The Sanders Family Blog

Friday, October 29, 2010

3 Week Old Photo Shoot

So I couldn't resist taking some pics of my little cutie! Again, I took a ton of pictures, but these are my favorites! He is so darn cute - I know, we're a little biased, but who could disagree with how cute this little face is!

From Carter 3 weeks

2 Week Photo Shoot

I wanted to get some cute pictures of Carter, but I didn't want to pay a photographer to do it, so we had our own photo shoot. I wanted to get some cute pictures to use for his birth announcement. I took a ton of pictures, and we got some good shots. I think I would have liked to have been a photographer - I get so much pleasure out of getting good photos. For now, I just get to practice taking pictures of my little man! These are some of my favorites...

From Carter at 2 Weeks

Carter's Second Week

Our little boy is already growing! He had his two week check up and now weighs 8 lbs 3.7 oz. He is now starting to hold his head up and is making more sounds. He is feeding well and sleeping great! He usually only wakes up once during the night, which is such a blessing!

From Carter first 2 weeks

We had more visitors this week. Some of my family drove up from Southern California to meet Carter. Here's my grandma with Carter

From Carter first 2 weeks

My aunt Anita with Carter.

From Carter first 2 weeks

And our family of 3!

From Carter first 2 weeks

Friday, October 22, 2010

Carter's First Week

We came home from the hospital on Sunday. It was so great to be home and out of the hospital... but the fist night home was the longest night!! Sleeping has improved since the first night! We went to the pediatrician on Monday and everything looked good. He had already started to gain some of his weight back. On Wednesday we went to the lactation consultant. It was really neat, because she weighed Carter before his feeding then after, to see how much he gained. Before his feeding he weighed 7 lbs 6 oz (which was amazing that at 5 days old he had already passed his birth weight!). Then after the feeding he weighed 7 lbs 7 oz. So our little man is growing!

We had family visitors this week. It was so great to see the new Grandma's and Grandpa's holding Carter.

From Carter first 2 weeks

We also went for our first walk and Carter's first ride in the stroller. He liked it! And it was so wonderful to be outside!

From Carter first 2 weeks

We are so blessed to have this little guy in our lives!

From Carter first 2 weeks

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Carter Michael Sanders is here!

Baby Carter is here! He was born on Friday, October 8th at 5:47 pm, weighing 7 lbs. 5 oz and is 20.5 inches long. He is so cute!

I was induced on Friday, so we went to the hospital at 6 am. I was already having contractions and was 3 cm dilated, and they gave me pitocin. At 9:30 the doctor broke my water and immediately the contractions got much stronger and closer together. At 12:30 I was 6 cm dilated and ready for my epidural! Got the epidural by 1:30 and Wow! What a difference! I was so happy after that. I got to relax a little. They checked me at 3:30 and I was already 9 1/2 cm. They were surprised at how fast I progressed and I was glad! I started pushing at 4:20. Carter was ready to come, but the doctor wasn't in the room yet, so we had to wait through a few contractions before the doctor got there. And Carter came into the world at 5:47 pm. It was such an amazing experience.

We are home adjusting to life with our little guy.

From Drop Box

When we got home we had this amazing announcement in our front yard. It was the greatest thing to come home to... not sure who sent it but love it!!

From Carter

Here's the first video of our little one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnD7od0gbaU&feature=email

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting....

I have officially started maternity leave and I am loving it! It has been so relaxing and has allowed me to get some stuff together and feel ready for our little arrival. But he still isn't here yet! For some reason, both Patrick and I thought he would come early. Apparently, that is not the plan, seeing as how I am 39 weeks pregnant! But he will come on God's timing, which will be perfect. All we can do now is wait, wait and wait some more...

From Baby

37 weeks pregnant - and it was my last day of work! Wow I look tired! Thank goodness for all the rest I have had!!

From Baby

38 weeks pregnant! Getting closer and much bigger!

Celebrations

In the past few months we have had the chance to celebrate our 4th anniversary and my birthday!

From Baby

For our anniversary, I surprised Patrick and took him to the Firehouse Restaurant in Old Town Sacramento. It is a really nice restaurant with such a great atmosphere. We had a really nice dinner - we had the chef's tasting menu, so we had appetizers, salad, soup, our main course - fabulous steak, and dessert! It was awesome! (I was 31 weeks prego)

From Colleen's Birthday

For my birthday, Patrick and my family come up and surprise us at church. We then went out to brunch after. The restaurant brought me a candle in a cinnamon roll - yummy!! It was a perfect way to celebrate my birthday!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Vista Volleyball - Ranked #4!!!

I am so proud of my hubby! The Sacramento Bee did a big article on Patrick and Vista Volleyball. I am so proud of what he has accomplished with this team and how humble he is.... he would never ask me to post this so that's exactly why I am! Vista had a big game on Monday night against El Camino and won in 5 games, and now they are ranked #4 in the Sacramento Area!! So cool!!

Here's the link to the article:
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/15/3030205/high-school-volleyball-notes-visa.html

Here's the link to the top 20 teams in the Sacramento Area:
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/15/3030202/the-bees-volleyball-top-20.html

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Northern California Shower

Our small group girls threw me a baby shower at the end of July. It was so fun to get together to celebrate the coming of our little one! It is so awesome to have such great friends.

From Northern Cali Shower

And of course my mom was there!

From Northern Cali Shower

I love baby elephants, so that was the theme for the shower. There are so many talented girls in our group... one made the cake and it was delicious! And one made the baby elephant banner! Such talent!!

From Northern Cali Shower

The girls did such a great job. We played a couple games and the best was they had recorded Patrick answering questions, so the girls would ask me the question to have me answer it, then ask me if Patrick would get it right. The questions were all about baby stuff, like "What is swaddling?", "What is the APGAR score?", "How many times a day does a newborn need their diaper changed?" The best one was "What is colic?" Patrick answered - where their hair only wants to go one direction. Hilarious!!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Southern California Shower

At the end of July my family threw me a shower. It was so much fun to see everyone. We had a great time celebrating the newest addition to the family. My mom, aunts and cousins were there as well as my grandmother and some close family friends.