Meet Brady Matthew Hansen

Right after I got the monitors strapped on my belly. My Fred Flinstone feet. I really had a dreamy pregnancy except the last week my feet exploded and didn't stop growing until after he was born.

Our first family photo.Getting all cleaned up.

The grandparents: The boys with Chris & CindyMy mom & BradyOur last photo while we waited to leave the hospital!

I still can’t believe he is finally here. It was bit of a whirlwind, but we couldn’t be happier. I was scheduled to check into the hospital to start the induction process on Thursday, July 7 at 6pm. I called the hospital before we left and a very rude nurse told me they were busy and to call back at 7:30pm. Thanks to Cindy’s advice though we waited a bit and just went to the hospital anyway. Sure enough that same nurse was there to greet us and although she wasn’t happy we just “showed up”, we were able to get into our room right away.
After all the paperwork was finished I got my first round of medicine around 10:30pm. Our nurse continually came to check in on me and since I was making significant progress they decided to not administer any more medicine until the Dr. could see me in the morning. Around 6am, the pain medicine was barely working and the pain was increasing quickly so I received an epidural. Surprisingly, I could barely feel the epidural and it was much less painful than the IV.
At 8am, my Dr. came in and broke my water. When nothing changed by 10am and I was till at a 4 I was given a small amount of pitocin. That seemed to do the trick. By 11:30 I was at an 8 and by 11:45 I was at a 9 ½. Our nurse, Anselma, was amazing. She was Italian and started her career delivering babies in Italy. That made me feel a little better since they couldn’t get a hold of my Dr. She quickly set up the room for delivery and just after noon I was at a 10 and started pushing. After about 20 minutes Dr. Hoff arrived and at 1:03pm little Brady was born. He weighed in at a healthy 8 pounds and measure 20.5 inches. It all ended with my eclectic Dr. holding up the placenta and saying “look, it’s a womb with a view”.
Christian, Cindy, Heather, and Cassie were in the delivery room which was a great. Heather took pictures (over 200) and Cindy helped me push and got me water so Christian could stay right by my side. It is still all a bit of a blur and I was completely overwhelmed with emotion and exhaustion. My mom flew in the next morning and stayed the night at the hospital with me which was so comforting and helpful.
After he was born we still couldn’t decide on a name. We were debating between Colin, Connor, and Brady. We then narrowed it down to Colin Christian or Brady Matthew. We finally decided on Brady because we thought our little Asian looking baby couldn’t have an Irish name like Colin.
It is still a little hard to believe he is actually ours. I never knew I could love someone so much that I’d never met before. I can watch him sleep for hours and every time he cries it breaks my heart. In fact, the first time I changed his diaper he started crying and I started crying tooJ Welcome to the world little Brady!

Overdue

Today was my official due date and still no baby. The Dr. told me weeks ago that he would not be late, but our little guy obviously didn't get the memo. I'm feeling more ready than ever...my feet look like marshmallows, my back hurts, and with this heat wave I couldn't be more excited to get this extra insulation off. I realized today that I didn't really have any pictures of my prego belly so Christian snapped a few pictures after church for the record. I'm hoping the holiday will bring more than just fireworks tomorrow!

Showered

My amazing friends Madeleine, Cassie, and Sarah threw me the most wonderful baby shower! The theme was "cruising into parenthood" and it started with the cutest nautical themed invitations and ended with the most adorable favors. The food was set up as the different ports of call we used to frequent most: the Caribbean, Mexico, and Alaska. For a fun game we played name that tune with baby songs for our "onboard entertainment". The whole day was great and my mom was even able to fly up for the event! I received the most generous gifts and we now have more clothes than we know what to do with. I can't wait to dress him in all the adorable new outfits. We are so lucky to be surrounded by so many great friends here!Mexico & Alaska! For lunch we had shredded chicken soft tacos, 2 great salads, chips, guacamole and salsa. "Alaska" was the drinks

"The Caribbean"-my favorite red velvet cupcakes!

I wish I had more pictures of everyone there, but I only have a few...

the Hostesses: Madeleine, Sarah, Me, and Cassie

Shelly gave us this onesie that says "I still live with my parents". I think she was referring to Christian & I. haha Aubrey Taylor, Me & KC GrewalThe Hansens-Heather, Me, Cindy, Hannah, and Cassie My Mom & I

Birthday #1 with Homemade Strawberry Shortcake

Birthday #2 at Morton's
Birthday #3 with Nothing Bundt Cake Another day, another birthday celebration. We've sung Happy Birthday to Christian 4 different times over the last week and he is now just one year away from the big 3-0! On his actual birthday I had to work late so he happily invited Greg to fill in at dinner. Later that evening we opened presents. Chris & Cindy gave him some great clothes for work and I gave Christian some new running shoes and work out clothes. While my mom was in town for the shower she also treated us to a delicious meal at Morton's Steakhouse to celebrate! Happy Birthday Christian!!

Progress

I can't believe how long it has been since I've blogged. Our lives have felt a little like the movie Groundhog Day. Everything seems to revolve around remodeling, work, and more remodeling. Christian has been amazing and spends nearly every free moment working on the condo. I feel like the only change is the size of my belly which seems to literally be growing by the day. The people at Home Depot now know me and ask how that baby is doing when I walk in. Anyway, this week marked a major milestone in this whole project. The first piece of dry wall went up. That might not seem like a big deal, but it means our cabinets can go in, the plumbing is done, we have all new windows, and the electrical is just about done!! Also, we finally broke and paid someone to tile and finish the bathrooms! Slowly, but surely, we are getting there!

