No Longer Scared of Santa!

We went to see Santa (aka "The Big Guy") at the Village of Allen recently. I was hoping maybe a weeknight would be better as it hopefully wouldn't be so crowded, and it was perfect. I don't think we'll ever go on the weekend again after this! When I picked Hagen up from school I told him we were going to go see Santa if he wanted to. He had a picture he had colored in aftercare and told me he wanted to show it to Santa. When Shawn met us there we went in, and I automatically walked over with Hagen, expecting him to be clingy and very shy. Santa scooped Hagen up onto his lap, and Hagen didn't even complain or look at me! I was SO proud of him. He showed Santa his picture and Santa said he loved it, and gave Hagen a hug. Hagen had written his name on the picture so Santa saw that and said, "Hagen?" and kind of glanced at me, and I nodded. I think Hagen really liked that and it kind of made it seem like Santa knew him. The visit was perfect and we got some great pictures. It was nice being so quiet because Hagen really got some good quality time with The Big Guy and I think that may have helped ease his previous fears. We weren't rushed at all - it was great. No more "Scared of Santa" pictures for us! Well, with Hagen...we'll see how "the newbie" does. :-)

Halloween 2010

I know, I know...this is really late...sorry. To make a long story short, Hagen was not really sure this year what he wanted to be and kept changing his mind. Finally, shortly before Halloween, we went to Super Target (again...) to take one last look and see if we could get any ideas. Hagen saw a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume and said he wanted to be that. They actually had his size, and it wasn't expensive, and he loved it; SOLD! Hagen LOVED the costume and he looked like such a big kid to me; not a baby, not a toddler, but a big kid. We went to our neighbors' house for dinner and then the dads took the kids trick-or-treating; they came back sweaty and happy and loaded with candy. :-)

Checking out the goods at the end of the night.

Catching Up

Okay, it's been awhile since I've posted anything aside from that recent video. I have some catching up to do. Here goes!

On a recent trip to the zoo, Hagen wanted to feed the giraffes - that is one of the cool new things about the Giants of the Savannah exhibit. Turns out Hagen was a little too scared to actually feed the giraffes himself, so I held him while I did it. It is really cool how close you can get to the giraffes and they are not shy!

More pictures from the zoo.

We went to Glen Rose for Labor Day weekend, which is when we told our parents that I am pregnant. I bought Hagen a hospital scrub set that says "Big Brother" on the shirt that he can wear at the hospital. Anyway, we were going out to dinner with everyone one night to celebrate my and Tom's birthday, and Shawn took Hagen into the restroom and put the scrubs on him to come show everyone. That way Hagen got to spill the beans on a secret he'd been keeping for awhile! He got VERY shy, though, and wouldn't actually say anything, but it was still cute.

While in Glen Rose, we went to Dinosaur World, which was pretty neat. We've gone before to the gift shop but have never done the walking trail with all the dinosaur statues. They were really cool and some of them were huge; it was really a fun exhibit. Hagen REALLY liked it and acted like our little tour guide, always being up front and running to see the next dinosaur. At the end they had a fossil dig where the kids got to sift through a big trough of sand and pick out 3 fossils to take home. Shawn helped Hagen and they both had fun.

Hagen on the phone with Opa.

Hagen didn't believe that we checked on him after he went to sleep at night, so on two nights we actually documented it on film to show him the next day. I'm still not sure he believes us...

Shawn wants to take a picture of my belly at the first of each month and this was from September when I was about 7 weeks along. Hagen wanted to be included and wanted his belly photographed, as well. :-)

Hangin' out with Daddy, eating strawberries.

The week or so before Halloween, the head of our HOA was at the pool pavillion parking lot giving out pumpkins and his wife was taking pictures with any kids that wanted a picture with their little dog. Hagen was shy at first, but he eventually got acquainted with Chompers and even sat still for a couple of quick pictures.