We are family ....

Lots of pictures to post from the last few weeks. March has been quite a month! We celebrated Will's birthday and hosted a party. The kids got ear tubes last week and we all survived the trauma of handing them off for (minor) surgery. Glenn's been working lots of long hours. Will's thrown up in the car three times. The weather is nasty. I have a tickle in my throat. But in the midst of all of the stress and hectic-ness, we've got moments like this.

Siblings in the bath. Man, they are going to hate this picture when they are older. Dear kids of the future: But look how cute you are!!And playing with a box. Will pulled Reina around on the floor until they hit an uneven spot in the hardwood and she tipped over. Game over. We've got pigtails! Reina's daycare provider is the expert hair stylist. When I try, the pigtails aren't as even or smooth. Anyone who has seen the robot cake will immediately understand my inability to get a couple of pigtails right. Yes, she has a grungy shirt and apple pieces falling out of her mouth, but I still think she's the cutest 13 month old in all of the West. We've also got Buzz Lightyear wings. Will received many great presents for his birthday and he's been playing with them all. These Buzz wings from Aunt Heather and Jackson are a big hit. He didn't take them off for the first two days. Notice the droopy eyes and ruddy cheeks? Turns out our little guy was battling strep while we thought he was just recovering from the ear tubes/adenoids procedure. It only took us 3 days to figure that one out. Mother of the Year. Tired girl and her Dad at the Montessori Silent Auction a few weeks ago. We "won" several items in the Silent Auction. Glenn tried to convince me that we weren't actually winning anything since we had to pay for it but the competitive (aka Hansen) side of me doesn't see it that way.

Reina's a bit more of a discriminate eater than Will was at this age. The surest way to get her to eat something is to put it in your bowl and sit down for breakfast on a Saturday morning. Here's Reina helping Glenn eat oatmeal. "Glenn, SMILE!"
Finally, it's the elusive Mom. Will's first attempt at portraits. I really need to start wearing more makeup.

birthday parties, robot cakes, and ear tubes, oh my!

It's been quite a week - and it's only Tuesday!


Last Friday, we took cupcakes to Will's preschool to celebrate his birthday. For birthday's, parents are supposed to bring in a poster highlighting your kid's first few years. Here's my feeble attempt - Glenn drew the fire truck. I baked about 40 cupcakes the night before. While I was downstairs running on the treadmill and Glenn was giving Reina a bath, we were hit by a cupcake bandit. This nefarious felon licked the tops of 8 cupcakes before making his escape. Any ideas who that could be? Apparently, my instructions to "don't move any of the cupcakes" wasn't clear enough. Here's Will getting the globe to begin the Montessori birthday celebration.
Any guesses as to what's happening in this picture? His classmates sang happy birthday and Will turned the same color as his shirt.
Cupcake time!
Sunday, we celebrated Will's birthday with a couple of his friends and one giant scary robot cake. It was the first time he had some friends from school over to visit and it went surprisingly well. There were very few tears and no blood. Will received some great presents and he's been very busy for the last couple of days playing with everything.


Awww, Glenn's sitting at the kid's table. I think they were either debating healthcare reform or how much they love cheetos.
More party guests!
ACK! It's the scary robot cake! For posterity, I have to point out that this cake took about 5 hours to assemble and decorate. We went through 3 jars of frosting, too. Yum. Here's what it was supposed to look like. How did I do?

Today, Will and Reina had minor surgery for ear tube placement and Will also had his adenoids taken out. Grandpa Hansen aka Pop-pop came with us to help with the logistics. Both kids did pretty well. Reina didn't even cry when she woke up from the anesthetic. She did cry when Pop-pop handed her over to me but stopped just as quickly when I handed her back to him. She and I are going to have a discussion about that. Will was pretty upset afterwards. The adenoid removal isn't invasive but apparently leaves you with a pretty sore throat. As luck would have it, both Toy Story movies were re-released today (thank you Pixar!) so Aunt Vicky picked those up for us on her lunch hour. Needless to say, it's been a quiet afternoon. Glenn and I are both hopeful that this round of ear tubes will end our streak of ear infections for the near future.

