Today is the first day of school. Hooray!! Kiara is already in 2nd grade with Mrs Gonzales and Aidan is starting kindergarten with Ms. Gallegos. They were both very excited this morning. Stephanie even came over to do Kiara's hair before school. I'm glad to have them back at school but kind of sad they are growing up so fast. Things have been pretty quiet around here today. 
Rowan Stephanie and her hurt ankle
Shane and a "super gigante" smore
Avery and Kiara in the stick fort
Aidan in his "office"
Avery and Rowan by the fire
Logan taking a nap by the lake
Kiara and the marshmallow
Aidan and 2 marshmallows at once
The Hansen 6 in our matching Bryce Family Reunion shirts
Rowan and Grandpa fishing at Big Lake
Avery, her dolly Kiley and upside down Minnie MouseWell it is official. My baby is growing up... He rolled over from his front to his back all by his self yesterday and then proceeded to try to scoot forward. We also started him on rice cereal this weekend. He thinks that is very fun. He has been trying to grab everyone's food lately and is very glad he has his own now. I'm not sure he thinks it tastes good, but he thinks it is fun to eat. He is such a cute boy and so fun. He likes to talk to everyone and is very generous with his smiles. He likes to be tickled and teased by his sister and brothers, but his mommy gets nervous when they aren't as soft as she thinks they need to be. The longer he is here the better it gets. Hooray for babies and especially baby Logan!
PS I keep updating this at work thus the lack of pictures. I will try to update it at home this week to put on pictures of Logan and the camping trip!
The week before 4th of July we spent in Hannagan Meadow with my whole family. All my brothers and sisters were there with their respective spouses and kiddos. We had lots of fun and did our best to stay out of trouble.
On Monday we drove up going through New Mexico. It was a fun drive because Shane had never been that way before so we had fun seeing a new road. The kids did pretty good, even Logan managed to fall asleep after only 15 minutes of crying. We made it to the cabins my mom and dad had rented and all piled out of the car. The kids spent the next 4 days running back and forth from our cabin to my parents.
Here are a few highlights from our big adventure:
The Office: Andrew, Kiara and Avery built a fort out of sticks on Thursday. Aidan was inside and I asked him several times if he wanted to go out and help build the fort. He said no each time. Later that afternoon we were all outside and the girls didn't want Aidan in their fort and he was getting mad and wanting to knock it down. Of course we said he couldn't do that, so instead he walked over by the fire pit and proceeded to move some logs around to make an "office." Later when we went over to check it out he showed us his office complete with rock phone, log email and pine needle staples. After roasting marshmallows that evening his office turned into a resturant that served excellent pizza and ice cream.
1. Aidan putting on 4 shirts, one on top of the other. He told me he did that so that in the morning all he had to do was take off the top one and then he had on a clean shirt. What a timesaver! Maybe I should try it.
2. Rowan telling me he is a dinosaur at lunch, a rocket ship when he woke up from his nap, a pirate when he was playing with Aidan and a car any time he needed to run somewhere really fast all in the same day. But if you ask him his name, he is Rowan.
3. Logan giggling uncontrollably when I lifted lifted him up on my bed and tickled him in the super cute way only babies can.
4. Kiara finally being the super nice girl I knew was hiding under all the meanness of first grade. I'm glad she hasn't been hanging out with her friends for a few weeks and I got my nice girl back!
May was full of craziness and fun. Kiara had a dance recital, finished 1st grade and got to go swimming at the Safford pool. Aidan finished preschool and made a stunning return as the dancing Tball player. Rowan's finger got better, though it still needs band aids and lots of kisses from time to time. Logan has gotten lots and lots bigger with lots of smiles, giggles and plenty of attention from his big brothers and big sister. Rowan has even decided he likes Logan after all and worries greatly about him when he cries. And just in case you were worried all the crying cars at our house are also comforted by Rowan. He puts them on his shoulder and pats them to help them stop crying.
Aidan is enjoying Tball again and is doing much better at getting to all the bases. He has even joined the throng chasing and then dogpiling on the ball each time it gets hit. Thankfully he is still dancing on the bases making tball that much more enjoyable for us!! Aidan is very excited for kindergarten to start and has us counting down the days.
Kiara is already ready for 2nd grade so she can have a "brother break." As much as she loves Logan she is still convinced she needs a sister as soon as possible.
Our garden is growing humongo and hopefully we will have tomatoes, watermelons and corn galore! In other news, I started working at the hospital in admitting to try and make up for Shane's lack of hours. It is going well and I enjoy it, but I really miss my kiddos and my honey.
That is May in a few lines. Hopefully June will have a better blog, but since it is half over, I'm not holding my breath!
