Weekend Update

So what have we been up to for the last month? Well, let's take it from the bottom.

Sophie
The supermuppet turned 2! And just what was on her dream agenda for the big day?

Chuck E. Cheese's. Check.

Pablo cake. Check.

Balloons. Not pictured, but check.

All in all, I think it was a fairly successful day. Ethan and Grace had a little bit too much fun "decorating" for her birthday, as well as picking out and wrapping her birthday presents. Chuck E. Cheese's was a nightmare and a half, but I guess that was to be expected. We went on a Saturday afternoon and as soon as we walked in, we saw that literally every single table and booth there had a reserved sign on it for someone's birthday party. It was so crowded that I have no idea how it wasn't a fire hazard, and I swear the place was starting to give me a panic attack. Luckily the kids spent their 20 bucks worth of tokens quickly and after a 20 minute wait in line to pick out their "prizes" with their tickets, we were out of there.

Half-way through the ticket redemption line.

Sophie has a little bit of a crush on Pablo from the Backyardigans, and luckily I was able to find directions on Nick, Jr.'s website to make her cake. Of course, the icing contained more blue food coloring in it than actual icing, and Sophie couldn't even eat any of it due to her allergies, but she loved it nonetheless.

Grace

Grace, Grace, Grace. Poor little Grace has been through quite a lot over the last few weeks. Starting TWO weeks ago she came down with strep throat. She started running a fever one night and complaining that her tonsils were hurting and by the next morning the glands on her neck were totally swollen. I took her in to the doctor, they verified it was strep, and after getting her prescription filled we were on our way. One week LATER however, as I went to check on the kids before going to bed, I saw that Grace looked like she had a bit of a rash on her back and stomach. I wasn't super concerned because the doctor had said that Scarlet Fever is also caused by a Strep bacteria, and that those symptoms might show up as well even while she was on the antibiotics. By the time she woke up the next morning, the rash had spread even more. Well, fast forward till about noon, and I was getting more concerned because the rash was looking even worse and it wasn't exactly matching the description or pictures for Scarlet Fever I had found online. At this point a light came on in my brain and I realized that the rash could be an allergic reaction to the antibiotics she was on.

So after waking Sophie up (who I had just put down for her nap 20 minutes earlier), and loading all 3 kids up in the car, we headed back over to the doctor's office where the nurse took one look at her and went straight for the Benadryl. As soon as the doctor walked in, he verified that indeed she is allergic to penicillin.

Here she is in the morning before we went to the doctor:

(Don't be fooled by this picture. Yes, she looks bad -- but, she was actually posing with these faces for the picture and having a grand old time doing so.)

And here she is later that night before bed, when the hives had spread even more:

Every square inch of her body was literally covered.


America's Next Top Model 2025


Poor little Grace-Face

Actually it was poor little mom (and dad). Because you see, the thing with hives is that they tend to itch. And since Grace was basically one giant hive, her itching was monstrous. That first night she woke up at 10 o'clock at night and couldn't fall back asleep until 3 in the morning because she was itching -- and twitching -- so bad. And this was even while on Benadryl round the clock. I took the next night's shift which was luckily only from 10 until midnight, but still. It was a rough weekend for all of us! It's been a little over a week now since we discovered the allergy, and the rash has basically faded away. Her face still looks a little mottled, but it is nothing like it was. As for Grace, she's basically just excited that she's allergic to something just like Sophie. Is she your classic middle child, or what? Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!


Ethan
Ethan has been lucky enough to escape most of the sickness this month, and as a result has been able to focus more of his attention on the important things in his life. You know like making birthday decorations for Sophie, Valentines galore, and a little upstairs decor for the hallway. He's very creative like that. Unfortunately with all that creativity comes a lot of messes. And since I have not been feeling all that well myself this past month, that means that the house has stayed looking like this for a while:

Operation Valentine's Day 2009.


Ethan's improvements to the upstairs interior design.

