadowing under my belt but am still waiting for the Doctor to give it the ok for me to do my clinicals there, so we are crossing our fingers.
Star and I moved to Springville during all of this chaos, and now live 1 block away from mom and dad Anderson which we love. The new place is so nice and quiet compared to the interstate noise that we had at the other place. We just have to worry about the robins and the bird choir at 5:30 in the morning waking us up (loved Julies idea of putting a fake owl out there). We are really loving the new place though, a big back yard with a play area, a lot of kids around, really quiet, and just a perfect place to start our new family. It really feels like living in the country.
After we had both finished school and before Star started her internship at the Walgreen's (working 6 weeks for 40 hrs per week), we decided that we were going to take a vacation for a week to relax and hang out with each other before the chaos started again.
The vacation started off with boating with Max and Jewel and the gang at Utah lake. I tried to go tubing on a small tube and just ended up drinking a lot of nasty lake water and getting very sore arms. The next day we slept in and relaxed and then played games with tom and Julie and dad Salmond (we are not big fans of battle star galactica!!). The next day we went and fed some ducks over at a pond in springville, there were some monster fish that came up and starting eating the bread and Star jumped up. It was so cute, Star was worried about the little ducks and that they were going to get eaten by the fish. So so cute. Then on Monday we went fishing up American Fork canyon, and got onto our raft that we bought last year and yes it still floats. I was scared out of my mind that there was a hole or something in it but star was like "lets do it!!!" Super fun, and no there wasn't a hole, and no we didn't catch any fish but we did play go fish. The last day we decided that we would go to the zoo with mom and dad Salmond. We did a scavenger hunt where we got a list put together of things that we wanted to see. For example two young people in love, the tongue of a Giraffe, a kid picking his nose, an adult picking his nose, etc. We got most of them besides the kid and adult picking their nose. It was really fun to go with them and to get away from the world for a little bit. Overall it was a great vacation and much needed and although we are worried about our relationship changing with a new little baby, its times like this that bring us closer and we hope we always find the time to get away and enjoy each other as best friends just out having fun.
We are getting ready for Alex (xander to Star) to be born in September, and star is (in my eyes) really not looking pregnant but she would tell you other wise (note from Star: ummmm I have gained a CRAZY 25 lbs already....WHOA!!, yeah I can only think of 2 shirts that fit me before and still fit, not so fun. We thought about posting star's big pics, but I really hated that idea, so sorry for all you guys that don't get to see me in my fatty state :P) . Star is still trying to get used to the positioning that is most comfortable for her for sleeping at night, and with the weight gaining thing, but we just have to keep on remembering that it is a baby and that all this is worth it in the end. We are really grateful that we are having a baby, and are both really excited.
Star is learning a lot at her internship at Walgreen's, but is missing her friends as Costco. She is actually going to start working at Costco next Thursday and is not excited about working almost 50 hrs a week but is happy that she will be getting paid for her time and that she gets to work with the girls again. She has picked up the Walgreen's system in 4 days, and is able to help out the customers, and get the prescriptions into the data base. She now has just 5 weeks left of the internship and then will continue to work at Costco, working toward her 600 hrs needed by the state for her pharm license.
We got a DVD made of the ultrasound today from the lady that I am shadowing at the echo place, so now we can watch Alex whenever we want (the clips are SUPER fast though but its really super cute to see Alex sucking his little thumb and waving and bringing his foot up to his head) .
We really hope everything is going well for you guys wherever you might be and hoping that you are safe and healthy. Much love-Mike and Star

Intro to Iggy

This is the little introduction to little Iggy. Me and Mike LOVE this pic! I tried to put arrows in to make it easier to see...but after a couple tries and not getting it to work decided it it easy enough to see :). The head is the easiest part, than right below are the two little arms and than further down you can see one leg sticking out and the other leg is directly in the middle of his body pointing right at you. When we saw it live he/she was all wiggling, so so cute. The reason we have it is another story of my silly troubled pregnancy. It all started at week 5 when we found out I was pregnant (we went to the doctors to find out why I was cramping, sleeping 15 hours a day and hadn't started my period), but the Dr thought it was ectopic and so the next day we had our first ultrasound and saw that Iggy (named for the icky "iggy" black spot that he/she was) was placed right where he/she was supposed to be. The next week I started spotting and went back in for another ultrasound and again saw that things were going good and saw the little heartbeat. The next week I started cramping and spotting again and once again went in only to find out things were good and this time we got to hear the heartbeat (133 bpm). I started getting nauseous soon after this and finding out that I have to eat constantly to fight off the nausea. We had our first real Dr appointment the next week (week 8) and found out the spotting was most likely caused by my friable cervix (which basically means your cervix is more fragile than normal and has a tendency to bleed). Than this past Friday I started getting really bad cramps through my back and lower pelvic area and after just trying to brush it off most the day and night, me and mike ended up in the ER at midnight. After yet another ultrasound I was thrilled to see Iggy was still alive and doing well, but it came with some slightly scary news about where the spotting was coming from and the cramps. Next to the placenta there was a darker gray spot that was called a "small subchorionic hemorrhage", meaning my uterus (for no known reason except stomach stress) had bled out. We were informed that it was only 1 cm and they usually don't worry about them till 3 cm but that I needed to avoid standing for long periods of time and keep my activity light, that my Dr needs to keep watching it, and that it can either heal over time or cause a miscarriage. So now happy to get an answer to some of the problems and that Iggy is growing well, bummed that I just eat all the time and am a soon to be fat lazy head. :) We know the risks of losing Iggy are there and are trying to stay somewhat aloof to what happens, but I admit, seeing Iggy move and having a little pic to look at makes it more difficult. We just hope for the best and are happy for the chance we might get to have this little one. Well hope that is a good (belated) update for everyone. We love you all so much and are so thankful for such an amazing support system that we have. We will try to keep you updated amidst the busy school life and crazy pregnancy.
Loves
Star and Mike (and Iggy)

Start off on the right foot

Well, it has been a while since star and i have made a post here on the good ol' blog spot and we thought it would be a good idea to update everyone on how we are doing. Star has started school (Monday), which she was not to happy about but is getting into the swing of things again after the long break. She got her intern set up for the summer with WalGreens where she is going to work for 6 weeks for FREE!!! YES she is so excited about it (well kinda not but who likes to work for free right :)
I started school on Wednesday, and think this is going to be a really good semester. I am craming to get my application done up to the Echo program up to Weber State which is due on Saturday so cross your fingers for me. I am taking classes that are from professors that star and i have both had before so it is a joyful experience for both of us.
Our Christmas was AMAZING!!! we spent alot of time with both of our families which we enjoyed very much; with the Christmas party up at Tom and Julies which Cassidy did a great job with. We also had a great time over at my parents house on Christmas Eve, sucky part is that we both got sick and slept most of the day on Christmas, and then had to battle it the rest of the break. All in all though the break was amazing, but we are both bummed that it is over, yet excited for the next semester of school. We wish that all is well with everyone, and know that we love you all very much.
mike and star
P.S Grats on the win Utah (SHOT OUT FOR TOM)