A letter to the birthday boy

Happy birthday Will! Today you are three years old. You have changed so much in the past year. You still have an iron will and have the mastered the art of temper tantrum, but you are also curious, funny and completely charming (when you want to be).

You were born on a Monday. I was very excited when I started having contractions on the Saturday before, thinking that you were going to make your appearance that day. Grandma Hansen came over and helped your daddy and I and we stayed awake all night. At about 6 in the morning on Sunday, Daddy and I drove to the hospital. We were happy and talking and so excited to see you. That should have been a sign to us that you weren't coming that day. We got to the hospital and I realized that I wasn't having anymore contractions. The doctor confirmed that you weren't quite ready to come out so they sent us back home. We were so disappointed! Back at the house, Daddy took a nap and I laid on the couch and watched tv. Grandma was napping, too.

A few hours later, my contractions started up again and they stayed strong for the rest of the day and all night. Your dad promised me that we would go to the hospital at 4:00 a.m. if I was still having lots of contractions. (You won't ever experience this unless the science changes drastically in the next 30+ years, but holy cow do those hurt! You owe me big time!) Well, 4:00 a.m. rolled around and I was in a lot of pain. Daddy didn't think it was time to go yet and that made me so mad! I decided to get the car keys and drive myself to the hospital. I forgot that I couldn't even stand up. Finally, at about 6:00 a.m. again, we got in the car and headed to the hospital. This car ride was much different than the day before. I screamed the whole way and told your dad to DRIVE FASTER! When we got to the hospital, the nurses could hear me yelling and everyone hurried around to get us a room. This detail will probably gross you out when you are older, but I was dilated to 7 cm and there was no waiting around. I didn't want an epidural but they asked me if I wanted one mid-contraction and I couldn't help but say yes!

Once I got some medicine, things quieted down for a few hours. Your dad took a nap under a table. When it was time to push you out, things started getting interesting again. I wasn't having much luck and you seemed to be stuck (gross, I know, just hang on for a few more sentences) and after about an hour, the doctor said that it was probably time for a c-section. I was disappointed but by that point, I just wanted you to be here safely.

Daddy came with me to the operating room and Grandma Hansen stayed back to wait for us. After a few minutes, we heard your wail and knew that you were here. That is such a happy memory for me. The doctor brought you over to me and I saw your face and thought that you were the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen.

Daddy and I hadn't picked out a name for you. We were trying to decide between William and Marshall. After we were back in our room and everyone was cleaned up, we decided that we should probably name you. Daddy said that he thought you looked like a "Marshall" and I thought you looked like "William" so we still hadn't decided! In the end, your Dad let me pick since I had been dealing with the contractions and all of the yuckiness. In hindsight, we probably should have named you Complacent, Acquiescent or Amenable. But Will suits you just fine.

This blog is filled with funny anecdotes and things you say to us everyday. I'm so happy to be your mom. I can't wait to see what the next year brings. Happy birthday big boy. We love you so much!

I'm not _________!

As I've probably mentioned before, Will's favorite saying is "I'm not ______!"

Me: "Will, are you tired?"
Will: "I'm NOT tired!"

Me: "Will, are you hungry, are you ready for dinner?"
Will: "I'm NOT hungry for dinner. I want a snack."

Me: "Will, are you talking back to mommy?"
Will: "I'm NOT talking back mommy!"

Etc., etc., etc.

Well, last Saturday morning, Will was downstairs watching early morning cartoons and Glenn and I were upstairs getting Reina changed and talking about the day. As it usually is on a Saturday morning, the house was a mess and we were discussing all of the things we had to get done that day. As we walked down the stairs, Glenn (jokingly!) commented that the house was a "giant craphole." From around the corner of the stairs, Will pops his head out and exclaims, "I'm NOT a giant craphole!"

