Bath Time!!

Some of the experiences Mikayla has had over the past few days are...

Nanny Jill helped with the night shifts

Grandma & Grandpa Kartchner came to visit

Mikayla got some one on one Mammy time

Meagan is one cute Mommy!!

Her Auntie Maren came to visit all the way from BYU!!

And then she got her first bath!

Of course she wasn't so sure about this last experience...

Mikayla's Many Faces

One of the first things that everyone says when they see little Mikayla Mae is how beautiful she is, which of course we agree with 100%. After a minute or two the next thing everyone says is that 'wow, she has attitude!' And again we have to agree. She is cute as a button especially as she is making faces, and so I thought I'd add a post with just a sampling of all the cute little faces she makes.

Happiness is...Mikayla Mae!

We had our little girl!!!!!!

Meet our dear little addition, our beautiful Mikayla Mae Hancock. She was born at 3:13 p.m. on Sunday Jan. 24, 2010. She was 8 lbs. 3 ounces, 19 3/4 inches long and just perfect in every way. Her mamma, Meagan, did just marvelous! Her water broke around 8:00 a.m. that morning and then she labored for seven hours before our little gal was here! They are both doing just great.

Our brand new little family!

Mikayla with her Mommy

Mikayla with her Daddy

Meagan taking care of her brand new little girl

UA fan right from the get go. Go Cats!

Sleepy girl

The labor and delivery nurses worked with Meagan last summer during her externship and just loved her. They went all out making sure we had a great room, and then had it all decorated for her when we got there. They said Meagan was one of their own so they went all out to make sure it was a really great experience for us... and it really was.

Mikayla with her Mammy and Pappy (Hancock). She is their first granddaughter and the first girl to be born in my Mom's family for almost twenty years.

Mikayla with her Big Grandad and Nanny Jill (Wilson). She is their first grandbaby, and so their grandparent names are still trying to be discovered.

Mommy and Mikayla getting ready to go home.

A little time for Daddy with his girl

Our little lady in her going home outfit

Mikayla made it home!!! Yeah!!!!!

Another baby update...

We went to the doctors again today and he said everything still looks great, then he caught us both off guard and offered to induce me on Tuesday night. He said it would be an elective induction, but he thought it would be a really successful induction because my body is ready for labor and we will be 39 weeks along at that point. After much debate and prayers, we decided to go for it. The great part is that I know my doctor will be there for the whole labor and my nurse preceptor from labor and delivery is on that night and will be my nurse. My doctor also said that he thought there was a good chance I could go into labor before then, so this induction would only happen if I didn't go into labor on my own. So, bottom line, the plan is that we will go in at 9:30 on Tuesday night to start pitocin and go through the night on pitocin and hopefully deliver by Wednesday afternoon. Kind of crazy that this is all happening so soon, but I am ready and we feel like this is the answer for us. We'll keep you updated!

Immature

There, Dad. You win this one. The post is gone. :)

Second Christmases!

(Quick Note: I've been lazy updating, but there are several new entries now... so if you are interested keep on scrolling. I guess its feast or famine when Dud gets put in charge of updating)

Back to Second Christmases:

So due to hectic schedules, we were not able to get with my side of the family to do our gift exchange until this last weekend. It ended up being really fun though, because it felt like we were getting to enjoy a second Christmas. Unfortunately, I didn't realize until just now though how horrible I was at taking pictures when I saw that we have one picture on the camera from this weekend. All the others are on my sisters' cameras. Oops. I'll have to get some from them. Anyways at least the picture that I got was a good one, with all of the sisters and mom in their matching aprons that mom got them. Meagan's is slightly different because it came with a matching apron for our little lady (which she is holding) so that mom and daughter can match in the kitchen. Pretty stinking fun, huh? Those are some good looking ladies there! Can't wait for our next one to join the crew! :)

36 Weeks

Here Meagan is at 36 weeks, looking cute as ever. She really does not want me to post this picture, and I'm sure I'll hear about it when she finds that I did anyway, because she does not like this picture at all. I however thinks she looks absolutely beautiful and adorable.

I still can't believe that we are now at 37 weeks. If our little lady were to come now she'd be considered full term. We're getting closer!!! I know Meagan is feeling very pregnant right about now and would not mind at all if she did decide to come a little early.

Meagan's cute curls are courtesy of Dawn Sheree who was playing makeover on Mom and the sisters to try out her fancy new hair straightener.

Christmas!

This year we celebrated Christmas with Meagan's family. It was the first Christmas with Seth just recently gone on his mission, and since he was in the CCM (the MTC in the Dominican Republic) he didn't get to call home. And on top of that Meagan had to work on Christmas day. So all of that combined, I think all of us weren't quite sure what to expect this year, but it turned out to be a super fun Christmas.

