05/08 - We're out of space

ehrenester.wordpress.com 

Esse and I have been going back and forth about what to keep here and what to discard and it's at this time that we have run out of space.  So we're trying out the new site.  It's a little different with the process of viewing the original picture and the layout but you can comment on the stories and/or pictures.  Let us know what you think.  Baby Kason is coming home today.

05/06 - New Baby

Esse loves being on time, except when it comes to delivering babies.  She would like to be early.  This would make it twice (Anika) that she has delivered on her due date. Baby Hanson comes in at a whopping 9lbs, 15oz (4.5KG) and 22 inches (55.88cm) and was born at 4:12pm.  Not that chubby, just big.  Big arms, hands, feet, and most painfully, shoulders.  It's hard to wrap him in the blanket because he's so big.  She and baby are doing great and she feels very rested as this is our first mid day baby.  Esse was making the comment that it feels so good to relax and enjoy the evening with him instead of feeling exhausted and needing sleep right away.  We had to fight with the doctor who wanted to speed things up so that she, the doctor, wouldn't have to come in later that night.  Unbelievable that we had to tell the doctor 'no' and to be patient.  Apparently there were no ill feelings as she was giving us and my mom hugs after baby Hanson came.  Let's just say she broke my personal comfort bubble.

Esse was pretty amazing through the labor, once again no drugs.  She had great focus through the last hour, controlled her breathing very well, and was able to stop pushing when they told her to take a break.  It was important for her to take that break once the head was out for them to clear some stuff and prepare for when those shoulders broke though. Practically had to catch him.  It was gross. 

So far he's a quiet boy, taking everything in and turning his head in the direction of noises and motion.  He turned beet red when he got his shots but was easy to calm down once he knew everyone had heard him.  We knew that Kade would be positive about having a baby brother but I was a little concerned about Ani with how she would react to him and him being more of the center of attention.  She had been a stinker for dad today while he was watching them both and was very crabby when I picked them up and brought them home for dinner.  She missed her mom and was very vocal about it.  As soon as she saw the baby the big sister switch turned on.  'My baby' was the theme for the next hour.  Hugs, looking for chances to hold him, and following whomever was holding him was her focus during the visit.  When we got home and I was working on some pictures for the web site, she got all excited again about her baby.

I'm going to bed.  They should be home Thursday.  The number to the room is 218-683-4693.

4/26 - Global Warming?

So this is what we woke up to this morning.  About 10-12 inches of snow but the killer was the blowing snow.  Ester and I had been to the hospital the night before to have some light contractions checked out (no more bigger but thinner, won't be much longer) so the kids stayed at my parent's for the night.  This picture was taken before I brushed off the car to go there.  I barely made it out of the yard and one stretch of gravel road as I was pushing snow that was deeper than the clearance of the car.  Highway was fine but when I came up to my parent's driveway, I saw a drift that was taller than the hood of the car waiting for me.  I just gunned it and didn't stop until I got to the barn.  Driving dad's pickup back was a bit easier but when is this going to end.  I thought about taking a picture of the site but it would just be a white blob of a picture.  Probably will take something tomorrow.  Ufda.

3/23 - Easter

This year was Anika's first egg hunt so we were excited about that and she got into it a little bit, but mostly she just wanted to open and close the plastic eggs. Kade of course couldn't wait for the egg hunt, that was the highlight of his weekend even though we kept talking about the real reason for Easter - Jesus dying on the cross for us. He knew the answer to that, but he still said his favorite part is the egg hunt. So he has a basket full of candy now and it should last him a while. We had a nice lunch with nanna and papa and great aunt Judith afterwards. The snow is still on the ground so it wasn't a very springy Easter, but I still had to put the spring dress on Ani. She looked really cute and I think she was the prettiest little girl at church on Sunday. :)  After I took all the Easter pictures I realized how much I miss my dad's camera, you can't even compare those pictures to ours.  So I think it won't be too long before we buy a new camera.

3/16 - trip to Omaha

Last Thursday we took off for Omaha to go visit Brent and Ingrid who just had baby Clare 6 weeks ago. The car trip wasn't too bad and we tried to stop as little as possible to get there faster. Even though we tried to shoot for Anika's nap during the trip, she would not sleep any more than 20 minutes. But it could have been worse and she didn't cry too much, at least for her. We had a nice time with Brent and Ingrid and Kade really enjoyed playing with Sage and of course going to the Amazing Pizza Machine which is a place to eat and play all kinds of games. Ehren took Kade mini golfing and gocart racing which he just loved since he is so into nascar racing. The weekend was a good reminder to us of what we are up against in just a few weeks so I think I should enjoy all the sleep I can get right now. Ehren and I were a little bit bummed because we were looking forward to some warmer weather for a change, but it turns out we brought the cold weather with us. But at least on Friday it was pretty nice out so the kids got to play outside for a while. It was Anika's first time walking outside since she's been walking and she really liked being outside. She was trying to figure out what grass was about, it's been too long since she seen it. So below are some pics of the kids.

