Dear Powers that Be,

I am happy right now. My life is pretty fine.
Of course there are still things I would change if I could. There are things that are just hard and times when I worry my little head until I just have to kneel down and pray. There are things that are stressful and make me cry on occasion. But I think there will always be a few of those and, overall, I consider this to be a darn good time in my life. My husband is healthy (a clean bill of health from his doctor yesterday after another round of tests!) and there were times in the last year when I wasn't sure if and when that would happen. There were times I thought I might lose him. So these days, knowing he's mine and that he's healthy makes me enormously happy. I love my man. I love my little man too and feel lucky that he is also healthy and happy. We love eachother and love being together. Glenn works hard at the incredible university he attends and has an amazing job waiting. We have a beautiful home in a beautiful neighborhood. I have friends and am involved in activities that allow me to not only take care of my family, which I really enjoy, but also improve myself and develop my talents. There's just so much to be grateful for.
I realize that thinking this about my life, let alone actually recording it, means that I will probably bring some great and terrible trial upon myself. I also know that there are a few inevitable changes in my immediate future, but for now, they seem do-able and I am happy. Basically, Powers that Be, I know that changes are coming. I know because life is so good right now and usually that's a signal for some hard times ahead. Could I just ask one little thing?
Please be gentle.

Moving along

Tate at 49 weeks old.

New developments this week:
-Crawling on hands and knees. Whenever he is moving on the ground now he's on all fours. That's right, the army crawl is no more. I actually really miss it.
- Little squeezes when I pick him up. Sometimes when he has a fall, or when I get him out of his crib in the morning or after naps he grabs my shoulder and around my neck and leans his head into my shoulder and squeezes me really tight. I absolutely love those little hugs. I don't think he knows it's a hug or that I love it so much, but I do!
-Shoulder bites. Sometimes Tate gets really excited and dives his face into our shoulders and takes a little nibble. Sometimes it's just a slimy mouth print. Sometimes he actually chomps down. Just four tiny teeth but man, those things are sharp.
- This might be too much information but it's definitely new this week too. Tate found his boy parts. He knows where they are, and he remembers that when it's bath time or when I change his diapers he can reach them. Sometimes it's a wrestle to keep his hands out of his poopy bottom parts while I'm changing him. What's the deal there? It's kind of funny and at the same time it's, "Seriously boy, cut it out."
-Much more confidence in his walking abilities. He took off all the way down the hallway today without falling over, sitting down, or grabbing onto the wall. I'm still just waiting for him to tumble when he takes off on his own but I'm waiting longer now than I used to. We sure have a sweet kid.

Picture Tuesday

Tate at 48 weeks oldTate loves bath time. He's chatting to all of his toys as he puts them in his mouth and splashes like crazy for as long as I let him stay in the tub. It's fun to see him so happy.

Tate is eleven months old this week! WOW did that ever happen fast. He is just so much fun right now. Very busy, moving non-stop, getting in to everything, but also really fun to be with. He certainly keeps us on our toes. Tate had a nice little crash on Sunday when I took him to the mother's lounge to change him. After I changed him I put him down by some metal folding chairs leaned against the wall and turned around to put things back in the diaper bag. I thought to myself, "He could probably pull those chairs down on himself and that wouldn't be good at all. But I'll only be a second. He'll be fine if I hurry really fast." The very next second he had tried to climb up the chairs. As he pulled himself up the two chairs fell on top of him. It was loud. It was scary. But he wasn't hurt too bad. He had a nice bruise on his cheek that is nearly gone already. I felt terrible, of course. It's amazing fast he can get in to things. If I am not paying attention for just a minute he's in another room getting in to something.

We've had a busy week trying to get tons of playing in before Glenn went back to school today. Sad day. We miss him already. Only one more semester of graduate school. It sure has gone fast. It's strange to think that we've been here for a year and a half and we only have one more semester to go.

The Adventures of Man Boy

I have a little baby boy, AND I have a Man Boy. He's like my very own super hero. Part Man. Part Boy. His manliness is in abundance when there are sporting events to be watched, played, or discussed at length. He can sense in the air when I am about to have an emotional breakdown and his great big man hugs are the best medicine there is. His part Man kicks in big time when it is time to lift heavy things, do his school work, fix things around the home, exercise, or discuss serious things like politics.

However, my very own Man Boy also has the ability to not only behave as, but to actually become a boy of around 6 or 7. When he plays with Tate's new giant legos (thanks Aunt Sue) he builds airplanes complete with machine guns and bombs that drop (with sound effects of course). When he reads to Tate he uses character voices that are so animated it makes Tate giggle. His part boy also comes out when endlessly quoting movies or sometimes at night when we just can't stop making eachother laugh long enough to go to sleep.

