Mommy's Little Helper

Since Kodi has arrived, Kyson has been a very helpful little boy. It's so nice when he puts his toys away without being asked, or puts his cups in the sink. He wants to help with everything so much. Today, exceeds any help I'd like from my little guy. He's been watching Mommy and Daddy do the laundry and he knows that we put clothes in the washer with detergent.

While Kris was in the restroom, Kyson decided to help out Mom and Dad with the laundry. He grabbed clothes and blankets from wherever he could find them and threw them into the washer. And to make sure they got really clean, he added detergent - lots and lots of detergent. When Kris showed me what Kyson had done, I started cleaning it and then grabbed the camera. In order to clean up the detergent, I removed 14 heaping detergent cups and numerous partial cups to get it all out. I never did get it all, but I figured it was just enough for a load. While it is a little annoying to clean up this stuff, I can't complain. You hear horror stories of kids drawing all over doors and walls - those poor parents!

Family Photo Attempt

Because we have a new addition to the family, I wanted to get a new family photo with everyone. I was going to pay a friend of mine who did our photos last year, but I thought I'd see if we could get a decent picture before I shell out money. I'm so thankful I didn't pay anyone - not because we got such a great shot without a professional, but because Kyson was such an uncooperative little boy that it would have been a waste of money.

We went up to the fishing pond near our house because it has beautiful scenery and I bought new clothes for everyone. I was so excited and had all these great visuals in my head of how great these pictures would be. Kyson destroyed all of those grandiose ideas. He was staring at the ducks, or the fish, running away, fighting us when we tried to hold him, etc. It was awful. We tried taking different pictures for about an hour and when all was done, I didn't think we had a single salvageable photo. Kris and I were very frustrated, Kodi was hungry and I didn't bring a diaper bag or a binky, and Kyson was in trouble but didn't seem to care. Fortunately, after all that, there was one photo that made it all worth it.

What a Cool Big Brother!

Kyson has finally moved on from punishing me for bringing home a baby. He's behaving very well and from the beginning has been so sweet to Kodi. He takes her empty bottles to the sink, he'll bring us diapers to change her, and he'll even share his blanket with her - we're not allowed to use his blanket. He wants to hold her, but won't sit down, so we won't let him.

The cutest thing is whenever we have Kodi lying on the floor, he wants to lie next to her. We have to watch him because he gets so close sometimes, but you can tell that he really likes his baby sister. It will be so fun to see what happens when she starts interacting with him. It's funny, it already looks like she's copying him in that last picture.

Kodi's Photo Shoot

Because the hospital no longer offers newborn professional pictures, we went to JCPenney's to get some pictures of Kodi. I decided if I liked the pictures and they were reasonably priced, I'd take Kyson and her back in to get pictures together, and then I could get some of just Kyson too. So far, I like them.

Sweet Dreams . . . Not a Chance!

Since Kodi has been home from he hospital, we've been adjusting to the sleepless nights. It's so exhausting being up all night with the baby, then fighting a toddler during the day. Both Kris and I try to catch a few z's whenever we have an opportunity. We seem to be falling asleep all over the place.

On the bright side, Kodi is improving every night. Our first night home from he hospital, I got less than 2 hours of sleep between 10:00pm and 7:00am. I could tell you the exact times that I got that sleep throughout the night. Every night since then, her sleeping has improved and I'm so thankful. Last night, she only woke up 3 times!!! Throughout the day, we've been waking her up every 2 hours and playing with her for a few minutes. I think that is making the difference.

It's a Girl!

We have a new addition to the family - Kodi Jason Hansen was born on October 1, 2009 at exactly 4:00pm. She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz and was 21" long. The delivery went extremely well, especially compared to Kyson. Because this time my strep test came back negative, they didn't have to slow me up. With Kyson I went to the hospital at noon and didn't have him until 6:00am the next morning. With Kodi, I went to the hospital at 11:00am and had her at 4:00pm. The recovery has been night and day as well. With Kyson it was days before I could stand or go to the bathroom. With Kodi, I was walking within a couple of hours and feel fantastic! I guess that's the difference 2 pounds can make.

Kyson has been having a very hard time with the new adjustment. At the hospital he wouldn't let go of Kris and he didn't want anything to do with me. He's been talking about the baby since he saw her, but it's hard to know how he feels about her. He's very sweet to her, but is acting out for us - especially me. I pray this behavior goes away very quickly.

For those of you who are wondering about the name, I'll explain. There is no story with Kodi. We just liked the name and didn't find anything else that we liked. Jason, however, was my brother. After Kyson was born and we named him after Kristian, his daddy, we decided that the next child (and last) we would name after my brother whether it was a boy or a girl. She happened to be a girl. Jason passed away in March of 2002. I find it ironic that we named her after Jason, and my mom said that she looked a lot like him when she came to see her at the hospital. Now I need to look at pictures of my baby brother.

She is very healthy and just an angel. The only thing we're still tackling is the jaundice. I didn't think it would be a problem this time because she's been eating so well and have bowel movements. Kyson had a really rough start and was on a billirubin lamp at the hospital and for 2 weeks after we got home. Yesterday Kodi was on the border of being at risk so we had to take her back to the hospital this morning to get tested . Her score has gone up nearly 5 points since yesterday (that's bad - we want it to go down) so we have to take her again to the doctor in the morning and she may be put on a lamp.

We're so thankful for our little girl. She's wonderful even if she causes us to be sleep deprived.