Tyler Time

With a new baby at home and both sides of the family here to visit, everyone was working extra hard to give BOTH Hannah and Tyler lots of extra attention.

Adam found a bike trailer at a garage sale recently, so he hooked it up to his bike and took Tyler for a ride to the park and to see the trains on the track in town. Tyler was really excited and told me all about his trip when he got back.

Tyler wore his new helmet for the first time - had to be just like Dad!
He got the helmet free at a kids safety fair in town this past spring.
Don't they look cute!
"A funny thing happened on the way to the store..."
I needed something from Medicap on Saturday when both of the grandparents were here to visit and I thought Tyler needed a chance to get out of the house (Mom needed a break from loud toddler noises), so I asked the grandmas to run the quick errand and maybe take Tyler to the park for a little bit to run off some energy. Medicap was going to close in 15 minutes, so they left quickly not even bothering to take Tyler's backpack.
Well, the park was fun - but while they were there they heard the train whistle and Tyler's loving grandmas decided to leave the park and take Tyler over to the Scenic Valley Train Museum in town to see the train. One thing led to the other and they noticed a train was about to depart, so they decided "what the heck" and bought 3 tickets for the dessert train. I have to mention here that the tickets were $25 EACH and there was no discount for kids! Only a grandma would give in to a toddler's love for trains like this! They did a quick potty break before boarding the train (good thing because they left his backpack of emergency stuff at home - I am just glad they at least took their camers!). Mom said Tyler kept saying over and over "I'm so excited, I'm so excited!" He is one LUCKY kid! Here he is below enjoying his "lunch" on the train - cheese, crackers, and grapes while enjoying the scenery.

Here is the dessert part of the trip - the grandmas got cheesecake and Tyler got ice cream!

Tyler was by far the youngest kid on the train and I hear he made quite an impression on the older passengers. He was mesmerized with the train tracks and kept saying things like "watch out there's trouble ahead!" and other things from the Thomas the Train shows he watches.

Grandma Janelle making sure Tyler doesn't fall over the railings.At one point the dessert train had to wait for and then pass the other scenic valley train on the tracks. Oddly enough Tyler was right there on the open air part of the yellow train car exactly one year ago almost to the day. A photo of that trip is below.

Train trip June 2010The exciting experience + food + the rocking motion of the train during nap time = too much for Tyler. He fell asleep in Grandma Linda's arms before they got back to the station and eventually back home. We thought they would never make it back. Good thing they texted us to let us know what they were up to. Tyler talked about this train trip for days afterwards! The Grandmas decided it was well worth the expense to see him so happy!

Back Home

I agreed to help co-direct our church's VBS one year ago...before I knew I would be due with Hannah the exact same week as VBS was scheduled to happen this year! I made it to 2 nights of VBS and then stayed home one night, and by the 4th night of VBS I was in the hospital.

On the day we came home from the hospital, we found these 3 giant banners posted outside our garage with notes from all the VBS kids and adults with messages like "It's a Girl" and "Happy birthday Hannah." It was wonderful to come home to - that and my father-in-law mowed our yard for us!

The first weekend we were home my family came to visit and make meals for us. Here is Aunt Emily, Hannah, Tyler, cousin Kelsey & Aunt Betsy.

Cousin Kelsey seeing her new baby girl cousin for the first time.

Grandpa Howard holding Hannah for first time

Grandpa with his THREE grandkids

First bath at home

It's A Girl!!!!

Hannah Margaret Haselhuhn

born June 15, 2011 at 6:00 PM
7 pounds, 11 ounces, 21 inches long

Hannah's middle name is in honor of her maternal
Great-Grandmother Ardelle Margaret Geer

We were both surprised that we had a girl, we were both convinced we
would have another boy, so it really was a sweet surprise!

Poor daddy was so busy taking pictures, calling & texting people, and then heading right over to pick up my Mom & Tyler to bring them to the hospital that we realized he hadn't even had the chance to hold Hannah until a couple of hours after she was born.

Grandma Janelle's first time to hold Hannah after she had been watching Tyler for the last day and overnight while we were in the hospital. It was nice to have her working in the hospital while we were there and she got to slip down several times to visit.

Tyler's first time seeing his baby sister.

Grandma Linda & Grandpa Ken Haselhuhn came up from Knoxville to see Hannah on Wednesday night, then drove home to work half the day Thursday before taking vacation time to come back and watch Tyler for us thru Saturday. It was great to have so much family help! Tyler loved all the attention too - even in the hospital room he wanted them to play with his toys.

I knew he would LOVE learning that my bed
had buttons that made it move!

Learning to be gentle with Hannah.
They came back the next day with gifts. Flowers for me...

...and Tyler bought a Minnie Mouse pink blanket for Hannah. He couldn't wait to hold her. He was so excited to be a big brother that he would tell anyone who would listen (including all the nurses who came in and out of the room) "I'm Tyler, I'm a big brother. This is Hannah, she's my baby sister, and I love her!" That has been his catch phrase - even weeks later, and we never prepped him to say it, he came up with it all on his own.

Hannah was even in on the gift giving.
Tyler got some new books and a fishing pole from her.
Then they shared a sibling hug.

Snuggle time with Mom

Snuggle time with Dad

Enjoying some rare quiet time in our room
in between visitors and nurses.

Hannah and her proud parents

Camp Open House 2011

The Iowa 4-H Center, where I used to work, held their summer camp open house Thursday night. It was also the night for the 4-H club I help with to show off the cabin we have adopted and renovated for the summer. The club members held a picnic dinner and all got their pictures taken by the cabin and were recognized by the camp staff for their efforts. Adam and Tyler tagged along with me to camp for all of the fun and my Mom joined us. Tyler went home with her afterwards.

Camp Staff member Drew did a great job driving the "camp limo" big white wagon around for a camp tour. Tyler was very excited to have a wagon ride with Grandma and some nice camp staff.

Wagon ride with Leah & Michelle

Wagon ride photo with Grandma Janelle

Some of my past Camp America camp staff would be very proud to know that Tyler was excited to play soccer at camp!

Tyler loves rocks and teacher Michelle turned it into a teachable moment by helping him count the rocks - all the way to 18!
One special camp treat was insider information from the Program Director that there was a brand new fawn found in the flower bed next to Cedar Lodge. It was adorable!

Here is Tyler saying "Hi" to Bambi who seemed just as
interested in Tyler and Tyler was interested in it!

Banana Bread Helper

I have been nesting lately and trying to bake a few things ahead to freeze and enjoy later when the baby arrives. While Adam was at his band concert, Tyler and I stayed home to make a double batch of banana bread using Tyler's Great-Grandma Lois Stephens recipe. He was a big helper!

Sifting

Ready to mix

Adding the bananas

Ta-da, all mixed!

Success = licking the beater!