My Loves

...Are growing up! Josh is 3 and when he is not being the most brilliant, sweet, adorable boy ever, he is busy pushing us to the brink of insanity. In the words of Bill Cosby, "Children have brain damage." Josh is a quick learner and very, very independent. I need to find a preschool for this kid! I am proud to say he is now potty-trained, and it wasn't too hard to do, either. Phew! Caleb is 6 months old and decided to completely skip the sitting-up phase in favor of crawling! He's army crawling everywhere and almost up to his hands and knees. He eats a LOT of solids (he grunts and squeals after every bite until he's satisfied), is cutting his first tooth, and is clearly the cutest baby in the world. He loves to cuddle and laugh and I cannot get enough of him. These boys keep us busy, but we sure love them!

Big Changes

We now live in downtown LA. Terms like culture shock and adventure are understatements. I'm working in a major hospital in the ICU on a travel contract. We're busy exploring the city, catching up on sleep (not... the traffic wakes Josh up at 6:30 every morning. UGH), potty training, meeting new people, and all the other things that come with moving from the mountains to the second largest city in the nation. Wow. What a life experience, and it's only been 3 weeks. I've met people from everywhere... Singapore, Phillipines, Japan, Korea, Columbia, Argentina, Finland, Turkey, France... I can't even remember all the places. It's amazing. We live in a 2-bedroom apartment and since we sold most of our belongings it's not a big deal. Caleb gets to sleep in the second bathroom so he doesn't wake Josh up for his 4 am bottle (which he didn't start demanding until we moved here). But hey, he's only 4 months old so I guess I can't complain. That's the only time he wakes up and then he goes right back to sleep, plus two three-hour naps during the day. So at least one of us is sleeping. Caleb is getting chubby and giggly and is the most calm, adorable baby on the planet. I said the same thing about Josh when he was little. Josh gives me anxiety attacks on a regular basis with his complete lack of fear and his adventurous personality. Oh well, I can't babyproof the world, least of all LA. The kid does not stop running or jumping, which has resulted in many angry ceiling beatings by the tenant who lives beneath us. Oh well. Toddlers will be toddlers. Get some earplugs, dude. A cute college girl just moved in two doors down and she doesn't have a job and is going to babysit for us. I am beyond excited about this! We haven't been on a date (besides the jacuzzi) in three weeks and that's painful for us. I love the friendly, warm nature of most everyone here. There's so much diversity that the general attitude is one of acceptance and sincere interest in others. We've made some cool friends and we spend a lot of time at the pool and jacuzzi. I know this is one long paragraph without many pictures, but I literally haven't even had time to upload my latest batch from my camera yet. I usually want to pass out around 8 pm every day. My job is busy, busy, busy with sick, sick people. Can't say I love labor unions. I think they make nurses lazy. Whatever. I haven't been to Walmart since we moved here, which is a record. The produce here is soooo good. Actually tastes like real food. The other day I bit into a peach and the juices exploded all down my arm. I've had a few strange run-ins with bums. They're really creepy here. Lots of mental illness. I do carry pepper spray in my pocket sometimes. We live in a nicer area of town, right next to the financial district. However, a few blocks in one direction and we're in little Mexico, a few blocks another direction we're in skid row, and a few blocks another direction and we're at the Ritz. Um, yeah. It's a crazy place, LA. Well, I have to work in the morning and I think I'm going to brave the subway again. Here's to growing up, seeing the world, and living a fabulous adventure. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Introducing...

Caleb Trace Andersen, with big brother Joshua.

It's a BOY!

This beautiful boy (yet to be named) was born at home on May 19th at 10:47 pm. He weighed in at 7 lbs., 4 oz. and was 21 in. long. His birth was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I had planned a home birth from the beginning of my pregnancy, and the birth was attended by two midwives and two apprentices (although the second midwife arrived just 10 minutes before the birth and the apprentices arrived only 2 minutes before!!). I couldn't believe how quickly and smoothly the birth went. I went from 5 cm dilation when Roxanna arrived to completely dilated in just under an hour-and-a-half. I let my body push him down for about 10 minutes, and then I pushed through one contraction for about 30 seconds and he was born!! The bag of water broke as he was born, and he came out "sunnyside up"-- or completely posterior, in other words. And for the icing on the cake, I didn't have a single tear! Soon I will take the time to write his complete birth story (and post a name). I don't have too many great pictures yet because we've all just been resting and recovering, but here is one of the little guy just minutes after he was born. What a cutie. :) We're all in love with him and so happy he's here.

Ode To Our Anniversary

In a few days, Jacob and I will have been married for four years. FOUR YEARS! But really, that's not very long at all, I guess... it just feels like we have been through a few lifetimes together. And let me tell you, if marriage is still this good after however many lifetimes yet to come for us, then I will be the happiest woman who ever lived.

Of course I use the term "lifetimes" in a figurative sense. It's just hard to describe what we feel together any other way. We often laugh in amazement at the circumstances that brought us together... a serendipitous culmination of events that ultimately resulted in both of us just "knowing." It was as if it had already been written, as if our inner knowings had always been pointing us toward each other. There was never any question, never a shred of doubt, never a need to seek external validation of what we instinctively knew. There was only clarity. There was only love.

