Family Reunion

June

The Millers organized a family reunion for my grandparents, their children, their children's children, and their children's children's children. All in all, I think they said that about 88 people came. It was a huge endeavor. I am indebted to all who were involved for the wonderful company, activities, and accommodations. Jared was just recovering from his surgery, so he was unable to make it. I had both the girls by myself in a suite. It was a lot easier to take care of both of them by myself than I thought. That was until Chloe got the stomach bug... And even though I caught it from her and ended up spending most of our return flight in the tiny bathroom, hunched over, it was a fantastic trip. The resort we stayed at had swimming pools, a private beach, and a lot of fun activities. I nearly cried when I saw posted on their bulletin board that they did free rubber duckie decorating! Here are a few photos of the things we did.

Our duckies

Becca and me boating

Chloe, showing off her crown and facepaint with her best girl pals, Ella and Molly, my cousins' daughters

Playing on "the beach"

This was the most disappointing part of our trip. We went fishing with my uncles. Right off the bat, Chloe was catching fish, doing great. I even caught one too.

So far, so good, right? It was just then that my camera started to shake violently. This is the only usable picture that I have of Chloe with one of her many fish.

But here is where it got down right unfair. Chloe, while fishing with a little Barbie pole, got a nibble. She started to reel it in, and said to Grandpa Tidwell, "I'm done." He took the pole from her, only to realize that she had a huge fish on her line. He was reeling it in as best he could, but soon found out it was an 18" (at least) catfish. The net was on the other side of the pier, so we all scrambled to find something to catch it with. Unfortunately, by the time we found an acceptable replacement for the net, the fish had broken the line. This was the best picture I could get of it. It looks like one of those Sasquatch sightings, but I swear I had other witnesses.

Baby Projects

I got a little carried away (surprise, surprise) with gifts for my sister and her baby boy. One of my favorite things that we gave her though, was Chloe's gift. My sister loves elephants. Don't ask how we were lucky enough to find it, but she got her an elephant duckie!

Burpcloths

Carseat Cover

Blanket

Bibs

I also made a Boppy cover, nursing cover, sleep sack, and pacifier clip, but the pictures of those didn't turn out well. I loved that they were all matching though. Maybe I'm just a little OCD...

Playing Catch Up

There are so many things that we have been keeping ourselves busy with this summer/fall. I have a ton of things to post, so please be patient as I list events that are 6 months old. :)

My Sensitive Girl

My little sweet Chloe sometimes surprises me. She seems tough on the outside, but has a soft little heart.
We were putting her in bed a while ago. Occasionally, if she is just too wound up to go to sleep, we'll tell her a "Princess Chloe" story. It's usually something either Jared or myself will just make up on the spot, hoping with each sentence she'll be that much closer to passing out. Here's how the last one went-

Once upon a time, Princess Chloe and her best friend Dragon were playing in the forest. They stumbled on a golden egg. They looked around, but couldn't figure out where it came from, so they took it home with them.
They waited and waited for the egg to hatch, but soon they fell asleep. After they had fallen asleep, the egg started to crack. It hatched and out came Princess Fiona! She looked around and saw that they were sleeping, so she went to find someone to play with.
She looked and looked, but couldn't find anyone else to play with. She soon realized that she was lost and it was getting dark, so she couldn't remember the way back to Princess Chloe and Dragon. She started to get really sad.
(Insert FULL hysterics from Chloe!)
"Mom!" She said through sobs "I don't want Fiona to be lost. She will be crying. I just want her to be safe."
"Chloe, it's not the end of the story. We have to wait and see what happens." At this point, I started to panic. She rarely really pays attention or gets emotionally vested in these stories. I knew I had to make it good AND FAST. It took me 2 full minutes just to calm her down to hear the rest.

Princess Chloe and Dragon woke up from their nap and saw that the egg had hatched. They looked around but couldn't find anything. Princess Chloe noticed that the golden egg had golden footprints around it. She and Dragon decided to follow the footprints and they soon found Princess Fiona, who had been crying. She was so happy to see Princess Chloe and Dragon. They all went back home and had hot chocolate and cookies. The End.

Now every time she recounts the story, Chloe's favorite part is when they have hot chocolate. She still asks me why Fiona has to get lost. I guess from now on, our stories wont have conflict. English 101 must not have had my 4 year old in mind.

The Rule of Threes

I have heard it said that significant events happen in 3 and 7s. Luckily for us, it was 3s. Had 7 of these similar events happened, I might have lost my mind.

1st- We were very fortunate to have brought a beautiful, healthy, sweet baby girl into the world in January. Though she is a blessing, no one can deny that adding her to our family was a life-changing event. When she was just 6 weeks old we found out...

