Finally decided to join us

Claudia Lyn Garthe

September 11th, 2010
7 lbs. 15 oz. 21 inches
12:48 PM

Come and GONE!

My due date has officially come and gone and I am STILL pregnant!!!! This really stinks. I noticed that my pregnancy ticker that I had to the right on my blog doesn't have over due as an option, it just changed to your baby is one day old. That made me sad so I removed it.
I am scheduled to be induced on Tuesday Sept. 14th at 10 PM. (Why oh why did we switch to Kaiser) I am really hoping that she comes before then. I have been feeling really good considering I am so pregnant. Last night was the 1st time that I had what I think were consistent contractions. But they never got closer then 8-9 minutes apart. I say "I think" because this whole 40 weeks and waiting to go in to labor is all new for me. With my first two pregnancy I never had any contractions until they gave me pitocin. I have never gone into labor on my own. So I am a bit worried about when to know when it's time. But after talking to some friends and my doctor I think I should be able to know when it's baby time. Hopefully that time is soon!

I realized I have not posted any prego pictures this whole pregnancy. Here is one of me at 39 weeks. Most of my clothes barely fit so I am very anxious about not being pregnant anymore.

2 going on 16

Yesterday we decided to take a trip to Disneyland to try to induce labor with all the walking. So we picked Grandma up and then picked up Daddy and headed to Disneyland for a few hours of fun! The kids had a great time, they loved that grandma was with them. Charles even worked up the courage to go on Soaring Over California and LOVED IT!
On the way home we were chatting in the car and for some reason Charles was talking about Christmas, Madison then said, "My birthday." (We tell her that her birthday is near Christmas to try and help her with the whole time line.) Then grandma asked her how old she will be on her birthday. He said "16!" It was hilarious!!!! We all started totally laughing. I thought for sure she would say 5, since Charles just turned 5.
Some days with her crazy attitude I feel like I have a teenager in the house already. Oh, what Joy she brings into our family! She is quite the little character.

Why did we choose Riverside???

The thermostat in my car said 112 degrees when I went to pick up Charles from school today; boy do I miss Orange County!!! But I LOVE my house and full day kindergarten is GREAT!
I guess we can't have it ALL!

1st Day of School Tradition

We decided that since Charles started school this week we needed to start/continue some family traditions. On Sunday night Charles got a Father's blessing to start the school year off. Both John and I had this tradition in our homes growing up, so it only made sense to continue it. He was very excited for Daddy to give him a blessing and made sure that he did NOT use the yucky oil on his head. Madison too wanted a blessing so John decided to give her one, especially since her life will be changing too once this baby arrives. They both did a great job sitting and listening reverently during the blessings. What a great way to start the new year!!!

My mom came over after work and went with Madison and I to pick Charles up from school. We then went to 7-11 for Slurpee's. They were so yummy especially since it was 108 degrees outside. Charles was very excited to have grandma there when he got out of school. He even asked me who would be coming with me to pick him up the next day. (Like I'm supposed to have a special visitor with me every day. Funny Kid!) Maybe Slurpee's after the 1st day of school will be a new tradition for us!

On Monday night I decided to make Charles a special 1st Day of School dinner. I asked him what he wanted and he quickly said Chicken on a Stick! (Meaning chicken on the bone, specifically drumsticks) Growing up this is one of the things I remember ALWAYS eating. As I got older I decided I didn't like picking my chicken or any meat for that matter off the bone and started refusing to eat any meat with a bone. (I have since changed a bit and do LOVE ribs.) I thought his request was quite funny but decided why not, we loved it as kids. Since I didn't plan very well I just went to Stater Bros and picked up some of their ready to eat chicken and made some rice and vegetables to go with it. And for our treat after family home evening I bought ice cream sandwiches, another one of Charles favorites! He was so excited to have a meal that he got to choose. After we were finished with dinner he was very sad to see that there was no left over chicken. He wanted to take it to school for his lunch the next day. So funny!!! I assured him that we would have it again and that seemed to make him happy. After dinner we had family night; Grandpa Anderson joined us for dinner and family night and as always the kids loved having him there. (Grandma had to go back home for an appointment she had previously scheduled so she was not able to stay for dinner and family night. Maybe next time.)

1st Day of School

My little boy is growing up!! Today he started his first day of Kindergarten. We have been waiting for this day for so long! I think I have had more fear and anxiety about him starting then he did. He was very excited and has been talking about it for while now. We got him all ready to go and Madison and I walked him to school. It was very nice to be outside and get the kids moving, especially since Charles would be sitting in a class room for so long. His school does full day kindergarten so we will so how it goes. When we got to his classroom he did so good. He walked in and found his cubby, put his backpack in it and then went to walk away. I asked him to come say good bye to mommy and Madison. That is when I started tearing up, I thought I would be fine, but I guess not. My eyes got all watery and I could feel my emotions getting the best of me. After all my baby is going to school for a full-day!!! And the baby is due in 2 weeks!!! Then Charles eyes started to tear up a bit and he asked why I was crying. I whispered in his ear that mommy was very excited that he was going to start school. Then I kissed him and told him we would be back to pick him up later. He walked off and went to play with the other kids. Today was not too bad. But tomorrow may be a little harder after he experiences a long day he may not want to go back. We will see!

Havasu Fun again

We had another great long weekend in Havasu this year! We stayed an extra day and loved every minute of our trip. Being 8 months pregnant the water was WONDERFUL!!! My bathing suit is pretty comfortable so I just lounged around in it almost all weekend. The water felt great and we lucked out with cool weather, at least for Havasu. The hottest it got was 108. Madison even took a nap two days in a row. The first time we were out on the boat and she just got really quite and totally fell asleep while I was sitting with her. Luckily we can dock the boat right in front of the house so we left her on the boat to sleep while we swam and played around it. The next day she was getting pretty tired also my sister asked her if she wanted to take a nap on the boat and she said yes. So she put her on the boat and laid her down and off to sleep she went. Then once again we just played and swam around the outside of the boat. It was Awesome!!! And she woke up so Happy!!!!

Madison and Grandpa learned to play Golf on the Wii and both enjoyed themselves!


Daddy and Janelle got to have some fun on the inner-tube behind the boat.


Grandma enjoyed swimming with the kids. It was great, they both swim so well with their life jackets they could actually be independent and not rely on someone to hold them, at least while there were no boats speeding by creating big waves.







Grandma thought she could fit on this little donut inner-tube, but it didn't work out so well!!