A little Son-Shine!!!!

We're so happy that our little man is here! I guess to save alot of repeat conversations to girlfriends and family who care to know how his birthday went i'll just do a semi detailed post so here it goes!!!

I've had chronic high BP throughout my pregnancy, but no toxemia...and Owen was doing well, so we've been sitting tight monitoring his health and activity....My original due date was April 17th....than it got moved to the 9th...than to avoid having another 9 lb baby I was scheduled to be indunced on April 5th, the day before Carter's birthday.....well....let's see at 35 weeks I was 2cm and 80% efaced....at 37 weeks I was 3cm and still 80% efaced...at my 38 week apt yesterday morning I was 5cm and 90% efaced...

Let me back up a little...we're moving to Iowa this summer because John's working for Vivint AKA Apex alarms doing installs, and he had the opportunity to go to Reno wed-sun do to some pre-season installs down there with the potential to make some good money which we definitely need, so we agreed...off he went knowing that I was a ticking pregnant time bomb/on the fast track so my Dr. had been saying for 3 weeks....

So Yesterday morning after he checked me, the Doc told me to get my stuff and stay in town at my sister in laws because he didn't want me 1/2 hour away from the hospital by myself with a two year old, and the next morning he wanted me to be induced...well we didn't have to wait for that because examining me broke my water(not hollywood style!) so he sent me straight over to the hospital.....

UNFORTUNATELY my husband was still 8 hours away....we knew his missing Owens birth was a possibility but we sure were hoping he'd make it....So long story short, I was admitted around 11:30am and sat in the hospital with my legs crossed waiting for John to get there, which he did at 6:45pm....at 4 pm I started having contractions on my own, they waited to start me on pit until John got there....which of course ramped up my labor, finally after waiting and waiting my Dr. and the anethstesiologist got out of an emergency surgery, fixed me up nice and numb only to have my blood pressure dive...I know this is a common reaction to the epidural meds but when you can't breath, you're blacking out and feeling like you're floating away on a death cloud it can kind of scare the crap out of a person and wear you out! Thank goodness after some lovely oxygen time, and some rest I perked back up just in time to VERY QUICKLY deliver our Son Shine at 10:04 pm....let's see I think a total of 3 pushes and BAM, a sweet little 7 pounder was in my arms!!! MUCH different than the 13 hour pit labor/1 hour of pushing I had with Carter.

I can't believe how much easier, and better I feel after his birth compared to Carter, I'm actually enjoying my time here in the hospital with him, it's been quiet and slow. He's having a hard time eating as his rooting/suck and swallow reflexes are pretty much non-existent, but the nurses and I have been able to get enough in him, to finally keep his blood sugar normal. Hopefully he'll start getting the hang of things...good news is his plumbing works just fine!!! One less worry eh?!

He's a sweet little fella that sleeps alot, and loves to listen to momma's voice...Carter was able to see him through the glass in the nursery and thought he was pretty neat, she counted his eyes, nose, and ears...and I even think she might have made a small connection in her brain that he was ours....Daddy was holding him up to the glass so I could go out and hug my girl....I missed her so much yesterday and last night, although I know she was in good hands and just fine, I still was such a mom and had a weepy snuggle moment with her blanket at 1 oclock this morning!

Well, anyhoo that's our story for now, we get to go home tomorrow morning, I can't wait to take more pictures and show him off, so stay posted for more!

Owen and such!!!

First I better give an Owen update!!! I had a follow up ultrasound at 33 weeks because they thought I might have placenta previa...but there are no problems thank goodness! The best part at getting to have another ultrasound of course was getting to peek at Owen's little face again! He was turned towards my right hip and had his face smashed up against my pelvis, so it was hard to get a good picutre(hence his nose looks like it's been cut off!), but thanks to a patient and kind ultrasound tech we got a few good looks! He was smiling the whole time and moving his mouth like he was talking to me, although I'm know he was just practicing his breathing, he's got a round little face like his sister did that makes me just want to pinch and kiss those cheeks! He's growing strong and healthy, what more could a mother ask for!!! Oh, I almost forgot, apparently it looks like he has a full head of hair...but i've been told such statements from ultrasound techs often are proven false...so we anxiously await!

Our last Dr. appt concluded that my actual due date should be closer to the 9th than the 17th of April, and as previously promised by the good doc, he'll be inducing me a week early, so April 5th will be this litle guys birthday!!! I joked that my kids could have the same birthday as Carter's is the 6th of April, but he assured me that we'd have a baby on the 5th, as he's starting me early in the morning! It's almost worse having an actual day guaranteed to have a baby rather than play the waiting game, it makes the countdown almost unbearable...it seems overnight i've gone from being able to sleep inbetween bathroom trips-to tossing and turning in my pillow made nest (poor John can't even get close to me at night!), all of the sudden there's NO energy in my reserve, but plenty of heart burn to go around! AT LEAST I learned from my pregnancy with Carter how little = overdoing it....so i'm learning to pace myself a little better, but boy to I feel like a bump on a log!!!

