'It's so good to be back home again!' (John Denver song...I just bought a CD of some of his best music...John Denver was always one of my favorites...)

I'm back at the acreage, and ready to move into autumn (Labor Day today; often thought of as the start of 'fall' in the Midwest.)

So, I think my life is at the point where little David Wayne Hansen was born. Two kids are plenty of work, but the third one seems to make the work grow exponentially. Why is that?

Sunbathing at Potato Lake - Again! Can you see all those freckles on my upper back? Well, now places near some of those spots have mutated into crusty, raised kerotoses (about 1/4 inch diameter, ugly bumpy and gross-looking skin lesions that can become pre-cancerous). I have ten or more of them on my back, and other places on my body that I know for sure were never exposed to the sun...so this stuff doesn't just show up where your sunburned skin was located! I keep getting them burned off with nitrous oxide in a spray can applied by my skin doctor, but some of them don't stay away, and need to be resprayed. I have northern European skin that was never meant to tan, and my efforts to force it did me no favors!

It appears that I painted the bedroom formerly used by Diane and Doug with some blue walls and some pink walls, just to be 'safe' since back then you rarely knew ahead of time what sex your baby was going to be. There is my grandmother's rocking chair (I'm so sad I got rid of that chair...and sad I ever painted it...but I will claim 'innocence' by reason of ignorance...)  Getting ready for the birth of little Dave!

Our kids were growing and we needed a larger house, so we made plans to build this addition. The original house ended somewhere between the picture window and the double-hung window on the right. We added a bedroom, a family room, a work space for me (sewing and art/crafts) and a double garage on the back. We hired a couple of teachers who did carpentry during the summers, and I even helped nail down the sub floor in the family room! The extra space made it possible for us to stay in our neighborhood which was ideally located not far from the kids' grade school, a few blocks from the junior high, and only a couple of blocks from the high school. 

The day I went into labor with Dave was still summer vacation for Doug, and Diane was not in kindergarten yet. I knew I had begun labor, but Vern had a Lions Club meeting during the lunch hour, and I normally did not progress very rapidly with my 'birthing,' so I just lay on the couch and rested. Doug and Diane heard the mailman come, and both of them rushed to the door, trying to be the first to open it. Well, Diane was pushing on the door, and Doug opened the latch, and Diane fell out, face-first, onto the cement porch. She came running in to me, and was bleeding from her mouth. I could see that she had a broken tooth, and another tooth was pushed backwards in the gum. Luckily, these were still her baby teeth, and at the age of almost four, she would not have too long to wait for adult teeth. But the one that was pushed all the way back needed to have some attention. So, I called the dentists' office, and told them I needed to get her in to see him as soon as possible because I was in labor. We did get right in, and the dentist pushed her loose tooth back into position, and I think he gave Diane something to help with the discomfort, and sent us back home. David Wayne Hansen was born that evening about 9:45 p.m. 

As it turned out, Diane's tooth that broke off was still in place, and the loosened tooth just turned dark, but stayed where it belonged. When her adult teeth came in, you would have never known that she had that accident. (Although, her mouth was very small for the size of her adult teeth, and eventually she had to have braces to help get all those teeth aligned and straight in her mouth...)

When I was in the hospital with Dave, I could look out one of the windows in the maternity ward at Sartori Hospital, and could see my older kids playing in our yard. Back in the 1960's, mothers and babies were kept in the hospital for about 5 days, which was a good idea in my mind. I needed all the rest I could get...

And, here he is...adorable little Dave! He was a pretty good baby...luckily, no milk allergies to disturb his sleep or make him uncomfortable. We all slept well, and I was a much more relaxed mother this time!

In this photo, I'm sitting on the couch in our new family room, enjoying holding my little boy! Life was pretty good... most of the time.

 There's that familiar, happy baby smile! It was a good thing I had Dave so I could reassure myself that my inadequacies with Diane were more about her physical problems than about my ability to 'mother!'

 Oh, my! Such a big yawn...time to head to bed for a nap, little man!

In this picture, he looks like he wants to say something... such bright eyes!

 Doug with the cat. I have found out that this kitten was Trixie. I had forgotten that we even had that kitty! Little Dave is looking at that cat with quite a bit of interest!

It must have been quite a warm day for this photo...and little David is very sleepy. He probably fell asleep in the car, and woke up when we got back home... David was the first baby I used disposable diapers for...before that, cloth diapers were all that were available. Lots of laundry, and quite a bit of diaper rash to deal with...and even with Dave, I only used the disposable ones for trips away from home. I thought they were pretty expensive, and I could wash cloth diapers in the washing machine...a big savings. (With Doug, I had to take our laundry to a laundromat because there was no washing machine at our quonset house on campus. Ick... lots of swishing wet and dirty diapers in the toilet, wringing them out by hand, and keeping them in a diaper pail until I could get to the laundromat....nasty business! And, in the winter, I had to string clothesline all over our living room in the quonset hut so I had room to dry the diapers and baby clothes...)

Diane and I sitting at our kitchen table, enjoying watching Dave drink his milk from his 'sippy cup.'

Look at that charming smile! Already he was quite the sociable little person. Take a look at that 'high chair.' It was all we had, and was really not a safe chair. He was belted into it. One time, when I had made hot dogs for lunch, I gave him a little piece of a hot dog in a piece of bun. Well, he put it all into his mouth at once, and couldn't get it swallowed, and began to choke! I got him unbuckled and grabbed his feet, and held him upside-down so I could slap his back and try to get that glob of food to come out. He did cough it out, and I remember how weak my knees were after I got him back in his chair. (I never did let him have a hot dog piece for a very long time after that... We were so close to the hospital, but it would not have been close enough if he hadn't coughed that food out! Terrible scare...)

 Sound asleep! My kids had such perfectly shaped heads...I loved to watch them sleep...

Dressed up, probably for church. Dave doesn't look too happy, but he's cute even when he wants to cry! Notice Diane's teeth...they don't look too bad, in spite of one of them being broken part way off, and the other one slightly discolored. Kids heal pretty quickly!

Getting pretty big there, Dave! It helps to have a sister and a brother 

to assist with those first steps! 

Dave's first vacation in Minnesota (and he still loves to go!) I will have to work on this picture...from another messed up slide...

Dave gets a 'Potato Lake bath' in the sink in my folks' cabin! A bit blurry, but he does just fit in there... I never noticed the scissors hanging right behind him before. Glad he didn't notice them either!

Here he goes... Once they learn they can walk, there's just no stopping them!

 Diane, Doug and Dave rolling around on our floor...so much fun!

Dave and Doug getting in more 'floor play!' (Those snap crotches never could stay snapped! But, boy, did they make it easier to change a baby's diaper!) 

Yep, he's a real cutie! (When Doug was a baby, we didn't have a camera, so most of the photos of him were portraits - which were taken every 3 months the first year...but those just don't get the cute, candid moments!)

Big Brother Doug is reading a book to Diane and little Dave...all cuddled under a comforter on Mom and Dad's bed...

Oh my, so cute! All dressed up for church... 

I'll leave you with this shot, taken on the back porch of the new addition. Next post, I'll put up more photos taken this same day, with the kids and me, all dressed up and ready for church. I really love these pictures!

So, come back to see what's next...