Acclimation

Since Trent and I are winter enthusiasts, enjoying snowboarding together and Trent also developing an interest in snowmobiling, we figured it's important to acclimate Lily to the wonders of winter and snow early on. After all, she'll be snowboarding in a couple of years, right?

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas is easily one of my favorite days of the year. I love the decorations, the lights, the tree, the snow (when there is snow), a delicious breakfast and of course, spending time with family. This Christmas was no exception to a wonderful tradition of great Christmas experiences.

We started off the morning early (who can sleep with all the anticipation and excitement!) and, to Trent's chagrin, I wanted to start with a picture. After nearly 20 attempts (and Trent pulling faces in each on of them), this is as good as it got:


Lily was somewhat interested in the presents she received... but mostly interested in the wrapping paper, boxes, and any type of "stringed attachments" to her toys that she could stick in her mouth.


After opening presents at our house, we headed up to Layton to visit Grandma & Grandpa Sharp, Great Grandma Austin and the cousins. All the girls wore their matching pajamas Grandma bought for them.


For some reason... my mom didn't buy me any pajamas. What a jip! I guess she didn't think that I wanted to match with the little girls. Little did she know...

Grandma and Grandpa bought Lily a rocking horse for Christmas. The horse moves its head, wags its tail and makes all sorts of noises. Lily is a little scared of it now... but we're sure she'll grow out of her fear!

All in all, it was a fun day! Now, we'll have to start the countdown to Christmas for next year...

Meeting Santa Claus

We had our "Sharp Family Christmas Party" at Grandma Sharp's recently (with all my dad's sisters and their families). Each year, my dad gets the ultimate privilege of playing Santa. I guess that's what happens when you're the only boy!

Lily got to meet Santa... and let's just say that she wasn't thrilled about it:


However, she wasn't as terrified/horrified/frightened/scared/alarmed/terrorized/(any other adjectives you'd like to add?) as her cousin Kelsie was.


Pure torture... so awesome.

California Trip... Continued

Another highlight of our trip to California was spending time on the beach. Even though the weather was overcast and a little gloomy, we still had a great time wandering and exploring the beach.



With this trip, Lily has now been to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific. What a lucky girl!

Our 1st Family Trip to Disneyland!

Our adventure to the "Happiest Place on Earth" was fantastic. The only thing which could have made it better was warmer, drier weather. Regardless, we made the most of our time there spending 3 days at Disneyland (including one night of trick-or-treating), two days at Universal Studios and a night at "The Haunt" at Knott's Scary Farm. Since my earliest days working during Frightmare's at lagoon, I've wanted to go to the Haunt.

Check that one off the bucket list!

Yes, it was worth all the hype and it was everything I thought it would be... plus some. For an old lady like me, staying up until 2am was a stretch... but completely worth it.

Lily's favorite ride at Disneyland was "It's a Small World". She clapped and squealed along with the singing. Since the ride lasts 10+ minutes, we only brought ourselves to go on it twice. We just couldn't convince Justin a 3rd time was worth it. It took bribery just to get him on the ride for the second time.

(Lily on her favorite ride)

My favorite ride was... that's hard to say. I can say for sure it wasn't the long ride to and from California.


Sometimes you have to be creative (or crazy) to make the time pass more quickly! Gratefully, there were no problems or speeding tickets either to or from our destination.

While on the vacation, it was fun for the girls to spend some quality time with each other... matching and all. For a family that only believes in having girls, at least they're cute!



While waiting in a line for 75 minutes plus to get our picture taken with the princesses... including Cinderella was not cool... being able to take turns waiting in line while the other people went through "trick or treat" lines to get free candy definitely was cool.

For "Mickey's Halloween Party", Lily came as a lamb... IMHO, she made an adorable little lamb (yes, I do realize that I am extremely biased).

While some people like to wear their 3D glasses on the tour at Universal Studios, other prefer to try and eat them.

I really hope that they sanitize those. Oh well... what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, right?

One of the best parts of the trip for Lily was all the attention she got from Grandma & Grandpa Sharp, her cousins and aunts and uncles...

Or maybe that was really one of our favorite parts!

9 Month Stats

Lily turned 9 months old almost two weeks ago... on October 12. Trent took her to her doctor appointment the following day. She seemed to have recovered from the trauma of the appointment (getting shots) by the time I got home from work.

