The Andaverde Family

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Halloween 2011

This year for Halloween we went all out. We decorated the house back in September anticipating that with the new baby we would not have time to decorate later. When the fateful day came around, Andreas was a zookeeper (complete with lion) and Fred was Mickey Mouse. Andreas did a great job of trick-or-treating and loved his outfit.

Zoe came over to trick-or-treat and was very cute in her kitty outfit.

We never thought we would be some of "those people", but last year we got a big inflatable M&M which we put outside for Halloween.

A good time was had by all and we are already looking forward to next Halloween!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Fred turns 1 Month

The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur. Last week somehow Andreas was able to bring home a nasty cold bug that quickly spread through the family -- getting through to those with flu shots and those without! Luckily Fred was spared (miraculously). My mom got to come and visit for a day, just long enough to catch the cold, but we loved being able to spend time together. While she was here Andreas kept asking for "Pahka" (Grandpa) and when she left he kept asking for "Mahnga" (Grandma).

Trying to take pictures of kids together I have found to be a difficult thing to master.

Here with one of the difficult to capture Fred smiles:

Here's Fred at 1 month:

Andreas after enjoying a particularly good smoothie:

A common sight these days:

What you couldn't see in the picture above was this guy buzzing around in the background begging for a story. This man is no respecter of naps.

Grandma brought some early birthday presents for Andreas which he thoroughly is enjoying! Thanks Mom!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Just for Fun -- Fred is 3 weeks!

Fred is growing like a weed and we are loving being able to be all together as a family for a few weeks! Here are a few pics of our last few weeks.

I love the tiny feet and hands of newborn babies! Here are Fred's:

We also decorated for Halloween a little early this year. Andreas was a little scared of a few of the moving decorations at first, but currently has overcome all fears.

I think the comment from Saul after this particular lunch session was "I wish his Grandmas lived closer to help clean up messes like this." On the bright side, he is getting better at using utensils.

He loves to wear his daddy's shoes!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

The Day of Miracles and Welcome Frederick!

September 8th was the day Frederick Francisco finally decided to join us. I wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers as we experienced many miracles from our Heavenly Father over the last few days, including a beautiful healthy baby boy! He was born at 3:22pm and was 20 inches long and 8 pounds. He was also 13 days past his due date. The things we noticed most were that he has very long toes and fingers, and quite a bit of hair as well.

Miracle 1: I was scheduled to be induced at 7am on Thursday morning. I went into labor at midnight on the night before. (PS: there was also a lesson in not procrastinating doing anything before a scheduled induction -- like showering!)

Miracle 2: During the labor there came a time when the doctor tried to give me a bit of Pitocin to speed things along, which the baby didn't like at all. Which means that if I had been induced it would most certainly have ended up in a c-section. But luckily my body was able to handle everything naturally.

Miracle 3: My parents arrived at 11pm. I went into labor at midnight, and we were off to the hospital at 1:30am. This meant that my mom got to be there for the whole thing and that my dad was able to help us in watching Andreas, who was able to stay sound asleep in bed.

Miracle 4: After pushing for over 3 1/2 hours, there was some doubts around whether the baby was too big to be born naturally. They were readying the surgery room for a c-section, when finally the baby was able to be born. It was a close call though! I was not looking forward to recovering from a c-section AND the pains from an almost VBAC!

Miracle 5: Fred came out healthy and well and without any major problems. We went through a trying period with making sure he was getting the food he needed, but we have worked through it and he is eating and sleeping well.

Here he is freshly out of the oven.

And with his proud papa who watched the whole thing (and only nearly fainted a few times) as well as cut the cord!

And the horrible aftermath picture with the Mama:

First day of life:

My mom made a beautiful quilt for Fred that even matched his coming home outfit. We got home from the hospital on Saturday Sept 10th around 3pm, and I was very grateful to be home.