Ogden sure is getting nicer

What once was an old run down train depot town is now starting to be a little more pleasing to the eye. I was lucky enough to ride the Front Runner to Ogden yesterday with Crystal and some of her friends. We took our kids and went to the Tree House Children's museum. We let our kids run around what really is a giant two story play room for 3 hours while we got to talk about a few other things besides our kids. It's always nice to get out and do something new that you most likely might not end up doing again. With no nap Hansen did have a little melt down. We went to the Subway at the train station before we went home and when I took him out of his stroller he started crying and collapsing to the floor. He wouldn't get up off the floor and one time when I picked him up off the floor there was a wilted piece of lettuce on his cheek. I thought that was pretty gross but he obviously didn't care. I decided to go outside with him to see if he would calm down. There was traffic and I think the loud sound of it drowned out his crying and he decided to stop. When we went back inside he ate almost a complete six inch by himself. I think he was hungry. He fell asleep on my lap on the way back home from Ogden. It's only supposed to take an hour but it takes 20 minutes longer than that. I guess they are still working out the kinks. I know there's got to be someone smart enough in that operation to get the problems solved. Good luck Front Runner staff! The train is a really smooth ride but is going to be kind of expensive to ride. We got to ride for free so that was cool, but from now on ya gotta fork over the money if you want to ride.

When he was still a baby

Well I finally figured out that I can post more than 5 pictures on one blog. You just have to do them 5 at a time. So this is Hansen from birth to one year and you all know how he looks now at 2 years because that is what the rest of the blog is full of. I know there are only 12 pictures and there should be 13 but I took his 10 month picture too close to when he was actually 11 months so I counted those as one.

Can you hear the Hallelujah chorus?

Well I hope that two nights in a row makes it official.  Hansen has gone to bed without any bottle or sippy cup, no crying, and I didn't have to check on him.  When I shut his door tonight I think I heard the Hallelujah chorus, it was fantastic.  The only twist is that today when he woke from his nap he got himself out of his crib for the first time ever.  So maybe that is my cue to get his big boy bed back out again.  I liked the fact that he couldn't get out of his bed because I got to choose when I got him out, but I guess there are always adjustments to make as kids get older.  He seems like such a big boy sometimes.  Where did my baby boy go?  I'm so proud of him.

A strange and hopeful happening

A few days ago when we put Hansen to bed he took one sip from his bottle and gave it back to me. This is very good because we are trying to break him of the habit. So after that I left the room and of course he started to cry. I read in my Parents magazine that a good way to get your kids to go to sleep on their own is to tell them you will be back to check on them in a minute, and then wait longer every night until they get bored of waiting and eventually go to sleep. Well I went back in and set his bottle by his side and told him it was time to go to sleep. He was quiet after that!! I was so excited but still wasn't sure how it was going to go. Now tonight he has a cold which I'm not happy or excited about but I knew he probably wouldn't want any milk so I just gave him his sippy cup with water in it. To explain the sippy, I have been giving him his bottle and sippy for the past few nights. It usually goes like this. We put him in bed, have prayer, tell him goodnight, then shut the door. He then cries and I wait for a minute. Then I go back in, give him his sippy , tell him it's time to go to sleep, and then I leave. It worked like a charm tonight so I'm hoping above all other things right now that this will continue to work. I don't think I will stop checking in on Hansen after the one minute because after I check on him he is usually fine even if he is still awake and playing in his crib. He goes to sleep eventually. Now the next step will be to get him into his big boy bed. The strangest thing about this whole thing is that I remember telling Hans a few months ago that I hoped Hansen would just not want his bottle anymore just like he kinda stopped breast feeding at 8 months. Well if this isn't quite the same I'm still alright with it, but it seems like it might kind of be the same. The other thing I left out is that every week I reduced the amount of milk I was giving him in his bottle. We started at 6 ounces and got down to 2. I guess he didn't really think it was worth it anymore. Thank goodness for the advice of others the world around.

Yesterday was cool...

In more ways than one. We had an appointment for Hansen in Bountiful yesterday at 8 am. I'm not normally even out of the shower by then. So my friend Crystal invited me to come over afterward. I was glad because I hadn't seen her and her boys in a while. Hans also had a day full of homework and he is much more productive when he has the house to himself. So I got to spend the day with Crystal and have some adult conversation and leave any worries I might have had at my house behind. So thank you Crystal. It also snowed. It seemed so crazy because it was 80 degrees the day before. I love Utah for its ever changing weather. Today on the other hand has been pretty uneventful. I drove to the library with Hansen then we stayed at home the rest of the day. He's been needing to sit on his "naughty mat" for letting milk dribble out of his mouth. I don't know why that is something he enjoys doing. Hopefully I can get him to stop doing it.

Halloween's past

These are from 2006. Hansen's first Halloween. We dressed him and his cousin up as Dorothy and the Scarecrow. Hansen couldn't walk yet so the pictures were really easy to take. It should also be known that we had to make the costumes. It was cool to realize I could actually do something like that.
Here they are in 2007. They don't match but they still have cute costumes. As little girls get older they realize they want to be fairies or princesses. So we can't have them be what we want them to be. So even if we could've thought of something to match with Hansen's lion suit I don't know if his cousin would have approved. It was also hard to get a good picture because there were a lot of people around that day at the Gardener Village and he didn't want to hold still for me at all. But for some reason in this picture he sat on that bale of hay for a good 3 minutes and I snapped pictures like crazy.

