3 weeks old!

Emmie is 3 WEEKS OLD TODAY!!!

Time is sure flying by and we are just loving this sweet little girl more and more each day (if that is possible!). She had already gained a pound at her two week appointment, which I was a little surprised at seeming as she only wakes up twice during the night to eat. This is such a change from Parker, who ate every 2 hours round the clock for months and months!! I am overall feeling really good, and so far this two year old and a newborn thing has been much easier than I anticipated! :> ( I am sure I am speaking far too soon.... stay tuned!)

SHOOT

I love love LOVE good photography! Life goes by so quickly, and capturing & recording moments on film that will in turn last a lifetime is truly something I feel is so important. My Grandma, who passed away when I was 16, (& who we named baby Em after) was our family photographer, taking pictures of not only every get together or event, but much of the day to day. It's a good thing, because if it weren't for her, I'm not sure I'd have but a few pictures from my childhood! I once told her that I wanted to be just like her when I grew up, & so on my next birthday she gave me a camera. Ever since, I've been the camera-crazy one of the family.

There is nothing like being able to look back at photographs from the "good old days" and the power that gives us to stir up memories from the past, that we otherwise may not have remembered. Take it from my experience this last year with the death of my brother...When you lose someone you love, the pictures that you took the time to take or have taken, suddenly become absolutely priceless. You'll never regret taking a picture, you'll only regret NOT having taken more. So GET SNAPPING, whether you do it yourselves or hire a professional!

My high school friend, Amanda Petersen, is a photographer and she did a photo shoot for Parker's 2-year-old pictures this last July..... Below are some of the awesome pictures she took. I think they turned out so adorable & couldn't resist posting some of her work! Don't worry, included in her pricing is the copyright and CD of these images, so it's all good to post these. We went and did a newborn photo shoot with Baby Emmie this morning, which was so fun and I think that they too will turn out great, too! I will definitely post some of her pics when they are done in a few weeks! Thanks so much Amanda! You do amazing work!

If you want to check out more of her work, (and you should!!) you can go to her photo blog at http://www.amandasimages.blogspot.com/, or her photo website http://www.amandasimages.com/











Alright. I'll admit it.... I think he's pretty darn cute!!! :>

Life is good...

Let's face it...the recovery/aftermath of having a baby is so not fun for our bodies! I've been awful this past 11 days at making phone calls about this new baby, calling anyone back, taking pictures, and posting pictures of our sweet baby girl (& boy!) on our blog - just to mention a few of many things...If you fall into any of these categories (in the phone call department) I apologize! My excuse is just that - my body HURTS and my hands have been full with a newborn and two year old. (Does anyone else post partum feel like a football player with pads in ALL places, or is it just me? So high maintenance, I swear! But so well worth it, too... :)) My main issue is my back, (okay and maybe we'll include the torturous beginning of nursing once again) but we won't get into that and I am fine. I think in a couple of weeks it will all be good!! The KIDDOS have overall been awesome- I'm just waiting for my body to recover and have been taking any spare moment I can find to sleep rather than make phone calls. Having said all that, our little household of 5 (counting Roxy) is doing GREAT and I am LOVING having two kids! So far little Em sleeps a ton (I know that will soon change) & is just the sweetest little addition to our home & Parker is adjusting surprisingly well, minus a few jealous breakdowns earlier this week.

So I'll stop with the rambling & let you see the couple of pictures I managed to take today of our little Emmie 11 DAYS OLD....If you look closely, you can barely see her adorable little dimples (courtesy of her Daddy). They are slightly covered up by her shirt... How fun that both my kids have dimples! Thanks Chris! :)
Must be naptime again
A smile in her favorite state of being - asleep!
I just want to thank everyone for your sweet comments left on our blog, your phonecalls, emails, etc. through this last couple of months and especially this last week and a half! We are so blessed to have such supportive, loving friends and family & we appreciate all of you so much!!! (Even though I don't always call back right away!! :) )

SHE'S HERE!!!

After a much anticipated birth, our sweet Baby Emmie finally arrived to us safe and healthy on Monday, August 25th at 11:19 a.m. After weeks of preterm labor and bedrest and trying to keep her in my belly "just a little longer", in the end she came at a healthy 39 weeks and on her planned induction date! Go figure. I was induced Monday morning at 7 a.m., and she arrived just four hours later, at 11:19, after a fast and essentially painless delivery (THANK YOU EPIDRUAL!!!)! I guess those weeks of being so dilated and having painful contractions paid off when it finally came down to the actual delivery. She is beautiful and healthy and we couldn't ask for anything more! Emma Lee Hansen

"Emmie"

7 lbs, 4 0z, 19 inches

On our way to the hospital....

Ready or not....

Here she is!!! She came out screaming, but has been pretty quiet ever since.

Hooray for such an easy, wonderful delivery! It couldn't have gone more smoothly!