Well, on a different note, I had fun the other day doing a little creating....obviously my brain is still on the girl wave, but since these are for a church activity it's ok right?! The celebration over the organization of the Relief Society is in the form of a birthday party in our ward, and we each are to bring a 5x7 framed something to exchange as gifts, so everyone gets something.....i'm not too good at creating sophisticated things, so I thought for sure there would be a young mom with a little girl that could appreciate a little something to put on the wall in her daughter's room!

Just a few pictures...

A few people have been asking for the belly picture, so here you go, 8 months along...7 weeks to go! Bring on the countdown!!!

I needed a sewing project, so Carter got a new jumper, and I got a new apron!
One of Carter's favorite things to do! COLOR COLOR COLOR!!!

Carter reading to her "beebee", Ok, so it's actually a rubber Mrs. Pillsbury that I somehow inherited from my grandma, she LOVES it though and packs it around and feeds it crackers and bottles...funny thing is she has a real baby doll, that she almost could care less about!

Looking like a bag lady...when asked to go get her shoes....Carter will always choose her irrigation boots, she also loves to wear her hat that Aunt Hailey made her for Christmas...and let's not forget, a "must" accesory, her "Jesus loves me" necklace from nursery!

Giving her baby and horse a ride around the house, with crazy nap time hair!

Spending some time outside with mom and dad, while the weather decided to be sunny and bright!!!

Face grafiti! At least she comes to show me when she does something naughty, this one I couldn't stop laughing at, we'll call this her tiger face!

Christmas travels...

We sure had alot of fun in Oregon for Christmas this year, we braved the winter road travels and made it there and back with no troubles...well actually we did blow the fuse in our car that fed power to the radio and DVD player....MAJOR disaster averted thanks to some research on the laptop (Thanks McDonalds for now having free Wifi!) and a shopping trip to Wal-Mart in Pendelton. All of my life i've been traveling I-84 along the Columbia river, and never have I stopped at the Stonehenge replica....So we decided to take a little detour over the river into Washington to have a little look see!

It was freeing cold and Carter didn't feel like stretching her legs, so we made it a quick pit stop and tried to smile for a few pictures...but now I can officially say I've been to Stonehenge..haha!
Of course the weather in Oregon is always testy, especially in winter, so what do you do with equally testy children?...Why I say...you make them go outside! Carter really enjoyed adventuring with her cousins in the backyard...

These two are a crack up...they play really nice together unless any older siblings are around to cause trouble! Carter is 4 months older than Autumn, but boy being close in age doesn't make them anything alike- as you can see Autumn is always willing to smile for the camera, Carter just scowls or looks away!

Opening presents from Nana and Papa...Carter LOVES her Fur-Real kitty, it's still one of her favorite presents now three weeks after Christmas!

Playing with her new dishes set on Christmas morning....a rare moment of not having to defend her loot from cousins....not that she didn't do her share of looting as well!

Speaking of looting....where did you get that Missy??? What a little candy cane thief....it's a good thing Santa left extras in the pantry!

Looking over her new movies from "An Book"

Not the prettiest sight to behold on Christmas morning, but it's all I've got of Carter and I together with smiles!

The face of Christmas morning...how do you teach a 2 year old that Christmas morning is supposed to be happy and joyful? She pretty much did nothing but scowl and was hardly interested in opening presents, it was more exciting to see what her cousins were getting!

Yup, that's right, the Dad's pulled diaper duty before the chaos began! They were tucked away in their beds while Santa and his helper were busy until late (some little children had a hard time going to sleep that night!)

John and Abrianna teaming up for a little "Guesstures"

Abrianna and Carter playing rough and tumble...oh wait that was the end of a cat-fight gone good! These two just DON'T get along, i'm not quite sure why but hooooooeeeyyy! By the time we left I figured intervening was pointless and my kid had to learn to find her voice and yell back hit back and take toys too...all very typical 2 year old things that she hadn't figured out yet...but were coming! Unfortunately she learned them so well, that by the time we left, she also was a main instigator in alot of the hulabaloo....she's really turned into a curmudgeoned brute!

It's a BOY!!!

