Halloween

Here are a few pictures from Halloween. Tylie loved being Cinderella. She felt that it is only natural that she is a princess. With the way that her attitude has been lately, I started to think that she decided to permanently be a princess. Anyway, as you can tell from the pictures, Mason did not think that dressing up was much fun. It was a fun Halloween and now it is time to gear up for the holiday season.

Wonderful grandparents

I would like to take a few moments and pay homage to the wonderful grandparents in my children's lives. My Grandma and Grandpa Barfuss were up at my mom's the other day and Tylie somehow convinced them to play this silly game with her. They would balance a plastic plate on their head and then flip it off all together. It is a wonder why but Tylie thought that this was hilarious and just did it over and over again. I just laughed because only grandparents would play this game as long as they did and, on top of that, allow a picture to be taken so the moment would never be forgotten.

As I was driving home that night, I started to think to myself about how lucky Tylie and Mason are to have so many grandparents in their lives. All together, they have about 10 grandparents that are still alive. They have all made an effort to have a relationship with my kids and I hope that Tylie and Mason remember the time that they have with them. I know that many of their grandparents will never read this but I truly hope they know how much I appreciate all that they do for my kids. Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Barfuss for all the special cards and never missing an important event. Thank you to Grandma Hancock for taking time to come visit at the hospital and our home. Out of so many grandchildren, you took time on your vacation to come see us and that means a lot. Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Woodbury for tolerating Tylie's constant jabber when you come to visit, even when I know it gets old quickly. And finally, how can I say thank you enough to my and Jake's parents. Jake's mom has the patience of Job when it comes to grandkids and Jake's dad doesn't think twice about getting down with the kids and rolling around with them and becoming a human jungle gym. I am so grateful to my mom and her willingness to take the kids for me whenever something comes up. I think that she and tylie were made out of the same mold because they are attached at the hip and it is a stuggle to break them apart whenever we need to go home. Tylie has a special bond with her that it hard to deny. And my dad.... it has become a tradition that every time we leave their house, he carries out tylie and puts her in her car seat. Then he will stand there and jump up and down for tylie waving goodbye until we are out of sight. This has to happen or tylie thinks that something is wrong in the world because papa was not there for her. I know that it seems like a small thing but he will never know how much I love that. It will be forever impressed on my mind of him standing in the driveway, smiling as we drive away. I am so grateful for the lessons that they have all taugt me and now are teaching my children. I hope that I can always remember what a blessing it is to have them involved in our lives.

Back to the hospital I go

I just had a baby a little over a week ago which I am absolutely thrilled about but if you know anything about giving birth to a baby, you know that they poke and prod you at every angle possible in the hospital during and after the birth. As I was in labor this time, I felt like a lab rat because I had needles, tubes, and machines surrounding me monitoring every movement me or Mason made. I was so relieved when they finally took all those tubes and needles out. I felt human again. Well..... with all of that said, I guess I didn't get enough of tubes and needles because I am headed back to the hospital for surgery now. A week before I had Mason, I woke up with an excruciating pain and thought it was labor although the pain seemed higher on my stomach then I remember contractions being. I rushed to the hospital but when I got there, the pain had faded and they just looked at my like I was crazy and sent me home. I felt like a real idiot because I never wanted to be that woman that thought every minor pain meant labor and would rush to the hospital. Anyway, a few days after we got home from the hospital I woke up with the same excruciating pain and since Mason was sleeping soundly in his crib, I was pretty sure that it wasn't labor this time and something was wrong. To be honest, this pain far outweighed labor pains. I kept telling Jake that I would rather be in labor the deal with this pain. At least I got a baby out of the labor pain. Once again the pain faded but I had to figure out what this was because I couldn't deal with these attacks on a regular basis. I went to the doctor's and found out that I have multiple gall bladder stones and have to have my gall bladder out. I am not exactly thrilled about this but at least I know what it is and can get it taken care of. So, wish me luck. I am headed back to get poked and prodded a few more times and then hopefully I will be done for quite a while.

Mason is here!