2nd- Jared had a tumor. He had been concerned about a lump on his shoulder that was not receding. At first he thought it was a pulled muscle, but after massage and chiropractics, he decided to ask our family practitioner, who ordered and MRI and within a week we were planning biopsies, radiation, and surgery up at Huntsman Cancer Institute. This made it a little difficult to do...

3rd- Move upstairs. We had been renting out the basement apartment in my parents home for some time. The space was needed for someone else, so we consolidated our things and moved into 2 of the bedrooms upstairs in my parent's home. This was quite a challenge for me because Jared was out of commission, Fiona was very much a hold-me-or-I-wont-sleep baby, and I was still trying to organize projects from when we moved in.

The good news is- we survived! Jared is healthy. His surgery went better than expected. Fiona is still healthy and strong as ever. She is lively and very loving. We are all still adjusting to living together upstairs, but so far things have gone very smoothly. Every day, I have to remind myself that we are lucky... this could have been a round of 7s.

Mother Jeeves

I know this dates me, but generally I am the "Ask Jeeves" of my family. Unfortunately, either from mom-brain (which is a scientifically proven thing by the way!) or system over-load, I have been unable to perform my duties lately.

Usually things go something like this-

Jared: Hey, Amanda, who's that actress? The one with the funky feet?
Me: Uma Thurman?
Jared: Yeah, I don't like her...

Chloe (in a very desperate, sad voice): Mom, where is my purple blanket?
Me: It's under your covers.
Chloe: Oh thanks Mom!

Lately-
Jared: Amanda, what is the name of that actor? The one in the movie I like...
Me: I have no idea what movie or person you are talking about.
Jared: You know, the one where it's winter...
Me: I don't know

Chloe: Mom, where is my other glove?
Me: I don't know. I think you lost it.
Chloe: But why?
Me: I don't know.

I can only hope my abilities will soon recover, otherwise soon our whole family will be unanswered... and probably lost.

Hansen Family Awards

We were visiting Jared's parents on Monday. Chloe was playing with a notepad when she tore off a paper and walked up to Jared. She handed him the paper and said "Here daddy. This is for you for being the best basketball playing." He thanked her. She tore off another page and brought it to me. "Mommy, this is for you for being the best tv playing."
Grandma got one for being "the best cookie making."
Grandpa got one for being "the best smelling flowers."
Fiona was "the best wiggling."
We asked Chloe what she is best at. She said at first that she was "best at tv watching with Mommy tv playing." When asked again, she decided that she was also "best at snuggling duckies."
Stay tuned for next year's awards!

The First Meeting

We have tried to get Chloe excited about having a baby sister. Whenever she saw her baby cousin, we'd remind her that mommy was having a baby just like her. She was totally on board for having a little sister. Still, she didn't quite get the idea of a baby when she first saw Fiona. She was all smiles, but then with a puzzled expression, she asked Jared, "Daddy is she not walking yet?" She tried to wave to her and told her Grandma, "Grams, she isn't saying hi back." Unfortunately, I think she expected to have a 3 year old baby sister. She is not disappointed though. She is absolutely enamored with Fiona. I don't believe that I have heard her real voice for almost a month now, as it raises 3 octaves whenever she sees her sister. "Ooooh, Baby Fiona... She's so cutie!" I hope it stays this way.

The Arrival

I have probably been the only woman on earth who was not anxious to have her baby. I was terrified (and still am) of having 2 kids, so I was very patiently awaiting my due date.
I found out 3 days before my due date that my dad would be leaving on a business trip to New York on my due date. I was mistakenly under the impression that he would not be returning for 2 months. Frantic, I called up my doctor first thing Monday morning, asking to be induced the same day. Somehow, the stars aligned, and they said I could just go into the hospital at any time. Of course, after getting my doctors permission and such, I found out that it would not be 2 months, but rather 2 weeks that my dad would be gone. But it was too late, I had gotten my sights set on having the baby that day.
January 24th
We got to the hospital around 11 am. They hooked me up to the Oxytocin at noon. Around 2:30 the nurse informed me that a doctor would be by at 3 to break my water. 3 o'clock came and went. Finally at 6:30, the doctor came in and broke my water. I asked the nurse when she might be checking on me again. She said in a few hours, but that she would be back at 7 to up the Oxytocin. I kept feeling a lot of pressure on my pelvis right around 7. I asked Jared if I should press the call button. He said I should just wait until she came back. She showed up at 7:15. Sure enough, we were ready to go. She called in my doctor, and at 7:49 Fiona Drew Hansen was born.
Fiona weighed 8 lbs 4 oz. She was 19 1/2 inches long. She had a good amount of dark hair, though nothing compared to the mop that Chloe was born with. She screamed good and loud for the first 5 minutes. Even after bringing her home, she has not cried as loud as she did then. She is a sweet little baby, who is a wonderful addition to our family.

