#Thestruggleisreal

This week has been a week of sorts, Kevin turned 25 on Monday!! IT was fun but probably more fun for me. Kevin never gets into holidays, birthdays or really anything. I am the opposite, I get all jazzed up about any reason to celebrate, to throw a party or to go shopping! We got to enjoy dinner at Olive Garden but cut it short on the account of a fussy baby whom we love so much. Wednesday and Thursday were a blur me and Kevin both felt really sick to our stomachs and Kevin was really lightheaded and felt like he was going to pass out. Let me tell you being sick isn't that hard, until you have a sweet precious baby who depends on you so much. We will cut this pity party short and just say we are still a little spazzed and sleep deprived. Not alone trying to get my homework in before it's due, and thinking will I really be able to finish this.This week I have been having a struggle with myself. Am I being a good enough mom? Am I giving Klay all the attention he needs? Is he developing right, am I feeding him to much? I want to speed up time yet he's growing up too fast. Then I turn to myself man it has already been 2 months and this baby weight.. oh hello there, yupp it's still there and those stretch marks I can go ahead and live with the fact that they will always be there. It's hard sometimes, I feel like especially in California that all the girls are SO tiny. They have a baby and boom they are back to where they were before they even began. My point is life is hard, people are always going to have bigger and better things but there is always someone who will have it worse than I do to. It's times like these I am grateful to just think about the many things I do have! Klayton & Kevin The gospel & scriptures Loving parents &siblings Life in general, where its always sunny and 75+ A place to live, a car to drive, and food to eat It's the simple things, Here are some things that have made me happy this week :)

It's a wonderful life & it's ours

It has been a while since I have last blogged and I am sad because I love to stay in touch with friends and family members. What have we been up to you ask? Well since my mom left, Kevin's parents came to visit for a bit and then a week or so after my mom and dad got to come back!! They came for their spring break and Klayton's baby blessing. It was such a special day Kevin's parent and grand parents came as well as his brother Bryan and my parents. Kevin gave such a sweet blessing. I love my little family so incredibly much!! When Klayton was born my mom kept telling me, "YOU KEEP THAT BABY IN, YOU DO NOT WANT HIM GETTING SICK!" Somewhere between then and when she came back she decided we could go out and do some things with her and my dad! We had a blast, we went to downtown Disney, We went to a couple of beaches( which my mom would live in the sun if we would let her) we went whale watching and got such a great show of the whales, Well my mom and dad did I got incredibly sea sick!! We did so much I can not remember but here are some pictures from those adventures and Klayton in his blessing suit. I am not a fan of those white weird sailor suits so just a regular suit would fit this little boy just fine and he was SO HANDSOME! So go ahead and laugh all you want at me being layed over sick, i swear that last hour could have not gone any slower I was so glad to be back on solid ground when we got there! My mom is a total Babe and my dad is so handsome. The whale watching cruise we went on was so cool, they gave us a really nice cannon camera to use while we were out and let us keep the SD card with the pictures after. My dad did such a good job of being a photographer. When their trip was coming to an end I was lucky enough to go back with them!! We had so much fun! I was nervous about traveling by myself on the airplane I took a different airline than my parents but we left at the same time and I got there about 15 minutes after them so it worked great. It was good to be home and have company at lunch and after work. It seems like Kevin is always so busy when he gets home and works to far away to come home for lunches. Needless to say we cherish our weekends together just him, I and baby Klay. Kevin recently started on his Masters degree, GO KEVIN!!! He has so much ambition and I am over here struggling to continue with my degree but I am so close I can taste it!! I just have a little more to go and I will FINALLY have my bachelors. It's a different story when you have a baby and going to school and spend time with said baby and get errands ran, and work out to lose those baby lbs and have dinner ready... Okay enough of my pitty party I'm not the first who is doing this and definitely not the last. It is so hard though I never want to leave Klayton alone I can hardly wait when he is down for a nap to get him up and play again, I can never give him enough cuddles or enough kisses. OKAY ENOUGH. I LOVE THAT BOY! Back to Colorado we had so much fun and since it isn't in our budget to get newborn pics because everyone charges INSANE amounts of money for some pictures me and my mom set out to take some on conference morning. I laugh because we are obviously am-matures but they are still cute and we still get to look back on those pictures although I though I was going to murder my mom after about an hour of taking pictures I was tired and so way Klay but they are soo cute!