Here are the stats:

Weight: 19 lbs 2 oz - 57%
Height: 27 inches - 31%
Head Circumference: 43 cm - 22%

More than anything, we're grateful to have a healthy, happy baby girl!

There will be posts about our California trip and Disneyland coming soon!

Blog Merge

I realize I've been terrible at blogging. I discovered one of the reasons I haven't kept up is because I unintentionally ended up with two blogs. (trentandamanda.blogspot.com and hansenbabyblog.blogspot.com). This happened when I started the baby blog after finding out I was expecting. However, because I didn't want my pregnancy to be public early on, I started a whole new blog.

Well... what I've learned in the past year is that two is TOO many. I've merged all the information from trentandamanda.blogspot.com so I will only have one blog to upkeep. I'm hopeful this will keep me motivated. Check back for more regular posts!

Babbling Baby

Lily started babbling a ton today, for the first time. She's always made a lot of noise... but now we can't get her to stop! In fact, she'll babble for a bit, stick her binky in her mouth, then pull it out because she has more to say!



I'm not sure the people at the Indian restaurant liked it too much... but we sure did love it!

Riding Bikes...

Before Lily was born... we bought her a really cool bike seat. Trent & I love to ride bikes together... so we figured that she'd enjoy coming along for the ride.

A couple weeks ago Trent pulled our bikes down from the hooks where they are carefully hung on the roof of our garage. I'm embarrassed to say that this was the first time I've used my bike at all since Lily joined us. Luckily, I still remembered how to ride. I guess that's why people have coined the phrase... "it's like riding a bike". Apparently that's not something you are supposed to quickly forget how to do.


Lily loved the ride!! It wasn't until after we were finished that I realized we should really have a bike helmet for her. After spending over an hour searching for infant helmets, I discovered they don't make them for babies her size. Apparently it's not safe to take a baby on a bike until they're at least a year old. How disappointing! I guess we'll wait a while for her next ride. I imagine, by then, she'll like it even more.

Fallen off the blogging planet...

The title basically says it all. While I've had really good intentions to contribute posts to my blog with some degree of frequency, I've basically failed recently. I don't have any excuses for it... I just didn't make it a priority.

Lily has grown and changed so much! Every day brings something new and exciting. She's five months old today and doing great! She's learned some new tricks in the past couple months. In the next few days, I will be posting various short video clips of Lily's progress. Among her new tricks are rolling over and sitting up. She's a talkative little girl and loves making noises. She recently started "growling" as well. It's fun for all of us!

A few weeks ago, Lily had her first experience swiming. The weather was gloomy and cold out but we went to an indoor pool up in Clearfield. Lily loved swimming with Elizabeth, Jeff, Grandma, Morgan & Maddie.

What a fun time!! She even loved the shower afterwards. The only part she didn't enjoy as much was when I thought maybe she could float... so I let her go and she sunk in the water... with her face getting wet. I guess I learned my lesson... she can't float yet :)

Bobbing for Binkies

I meant to post this video weeks ago... I just love Lily's determination to get the binky back in her mouth. Go Lily!!

Lily's Blessing

Trent blessed Lily last Sunday. It's funny... she really rarely cries. However, as soon as he started the blessing, she started to cry. Interesting. Everything turned out great. Lily's Grandma Sharp made her blessing dress. It was gorgeous. The pictures really don't do it justice. My mom and I went and had some pictures taken of her today in the dress. Honestly, she didn't love having her pictures taken. Some of them looked pretty good though. For such a happy baby, she sure didn't want to smile for the photographer today.

Here are some pictures of our event on Sunday:

Waiting for the big event

Trent looks so happy!

Lily with Daddy and the boys

Two great grandmas came for the special day

There was time for some fun afterwards.

French Beret Baby

I just love this picture of Lily.
Blessing pictures are still to come...

More Pictures

Lily is 3 months old now... okay I said it. I can't believe how fast time flies and how much she's grown! Monday was her official 3 month mark. Sunday Trent blessed her. Saturday was her first time jumping on the trampoline. It's been a big week for us!

Lily with her Mama

After bath time at Grandma Sharp's house... Lily loves her baths

Check out the michelin man arms!!

Look at those cheeks!!

First Easter Basket. Thanks 'Bama & Papa Sharp... and Great Grandma Austin!!

