Introducing...

Baby Maxwell! Born Jan 25, at 7:42 pm. He's a little swollen and red because this is right after the birth. Poor Little Man was not ready to be ejected from the nice warm womb, but he did really well and we are pleased as punch. I didn't know a delivery could actually be a happy experience. (Let's hear it for great doctors, nurses, & epidurals!)



He has some very eager siblings who thought of some good names for him. Felicity thought "Cosmo", Katrina called him "Blanky", and Matthew's vote was for "Baby". Uncle Kurt likes Carl, which I think deserves Honorable Mention.

Here's Daddy, getting used to the Sunday sleeping slouch:

And Grandma is giving it her best shot, even though she has very little experience holding screaming babies:

I look ridiculous in this next one, not to mention still swollen from all that IV fluid, but I thought the baby's face is very cute here. We were trying to compare Giant Dimples. (He has one in his left cheek.)

We're now home and trying to recover, but it will probably be a long time before we all get out of pjs. Thank goodness for my Mom or we wouldn't have anything to eat or clean surfaces whatsoever. It's going to be Mommy Boot Camp for the next few weeks. Be warned!

Birthday party revue & haircuts

We had a little party for Buddy. We invited 3 other little tots, but 2 of them were sick, so just one made it. Probably for the best because we make plenty of chaos on our own, as evidenced by our thrashed kitchen: Everyone got to make his/her own pizza, played a few games, and of course, ate. Mark was the ringleader, and had a good time, although he looks like he's not interested in teaching in this next one:
Matthew is blowing out the candles on the green cupcakes he requested. Check out his long curls. Because yesterday, Mark shaved them all off. He didn't mean to cut it that short, but Matthew has white folks' hair. Poor little shorn sheep. He's got his Bob the Builder toolbelt on to console him.
Felicity took a photo of us together because I got a haircut too. I am hiding behind my child since I have reached the Huge Stomach stage where I can no longer see my feet when I stand up. 5 days to go!

Looking at Mr. M

3 Months old, happily drooling in the swing.
Eating Cheerios, about Nov. 2005.
Learning to walk, Winter 2006.

Matthew is 3. I've been looking at some pictures and remembering when he was small and slobby. (Mark's word for covered in drool) He looks pretty different from these other pictures I took of him this past December, playing outside in the leaves in his Sunday clothes. Hard to believe he was such a skinny kid as a 5 lb preemie.

Only took him a couple months to get a double chin.Now he looks all grown up:
I like this next one because it's the face he has whenever he says, "Look at my muscles!!" I keep asking him about princesses and if he likes them. But he always says no.

He is definitely Mr. Contrary, which these pictures don't really show. Not always easy to get along with, but we sure do love him. Happy Birthday, Big Tex.

Anniversary 8.4

I finally figured out how to read comments and discovered that I have an audience. (how is it that I am so technologically un-savvy as a member of this generation? Can't text, can't add pictures to blogs without expletives, and my 2 year old can operate the CD player in the car better than I can!!) But I don't know how to respond. Who is the BOS?

My sister and cousin both remembered my anniversary back in December and now that I've read their rememberences, I should blog about it. Mark was in Kansas that day and December was a pretty stressful month, hence few posts because I knew they would all just be real downers.

So anyway, Mark and I celebrated our anniversary in several stages this year. He sent me roses and chocolates via my VT on the actual day and I talked to him that night on the phone while he fell asleep. We decided to celebrate in UT where we'd have free babysitting. The first night ended up being the BYU game. I'd had contractions all day and was exhausted, so I sent him off to watch the pore team w/ my dad and brothers, and was in bed by 9:30. We rescheduled for the next week, but then Kent and Dad turned a trip to Training Table to a huge party that I didn't want to miss. When you spend $1500 smackers traveling to UT to be with your family, it makes sense to attend family events... especially when Dad is treating.

So we went on Saturday night instead. I was super tired and grumpy but we went to Salt Lake to watch the Kilton's son in the play "Savior of the World" in the conference center. It was snowing, blowing, and cold. You know you're old geezer material or pregnant or both when you have zero desire to do anything but go home and sleep when the play lets out at 10 pm and the kids are in bed at Grandma's. Everything was closed, we still hadn't eaten, and my contractions were getting pretty bad due to lack of drinking. We finally found Mimi's cafe, ate dinner around 11 pm, went home and collapsed.