The first picture is our attempt at pictures and next was my favorite I layed down to go to sleep one night on my bed with Klay in his rock and play(best sleeper in the world) and I layed my hand on his little body, he then grabbed my finger and held on tight. My heart melted, I want it to last forever. The last was waiting in the airport at our gate to go home! Just a few more pictures, I got a sunday outfit for Klay and I had been dying for him to wear these mocasins my mom had given me as hand me downs from my uncle and my brother. SO special, they finally fit and he was the most handsome boy at church with me that day. Klayton has been joining me on my runs in the morning and I love him and his cute hat! Last of all he has been covering his cute little eyes with his cute little fingere when he sleep lately. I COULD write about this boy all day! All is well in the Andersen household! We love and miss our friends and family very much, Come visit us. We have beaches and DISNEY LAND. You know you want to!

XOXO SHAY, K & Klay

MEET THE LOVE OF OUR LIVES

KLAYTON KASH ANDERSEN

I had written this once already today and then my computer freaked out and it got lost. So last time we talked I was catching you up on our lives as I have let months go by since updating our blog. But I could not let the Birth of our sweet baby boy be missed. So here it is and I am leaving nothing out. Take it or leave it. Kevin and I had just gotten to California and before this I had begged and begged of someone from my family to come and be with me at this very crazy time in my life. Kevin had started his new job and was not home a lot. The people in our complex were new, the people in our ward were new, my doctor was new. EVERYTHING was new and I just was not comfortable being by myself of asking of someone's help that I barely knew. I was 36 weeks the day we moved into our apartment in Tustin. Lucky for me my sister Jillian drove all the way from Provo, Utah to come and help me out. She brought her kids Jace and Addison and we had so much fun! She had come a week or so sooner than my due date in case I came early. That was the least of our worries I guess you could say. We shopped and shopped and walked and walked. Nothing this kid was not coming. Then on February 7th the day hit, it was my due date and nothing. I went to the doctor and I was dialated to 2cm and 70% effaced. He asked if I wanted to be induced and I didn't and he agreed he said he would if I wanted it though. I just wanted my body to do it's own thing so we decided to wait. He said he guessed it wouldn't be longer than 3 to 5 days. We set another appointment just in case. Good thing because that boy still wasn't here. My mom had come by now and Jillian was getting antsy as she had been here 2 weeks by now. I packed my hospital bags before going to the Dr when I was a week overdue because he said he would not let me go over that because it became harmful to the baby. So I am thinking he is going to tell me to head on over to the hospital today after the appointment on the next day. So I go and I am STILL 2 stinkin cm dialated but more effaced. My Dr turns out was leaving that weekend for a trip so he scheduled my induction for that coming Tuesday. It was Thursday and I was so bummed/frustrated and mad he was now going to have me wait. He had me go over to the hospital to do a stress test for our baby to make sure he was fine. I got there and spent about 4 hours doing tests and moinitoring. At the end the nurse said I looked good and she just needed to call the Dr. Well my Dr I guess had already left on his trip so they called the on call Dr and he came in to look. He said our baby was teasing and at points his heart rate would drop a little. He asked if I wanted to be induced and although I didn't have a problem with that, everything was just so new that I really kinda wanted my doctor at least I was some what familiar with him. So the on call Dr said okay but gave me no option, I would have to come in again the next morning and do another test. That night Kevin got home from work and I gave him his valentines day present because I told him I had a feeling they were going to induce me in the morning rather I wanted to or not. He took the day off and came with me. The monitoring went well and the tests looked good so at the end the nurse once again said okay let me call the Dr and we will get you out of here. I was getting ready to call my mom to tell her we wanted to meet up for lunch when the Nurse came back in and said I know you are chomping at the bit to get out of here but you aren't leaving. I KNEW IT. She said my amniotic fluid dropped quite