Merry Christmas

Love, Our Family

Family Hair-loom

For the last eight or nine months, I've been trying to grow out my hair (since I have been compulsively cutting it since high school). Alex said to me the other day, "I think this is the longest your hair has been since we've met."

"Yeah, probably," I said. "Well, except for my tail . . ." When I first met Alex, I had this:


Not the best photo quality ever, but I think you get the idea. This little beauty swept down past my shoulders. I cut it off a few weeks before we were married and never looked back, and being the wonderful man that he is, Alex never said a thing about it until we'd been married well over a year: "I'm glad you decided to cut it."

I was (and occasionally still am), of course, ruthlessly teased about it by my brother-in-law, Mike. The first thing he said when Graham was born was, "Does he have a rat tail?"

No Mike, Graham has never sported the tail. The bald ring, the fuzz ball, but never the tail. But Emma on the other hand, was born with this:


Though hers is probably cuter than mine ever was. Or my dad's. Yeah, my dad had the true rat tail in the 80s. (Don't tell him I told.) The little braid and everything! (Sorry no picture of that one, but trust me, it was pretty sweet.) I guess it just runs in the family. Emma should feel proud.

Now I am a mom and my hair spends most of its time in a ponytail. And after many years and dozens of hairstyles, I've finally figured out that you don't have to look like you stand out to really stand out. Hopefully it won't take Emma that long to figure that one out.

P.S. My dad now has very respectable hair.

Emma Girl and Graham the Man

We love having Emma in our family. She is so sweet and pleasant. Her sweet (and frequent) smile lights up her whole face. Though we've yet to really catch it on camera.
Graham loves sports. Everytime he sees a ball, a hoop, a field, or even someone just in uniform, he excitedly yells out, "Ball!" We got him this little football from D.I. and he loves it. He's never really been attached to anything, but when we first got this ball, he carried it everywhere. He wanted to eat dinner with it and had a hard time putting it down for bed. He's got his game face on: We are excited for Spring so we can play outside. We recently got dumped with snow: but did spend some time outside when it was warm for a little while. We made Graham wear this backpack because it looked so cute:

Graham Keepin' It Real

Last night at dinner Graham ate a boatload of peaches and then refused to eat anything else. So Alex and I tried to hold a serious, somewhat stern conversation with him about why you can't eat only peaches, Alex incorporating a mini biochemistry lesson. In the middle of this very serious conversation, Graham looks back and forth at both of us, notices both of us unknowingly folding our arms, and then folds his own as if he is ready for prayer. His face was so sweet and so sincere we both started laughing. Alex said, "Okay Graham, should we say a prayer?" I couldn't help it, I laughed through the whole prayer.

The days are just packed . . .

. . . with stories,

snacks,
play,

naps,

laundry,

hugs,

diapers,

tickles,

pouts,

little messes,

and little miracles.


I love being a mom.

In other news, my diploma finally came so I am now an official college graduate.

Laura Hatch
Bachelor of Science
Major in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing
Minor in American Studies with emphases in Literature and History


Hooray!

Hi Baby!

Graham said his first sentence today. He was in the room with Emma and unprompted he said, Hi Baby. He said it once more when we asked him to say it again. Graham seems to like having a younger sister, most of the time. He usually just goes about doing his own thing, but now and then he'll run and pat her on the head, or touch her face, or poke her eye and say eyes. There have been a few times that he tries to pick up Emma out of her bouncer. We're not sure if he wants to pick her up, or if he wants to climb in and she's in the way. He likes to give her a kiss before he goes to bed. He's starting to learn that he doesn't have to kiss on the lips. Maybe someday he'll learn that he doesn't have to kiss with his mouth gaping open.








Thanks to Isaac Stephens who took these pictures. Isaac and Emily and Eli have been in our ward since we've moved in and they've been good friends. We'll miss them as they are moving to Mississippi this week.

Our Baby Girl

Laura gave birth to a healthy baby girl at 2:00 am January 18, 2010. She weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and is 19.5 inches long. Her name is Emma Rose Hatch. We'll give you a more detailed account of her birth, which is quite the story if you haven't heard it yet, but it will explain why Dad here is wearing the scrubs.