Me

Just what have I been up to, you ask? Well, up until about a week and a half ago I was still feeling miserably morning sick. I basically spent a lot of time laying on the couch in the Living Room while the TV babysat the kids for me in the Family Room and the house went to pot and the kids lived on cereal and Scott lived on Ramen. Really, the only thing I managed to accomplish during this time was re-reading the entire Harry Potter series (minus Book 1, which has never been my favorite). I figured I was just lying there anyway, so I might as well keep my brain active, right? Right?

Fortunately, the morning sickness miraculously abated around 12 weeks, which is about a week or so earlier than I was expecting. I've been feeling so much better, that clearly the best way to celebrate was to drag all 3 kids to the mall yesterday (on a Saturday, mind you) so that I could finally get Sophie's birthday picture taken by the fine folks at The Picture People. Of course, I didn't really have a choice seeing as to how Scott was busy magnifying his scouting calling by spending ALL day at a training program, but still. Let's just say that Ethan refused to change out of his pajamas that morning, we were running late for her appointment because I never got around to ironing her dress the night before, the kids were begging for suckers during almost all of the "photo shoot," and we ended up spending over 3 hours there because I didn't want to "waste" a trip all the way out to the mall. I figured while I was there I might as well check out maternity clothing at the Gap and kids clothes at Gymboree (which just happen to be on opposite sides of the mall) all because I had coupons and reward cards burning a hole in my pocket. Sophie missed her nap, we all missed lunch and I ended up forking over my precious spending money on food court pizza, and in the end I only managed to find one thing I wanted at the Gap.

This week I also managed to make a Gumbo for Enrichment, demonstrated that night how to start the Roux for the class, and gave the sisters a hastily researched (i.e. Googled) history of Cajuns in Louisiana as well as basic differences between Creole and Cajun cooking. Because I am such an expert. Hahahahaha. And today was my Sunday for teaching Relief Society at church. So, there you have it. My month in a nutshell.

What the bunnysauce? Where did this belly come from??


Ode to a sugar cookie. Oh how I love you -- you pink, buttercream-frosted, sprinkled delight.

Scott

Or Scoutmaster Scotty as I like to call him these days. Scott has been quite busy this month with work, scouts, and taking over all my responsibilities around the house. Oh and cahooting with Ken Jennings to plan a retirement party for one of the Sales Directors Scott works with. That's right, I said Ken Jennings. As in the Jeopardy guy. How funny is that?? Apparently this lady LOVES Jeopardy and told Scott one time that Ken was her hero. This got the wheel's rolling in Scott's brain and when it came time to planning the party, he decided to send a little email Ken's way to see if there was anything he could do to help.

And help he did. Here are his contributions:

A Ken Jennings bobble-head doll, a signed copy of his book, and an "audio message" he provided for playing at her party. Not too shabby, right?

Well, that's about all folks. I'll be celebrating my 29th birthday on this coming Saturday, so perhaps the next post won't be a month in coming...


Hahahahaha.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Alright, here we go. By now, those of you who know my family, have probably seen pictures/heard stories of our Christmas in New Orleans from my various siblings' blogs. But what you've yet to hear is what REALLY went down. Let's take it from the top.

The morning of December 23rd dawned cold and bright. The car was packed the night before with the plan being to leave by 7 the next morning. No problem, right? The kids are usually up by 6 or 6:30 anyway, so we figured we'd get up, eat breakfast, and go. What we weren't counting on was this:

5:50 AM -- Grace came stumbling into our bedroom saying her stomach hurt. Two minutes later she was bent over the toilet dry-heaving. Not a very promising start for the day.

Here's how the next 3 hours played out:

7 AM -- The kids were finally loaded up and ready to go after being sidetracked briefly by a fight over which DVD to watch first.



7:30 AM -- After a quick pit stop to pick up some Graeter's ice cream, we were finally on our way with the sounds of a Backyardigans DVD mesmerizing the kids in the backseat.

8:40 AM -- I officially started to get carsick, most likely from having to turn around so often to deal with the children.

