Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Merry Christmas

Just thought I'd share a few pictures from Christmas. We had a wonderful yet chaotic time! Micah ended up with a cold and Hailey had a temperature of 103 degrees on Christmas Eve but they both have recovered quickly! We had a great holiday season and can't believe it is over already!


This was the Sunday before Christmas in their new Christmas clothes!

Goin' fishin'!

Hailey's new baby and stroller. Hopefully it will help her learn to walk!



Legos from Santa!

Hailey in her new snowman pajamas!

Have you ever read the Bernstein Bear book "Too Much Vacation"? Well...this was too much holiday for Hailey!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Standing Hailey!

A few weeks ago Hailey started pulling herself up to everything and anything. This morning I went in to find she'd figured out how to stand up in her bed! But she was holding on with dear life...I'm not sure she knew how to let go! Our baby is growing up!



Jingle all the way!

Here's a few holiday pictures!

Having fun with Dad sitting behind the Christmas tree! (As you may have noticed our Christmas tree is up on a card table so Hailey can't get at it.)
 
Yesterday Micah and I decorated a gingerbread house! Besides the fact that just wanted to eat all the candy instead of using it to decorate it was lots of fun!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Best Buds!

Last Saturday my wonderful sister, Emily, took our family picture. Because she is somewhat the designated photographer of the family she also was taking family pictures for my sister Becky. Becky's youngest, Benjamin, is 4 months younger than Micah and since they moved back to Utah about a year ago they have become best buds! It's really quite amazing how well those 2 play together and it's funny to see what the 2 of them get themselves into. Here are a few pictures from the "family picture" taking event that were too cute not to post!  






Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Funny kids!

Hailey is really into imitating sounds that we make. She says "Daddy, Dada, Dad, Ma" and a few other things but I don't think she really knows what she is saying, she's not quite 10 months after all! But if you consider "uh-oh" a word she has said her first word! When she is eating in her highchair I giver her a little sippy-cup of water. She'll lean over the side, drop the cup, and say "UH-OH"! She thinks it's funny and so does it all the time! It's cute but I get tired of picking up her cups! 

The other day we were getting ready to go to one of my friends wedding receptions. Eric was still at work so I was rushing to get me and the kids ready to go meet him. I was putting Hailey in her dress and Micah looked at her and said, "Hailey look precious". :) It took me a second to realize what he had said because I didn't know he even knew that word! Then I went to go get dressed and when I came out of my room Micah said, "You look precious Mom". How cute is that?! It made my day! 

Monday, November 3, 2008

Happy Halloween!

We had a great time going to Halloween parties, carving pumpkins and, of course, trick-or-treating! Micah really figured it out this year! That is until he got too tired and wanted me to take his bag to the door to get candy for him!

My little prince and princess!

Benjamin and Micah

Laura and Hailey

Carving pumpkins!

The finished product!

Just before trick-or-treating!
Aunt Stephanie, Abbey, Kylie, Micah, Hailey and Daddy




Sunday, October 26, 2008

10 Things That Make Me HAPPY!

1. Eric, Micah and Hailey! (I thought it might be considered "cheating" to list them all separately but they do make me happy for different reasons. I love them all so much!)
2. Football season!
3. Scrapbook sales
4. Visiting with old friends
5. Trying a new recipe and actually having it turn out!
6. Soaking in the bath-tub reading a good book (haven't done this in a while but I still love it!)
7. A clean house
8. Christmas Cards (I absolutely LOVE getting and reading peoples Christmas Cards...hint hint!)
9. Beating Eric at Wii bowling :) (Or any other game...it doesn't happen very often!)
10. Surprises!!!

I tag...Michelle, Rachel, Brook...and anyone else that actually reads my blog! 

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

All tuckered out!

After a day of "butting" heads I tried to put Micah to bed early. Eric had to work late and then go straight to a Young Men's activity so I was extra tired after being on my own all day. Lately Micah has been very good at testing my patience and I just had enough and decided to put him to bed. After he came back out of his room 3 or 4 times, and I was thoroughly frustrated, I finally told him to go read a book or something, but he was not to come out of his room again. Amazingly enough he walked back down stairs and I heard him shut the room to his door. This NEVER happens! And even more amazing, I didn't hear a peep out of him for the next 30-40 minutes! I decided I needed to go find out why he was being so silent. As I walked downstairs I noticed that the light was on in his room. Fully expecting to open the door and find him playing I actually found this. I had to walk out of the room I started laughing so hard and I didn't want to wake him up. And of course I had to take a picture because he looked so cute! :) Enjoy!



Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Micah is 3!

