Colorado Western Wedding Celebration

Our Sister-to-Be

On April 26th, my sister Ruth Anna and I hosted a wedding shower for our sister-to-be, Ashley Caroline Sweat. For starters, I must tell you what a treasure Ashley is. I remember Ben calling me to tell me he met a sweet girl from Jackson, Mississippi. Her personality smarts, and wit enamored my brother. They instantly had a bond being southern transplants in Portland, Oregon. Ashley worked as an actuary calculating amounts companies should invest today to be able to fulfill their future pension commitments. But, in addition the being a math major at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, she double majored in art. As a side note, Ashley and Seth love to talk about each other’s creative interests and current art projects. They have decided to enter a craft fair in Estes Park together Memorial Day weekend to try and sell some of their wares. Needless to say, as a family we love Ashley and she fits in perfectly.


So, Ruthie and I thought the end of April would be a perfect time to host a shower for her! Her parents and family friend, Nancy, flew in from Mississippi as well as my grandmother and Aunt Linda from California. Our family and friends celebrated their upcoming marriage with shower games, cake, and of course, presents. The next evening, my parents hosted a Western themed party for the happy couple for our Colorado friends that would be unable to travel to Jackson for the wedding weekend. We could hardly believe that in less than a month we would be standing beside her and our brother on their wedding day!

Ashley's Shower

Sam's First Week

Bringing Home Baby

Our Hospital Stay & Sam's First Week

Moments after the birth, my dad, mom, brother, and sister-to-be entered the room with tears in their eyes. Ashley snapped an amazing first picture of Sam and many others. The next day, she surprised us by decorating our hospital room with framed shots she had taken. Now, all three photos have a special place in our bedroom where we see them every day. Uncle Ben & Aunt Ashley were full of surprises throughout the week! When we pulled into our driveway, they had painted a welcome home poster for Sam on our window and put an "It's a boy!" sign with balloons in our front yard. That week, they also cooked us an amazing meal of pork tenderloins, double stuffed potatoes, salad, and homemade fudge pie. I don't know what we would do without them!

The nurses, doctors, and huge meals were wonderful at the hospital...but we were so happy to take Sam home! While we stayed, we had so many of our family and friends come visit us, which made the time fly by including Dad, Mom, Ashley , Ben, Sarah, Abby, Adam, Renae, Michael, Kerry, Erin, Tiffany, Ashley, and Brandee! Not to mention, people were so generous to send flowers and balloons that cheered up our room!! We received them from Ashley & Ben (in the delivery room!), Mom & Dad, Pam & Chip, Tiffany & Pete, Aleks & Fede, and our friendly banker, Jim Miller! Ashley & Amy even brought a bag of snacks and magazines for us! We were both very overwhelmed by every one's generosity and excitement to meet Baby Sam. Our friend’s and family’s kindness continued once we arrived home. Our friend Erin organized dinners for us for an entire month. There is no question, God has blessed us with an incredibly loving family and fabulous friends. We love them all!!

On the way out of the hospital, it finally hit me that we entered the hospital as husband and wife and we were leaving as a family of three. It was the first time since Sammy was born that I cried tears of joy! Putting him in the car seat for the first time took about 10 minutes, but once he was snapped in Sam looked so cute and tiny. I rode in the back seat with him and Seth drove home at record low speeds!

As soon as we got home, Seth took so many pictures of Sam! For starters, he placed him in his beautiful white bassinet from my parents and measured his head and length. We also started the tradition of taking pictures of him in one of Seth’s football jerseys. We think it will be neat to do it on every birthday to come! Nobody ever expected Sam to be so small when he was born! Even in the delivery room, the baby nurse guessed that Sam would be at least 8 pounds by the way he felt in my tummy. However, he only weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces when we left the hospital (which is only in the 5th percentile for baby boys). So, for weeks, we rolled up all of the arms of his shirts. One time when he was sleeping, he even wiggled out of the neck of his gown. Bobby called in some favors and found some preemie clothes for Sam which fit him much better! Of course, I thought Sam looked absolutely precious in his giant sized clothing! With him weighing next to nothing for so many weeks, I carried him around in one arm like a football!

First Hour of Sammy's Life

Sam's First Picture

Samuel Seth Hanson

On April 3 at 11:59 am, Samuel Seth Hanson arrived weighing 6 pounds, 11 ounces. With blue eyes and a little bit of light hair, we loved him at first sight! One little known fact about Seth was that he had never held a baby before Sam! Throughout the pregnancy, he told everyone that he wanted his son to be the first baby he ever held. Minutes after Sammy was born, Seth would hardly put him down! With the help of the nurse, he put on his first diaper and gave him his first bath. Instantly, Seth proved to be a wonderful Daddy!

Sammy's Coming!

At 1:30 am on April 2nd, I woke up with labor pains and knew Sam would be arriving soon! I woke up Seth and we were both so excited we could hardly stand it! He instantly found his stopwatch and began recording the time between contractions. For the rest of the night, we drifted in and out of sleep and caught up on our recorded TV shows including one of our favorites, the Biggest Loser. The next morning, we headed to our doctor's office.

The doctor told us to continue to wait until my contractions were closer together. We grabbed lunch at Jimmy John's for lunch and then drove home. I called my cousin Rachel, who has five children of her own, and she told me the secret to speeding up labor was walking...so walking is what Seth and I did all afternoon. At one point, about a mile away from our house, I became so exhausted we called my mom to pick us up and take us home. We ordered pizza and watched American Idol. Then, we knew it was time to go to the hospital. The nurses were waiting for us when we arrived to wheel me to the birthing center.