Can't wait for that phrase to debut at church.

In honor of (Great) Grandma D

My Grandma Dunlap passed away over the weekend. She was 87 years old. Grandma Dunlap (my mom's mom) had been declining in health over the last few years but it was still very sad news to get on a Saturday morning. Here's a link to her obituary. She was a wonderful Grandma and helped instill in me a love for travel, old houses, museum shops and Jane Austen. And dessert, she always ordered dessert. Grandma Dunlap loved to read and my library at home contains books that she sent to me on occasion and ones she recommended. In honor of my dear Grandma, here's a picture of the next generation carrying on that reading tradition. We love you and miss you, Grandma!

Who's watching these kids?!

I pride myself on being a multi-tasker when I'm home in the afternoons. I can get a load of laundry going, run the dishwasher, send a couple of emails all while feeding Reina and keeping Will entertained. Recent events have made me reconsider my ability to multi-task...

Exhibit A: Reina surrounded by every box of cereal that we own. Yeah, I was sitting approximately 5 feet away while these events unfolded. She opened the pantry, pulled out each box, delicately sampled each brand and then proceeded to pour the contents out onto the floor. Did I mention that I was 5 feet away?

When I finally noticed, she smiled at me and threw a handful of cheerios over her head like confetti. "Happy New Year!" Exhibit B: Will found my eyeliner. I think he was trying to draw two mountain peaks. The only time I can get him to stand still for a picture is after mischief. Don't you love Reina's expression in the background? How droll.

Gotta get back to my multi-tasking. The buzzer on the dryer just went off and Reina emptied the bottom shelf of our bookcase.

Wyoming sundresses

This weekend, I made a trip to our local second-hand kid's clothing store in search of an Easter dress for Reina and an Easter shirt for Will that didn't feature a Disney or Pixar character. I hit the jackpot for both and came home with a couple of clothing options. In dressing Reina for church this morning, I thought it would be fun to put her in one of the new spring ensembles. Then I remembered that it was 20 degrees outside. What to do?

Viola! Take one cotton sleeveless dress, add tights and a long sleeve onesie and you've got a Wyoming sundress!
Now if I could just do something about her hair.

Winter, and more winter

It's officially March and while some parts of the country start thinking about Spring, here in Wyoming it's definitely still winter. We have snow on the ground and cold, flu and ear infection germs running rampant in our house. It's hard to believe that warm weather and sunny days are just around the corner. I don't mind the winter, but I am tired of illnesses. Will has another ear infection and given Reina's performance last night, I think another one is creeping up on her, too. Both kids have appointments with the ear, nose and throat doctor in the next few weeks and it looks like Reina will be getting ear tubes. Will has the tubes already but they've fallen out and this is his fourth ear infection since mid-December so we think he'll be getting new tubes. This last round of ear infections has been tough on our little guy. The antibiotic makes his tummy hurt and depresses his appetite. When he turns down waffles and ice cream, we know that something is wrong. Will is normally a pretty voracious eater and I get worried when he just nibbles at dinner. I have to remind myself that toddlers can survive on goldfish crackers and fruit snacks, for a little while anyway.

Okay, enough talk about illnesses. The kiddos are starting to play together more. Here are they are driving a firetruck, or a schoolbus. Reina's happy to be riding shotgun.
Even when he's not feeling 100%, Will loves to play outside. He can get bundled up in his snowpants and boots by himself. There is a big pile of snow in the front yard and he calls it his mountain. He loves to climb the mountain and holler at the top. I'm not sure what he's saying, but I think it's the toddler equivalent of "I'm the king of the world!" Meanwhile back inside, Baby Sister isn't quite ready to tackle the mountain yet. She's still on the outside looking in... or wait, that's actually the inside looking out. In spite of all the snow and germs, we are hanging in there. Hope your households are infection-free.