Bartels Farm Pumpkin Patch

We took Parker to his first pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago.  It was Bartels Farm Pumpkin Patch in Fort Collins, CO.  It was great.  Farm animals to feed, a corn maze (we didn't do this), a hay bale maze that we plan to do next year when the little one can walk better, a hay ride, and pumpkins for as little as $1!  Plus, there was no admission fee.  That made it even better.  They had wagons available for us to use to take out to the pumpkin patch so Parker rode out to the pumpkin patch, then walked around to help pick his out, and then rode back with the pumpkins.  It was so cute.  Too bad our wagon had one flat wheel.  Oh well, we made it work.  We went with out good friend Krista and her four year-old Anthony.  He wanted to ride the monster truck, but we convinced him he had to be five to ride it so he was still too little.  Man, mom's can be sneaky!

Parker's One Year Photos

Parker turned one on May 16th.  It's very hard to believe our little baby is already one.  The year has gone so fast and so much has happened.  To those of you who have stuck with us along this journey I'm sorry we have been such bad bloggers.  I'm going to try to take more pictures of Parker and update more frequently.  I know I've said this before, but this time I'm really going to try.  I want to have this chronicle for him to look at some day and that is very important to me.  We hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we do!

We went to Cheyenne last weekend and Kara accidentally dressed Parker exceptionally cute.  We went to the mall and walked past the Sears Portrait Studio and decided to stop in.  We are both very thankful we stopped.  They captured some great shots of our little guy!

Look at his underbite.  His facial expression is much cuter than the chair he is sitting in.

We love this little guy so much.  He's absolutely adorable and makes us smile every day.  Hard to imagine it has already been a year, but at the same time we can't remember what life was like without him.

The lady who took Parker's pictures thinks this is the perfect picture for Johnson & Johnson.  She thinks he should be their new poster child.  We can't help but agree.

A black and white version of the Johnson and Johnson shot.

Originally this picture had a slightly different caption.  Kara made the change to the quote and it is perfect for our family.  Nothing else needs to be said about this picture!

I love Parker's expression in this picture.  I also think it looks like he is trying to escape from the barrel.  He just looks slightly mischievous in this picture.

This is one of Kara's favorites.  His bathroom has a rubber duck theme.  We didn't even realize this when the nice lady taking the pictures set up this shot.

Here he is getting ready to eat the duck.  Another great shot by the lovely lady at Sears.  We really can't thank her enough for working with us.  She didn't care one bit about the make-up of our family.  Plus, when we went in to review our photos she was there and helped edit them with us and by the end all three employees and our family were all laughing.  It was great!

This shot is great because he's pointing at the duck.  One of these pictures will be enlarged and hung in his bathroom until he is old enough to be embarassed by it.

All I have to say about this one is he looks snarky.

We love the special effect on this one.  We all just happened to be waering blue jeans that day and highlighting the blue color made for an awesome picture.

Family Photo Shoot

When Parker was 4 months old we had a family photo shoot in West Laramie.  Tish Hill, a local photographer, volunteered to take our family pics.  She did a fantastic job.  I know these photos are now 5 months old, but we love them.

 

laughing.MP4

aaaaarrrggghhhhhh.MP4

Time has gone so fast!

First of all we want to apologize to all of you who faithfully followed our journey to parenthood. You watched us struggle through matching and unmatching, then an ectopic pregnancy, and finally the pregnancy and birth of Parker John. We've let you down by not letting you be part of his life and see how he is growing and how our lives have changed. Life has changed so much and we LOVE it. We wouldn't want anything else, because having Parker in our life is absolutely amazing. He made us the family we have always dreamed of having.

It's hard to believe, but Parker John will be nine months old on Thursday, Feb. 16th. He is so much fun right now...he's interactive, playing with his toys, and it seems as though he is learning something new every day. Recently he's learned how to click his tongue, clap his hands, say "anya" (who knows what this means), he is starting to wave, and he is starting to hold his own bottle. Oh, he also scoots backwards and spins in circles when on his tummy. He just can't quite get his legs going to help him go forward. He is growing up so fast!

