July 4th

On the fourth this year we went to Aunt Cassie's for a BBQ and some fireworks! It was a lot of fun!

Here is my cute little man! Gosh I love him so much!

Grandma, Bentley, and Chelsea getting ready to watch some fireworks!

Grant's favorite part was the snakes. He loved how they would creep out of the ground. It was funny!

We had delicious root beer floats for desert. I asked Jared to hold mine for a minute and this is what I turned around to find him doing! Crazy guy!

Everybody enjoying desert and fireworks!

Grant loved the fireworks this year, unlike last year. Last year he was still a little affraid of them!

Bentley was so tired, but there was way too much going on to just go to sleep.

My crazy boys!

Me and both of my babies. (one is hiding under my sweatshirt)

I know this post is late, but thank you so much to Cassie and Jared for an awesome night! We had tons of fun and made some great memories!! Love you!

Can breastmilk kill cancer??

I found this article http://www.mamasandbabies.blogspot.com/. Very interesting, and if really works wouldnt that be amazing! I would be first in line to donate my breastmilk to such a worthy cause!

"Swedish researchers have discovered that a substance found in human breast milk has the ability to kill cancer cells, according to a study published in the PLoS One Journal.

"The substance known as HAMLET (Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made Lethal to Tumor cells), was discovered years ago, but has just recently been tested on humans.
"In the trial conducted at Lund University in Sweden, patients suffering from bladder cancer were treated with HAMLET. After each treatment, the patients excreted dead cancer cells in their urine, healthy cells remaining intact.
"Previous laboratory experiments showed that HAMLET has the ability to kill 40 different types of cancer cells, but this was the first test conducted on humans. The next step will be to test the substance on skin cancer and brain tumors.
"The trial breakthrough increases the hopes that HAMLET will be developed into a cancer treatment medication in the future."

July 3

On Saturday the 3rd, we took Grant to the festivities in Sandy! It was a lot of fun too!

Grant has never been to a parade. Sad I know! So we stayed for the parade and he loved it. They handed out flags and he kept telling us, "I'm proud of my country" It was so cute.

When it got dark Daddy bought him a light up sword and he played with uncle BJ until the fireworks started. We layed on the blanket together and watched the fireworks. Perfect ending to a perfect day!!!

July 2

On Friday July 2nd we took Grant to the Riverton Carnival. It was hot but it was a lot of fun! We all started getting hungry and we didnt want to eat there so we went to Goodwood and then went back to the carnival for some more fun! On the way home we went to get snowcones. It was a fun night!

28 weeks

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

With the passing of my grandma and the planning of a funeral, this week has been a little stressful. I am trying to enjoy the "moments" that I have been given with my family this week. Moments I know I will always be grateful for. Monday was my birthday and my mom and I spent the afternoon writing grandma's obituary. Then we had a delicious BBQ and I got a little spoiled. Tuesday night Jared and I started our "natural childbirth class" which was great. I cant wait until next week. Baby boy is very active right now, which I am loving. 12 weeks or less and he will be in our arms! I can not wait!!!

My Grandma

I remember when I was young, sleeping over at Grandma's house with all of my girl cousins that I was close in age with. We would all camp out on the floor in the living room and watch movies all night, giggling and munching on movie snacks. The four of us had some fun sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa's. Man, there are so many great memories I have of Grandma! When I was young, Grandma made porcelain dolls, amazing beautiful porcelain dolls! She would enter them in the state fair and she would take me to the fair to watch the judging. I always thought it was so neat when Grandma won first place. She made me a cabbage patch doll with a porcelain face, it had pretty green eyes and long curly brown hair just like me. I loved that doll and never played with her cause I wanted her to stay nice. My Grandma has also always loved elephants! That is where I got my love for elephants. I love to collect them and they always remind me of her. My Grandma always had a great sense of humor, she could always make me laugh. When I was about 14 she took me and my cousin Jen to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. We had so much fun! I was Grandma's first grandchild to get married and I also gave her her first great-grandchild. She absolutely adored my little man and it always made me so happy to know that!

About a year ago Grandma was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. We wre all very upset by this. Over the past year Grandma went through many different treatments and it was hard on her and the family. Cancer is so horrible. Not long ago she was able to go to Europe with her sister and daughter and some other family. Though she was sick she did have a lot of fun. It seems like after she got home it was all downhill from there. Some people live with cancer for many many years and sometimes the cancer takes over so quickly it leaves your head spinning. They found a tumor that measured 22cm and was full of cancer. It soon filled her abdomen and took over completely. In the past couple weeks I was able to spend some quality time with Grandma and I am so grateful for those moments I had, that I will remember forever. Grandma peacefully passed away in her sleep early this morning. The past week or so she has been in so much pain and has really been suffering. I am so sad to see her go, but I am also so glad that she is no longer in pain and she is happy and healed. I would like to think that she is in my Grandpa's arms again, where she should be! And maybe she is cuddling my sweet baby boy for me before he joins us here. This is hard and I have been crying a lot. It is really hard to see my mom lose her mom. My mom is so strong and such a great example to me.

