We made it to 6 weeks ....

Hello!
I thought it might be time for a new blog with some Charlie updates. It's funny how I am home all day, yet don't find any time to even get a simple blog completed. I am still learning how to balance a baby on one arm and get something done with the other. This Mom thing is sure harder than I could have imagined, yet so incredibly rewarding.
Charlie is doing really well so far, he is starting to put on some weight and has the CUTEST cheeks you could imagine. Our life consists entirely of eating, changing and sleeping, sounds exciting, right? The doctor told us to limit his exposure to the public until he was at least 6 weeks, so we have been staying mostly indoors. He is growing so fast though, and it's amazing to just look back on the past 6 weeks and see how much he has already changed. In the past few days he has started to really smile and make direct eye contact, and I cry EVERY time he gives me a gummy grin. That smile more than makes up for all the sleepless nights and dirty diapers. It's true that you don't ever know how much you can love another human until you have a child, it's such a different kind of love. We feel so lucky to have him in our lives.
We had a wonderful time with Grandma Joan here, we even went to the "Garden of the Gods" down in Colorado Springs. I am pretty sure Charlie won't remember how much fun we had....but he enjoyed the fresh air. It was such a help to have a knowledgeable and veteran Mom around the house, and we cannot even express how much we appreciated having her here. I cried for a long time when she left us to our own devices :-) Grandma Norine is coming down to visit and help out as of tomorrow, so we are really looking forward to having her here. I might even get a NAP on my own....that is very exciting.
Ben is leaving on his first business trip away from us, and we are all dreading it. Ben is a natural Daddy and it's so much fun to see him with his son. I can tell they are going to be the best of buddies as Charlie grows. It's amazing to see your husband as a father, and I could not ask for a more loving, attentive Dad to our baby boy.
All in all, we are doing pretty well adjusting to life as a family. The furry kids are acting out a bit, but I guess that is to be expected as they have been our babies for so long. Maybe they'll be happy when they realize that I have a human baby to dress up for Halloween this year and they won't be subjected to their usual demeaning pet costumes.
I have added some of our favorite pictures of Mr. Charlie in the past few weeks. We are pretty sure he is the cutest and smartest baby on the planet (wow, we are starting to sound like parents...) but we're pretty sure you'll agree as well.
Love to everyone!!
Ben, Tova and Charlie

Introducing Charles Thomas Daniels

We are so exited to announce Charlie's long awaited arrival on the 11th of September. He weighed in at an impressive 9 lbs and 2 oz and is 22 inches long.
My water broke on September 10th at 2 in the afternoon. We had my 39 week appointment scheduled with the OB at 3, but we immediately headed to the hospital. I started having mild contractions around 4 and got an epidural around 10 pm, unfortunately, it did not work as well as it should have. I am just one of those unlucky people that don't respond well to the medication. I labored for around 20 hours and pushed for 1 extremely long hour. There was always a worry that I wouldn't be able to deliver without a c section, and that was indeed the case. Charlie was just not descending and pushing wasn't working. All of the labor and pain was worth it as we welcomed a healthy baby boy at 1:08 pm on September 11th.
As for his birthday, we welcome the day as a blessing. Of course Charlie's birthday will always be a day of remembrance for those who lost their lives on September 11th, but we choose to celebrate it as a new beginning. The day is especially sentimental to Ben's family as September 11th is the birthday of Ben's uncle Thomas. He died young of a neurological disorder, and Charlie's middle name is in his honor. We feel like it was meant to be....and maybe Uncle Tom had a little something to do with the day of his arrival.
We were lucky enough to have Ben's Mom, Norine, here for Charlie's arrival. She flew down from Seattle the instant she heard my water had broken. It was so nice to have her here, and words can not describe how excited she is to have a grandson!! My Mom arrived from Germany last Wednesday to help out for three weeks, we are incredibly lucky to have such great new grandmas around. Charlie loves both of them so much, we just wish that we all lived closer together. It will be so sad when Grandma Joan has to leave to go back to Germany again.
We are now home and adjusting to life with a newborn, and it is something you can never truly prepare for!! It is amazing how you can just stare at a tiny face for hours on end and not get bored. Every little move or noise he makes seems like a miracle, we are just so happy to have him here. Ben has adjusted to life as a Dad so quickly, he loves his little boy more than I can say. He is an amazing help with everything, his specialty right now is diapering. I am loving being a Mom, it is just indescribable and truly does not feel real yet. I am starting to recover from the c section and feeling a little more like myself again.
Thanks for all of your well wishes throughout our journey so far. We are so excited to start our life as a family.
Love,
Ben, Tova and Charlie

Nursery

We finally got the nursery all together. Ben worked so hard to get it done while I supervised ;) We obviously went with the nautical theme in honor of Ben's passion! We are all ready for you now Charlie......