I hadn't decided what Hansen could be for Halloween early enough to make him a costume so this one is thanks to Old Navy online. Everyone really liked the puffy butt and the tail. The tail would bounce when he walked. It was funny.

Fun colors

I was sitting in Hansen's room with him the other day and noticed all the colors I have used to decorate his room. Sometimes life allows you to notice silly things like that and makes you want to take a picture of it. That green rug has a strange story behind it though. In the building we live in there is someone on our floor who puts things in the elevator lobby that they don't want. One day I saw this rug and that it was from Ikea. I thought, "why not, I can wash it and it would be just like I bought it myself." It has come in handy as we actually use it for Hansen's "naughty mat." (Just to clarify, he isn't in trouble in this picture). It seems every child at one time or another is in need of one of these. Or is it the parents who are the one's who really need it?

the egg hunt

For Easter we were in Monroe with our parents. For an egg hunt for Hansen I filled a few eggs with candy and hid them around my mom's yard. Hansen didn't really get the whole hunting thing but he totally understood that there was candy inside the eggs and wanted to eat it instead of hunting for more eggs. I kept trying to tell him there was more candy to find but he was only interested in the candy he had in his hand.

Cruisin' in style

Sometimes I don't get the stroller put away right when we get home from a walk. We were getting Hansen ready for bed and hadn't had the chance to actually get his pajamas on him. He loves to get into his stroller in hopes that we will go out again. I had Hans take a picture because I thought it was funny he would get in there without any clothes on. Kids really do the wackiest things.

But I love shoes

The other day Hansen decided to tromp around through the house with my shoes on. I always think it's funny when he does that and even funnier when they are on the wrong feet.

What's behind your couch?

The other day I was looking for a pill case my mom thought she had lost at my house(turns out it was in a pocket in her bag that she doesn't normally put her pill cases in, and I think it took her a couple of weeks to find it). So while in search for the case I pulled the couch away from the wall thinking Hansen might have walked off with it and dropped it behind the couch. Of course we know that isn't what really happened but I did find all these items.

Disney princesses on ice

Yes, I saw the show and I loved it. My mom wanted to take her granddaughter, my niece, to the show. It was really fun. We bought a snow cone that was $12. It's for the cup it comes in, but whew what a shocker huh?! I got to have some dippin dots. Those are so yummy and COLD! I love 'em. All the princesses had a turn on the ice and the most colorful and fun was The Little Mermaid. All the see creatures and their colorful outfits. It was a good way to spend a friday afternoon. Hans walked over with Hansen and we all walked home together. I thought the picture of the two kids holding hands was cute.

Jury duty

Yes I did it, kind of. It has to be done. It was actually quite interesting to see how it all takes place. There were 19 of us lucky citizens. Only 4 were to be chosen!! We were all put into a room for about an hour where it was very silent except for the occasional cough. Then we were taken into the hallway just outside the court room and put into a certain order so that when we introduced ourselves it would follow the order of the paper the judge had in her hand. I was #9. Everyone is asked to tell about themselves, their spouse, children if they have them, what kind of magazines you get, how you get your news(tv, internet, newpaper) and if you are part of any clubs or organizations and if you have leadership positions in any of them. We were asked many other questions to determine if we could be unbiased. Then the council approaches the bench( it's not like it is on tv, we couldn't hear what they were saying) then they come back and start putting X's through the boxes with all of our information on them. I knew which box was mine and was glad to see a good slash mark run through it. The 3 people sitting right next to me were not so lucky along with another that was a few seats down. Those 4 people had to stay and decide whether the young man charged with a DUI was going to remain innocent or be proven guilty. I was out of there by 12:15 and glad of it too because I had a big headache from playing too much peggle on my ipod. And now I have officially served and can't be bothered for the next 2 years.

My friend Crystal

Crystal, who is my friend from about 11 years back, introduced me to the world of blogging. It is really fun for some strange reason. I'm not very good at putting something on everyday. So I just spit out a few every other week or so. I will attempt to get better at this. So back to the actual subject of this blog. Crystal and I, her two sons and my son, all went to the city library about 3 weeks ago. We took traks from my house as far as the free zone would take us and then we walked the rest of the way. Don't worry it was during one of the warm spells we were having. We had a good time and I got a cute picture of our boys playing. We hung out on the roof and talked while our boys ran around. Crystal provided snacks for all of us. Thank goodness someone was looking out for all of us. I'm so glad Crystal is my friend because the way my life is going right now I don't really have much of those. But better to have one really awesome friend than a dozen who you can't really call good buddies.

City under construction!

There has been someone using a jackhammer all day long. I like to open my balcony door to get some cool air into the house and then I realize there is a loud jackhammer going like there is no tomorrow. We have fortunately chosen a time to live downtown while about 30% of it seems to be under construction. Too bad we probably won't be here when it is all done.

Let's get jammin'

I took this picture of Hansen cleaning his toes because I think it's funny and it is something I accidentally taught him. I didn't like the pieces of lint floating in the bathtub so I would always clean them out before I put him in. Now he takes his socks off all the time just so he can clean out the "jam."