Ferguson Went Home

I should probably fill in a little bit of what has occurred in the last three years so that if I ever turn this into a book there won't be so much of a gaping hole.

I don't remember much of 2011.  I was pregnant with Ellie for almost the whole year and it was difficult being pregnant with a small toddler who liked to run away from me.  I also chopped off my hair really short and hurt my toe pretty bad.  Then I gave birth to Ellie on Thanksgiving.  We went to Utah for Christmas.  My mother-in-law Libbie was going through chemo and not doing well.  However she still has cancer but is still alive today and actually doing better than she was two years ago.

 In March of 2012, Grandma Broadbent died.  I went to the funeral in Davis, CA and took Ellie with me.  Then in May, two months later, my sister-in-law Alice died shortly after giving birth to her baby Frances.  We drove home for the funeral.  Then we came back to Arizona and Aaron graduated from dental school.  We went to a Founder's Ball--my first black tie event since the Prom.  We packed up our stuff into a PackRat container which barely fit and we jammed all remaining crap into our van (oh yeah, we bought a van) and had a very crowded ride to Las Vegas.  We spent a week there for vacation and then proceeded to move home to Utah.  We unpacked our stuff and live in the basement apartment of Aaron's parents house.  Aaron started a residency at the University of Utah and his commute was an hour each way.  So he was gone every day for 12 hours and got burned out fast.  We had no vacations at all during his residency.  2012 was a rough, rough year.  I'm glad it's over.

2013 has been pretty smooth so far.  Aaron got three job offers in May and it was agonizing to choose which job to take.  He ended up accepting an associate professor job at Roseman school of dentistry in South Jordan.  We felt really good about it and so far he has loved it.  He can't imagine going back to general dentistry again (although he does it once a week at a place called Donated Dental.)  He went to dental school for four years to discover he hates doing dentistry.  But he loves many other aspects of it so we've made it work.  He's full of ideas for business and is trying to work on them in his spare time.  He is also on the boards for the LDS Academy of Dentists and the Utah Academy of General Dentists.
We went on vacation in July to San Diego and visited Sea World, Lego Land, the San Diego Zoo, and of course the beach.  We took a harbor cruise on a ship packed to the gills with Chinese people--we were the only white people on there.  They took more pictures of our kids than of the cruise.  It was intense and exhausting trip.

Aaron started his job on August 1st and our life has been pretty normal since then.  Will started kindergarten, Lucas started preschool.  They both did soccer and I coached Will's team.  I also trained for and ran a half marathon.  I have been working on my website for the past four years and phased out the quilt-selling part of it.  We are now preparing to build a house next year.

Woohoo!  That was an awesome summary of three years.  Pat on the back, Heidi.

PS...I forgot how nice it is to write a blog post without having to worry about SEO, categorization, pictures, and other nonsense.   I will post some pictures though, soon.

This is awesome.  I forgot I even had a family blog.  I haven't written anything in here for three years.  Haha!  Why did I abandon my blog you might ask?  Because I started a new blog which became a part time business and I had no time for another one.  That is mostly true.  But also because I felt like people didn't bother actually talking to me since they could just 'read about it on the blog.'  I don't actually write EVERYTHING that happens on here.  I have feelings too, people!

Just kidding, I'm not mad atcha.  I give props to people like my cousin Pete who even kept our blog on his blogroll.  I'm sure he was checking this every day in hopes to read my witty remarks.  Well today is your day, Pete.  I'm back and better than ever.

The thing about blogs is that once you start getting a large readership, you stop being able to say whatever you want.  You have to get less personal unless you are ready to face the barrage of rude and insulting comments.  You have to be white bread and safe and well, boring.

So prepare yourself to read entertaining stories about my children, much unlike everyone else's family blogs, but also some sweet insight into the mind of Heidi.  It's quite a complex web of mystery and I'm not going to hold back anymore.  I'm gonna be rude, crude, and dude.  (More 'dude' than rude and crude...this is me after all.  But that doesn't excuse me from telling you about my endless amount of cleaning up my kids poop stories.  Those never get old.)