In fact, our love for each other was essentially the only foundation our relationship had in the beginning. We were not the couple who knew each other for many years before deciding to marry. We had no idea where the other had come from, the life choices the other had previously made, or what had shaped the other into the present form. We simply came together at the same place and time, recognized the love we had each been seeking, and made a conscious decision to create something beautiful together from that moment forward. Now that I think about it, our marriage truly is an epitome of the idealized philosophy that one marries for love and nothing else. By the time Jacob boldy declared he would marry me on our second date (he would have done so on our first date if he could have convinced himself that it wasn't too crazy a thing to do), that love had set the tone for the days that lay ahead of us.

In the early days that followed our starstruck meeting, we decided-- quite literally-- that our relationship was only going to become more and more beautiful with time. We decided to create something that would only get better each day, a marriage that would continue to radiate the love and joy that we each felt. We decided to see the good in each other, we decided to trust each other. We decided that no matter what we faced in life, nothing would ever tarnish what we knew about each other and about our relationship.

So far, it's worked beautifully. The happiness I feel in this moment far surpasses any happiness I ever imagined possible for myself in a marriage. Instead of gazing longly back at those initial days of courtship and fresh feelings of newness and intrigue, I continually experience an increase of happiness, bliss... even ecstasy, if you will. Just when I think we could not possibly experience anything higher together, I am once again reduced to a state of awe that yes, this really is getting better and more beautiful with each passing day.

The only reason I can conclude for this is that we choose it to be so. We choose each other, we choose the lives we are living, we choose to be happy. I use present tense because that is all there is; the choice we made years ago has no power today unless we consciously choose again for it to be so. This is how we live. With each new day that greets us, we choose that same love that brought us together. It really is that simple. It really is that beautiful.

We probably won't do much for our anniversary this year. It falls on a weeknight, we have to get a babysitter, and I am nine months pregnant. But one thing I have learned to rely on is that no matter the circumstance, when we want to have a fabulous time together, we will. And we celebrate life on a daily basis, without regard for special occasions or significant calendar dates. Anniversary or not, we celebrate. We live, we love, we just are.

And so I suppose that since I can only be the judge of my own happiness, then for all I know I really am the happiest woman who ever lived.

I love this boy...

...and let me tell you why. He has an infectious giggle and the cutest little toddler voice. As evidenced by the photo, he has a sweet tooth just like his mama, and he could care less if he gets chocolate on his face. He truly believes I have magical powers to heal any "owie" with a kiss. His favorite part of his blankie used to be the tag on one corner. Then it fell off, leaving a small hole under the silky border of the blanket. The hole keeps getting bigger since he decided that is his new favorite part. I swear each flaw makes him love that blanket more. If something breaks, he loves to try to "fisk it" with a "skoo-diver." Just the other night, he finally mastered the word "hippopotamus." He always returns my hugs and kisses after being in time-out. He tried to eat the carrot nose off the snowman he built in the front yard with his Dad. He regularly uses "please," "thank you," and "you're welcome" at appropriate times. He will do anything it takes-- stacking boxes, climbing up stored kitchen appliances-- to reach the box of fruit snacks in the pantry. He still sleeps at least 12 hours every night. When he wants to say hi to the baby, he will pull up my shirt, pat my belly, and say, "Hi baby!" Then he'll rub my belly for a moment or two before tugging my shirt back over my belly and saying, "Bye-bye baby!" He still sucks two fingers when he's content. He has the longest dark eyelashes ever... longer than mine, even. He will eat an entire avocado for lunch. He does fabulously well with babysitters, and all of them rave about how fun he is to watch. His love for cars has expanded to airplanes, helicopters, tractors, trains, and even scooters and roller skates. I guess this boy just has to be on the move! Whenever he's trying hard to do something, like open a bag of fruit snacks, he'll make little frustrated grunts and say, "I can do it! I can do it!" Each night after I lay him down for the night, he whispers, "I want to go to the mountains." We then have a hushed conversation about all the beautiful places we will visit together someday. Then when I say goodnight he says, "I love you Mom." It melts my heart.

I could go on and on. But there's a quick Joshua update. He's such an amazing little boy.

24 Weeks

Okay, I've allotted myself 8 minutes to blog before I need to get Joshua up for the day. So here goes a quick pregnancy update!!

I feel: fantastic, unless I have to work a long shift or sit in a chair for long periods of time. I love this phase of pregnancy. I hired a personal trainer at the end of my first trimester to help me stay motivated to keep in shape, and I've been working out 4-5 days a week. It's made a huge difference this time around.

I've gained: 20 pounds so far!!! Who woulda thought by looking at that picture?! With Joshua I gained 25 pounds total throughout the pregnancy, so I'm sure to surpass that mark this time around. It's okay though; my body will do exactly what it needs to do. And I'm still UNDER what my pre-pregnancy weight with Joshua was! Crazy.

I love: feeling the baby move so much more, that I can find extra-small maternity clothing at Target, that Pea in a Pod carries sexy maternity jeans, that my hair and skin glow with minimal effort, that my belly is now an unmistakably pregnant one to the rest of the world, that I have the most amazing midwives ever, and that this pregnancy is going by much faster than the first one.

I tend to dislike: the occasional leg cramps at night. I've found a great homeopathic rememdy for the them, but sometimes a few will sneak in. The bloating and gas if I wait too long to eat... ugh. Round ligament pain. Hmm... not too much to dislike at this point, but then again, I am in the honeymoon phase...

Well, I could write more, but my 8 minutes are up! Next time, I'll do a Joshua update. He's the most adorable child on the planet, I swear. :)