YEAHHHHH!!!! My little Mason is finally here and I am no longer pregnant. As incredible as it is to have a baby inside of me and feel him grow and move, it is really nice to have my body back. Anyway, I went into the hospital on Thursday ( Oct 2nd ) to be induced. Mason was born at 4:30 in the afternoon. He was 8 lbs 3 ozs and 19 inches long. He has a lot of dark black hair and is much more mild and good tempered then Tylie was. We named him Mason Jacob Hancock. I am so excited to have this new sweet baby in our home but it is so strange to have a tiny baby again. I had completely forgotten what it is like to have a baby. Tylie seems huge now and so grown up. I absolutely love having Tylie right now though. She has been such a huge help. When I can't grab something because my hands are full, she is always right there to help me out. She loves feeling like she is a mommy too and she constantly reminds me that Mason is her baby. So, the Hancock clan has grown from 3 to 4 and we are just thrilled about it. I am off work on maternity leave so I will post as often as I can. I am sure that many posts will be focused on Tylie and Mason since they are what my world is revolving around right now. What can I say, I am just a mom that likes to brag about her amazing kids!

Too much control

I am at that point in my pregnancy where I have to go to the doctors weekly. I was at the doctors on friday and he informed me that he was going to be out of town on my due date so there is a good possibilty that he would miss the baby being born. He is going to be gone for 15 days so unless I want to hold out until he gets back (that is if the baby allows it), his partner would have to deliver the baby. Naturally I was diappointed because I have been with my doctor through this entire process and to have someone step in at the last minute that I don't even know is a little disheartning. Then he starts talking about inducing me. He said that he would have no problem inducing me because I am so close to my due date that this should not be a probem at all. Suddenly, Jake and I start whipping out cell phones and calendars trying to figure out what day would be the best. We are trying to work things out around school and work and when would be best for my mom to take Tylie. As I sat there planning a day that I would be celebrating with cake and ice cream for the rest of my life, I couldn't help but chuckle at us. What happened to the days of the woman waking up in the middle of the night because her water broke and her husband is frantically running around the bedroom throwing things in a bag and trying to find his keys and button his shirt at the same time. Jake still jokes with me about the night that we went in for Tylie to be induced. I had worked all day that day and I was scheduled to be at the hospital a few hours after I got off. I came home, got in the shower, shaved my legs, put on a fresh coat of make up, carefully packed my bag and made sure I had everything for Tylie, and headed out to the car. All the while, Jake was relaxing on the couch watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics until I was ready to go. AHHHH! As nice as all of this is, I can't help but wonder if we have just a little too much control over things sometimes. I don't want to complain because at least when I am induced, I don't have to go through those last miserable weeks wondering if today might be the day. I love being able to pick a date and know that I will officially be done as of that day. But I do feel a small bit of regret knowing that I might never know that frantic feeling of rushing to the hospital hoping that we will make it. Honestly, it is one of Jake's biggest fears that he will be in that situation and forget his way to the hospital. Maybe this is just the evil wife in me that thinks it would be kind of funny to watch Jake in that frantic state. It is not very often that Jake shows fear of anything, but I have a feeling that fear would be just one of the few emotions that he would show in those moments. Well, maybe this baby will decide to come before his "date" and all of my regrets will be quickly resolved and I will have a great story to blog about.

We Did It!

I know, I know. Two blog entries in less than a week. I am really out doing myself now! Erica, you should be proud of me. Normally pulling off one entry a month is quite the accomplishment but so much is going on in our lives right now that I feel another entry is justified.

