Baby steps

I promised a video of Hannah walking a few days ago, so here she is. She struggles to get going here, but eventually she is on her way. She is walking everywhere now and seems to really enjoy it. She is still pretty slow but she will get the hang of it soon enough. I am in NO rush to have her running around!
Jason calls her "Frankenstein" when she walks because she walks stiffly with her arms outstretched...it is cute though.

Pros and Cons of teething

Hannah is getting her eye teeth (is this what they are called?) and it has been less than fun for her. I actually got a glimpse of both of them this morning. I can see the little white bumps as they are about to pop through. This will make for tooth #8 and #9! Now, besides the obvious cons to teething like fussiness, fever, diaper rash, and general puniness, there have actually been some pros (well, at least one).
Hannah sleeps a TON while teething. She is still asleep for her morning nap and it has been over 2 hours! She had been taking 45min-1hr naps at our apartment, but the past 5 days and teething has brought about 1.5-2.5 hr naps twice a day! I guess it is all a bit tiring for her. Maybe all the walking she is doing has contributed to this as well. Whatever it is I am not complaining!

Hannah discovered that she loves to sit and play in her toy buckets. She climbed in one the othe day and has loved being in them ever since. I guess it gets her as close to her toys as she can possibly be.

She's figuring things out

Hannah is beginning to figure out many new things in the house. She has doorknobs figured out, althought she can't reach them yet. That is a good thing too, since I am not ready for that. She has also figured out how to release the latch on the baby gates...YIKES! Thankfully she is not skilled enough to open the latch and pull up on the gate at the same time. I can assure you though that each and every time that we go through the gates she is watching intently.

That is one thing that I absolutely love about our baby. She is super observant and loves to figure things out. Like the other day I put the baby thermometer in her ear to check her temp (she didn't have one) and she grabbed the thermometer about 20 minutes later and put it in her own ear. I just love the fact that her little personality is coming out and she is really blossoming.

I promise you her pants are not sagging on purpose...she really has no backside to keep them up. Her little 12 month pants just fall right off. Sigh. Do they make belts for little babies?
Her hair is growing, she is walking EVERYWHERE, and she is our growing little girl! Man we love this little one so much!!!

I love this laugh

Hannah found the silliest thing absolutely hilarious the other night. Jason was trying to kill a big black bug in her window, with a diaper of all things, but she loved it! I could listen to this belly laugh over and over, I love hearing this sweet sound!

I have been taking a few videos of Hannah walking so I will post those in the next day or so. She is definitely "on the go."

We bought this black rocking chair several months before Hannah was born. I remember buying it and dreaming of rocking her to sleep in it. Such sweet memories! Anyway, now it sits in our loft and Hannah has taken quite a liking to it. She loves to sit in it like a big girl and rock it back and forth.
Another thing she has become quite attached to is her sippy cup. She LOVES whole milk! She is just about to wean herself completely from nursing *Sniff, Sniff* but she has made the transition to regular milk beautifully. I think she has come to prefer it and she now guzzles it down. No joke!
So, here is our sweet girl in the rocking chair with her sippy cup.



Such a silly face...I love it!

In other news I believe Hannah is cutting her 12 month molars. The past day and a half have not been fun days to say the least. So, we are working on making her comfortable with tylenol and much sleep. I hope this ends soon for her!
On a happier note, she is walking all the time now. She is not great yet, but at least she is working on it by practicing during the day. Jason calls her Frankenstein when she walks because she holds her arms out to steady herself, it is pretty funny to watch her though.

Coloring time

Hannah and I had a blast coloring yesterday. I plan on making our breakfast nook a place for us to do crafts together. So, we plopped down on the ground with white paper and crayons and started a work of art (I use that term VERY loosely!). Hannah seemed to enjoy the idea that crayons make marks on the paper, and now she is interested in every pen and pencil that she finds. I better watch out or our walls might be "decorated" soon.

She really decided that eating the crayons may be more fun than coloring with them. I am sure she will get over that soon. Arn't crayons actually a food group for babies? Kidding...just kidding!
And here are our lovely works of art.

What the heck is this thing?

We put a gate at the bottom and top of the stairs, and let's just say that Hannah is not crazy about them. She attempts to climb, crawl, and jump over them.

When she finds little success in getting over them she just gives up and cries. Poor baby! She has no idea that they are for her own good.

