Friday, December 28, 2012

Car Accident

Well, we experienced a Christmas Miracle this year as a family. As Ben, Noah, and I were driving up to the Anderson's home for Christmas Eve this year we got into a car accident on the freeway and it is absolutely amazing that we all walked away from it unharmed. 

We hit a patch of ice on the road and our back tires were not able to grip the road and we started fishtailing. Suddenly, as Ben fought for control of the car, we started spinning across the freeway. We were in the far left (car pool) lane, and we spun 4 times across 5 lanes of traffic to smash into the right shoulder cement barrier. We hit hard on the front driver's side, then the force of that crash spun us a little more and we hit the back driver's side before finally coming to a stop facing the freeway and still poking out into the right lane a little bit. It was SO scary! In those brief moments, I looked over to check that Ben's seat belt was buckled (it was, as usual), then I sat half turned so that I could hold on to Noah's car seat because I knew we were going to crash and I wanted to feel like I was doing something to protect my son! I know that my grip on his car seat didn't do anything, but it made me feel like I was protecting him anyway. It was absolutely miraculous that we didn't hit another car on the freeway since there was a fair amount of holiday traffic on the road. 

Once we hit the barrier and Ben and I took a moment to make sure the other person was okay, I turned my attention to calling the police and to calming down a terrified and bawling Noah. The big crashes and the jolts were frightening to him, and I didn't dare take him out of his car seat since we were still on the freeway a little bit and the car wouldn't start of us to back up out of the way. After I got the police called, and Ben was trying to push the car off the freeway, a kind man pulled over and immediately jumped into the task of helping Ben push the car out of the way. As they were working on that, another man in a truck pulled over and hooked up a rope and literally pulled us out of harm's way. 

Around that time, another small car pulled over and a young couple ran up to the car (I should mention here that it was snowing really hard by this point and it was very windy and freezing outside) they peeked inside and saw me sitting with a crying little boy and they asked if we'd like to come wait in their car with the heater running. I was so grateful for them! I said yes, and asked the woman to hook up Noah's car seat in her car. She came back a few moments later and I handed her Noah to put in her car and grabbed the diaper bag and a few other things from the car. Noah was still sobbing at this point, he was very scared. He still gets a little nervous whenever I stop the car and get out. I sat in their backseat next to Noah and finally got him calmed down. They waited with us with their heater on for about 30 minutes while Ben spoke to the tow company and the policeman about the accident. 

Finally Ben came over and asked this couple if they could drop us off somewhere off the next exit (we crashed right in front of it) and we would wait there for Ben's parents to come get us. They were more than happy to do so, and they waited while we got everything out of our trunk and loaded it up into theirs. The whole time they chatted with me, and played with Noah, and didn't seem annoyed at all that they were spending part of their Christmas Eve with strangers on the side of the freeway. After helping us unload at a fast food restaurant, she gave me a hug and they were on their way. I am SO grateful for the kindness of all of these strangers, especially on Christmas Eve when they were probably on their way to their own families. 

Our car was totaled, but we all walked away safely. I was pretty sore in my left knee, which I smashed into the console when we hit since I was turned halfway around, it also caused my siatic nerve to freak out for several hours after the accident (I'm sure being pregnant had more to do with that than the accident!) and Ben has experienced some pain in his neck and jaw caused by whiplash. Noah is fine and healthy, and our insurance company will even cover the cost of a new car seat since once the car seat has been in an accident they want you to get a new one. I am SO grateful for Ben's quick thinking and fast reflexes. I absolutely KNOW that his excellent driving skills prevented us from hitting another car or hitting the barrier head on instead of on the side. I am sure there would have been injuries if we had hit it head on. I know that we were protected and watched over, there is no other explanation for why we didn't hit another car. We were shaken and frightened, but safe and well. I'm grateful for the safety of my little family-unborn baby included! (Side note, I felt baby #2 for the first time on Christmas Day!)


Monday, November 26, 2012

I'm Pregnant, Again! :)

