Is it a boy? or girl?

NOPE!!!!!!  GOT YA! 

That's right.  (sorry, I am kind of laughing at my lame joke right now)... 

Anyways, we had a FANTASTIC day today!  We had our 20 week ultrasound!  

So, a couple things...

1. Jameson did NOT meltdown like he did at our 12 week appointment the second the nurse put the little camera on my belly!  He did however, figure out how to open the door to our room and slammed his finger in the door....  (small meltdown)

2. Baby was moving non-stop the entire appointment :-) 

(made this mommy smile with happiness to see he/she so active!)

3. We got the results!!!!!!!! 

IN AN ENVELOPE!!!!  (got ya again!)  

Yes, we are actually having a reveal party this weekend, so we had the nurse put our results in a card, sealed in an envelope so we could NOT see if it was a girl or boy.  We then rushed to The Cake Lady shop here in Sioux Falls to drop off our precious cargo!  

**As soon as I walked in the bakery door (my smile was about a mile wide) the "cake lady" literally said, "you must be Abby dropping off your envelope."  haha I couldn't stop laughing because I was so excited.  She also said the majority of the time she receives the envelopes ripped open!  ha I promise, we did NOT cheat!

With that said, we will be cutting into our beautiful cake Saturday evening with our family and friends! Results to come! 

18 MONTHS!! OH MY!

You are reading that correctly, Mr. J is 

18 MONTHS OLD!

I mean, I know they say, "time flies when you are having fun" but man, time sure does fly when you have a child!  Some months seem to drag on while others seem to go by in a blink of an eye!

To be perfectly honest, the last three months have been a complete blur to all of us here in the Hansen Household.  Holidays, moving, sickness, you name it...  pregnancy... geesh..  Oh well, we certainly are having fun along the way and little Mr. Man is getting SO BIG!

We had Jameson's 18 month appointment on Monday late morning.  (thank goodness it wasn't until 11:30 because J and I were stuck in Mankato Sunday evening due to the ice storm...  more to come on that later)

Naturally he went into crazy mode the second we entered the doctor's office (poor guy) so that was a "fun treat" for a mommy that was starting to feel the flu coming on.  Oh well...  We were able to get all his required measurements so here are his latest stats:

18 Month Statistics

Weight: 30lbs even (95%)

Height: 34 Inches (90%)

Diaper Size: still a 4

Clothing Size: 18 months along with some 24 months


What's new with Mr. J?

Well, well, well... Where to begin.  Mr. Man is RUNNING all over the place.  He has mastered not only walking, but yes running.  He has also become king of climbing stairs (let me tell you... STRESSFUL!)  I have to say, he is getting pretty good, but we've had a couple spills and heart attacks...  haha (heart attack for mommy that is)

Talking... Well, that one on the other hand is not one of our "mastered" skills just yet.  In fact, J will be meeting with a speech pathologist here within the next week.  I actually feel he is doing OK, but probably not up to 18 month standards.  He is certainly trying, but he definitely knows how to get what he wants without having to say anything (can you say tantrums!)
**His favorite word is Gampa!**

Eating... Oh man... That has to be our #1 stresser in life right now.  I can officially say we have one of the pickiest eaters... And we also have PROOF of that.  We (well Luke and J - I was god-awful sick yesterday) met with a pediatric dietitian and she agreed that we have one heck-of a picky eater on our hands.  Needless to say, we are working VERY hard each and every day to expand our cracker/applesauce/fruit loop diet, but it's certainly a struggle.  Jameson actually has a texture issue (again, something we found out yesterday...) so they are going to have him meet with an occupational therapist to try to overcome the texture issue and hopefully improve our eating skills.

On a positive note.....
We have one HAPPY little boy!  He may not want to eat much or say much, but he sure LOVES to play, wrestle with daddy, be outside (not so easy right now) read books (probably his favorite thing), watch Elmo and just be around mommy and daddy.  Not to mention he has one heart-melting smile (and dimples).  He is also learning there is a baby in mommy's tummy and (most of the time) will point to my tummy when you ask where the baby is.

Our little man is growing up SO QUICKLY!!!!!  I can't believe he is already 18 months old.
He brings so much joy to our lives and makes each and every day special!

We love you J!