I have officially decided that Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he created little boys so strong. We went back to see Dr. Bryce today and he said Rowan's finger looks great, his nail should grow right back and he will more than likely have a totally normal finger after all of this!! I just can't believe it after seeing what it looked like before he sewed it back together. Rowan is doing great running around and moving his finger today after Dr. Bryce replaced his dressing with just a band aid. He said because he is so little the bone should be healed up in just a few weeks and he will be as good as new! It really is a miracle. I'm glad Heavenly Father was looking out for us and our little boy and his finger.
Here is our brave little boy once everything was over. He is all hooked up and his finger is all wrapped up. I'm so glad he is okay! He is so cute, he is saying cheese in this picture!
So on Friday night Rowan was outside with Shane working on the garden. Rowan was playing with Moly (the dog), giving her sticks to chew on. He gave her a stick and somehow his finger got stuck in her mouth as well. She bit down thinking it was just a stick and bit his finger too. The tip of his finger was hanging on by just a little bit. Shane jumped into action and got it all wrapped up and above his head to try to stop the bleeding. He then came in and informed me that we needed to go to the ER and he would probably lose his finger! Needless to say that scared me pretty good. We dropped off the big kids at Ren & Amber's and headed to the ER. The whole way there Rowan kept his hand on his head and I worked really hard to keep him from falling asleep.
At the ER they took x-rays and took us back to check things out. When they took off Shane's wrapping I was shocked to see that his finger was just barely hanging on. They looked at the x-ray and said that the bone was broken at the very tip as well so they called the orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Rex Bryce, to come in to check it out. He came in and reset the bone and sewed it all up and then wrapped his finger up really good to keep Rowan from moving it. I was surprised at how calmly he just sewed it back on like it was nothing. (He actually said he had just done a similiar procedure that morning).
Rowan was a trooper through the whole ordeal. Once Dr. Bryce told him the big light was a flashlight Rowan even smiled and helped him unwrap his finger. They gave him some medicine to make him sleepy while they sewed it up and he just did really really good! We will see on Wednesday when Dr. Bryce changes the dressing how his finger looks.
I guess with 3 boys I better get used to the ER. I was thinking how lucky we actually were that this was our first trip to the ER for an actual injury, but I have a feeling it won't be our last!!
Kiara turned 7 last Friday. I can't believe it has already been 7 years since she changed our lives completely! I think she had a pretty good day. Shane was off and so he surprised her at school by going to lunch with her. She had a good time showing off her daddy to all her friends and then showing Shane her "cool tricks" on the monkey bars. Then I went to school to bring cookies for her class. That evening we had cake and ice cream with our family. My parents and Shane's mom came along with my grandparents and Aaron and Carrie. She was excited to open presents and blow out her candles. It was a fun party. She got lots of Hannah Montana stuff including Hannah Montana boots and a new CD. We are planning on going with Rebekah and her girls to the Hannah Montana movie on Saturday. (O the excitement!!)
Kiara really is a great girl. She is a super reader, a great helper, a daddy's girl through and through. I'm so glad she is part of our family though she can make me crazy at times. I don't what I would do if I had all boys. She has been through so much I am just thankful everyday that she is a normal little girl without all the problems she could have had. She also makes me so thankful for the temple and forever families. I feel so blessed to know that no matter what, she will be ours forever and ever!
This last Sunday was Logan's blessing day. We were super lucky to have almost all his grandparents there. Shane's dad and stepmom came up from Phoenix and Shane's mom came too. My parents and both sets of grandparents were there as well. It was really neat to have so many people come to support us. That is one of my favorite things about living here so close to family. Shane did a great job. I'm glad that is his job, I think I would be way to0 nervous. It was neat to have my dad, both my brothers and both my grandpas in the circle along with my husband. It was also nice that my uncles who live in town came too. We did miss Elizabeth and Andrew though in Utah. Afterwards we went to my parents house for dinner and a "party" according to my children. Anytime we have dinner at my parents it is a party! All in all it was a good day. I can't believe I have 4 kids and that there is enough room in my heart for all of them. It seems like Logan has always been here and we sure are glad he is here now!
Grandpa Kelly and Grandma Dar (Shane's dad & stepmom) 
Logan in his prepoop outfit. (He managed to poop all over this and me just minutes before we left for church!! Ahh the joys of a newborn!)
Rowan
Kiara, Aidan & Rowan
My wonderful husband has planted a garden this year. I cannot take any credit for it at all, except I helped pick out what to plant and I planted some seeds. Other than that, it is all Shane. He built a square foot gardening box out of spare fence building boards and then we put some black stuff down to prevent weeds from coming up. After that we filled it with good soil from the store since ours is pretty worthless. We planted corn, green onions, watermelons, bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots and pumpkins. It is so exciting to see the little tiny green plants come up. Shane is so good about watering it every day and the kids love to help him. I can't wait until we have fresh veggies to eat and can! We can make fresh salsa and have corn on the cob and watermelon!! Can you tell I'm excited? 
