Weddings, Babies, and Birthdays

So, this week has been pretty prolific as far as events are concerned. To give you a brief idea, we went through 3 tanks of gas, averaged going to bed at 1230 (which to us seems more like 4am with a newborn around), and ate cake on almost a daily basis.
The reason for all this clamor, is the fact that it was my birthday this week. So, being the good brother and sister in law they are, Cole and Vanessa flew in from Japan to be here for the big day. Cassie and Daniel also participated in making the day special by hosting a huge party. Cassie wore a beautiful white dress and Daniel wore a new suit. They also exchanged expensive rings to commemorate my special day. Talk about going all out. Needless to say it was a party to rival all other parties. Here are a few pictures showing the week's frivolities.

This is Cassie and Daniel right after coming out of the Salt Lake Temple. They were married on March 20th, 2010. We (Esther included) couldn't be happier for Cassie. Daniel and Cassie make a very handsome couple and we are thrilled to have Daniel as a brother in law.

Here is my expert camera work documenting the happy event. You'll notice my family failed to swarm my sister and Daniel at the appropriate time, so the camera lady is the first to be giving hugs.

This was the most candid picture I got, I think we can all tell why I am not a camera guy by profession.

Our good friend Leila celebrated her birthday on Sunday and she and her husband Landon invited Sausha, Esther, and I over for cake and ice cream. The highlight of the night was watching my brother Cole down a continent sized piece of cake. Apparently, there is a huge shortage of cake in Japan so Cole stocked up while he was here. Unfortunately, we do not have any pictorial evidence of Cole's engorgement.

Esther showed that she is indeed related to her mother as she talked up a storm with her new friend Charlotte Fautin. They were born a month apart and are now fast friends. Their mutual interests include spitting up, nursing, spit bubbles, and napping.

Not only did my sister and Daniel throw a huge party for me, but my good friend Dylan and his now wife Julie threw a party in my honor. Dylan is and has been a wonderful friend of mine for some time, so my little family and I made the pilgrimage to Provo to attend his reception. His reception, was half an hour before my sister's which made the trip particularly difficult. Unfortunately, Julie and Dylan were not feeling well and were not at the reception when we arrived. So, we missed them, but wish them all the best.

Cassie and Daniel's party in my honor was wonderful. So many people who have influenced our family were there and it was wonderful to see them under such happy circumstances. Among other events that occurred at the reception, Esther's dad successfully dropped a cupcake onto her forehead. She didn't seem to mind all that much.

All in all the weekend was fantastic. It was wonderful so see Cole and Vanessa and see them hold their little niece. Playing Beatles rockband with Cole and Will was, I think, the closest we will ever be to creating a Christensen brother's band. And of course, seeing my baby sister get sealed to such a good man was one of the happiest moments of my life.

I'm so happy for and proud of you Cassie.

Really, look at that face....

we can't get enough of this little lady. Thank heaven for the weekend. It means Jack gets to spend some extra time with both of his girls (me and Esther that is).

Esther Aleen Christensen

If you had asked me a few weeks ago if I ever thought the birth of my daughter would come, I may have sounded doubtful. As February 10th (Esther's due date) came and went time moved painfully slowly and my grumpiness increased daily. Seven days never felt longer. Finally, the time for eviction arrived, but it was a forced eviction. On the evening of February 16th Jack and I headed to LDS hospital for me to be induced. They started me on the meds to induce me around 9 pm and approximately twelve and a half hours later we had our beautiful screaming baby laying on my chest. Amazing! I'm almost positive that the few of you who read our blog have probably either already seen pictures of Esther or have met her. Either way, here she is.

This picture was taken right before we left for the hospital. I'm 41 weeks pregnant, and this is Esther's last documented appearance while in the womb.

Esther Aleen Christensen

7 lbs 3 oz. 21 1/2 inches long

2/17/2010

Esther and Dad
Esther and Mom
This is Esther's favorite way to sleep. She frequently will slide her arm out of her swaddle and throw it above her head. This picture is especially fabulous because of her hair...she is her father's daughter (this is what Jack's hair looks like every morning).

Our families and friends have been amazingly supportive. Thank you to all of you who have sent your congratulations and have provided food and/or sanity naps for me and Jack. We love you all!

Dear Offspring...

Dear Esther,

I know your due date is still 2 weeks from now, but do you think there is any way you could hurry it up a little? It isn't so much the fact that I don't sleep well and feel stretched to the brim as it is the fact that I am really excited for you to come play with me and your dad. If it is too much of a hassle, don't worry about it; I'll work on my patience. But, if you are ready for a little room to stretch out in and if you feel like you are fully developed and would be healthy, by all means, come and play.

Love,

Mom

"You gotta baby in your tummy? Is she going to be my cousin?"

Since the beginning of August I have had the fabulous opportunity of watching my nephew Royal every Tuesday. A two year old child's understanding of the world is not only sweet but also quite amusing.

This last semester Royal has had quite a few questions about my ever growing baby bump. When I told him that I was going to have a baby, he looked at me with understanding in his eyes and said, "Did Jennie give it to you?" You see, as Meredith says, to Royal every baby is Baby Chase. Chase was born last March and since Jennie is Chase's mom it would of course be natural for her to have given me my baby. When I responded with, "No...Jack gave me my baby," he peered at me with a glazed over look of confusion and said, "oh, that was nice of him. Did Jack give Jennie her baby too?" I chuckled to myself and responded, "I hope not; Morgan gave Jennie her baby."

