Mason Anderson

Most of you already know this, but I love photography. I have had the opportunity to take pictures of my nieces and nephews through out the years and now I have my own son to torture with home made photo shoots. I have also been able to fall in love with the desert by taking pictures of it. The sunsets here never get old out here.
Today I had the opportunity to take pictures for my good friend Kendra of her 4 week old son Mason Anderson. I thought I would give a little preview of what I took today. Hope Andy and Kendra like them!!!

A Week Off

Unfortunately I was unable to run this week. On Monday night I got hit with some kind of cold that attacked my entire body. I thought that if I was feeling even a little better I would attempt a run, but it's been a hard couple of days. I know that this is just a small set back to what I am trying to accomplish. But I am not giving up. Everyday I would think about running and wish that I could. I can hardly sit on the couch without coughing up a lung. My hope is to start up again Monday morning. After talking to my brother, I think I should aim to run 4-5 times a week. I am starting with such small increments that I think I could do it.
I look forward to the day when I can run a mile and not want to kill myself. Plus, if any one was watching me run for a little and then walk and then run again they probably think I'm crazy or lazy. Something I didn't think about is how different it's going to feel running in NJ with all the humidity. Should be interesting.

Running week 1

I decided to write a blog after every week running. I thought by doing this I would be more motivated to run since (hopefully) more people would be checking up on me. And I hope, by being completely honest about how it's going it will help me achieve my goal. I also know that those who are reading this will not be insensitive to my goal. When I told some people their reaction was "well... a 5k doesn't seem like it would be to hard". ouch not nice. I have never been much of a runner. The last time I ran any kind of distance was in college for softball and I had to run once around the perimeter of the softball/baseball field which was probably a little under a half a mile and then I was done running. We had to sprint more and even with them I was expected to be slow so there wasn't much point in pushing myself. I want something more now. Yes I would love this to melt away the baby weight, but it can't be just about that anymore because I know that as soon as I fit into my jeans I would stop. I am still trying to fine a long term motivator. I'll keep you posted on that one. So here goes.
Karen was the one who told me about the program Couch to 5k. It's not that I really wanted to run a 5k, but I wanted a plan to follow. I knew that if I just did it on my own I would run for a minute and then call it a day. Sooner or later I would just stop because I would not see the results that I wanted. This program works you up to running a 5k. This past week I had to do a warm up walk for 5 minutes, then run for a 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds. The first day, I thought that I really sucked and hoped that it would get better. I ran in the morning around 7. I don't want to go until I feed the baby and going any later it would be incredibly HOT! The second time, I only thought that I sucked during the last few minutes. The hardest part during this run was that my pants were falling down. The first day I wore shorts and they were fine but I have the unfortunate thickness of the legs and the ride up is a little uncomfortable. Then tonight I didn't think that I sucked at all. Tonight there was something different. I really enjoyed running while I watched the sun set. I had to remind myself to look at the watch so I didn't over run or over walk. I loved that no matter where I looked I saw beautiful mountains. On my left I had a huge mountain that was being lit up by a gorgeous yellow and orange sun. On my right, there was a ginormous mountain range that had pink tips and a purple sky because of the sunset. I think tonight was the first time that I truly appreciated the beauty of the state that I live in. I use to think that running on a treadmill would be better because I am self conscience of people seeing me run. But tonight I didn't care. I was enjoying God's creations. I kept listening to Chris Thomlin "How Great is Our God". If I had any sense of balance I would have closed my eyes while I ran to praise our creator for his magnificent creation.
I kind of think that my weeks will continue this way. First two days I will think that I suck and the third (and fourth) day will be better experience.

I LOVE MY SON

It absolutely amazed at the amount of love that pours out of me for my son. He is so amazing. I know that everyone thinks that their kids is the best, but I think my son is pretty awesome. In these few short weeks I have already learned so much about him. First of all, he loves to sleep. Most newborns do, but he REALLY likes it. In the afternoon he has what I call "a noise nap". He will lay completely still for an hour and then for about a half hour he'll make noises and ball up his fists but he is still asleep. Then about 10 minutes before he makes up he has a nice big poop. And boy, does my son poop. Today I had someone ask me if he has ever peed on me while I was changing him. Thank goodness it has only happen once. Well, right at that moment he poops!!!! All over his nice clean outfit. Hope that's a one time thing.
I love his awake time. It's becoming a little longer everyday. He loves to look at lights but doesn't like it when the sun is in his eyes. He makes the funnies faces. He likes to be read to. I try to sing and read to him every night before I lay him in his pack-n-play.
On the other hand, there is still so much for me to learn about him. He is so much a mystery. I can't wait to get to know him better. It amazes me, that I spent nine months carrying him, 13 hours laboring, and now almost three weeks getting to know him. I pray everyday that God will keep him safe. That he will help him grow into a strong, godly man. And that I, as the parent, will not get in the way of what the Lord has planned for him.