We had decided that we'd celebrate on the 24th, and so the 23rd rolled around and we performed all of our Christmas Eve Traditions including the Wilson Family tradition of opening the family presents to each other....
Meagan had Mom, and I had Dad, so we decided to combine our efforts and we made them a nativity this year. I think it turned out pretty fun if I don't say so myself, including legitimate LED stars. Well we had so much fun opening up family gifts, that we just looked at each other and kind of simultaneously decided that we might as well keep going. Luckily Santa had come early this year due to our crazy schedule, and so we stayed up until almost 3:00 in the morning like a bunch of slap happy teenagers. It was really fun.
In the aftermath, like the little boy that I am, here I am enjoying the spoils (because we truly were spoiled!)
And here is Meagan doing a fashion show twirl in her new apron. She looks really cute in it. Unfortunately this is a really blurry picture but it is the only one, so enjoy. ;)
And then on Christmas day night, several of the cousins came over and Zane, Jeff, and Josh Kartchner joined me in enjoying my latest addition of Lincoln Logs by building forts for army men and then having an all out war with potato pellet guns, rubber bands, and Lincoln log catapults. Jeff and I had the most architecturally sound fort, resulting in little to no damage from the war. Unfortunately though, Zane and Josh were far better sharp shooters with their rubber bands and were able to take out our last army man with two of theirs still standing. I guess the team with the best sniper really does win.

Anyways it was a fun Christmas and our hearts were in the Dominican Republic with Setho!

Thanksgiving 2009

This is a very late post, but I wanted to share some pictures from the Hancock family reunion that we had during Thanksgiving and I am just now getting to it.

This is almost everyone who was at the reunion. Just a few cousins, huh?
This is our Hancock Family turkey bowl (i.e. when we're all reminded how out of shape we are)
Meagan, my Mom, and my sisters, all looking cute and being crafty.

The cheering section for our Turkey Bowl

And one of our favorite Thanksgiving past times, cardboard sledding!

We finished it off with a service project at Grandma Hancock's house. These are just a few random pictures of only a couple of the activities that we enjoyed. Unfortunately though we were really bad about taking pictures and so this is what we've got to share. Some of the other fun things were Thanksgiving dinner in Uncle Alvin's barn, corn hole tournaments (a bean bag toss game), and the family auction.

So that was Thanksgiving in a better late than never nutshell.

32 1/2 Weeks

Here's the latest update on the "watermelon gut" (Seth's terminology). Seriously, this kiddo has grown a TON in the last couple of weeks. It is insane. My Mom officially stated that "okay, you look pregnant now" on Sunday. Yes, it's happening despite my wishes to stay small. Only 7 more weeks! By the way, please notice the shadow behind me that makes me look fatter than I really am. :) We really are getting excited to meet our little gal!

You Don't Have to Worry About Snow in AZ...

I was on the phone with a company the other day who was explaining to me UPS shipping policies. He went on to say that UPS would never leave a package in the rain or snow, then proceeded to say, "I guess you never have to worry about snow in Arizona, though". I kind of laughed as I was looking out the window at this:

Dustin and I decided to take a little mini vacation up to my parent's cabin in Pinetop, AZ and we seem to have impeccable timing as we ran into this huge snow storm. The same thing happened to us last year when we went on vacation up there, too. Anyway, we got 18" of snow from Sunday morning when we got there to Monday night. It was craziness! All I can say is that I LOVE snow plows and husbands that are willing to dig our car out of a driveway with 18" of snow on it and that I HATE icy roads. They are awful. They scare me to death. I informed Dustin that he better find a job somewhere close to home because I will die if I have to live in the snow all the time! We did have a great time being snowed in and being lazy for a few days, though! Lots of yummy hot chocolate!

There was this huge icicle outside the cabin (well, huge if you live in AZ) and Dustin decided to measure it...5 feet 9 inches! It was SO pretty, though. These pictures don't do it justice at all.

Dustin just had to build a snowman, but the snow wouldn't pack well so he had to rescue round chunks of snow after the snow plow finally came through to start his snowman. Notice that it's a replica of himself, complete with spiky hair and everything!

In other random news, a couple of weeks ago we went to Phoenix after a Hancock family reunion (which I failed to take many pictures of) for Thanksgiving and picked up this beautiful cradle that my Grandpa Harold made for our little girl. We love it and are so grateful for he and my grandma who had blankets and sheets made for it. Our little girl is spoiled already! Isn't is pretty?