Everyone Loves Milo

Milo with his Grandma Hickman and Aunt Ann
and big brother Gavin... (He said Milo is the cutest baby in the whole world.)
And Big Sister Talia with Gavin. (I asked Talia to say CHEESE so she is signing it. What a nut!)

Happy Birthday to Milo!

8-7-08 When Talia was born Marenda made sure we had a little birthday cake for her so we thought that would be a fun tradition to continue with Milo. Talia loved to sing and blow out the candle.

The Birth of Our Baby Boy

Alright everyone since Shanda has been given direct orders to remain upstairs from her mid-wife thus limiting her access to blog this post is being created by her other half. Therefore before you can proceed you must read the following disclaimer:

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Now that we have gotten that out of the way let's proceed. ( After this post I am sure Shanda will change her log in info.)

As many of you know we have been expecting the birth of our baby boy any day know. I say we ......as if I were pregnant. Shanda has been experiencing contractions for the better part of week and a half so Wednesday August 6th started out like any other day during this hurry up and wait saga. During lunch the phone rang...I answered...'Hello?'

"Hello!", replies the young female voice on the other end.

'How are you?', I quiz still not sure if I am talking to one of Shanda's friends, a niece I've never spoken with, or a rouge telemarketer off script.

"Is Milo there?", she unabashedly asks.

My mind begins to race. Wait a minute how does she know we are about to have a son who we are planning on naming Milo? Is this one of Shanda's family members playing a joke? Perhaps it is a phone call from the future bounced off of the northern lights. Oh dear.... maybe it is a call from the people upstairs checking in to see if Milo's arrived yet.

'Excuse me?'

"Oh, I'm sorry I have the wrong number." Click.......

This is the stuff the twilight zone is made out of.

After lunch, a trip to Home Depot, a walk to the park with Talia and myself, and a ton of jumping jacks, Shanda began to feel that today was the day. Okay I didn't make her do jumping jacks instead we mud wrestled.

When we were looking into birthing options before Talia's birth we decided to have a home water birth. Her birth was such a beautiful experience for us there was no doubt in our mind with this one we were going to do the same thing. It is at this point I could go into a long rant of home birth versus in the hospital however this is certainly not the time nor place. Let me just say I feel blessed that we have the option to chose. Here is Shanda laboring on the birthing ball.

Shanda's contractions had increased in frequency and length to the point that Shanda summoned her midwife who arrived around 7:45 pm. That is when the games began.

Literally.......This is Shanda, her father, Jan our midwife, and myself playing sequence. Yes, there were many delays in our game due to frequent trips to the bathroom and contractions, but we had fun.

Finally things had progressed to the point that Shanda got into the pool of warm water.

The water provides several key functions. One, it allows the mother a cooping method when dealing with contractions. Two, it helps the mother relax assisting in the delivery. Finally, the water provides a warm peaceful environment for the baby to enter into the world.

Shanda labored in the pool for several hours. Here I have to shower my wife with accolades. She used HypnoBirthing a process which teaches relaxation methods to help cope with the labor and birth. She never screamed, she never cried out. When intense contractions came the only way you could tell was her breathing intensified. Labor was longer this time than it was with Talia but she only pushed for 8 minutes when the time came.

So here is Milo Hansen Hickman....7lbs. 5oz. and 19 1/2" long. Both mother and child are doing well.

Daddy's Little Girl

Lately I have notice that Talia is especially fascinated by her Daddy! She has been relentless about doing what Daddy does. Every morning Talia watches her dad put on his socks and has sense decided that she must wear Daddy's socks. Last night she slept in a pair of her Dad's socks. I have to admit it is quite adorable to watch the bond between them grow. I just hope she doesn't try to pee standing up. ;)
Talia was so proud of herself when she started pulling grass out of the ground just like her daddy who was weeding at the time. Of course her "Helping" could not be complete without wearing Daddy's gloves. Below she is very wildly beginning to sign "Help!" As in "I am Helping!"