Happy Fathers Day

I am very excited that this is Josh's first fathers day and that he get's to celebrate it with his son!!!! It's only been a little over a week that we have had our beautiful boy, but it has been awesome to see father and son interact. Josh has been so amazing since the beginning. Most of you already know the story of how we found out we were pregnant but I'll tell it again. I had left work because I wasn't feeling well and it was coming up on that time of the month. I had a pregnancy test already in the house so I decided to take it just so I knew that I wasn't pregnant and I could stop thinking about it till next month. Turns out there was two lines but the one was really light so I didn't want to get my hopes up. I walk the test to josh who was laying on his bed and said "I don't know if this is right but I think there are two lines." So josh did what he does best. He looked online to see what a light line meant. Two more pregnancy test later we were convinced. He came to every doctors appointment with me. He signed us up on Babycenter.com before I could. He made sure I was drinking water and taking my prenatal. He cleaned up the lasagna I puked up in our kitchen sink. He has been so good to me and to the baby from the beginning. I am so grateful for him and all that he has done.

Now, fast forward a few months and it is getting down to the wire. He is still taking great care of me and the baby. He was so calm the entire pregnancy. When I would get nervous or panicky about something, he would always calm me down with reassuring words or a joke. Then the big day came and he was amazing. I hadn't packed the diaper bag or our bad to the hospital, so once they said we needed to come in because my water broke it was a little crazy. Josh did a great job putting together everything we needed for the baby and got the car seat installed in record time.

He never left my side. He was so tired but he held my hand through every contraction. He told me that I COULD do this and that I was doing great. Most of you know that I thought he was lying to me, but it was nice to hear. He was so strong for me. And the emotion that he felt over whelmed me with happiness. Once the baby was born, there was so many emotions in the air and the look on josh's face was so beautiful. He was a proud father of a baby boy.
Now they get to spend good quality time together. Josh will get up with me in the night to burp and change him and that's a huge help. I like to watch them as they make funny faces at each other. I look forward to they day when the Mets are on TV and they can watch the game together (hopefully the mets will win)
All this being said, I wanted to wish my amazing husband "happy first fathers day". You are already an awesome father and I look forward to continuing this journey with you. Thank you for being who you are and serving the Lord. You are an inspiration to me. I love you!

The baby bump

And the count down is on. The baby is due june 19th so we are coming up on a month away. it feels like it has taken forever to get here but at the same time, I feel like it has creeped up on us. Josh has been so great these past few months. He has been to every appointment with me, he makes sure I am drinking enough water, he rubs my back, he makes my comfort a very high priority, and he's nice enough to lie to me and tell me that I don't look fat.
I have really enjoyed being pregnant. I love laying down and watching my belly move around. It's like a little chick is trying to break out of it's egg. Today, the baby and I had a nice talk. I told him/her that the can come out soon, but he/she needs to try and not hurt me. We'll see how that goes. I have to make a conscience effort NOT to waddle when I walk. Plus bending over is getting more and more difficult. but I do my best.
Right now I think I'm int he panic part of the pregnancy. I am just feeling a little unprepared. I am going to the hospital tomorrow so I can look into birthing class and get a packing list for what we will need for the hospital. Josh just ordered the coming home outfit which I can't wait to see (it's a surprise to me)and the church is throwing a baby shower the first weekend in June. I think I will feel better once we have a pack and play just so I know that the baby has a place to sleep. A dresser crib and rocker would be nice, but lets not get ahead of ourselves.
I love my belly and I love the person inside of it but I didn't want to gross people out with my belly. But now that all of you are not a drive away, I thought maybe you'd like to see. Plus I want to know if you guys think I am having a boy or girl.

Crazy Day

So the other day we had really crazy weather. When I woke up to let Hugo out josh said there was some snow one the ground. Because that has happen before I wasn't to worried about it. So this is what it looked like around 8AM.


Then about two hours later we were leaving to get some breakfast and get Josh's pay check and this is what it looked like outside.



It snowed all day. Sometimes it was little flakes and then other times it was huge heavy flakes. The common question of the day was "is it still snowing?" It's just so odd to me. It was nice to take Hugo outside and watch him run around. Our video camera was at church but I'm sure this might happen again so I'll take some video next time. Now it's a day later and there is hardly any snow on the ground. I think we had about 4 inches and now there is nothing. Maybe next time I'll build a snow man just to see how long he would last.