Below are some pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy!

Great Moms...Bad Bloggers

Hello everyone!

Sorry we haven't been updating very often. We've been busy enjoying our little man. He is the best and just to prove it watch the video!

Eviction Notice

Parker John was evicted from the womb on Monday, May 16th at 10:29pm! He came out at 8 lb and 1 oz with a head circumference of 38cm.

It was a long day of being induced, but both Mama Kara and Parker John came out well. Thankfully Mama Kara was already dilated to 4cm or we would have been waiting even longer for Parker to arrive. She began receiving Pitocin at 9:45 am and began pushing at 9:50pm. Throughout the day the doctor kept telling us Parker had a big head which made both of us think that a c-section may be in order to get little Parker to meet the world. However, he kept descending and allowed his Mama Kara to push him right out. The doc had prepared us that it would take a couple hours to push Parker out, but Mama Kara was a Rock Star and did it in only 40 minutes! After the first contraction the doctor made me look and you could already see Parker's head and cute little hair. The doctor then put on his sterile gown and stayed for the rest of the labor. No one was expecting Kara to push out her first baby in only 40 minutes.

He is the sweetest little boy and is making his Mamas so happy. We have waited a long time for him to arrive and now that he's here it has all been worth it. He's perfect with his button nose, long fingers, and even longer toes. He seems to have gotten his little monkey toes from his Aunt Ashley.

We were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and were settled in at home by 1:30pm. As we were leaving our nurse told us Parker is one of the few healthy babies to be born at the local hospital within the past week. I knew we were lucky that he was healthy because we'd see other babies receiving extra care in the nursery, but I didn't realize just how lucky we were. We were even luckier that everyone treated us with respect in the small town of Laramie, WY. No one in the hospital or involved in the delivery had any problems with the fact that we are a same sex couple. In fact, the nurses fought over coming into our room because Parker was healthy and his two mamas were fun. The nurses even crossed out "daddy" and put "mommy" so that Mama Jen could be included on his name tag that was in his little bin (that's what we called the hospital's version of a bassinet).

Unfortunately Mama Jen's name can't be on the birth certificate in the state of Wyoming. Only the biological parents are allowed to put information on it. So, our birth certificate will show Parker as not having a Father which is perfectly fine because he doesn't, he has a sperm donor.

The dogs are already adjusting to Parker, but they still don't like it when he cries. They also can't figure out why he gets to go everywhere with the Mamas and they don't. Nakai is his protector and checks on him whenever we set him down to sleep. Pseudo is the licker and cleans his feet and hands.

Now that the Mamas are getting rested we are hoping to update the blog at least once a week. Thanks for being patient and keeping all of us in your thoughts and prayers during our long journey to becoming parents and a family.

Stubborn Little Boy

Parker is now three days overdue. He decided he didn't want to make this Mother's Day extra special for us. Instead he would like us to wait a year to be able to truly celebrate Mother's Day. The little stubborn stinker!

Kara went to the doctor on Monday and was 4cm dilated. At this time she is still not experiencing any contractions. We are waiting for labor to start spontaneously. If it doesn't then we go to the local hospital at 7am on Monday morning to be induced.

Kara only worked until noon today and then she started her maternity leave. She came home and slept for three hours. Wasn't much else to do since it snowed here in Laramie today.

Don't worry, there is free WiFi in the hospital so Jen (that's me) will be posting pictures while we are still in the hospital.

2 cm

Well, I went to the doctor yesterday and I am 2 cm dilated! I was pretty excited about this until today at school, the nurse said to me, "Half the world's pregnant women are 2 cm dilated!" Way to burst my bubble...hmmm, I wish my bubble would burst! :) Actually, I thought it was funny. I know 2 cm means nothing! But it is a glimpse of hope.

I'm getting worried about the size of this kid. The doc thinks he's on the high end of 7 pounds. Actually, I'm more worried about the size of his head. I think they should put head circumference on sperm donor profiles. That would have helped make the decision as to who to pick!!!