Learning to eat with a spoon...
MESSY!

J LOVES bath time!

Swimming with Nana and Gpa
He LOVES the water!

Testing..Testing.. 1-2-3

Oh yes, TESTING is the name of our game these days!  Let me tell you, we have officially entered the toddler stage!  I have to say, it's A) FUN, B) TIRING and C) NEVER ending.

Now, I completely understand every toddler goes through this stage and it's a MAJOR learning time, but boy oh boy....  Crazy how these little people have such curious minds and how they NEVER get tired... (or get sick of getting time-outs!)

So, what are we dealing with you ask... Well here is a "little" list of the "big" tests we are going through these days:

1. Hitting

2. Pushing buttons on electronics (the stereo is his new favorite "naughty")

3. opening draws (mind you, we have baby proofed our house!)

4. opening doors (he knows how to open the pantry door....  man, that little kid does not mess around when it comes to food - hence the belly)  :-)

5. Throwing toys - we have a strong arm on our hands!!  (Gpa is thinking, "YES baseball player"... Daddy is thinking, "YES, Quarterback!")  But honestly, J gets any sort of frustration in him with a toy and that thing is tossed immediately!  and he doesn't care what/who/if anything is in his way!

6. TANTRUMS!  full blown......  all out....  arch the back....  kicking... TANTRUMS!  Honestly, it was a little embarrassing the first time I had to carry my son out of the mall like a football, but I quickly became not a touch phased by the situation!  (oh the joys of parenthood)

I have to say, we maybe going through a lot of changes with J, tantrums and "learning" but I wouldn't change it for the world!  He truly is a joy and the light of our life!  I may get frustrated or tired at times, but it truly is remarkable to watch him learn and grow into such a little boy!

BUT...  When 7:30pm Bedtime comes around...  AHHHH the silence :-)  

Christmas 2012

Since this is a "catch up" post, I will try to stay to-the-point, rather than giving all the nitty gritty details...

With that said, I hope EVERYONE  had a fabulous Christmas!  Once again, we had an extraordinary holiday all together!  Although Luke was VERY busy leading up to the holidays, and immediately following, we still made the best of our short and sweet time together as a family.

Christmas Eve - 

Seriously, one of the BEST experiences of my life!  (and thank heavens for GREAT travel weather).  Luke FINALLY had Christmas Eve off this year (I don't think he has ever had x-mas eve off the entire time we have been together!) so we REALLY wanted to take advantage of that time.   We decided to make the drive to Austin, MN to attend the Harris Family "Redneck" Christmas.  What a spectacular day!!!!!!  First, let me say THANK YOU to Bob and Colleen for hosting such a memorable, fun, and family-filled day.  We enjoyed the company of more than 30+ loving family members, a delicious meal, many many generous gifts and most importantly, SHOT GUNS!  Oh yes, you read that right.  The men (as a tradition) got all their gear out and shot guns for a good 2+ hours!  I have to admit, I was REALLY looking forward to this.  And the experience was as wonderful as I had been hyping it up to be!!!!!!!!   I REALLY hope we can make this yearly tradition.  It was one of my all time favorite memories of 2012!

As you can tell, Jameson wanted NOTHING to do

with getting his picture taken!

Christmas Day - 

We had to get right back on the road x-mas eve evening to make it home for Christmas morning.  (plus Luke had to be at work VERY early on the 26th).  Christmas day was spent with just the three of us.  It truly was a very relaxing, family day.  We woke up bright and early and opened our gifts "from Santa" as a family, enjoyed a little breakfast together and then lounged... And trust me when I say lounged... If I remember correctly, we did not even change out of our jammies the entire day.

Daddy taking a look at his new desk calendar

(filled with pictures of Jameson!)

Checking out his new Mega-Blocks

The Remainder of the Holiday Week - 

Just like last year, my family joined us the 26th-30th.  Although we couldn't all be together on the actual holiday, we made up for that in the days we had together.  And I have to say, my parents REALLY helped us clear out the remainder of the moving boxes we had left in the house!  All in all, it was a win-win situation :-)

Honestly though, the few days we had with Nana and Gpa were spectacular.  We truly had very little planned, but we definitely filled our days with playing, laughing, movies, relaxing, eating and cruising around Sioux Falls.  It was so nice to have everyone together and celebrate in our own relaxed way.



