Puppy Love

Seven months ago, we got a new puppy.  It had been seven years since our last dog.  My youngest daughter had been begging for a puppy forever, but I was never ready.  Our weekends were always busy, I was traveling, we were in a new house...who wanted the hassle of a new puppy around?  Not me, I was the hold out, until I saw the picture of a puppy on Facebook.  I began to inquire about the puppies, what type, how much and so on.  It was way too convenient for me to go check out the puppies, but I did and that was it, I was in love!  There were five black puppies and one brown/black puppy, I fell in love with the brown/black one since he was the only different one from the litter.

I can't believe we've had our little Bean for six months already.  It's amazing the changes that occurred, not only with our daily routine, but with the attitudes and emotions of our family members...especially ME.  I have always been a dog lover, grew up with dogs all  my life, so that was nothing new.  But I had forgotten the feeling of love one can have for a four-legged creature.  How it feels to be greeted by the pure excitement and wagging of the tail from your pet.  The laughs you get from watching the silly things a puppy does with toys.  The love you feel when the puppy snuggles up with you and falls asleep on your lap.  

I've even teased my hubby about how excited he gets and greets our puppy first and kisses him before me when he gets home.  He said that I don't greet him wagging my tail and spin around when he walks in the door...he's got a point there.  I've noticed a change come over me too.  I feel like I have been more loving and caring towards my hubby and kids since having a puppy.  I've heard that having a pet does make a person more loving and I believe it.  I wasn't sure if it was me getting older and more sentimental but came to realize it was because of our puppy that I have been able to show more love and affection towards everyone.  I've actually felt more needy too lately.  I want to be loved more, held more, kissed more...all this emotion because of one little Bean.  What a blessing he has been to our family!!

My 2nd Labor of Love

Tomorrow, February 11th will be the day my son turns 18.  So here is what I wrote about his 'birth' day:

Raising a baby is not easy. Especially when the baby has colic from 6pm-10pm on a daily basis and your husband now works in Minnesota for God knows how long in the dead of winter. We made the most of it and temporarily moved our little family and dog up to Minnesota. Luckily we had my in laws to watch our brand new house for us while we were gone. It was a six month adventure that we enjoyed and treasure the memories to this day.

My husband's job situation changed since we knew him working out of town was not working for us. He was finally able to find a job in Omaha. Who knew a year and half later, we would move to San Antonio, Texas!

We settled into our new home in Texas. I was able to get into a routine of working out and my husband's company was just a mile from our house. So now that we were settled, how about baby number 2? I wasn't ready mentally and I was just getting my pre pregnancy body back. It was too soon. But we didn't wait too long, we were expecting again in February 1994.

This time I read the pregnancy test myself, then left a note for my husband with the riddle: Roses are red, violets can be pink, what would you think if this time is was pink? (As in the color of the positive test reading.)

We went thru the usual doctor visits and sonograms. The one sonogram where you can see the sex of the baby, the technician asked us if we wanted to know, we both said no. At the end of the session, she asked us again and I told her I already knew. My husband was shocked that I already knew. So I told him, it was only fair.

My husband was still in shock when we got into to car, we were expecting a boy! He even started to cry, such a softy. He got nervous tho, he wasn't sure how to raise a boy, he was used to raising a girl! I told him it would all be ok, he would just have different body parts!

The morning of my checkup, the doctor sent me into have another ultra sound because my stomach was not measuring the same as the week I was pregnant. Wanted to make sure the baby had enough room! I went for the sonogram, the technician measured points here and there and told me the baby was about 5.6 lbs and that I should probably add another two weeks to my due date. Alrighty then!

That night, around 2:00am, I began having tightness in my abdomen area, I chalked it up to braxton hicks because I have had them before and plus, now I had another month till I was due! Needless to say, I was awake the rest of the night with these braxton hicks until 6:00am and I had the proof that I was actually in labor. I let my husband sleep until 7:00am then woke him up and told him I was in labor. Good morning!! We took our daughter to a friend's house and got to the hospital by 8:00am.

Get the epidural going! I had a great doctor and she was very much on my side about the epidural...but the nurses had a tough time getting the I.V. started. After two tries in both arms, the I.V. was started and now came the epidural. I was laying on my right side when the doctor asked me if the epidural was kicking in, I really had no idea since I had never had one. She told me to roll over onto my left side, so I did, she checked me out and wa-la! I was ready to deliver! After the first push, I could no longer tell how hard I was pushing because of the epidural so I gave it all I had and out came our son at 10:11am! Quick delivery huh!

I looked at him and said, 'He doesn't look like he only weighs 5.6 lbs and sure enough, he weighed 7.8 lbs...um big difference! My body must stop 'cooking' at this weight as my daughter weighed 7.8 1/2 lbs at birth and she was two weeks late.

I thought my daughter looked like me when she was born, my son looked more like my husband.  Funny how life works.

I am so proud of my son, he is a very nice and sensitive person, has grown to be 6' 1" which is shocking to all of us since I am so short.  It's been a joy to have such a wonderful son!!  

I love you Taylor James Hanson!!!  Happy Birthday! 