Jen and I are off to a dinner out. We are trying to get our "us" time in now before the baby arrives. Thanks everyone for your support throughout our journey to our baby.

One Week

It's official. We are down to 7 days until Parker John's due date. Kara has been doing great getting everything ready for him. She put the Pack 'n Play together, which came with the world's worst directions! Then she put together the swing. It was a snap compared to the Pack 'n Play. And right now she is putting the finishing touches on the bouncer. She likes doing this kind of thing and knows that I tend to get very frustrated.

Today we took the dogs for a ride in the car and ended up going for a hike at Vedauwoo. They absolutely loved it. Pseudo is still sleeping and we got home six hours ago. Kinda weird though going on our first hike without Molly. She would have had so much fun with her sister and brother. Someday we will see her again. We both really miss that dog even though she did slobber and eat poop all the time!

Kara is almost packed for the hospital. She has her list broken down into what to pack before labor begins (this is almost done) and what to pack once labor starts. She cracks me up. She has so much packed and will probably only be there for two days.

We will keep everyone update on Parker's arrival. Thanks for following us for so long as we've been on this journey of adding a little one to our family.

Don't mess with the pregnant teacher!

I am currently sitting in my classroom, ignoring a naughty little boy who seems to think he can upset a 38 week pregnant teacher. Hmmm...he's probably right, but I'm not going to let him know that! :)

So I went to the doctor yesterday and they checked me out. I was very disappointed to find out that I am not dilated at all. :( I was hoping for at least 1 cm. But maybe this is better. At least I won't be expecting to go into labor at any moment. I have 12 days until my due date. Never has time gone so slowly!

By the way, does anyone have any good stories about being extremely emotional while pregnant? I'm trying to prove to other people that I am normal!!!

BABY BUMP!!!

Only 5 weeks left....that's only 35 days, people!!! Yay, us! We went shopping yesterday and found these two great picture opps. :) Check them out.

Up until now, this pregnancy has been pretty good. However, within the last week...

1. I can't sleep.

2. I cry all the time!

3. I have aches and pains in places you don't want to know about.

4. And I am getting stretch marks!

But it will all be worth it SOON! :)

Parker's Check-Up

Kara went to the doctor again on Thursday. Parker's heartbeat was strong and he's continuing to grow. It is getting so exciting!! For now Kara is going to the doctor every two weeks because there's only 10 weeks left until Parker is due to be born. When it gets even closer she will be going to the doctor weekly. Thankfully the doctor said there is no reason for me to go to any of the doctor appointments because nothing exciting will be happening. She told Kara "We save all the excitement for the hospital." This is good news because I haven't been at my job for six months yet and I'm not to take any time off before then. As it is I'm only going to get to take off five days when little Parker John arrives.

Kara spent a little time talking to some of the nurses that helped us through the insemination process. They are so happy for us, it's just amazing. Like me, they can't believe we are only ten weeks from delivery. The time has gone so fast.

Here's to hoping the next 10 weeks go just as fast!

Sadness on Super Bowl Sunday

On February 6th we had to put our basset, Miss Molly Moose, to sleep. We came home from grocery shopping and her back left leg was no longer working and she had to scoot around the house. By the time the Super Bowl started she wasn't even trying to scoot around anymore. At half time we made the decision to have her put to sleep since she couldn't walk and she was 12 years old.

After the Super Bowl the vet came to the house, talked to us, and then put her to sleep. I had never done this before so I asked lots of questions and was assured it would be quick and painless. Kara, me, the vet, and his wife sat around her as she was put to sleep. Then we all pet her for awhile before they took her. They had her cremated for us.

We have the best vet in the world. It was so important that he be the one to do it (a different vet was actually on call). He has so much compassion for animals and likes how we care for our pets.

So now we are down to only two crazy critters. A Nakai and a Pseudo. They seemed to miss Molly at first because they were looking around the house for her. Now there is only one blanket that still smells like her and they regularly sleep on it. It's very cute and I don't know when I will be able to bring myself to wash that last blanket.

