Happy 4th Birthday, Rebecca!

Happy 4th Birthday, baby girl. You are so sweet and growing up so quick. You will always be my first baby girl. I love you very much.

Flashback: Part 2

Continued from yesterday....I know you all were holding on to your seats! HA!

So, the doctor came in and checked one more time for any progression and there was none. I was stuck at a 3. We decided to have the c-section.

They got me prepped for surgery and it all went very quickly. The doctor said they were going to up my epidural, so I would feel nothing from my chest down. That was not the case. I was numb from mid abdomen down. That was not enough. I felt some excruciating pain and then they had to give me something that completely knocked me out. I really have no memory of my first child being born. That is okay, I have tons of pictures that I cannot locate on the computer now to show you all.

Rebecca Glenn Hansen was born at 1:45am on August 28, 2004. She weighed in at 8 pounds even. She was 20 inches long. She was so cute.

Flashback

Four years ago today, I was 37 weeks pregnant (3 weeks from my due date) with my first baby girl. It was a Friday and I was all ready for her arrival for the most part. My weekly visit to my doctor was on Monday and all was well. My doctor did however make comments about how big my baby girl was going to be. Which scared me to death.

Like I said earlier, it was Friday. I noticed since Wednesday that I had felt like I peed my pants, not a lot just a little. You know when you are pregnant, very pregnant that you have lack of bladder control. Well, that is what I thought until Friday. My husband went to work that morning and I told him that I think it was my water that had a slow leak and that I would be having the baby today. I made sure to tell him that he would have to find someone to come in for him when I confirmed with my doctor we were going to have the baby today. So, he goes to work and I get ready and get to my doctor's office by around 10am.

I walked in the office and told the lady that I did not have an appointment, but I think my water broke. She got me right back. Anyway, doctor checked and my water had broke, but I was not dilated any. He told me to go to the hospital. I said I would have to go home first and pick up my bag and call my husband. So, I was starving when I got out of the doctor's office and picked up a hamburger and fries on my way home. Knowing they were not going to let me eat while I was in the hospital. I called my husband and told him that he needed to get home soon. He had to wait for someone to come relieve him from work. So, I made my many phone calls to tell everyone that we were going to have a baby today. I was so excited and not too nervous because at that point I was not having any contractions.

Well, I waited and waited for Matt to get home. It was just before 1 pm and I knew that I needed to get to the hospital because my doctor said to meet him over there. So, I could not wait any longer. I drove myself to the hospital and checked in. The nurses were like, you drove yourself? I was not in pain so why not? I signed a bunch of papers and the nurses started me on potosin and an antibiotic since my water had started leaking since Wednesday. Matt arrived about an hour after I got there. It was a relief to know he got here and I would not have to do this by myself.

Some of Matt's cousins and his aunt and uncle arrived and wait for our baby girl. My contractions were getting pretty strong and consistent. It was funny because at one point Matt's uncle, cousin and Matt were all sitting in the room in front of me and watching the monitor telling me I was having a contraction. Like I didn't know. I can laugh about it now. At around this point I asked for an epidural. That helped a lot, however it slowed my contractions way down so they had to up the potosin.

My back was killing me at this point. The doctor came in and checked my status and I was dilated to a 3. The nurses told me I can take a bath and that might help my back pain. So, I did that but then I had to get out and back into bed, so they could hook me back up to the monitors. I forget what time it was at this point, but know it was getting late and I was hungry and so, so very thirsty. They would give me nothing. All but one cousin stayed and kept us company. I was glad to have her there. I got the best pictures from her.

So, I continued my ever so long labor and was mighty uncomfortable. My mom was on her way but would not make until early the next morning. My doctor was not happy with my progression so he said he would give me a hour to decide if I wanted to proceed with a c-section or keep trying. At this point I am still a 3 and have been in labor for 12 hours.

To be continued...........