One Reason I Love My Wife

This post is a little bit long, but when you have a few minutes, it's a pretty good story.
5:40 pm Sunday night-Laura has her first contraction. Contractions continue somewhat sporadically between 20 and 30 minutes apart. Laura is handling her contractions very well.
8:30 pm-Laura's contractions go between 10 and 15 minutes apart. The intensity of contractions picks up some.
9:14 pm-We call Laura's parents to see if they can come and watch Graham so we can go to the hospital.
9:44 pm-After a couple of contractions that seemed relatively weak, and remembering that we had three nights of contractions like this before Graham was born, we call Laura's parents again to let them know that it would probably be okay if they came the next morning.
11:59 pm- Laura's contractions continue between 10 and 15 minutes apart. Laura lays down to try and relax.
12:34 am-Laura's contractions get to about 10 minutes apart. We call Laura's parents to see if they can come now.
1:20 am-Laura's contractions drop down to about 5 minutes apart. We get ready to call Laura's parents to see how close they are.
1:40 am-Laura's "water breaks." We try and clean her up between contractions.
1:45 am-Call Laura's parents. They are far away still.
1:48 am-I knock on our neighbors door, Tyson and Jenny, to hang out in our apartment with Graham--he was asleep--until Laura's parents get there.
1:54 am-We get in the car to drive to the hospital.
1:55 am-About two blocks from home Laura has a contraction and says, 'Alex, I am feeling the urge to push. I think she's coming.'
1:56 am-A few blocks later, another contraction, a scream 'Alex, I don't think I can hold her in.'
1:57 am-Pulling into the hospital, another contraction, 'Alex, this really hurts, I don't think I can wait any longer.'
1:57 am-Still pulling into the hospital. Alex 'Let's say a prayer.'
1:57 am-Still pulling into the hospital. Laura 'Heavenly Father, please help her stay in five more minutes, please help her stay, ohhhh.'
1:58 am-Park the car in front of the door. Alex runs to the door to grab a wheelchair and comes back.
1:58 am-Alex opens Laura's car door. 'Alex, can you see her coming?'
1:58 am-Alex sees her head crowning. He tries to decide how he can get Laura into the wheelchair without squeezing Emma out.
1:59 am-Alex watches as her head comes out. With no one else around, Alex decides to finish the delivery. With a twist of her head and a small tug, she comes out and is caught safely. She starts crying and she is given to Laura. She wraps her in her coat.
2:00 am-Alex calls 911, tells 911 that we were in the parking lot in front of the birthing center and had just had a baby. She asks if we have anything to clamp off the umbilical cord. Alex starts to take off his shoelaces as hospital staff comes through the door.
2:05 am-Laura was placed in a wheelchair with baby still attached and brought up to a room. After a few somewhat tense minutes the umbilical cord was cut and Emma placed under a warmer. Laura delivers the placenta at some point and Mom and baby are determined to be healthy and okay.

Laura made labor look so easy, and it progressed so quickly at the very end, that it contributed somewhat to our less than ideal delivery. As she was born she stayed remarkably calm. The staff was very impressed that she was so relaxed. She had prepared a lot to have a baby without an epidural and she handled the situation so well. I was so glad that she was healthy and that Emma was in a good position for delivery. As we prayed in the months and weeks prior to her birth, I feel that, although the situation was different than anyone would really hope for, God blessed us tremendously to be able to act reasonably under pressure, and for Laura's body to respond so well to delivery, and that Emma breathed well and her umbilical cord was okay. I feel that we were watched overy by God and angels.

My wonderful wife.


Dr. Hatch-My clothes got some womb juice on them. After putting on scrubs a nurse said, well done Dr. Hatch. I said that I was pre-med and a little later a nurse said, I am so impressed that the two of you are so put together right now. You have a promising future ahead of you.


6:00 pm Tuesday-Alex starts cleaning off the birth chair in the car.
7:30 pm-After a lot of Oxi-Clean, Shout, Laundry Detergent and scrubbing and vacuuming, the car looks okay.