1 month young:)

Sophie is just over 1 month old!! Wow, I cannot believe how fast time has gone by! I thought time flew by with Mar Mar, but it seems like time goes by twice as fast with two kidlets to watch over. My little smoofy is growing up way too fast!

Sophie loves to sleep. She's a snooze hound. Not exactly at night, but just the majority of the rest of her life. She did sleep for 6 hours two nights in a row this last week though. She basically eats, then is awake for a good ten to fifteen minutes, then wants to go back to sleep. She absolutely loves being held and snuggled (kind of a social sleeper) and would sleep all day in the baby bjorn if her mommy didn't make her eat.

She also grunts more than any other baby I've met. We put her in her crib after a week or two because I wasn't getting any sleep with all the grunting going on. Drew snored on through Marlee's night feedings with no problem, but Soph always wakes him up with her loud snorts.

Marlee calls Sophie "Ophie," and I love it! It is the funniest name to me, so I love calling her that now. It makes me giggle every time I say it.It seems weird to me now to call her Sophie.

OTHER UPDATES:

• She rolled onto her back a few days before she turned 3 weeks old. 
• When she was born she had the cutest little lower lip quiver that trembled when she cried. Her little lips still do it randomly, and I love it so much. 
• Her arms are always sprawled out like she's going to give you the biggest hug.
• My absolute favorite is how she wraps her arms around my neck when I hold her upright. 

Sophie Olive Hansen

9-23-14

I could not sleep the night before I went into the hospital! Having an actual date was a double-edged sword. I loved that I was able to get everything checked off my list, but it also gave me anxiety and made me so nervous! My plan was to have a low-key evening: pack our hospital bag, get ready and into bed early, but of course we got into bed around midnight with no packed bag. I tossed and turned all night. I nervously called the hospital at 6 am and was told to call back at 8 am. Since I couldn't sleep, and I didn't feel like getting out of bed, I figured it was a good idea to spend some time trying to figure out what to name this baby!

I called at 8 and they told me to call back again at 9. At this point I was getting really anxious and doubtful that I would have the baby on this day, but instead of waiting around, Drew and I decided to get ready to go just in case.

I called at 9:15 and they said they would have someone call me within the next couple of hours and tell me when to come in. I was relieved. At least I knew I was going to have the baby today. So we continued getting ready.

At 9:45 a nurse called me and asked me to come in to the hospital at 10:30. AHHHH!! Anxiety really hit me at this point. We lived 40 minutes away in Springville, and still hadn't packed our bags!! I hung up the phone and Drew and I raced back and forth throwing everything we could think of into our bag. We grabbed Marlee, jumped into the car, and sped off towards the Riverton Hospital. My mom met us at the hospital and picked up Marlee, and from that point forward was the waiting game.

My progress was really slow at first. I was only dilated to a near 3 and was around 65 or 70% effaced. They  started me on my antibiotics and Pitocin, then gave me my epidural, which was a really low dosage because it was still pretty early. Progress was still pretty slow, so we had lots of time to pick a name out of the 5 we were deciding between.

Sophie moved her hand above her head and the nurse talked about a possible c-section. I was so terrified and began to rethink my decision of being induced. Luckily Dr. England came in and was able to push her hand out of the way. Let me tell you, that was one of the most awkward and uncomfortable feelings I have felt.

Then Sophie's heart rate kept dropping  every time I had a contraction (just like Marlee's), so they filled me back up with saline to try to help ease the stress on the baby (same exact thing happened with Mar Mar).

All of a sudden everything happened so fast. My contractions went from light little cramps to really really strong, almost unbearably strong. By the time I realized I needed a stronger dose of my epidural, it was too late. It was game time. The nurse could see Sophie's head, and we were waiting for the doctor to come so I could deliver Sophie. I had a death grip on the bed handle and was doing everything I could to breathe through the contractions. These were no wimpy contractions, I felt like my body was going to split in half or I was going to pass out from the pain if it lasted much longer. The ten or so minutes we waited for the doctor to walk in the room seemed like an eternity... And then finally he was there and I started pushing.

It only took me 5 minutes of pushing for Sophie to come out. But those 5 minutes were so hard and intense that they felt much longer to me. I was so relieved when she was finally delivered, because I don't know if I could have pushed much longer. When the nurse told me how long I pushed for, I was shocked at how much faster it was than with Marlee. (50 mins)

Sophie Olive Hansen was born at 7:03 p.m. She weighed 6 lbs 8 oz, and measured 20 inches.

They brought Sophie right away and laid her in my arms. Her arms were stretched out wide and she reached for my face. It was the most precious, priceless moment. I wanted to hold onto that moment forever and never let go of her.

She looked exactly like Mar Mar. It was so weird. It felt like I was in a flashback and holding Marlee in my arms for the first time. It was so surreal.

Words can't really explain the amount of love and the emotions you feel when you first meet your children. It is truly a heavenly experience that can only be understood as you are there in the moment....

