Is Will excited about having a little sister?

As much as I hate to post pictures of myself, I thought it was probably about time to show everyone what Deuce looks like at this point. We took these last weekend - this is about 36 weeks pregnant. Sorry for the red-eyes, I lost my photo editor program and can't find the new one.We thought it would be fun to get a picture of Will hugging mom's stomach but as you know, toddler's have their own opinions and he was in no mood to cooperate with the photo shoot. When I was about halfway through this pregnancy, the doctor cautioned me against lifting anything that was heavier than 10 pounds. Will's now around 32 pounds so you can see how well I took that advice.
We've been reading lots of books about babies and talking about the baby in the hopes that we are somewhat preparing him for the February events. At pre-school, the teachers ask him "is mommy having a baby?" His latest answer is "No. . . . . Dadda baby." And then he laughs. The kid definitely has a sense of humor and how I dearly wish that Dadda was carrying the baby this time around.

Update on Deuce - had a doctor's appointment yesterday and she's measuring about a week ahead which probably means that she'll be her brother's size. Will was 7 lbs 15 oz when he was born, which I know isn't super big but definitely a nice size. We're still scheduled for the c-section on Feb 10 but also still hopeful that I might go into labor on my own before that.

Stay tuned!

Raising a cave man

One of Will's favorite activities while eating is to pour out whatever is in his sippy cup and mix it with the rest of his food. If we give him a cup without a lid, he'll efficiently take his dinner and put it in the cup (along with his milk, juice, etc.), stir it up and eat it. Those among us with weak stomachs find it pretty tough to watch. BUT, Will clearly subscribes to theory that "it all ends up in the same place anyway" and usually chows down on the mixture. Lately, he's decided that it's more fun to pour everything out onto the tray and slurp it up like a cat. We're starting to wonder if we're raising a caveman.

Update on Deuce Pauley

Soon we'll have to change the name of this blog to the Bronco Babies Blog or maybe Bronco Toddler and Baby Blog (that doesn't have the same ring to it). We had a doctor's appt on Friday and everything looks good. They've scheduled a c-section for February 10th but if I go into labor before that, the doctors are willing to let me try for a non-c-section delivery which is what I'm hoping for. On Friday the doctor took a look at everything and told me to try to get everything done that I need to in the next four weeks as it's looking like Baby Deuce might come a little early. Now we all know that birthing is not an exact science so who knows. We could find ourselves driving to the hospital on Feb 10 with nary a contraction in sight but the doctor's advice got me panicking a little bit and Glenn and I spent the weekend in a flurry of home improvement projects, cleaning (nesting = fun for everyone!) and conversations about baby names. Now if I could just get my work stuff done . . .

We'll keep you posted!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope your holiday was nice and relaxing. We had a good day. I know that I should have a lot to write about since it's been a while since my last post, but I think I'm having writer's block today so I'll let the pictures do the talking.

This is Will's Christmas program at his school. I hope this photo captures the chaos that is a toddler Christmas program. If Will looks like he just got punched in the face, it's because he had pink-eye that day. Yes, I'm the parent who brings their kid with pink-eye to the Christmas program anyway. In my defense, he had been on the antibiotic for long enough that he was no longer contagious. The kids sang Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a couple non-holiday songs. For his part, Will cheerfully jangled his bell and sang a word or two.
Here's a picture of our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve before the madness started. As you can see, this room still does not have any furniture. We have sofas ordered and hope that they'll arrive in the next few weeks. In the meantime, it serves as a great exercise room for Will and the dogs.
Christmas morning around 11:00 a.m. We started opening presents pretty early (as is tradition in the Hansen family) so we were finished up and ready for naps before lunchtime. Will crawled under there by himself and probably would have fallen asleep if I hadn't interrupted.

Here's a rare non-Will photograph. My mom made Bailey (my sister's pug) a sweater for Christmas. Not only is it a sweater, but it's a killer whale sweater, notice the fin? She's very creative.

The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful. Glenn did some man stuff and Will and I hit the after-Christmas sales with Vicky. We had a lot of fun buying some clothes for the new baby girl. We immersed ourselves in pink jammies, pants with ruffles on the fanny area and little tiny shirts in pink and brown and all sorts of girly colors. Glenn and I pulled out the baby name book again last night in the hopes of settling on a name for this new arrival. We ruled out several hundred names but still haven't decided on anything.

Hope you are enjoying this quiet week.

Every girl is crazy about a sharp-dressed man

Will still loves my shoes and boots in this case. Hats are another favorite. He looks like such a big boy in this picture - I can hardly stand it. Stay tuned later in the week for his picture with Santa (!!) and his Christmas program, which is tonight. Yes, even 20-month olds get their own Christmas programs.

Healthy family!

Okay, I've probably just jinxed us with that title but as of today, we are all healthy. Will recovered from pneumonia and is doing great! We put up our Christmas tree this weekend and he is really interested in it. He loves to move the ornaments around or list everything that's on the tree (woof woof, meow, ball, football!, ball, ball, ball, ball - you get the picture). His vocabulary is really starting to grow and every once in a while he throws out a new word and it takes us a few minutes to figure out what he's saying. He told me "gragow!" for about 15 minutes before I finally realized that he was asking for a cracker. I'm a little slow on the uptake. I don't have any pictures of the tree yet, but here's my #1 helper assisting with the tree stand. He's also mastered the word "NO" and uses it freely for a variety of situations. Toddlers = fun.

Finally, I took a picture of the new house. We are all moved in and starting to make the place our own. Still waiting on furniture for the living room. Right now it's a big empty space that's great for toddlers to throw balls, ride bikes and race back and forth. I'm also hesistant to get any furniture for it but he'll survive. We had a nice snow last week so everything looks all clean.

In Feb. baby news, we had another ultrasound last week and saw that we are definitely having a girl - no doubt about it this time. It's exciting and I've had to really restrain myself from buying lots and lots of cute little onesies and holiday dresses (for next year). If I'm not careful, I will singlehandedly be responsible for turning our economy around, at least on the retail level.

Back next time with more holiday pictures and hopefully a shot of Santa and Will. Wish us luck!

Will's first trip to the . . .

emergency room happened this weekend! Long story short, he spiked a pretty high fever Friday night (103.8), we couldn't get it down through the night, called the doctor again Saturday morning and he recommended a trip to the ER. Got to the ER around 9:00 a.m. and stayed there for what felt like a year and a half, but was actually only about 4 hours. After several blood tests, 2 x-rays and four failed attempts to get an IV in his arm, they admitted Will to the hospital with pneumonia. Will and I stayed the at the hospital last night with the devoted help of his Aunt Vicky and came home this afternoon. He's doing really well. He's on some heavy duty antiobiotics and a breathing treatment (all of which he hates) but he's getting stronger by the minute. Glenn left for his last hunting trip of the season on Saturday morning so he missed the excitement but was a steady voice on the other end of the phone when I was having my mommy-freakout moments. He offered to come home several times but we had everything under control.

We have some pictures that Aunt Vicky took that I will be posting later. Will looked pretty cute (all things considered) in his little hospital gownl. Right now, it's a little too fresh. Thanks to all who sent prayers and good wishes our way. I hope this is our last trip to the hospital for a very long time, or at least until mid-February.