Lydia Jo

I'm only 2 1/2 months behind, but I'm finally posting about our new family member, Lydia! It's so weird for me to think about her only being part of our family less than 3 months. It feels like she's always been part of us!

Anyway Lydia Jo Gibson was born Thursday, September 13 (3 days after her due date) at 2:00 am. She weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. She had blue/grey eyes and reddish brown hair.

I had an appointment with the midwives on Wednesday the 12th in the morning and was dilated to a 4 already. I had contractions all that day but they were never regular and never got any stronger so I didn't think much of it. (I always have lots of braxton hicks when I'm pregnant) Finally when Barrett got home from work late that evening I came to terms with the fact that I was probably in labor. I called the midwife around 10 pm and told her I thought I was in labor but the contractions still weren't really regular. She told me to come to the office so she could check me for sure.

So  I went into Rexburg and she checked me and said I was dilated to about 5 1/2 so I had progressed since that morning. She said I should probably prepare to go to the hospital and get my children taken care of and she'd see me again when I got up there. So Barrett pulled the kids out of bed and I met him at my parents' house. My contractions were finally starting to get harder and more regular so we finally went to the hospital and got there right at midnight. Even though my contractions had gotten harder they were still very bearable and Barrett and I talked and laughed with each other while we were in the triage room. The nurse was really confused and asked me why I was there since I didn't seem to be in much pain! After she checked me she said the midwives wanted me to walk the halls for an hour to try to get things to progress a little more.

So Barrett and I took off down the hall. We knew this routine well since we spent several hours walking those halls when Anna was born 4 years ago. At first we just walked and talked but the contractions were getting harder and harder so I'd have to stop and breathe during them. I had horrible back labor that was really painful and I thought to myself "not again!" I had bad back labor with Anna but my labor was really long with her. Thankfully this time that wasn't the case. We didn't even make it an hour walking the halls before I couldn't do it anymore. About 12:45 we went back to labor and delivery and they checked me in. By the time they got me into a room and everything ready to go I had already progressed a lot. I was still having really bad back labor so the midwives gave me water shots in my back. They hurt like the dickens! I don't think they were even worth it because I was ready to push shortly after so I don't know if they even helped at all.

I knelt on the bed and Lydia was born shortly after. For some reason I thought delivering my third baby would be a lot easier. Boy was I wrong! It was just as difficult (if not harder because she was bigger) as my other two! Lets just say when you don't get an epidural giving birth is not a calm, happy experience! I can't speak otherwise because I've never had an epidural, but I am glad I've had to labor with all my might to deliver my children. As with anything you work really hard at, the satisfaction you feel afterwords is very rewarding. Although I will admit the pushing and prodding shortly after giving birth is not pleasant at all!

Anyway, Lydia was big and healthy and felt so wonderful in my arms. She didn't really even cry after she was born, but was content just to be held and look around. She has been such a sweetie from the start! The first few days until my milk came in were a little rough because I think she was starving! She ate all the time and never seemed to be satisfied so she didn't sleep well. I never experienced that with my other two so I didn't even think about giving her some formula! I think it would have helped!

Lydia is such a good baby. She eats better and sleeps better than my other two kids. She only cries when she's hungry or sleepy and is so happy! She loves to look at people and laughs and smiles all the while. She melts my heart! She has also been growing like a weed! At her 2 month appointment she weighed over 16 lbs and I think she's already over 17 now. She is in the 100th percentile for weight and 98th for height, so she is just a big healthy girl! I didn't think she was that much bigger than Anna was at first until I realized that she is wearing the same clothes at 2 months that Anna was wearing at 5 and 6 months. I'm definitely going to have strong arms!

Lydia was blessed on November 4th in Rigby 16th ward by her daddy. Barrett's dad, my dad, my Grandpa Andersen, and my brother Greg participated in the circle. It was a beautiful blessing. The one thing that really stuck out in my mind was that she was blessed to have a missionary heart and a desire to be an example of the gospel to others. We had a lunch after church with our families and just had a nice day. It was so nice of my grandparents to come up from Utah for the blessing.

