Day at the Zoo

For Chris' Birthday we spent the day at Binder Park Zoo with his Dad, Alisa, Michael & Kailyn. It was a fun day, Skylar really liked the goats in the petting zoo, feeding the giraffes (she was not scared at all, she would just hold the cookie out and let them slurp it right out of her hand), and of course the monkeys. She was not so much a fan of carousel. By the end of the day she was pooped out and fell asleep before we hit the highway!

That was fun! Thanks for riding down with me daddy!

the cousins

feeding the giraffe

MONKEY

not so sure she likes it

Alisa, MIchael, Kailyn, Grandpa, Chris & Skylar

Skylar & Grandpa Hansen

'pooped out'

Row Row Row our boat...

Last weekend we took a little canoe trip down the Rouge, it was great! Skylar did really well for her first canoe trip. We dropped in at 12 mile & Edgerton which made for about an hour and 45 min trip. We had amazing weather. Skylar was content until about the last 15 min then she screamed "OUT, OUT" until we made it to the damn. She did get slightly annoyed that she did not see anny fish and that when she called the ducks they did not come to our boat. She was a big help in trying to row with us! I think we will venture out with her again! We are so lucky that she loves new adventures, being outside and pretty much will go along with anything! Hopefully baby #2 will be the same!

Nemo Obessed...

Skylar has a new love, NEMO! She talks about him constantly (& Marlin & Dory too). She always wants to watch him and will ask everyone just in case someone will say yes! She has even started quoting parts of the movie...last week I called her Shark Bait, and she responded by squatting down and yelling "OO, Ha, Ha", she completely cracks me up!
SO Grandma Mueller decided to feed into her obsession by buying her Nemo, not one but two and her very own Nemo costume so she can be Nemo! The pictures below are of her getting her Nemos. She was one excited little girl. Up till this point she has just had a little plastic bath toy Nemo (which is no longer good enough, after she opened her new Nemos I handed her the bath toy she gave it a disgusted look and tossed it aside) So now we have 2 nemos that have to go everywhere with us (thanks Mom), and they are not that small, the big Nemo is almost as big as Skylar!

When she put her costume on she kept shouting "Me Nemo, Me Nemo"

getting her first glance at the Nemos

telling us they are her Nemos

Grandma, Skylar and the Nemos

Thank you so much for the Nemos Grandma!!

Skylar's got a secret....

Yes that is right baby #2 is on the way! This pregnancy has been a rough go so far, I have been very sick. I was actually off work for 3 1/2 weeks because I couldn't keep anything down (I lost 15 lbs.) and my doctor put me on IV treatments (min. of 3 times per week) that was not my idea of a fun time...but the good news is for the last week things seem to be getting better, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!! And I am slowly gaining the weight back, don't worry I will most likely more than make up for the early weight loss :)
So far everything with the baby is great. We did have an early ultra sound to make sure things were on track for development (everything was great), that was at 8 weeks and we heard the heart beat good and strong, then at 12 weeks we heard the heart beat again (such a relief) and it was a strong 164 beats per minute. So bets are out boy or girl? Chris is pretty sure it is another girl, I go back and forth. I honestly don't care boy or girl as long as he or she is healthy I will be one happy mama! We should find out the sex of the baby in mid Sept. so stay posted...wouldn't it be cruel if we found out then kept that little secret to ourselves, ya'll better be nice or we might just do that:) (not that we would be able to hold out for very long!)
I will be 14 weeks on Thursday with a due date the first week of Feb. But Dr. Murphy has promised to closely monitor things the last month because he doesn't want me to go into labor on my own (he will schedule a induction), if this baby is anything like its big sister we had better be at the hospital, Chris DOES NOT want to deliver the baby, nor do I want him to!!! So Baby Hansen will be here sometime end of Jan - beginning of Feb.