8:46 AM -- The first of MANY "Are we in New Orleans yet?" asked by Grace, followed rapidly by Ethan's declaration, "I just can't be in the car anymore!"

9:05 AM -- Grace threw up in a Ziploc bag, and I nearly threw up when trying to dispose of it.


And that's when my note-taking stopped. I had grand plans to document the entire 12 hour adventure, but they quickly evaporated. And besides, I think you get the picture. Suffice it to say, that it was a LONG drive. Possibly made longer by the fact that 5 days before we left we got an early Christmas surprise:


I must subconsciously thrive on chaos, because yes. That is what you're thinking it is. Proof positive that Baby #4 will be arriving sometime at the end of August. So, couple THAT with my proclivity towards carsickness ANYWAY, then combine it all with 3 children who cannot handle being cooped up in a car for very long (the YOUNGEST of which being the absolute worst of all), and you're getting a nice little snapshot of what the drive was really like. Don't you wish you could have come along for the ride?

For the rest of our vacation in New Orleans I'll simply refer you to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good:* Being with the whole family.

All 7 of us Hansen siblings were home for Christmas. Although all of our visits were slightly overlapping. Here is the first night we were all there.

This was Sarah and Andrew's first full day, and Emily and Jeremy's last full day. We all went to the French Quarter to get beignets at Cafe du Monde. And I guess I didn't get the memo that we would be taking our family shot for the year, because there I am in all my unshowered glory.

* Planning Operation Dream Big 2009.

Well, I guess I don't have a visual for this, but let me just give a quick promo for a fabulously inspiring and motivating book called The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly. Get it, read it, and start to dream!


* Going to Thibodaux for Christmas Day.

The kids LOVED playing in the Space Walk (aka "Bounce House, " or "Jumping Castle"), and it was fun to see all of my mom's family again since its been about 3 years since we've been there.


* Hanging out with family.





* Seeing Twilight not once but twice.

Perhaps it was because I had such low expectations going into the show, or perhaps because it is always more fun to go and see movies with a big group, but I ended up really loving this movie! Color me surprised. Of course, it made it infinitely more entertaining the FIRST time we saw it due to a very interactive audience. The girls behind us kept us laughing by saying things about Edward like "ooh, he so sexy, " and "oh, he FINE," and "I wanna touch him." Not to mention hilarious lines from the movie like "You better hold on tight you little spider monkey." Pure comic gold, there.


* The Christmas Miracle of the fish and the loaves.

So, this is a bit of an analogy, but hear me out. While we were in New Orleans we stayed with my mom. In her two bedroom apartment. And by we, I mean we ALL stayed there. As in 7 children, 3 spouses, and 4 grandchildren. Now, as I mentioned before, there was some overlap, and a couple of nights with various family members staying at a nearby hotel, but at any given time, there were at least 10-12 people staying in that apartment and sleeping there. Some of you may be thinking, what the bunnysauce? And I know exactly what you mean. It sounds nuts. BUT, we experienced what I think was a true Christmas Miracle in that there was ALWAYS enough space for everyone. Hence the loaves and the fish. It doesn't seem possible, but its true, and I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

* Benjamin Franklin 10 year High School Reunion.

Our trip to New Orleans neatly coincided with my 10 Year Reunion. Scott felt only too privileged to accompany me to this reunion of a graduating class from the #16 High School in the nation. It was far more enjoyable than I thought possible, and I fully enjoyed catching up with old friends and classmates, and only felt SLIGHTLY inferior upon realizing how many of my former classmates are now doctors, as well as many other really important sounding things.


* Audubon Park with the kids.

These pictures were taken our first morning there. I figured I owed it to the rest of the family to get them out of the house as soon as possible after waking everyone up so early.

* Eating King Cake!



The Bad:

* The kids waking everyone up the first morning we were there at 5:30 in the morning.

Okay, who are we kidding here. The kids waking everyone up EVERY morning much earlier than they would really like to wake up.

* My hair frizzing out like a maniac the first time I went outside. It took at least 3 days before things settled down a bit.