Besides having Lydia not too much has been going on at our house. We did get two black kittens for the kids shortly after Lydia was born to keep Cooper company in his big new dog house. They didn't get along at all for a few days, but now they sleep together every night and get along just great!

We also went on a trip to Boise at the end of October for Barrett to attend a conference. His boss paid for our hotel room and we were able to visit with my Aunt Karreen. Lydia was an angel and was so good the whole time. The kids had fun swimming at the hotel and playing at my aunt's house.

Anna is taking clogging lessons once a week and is having a fun time learning her dance. She is pretty funny to watch because she sticks her tongue out of her mouth when she is concentrating. She has also been doing preschool. 3 other moms in our ward and I are doing a preschool co-op where we take turns teaching the 4 kids at our house. Anna is enjoying it and I only have to teach every 4 weeks so it's working out pretty well. I love that she loves to learn and discover new things.

Caleb is just being Caleb and is a good sport tagging along with whatever I'm doing. He hates to be alone or excluded from anything so he is really good at helping me cook or do the dishes. He loves Lydia and is such a good helper with her. The first few weeks she was home he asked me like 15 times a day if he could hold her, which would usually last about a minute. He loves to talk to her and give her kisses. He has also learned many of Anna's clogging steps and likes to do them with her!

Of course life always changes a little when you add people to your family, but we are so thankful for our little Lydia and the joy she brings to our family. I feel so blessed to have three beautiful children and a loving husband. I'm so happy for the Christmas season and the traditions we have. We cut our Christmas tree in the mountains and had an adventure there! I love my family!

New House!

Well we finally made it! It's been three weeks since we moved into our new house in Rigby and we are loving it. It took longer than we wanted to wait to get out of my parents' house, but as always the Lord knows better than us and makes everything work out. We had everything set to close on August 20th and then 2 business days before our loan officer threw us a curve ball with several things we had to get done. The biggest one was that our debt to income ratio was just a couple of percentages too high so she asked us if we could possibly pay off our car at closing. What?! Even though it threw us for a loop everything ended up working out and we had more money than we expected. We know the Lord was watching over us because when we calculated everything we were going to have like $50 for the rest of the month! Once again, I'm so thankful that we trusted in God's timing and had to wait longer for our house. If we had gotten it earlier we wouldn't have had enough money saved up to pay our car off and make the down payment. (We still had some help from family :)). Also the loan officer felt so bad for putting us in a tight spot that she gave us $400! We were able to get a nice washer and dryer (which is another blessing story I won't go into detail for) and have plenty of money to last till the next paycheck.

We truly have been so blessed and know this is where we are supposed to be right now. Everything has fallen into place from getting furniture for good deals to getting our closing date faster so we could move in before our baby is born. I'm so thankful for our families and all the help they have been. Mostly I'm so thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who has an interest in my life and the lives of every one of his children. I'm thankful the gospel has been restored and I have a knowledge of my purpose on this earth and that I can live forever with my family.

Now, what you all have been waiting for: pictures! Our house is manufactured on a foundation and we have 3.8 acres of land. It is nice just to have the space without close neighbors and we are planning on getting some animals sometime.

 

 There you have it! We are loving the space and having our own stuff back! Anna and Caleb have adjusted well and are enjoying their own rooms. (Me too!) Cooper has had a harder time adjusting since we don't have a garage. He sleeps in the laundry room at night (which I just realized I forgot to take a picture of. Oops!) but we don't let him in during the day. He doesn't like being outside without his bed and whines all day to be let in. He's a wuss, I know. Barrett is planning on making him a dog house soon so hopefully that will help!

A million things went on in July and August that I haven't had time to write about, but hopefully I will do it soon. Highlights: my brother Greg came home from his mission to the Philippines, we had all of my family at my parents' house for about 2 weeks, an extended family reunion at Bear Lake, Anna took swimming lessons, reunion with the Gibsons and then an extended reunion on that side, and then of course buying our house. It was a busy busy summer and we are excited with where we are at now. (If you have read this whole post you either need an award or a life!! ha ha)

Patience

I have not been very good about blogging this past year. I think I need to remedy that. We'll see...
To sum up our lives lately: Barrett finished his internships in May and graduated with a doctorate degree in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University. We went to Arizona for his graduation and had a nice little family vacation. The day after we got home we went to Helena, Montana for a job interview, so we did a lot of driving. Our kids are troopers when we travel!