Vote for Skylar

Click the link below, it will take you to the site to recommend Skylar for American Baby magazine. They will be selecting 5 finalists to go to NY for a photo shoot then the winner will be on the cover of the December issue of American Baby!


http://www.parents.com/app/sharemy/photoDetails.jsp?photoId=262100198

Let's see Skylar on the cover!!!

Weekend in Chicago...

This past weekend we took a little family trip to Chicago. My childhood (best) friend was in town (from Portland, OR) and although we have kept in touch all these years we have not seen each other since 1998, 10 years! It is so much fun to reminisce with an old friend about all the funny things we did as kids. Erinn and I met in preschool and went through the 4th grade together than her family moved to Texas and a year later my family moved to Michigan! I also got to catch up with her parents and her sister and meet her finance, Dustin (who is great) and I can not wait for their wedding! Here are some pics from the weekend!

Erinn and Me ( i am gonna have to dig out one of our old pics to show you how we've changed over the years, it will be a good laugh for you all, we used to dress a like!) Erinn and Dustin

The Keithley's minus Josh and his wife Kari, hey Dustin you gotta work on your poses to be a true part of this fam:)

myself with the Keithley sisters, Erinn & Sarah

On Sunday after we left the hotel we took Skylar downtown to Navy Pier. Our plan was to go to Shedd Aquarium but after walking around and lunch and all we decided the aquarium might be overstimulation so that will be on another trip!

at the fountain

my cool girl in her glasses!

In front of Navy Pier they have a fountain that the kids can play in and Skylar loved the dancing water(where it shoots up out of the ground). She would get down on her hands and knees and try to get it when it disappeared which would then lead to her being shot in the face with the stream of water when it reappeared! After she got upset a couple of times she started to thin it was very funny! The fountain was a great way to cool off and end our day at Navy Pier!

So when we were in Chicago we decided to go see the Sear's Tower, I must say we were slightly disappointed, it was not at all what we expected! haha...

So as promised here are a few of the pictures from Saturday. As you can see Skylar is at a stage where smiling (& most everything else) is on her terms. It is a slight challenge being her photographer and mother at once...Good thing Grandpa was around to at least get her to look in the direction of the camera. She did pretty good, but as you can see from the last picture when she is done she is done!

My Flower girl

A preview of her 18 month photo shoot!

18 months old with serious attitude!

Last week Friday Skylar had her 18 month old well child check up, it seems crazy that she is a child /toddler and not a baby now. She checked out great! She now weighs 23 lbs. which puts her into the 35% for weight and she is a tall 33 inches, 83% for height! She is constantly on the move running and jumping, talking your ear off. As it says in the toddler books, her favorite word continues to be NO, even when she means YES (we know this because she shakes her head YES as she shouts NO). And when Skylar means NO you will definitely know! At this point she says so many words probably over 100, and any word she does not usually say if you ask her to repeat it she will. She loves animals and can tell you what most animals are and what noise they make. (Last night she pointed to a picture in my dad's office and told me it was an elk, seriously a smart little girl...she doesn't know the noise they make yet, grandpa is teaching her her the say "shoot me" I think he wants a hunting partner) Skylar also knows most all of her fruits. And she is calling her Aunts and Uncles by name ( well at this point she thinks Haley is also called Boo, but I think she just does that to get Hales, otherwise she calls Haley ~HaHa.)
She is also very fascinated with motorcycles, she truly is her fathers daughter! Whenever we are driving around she will spot them like a hawk and yell "Mo-Mor" until I acknowledge the motorcycle then she'll say brroom-brroom! Oh and another thing she is not really into having her picture taken...hmmm wonder why, so instead of a sweet smiling 18 mo old Skylar this is what you get.....

She is an absolute joy to be around. And even though her attitude can conflict with my ideas of what we will be doing, I enjoy all of my time with her, and besides its just a phase right...( i know i know this may last a couple or twenty years).
I am going to try to get her 18 mo pics done this weekend, maybe attitude permitting:)