So it's been over a month since I've blogged, and it's actually not because of a moratorium.  First of all, we took our summer vacation to Utah for a couple weeks, and I've been super busy since we've gotten home. I'm doing this blog post Hansen Slide Show style, meaning this:  I show a picture and make my snarky comments and then move on.  No need for trying to figure out "when was this?  Oh this must have been after Craig was born because blah blah blah"

Will, all settled in for the trip.  Headphones, ipod, chips, toys, etc. He was great on the trip up.  The way home however...  PS. The van on the trip was, wait for it, AWESOME!

This was the smoke from the fire in Flagstaff.  It looks like a bomb went off or something.  I sure had a steady hand while taking this picture and driving!  Hahahe....ah gee.

Will had some long hair while we were there. It is buzzed now, and I feel it all. the. time.

One of our favorite things to do while we were there was roast hotdogs/marshmallows over the Ferg's fire pit.  Fun stuff.

I celebrated my birthday while I was there (this is Will giving me his card)

Lukey became the smiley-est baby alive

And it was pretty hard to bathe him in the sink, but he was still so cute.

Will learned to sing "Happy Birthday" on this trip and now he sings it every time he sees a candle.  "Happy Birt-day TO YOU!  Happy Birt-day TO YOU!  Happy Birt-day dear Billy..."

Lucas got his blessing while we were there.  We did it in the Ferguson's home, so Libbie could be there.

I loved having it in their home, it was such a private, intimate event.  Libbie made Luke's outfit, which turned out so cute.

And here are the family pics.  Please ignore that strange man in the background.  I think he was robbing the house.

There he is again!  How dare he impose on our lovely picture!  At least he's not putting his arm around Mom.

I just wish that babies didn't look so slouchy while being held.  Sit up straight!

Annual Hansen July 4th BBQ.  Annual "Will spilling all over his shirt in the first 30 mins"

Ralph needs to be at the Bad Attitude Table

I just love Will's prancey little pose in this picture

Sparklers!  So much fun!

...Until someone loses an eye.  Will burned his thumb and pretty much had a nervous breakdown later that night.

We also had a picnic in South Fark

Libbie was able to come with us and it was a glorious day.  I always marvel at the humongousness of the mountains.

Oh ya, haha....Tyler broke his foot playing Badminton or something.  Here he is icing his foot in the river.

But he's the best uncle because he and Will were the greatest of friends.  And now we're back home.  Treats!

Lucas is now two months old. Today he got his shots and was in the 50th percentile for height and weight and 75th for head size. His personality is starting to come out little by little. He loves to smile at me when I get in his face and goo gaa to him (you all know what that means.) But at the same time he's very touchy sensitive. He can go from quiet to screaming bloody murder in a split second. And he is so very different than Will was, in so many ways. I would say he is probably a more difficult baby than Will was, but it's helpful that I know more about babies this time around so I am prepared more for it. And of course, he is adorable.


For Father's Day, Aaron and I got a babysitter and went out to Brio on Saturday night. Sunday morning I made him blueberry/raspberry pancakes and for dinner I made him steak, potatoes, and fruit salad. I also gave him a gift card to the Olive Garden. I guess there is nothing better than the gift of good food, right? I gave my own father the promise of a dinner prepared by me during my next visit. That's also my Mother's Day gift. :)

Almost every second of our week was spent car shopping. The birth of our second child finally convinced Aaron that we need a bigger car, since our semi-truck of a double stroller nearly breaks every time we jam it in and out of the trunk. So we started the search for car #2, checking out a bunch of different options. We test-drove several small SUV type cars, which we liked, but I was unsure about the practicality of them, since we really wouldn't be gaining any seat space. We had also driven one mini-van in our price range that I liked, but still...it was a minivan. Buy a minivan and you say goodbye to the last shred of youth. We spent a long time at Toyota, where the salesmen were driving a hard bargain and did not want us to walk out the door until we bought their car. We were running out of time to make a decision, and we needed to pick up our kids from the babysitters (car shopping with a toddler and baby is NOT recommended) so Aaron stayed and I left to go get them.

