Hannah & Charlotte

Hannah & Charlie

2011-08-03T11:17:00.003-05:00

My girls are growing up so fast!

(Part of Marshall's Father's Day present)

Charlie has learned how to roll from her back to her belly AND from her belly to her back...and does so often! No signs of crawling quite yet, but she gets around really well in her walker. Mostly backwards, but a couple days ago she surprised me by walking forward a couple feet! She's gone through a couple growth spurts, but I still feel like she's so small! We're (not) enjoying the fun teething process at the moment. Poor thing looks like she's cutting at least three all at once! Makes for an unhappy baby at night! For the most part though, she's the happiest, smiliest baby I've ever seen! She giggles at everything and it's adorable. Some of her current favorite things:

*having her sister sing to her. it makes her smile!

*hearing her wake up song, "In the leafy treetops" in the morning when I get her out of bed.
*snuggling with a little blanket at nap time
*sticking out her tongue! almost every time she smiles, she just has to stick it out!

*her binky! sometimes interchangeable with fingers.

*her favorite toy at the moment seems to be this little teether puppy with lots of nubby surfaces for her to chew on.

*playing with her feet. i'm sure soon they'll be in her mouth, but for now she's happy just sticking them up in the air and playing with them.

She has her 6 month check up and shots later this month, so I'll have some weight/height details then.

Big sister Hannah is turning into quite the little lady. We're currently elbow deep in potty training. Depending on the time of day, it varies as to how well it's going. She's not completely understanding the concept yet, but she's been a trooper and I think she's doing pretty well considering that I took the "cold turkey" approach. Hopefully in the coming weeks she'll have it down to a science. She's also getting really tall! It seems in the last 6 months, she's grown at least 4 or 5 inches. I wonder sometimes if that's why it's so hard for her to sleep at night. I remember my little brother going through growing pains as a child and it was tough! She's an AMAZING big sister to little Charlie. Aside from occasional bouts of jealously and trying to love baby sister a little too much, she's just perfect. She constantly brings Charlotte toys to play with, returns her binky when it falls out, sings to her, and loves to sit next to her and talk and play with her. In the last couple weeks, Hannah has started doing the funniest thing. When we take her anywhere, she introduces herself to any and everyone in the room! She walks up to them and says "Hi! I'm Hannah and I'm 2!" and hold up two little fingers. It's hilarious! It used to just be new people (and random strangers) but she's been doing it with family too. Quite a change from back when she'd just shyly stare at the floor and refuse to talk when presented with someone new. She's getting so good at spelling and reading words. Not just 3-4 letter ones...she's up to a few 5 & 6 letter words! What I think is most impressive is her ability to sound things out. She's figured out new words simply because she knows the sounds each letter makes. Two days ago, I watched her sitting with her letters spread out on the floor. First, she spelled out "HAT" and said it out loud a couples times. Then, she took the H away and replaced it with a C, making "CAT" which she also said a few times. She the replaced the T with a P and added an S, making "CAPS" and then yelled, "Look mom, this says caps!" I was pretty surprised to say the least. She amazes me every day in so many ways!!

I have a few (dozen) photos of the girls in my camera that need to be uploaded....I think I'm long overdue for a picture post!!

Rockstar

2011-05-10T10:47:00.003-05:00

Hannah is a big fan of music of all kinds. I have yet to be able to pin down one particular genre that she likes, it's pretty much just whatever catches her attention. Her taste ranges from kids songs, to 80's hits, to country music, to pop songs with catchy beats. She also seems to pick up on lyrics pretty quickly too. So it shouldn't have been a surprise that within once or twice of hearing Taylor Swift's song "Mean," she was already singing along. I hear her singing it to herself while she plays in her toy room too, so cute. So, I grabbed a little snippet while she was mesmerized by the tv while singing and dancing along. Enjoy:

Family Visit!

2011-04-14T14:28:00.005-05:00

This past week, a few of my dad's family members came down from Oregon for a visit!! Hannah & Charlotte got to meet Great Aunt Darla, Great Aunt Denise, Great-Great Aunt Louise, and Great Grandma Doris. It was an AWESOME week of family fun!!

Charlotte meeting Great Grandma Doris for the first time

Cousins!

Awww! Uncle Patrick!

Papa, Hannah, & Charlotte!

Charlotte's first trip to the Houston Zoo, yeah!

(Grumpy) Hannah & cousin Megan

A Hannah Monkey!!

Charlotte meeting Great Aunt Darla for the first time!

We're so glad our Oregon family got to come for a visit!! It was so wonderful to see everyone and spend time together!! Maybe soon we can make a trip to Oregon to visit again soon!

Just a whole lotta pictures

2011-04-13T10:03:00.004-05:00

Hannah's goodies from Uncle Steve & Aunt Joann

Clever girl! Hannah shows off her "Bugle fingers" at lunch time!! It's so hard to get her to stand still and smile for pictures

I have to get very creative to get even a smirk out of her!

Hannah's new red ball! She loves kicking this around the backyard with me.

Presents!

2011-03-12T07:52:00.000-06:00

Great Uncle Craig and Great Aunt Darla sent a package of clothes for little sister...and they were sweet enough to include a special present for Hannah as well!! Hannah was so excited and she kept asking "Is that my present mommy?" I had to reassure her that it was a couple times before she decided to open it.

Once again, I'm photographing her right after she woke up.
She's still not entirely sure what's going on!!

She's such a girl girl!! She was super excited about her new clothes!

She insisted on trying them on right away!

I told her "look, it's a Hannah monkey!" Her expression tells me she doesn't agree
with my comparison!

The box of animal cookies was a big hit too.

We're all really looking forward to Great Aunt Darla's visit in 3 weeks!! She's coming with Great Grandma Doris and Great Aunt Denise, all of whom Hannah has never met. I actually haven't even seen them since I was about 5, so it will be wonderful to have them here for a week! I just know Hannah is going to love meeting more of her family :)

Early morning Hannah

2011-03-10T17:23:00.001-06:00

With all the attention little sister Charlotte has been getting, I decided to do a little photo session with Miss Hannah. she had just woken up, hence the crazy hair:

Bed head

I have to be quite a clown to get smiles out of her these days

I don't mind though!

She loves this red ball so much! Such a simple toy, but it's one of her favorites.

Snuggling with her teddy bear from Papaw...it's as big as she is!

My new favorite picture of Hannah! It's so hard to get REAL smiles from her, I normally just get her goofy fake ones, so it's nice to see a genuine one!

A little Q & A

2011-03-10T17:07:00.002-06:00

I like to play this little game with Hannah during the day when she's pestering me while I do laundry or dishes. Her answers crack me up along with the look on her face when she doesn't understand what I'm asking. I love her random answers :)

Here's a few questions and Hannah's answers to them:

What’s your favorite color? "Red…and yellow too!"

What’s your favorite animal? "A Lion" (This answer is usually followed by a ROAR!)

How old are you? "TWO!"

What’s your favorite food? "Sandwich"

What’s your favorite vegetable? "Apple" (For the record, she's still addicted to peas)

What’s your favorite fruit? "Watermelon" (I can't even remember the last time she's even had watermelon...apparently she can!)

What’s your favorite song? "ABC’s & I am a child of God"

What’s your favorite tv show? "Word World"

What’s your favorite book to read before bed? "Moon!" (Goodnight Moon)

I'll have to ask her these same questions in a couple months...I'm curious to see how much her answers will change!

Baking 101

2011-03-08T11:50:00.005-06:00

Hannah & I decided to whip up some cupcake while Miss Charlotte was napping. I love to bake, and I'd really like for Hannah to learn how to as well. I'm hoping that one day she'll enjoy it as much as I do. She's at such a fun age right now - she pretty much loves to do any activity I suggest. So, here's her first "baking lesson" from mommy:

Woo hoo! I love CUPCAKES!

It's an egg mom!

What was I supposed to do with this?

Oh, that's right! Stir them around in a bowl.
(She missed the "crack the egg first" part of the lesson!)

Tee hee :)

Mmm, cupcake batter! She kept calling this "ice cream" and trying
to fling it all over the counter.

Mmm, tasty!
(No one panic, I would never let my child taste test batter with raw eggs. This was taken before we got started. And yes, I made her use a new spoon)

Ta-da!
(I forgot to take a "finished" picture of our cupcakes, so this will have to do)

So, all in all, we had fun!! Teaching a toddler to do anything is about as easy as dressing a wet cat...but she didn't do too bad. I love seeing her light up when she learns new things, and of course, I love sharing my love of baking with her!!

Sweet sister

2011-02-24T11:45:00.003-06:00

Hannah is a kiss-a-holic when it comes to little Charlotte.

Luckily, it makes for some pretty cute photo ops!!

Big sister Hannah

2011-02-22T10:19:00.003-06:00

Our new little bundle, Charlotte Karene, is finally here! It's too soon to tell how Hannah is going to respond in the long run...but for right now she seems to love her to bits! I've actually had to scold her for kissing the baby too much...what a problem to have! In this first week, she's been such a great helper already! She helps bring things to me and she's always willing to go throw diapers away to help mommy. I'm trying to take a little one on one time with her each day to help her adjust, so I hope this won't be too hard of a transition for her to make.

Here's a few pictures of Hannah and her new little sister:

She was pretty unsure about holding her. Looking at her was fine and dandy...holding her took a little bit of convincing though.

