Ivy...3 kids

This is Minnie's pirate face...not sure why but she thinks anything that looks scary is a pirate.
Ivy looks a lot like Anderson did as a baby, so we are trying to imagine what he will look like as a little girl :)

I kinda hate taking pictures of little babies before they can smile, they look so serious and concerned...

I can't believe we have 3 kids. Ivy has been pretty good. Someone told me the 3rd kid has to be good and easy or else everything else would go down fast. Between nursing, taking Minnie to the bathroom, making sure Anderson is within sight, sleep deprivation, and c-section recovery, I feel like if I make it through the day and everyone is alive and fed, that I did ok. I usually leave the house at least once a day and my kids are definately used to it. Since I can't drive for a bit, and try to keep Ivy home for the most part, I don't want to get my kids dressed because then they want to leave. So we stay in our pj's and watch movies all day and play. I'm sure I'm not up for mother of the year, but like I said, surviving is key right now! I do have awesome sisters and family who help take Andy and Minnie so I can sleep and they can play with someone other than me with a baby attached to my chest. I know it's only been a week and a half but, when do they sleep through the night again? :)

Ivy Mae Vanderwalker

Baby Ivy is here. She was born January 5th at 7:45 and was 6 lbs 12oz. How is it that I gain 40lbs with Anderson and Ivy and they weigh 6lb 5oz and 6lbs 12oz and I gain 30lb with Minnie and she is 8lb 1 oz. Weird. Surgery went good, recovery is rough as always but I'll survive. Thank goodness for Tim and my parents who help out a lot. We've been home for a few days and the exhaustion is beginning to set in. Andy and Minnie love baby Ivy and Anderson begs for her to open her eyes so he can see them. We are all doing well and enjoying the new baby.

Sunbeam

Oh boy. Today was Anderson's first day in Sunbeams class, and lets just say he was less than thrilled. He loves nursery and all week we kept hyping up the fact that he was going to primary and going to be a big boy, blah blah blah. He just wants to play with trucks. Surprisingly though, he went without a fight. We teach the class behind him so we were right there to witness him in all his wiggly glory. Overall, he did better than expected, except...in the middle of class he had his first potty accident in forever. Seriously it's been a LONG TIME and I was surprised. So I had to head home and change him for the last little bit. We made it through though. Since I am a terrible mom and don't have one picture of Anderson on his blessing day (which is totally ridiculous considering he is my first child), I decided to take one today for his first day in primary...
and to document the last Sunday these 2 have before another one joins the bunch. I had pretty strong contractions on New Years Eve. I had to call my sister to ask how far apart they should be before I do something about it. They lasted a couple hours then stopped. Too bad, adding one more child to the tax return would have been mighty helpful:) Oh well, Wednesday it is.

The final countdown...

Jan 5th is the big day. The beauty of a scheduled c-section is knowing exactly when it is going to happen. That also means you are counting down the hours until it does. The downside to having a c-section...I don't want to talk about it. I hope that I can make it with 2 kids to take care of!! I'm not ready for no sleep, and adjusting to 3 kids, and if we can all fit into our car it will be a miracle. Wish me luck!

Knock on Wood

So, I don't want to jinx myself, but we've been potty training Minnie for a few weeks now and I think she's got it down pretty good. During the day she has been totally fine, and only a few

wet mornings every once in a while. I am a mom who doesn't truly consider my child fully "potty trained" until they go a SIGNIFICANT time where I know they truly get it. At home, she mostly will run to the bathroom and look at us like, "are you coming?" or she'll just take off her pants and undies and run right in. Of course, for us, getting them to tell other people (who are watching them or at nursery) usually takes a bit longer. But, I'm happy that I haven't bought diapers in 3 weeks, and won't be buying 2 different sizes come Jan. 6th!! At least I don't feel like I'm on "crotch watch" all day long and that I can leave the house without rushing to get back home where there is a bathroom handy!

Merry Christmas Card!

Merry Christmas from the Vanderwalker's! I do have cards I could send out, but lets be honest, way too much work at this point. So, just to keep up with technology, my Christmas card is on the world wide web...cards next year if you're lucky. The dynamic duo is up to no good as usual.

Mom is busy resting, eating, and counting down the days till she is not pregnant anymore (I mean until we recieve the wonderful gift of life into our family).
Dad is working and busy relieving mom when she needs it, which is more often than not. He has a sad face because this was the last time we went to Disneyland for a while. Like 13 days in a year hasn't been enough!
This little sassy one is busy going potty on the toilet...she's doing well but we aren't completely out of the woods in my book. She also loves to pose for pictures and wrestle with her brother.
This little boy is the same as always. I'm convinced his curiosity will never be satisfied. He so kindly sprayed half of my perfume (don't be surprised that I own perfume...it was a gift from Tim:) on his blankets and filled the house with the concentrated scent of Flowers. Thanks Anderson:) He's also avoided a few public exposure charges recently as he felt free to whip it out and relieve himself at the TOP of the bleachers at a high school football game (facing the crowd no less) and at his cousin's flag football game. Hopefully he's gotten that out of his system. Andy never ceases to amaze me.
We are hanging with my parents until Tim can find a job...either with his current company in Cali or somewhere else. Sorry AZ, we've grown apart. I know most people LOVE it here but we are ready for a change. The baby (most likely Ivy Mae) will be here Jan. 6th, unless Santa brings her earlier so we can get the tax benefits:) We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!

It's our funeral

We've decided to take the plunge and potty train Minnie. To me, there are too many good things

to doing it earlier than later: it's done before the baby comes, it's done before we can hopefully move (sometime soon hopefully), no 2 babies in diapers, and the Minnie Mouse undies are too cute. I can't resist. The way I look at it, we have to either do this now, or in 6 months. Either way, she has to figure it out. Wish us luck!