The two dogs have adjusted to being without their other sister and Nakai has become much more loving. She's usually a loner but she's been asking for love a lot lately. That makes me happy that she's adjusting so well to not having Molly around. If only I was adjusting as well as the dogs.

Parker's Room

Kara and I are getting super excited for the arrival of little Parker John. We have 11 weeks to go, but the nesting has begun!! This past week we finished painting, put up the wall decals, rearranged the room, put up new curtains, bought a new lamp, and bought a rug. We had everything finished by Wednesday. That was a good thing because we had lots of company on Friday night (Kara plays Bunco with a bunch of ladies). They all loved his room. The only thing missing is a chair, but there's no room for one in Parker's little room. However, we have two rocking recliners in another room upstairs and that is where we will spend lots of time rocking Parker and soothing him so he will go back to sleep.

I guess we aren't quite done with his room. We bought a shelf yesterday and haven't put it up yet, but it is so close to being done that I wanted to post pictures. I think his room turned out absolutely adorable and suitable for a boy.

The night light my mom made me when I was little. Kara hates it, but it will be staying in Parker's room.

BOY, OH BOY!!!

Well, we had our 19 week ultrasound today. And yes, Baby Mo is a BOY! His name will be Parker John Gade Hansen. Whether he likes it or not his nickname will probably always be Mo. We've told friends and family and they are so excited for us. It's a great feeling.

Kara was pretty funny at the ultrasound. She made the tech look twice to verify that he really was a boy. I think she was kind of in shock, her mommy intuition told her she was going to have a baby girl. Oh well, boys are just as good. And the good news is that everything the tech looked at was normal meaning we have a healthy boy growing in Kara's tummy. Woo hoo.

We will post pictures of the ultrasound soon. Promise.

Pictures from Week 10

Hello all. Sorry, I'm a little (okay...a lot) slow at updating. I didn't want to do anything during the first trimester. I was so tired, and I just wanted to sleep. Thank goodness for the second trimester. :) Here are some pictures from Week 10.

The head is on the right and the legs are on the left. But I think it just looks like a bunny.

Currently I am at Week 16 and on December 14th we will have another ultrasound and find out if its a boy or a girl. For now, the name for a boy is Parker John Gade Hansen and for a girl Kennedy Grace Gade Hansen.

We are calling it "Mo" (for now).

I thought I would share the first ultrasound photo. Mo is between the arrows and the dot is his/her heart. (Hearing the heartbeat was so incredibly amazing.) The circle is the yolk sac. Disregard the info in the lower right hand corner. It's wrong. I'll have to have a talk with the doctor about this! :)

Thanks everyone for your well wishes.

Kara

Kara is Pregnant

That's right folks, the little swimmers did their job. Kara is pregnant and we couldn't be happier! We had an early ultrasound last week due to the previous ectopic pregnancy. The baby was too small to measure, but we did see and hear the heartbeat. It was going at a rate of 120 beats per minute. The baby is just now seven weeks.

Our family and friends are very excited as well (and so are the nurses at the doctor's office). Between the failed adoption over the 4th of July and the news of this pregnancy we are relearning just how valuable and caring our friends are here in Wyoming. The support is just amazing and we are so blessed to have all these people in our lives.

We have our next ultrasound on the 14th of October. At that time they will be able to measure the baby. I don't know what else they will do then other than tell us the due date. However, since we know when Kara was impregnated it's pretty easy to determine the due date. It should be either the 8th or 9th of May. This is perfect timing for us due to Kara being a teacher. She will be able to take the last month off from school (thankfully she has that much time saved as long as she doesn't get sick) and then she will have three more months due to summer vacation. That means she will get to spend 4 months with our little one before returning back to work.

We hope everyone is as excited as we are. This has been a very long process. It has been four years since we first began the adoption process. It is a very good feeling knowing that our family will finally be expanding and will include a little one.

Thanks for all the prayers and support! We truly appreciate it. Keep coming back for more updates on the pregnancy.