Baby Luke is Here!!

Dear Kate and Riley,

I promise I'll go backwards and post about the rest of our summer some time. But for now Luke's arrival needs to be documented!

Because I have always been induced at least a few days before my due date, we didn't think it would be any different this time around. But, apparently this is the "busy season" for births (who knew!) and my doctor could not get me in to the hospital for an induction. It was super frustrating because in my head I had "checked out" from being pregnant and we had already bought a ticket for Grandma Janice to come out and help. The ticket was for the day before my actual due date and we thought for sure he would be born and possibly even home from the hospital by the time she got there. Instead we had five days to play and waste time (and try to induce labor).

Luke must have been pretty happy inside (maybe he sensed what he was getting in to down here). He seemed to have no intention of coming on his own. So four days after his due date, my doctor FINALLY got me in for the induction. His birth was easy-peasy (as the boys like to say). I got my pitocen, they broke my water and six hours later, we had a baby! He was the easiest by far and thankfully so because my recovery has been decent which I needed since by the time we got home from the hospital Grandma only got to be here five days. I had her for two full weeks after Brady was born so I was a little stressed about her leaving.

Today (last Wed. 10-17) was our first day being totally on our own (dad had to go to work) and things were a little crazy as I tried to get everyone dressed, fed and out the door by 9am. There was one point when the boys had somehow let Bella out the front door so they were chasing her through the neighborhood, Brady still in pj's, and I'm upstairs nursing and yelling at them out the window to get inside. All while Zach's carpool showed up to get him and the dog is no where to be found. Chaos! But I'm sure we'll get the hang of this three kid thing eventually.

Luke weighed 8 pounds and was 20.5 inches long. Our biggest by far. He has the softest black hair you've ever felt and I love to play with it while he nurses. I love having a tiny little baby, I love that by this round they don't stress me out. I think you understand better how fast it really goes and that everything from the pain to the sleepless nights will be over in a flash. I just love to smell him and hold him and kiss him. It's funny that I felt any disappointment at all that he wasn't a girl because I just can't even imagine it now. I look at these boys and I know they were all meant to be here as part of our family.

The boys love Luke, they call him Lukie and Brady especially loves to hold him and tell me how "TINY" he is (in the squeakiest voice). He tells me 100 times a day "I want to hold that baby!" He even told me he had milk in his "elbows" to feed the baby (can't decide where he got elbows from).

He looks like a mix of both boys-- Zach's nose and eyes, Brady's mouth. He has Zach's appetite and would eat all day long if I'd let him. He is a little fussier than I remember the other boys being and wants to be held all the time. That is a little hard with the other boys but we'll figure it out (or maybe he'll figure it out!?)

We love Luke so much and are so excited that he is part of our family. We are so thankful that Heavenly Father blessed us with this beautiful boy.

Love,
Mom

Finally! I was so happy to finally get in to the hospital. It felt like I was pregnant forever.

Our ocean view, we love Hoag

Meeting Luke

First family photo

Zach meeting Luke I think Grandma Janice has more pictures of this

Hansen Reunion--FHE (part 2)

Part of being in charge of the reunion was planning the FHE activities for the night. We played some fun games and Papa Ross gave a little message. Of course there was other fun involved as well.

One of my favorite moments of the reunion, when Brady got all the older kids to sing Old MacDonald with him. It was SO cute!!

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Papa Ross giving his spiritual thought for FHE

The main game we played was a scavenger hunt. We had statements that pertained to the adults and the kids had to go around and find the person or people who fit the statement. They were things like-- Find three teachers, find two accountants, find three people who lived in Asia. It was fun because it made the kids have to interact with the adults and some of the things were kind of tricky!

The other game we played was amusing. We put a paper bag on the ground. You had to pick up the bag using only your mouth, tear a piece off the bag and put it back. The bag got smaller and smaller. I was surprised at how flexible some of our family members were! We basically went until there was nothing left of the bag.

I can't remember who "won" but Sheri and Tia were both amazingly flexible. Despite both being in dresses. I was glad that I was pregnant and didn't even have to make an attempt!

Then we played another game where you had to knock over the water bottles with a tennis ball in pantyhose over your face. The kids got pretty into this and pretty crazy.

Then the former cheerleaders/gymnasts put on a show for us. I was totally impressed that Tia and Sheri could still do back handsprings! I couldn't do those things when I was 12, let alone 30 something! I got some cool shots of these and if I wasn't so pregnant and lazy I'd figure out how to put them together so you could see the whole sequence.

More family reunion pics coming...

Hansen Reunion Part 1

Dear Kate and Riley,

We were in charge of the Hansen reunion this year. It was something we'd been looking forward to for a long time! After (way too much) research we finally decided to do it in Newport. That ended up being good and bad for us-- good because it was so close to home and nice not to make travel arrangements and bad because it meant Dad decided not to take the week off and work the whole time. It was definitely a bummer since our St. George trip was also cut short so we didn't get much family time this summer. But we ended up having a good time even though we missed having Dad around more.
I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked but I still think this will take several posts to get through...

The cousins minus baby Hank all ready for church. I can't believe most of them are looking in these pictures! (I think I took 20)

We took some pics on Sunday evening after dinner. This is all of the great grandchildren on the Hansen side. Pretty amazing. We had some sad ones like Claire and Tag. Looking forward to seeing Megan's version of this since I'm no photographer. Also, hoping to see the big group shot (no, Megan that's not a hint at all :) )

Brady and Baby Hank. We were trying to get him used to the idea of a baby. Not sure how well it went over.

Z taking a rest mid-beach day

Claire bear. Love her.

We had to practice the FHE games the night before. Grandma Janice got pretty in to it. I'll leave that as the story for now. 

 

 

More to come!

Love,
Mom

4th of July

Dear Kate and Riley,
Since we had to cut our trip to St. George short we ended up home for the 4th of July for the first time in about five years. We weren't really sure what to do with ourselves! We ended up going to the ward pancake breakfast and having a bbq with some friends. Then we crashed the backyard of some other friends for a great view of the fireworks. It was a laid back, fun 4th.

Cheeto hands (him and all the other 2 year olds)

Lily, one of Brady's adorable buddies, who also loved the cheetos and the watermelon.

Aleisha is always the best hostess.

The dads played a little badminton

The kids loved doing poppers, especially when it involved throwing them at the dads

The little ones found it easier to stomp on them

Although it was a little sad not to be with family, we are blessed to have such good friends and had such a fun day!
Love,
Mom