Although I always hate to see the holidays come to an end, I was ready for it this year.  It had been such a crazy few weeks leading up to the Christmas that I was looking forward to our "normal" schedules.  Not to mention we have so much to look forward to in 2013!


Again, I hope everyone had a VERY Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cheers to 2013

Playing in the Snow!

SO FUN!!!!!  Seriously, I could not wait to get J in the snow!  After a (pretty much) snow less winter last year, I was really looking forward to getting him out in the white-stuff this year.

We finally got the "whole works" of snow gear so we were ready to go!  I truly had no idea what to expect when we went out due to the fact J could hardly walk in his boots and he could not figure out why his hands were all bundled up.  Needless to say it was a slow start.

I put him in the snow and he would NOT move at all!  I have to admit, all I could do was laugh!  He was just so confused as to what was going on.  In the end, he really did not like trying to walk in the snow at all, but sitting down tossing the snow was making him giggle uncontrollably!  (heart melting noise!)

I look forward to many more snowy memories with our little man!

Thanksgiving 2012

Yes, let the "Catch up" begin...

Once again, J and I headed back to my hometown for the entire week before Thanksgiving to give Luke some space..  Going into his craziest week of the year and J and I were getting restless sitting at home, so I thought why not head back to my parent's and visit family and friends.  We had such a great time!

I finally got to meet up with one of my dearest friends, Jane and meet her sweet baby Charlee!  SO BEAUTIFUL!  It was one of my favorite lunches ever just because I got to spend time with a friend I miss so much!  It's crazy because we use to see each other almost every day and if not everyday, at least a few times a week... and now nothing... oy, I have to say it again, but boy do I miss her!

Miss Charlee

The remainder of the week leading up to Thanksgiving consisted of resting, playing, resting, visiting family, resting, and playing more.  Nana and Gpa were on cloud 9 with J at their house for 8 days!  Jameson was also on cloud 9 because he was having the time of his life!

Visiting Great Grandma Marson!

Nana playing dress up with J

Daddy was not too happy about this picture!  haha

I knew this would be one of the last "relaxing" weeks for a while.  With the holidays, Luke's work schedule and our move lingering in the near future, all down time was pretty much planned out.  So let's just say, we really took advantage of the extra help and relaxation in Ona.

For Thanksgiving, J, my parents and I headed up to Rollingstone to spend the day with Luke's family.  We LOVE being able to make the get together, but it's always hard to be there without Luke.  Not to mention the fact that Thanksgiving is Luke's FAVORITE holiday.  Oh well, we had so much fun seeing everyone, enjoying a delicious lunch and announcing our exciting baby news.  Thank you Paul and Linda for hosting a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving lunch!  It was so heartwarming catching up with everyone and getting some much needed Harris family time.

Jameson showing us everything 

he wanted us to buy for him!

BIG BROTHER!

Since "Black Friday" turned into "Black Thursday" mom and I had to find time to sketch out our plan of attack.  Jameson stayed with Jean and Mark Thanksgiving evening and mom and I put our game faces on and shopped till we dropped!!!!!!!!!  I know, some people call us crazy, some people love that we go so they can have us pick something up for them and some people just don't care... but WE LOVE IT!

Early Friday morning... After only a couple hours of sleep.. Mom and I headed down to La Crosse to get our hair done (THANKS MATT!) and then it was time to pick up my little man!  I tell ya, it was only one night, but I missed J like crazy!

To be honest, I am not even really sure what we did for the remainder of Friday because I was SO tired! haha.  But Saturday morning I was able meet  up with my lovely high school girlfriends for coffee before we heading back to SF.  I finally got to meet Mr. Charlie Schwein!  What a handsome little man!!!!!  I just wish we all lived a little closer so visits and play dates could be more of a regular occurrence.

We packed our bags and headed west after my morning get together.  It was Luke's birthday later in  the weekend and I wanted to make sure J and I were back and ready to celebrate with plenty of time to spare.

WE LOVED OUR TIME BACK HOME!!!  But it was great to get back to daddy and sleep in our own beds.  Thanks mom and dad for a great week!  It was so WONDERFUL!