New Years

We spent New Years Eve with the Hansens. We played games and did some karaoke too. As usual with the holidays, we had way too much junk food.
As for our resolutions, Jared's is the same from last year. I would like to lose all the baby weight before my family reunion this June. We'll see how both turn out.

Christmas

We were able to celebrate Christmas this year with both of our families. We spent the Christmas Eve at Jared's parent's house and then went over to mine for Christmas afternoon. We had delicious food and enjoyed being around both families.
Christmas was more about the necessities for us this year. We got Chloe a duckie humidifier. As usual, the Grandmas rocked the house! I was thrilled to get diapers from my mom for the new baby. She also got Chloe a Polly Pocket roller coaster set. Grandma Hansen gave Chloe an Abby Caddaby baby doll. I had been trying to find one of these for the longest time and she somehow did in time for Christmas too. Chloe loves it! We were pretty lucky this year. All Chloe asked Santa for was matching jammies for her and Dolly and a blue racecar (Hot Wheels). I am a little terrified of what she'll ask for next year considering how low key she was this year.

The Snowman

Jared and Chloe love playing in the snow together. This year, we didn't really have a lot of great snow days, but they made the most of it. In less than an hour, they had built this snowman. When Jared asked Chloe what they should call him, she told him it was Frosty. It almost seemed as though there was no other option. She talked for weeks afterward about how she and Daddy had built a snowman, and how he fell down (melted) the next day. Can you tell that she is holding his hand? Too cute!

Holiday Projects

Another year, another round of making myself crazy trying to come up with new and unique gift ideas. PJs were a must this year! Jared got some U of U red pants and some green Kermit the Frog ones. Chloe kept asking Santa to bring some matching pjs for Dolly, so that she could sleep in her bed.The theme for the Hansen gift exchange this year was movies. I made a huge "movie blanket" for Jared's brother's family. They have 7 kids. The blanket ended up measuring 77 x 113 inches. I also made Jared some new rice heating pads in the new Jazz logo and Batman. For my sister and her husband, I made matching BYU slippers. Since they both went on their mission to the Netherlands, I found this pattern for a clog style. I had a lot of other ideas and plans that I wanted to execute this year, but (using the pregnant excuse again) I quickly ran out of steam. Still, I am fairly happy with how the rest turned out.

Halloween

This year we went low key in our Halloween celebrations. My aunts were in town, so we did a little family get-together. We didn't attend any other parties this year or go trick-or-treating because Chloe came down with a cold. I was pregnant and Jared wasn't interested in dressing up, so Chloe was the only one really decked out.

My Dad made up a nickname for Chloe a little while ago that stuck and became the inspiration for her costume this year. Chloe loves to drink. She can down a full sippy-cup in 30 seconds or less, so he started calling her Aquagirl. I made it in blue, her favorite color, and with a duckie insignia on the chest. She loved the idea of the costume, but just like any little kid, she got tired of wearing it after 5 minutes.

Chloe's Birthday Party

We waited until my parents were back from Holland to celebrate Chloe's birthday with family and friends. I didn't realize when I invited all our family and friends, how loud all the kids would be. I think in the beginning Chloe was a little intimidated by all of them, but in the end, she was sad when all of them left.She had a duckie-themed party. We set out all of her rubber duckies on our ledge in the kitchen. I made her a blue (of course) duckie cake, with balloons on the side. If you know any of Chloe's trademark phrases, you know that "Balloons make her happy." Her cousins were really excited to try to help her blow out the candles on the cake. Each of the kids got a little goodie bag, attached to a balloon, with some candies and a mini rubber duckie inside. Everyone seemed to have a good time, but I think the next time we have that many kids for a party, we're doing it in a larger space!

Chloe's Birthday

My little girl turned 3 in October! She started out the day asking for pancakes and eggs which (like a normal 3 year old) she refused to eat once it was made. She really wanted her outfit to match Dolly. She got a haircut from Aunt Becca and then we headed to lunch at Chick-Fil-A, our birthday tradition with her. The playplace at Chick-Fil-A was a little crowded, so we headed to the park to let her play.She spent the rest of the day watching Backyardigans. I made her a birthday cupcake with blue frosting, her favorite color. She had a great time, and wore herself out, which was great for us!!!

Catching Up

SOOOO much that I need to put on the blog!!!
For those of you who have not heard yet, we had our second girl. Fiona Drew Hansen was born January 24, 2011. She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and measured 19 1/2 inches long. She is a sweet little baby who sleeps a lot, but also takes up a lot of my time and energy. (I.E. My excuse for not posting anything in a while!)

More to come...