Getting pretty in the nursery

Parker meeting his baby sister for the first time... he wasn't too interested.

We're going home!Yeah, so?? Now what?! He loves his sister...Nevermind that he's pushing her off his lap.....Proud Pops

She has quite a bit of wavy brown hair with blonde roots. She really doesn't look a whole lot like Parker did....

Our Little Em has the sweetest demeanor and we are so thrilled to have her as a part of our family, and we're soooooo grateful that she's finally here - safe and sound!!!

Missing him

August has been an emotional month for me for a couple of reasons…One of course being the approach of bringing this new little life into our family. Another for the reminder of the loss of another life, my older brother, who was suddenly taken from us this last October. What would be his 31st birthday is tomorrow, August 21st, and I am so sad that he is not here for us to celebrate with him. He was so full of life, spunk, and energy, and there was just never a dull moment with him around. He danced to the beat of his own drum, never caring what others thought of him. Through that exterior however, inside was a soft heart & he was a wonderful older brother. Happy Birthday Michael! We miss you terribly and love you endlessly, and can’t wait for the day we get to see you again!

I have comfort in knowing that he has been able to spend time with and get to know our sweet baby girl before any of us here have had the chance. I can’t wait to meet this precious baby girl, who will come fresh from the presence of our Father in Heaven, but also from the presence of her uncle, my older brother.

August 21, 1977 - October 6, 2007Such an unconditional love between these two brothers

The three of us

Thanksgiving 2005

(Steven was on his mission)

Quick Update

Here's the scoop....I had a Dr.'s appointment today and I am dilated to a 5 and 90% effaced. (Isn't it kind of weird that I tell this to the world??) YIKES! Anytime now. My worst fear at this point is not making it to the hospital in time.

Hopefully - for my sake - my delivery "story" will be a real boring one when it finally comes to fruition.

READY is an understatement!!

We made it! On Monday my pregnancy officially became a full term one - as we hit the 37 week mark! We made it through bed rest, and now we are just ready to have this baby!! At my last appointment - last Thursday, I had just dilated one more cm from when I first started bed rest at 33 weeks. I was (almost) a four, and 80% effaced. So there you have it!!! I have another appointment this Thursday, so we'll see then if there is any additional change. Who knows, we may just go until my induction, which is scheduled to take place on August 25th (less than 2 weeks). My body really is hurting and it's hard to get around with having so many (ouchie) contractions, but I say bring them on, I'm READY!!! Anytime now. :)

We'll keep you posted.

Chris just finished painting and putting up this bead board in the baby's room. I think it turned out really good... thanks Chris for all of your hard work!! (And to his Dad who helped out with the bead board.)

Thanks to my Mom for making the cute bedding... I will take a real picture of it when I have it altogether in the crib, which is currently still being occupied by Parker. He still hasn't figured out how to climb out of it, so we are taking advantage of being able to keep him contained for as long as possible, since the baby will just be sleeping in our room in the pack and play for the first while anyway.

Meanwhile, the rocker is ready to roll, and the this Big Mama is ready to deliver!!! :)

What's worse than having your baby at Wal-Mart?

How about having it at your 10 YEAR CLASS REUNION?? Yep - call me crazy (really) - I went to my 10 year high school reunion 9 months pregnant last Saturday! I wouldn't have gone, but a small ramification of running for senior class office back in the day leaves you planning all of the reunions for the rest of your life. SO - since I was "helping out" ( which I wasn't much due to the fact that I had been on bed rest for the last several weeks), I felt I should go. The funny part was, I was having strong, hard (painful!!) contractions (4 minutes apart) that went on for an hour and a half just prior to going. Soooo - Chris and I were seriously trying to decide - should we go to the hospital, or the reunion? In the end we obviously went to the reunion which was held at the Red Lion Hotel in downtown Salt Lake. It was pretty fun and turned out to be a success! The food was great, and we held a silent auction that ended up raising over $5000, which will go towards remodeling some bathrooms in an orphanage in Ukraine through Project Reachout. Class alumni brought items to donate for the auction (i.e. someone donated a week stay at their Malibu beach house, 1 hour massage, floral arrangement, baskets of goodies, homemade little girl hairbows, blankets, etc. etc.). Anyways - it turned out great. Thanks especially to Ali and Cami for making that such a big success!! It was fun and I still can't believe it's been ten years!!! My good friend Jill and I... she is just four weeks behind me in pregnancy. (We were cleaning up - hence the empty room. It really WAS full of people...)
L to R: Myself, Jill, Cami, Ali

I seriously couldn't have been in student government with 3 more amazing girls... we were such good friends back then, and we still are! That makes it so nice for when these reunion planning things come around. Aren't they such pretty girls? This is right as we were leaving -right before midnight and I look disgusting - but THEY all look beautiful, don't they?
Our husbands (mine and Jill's)... Such good sports to help with setting up, cleaning up, and just BEING there the entire time!