* Not being able to enjoy as much good food as I would have liked thanks to le bebe.

* Having to leave too soon :(



The Ugly:* Grace's stomach bug attacked again. And again. And again.

First Grace, then Scott, then me, then Ethan. If it wasn't coming out one end, it was coming out the other. And it didn't stop there. Oh no, no, no. We managed to spread the love to almost everyone. In the end it took down mom, Freddie, Laura and Jacob as well. Like I said it was UGLY.

Minutes before throwing up at Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter.

So there you have it. The highlights. As you can see, the Good far outweighed the Bad, and the Ugly, and even the drive home was not nearly as bad as it was going. All in all it was a Christmas we will NEVER forget.


Since we've been back, all kinds of fun and exciting things have been happening! Morning sickness has hit with full force. The honeymoon of the kids being really sympathetic and helpful has ended. And we've been knocked flat for the last week with another round of illness! This time at least there's been no throwing up (well, at least for the non-pregnant ones), but let me tell you sinus infections are no fun either. So there you have it folks. The holidays in a nutshell.

To conclude I'll make one final observation. My track record has shown that the type of pregnancy I have (e.g. easy or hard, problem-free or problematic) is indicative of what is to come once the baby is born. In other words, difficult pregnancy equals difficult baby. So let's just say that I'm a little concerned about what is in store come August considering the fact that I've been regular sick on top of being pregnant sick for 3 out of the 4 weeks I've known I'm pregnant. Surely I won't get 2 Sophies in a row. Right???

I'll end with a happy picture:

Here is Ethan in more helpful times making a dinner of mini pizzas for me when the sight of food was making me want to puke one night.

Oh and P.S. In case you didn't recognize me in any of the pictures from this post, it is because I am now a brunette. Kind of. The color has faded quite a bit since I first got my hair done, but it is still definitely not blonde. Will I keep it this dark? No, probably not. But for now (with it being all wintry and cold outside) I really like it. I leave you with a parting shot of it.

(Oh wait, perhaps I should've posted this one under "The Ugly." Hahahahahaha.)

Are you there blog? It's me, Margaret

Random musings, stream-of-consciousness style.

Laziness

So, I'm sitting here blogging at the height of laziness. I haven't showered for the day, I never went to the Y, I'm still wearing the "comfy clothes" I slept in last night, and I couldn't even make it to the desk to blog on our desk top computer, but instead am lounging on the couch with laptop on my lap. Quite pitiful, right?

Anyway, as always it's been a while since I've blogged, and honestly its mostly because I am just so lazy (see #66 on my list of 100 things about me). So, what has been happening? Mostly just too much, as the holiday season is ALWAYS the busiest time of the year.

Turkey Day

We eventually got around to finishing up those turkeys for Ethan's project, and as you can see, Grace convinced me to make one for her as well. The two of them had a grand old time painting their turkeys and putting them on display. And we are so accurate here in our project efforts, that when Ethan discovered that turkeys apparently have only 3 toes, he went ahead and rectified the situation on his own.

Finished product

Two goals down...

Thanksgiving Day 2008

So, I've finished my 10K and checked it off my list. What this picture doesn't show is the following:

The Friday before the race -- so basically a week before the event -- I had a little mishap in the driveway. You see, Ethan was running late for the bus stop and since it had turned FREEZING that week, I couldn't just take the girls and run out the door with them. I had to bundle them up, make sure they were warm enough, and buckle Sophie in the stroller. Well, while I was running down the driveway -- I slipped. I tripped. I did a double flip. And before I knew it, I had rolled my right ankle, taken the total brunt of the fall on my left knee (see above), still managed to knock Sophie's stroller backwards, and had come to a final rest on the ground with the sound of Grace laughing hysterically at the bottom of the driveway. All while desperately trying not to bawl. My two immediate thoughts as I was falling? 1.) I hope no one at the bus stop just saw that, and 2.) Oh good, now I won't have to run in the race.

