How to speak "Hannahese"

Happy Birthday Josiah and Halee

Today is my nephew Josiah's 3rd Birthday! His sister, my sweet niece Halee, had her 2nd birthday a few weeks ago on April 4th. So, this is wishing them both the happiest birthdays from Aunt Jen, Uncle Jason, and cousin Hannah. We love you both SO much!

They are 2 of the best kids you will ever meet! And I happen to think their parents are some of the coolest ones around.

I didn't even know

I have a trick that I use when Hannah is being "special" and not eating her food well. I give her the spoon and let her "feed herself." I use that term loosely because I am the one who is putting the food on the spoon and putting it into her mouth. But, since she feels like she is actually doing the work it usually results in her eating her food. Well, last night she surprised me by using the spoon and eating all by herself, and doing it well too. I was shocked! She is not coordinated enough to actually pick up the food with the spoon yet, so I had to do that work, but she did the rest. So, here she is eating her dinner with a spoon.

Happy Day!

We singed a contract on a house today!! We are very excited about this new step in our lives and are a bit overwhelmed (or at least I am) with all that will be thrown at us in the next month. But, in the middle of May we will officially be home owners in a house that we adore.

So, that is our big news for today. The only pictures that I have of the house were taken by the realtors, so unless you want to see those, I will post pictures and videos when we actually get the house.

Here are some cute pictures of Hannah to share too:

Look at this thick, beautiful redish brown hair...I LOVE it!

Let the fun begin

Yes, we have now graduated to the climbing stage of development. Hannah is now attempting to climb on everything including the ottoman, Molly, her chair, the dishwasher, and into the dryer and bathtub. She actually almost made it into the bathtub by herself. It was a bit scary but thankfully I caught her in time.

On the walking front, Hannah is making great strides (he, he). She is attempting to walk a lot now but is still pretty off balance. It is really cute to see her determination though. I will try and get some video of it soon. I think she will be good to go in about 1-2 weeks, just in time for her 1st birthday!!! YAH!

Such a helper

Have you ever struggled to get that one last little sock in the back of the dryer? Well, that is where Hannah comes in extremely handy. She LOVES to help and get all the things out of the dryer, including the lint pieces...ICK. For some reason the dryer fascinates her. As long as it leads to folded clothes I don't mind at all.

Crazy hair

Remember Hannah's hair here? Well, it is much longer now but just as crazy when it is wet. I am just thankful that it lays down nicely when you brush it or she would be one crazy haired little girl. I LOVE that her hair is getting thicker and fuller, it really is beautiful (I know, I know, I am a bit biased)!

I am sure this happens with many other kids, but Hannah has found new uses for some old toys. Since she can't fit in her exersaucer anymore she now uses it as a type of jungle gym. Who says you have to get rid of old "baby" toys?

She signs!!!

We have been working with Hannah on saying more and please in sign language for several months now. Well, yesterday she totally figured them both out. She said please about 20 times yesterday after she figured out that we would help her do things like open doors when she said please. When she was eating today she said more several times too. YAH!

We know that Hannah's version of please looks more like a jiggy dance right now, but we get the idea when she does that. Maybe one day she will do it correctly but it works for now.

Messy dinners are the best!

I really think that the messier the dinner the better it tastes (and if you know Jason he lives by this rule too)! Hannah also fully believes this as the pictures below show. If you look closely in these pictures you can see her top 4 teeth. They are growing in and I love that she is developing a big toothy smile.

The pictures are a bit dark because the flash was not going off on my camera. The problem is now fixed though.

You gotta love Chef-Boyardee!

Hannah is learning so much so quickly! It is amazing to watch.

Fun in the flowers

There is a tradition in Texas where parents drop their children in the bluebonnet flowers each year to take pictures of them. By the way, bluebonnets are the state "flower" of Texas, however they happen to be weeds (Yes, Mandi, they are weeds)! Go figure! However, I always found this tradition to be silly and vowed to never do it...until I had a kid. Oh well! So, Kelly and Crystal and I took Hannah and Caleb to take some pictures in the bluebonnets today.

Often parents take these pictures on the side of highways where the flowers are abundant, but thankfully we found a field far away from the highway. So, off we went for some fun with flowers.

Isn't Caleb adorable?! I LOVE his little dimples.

Isn't this so nice...well, the reality of our time was a bit different than what is portrayed above. In reality, it really looked more like this...

LOVELY huh?! It really was just Hannah who was crying. For the most part Caleb behaved himself. I have NO idea what Hannah's problem was, she was not going to give in to the bluebonnet pictures though. Maybe she is more of a rose type of girl. I guess we always have next year.

