Dannelly Lynn Hanson

Baby Girl finally joined us yesterday via c-section at 8:45 am.  Other than our doctor oversleeping by an hour, it was a fairly easy (as easy as they can be) birth.  The scale in the operating room read 6 lbs 12 oz but everyone in the room concurred that could not be right.  The nursery scale said 7 lbs 14 oz.  Coming in at 20 inches she was almost exactly the same size as her big brother.  At least I got one baby under 8 lbs.  Barely.  

Everyone is healthy and happy. Mom is moving like an old woman but recovering. Elly is a voracious eater and sweet little baby.  Dad is awesome and has changed every stinky diaper she has presented us with. 

 Sam has come for a couple of visits.  He seems interested and happy to see Mom and Baby Sister.  Until he notices that iPad.  He gives her sweet kisses, big hugs (yikes!) and he loves to give her a binky and bottle.  Such a sweet big brother.

Forgive me if blogging is a little spotty over the next couple of days but I have a sweet baby to snuggle.

Day 80 - Grandpa (and Granny)

Ben's fabulous parents arrived on Thursday to help us with Sam while we have the baby. My parents come on Friday. Sam loves all of his grandparents so he is in heaven.  He gets tons of attention from both of them.  The first morning they were here, I woke up to hear a little voice in the living room saying, "Granny!" He woke up extra early and went straight to the guest room to find them.  I told Ben I feel like we are sneaking the baby in while he is pre-occupied with Granny and Grandpa.  This crazy plan just might work.  

Day 79 - Ben Love

Ben loves Edible Arrangements. Fortunately for him, my mom kind of likes him so she sent us one as an early baby gift.  I don't think I've seen Ben this excited since she sent him a Honey Baked Ham gift certificate for Christmas.  

Thanks Mom!

Day 78 - Rodeo Austin

Friday we went to Rodeo Austin and Fair with Ben's family.  Sam had so much fun with his cousins and grandparents.  The highlight of the night was the petting zoo.  They had goats, sheep, deer and a giant llama.  Sam had so much feeding them.  The rest of us had fun being accosted by the animals.  More than once I turned around to find a critter trying to eat my shirt.  Sam also decided it sounded like a good idea to ride the animals.  He started with some larger goats and sheep and then quickly discovered the little goats made better targets.  

I think he was a little surprised when Ben vetoed his plan.  Luckily there were some ponies in the same tent willing to be ridden.

To top off the night, Ben tried to win us a goldfish.  Unfortunately we he wasn't able to.  His sister pointed out that we can get one for $.50 at Walmart so the heartbreak didn't last long.

A week in Instagram (Day 75-77)

My photo taking and blogging has fallen to the side this week.  Here is a quick review of the week.

Monday.

Lunch with Sam.  Our last McDonalds lunch date with just mom and Sam.  I'm trying to soak up as much time with him as I can before next week.  I don't even mind when I hear a little voice from the bathroom say, 

"Oh no! I made a GIANT mess. I need a bath."

We then proceeded to TWO doctors appointments where we learned, A) I hadn't dialated past a one.  Ugh.  B) Baby girl is measuring 8 lbs.  Just like Sam. C) I have a LOT of amniotic fluid.  Again, just like Sam.  This also means that they scheduled me for ANOTHER appt on Thursday.

Monday night Ben's sister Margaret arrived with her family.  We love having family here so it is a great way to keep us busy this week.

Tuesday.

I introduced Mags and family to Rudy's breakfast tacos.  Delish.

My neice Miriam joined Margaret and I for mani/pedis.  So fun! She was born just a month before Ben and I got married.  Now she's almost 6.  Love this girl.

We met Ben at the univeristy and toured around the bookstore and the turtle pond. Here is Miles modeling some fancy sunglasses.

The kids LOVED the turtle pond.  My nephew Grant loved the candy store on South Congress that we took him to later. He's a candy fiend.

Wednesday

Uhhh.  I'm not sure what happened to that day.  Other than Sam wanted to get the pink Minnie at the Disney store.  He calls her "Other Minnie" as we already have the red Minnie.  She was purchased.  For baby sister. We are working on self-control.

Thursday

Today I went back to the doctor.  

Fluid is back in normal range.  Baby is scheduled to be delivered Monday.  Here's her latest mug shot.  So sweet.

Now, off to finish cleaning as Granny and Grandpa (Ben's fabulous parents) arrive in just a couple of hours!

Day 74 - Doggy Hat

Saturday I went through all of our baby stuff to determine what else we might need before Baby Girl gets here. Sam was happy to help.  He liked looking at the ABC burp cloths, the bottles and little clothes.  His favorite part was a hat that he had when he was a baby.  He ended up wearing it the entire day. 

As you can see, his head is a little bit bigger these days.  