Growing

I had the camera out to download pictures so I had Christian snap a picture of my ever growing belly. The first couple pictures he deleted because he said it looked like I just stuck a basketball under my shirt...I can assure you there's definitely no ball underneath there. I'm currently at 29 weeks!

Under Construction

We were just planning to redo the kitchen and floors and somehow it has escalated into gutting nearly the entire condo. So much of the demolition has started from someone saying, "well we've already done this, so while we are here...". It will all be worth it when it is done, but I still get overwhelmed when I see the place even though I'm not doing the work. Thanks to Christian's many awesome friends volunteering their Saturdays and evenings we've made a lot of progress. Christian's scout master growing up, Greg Blotter, actually knows what he's doing and he's been a huge help. Doug Hansen, Mike Field & Greg Pickett have also put a lot of sweat into the place. Christian and I have said many times, what would we do if we didn't have so many great friends and resources!!

Hopefully, I'll be posting more pictures that show everything being put back together really soon!

BEFORE: IN PROGRESS:

The current state of the kitchen & bathroom!

We Have a Mortgage

We are now homeowners, well, condo owners for the same price of a normal home. It's been a long wait and to be honest there were many times I wanted to just forget it and move into a rental. The researching, viewings, waiting, and more waiting never seemed to end. Eventually though, it paid off. Yesterday we closed on a condo in Mountain View, CA that we've been trying to buy for over 3 months. It was a short sale, then foreclosed on, went to auction twice, but with a lot of persistence we were finally able to buy it! It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and an office...so plenty of room for visitors:) There is a lot of remodeling we'd like to do before we move in (and before the baby arrives). We definitely have our hands full, but we are super excited!! I'll try to take some pictures before the demo begins!

Visitors!

Two of my closest friends happened to be in San Francisco the same weekend! Rachael (my bff since 4th grade) and her boyfriend, Andrew, came in for some interviews. Plus, my college roommate, Mitzi came in just for fun! We spent the morning with Rachael and Andrew. I used Yelp to find a good place for brunch and it worked wonders. We ate at Mama's at Washington Square. If the huge line in the picture doesn't attest to how good it is, I will. It was honestly to die for and if you are in the city anytime soon you should make it a priority to go! We then met up with Mitzi and her boyfriend, Kyle. We walked around Pier 39 and then up to Union Square for shopping and hot chocolate. Christian was the photographer, which is why he isn't in any of the pictures and also why I had about ten pictures of my huge belly to choose from!

Rachael and I right before I got scarred by the crazy bush man!

As we approached the restaurant we could tell we were in the right place by the long line!

Mitzi & I in Union Square

25 weeks and growing! 3 1/2 months to go!

Weekend in Wine Country

I had some hotel points that were about to expire so I thought why not use them and see what Napa is all about. Even though it is only 90 minutes away neither of us had ever been there. The weather was perfect (thank goodness since we were planning to bike). We went on a long bike ride around Yountville (just north of Napa), stopped by a delicious bakery for lunch, stopped again for a snack at a random famer's market along the road and used Yelp to find a dinner place in Petaluma. We ate at a Mediterranean restaurant that was a bit off the beaten path, but the food was just as good as the yelpers told us it would be. Such a fun weekend!

Game-Set-Match

We went to a professional men's tennis tournament with our friends Brett & Aubrey. I can't stand watching tennis on TV, but seeing it live is awesome! It was great to get out and enjoy some of the fun things around the city! Also, thanks to Brett's new job we got amazing parking right across the street from the HP Pavilion!

Music to My Ears!

Over the past couple of days random strangers have asked me things like "when are you due?" and "how far along are you?". I couldn't be happier because this means that I am finally past that "is she pregnant or did she just gain weight" point. Keep the pregnancy questions coming!

It's a BOY!

The ultrasound place told me it was going to be 2 1/2 more weeks until they could get me in. I just couldn't bear the thought of waiting until then, especially after being told it could be a girl, so I called to see what other ultrasound locations I could go to. I had to drive to San Mateo and I may have slightly fibbed that I was a bit farther along than I actually was, but I was able to get an appointment the next day! The Dr. almost laughed when I said we were told it was probably a girl. She said that after 35 years of work she'll quit her job if it's not a boy. We can't wait for our little baby boy to arrive.

The ultrasound technician loved cruise ships so when I told her we worked on cruise ships she was my new best friend. She did the 3D images "just for fun" and took way more pictures than she needed to. Here are some of my favorites:

Camera shy...Once we started the 3D images he covered his face with his arm so we couldn't get a good shot of his face. After several attempts though we did get this profile picture.

His tiny little feet!

Boy or Girl???

We thought today was the day we were finally going to find out what the stork is bringing us, but no such luck. The Dr. said that if he had to guess he would say it is girl (the last ultrasound it looked like a boy), but he didn't know for sure. Next week I have an anatomy scan where we'll find out for sure! I guess one more week of suspense and one more week until the shopping begins!