November 2010

Here's a picture of us at Jennie's Halloween party:

Sophie is now 27 months old and Jack is 7 months old. We had a great Halloween with many different events. Sophie enjoyed trick or treating at the Mall of America, even though the lines were long and she didn't end up with very much candy (probably a good thing!). Sophie can now speak in sentences and can pretty much tell us what she's thinking and what she wants. Some of the things she said today include:

- "blue shirt" (she points at my blue shirt) "it's the same!" (pointing at her blue shirt)
- "i'm over here" (waving at me from behind the couch when I couldn't see her)
- "it's my favorite!" (pointing at the yellow owl on her comforter)

Jack is now eating lots of pureed veggies, yogurt and crackers. At his 6 month check-up, he was weighing in at 18.5 lbs and is 30" tall. Jack is only 3 lbs away from catching up to Sophie! He's starting to sit up pretty well with the help of the Boppy pillow and gets on his knees and starts rocking back and forth. He usually ends up scooting backwards and gets stuck in a corner or by the coffee table.

Sophie is a helpful big sister and helps around the house by putting dirty laundry into the hamper, diapers in the garbage and so forth. She loves snuggling with her little brother and is always looking out for him.

September 2010

The summer has flown by and now it's September. In August, we enjoyed a family trip to Duluth and Hayward, WI and my favorite event of year, the Minnesota State Fair. Sophie loved watching the ships come and go from the harbor in Duluth and picked out a monkey t-shirt in her favorite color, yellow. We headed to South Dakota over Labor Day weekend to stay with the McMillans. Sophie had a blast playing with Carter and she can't stop talking about him. At her 2 year check-up, she was weighing in at 20 lbs and was 30 inches tall. Jack's 4 month stats checked in at 16.5 lbs and 26 inches. He's quickly catching up to his big sister! Jack loves chompin' on his Sophie giraffe toy and is always smiling and laughing.

The weather has started to cool down and it's been nice sleeping with the windows open. We have lots of birthday parties coming up and a trip to the apple orchard this weekend. Sophie started gymnastics last weekend and loves going to swimming lessons. Happy Fall!

Sophie's 2nd Birthday

Our little girl is 2 years old. Sophie started the morning by going to her swimming lesson at Foss. They even sang Happy Birthday to her as they did their back floats. It was level evaluation week and Sophie got promoted up to Backfloat Baby 3! I was very proud of her.

She had a wonderful birthday party, joined by lots of friends and family. She played in her new swimming pool and sandbox and socialized with the other kids and adults. We had to drag her out of the pool to sing Happy Birthday to her and to cut the cake. Once she realized it was ice cream cake, she was OK with that!

Sophie now loves to have her hair tied up in ponytails and pigtails; she calls it "horsey hair". Her favorite color is yellow and she loves pointing out all of the yellow trucks and cars in parking lots and in the street. Her favorite movie is Finding Nemo and she loves watching Spongebob Squarepants and Dora. She also enjoys blowing bubbles, playing in the sand and coloring on the driveway with sidewalk chalk. She's able to identify most colors and many shapes, including the difference between an oval and a circle!

Jack is almost 4 months old and a great eater. He's at about 15.5 lb now and wearing 12 month size pajamas. We were lucky to borrow lots of baby boy clothes from friends. When he's sitting in my lap, he's starting to pull himself up. He loves to laugh and gets ticklish when we change his shirt or gently tickle his shoulders and arms.

It's been a great summer and we've enjoyed a long weekend trip to Bemidji over the 4th of July. Sophie has spent lots of time playing outside in the backyard, in the park and at the lake.

Jack's 2 month stats

Woah, where did the last 11 weeks go? Jack starts daycare tomorrow and I return to work next week. It's been a wonderful maternity leave, with the great weather, my mom coming to visit, going to Como Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, Underwater Adventures, etc. I wish it didn't have to end.


Jack had his two month doctor's appointment and checked out wonderfully. His stats are: 13 lb 13.5 oz (90%), 23 inches (50%), head 41 cm (75%). He's a big boy! I weighed him a few days ago and he was already over 14 lb. He's already wearing some 9 month size clothes. Jack will be caught up to Sophie in no time! He's laughed for the first time, when Dad was giving him a bath. He loves cooing and chatting with me after he's done eating.

Sophie turns two next month! She's gotten most of her teeth and I'm sure that's the cause of some of her fussiness lately. She's still pretty petite and tiny, but loves to eat, especially fruit and cookies! Sophie loves coloring with her crayons, playing outside, collecting rocks and watching Finding Nemo.

