Knitted items

I have been knitting a lot over the past year and especially since I knew there was a new little one on the way (hehehehe). I have actually been taking some knitting classes at the yarn shop in Lawrence this summer with some girl friends and have learned tons and have had a lot of fun.

Here are a couple of items that I have completed:

The 1st one is the sweater I plan to have baby Kelven wear when he comes home from the hospital and have some of his 1st pictures taken in. I originally wanted the color to be a bit bolder/brighter as I'm not a big pastel person but after working with the yarn the color grew on me and I'm very pleased with the outcome.




I'm also planning to make Rowen a matching sweater but with a bright and playful toddler color...here is a picture of the yarn I chose. I am planning to have pictures of the boys taken in them together...I'd better get busy!




The 2nd finished project here is a Christmas stocking that I made for Kelven (yes, I'm getting ready already!). With this project I learned how to use multiple colors in a project...called Faire Isle knitting. Again, I'm very pleased on how this has turned out. I haven't finished putting his name on it yet as we are still debating the spelling...I've left that decision to Brian since he came up with the 1st name and I'd like to give him the privilege!

Origin of the name

Ok, I've been asked by several where the new baby's name came from so I thought I would explain that here. I will also list the criteria that we tried to follow in coming up with a name.

Criteria:

• we wanted a 1st name that had Irish/Celtic origins and ended in the letter 'N' (we really like the sound of the names with this origin)
• we wanted a 1st name that had 2 syllables (all of us so far have 1st names with 2 syllables -- Brian, Dorothy, Rowen...so we wanted to follow suite)
• we wanted a middle name with 1 syllable and a long vowel sound. (origin didn't really concern us for the middle name)

Origin:

• Brian found the name Kelvin while doing some looking either in books or at SSN index (I'm not sure which) and found this one and we both really liked it.
  
• Kelvin has a couple of meanings...it is 1) a scientific temperature scale, 2) it is the name of a Scottish Lord who is the one that came up with the scientific temperature scale, 3) it is the name of a narrow river in Scotland.
• To keep with the tradition of 'en' in Hansen, I changed the spelling a bit so that the name is now spelled 'Kelven'. I also used this same spelling criteria when I came up with the spelling for 'Rowen'.
  
• For the middle name: Zane fit the criteria of one syllable and the long vowel sound and it was a name we both liked. It happens to have an English origin and is a form of John. It also flows well with the 1st name.

So there you have it!

The name game

I think we have finally settled on a name for our sweet new little baby boy! Brian & I both really like it and it fits all the naming conventions we were trying to stick to.

And the winner is:

Kelven Zane Hansen

Mommy Pics

While we were taking pictures in the heat on Saturday, I had Brian take some snaps of me and my sweet baby belly and here are a few of them. I really like the one with Rowen in the shot reaching up for me...so I have both of my sweet boys in the photo...so sweet!

Family Snap Shots

On Saturday, Aug 2nd, we went out in the heat and took some family pictures. It was so unbelievably HOT outside that day, like 100 + degrees and with very high humidity. It sure didn't take long before we had all had enough. By the last location we chose Rowen was so worn out that his little face was beat red from the heat and he just wouldn't smile much for anything.

We did take some breaks in the car enjoying the A/C between locations at the park and we drank and drank the beverages we had brought along. I will definitely be bringing along more water if we do this in the heat again!

But in the end I think we ended up with some nice snap shots of our little family!

Brian's ANNUAL Hair cut - AFTER shots

Here is my good looking hubby after his hair cut! Doesn't it looks so nice?!

Brian's ANNUAL Hair cut - Before shots

On Thursday, July 31st, Brian went in to have his Annual hair cut (he seems to really hate having his hair cut for some reason). Here is a photo of his before look from the front, side & back.

Hello everyone!

I'm finally setting up our family blog! Several have asked me about doing one so I finally am getting around to it.

This last week there were a couple of things that happened.

1. Brian got his ANNUAL hair cut (I have pictures I will post on this too so everyone can see what a shock it is :)).
2. We took some family snap shots (again seems to be an annual thing as our last one was taken last August)
3. Also took some pictures of my preggo belly so everyone can see what I'm looking like

I will post the pictures of the 3 events seperately.

I will try to keep up with this blog so everyone can see how we are doing!

Dorothy