Saturday, January 3, 2009

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Our Christmas Card

Season’s Greetings from the Andersons

Twice the fun!

Rob here.

How can you tell how much fun you had over Christmas time?

Obviously, its by the number of trips to the emergency room. You already heard of one great trip to the ER, but it didn't stop there. Oh no, we had twice the fun this year.

So on Friday night we thought all was going smoothly. Tasha was feeling a lot better and we all settled in for some toys and good food. In my case, apparently too much good food.

We normally read the kids some stories before bedtime and then send them off to bed. I had been carrying Ty around all day, he just can't seem to leave my side when I am home, so my back was kind of sore. As I lay on the floor trying to stretch things out, I started having the worst cramps in my stomach that I had ever had. I thought about calling for an epidural or maybe a c-section, but I didn't think that would do the trick. Steph finished with the stories and got the kids in bed and came back to find me on the floor, ready to die. She talked to Angie, our great neighbor downstairs, who came up to stay with the kids.

So off we were for round 2 of the ER. I kept thinking how this better be something good, like an alien in my stomach ready to come out, or I would be totally bummed about a second trip. With the cramps in my stomach and the aching back, I just couldn't find a comfortable position. And it seemed like everything was taking way too long. You would never believe that a stop light in Greenwich can be red for 3 and a half hours, but it sure felt like it that night. Even when we got to the ER it seemed like everyone was conspiring against me to prolong my pain. The family in line in front of us was there with teenager with a runny nose and a sore throat. I could see on the monitor that the other patients ahead of us were all there for some pretty minor complaints. However, in my state that night, I would have said I was in worse shape than someone with a case of flesh eating bacteria. I'm sure they all had very valid reasons for being there, but I didn't care.

When they finally took me in there were no beds, apparently a lot of people were having a really fun Christmas. The found a cot for me in the hallway and started a IV. What a magical thing! The must have put the happy juice in there, because as soon as it started to flow I felt much better. No pain killers, no antibiotics, no drugs of any kind. Just regular saline IV fluid. (I need to get one of those for the house.)

I took down two bags and felt 100% better. The doctor couldn't find anything else wrong with the blood work so he drew straws and called it viral gastroenteritis, which I guess is the medical term for "stop being such a baby."

So as proof that we had at least twice as much fun as any other family out there, here is my pose with a band aid and a hospital band, to match Tasha's.

Christmas 2008/Trip to ER

It started out as a typical Christmas morning. The kids were up early and ready to go. Daddy passed out the presents and the fun began.

Ty had no problem figuring out what Christmas was all about.


Ty was all about bath toys and toys he would grow into.


Garrett was all about Thomas and action figures.


Tasha was all about Barbie.




Then things turned for the worse. Tasha had mentioned that her side hurt earlier that morning but we didn't think much of it until she mentioned it again while we were opening gifts. We thought maybe she needed to go to the bathroom but she had a hard time walking to the bathroom and when she didn't come back I found her hunched over on the bathroom floor in tears. We spent some time on the computer looking up different things afraid it might be appendicitis. The pain was on the left side and the middle instead of the right. Since she was in so much pain and we were unsure if we should wait this out just in case these symptoms were something of a serious nature Rob took her to the emergency room. They took an X-ray and then hooked her up to an IV since she was dehydrated. Tasha was so brave. She didn't even flinch. It took all the energy she had so that once the IV was in, she threw up. After all was said and done, the pain was caused by none other than a big ball of POOP! Yes POOP! So after the IV was finished they headed home and we enjoyed the rest of the day as a family.



Battle wound


Part 2 of opening presents began....



MONEY! MONEY! MONEY!


The kids made sure we didn't have any trouble opening our gifts.







New toys kept the kids busy all day.


The gingerbread house gets demolished on Christmas Day. (This year however it happened a day late) Ty couldn't stop laughing. Too bad I didn't think about the camcorder until all was said and done.



A few pounds with the fist....



... and everyone started to feast on the house.


What was the best part of your day? When Tasha was asked this question her reply was, "My trip to the hospital." It sure didn't dampen her holiday spirit.

Christmas Eve

This Christmas Eve we had the opportunity to have the missionaries over for dinner. What a special treat. My thoughts reverted back to my mission. I was always grateful to those members who shared their holidays with us.

Other than having the missionaries over it was our traditional Christmas Eve. Dinner is always simple and consists of finger foods. Rob always shares the Christmas story. We each had the opportunity to hold the baby Jesus from our nativity set and share our thoughts and feelings about our Savior.

Christmas Eve wouldn't be complete without opening at least one gift. Here are some pictures from that scene.

It's BYU attire. GO COUGARS!!



Ty discovered what a present is.



I actually get to rip the paper and mom and dad don't get mad at me.



Peek - a - boo!



Garrett trying to open his present the hard way.



Batman lives!



Tasha's up. What will she get?



Could it be another pair of pajamas? IT IS and not just any pair of pajamas...High School Musical pajamas.



Sweet Dreams!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas Music Junkie

I love the holidays! I especially love listening to Christmas music. It makes me HAPPY. I must confess that I turn on the Christmas music during the month of November. Even though the holidays are almost over I must share this tidbit of information. Rob found an internet radio station that plays only music you like without comercials. It is called pandora.com and I have become addicted. It has a great variety of Christmas music. This is also how I get my Country music fix since they don't have a radio station that comes in here in Greenwich. I love it, love it, love it.

Another Spin on the Thankful Tree

I found this cool web-app that makes word clouds. You can make your own at http://www.wordle.net/.

Here is the word cloud from our Thankful Tree post.



Rob