Hannah opening her Big Sister gift "from" baby Charlotte

We're so happy to have our new little one, and very excited to see Hannah as a big sister!!!

Previously unrelease footage

2011-02-13T16:07:00.005-06:00

In an effort to keep our computer running quickly, I try to transfer images files to my external hard drive on a regular basis. Because of this, I often come across old photos that just need to be shared:

4th of July 2010. Hannah wasn't so sure about all the fire works and noise.

So she enlisted the help of Meemaw to protect her little ears from all the racket.

Hannah trying out the new dog bowl we got for Hodgins.

Silly kid!

Work in progress

2011-02-13T15:03:00.003-06:00

Hannah is well on her way to becoming a little quilter like mommy!

Because I always have "perpetual projects" pending, we're just now getting around to putting together the quilt for Hannah's new "big girl" bed. It's being made from the (AMAZING) fabric brought back from Hawaii by Grandma Sam and it's going to make her bed so fun and bright! (Kona cotton is just the greatest fabric to work with!)

I decided that I wanted Hannah to "help" with putting the quilt together. She always seems to be so interested in watching me sew, I figure it's time to start teaching her! So, for as long as her little attention span would allow, she sat in my lap and helped guide the various fabric pieces through the machine. It was so cute - she'd say "here we go!" every time the machine started sewing and "there, all done!" when we stopped. A few times I put her down to go run out her wiggles, but she'd always come back just a few minutes later wanting to help again and telling me "it's my turn mommy!" I know she's far from understanding anything about sewing, but I'm glad that she's willing to sit with me that she at least has some interest. Maybe she'll grow to love it like I do.

Here's a photo of our work in progress:

We're going to be adding a yellow border to it as well as another color, yet to be decided. (I'm leaning toward green....we'll see!) It will finish as a twin size. We've already gotten the matching sheets for the bed - a neon orange set and a pretty blue set. (Yup, orange sheets. Thank you Target for having such a vast array of colors to choose from!) I can't wait to see this quilt finished and on her bed, it's going to be adorable! I'm also considering which dust ruffle color to go with. I'm leaning toward just using the remnants from all the patterned pieces so that it matches exactly, but I might just take the easy route and buy one. Either way, she's going to have one brightly colored room and bed!!

Yee Haw!!

2011-02-10T20:46:00.002-06:00

My silly little cowgirl:

This is actually my hat, but Hannah has fallen in love with it and claimed it as her own. She calls it her "hee haw" hat. The funniest part - She insists on wearing it backwards for some reason.

A couple of comparisons...

2011-01-30T08:55:00.006-06:00

There are days when I just can't believe how fast Hannah is growing! She learns new things everyday and her little personality is really starting to develop. While moving around some old photo files, I came across some "baby" photos of Hannah that made me laugh....she looks so different now!!!

Not cooperating while mommy tries to take pictures (3/2010)

Some things never change! (12/2010)

Hannah bumblebee - Halloween 2009

Princess Ballerina - Halloween 2010

Confused about the whole opening presents thing - Christmas 2009

Confused as to why mommy is taking so many pictures - Christmas 2010

I'm just going to have to stop blinking, because every time I do, she grows up a little more!!!

Recent Photos

2011-01-30T08:49:00.002-06:00

Just a few recent photos of Miss Hannah:

This is what you get when you ask for a smile!

All ready for church!

Rockin' with Uncle Dennis

Taking a nap (not) on her new bed

It only looks like she's throwing a fit...she's really SOUND asleep!

Playing in her new kitchen and modeling the headband that mommy made. She loves accessories!

Christmas Morning 2010

2011-01-30T07:12:00.003-06:00

Just like a normal kid who's excited about Christmas, Hannah tried to get us out of bed VERY early in the morning.

Early as in 3am.

She, of course, was sent back to bed and told that it was just toooooo early to be up! So around 6:30, she came sneaking back into our room and whispered, "mom, there's a BIKE out there!" We decided to let her begin Christmas morning.

Santa was very good to Hannah......

Trying out her new trike. She still hasn't quite gotten the hang of riding it, but we're working on it.

Checking out her new kitchen and loving it!

Pausing in her present unwrapping to read a book.

It's a cute little Hannah present!

Very excited to open her presents

Hmmmm, what did Santa leave in my stocking?

We had such a wonderful Christmas! It's always great to see the holidays through the eyes of a child. It was wonderful to spend time with friends and family and to see Hannah interact with them. I have such great memories of holiday meals as a kid and I'm so grateful that Hannah will as well.

This was our last Christmas as a family of three, and it was just perfect!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T10:36:00.006-05:00

I made the mistake of asking Hannah what she wanted to be for Halloween. For about two weeks, the answer was "frog." Umm, ok, if you insist!! Then, one day, she changed her mind.

Suddenly, the answer became, "A princess mommy."

???

When did my daughter go and turn all girly?? And how does she know what a princess is?!

I was content to ignore her request and go with the first decision, a frog. However, in the last couple weeks, Hannah has proven herself to be quite princess obsessed.

*sigh*

Every dress I put on her is now "a princess dress" and every necklace or accessory makes her "a beautiful princess."

Fine. Princess it is.

Well, I looked at all the standard costume places for suitable princess attire...without much luck. Everything was either trashy, sleeveless, or cost precisely one arm and one leg. ($60 for a kids costume?!?! Are there really people THAT crazy?!?!)

Soo, this is what mommy came up with for Princess Hannah:

I guess you could call her a Ballerina Princess. All I know is that the second I put her in this get up, she began to twirl through the house declaring herself "a beautiful princess" and informing me that she was doing "pirouettes." She kept fluffing her skirt and saying it was soo beautiful and dancing everywhere. As strange as it is to me, (I was never into the princess "thing" as a child) I'm glad she's happy!!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!!

Gap Casting Call - Vote for Hannah!!

2010-10-20T09:23:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine told me about the Gap Casting Call Contest and told me that I should enter Hannah. Well, after tons of problems with the site, I was finally able to get a few entries uploaded for her!! There's a max of 5, so we'll be taking a couple more pictures to post in the next couple days. Hannah would really appreciate it if you could take a second and vote for her photos!! You can vote for each photo once per day, so click, click, CLICK!! The links for each photo are below each photo:

VOTE HERE!

VOTE HERE!

VOTE HERE!

Hannah is 2!

2010-10-08T07:21:00.009-05:00

Our little peanut is growing up so fast! Here's a comparison for you:

Just a couple minutes after she was born

Her 1st birthday party

One year photo session

At age 2

Hannah at her birthday lunch
(check out that frizzy hair! Apparently curly hair and dry Texas weather to do not mix!)

I think this is the age that I will always remember her as. I wish I could freeze her right now and just keep her that way forever! She is and always will be my baby. She made me a mother and taught me exactly what it means to fall in love at first sight. I love you Hannah bear!

Happy Birthday!

Hard to believe...

2010-09-20T10:13:00.006-05:00

that Hannah will be two in less than a month! Seems like everyday, she changes a little bit more! Lately, the big things are talking, singing, dancing, and reading. She surprises me everyday with new words she's learned and new things that she can do.

For instance, this morning: First was at diaper time - I was tickling her before letting her go back to playing and she said "That tickles mom!" Then, I scooped her up to sit with me on the couch so I could fix her hair. I must have startled her because she said "Whoa, that was scary!" I don't have any idea where she learned either of these phrases, let alone how to use them properly, but it was too funny to hear from a not quite two year old.

Then, there's the "reading." We read a book every night before bed, which Hannah gets to pick. For the last month or so, she ONLY wants to read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." I noticed as the days went on, she knew more and more of the story without me having to read it. I could turn to a page and she could tell me what it said, in her cute little baby speech of course. I'm so impressed with her ability to learn and I'm so glad I have so many opportunities to teach her.

Next, there's the singing. Whether it's a song she's made up or one she knows, she spends most of the day singing. She can actually sing the alphabet song from start to finish now, and she only misses 2 letters! She adores the times that we sing songs together and most of the time, she sings with me instead of just listening.

Lastly, there's the dancing! My goodness, that kid dances! Anything she hears with a beat and she immediately starts moving. I have several videos from the last couple weeks in which she's dancing like a maniac! I love that she's so eager to run and move!! Hopefully she'll get more coordinated as she gets older.... :)

I'm working on Hannah's "Two year" photos, but so far she's not been too cooperative...Here's a couple I've gotten so far:

Zoo Day

2010-08-30T09:08:00.008-05:00

Hannah got to spend a fun day at the zoo with her best buddies! She's still not always interested in looking at the actual animals, but she's getting better! She was impressed most by the monkeys, elephants, and the "close encounters" exhibit. (Chipmunks, birds, fish, etc) She actually pointed to the elephants and told me what they were...then preceded to make elephant noises at them while they were getting their bath. (Well, her version of elephant noises!) The oldest of the elephants just kept looking at Hannah and shaking her head...I think she was insulted by Hannah's imitation!! Here's a few photos from our day!

Buddies!

Little attitudes already!

Fish!!

Cambry was a tunnel master!

Ewww...bats!

Hannah in the piranha tube...she got a little scared and Cambry had to come save her.

Look mom! Fish!

Nemo :)

Cambry checking out the tank

Hannah....freaking out the poor animals by banging on the glass!

The cutest little monkey ever!

Gorgeous Cambry!