We have also planted 2 apple trees. It feels so good to make this house our own in so many ways. I love having a garden, planting trees, letting the kids run in the backyard. It makes this being a grown up stuff worth it!
You can also see my pretty fence in these pictures that my dear sweet man worked so hard to put up. Hooray for gardens and sweet honeys!
We just got back from Logan's 1 month appointment and he is doing great. He is up to 9 pounds, 14 oz. That is 2 pounds in just 3 weeks. I am excited he is growing so well and getting so big. The doctor said everything else looked really well too. He is holding up his head pretty good and looking around. It is so fun to see him really look at us and recognize us. Aidan and Kiara want him to play with his toys and laugh at their funniness. They just don't believe me that it will still be a little bit. I am just glad they love him so much.
and a bonus picture of Aidan doing what he loves best!
I have to say that even though lots and lots of people told me 4 was easier than 3, I was not a believer until now. After my third baby it felt like life fell apart. We were outnumbered and I was completely outnumbered when Shane was at work. Four has definitely been easier (at least so far). I have one in school all the time and one in preschool 2 days a week which has helped. It has also been a blessing that Logan eats so darn good. Even with having a C-section things have just been easier. Hooray for that.
Everyone is doing really well. Kiara and Aidan have been super helpers, getting diapers, holding Logan so I can actually go to the bathroom now and then, and trying their hardest to get a one month old to laugh. Rowan has decided that the baby just doesn't exist. He doesn't want to talk to Logan or hold him or anything. Right now I have decided that is totally fine since Rowan picked up a cough somewhere. The only time he acknowledges the baby is when I am holding Logan and Rowan wants to be held. Then he tells me quite clearly to "put the baby down." Obviously, we still have some work to do there : )
I have been feeling good. My tummy is still pretty sore, but I have been able to get back to doing everything I need to do without too much trouble. I am enjoying being able to wear pants without elastic and my bed being so much more comfortable than it was just a month or so ago.
Logan is eating and pooping and sleeping just like a good little baby should. He gets gassy if I eat anything remotely spicy or gassy, but we have managed to work it out. Mexican food and me will just have to break up for a little bit. Don't worry though, we will reunite again someday soon (at least for my birthday). Logan seems really big to me even though he is just a month old. We will see on Friday just how much he has grown.
The one downside to all of this is that now I have this nagging thought that if 4 isn't so bad, why not try for one more girl. . . .
PS I will post more pictures after his doctor's appointment on Friday.
Here is the story of getting this little boy here. We went to be induced last Thursday according to the plan. They got me all hooked up and I was making some progress, but very slowly. It took me all day just to get to a 5. Every time they checked me they kept saying his head was still floating and just wouldn't get engaged in my pelvis.
About 5:30 I decided I wanted to go ahead and get an epidural since I knew it would hurt a lot more after she finally broke my water. Now this is odd for me since with my other 3 I was completely against getting an epidural and did it all natural. For some reason this time I just really, really wanted one. So they got me my epidural and everything is lovely. I can't feel any pain from the contractions, just some pressure and that is wonderful. About 8:40 she comes in to break my water. She breaks my water and it is just a flood of water. She kept her hand up there forever trying to make sure the cord didn't come out instead of his head. When she is finally satisfied that everything is okay they look at the monitor and with every contraction the baby's heartbeat drops into the 50s or 60s. Of course this freaks everyone out. They immediately stop the pitocin, give me a shot to stop all my contractions and the doctor announces I'm going to need a C-section to get this kid out now! So all the staff snaps into super fast mode and before I know it I am in the operating room and have a new baby. Everything went really well and he came out screaming which of course made me cry. It was quite the adventure.
We are both doing well now, but recovering from a C-section has been different than a regular birth. Logan is a wonderful baby, though. He is nursing well and sleeping pretty good. We are very excited to have him here. Aidan keeps giving him kisses and Kiara wants to hold him any time she can. Rowan is still on the fence about this baby, but hopefully he will come around too. We are so thankful everything turned out the way it was supposed to and everyone is okay.
The newest Hansen arrived at 9:29 on Thursday, February 12, 2009. We have a new baby boy to love. He weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches long. We decided to name him Logan Karl. I will post more about him and getting him here later, but now he is asleep and everyone else is gone, so I'm going to take a nap!
My baby is on his way!! I went to the doctor today and my blood pressure was up, so they promptly freaked out, made me lay on my left side and then sent the doctor in to check me out. She did all her checking and said they would just go ahead and induce me since my blood pressure is up, I'm good and swollen and I'm already dialated to a 4. She would have sent me in today but they didn't have any beds, so she said call OB at 7 am tomorrow and hopefully go in to have a baby. If not tomorrow, then for sure Friday. So either way, I will have a baby by Friday!! Hooray, Hooray, Hooray!! I am so excited to meet this little guy and finally be not pregnant! Wish me luck!
