Clyde James

9.28.2013

7 lbs 12 oz & 20 inches

newsletter

I posted our family newsletter on my facebook wall on Feb 9. Take a look if you haven't seen it! It is not quite a christmas newsletter, but I have every excuse in the world for the delay:)

the end.

The Obligatory Child Birth Post

It occurred to me that I have been remiss in following the blogging tradition of giving a detailed account of child birth.

Here are the facts, which may or may not be detailed.

I was induced at 41 weeks along at my doctors recommendation. I arrived at the hospital the afternoon of December 26th, and left the morning of December 30th. I had dinner on on the 26th, but didn't eat for the next 36 hours, which was not very fun. Labor technically began on monday night with the first induction part (cervidil) but not really in earnest until early the next morning when the pitocin drip started. I did get an epidural even though I really didn't want to, but it was mostly worn off by the time baby arrived. I'm hoping for spontaneous labor and a natural delivery next time around.

Labor hurts a lot. During labor I enjoyed these activities: eating ice chips, listening to David read, playing a card game with David, attempting to move around to manage pain but being put back in bed because the baby heart monitor would not cooperate, getting my water manually broken (which made labor much more painful I might add), and arguing with David about why he should go to the cafeteria and buy breakfast, then lunch, then dinner for himself. I think I won the breakfast and dinner argument, but not lunch. Poor David ate some granola bars instead. Also, I enjoyed dragging the IV stand around with me to and from the bathroom an infinite number of times.

Labor was around 20 hours (starting from the pitocin) including 3.5 hours of pushing, ending in a forceps delivery (which I was grateful for since the alternative was a c-section!). And then the baby came out and she was HUGE and no wonder her head got stuck! My first observation was my stomach deflated quite dramatically. My first question was whether she was really a girl (I did not totally trust the ultrasound..), but was ignored and I had to ask twice.

And then a lot more stuff happened and I was beyond tired and a complete basketcase for the next week or so.

But it turns out I had a really cute baby. And I love her. And she has AWESOME hair.

the end.

Ila Miriam

12.28.2011

9.0 lbs & 20 inches

Napa trip

So I am finally getting around to reporting on a trip DH and I went on last February. To Napa. The land of wine and grapes.

We had some friends who invited us and another couple to help them use up some "points" that were expiring on a hotel package. Napa is about an hour and a half from Palo Alto. We had three rooms, one of which had a full kitchen. We stayed there Sunday and Monday nights, ate lovely food, even visited a winery!

Napa Valley is all about wine tasting and tours. We didn't want to pay to go on a tour when we were mostly paying for the wine tasting at the end that we wouldn't be tasting! We ended up visiting a winery and doing a short self tour. The shape of Napa Valley reminded me a lot of Cache Valley in Utah (minus wine and vineyards!). There is literally one vineyard after another. There are SO SO many.

Here are some pics while at the vineyard:

I'm inside a wine barrel!

Me, Christine, and Silas

1120 gallon barrel!

David the Graduate + no more secret

Yesterday was David's graduation from Stanford. He looked super awesome in his special outfit.

You might think there is a degree certificate inside of that thing he is holding. But, no. Instead he has a certificate that says, Congratulations, You're Almost Done! (David won't actually defend his dissertation until early August.)

My parents and David's mother came to the ceremony. It was great! The commencement speaker put in all sorts of economics jokes which I even thought were funny. I guess I've been living with an economist for three years now:)

Another perk was that they gave us food. As a response, David said, "Economists know that hungry people don't donate as much money." Right. Economists are smart.

You can watch a recording of his "hooding" here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_bJa3Wr13I

As for the SECRET, it is no longer a secret. Because we are telling it. Hence, no more secret. I am having a baby and it is due December 20th. We alternate between calling it the "poor little christmas baby" and "Emperor Palpatine." :-)

i am an evil genius

So we spent Christmas in Utah this year, as usual.

University of Utah won the BYU-Utah game this year so David had to wear his brother's Utah tie to his home ward over christmas. Except I got to wear it the day before. Its odd that I don't have any pictures of David wearing it though. Maybe he removed the evidence on the sly.

We spent our days literally dashing to and fro (what a clever allusion, I must say). It was tiring, but fun. We managed to get one picture with both of us in it. We are dancing a jig.

My favorite parts about christmas this year were receiving the Popple, watching my nephews open presents christmas morning (we slept over at my sisters the night before), and discovering my nephew Luke's latest cutism. He is talking a lot now (age 2) and has a maniacal laugh. His dad has trained him to say, "I am an evil genius, mwahahahaha!"

I said four

When I was little (and likely before I was born) my grandparents used to interview us at Christmastime. My family has our biggest Christmas celebration on Dec 23rd. We have a lot of home videos from this night from previous years, and they often include the interviews. One of the most notorious interviews that went down in family history starred me, age four, being interviewed by my paternal grandmother.

Here are the highlights:

Grandmommy: How old are you Laura?

me: four.

Grandmommy: what?

me: I SAID FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(my family likes to quote me on this. Incessantly. )

----

At some point during the interview I begin to pinch my nose.

Grandmommy: What are you doing that for Laura?

me: your breath is stinky

--------

Grandmommy: What do you want for Christmas Laura?

me: a popple.

Grandmommy: what?

me: A POPPLE!!!

