Success!!!

Well, I described below how we have had a rough 2 weeks at Mother's Day Out. Thankfully today was much better!

Several people had suggested that I should have Hannah sleep on a mat here at home in order to help prepare her for sleeping on a mat in her class. Well, let me tell you how thrilled I was about that idea! I just wish someone else could have come over and done it for me. It actually was not that bad though. It took her about 15 minutes to get to sleep and that was after several pops (for continually getting off the map). I laid down next to the mat and closed my eyes to give her the idea that we were sleeping, but I was more of a novelty than anything. She spent about 10 minutes poking my eyes, nose, and mouth and naming them all. She stuck her finger up my nose! and into my mouth several times. Actually, it became so funny that I busted out laughing several times while little fingers were in my ears! But, eventually she did go to sleep...I have proof!!!

So, today she did much better in her class as can be seen by her little "report card" below. This was the first time her mood was written as "happy." YAH!

This was also the first day that I have received an art project from our sweet Hannah! This one is going up on the fridge and into the baby book eventually. I am just glad that she was able to finger paint on someone elses watch! She has blue all over her shirt today too! Can you imagine finger painting with 10 children between the ages of 16-24 months!!!!!

Thanks for listening to me rant about her sleeping problems at school. I am just glad that others can celebrate these little milestones with us too!

Tuesday already?!?!

Sorry for slacking off with the blog lately. I am still figuring out how to juggle staying at home, having a part time job, putting Hannah in Mother's day out, and being apart of a committee at church! WHEW, I'll let you know when I "figure it out" as that might not be any time soon.

Things here are going well well though. As I mentioned above, Hannah has begun a mother's day out program at a local church 1 day a week. It has been a great time for me to get things done at work and for her to have some interaction with other kids. I say it has been great for me, but maybe not for Hannah (or her teachers). The first week was fine but this past week was not good at all! The kids sleep on mats...which Hannah has never done in her life! The first week they laid her down and she screamed bloody murder. So, they rocked her to sleep and laid her on the mat and she slept for about an hour. Not bad considering that was her first time. Well, last week they laid her down, she screamed bloody murder for 30 minutes and then slept for 15 minutes!!! Nap time is 2.5 hours and she only slept 15 minutes! Lovely!
Anyway, the teachers seemed perturbed when I picked Hannah up...doesn't make me feel to great about it, but we will try again this week.

Hannah is talking up a storm and repeats everything! It is great and I LOVE LOVE LOVE listening to this little one talk! I have some videos that I will try and get up later...when I have time!

Homemade playdough

We decided to make homemade playdough this weekend and it worked like a charm!!! I had never tried to make it before, but I heard it was super easy, so we went for it. The recipe is as follows:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
3 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
food coloring

Mix flour, salt, and cream of tarter in a large saucepan. Blend water and oil together in another bowl. Add water mixture to the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens. Add several drops of food coloring until you get the right color. Cook for about 5 minutes or until it is the consistancy of playdough.

We decided to make it blue because that is one of the colors we are working on with Hannah.

Here it was when it was finished, and it was nice and warm still. It was the exact texture (and taste) of real playdough. Jason tasted it by the way to see how "authentic" it was...he approved...it was salty just like real playdough. Everyone has to admit that they have tried playdough at least once in life! It's just a kid thing!

Hannah was a little unsure at first, but I she got the hang of it. She did nibble on it a bit, but thankfully since I had made it I knew exactly what she was ingesting. We have to work on her not eating it though. Since she saw me "cook" it I think she thought it was food.

Our little homemade playdough snowman. I would recommend this project for anyone who wants a fun and easy way to make playdough. This took about 9 minutes from start to finish to make and it will keep for about 3 months in tupperware or in a ziploc bag. I love fun new projects with Hannah!!!

Fun with animals

When we went to pick up Daddy the other day at work we stopped quickly to see Baylor's bear on campus. There are actually 2 in the enclosure, but one was hanging out by the fence.

It's pretty fun to get up close and personal with a black bear!

On the way home from picking Daddy up we went to the park and saw a duck by the river. Hannah began chasing it and it slowely waddled off as she went closer. It was funny to see her boldly run toward it until it turned toward her and then she ran to Daddy to have him pick her up. Silly kid!

Fancy footwork

For some reason our office has turned into Hannah's own dance studio. Everytime she goes in there the past few nights she busts out dancing. So, I thought I would show off her fancy footwork. I can't help but smile and giggle when I watch her dancing...it is too cute when kids dance!

Please disregard our silly commentary, we can't help but dote on our sweet girl!

Not only does she look like her daddy...

...but she is a budding little Jason inside too!!! Actually, Hannah is looking less and less like Jason (I think) but as she is growing and developing she is showing a lot of "Jason" like tendencies. She has been doing this particular thing for a few days now, so I figured I would finally document it.

Now, let me first explain. Jason's family and those close to him would know that he is a particular type of guy. Meaning that he likes things to be put away and in a certain place. I remember when we were first married and he was doing his PhD studies he would have piles of papers ALL over our bedroom (which was also our office). So, occasionally I would stack the papers, nicely mind you, so that instead of 13 piles there were 2. However, he would come home and promptly unstack them back into 13 piles. Now, before you think that he is militant about this, please know that we (mostly me) get many a laugh out of this. In fact, I can confess that at times I like to move little things around just to see if he notices (which he always does) and to get his goat! My boss used to tell me that if you show people where you tie your goat up they will get it every time! It is a life lesson truth! This is just one of Jason's pecularities that I love about him.