a bit. It was nothing dangerous but they didn't want to take any chances and were going to induce me. I was in shock I guess you could say. They took me and Kevin to the room where I would deliver had me strip down to my gown and the water works EXPLODED. I WAS FREAKIN TERRIFIED YOU GUYS!! I had no idea of what was going to happen, I hadn't been able to take classes with working going to school and moving and when I got here there of course were no openings and it was too late. After that I calmed down and just accepted it. They induced me at 2 in the afternoon on Friday the 14th and things weren't bad. They started me at a dose 3 and went from there with the pitocin increasing it by 3 every time. They got all the way to 21 and turned it back down. It was about 9:30 and my contractions were starting to have some kick so they came in to give me an epidural! Hallelujah to all you who went without is all I can say. The only problem here is that I started shaking all over out of control. Seriously I am sure it was the hormones but I also think it was because I was so anxious/nervous. Jillian and Kevin had to leave the room while they did it and let me tell you I was scared out of my mind for this too. I seriously have a high pain tolerance and am usually pretty brave about things but this just was making me into a liar. I have always been cautious when I think about epidurals because I am always thinking about how they might mess up and make me paralized forever, so needless to say I didn't think about it much. Dr. Chou a short asian lady was the one to give me my epidural and let me tell you I am sure she hated me. I could not stop shaking and I didn't curve my back as well as she had hoped. She asked me when she poked my back if it was on the left or right side of my spine which made me freak out even more!! I didn't know I was so scared I couldn't think straight. Then she told me I had to stop shaking to do it and I was trying my hardest. They gave me a pillow to hug and the nurse was holding on to me and I was holding her trying to stop myself from shaking. I know Dr, Chou was just trying to get it right and I was difficult but I swear it took a good 20 to 30 minutes to get it all done. Then after she asked me a ton of questions like can you taste a metal taste in your mouth? Noooo Can you feel it in your toes or legs are they tingling yet? NOOo so here i am thinking great after all this, it didn't work she couldn't put it in right because of me. Then it kicked in and it was great. Then later on that night Kevin and I were both trying to get some sleep. My blood pressure cuff checked my blood pressure every 15-30 minutes and my blood pressure was always low and when that happened the machine beeped until a nurse came to turn it off! It got really annoying really fast. Then at around 4 my water broke and i was dialated to an 8 and it all progressed really fast from there. I asked for them to top off my epidural as I was feeling a lot of my contractions and then they had me do a couple practice pushes. ANNNNNDDDDDDDD I had ANOTHER melt down. I just didn't i think I could do it. Kevin called my mom to let her know she should come now and the nurse was so nurse had a nice little stern talk with me. She said whats the matter sweetie and I just bawled and mumbled I don't know. She said listen this baby is coming whether you like it or not and this is the way he is coming so you just got to do it. SO I calmed down and started pushing with all my might. My epidural had worn off, maybe not all the way but I could feel Everything they were doing down there. I pushed for about 30 minutes and then I asked them how much longer I would have to push. They said about another 30 minutes. Man I wanted to give up. My mom told me is you push hard, I did mine in 3 pushes, so naturally I thought I could do that. Turns out I am a baby and pushed for about 45 minutes. My mom came in and was a HUGE help. She helped push on my back which helped more than anyone will know. Then my baby boy came into the world. They laid him on me and I just cried and cried. Kevin and I are so happy and feel so blessed to have a happy, healthy little boy. We are so happy to have our little family together. I love this boy SO INCREDIBLY MUCH. I don't know how we ever lived without him. He is 3 weeks tomorrow and we couldn't love him more. Here are some glimpses into our little family. Klayton Kash Andersen 8lbs 20 in long Born at 5:15 AM Klayton likes -wrinkling his forhear -long naps -smiling at mom and dad -sitting in his big boy bouncer -wearing handsome outfits -crossing his legs -Mom & Dad -Facetiming family

XOXO THE ANDERSEN CLAN