Giggles watching the Orangutans

Adorable Zoey

Mom and baby

The Zebras were not in a very social mood

One of the kids favorites of the day, the orangutans!

Creepy monkey giving us the stink eye

2 little monkeys hanging out!

Sea lions!! They were being super playful and cute!

I asked Hannah to go smile with the sea lion....this is what I got. *Sigh* I have pictures of me as a kid with this very same statue...pretty cool to get one of Hannah with it too!

They were all excited to get to feed money into the Sea lions mouth...like a giant piggy bank!

It was such a perfect day for a zoo trip! Not crowded at all and the weather was great! I love to see Hannah experience such new and fun things!

A visit from Great Grandma Florence

2010-08-12T09:48:00.004-05:00

Hannah loves her GG Florence!

Can't wait for your next visit GG!!!!!

Hannah has a puppy...

2010-06-30T07:39:00.002-05:00

And other assorted photos:

This is Hannah's "fake" smile....Not sure when she became a teenager, but here it is!

Showing me she knows right where her nose is. So smart!

Being silly in her new toy room. Yes, it's always that messy.

Stacking her cups in her own unique way. Take a close look at that stack, it's gravity defying!

And finally, her new favorite toy: Hodgins the chocolate lab!! She loves him....and well, he loves to chew on her! We're working on that....

Recently...

2010-05-25T07:58:00.005-05:00

Just a few goings on with Miss Hannah -

Giggles with Aunt DeeDee

Say cheese!

Sweet girls :)

Hannah found her nose!!

These are Hannah's new favorite shoes. And by favorite, I mean that she spends pretty much every waking moment wearing them....sometimes even when she still has her footie pj's on. She knows how to put them on herself, and sometimes, she even gets them on the right feet!!!!

Assorted...

2010-05-12T08:51:00.006-05:00

Just a random assortment of Hannah pictures:

At Jesse Jones Park-

Being silly in the window -

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! -

Checking out the "baby in the oven" -

Reading her favorite page -

Family fun!

2010-05-10T14:24:00.005-05:00

Hannah got a chance to hang out with her Great Grandma Florence for a couple weeks recently!! After many back and forth conversations, we were finally able to get a large portion of the family all together at once for a nice dinner!!

But first things first....This is Hannah's new teddy bear, brought to her by her GG Florence.

To say that she loves it would be an understatement!! She carries it through the house for a large portion of the day, chattering with it. See, it's a bear that talks. And about 2.5 seconds after she got it, she could repeat everything it said, perfectly. So now, she carries it around saying all the things it would normally say...over and over!!! AND, she knows how to push the little button on it's foot and make it talk!!! (It's a pretty tiny button, so I'm pretty impressed that she can do it!) She loves it so much in fact, that I had a hard time wrestling it away for this picture. Sure, I could have taken a picture of her *with* it in the window, but she would have none of that.

Now, on to our family dinner!!

There was a lot of laughter...

(GG has a great laugh, I swear I can hear it just looking at this picture!)

Giggles with Carl...

Squishy face games...

Anatomy lessons...

Hilarious photo ops...

Sweet girls...

Silly faces...

Crayons...

And of course, lemons...

Lots and LOTS of lemons!

Hannah is lucky to have such a great family!!!!!!!

Tiny toes

2010-05-09T16:54:00.000-05:00

Hannah and her first pedicure...

She loves her red toes!!

The red balloon

2010-05-08T17:04:00.000-05:00

Hannah is nuts about balloons. Namely, red balloons. She kept calling it a ball and had a near melt down when it broke loose and shot to the ceiling. I know they're not exactly a baby friendly toy, but under close supervision she was allowed to play till her hearts content. No one is more shocked than me that it didn't pop in her face! She was not gentle with it in the least!

In case you were wondering...

2010-04-27T09:26:00.006-05:00

We are still here and kicking...just falling behind on the blog posting duties. Here are a few things going on with Miss Hannah lately:

Playing in the magic window at home

Staring wistfully outside

Of the 5 different toggles/buttons on this toy, Hannah has mastered 4.5

Sharing her peas.....

Yeah right! There's no pea sharin' in this house!

Makin' messes of epic proportions

Getting, er, stuck in toys not quite designed for her...

But still making the best of it!

I love this kid!!!

You've got to start them young

2010-03-09T09:23:00.003-06:00

Such a helpful girl!

I'm going to have to take advantage of this for as long as she's willing to do it!! She also likes to "help" when I fold the laundry too. It's quite adorable.

Hannah's Impressions

2010-02-28T11:19:00.002-06:00

This is the first time EVER that Hannah has just stood here and let me take a video of her "tricks." Normally, I'm chasing her around and she's trying to grab the camera! I'm so excited that she was soo cooperative!

It's a little hard to hear the first one, but I'm asking her what a monkey says. Also, the Keanu Reeves impression is alllll Marshall. He heard her saying "Whoa!" one day and decided to see if she'd do it on command. Of course, she's such a little sponge these days, she picked it right up!

Speaking of being a sponge, here's an updated list of Hannah's signs, words, and phrases:

Signs she'll say (25): Dada, mama, thank you, please, apple, book, ball, kitty, eat, baby, yes, water, uh-oh!, shoes, fish, cookie, more, peach, peas, toys, milk, table, pretty, kiss, & cereal.

Signs she'll do (11): doggy, dada, shoes, more, finished, baby, yes, byebye, fish, book, & table.

Phrases/words she uses a lot: "Oh no!!," "Hi baby!," "Up, please," "Nacks (snacks) please!," "Night night!," "Love you!," "go, go, GO!," and she'll also recite the alphabet up to "P," but only when she feels like it of course.

And she's not just getting a bigger vocabulary, she's also growing like a weed!! At her Dr's appointment last week, they said she weighs 26 1/2 pounds and she's 32 1/2 inches tall....she's grown a foot since birth!!

She's also become quite the parrot lately and will say almost any word you ask her to. This makes it a lot easier to teach her things and she seems to be more and more receptive to learning these days. It's so fun to see her little personality develop each day!

Awwwwwww!

2010-01-30T11:10:00.002-06:00

I know, she's so cute you can hardly stand it.

I think that Hannah is finally starting to rebel against me and my camera. It took me three days to get this photo...and it required help from Aunt Deanna, Uncle Patrick, and Grandma Debra. I have plenty of pictures of her arm covering her face, her blinking, making funny faces, crying, pouting, and running away. I'm sure (and I hope!) that it's just a phase!

In other news-Hannah has decided that she's just the most adorable thing ever. Let me explain: Lately, she's become very obsessed with giving hugs and kisses. Seriously, the kid kisses anything that will stand still. This includes (but is not limited to) the cat, the little boy that I babysit, me, her daddy, her toys, just to name a few. She even says "kiss" just before she does it, it's quite cute. Sometimes she even says "kiss?" like she's asking permission, which is even cuter. Usually, when I see her giving kisses, I'll say "awwwwww!" Well now, Hannah does too. So a typical smooching fest goes something like this - Hannah: "Kiss?" Me: "Yes, you can give the baby a kiss but be careful please." Hannah: (After kissing the baby's head) "Awwwwww!!!!"
Like I said, she thinks she's the cutest thing ever. She also claps for herself when she does or says something correctly. It's great to have a kid who can be her own cheerleader.

More peas please!

2010-01-11T07:26:00.001-06:00

I've been telling everyone for ages how much Hannah loves her peas. Now, I have video proof!! Normally, while she's eating, she offers you "bites" if you ask....you'll notice, that's not the case with her peas!! She either puts her hand out and then snaps it back before you can eat what's in her hand, of she just offers you and empty hand!! So cute!! I love that she's a veggie addict, I just wish she'd be that happy about eating meat sometimes too!!

Kids can be so contrary! Not too long ago, this was her reaction to peas! Quite a switch!

Also, as you can see, we've been working on animal noises. (and just learning animals in general, but we're still working on a video of that) So far, cow is the only one she's done consistently, but occasionally I can get her to do kitty. It sounds nothing like a kitty, but it's hilarious because she thinks she's making a kitty noise.

Chatterbox

2010-01-09T19:13:00.002-06:00

Hannah has always been a little chatterbox, but here lately, she's starting to make more sense! We've been working on her sign language a lot lately, as well as trying to teach her what each word means. (Because there's no point in teaching her a word if she doesn't know how to use it properly!) This is a little video of Miss Hannah saying *most* of the signs she recognizes. She gets very distracted by the camera, so it's really hard to get her to sit still for a video!

It seems like now that she understands the whole "speaking with your hands" thing, she picks up signs and words so quickly now. This past week, she learned 3 in one day!! In the past, it took her a few days at least before she'd have it down pat. I really love to see her face when she learns something new, she's always so excited! And I'm SOOOO happy to say, that after MONTHS and MONTHS of her not wanting to learn the sign for mama, she will now say AND sign it!! Before, all she'd say was dada when you showed her the sign for mama...it was a little frustrating.

I've started keeping a list of her words up on the fridge. That way we can practice them every day and I don't forget any! I have to make sure to do them in a different pattern everyday too so that she doesn't just get used to the order! The italicized ones are the words she knows the meaning of and can use properly:

Will say when she sees them signed: Dada, mama, thank you, please, apple, book, ball, kitty, eat, baby, yes, water, uh-oh!, shoes, fish, cookie, more, peach, peas, toys.

Signs she can do: Dada, mama, doggy, shoes, more, finished, baby, yes, bye bye, book, fish.