My Labor of Love

At this time, almost 21 years ago, my hubby and I had just finished watching the movie, "Awakenings". I was pregnant with our first baby and I was due anyday now. I began feeling a little tightness in my belly, I thought it was gas due to eating popcorn and Good and Plenty candy, great combo huh? By the time we got home after visiting my inlaws, I was still feeling the gas pains. I told my hubby about them and we just laughed them off.

Soon it was dinner time so my hubby drove to Amigo's to get dinner, I was hungry! When he got home, I told him I thought the gas pains could possibly be labor pains. I think he was in shock. He asked me if I still wanted to eat the ood, of course, I was hungry! Plus, who doesn't want to eat Mexican food while in labor? While we were eating, the labor pains continued to come so I ate between the pains. Hubby was not happy with that idea, he was getting pretty nervous.

After we ate, we decided to really keep track of the labor pains to see if they would be consistent. We had no idea what we were to expect since this was our first baby. Finally, after the pains were coming in five minute intervals, hubby called the doctor's office. The nurse asked if we were sure that I was in labor...we didn't know, this was our first baby! But then I had been in the bathroom and sure enough, I had a sign, I WAS in labor! We grabbed the packed overnight bag and headed to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 8:00pm.

Upon checking into the maternity ward, we figured out we didn't bring the paperwork we had at home we were to bring to the hospital with us. How the heck were we to remember all of this stuff! So we called my inlaws, told them where the papers were and if they could bring them to the hospital. I got all hooked up to the machine and got checked out. The nurse asked me what and if I had eaten anything and when. When I told her I had Mexican food and two hours earlier, she didn't look too happy with me. Oh well, I was hungry and you don't want to try and stop a hungry pregnant lady!

A couple of hours had passed and it was 10:00pm. The nurses told my inlaws they should go home since this was my first baby and I probably wouldn't deliver until the morning. So they went home. I was still having labor pains as we watched Saturday Night Live. But soon the labor pains became stronger and hurt more so the nurse gave me stadol. What a great feeling that was, I wasn't feeling any pain and the nurse asked me how I was doing and I said, "If having a baby feels like this, I could have a baby everyday!" Yeah, that was the drug talking. About an hour later, I was feeling the pain again. I wanted an epidural. The nurse talked me out of it and said I did so well with the stadol, let's try that again, so I did. Nothing, nada, zippo, I was still feeling the pain and I told hubby I really wanted the epidural. No nurse could be found. I think I turned into the exorcist by this time and TOLD hubby to GET THE NURSE NOW. He went to the nurses' station and told the nurses I was really needing the epidural.

The nurse finally came in to check me out to prep for the epidural. Of course, I was already too far along and was too late to get an epidural. She would need to call the doctor now and that we should call my inlaws to come back, it was close to midnight. So the on call doctor came into my room, he still had his parka on, slapped on a glove and examined me. Sure enough, I was ready to deliver!

At 1:09am, my beautiful daughter was born! She was the first girl in the family on hubby's side, everyone was thrilled!! I can't believe my baby girl will be 21 years old...wow! Time has gone by so fast and she has grown into a beautiful young woman. Now that we know she is of legal age, do we have to worry more??? Oh lord, I'd better be prepared for more grey hair...

Happy Birthday to my beautiful baby girl, Erika!!! I love you! I'm so proud to be your mom!!

After Holiday Blues?

I am feeling off right now, I have for a few days.  I can't put my finger on it.  I love Christmas.  I love looking at all the decorations.  My mom and sister decorate my house as they have an eye for it.  Here's one tree that is in my living room:

 This is our front entry tree:

 The tree in the kitchen leading into the three season room:

I loved having all of these decorations in my house.  We also had a tree in the basement, the kids' yearly ornament tree.  Once the big office party was over, the next day meant it was time to put away all the decorations.  I wasn't liking that at all.  Now my house looks so boring and naked!  Every time I would walk into the living room, I would be shocked by how bare it was.  You would have thought I was used to it by the next day, but I wasn't, it just really hit me this year.

In Korea, I wasn't as vocal as I used to be either.  I'm not sure why, maybe because I hadn't been back there in two years, but still, I don't change my personality for anything or anyone.  The Gift Team trip is always an emotional trip, maybe this time it really got to me without me knowing it?  I feel like I'm missing something or something is undone...

I've been listening to more music lately too, which is very unlike me.  I even bought some music from iTunes and I don't like to spend money like that!  Every song I listen to, I feel very sentimental and some of the songs are up beat, not all slow songs which I usually like.  Today, as I was preparing my daughter and husband's birthday dinner, which took all day...one song was blasting from my iPad and my husband happened to come upstairs at that moment and one look at him and I hugged him and started crying.

I don't know what is going on, I've always been very emotional and can cry at anything, but this feeling is different...

Bring it on 2012!

I can't believe it is now the year 2012.  I can't believe how time goes by so fast nowadays...with that, I know I will do everything possible to make it a great year.  I want to travel the world more, I want to do more random acts of kindness, I want to see more people be happy.