Hard to believe that my little boy is 3 years old today (the 15th)! The time flies and he changes so fast! When I started this blog last month I "introduced" Micah already so I don't feel the need to repeat myself. I'll just say that we love Micah very much and we are so very grateful we are blessed to have him as our son! Last Saturday we had a birthday party for him. His new favorite thing is trains so we had a "train party"! Here are a few pictures...


New train set and camera!


Micah's first camera! He LOVES to take pictures!

Race car!

We now have a kids table!

Micah and his train cake! (For the whole week before the party he kept asking, "Mom, train cake?" "Mom, I have my happy birthday train cake?")

Hailey Girl


I've noticed that I have more posts about Micah than I do Hailey. This isn't because I love her any less, because I love that girl more than I can express, it's just the way it works out sometimes! Micah is also in a stage right now that is pretty hilarious and so more "posted". I'm sure when she gets old enough she'll give me the whole 2nd child sob story so in an attempt to make things more equal I am devoting this post to her. This is just a few little updates about what she is doing right now... Hailey Girl (as we have come to call her, I'm not sure how it started but it stuck! Even Micah calls her that and it's pretty cute!) is now 8 1/2 months. Her first tooth finally broke throw last week! Hallelujah! And I'm sure it's buddy on the bottom is sure to follow. I know many kids are walking by now but Hailey is taking her sweet time and is almost fully crawling. (Honestly, I'm grateful for every day I'm not trying to keep her out of things!) She will get up on both knees and just rock and then push herself forward one side at a time. She has gotten pretty fast so I'm sure it is only a matter of days before she is full blown crawling. One of my favorite things about Hailey is how much she is completely obsessed with her brother! She is MESMERIZED by him! Micah is the only one who can truly make her laugh. Quite often in the car I will hear both of them back there giggling! Since Hailey still faces backwards she has a perfect view of Micah. He loves to make funny faces at her and do goofy things and it makes them both laugh. Neither Eric or I, trying our absolute hardest, can make her laugh like Micah can. I love that there is already a special bond between them! I am excited to take Hailey in for her 9 month check-up to see how much she has grown. For those of you that don't remember how tiny Micah always was as a baby, and still is pretty skinny, would be surprised to see Hailey and know she came from the same gene pool! She is huge and it is absolutely adorable! She's wearing 12 month clothes and 18 month pajamas! I can't keep this girl clothed! We love our little Hailey Girl so much and we're so glad she's part of our family!

No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Here is Micah and Kylie (cousin and partner in crime) jumping on his bed. I walked in to find that they had thrown absolutely everything off Micah's bed and were jumping and laughing hysterically! I have to admit it was pretty cute!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Football Micah

I had to share this funny story about Micah...that kid just gets funnier every day! Saturday night Eric was at the Priesthood session with his dad and Hailey was being cranky so I had just barely put her to bed. It was still a little early for Micah to go to bed so I let him watch some TV so I could clean up the kitchen. Of course, he wanted to watch football! He sat on the couch perfectly happy and giving me the play-by-play! Every few seconds I'd hear, "Mom, Mom, he threw it again!", "Mom, Mom, he fumbled it!", "Mom, Mom, touchdown!" I don't know if that's exactly what was happening but, he definitely didn't want me to miss a thing! 

Monday, September 29, 2008

2 Kids!

Soon after Micah turned 2 he became obsessed with the number 2. Everything was 2 this and 2 that... Then when Hailey was born he started saying, "2 kids! We have 2 kids!" Well, here is a picture of my 2 kids!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Big potty, small potty


As many of you know we started potty training Micah at the end of July. I had wanted to start earlier but he was TERRIFIED of the toilet. We use to bribe him just to sit on it with all his clothes. Finally he was really interested in it once we got a small, training toilet. He seemed to catch on really quickly and had no accidents after only a few days. Well, Micah continues to do great as long as we are at home but he hates "big potties" and won't use them. He has done it a handful of times before but now suddenly wants nothing to do with them. And when I say nothing I really mean NOTHING! He screams, he cries, he arches his back so I can't even force him to sit on it. I bought a seat that goes on it to convert it smaller so he wouldn't fall in but he hates that even more. He's not afraid of the flushing...he actually LOVES to flush the toilet. I don't know what else to do and I am growing impatient very quickly! Even though he hates it when he wets his pants he would rather do that then actually sit on the big potty. So...HELP! Does anyone have any suggestions?

Sleeping Hailey!


After 7 1/2 long months Hailey is finally sleeping through the night! Well...at least for the past 2 nights and I'm really hoping it continues! We never had this problem with Micah. He was sleeping through the night by the time he was 3 months old (with some obvious interruptions, no baby is perfect!). Hailey did it a handful of times when she was only a few weeks old but it just seemed to get worse the older she got. We've had many sleepless nights of getting up with her, feeding her, rocking her, and many many nights of letting her scream! You know you are truly exhausted when it no longer bothers you to let your baby cry! Then there were the few times that she was screaming so loud that she woke Micah up...grrr! But I feel like we have finally reached a turning point after the last 2 nights of uninterrupted sleep! 