This Christmas a new adventure began for my Man Boy. I found what I believe to be the best present I have found for him yet. A remote control helicopter. I knew that he had always wanted a remote control airplane. I thought this small, inexpensive one would be sort of a joke and a fun way to get him started. Little did I know that this toy would bring out the Boy in my Man Boy more than anything I have seen in quite some time. My Man Boy plays with his helicopter until it runs out of battery, charges it, then plays with it again. He sends it zooming around the room, chasing after our poor terrified dog Rosie, carefully sailing it around corners, through openings, and landing it on small pre-determined locations. "Look Hon, I'm going to land it on the ceiling fan blade." And then he does. It's very durable which is excellent considering all of the crashing that went into the development of his considerable skill. Plus, it makes great crashing noises. A friend of ours from our ward received a helicopter for Christmas too. They're talking about getting together and setting up an obstacle course. I have no doubt that that plan will soon come to fruition.

Man Boy was so pleased with his helicopter that he asked his wife to take him to the place where she bought it. Just to see what other kinds they had. My Man Boy then discovered this model. It is just as easy to fly but flies MUCH faster. "Now I can fly this one while the other is charging!" he exclaimed. And he does. Oh how I love my Man Boy.

Picture Tuesday

Tate at 47 weeks old

Man, he got big fast! Little Man got a new seat this week. He was pretty snug in his other car seat so we moved on up. He seems kind of indifferent to the whole thing. He spent the first ride just looking straight forward with great big eyes. And this is how he spends a lot of his time in his new chair.

Here he is on our jog yesterday morning. I love his little face. And I love looking down and seeing these little legs.
He enjoys kicking back and resting his feet on that little bar. It's funny to see his little legs sticking straight out.

Christmas Time!

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas. Here's a little catch up of our goings on over the last two weeks.

Christmas morning we opened presents. Tate had no idea what was going on but we sure had fun opening our presents and helping him with his. I can't wait until he's a little older and he understands what Christmas is about. It was so much more fun this year just having him around. Tate got a few toys and books. A long horn football of course. He really liked the bows and the crackly sound when he ripped the paper up.
Glenn got this remote control helicopter among other things.

He had fun playing for a few minutes before we packed up and headed to the airport to go to Utah. I love my little man boy. He sure makes a fantastic daddy.

Tate got a little restless on the plane. We tried all of his toys and snacks and such and finally gave him one of our tickets to keep him quiet. He promptly put it all in his mouth and had a great time making a big slobbery mess of it. Yum.

We spent a wonderful week and a half in Utah. It was fun to see everyone at home again and to spend so much time relaxing, playing games, and catching up. We saw some fabulous movies together, went to "The Savior of the World" at the Conference center, which was amazing, and spent a lot of time doing this:Beatles Rock Band. A new Hansen house toy. We rocked out all week. Turns out I know a lot more beatles songs than I thought. Also turns out most of the lyrics to most of the Beatles songs are pretty dumb (have you ever really read the lyrics for "Come Together"? Wow.) Kenzie, Adam, and Glenn are naturals, of course. Mom, Dad, and I are...more talented in other ways.

This Christmas break there was plenty of snow which meant we were able to do a lot of this:

It's been a few years since we've had enough snow to run the four wheelers dragging tubes down the street. The best part is spinning around in really fast circles at the end of our cul-de-sac. Awesome! We took turns driving and being whipped around. I acquired some nice bruises from some sneaky hidden ice chunks. This is the first time I've ridden with Kenzie as the driver and I must say she did a good job.

I was glad that Tate was able to see a little more snow. Something we don't see in Texas.Little Miss Mya sure has grown up in the last two months. She's just a tiny, skinny little princess and I am constantly surprised at how much personality and spunk the girl has. It's so much fun. She has a thing for glasses.

And even gave us a taste of her dancing. Nice moves babe.

Tate hit another couple of milestones during our stay at Nanna and Grampa's house. He cut his fourth tooth and took some shaky first steps. Kenzie and I made him walk back and forth one night before pjs and he was pretty tired before we got the camera out but we still caught a few good ones.

He's doing better now. He's been standing up, steadying himself, and then walking a few steps to me. He falls down a lot more than he did last week because now he knows that taking a few steps is fun to do so he tries to do it all the time even if he's not quite balanced. Lots of "I'm hurt mommy" or "that was scary mommy" snuggles. Love those. It's fun to watch his thoughts on his face. He's so stinkin' brave. Rarely does he hestitate before he dives headfirst off of something or pause before he walks away from the wall. He doesn't ever seem to think, "Hmmm, I wonder if this will hurt." He just does it. That sounds like his dad to me. In most ways I'd rather him be like that than a worrier and overthinker like me. I love my silly little boy.

Thanks so much everyone for a wonderful Christmas/New Years break. It was much needed and so nice to see you all. We love you and miss you already!

Oh yes, here are some pictures for the last two picture Tuesdays. I'm a bit behind.

Tate at 45 weeks oldCrawling out of his pj pants which are a little big on him.

Tate at 46 weeks old

Smushy face kiss from Glenn. Tate was smiling I promise.