These are not my New Year's resolutions, I don't make them.  I just do whatever happens to catch my fancy at the moment.  I hope all of you reading will do the same.  I wish you all happiness, contentment, and peacefulness within yourselves.

Our Christmas Letter to Everyone

A Very Beanie Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas to all!!!!  Let me introduce myself, my name is Bean.

I am five months old and a toy Pom.  You can also call me Beaner, Beano, Beanster, Sir Bean of Beanington, well you get the point!  I am the star of a daily pictorial on Facebook (should be called Dogbook!) so if you would like to follow me, you can find me under my mom, Kim Anderson Hanson and the theme is “The Daily Bean”.

I have a unique view of the world because I am 7 inches tall.  I live with this great family, the Hanson’s. My primary “owner” is a wonderful girl named Kora. She has pictures of this Justin Bieber kid on every wall!  She is so nice. Because of her I know how to sit, shake, switch paws, lie down and sometimes roll over.  I also get to pick her up from 8^th grade.  She is very busy after school and I don’t get to see her all the time because she is a competitive cheerleader for Elite Cheer. I know this because I like to chew all the workout clothes on her floor.  I also play with her friends when they come over and she has a lot of friends.  I feel special because Kora always wanted a dog and now she has one.  She spoils me.

Speaking of spoiled, there is this big guy who drives a red Camaro named Taylor.  Although his singing makes me bark, he is fun too.  I like to lie on him and chew rawhide bones.  He plays with me and does a funny dance every time his favorite football team scores.  I am an honorary member of the Three Muska-“schlumps”. A “schlump” is someone who spends all day Sunday watching football games in a snuggie!  Taylor is not lazy all the time.  In fact he works at a grocery store called Hy Vee.  Taylor is always talking about going to college next year after he graduates in May.  He is going to be a Husker!  I thought that was a dog, but it is the University of Nebraska-Lincoln mascot.  I guess his red car will fit in well down there!

I don’t like to ride in cars that much because I am so little, but I have taken 4 big car rides to Northwest Missouri State University.  My Family and I like to go visit Erika.  She is really pretty, and she loves to see me!  I can’t see her all the time because she is so busy at her college.  She is a super brainey student, a Student Instructor Supervisor, a Student Ambassador, and all this other stuff that is Greek to me.  She also is very busy with bunch of letters like the LSAT, wanting to go to another school in NYC, and wanting to work for the FBI.  She also really likes a guy named T-O-D-D.  I love playing with toys and all kinds of balls.  Todd likes to kick balls on Saturdays through two yellow sticks.  I can’t wait until Christmas because they will be home all the time and I will be allowed to go into Erika’s room!

I sleep in a room all my own in the basement.  Every morning, the biggest Hanson family member wakes me up, let’s me go potty and plays with me.  I watch him ride a bike that literally goes nowhere.  He leaves early in the morning with Taylor and Kora and comes back just in time for dinner.  I heard he goes to a place called West and he just celebrated his 20^th year there.  That is like 140 years to me!  Sometimes I hear him say that too!  I like to call him Papa bear.  He didn’t think he would want a dog again, but he really loves me.  I am pretty darn cute.  He plays with me a lot!  His singing bothers me, though and I let him know it!

Speaking of someone who plays with me all the time – mom, as Kora and Taylor, call her.  I really missed her because she spent the past two weeks in South Korea with the Holt Christmas Gift Team celebrating the 50^th year of the Ilsan Orphanage.  She really missed her family and especially me, but she had a great trip living her mission to find all children a family.  She has been so busy since I joined the family in August.  Not only did she potty train me, but she also supervised all these people working in the back yard.  I don’t know what they were doing, but now they are gone and it looks great back there.  Though I am considered an indoor dog, I love being outside and chewing on everything and making my family chase after me.  This white wet stuff that comes out of the sky is so cold, but I love it!!

I get to spend most days with “mama bear” as she keeps track of everyone, where they are going, how long they are gone and what they have to do next.  Right now, our house is full of lights and trees that I love to run around and play under!  This is a pretty fun place to be and I love it here.  If you are ever in Omaha, come and see me.  I’ve explored every inch of my house and there’s plenty of room for you.

It is going to be a great 2012, wishing all of you human family and friends many blessings!

With Love and Blessings from all of us! ~Skip, Kim, Erika, Taylor, Kora, and of course, Beaner!

Forgiving is Always the Hardest

It took me a long time to forgive others for certain things.  It took me until my adulthood to realize I have to forgive in order for me to live a life of true happiness and not wallow in the darkness of not forgiving.  Though one thing is true, I don't forget a thing.  I've become pretty good at forgiving now, it's the forgetting.  So is there a difference?  Can I truly forgive if I can't forget?  I feel like I can forgive without forgetting.  

There have been many things in my life, many life-changing things, that have happened in which I have had to forgive.  This time around, I'm really having to dig deep into my faith to forgive.  I think it's the deep hurt and disappointment, anger, and pure shock of it all that is making it hard for me this time.  This not only effects me, but so many others and is something that I hold dear to my heart.

I don't claim to be perfect and I have made my share of mistakes in life, so I will forgive, once again, but this will stay with me for awhile.