In addition to these, she knows and uses several other words through out her day and two times now she has read the words "ball" and "eat" on tv! I really need to keep my camera handy to catch it on video!!

We've got ourselves a smart little cookie!

The weirdest things...

2010-01-06T19:57:00.002-06:00

seem to make Hannah laugh hysterically. Just about everyday, she finds new things that just make her roll with laughter. Today, it was this:

Glad I had my camera handy :) Isn't she a riot??

Snow baby

2009-12-06T08:11:00.004-06:00

Yup-you read that right - SNOW! Hannah got to see her second snow this year. I don't think the first one counts though, she was only a couple months old. This time, she got to go play in it! She had a blast!!

I took her out when the first few flakes started to fall, she didn't seem impressed.

So went went back in and waited till it started to pick up a little:

She wasn't sure about getting out in it at first.

Then she decided that snow looked like "bubbles." After that, she took off to go play.
(All the while saying "Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles!)

Hannah decided that these bubbles were cold and she was ready to go back inside!

Hannah got to meet the Pioneer Woman - Ree-ally!!

2009-12-05T20:54:00.007-06:00

In case you've (giggle, laugh, snort) never heard of her, The Pioneer Woman is just about the best blogger out there. We were lucky enough to get a chance to meet her in person today at her book signing in Houston. Hannah is such a social butterfly, and she was no different meeting Ree! She stared at her and kept trying to grab her shiny jacket. I'm pretty sure Ree could have just taken her and Hannah would have been happy as can be!

Notice how I'm holding Hannah's hand down....That was to keep her from pulling her way away from me and into Ree's lap!

Ree, maybe she's trying to figure out why you claim to be a redhead...I kid, I kid.
Your dark hair is great :)
(Feel free to ignore the weirdo goofy look on my face)

Flying into the picture with Grandma

No looking at the camera or smiling for mommy!

Checking out what she thinks is her new shirt.

You can't see me!

Achoo!!

Crazy baby!

Hannah's pouty face. She wanted a shirt in her size!

She'll just have to settle for a mommy who cooks yummy Pioneer Woman recipes for her!

Party Time!

2009-11-23T07:14:00.000-06:00

We partied it up for Hannah's first birthday last month. There was cake, yummy snacks, friends, and of course, PRESENTS!! Here's the highlights:

The party girl:

This is the first of two party dresses!

She wasn't quite sure what to think of all these people here to see her!

The grub:

Cake, cupcakes, and favors, this is starting to look like a party!

The first of many birthday cakes I will make for Hannah!

Of course, princess cupcakes must have sprinkles!

Mmmmmm, cupcakes.

The decor:

This is the party princess's parade float, er, highchair, to eat her birthday cake in!
Decorated by the talented, Aunt Deanna.

Birthday name banner, made by Grandma Debra.

The balloons and streamers were done for Hannah by Uncle Patrick and Daddy!

The party goers:

Hannah's cute cousin, Megan!

Bestest buddies Cambry...

and Zoey!

Party time:

Cambry tries out the party favors

Umm, mom, I'm pretty sure these are the snacks!

Hannah "chatting" with her buds

Giggling grandma

Taking a break with daddy. If he had a tiara, they'd be twins!

Blowin' out the candles:

I couldn't decide on one candle, so she ended up with the #1...and 5 to grow on!

First there's the singing...

then you blow out the candles...

then you cry! (Remember, it's your party and you can if you want to!) We never did figure out what made her cry here. Maybe it was the singing, maybe she wanted to play with the lit candles, maybe she was sad that I took the giant cake away, who knows!

Let em' eat cake:

First bite of birthday cake

Hey, this is pretty yummy!

What? Do I have a little on my face?

Eh, who cares! This is good!

Opening presents:

Piles of fun presents!

Apparently, we should have all just gotten her bows! She thought those were fun.

Piles of presents, oh my!

Hannah doesn't "get" the whole opening presents things just yet, mommy had to help.
Notice the three little ones getting closer and closer....

Apparently, I wasn't doing it right. Cambry was very happy to help me out.

This present was a bit stuck in the bag. Even Great Grandma Jackie wasn't sure how she managed to make it fit in there!

A tutu!!! And a cupcake shirt!!! Hannah *loves* her tutu!!

Hannah had so much fun at her party hanging out with her buddies and family! We might have to do this again next year...same time :) But until then, we'll leave you with a parting shot of the party girl...

All partied out!

Hannah lately

2009-11-09T09:57:00.002-06:00

Well, once again, Blogger and I seem to be having issues with uploading pictures! So, here's a quick {pictureless} update about Miss Hannah!

She's still growing like a weed! She's now 30 inches tall and 25 pounds! (85th percentile!!)

We're still working on the sign language, she can now do 6 on her own:

Thank you
Baby
Finished
More
Dada (Sorta, she has to be in the mood)
Milk

She's talking more and more these days and learning new words all the time. She's actually started putting words together occasionally, so that's exciting! So far, she can say:

Kitty (and "Hi Kitty!!")
Mama (this one is rare-she prefers to say dadadadada!)
Dada
Baba (For her bottle)
Juice (Which comes out sounding like "Juss!")
Thank You
Uh-Oh!
Baby (She also does "the baby!" and "a baby!")
Babaloo! (Something she picked up from watching the show Dinosaur Train!)
Roll up! (She says this for Patty Cake)

There's so many other things that she'll repeat if you ask her to say them, but she has yet to just use them on her own. And she definitely understands more than she's able to say. If you ask her to go get things like her binky, her cup, a baby, etc, she'll go get them! She's also recently learned to clap, roll her arms for the "roll em' up" portion of patty cake, and yesterday, she surprised me by folding her arms when I told her it was time to pray!!! She still loves to dance and does so often. It has to be a good song though, she won't dance to just anything! She has so many new toys from her birthday, and she's learned how to use most of them already! She's mastered the ball popper toy, she can use 3 of the 5 triggers on her animal pop up toy, and she loves to play music on her little piano!

Her favorite thing right now though is to sit with a book in her lap and chatter away like she's reading it out loud. I hope she keeps a love of reading! I'm always amazed by how smart she is too! She has one book that has a picture of an opossum, hanging upside down of course, and every time she gets to that page, she's turns the book over so he's right side up! She can't go past that page in the book without flipping it over first! She also loves to "help" me in the kitchen and with the laundry. She closes the pantry and lower cabinet doors for me and the dryer after I put clothes in!

She's finally started sleeping through the night on a pretty consistent basis, which is so nice, and she LOVES bedtime! She always goes down without a fuss and she's usually giggling the whole time I'm putting her in bed!

She follows the cat around the house all day and loves to pet and play with her. (Too bad Anni doesn't feel the same way about her!)

She's picked up a new habit recently-leaving things in the window sills. I don't know if it's because it's just the right level for her, or because she picks up toys then follows the cat to the window. Either way, it's pretty cute. Except when she puts her half full sippy cup of milk in the SUNNY window, then it's not very cute.

All in all, she's just a great baby!!!

I hope to have birthday photos up soon.....................................

Playing well with others

2009-10-14T19:12:00.011-05:00

Hannah had a little play date today with Cambry! I must not let her socialize enough with other kids because she is sooooooo excited when someone her size comes over!

See, Hannah is WAY more excited than Cambry

This was one of those times when you can see a disaster coming but can do nothing
to stop it. Luckily they just kinda caught each other rather than the face to face body
slam I was expecting. Crisis averted!

This isn't what it looks like, I swear

No no Cambry, let me show you.

Lookit! There's a kitty in the window!

Cambry found the cat's super secret hiding spot

Anni seems a little unhappy to have been discovered

Then, Anni's hiding spot is discovered by a far greater danger-Hannah!

Hannah shows Cambry the proper way to get the cat to come out and play, POUNCE!

Hannah showing off her awesome new moves...

which Cambry thinks is hilarious!

We're not up to anything, really, we're just playing in the kitchen

C'mon, can I have a smile??

Such a sweet little model!

This was her response to the funny faces I was making

Then she decided that I might be funny after all!

Just hanging out

This kid cracks me up!

Yeah, no idea what Hannah is doing

Cambry went and got her shoes, apparently it's time to go!

We talked her into staying. Toys have that effect on kids.

And last but not least, this is Hannah new...trick?? This is known as "Evil Hannah"

We need to get these kiddos together more often! Hannah crashed out and took and awesome nap after Cambry left. I could get used to that!

Sign Language!

2009-10-13T18:41:00.003-05:00

I've been trying to teach Hannah sign language for a while now. I was really excited for her to learn it and I envisioned her picking it up in a snap.

Yeah, not so much.

I REALLY wanted her to learn, but there were so many times that I got discouraged and almost stopped teaching it to her all together. Then one day about 3 weeks ago, while watching her Baby Einstein video, a baby came on the screen. In her tiny cute little voice, I heard "ba-by!" She'd been saying that word for a little while, but it was still cute to see her recognize a baby on tv and put seeing it together with saying it. Well, while listening to her chatter "ba-by" over and over, I rounded the corner in time to see that not only was she saying it, SHE WAS SIGNING IT! Right then I realized that it was sinking in! All that time I thought I'd wasted trying to teach her was not a waste at all! Sure, it wasn't a full sentence or anything, but she was getting it. So I jumped back into teaching head first and it's been so fun. Right now, we're kinda at this point where she doesn't know that she's supposed to do the sign, but we're working on that. So far, there are two that she can actually sign, baby and milk, (milk is new, she just did that one this morning!!) and there are 4 that she recognizes and will say when you sign them to her. She knows: baby, thank you, daddy, and kitty.

