The Hanson Crew

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second-grade classroom a few years back. When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they're welcome. Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up a snapshot of an infant. "This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday." "First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in

Yep, a real snake about 2 1/2 feet long!! (click on the picture to enlarge it - it was huge!)

Sorry in advance that blog has turned into a pregnancy journal lately. It is the best way to relay this info to family out of town. I went to the OB yesterday and since I have not progressed, so I get to go off bedrest on Sunday! I will be 35 weeks done on Sunday and she said their office does not stop labor between 35 and 37 weeks (I will be starting my 36th week then). They do not induce until around 38. So if I have to go back in next week or two, they will let me keep contracting and see if I progress. They will not break my water or give me potossin, until May. Our goal is still the second week in May. I am sure that as soon as I stop all these meds and continue my day as normal, the contractions will slow down on their own! That will be okay with me :) - We are likely to start our "labor tactics" around May 10th or so in case we haven't gone then. It usually takes us about 5 days of these tactics to go into full blown labor. We're excited and a little

So since I wasn't in the mood for the Nativity Scene and John refuses to try the Pursuit of Happiness, we compromised on a movie for the kids...Happy Feet. Looked pretty cute and musical. Surprise, surprise it was crazy. The point of the story is that people are killing off the singing penguins because of our need for fish and the penguins worshipped some G uin for their food because of the evil humans taking their lives. It was a little crazy and way over the kids heads. Don't recommend this one and am glad I fell asleep to catch John's opinion of the whole thing the next morning. So I guess we're watching the Nativity story tonight (thanks Nate and Lisa for that one!) We'll let ya know about that one next!

Hey all. I thought I would write a little about an exciting D r . appointment today (mainly for Phil who is trying to make it out for the birth!) I had some fluid problems this past week with harder contractions so figured they would check me or at least check out the fluid bag today. It seems most of that fluid problem was because of an infection so I started some antibiotics today. The crazy thing is that I am really thinning now and dilated to a 2! Since I am still 33 weeks along, of course this was not exciting for the D r. who has put me back on limited activity/slight bedrest again for 3 weeks. She also has me writing down contraction times and intensity. As soon as she said "we will probably need to do magnesium if these persist", I knew it was bad. So I should be updating my blog more often since I will be home resting more! If I end up going in to labor and delivery the next few weeks for the mag, I will let ya all know. Otherwise, its weekly appointments and the

Joshua and Ashlyn at the hunt Joshua finding tons of Eggs Ashlyn running to the corner where no people are Enjoying the basket being full

We painted our master bedroom from a horrible bright green we had picked when we moved in to a soothing olive green. We even moved our furniture a little different to make a spot for the bassinet. I am so excited to rest in our "new" bedroom. The next decor move for this room is curtains and lamps... The really ugly green before...

Happy Birthday Caleb!

I was out walking with my 4 year old daughter. She picked up something off the ground and started to put it in her mouth. I took the item away from her and I asked her not to do that. "Why?" my daughter asked. "Because it's been on the ground, you don't know where it's been, it's dirty and probably has germs" I replied. At this point, my daughter looked at me with total admiration and asked, "Mommy, how do you know all this stuff? You are so smart." I was thinking quickly. "All moms know this stuff. It's on the Mommy Test. You have to know it, or they don't let you be a Mommy." We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but she was evidently pondering this new information. "OH...I get it!" she beamed, "So if you don't pass the test you have to be the daddy." "Exactly" I replied back with a big smile on my face.