Merry Christmas Eve!!!

I am so excited to celebrate Christmas with our family this year. It is our first Christmas as a "complete" Sanders family, since we have just added our final member and I am officially a Sanders since we were married in January of this year. I am extremely thankful that my family is happy and healthy, and filled with Christmas cheer. Aiden is so excited for Christmas, it makes my heart smile. We have had so much fun getting ready for Christmas, Aiden has helped me tape a lot of the presents while wrapping. So, if you find any rogue pieces of tape you know why! We also did our annual Christmas tree shopping contest and cookie decorating. Here are some pictures of the festivities and a fun video capturing Aiden trying to wake up his uncle Adam.

 

Connor John Sanders-1 Month

I have given myself a little time with our newest addition before I got back to the blog, one month to be exact. As of Monday, I am officially back to work and doing my best to balance a full-time job, two small children and all my household duties. It is a little overwhelming, but so far I think I am doing fair job.

Connor John Sanders

November 16, 2014   10:01am

8 lbs 3.5 ounces  

21 1/2 inches

LABOR DAY
At 2 am I started having pretty serious pains in my back and I had a suspicion that I was going into labor.  After two hours of the pain getting stronger and more consistent, I decided to wake David up and tell him that it was time to head to the hospital. I was trying to hold out until the sun came up because it was so cold and windy outside, it was insane. The wind moved everything on our porch, including our BBQ and pretty heavy outdoor storage trunk. Despite my best efforts to stall, I knew that it was not wise to wait much longer. We packed up the car, bundled up Aiden and headed to emergency room. I called my mom to let her know that I was in labor and we were headed to hospital. At the hospital, we checked in and were admitted up to our room.  After I was settled and all hooked up, I sent the boys to the cafeteria to get breakfast. While they were gone, my doctor came and checked me out and informed me that Connor would be here in twenty minutes! I got on my phone to get David back up to the room so he did not miss it!  Luckily, we had some friends who were able to get to the hospital quickly to sit with Aiden while I was actually pushing.  Dave made it back into the room right around the time Connor was crowning, I had him out in under 8 minutes of pushing.  He was much easier to get out than Aiden and did less damage, although I guess because he came out so fast he was a little purple and bruised when he came out. At first sight, I thought he looked like a cross between Gollum and duck(in the cutest way possible). The bruising quickly faded and he became the cute little guy you see in the photos.

My mom came to help out the first week and took Aiden with her the second. Aiden has adjusted pretty well to being a big brother. He LOVES Connor. He is constantly saying, "How cute & I love you Connor" when he sees him.  He covers him with hugs and kisses and always wants the baby to sit next to him. Connor loves to eat, he wants to be fed every one to two hours. It keeps me pretty busy to say to the least. We went to see Santa a couple weeks ago, and saw a light parade. Aiden is in LOVE with Christmas.  He constantly asks to see Santa and says that he misses him. He always wants to drive around and see Christmas lights, watch Christmas movies and sing Christmas songs.  I must say, that I am loving it! I love seeing his enthusiasm and enjoyment over the little things in life. His Christmas cheer is infectious and I hope that he continues to love Christmas for all his days. Since we have a new baby it means that we can start having weekly weigh-ins again! So far Connor is following in his big brother's footsteps and gaining weight really quickly.

Let sleeping boys lie...

All smiles!!

They have the same look!

Date: December 17, 2014

Weight: 12 pounds 3 ounces

Height: 23 inches

New Addition

BABY FISH!!!!

Guess what! We have baby fish! :) I guess there is something in the air because even our fish are having babies. I looked into our tank two days ago and noticed two tiny little red fish swimming around in the watery cavern.  There is no news on the Connor front, he is still biding his time and driving his mommy crazy. I cannot believe we are down to less than a week till he is due, time is insane. Enjoy our pics from this week and a couple videos of the cutest little toddler in the world!

Aiden gave Dave all his "friends" and then cuddled up in his lap.

Fell asleep next to me while coloring on the kindle

Cute and comfy on the floor

Fell asleep holding my hand when I wasn't feeling well

Aiden getting some presents in the mail from his awesome cousins!

Aiden putting on a concert for us! :) He has started bringing out his desk chair to sit on while he performs fan favorites including: "ABC's," "Pop Goes the Weasel," and "Jingle Bells."