Mark gave me a traditional Disney (we went to Disney World for our honeymoon) thing and a necklace. Poor Mark, he's a real sentimentalist and I didn't even get him anything. So instead, after we got back to TX we went out for the "real" dinner. Mark loves good food and has been to some pretty cool places thanks to his job. He is into some stuff that's a little rich for my blood but I can handle it once in awhile.

This past Saturday, he got a babysitter (a major pain, for all of you out there without kids), played with and fed the children, worked really hard cleaning up our filthy house and hauling the Christmas tree off. When I climbed in the Crumbmobile and discovered that he had fixed the vacuum and attacked the mini-van, I realized, we are going wherever he dang well wants. So we went to Bob's.

This shot is actually from their menu. It only took me hours on end to put it here.

Bob's steak and chop place is kind of famous for Dallas. I've actually seen it advertised in those airline magazines. It's pretty pricey so he's only gone w/ work. Now don't get me wrong, although it's expensive, don't read this as snobby uppercrust type of place where you surely have never heard of at least one ingredient in the recipe card that they call the menu. Any place that has football on multiple screens in the dining room is hardly fancy in my book. People were of varying ages and demographics- hang on, just ethnicities, not socioeconomics. Why does everyone conclude that Dallas has cheap living just because the home prices are?

But I digress. It seems like the wrong time to go out to eat when the baby is taking up most of my stomach space. People have talked about how the last month is like the first trimester in both fatigue and nausea. This has not been my experience until #4, so I'm eating lots of small meals these days and didn't want to pick at my food at Bob's. I must say, it was pretty outstanding steak, and this coming from someone who eats meatless frequently. They kept bringing out hot bread which helped the acid before our dinner arrived. We got a crab cake and a salad and then split the cote de boeuf. I think it would have been enough food even for my regular non-gestational appetite. It was fun to go and I highly recommend it... especially on someone else's dime. I'm not completely into exotic foods you can't recognize most of the time, but it's definitely worth the $ for a good place every blue moon.

Christmas Catch-up

Now that Christmas is long since past in every way (except for finishing putting away all of the junk we've acquired or used for decorating), I'm going to post about the holiday.

We went to UT on Dec 20. It was crazy as usual trying to get stuff done and get out the door, but we miraculously made it on the plane and the suitcase full of presents did too, thanks to my very kind next door neighbor Kendra, who came to the rescue and the security folks being understanding and letting all sorts of liquids pass by. There was lots to still get done once we arrived, but Mom and Melanie and Michelle helped with babysitting, cleaning stinky diapers, Christmas carding, and shopping for presents.

Christmas Eve is really the main part of the holiday at the Hansens', with the enormous turkey dinner and program; the games and setting everything out. Felicity had her heart set on being Mary, so luckily the many other little girls consented, despite much drama.




It was not as chaotic as it could have been, thanks to Michelle bringing musical activities and Heidi producing the nativity. That's a lot of people to have in one house, especially little kids, so the potential for craziness there is huge. I was pretty wiped out by the end of the day and did not participate in the Water Game. Besides, I was 35 weeks pregnant!

Christmas morning was fun- Felicity and Matthew were both very enthusiastic about their gifts. That is my favorite part about Christmas, watching the children open their surprises and be excited about everything. Katrina was less excited, but she still enjoyed the day, especially as the cousins came over and played.

The rest of the trip was really great. We went out a lot, the children went sledding 3 times and Felicity went ice skating once with the Bergesons, Mom and Kent, and the family got together multiple times to do stuff, usually eat. Mom made homeade donuts and we got to see the Harveys a little too.

And let's not forget about Anziano Hansen and his endless practicing. It was really fun to hear more about his mission and see some pictures of Italy.


I also visited briefly with my former companion, Edlira Hoxha Koopman and her 3 children. And I finally met my famous niece Camille, who was well enough to be moved to UVRMC from Primary Children's Hospital. She is still very small but big enough that her parents can now hold her.


We came home on January 2 to a very messy house. It was a really fun trip and very restful for both Mark and me. For him because he didn't have to travel and he had several days off in a row, for me because Mark was with us and we were at Mom's house, where there are lots of extra hands to help care for or play with or discipline the kids. I felt much more positive about things once we returned, and it was a very sad Sunday night saying goodbye to Mark as he started traveling again. However, we will have somewhat of a "break" again soon...I'm scheduled to deliver this poor nameless boy in the next few weeks, and Mom will come and Mark will take some time off.