Our little Linus (Part 3)

Ever since I started rotating blankets with Hannah she has become accustomed to not having one special blanket, but many. The problem with this (or maybe the benefit) is that anything and everything that is fluffy and soft becomes a blanket for her. She has been known to grab the kitchen towel and snuggle with it as well as a soft dinner napkin at Outback. I know, I know, I am such a mean Mommy for rotating blankets, but it ensures that we can always find something soft and fluffy for her to snuggle with. Well, yesterday while I was getting ready, she pulled my towel down and it became her blanket for the morning.

Does this not look JUST like Jason?

Sorry this picture is a bit dark, the batteries on my flash went out and it worked off and on until I realized it and changed the batteries.

Disclaimer: I know that other parents have a special blanket or bear for their kids and I think that is wonderful. We are not against that in any way. In fact, Hannah does have a "most special" blanket that is a part of the rotation (her red Christmas blanket). We are just choosing to do it a different way, but I am in no way advocating our way over any other. Trust me, it has its pros and cons.

Playing Dominoes

After being at the house all day long, you have a learn to get creative with new and interesting toys. So, we resorted to playing with Dominoes today. Who knew that Hannah would enjoy it so much. I think she loved the sound that they made when they hit each other. So, when I get desperate again I can always count on the Dominoes to come in handy.

If only...

Dear Hannah,

My sweet baby! If you would only walk instead of crawl you would not have to carry things around in your mouth. I promise you it is easier to carry things in your two little hands then between your teeth. This will also save us from huge dental/orthodontal bills in future years.

Think about it and in the mean time we will keep practicing!

P.S. We might have news on a house later today! YAY! We have a verbal committment and our official offer was submitted this morning...so if/when we have news I will post the information and pictures for your viewing pleasure.

We caught Hannah in this pose the other night when she was sleeping...it was so cute that I had to capture it. She is to long to sleep in the crib sideways but she does it anyway. We always put her in the bed longways, but she turns sideways and squishes against the bumper pad like this. She even propped her foot up to make herself more comfy. She is such a cutie!

Our Little Linus (Part 2)

Since we typically leave Hannah's blankets in her crib, she quickly figured out that she could go over to her crib and get them out. Here she was trying to desperately to spring her blanket from behind the bars of the crib.

Doesn't she just look so proud of herself for finding her blanket. I think she was turning around to show us...
If you stick your tongue out it helps you to reach things in far places...you should try it. Hannah does it all the time.
Reach baby, reach!!!
Got it. Good thing you got long arms from your Daddy.

Victory! As you can see the thumb went straight into the mouth. If Hannah is anything, she is consistent!

On to another toy. This shows the attention span of an 11 month old.

By the way...can you believe that Hannah will be 11 months old on Monday! We are gearing up for her first birthday. FUN, FUN!!

Our little Linus (part 1)

Hannah LOVES her blankets (she has many) and it cracks me up to see her with them. As you can see Linus above, he has his thumb out and ready to go into the mouth...well, that is TOTALLY Hannah. She doesn't suck her thumb at all, until you get her blanket, and then the thumb goes straight into the mouth...it is utterly adorable. If you just walk her over to her crib where she can just see her blanket she will put the thumb in the mouth. But, I digress.

For the most part, we keep her blankets in the crib, but we will bring them out occasionally especially if she is fussy to help calm her down. Well, she attempted to carry her blanket around one day as she was crawling, and you can see how far she got below.

She hasn't tried to carry a blanket around since. Maybe she will pick this practice back up once she starts walking.

Hannah is in the dog house...

...literally.It seems like every day Hannah finds a new and interesting thing to play with. Well, her new fascination is with Molly's crate. She loves to open and close the door and crawl inside. So, here are some pictures and videos of her enjoying her new toy. Who needs Fisher Price anyway?!?!

Just an update - Hannah is not walking any more than before. I think, just like with rolling and crawling, she will take a bit more time to figure out that it is actually fun. She did this with rolling especially. She rolled over a lot for a day or so, then did not do it again for several days. So, we are still working on it. I will post videos and updates when she is really walking around the house.

Ready for the big girl bed...

...well, not really but she sure looks comfy huh?!?!

I took these pictures this past weekend after we kept Hannah out WAY past her bedtime. She was utterly exhausted and fell asleep while nursing. I just laid her on the bed for a moment, but she looked so cute (and little) sleeping on our bed. I guess she still has a few years before she gets her own big girl bed.