-------

But no popple came that year. In fact, no popple came any year after that and I'd soon forgotten about my dearest christmas wish.

Until this year.

We had interviews again, for the first time since I can remember, and my mom interviewed me. On camera, she gives me a present. (This is strange, because we already opened all the presents--or so I thought). She tells me to open it. She said she has waited 23 years to give me this present.

I opened it to reveal....

Meet Priscilla the Popple. Now I can die happy.

vac*

VAC: This is the cost code I use to charge vacation time at work.

Vacaville: Very important city on I-80 in CA. I think they've got an In-N-Out too.

Vacation: what I did last week. sortof.

DH and I partied with the family in Utah. A lot of partying. Good times were had. And now that we are back in P-town, it feels like the vacation has finally started and we can lay around:)

mr photogenic

DH is so cute. Even when smirking. I adore him. :)

He is now 29. This is his first prime number in 6 years. Poor guy. He's had to wait so long.

yes, that is a mini cheesecake. courtesy of moi.

snapshots of christmas

We went home for Christmas this year, as usual. Here are a few pictures from our trip:

David was cold while waiting at the airport.

Ah, it's me in my 10 year old coat. It's not even that warm, but it serves as my Utah coat.

Nephew Alex really bulked up this Christmas.

This is the ONLY picture we have taken of DH and me together. Apparently we were excited about eating the kids snacks.

Alex, flying.

DH and I went to see the Nutcracker. It was the "Nutty" Nutcracker, where the ballet was tweeked slightly and it was really hilarious. There was a Where's Waldo wandering around the set, a disco ball, performers wearing the wrong costume, rollerblading instead of dancing, and more. Thanks Heidi and Brian for the comp tickets!

Ah, the cute Naked baby Luke. His fat is so cute. I had to touch it.

This is the game invented by the Hansen family nephews and nieces. You close yourself in the closet, then open the door and pop out!

The end.

the box that became part of the floor

Once upon a time there was a box. I packed it many years ago. It followed me from move to move, but I never opened it. There are a lot of boxes like that, but most of them are in my hope chest. However, this one was not. It's been sitting in front of my dresser for the last 1.5 years. It's far enough away that I can still open the drawers. Gradually it just became part of the floor. I vacuum around it, stack clothes on it, but mostly just forget about it. There are a couple other boxes like that..but I know what is in those. Hangers. Winter clothes. Etc.

About 8 years ago my mom and I went to Family Fabrics. It was a going-out-of-business sale. I chose a bunch of material (at lightning speed, according to my mom) that I could use to make a quilt for my bed. Then we bought two quilting books. Somewhere in a box is a bag of 20+ yards of fabric and the quilting book with my chosen design. Today I thought I'd try and find that box. Not wanting to go into the storm cellar if I didn't have to, I decided to open up the box that had become part of the floor. There was no fabric, but I discovered other long forgotten treasures.

1. My ancient white baby blanket.

2. Another baby blanket. I don't remember this one.

3. A beautiful pewter clock from my great grandmothers house. I'd totally forgotten I had it. (It was in pieces, so I tried to find a picture of how it fit together and eventually found this picture. I hung it up in the kitchen, and even replaced the zillion year old C-battery inside:)

4. A framed medallion for the Utah Aviation Hall of Fame in honor of my great grandfather.

5. Two boxes within the box. These will remain shrouded in mystery.

6. Old hymnals from earlier days of the LDS church.

7. I Have a Song for You, Volume 1 & 2!!!!!!! I was lamenting the fact not too long ago that I couldn't find these. Yay:)

Now if only I knew where that fabric went...

in the heat of battle

Also while visiting Utah, DH and I spent time athleticizing with his family.

Mrs. H sure can swing that club.

My brilliant balancing act.

Jonny watches thoughtfully from the sidelines.

Mr. H preps his golf ball. Let it be known he had 3 holes in one. Go Mr. H!

And now, tennis. Be aware that the temperature was in the upper 90s. If you are wondering why I am not in these tennis pictures, it's because I was sitting in the shade leaning against a fence like any sane person would under the circumstances.

I inherited nephew Cooper upon marriage to DH. He is so adorable.

Aw. DH is smiling at me.

Cooper's mom, Anita (below), turned 25 the same day my nephew Lucas turned 1. She and I are the same age now...but regrettably for only 3 weeks since I am soon to leave 5^2 for 2*13.

The H brothers battle it out. Notice the intense facial expressions!

Jonny is ready for anything DH can dish out.

This is Jonny's thoughtful moment before he pounces!

With the amount of golf and tennis going on this trip, you might be fooled into thinking that's how the H family spend most of their time. But don't be fooled. Trivial Pursuit, Guess-what-President-is-on-my-forehead (below), and newspaper Price is Right are just a few of the games known to have gripped the H family during our trip:)

Lucas: 1.0

David and I went to Utah for a few days to visit the fam. While we were there, my nephew Lucas had his first birthday. See below for a scene by scene description!

Lucas eyes the carrot cake, amidst a crowd of relatives.

Lucas is now thinking it might be ok to eat some of the cake.

The Sassy Mama. (Talking on the phone AND cutting cake at the same time! So talented.)

Lucas has not only decided he likes the cake, but decides to crush it against his chest. Good thing the Sassy Mama decided to remove his shirt!

Aw.