Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Change


I was looking at our blog tonight and I was thinking about how much things have changed since I last posted... It's been like a year and a half so of course things have changed a lot but... I wanted to update and show life as it is now...


I'll start from Ava's second birthday party. It was the weekend before Benjamin's due date. It was on October 19th. We had her party right in the nick of time because I went into labor that following Monday.


Nana and her local grand babies


The day after the party was Sunday. We went to church and that evening we were tired and so we opted out of going to life group that night. I am so glad we did because we had such a lovely evening enjoying Ava's new gifts that she got at her party and we had a chill evening at home... Little did we know the next day I would go into labor! We had a wonderful night just the three of us before we became a family of four.



As you can tell Ava was having a blast having a
tea party with Mommy and Daddy.

Monday October 21 I was in labor all day... Yet I was in denial because there had been multiple times before where I had wondered the same thing... so I went about the day as usual. We went over to a friends house and did crafts with the kids. I spent all morning at her house and she swore I was in labor. She got out her phone and started timing my contractions. They weren't super consistent or painful so I still wasn't convinced. I am so thankful that we had plans with my mom that evening for her to come in because I was supposed to have an early dr appt the next day. So she came to spend the night with us. She got in around 2:30 and by that time I was having regular painful contractions so she was there to help me with Ava and she was there for peace of mind about when we needed to go to the hospital. I called David around 4:30 to tell him I was in labor and he wasn't convinced either since I had a couple false alarms. So he got home at his normal time around 6:00 and from then on we would discuss going into the hospital. (I was hesitant about going to the hospital too soon because one I didn't want them to send me home because I wasn't far enough along or two because I didn't want to be strapped to machines while I was in the first stages of labor) I finally broke down and decided it was time to go when I had a few contractions that were 2 minutes apart. Mom took Ava to a friends house and met us at the hospital. David and I arrived at the hospital around 8:45 and I was at a 4. When they got us situated and started to listen for his heart beat they were unable to find it at first. It took the nurse a few minutes before she was finally able to register a heartbeat (longest minutes of my life!) I told the nurse whenever the dr was able I was ready for my epidural! Every time they would check me I was more and more dilated. I was at a 10 before midnight but they wanted to wait to push because Ben's head was not turned to the appropriate place. So they turned me from side to side until about two hours later he was finally ready to be born. On October 22, 2013 at 1:57 AM Benjamin David Hanson was born weighing 8 lbs 2 oz 20 inches long.


Smitten!


Ava meeting her brother!


First pic as family of four!
The new norm...



Ava LOVED helping take care of her baby brother.



Ava reading to her brother... Love that sweet girl!

The Ice Storm... It has us iced in for days!

This is a large portion of our tree in our front yard that collapsed due to the weight of the ice

She had a blast playing in the snow!


Benjamin's first time at church.



Thanksgiving was fun last year. David's family came to us since we had just had Ben and it was so fun having everyone at our home. 






Just a few sweet pics I had to throw in...










Christmas Decorating!




Christmas
We have a tradition now where we celebrate as a family on Christmas Eve morning. I have a casserole ready in the crock pot. We eat breakfast, open gifts, play have lunch the kids nap and David leaves to go to church. We join him for one of the services later and then after he gets home we leave to go to whichever family's turn it is that year. This year we went to my moms. It works perfectly since David will always have to work on Christmas Eve for us to celebrate this way.

Ava helping Mommy bake cookies...
Yes I use the term bake loosely they were break and bake! 


Stockings!


Ben was lying on this mat and Ava came over and laid both of her babies beside him and started covering them with the new doll blanket she received... 

Ava had a fun Christmas morning!


Ready for the Christmas Eve service!

Life... Just a lot of really cute pics... I have lots of time to make up for!


Bath time!

That's one handsome dude!!!




Ava had gotten sick one night so I had taken out my stethoscope to listen... The next day she found it and wanted to return the favor! :)

Sweet girl ready to go play in the cold!