Halloween

We had a very busy weekend, as I am sure that many of all of you did as well since Halloween was on Friday.  I had an army costume picked out for Aiden but when we went to the store to pick up candy on Friday he fell in love with a dinosaur costume and since it was 50% off and the first time he has shown real interest in Halloween, I caved and got it for him.  We waited for Dave to get home so we could go trick-or-treating, and maybe hit a couple of the church festivals. I had Aiden in his costume when his daddy got home, and he roared and giggled when he walked through the door. We loaded up into the van and headed to one of the little church festivals since it was still a little early. Much to our dismay, three minutes into to the drive Aiden fell asleep.  We headed home, put Aiden in bed and impatiently waited for him to wake up hoping that it would be in time to do some trick-or-treating. Eventually, he woke up but he was pretty crabby so we decided to just hit a few houses on our street and go home. He made us say "Trick or Treat," but he said "Thank You" and "Bye Bye" every time. After the first few houses he started to get into it and we ended up walking around the neighborhood for an hour and a half.  The people LOVED him, he got so much candy it was ridiculous. All-in-all it ended up being a pretty good Halloween for the three of us. :) On Saturday, we packed up the van and headed to Apple Valley. We got to watch Adam perform in the Sundevil Classic, which they did really well in. They have improved SO much since the last time I saw them perform! On Sunday, we were kicked out of the house while they prepared for the baby shower. We took Aiden to get his 2nd haircut at an official hair cut place. It started off pretty rough but by the end he was doing pretty well. I don't have any baby shower pictures yet, so I will have to post more about that event on a follow up blog. Enjoy your week, 12 days till Connor is supposed to arrive!

He is wrapped in 5 blankets...my cute little burrito!

Playing on the playground after his haircut

Pumpkin Time!

Loves this penguin SO much!

Love when he falls asleep on his mommy...

This past weekend marked the end of volleyball season and it could not have come at a better time. I did not think that I would have been able to make it through another day. I am so thankful that we got to end our season on a high note, we won the Consolation Bracket in the final tournament! We are back to back Consolation Champs! It is so cool that I was able to really elevate the level of volleyball at Dave's school while we lived here.  The school has very few trophies for sports but in my two years of coaching we have been able to put two trophies in the case!  I am rushing around like mad trying to get the house ready for the arrival of Connor, I feel as if the to-do list never ends. I am hoping that even though I am miserable being pregnant that he does not decide to come early because I need every last day to prepare. Today we carved and painted pumpkins, Aiden had a blast as you will see from our pictures! Can't wait to see many of you this weekend!

PUMPKIN FILM ROLL

Family Fun

He LOVES pumpkins!

The scenic bathroom break

Love My Boys!!!

We had some fun family time this past weekend. We went to the "local" mini-golf place on Saturday, which is kind of a dive but we managed to have a good time. Aiden had a blast in the arcade, playing games and riding on a few of the little rides. The guy at the ticket counter was really nice and let Aiden have two toys that doubled the amount of tickets that we actually had. We finished off the night with a yummy dinner at Black Bear Diner in Bullhead City. On Sunday, we headed to Las Vegas because they have the nearest pumpkin patch. It was crazy! There was a line 1/2 a mile long of people waiting to purchase the pumpkins they picked out! It was 90+ outside, with no shade or beverages which led us to leave rather quickly and not actually purchase pumpkins. Aiden was happy to see the pumpkins in the patch though, so I am glad that we went to have that "patch" experience. We will probably pick up some pumpkins to carve this weekend. So our trip to Vegas was not "wasted," we decided to eat at Joe's Crab Shack. Dave had never eaten there before, and they had a really awesome playground for Aiden to play on. Aiden has been doing really well with potty training, in fact on the way to Vegas he let us know he had to go! We pulled over at a "scenic lookout," and Aiden had a blast peeing on the rocks. He thought it was pretty hilarious since usually I have him sitting on the toilet. Connor is constantly moving and kicking, and the doctor says that he expects him to arrive on time. I am praying that he is not early because I still have so much to do, including driving to California next weekend!

Aiden is such a good photographer...

Happy Family!

Yummy crab at the Shack! :) Aiden enjoyed his Broccoli and Mac & Cheese

LOVE THIS KID!!! :) @ Black Bear Diner