This baby focused topic has persisted throughout the last half of my pregnancy. One Tuesday morning before Meredith and Royal had left their house upon being told that he was headed to my house he told her, "Mom, I have a baby in my belly. Uncle Jack gave it to me. That was nice of him, huh?"

When we found out that we were having a baby girl we knew immediately what her name would be. Royal was excited that his new baby cousin had a name and began asking to see, "baby Mester," and/or "baby Mustard". I guess Esther was kind of hard for him to say...but he has mastered it now.

The most recent story happened on Christmas Eve. Meredith, Zach and Royal spent the night at Meredith's sister's house. Meredith's nephew came out and reported to Meredith that Royal was one weird kid. I guess they were laying down and Royal reported to his cousin (who is probably around ten) that he had a baby in his tummy that was growing and asked if he wanted to touch it.

Point being, I love watching Royal.

Holiday Hulabaloo

This Transformer's name is Rubix Cube because of the complexity of putting him back together.

Although I'm a grown man (some people still argue this point) toys are still a big hit.

Well, it's been a while since we did any form of blogging; but, we would like to point out our groovy new border. You'll notice that we were unable to delete original green entirely from the blog. A fact that drives my dear wife crazy.

So, we've had a busy few months. Sausha has been pregnant full time and going to school and I've been working full time and attending school. Our semesters were both very busy hence the lack of bloggage.

Our holiday season was fantastic. Both of our families are incredibly generous and we find it hard just to keep up. We spent Christmas Eve and morning with the Christensen clan and I feel our favourite gifts were probably Sausha's mitten/snow scraper (it appears to be a tool or claw from an alien planet) and matching sweaters from Japan that say "The Kindly" courtesy of Cole and Vanessa. However, I feel Esther was by far the biggest recipient of presents. Lets just say both sides of the family are extremely excited for a little girl. We then spent Christmas afternoon with the Fife Clan. There we exchanged presents and gorged ourselves with some delicious clam chowder. Christmas with the Fifes is especially fun because all of the little boys, Dustin included, are anxious to rip open packages regardless of the gift inside. Altogether it was a fabulous Christmas.

I think my sweatshirt compliments the cedar walls lining our house very well.

Between Christmas and New Years I studied for the GRE. Turns out that being an English major and not taking math classes for over 5 years really erases all that trash I learned in high school about integers and whole numbers and things. So, with the assitance of my little brother Will, I reviewed all of the math. I took the computer based test which gets harder as you do well on the test. I knew I was doing well on the verbal section when I ceased recognizing all the words it was asking me to define. However, the math continued to get easier and easier which both terrified me and made me feel good about myself. Lets just say I did much better on the verbal side of things. I didn't ace the test by any means but I hopefully did well enough to get into Grad school.

We spent New Years day at my parent's house in preparation for the Oregon Ducks game. The Ducks made it to the rose bowl for the first time in 15 years. Unfortunately, the last time I watched the Ducks in a Rose Bowl I was left forever scarred. This game was much the same. It was agonizing to watch the Ducks lose, but I felt I owed them every second of that agony. I've been reading articles about the loss, and how it could have been prevented as a theraputic way to overcome the depression, but it hasn't worked too well.

My wife is getting increasingly uncomfortable as time goes on which leads me to the conclusion that our second hand furniture is in desperate need of repair or replacement, or our baby is just around the corner. Esther's kicks are now visable to anyone and the frequency with which she knocks the breath out of Sausha leads me to believe she could be an excellent soccer player. A thought that fills me with terror as we all know that soccer is one of the lesser sports. I also know the baby is getting closer because Esther's mom has moved all of my clothes out of what is now "the baby's closet." Although her little clothes do indeed look adorable hanging up, I can't imagine them filling the whole closet. The room does look pretty cute however without my bulky shoes and childhood toys cluttering it up.

This is Esther's closet. As you can see, she has limited space for her wardrobe.

In other news, my sister (Cassie) is marrying her long time boyfriend Daniel. He bought her a very nice ring to celebrate their engagement. Daniel and I celebrated the engagement by playing electric football (an old 1960's game and precursor to Nintendo). This ritual is customary in the home when welcoming a new brother in law. Although I should have gone easy on him, the white team beat the red team 20 to 0. We are happy to have the Dan Man in the family though.

We had an incredibly happy Christmas and New Years despite the Ducks' loss. For Christmas next year I want only two things, one for the Ducks to win a national championship (that is going to be from Santa) and to see baby Esther with an Oregon sweatshirt rooting for the team (provided probably by Esther's Dad).

Here is Sausha at 35 weeks. She thought I was taking a picture here, but with my handy camera I filmed this classic portrayal of the awkwardness associated with pregnancy. (Sorry about the horizontal angle).

Jack, Sausha and soon, Baby Esther

24 weeks and we finally found out that we will be having a baby girl! We are very excited, and she looked healthy and seems to be developing correctly. Yeah for babies!