I am still working at manouvering up and down stairs with the baby, a sippy cup, and Molly trailing behind me while still holding on to the hand rail and opening up both gates with a free hand...Yah right...what mother of a child under 2 ever has a free hand? At least it is turning out to be a workout for me.

Beach ready

Aunt Amy and Aunt Laura went to the beach last week and I so wished we could have joined them. They invited Hannnah and I to go, and trust me, if we could have gotten out of moving to be on the beach all week we would have. But, who says that you can't dress up in beach attire anyway? Gramma bought this outfit for Hannah's birthday so we tried it on and imagined the rolling waves....AAAHHHH, maybe someday soon!

Well, we are officially done with some major house projects and are hoping to move on to regular life now. Jason and my dad managed to knock out some huge projects and they did some wonderful things to the house. Thanks again for all your help dad; we REALLY apprecaited it!!! Hannah is doing well and feeling better. She was called "Miss Personality" by the workers in the church nursery this morning. Maybe she was just needing to get out of the house and have some more focused attention by others. Whatever it was, she enjoyed it. I love this top picture of her because it shows the beautiful color of her hair and eyes and how long her hair is getting. Such a cutie!

Home tour

Our family has been asking for pictures and videos of our house, so here goes. I made a video tour of our house for you all to see. Enjoy!

We are slowly getting settled in and things are feeling more like "home" each and every day. Right now my dad is in town for a few days to help us fix up some things. So far we have replaced the disposal and kitchen sink drains, replaced the entire entry door to the garage, put cement into cable holes in the foundation, and fixed a leaky faucet. It is so good for Jason and I to learn these things since we are now responsible for fixing these things ourselves. That is one thing I will miss about an apartment. I can't just call the maintenance guys and have them fix everything for us. I guess the trade offs are worth it though.

Our little Hannah is battling a bit of a virus at the moment too. She has a fever and has been fussy and clingy. Thankfully tonight, after some Tylenol, she was acting a bit more like herself though. We made a quick trip to the doctor to rule out anything more serious, so hopefully in a day or so she will be on the mend. I am just hoping that the worst of this move on her is over. I guess I never realized how difficult this would be on a little one. Other than this though, she is doing well.

I really hope to get back to regular blogging this weekend.

My 1st Birthday

Here are the pictures from my 1st birthday where I am wearing the same bib that I put on Hannah. You can definitely tell where she gets her hair color from in this picture. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to put up the comparison pictures.

Back to the land of the living

I never knew that I could miss the internet so much! Well, we finally got internet tonight (after 3 companies told us they "don't service our area"). I guess we moved out to the sticks.
I promise to put up some pictures and videos the our new house soon. We are still working very hard at getting it all in order but I will do it in the next day or so.
Hannah has been doing OK but this move has been harder on her than I imagined. She is still adjusting to being here and learning her new boundaries.
So, I will be blogging more often now and putting up pictures soon.
For now I am off to bed.

I promise we have not fallen off the face of the planet, although it feels like it at the moment. We have been packing all weekend and the movers are scheduled to come early tomorrow morning. We should be at the new house for good tomorrow sometime. We currently have no internet at the apartment or the house so I am updating this from Jason's office. We are praying for internet at our house tomorrow (they said we might not be able to get it...YIKES!). So, I will update tomorrow night if we indeed have internet.
I have many pictures, stories, and videos to share, so hopefully I can get them up soon. Please also pray for little Hannah. She has had a rough few days with this whole move. She is all out of sorts with sleeping, eating, and playing. So, please pray for her to feel peace in the new house and for patience for us in these next few days as we move with her.
I hope to update sooner rather than later.

A big day ahead

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!!! Yes, Jason's birthday is today, the day after Hannah's birthday. Last year, unfortunately, his birthday was a bit forgotten by me. I don't know...something about giving birth, a new baby, and staying in the hospital...it wasn't quite on my radar that day. Well, this year his birthday is not to be forgotten. No, in fact, this year he will get the biggest present ever! He gets a house today! Can you believe it?! We are actually closing on our house today so we officially will become homeowners in about 2 hours. So, happy birthday sweet husband. Although I am afraid in reality I just gave you a 'honey do' list for your birthday.

Anyway, Jason is a fantastic husband and father and I am SO thankful for him! God has blessed us with almost 7 years of marriage and 1 year with a sweet baby. Here's to wishing him the happiest birthday today!