The Terrible Addiction

This intervention was not planned. However, I could not pass up the opportunity to break-free of this terrible addiction. It is still touch and go at the moment, but going better than I thought it would. We still have ups and downs but we are getting through it.

Addicted to: The Pacifier

User: Annie Elizabeth Hansen

Has used for: Just shy of 2 1/2 years

She is so cute with her pacifier, but it was getting to be a nuisance. We could not go anywhere without it and heaven forbid if we lost it while we were out. In some previous posts I attempted to take it away gradually and it worked real well. Annie was only permitted to have it during naps and bedtime. Then we went on vacation....and we backtracked. While we were on the plane to California I gave her the pacifier to help with any discomfort she may have in her ears since she has had numerous ear infections. Anyway, that is when it started and I was her dealer.

Now back to yesterday. I have been trying to potty train Annie and she has been doing okay. That is a different post altogether. Anyway, while sitting on the toilet after her nap she yawned and her pacifier fell in the toilet. Of course, Annie freaked out and was totally grossed out. I fished out the pacifier. There was nothing in the toilet. I repeat there was nothing in there. Anyway, I told her that since it fell in the toilet, we were going to have to put it in the trash. Yeah, I could have boiled it, but really it was time to get rid of it. And of course I have 4 pacifiers secretly hidden in my bathroom, but she doesn't need to know that.

Last night was the big test. I put the girls to bed at 7:30pm, but Annie did not actually go to sleep until 11pm. It was so sad and so hard to keep this up. Annie begged and cried for her pacifier. She kept telling me "I need my pacifier." Really if she can tell me that she needs it, it is totally time. So, I held her and she finally fell asleep whispering pacifier. Sad. I thought I was going to break down and provide one but I stuck it out and helped her through her first night. Annie did sleep throughout the night without waking up. I was shocked. I did not sleep well just thinking that I was going to have to get up and sleep in her room all night long. Matt brought Annie in when he left for work at 6:30am. Annie was crying for her pacifier. So, we got up and got her preoccupied with something else.

We will do it again today. Annie is pretty grumpy, but I think that last night was a real break through for her. I feel bad that I am doing this to her but know in the long run she will be better off.

Tagged!

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules to your blog
3. Write 6 random things about myself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

As you can see from the title, I've been tagged. Thanks, Marie-Etta (http://junebride2008.blogspot.com/) I don't know how to do links.

1 - I love chocolate dipped strawberries. I can eat several of them at one sitting. I don't get the chance to do that often at all. Hmmm, maybe I should learn how to make them.

2 - I hate to clean but love how my house looks and smells after I have done it. I also have this feeling of accomplishment, like my life has a purpose. And then two seconds later it doesn't look like I have done anything because of all the toys. I need to work on the girls.

3 - I count the steps that it takes to get to the mailbox. I don't know why I do this but I have done this since I live in Blythe with my parents. I also count the stairs while going up a staircase. Most houses have 14 steps.

4 - I don't think I have a good singing voice but sing to my kids all the time and don't care what it sounds like. I hope they don't mind either.

5 - I put together two day beds, a dresser and a bookshelf. One day bed and the dresser was put together while I was super, super pregnant. I was pretty proud of myself. I thought I was pretty handy.

6 - I don't know how to really work the sewing machine but have made two curtains and need to work on the third panel. My husband says I should read the instructions, but I have done pretty good so far.

Okay, now for tagging six people. Yeah, so it's only going to be four because I only know a handful of people on my links list personally.
1-Lori
2-Meredith
3- Melody
4- Sami

Sweet N' Sassy

The girls went to a birthday party yesterday at Sweet N' Sassy. Sweet N' Sassy is a little girls salon. They do manicures, pedicures, haircuts and up do's. Anyway, their friend Brooke had her 4th birthday party here. It was so cool. The girls loved it. I knew that they were going to look completely different so, I took a before picture and several after pictures. Here are the girls before we left the house.

Rebecca and Annie's before party pictures. (The spot on Annie's shirt is a water spot!)