Jake just graduated from BYU last friday with his Bachelor's degree. As I sat there in the audience watching him walk across the stage I could not help but beam with pride as tears filled my eyes. I try to blame all of the emotion on my pregnancy but, let's be honest, I would probably have tears running down my face if I was completely hormonally balanced. I just can't help myself. I thought about everything it took to get to that moment and it brings back a rush of memories. I remember the long nights of staying up with Jake, right after we got married, discussing if the move to California was really the right thing for us. I remember going with Jake for the first time to the campus at LACC and sitting under a palm tree waiting for him as he was taking a placement test to start school. I remember the excitement that I felt when we got the letter from BYU that he had been accepted and received a scholarship for his good grades. And finally reflecting about the late nights that he stayed up, long after Tylie and I had gone to bed, studying because he wasn't able to get his homework done that day because he was playing with Tylie and trying to maintain being a dad and a husband. I can't help but pat myself on the back for the great choice that I made the day that Jake proposed on the beach 5 years ago. He has guided our family with such determination that when I question, he moves forward without hesitance. I used to look at people that didn't have to go through the "school" experience when they got married and I was jealous. I was jealous because I thought that it would be so much easier is Jake already had his degree when we got married and we could get on with life. What an idiot I was then. I would not trade these experiences for the world. This was our way of "getting on with life." We learned how to lean on eachother, how to trust eachother, and how to work together to make even the craziest situations work out. Somehow we threw a daughter in the mix two years ago and things continue to flow as they should. I have to chuckle at myself because as I write this, it sounds like I am bidding the school life goodbye and moving to the next stage. Hahaha! I have only just begun. I have a feeling that the bachelor's degree with look like a game of "chutes and ladders" compared to law school. I know that law school will be difficult and we will struggle far worse then we have already had to. All I can say is "Bring it on!" But by the way I was in his graduation last week, those poor soles in law school graduation three years from now better bring their life jackets and paddles. I will flood the place out!

Being Young

My parents have over an acre of property and so with this acre, they get a water share (irrigation) to water that property with. I remember growing up with my dad and mom flooding our entire yard once a week in the summer so they wouldn't have to water until the following week. This was one of the highlights of my summer because it was like one giant acre sized swimming pool every week. The ditches were especially fun because they were deep enough that we could completely submerge our bodies and swim up and down them like a lap pool. Now, I know that this all sounds like fun and games but for those of you who do not know what irrigation water entails, let me just tell you that not even a petri dish the size of Texas could hold all of the germs and diseases that festered in that water. I remember on numerous occasions dodging a cow pie or sheep "droppings" as they floated by. Back then I just figured as long as I did not touch them, I had nothing to worry about. Now that I have officially grossed everyone out, let me get to my point. A short time ago we were up at my mom's house when the irrigation came in. Tylie immediately took on the mentality that I had so long ago and when bounding right into that nasty cess pool. Being her mom, I naturally freaked out. I tried to stop her but what do I do when Jake rips off his shoes and starts dancing in it with her? Before I knew it, my little girl was stripped down to her panties, sopping wet, and treating the grass like one giant slip and slide. All I could do was sit on the porch and picture the round of vaccinations the doctor was going to have to administer to save her from this experience. My mom sat there and laughed like there was nothing wrong in the world. Well, what did I expect. She was crazy enough to let all of us romp around in that nasty water, why would she stop with her granddaughter? Then she calmly reminded me of an experience that my sister Brittany had a short time ago in one of her college classes. Brittany is going into the medical field and one day her teacher was talking about immune systems and how they work. She questioned the class about how often they got sick and asked them to raise thier hands accordingly. Brittany was one of the very few that got to raise her hand that she rarely got sick. Her teacher then asked if any of them had grown up on a farm. Brittany stated that she had and then recited some of her experiences, one of which included our regular swims in the irrigation. Her teacher told her that because she was exposed to germs early on in her life, her body was able to build up a strong immune system and that is why she does not get sick very often. Now, I am certainly not suggesting that every one should go out and start finding cow pies to play frisbee with but I have to check myself every once in a while. I have to remember that it is ok for Tylie to get a little dirty sometimes and she is going to go through some experiences that I might freak out about but it is really ok. I used to fault my mom and tell her that she should have been more careful with us. Sometimes I look back on my childhood and wonder how it is that I am still alive to reflect on those experiences. Sorry mom! I now understand that you were just letting us be kids and enjoy our childhood while it lasted. Besides, how boring would family reunions be if we could not all sit around a table and bring up those stories and laugh until our stomachs hurt?