Mmmmm... Want some?

Can we all just say "HOORAY!" for a new camera! Our last took eternity to reset for the next picture, and it just had been dropped too many times or something and the image quality lately had been so awful. We knew that with the new baby coming that it was time for an upgrade... and here is the result. If you just compare these pics to the previous posts - well it all just speaks for itself. MUCH BETTER!!! Parker is not a great eater. BUT -he does have a few favorites...I bet you can't guess what this one might be.
Okay, you're right. "Appos" and "pea bu", as Parker calls them.

July trip to St. George

My little brother, myself, and Parker took a trip down to St. George to visit my Mom and Reed the second week of July(the week before I was put on bedrest).... Here are some random pictures from the trip that I haven't gotten around to posting until now. I didn't take many pictures so there is nothing too exciting....but here they are. We just got a new camera, (hooray!) so I promise these are the last of these awful quality pictures! "Gamma Jane" and the little munchkin
Apparently something was too loud for him...?
Good times exploring the shower...
Steven & Barkley
And of course, Roxy came along for the trip, too. She and Barkley like to play.

I AM NOT having this baby in Wal-Mart!!!

So today I hit the 36 week mark, and I was given permission to "somewhat" resume my normal activities. Nothing too strenuous, but I no longer have to turn my head when it's time to vaccuum, (this seriously has been the hardest thing as this is pretty much a daily ritual for my main floor!) and I can actually leave the house and run a few errands! So basically, despite all the contractions that come especially through too much movement, I don't have to be quite as glued to the couch as I have for the last 2 1/2 weeks, because we're out of the "danger zone" for the baby. If I go into labor this week, they're not stopping me. You catch my drift. So today I was so excited to run to Wal-Mart - yes Wal-Mart of all places, to pick up a few last minute items I've had on my mind that I'll need for the baby, my hospital stay, for Parker, etc. I'm definitely not a huge Wal-Mart fan - trust me! Everytime I venture in that place I swear it will be my last due to ridiculously long lines and only 2 checkers, unorganized isles, and mostly thoughts of "where in the world do all these weird people come from?" (I know, that isn't nice, but admit it - most of you have had those same thoughts.) BUT - today I figured I could pick up the items I need, AND be able to get a few groceries while I was there. So - off Parker and I went to Wal-Mart this morning. He ran to the car with excitement when I told him we were going somewhere - the poor little guy has been cooped up for almost three weeks, just like myself!

So you have to understand, I'm a pretty sad site as it is... my back is killing me because it is so out of alignment, my toes for some reason feel as though they are going to snap in half when I walk on them, and I get pretty painful contractions when I walk much and definitely everytime I stand up. SO - to sum it up, this pregnant girl is DEFINITELY waddling these days!! ( I can't help it!) But, I was determined to make this trip, and off I pushed my cart with Parker in tow into Wal-Mart. I was doing pretty good through the food department, but headed back towards the baby stuff and the horrible pain set in. I not only was having hard, painful contractions across the front, but BAD pain and cramping through my lower back! To the point where I could hardly walk! I was totally trying to tough it out and was frantically looking for a place to sit down, but there was nothing. Soooo, there I was, ready to cry, with nightmare thoughts of "I might just have this baby here in Wal-Mart", "I CANNOT bring my baby into the world in white trash Wal-Mart", and "I've got to get out of here, FAST!" running through my head. BUT - I can be stubborn at times, and I was determined to buy what was in my basket, as I had waited weeks to make some of these purchases. So I kept walking - REALLY SLOW, hoping that no one would notice that I was in pretty excrutiating pain. I took a break in a few isles, and finally, after about 15-20 minutes, and picking up a few other items along the way, the back pain eased up a little, making things MUCH more bearable!

Well, the story has a happy ending, I made the long walk to the front of the store, made my purchases, and made my way out of Wal-Mart! I think more than I was relieved that I didn't go into labor today, barely 36 weeks pregnant while running an errand, I was just soooooo glad that I wouldn't have to be sharing my birth and delivery story with good old Wal-Mart as the setting. YIKES! Now if that wouldn't be a nightmare delivery story, I don't know what is. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be going back to Wal-Mart anytime soon... I think tomorrow I'll stay home and keep "glued to the couch" and give my pathetic body a bit of a break, but maybe Wednesday I'll venture into Target... if I haven't had this baby by then. After all, a "Target baby" wouldn't be quite so bad, would it? :)

P.S. The sarcasm in this story is REAL. It is just that - sarcasm. The author really DOES want what is best for her baby and will take the necessary precautions to ensure it. She realizes that making it another week - to 37 weeks and full term - would be ideal. No real harm was done in her trip to Wal-Mart, and she will not be attempting that again. Anytime soon.