First, the girls got to pick out a fancy dress. There were about 4-5 young ladies fixing hair, painting nails and applying make-up. There were eight little girls at the party getting pampered. They all looked so cute. Here are some pictures of the girls getting pampered.

These are the dresses that they picked out. Rebecca really loved her dress and so did 2 other girls at the party. They had some for sale, so I thought maybe I would get Rebecca one for playing dress up at home. It was $56. We didn't get it. Annie picked out a little ballerina outfit.

Here is Rebecca getting her hair fixed. It looked so cute. They sprayed this glitter spray all over their hair.

Here is Annie getting her hair and nails done at the same time. For a 2 year old she sat pretty good. They did however put clear glitter nail polish on her because the lady could just see her getting another color all over the place.

Here is Rebecca getting her nails painted. The color was bright pink.

Here is Annie picking out what color eye shadow she wanted. She picked pink. Look how cooperative she is being!

Here is Rebecca getting her make-up done. She is totally loving this.

These two pictures of the girls are as good as I could get them together. They kept bouncing around, they were so excited.

Here are the girls dancing on stage.

Here is Annie and Rebecca playing limbo at the party.

Here is Rebecca working the model stage. She is so pretty!

Here is all the girls at the party. Annie is back there somewhere.

All in all they had a great birthday party. It was just as much fun for the parent that came for this wonderful photo opportunity. This one definitely goes down into one the favorite and most memorable birthday parties.

Incompetence

I went to Walmart this evening to get some milk. We've been going through a ton of milk lately because my husband and I have been drinking Slim Fast shakes in the morning. So, the milk has been going faster than normal.

Anyway, all I had to get was two gallons of milk and put some money on a gas card. I get into the express lane, 20 items or less. The guy in front of me had about 12 items in his basket. The people in front of him were gathering their bags and leaving. The guy unloads the small things from his cart and he lifts out a case of coke and sprite for the cashier to ring up and he put those back in his cart. The cashier gives the guy his total and he pays. The guy gathers his bags and heads for the door.

It is my turn. Well, the cashier looks at the guy leaving and noticed that she did not ring up the two cases of bottled water and a case of Dr. Pepper that were on the rack under the cart. She said something to me that she did not ring up those items, but does nothing about it. Wow! She continued to ring up my items. I was out of there fairly quick, but can you believe she just let that guy go after noticing her mistake and saying something to me about it? Really!

As my husband often tells incompetent people, if he did his job half as bad as you do, people would be dead. Being the former paramedic that he used to be, but how true is that. He tells people that when they give him the wrong change in his favor and he tries to set him straight and they won't take the corrected money back. I never worked in fast food, but I wonder how many registers were off at the end of the day.

Lacking ZZZzzz

Annie has been a night owl lately. She will go to bed at her normal time with minimal fuss, but 2am comes around and she is coming into my room. On my side of the bed. Waking me up (and not my husband.) Haven't figured out why both my children come to my side of the bed when they get up in the middle of the night. I am not closest to the door.

Anyway, so, I put Annie back to bed and attempt to go back to sleep. It usually takes a while before I can actually get to sleep again. I am not sure how long I have been trying to go to sleep when I hear the creaking of Annie's door opening. You have got to be kidding me. Since, I had turned her away from my room, I figured she was headed for Rebecca's. I was right. I caught her entering Rebecca's room wearing a headband over her eyes (like sunglasses), a Sleeping Beauty wand and a book of Bible stories. She obviously wasn't going in there to sleep. So, I catch her and take her back to her bed. She cries and I go back to bed. It was ten till 3 at this point.

Annie stays in her room just long enough for me to get to slumber land again when she is standing at my side of the bed again. So, giving up, I put her in bed with me. It takes her a bit to get comfortable. Annie attempts to talk and it is followed up by a SHH! Then she starts stroking my face. Come on how sweet, but annoying can you be and nearly 4am. I totally ignore her and actually get to sleep again. She finally gets the wiggles out and is out too.