May update

Jack is now 6 weeks old and weighing in at about 12.5 lb. He's in 6 month size clothes and size 2 diapers! Quickly catching up to his big sister Sophie, who's been in size 3 diapers for the last year and a half. He's just starting to coo, laugh and smile, which is fun to see. Sophie loves being a big sister and is always concerned about Jack if she hears him crying. She wants to play with him and I think they'll be great playmates and friends when he gets a little older. Sophie says "ten-kew" (thank you), "me me" (excuse me), yellow and is getting pretty good at identifying colors.

Here's a family picture from this year's Walk for Animals.

Jack's birth announcement

More pictures of Jack

More pictures of our newest addition, Jack.

Jack Bradley Hanson

We are proud to introduce our new son, Jack Bradley Hanson. Jack was born on Monday, March 29, 2010 at 1:58pm via C-section. He weighed in at 9lbs 14oz, was 22.25 inches in length and his head was 14 inches. We came home on April Fool's Day, a beautiful and sunny 83 degree day (very unusually warm for this time of year!). Jack had jaundice, just like his big sister Sophie did, and has had to be on the bilibed for the past few days. His bilirubin levels are now back to normal and we can now cuddle and hold him as much as we want. He has been nursing wonderfully and is a great baby.

March madness

It's only mid-March and we've already hit 64 degrees! It was Bryan's birthday yesterday and in the morning, we took Sophie swimming. Then we met up with Linda, Adam, Steven and the Marshalls for lunch at Pittsburgh Blue in Maple Grove for lunch. After lunch, we all came home and took a nap and then went to the playground at Parkers Lake Park. Sophie and Dad had fun walking back home on the path by the lake. Hopefully, this means that Spring is on the way.

Here's a picture of Sophie sitting on Dad's shoes. She just decided to back up and sit down on them.

On Saturday, we checked out the grand opening of the new Plymouth library. It has an awesome kids section and Sophie was fascinated with the endless supply of books. We stayed there for over and hour, just reading books and watching the other kids.

I'm 39 weeks along now, only one week left till my due date. We're getting excited to meet the new baby!

February festivities

Here we are, almost to the end of February. Time just keeps flying by. Baby #2's due date is in 28 days and I've been busy getting ready for his arrival. All the bags are packed and baby's clothes are washed and sorted in the closet. There's really no getting ready for sleepless nights.

A few weeks ago, we headed out to Parkers Lake, just down the street from our house, for Plymouth's annual Fire and Ice Festival. We toasted marshmallows in the bonfire and Sophie had her first taste of s'mores (imagine chocolate smeared all over her face). In the evening, we could watch the fireworks show from our window and Sophie ooh'ed and ahh'ed over them as they lit up the night's sky.

Sophie has been super busy, making phone calls to her stockbroker, running around the house, making us pretend coffee and ice-cream from her diner and reading lots of books (her current faves are 'Goodnight Moon' and 'A Potty for Me!').

Over Valentine's Day weekend, Melissa and Steve came to visit and to attend the Wild hockey game. Melissa is due in the beginning of May with a little baby girl. Sophie spent the night at Grandma's house and when she got home, she took a little warming up, but then she felt right at home with Steve holding her.

And later that evening, in the exact same pose, except with Uncle Adam holding her. Adam was back in town for a few days and came over for dinner and some Wii bowling.

Sophie is 18 months old!

Sophie had her 18 month check-up this afternoon. Here are her latest stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 9.5 oz - less than 3rd percentile
Length: 29 1/3 inches - 4th percentile
Head: 18.25 inches - 45th percentile

So, she's super skinny, short and has an average size head for someone her age. Everything checked out great. She had her last immunization and won't need another shot (except flu shots) until she's 5 years old and on her way to kindergarten!

Last weekend, Sophie got her first haircut! Umm... it was a little traumatizing.

Sophie loves playing with her toys and with her friends at daycare. She's been busy exploring all over the place, pointing things out to us, serving us fake coffee and food from her play diner and chatting up a storm.

Our new little baby boy should be here in less than two months! We are very excited to meet him.

Happy New Year 2010!

We had a relaxing New Year weekend, mainly staying in our pajamas, out of the freezing cold temps (-20 F) outside. None of us stayed up till midnight on New Year's Eve, but we were up early on New Year's Day and hosted breakfast for the Schmidts and the Arnetts. We had crepes, fruit, bacon, sausage and smoothies- yum! On Saturday, we braved the crowds at the Mall of America, had some lunch and did some window shopping. Today, Bryan and Sophie went swimming at Lifetime Fitness. Sophie had a blast, even though the water there is a little colder than the 92 degrees that she's used to

Sophie and Dad spent lots of time cuddling on the couch, reading books together.

When I bring out the camera, Sophie loves running towards it and making funny faces.

We hope 2010 brings you lots of joy and happiness. Happy New Year!