I love how chubby he looks in this picture! It truly shows how he really was at one point in the 90%. 


She loves holding him... Even still she asks to hold him even though he is way too busy and active now to sit still long enough for sissy hold him... Oh well... next baby....

A usual Wednesday night!

Poor girlie was sick... But still showing her sweet self

Another sick pic, but what a cutie!


Daddy brought Ava home a shirt after running a 5K through our church 

Ava and Ben love for Nana to visit




Raspberries... Or as Ava calls  it blueberries... :) 

Love the look on his face here! Poor baby was teething though with his hands constantly in his mouth.

Easter picnic



Bounce house!

Easter egg hunt... Ava only picked up two eggs on her own... She got a few pity eggs though.  There's always next year.
Easter. 
After church we headed to my moms house. It was such a fun day. Bobby Lauren and their kiddos were there along with my cousin Mark, Melissa and their two girls, and Andy and Callie were there as well. Mom had an Easter egg hunt and the kids loved scouring the yard to try to find the treats hidden inside.




Easter egg hunt at Mom's house




Ava loves spending time with her cousins... Especially Lily!

Benjamin's Baby Dedication. All of our family came in to celebrate Ben and help us dedicate him.






Three cutie pies!


This picture is hilarious to me!

Just a few more cute pics!



Love that girl... She always has things that she wants to bring in the car with us... She was very prepared for car time fun./





Amarillo trip. 
David was at youth camp so we went to Granny and Papa's house. We had a blast seeing all of our Amarillo family. Ava loved playing with Granny Papa and especially Arlo!







Where else do marker caps belong but on fingers...???


Just a little bit of our summer fun.


Ava has LOVED her pool this summer. I have enjoyed it as well. It has made being outside hearable in the hottest months.

Ava and Ben both love swinging

Worn out after the park!

Just a little bit of pool silliness

Granny is so fun!



We have loved having Hayley and her family home from Indo! Ava loves all of her cousins so much and talks about them and prays for them all the time. 


All the cousins together again... We are going to outgrow the couch soon!



More summer fun!


Ava loves running in and out of the rain



Cutie pie wearing my glasses





Ava got a ring pop as a favor at a birthday and she loved it... It also got everywhere!


The zoo.
In March we got a membership to the Dallas Zoo. We have loved going and  looking at all the animals. Ava's favorites are usually the monkeys.

Ava and her good friends, Bianca and Karina



This cutie enjoying his  lunch!




Galveston Vacation!


Cuties. They loved sitting out on the deck

Our mad sand castle building skills!

Burying Bobby

And then it was my turn. I was so deep!


Sisters 
Headed home. One was sleeping one was crying... and by crying I mean screaming as if it were torture!

You would never know he was fussy most of the trip by looking at this sweet face!


Being silly taking selfies with my girl. I was very bored, as was she. It was good entertainment!
More pics of life as usual.

This girl loves her Daddy!


Benjamin Loves Ava's chair. He used it for a long time as leverage to climb onto the coffee table. We finally had to move it to where its not in front of the coffee table and then he would still climb on it and the chair would fall over and he would get hurt... Poor guy I think has finally caught on.

Maya and Jakin spent the night at our house. Ava loved having a sleepover, not to mention matching jammas (as Ava calls them) with Maya. 

The next day I was trying to get ready to meet a friend for lunch and Hayley was packing up to leave and so the kids were playing in the backyard... Well it had just rained and filled the pool with water and the kids thought it would be a good idea to jump in the pool get all wet then drag dirt from one of the flower beds to the pool... Needless to say the clean up of children and the backyard took about an hour! #icanlookbackandlaughnow

Sweet sleeping girlie

Love this little man and his laid back sweet spirit

This picture describes my life perfectly. Ben is all boy and is constantly pulling hair and biting. He is also very into balls and David and I swear that for an 11 month old baby he has a pretty good arm! ;)