Front steps

This was Dwayne and the kids sitting on our front steps after we got home from church on Sunday. It was another beautiful day, spent with my beautiful family.

Pool party

Josiah was playing in his little pool in our backyard today and one of our neighbors from 2 doors down came to play. His name is Caden, he is just a few months older than Josiah, and he loves to stop by. They had so much fun playing! It was nice because it was the first time I saw Josiah really relaxed and enjoying himself with a new friend here in Chilliwack.

A moving story...

We summarized our crazy move story for some friends, and we thought it was the best thing to put on our blog so everyone could read the story. We had quite the adventure getting from Selkirk to Chilliwack! It's too long a story to type out in full. Here's the gist of it... Moving company e-mailed a few days before our expected pick up in Selkirk and said they would be later than expected...then a couple of days later they said later still...then they said delivery in Chilliwack would be August 10th-15th instead of 1st-5th...we booked a u-haul...church family stepped up wonderfully and helped us load...children threw tantrums on Saturday morning as we were trying to leave and load up/clean up...check engine light came on in Virden Manitoba...kept driving...called u-haul from Regina on Saturday night when we arrived there and they told us to keep driving if the truck seemed fine or wait until mechanic could check it out on Monday...truck seemed fine so Dwayne left for Calgary on Sunday morning...truck trouble in Swift Current- drove fine on the highway, but stalled every time he stopped and always idled funny...barely made it to Calgary...called u-haul again...they checked it out Monday morning and said they would look for the parts they needed so Dwayne and his dad killed a day in Calgary in malls and at my mom's house...(repair folks said they were surprised the truck even made it out of Winnipeg let alone to Calgary...should have started on fire, they said...praise God for his protection)...u-haul called on Monday afternoon and said the parts would be 2 days so we should try to find another truck...managed to find a truck by 6pm on Monday evening...had to unload and reload u-hauls (mom M, Larry, Dwayne, dad H, uncle Wade, my friend Charla and her dad, sister, and 2 cousins did all the work...thank God for friends and family)...Dad H and Dwayne left Calgary Tuesday morning (Aug 1) and arrived in Chilliwack by 3pm...Jen, Josiah and Abby had a great 2 hour flight from Regina to Vancouver and met them in Chilliwack with Mom H by 4pm after Josiah had napped at nana and papa's...ahhh, we were finally here! Rob, Ryan, Brian, Curtis, (friends) Cheryl, and Zach (sister and brother-in-law) helped us unload and we ate pizza...tired but all in one piece.

It's been chaotic to try and unpack our place with 2 little kids, but slowly and surely we're getting there. Our house and neighborhood are wonderful. We'll write again another day with some pictures of us in our new location!

Mommy & Josiah time

One of the things I've been missing most (that's me- Jen) since beautiful little Abby was born is time alone with Josiah. He and I had so much of it before, and then all of a sudden I've hardly been able to focus on just him. So, the other day after a big thunderstorm we had some mommy and Josiah time out in the puddle in our parking lot. He has loved that little spot ever since he could splash through it! It was muggy and quiet out and it was wonderful just to enjoy him enjoying himself. =)

Nice pics

We had newborn and family photos taken on July 3rd when Abby was just 5 days old. Aren't our offspring adorable?

Pretty in Pink

With so much boys clothes in our house, it was difficult to scrounge up some clothing that would say, "Hey I'm a girl!" But the girls clothes have begun to trickle in.


Isn't she beautiful?!?!

some more pics

some pics

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The newest addition

As many of you probably already know, Abby Faith Hansen came into this world at 9:16 pm on June 28th. Hooray!
Jen had been having a few contractions all day but nothing regular. It was my staff party in Winnipeg and we thought nothing was going to be happening for a while. Plus Jen didn't want to pass up the Olive Garden. So during supper Jen had a few contractions, at 7:15 one really big one. We were suppose to go bowling after but Jen wasn't up for it (can you believe that).
We left Olive Garden at 7:45 and headed for home. On the way home, Jen began to have regular contractions every 5-7 minutes. So we thought that we'd go home and get ready for the hospital. As we walked in the door at 8:20, Jen's contractions intensified. So at 8:30pm we left for the hospital. At 8:40 we began to get settled into our room and Jen started changing into hosiptal attire. Then the next half an hour was a blur and at 9:16pm, Abby was born. Yes it only took 36 minutes!
Funny side story - On the way to the hospital we saw Jen's doctor standing in line at the Snak Shak (yes that's how its spelled). I said to Jen that we should yell at her to be ready in a couple of hours. When things began to quicken, at the hospital, the tried paging Jen's doctor but couldn't reach her. So an ER Dr. came up and just as Abby's head was poking through, in walked Jen's doctor. One push later there was a baby. Talk about timing.
Anyways, Abby weighed 8lbs 8 oz and was 21 inches long - exact dimensions of her big brother. By the way, Josiah loves being a big brother. He constantly wants to hold her and said that he would let me and Grandma have a turn. Josiah said to me in the car, "Dad, I'm so excited to be a big brother." Hopefully he'll feel the same way in a coulpe of weeks. Both Jen and Abby are doing great and should be home either Friday or Saturday.
Jen will fill in any details I missed.

Still waitng

As of Friday, Jen was officially at her due date. But still no baby. Any day now!

Jen at nine months.

