It's A Boy!

Max Allan Anderson has finally arrived! He was born at home on Monday, March 8th at 5:20 AM. He weighed 10 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches long! He is a big boy! It has taken us a little while to get used to the fact that we have a boy now. He has been called "she" many times! Brooke and Jaycee are absolutely in love with him. They both love to help take care of him. Brooke told us she can't wait until Max gets big so she can play with him. She already has plans for him to be the prince when they play dress-up! We are so happy that he is here. We are still adjusting to having a new baby. Thanks to lots of help with the girls and with dinners, from my mom and several people from our ward, I have been able to rest a lot and am feeling really good.

This is me about 2 1/2 weeks before Max was born.

Moments after Max was born.

Grandma Brinkerhoff holding her newest grandbaby. He looks huge in this picture!

Max being weighed by the midwife.

Daddy getting Max dressed.

Max all dressed and ready to go.

Big sister Brooke holding her new brother.

Big sister Jaycee holding her new brother.

Me resting with one-day-old Max.

Exciting News

Most of you have probably heard by now, but for anyone who hasn't, we are expecting baby #3! I am about 5 months along and feeling really good now that I am over the nausea. I am due the very end of February. We are really excited! It has been fun with Brooke being older, she actually understands why Mom's belly is growing. A lot of times she will hug and kiss my belly and tell me that the baby is crying or talking to her! She has felt the baby kicking a couple times and that was very exciting for her. Whenever we would ask her if she thinks the baby will be a boy or a girl she tells us that we can't say yet, we have to wait and see. Recently she has changed her mind and she is telling people that she thinks it will be a boy AND a girl. Let's hope she's not right! A lot of people have been asking us if we know what we are having, but we won't find out until the day it is born! Jaycee has been really cute, too. I don't know how much she understands, but a lot of times she will come lift my shirt up and lay her head on my belly. It is really sweet. I think both of these girls will be excited to have a new baby!

So that's what the shoulder strap is for

This is Brooke riding home in daddy's truck after a sleepover at Aunt Addison's house.

Birthdays (cont'd)

On July 9th we had another birthday party, but this time just for Brooke and Jaycee. It was at our house and we had lots of family and friends there. We started the party off with a game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

Jaycee

Brooke

Next we played Drop the Clothespin in the Bottle, which is always a favorite. Here are Brooke, Jaycee, Aunt Addison, Aunt Gabby, Cousin Kyle, and Cousin Seamus.

No 4-year-old birthday party is complete without a good game of Duck, Duck, Goose!



Next, the famous Pop-the-Balloon-on-My-Ankle-Game. Not a big hit with the birthday girls, but I think the older kids had fun with this one!



Present time! They got lots of fun stuff!

Ever since we started planning the party, Brooke has been talking about her princess cake. We saw a really cute decorated princess cake at the store, but it cost way too much for a little birthday party. I decided I would have to come up with something on my own. Having no cake decorating skills whatsoever, this is what I came up with, and the best part of all, Brooke was very pleased with it! We had two orange candles for Jaycee, and four pink candles for Brooke!

After the party, Grandma Brinkerhoff read them some of their new books, and they both tried out their new sunglasses and backpacks!

They received packages in the mail from Grandpa and Grandma Anderson, which they opened a couple days after the party.

Posing for a picture.

Ready, set, go!

Jaycee likes her new elephant!

They received lots of books, a cuddly elephant, and a pair of pants for Jaycee. They got started reading right away!

Thanks everyone for helping them have such fun birthdays!

Birthdays!

Brooke and Jaycee had birthdays and I am late, as usual, telling about it! Jaycee turned 2 years old on June 16th, and Brooke turned 4 years old on July 3rd. Each month, the Brinkerhoff side of our family gets together to celebrate all the birthdays for the month. For June & July, we decided it would be easier to just combine and do one party for both months. We got together on June 30th to celebrate. Between both months we had 5 birthdays: Jaren (turned 1), Jaycee (2), Brooke (4), Gabrielle (9), and Ross (too old to disclose!). We met at Ross & Elyssa's house and enjoyed homemade pizza with brownies for dessert. It was a great time!

Here are the birthday kids!

Here is Brooke with some of her gifts.

Here is Jaycee with some of her gifts.

Cami made these skirts for the girls. They are super cute! They all happened to be wearing pink shirts so it was really cute with all of them matching!