After a few minutes writhing on the ground, I realized it wasn't TOO bad an injury as I was able to get up and walk (albeit slowly) to the bus stop. It wasn't until I got back in the house that I realized my left knee was stinging. When I rolled up my sweats, I was surprised to see a big gouge and a huge goose-egg bruise already forming right under my kneecap. Nonetheless, I decided it was too late to drop out of the race -- especially since I had literally just registered and paid the night before. So, after resting my ankle for the next 4 or 5 days I finally gave it a trial run and was relieved to find that I COULD run on it -- I just wouldn't be super comfortable or super fast.

Thanksgiving morning dawned cold and bright. I was more apprehensive about the weather than anything else. I mean come on. What was I thinking when I decided to run a 10K at the end of November? But run it, I did. And even though I couldn't feel my toes for the first mile and a half, and I had to stop 3 or 4 times to retie my shoelaces, and even though I was feeling borderline claustrophobic running in a crowd of over 11,000 people, and I didn't quite make it in the time I wanted, I still managed to run the whole entire 6.25 miles of the way. Go me.

On the way to the race.

The drop-off. Scott and the kids headed back to the comfort of the warm car to watch a movie on the laptop until the race was over.

The finish line

...One to go?

So, that's that. And no, I haven't run a lick since Thanksgiving Day. I think I may have fallen out of love with running. My ankle is still not 100% and my knee is still bruised, so I haven't really done any kind of exercise for about 2 weeks now. Which is not really helpful for accomplishing that third goal of mine. Nevertheless, I HAVE lost weight this year, which technically checks that goal off the list as well, so I'm going to go ahead and say that after 11 months I have finally followed through with ALL of my New Year's Resolutions!


Sophie is a bearcat (a total non-sequitur, I know)

She may look all cute and innocent, but when you get up in her grill, she will fight back. Grace has still not learned this lesson:

Grace's hair. Courtesy of Sophie.

Christmas Time is Here


Ethan's wish list:

Since the beginning of September -- when we cut through the Pottery Barn Kids at the mall on the way to getting his birthday pictures taken -- Ethan has had 3 things on his list that will not budge.

1.) A Table



2.) A toy mixer



3.) A bell (so he can ring it when Grace is playing outside so she will know when it's time to come in for dinner, of course.)




Grace's wish list:

1.) "the doctor dog thing" (YOU know, mom. She says in total exasperation/frustration when I asked for clarification).
2.) Hello Kitty books
3.) Little tiny dog junks
4.) The big Polly Pocket thing
5.) Junk
6.) Junk
7.) And more junk
8.) Oh and a Girl's World Thing Maker

Alright, so j/k on the last thing. But you get the picture. Let's just say we've had SEVERAL talks so far about what Christmas is REALLY about.

Grace's Faces

Don't you wish you they were knocking on YOUR door?

As many of you may have noticed by now, it is a bit difficult to get a decent picture of Grace. We had the sister missionaries over for dinner and Family Home Evening the other night, and they taught the kids about missionary work, and dressed them up for the job. It was actually really cute but, of course, I was unable to get a single picture with Grace looking normal.

What? It's almost 10?
This is possibly the most incoherent post I've ever composed. So really, it's for the best if I end right now. Suffice it to say that we are enjoying the Christmas season and look forward to chilling with the family in the Big Easy in just 11 more days!

Gobble Gobble

"A Family Turkey Affair" -- or at least that's what its supposed to be. Ethan's class has an assignment this month for every family to work together to create a turkey for Thanksgiving. It can be made out of anything you want, and the route we have taken is paper mache. And even though it's not due until the 20th, Ethan has been badgering me day and night to start working on it. So, this morning I finally gave in and we started.

Below is a Picture Essay of what can go wrong when I am helping Ethan and the girls are left unattended...

Gobble, gobble -- all ready to layer on the paper mache.

"You have to POP the balloons??" -- Ethan finds out what happens once the paper mache dries.

Grace goes native.

And thinks she's REALLY funny.

Sophie gives in to peer pressure.

And then feels guilty that she let Grace dupe her, once again, into making more messes for mom to clean up.