Hello.

Whoa.  That was a serious blog fast.  So, I think I should blog.  You know, so my three readers will know that we have not died.    

1.  It has taken me only three years to realize that if I don't do a load of laundry a day, I will forever be behind in my laundry.  And since Simon's birth and his out-of-this-world ability to spit up massive amounts, I have learned that this may have been pushed up to two loads a day.  While I've learned this lesson, it still seems that I am always behind on laundry.  Because throwing it in the washer is one thing...but who really wants to fold AND then put away laundry every. single. day?!?  Not me!  Also, if you come to my house and see that my carpet is disgustingly dirty, don't judge.  I know it's dirty.  But I'm not about to spend $100+ to have it cleaned only for my darling baby to spit up on it.  Again and again and again.  We're waiting until his "condition" has cleared up.  Then, I'll be able to have clean carpets again.  That will be a wonderful day.

2.  It's been a busy two+ months.  Simon has turned into a dream boat of a baby - minus the spitting up thing.  I guess he has to have some flaw, right?  He is napping well.  He's eating well.  He hardly cries.  He's happy.  He smiles all the day long.  He's simply the cutest rascal you've ever seen.  Now excuse me while I go die from cuteness overload.  He really is that cute.  I must have made a deal with the devil himself to get such a sweet and cuddly boy.  That, or I'm just that righteous.  Ha!  just kidding.  No really, I'm just kidding.

3.  At Simon's four-month check-up, the kid had grown to a whopping 29 inches long and weighed in at 14lbs and 2oz.  It is hard to believe that he's grown eight inches in four months.  It's also crazy that he's in the 99th percentile for height and only 50th for weight.  He's a total bean pole!  I'm preparing myself for future conversations with our beautiful and curvy lady Lois as to why she didn't inherit the coveted  "Hansen" gene - which allows you to eat whatever and whenever you want and never gain a pound.  I wish I had inherited that one.   :-)

4.  We spent the good part of May in Utah away from daddy.  Let me tell you, I don't think I'll be doing that again any time soon.  We missed him terribly.  He missed us terribly.  Taking care of a newborn and a quick-mood-swinging two year old by myself nearly killed me off.  Don't get me wrong, I had lots of help from adoring grandmas...but I was still the only parent and the buck stopped at me.  We did, however, have a wonderful time and got to see lots of family and a few friends.  So, I guess it was worth every ounce of tiredness and bouts of insanity that I suffered.

5.  Well, it is official.  I'm a resident widow again.  We won't be seeing much of Jason over the next 12 months as his second year of residency just started and he will be taking a lot (and I mean a lot) of call.  I'm pretty sure this will be the busiest year of his entire career.  He's only been going for about two weeks now and we have not seen too much of him already.  Glorious first year (and free weekends) are things of the past (at least for a year) and we have commenced the one-day-off-a-week marathon.  We love you, babe.  Thanks for all your hard work and we miss you already!  God speed through this crazy year!  And my mantra will be: "I think I can, I think I can..." - soon to be followed by "I thought I could!"  

6.  Lois is as vibrant as ever.  Shortly after turning three on June 5th, she started swimming lessons with Amber Peterman's swimming school.  She loved every single minute and begged to go swimming - like every single minute she wasn't at swimming.  We've had a little break and she's starting up lessons again on Monday with Allyson Spalding.  Lois is stoked and I'm excited for her!  I loved swimming as a kid.  

She has also potty trained herself.  I can't tell you how glad I am that I waited until she was ready.  I also can't tell you how worth it it was for me to change all those extra diapers until she was.  Needless to say, she's doing so well!  Literally, in one day, she was trained.  I just slapped some undies on her and off she went!  She even stays dry at night.  She's only had a handful of accidents - and most of them have been due to the fact that she couldn't get her pants off fast enough!  We've also found that she thinks it is impossible for her to go potty without stripping completely from the waist down.  We keep trying to explain to her that she doesn't have to undress to go potty.   It is a futile effort, folks.  I'm not complaining, though.  About a week ago, we took off the side to her crib and she is loving her new "big girl" bed.  She is good about staying in it and we're planning on buying a twin-sized bed here for her to officially transition her into a real-deal big girl bed. And Simon will finally have a crib! Poor kid's been sleeping on the floor all these months.
   No, he hasn't.  Totally kidding. But he's quickly outgrowing the "mini" crib we have him in.  This is a top priority - and I'm overjoyed to get to buy cute girl bedding again!    

Just today, she kept saying to Simon, "You're a cute boy! Yes you are!  You're a cute boy!"
She keeps us laughing with her antics and it's so fun to see how much she understands as we explain more complex ideas/thoughts.  She remembers everything, too.  Her new favorite outing is going to the library.  Weekly, we come home with a stack of 20 books that we read over and over again all throughout the week.  And it is super cute to see her read the books to herself.  I love doing this with her!
And just a few cute things she says over and over again, despite our efforts to correct her...
(spelled phonetically so I can remember)
Trampoline = "pal-loreena"
Quesadillas = "chick-a-dee-uh"
Balloon = "ba-da-doon"
Slinky = "snooky"
(I promise we don't watch Jersey Shore!)

If I have some soda (or something she wants that I have), she'll ask me if she can have a drink.  When I say yes and she takes a sip, she says, "Thank you for sharing your soda with me, mom."  She's so polite.  She also is pretty good about saying please and thank you and excuse me.  And every so often, she'll just come up to me, give me a big hug and say, "I just love you so much, mom."  And keeps hugging me and repeating it.  Seriously.  She's a sweet girl.

If I think of some more, I'll post them for the sake of remembering!

And now...time to post some pictures!!!
Warning:  There will be a blog overload tonight.  Just trying to catch up while my husband works the graveyard shift for six nights in a row!