 We stopped at Lake Powell for a little while on the way home. Wish we could have stayed longer!

Thankfully Barrett was smart and took his national boards in March (most of his class didn't take them until July) so he was able to work a lot earlier than most new graduates. He got a job at Performance Therapy in Idaho Falls and is really enjoying it. He is one of two therapists at the clinic and really likes that he gets more interaction with his patients than most other places he's worked at. It's been a little bit of an adjustment going from school life to working life, but we are so thankful to finally be making money! And I'm so thankful that we don't have to be separated any more and he comes home every night!

Our biggest struggle lately has been that we are still living in my parents' basement. We started looking for houses as soon as Barrett got a job, but it's taken a month just to get financing stuff in order. We finally have and made an offer on a house on Friday. It's not looking like we are going to be able to get it in our price range though, so we will have to start over again. Pooey. Buying a house is way more emotionally draining than I ever thought! I feel like I'm on a roller coaster ride all the time! (That also might have something to do with being 32 weeks pregnant. Maybe.) The fact that we are expecting a baby in 8 weeks or so is making us a little frantic to find a house! Hopefully now that we have financing in order we can get everything done pretty fast. Thinking about having a newborn and still living in my parents' basement does not sound like an inviting prospect to me. Then again, at least I'd always have someone to take care of the other kids for me! :)

It was Barrett's birthday on July 1

Anyway, we've just been trying to be patient and trust in the Lord's timing for us. As much as we wanted to get out of my parents' house as soon as possible I can see already that staying here just a couple of months extra has helped us in many ways. Mostly financially we wouldn't have been able to afford to furnish a house at all or stock up on food! So I know the Lord knows what he's doing and I'm just trying to enjoy life and trust in Him!

Things are going to get crazy around here soon though. My brother Greg is coming home from his mission to the Philippines on Thursday and we will have family here for the next several weeks. I wish I had my own home to escape to when all the people are around though! I might have to lock myself in the basement every now and then! :) No I am really excited to see everyone and have my whole family together in one place, but it really will be a mad house! Wish me luck that we survive the next month and find a house soon!

Oh, big PS: Caleb is potty trained! I was going to put it off until we moved but decided to go ahead anyway. He picked it up so fast and I'm very relieved!! Now only one child in diapers when this baby comes!

Birthdays!

Anna turned 4 on April 19th and Caleb turned 2 on May 6th. They are both growing up so fast! We kept things pretty simple for both of them just spending time with family and having cake and ice cream. I even braved a new horizon and made both their cakes out of fondant-type frosting. I learned a lot and had fun making cute cakes for them. (If anyone wants to know how I made them just email me andreaagibson@gmail.com they were actually pretty easy!)

Anna is my sweet and sensitive girl. She loves to help do anything, loves being outside especially in the dirt, doesn't like getting hit by her brother (who would?), loves books, animals, barbies or any toy she can pretend with, is learning her letters and can write her name, loves drawing pictures of her family members, and asks me every day when her little sister is going to be born. She is so excited! Anna enjoyed her birthday and being the center of attention. She loves her new bike and toys.

Caleb is also a sweety but is definitely two! It amazes me every day how different those two are. Anna still likes me to help her do many things for her but Caleb wants to do everything himself. "My do it" or "I pull myself" are common phrases used. I don't mind letting him try to do things unless we are in a hurry to get somewhere! Caleb is all boy and loves race cars, guns, tractors, trains, etc etc. He also likes to play with dinosaurs and other animals but because he has an older sister often plays with barbies and babies too. He is so adorable and loves to hug my tummy and tell me about the cute baby in there. Caleb also had a fun birthday and loved every minute of it. "For my birtday today" We went bowling the day before, which he loved, and was so excited to get a new bike and Cars toys.

I love my two blue-eyed kids and thank God every day for the chance I get to be their mom. Barrett is all done with his internships now so hopefully I will be blogging more often now that the laptop isn't in Utah most of the time!