I love you Grandma! I will miss you more than you will know. Thank you for all the great memories and thank you for just being the amazing woman you were!
-- Until we meet again! XOXO

27 weeks on Wednesday

Ok so I am a little early. I wont actually be 27 weeks until Wednesday, but I am here now so here it is.

Your baby at 27 weeks weighs slightly under 2 pounds. Your baby's total length is close to 14.4 inches. Your baby is now a perfectly formed albeit very tiny human being, but of course, he will continue growing as you continue your pregnancy week by week. Up until the 27th and 28th weeks of pregnancy, your baby's eyelids were fused together. After this week or next, they will open. The retina, the light sensitive portion of the eye, typically starts maturing at about 27 weeks of pregnancy. The layers that form in the retina will allow your baby's eyes to receive light and transmit the information it is receiving to the brain to form images. This basic process is referred to as "sight". Imagine that, at 27 weeks pregnant, your baby is a tiny, seeing human being! If your baby was born in week 27 of pregnancy, he or she would have a 90 percent chance of surviving. He or she would also look similar to a baby born at 40 weeks, albeit a lot smaller and thinner. This period of pregnancy from 27 weeks onward is known as within the period of fetal viability.

Keep in mind, though, that there is still a lot of development that will occur during the next 13 weeks. Also, a premature baby born during this week of pregnancy will be in for a long hospital stay. A baby born this premature will probably not be able to breathe on his or her own, cannot maintain a consistent body temperature, and cannot protect him or herself against infections.

I am exhausted! I have been a little bit stressed (still) about "things" but I am trying to keep calm. It's not easy. I have been having contractions still, they are at the most inconvenient times. Anytime I want to go somewhere or do something they start up. And if I do go somewhere or do something they continue and grow stronger. I feel like I cant leave my house without having contractions. Sometimes they are just Braxton Hicks and sometimes they are real live contractions. Doc says if I have more than 6 REAL contractions in an hour I need to head to the emergency room. To be honest I have had more than 6 in an hour, but if I lay down and relax they always seem to go away within a couple hours, so I havent gone to the ER yet. Other than that I am begining to have some back pain and little swelling in my feet when I am on them for a while. Baby is definitely growing though because I am also having long ligament pains(growing pains in my stomach) But this is all part of pregnancy, right? This is what I prayed for, for over 5 and a half years, and I know I am so blessed to be having the pains of pregnancy! I have 13 or less weeks to enjoy this amazing experience, so that is what I am going to do!!!

ZOO with Jared's fam!!

Jared's family was going to the zoo today and invited us to go! In this picture, we are missing Cassie who went to the bathroom and Diane who is taking the picture.

Grant sure does love his uncle Cody! And the best part is Cody absolutely adores Grant!!

All our boys! Tyson, Cody, Bentley, Jared, and Grant

Tyson Grant and Cody in front of the Rhinos.

We did it all... rode the carousel and the train, and we atched the elephant and bird shows. It was fun!

And here is Bentlers(as Grant calls him)

Thanks for the fun day Andrus clan!!!

26 weeks

Baby boy is at almost 2 pounds and about 14 inches long! He just keeps growing, which of course is a good thing. He has been so active lately. I can count on him waking up as soon as I eat breakfast in the morning and he is pretty active for about a half an hour. He will kick, punch, and move throughout the day. And then he will be very active again at about 11:00 PM far a good hour or so. I love to lay in bed at night and talk to him and just "play" with him. As far as contractions go, I have still been having a lot but they have not been quite as strong as in the past. So that is good. It is becoming hard to be comfortable at night and it is getting hard to turn over (LOL) I am trying to take it easy for the baby, but there is a lot going on right now and I am pretty stressed. I am sure that is not good for my little guy. I think a little bit of depression has set in. I am eating healthy and going on walks with my boys everyday. I try to get out of the house to keep my mind off of things but sometimes it is hard. Hopefully this too shall pass. Maybe I just need to go shopping. (LOL not really)

25 weeks

I went in for my Doctor appt yesterday and the doc says baby is doing well! His heartrate was at about 130 (as uasual) and my uterus is measuring a little big at 28 cm. Exactly one month ago I was measuring only 22 cm. so baby boy is getting big. Right now he is about 13.5 in. from head to heel and weighs just over 1.5 lbs. Next month they will do the glucose test to check for Gestational Dibetes. I talked to the doc about all the contractions I am having and he said I need to make sure I take it easy. It is not normal or good to be having as many as I am having and they could very well lead to premature labor, but we are praying that does not happen. He also said that if they continue there is a test that they can do to determine the possibility of preterm labor. Interesting. Other than being very tired and having no motivation, I am doing well! It is very true what they say though, the last part of the pregnancy is the part that drags on the longest, for sure! 15 more weeks seems like so long, but I am excited to start my Natural Birthing Class with my hubby! Maybe that will help time pass a little quicker!