38 weeks!!

We had our 38 week appointment today and had an additional ultrasound to check on Charlie's growth. Luckily, everything looked great.....he is still just BIG. His current estimated weight is 8 lbs 5 oz and he was measuring in the upper 90th percentile for everything else. The good news is, the doctors want me to go into natural labor and see if I can birth this big boy ;) If I don't progress, or there is any fetal distress, we'll move straight to a c section. Both Ben and I feel really confident and happy with that plan of action, all we care about is a healthy baby and safe delivery. They are predicting he'll be close to 10lbs if we go full term, wow!! Now it is just a waiting game to see when he decides to show up......

I am doing ok, definitely feeling the effects of late pregnancy. Everything is hard to do now, it's so bizarre to not be in control of your own body anymore. All the moms reading this know exactly how that feels.... Ben is doing really well and is SO excited to meet his boy. He attended "Daddy Boot Camp" on Monday and got to change a REAL, LIVE baby!! He felt more confident about his Daddy abilities after leaving class. I am proud of him :-)

Here is something fun to take a look at. Grandma Norine sent us this picture of Ben at about one hour old, and I am posting the 3D ultrasound picture of Charlie. Do they look alike to you???

We'll keep you updated and be on the lookout for an email or phone call when Charlie makes his way into our lives. We cannot WAIT to meet him......

Love to everyone,

Ben and Tova

T minus 25 days.....

Hello!
Wow, we are getting so close to Charlie's arrival now. I cannot believe that we will be welcoming him in around 3 weeks. We are finally getting everything together, the crib arrived and Ben put it together, we're just waiting on the dresser/changing table to arrive this week and the nursery will be complete! I will take pictures when that finally happens...
We had our 36 week doctor's appointment today and things are still looking good. He is healthy and BIG....that is the only issue we are facing right now. I am having another ultrasound in 10 days to look at his size, at that point we'll have a better idea of what I will be facing during delivery. There is talk that I COULD possibly be headed for a c-section, but we're all hoping that won't be the case. He is measuring around 3 weeks ahead at this point, so wish me luck and keep me us all in your prayers...
Other than that, we're enjoying our time before baby. I am taking as many naps as possible, as it's become much more difficult to sleep at night. I am definitely starting to feel ready to not be pregnant anymore :-) I think Ben is ready for that too....he gets to listen to my daily complaints.
I am posting some recent pictures taken by Grandma Norine, you can see that the belly is expanding quite rapidly.
That is about all that is happening here. We did set up a "baby pool" where you can guess his birth stats, we'd love it if you took a minute to post what your guess is.
The website is:
www.expectnet.com/games/CharlieDaniels
Love to everyone, Ben, Tova and Charlie

We're in the home stretch...

It's time for another update :-)Here is what is going on with us... We recently moved into a bigger rental house to better accommodate our upcoming arrival in September. The move itself was not fun, especially at over 8 months pregnant and dealing with the Summer heat. We only moved a few blocks away from the other house as we really enjoy living in Castle Rock. Now that we are more settled, we are much happier in the hew house. This also means that we have more room for visitors...(hint, hint) Peter was able to come down and stay with us for about a week, it was so wonderful to have him here. We miss him SO much, I was very, very sad when I had to take him to the airport. Overall, we are both really starting to enjoy Denver, Ben's business is going well and we have already made some great friends. We just miss our family and friends all over the world.
As for the most important member of the family, we had another ultrasound last Thursday to take a peek at little Charlie. Our doctor's office has been really cool about giving us some extra ultrasounds, and we really appreciate it. Grandma Norine was in town to come to the appointment with us, so that was really cool. She came down to help us get settled and work on the nursery. Opa Larry and Oma Joan have generously offered to buy us Charlie's crib and dresser, so we are working on getting that ordered. We will feel much more ready once we have it all set up.
As for the ultrasound, everything went fantastic. Here is the good news, Charlie is already a BIG boy, with his estimated weight at 5 lbs 4 oz. He was in the 97% for most measurements (head, femur length, etc.) Here is the bad news, I have to BIRTH him :-) He is definitely taking after his father who was close to 11 lbs at birth. WHOA. We can also definitely see a family resemblance between Ben and Charlie, especially the massive cheeks. I wish we had a baby photo of Ben to scan in, it is pretty amazing. I am sure you will be able to see the likeness pretty clearly from the pictures I have posted. The first picture is a close up of his face, the second is showing him sucking on his hand, and the third is a picture of his ear with his hair growing all around it. I cannot believe how much hair he already has, now we just have to guess the color!!!
From now on I go to the doctor every 2 weeks, and then at 36 weeks I will start going on a weekly basis. We also recently started our baby preparation classes at Sky Ridge Hospital. The classes teach lamaze, birthing tips and much more, we'll see how much these techniques actually work during birth ;) We had or second class last night where we had the opportunity to tour the birthing center where we will deliver. The hospital is new and the rooms were very nice, so we feel much more confident about delivery (or as much as possible...)Time is really flying for us, but we cannot WAIT to meet our son.
Love to everyone.
Ben and Tova

We made it to the third trimester!!!

