Utah Part I of ?

While we were out in Utah we got to see most of Jarom's siblings, 9 out of the 11 kids were there and we also got to see his parents which was a bonus. Since we were all going to be out there his sisters made plans for us all to do activities together. One of the first activities was to go to Sweets candy factory. They make salt water taffy, jelly beans, cinnamon bears, orange sticks, among other things. Since our group was so big they split us up into 2 groups. Jarom took Jerry and went in the first group. Jerry did really good and kept his hair net on the whole time. I tried to get him to put his hair net on again so I could get a picture but of course he was angry about that.

I learned that making jelly beans takes years of training. I guess it is an art form of getting the correct ratio of coloring to flavoring to sugar, who knew. We ended the days adventures with lunch at Hires and you can never go wrong with Hires.

Kirtland

Jarom served his mission in Cleveland, OH and has not been back since, so we decided to make the trip(in June) since we live so close. It only took us 3 years to get there, but better late than never. On Monday night we decided to go, so we booked our hotel and left Tuesday morning. We were worried about how the kids would do and sure enough, Jerry started screaming about 20 min into our drive. To try to curb the screaming we tried to bribe him with a movie, Beauty and the Beast. That worked until the scene where Bell's dad goes to the castle and Beast locks him up. Jerry got scared and started freaking out, so we put on The Little Mermaid, which worked for awhile, but then Jerry had had enough of being in the car. Because Jerry likes suckers so much, we bought some dumdums at the gas station assuming that would stop the crying. Little did we know, that it would turn out to be a very sticky mistake. Not only did that not stop the crying, I think it might have actually made it worse. It also put a sticky coating on Jerry and everything within his reach. This is right after consuming a blueberry dumdum.



Right after passing through Columbus, we took a detour through Amish Country where Jarom served for a few months. It was a pretty drive through the hills. We saw a sign for Ohio's longest covered bridge so we turned off to take a look. Not very long, but it was still pretty cool.



We went by one of Jarom's old apartments in Wooster so that he could reminisce about old times, and he said it smelled of stale cigarette smoke just like it used to. Oh, the memories. As soon as we got to the hotel, I took Jerry swimming and Jarom ventured into the ghetto to look for a grocery store. We ended up just eating fast food for dinner and going to bed around 9:00. The kids did surprisingly good the first night. we didn't know how they would do, but Jerry was in his pack-n-play and kept standing up to make sure we hadn't gone anywhere. Once he knew that we were still there, he would wave and lay back down. He must have done it 10 times before finally falling asleep. We woke up and went to Bob Evans for breakfast. For those from Utah, Bob Evans is more than just a news anchor on FOX 13, he's also a glorified and overpriced Denny's restaurant chain in the East, with food that is not very good.



After breakfast we drove to the temple and spent the morning at the sites. We got through all of the sites without any major meltdowns from the kids with one exception...The Temple of course! We went on the 12:30 tour which happens to fall right in the middle of Jerry's nap time, so Jarom spent the majority of the tour restraining an exhausted screaming little man. After the temple we put the kids in the car and before we made it up the hill, (1/4 mile), Jerry was asleep.






We then drove to the Great Lakes Science Center, which is right on Lake Erie and waited in the car for the kids to wake up. Once they woke up, we went inside where they have all these exhibits for kids. Jerry seemed to enjoy himself, especially in the ball pit. After that, we drove back to the hotel to go swimming and then to bed. We left early the next morning and were dreading the drive because of how bad Jerry was on the way up, but both kids actually did pretty good. All in all it was a spiritual, exhausting, and fun filled last minute trip!

compost pile

Our hometeacher knew that we were wanting to put down some new compost in the front flower beds, so he brought his trailer over one day full of it. Jerry, of course, had to play in it if we were ever outside.

He is really a great big brother. Anytime we ask him if he wants to hold Ruby, he immediately climbs up and sits himself in the corner of the couch where we told him he needed to sit in order to hold Ruby. Eventually he gets sick of it and he tries to crawl out from underneath her. It's pretty funny.

The last few months

Kristen and I can't believe how fast time has gone by since Ruby was born! She is growing like a weed, and is a very happy little gal. We blessed her at the beginning of April and were lucky enough to be able to use the same dress that Kristen was blessed in when she was a baby. It was made by one of Kristen's Aunts.



We're still trying to get used to the whole "headband for girls" thing, but they never stay on, so as far as I'm concerned we should just trash 'em. Kristen still tries to get her to were one, but only about once a week. You would think that since she only wears one rarely, we would have 3 or 4, but I swear Kristen makes a new one every other day. She enjoys it, so I don't give her too hard a time about it.