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Micah and his BYU shirt


So on the very first BYU home football game Grandma decided that Micah needed a BYU shirt to wear. We were already into the 1st quarter of the game (in Cougar stadium) by the time she brought it to him. Immediately he wanted to wear it and loved it! Since that day (1 1/2 weeks ago) Micah has worn it every day, except to church, and the few hours I tore it off him so I could wash it! He has even worn it to bed every night! I can't get him to wear anything else.  Even when I needed to wash it he cried...not just any tears, uncontrollable sobbing, "MY BYU shirt!" I don't know how long this is going to last but we might have to get him another BYU shirt just so it isn't such a battle every time I need to do laundry! All I can say is... we know how to raise 'em!!! :)

Yeah Birthdays!

Yesterday was my birthday (wahoo!) and it was great! Micah and Hailey actually slept in a little bit so that was a nice birthday present! Eric had put up streamers before he left for work along with cards and my present (a Wii Fit that I actually bought myself 3 weeks ago!). My sister, Kristi, came and had lunch with me which was fun! Then my parents came that evening to help celebrate. My mom brought a little cake and a little tub of ice cream so it would still feel like my birthday but not to totally throw me off my diet! Micah kept calling the cake "chocolate pancake"! It was a great day, although, birthdays don't last nearly long enough as far as I'm concerned. Plus when you are a mom and have both your kids screaming at you it really just feels like any other day! :) Anyway, I was very grateful for all my family members and loved ones who called or sent cards or emails to help make my day feel special. Thank you all!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Taking pictures




Eric's mom wanted to get pictures taken of all 4 of her grandchildren together. It was a joke! Trying to get 4 kids (Micah, almost 3, Kylie, 2 1/2, Abbey, 1 1/2, and Hailey, 7 months) to sit still for even 30 seconds was pretty much impossible. It didn't help that the photographer was an amateur and extremely slow! I had stopped going to Kiddie Kandids anyway because I thought they were over priced but after this experience I was convinced to never go back! We didn't actually get a picture of all 4 children together but here are a few of my kids. I'm sad the one of Micah and Hailey together that they aren't smiling but at least they aren't crying!

Hailey Ann Hansen


Our little "Hailey Girl" was born on January 26, 2008. She was 6 lbs. 5 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. Hailey's due date was actually February 2 but, between the fact that my doctor was leaving the country and that I had already been contracting for 2 weeks they decided to induce me. Her delivery didn't start out quite as smoothly as Micah's but, it did go faster so it all turned out ok. Hailey came after only 1 push and even that wasn't really needed. At one point we lost her heartbeat so the nurse checked to see if she had dropped. Again she rushed to call my doctor and told me to keep my legs closed, not to laugh, sneeze, or cough or she'd be delivering the baby before the doctor arrived. After another miserable pregnancy I decided quick labors are my reward! We were grateful she came quickly because she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and we were lucky that didn't cause any problems. Hailey came out screaming at the top of her lungs! Right from the beginning she was opposite from her brother! I knew even in the womb she was going to be a more active baby. There were nights I couldn't sleep because she would move so much! Not much has changed...Hailey is go, go, go ALL the time. She wants constant attention and interaction. It's fun to see her and Micah together. She LOVES him! She laughs at everything he does and is mesmerized by everything he does. Micah loves her too...when he wants! :)


Micah Eric Hansen


Micah was born on October 15, 2005. He weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz. and was 21 inches long. He was 9 days early so was very unexpected! I had just quit my job the day before and thought I had at least a week and probably 2 to finish cleaning our house and getting ready. When I started having contractions at 2:00 a.m. I didn't know what to do so I got up and started cleaning and doing laundry! Eric woke up around 5:00 a.m. wondering what I was doing. We started timing my contractions and realized they were about 1-2 minutes apart. Being first time parents we had no clue what we were doing and when we called my doctor's answering service they wondered why we weren't already at the hospital! Once we got to LDS Hospital I was already dilated to a 3 1/2 so I could have my epidural! Yeah! Things progressed rather quickly as I dilated from a 6 to a 10 in 19 minutes. The nurse called the doctor because we were ready much faster than expected. The nurse was already able to tell our little boy had hair! After only 3 pushes Micah came out completely quiet. The doctor said normally they want the babies to cry but his skin was pinking up and his eyes were open so they weren't worried. Little did we know this was the beginning of Micah's mellow personality! I was grateful to have an easy delivery after the miserable 9 months I had just experienced! It took us 9 months to try and find the right name but as soon as he was born we knew that "Micah" fit him perfectly!