Sorry, it has been quite a while since I last updated Charlie's blog. Things are going great, and I am over 28 weeks along now. It is almost surreal that time is flying by so quickly at this point in the pregnancy. It is amazing to us that our little Charlie will be here in a few short months. We are excited and also extremely nervous about having a newborn to take care of. My legendary need for sleep is going to go by the wayside.....wish me luck!!!
At the end of May, we took a trip home to Washington to visit family and I was lucky enough to have TWO baby showers for Charlie. My aunt Carole Leigh and my cousin, Marisa, held the first one in Marysville, and we had such a blast seeing family and friends. My Mother in Law, Norine, held the second shower in Bellevue, it was amazing to catch up with everyone. I feel so lucky to have had two incredible showers, and to be able to share the pregnancy with our friends and family. Thank you again to everyone that made it :-)
One of the BEST parts of being home was the fact that my entire globe trotting family was there. My parents flew in from Munich right before the showers, and my brother, Peter, flew in from Brisbane, Australia a few days later. Having the whole Hansen family together again was the best present I could have asked for.
As for things in Colorado, we are moving into a new house in mid July. While moving and being pregnant aren't exactly a good combination, we'll make it work. Peter is going to head down our way for a week to hang out, and we will be utilizing his strength for lifting and moving. We are SO excited to get out of the current rental we are in, as it is just way too small. We need extra room for guests, and of course, a NURSERY! I cannot wait to get Charlie's room all set up for his arrival, we are going with a nautical theme. This is in preparation to position Charlie to follow in his father's footsteps as a sailor.
I am now visiting my doctor's office every two weeks since I am in the third trimester. I had an appointment today, and everything is looking great. I am measuring right on target, and I am feeling many periods of movement and kicks throughout the day. I just pray that the pregnancy continues to go smoothly as we get towards the end. I am starting to feel more uncomfortable, and I am NOT enjoying the heat of the Summer in Colorado while being this pregnant. All in all, I guess if that is my only complaint, I am pretty lucky.
I have included a slide show of some recent pictures from our last ultrasound and our trip home to WA!

We're half way there!!!

Ok, I lied, we're a little over half way there. I will be 21 weeks along tomorrow, and I am feeling the little guy kick all the time now. We had a VERY exciting milestone about a week ago when Ben felt him kick for the first time. It was amazing for both of us to share two of the biggest kicks I have felt so far when Ben had his hand on my belly. I think Charlie was putting on a performace for his dad, and we were both very impressed.

We had our mid way ultrasound today, and it was so exciting to see baby Charlie again. First, we confirmed that he is still 100% boy...no questions there, Ben was very proud. He was very active and flipped around quite a few times. He is measuring right on track and looked totally healthy, what a relief! However, he didn't give the ultrasound tech the view she was looking for on his heart, sooo...we get to have another ultrasound in a month ( I am obviously SO upset..haha) to see if we can get the measurement.

Grandma Norine had the opportunity to go with us to the ultrasound and see her grandson for the first time. She had so much fun checking out his little profile. He gave us a great profile shot and his also another of his little feet. Let's just hope he inherits his dad's foot genetics and NOT MINE!! I have attached our two favorite ultrasound pictures.

Our first post

My first blog is just to keep our family up to date on little Charlie's progress.
Here are the basics so far: we found out I was pregnant on January 9th, 2009. We were both VERY excited and couldn't wait to find out more about our little one. His due date is September 19th, and I am super happy to have a baby arrive in the Fall (my favorite season.)
We both had a hunch that the baby would be a boy, and found out we were right a few days before my trip to Germany to visit my parents. We decided to name him Charles (Charlie) Thomas Daniels. We both wanted the name to have a significance to the family and who better to name him after than Grandpa Chuck? I know that he is so proud to have his first great granchild named in his honor. The middle name, Thomas, is very special to Ben's family. His Uncle Tom died young after suffering from a progressive genetic disease called Friedreich's Ataxia which attacks the nervous system. We are both so happy to give Charlie a name that represents loved ones that have passed on to honor their lives.
Other than that, I have had a wonderful pregnancy so far. I didn't get the dreaded morning sickness and have felt great so far. Maybe this means I will have a terrible labor? I sure hope not :-)
Grandma Norine is going to be heading down for the big 20 week ultrasound scheduled for May 7th. We are really looking forward to seeing Charlie again, and hope that everything is progressing as it should.