Musical Therapy

Although Lily is a very good baby when it comes to her crying frequency, there are occasional times when she simply isn't happy. It's times like those that her Aunt Elizabeth breaks out in song, dances around with her, and "scares" her into silence. Whatever it takes!! Lily loves it when her aunt sings and dances with her.

The video below is a nice rendition of Cruella de Vil. It certainly was entertainment for all! Thanks Elizabeth!!

New Hobby

Lily has recently (within the last couple of weeks) discovered a new hobby. She may have discovered this earlier except that we always kept her hands covered. Now that she is "free"... she just can't get enough of her index finger on her left hand. Occasionally, she manages to slip her thumb in her mouth as well. Sometimes she sucks so hard on it that I'm afraid she'll do some damage to it... but then I just think, "oh well, at least it's her left hand!"

She managed to get the thumb in for this photo:

The red index finger shows the aftermath of a "Lily attack"

Evidence of the new Hobby:

Proof

I still feel somewhat emotionally damaged after holding Lily's arms down while she got her two month shots. She was so happy before her doctor's appointment and so unhappy after. Here's your proof:

Before Picture:




After Picture:



If a picture says a thousand words... then a video says EVERYTHING. Poor thing. My own little "angry elf"...

2 Month Stats

We survived Lily's two month appointment!! (barely). To be honest, it wasn't Lily's favorite activity she's done so far. She especially hated the shots. I'm not sure if she hated them as much as I did though. Seeing her get shots and scream in pain (while holding down her arms) is seriously the saddest thing in the world. I started to cry a little and the nurse asked me if I was okay. I wasn't even the one who got the shots! The whole thing just broke my heart. As we left the doctor's office... I grabbed a lollipop for myself... I figured I deserved it after surviving the appointment.

Here are the stats:

Length: 22.5 inches - 54%
Weight: 11 lbs 9 oz - 72%
Head Circumference - 38.2 cm 32%

After starting out so tiny... Lily has grown a ton! She's a great eater... which is evidenced by her weight gain. We love her chubby cheeks and thighs!

Nearly 2 Months!!!

Tomorrow, our little princess Lillian will officially be 2 months old. It's hard to believe for us. I've done a sub-par job at keeping up the blog... as I've basically spent all the time I could with Lily. I'll be going back to work in a few weeks so I'm trying to enjoy this time as much as possible.


Lily grows and changes every day. She's getting really big! I feel like I get decent exercise carrying her up and down the stairs. She has her two month appointment tomorrow so we'll find out her official stats... however, I think she's nearly doubled her weight since birth. What a good eater she is!
Lily spends more and more of her time laughing and smiling now. It's fun to watch her little personality start to develop. She's still our champion sleeper. Beginning at 6 weeks, she has been sleeping through the night. We put her to bed around 9:30 or 10:00 and she sleeps until 6:00 or 7:00. I love having uninterrupted sleep!! Now, since I'm not pregnant anymore and having to get up every couple of hours to go to the bathroom, I can really enjoy the sleep!

Here's some of our recent pics:

Lily loves her "bumbo" chair. It allows her to sit up on her own. She especially liked it during the Olympics... so she could watch hockey!! She definitely is her "Bama and Papa's" granddaughter... developing an early love for hockey!


We've taken Lily on more walks... now that the weather is getting a little warmer. She loves to look at all the scenery... especially at the sky.


After having a receding hairline for a while... Lily's hair is starting to fill out! She likes to lay on her boppy and exercise her neck strength.

February Update

We're all doing well in the Hansen home. Lily is getting so big! In fact, yesterday we used the last of her newborn diapers... and now she's wearing size 1. It's bittersweet seeing her grow so quickly.

Here are some photos of the latest developments in our lives.

It's so frustrating when your hat covers your eyes... and you just can't seem to get it off!

Lily celebrates turning one month old!!

Two days after reaching the one month mark, we had a very happy Valentine's Day. We were hoping her outfit would fit... but it was pretty big on her. One of these days... it'll be a snug fit.

First walk ever!! She liked it a lot until she woke up... then she wasn't super thrilled.

Trent gave Lily her first ride in the baby carrier.

I've discovered the "hands free" carrier is really useful so I can get a few things done and not feel like I'm neglecting my baby.

Lily continues to be our little rock star when it comes to sleeping. There hasn't been one night where I've had to get up more than one time. She frequently provides a 6-7 hour stretch each night. Way to go Lillian!!