Here's a little video of her showing off her mad sign language skills: ("Thank you" isn't included in this video because she just learned that one)

I'm so excited for the progress she's making! My goal for her is to learn to do the actual signs that she knows how to say within the next month. Wish me luck!

Hannah is ONE!

2009-10-13T18:07:00.006-05:00

These are just a few of the zillion photos I'll be adding in the next few days.

Happy girl at her one year photo shoot!

Little princess all dressed up for her birthday party!

Hard to believe that this baby:

and this one:

are one in the same! It's happening too quickly!

Happy Monday

2009-09-28T07:48:00.000-05:00

Rockin' to baby Einstein

2009-09-23T09:00:00.001-05:00

You wish you had these cool dance moves

Hannah's new favorite way to sleep

2009-09-22T10:05:00.000-05:00

With her butt in the air. Countless naps are taken this way. Doesn't look comfy to me, but whatever works for her!

Makes my back hurt just looking at her!

Out like a light

Hey! Are you taking pictures of me....cause if you are.....I'm gonna.....

Go right back to sleep.

Wait, did you say something about breakfast?!

Donuts with Grandpa Dan

2009-09-21T09:51:00.000-05:00

I've had these on my memory card for about 2 weeks...finally got around to downloading.

Her first Shipley's donut...well, unless all the ones I ate while I was pregnant with her count.

I think she likes them!

Ohh, big bite!

Let me just cram that back in there...

Umm, grandpa, you're not doing it right! Here, just give me the bag!

Little baby bird! (All hopped up on sugar!)

Again with the backyard photos-This time, in large format!

2009-09-20T09:08:00.005-05:00

I have come to the realization that Hannah does not spend enough time outside. I'm not really surprised by this because, well, I'm not very outdoorsy. So we stay inside. But here lately, when she's in a funk and bored out of her mind, I venture outside with her, just for a change of scenery and some fresh air. Of course, we're usually only in the backyard....The front yard might require socializing with the outside world and who needs that?! It's actually really hard to take her photo while we're outside-she's so interested in everything else she has NO interest in looking at me. None, zip, nada. I've tried all kinds of things to no avail. So she spends most of her time staring at the grass while I try to snap a few shots.

I had this great idea to bring some of her inside toys outside so that maybe she'd want to stay out longer and play. The push car didn't push so well...but it was funny to watch her try. Looks like she's mowing the lawn.

She got tired of that quick and decided to plop down in the grass. She was so amused by everything. Here I think it was because she saw a dragonfly.

I love watching her discover things! She picked this up and was just staring at it and very gently pulling it through her fingers. Oh and yes, that is in fact a giant mosquito chewing on her right arm. They were all over the back yard!

After she got bored with the pine needle, she found this leaf. She was quite fascinated with it...then she tried to eat it.

This was her response to being told "Ewww, yucky! We don't eat leaves!"

Pretty sure this giggle fit was brought on by the wind blowing. No joke. It was making the leaves on the tree rustle and she thought it was hilarious. Like I said, she's amused by everything outside.

Finally, after I killed the bazillionth mosquito on her, I made her get up and walk around. She's never done that in grass, with shoes on.

It requires lots of concentration. Hence the tongue.

Pretty sure she gets that from her dad.

A post in which Hannah demonstrates mommys new flash

2009-09-16T21:40:00.003-05:00

I love my new flash. It makes photos look so nice. It's bright, versatile, and just about the greatest thing ever. I can't remember how lived life before this wonderful accessory came into my life.

I'm lucky to have a baby who will cooperate with me for a demonstration of it's greatness:

Alright fine, sometimes I have kid who cooperates. Other times I have a kid who tries to put the lens cap back on my camera. It's hit or miss. Anyways, here's an example of the difference between my pop up flash (i.e., the one that comes on the camera) and my new, shiny, wonderful Speedlite 580EX II.

First up, we have a picture of Hannah making a face that only a teenage should know how to do. This was taken with the Speedlite. The lighting is good, not great, but I am still learning how to use this. But it's nothing compared to the terrible lighting in this photo:

Holy washed out photo Batman! This was taken with the pop up flash. Basically, blech. Though Hannah is pulling a dance move that is quite cute.

This is another Speedlight photo....and Hannah lovingly trying to pick the eyes off her dolls face. Aww, how sweet. Notice the even-ness of the lighting, the soft features, the overall "natural" light look.

Eww! Glare! Another pop up flash disaster.

So see, new flash=wonderful photos. Pop up flash=Really horribly lit photos.

So now, you can better enjoy the following photos, taken while I was trying to learn about my new toy:

See how well it captures the sweetness of my child picking at random things on the carpet? Her little angelic face is so well lit!

And here, the bounce feature allows me to capture both her rockin' "shake your booty" dance moves AND her playing with DVD's.....rather than her myriad of toys.

I used a side bounce to capture the look of concentration on her face as she picks apart a piece of paper she stole from my purse. A very unique look I think.

And here, I bounced the flash off the TV of all things, bathing her in side light as she discovers the toys that make the most noise when banged together.

And finally my favorite. Her tantrums have never been in such great lighting!

Ohh how I love my flash!

Photogenic tantrum

2009-09-08T10:08:00.001-05:00

I love being a mom.

Alrighty then!

2009-09-06T07:00:00.001-05:00

You'll just have to pretend to be looking at adorable photos of Miss Hannah right now because, well, blogger sucks and won't let me load any. And hasn't let me for about the last 3 days.

Grrr.

The many faces of Hannah

2009-08-24T17:09:00.003-05:00

Silliness at snack time!

I said I wanted cookies mom! Not cheerios! Now, I will pout.

Alright, here's one smile for you!

Don't make me laugh, my mouth is full!

Hey, where did this cool thing come from?!

What you mean it's MY tongue?! How come no one ever told me about this before?!

Not neglecting

2009-08-24T13:32:00.003-05:00

Just a quick note-I'm not neglecting Hannah's blog! My hard drive had a melt down over the weekend!!!!! Thanks to the fabulously wonderful Melanie, I'm back up and running.

Pictures soon!!!!

(Of the baby-not the meltdown of my hard drive. Just so we're clear.)

Hannah has a play date!

2009-08-20T15:27:00.001-05:00

Check out the cuteness of Hannah's play date with Cambry! Photos by Cambry's awesome mommy, Marissa!

http://cambry.blogspot.com/2009/08/play-date.html

Baby Steps

2009-08-11T07:46:00.005-05:00

I finally caught it on video! She's done this on a couple occasions, though never this many in a row, but I never had the camera handy. Here lately, it's been glued to my hip because I just knew I would need it. Anyone want to place any bets as to how long it will be before she's full on walking?

She listens so well!

2009-08-07T09:51:00.002-05:00

So smart!

2009-08-07T09:31:00.008-05:00

She may not know how to walk with it yet, but she sure likes to play with all the little toys! I showed her how each one worked and after only a couple minutes, she could do it all by herself!

Of course, I think her favorite toys will always be the ones she's not supposed to have...like mommy's camera!

For Heavens sake don't get her a drum set!

2009-08-07T09:02:00.004-05:00

Because I think that this box is working just fine:

What can I say, the kid is easy to entertain!

Sleepy head

2009-08-07T08:51:00.005-05:00

Hannah couldn't quite stay awake for breakfast.....

Don't worry, I'm not a completely mean mom-I didn't make her sleep like this. She must have been really tired because I got her out of her chair and into her playpen without even waking her up!

New talent?

2009-08-07T08:21:00.007-05:00

You might need a moment to prepare yourself for this video. My child has developed a new, talent? I like to refer to it as "crazy baby" and it's quite hilarious. She only does it a couple times in this video, and she won't hold it for long, so it's a little hard to see. You're just going to have to trust me that when she really gets going, it's a sight to see. I have literally been carrying the video camera with me everywhere I go so that I can get a better video of it.

In case you can't see it-basically, she grits her teeth, squints one eye, and then opens the other eye reallllllly big and looks up at me. All while making a growling type noise. I have no clue where she learned this, it's too funny!

Not walking, but pretty darn close!

2009-08-07T08:12:00.003-05:00

Hannah is a cruising maniac! She can make it all the way around the room in just a couple minutes, or faster if she's after something. (like the cat!) She's had two instances of taking steps without help: Her first was a little half step to get to daddy and her second was at church last week. What's so funny about it is that I really think she actually can walk all by herself, she just doesn't know it yet! I'm trying to build her confidence by walking her all over the house holding only one hand, so maybe that will help. Oh, and I try to get her to play with her new walk behind toy, but so far she'll only go a few steps with it.

I have SEVERAL videos to post of her antics over the last few days....but since videos load at a painfully slow pace, it's going to take a little while to get them all on here.

Bear with me grandmas and great grandmas. :)

All dressed up

2009-08-03T17:30:00.001-05:00

I've been doing lots of photo sessions lately and it seems like ages since I did a formal one with Hannah. So I dressed up my favorite photo subject and plunked her down in the freshly mowed backyard!

She was in a pretty good mood, but apparently not wanting to smile. Instead we opted for funny faces!