Day 73 - Texas Taxi

Friday was my 33rd birthday.  It was a lovely day filled with carbs, sugar and cleaning by my husband.  He bought donuts for breakfast, pasta for dinner and a lovely birthday cake.  He mopped the entry way, mopped the kitchen and registered my car for me.  Seriously, the best husband ever.  

After dinner I convinced him to drive downtown so we could check out the madness of SXSW (South by Southwest).  The crazies were out in droves.  It was awesome.  Tons of pedestrians, bikers and pedicabs.  However, I was a little surprised to see this Texas Taxi crossing the South Congress bridge.  But hey, whatever.  It's Texas.

Day 72 - Spring

Things we love:

Spring

Spring Break

Swings

Happy faces

The park at 7:30 pm in March

Cute little guys

Cute big guys pushing little guys

The final days of being a family of three

Counting the days until we are a family of four. 

Day 71 - Dentist

Today Sam had his second dentist appointment.  He wasn't great.  He wasn't terrible.  My favorite part came when it was time to choose a prize for the treasure box.  He chose orange Mardi Gras beads. I may have made a really terrible joke about the girls giving him beads because he showed them their teeth.

 He also decided to test the crib out for Baby Sister.  First, he climbed in and said, "Ohhhh! My favorite!" Once he snuggled in, he requested Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. Then he asked for the iPad. Once he was settled, he spent the next 45 minutes laying in the crib.  It was great. He was quiet and didn't make a mess the whole time.

Day 70 - Dinner

I am married to the most patient man on earth. When Ben got home last night, the house was a disaster, Sam wasn't wearing pants (shocking!) and I had no plan for dinner.  To top it off, at about 5:30 I laid down on the bed for a minute and ended up falling asleep for 30 minutes.  Ben had to come wake me up.  So at 6:30 I put dinner on the table.  Microwave hamburgers and Doritos on paper plates. Good thing Ben is so low maintenance because he says he was happy to eat it.  Not sure if this is true but I appreciate him saying so.  

Day 69 - Snow

Today is the first day of Sam's Spring Break.  I was hoping that meant we would sleep in.  Sam had other ideas. He walked into our room this morning at 5:00 am and announced that he wanted to watch Mickey.  After taking him potty and settling him in between Ben and I, he went back to sleep.  Sleeping with your 3.5 yr old when your 37 wks pregnant isn't fun.  

When he got up at 7:30 for the second time, I heard him exclaim from the living room, "It snowed!  It's so pretty!"  Our high today is supposed to be 82 so I was a little confused by this.  Until I discovered that snow is actually fog.  Heaven help us if we ever move to a cold climate.

Day 68 - Bluebonnets

Last year the bluebonnets were a giant disappointment.  

This year they are starting to pop out.  

Now, if they will just keep blooming and stick around long enough to do Baby Girl's infant photos we'll be set.  

Not sure how I'm going to manage it post c-section but there will be photos darn it!

Day 67 - Monsters

Tonight we went to dinner with our friends the Roberts.  To sweeten an already fun evening with Buddy and Tom, Sam's babysitter Jordan (who he LOVES) was delivered to our door with his bestie Logan.  What is more fun than having a babysitter and your friend all in the same night?  

When we bought Fruit Ninja Kinnect for Sam, we also got a demo of Sesame Street's Once Upon a Monster. Sam showed ZERO interest in it until tonight when Ben turned it on to show Buddy.  Apparently he just needed  Jordan and Logan around to play with him.  The three of them were so cute playing together.  Jordan even earned herself a bonus.  A donut from Round Rock donuts.  

Day 66 - 37 wks

Only 16.37 days (or 392.9 hours) until we check in for our c-section. 

Based on the fact that she is obviously pushing out and to the left, I think someone might feeling a little cramped.

Day 62 - 36 wks

At our ultrasound on Monday, I was just over 36 wks pregnant.  Baby Girl is doing great.  They figure she weighed around 6 lbs 12 oz. I was only dilated to a one so the doctor is keeping us on schedule for 3/26.   This will put her over 8 lbs if the ultrasound tech is right and she gains the expected .5 lbs a week.  Her head and stomach were measuring a week ahead and her legs were a week behind.  Again, she's just like Ben and Sam with a long torso and short little legs.  

Since we are 37 weeks, little friend can feel free to come whenever she wants.  It would be nice if she will wait until her Aunt Margaret gets here on the 19th but I'm not going to complain if she decides to come earlier.

Day 64 & 65

My cute little Young Women at church had a SURPRISE spa night for me last night.  I got massaged, buffed, filed, exfoliated and best of all painted.  As you can see, fifteen 12-15 yr old girls do quite the job when it comes to pampering.  