The move before the baby

My original due date for Sophie was October 2, 2014, but about 5-6 weeks before I had Soph, my doctor told me he would be in Lake Powell during that time. So he moved my due date up 2 days and said he would induce me a week before that. I couldn't believe my ears!!! I had mixed emotions; part of me was a little concerned if the baby would be ready or not by that time, and the other stronger part of me wanted to run and give him a big smooch right on the lips! It's funny because earlier in my pregnancy I was measuring ahead of time and he wouldn't change my date. But oh wells, he took a whole week and 2 days off my pregnancy and I wasn't complaining. All of a sudden that long and dreaded last 6 weeks of pregnancy seemed so much shorter, and I actually started to stress a little because I literally had done nothing to prepare for this next baby.

During this same time, our lovely landlord emailed us and said we needed to move out of our townhouse as soon as possible because he needed the money from selling the townhouse to buy a house for him and his dad. He actually told us he wanted us out by the end of September, but he somehow also wanted the townhouse sold by that date. So he said if we were out sooner, he would pro-rate the month of September for us. Since I was having this baby September 23, we wanted to get out and organized into the new place before the baby came.

When Drew first told me the news, I laughed. I think it was such a stressful thought, that my poor pregnancy brain couldn't wrap itself around the idea. I kept thinking our landlord would change his mind, and I don't think it actually sank in until we looked at the first grimy apartment. Our mood changed fast. We loved the townhouse we were renting, and were planning on staying there until the next year when we were hoping to get into a house. So for the next few weeks I put all of my effort into looking for a new place. It was such a rushed thing that we were limited on the places that were available in our price range. We finally found a place, and moved out and were totally organized into our new place within 5 days! It was super stressful on me because Drew was busy at work, I was 36 weeks pregnant at the time, and I had crazy Marlee (2) running around. :) Thankfully we had so much help from friends and family, that it made the move a lot easier. We couldn't have done it without everyone that helped.

Since I planned on living in that townhouse until early the next year, I put off a lot of things that I needed to do before the baby came, like transitioning Marlee into a toddler bed, going through my baby clothes and baby things, getting new binkies and bottles, etc. I really hadn't done anything to prepare for Sophie. After we moved and had 3 bedrooms instead of 2, I realized I now could put Marlee in the toddler bed, and on top of getting prepared for the new baby, I now had a new place to organize.

I had a mile long list of things that needed to be done before the baby came that magically continued to grow as the date drew closer. But with a lot of heavenly help we were able to get everything done before September 23.

Drew's job

5-13 We have been so blessed with Drew's new job. Drew is now the Assistant Administrator at Legacy Asssisted Living of Spanish Fork.

Last year at this time he was working as a part-time teller at Chase Bank, I wasn't working, Marlee was 8 months old, and we were living in my parent's basement. We were so grateful to my parents for letting us live at there house, but felt stuck because we weren't making enough income on our own to survive, and we both had strong feelings about me staying with the kids and not going back to work.

We had a rough time looking for jobs for Drew; I think we looked and applied for hundreds of healthcare jobs for at least 10 months. Drew also met with countless people in the healthcare administration field asking for advice and information about the field, and hoping it would lead to a job. We felt like we had all these leads, but none of them led to jobs. This was a hard period of time for us, especially Drew. He had such a strong desire to provide for us and our new family, so it really was a blow to his confidence that he wasn't able to at this time. Nothing seemed like it was working out, and it was so easy to become negative and impatient during this time although we only lived there for over 2 years. So when this job came, it was a true miracle. We were finally able to move into a townhouse in Springville! It's always easier looking back on situations in your life than when you are right in the middle of them. I can see now how short of a period it was, and how silly we were being. Although we didn't feel like it at the time, a job was right around the corner.

It was hard to see it while going through this small trial, but I know Heavenly Father had a perfect plan for us, and has one for our future too. It is so easy to lose the faith, but Heavenly Father is always there for us. We go through periods where we feel like He has left our side, but really it is us who have drifted away.

This job was perfect for Drew. He really excels at work because it totally fits his personality. He works really hard, and the owners of the company and his boss have noticed, are excited, and have plans for his future with them. I feel like Drew's co-workers are cheerleaders, rooting for him and his progression. They can see his potential and how hard he works and want him to excel almost as much as we do.

Since I started writing this, Drew has now become the Marketing Director at Legacy. This is another huge blessing in our life, and came at such a needed time since we now have 2 beautiful little girls in our family to take care and provide for.

I have a testimony and am continuing to learn that Heavenly Father desires to bless us, and it is us, not Him, who prevent those blessings from coming through our disobedience.

A big fat conglomeration of Summer

I am so behind on blogging. So instead of spending a million hours that I don't have, I will just make a big fat conglomeration of some of the things we did in summer.

 I made sure we were really busy and active this summer. Kind of a tribute to my and Mar Mar's last days together before the smoofy came, and also to keep my mind distracted from how long pregnancy is. :) Not to mention it was a lot easier to keep our house clean with being gone the majority of the day.

We went on a ton of vacations this summer from Park City, Arizona twice, Lake Tahoe, and Lake Powell, and spent the majority of the rest of the summer submerged in water, thanks to my big flotation device of a belly. We went swimming at our neighborhood pool almost every day, went to tons of splash pads, the aquarium,Thanksgiving point almost weekly, tried to go on hikes weekly till my belly got too big, parks, walks, carnivals, etc.

etc.