2/26/08 - Cyber double date

Just a little note telling you about how we decided to spend our evening last night and yes, it was Ehren's idea. We downloaded "family feud" and online "trivia pursuit" games and played them online with really good friends of ours who moved to Kansas. While we were playing with them we also talked together using Skype and the whole thing was actually a lot of fun, almost like being with them. I guess in this day and age we have to get creative with how to stay connected with friends and family. It is also something different because during this never ending winter the evenings can get pretty boring, especially if you're pregnant.

Click below to see a funny youtube video.

I like it because it's my joke that if there is any global warming it sure isn't here in Minnesota.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUFTm6cJXM

A Video from Seth

2/17/08 - Kade's quotes

Kade came with me to practice today before church and said a couple of things that make me smile. First was when the worship team was practicing.

"Dad, why are they playing music when no one is here to listen?"

And then the best one was when during practice, the pastor, his wife, and a missionary came into the sanctuary.

"Dad, the music woke up the old people."

2/13/08 - Anika praying

Anika loves our little tradition of praying before we eat and when I put her in the high chair this is how she starts to pray. I usually pray with her in Slovak and Kade says his English version after and Anika prays with him too.

2/3/08 - Hanka Markusova

My brother Marcel and his wife Elen had a baby girl Hanka right on my birthday, how exciting. Here are a couple of pictures. Ehren's sister Ingrid also just had a baby girl Clare Ilisa on January 31st. So we got 2 new nieces within a few days. I guess it's time for another boy in the family. :)

Clare Ilisa

2/3/08 Esse's Birthday and a weekend at the cabin.

Good weekend. Warm weather and a chance to enjoy Esse and all she does for us. I wanted to go ice fishing but have come to the realization that either I enjoy that fully and ignore the family for a great time of our stay or I enjoy the time with the family and try to do as much as we can. This is what happened on Sunday when we tried out the sliding hill that mom and dad made for us the weekend before and as you can see in the pictures and the videos, it was a lot of fun. Kade could not get enough of it. We did go to Bemidji on Saturday night for a little shopping and a great meal at the Green Mill. Ani was just eating everything in sight, including Esse's birthday cheesecake. A very interesting diaper followed this morning changed by yours truly.

As there was no pack-n-play available at the cabin and we did not bring ours, we did find that Ani does wake up a happier kid when not confined to such structures. Both her and Kade slept very well on the floor and each morning we woke up to her giggling.

I know you all think that I have given up on the ice fishing all to easily but other factors contributed to this. That would include breaking the key in the ignition of the 4-wheeler as we are about to leave at 9 Saturday NIGHT, the countless times I had to put the lines back down after Kade would reel them in to check on minnow-status, and just all the preparation to go fish for 1.5 hours and get no nibbles. I'm sticking to fishing off the dock or paddle boat in the summer and if anyone wants to come with, let them come.

1/31 - A Cold Night

On a night where it was -18 below outside and the electric furnace was on ripple, our furnace started to act up. There was some stuff clogging up the nozzle that injects fuels into the furnace. This would cause the furnace to shut off after 3 minutes and I would have to reset it. It got down to 51 degrees in the house so we were quite cold. A couple of properly placed space heaters and having us all in our bedroom made for a cozy night. We all slept very well. Even when Ani did her early morning wake up, I was able just to groan at her and she went right back to sleep. Almost like she needed assurance that she's not alone. Esse and I laugh now because it was a really good night sleep. We in our bed, Kade on the floor in a sleeping bag, and Ani in the pack and play. This morning, with on-phone support from dad, I took out the nozzle, brought it in and bought 2 replacement tips. Brought it back and reinstalled it in 5 minutes. Just had to be sure the ignition was in the right place. Running like a dream and we're in the lower 60's already. Weird how something like that can be sorta fun for the family. We all woke up with smiles.

1/26 - Vacation at the Meyer's

Every time we come down here and stay with Kevin and Grace we relax so much. Ani has been going to bed early and then, of all wonders, sleeping in. Esse has been visiting with friends and last night, after coming back from a dinner date, KG had made a cake for her.

The other cool thing is what we see out of the view of the room we're sleeping in. KG's new neighbors built a sport court which is a tennis/basketball court in the summer and then they flood it in the winter for their 3 boys to practice hockey which they did until 11 last night. KG's house is angled just so that the light does not come into the rooms too much. One thing the picture doesn't capture is how bright those lights are. KG are looking to introduce themselves shortly to get them in on the court time.