It was chaos when I got there. Lucas was very fussy and Will was running around, Aaron was calling me every two seconds wanting me to make all kinds of decisions, and I was trying to gather up all the stuff we'd brought to the babysitter's house (not to mention that I was sweating buckets since it was probably around 105 degrees). Finally after I shoved ALL OUR HUD into the car and loaded up two screaming children, I called Aaron, "I want the minivan!!"
So we got it. And I have no regrets. I have fully embraced mommyhood now...Minivan and the "mom" haircut. Fortunately I have steered clear of the bathrobe, bunny slippers, and hair curlers. We are so excited to take this car on our long drives to Utah, so much room! And the best part? No longer am I stuck at home when Aaron has the car!! I have freedom! (as much as two kids with nap schedules allow.)

Ironically, the day after I wrote my last post, Will decided to return to his old habits and tantrums. So now he is 50% angel, 50% terrible two-year-old. The thing he does that drives me CRAZY is this fun little game:

Me: Here's your froggy (or sippy cup or banana or whatever he's wanting)
Will: No, no want it
Me: Okay, then I'll have it
Will: No, I need it! (Throws a fit until I offer it again)
Me: Fine! Here you go
Will: No, no want it!

And this cycle repeats several times. Most of the time I don't let it repeat because I just don't give it back the first time he rejects it, I leave the room and he throws a major tantrum. But unless he's already in his room, we tell him to go in his room if he wants to cry about it.

He's also reverted back to clinginess when leaving him in nursery. He was doing so well for so long, just skipping his way into the room and never looking back. But its back to the crying again.

One night I decided to let Lucas cry it out for a little bit. I shut his door and ours so I couldn't hear him and put in earplugs and my pillow over my head. I was only going to wait about 15 minutes but I ended up falling asleep for an hour. When I woke up, he was still crying, and it was so heartbreaking. I got him up and fed him and he fell right to sleep for the next three hours. That was Saturday night. Last night I think he would have done better but his swaddler got wet and the others were dirty so I had to swaddle him in a regular blanket, which he of course kicked his way out of easily and only slept for an hour. I think tonight, since I am washing all his swaddlers today, I will try to have him cry again, because I think we are getting closer to improving, and he did take a longer nap yesterday (a whole hour!) But Sundays are pretty awful for him because he gets really over stimulated at church and was super grumpy until he conked out after church for the night.

Aaron took his Clinical competency test last week (which was kinda of silly timing because they've already started working in the clinic) and he stayed up all night studying for it. He's not sure he passed because it was ridiculously hard, so hopefully he did so he doesn't have to redo any classes. I forgot to mention something pretty cool though: Aaron's first week in the clinic, he did a short oral surgery rotation. He got a patient who needed a tooth extraction, so Aaron started doing it (which is kind of nerve wracking, removing someone's tooth when you've never done that before) and they discovered that this guy needed eight teeth removed! So they just let Aaron go ahead and do it himself, the only one guiding him was a fourth year student who'd been accepted to oral surgery (so he had more experience with it). But Aaron loved it! He did a great job once he got the hang of it and he couldn't stop talking about it afterwards. He is pretty determined now to go on to oral surgery, which means another 4 years at least. So Christina, if you read this, we need to talk to you guys! Aaron wants to do an externship next summer at Helaman's hospital.

I feel really good about Aaron going to to do oral surgery, because I know that he will be in a profession that he loves. He said that whenever he does anything related to oral surgery he gets a 'high' from it, he gets so excited about it and just wants to do it more and more. I told him that is how I feel about my Etsy shop, I just love what I do, sewing and designing children's items. I think that's how you know that it's the right job for you.

Speaking of my Etsy shop, I ended my maternity leave a few weeks ago and have been working on some new items that I'm excited about. I've decided to abandon my idea to expand to girl's dresses for now, and design more quilts. I'm proud of my quilts and have gotten a lot better at making them. I think they are pretty unique and so I'm excited to come up with some new color schemes that are more modern.

That's all for Fergusons small.

There is something wrong with this blog. I seem to have skipped a few important 'blog worthy' events, such as Christmas, Will's birthday, and our anniversary. So I will rectify the situation, starting with Will's birthday. We have kind of a picture mess, meaning that our pictures are in several different locations, one of which is currently frozen and who knows if we will be able to access it. So perhaps I will blog about Christmas in July, when Arizona is hotter than Hades and we are trapped inside.

Next year will be a birthday extravaganza, since Lucas will be one and Will will be three within about a week of each other.