Anyway, back to Hannah. She has taken on some of his, um shall we say, pecularities. Kelly made this awesome quilt for Hannah for Christmas which sits on her floor now and she is very particular about it. If there is ever a crease in it or it is folded over, she has to promptly fix it before we do anything else. So, I wanted to show you what happens when she finds the quilt to be folded over. She is actually in the other room when she returns to fix her quilt.

What is a mom to do with 2 particular people now living in the house?!?!

An apple a day

A few weeks ago Hannah got ahold of a whole apple and tried it eat it. She did great, aside from spitting the peel out. So, the other night I peeled a whole apple and gave it to her with her dinner. She went to town...it was pretty funny! This kid loves to do "adult" things like this and she is quite the adventurer with trying new things.

New 'do?

While I went to work one morning last week Jason was in charge of putting Hannah's hair up. It was a bad idea from the start! I actually tried to put her hair up before I left, but he said that he would take care of it. So, when I heard him laughing a mischevious laugh I knew he had done something crazy. He slicked her hair back like she was a rocker from the 80's! Oh Hannah, I am so sorry! I know I don't do a perfect job, but let's both just be happy that Daddy is not in charge of your hair every day.

Bob the Builderette

While wearing her overalls the other day Hannah brought me her belt and was attempting to put it on. So I helped her out and put it on over her overalls.
The result -

Bob the Builder as a female! Notice how long her pigtails are getting too!!!

We've entered a new phase

I think I can officially say that we have crossed some major behavior hurdles with Hannah. She had been quite the little spitfire for a few months with her hitting and biting. She was having a really hard time following directions and it would often take 3-4 corrections for EACH behavior before she would stop. But, we have moved past that (PRAISE GOD!) and she has been a joy behaviorally lately (and in all other ways of course). It really is crazy because there were many days when I would call Jason in tears over her behavior. I would think, what am I doing wrong, maybe I am disciplining her incorrectly, why does she treat me this way, am I a bad mom?!?! But in the end it is just so clear to me that it was so necessary and beneficial for both of us. I can't say that we do things perfectly, Hannah still gets disciplined and I still do things wrong. The other day I totally disciplined her out of anger and I felt AWFUL about it. I apologized to her and she so sweetly stroked my face as I had to ask for her to forgive me for the way I handled things. She gave me the sweetest look and then a kiss...oh my, it totally made my heart melt! But, it has been such a joy as I can now see some of the fruit from the last few months. Jason and I say it almost every day, but she is SUCH a joy to be around. She is full of smiles, has tons of new words, and is sweet as ever giving us kisses and hugs all day long. And there is just no comparison to a slobbery kiss, a big hug, and an "o luv oo" from a 20 month old after a great day together!

Not that I am making excuses for her, but Hannah has cut several teeth the past few months (which I think MAJORLY contributed to her behavior) and she is up to 16 teeth now!!! Crazy!

Jumping Party

You gotta love this place!!! Last time we went there they gave us a free pass so we went for free last week. It was great and Hannah had a blast! Who am I kidding, so did I!

I actually think that Jason and I were much more tired than Hannah at the end since we had to carry her up to the slides and through much of the obstacle courses. One day she will be able to climb up all of this, but she is a bit small now. Her smile at the end of the video captures just a bit of her joy while being at Jumping Party.

Time flies when you're having fun

Is is really already Jan. 5?!?! I guess the time has gotten away from me at the start of this new year. We have had lots of fun family time these past few days including several stents at the park, the museum, shopping trips, and a stop at Jumping Party (there will be a video of this up tomorrow). So, it has been a really good few days around here.
I have started a part time job at our church which I am super excited about, but I have spent a lot of time the past week getting into a new work routine. I am the preschool coordinator and it is only a 10 hour a week job, so it really is perfect for me right now. I am just having to juggle that with staying home too, but I am figuring it out quickly.
So, the new year has started off with a bang, but we are ready for all it has to offer.

Happy New Year!

When I think back upon 2008 many fond memories come to mind. We had an eventful year with Jason's tenure track job, buying our first home, and seeing our baby go from barely crawling to a walking, talking, doing little person. WOW! I am amazed at all that God did in our lives this year. I can't say that the whole year was easy, in fact, we had many, many hard days too. However, it was through these good and bad days that I see the hand of God at work. So, it is with joy and anticipation that I look forward to this next with all that it has to offer. I know there will be more great days and more not so great days, but I wait in anticipation at how God will use all of these things for His glory in all of our lives. So, welcome 2009!

Here is our ever growing cutie talking on the phone.

So, how exactly did we spend New Years Eve? We took the plunge and bought a wii!!!! Oh yes, we are now those people who have a wii. Let me tell you though, it is tons of fun! It is definitely not the old nintendos that we were all used to! Hannah was not to excited in this picture though because we told her she is not old enough to play yet. Bummer! One day little one, one day.

I will say though that we did a wii fitness challenge and after doing 3 different sports challeges it tells you your "wii age." I ended up being 31 years old and Jason was *gasp* 56! I guess he needs to work on his wii skills or else i'm married to a much old guy!