Aidan has been very excited to have a new baby brother come to our family, but he also has another brother besides Rowan: "his brother who is like a bug." Now this isn't to say that this brother is a bug, he is just small like a bug. This brother has been with us for a while now, but has been becoming more and more important and defined. Apparently he lives in a house by Rowan's bed that has steps outside, but no basement. Sometimes his brother who is like a bug comes with us on trips to the store, sometimes he is sick, sometimes he has to take a nap. One day he was 80 years old so that he could have a driver's license and drive Aidan around. At church on Sunday he was 11 and had already been baptized. This has got to be the funniest imaginary friend I have met yet. He doesn't usually have a name. He has his own mom and dad and a sister who doesn't have any toys, just clothes and a bed. Aidan's brother who is like a bug has been a wonderful and very funny (at least to me and Shane) addition to our family. I can hardly wait to see who shows up next!
I am 38 weeks today! Only 14 more days (but hopefully less) to go. I have been back to the doctor twice. They think I may have preeclampsia, but my blood pressure keeps being good. I am just really swollen almost all the time. I am still having lots of contractions, but nothing regular enough to send me running to the hospital. I just keep hoping and hoping it will be soon. With the bedrest I feel like I have been waiting for this little one for a really long time. It will be nice to get to finally meet him.
In other Hansen news, we still have a job! Hooray for that. Freeport laid off over 1500 people this last week. It really is a scary time and we just keep praying to keep our job and for all the people who need new jobs that they will find them.
Valentine's Day is coming up and the big kids are getting excited to make Valentines for all their friends. We even managed to find Thomas the Train valentines for Aidan. I really want to make some trains out of candy for him. We will see if I stay that ambitious or not. Kiara's class is having a pizza party and the school is selling Valentine candy grams. I can't believe my baby is old enough to be doing all that fun stuff at school already! Valentine's Day is also the day of the groundbreaking for the new temple here!! We are so excited to have a temple so close. Everytime we drive past the temple site we talk about it. I'm sure it will be even more exciting as the temple goes up and we all get to see it!!
We are working on cleaning out and organizing our laundry room which has turned into a major job. I just wanted to be able to actually do the laundry, but now we have big plans. Shane is working on a workbench that will hang on the wall and can be folded up when not in use. I am excited because he can do his projects on it and I can fold laundry on it too. That will hopefully mean I only have to fold the laundry once instead of 3 or 4 times with the "help" of my little friends. I will post the after pictures, but not the before because it is bad!!
That's about all that's going on in Hansenland. Just waiting for a baby and hoping he will make his debut soon!
I went back to doctor on Friday and they officially released me from bedrest. The doctor said "Do Whatever," so that is what I have been doing but no baby yet. She said he could come anytime, but the baby is still really high so I will probably have to wait a while longer to meet this little guy. I just have to keep reminding myself the longer he waits the better for him. I keep having contractions so hopefully they are doing something so when I actually get to be in labor it won't last forever. Here's hoping!
Pictures from the crazy month of December.
Here's Kiara Christmas morning very excited about a PINK book from grandma.
Rowan, Shane, Kiara and Aidan proud of their gingerbread house.
Andrew, Josiah and Rowan waiting for lunch after Aaron and Carrie's wedding in Snowflake.
Aidan and Rowan and their cowboy hats at the open house for Aaron and Carrie in Pima.
Well, almost. Tomorrow I will be 36 weeks and can officially be off bedrest. I am cheating at the moment but as long as I don't go into labor today then I can have the baby here and don't have to fly to Tucson! Thanks for your comments and support. Thankfully it hasn't been too long of a rest.
My kids will be glad to have me back. The boys have been going every Tuesday and Thursday to a friends house thank goodness. They go crazy with me just laying on the couch drinking gallons of water to try and fend off contractions. I think all of this was just triggered by our crazy Christmas holiday schedule with party after party after party. My body was just done. I feel much better now and hopefully this kid will hold off a week or so to let me wash his clothes and blankets and find a spot to put him in my trashed room. I really just want to get up and do a dance just because I can. I am getting so excited to meet this little person! Good Luck to everyone else that is pregnant too. Hopefully all your little ones will get here with no trouble!
I thought I would update this real quick during my limited out of bed/chair/couch time. I have been put on bedrest because apparently this baby thinks he needs to come early or at least my body thinks he does. I keep having lots of contractions. After Christmas and all the craziness I ended up in the hospital for a couple hours while they tried to stop me from having contractions every few minutes. After getting a shot of yucky stuff they finally stopped and I am now on bedrest until 36 weeks (only 1 1/2 weeks to go). After 36 weeks they say I am okay to deliver. Of course, I figure after all this he probably won't come until after my due date just to make me even crazier!!