7:30am rolls around when Rebecca rallies for the morning. Again to my side of the bed. She thinks that she needs in between Annie and I. She she manages to do that and then decides she doesn't want to sleep, she wants to watch cartoons in the living room. Meaning in order for her to do that I have to get out of bed, find the remote and wake up just enough to find something for her to watch. I told her to not come into my room and ask for breakfast. I told her that I will get her breakfast when I get up. Rebecca gave me an hour before she yells from the living room that she is hungry and wants breakfast. She did exactly what I told her. She did not come into my room to tell me she was hungry, she just yelled it. Hmmm....so I get up and that is the start to my day.

About Us

Well, I have been neglecting my blog. Obviously, since I have not posted anything since the end of July and we are close to the middle of August. I am in a writing slump. I am having trouble thinking of something worth while and interesting to write about. I just want it to be fun and interesting for my readers. Which by the way am thinking aren't too many. After all, I don't get many comments on my subjects.

Sure, I can always write about my two angels. That is always a hit with the family that actually reads my blog. So, here is a little bit about what they are into these days.

Rebecca, who is almost 4, is independent and head strong, just like her dad. Rebecca finished her swimming lessons and loved it. She moved up from her pre-school class to level 1. She is becoming quite a little swimmer. She seems to like to go underwater a lot. Rebecca just learned how to ride her big girl bike with training wheels. And she can actually steer and pedal at the same time. When it cools off a bit more, she will get more practice. I just enrolled Rebecca in pre-school. She starts September 2nd. Her class will be from 11:00-2:30, two days a week. I am really looking forward to that. It will be nice to have one on one time with Annie. I also enrolled Rebecca in a class that will teach her tap, ballet and rhythmic dancing. With her pre-school class schedule, I was unable to get her into tumbling, which she may be a little disappointed, but it is only for 8 weeks and then we can try it next time.

Annie, who is almost 2 1/2, is mellow, but following in her sister footsteps as far as the attitude thing goes. Annie just finished swimming lessons and will be promoted to the pre-school class next summer. Skill wise she was ready now, but I know she would not sit there and listen to her teachers while the other kids take their turns. Her favorite part of swimming lessons was jumping off the diving board and side of the pool. Seriously, she has no fear of the water. It was great. Annie likes to play with her baby dolls and loves to play with her big sister. The girls play pretty well together, not including the hitting that might go on.....we are still working on that. I enrolled Annie in a music class. She has taken this class before and really enjoys it. I also enrolled her in a mommy and me tumbling class.

Matt is enjoying his new position with his company. He is good at it and doesn't seem to miss being a Flight Paramedic. He is able to work from home, which is nice, however, we need an office where he can close the doors and not be interrupted by the girls. We are looking into moving to a bigger house. We will let you know what goes down with that situation as it comes up. Matt is becoming more corporate everyday. What I mean by corporate is he dresses up when he needs to go to work (dress shoes, ironed clothes, etc.), is a pro at texting (sometimes while driving), and has conference calls. It is good to see him like this. It truly fits.

Me....well, I take care of the house, kids and all the other stuff that fits in the "mom" category. I am looking forward to school starting to get back into a routine with the girls. Since, Matt will be home somewhat, I want to start working out again. I am tired of the "mom" body that I have acquired since having kids and am looking forward to being me again. Or at least a skinnier me. I try to keep the girls active without spending a ton of money. I think I have become quite thrifty and look for free or cheap things to do for entertainment. I am active in my mommies group and enjoy getting together, when my schedule permits, with other moms and letting the kiddos play. I look forward to going to church and get my spiritual fill. Church is even better now, that Matt is able to come every Sunday. I hated sitting alone when he had to work Sundays.

I love to write, so I will try to keep up with my blog as much as possible. I always wanted to be a writer (of some sort), so I will do some research and find topics to discuss.