The weather has been warm so on the rare occasion that it's not pouring rain, we go outside to play in the back yard. We got Jerry this little slide combo about a month ago, and he has really enjoyed it.



We also try to eat outside anytime it's nice. Jerry enjoying a nice piece of angel food cake last week.



Jerry has recently started throwing these INSANE temper tantrums. Kristen and I think that it is because we can't understand his words and what he wants all the time,so he gets frustrated. I'm sure as his speech gets better, the tantrums will go away. (Let's hope)



Jerry still is really kind to Ruby and loves to show her any kind of affection that he can, whether it is hugging, or kissing, or biting, or licking, or slapping. Ruby is a champ and just takes it without crying. the only time that I can remember when Jerry made her cry is when he head butted her in the face (not on purpose of course).

Worms

Jerry is so so so ready for warm weather. As you can tell from his expression, he is sick and tired of hanging out inside with his horse.



Since it has warmed up Jarom and Jerry were recently clearing our garden of weeds and grass. Jerry was doing a good job of helping by putting the weeds in the wheelbarrow. He was actively going back and forth having a fun time. After doing this for a while Jarom noticed that Jerry had stopped helping. When Jarom turned around Jerry was holding something in front of his face with his mouth open. (After watching "Monsters Inside Me" we are both a little freaked out about letting Jerry play outside. This is because Jerry puts everything in his mouth, and you never know what scary parasite he may pick up.I don't recomend this show for over protective parents, you may never let your child outside) Jarom rushed over to him to stop him from eating what was in his hand Jarom got there just in time to stop him from putting a worm in his mouth.

Bath Time

As you can see from the first picture Ruby hated getting her spit bath. But once we were able to put her in the water she enjoyed it.

Jerry fresh out of the tub, getting cleaned up from dinner and getting ready for bed.

Food!

What's better than one cup of milk? TWO cups of milk!!



Jerry has always been a pretty small kid. He has always been right under the 50th percentile in height and 3rd percentile for weight. He eats, he just doesn't eat a lot, unless he really enjoys it.We had some friends over for dinner this week, to keep him happy while we talked, we gave him a piece of dessert. Needless to say he enjoyed it. He ate all of it, licked the plate clean and somehow managed to get it all over himself.

Little Ruby is now 7 weeks old, and Jerry turned 19 months last week. It is crazy to me that Jerry is no longer my baby and that I have a newborn again. Jerry and Ruby have been so different as newborns. Jerry was ALWAYS awake, and I mean ALWAYS. All of the pictures we have of him, he is wide eyed, there are very few pictures of him while he is sleeping. Ruby on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Rarely can we find her alert enough to take a picture during the day, until a couple of weeks ago.

My mom was here the first 2 weeks, and we were very sad to see her go, especially Jerry. My mom watched Jerry while we were stuck in the hospital, and they spent some good quality time together. Jerry loved playing with her, and liked to play rough at times. She would crawl on the floor and he would climb on her. At one point he pantsed her and bit her bum(she still had her underwear on). He also enjoyed pinching and scratching her,my mom left with many scratch marks on her face and arms. Despite her battle scars I think my mom enjoyed being here, I know we enjoyed having her and appreciate all of the help.


Jerry has done a lot better with Ruby than what I expected. He has been able to sleep through her crying in the middle of the night, thanks to a noise machine. Our house is very small so I thought he would be waking up all of the time. He has also been relatively gentle with her, he is always loving on her and giving her hugs and kisses. Thankfully for the most part Ruby does not seem to mind being mauled by Jerry. When we first brought Ruby home, Jerry seemed very concerned when she cried. He would first check on her then he would come and get us if we did not respond quickly enough. He has since learned that some crying is normal and zones it out, but on a few occasions he has covered his ears.

Ruby Claire Hansen

So baby Ruby was born on Jan 22, at 5:32 pm weighing in at 8lbs 9.5 oz, and was 19.5 inches long. We initially named her Ruby Abigail Hansen, but Kristen decided that she wasn't too keen on the middle name, hence the switch to Claire. Here are some pictures of the new baby girl.


As you can see, she has very red skin so her name fits her. The doctor says that means that she will most likely be fair skinned, so we will now have two transparent children instead of just one.



We were wondering how Jerry would react and so far,he has really been kind to her. He loves to give her kisses.


The most exciting thing about Ruby's name is that there are endless possibilities for nick names. So far, we have Rubik's cube, Ruby Tuesday, Rubydoobydoo, Mcruber, Mcrube (for those of you who love the Mcrib). I am sure we will come up with more.