Our beautiful little boy was born this morning… check out http://www.averyhansen.com/ for some pictures!

The beginning is near! Contractions made their grand entrance around 1am on Sunday. They were quite irregular in the beginning, but after a couple of calls to the doctor, we headed for the hospital around 2pm. What started as general observation turned into admission late in the afternoon. And so here we are, keeping an eye on the fetal heart monitor and the contractions… waiting.

It looks like Baby still has a good chance of sharing his birthday. Sunday was Rodney’s 8th birthday (apologies to him for missing most of it - I’m sure he’ll knock over something or puke in our bedroom as a way of showing his appreciation) and I don’t think the king of the house would have wanted to share his birthday with Baby. After all, cats are so territorial. Monday is Leanne’s aunt’s birthday and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind sharing her day… I hope.

Baby seems excited for his big day, as demonstrated by all the dance moves he has been putting on. Of course, mommy doesn’t appreciate the punching and kicking… but she’s been really strong through this so far. We’re both extremely tired… hopefully we can catch up on a couple hours of sleep shortly… before the real fun begins!

I’ll keep the latest status here and on Facebook… ‘nite!

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to Leanne’s surprise baby shower (and those who sent gifts)! We had a great time and appreciate the work Desiree put in to organizing the whole thing. The best comment of the day came from Leanne as we approached the house… “Why are there balloons on our mailbox!? What are people doing in our backyard!?”

We’ve got some stuff up into Baby’s room, so here’s an updated picture:

Well, progress is being made! This weekend we assembled the crib Craig’s dad bought for Baby and just about finished painting the baseboard heaters. Here’s a picture of the room as of this morning:

Leanne spent the afternoon arranging the dressers and shelves and we expect the changing table to arrive by early next week.

Oh, and a BIG thank you to Sharon for the awesome paint job!!

Yes. A baby!!

It’s been a while since we’ve provided an update. Things have been crazy around the house and we’re scrambling to get things in order so we can start to get ready for the baby. For those who haven’t heard, we’re having a boy! Negotiations are still underway regarding the name.

Also, for those of you that have been asking, we have registered at Babies R Us, Amazon.com, and Target. Many items appear on more than one registry so you’ll have flexible buying options. Below are links to each of our registries:

Unfortunately, neither Honda nor Toyota have baby registries… so disappointing.

As we round the bend past the half-way mark of the pregnancy, it’s time to start thinking of baby names. We don’t want to be left calling baby “baby” for too long. Some potential first and middle names have surfaced. If baby is a boy, the following three candidates are on the list so far:

• Xavier Roberts
• Hank Aaron
• Craig Jr.

And if baby ends up being a girl, here’s what we have come up with:

• Maiden Veedae
• Georgette Louise
• Hannah Annah

So that’s our list… feel free to leave comments letting us know which one is your favorite (or make other suggestions!). Each name has some special meaning, and in a few months, we’ll explain what each of the names means and how we came up with them.

This coming Friday (yes, the 13th!!) we have our next ultrasound. If baby cooperates, we hope to be able to find out if its a boy or a girl… stay tuned!

Over the past couple of years, we’ve been invited to a number of weddings by friends and family. Based on all the invitations we’ve seen, there seems to be some monotonous standard to the wording that should appear on the invitation. Sure, you could write your name and place a check mark next to “Chicken”, but what fun is that?

In the past, we’ve drawn random shapes and pretty pictures next to our meal choices (c’mon - the check mark is so 1973). We’ve used different colored pens, funky handwriting, and upside-down printing. The fun of your wedding day should really start well before your wedding and it’s a nice break from the monotony of check-marked-chicken to see a returned invitation that stands out from the rest.

Our most recent invite is no different. We recently received an invitation to my cousin’s wedding, and here’s what the return card from the invitation looks like… You can click the image for a larger version.

And for those of you wondering, on the flip side we put our names and actual meal choices. We didn’t want to add too much stress on them!

Guess what! We’re having a baby! How’s that for an excuse why we haven’t updated our web site for so long.

We had the first ultrasound this morning and below are a couple of Baby’s first pictures. Baby is at just over 11 weeks and looking healthy. Let us know your guess on whether Baby will be a boy or a girl - simply vote using the choices on the right side of this page.

In this first picture, Baby’s head is on the left and you can make out part of a leg on the right:

In the next picture, Baby is waving hello with a tiny hand (circled).

Feel free to drop us note by leaving comments or sending us an email. To leave comments, just click the comments link below. We’d love to hear from ya!

Just a quick note to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Throughout this past summer, we had been working to remove a number of bushes from in front of the house and prepare for a new retaining wall. Well, a few months ago we finally had the new wall installed. Here is a before and after view of the area:

Somehow, we got left with an extra pile of crushed stone, so hopefully we’ll find a use (or a new home) for them. We also just recently had a new lamppost installed and are awaiting the arrival of the new fixture to go with it. There will be pictures available soon. Next fall, we hope to complete the walkway, since right now the new steps are connected to the old walkway and driveway by a path of crushed stone.