Yes, it's true!! We will be adding another little Anderson baby to our family in June of next year! My official due date is June 9th, my parent's anniversary. Kind of funny that Noah was due on August 9th, my birthday, and now this one is another 9, and another event! I am SO excited to become a mommy all over again, we have been trying for several months so it's nice to be to this point! I was supposed to wait for Ben to get home from work to take a pregnancy test in early October, but I just couldn't wait and so I took it, got a positive, and was shocked! I took a picture of it on my phone and sent it to Ben at work with a caption that read, "Guess what?" :) Really original, I know, but it was still fun because I got a phone call about 2 minutes later and as soon as I answered Ben said, "REALLY?!" He was just as excited as I was. We don't care if it's a boy or a girl, a boy would be fun to Noah to have a playmate as they grow up, but I want a girl to name after my mom too, so we'll see in mid-January what it is! I am 12 weeks along right now. I have been monstrously sick again, like I was with Noah. I have actually thrown up so much/so hard that I have been getting charlie horses and muscle spasms in my neck which are extremely painful. I hope the sickness goes away soon so that pain stops! Noah wore this onesie pictured below to announce it to our families, we had him wearing a jacket over the shirt so that when each of his grandma's were holding him I asked them to hand me the jacket, so they got to take it off and see the shirt first. Both families were VERY excited, and quite surprised since we hadn't mentioned to anyone that we were getting ready for another baby. I had actually talked with my mom only a couple of days before we made the announcement and I very sneakily dropped in a conversation that I was on my period, just to throw her off! So, she was especially surprised! :) 
 This is the shirt I wrote on for Noah to wear. The date looks like June 4th, but it's the 9th...
 Noah is modeling his new shirt
 Clapping his hands
 Noah and Daddy
 Ben is so excited for us to have another baby, expecially since he will be done with school when it's born!
 "Noah, we have something to tell you..."
 "Mom's having a what?!"
 "Yeah, I'm okay with that!"
 Noah is going to be an awesome big brother!
 It's kind of fun that he can already say baby really well! :)
Noah and the new baby will be almost exactly 22 months apart, depending on what day this little one is born. I think it's a great distance in age, and I think Noah will be a great big brother!! :) 

Friday, November 23, 2012

Summer Vacations-2012

Over this past summer we got to go on two other vacations besides the big family reunion (see earlier post). I got to take Noah to Colorado to meet my mom's parents for the first time, which was awesome! Noah and I rode over there with my parents and my sisters in their motor home, which was much nicer than trying to do that long of a drive in a car, and we got to stay for a couple of days. Noah had a blast exploring their house and yard and I think he won them over! :) Then, the first full week of August we got to go to my family's annual Lake Powell trip, which was SO much fun!! I was a little nervous about having a newly walking toddler around all that water, but there were lots of eyes watching him carefully. He didn't like the water so much at first, but once he got to play on the beach he was hooked and he would cry when we brought him in! Our boat was beached on a great sandy beach that also had a HUGE rock face on the far end of it, so by 1:00 everyday we were in the shade which was wonderful since it meant that no one got sunburned! We also celebrated a triple birthday: Noah (1), me (27), and my older brother Deven (32) so that was a lot of fun. I always love when I get to celebrate my birthday on the lake! We had a blast, so I have a ton of pictures below, sorry for the overload!
 Noah is a watermelon fiend, he eats it constantly all summer long and this is his "more watermelon" face and him reaching for the watermelon plate.
 Noah sitting in my grandpa's official chair
 Noah with his great-Grandpa and Grandma Clark



 Four generation picture with my grandma, my mom, me, and Noah

 First day at Lake Powell, we haven't left the marina slip yet, but the sunset was beautiful!!
 Noah and Auntie Em
 Ben is helping Noah get used to the water slowly and gently!


 Approved!
 Tradition dictates that we must always bury our legs in the sand on the beach, I don't know why, but we all do it every year!

 I brought along Noah's little inflatable pool so he could enjoy the water without being too overwhelmed. 

 He really liked having his own place to play!
 Little pool, big beach
 He kept DRINKING the nasty lake water. I shudder whenever I think about it...


 Ashley is kayaking, Brittney is tagging along for the ride...
Crawling in the wet sand, getting used to the water 
 Walking in the water with Aunt Brittney and cousin Kate

 Still not totally sure what is going on here!
 He fell asleep on one of the speedboat rides.
 Love snuggling a sleeping baby!!
 Playing up higher on the beach in the really dry, warm sand.

 See the "sand drool"? He kept trying to eat it.


 Diaper buddies! Noah and cousin Dylan
 "What's up, Dad?"
 Playing in the sand with daddy.

 Shot of our houseboat and some of the incredible rock faces we parked by.
 Walking in the water with daddy
 I liked walking in the water with him too...
 Even if he kept wanting to go deeper!!
 Kicking his legs in the water.
 Eating more sand...
 Cute little beach bum!!
 Speed boat babes.
 Ben took Noah on his first tube ride.
 It was so calm, I think they BOTH almost fell asleep!
 For my birthday I was told I could do whatever I wanted, and I really wanted to go for a nice boat ride and then find a canyon to hike into-one of my favorite Lake Powell activities. So, Dad, Mom, Ben, myself, and my three sisters all went and hiked Labyrinth Canyon while my brother and his family hung back and took care of Noah for me!
 You can see how the canyon twists and turns!

 So gorgeous, and it was mostly in the shade the whole time which was awesome!

 We had to do a little "bouldering" in a few places, and walking through so seriously nasty, bug infested water!
 Brittney caught a lizard,
 And she really liked him!
 Hiking, with help!
 Floating with my baby boy!!!
 We had fun!
 Noah's "bathtub" on the boat. There are only showers on the boat, so we improvised...


 Ben wanted to water ski, and I was very impressed because he got up on his first try and he hasn't been skiing for a couple of years!
 Tubing gals
 Our boat and our beach
 Sunsets