1/20 - Weather here and in Siberia

This is to appease Esse in her complaint that we are living in Siberia. Although we can't find out exactly where Dzalinda is on the Russian map it is the most common result when searching for weather in Siberia. The weather is being updated so it is the current temperature at these 3 places.

For those who are looking at this just now, on 1/20/08 it was -25 F in Thief River and 5 F in Siberia, just to show that it can be colder here than in Siberia.

And for my own interest.

1/5 - The building has started!!!

1/4 Playing in the snow

Kade had a friend Lydia over this morning and they played outside for quite a long time. We finally had a normal winter day where you can be outside and not freeze. After Anika's nap we went outside again and she loved being pulled by the sled. She really just wanted to get close to our cat who kept following us around. Kade loved pulling Ani around because she was so light but then that was too boring and he wanted to push her down the hill. So we did that a few times on a tiny hill. It should stay nice tomorrow so we'll have to go outside again.

12/26 - Christmas at the Hansons

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had Christmas Eve at our house with Ehren's parents, brother Kjell and his family and great aunt Judith. I made dinner which mostly consisted of my mom's recipes and it turned out really good. I was just pooped at the end of the day, but I like having people over. It is just so different now that we have little kids around and everything evolves around them, but it is fun to watch them open the gifts. Kade and Ani had a lot of fun opening their gifts. Anika loves to go "wow" right now so she was doing that when she saw all the gifts. Her favorite was a baby doll that laughs, cries and sucks the bottle. She loves feeding the bottle to her and she imitates the baby's sucking noises which is really cute. I should have just looked at how heavy the doll is because Ani has a hard time carrying her around. She has to lift her by the neck and then she can walk with her so it's like she's choking her. Kade's favorite gift was a little train set from nanna with a crane that lifts up the cargo. He is very protective of the toy and yells at Ani if she touches it, but they are figuring it out and Ani loves to watch Kade play like she's doing right now. On Christmas Day we just hung around the house and didn't do much. Ehren and Kade played in the snow for a while and Kade had a lot of fun being out there. He needs us to be outside with him, otherwise he won't go but then he loves it. Hopefully next year Anika will be playing out there with us.

12/14 - Our Ani is finally starting to walk!

She is 14 months old and I think she wanted to prove me wrong because only a few seconds before she took her first steps I told Ehren she's probably not going to walk until she's 2, being my exaggerating myself.

12/13 - Baking sugar cookies

12/9 - Kade's Christmas program

This was Kade's first year that he went up on the stage and actually sang the songs with the kids and was even showing all the gestures. I was so proud of him mainly because we missed a lot of Sundays for practices and I never practiced the songs with him at home (bad mom I guess but I didn't know 2 out of 3 songs).

12/5 - a beautiful chilly day

Kade and I decided to check out the snow after a few cold and snowy days. It looked so beautiful out with the sun shining but we barely lasted 10 minutes and started to get too cold. I couldn't believe how fast I got cold so I had to check out the weather and it was 6 below Fahrenheit (-21C) so no wonder. Kade was trying on his new snow shoes but he got frustrated walking with them pretty fast. :) So then I just pulled him on the sled and who wouldn't like that? His biggest disappointment was that we couldn't make a snow man because it is too dry and not sticky. That's what we get for living in Siberia I guess. :) Ani was taking a nap during all this so she missed out on the snow but she would just get too cold anyway and I'm sure she would complain about the bright sun like she always does.

Ehren's birthday and Thanksgiving

the candles don't represent his years, that would just be too many candles. :) Well, we love him anyway.

turkey time 2 cheesy grins

My fellow Americans

Yes, I finally did it, went through the oath ceremony and became an American citizen. I had to drive down to the cities the day before Thanksgiving so that was not fun, but the ceremony went by really fast. Ehren's aunt Grace went with me and it was very nice to have someone there. She took pictures of me too. We were seated alphabetically so I got to sit in the very front row, facing the judge and administrators. For some reason the judge seemed to like me (probably because I was one of the few white ones) and kept looking at me. They read through all the countries represented and there were 33 countries with 72 people taking the oath. The most people came from Somalia and there were some tiny countries I barely heard of. Anyway, taking the oath was a little emotional for me and very sad because I was swearing to never have any allegiance with Slovakia so in a way it felt like saying good bye to being a Slovak. But I know that if I ever lived in Slovakia I could get my Slovak passport again because they accept dual citizenship unlike the US.

(talking with the judge afterwards)