Then she yanked off the headband-There's a little smile!

The pout-Mom took away my headband!

Fine mom! I'll take your camera!

Give it!

Alright, but only a couple smiles!

Yeah! Got the headband back on!

Hannah loved the grass!

And the trees! She just kept staring up at them!

Pausing for a pensive look.

Umm, I'm getting kinda tired of this mom!

Trying to walk!

Hmmmmmm, laying in grass-not a fan!

You up there, take me in now!

I'm so lucky to have a baby who loves the camera! Most of the time anyway.......

Pigtails!

2009-07-30T13:06:00.002-05:00

It's official, Hannah has enough hair for pigtails! These are a bit messy, I was really just trying to see if it was possible!

She's not as unhappy about it as she looks, she just doesn't feel well.

They make her look like such a "big girl!"

In a funk

2009-07-30T11:41:00.002-05:00

Well, Hannah has been fighting a bug for about a week now and it finally caught up with her! She's got Croup! The upside, strange that there is one when it comes to a sick baby, is that it's "Summer Croup" (as opposed to "Winter Croup") which is more mild. The Doc said that with the meds, she should be feeling better very soon. She's already a little better today than yesterday and thankfully her appetite seems to be coming back. According to the scale, she's lost a pound! She's still well within a healthy range, but for such a little person a pound is alot!

In happier news, Hannah stood unassisted for almost a minute on Tuesday! She pulled her little self up on my brother and then let go! He rolled away so that she had to go it alone and she was thisclose to taking a step toward him. I had the camera all ready because I just KNEW that she was going to take a step, but she chickened out and sat down instead.

I'm sure I say this a ton, but I am constantly amazed by her! She's learning and figuring things out so fast! I can see how eager she is to walk and I'm just amazed at her resilience in trying to do so. No matter how many falls she's taken, she's right back up trying it again! Maybe it's just that "my kids is the greatest, smartest, etc." instinct in me, but I honestly think she'll be walking in the next couple weeks. I see the same determination in her that she had while learning to crawl, so I feel like it's not far off! We're going out with Grandma D today to get her a push behind/ride on toy, so she'll be able to practice without help! I'm so excited to see her use it! (There will be much picture taking!)

And I promise Grandma Sam and Great Grandma Florence-I will post more photos soon!

Too cool for you!

2009-07-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Stylin' the awesome sunglasses! This is how the cool babies eat their crackers.

Hannah's new favorite toy!

2009-07-23T12:41:00.002-05:00

I have become Hannah's jungle gym. I CANNOT sit on the floor without her dropping what she's doing to come climb all over me. It was really cute at first, but she's not just happy with getting to a standing position while holding onto me. No, she wants to literally climb up me. How sad is it that I have to hide on the couch to get away from my baby! I'm even having trouble taking pictures of her sitting because she won't stay that way once she sees me next to her! So I guess that makes me her new favorite toy.

Last week it was the empty Huggies box, so I really don't feel special.

Yoga by Hannah

2009-07-23T08:30:00.000-05:00

Let's see:

Put your head down and stick your butt WAY in the air!

And if you really want to feel the burn, life one arm!

No residual trauma

2009-07-23T07:22:00.000-05:00

Hannah seems to be recovering quite well from yesterday's incident. I'm 99% sure there won't be any psychological damage.

Though she still won't hold a smile for very long. Instead I get this face.

Like I wasn't feeling guilty enough as it is!

As if on cue!

2009-07-22T18:22:00.003-05:00

Well, just as I said-the conk on the head was only the first of many injuries to come. This one was a bit more severe and required a short little trip to to the dentist. And now, I'm looking into a full bubble wrap suit.

Here's how it happened: We were at the family history center today as always and Hannah was pulling up on everything in sight. She was determined to hang on the swivel chair I was sitting on and after only a couple minutes of effort, she was "standing" next to me. She stayed that way for a while, then I guess decided she was bored and wanted to go play with toys. That's when it happened. My guess is that she trying to go from a stand to a crawl, but instead she ended up in a face plant on of the legs of the swivel chair. I felt her let go and I glanced down (normally she just falls on her butt) but there was just no way I could have caught her in time. She busted her lip WIDE open on the inside and was unhappy to say the least. I scooped her up and tried to comfort her, there was lots of blood and I could tell this was beyond the normal "ohhh, you're ok" that I usually give her. Once I got her a little settled, I finally got to take a good look. I'd seen blood initially, but I just assumed she'd split her lip and that was it....well, some of the blood was actually coming from the top of her tooth. So, one call to the dentist and a short trip later, he deemed her teeth to still be in perfect working order and sent us on our way.

So, aside from the huge fat lip, she seems to be doing well. After the initial 5-10 minutes of crying, she settled down and hasn't fussed about it since. Though she won't smile for an extended amount of time. Every time she grins, she holds it for a couple seconds and then goes into a frown. It's heartbreaking really. I feel really bad that I was thisclose and there was nothing I could do about it!

I've decided that when she's older and asks about these pictures, I'm going to tell her she got that fat lip for talking back. Might as well make an object lesson out of it!

Risky Business

2009-07-21T18:15:00.000-05:00

Hannah's attempts at walking are not without danger. Apparently, this kid needs her own personal bubble to keep her safe!

This is her battle scar from her run in with the movie shelf. She pushed, it pushed back...in the form of a wrist watch that was knocked off the top and subsequently conked her little head.

She was pretty upset about it at the time, but it doesn't seem to have done any permanent damage. And she was back to pulling up on the shelf a few minutes later.

This is only the first of many walking related injuries I'm sure.

To Great Grandma Florence, From Hannah

2009-07-14T07:33:00.004-05:00

GET WELL SOON GREAT-GRANDMA!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Hannah's happy faces!

2009-07-09T08:05:00.000-05:00

We're so lucky to have such a happy, good natured little girl! And one who is so patient while mommy takes a zillion pictures of her!

Happy playing with toys!

Laughing baby!

Let's try one with the tongue hanging out....very nice.

Mmmmm, fingers

Trying to take our pj's off.....and thinking it's hilarious!

Ok, one serious one....

Annnnd, we're back to happy!

Big blue eyes! (And a killer flash-oops!)

I laughed so hard, I fell over!

Phew, I think I'll just rest on this nice pillow!

My first trip to Kansas!

2009-07-07T09:30:00.000-05:00

This is a bit delayed, but here it is!

Hannah made it through her first car trip! We were in the car for a while going and coming back and she did great! There was a little fussing, of course, but way less than I expected! We're going to have to travel with her more often!

No joke, this was about 7 minutes into the trip

Wide awake at a gas station in Dallas. So far, so good!

"Ohhhhhh, 99 bottle of formula on the wall................"

Heehee! This car stuff is fun!

Wait, how long did you say it was going to be before we get there?!

Napping with Great-Grandma Florence

Hey mom, can we get carpet like this at home?

Loving on her teddy bear from Great-Grandma Florence

Very sleepy sitting with cousin Kyle

Annnnnnnnnd we're out! Guess Kyle isn't entertaining enough ;)

Playing with cousin Katy

Happy with Great-Aunt Theresa!

Then...............Poking Great-Aunt Theresa's face!

Hmmm, how many fingers do you have?

Well hello Trixie! You're a lot nicer than my kitty at home!

Trixie kisses!

Bitsie decides to come see what all the fuss is about. Hannah is just happy to have animals that let her pet them!

Watching a movie!

Well HI Great-Grandma Shirley!

I think I'd like to take a little nap with you!

Four generations!

Taking a bath in Great Grandma's sink...just like daddy did when he was little!

Snuggles with Great Grandma Florence

Sitting with Uncle Danny at breakfast

Hey Aunt Stacy!

Finally meeting cousin Aaron!!

Attention from BOTH Great-Grandmas!

Hannah being a "Pioneer baby" at a fudge shop in Yoder.

Hannah didn't want to smile for our family photo.

Great Aunt Judy came for a visit!

Hannah may have a future career in product modeling...

Taking steps with Great Grandma

Smooches from Great Grandma

"Generation" pictures in front of Great Grandma's Blue Spruce.

Hannah makes 4!!

One last picture before we go....BYE Great Grandma, see you again soon!!

All by myself!

2009-07-07T06:52:00.004-05:00

Hannah is learning things so fast these day! I just handed her a cracker one day and all of a sudden, that kid can feed herself everything! (Including various things she finds on the floor.....) And she seems to be very excited about it:

Hey, these cracker things are pretty cool!

Is this how it works?

Wait, I think I need one for each hand...

Now I've got it!

All done! I'm leaving that cracker on my face as a snack for later

Crackers and a stylin' mohawk-life doesn't get any better!

Just don't put your finger in there!

2009-06-30T11:16:00.005-05:00

Hannah has 6 little chompers! One of the top teeth that have been threatening to come in for a while finally broke through a couple days ago!

She's quickly becoming a crawling maniac! It's still a slow going process-A combo of pulling herself along and up on the hands and knees crawling-but we finally have forward motion! Please pardon her nakedness in this video: We had a REALLY horrific diaper experience that we just hadn't recovered from yet. Plus, she was about to eat her morning crackers and juice and that's just so much easier to clean when she's only in a diaper! Oh, and the jiggling at the end-I was trying to scoot back and hold the camera steady and I didn't do a very good job :(

She can go from a crawling position to a sitting one now too! Sometimes, it even looks like it's on purpose! This video is a bit long, and the cat makes and uninvited appearance, but toward the end Hannah sits up by herself! (She's naked in this one too-sorry) Oh, and at the end, she demonstrates how "big" she's getting. :)

I am constantly amazed by this kid! She's getting so smart! Last night, she was trying to pull up on the couch! I'm not surprised about that really because she's been pulling up for a while if you give her something to hold onto. It was just strange to see her crawl over to the sofa, sit up, and then try to find a place to pull up on. She's such a smart baby!