They were very cute.  Lovely refreshments were provided, including my very favorite Key Lime Pie.  They invited Ben and Sam and showered them with gifts.  Sam and Baby Girl both got darling fleece blankets that the 12 & 13 yr old girls got together to make after school this week.   The 14 & 15 yr old girls gave Sam a lovely box of books.  Ben got a pink tie and a cookie cookbook. I think there be an ulterior motive with the cookbook though because the girls all LOVE "Ben cookies"

They fed my boys treats, read Sam a book about being a big brother and played iPad with him.  Sam loves being the center of attention, especially when it involves a bunch of big girls.  When we said the opening prayer, Sam thought he should say it.  He proceeded to look around the room and bless all of the girls by name (if he knew their name) if he didn't, he made something up.

After school today he jumped up on the couch with his new blanket and books to settle in for some quiet time.  

We are so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful girls!  Love them all and my fabulous fellow leaders.

Day 63 - Kissing

Sam is an open mouth kisser.  He always has been.  Recently we have tried to break him of the habit by teaching him to pucker up.  After 2 days of trying, the kid finally figured it out.  Good luck getting a photo.  He moves quick when going in for a kiss.  He must get it from his dad.

Jumping ahead because I am behind.

I'm a couple days behind. I have cute ultrasound photos to share and normal Sam hilarity but apparently my printer requires ink to scan (???) and I'm trying to keep posts in order. Maybe that business will be taken care of tomorrow if I can convince my body to drive to Costco.

Mostly, I'm just tired. I may or may not have asked Siri how many more says until the baby is here. This morning she told me 18.86 days until we check into the hospital at 5 am on 3/26.

Everyday I feel a little bit bigger, more than a little bit crabby and a lot more tired. Ben's mom says that the end of pregnancy has to miserable so you are willing to do anything to get the baby out. We are to that point.

And because he has been such a stinker lately I'm now going to take revenge on my child by posting this video of him on the Internet. Sam, when you are 15 and embarrassed by this, I'll remind you how embarrassed your mom was when she heard you went Godzilla on some little girls at preschool today and proceeded to knock over their blocks amongst a week of other bad behavior that I won't talk about here.

However, I'm a lucky girl with a healthy baby, a relatively easy pregnancy and tonight I was treated to fabulous pedicure thanks to my cute little church girls.

Day 61 - Shred

There are a couple of chores that I dread.  

Unloading the dishwasher.  

Folding laundry.  

Sorting mail.

Ben and I sat down and sorted an embarrassing amount of mail today.  A lot of which, we needed to shred.  I hate doing that too. 

 Lucky for me, I appear to have TWO boys who like to shred things.  

Day 60 - Bed

The crib is up.  My office is now in a closet.  Sam's room is no longer dominated by large pieces of furniture.  Baby Girl will be in the office/guest room so Ben set up the crib today.  Meanwhile a little person who has had ZERO interest in the crib for the last nine months, suddenly thinks he want to sleep there.  

Day 59 - Meltdown

Sam is a funny child but like all kids, he has his challenges.  Lately, he has been misbehaving to get out of things that he doesn't want to do.  For example, last week he didn't want to sit in Primary so he started hitting his friends.  Ben took him back in and stayed with him to supervise.  What did he do next?  He hit the wall and said, "I hit.  Time to go home."  Little stinker.  

Friday, he has the most massive meltdown in history due to the fact that his shadow wasn't "big" on Kinnect Fruit Ninja. After a stint in bed, he came out saying, "I happy now.  No more crying." 

  

I'm pretty sure kids are so cute because otherwise their parents might be tempted to send them to live with grandparents.  

Day 58 - The Lion

Sam loves taking a bath.  

Washing his hair?  Not so much.

Once I started showing him that he can have crazy bath hair, he changed his mind.  

Tonight he requested "Lion Hair!" 

He also requested "Giraffe Hair" but I'm not really sure how to make that happen.  Any ideas?

Day 57 - Goodbye February. Heeeelllloooo March.

Last night was the final big event I needed to handle before this baby gets here.  

As I was headed out, I was greeted by this.

We love February in Texas but I must say, I'm pretty stoked for March this year.

1.  It's my birthday. Not that we will be doing much but hey, I did get to order a fancy diaper bag because of it.
2.  Ben's sister Margaret is coming with her family.  We love visitors.
3.  It's the Austin rodeo.  This means a fair.  That means corndogs, funnel cake and swine races.  Oh, you heard me right.  They race pigs.  One is named Justin Bieboar.  Heh. Heh.
4.  Sam has Spring Break.  I love having my little buddy home.
5. The first official day of Spring.  I love Spring.
6. Texas wild flowers
7. Ben's parents are coming to help with Sam.
8. My parents are coming.
9. My Grandma Barlow is coming.
And finally. . .
 10.  THIS BABY IS COMING!!!  At the very latest she will be here March 26th.  So excited for our new little addition.  Also, knowing that I will not be pregnant when April gets here is pretty great too.