Anyone who ever visits our blog has probably already heard that we're having a BOY! Quite shocking and unexpected....if you put Carter, and our nieces from John's and My side of the family all in a row by age, you'd discover that we're breaking an 8 girl streak....that's right EIGHT little ladies all in a row.....so you can imagine our utter shock at seeing "M-A-L-E" typed accross the screen at my ultrasound!!! We're so excited as is everyone in our families...it baffles me, boys are such a foriegn concept, but it still just makes me so giddy! There's definitely no doubt about it, I asked the tech how sure he was, lets just say in response he showed me the "proof" about 6 times during the visit....I guess you could say we're just tickled pink...or rather blue!

Now our only dilemma is chosing a name, it came so easy when we named Carter, but this one's a little more tricky! So here are my favorites so far:
Owen Luke Hansen
Walker....... Hansen
Max........Hansen
Liam Cole Hansen
Cole Jonathan Hansen
Carson Briggs Hansen
Suggestions are always welcome!!!

As a side note, how do you all feel about using names that other good friends/family have used as first/middles names...I feel like a name thief, but there are some really good ones that I adore and am tempted to use???!!!!! Hmmmm, something to ponder!

Hopefully I'll get to a computer soon that has a good scanner attatched so I can post his 3-d picture...now, his little face does have an alienesque quality about it, since he has so much developing to do, but still it's precious and gives me a face to dream about meeting in a few months!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice!

Well, I't's been too long since I've posted anything, so today is the day! We're so in love with our daughter, what a fun age she is right now, she's definitely a sugar coated spice ball of an almost 2 year old!!! Her vocabulary is beginning to expand, and it's so fun to listen to her jibber jabber all day!!! Here's the list of words that we can actually understand: "NO, Nana, Papa, Momma, Daddy, food, uh oh, Bye, Poop, toot, toes, socks, Binky, and Blanky, bug, go, cow, doggie, ducky, kitty, and moo" Everyday she's experimenting and trying out new sounds, unfortunately she says "NO" for everything...even when she means yes...so we have a little problem communicating sometimes! This morning we woke up to our first real snow of the season...unfortunately John was not as excited as Carter and I (having not grown up with much snow, it's a magical wonder every winter for me....I LOVE it and get soooo excited apparently my daughter is going to follow suit!)

We spent the morning looking out the window and pointing to all of the pretty snow!

I'm way behind in blogging, so this picture is from quite a while ago, I just get a kick out of it! Carter had been really sick with a cold, and John had been gone almost 24/7 driving truck for beat harvest....we'd had a rough day together, and decided a movie would make us both feel better....I just love it...what's a girl to do when she's sick and misses daddy?....why the answer of course is to eat a piece of cheese and relax in her comfy pink chair!!!

This one got emailed to family (so sorry for the repeat) but I just love this cheesy little kid....she's learning to say "CHEESE" for the camera, however the smile doesn't quite shine through yet!!! Again this was from a while ago, her newest trick is to push kitchen chairs around, climb up, and then of course reach WHATEVER her determined little mind has set out to get!!!

For now her favorite thing to do is to stand at the counter and color while Momma cooks and cleans....well, lets just say, coloring with pens is a BIG NO NO at our house...but it was a definite, pregnant..."I DON'T Care what happens" kind of a day....well....

Of course the end result....body art...!

Come winter, John and I love to whip out the games at night, well, when you have a toddler that needs to do everything you do too....the solution...give her a deck of cards and the last few drops of root beer to make her happy!!!

She spent literally over an hour putting taking the cards in and out of the box...and NOT ONE was bent or broken...she's very meticulous and focused when she's working on something, and very careful...what a funny little thing!

A little update...

Well not much happens or changes in our little world, but I thought I should post a few pictures of the little miss!!! She's growing and learning so much, I love to sit and watch her play, the wheels are constantly turning, she loves to really analyze things, and see how they work, and how she can manipulate them. She's jibber jabbering all the time, sometimes we have the most interesting conversations!!!

Uncle Brooks sharing the joy of fishing worms with Carter....why everyone though I would freak out i'm not quite sure....I certainly don't want to instill my fear and dislike for all things slimy and wiggly to my daughter...my philosophy is if it isn't going to hurt her...HAVE AT IT!!! Sometimes we have some big messes to clean up after, but i'd rather let her explore her surroundings! Daddy was proud because she just about ripped it in half....like a true fisherman or woman would do to get their worm ready for the hook!!!

Playing in Mommy's flower jungle! Oh, how this little girl LOVES to be outside getting dirty!h

Playing in a puddle (her favorite thing to do!) Yes, in her jammies and irrigation boots!

Visiting the mules while Mommy works in the yard.

Showing mommy her dirty hands....She's very good about letting me know when she needs her hands washed!