Coming soon-Hannah learns how to feed herself crackers (And some of them make it into her mouth!)

When naps attack!

2009-06-14T12:04:00.003-05:00

Hannah used to fight naps with every fiber of her being. Fits were thrown, feet were kicked, there was screaming and yelling. Oh, and she threw some wicked fits too. But lately, she's decided that naps might just not be the end of the world. In fact, recently, it seems like they just sneak up on her.

This is what she looks like just happy and playing.....

Then bam! The nap gets her with a sneak attack!

This is pretty much an everyday thing now....

And let's face it, it's just plain silly to fight a nap.

Phew!

2009-06-07T08:57:00.006-05:00

It's been a month since I last posted an we've had a lot going on!

Since our last post, Hannah has......

Been growing like a weed and now weighs over 20 pounds! If she ever starts crawling, I'm sure that will go down slightly, but for now, she's a chunky little monkey!

Re-discovered her love for her silly zebra. Or, more accuratly, re-discovered her love for *chewing* on her silly zebra.

Become a fan of kitchen sink bathing. And bubbles. Whoa boy does this kid love her bubbles! After this bath, the kitchen was covered in them. Oh, and I was too.

Tried to start crawling. She can roll all over the living room and pivot any way she wants but actual crawling still eludes her. She's started doing the "rock" while on her hands and knees, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Learned to use a cell phone. Ok, maybe not really. But doesn't it look like she knows what she's doing?

Fallen in love.

Taken in some light reading

Discovered the "baby in the mirror" who she finds quite hilarious

Acheived the "I look so much like my dad it's not even funny" look. Really, is this kid even mine at all? She's so much like her daddy it's hard to tell!

And finally, practiced her pouts and poses for her future in baby modeling.

Other things going on: Hannah now has a total of 5 teeth, 2 on top and 3 on bottom. (the 5th just recently snuck in on us so I don't have a picture yet) She's also got the pre-teeth bumps on either side of her two top teeth, so I imagine those will be here shortly. We also made a trip up to Kansas to visit family. Hannah finally got to meet her Great Grandmas Florence and Shirley! There are so many pictures from that trip that it will have to be it's own post....

Phew! What a month!

Pass the peas please.....the first of many times that Hannah will wish we had a dog

2009-05-07T11:45:00.006-05:00

So, these green things....I'm not so sure about this mom

I don't wanna eat em. They're, uh, kinda yucky

Ok, maybe I'm ok now

Erp. Nope.

Phew! I made it through one bite!

What?! You expect me to eat more!?

Oh gag!

Just wait until she learns about green beans!

Playing dress up

2009-05-01T13:58:00.021-05:00

And now a brief intermission for a song...

"The sun will come out tomorrow...."

You don't even have to say it, I know I'm the greatest singer ever.

Givin' mom the ole stink eye.

I couldn't decide between color and black & white for this one...

So I tried both.

I'd like to say I was going for an "artsy" B&W look here...but it was in fact only the result of a REALLY grievous error on my part as far as shutter speed and flash goes. I really liked the picture and I didn't want to get rid of it, so this was the best I could do with what I had to work with. The original was bad. Really bad. I would put it on here for comparison, but I'm pretty embarrassed that I made such a rookie mistake in the first place.

Same goes for this shot.

No more pictures mom!

Ok fine, but that's the last one!

What can I say, the kid loves to have her picture taken!

Hannahs first solids!!

2009-04-17T14:24:00.003-05:00

Nakedness is a prerequisite for chow time!

First bite!

Umm, I don't know if I like this mom!

Hmm, the fingers help it go down better

Maybe I'll try some more

This feels funny! Let's push it around the mouth a bit.

All done!

When seemingly innocent cousins attack!

2009-04-17T13:42:00.009-05:00

Meet cousin Megan....she only looks sweet and innocent

See, we're playing soooo nice together!

Then it begins......insert Jaws theme music here

Here Hannah, let me just poke that nose for you

Maybe a little jab to the eye too

Hmmm, this arm looks tasty!

Yum yum! Ear!!!

Megan moves in for the sneak attack!

Grrrr!

Rargh! Baby wrestling!!

Aww nuts! Grandma foils the attack!

Ok guys, enough fighting! Lets sit with Grandma for a good picture together!

Hey you! Get outta my picture!

Megan moves in for another attack, but Finally, Hannah gets a little revenge

The look on Megans face suggests that this is not over.

Alright Shauna, no more UFC Fight Night for Megan!

A little Easter Bunny lives at my house

2009-04-17T13:36:00.002-05:00

Pensive bunny

Happy bunny!!

Look! Daddy caught the bunny!

I have been neglecting poor Hannah's blog...

2009-04-16T10:43:00.006-05:00

So here are lots of pictures to make up for it!!!

Finding toesies!

Two teeth! The top two are still trying to break through.

Yummy fingers!

Giggles for grandma!

Happy/sleepy girl! This was right before bed. She sometimes gets a little giggly late at night when she's getting tired.

Look Aunt Deanna! The letter "A"

Considering a manicure

Happy in the Bumbo! (Please excuse the ridiculously bright flash....I was experimenting with the new lens)

Mischievous look

Not sure what she was doing here, but it's an interesting picture! This look scares me a little. But amuses me too :)

Kisses from Uncle Dennis!

And then there were two...

2009-03-30T18:51:00.002-05:00

So Hannah was a little grumpy on Sunday and I couldn't figure out why. Apparently tooth numero dos decided to make an appearance sometime between Friday and Sunday because there it was in all it's pointy cuteness. I don't think Hannah feels the same about the whole cute thing, but I think that baby teeth are just adorable. And I haven't been bitten by them yet, (knock on wood) so I can still say that.

Now, I want to get a picture of this one like the pic I have of the first one...and she's sleeping right now so *technically* I could get one. But you see, this nap is her first since she got up this morning. We had a crappy night of no sleep and an equally crappy day filled with crankiness (from both sides) and I just don't think that I'm emotionally prepared to deal with what consequences may come from hovering over my sleeping child with a camera and firing a flash in her face. I know better than to poke the bear.

So, cute teeth photography will have to wait.

*Sigh* I still can't believe that she's not even 6 months old and we're already doing the teething thing.

Getting so big!!

2009-03-16T16:12:00.003-05:00

Hannah is 5 months old and getting big soo fast!!! Her new favorite sound is "dadadadada," which she say constantly. (Nevermind that it's mamama taking care of her....) She loves to lay in her crib in the morning and coo and talk to her mobile. Lately, she doesn't really like to be left alone. If she can't see me (or anyone for that matter) she'll usually start to cry. She doesn't have to be held constantly, but she just likes to know someone is in the room with her. She reaches for everything now - the computer keys, hands, faces, toys, pretty much anything within reach - and can usually get a hold of what she's aiming for. She likes to grab mommy's nose (and hair!) while we're playing on the floor. She's also becoming very interested in Anni lately. Whenever she walks by, Hannah will reach for her. I'm trying to show her how to be gentle, but she's still so little and it's hard. Usually she just grabs a few fists full of fur and the cat gets irritated and walks away. I think it's adorable, Anni however would probably disagree.

Here's a few pictures from the couple weeks:

Yeah, so she has the pillow to help her here, but she's doing a good job staying up! (She only fell over once!)

She seems pretty surprised about it too!

She likes to be outside so she can stare at the trees. Too bad the weather has been so yucky lately!

She still hates tummy time, but she'll humor me for at least a little while each day.

And of course, we love playing with toys in the bumbo!

I can't believe that in a few short weeks, she'll be 1/2 a year old. Time flies!

We have a tooth!

2009-03-16T16:03:00.000-05:00

Isn't it just the tiniest, cutest little thing?!?!

I had to wait *forever* for her to take a nap today because there's NO WAY I could get this picture while she was awake. While taking it I noticed that I can see another tooth right next to this one. It's still under the gums, but just barely. This kid is a trooper! Two teeth at once!

Hannah is 5 months old.....

2009-03-14T17:44:00.000-05:00

And she has her first tooth!!!! It is only the tiniest bit poked through her gums, but it's there!! Best of all, we didn't even have to go through the fussiness and fevers - she just woke up yesterday with a tooth! (Just in time for Grandma's birthday!) I hope the rest of her teeth come in this easily!

Oh, and I'm trying to get a picture of the *adorable* tooth, but it's a bit difficult. Everytime anything comes near her mouth, she sticks out her tongue....thus hiding her tooth. Maybe once she's asleep...... we'll see.

Video updates!

2009-03-05T18:58:00.001-06:00

Here are a few videos from the last few weeks:

I was changing her diaper and clothes and she was just laughing hysterically at the noises I was making at her.

Poor baby, she did this off and on for about 10 minutes before she finally just stayed asleep....then I carried her up to bed.

This is grandma making her laugh. I've been trying to get this on video since she started laughing a few weeks ago, but the second that camera comes out, she stops and stares. I guess I just needed someone to distract her!!