It is moments like this that I am so grateful that I have such a wonderful husband who is such a good example to his children! I know as a daughter that a fathers love is so important in building a daughters self worth. So...thanks to the men in my life both my husband and my own father!

Our Day Out...

And to end the outing we needed ICE CREAM! Talia was not shy about attacking the ice cream. Most of the time she used a unique method to eat the ice cream...she put her whole face inside the cone and sucked the ice cream out. She definitely keeps her parents entertained! (not to mention busy wiping her face after every suck. I think we used about 50 napkins to try and contain the mess.)

Our Day Out...

Next we went to a park to see the ducks and squirrels. I was glad for the change because it was much more quiet and the trees made it a lot cooler.

Our Day Out (cont)

Sat, July 19, 2008 - Our day out

After a very pregnant week with Preston out of town we decided that we needed a little family outing. Talia has been going crazy being couped up with me and even though I try to be fun I am not as much fun with my planet-sized belly. First on the agenda was a trip to Acacia park to play in Uncle Wilbur's fountain. It is pretty cute because every 30min "Wilbur" comes out of the fountain and plays some jazzy tuba music and the fountain sprays more water. I have to admit Talia was a bit more timid than I thought she would be but she had fun anyway. I think she likes to swim in a little pool better because it is more predictable than the fountain.

Dancing (this is the better video)

Talia danced like a girl on a mission! We caught a little of her fancy dance moves in this video. I swear every time we pull out the camera she stops doing the adorable things that she is doing.

If I were Ice Cream I would be...

Belly Comparison & Sisters Retreat

Here is the last belly shot I took during Talia's pregnancy. I was 36+2 weeks along. And this is my most recent shot at 35+5 weeks. Taken on July 9, 2008. People keep commenting on my SIZE! Most of the comments are about how BIG I am. But now that I see the pictures together I just think I am a totally different shape. I am a little bigger this time but we are not talking beached whale big. With Talia I looked like a watermelon up and down and this time I look like a watermelon lying down from my belly button to my back.
The Hansen girls were finally able to get together for a sisters retreat! We missed Kerali but my Mom and the other 5 of us were able to go. I was too lazy to get out my camera so this is all I have and Marenda had to email it to me. We stayed at a beautiful cabin overnight after we had lunch at Tuccanos (per my request...I really wanted some MEAT for my birthday, and oh my goodness was it yummy!). It was so fun to be without all the kids and just be sisters for a little while. We talked for hours and didn't go to bed until 3am. I love my sisters! Thanks for the fun time girls and thanks to Preston for taking such wonderful care of Talia!

Talias Dance moves

Happy Birthday to Me!

July 7, 2008 - After everyone had a chance to recover a little from the reunion, the family got together for a wonderful meal and some fireworks. We also had my favorite cherry chocolate cake for my birthday. Addie and Talia just had to get in the big pool and be on the alligator. Addie actually fell off the alligator when her older boy cousins were in the pool but we cheered so much for her that she didn't cry and she thought she had done something really great.
The boys...playing GRABITZ

Cannon Ball!!!

Preston decided he had to add to the fun by doing cannon balls when my sisters came in on the canoe. I told him to be careful because they may not speak to him for years if they got too wet. You can see him running in the first shot. What a nut!
I think that Guy and his boys are in this canoe. Mitchell thought it was pretty funny when Uncle Preston splashed in the water.
The aftermath. Preston got the boys a lot more than my sisters.

Swiming and Playing with Dad

July 2008 - after we packed up the Hansen family decided to stop at the reservoir to cool off. Here is Talia with her sweet daddy!

Food & Family

Here are some more from the Nielson reunion...
I am about to pass out here and Talia isn't any too happy either. It was soooooo hot!!! Sheridan
Gavin & Marcus
Mellissa, Stephanie & Blair
Barry and Trenton. If I remember right Trenton fell asleep at the table.