Micah will turn 3 years old next month and has kept us very busy! He is ALL BOY! He was the perfect baby and was mellow and calm all the time...now there is nothing mellow or calm about him! It's really fun to watch his little brain work! He is 100% daddy's boy and wants to do anything and everything with Eric. I think his favorite being playing guitars. Micah turns every toy, spoon, or pillow into a guitar! It's hilarious to watch him "rock out". He has been an extremely amusing and entertaining child and although tired, we enjoy every minute with him!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Start from the very beginning, it's a very good place to start!


As I thought about what I would actually write about on my blog I thought it would be a good idea to start from the top! As a little introduction to "Hansen Familie" (family in German) here is where Eric and Sarah began...

At the start of a new semester, September 2003, Eric started out his Senior, and final year, at BYU. At the last moment he decided to stay put in his current apartment. He was tired of meeting new people and especially dating! Basically he had given up on girls! Sarah moved into the building next door to Eric's; their front doors where no more than 100 feet apart. She had come down a week earlier to start her second year at UVSC to find her apartment in shambles. After some long searching and helpful phone calls from her brother, the lawyer, she was able to find this new apartment living with her sister-in-law's sister. The room had literally just become available and Sarah felt impressed to take it. She had just ended a serious relationship and was feeling pretty jaded by guys and had all but sworn them off! 

Sarah's roommate had been called to be in charge of their Family Home Evening activities in their ward. Their apartment had conveniently been placed in the same FHE group as Eric's apartment. Sarah had no intentions of going or meeting new people but her roommate begged her to go so she wouldn't be alone. At their first "meeting" they had the typical conversation; where are you from? what is your major? When Sarah found out that Eric was an Economics major she quickly realized that he could be of some help. She was taking an Econ class and was beyond lost! The teacher might as well been speaking Portuguese because that's about as much as she understood. Sarah thought he was cute, could maybe help her with some Econ homework, but pretty much left it at that. She later found out that Eric and his roommate talked and had called "dibs" on her and her roommate. Each week Sarah and Eric talked a little more and found out some common interests like their love for DisneyLand and The Beatles! Eric started randomly stopping by to visit Sarah at her apartment and Sarah found herself walking the long way to her car so she could walk by Eric's front window. Everything in Sarah's head told her it was not the right time to start a relationship, especially with someone who was SO different from the guys she normally dated, but her heart was telling her something else. On Halloween weekend Eric and his roommates planned for a bunch of people to go to a comedy show. Sarah went out and bought a new outfit so she'd look HOT in hopes that Eric would make a move. Nothing happened that night but he did tell her he thought she looked like Juliann Moore...she couldn't remember who that was but she was famous so that had to be a good sign! The next night, at Eric's apartment, he finally got up the courage to hold Sarah's hand! :) Once alone they talked about what they both wanted. Sarah explained that she had just gotten out of a painful relationship and hadn't been looking for anything but that she felt drawn to Eric in a way she couldn't explain. She wanted to see where things would go but hoped they could take things slowly. In her mind that meant, still date other people; in Eric's mind it meant, don't kiss her for a month. :) That night Eric knew that one day they would get married. Fortunately for him he didn't share that piece of information or it would have sent Sarah running for the hills! A few days later Eric was telling Sarah a story about running into an old missionary buddy and he was happy to tell him he had a girlfriend. Sarah was shocked to realize she was that girlfriend. At the risk of sounding stupid she just went along with it and from then on they were considered "dating". 

After only 2 months of dating things were progressing quite nicely and they made plans to visit each other at their homes during Christmas vacation. Sarah's sister was getting married 2 days after Christmas and when Eric volunteered to come help babysit the 10 grandchildren her family knew he had fallen head-over-heels! Sarah still not willing to accept things were that serious tried to talk him out of coming and tried to talk her way out of her visit to Idaho. She wasn't successful. Eric had told her he wanted to marry her but Sarah just laughed and said it was too early to talk about it. Well, after meeting his family and spending time with him there she then knew it was time to discuss the possibility.

Once back in Provo Eric and Sarah decided it was time to fast and pray about whether it was right for them to get married. Sarah stressed for what seemed like an eternity for this eternal decision! She called all her sisters wondering how they knew when their spouse was "the one". She went back and forth, back and forth, desperately wanting to make the right decision. Meanwhile, Eric called and made a temple date. One day Sarah was sitting in her institute class and out of nowhere, and having nothing to do with what the lesson was about, she saw a future with her and Eric, married and teaching a Young Women's lesson about when they got married. It was then that Sarah had the peace she'd been searching for and knew that Eric was not only the man she loved but the man she was suppose to spend the rest of her life and eternity with. Lucky for her they already had a temple date!