Missed it by thatmuch.....

2009-02-10T02:00:00.001-06:00

Hannah is 4 months old.....3 days ago!!!!!! We were a bit busy visiting family and friends, so I didn't get a chance to post it then! :)

Thanks to Grandma Sam, Miss Hannah has a new Bumbo chair and she *loves* sitting and playng in it. (Unless she's tired!)

Sooo many toys to choose from

I think I'll eat...this one

This is her, "I'm not amused by all of these pictures" face. Also notice the nice shiny nose.....she's been fighting the sniffles for about a week now.

And this is her first bumbo chair nap. It only lasted for about a minute, but it was still cute. I'm sure in time she'll get used to falling asleep like that.

She's growing soooo fast! She already weighs 14.8 pounds!! (Really, I checked this morning!)

She loves her swing. Many naps are taken here. I love it also.

She loves "talk", but it's hard to get her to do it on command. It seems like she just will when she wants to.This is a "talking" face I promise. It looks a lot like her yelling face, just less angry.

It is getting much easier to make her laugh now. Silly faces and noises are her favorite. She still gets the hiccups EVERY time she's gets all excited and laughs, but it doesn't seem to bother her.

All smiles!

She's more interested in toys and sometimes, she can hold them when she's concentrating on it. And then they go right into the mouth. She will "eat" anything that she can get a hold of.

This includes sheep.....

Toy rings......

Her clothing......

Fingers......

And unsuspecting parrots.

At least for now, her eyes seem to be staying a pretty shade of blue. You can see some other colors creeping into the middle though, I'm thinking they're going to end up hazel like daddy's.

She loves to stare out the window

This is her newset "trick." She sucks on her bottom lip and can make a popping noise. Sometimes she sucks on both lips at the same time, which looks really funny. Oh, and she's obsessed with her ears. She's always grabbing them and pulling on them.

This is the cutest set of pj's. I love the little bunny toes!!

This is how she usually falls asleep. I imagine this is how she'll look as a teenager... "lalala, I can hear you!"

But now it's time to go.......

Hannah says "Grrrr, no more pictures mom!"

*****I have several cute videos that I will be posting asap. (One of her laughing!!!)*****

Videos & Pictures

2009-01-27T16:49:00.000-06:00

Hannah is getting so big, and really fast!! She likes to "talk" a lot now and she can finally laugh. I can't seem to get a video of her laughing though because she usually gets all serious when the camera comes out. I'm going to have to come up with a sneaky way to catch her :) She actually gets the hiccups now everytime she gets excited or laughes. (Really, EVERY TIME) I thought this would make her reluctant to laugh once she realized the two were connected, but thus far she doesn't seem to mind. She weighs about 14 1/2 pounds now and she can finally wear 3-6 month clothing sizes! She still hates being on her belly, but she's getting much better about tolerating "tummy time."

I think this is my new favorite picture. She'd been doing tummy time for about 5 minutes and she just picked her little head up and gave me this look like, "Seriously mom, aren't we done yet?" She has a very expressive little face.

This is what she looks like every morning when I come to get her. Let me explain this picture: The blanket she is laying on is the one that she is (very tightly) swaddled in every night (that she ALWAYS escapes from) The white foam looking object is her sleep positioner....it's supposed to be behind her back with a wedge on each side....see how well that works. And finally, the green blanket waaaaaaaay at the bottom of the picture is what she's covered up with every night for a little extra warmth. It's always the first thing to get kicked off. Oh, and when I laid her down the night before, she was in the middle of the bed....now her head is almost in the top corner!!

I know, this is an "older" shot. It was the sunday before Christmas and I put her in this outfit for church and she just grinned. She likes hats and being dressed up :)

Hannah is all smiles all the time (unless she's hungry of course.) I can't decide if she's reaching up for me, or if she just likes doing that with her hands. It's hard to tell.

This is what I call "Angry Talking" It's how she "talks" when she's getting hungry or a little grumpy because she's tired. I might be a mean mom for saying so, but I think it's funny. It's just liker her normal "talking" only she's louder and scrunches her face up more. Sometimes she throws in some crying-type noises too.

Random cuteness

2009-01-20T12:56:00.001-06:00

Big eyes

Happy baby

Startled by the camera flash

Making faces

Getting grumpy from all this picture taking

Hannah loves her teddy bear!

Which is why she tries to eat it :)

She's getting good at holding up that head!

Sleepy girl

Little smirk

I think someone might be a little jealous of the new baby...

2009-01-19T19:09:00.000-06:00

It's a good thing she doesn't have claws!

The difference a day (or two) makes....

2009-01-11T00:37:00.001-06:00

I've been a bit worried that I was delaying Hannah's development slightly because I despise making her suffer through "tummy time." She hates and and cries and I hate to hear her cry, so I just didn't really make her do it very often. Well, I finally just sucked it up and made her do it. There were tears and some unhappy days and at first she did nothing but bury her face and fuss. But I'm happy to say that after only a couple days of work, she can hold her head up for a few minutes at a time now and she is not nearly as upset about having to be on her belly. Today she even scrunched her legs up like she was getting ready to crawl! I know we're a long ways away from that, but at least she's moving in the right direction. She's still a little unhappy about it, but I feel like were making great progress :)

Photos coming soon!

Look what I can do!

2009-01-07T11:49:00.001-06:00

Hannah is 3 months old today!

She can blow bubbles

Give big gummy smiles

Grab her toys

Put everything in her mouth (if she can get it there!)

And she can hold her head up!

Hannah and friends

2009-01-06T15:53:00.000-06:00

Hannah & Cambry

Cambry is checking out Hannah's toys....gotta teach them to share sometime!

Alright, now lets get a group shot......

Ummmm, ok, but this time, lets all look at the camera

Kids, that means yall too!

Eh, two out of three isn't bad!

Christmas pictures!

2009-01-06T13:28:00.000-06:00

This is Hannah's ADORABLE Christmas dress, sent to her by her Great Aunt Darla

Just a few random pictures

2009-01-06T13:13:00.001-06:00

Mommy and me

Nap time with daddy

Hanging out with Grandpa.

This is the beautiful bonnet that grandma made to go with Hannah's blessing dress.

This is the same dress that I was blessed in 24 years ago.

The whole family on Hannah's blessing day

The new favorite toy, Miss Elsie the cow

A montage.....

2009-01-05T08:28:00.001-06:00

This is how Hannah wakes up pretty much everyday. I've been saying for a while that I wanted pictures of it because it's so hilarious and I finally got around to setting her up in a well lit area so I could take them. (If I use the flash, it wakes her up faster and ruins the effect) So pardon the weird lighting, it was all I had to work with! Keep in mind these are all taken over a span of only about 2 minutes. So, that means that in 2 minutes, my child goes through this many emotions and expressions. If you scroll through it makes a funny little flip book of sorts. Really, you should try it :)

Shhh, it's nap time!
Hmmmm, maybe I'll wake up now.....
Yaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnnn
Aww, my aching head!
Streeeeeeeeeeeetch
Tra la la (this is my favorite, she looks like she could be dancing)
Grrrr, sunlight
Power to the people man!
High five!
No wait, I might not want to wake up just yet
Did I mention it was bright in here?!
Wait, I'm hungry!

Please feed me!
Look at me, I'm wasting away!
Hmmm, maybe I'm not hungry....maybe I just need a new diaper....

Yeah, definitely a diaper
And some sunglasses
Hmmmmm
:0P to you too!
Hey, come here and pick me up

I wonder what I should do today
Golly gee, I know!

I think that I'll..............
Wait.....still.......sleepy...........
You! Away with the camera, I'm tired!

I said away!
Ahh, nap time
I'll just close my eyes for a minute.....
Huh, wuh.... I wasn't sleeping! I was just blinking really slow
I said I wasn't sleeping!!
Eww! What is this taste?!

Wait, I still need that diaper! And I'm hungry!

You put that camera down and feed me! Now!

Don't make me come up there!

So you see, waking up can be quite interesting around here (as well as amusing :0P)

Coming soon.......

2008-12-30T14:06:00.000-06:00

Hannah wakes up, a montage :)

Oh, and fun Christmas pictures!

Hannah videos:

2008-12-10T09:34:00.000-06:00

These are some videos of our sweet baby.

She was not happy about having to leave her cozy home! And notice how the nurse bashes poor Hannah's head with the bottle of water. I'd be a little unhappy too!

She was only 9 days old here. She always smiles in her sleep right after she eats :)

This is a video from today. It is the small window of happy time that we have in the morning before she remembers that she's STARVING TO DEATH! (meaning: she only has 2 chins rather than 3 so *of course* it's time to eat!) She's trying so hard to talk!! I expect full sentences any day now. She is, after all, my child.

I really think that she just needs a 24/7 web cam of her own because she is soo darn cute.

And Mel, lets just say that the girls are in a three-way tie for cutest baby ever :) Because really, they are all just so cute that it would be impossible to choose. I was going to make her blog name just hannahsblog, but that was taken. The title of the first post was "Hannah, AKA, the cutest baby ever" so blogger suggested that as a name for the blog when my first choice was n/a. So really, it was *Blogger* that decided she was the cutest, and I just didn't argue ;)

Me! me! me! Aren't I cute!

2008-12-08T13:57:00.001-06:00

The very first post of Hannah's little blog!!!

More cuteness will follow!