Maternity photos

We had some beautiful maternity pictures taken a couple of weeks ago, and we're so happy with them. One of the wedding photographers that I worked with last summer specializes in maternity and newborn photos, so we had the awesome privilege of having him take these for us! (Plus my good friend Tasha took some for us, and did all the touch up work!) We ordered a great wall portrait for our bedroom and an album of about 12 other shots. We thought we'd put a couple up here for all of you to see!

Only 11 more days until my due date! I'm already looking and feeling bigger than I was in these pictures, not that long ago!

8 months and counting...! This is me on May 23rd- one month from my due date. My doctor said the baby has already dropped, which is pretty early for a second pregnancy, so maybe this one will be early instead of late... Of course, as my doctor said, "As you know, these things are very unpredictable." Yes, we might get our hopes up thinking this one will come soon, and end up waiting until 10 days after the due date. So, we'll continue to wait and see...

New condo

Well, everything went through and was finalized, so we now find ourselves the proud owners of a beautiful condo in Chilliwack! (Well, we take possession on August 1st, so I guess that's when it will really be official.) It's only 2 years old, so it's in great shape. The living room has a beautiful gas fireplace. The kitchen has a great mountain view and even a pantry- an organizing girl's dream! It has 3 bedrooms upstairs, with a small rec room downstairs behind the single car, attached garage. It's really great (I imagine, since I haven't actually seen it in person yet), and we feel so blessed to have found it and to be so well provided for.

Here's my 7 month photo taken on April 23rd- 2 months to go!!

Goin' to Chilliwack

Well, this is obviously old news now, but it's official that this Hansen family is moving back west. Dwayne got a job for the fall teaching grade 7's at Unity Christian School in Chilliwack, so we are on our way! We're looking at an August 1st move. I can't say I'm thrilled about some of the stress coming down the bend, what with a baby coming at the end of June, the usual toddler care, and now a move half-way across the country...but it must be a good decision, because despite all of this we are SOOO excited!

We're working on fixing up our house, so we can get it listed and sold, hopefully soon. It's lookin' pretty spiffy! And we've got a realtor on the job for us out in Chilliwack, looking to show Gerry and Diane around, so we can buy a place based on the dozens of pictures we'll have them take for us! =) Moves like this are always full of conflicting emotions. We're excited and yet overwhelmed at times. We're glad for the new adventures ahead, but sad to leave our friends/home/life behind here in Manitoba.

We'll try to be more consistent about updates now, since there is much coming up in the next few months...

The stuff comedy routines are made of...

Getting one pregnant woman and one toddler inside a small bathroom stall to try and take mommy's urine sample...these are definitely the things comedy routines are made of! I had a pre-natal check up last week and had to bring Josiah with me to the lab where I had to give the usual urine sample. I was hoping, of course, that the big handicapped stall would be available, but alas...it wasn't. Josiah was upset right from the outset that he didn't also get a little cup from the nurse, so he was insisting that he should get mommy's. I tried to maneuver onto the toilet, balance the diaper bag and all our winter gear on the back of the toilet or on the door hook, and fend off the hands of a 2 year old trying to steal my pee cup! Eventually, when he realized I wasn't giving it up, he decided to leave, which was fine with me. I let him loose and he ran up and down the small aisle in the bathroom, but of course, insisted on coming back in- twice. Fortunately, modesty escapes a mother and leaves survival in its place... Once I finally captured the sample, the next job was dealing with Josiah's insistence that it was juice..."No honey, this is definitely not juice." So, then I'm once again trying to maneuver off the toilet, gather the diaper bag and all our winter gear, and still keep the hands of a 2 year old off my pee cup! Stories like this aren't normally public information, but man was it a funny scene! I had to share it with you, our dear family. =)

Lonely

Jen and Josiah are currently in Calgary visiting family and friends. So it is pretty quiet here. It is nice but I miss the familiarity of their noises. I even miss Josiah's screeching! I miss not having anyone to say goodbye to in the morning and goodnight to at night. It is funny, one of the things that reminds me the most that they are not here is that I have to pack my own lunch. No, Jen doesn't pack my lunch, Joisah does. It is part of his morning routine. He gets my lunch bag and first he puts in the apple, then the drink and then the sandwich.

It is nice to have a little more down time but I wouldn't want it this way forever. Come home soon I mis you!

Excitement at our house

As our first post, I thought we'd start with some excitng news. Jen is at twenty-one weeks and had a scheduled ultra-sound today. We have been pretty excited the last few days in anticipation of seeing the newest Hansen. As we were heading to the hospital, we were both a little nervous, just hoping that the baby is healthy. When we got to the hospital, we told the technician that we were going to have a little gender-revealing celebration tonight and asked if she could write done the sex of the baby on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope.

It was exciting to see the baby and all its little parts. We could clearly see its head, face, arms, legs, fingers and toes. It was also very cool to see its bones and organs. It had its back facing to us so you could easily see its spine. The baby was being pretty modest as it wouldn't face us and it had its legs squeezed tightly together. It was difficult for her to see what the gender was but she said she'd make a guess, she was only about 70% sure that she knew the gender. So we went out for dinner and opened our envelope and it said....

















So we are excited around here!!! It seems Josiah was right after all. It still is a little hard to start thinking that this is going to be a girl as we aren't totally sure about the gender. So don't go out and buy too much girl stuff just yet! More importantly the baby seems to be healthy. It has all its organs, fingers, limbs and chambers in its heart. We are pretty relieved about that.

Hope you will enjoy our latest way of keeping you in touch with our lives. We'll try to put up new post and pictures regularly.